All about me in 4's

All about me in 4's

Abby tagged me and so I figured I'd better do this.

Facts about me in 4's:

4 shows I like to watch:
1. The Biggest Loser
2. Brothers and Sisters
3. Private Practice
4. Greys Anatomy

4 things I'm passionate about:
1. My Family
2. My boyfriend
3. My dogs Sugar & Max
4. My happiness

4 phrases I say a lot:
1. Seriously??
2. No you can't do that (usually said to sales people at work)
3. I love you (I don't say this to just anyone)
4. Pitney Bowes, Jessica (obviously how I answer the phone at work)

4 things I have learned from the past:
1. Never give up
2. Everything happens when God wants it to
3. Love with all you have...you never know how much time is left
4. Do NOT yell at people out your window while driving around...they might try to follow you.

4 places I would like to go:
1. on a Cruise (anywhere really)
2. Disney World
3. Vegas
4. New York City

4 Things I did yesterday:
1. went to work
2. made dinner
3. watched Brian play softball
4. did laundry

4 Things I'm looking forward to:
1. getting married
2. having a house full of children
3. losing weight
4. summer (beach and lake time)!!

4 Things I love about winter:
1. Hot Chocolate from Starbucks
2. snow
3. Christmas season and Christmas music
4. Holiday parties

4 Things on my wish list:
1. a ring
2. a wedding
3. babies
4. happiness

4 Friends to tag:
I don't know of anyone that reads this that hasn't done it so...

Disappointed

So today this isn't an excited or happy weight tracker post.

I took a couple days off of working out to have some relaxation time in Charleston and then didn't get my but back in gear when I got back. I also haven't been great about watching what I eat. SO I very deservingly gained this week.

The scale yesterday said 142.2.

I am not discouraged...just slightly more motivated to get back on track since I'm running out of time. 12lbs in 8 1/2 weeks...I think I can!!!

Week 1 Weigh In

Okay, Week 1 results:

I worked out 6 out of 7 days. I ate kinda what I wanted to just tried to eat smaller protions. I tried to get some rest. I was dying my first few days of workouts but feel much better now. I started working out with 2lb handweights (I know it sounds wimpy but it's hard) and now I can use my 5lb weights for almost all of the exercises.

Here are the results:

Last week I weighed 143.7lbs

My current weight is: 140.4

My total weight loss this week is 3.3lbs

YAY!!! I'm sure that alot of it has to do with the fact that I put down the soft drinks and am drinking water ALOT. But I'm very proud of my 3.3lbs this week! Only 11.7 more to go and i still have 10 weeks!

Goals

Ok so I know that I failed at my blogging goal but I'm going to try to pick it back up for the purpose of posting weekly on another goal that I have set for myself.
So for those of you that think that I am some skinny person like back in high school that is not the case anymore. I am at my heaviest weight ever in my life. And I have not had any children so I can't use that as a reason to have gained so much weight. I have just become LAZY. So I have set a goal to lose at least 15lbs by the last week of May when we go to the beach. That gives me 11 weeks which i think is very very reasonable.
So I have started working out everyday and drinking lots and lots of water in place of soda.
I stated working out on Wednesday. I will be posting weekly weigh in results and I know that I won't lose weight every week because of building muscle but hoping for some great results.
Since my blog is private I am going to post my weight every week.

Starting weight on 3/10 is 144 lbs.
Here's to hoping that I'm down to at least 130 by beach week! I will try to post a pic on here soon. Right now I just don't care for my pic to be taken.

Happy Early Valentine's

I got my gift early this year...Yes I have been domesticated.

But with my new couponing fetish I am going to need it!!

We got a great deal on it too!!

So here it is...A new freezer!

Saving Money

I know that I am a day late on my weekly post but I wanted to do a post about saving money at the grocery store and I went today. So here it is...

I'm sure all of you have read about other people couponing and "working" the deals at the grocery store. I like everyone else said "I don't have time for that."
Well let me just say that now that I have taken the time to actually do it, it's worth it.

For those of you who also say "I don't have time for that", I'll refer you to southersavers.com where all the work is pretty much done for you. The site is free!! She tells you what's on sale at each store, gives you the links or tells you where to get coupons and you can even click on a box next to each item that you want to buy and it makes your grocery list!! If you can save $30 or $40 for an hours worth of work, that's more than I get paid an hr at my full time job!!! I'll take it!

So here's my list of groceries that I got from Bi-Lo today:
2oz bottle Tobasco Sauce
6 pk pepsi cans
12 pk Mountain Dew
12 pk Cherry Pepsi
12 pk Mug Rootbeer
12pk Dr Pepper
1 can Allen's seasoned collards
2 Boxes Wheat thins
1 Old Elpaso Taco Kit
2 4oz can's of mushrooms
30 9in Hefty plates
1 Kraft shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 Kraft shredded Cheddar cheese
6 Yoplait yogurts
1 box 15ct Totino's pizza rolls
1 TGI Fridays spinach dip
2 Digorno pizzas
1 box frozen soft pretzels
3lbs ground beef
2 packs Hillshire Farms cocktail smokies
1 Oscar Meyer sliced Honey ham lunch meat
1 Oscar Meyer sliced Honey turkey lunch meat
1lb pack of carrots

So drum roll please....
My subtotal before savings was $101.03
My subtotal after savings was: $45.30 (with tax)
So my total savings today at Bi-Lo was $55.82

It took me about 1 hr total that's making my list, getting my coupons together, and doing the shopping! I made $55 for one hour today!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!

