Discouraged...2nd weigh in.

So those of you who aren't familiar with weight watchers, heres a little run down so you can better understand the "points".

Depending on your age, weight, and height, you are given a daily "point allowance." Mine is 29, which is the lowest amount you can possibly get. Food point values are based off of protein, carbs, fat, and fiber. These things combined tell you how many points a certain food is. Fruits and veggies are FREE (which is great for me since I'm a vegetarian, right?) and then you are supposed to chose lean proteins and whole grains because they are always less points. Makes sense. To give you a little idea of how many points things are, here is a little list that compares good-for-you food and not-so-good-for-you-food:

English muffin: 3 points
1 tbs. of peanut butter: 3 points (that is considered kind of a lot but it is good fat.)
2 tbs. fat free salad dressing: 2 points
1 c. whole wheat pasta: 5 points
Lg. Fry from Mcdonalds: 10 points
Big Mac: 13 points
9 piece chicken nugget: 11 points
Small chocolate shake: 10 points.

So as you can see, the better you eat, the more you can eat. (DUH) So weight watchers is kind of all about portion control. You can have a hamburger if you count the points and eat according to the points you have left the rest of the day. You are also allowed 49 EXTRA points for the whole week that you can either use here and there (like 2 extra points one day to eat a cookie, or 4 extra points to have more salad dressing, whatever) or you can use them all in one day. Thats usually what I do on Saturdays. Though our instructor says after our Saturday morning weig-in, "Today is not a free day!" I kind of treat it as such. It's not really free because I'm using my 49 extras, but still...I just don't really count that day period. I just save my extra points for Saturdays. ANYWAY...

That was really long. Sorry.

So I weighed in Thursday instead of Saturday last week. And since that only gave me Sunday-Wednesday to lose weight (in my head) I decided to eat as little as possible. BIG mistake. I'm talking: a banana and 2 pt. yogurt for breakfast, a 1/2 c. cottage cheese for lunch with celery and grapes, and a 10 pt. dinner. I sabotaged myself for sure because from Sunday-Thursday I only lost .2 pounds. Yep, you read that right... ONLY .2!!! So needless to say I was very discouraged. We spent the weekend in St. George again for SUU's Homecoming and to see my parents once again, and I never do well counting my points when we're eating out and eating randomly throughout the day. I was just telling Drew today I feel like I'm not doing as well as I did my first go-round because we're traveling so much.

This post is kinda depressing and pointless, but I am just feeling really discouraged and sad that I'm not as motivated as I need to be. It's like, in my head I want to lose the weight and do whatever it takes to do it, but SOMETHING is taking over that motivation and I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I saw a good friend from college this weekend who has lost a lot of weight and looks amazing. I asked her what she's doing and she said she cut out sugar and flour, which takes a LOT of motivation. I am happy for her and she looks so good, but I am very jealous of her motivation. Why can't I act on my motivation in a similar way??

So, I am conciously going to make a REAL effort this week. Working out every day. Eating exactly 29 points made up of whole grains, fruits and veggies, and lean protein. Drinking my 2 liters of water (which is the only thing I can really stick to lately).

So if you're still reading, :), wish me luck again! I'm gonna need it this week to come back from my sad sad week last week. Also, I probably gained ATLEAST that .2 back this weekend not counting. So I'm gonna have to work pretty hard.

Total loss: 2.8
Weight to lose to meet first goal: 5.2

9/11 - 10 years later

This picture below is the view from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. It is my favorite monument on the mall in D.C., and it is significant to me for a special reason. It was always my favorite because of the views from the steps, as well as the symbolism and architecture of the structure as a whole. But-it became more significant to me as of 9/11/01. Picture this picture below, without all the people.

That is where my dad sat after a morning jog on 9/11/2001. All by himself except for a janitor sweeping the steps. He expressed to me (after he returned from a business trip a week later due to not being able to fly home) his feelings that morning. Feelings of freedom and gratitude to live in such a wonderful country. Sitting on a national monument, looking at a handfull of other monuments as well as our nation's capitol. Can you imagine, not more than a few hours later he was watching the Pentagon smoke from his hotel conference room? And that same capitol he looked at with such peaceful feelings would be in danger?

