Weight Loss Wednesday

during our walk today, it was close to 90 degrees and it took us nearly an hour to make it around our neighborhood...noah and otis were not cooperating! i ended up carrying otis while pushing jonah in the stroller and then had to stop and go back for noah who decided to just sit in the middle of the street! what a crazy adventure!! thank God for air conditioning!!

lost this week -1.5!

goal: -55 lbs by December vacation to Disney!!!

lost: -7.5 lbs

to go: 47.5 lbs!

days until goal: 219

i feel like this week i have gained more muscle mass...i didn't lose as much as i wanted to. i've set a goal for myself to drink 6-8 glasses of water. i would like to be down 10 pounds by my next weigh in so i'm going to really step up my cardio workouts this week. i've been doing between 20 and 3o minutes on either the elliptical or the treadmill, usually going about 1.5 or 2 miles. i'd like to work up to 45 minutes on the elliptical and eventually be able to do a full hour. i have been doing really good in my class, i missed yesterday, but i plan to go thursday morning. i've also been moving steadily up on my weights. i'm still doing 2 sets of 10 reps on all the arm machines {we haven't moved to free weights yet, except in class} and i can do some of them at 50 or 62.5 lbs! it's a long way from where i started about a month ago. back then 12.5 lbs was about to kill me!

my body is feeling so energized and i can tell i'm really getting in shape! i want to see more weight come off, and it's so easy to get discouraged, but jamie is really helping me see that i am losing inches {i'll update that tomorrow after we measure} and i'm gaining muscle mass which in the long run will help me burn more fat. i know it's gonna be slow and steady and i have to remind myself that this is a lifestyle change.

brooke bought me the book i mentioned last week, Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure, and so far i really like it. she struggled with bulimia, but God helped her turn it all around and showed her how to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle with His help.

a good time

last night my friend, Brooke, and i hosted a dinner party at my house. she and her hubby, Craig, were in for a few days to attend her sister's bachelorette party in Dallas and we had the opportunity to get together with them a couple of different times. he is an air force pilot and they are about to be stationed in las vegas, so any time they are in town we like to try and plan a little get together!! brooke is one of my closest and dearest friends and i love that no matter how long it's been since we've seen each other we can always pick right back up where we left off. this is true also for the other couples we invited last night. all four of us girls graduated high school together and have been friends since 10th or 11th grade.Tedd and Emily and Grant and Rachel are so much fun to be around and we always have a great time together! we were all discussing, over dinner, how special it is that all four of the guys are almost the same age (between 28-30) and all of us girls graduated high school together! there were several connections between each couple and i love it when we can all hang out together!

mason jars with colored flowers for the girls

we bought 3 types of burger buns: potato, wheat, and thin, whole wheat...haha! we overdid it a little!

sweet brooke made cute labels for all of the food

the condiment table

we started off the night with a yummy dinner!! jamie got to use his new grill and we had veggie burgers, regular burgers, and Nathan's hotdogs! i made a yummy, cold pasta salad, corn on the cob, as well as some delicious carrots and grapes. Emily made a tangy, virgin Sangria {she told me that sangria means blood in spanish!} which we served in the mason jars! Rachel rounded out the dinner with some amazing chocolate chip cookies!! she used her mom's recipe and they were a hit!

the boys always enjoy company!!

noah was so cute at bedtime..he had to tell everyone "bye guys!"

we all ate outside since the weather was perfect! it had been hot during the day, but as the evening went on it was so nice. we all took turns holding baby Ian, who was just an absolute doll! noah played in the yard while we ate; and jonah even crawled around on the patio with noah! his knees and hands were filthy once we came in! we stayed outside and talked for quite a while, then we headed into the living room to watch some crazy videos we had made during our senior year of high school. we were all thoroughly embarrassed to be watching these videos with our hubbies, but it was so much fun to just laugh and reminisce about those easy days! i also had all of my old scrapbooks out for the girls to go through. it's so neat to look back at all the fun things we did together in school.

after nearly passing out from laughing so hard at the videos, we played a round of charades. boys vs. girls. the theme: movies. basically this is how it went down. we {the girls} tried to pick some hard movies, like: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Chronicles of Narnia, and It. these were no challenge for the boys who guessed every single movie in record speed. they {the boys} were ruthless and picked some off the wall movies like: Bridge on the River Quai, Delta Force, and a show-stopping, 10 word movie Don't Be a Menace While Drinking Juice in the Hood! poor rachel picked this one and she literally went word by word until we figured it out! it took forever and of course none of us had ever even heard of this movie!! i drew Last of the Mohicans and was totally stumped, until finally i put my hand over my mouth and {illegally} made a indian dance noise. it was a fun game, but the guys have to go a little easier on us next time!

our group: the Lowe's, the Lodes' + baby Ian, the Pachlhofer's, and the Brown's

i am so blessed to have such sweet, Godly, sincere friendships! we are going to make it a point to get together much more frequently. i especially think having girl time is so important, and i miss these girls {as well as my other girlfriends that couldn't be there} and the bond we shared through high school. i think it is such a God thing that we are all still able to keep in touch and that all of our hubbies get along so well! Thank you God for this amazing group of friends!!

1 Samuel 20:42 {Jonathan said,"Go in peace! The two of us have vowed friendship in God's name, saying,}

'God will be the bond between me and you,

and between my children and your children forever!'"

christmas cookies in may?

while jamie and craig {uncle teg} were gone to a MMA {mixed martial arts} tournament, carah and i decided to let the boys help us make sugar cookies. of course the only cookie cutters i have are a christmas set :) we had a blast! i'm sure noah ate more cookie dough than actual cookies. every time he would break a shape, he would eat the dough! then jonah got in on that action and the little sneaky boy would just every so slowly reach his hand into the pile of dough and grab a piece until his mouth was absolutely stuffed with it!