Also, I got fuel perks. Mine have been saving up so not only did I save in the store but I now qualify for 40 cents of PER gallon on gas I use! That's huge!!!

So all in all I have to say I'M HOOKED!!!

Happy Birthday!!

This weeks post is about my wonderful younger sister Abigail.

(I have to call her my younger sister because she is taller than me so she doesn't let me call her my little sister.)
Today is her Birthday!!
She has always been a great example to me. Hope you have a great day!!
I love you Abby!!!

Update

I know I have been really terrible about blogging...So one of my resolutions this year is to try to blog at least once a week. It's more of a way of way of journaling for me than to torcher everyone with my boring life.

So hooray for NYR (New Years Resolutions)!

So today my post will be about all the changes at work...(really boring, I know)

Earlier this month we received the announcement that there were going to be cutbacks. So far this month 33 people in VP and director positions will be out of a job on Feb 1. They merged more than 3/4 of the districts in the US. My position covers 1 district on my own. So everyone that holds a position similar to mine that is affected by the district merge may also be cutback. Luckily our district was one of the ones that was not merged or affected. I am so grateful everyday to have a job. Some people are not so lucky. Every morning when my alarm goes off and I think "ugh is it Friday yet?" I remind myself how very blessed I am to have a job that offers me a paycheck, has benefits, and gives me paid vacation and holidays. Which by the way I learned that since I'm in my 5th year with the company, I get 3 weeks paid vacation this year.

So today I am Thankful for my job :)

First Meeting Baby Spence

Today I got to meet my sweet wittle itty bitty baby Spence. Here are few pics.

This was during the first moments of me holding him.

I couldn't look at the camera because I was crying.

While I was holding him his oxygen level was going down so the nurse had me give him his passy so that he would breath through his nose. He was holding my finger. How sweet.

Here he was just snoozing away.

His little toes





His nurse took his breathing machine out of his nose so that I could get a face shot...I know it's blury but it's still cute.



I love this sweet pic of us. I am so in love and he will definately be spoiled...just like all of the others.

I'm so glad that after 11 weeks I finally got to meet him.

Knee Surgery

This may be a little graphic for some of you but I still wanted to share. I had knee surgery one week ago on July 8th. Some of the swelling has actually gone way down. I go tomorrow for my first follow up appt. to see if the dr is ready to take my stitches out. I am still not walking on it...I hate crutches. My armpits hurt and I have callused skin from the crutches rubbing. Its really terrible. Here are a few pics of my knee.

Here is the first pic. You can see where they wrote Yes on it to remind them of which knee they were supposed to cut on.

It looks swollen here but you can really see in another picture below.

Here is ther second pic...closer up. You an see the stiches and my incisions.

This is the third and wierdest pic of all of them. This picture really shows how swollen my knee is. To me this looks like these are legs of two different people. I don't even have a knee cap. Hopefully recovery will happen quickly.

House Projects

I have been on this house project kick. It all started about 2 1/2 years ago and there is so much to do that it's going to take a while. Our projects usually happen around May since that is bonus time for Brian at work.

I'll post pics of each room soon.

The first Project that I did was the hall bathroom. The house had all gold fixtures and I like Silver. We painted, changed all the fixtures- light and sink, hung new towel rods and holders, and changed out the knobs on the cabinet. (Some of this I did on my own but Brian helped with the faucets and light)

The Second Project was painting the Kitchen. It was a deep blue color and I painted it Red and put my Old America decorations up.

The Third project that we did last year...Which was HUGE was we got new carpet installed and the rest of our house painted. After taking on the other two rooms it was just to much to paint the house ourselves. So I found an awesome painter. He painted the Living room, the stair way, laundry area, 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, all the trim and doors, and all of the closets which there are 7 in our house all for $450. We supplied to paint but he had it done in 3 days...and he worked alone. He did a very awesome job. Then we hired Floor Mart West to do the carpet. I would recommend them to anyone. They were way more reasonable than Lowes and the job was completed 5 days from the time we decided to go with them. They got all the padding and carpet changed in 8 hours. It was great! Since we had the door knobs off for the doors to be painted we decided to change all the door knobs to silver instead putting the gold back on. We also changed all of the light plates and sockets out for white instead of cream. It was all quite a task but worth it!

Two years ago I got a new bed frame for Christmas. I had not gotten new bedding since then and I really wanted to do something with our bedroom. So this was one of my next projects. I found some bedding that I liked and some curtains that match. So I got that done. I love having a bedroom that looks nice. I swear it makes me sleep better at night. See pics below.

