New plan of action

I totally feel like my blog is becoming my weight loss soap box, but what are you going to do? So, I have a new plan of action... again. I was on facebook last week and saw a friend from high school was in a contest for loosing the most weight. Curios, I looked at the site. The results people had were incredible! They all lost weight through a program called Live the Life. I had heard about this program a few months ago from my cousin who also had some great success. I had looked into the program and it was a little costy, but since I am now a working woman I thought I would look into it again.

I did my research and talked to my friend and cousin to see what they both really thought of it and if was an easy program to follow. They both loved it and totally recommended it. I figured I am sooooo sick of being obsessed with my weight and it sounds like this program really has it totally laid out for you all the way to doing your shopping list and meal plans for you. I think for me to loose the weight I totally need that. Plus, the fact that I am paying for it I hope will help keep motivated. It costs a good chunk of change, but honestly I don't buy stuff for myself very often, and I think it is OK to be a little selfish when it comes to my health and happiness.
This program is a 12 week program, so we will see how it goes in 3 months. Most people loose 10-20 pounds in those 3 months, so we will hope I will have that kind of success.
I am actually hopeful with this. I think for the first time I feel like I will actually reach my goal and get myself healthy and back in shape.

This time I'm for real

So a few months back I wrote this inspiring and motivated post about how I am really going to loose weight. It lasted for a few weeks, but then went down hill. I have a new plan of action that I hope really works this time.

I was looking at a friend's blog and saw that she has another friend who is also trying to loose weight and she is taking the approach of writing about it on her blog. She has weekly weigh-ins. I thought that was genius, so I am going to steal that brilliant person's idea and do the same thing. I am hoping that by doing that it will actually hold me accountable, and I will be embarrassed if for 3 weeks in a row I don't loose any weight at all.

She also wrote her trials with doing it and her approach to how she lost the weight. I thought that would be good too because then I could get support from my friends and family on the hard weeks, and I know there will be a lot with the holidays coming up.

Here is my plan of action, and if any of you have ideas out there please share.
1) I am going to weigh myself only 1 week. I have a tendency to do it every day.
2) I am going to stop eating after 8.
3) I am going to eat on smaller plates in hopes of cutting back my portion sizes.
4) I am going to do some form of physical activity every day. My goal is to work out 5 days a week, but the days that I am just sooo tired and can't get myself on the elliptical I am going to at least do toning like crunches and push-ups.
5) I am going to write down everything I eat.
6) I will write on the blog 1 week with my weight loss for the week. If nothing else it will get me to write on the blog more!
7) I will take 1 day a week off from everything! I can treat myself to one day a week of not worrying about what I am eating or how much I weigh.

That is my game plan. I really have the goal to loose 35-40 pounds by next summer. I have my 10 year reunion and figure that is great motivation to get myself back in shape.

Like I said, writing about it on here is totally for me to get my bum in gear. If you don't want to read about my weight loss journey I don't blame you, but if you want to go on this adventure with me come aboard.

I do promise I will write about other fun things too. In fact I need to post about Ryan's birthday. That will be coming soon!

Another Mari update

Last weekend we went down to Utah for another doctor's visit for Mari. This time I went down with no expectations, because whenever I do the doctor tells us we need to do more. That is exactly what happened at this appointment.

She has grown, but again not enough to take away the worry. She is 16.3 pounds and 27 in. Again, remember she is 2. She is about the size of a 1 year old. She had put on about 1 1/2 inches since her last visit back in March, but the doctor told us that it really should be double that.

So, we are back to the running more tests phase to try to rule things out. We have to do the dreaded 4-hour test to check her growth hormone and then get her checked for cystic fibrosis (I'm sure that is not spelled right). We also have to take her to a pediatric GI doctor to make sure we aren't missing anything in that area.

The doctor really put the fear in us telling us that we need to be getting her to eat more. He told us that if we don't we are going to have look into doing a feeding tube. The way he put it was that we are giving Mari the chance to eat on her own and put on the pounds herself, and if she doesn't she fired and WE will put them in her. Needless to say, I would much rather not have to go that route. I hate the thought of my baby going through something like that. We have been buttering everything and eating a lot of french fries and everything else that is not good for you (doctor's orders!).

That is the update as of now. Hopefully in a few weeks we will have some more answers once tests are done and more doctors are seen. Until then send the cookies and anything else that is full of fat our way!!!