Maybe my dad's thoughts that morning in conjunction with what happened a few hours later are what changed me. But, as I look back on the last 10 years since that tragic day, I think it's been the tragedies SINCE (as well as that day, of course) that have changed me. I was in 8th grade on 9/11/01, and although I remember the day's events very well, I don't think I understood the impact that day would have on our future, as a country AND as individuals.

20% of Americans knew someone directly who was affected that day specifically. Whether it was a loved one who passed away, a friend, or a loved one of a friend. 2,977 lives lost, and many more suffered injuries. And almost half a million New Yorkers are affected by post traumatic stress disorder. That day was a tragedy and my feelings while writing this are similar to those I felt that day.

Yes that day was a significant day in our generation's history. But many forget about how they felt that day, and more importantly how our brother's and sister's throughout our country feel. They might feel that it was "just a day" but..here are some more tragic numbers that are happening TODAY because of "that day that was just a day."

6,000 soldiers killed in the war.

100,000 + innocent Afghanistan citizens killed.

$3.3 trillion dollars in debt spent on the war, and homeland security. Putting us in a greater debt than ever before.

And perhaps something everyone is forgetting: the WAR itself stemmed from 9/11/01. Our country is divided because of the war. The past 10 years of division and fighting is because of one decision in 2001. We all look at each other differently, not in a good way. It terrified us so much that we allowed a rash decision and that has created a war among our own citizens.

I am so thankful to live in this country, and so thankful to all those soldiers fighting, wherever it may be, to keep my freedom. I know 9/11/01 changed our country forever, and will continue to change it forever.

That is my rant. I am surprised to see how many people are disrespectful of such a significant day throughout the U.S. And I had to say something about it. :) You know me! Or if this surprised you, I guess you know me now. :)

I will NEVER forget. And I hope you won't either.

First weigh-in results

Last weekend we went to St. George to my parents' new house to just hang out for Labor Day Weekend. It was fun to see my brother Kellen and his family, who we don't get to see very often. (Or is it whom, Alyse?? haha.) We went to Cedar City to see one of the Shakesperean Festival plays (a Jones tradition.) Luckily, it was my FAVORITE Shakespeare play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Love it. Loved it. Then we went to "Crazy Stupid Love" that night. I HIGHLY recommend it. It's super funny and cute and even has a twist. It's a good chick flick that guys like too. Then on Sunday we were able to just hang out and swim in the pool and play games. I am so happy my parents got this house so we can meet in the middle atleast once a month. We are actually going again next weekend because it's SUU's homecoming and we are attending the events. GO SUU!! :) Here are a couple cousin pics. It's hard to get a good one of three CRAZY munchkins.





And here are some pics I took of Luke tonight. He wanted to wear his elmo slippers (despite the 90 degree heat outside), and his pirate hat. He looked pretty silly, and cute. :)






And finally...the real reason for this post, haha. I lost 2.6 pounds this week! I wish I could weigh-in at Weight Watchers in my underwear like I do at home cause I am a whole 1.5 lbs less on my scale. But I am still happy with 2.6 on theirs. :) I didnt have a perfect week but I did ok. I am hoping to lose atleast 2 lbs again this week so wish me luck. I found some pics of me at my goal weight and decided I should post them for a little motivation. The worst part is...I thought I was "fat" when these were taken, which proves women are most of the time not happy with the way they look. Sad. I am making a promise to myself that when I lose enough weight to look like I do in these pics again, I will be happy!! (i might need some reminding. But seriously, what I wouldnt give to look like THAT now.) So here is to another week. It has cooled off is weekend in Vegas so hopefully it stays cool enough that I can run again! Yay. That will help I know!
Stats:
-2.6 down
5.4 lbs to lose til first goal of 8 lbs lost.

Weight Watchers

I started Weight Watchers back in February of this year and had a very successful 12 weeks! When signing up, you can either pay weekly, or save about $50 bucks and pay for 12 weeks up front. I decided on that option, not only to save money but because I thought that if I had already paid for it, I would be more likely to not cheat and do bad on the diet! I was right! I did really well and I was very proud of myself. I lost 18 pounds and never gained anything the whole time. There were weeks where I only lost .4 lbs, and weeks where I lost 4.6 lbs, but in the end I averaged about 1.8 lbs/week, which was great for me.