We are on another project kick. Right now we are getting ready to redo the master bath with new faucets, light fixtures and hardware. Thank goodness I don't have to paint!!
We are also getting quotes for some landscaping in our back yard. That wil be quite the project for whoever we decide to hire on that one. I'll post pics of the horrific yard soon...I'll probably do a post of what our home looks like. I'm so glad that it is coming together!

Just Slack

It has been way to long since I posted anything on my blog... Okay since around Valentines. I'm going to try to pick it back up again. I dropped off in Feb because my boss at the time got fired so I was pretty much running work on my own. It was hard and I didn't want to even look at a computer after I got home.
I have a new boss now who I like alot. Now that I've started to get him aquainted with the way that things work here, I may have a little more free time and not as much work stress to blog.
So Stay Tuned for upcoming blogs.

Valentines Gift

So I can't believe that on my last post I didn't even say anything about the wonderful gift that Brian got me.

He got me a 75 minute peppermint pedicure from Elante Day Spa.

For Christmas I got enough gift cards for a 90 minute Deep tissue massage.

Now I'm ready for a couple hours at the spa!! I'm so excited!!

Thank you Baby!!!

Valentines Day

My Valentines started on Friday.

I got a beautiful arrangement of a dozen roses delivered to me at work.

I got up on Valentines morning and I am in no way a wonderful cook.

I made Brian a breakfast with a touch of love.

I did pancakes in the shape of hearts with cheese eggs and sausage.

I decided instead of planning stuff to just go with the flow. I put a few choices in a bucket and we drew out different activities to do.

The first thing that we drew was go to the flea market and buy something wierd. I forgot to take a picture of the thing but it's a two liter caddy. It's a plastic thing that fits around a two liter bottle that has a handle so you can hold your bottle with a handle instead of it slipping out of your hands. It's definately wierd.

The next thing that we did was go to Shooters Choice. Which is a gun range here in town. It was actually pretty fun. We shot a 38 special revolver. I have to say that it was very empowering. (Mary Beth, I think that a CWP will be awesome!!) Brian says next time we are going to shoot something with a little more power.

Then we went to the movies. We went and saw The Uninvited. It was a very strange movie and I would not suggest this to anyone. Very wierd!!!

Then we went home and took showers and got ready to go to dinner. We drew Outback Steakhouse out of the bucket for our dinner choice but when we were driving by Olive Garden Brian really wanted to eat there. We were expecting to have to wait at least an hour but it was okay since we ate such a big breakfast late. Our dinner was very good and it was great to have a whole day of Valentine activities. It was a great day!!!

Very Special Parents

Happy 30th Anniversary Mom & Dad!!

I love how much my parents love eachother.

This pic is from Rachel and Benjamins wedding. My mom had finished chemo and radiation and her hair was finally starting to grow out. My dad was a wonderful example of how a man should love a woman when she was going through the cancer treatments. My mom is so strong and always had a positive attitude. I am very grateful that my parents are sealed in the temple and that they are such great examples to us.

.

Oh the memories when we used to think that my dad was so silly but he has always been proud of his children.

My mom has always been there for me through EVERYTHING!! I couldn't be more blessed!


And look what great kids they have!!
Happy Anniversary!!!

Happy Birthday Rachel!!!

Happy Birthday Rachel.

Now I know that I am a day late but I just want to do a post for my sister.

She is never embarrased about anything and she knows the right way to eat watermelon.

She is a wonderful mother and loves her children very much.

She is also a great sister. She has been there for me anytime I needed her.

Her children love her very much too!!

We love you Rachel!!!

Win a Wii Fit!!

This is awesome!!!

http://www.milehighmamas.com/2008/12/14/enter-to-win-mile-high-mamas-wii-and-wii-fit-giveaway/

2008 Pics

We went and had our pictures taken. Here are the ones that I bought.

Here is our family picture. We had one more baby since last year :)

I do have to say that we weren't real happy with our photographer.

Last years pic was way better!!

our pic 2007

This pic is just so cute. I know all the girls aren't smiling but it's still adorable!!

Me and my girls :)

Below are the pics of Brian and me.

This one I just love. Yes it is in Black and white.

The below pics I scanned in with our scanner so just keep in mind that the glares are not on the real prints.

Our Christmas Cards:

Christmas Decorations

Okay, so it's been a really long time since I posted. Nothing great has really happened. But I'll do a couple posts now. First things first.

I LOVE Christmas and the lights. So here are a few pics of our home all lit up.

I know there is a dark place on the one side of the house but for some reason who ever did the bushes didn't plant one more on that side. There is a little tree there but my lights for it burnt out and I haven't had the chance to get some more.

Here is our beautiful REAL tree!! I don't like fake ones. I suck it up and save a little to be able to get a real one. They usually cost $60-$80. But I love real trees!

4-4-4 Tag

the 4th pic. in the 4th folder of "My Pictures"

This pic was taken at Rachel's wedding. We were at the temple taking pics and it was so hot. This is Chloe in the car cooling off...

I tag Abby, Kalia, and anyone else that wants to do this