Results are in...

...and I am SUPER EXCITED about them!  I am so glad that I heard of this group and found a way to join, even when it seemed next to impossible given our money situation ten weeks ago (a lot has changed since then, it seems like it has been way longer since Travis got his new job!)!  I am grateful for the amazing and *WAY TOUGH* women that were in my group and kept me motivated, my trainer who chased me down the time I tried to give up, and my fabulous husband and mom who took such good care of my sweet and patient babies and gave me tons of support.  There you have it, my acceptance speech!  I WON!!  I lost 49.8 POUNDS for a total of 19% of my starting weight, and THIRTY INCHES!  It is definitely not over, let's be honest, but I am half way to my goal and I feel awesome!  Sports Academy took before and after pictures, and after they send them to me I will post them... well, maybe! :)

2 Weeks Left...

...of Ultimate Loser.  Holy cow, it is hard to believe it has been two months already!  Well, so far things are going FANTASTIC!  I have lost just over FORTY POUNDS since starting and am in FIRST PLACE for the prize.  My trainer has a blast coming up with crazy stuff for us to do.  We did everything this week from pushing her car up a hill (like, a looonngg hill!) to running stairs and doing sprints on the field at the stadium.  GOOD STUFF!

Still Going Strong

I know, I know, I have cute sweet smart babies, and I should probably write about them sometimes.  But, not today! :)

Today wrapped up week six of the Ultimate Loser Challenge.  I am excited to say that, out of 22 people, I AM WINNING THE CONTEST!!  I have been working out at least two hours each day (and trying to stay moving even when I am not at the gym) and have been logging every calorie that I eat.  It is paying off!  I have lost 26.8 pounds since I started six weeks ago!  The contest is judged by percentage of body weight lost, and right now I am at 10.24%.  I have a lot of great competition.  These ladies all totally kick butt!  But, that is a good thing because they definitely keep me motivated.

Four weeks left of the competition and I still have some big goals to accomplish. 

The Ultimate Loser Update

I am feeling super excited about The Ultimate Loser again.  Last week and the first half of this week was gloomy, but my knees are *mostly* better now and I am back to the Gym-Three-Hours-A-Day routine.  The weigh-in today left me 6.2 pounds down.  Wahoo!

Frustrating!!

I have been so excited about this Ultimate Loser experience!!  I have given it everything I have to the point of puking!!  And now, for almost a week, I have been unable to do any weight bearing exercise.  That includes eliptical.  And I am FRUSTRATED.  It is only a ten week program and, after the two-three weeks the doctor estimates I will be out (patella-something-or-other) I am feeling at least a little short changed.

I am feeling lucky to have good trainers, though.  I will be doing separate workouts (upperbody) while everyone else gets the real thing, but at least I will have the help of some super-knowlegeable people.  And I am still in love with my Exerspy and my Dotfit program, so that's a plus.

My second weigh-in (last Friday) left me down another 3.8 pounds, so even without the exercising I am off to a decent start.  Just imagine if I could really give it my all...

1st Weigh-In (Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnn)

The first day of Ultimate Loser was this past Monday, so this weigh-in only reflects the past five (well, we weighed first thing this morning, so four) days.  The exciting total:  FIVE POUND WEIGHT LOSS in 4 days!!

The Ultimate Loser!!

I am SO FREAKIN' PUMPED!!  Today was day four of  the Sports Academy Ultimate Loser training.  It is SO HARD!!  I am absolutely shaking by the end of (middle of... 5 minutes into) it.  We alternate between two awesome trainers and mix up the workouts like crazy.  In addition to the one hour of ass-kicking training I have been meeting my goal of an additional hour at the gym.  I am not at the point where I stay after training... I come home for an hour or two between, but I always go back!  

One of the most awesome things that this program entails is an EXERSPY (updated Body Bugg, like Biggest Loser contestants wear).  It is FREAKY how much this thing knows!!  I wear it all of the time (minus showers) on my upper arm and it constantly tracks my activity and the calories that I have burned.  You can click into each MINUTE OF THE DAY and see how many calories were burned.  You can also find out sleep patterns.  Even though I lay in bed for about eight hours each night (so I totally thought I was sleeping eight hours) when I clicked into the breakdown it showed how often I was awake and laying down, or when I would sit up for a minute, and also when I was actually asleep.  After taking it all into account it turns out I am only sleeping just over six hours each night!