THEN...summer came.

I decided to not pay for another 12 weeks (even though I had another 20 lbs to lose) because it would just be too hard to be weighing in every weekend in a different place. I told myself I would keep track of my points/water/working out on my own without the meetings and weight ins. All I wanted to do is maintain where I was so that come fall, I could sign up for another 12 weeks and not have gained back anything.

Well..I bet you can guess how that went. (For those of you naive people, NOT WELL.) I did okay on making right choices and not over eating in the beginning but traveling a lot = eating out a lot. And it's hard to make the best decisions when eating out. I KNOW I could have done it if I would have tried harder. That's the hardest part about gaining back weight. I know it didn't have to happen, but it did...so heres where I'm at now.

I signed up for another 12 weeks last Saturday. I had played around with the idea to start a "weight loss" blog and post EVERYTHING there. I would post my current weight, along with what I lose, and things I tried that week, etc. But, I decided it would just be too much for someone like me. I don't even like my husband knowing my weight! So, what I've decided, is to share my success' on this blog, but not disclose numbers. I will say what I've lost, how far I am from my goal, etc. That way I can have something to look forward to when I do well, and sharing with everyone will make me more motivated!

So as of last week's weigh in:
-I had gained back 8 lbs of what I lost back in the spring.
-I like to set my goals in small doses in order to get to my BIG GOAL.
--My first goal is to lose those 8 lbs.
--Once I meet that goal, I will double it to 16 lbs.
--That will be 24 lbs total. Then I will only have 8 more until my ultimate goal!
-My ultimate goal is 32 lbs., which is the weight I was at my sophomore year of college and when I got married and was in the best shape of my life due to working out with Acclamation ALL the time and eating healthy getting ready for the wedding.

Weight Watchers determines what they think your goal should be based off of height and body mass index, but I don't necessarily like to go with that because I know my body better than they do. Even when I was in the best shape of my life, I wasn't in the range WW says I should be. It's because I have more muscle in my legs than most 5'1'' girls. AND my growth got stunted when I was in 6th and 7th grade due to taking steroids for my blood disorder. So my body is just kinda messed up as far as how tall I am vs. how much I weight. Haha.

I feel like I'm already disclosing more than I should. :) So, heres to blogging about my success in an effort to stay motivated and keep going! I know I can do it. I was well on my way before, and I know I can do it again. AND once I meet my goal, we might start thinking about another baby. Which is the best reward I can think of! So if you are reading this, please wish me luck and feel free to give me advice and encouragement! I might need it along the way!

I am weighing in tonight (Thursday) instead of waiting until Saturday morning because we are going to St. George to spend the weekend with my family. So this week's weigh in will probably not be what it could be since I'm weighing in two days early, and at night. I like to try and weigh in the same time of day and same day each week to keep it consistent. So I will most likely start blogging next weigh in, next week. Stay tuned!

House Updates

I changed my mind about a couple things in our house. :) Of course, after it took us a whole day to paint our kitchen red (when we moved in in January), I changed my mind a couple weeks ago and wanted to paint it purple. What inspired this thought was I wanted to antique our cabinets with gray and I thought purple would go better with gray than red would. It would also look better with our living room color since the red kitchen and blue living room made it look like 4th of July in our house. (Which is one of our favorite holidays, don't get me wrong.) Drew didn't mind at all and we started researching how to antique cabinets and what look we were really going for. So, we practiced "antiquing" a cabinet in Luke's bathroom upstairs because it's the same exact color/wood as the kitchen cabinets. It didn't go over so well. I really should post a pic of our first attempt because it's tragic. Like, really bad. So we decided maybe it would look better to just antique the cracks in the cabinets rather than the whole thing. Below is how they turned out. I think Drew did a really good job but haven't decided how I really feel yet. But everyone that has seen them, loves them. I think they will look really good once we get silver handles on the cabinets. But the purple is pretty. It looks BLUE in these pics and it looked blue no matter what I tried. So I tried to get a close up of the purple next to a white sign, and thats the real color.