Our Crazy Summer

I realize it has been a long time since I have posted anything. This summer got crazy. It has been fun, but crazy. Starting in July we had family here all the way through August. I love it when Alan's family comes to visit. The kids probably love it more because they really have been blessed with great Aunts and Uncles. I thought I would just give a quick run down of our craziness, and then that way I won't be judged too much for not posting anything for awhile.

I already posted about our little Mari turning 2. That was a pretty big event. At that same time Alan's brother David was in town for a few weeks. We had a lot of fun with him being here. He helped a lot with the kids and we played some mean games of Scum. We also made a day trip up to the Tetons while he was here. I am not a huge fan of the outdoors, but it really has been fun seeing my kids get so excited about seeing the animals and throwing rocks in the water. This trip we went to String Lake and Alan and the kids went swimming. Ryan was in Heaven to say the least.

I also finally painted my basement this summer. I have been wanting to get rid of the boring while walls we had down there. My dad came up and we took a Saturday and painted them blue. It ended up taking us a lot longer then we thought it would, like twice as long, but I totally love the outcome. I still need to decorate, so once that is done I will post some pictures.

A few weeks after David left Alan's sister came out to visit for about 3 weeks. It was also a lot of fun. I have to say I love Melissa. I am very lucky to have great in-laws on both sides of the family, but I have a great respect for Melissa. She is honestly so giving and has always made me feel so welcome in the family.

She did us a huge favor as well while she was here. I was offered the opportunity to work at Alan's office for the month of August since one of their secretaries was going to be in Europe for the month. I was really worried about what I was going to do with my kids, but Melissa was so willing to take them those 3 weeks she was here. I honestly was so grateful to her for that. I had a lot of friends who took them too the days she couldn't (Shout out to Kirsten, she had them the most), but it was nice those 3 weeks to not have to worry where they would be.

I had a lot of fun working with Alan. I will continue to be there go to girl if one of the secretaries needs time off. I loved being in the office with Alan and being able to see him whenever I wanted. I will say though, that my respect for mothers that work went up through the roof. I am so thankful that I don't have to do it full time. It was great to do it for a few weeks, but I really missed my kids. I am blessed that the office is so great, and once school started I was able to bring them with me for half the day. Ryan and Mari loved it and everyone in the office seemed to enjoy having them there too.

That is the gist of our summer. We had family around and did some great playing with friends. I was a working woman for a few weeks. It has been a fun summer, but I think I am ready for things to get back on schedule and calm down a little.

Ryan and his buddy Charlie playing in the swimming pool. These 2 seriously crack me up.

Mari with Uncle David up at String Lake. I love her Cheesy smile.

The muscle men swimming in String Lake.

Mari turns 2

Last night we finally got pictures downloaded, so now we can share the pictured from Mari's Birthday. Our little girl turned 2 on July 8th. I still can't believe that she is 2. I can still remember the day she was born like it was yesterday, and now she is turning into a little girl.

We had a fun day on her birthday. We went to the library with Uncle David, who was visiting from Ohio, and then went and got some ice cream from Reed's Dairy. That night we went Ryan's T-ball game and then to Winger's that night. Mari was in heaven because she got to have her very on Iberts (root beer). That I'm sure made her birthday alone.

The next night my parents came up and we had pizza and opened presents. She was in heaven having an uncle and 2 grandpas and a grandma there to play with her. She was quite the little charmer, as usual, and made everyone laugh through out the whole night. It was a fun night for a fun little girl. We are so lucky to have her in our family.

Here she is with her cake. It was Pink, which is her favorite color. I had to make the "2" blue though, because that is Ryan's favorite color.
Sitting in her chair from Grandpa Johnston, also Pink, and her new My Little Pony.

She got a princess doll from Grandma Kris and Grandpa Oppie Oppie. She is loving princesses right now.

This is her new bike she got. It a tricycle, but we can steer it for her since she can't quite reach the petals yet. Once she is a little bigger we can take the handle out. It is awesome and she feels like such a big girl riding it.

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is Alan's 30th birthday, so I thought today would be a good day to say how lucky I am to be married to this man.

I honestly feel so lucky to have found a great man like Alan. He makes me laugh daily and does such a great job taking care of our family. He is one of the hardest working people I know, but still makes a real effort to be home at a decent hour so he can have time with the kids.