Noah really enjoyed decorating the shapes with blue and pink crystals and little green men shapes {left overs from his Toy Story birthday cupcakes!}

the cookies were so yummy!! {oh ya, we totally cheated on the diet this weekend!}

a weekend at ninny's

we recently traveled over to Tulsa to visit my sister in law, Jenny.

We had a great time just hanging out with her.

We even ventured out to Incredible Pizza one day. that place is seriously incredible! noah thinks it's chuck e. cheese and there is no amount of persuasion to convince him it isn't.

when we first arrived at jenny's house, she ushered us outside to show us something in the backyard...

my kids love their aunt ninny (jenny)

when she's around, no one else exists

maybe it's because she built them an awesome clubhouse, complete with a pirate ship steering wheel and "hot dog" on top! {the crow's nest is coming soon}...or maybe it's just because she will always stop to play with them and will do anything and everything to make them feel special. she's such a cool aunt :)

mommy

notes in my lunchbox. picnics and camping in the backyard. tents in the living room. really, really special birthday parties. she took the time to make me into the mom i am today. she took time to tell me about Jesus and how much He loves me. she is such a giver and a great role model. i find myself being more like her everyday. we cry at the same things (pretty much everything) and we both have an unstoppable joy in our hearts. she would say i giggle more though :) i love you mommy. i'm so glad we are best friends.

it has potential!

it's true this chair has seen better days. it's dusty, dirty, and a little stained. but it has the potential to be something great!! {plus it was only $12.99 at Saver's!} it's gonna need some serious tlc! i was totally inspired by a new blog - Hyphen Interiors- i found the other day to try and paint a chair {upholstery is so expensive and her tutorial shows you exactly what to do} wish me luck!

insta-friday

here's my week in instagram pics :) i double love this app on my iphone! it transforms all of my regular pics into works of art...okay, so not really, but it's really awesome!

i already posted this pic, but this was the night i got my mother's day gift in the mail!! i love this necklace from the vintage pearl and have worn it pretty much ever since i got it...i almost slept in it last night, but then i worried that it might get tangled in my hair...have you seen my hair lately? it's LONG! and jamie likes it, so it'll stay that way!

here's a good pic of the long hair...this was tonight, date night! we went to olive garden! yummy!! we have been doing so good dieting and we manage to still eat pretty good when we go to olive garden...i get the salad, no cheese, with the dressing on the side{and i'm not allowed to ask for more dressing}, jamie gets the soup and then we split an entree. tonight we had some kind of roasted beef with cheese tortellini in a marinara sauce. mmmmm! pretty sure i went over my calories on that meal, but we each only ate half and were so stuffed!! i did eat one small bite of a breadstick, but i'm staying away from those because a patient at work told me that one breadstick is 8 points on weight watchers...well i'm not doing weight watchers, but that sounds like a lot for one measly little breadstick..and i don't really like them, unless they are dipped in the dressing and we already went there {ps the drink is lime with water - yes i meant it that way}

okay so i enough of the necklace i know! but i really love it! it's so special and i want to wear it everyday! i thought it paired nicely with my black Grey's Anatomy scrubs today :)

me and my mom at work today. do you think i look like her? did y'all know i get to work with my mom? yuppers! every other friday from 1-5 at Dr. J's office! we have a blast and try not to gab too much when Dr. J is there ;)

as you can tell these flowers are not in a vase...nope. they are in a drink dispenser...why you might ask? well when i tried to put them in the only tall vase i have, they looked awful! they were all scrunched together and they just didn't look happy...the closest thing i had to a vase was this great drink dispenser from Kirkland's {i got it last year when we moved into the new house} while it's not the ideal vase, i thought it looked kinda cute and different! the arrangement is currently sitting on my island, making my kitchen feel very summery!

if you know me at all, then you know i'm a -tooth freak- {aka registered dental hygienist} and i love all things teeth. well, i always thought i had a pretty white smile, until i started working for Dr. J and one of the first things he said to me was, "have you ever thought about whitening?" well, he continued to press the matter and even bought me a box of Equate Advanced Whitestrips...which i used {he only gave me the tops he kept the bottoms for himself...he's kinda strange that way} all week and barely saw any difference. so tonight after dinner i made jamie drop me off at walmart so i could go buy some stronger whitestrips. here's the dilemma..i have really sensitive teeth, so i just have to go kinda slow..but i'll keep you updated on the progress :) {ps the Equate strips were very nice...no mess, held onto my teeth well, and did not taste bad - i just didn't see much results after using the entire kit}

this picture is EPIC! jamie called me today to say that craig was in town {go here to read all about craig and brooke! it's a great story!} he wanted to invite him over to play video games...he just needed a guy night..that was fine, because we had plans for our date night, but that's really just going out to eat with my sister and her hubby, then we usually just chill at the house or watch a movie...i said that would be great because i would be blogging and working on some house stuff {ie: shopping online for stuff for our bedroom} so when we got home tonight, craig was already waiting in our driveway with his backpack on containing his computer...these boys are total tech nerds!!! so i'm in the kitchen blogging and i can hear the guys playing call of duty in our bedroom...the xbox is set up in our room so it's not so loud {jamie only plays those games after the boys are asleep - i do not endorse call of duty or games like it...they are wayyy too violent and realistic} just thought the pic of the guys in bed together was pretty funny!

last, this is a cool picture frame i found today at Kirkland's for only $9.99-it had been $24! it's a family tree and says "the roots of a family tree begin with the love of two hearts"...i have post-its all over showing whose picture i want to go where...it will hang either in the boys hallway or possibly in the kitchen. i haven't decided yet.