Before:

After:

And here is a pic of our new guest bedroom. That bed is my old day bed I had growing up!


We also painted our bathroom brown.

Before:



After:

And Drew did some construction in our closet to make it fit our needs better.

Before:


After:

And heres my favorite update! We got a bed! It's from Ikea and the nightstands attach to the side of the bed so it's really convenient and cute. The lamps were from Ikea, and the lamp shades from Big Lots! $10 bucks each! Now all we have to do is finish our curtain/canopy idea. It will be really cool, and I'll post a pic when it's finished.

Before:


After:

I also made this wall art with scrapbook paper, modpodge, and canvas'. I like how it turned out! It matches our bedspread really well.

Sorry this one is blurry...

We still have the vinyl lettering that says "Goodnight my love, goodnight my everything" on the wall opposite the window. It's above our new dresser we got for $20 bucks that matches our bed. I LOVE yard sales!

I have to add some cute pics of Luke. He is growing and changing so much. I feel like this last week he has evolved to a toddler. He has an attitude! He is so fun right now, though. It's hard leaving him when I go to work but luckily we have a great baby sitter and her one year old and Luke have become best friends!

And last but not least...we are in the process of re-doing Luke's bedroom. He never really got a cute bedroom because we moved so much in the 1st year of his life. So now we have cute ideas we want to do. Here is what we have of the alphabet for the "ABC" wall we are doing in his room. (Mom...here is what we have, be on the look out for cheap letters!) Haha..I can't wait until we can finish his room finally!

The "B" Language

Luke is the biggest "talker". He seriously wants to talk so bad but just doesn't know the words! He is constantly jabbering, and gets louder and louder until he gets his "point across." He does know certain words, and he has learned to point to things or stand by something he wants, etc. It's the cutest. But, we have noticed more and more how much of his vocabulary are "words" that start with B. Here is a list of words he uses and their meanings. :) (Since you aren't hearing them say it I have to spell them so you will understand how they come out...it's kinda hard..haha)

Bah = Bath

Bah Bah = Yo Gabba Gabba

Baw = Ball

Baw Baw = Drink

Bop Bop = Beep Beep (Thats what he calls cars and his little tractor he rides.)

Bu Bu = Bubbles

It doesn't look like that many words but these B words are mainly the words he uses all day long! (He loves Yo Gabba Gabba, his sippy cup and his favorite toys are his "beep beep", bubbles, and balls...so yeah that's our day.)

His other "words" are:

La La = Elmo

Mmmm = Food (haha)

Ni Ni = Night Night

Ma Ma = Mama (duh)

Da Da = Dada (duh)

Uh-oh = Whenever he falls/something falls/his show ends/he does something bad.

I'm sure there are other little ones but nothing else I can think of right now. He is at such a fun stage! I miss him so much when I am gone at work but it is so fun coming home to his smiles and giggles. He does the funniest stuff. The other day at the grocery store he stood up in the cart (in the big basket part, not the kid seat part) and I told him to sit down while pointing down with my finger. He just smiled and pointed down to me with his finger. Drew and I couldn't help but laugh. He also has learned how to hit. Where do they learn that? SERIOUSLY? He knows its bad though. He starts crying immediately after he does it. But we have started giving him mini time-outs to try and teach him to stop. He is still the cutest thing ever. He goes down for bed without a "baw baw" now and doesn't even cry. We have a pretty set routine down and I think it has helped him adjust. He still cries at nap time but I think it's because he knows we are awake. I dunno. Hopefully that doesn't go on much longer. We do give him sippy cups with milk at nap time, so that helps. Anyway-he is changing so much every day and I love his little words. I just had to blog about them so I remember them in the future. He will probably start learning more and more words and then I will miss his baby talk! He understands a lot though. OH! And he also knows what a cow says (mmmm) a kitty cat (maaa) a doggy (ra ra) a snake (ssss) and a monkey (ah ah ah).