The other thing I love about Alan is he does such a great job making people feel comfortable and like he is their best friend. I remember there was a time when we were still dating and I visit taught this girl who was feeling a little left out amongst her roommates. She lived in an apartment full of gorgeous girls, so they got a lot of attention, especially from the opposite sex. One day my roommate Jodee and I decided to take her out to Jonny Carino's for dessert. Since Alan was working there at the time we requested him as our waiter. I pulled him aside and told him to make her feel special and to FLIRT with her. I was so impressed because he was so kind to her and was so sincere about it too. He complimented her and talked to her individually, but did not come across fake at all. On our way back to Rexburg this girl told me how lucky I was to have found such a great guy, and I had to totally agree.

I have to give a quick shout out to my in-laws, because they are the ones who raised and molded him to the person he is. This goes to my brother and sister-in-laws too. They are such great examples of what I hope my kids are like with each other when they are older. They have so much love and respect for each other, and most importantly they love to PLAY with each other. I know they had a hand in making Alan the person he is today as his parents did.

I know everyone says that they married their best friend, but I really did. We love to laugh and play together. He always puts my needs first. I am so lucky. Happy birthday Alan. I love you!

Now is the time!

I am writing this post more for myself than anyone else, so if you don't want to read it that is totally fine. I just feel I need to hold myself accountable, and there is no better way to do that then to make it public right?
Anybody that knows me knows that since I got married almost 6 years ago, I have been trying to lose weight. Growing up I never had to worry about my weight. I realize now that I was one of those girls that most people hated. I could eat what I wanted and not gain anything. If I did start to gain some weight I would just stop eating junk food for a few days and drop it pretty quick.
As soon as I got married, however, my physical activity dropped pretty quick (I wasn't running to get to class anymore), and I started to put weight on really fast. At first it was just 10 pounds, and then 30, and now 6 years later I am... well heavier than when I was in high school and college.
I think that because I never had to worry about my weight growing up I never learned to lose weight in a healthy and nutritious way. I find myself constantly getting on myself for not looking better and being healthier. I find myself comparing how I look to the people around me. I know that that is not a healthy or good road to go down.
I am finally at the point that I am done complaining and whining about it and really want to do something about it. I work out 3 times a week already with some girls in my ward, but I know I need to step that up to 4 or 5 times a week. I also need to give up my treats, which honestly is going to be the hardest thing for me to do!!!
I know that I may never get back to what I was 6 years ago, I have had 2 kids. My body has changed. I just want to get in a healthy weight zone and be healthy!!
Like I said before, this post is really more for me, but if anyone did actually read it and has good advice or good words of encouragement I would totally appreciate them!! I am hoping that in the near future I can post that I have had success. Wish me luck!

Girls just want to have fun!!!

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to Salt Lake with some awesome friends. It was my friend Kirsten's birthday and we decided that we needed a break from mommy hood. Neither of us had left our kids before, so we were each other's support system and both of us did very well.

Kirsten had the genius idea to call some of our other friends that live down in Utah to join us. Lucky for us they could totally make it! We had a great time and it was so much fun to catch up.

We got down to Salt Lake Friday night and met up with Jennifer. Kirsten was able to find us a nice hotel right across from the Gateway. We went to dinner that night and did some window shopping. Then we ended back at our room and talked until 2:30. We all thought we would be able to sleep in since we didn't have any kids to wake us up, that was not the case. Sure enough we were up by 8:30 the next morning.

We got ready and walked to a waffle place that Kirsten had heard about. It was incredible. It was called Burges waffles. I totally recommend it to anyone who visits Salt Lake. They were heavenly!!!!

After that we met up with our friend Alita and went to IKEA. It was my first time every being there and I have officially fallen in love with that place. I got 3 things for under $10. I couldn't believe it. We then headed over to the Cheesecake factory, which was also awesome.

We went back to the hotel room and talked some more, because that is what girls do best. Alita and Jennifer left us at about 11:00 and Kirsten and talked so more until about 3:00. We are crazy!!!

It was such a wonderful weekend, and something that I hope we do again. It was great to be with good friends and not have to worry about naps or if the restaurant is kid friendly. I love being a mommy, but it was exactly what I needed. Thank you Kirsten for having the idea and letting me invite myself. It was so great!!!