The Exerspy goes along with a food log (type in what you ate and it finds the calorie intake right down to taking the brand you were eating into account) that updates calories and compares to the calorie expenditure and at any give time you can see your calorie deficit!  It is SO EXCITING!  I weigh in tomorrow, but I feel super-good about it!  Even though I am the biggest chick in the group I am doing very well at keeping up and, well, KICKING BUTT!!   

Family Pictures

I love taking pictures for people! It is one of my favorite things ever! However, I am not so crazy about being in front of the camera. But let's face it, family pictures are important. And when you are friends with an amazing photographer you just don't have an excuse to not get pictures done! So, here they are: My family pics! Thanks SO much to Alexis (who I love!) for shooting these for me, and also for teaching me so much in Photoshop (I did the edits).

The Shark and the Lobster

We are all ready for Halloween at our house! The theme this year (yes, a costume theme... I plan to coordinate the boys until they are old enough to make me stop!) is ocean creatures! Quinn is crazy about sharks and loves to wear his costume around the house. He can't get enough of staring in the mirror in amazement of his awesomeness. The first time he saw himself as a shark I thought I might never get him away from the mirror; he was totally in awe!

Miles is my little lobster. It's the cutest thing ever when he crawls around in his costume with his little lobster tail swooshing behind him! (I will get some better pictures of their tails and post them... it is the best!) Miles is ten-month-old... this costume is a size 12-18 month costume... it does not come even remotely close to fitting over this fella's head! Look at how it doesn't even reach his ears! Haha, I love my fat-headed babies!!

Just a random inquiry... I have been playing around in PSE and wanted some feedback on this composition of the same pic from above... is it fun or is it too much?-

Dear Blog, I missed you.

I'm not sure what has kept me away... perhaps it's Facebook (yeah, that definitely has something to do with it...), but after a blog-break as long as this one I was needing something to be a big-deal before I broke the blog-silence. And here it is:

My apartment is a two level, tall skinny apartment with 15 fairly steep steps. Where the stairs begin is the area that we keep shoes in (right inside the front door) so we have a baby-gate to keep Miles out of the shoes. Today I was working frantically upstairs trying to finish a disk of pictures and I spaced out closing the gate. When I realized the gate was open (because Quinn kept coming up and going down) I figured that as long as the door was open I could hurry and finish what I had started... that way I could still hear Miles and keep an ear out for trouble.

Quinn ran upstairs into my computer room and slammed the door shut. I explained to him that I needed the door to stay open so I could hear Miles playing downstairs. I opened the door and Quinn ran back downstairs. No more than two minutes later, Quinn ran back up and slammed the door again. I told him, "Miles is stuck downstairs and I need to be able to hear him if he needs me. We have to keep this door open." I went over and opened the door again... and there was Miles! My 9-and-a-half month old, who has never been on a stair in his life -and has only been pulling himself up on furniture gracefully for a few weeks- successfully (thank goodness!) used his determination and Quinn's example to climb every step and come to the room that I was in! My baby!! Yay!! (And how terrifying that I underestimated him so greatly to leave the gate open!!!)
We recreated it when Travis got home (Travis followed him up while I coaxed him from the top) and Holy Cow, I was amazed how fast he found his way up!

Here's a pic of my little guy on the first step to give you an idea of his journey:

It's been a while since I've written on here, so I just thought I would do a quick update...

Miles is 7-months-old and still not sleeping through the night. He is super cute, sweet, and happy during the day, so I forgive him for my sleep deprivation.

Quinn still comes up with crazy-cute things to say constantly! Last night we were in Logan Canyon building a fire to roast some hot dogs. I lifted a large branch up to break off the smaller pieces to get the fire going (it was a big, bushy branch) and Quinn looked at me with huge, wide eyes and said, "Mommy, you maked a tree!"

Travis and I are still busy pretty much always. I have been doing a lot of photography, and I am having a blast with it! I am loving the business end of it as much as the photography, which is awesome!

There you have it.