Drew read our blog a few days ago and said I never updated about my new job. I started last week at a company called Desert Perinatal Associates. There are 3 offices in the Las Vegas/Henderson areas and they are pretty well-known cause the perinatologists are awesome and they really work with you. (A Perinatology office is pretty much a "high risk" pregnancy doctor.) We see pregnant women who either have at-risk babies with some type of problem, or who have problems themselves. It ranges from IVF and twins/triplets to birth defects in the babies. And in the mothers it ranges from diabetes and hypertension to blood disorders or late prenatal care, etc. We seriously see SO many different cases. It is REALLY fun. I am a Part-Time Medical Assistant at one of the offices which happens to be 10 minutes from my house! Super lucky..I don't even have to take the freeway. :) But I pretty much just do patient vitals and intake (asking all the questions) and then set up the ultrasound rooms. There are lots more little things I do but thats the main job description. I love it and the days go by super fast. I want to go back to school to be an Ultrasound Tech eventually, so this job is right up my alley. Anyway, that was a LONG description. It's just a GREAT job! That's all!

My parents FINALLY closed on their house in Coral Canyon (outside of St. George) and we are so happy! We spent the weekend there getting them settled. Well, they got it settled and Drew and I just lounged around. But we can't wait to have a place to meet and spend mini-vacations there.

I seriously am slacking at taking pics of Luke and I need to be better! We always just snap quick pics with our phones and we've gotten out of the habit of taking real pics! I will try and be better because he changes every day. Sorry for the boring post with no pics! Maybe I will do an all pic post next week! :)

Serious Slacker

We are back from vacation, for good. This makes me sad but in a way, equally, happy. It's so fun traveling with my two boys and I seriously love road trips. Even with a baby. He has his days, but as long as we have cartoons and snacks, he is pretty good. (He seriously is an angel baby until it comes to cars...then his evil twin emerges.) We were able to do lots of fun things this summer, and it will probably be our last summer that both of us are "completely off work" for the whole summer. Now that I have a job, it won't be AS easy to make quick trips places. But I am sure we will still find a way. Drew is excited to get back to work in 2 weeks, and I start training this Wednesday. I am nervous, and excited...(so I will sing a song about being nervous but excited...has anyone seen that Zac Efron High School Musical skit on SNL? Go watch it. Now. I love it. HILARIOUS...then you will understand the nervous but excited thing..haha..) and I know it will be the best thing for our family, all of us. I just hope I don't miss TOO many cute things that Luke does. Hopefully he is just boring all day for everyone else because he is so funny and I seriously am dying thinking about the funny faces/noises/anythings he makes that I will be missing while at work. But like I said, it's the best thing for us. I am really hoping grown-up conversations and feeling accomplished and responsible for something will help me get more acclimated to life in Vegas. It's been a hard *VERY HARD* adjustment for me. Different than I expected. This time when we left Heber it was even harder because I was leaving behind my brother and his family (who just moved there from Henderson. They lived 10 minutes from us.) Although we didn't hang out TONS when they were here, we saw them enough and switched baby sitting enough that I've already seen the difference without them here. (And it's only been a couple days.) But they are in a place thats better for their family too. So I am happy for them. Anyway-this is turning into a rant that I wasn't planning on. I will hopefully get more organized/back on track with blogging once we get back into our normal daily grind. Until then, we are painting our whole house and I am making lots of home decor crafts that will keep me pretty busy. But the plus side is, then I will have something to blog about! :) I have been horrible about taking pics this summer. Here is a cute one of Luke at Drew's family reunion Luau party.

-Luke now has two molars. They were a party coming in, let me tell you. (ARRGGHH NIGHTMARE!)

-He walks/runs everywhere and hates holding our hands. He has his own agenda.

-He loves Elmo and Blue's Clues and Yo Gabba Gabba. The characters are his bff's!

-He is such a good eater and will eat almost anything.

-He is *for the most part* weaned off his bottle, and goes to sleep on his own after just a little crying. (I hate that part but he is getting better and better.)

-He loves to dance and sing the Elmo song, "La la la...la la la la..."

-He got his first (and it was NASTY) black eye last week.

-He still only says basic words, but his jabber talk gets more and more crazy, which I am hoping means he is closer to saying bigger words. We'll see. ;)