I swear we are alive

So, I have had a couple people comment on my lack of blogging. I really thought that I would blog all the time once I started this, but have obviously not. Part of the problem is that I am totally not good when it comes to technology, so I have to wait for Alan to show me how to download our pictures from our camera. I know that is kind of pathetic, but it is the truth!
We have had a couple fun things happen these last couple of months. The first being that we went down to Utah to see my family at the beginning of April. This was the first time that my whole family has been together in about 5 years. My nephew Isaac was being baptized, and so everyone traveled to Utah for it and spent the week together. There was a lot of playing and other crazy things going on. Ryan loved seeing his cousins, and made me realize that we really need to be better about getting him together with them. He loves them and talks about them all the time. The other thing I realized is that I do not like being a single mother. Alan could only stay for the weekend, so the rest of the time I was alone. I was so tired by the end of the trip. It really made me realize what a big help and good daddy he is. I was so grateful for him by the time we got home!!!
Some other exciting news is that we got Ryan signed up for preschool next year. We have been doing a neighborhood preschool with him this year, but decided that he needs a more structured setting and consistency to get him ready for Kindergarten. He is very excited about it. I just can't believe that he is almost 5. Time really does fly!! He is getting so grown up and making us laugh more and more with the funny things he says and does. That is kind of a mass overview of our last couple of months. It has been fun and crazy, but I love it that way. Hopefully I can get some pictures up of our Utah trip soon. It is always fun to share those pictures.

The results are back

We finally got Mari's test results back. It took 5 weeks, but they are here.
All the results came back normal, which is great news. They wanted us to do the 4-hour test to check her growth hormone levels. We found out however, that our insurance will not cover the test. The fact that they would be injecting her with medicine to make the growth hormone be released they would not cover it. We thought about just paying for the test ourselves, but found out that the test is $300 at the cheapest.
The doctor told us just to hold off doing the test and we will take her back in at the end of the summer to get reevaluated to see if the test even needs to be done.
Until then we will continue feed her as much as we can and hopefully get her to grow on her own.
Thanks again to everyone for your concern. It was always so nice to have people ask me how things were going with the tests. It is so nice to know that we have so much support from everyone.

An update on Mari

We have had a lot of people curious about what we found out at Mari's doctor appointment last week, so I thought I would let you all know what happened.

For those of you that may not be totally aware of the situation with Mari here is a little update. Mari is very tiny for her age. She is only 15 pounds and 26 in. long, and is 20 months old. She is very petite. She was born normal size, but from the beginning of her life they have been worried about her lack of growth. At about 9 months they finally referred us to a specialist in Salt Lake. At first we were just encouraged to increase her calorie intake thinking that would help. They also ran a lot of tests to check her hormone levels. Everything came back normal, so once again we were told to try to fatten her up. It seemed to be helping because she was starting to put on weight and grow a little.

When we down last week I was pretty confident that the doctor was going to pat us on the back for doing so well. She had grown a whole inch and almost a whole pound. That was unfortunately not the case. He was impressed with her weight gain, but he is still worried about her lack of growth in the height area. He told us that her weight is following a consistent curve, her own curve since she is off the charts, but a consistent one. Her height on the other hand is not doing that.

He is having us rerun the tests for her growth hormone. We also had to get a hand x-ray to check for bone growth. If these test come back normal than we have to do a test called the 4-hour test. They will basically inject something to make her body release the growth hormone to see if it is releasing the right amount. It does not sound like it will be a fun day for her if we have to get it done.

That is what we know right now. To be totally honest I have never been way worried about the situation because I always attributed her littleness to genes, but after this visit it made me realize that there really could be something medically wrong with my little baby. I am just hoping and praying that she will be OK. It does make me extremely grateful for modern medicine and for the doctors that have stayed concerned about her and not just put her aside. We were told that if there is something wrong with her, we are lucky it will be caught so early.

We are grateful for that little girl. She may be small, but she really does bring a lot of joy into our family and everyone she comes into contact with.

We will keep you all updated once we know the results to all the test. Thank again for all your concern.