You's Happy at Me!

Two things I have heard about potty training:

• You can't push it.


• Boys start later and take longer to potty train.

Well, I have decided to push it a little bit! We bought a little potty and we got Quinn some big-boy (Spiderman) underpants. He was thrilled at the idea of being bigger (since he is already 'big')! He sat on that potty for half of the afternoon yesterday with no results...

When he was all ready for bed and the lights were off he told me he wanted to pee on the potty... so we gave it another shot, this time with SUCCESS! We both high-fived and squealed with excitement! We sang Potty-Big-Boy songs at the top of our lungs and danced around the room! Quinn kept saying, "I did it, Mom! I did it!" It was awesome. Then when he was calmed down and ready for bed again he looked at me and said, "You's happy at me, huh?!" Very happy, Quinn, very happy!

I Heart Faces Contest

This weeks contest is all about boys.
The kid entry is one of Miles' 6-month shots that I took this weekend.
My adult entry is Travis doing what he loves to do!

Miles is 6-months-old!

I am CRAZY about this kid! I took his six-month pictures today and we both LOVED it. He is in heaven when Mommy gets direct 100% of my attention at him!

I love this picture! Here he is: in the kitchen, on a huge piece of fabric, with all the windows and door open, crammed inside a giant tea cup, Mommy is laying tummy-down on the floor, and the only question going through his head is, "What's this thing on the end of my leg?"

This is what he thought of being an angel.

And, last but not least, his cute little bare bum!

Watch for more of these on my photography website. I will post them when I have all of them edited!

Awkward

If anyone ever considers sending a photograph I have taken to this site, please contact me first for a full refund!

Quinn Cracks Me Up!

I laid with Quinn before he fell asleep tonight and we talked and talked. Finally, I said goodnight and got up to turn the light off. As soon as I flipped the switch and the room went dark Quinn yelled, "OH NO! MINE EYES ARE GONE!"

Do you love yard sales?

I do. Some wonderful person (people?) put together this awesome blog... they even organized it to be north to south! If you love yardsales and are in Cache Valley check this out!

Bath Time!

When Quinn was brand new I was always so on top of documenting every little event through pictures and video. With Miles... not so much! In fact tonight was the first time I ever even grabbed a camera for bath time! (We joke that it is good that they look so alike... we can write Miles' name on the back of some of Quinn's baby pictures!) Miles has recently started joining Quinn in the big tub and they have a lot of fun together! These two love their baths!

A good lesson!

I haven't kept it a secret that I am fed up with the thieving young vandals who live all around us in our apartment grouping. Quinn's toys constantly disappearing or mysteriously breaking, my flowers all being thrashed, my garden decorations going missing, etc. really adds up and drives me nuts! So when we went to McDonald's last night so that Quinn could play in the Playland I was disappointed to see that the place was crowded with kids of "that age" (8, 9, 10, 11-ish). I watched everyone like a hawk. I was ready to stand up for Quinn if an older kid so much as bumped into him (okay, I am being a little bit dramatic here, but you get the idea... I was on edge).

Quinn did fantastic climbing the tubes until about half way. He came out into the opening and then didn't know which way to go. From the ground I was trying to guide him which way to go and he was starting to panic. I was helpless! Then one of the little boys -who I had figured was a heathen- said, "Don't worry, I'll help him!" and took off up the tubes. He took Quinn's hand and helped him up the rest of the way. Quinn squealed and laughed all the way down the slide and came out at the bottom sitting on that little boys lap! As soon as he was standing up he took off right back up the tubes! The boy was right behind him, asking if he wanted help. They rode down the slide together again. The sweet little boy, whom I'd been so quick to dismiss, came over to me to tell me how good Quinn did that time, and that "he learned a lot and was good at climbing." That first boy, along with a second one, helped Quinn and played with him the whole time, not even once trying to escape little Quinn who slowed them down so much!

Those sweet little boys almost brought tears to my eyes; it was a fantastic lesson for me! It was so reassuring to see boys of "that age" being such awesome kids!

5 Months Old!

I am a little late with this post, but as of last Wednesday (May 20th), Miles is five-months-old... and SO CUTE! I love this little guy so MUCH!