An Ode to Ryan

The last couple of days Ryan has been cracking me up. I thought I would share some of the funny little things he has done.
Today we went to Wal Mart and the whole time we were shopping he was pretending to be a character in Mario Kart. I found him on the diaper shelf and told him he needed to get down, he told me he was in a tube getting ready to race.
He is also pretty sure his birthday is next week, which it is not. He has been planning his party and informing me that all his friends are going to come and eat a rocket cake (the rocket from Mario Kart) and watch him open his presents. He gave me his party list and pretty much everyone he has ever made contact with in his life is to be invited. It is just cute to watch him get that excited for something that is like 8 months away.
Another thing that had me laughing out loud was I told him I had a surprise for him. He started guessing what it could be. His first guess was that we were going to go to Old McDonalds (which is Mcdonalds). His second guess was that I was going to give him an alligator. I don't know where that came from, but he was so sincere in his guess it made me laugh. We went to visit Alan at work, which is fun, but not quite as exciting as a new pet alligator.
He really is such a sweet boy. I feel like I complain about him a lot and his cheekiness, but there are a lot more funny and sweet moments than bad ones. I am very lucky to have him as my little boy.

Could this be the start of something???

This is obviously not at the reception, but it shows what a cute couple they make.

Last night we went to a wedding reception for an old family friend. He was the little brother of Alan's best friend growing up, Dave. Dave's family went with us to Disneyland this past fall. They have a little girl that is about 8 months younger than Ryan that is a riot. She and Ryan really hit it off in California, so needless to say they were pretty excited about seeing eachother at the reception.
This is where the story begins. The bride and groom were asked to come up to the front of the room and have their first dance while their nieces and nephews sang a song. They are up there dancing happy and in love. Everyone is watching. Then you look down and see Ryan and our friends little girl dancing with eachother. They are embracing and dancing in circles, just like the bride and groom. I hate to say it, but they totally upstaged the bride and groom.
Now, this would be a good story if I stopped there, but there is more. As the song and dance are coming to an end we hear the little girl say to Ryan, "Now, let's kiss." She then leans in and plants and big kiss on the lips. This may sound like a one sided love affair, but Ryan did not lean away from the kiss. He participated fully. There are some pictures that the photographer took that we need to get some copies of and will post soon.
It was an awesome night with some good laughs. Thank heavens for little kids and their innocense to keep us adults laughing.

Our big girl

We took Mari in for her 18 month check up this week and found out that she growing. She is now 15 pounds 3 oz. and 25 3/4 in. long. That is 11 oz. more than her last appointment and a 1/2 inch longer than what she was. I know that this may not seem like much, but where she wasn't growing very much, or at all, for over 6 months this is great news.
She is a great little girl. She may not be very big, but she holds her own. She is getting some major sass in her old age. She cracks us up every day and is starting to tease us. We are so glad that she is part of our family that she starting to grow a little more, even if it is an inch every couple of months.

Our first trip to the ER

Last night we had quite the little adventure. We were on our way out to go to dinner with Alan's dad. I was trying to get ready and could hear Ryan and Mari playing in the hallway. I then heard Mari screaming. Both Alan and I ran to see what was going on and saw the bathroom door closed and Mari's fingers stuck in the door. I opened the door and Alan grabbed her. We both looked at her had and saw her two middle fingers were bent. Alan describes it like a cartoon character who just had his hand smashed in the piano, and then their fingers are all wavy.
Needless to say we freaked out, she is screaming, Ryan is crying. It was a little crazy.
Alan told me we needed to get her to the ER because it looked like her fingers were broken. I am the paranoid one in the relationship, so when Alan says we need to get her to the doctor I don't question it. Thank Heavens his dad was there so we could leave Ryan with him.
Mari was crying the whole way to the Hospital and her fingers started to swell. This is when I start to totally panick.
We get to the hospital and they do some x-rays. Luckily there was a happy end to the story and nothing was broken. The doctor told us that she was actually really lucky because most kids come in with all their fingernails broken off or with major lacerations. She just walked away with swollen fingers.
Needless to say we had a little talk with Ryan about needing to be a little more careful with his sister and closing doors. It was sweet to hear him talk to her about it though. I could over hear him telling her that he was sorry she got hurt and that he doesn't like squishing her fingers in doors.
It was an exciting night, but one that I think I will be ok not repeating for a long time.

We're finally doing it!!

So, after months and months of talking about doing this, I finally got my bum in gear and started our family blog. Hopefully we will be good at keeping up on it. We can't promise that it will always be entertaining, but hopefully it will help us stay in touch with people better, and that is afterall the point of doing this!