Midweek Motivation

This was me last night:

During the summer months, there are free fitness classes offered at the RiverStage put on by Anchors A-weigh.  I tried out the Zumba class last night with Natalie.  It was so HOT!  I really loved the class.  It was awesome to do a class with a different instructor and be able to keep up!  The two instructors there were awesome.  Yesterday was one of the best workout days I've had.  My mom and I met Travis and Jenny in the morning at the Big Four Bridge and walked where I burned 272 calories.  Zumba almost killed me where I burned 588 calories.  So my total was 860 calories burned for the day!  Woo hoo!  

I am definitely not feeling sorry this morning!

I weighed this morning and my "official" progress is 18.6 pounds!!  I'm so excited!!  That's like THREE AND A HALF bags of sugar.  Or SEVENTY FOUR sticks of butter.  That's crazy for me to think about! But, I love it.  :-)

There are days when I get so frustrated because I just want to be at my goal weight!  But, I am really starting to see lots of small changes.  Those little changes are making it easier to remember that I am making progress.  Progress is good.  

Okay, so I struggled with putting this picture on here.  I've mentioned before that I don't like the full length mirror stuff.  ;-)  HOWEVER, I was in my closet Saturday looking for something to wear to church on Sunday.  I found a dress that I forgot I had ordered last year.  When I got it, it was too small, so I just stuck it in the closet with one of those thoughts of "maybe I can wear it when I lose some weight".  Ha!  Well, just for kicks, I pulled it out and tried it on.  IT FIT.  So, I was able to wear a new dress to church on Sunday!    

There you go!  Some midweek motivation.  Maybe with my next post, I will be a little bit closer to my next goal - 25 pounds! :-)

An incredibly random Friday post

Let the hair drama continue.  My obsession with hair is ridiculous.  I know that.  I can literally talk about hair for hours.  Sometimes, Gretchen and I will be on the phone and before we know it, we will have been talking about our hair for 40 minutes.  I just love how diverse everyone's hair is!  My hair is the longest it has been in  six years!  And, for six years, I've been straightening it every.single.day.  Over the last year, I've been trying to work more "with" my hair, instead of against it.  It has a natural wave to it and I'm trying to figure out how to fix it best!  I still can't decide if I like it curly, wavy, or straight - but, hey, at least I have options, right?! ;-) 

I've mentioned before how much I love Courteney Cox's hair.  Love it!  This week, I got some shorter layers cut and attempted to have Ashly style it similar to a picture I showed her.  

The horrible annoying great thing about my hair is that it continues to get bigger, all day long.  By the end of the day, it's a big puff ball.  ;-)  Let the drama continue... Ha!

I saw this on Pinterest the other day and sent it to G.  Hilarious!  And true.

I feel bad for those of you that I am connected with on all forms of social media!  Sometimes you have to see a picture on IG {because it is my absolute fave!}, FaceBook, Twitter and on my blog.  What's this world coming to?!  I do love it, though. :-)

A little puzzle time with Maggie's great-granny this week.  Moments like this make me smile.

And, once in a while, I catch a moment so priceless, my heart literally skips a beat.

My dad stopped by and Maggie forced him to have tea, and wear a fireman's hat.  I have no idea what they were talking about, but I'm sure it was of the utmost importance.

So thankful for these little moments. :-)

Crazy about our family pictures!

Eric was so excited when I announced that it was family picture time!  ;-)  Brittany took the kids pictures last year, and they were wonderful!  After seeing lots of beautiful work done by Leslie Elder at Letography, I finally booked an appointment.  I'm so glad I did!  {Many of you have seen these already on FaceBook, so you will have to suffer through them again.}

Oh my stars...

 

  
Thanks, Leslie!  I love them! :-)

things we love: the pool, friends, and baseball

I cannot believe how quickly our summer is passing us by!  Levi has been out of school for a few weeks now and I love having him home.  If I could figure out the key to getting my children NOT to fight, our summer would be pretty perfect!  ;-)  Thought I would share some random pictures I've taken trying to capture some sweet moments.

Even though the weather has been cooler {which I LOVE!}, summer wouldn't be summer without the first swim at Grammy's pool!  

And summer also wouldn't be complete without some play time with our sweet friends!  I love these kids!  

Summer also means hours upon hours of baseball.  Hours practicing, pitching, hitting, running, catching, and mostly laughing!  Levi has grown to L.O.V.E. this sport and I can't wait to see how he improves next year. 

We loved our hours spent at the ball park...

...even when it was raining! :-(

And, sometimes, after games, you just have to cut loose and have scooter races...

...and eat yummy milkshakes!  After all, that's what summer is for.  Right?  

One more thing on our agenda was having our family pictures taken.  I will leave you with a sneak peek:  

Motivational Monday

There is one thing that I don't like to do -- get out of my comfort zone.  But when I do, it usually turns out to be a good thing!  A couple of months ago, a group of Zumba girls asked if I wanted to do the Color Run with them.  I politely declined.  Natalie, my friend/workout buddy signed up.  A couple of weeks ago, someone had to drop out due to an injury, so they forced me asked me again to go!  Most of them were walking it, so I decided it wouldn't kill me.       

And I'm SO GLAD THAT I PARTICIPATED!  We had a BLAST!  One of the best times that I've had lately!

Before:  All nice and clean!

If you've never heard about The Color Run, it's a 5K done all over the world that claims to be "the happiest 5K on the planet!"  I can see why they make that proclamation!  They have two rules: 1. Wear white at the starting line 2. Finish plastered in color.  

And color we got plastered in!  

At each kilometer, there was a different color to walk through.  Workers shook bottles and covered everyone in pink, orange, yellow, blue and purple powder.  

At the end of the race, there was an explosion of powder!  Each person had their own packed to open and throw up into the air.  SO COOL!

I cannot tell you how much fun we had and how glad I am that I decided to go.

We have already started looking for another 5K to get involved in!  This stuff might just become addicting. ;-)  

Motivational...Thursday?

I received a text from my sister-in-law, Jenny this morning asking where my Motivational Monday post was.  OOPS.  My reply to her:  I FORGOT.  It's like my brain had a little blog block and I forgot to update in a week!  So, to all 3 or 4 of my loyal readers, I'm sorry. ;-)  Just trying to keep you on your toes!!  

So, here is your Motivational Thursday!  {Not quite the same ring to it!}

Jenny sent me this last week.  She thought it would be good for one of my posts.  I loved it!  If you are on IG, I encourage you to follow shawnjohnson.  She offers some great fitness tips and encouragement!

We've kicked off our summer trying to be more active.  My mom and I are trying to walk together at least 3 days a week.  We took the kids over to the newly renovated walking bridge and it was fabulous!  Such a great place to walk!  The kids loved it and didn't really realize they were exercising, too!  

Now, it's kind of become a family thing!  The more, the merrier!  This week, we took all 6 grandkids, my brother, and Eric.  The walk over and back is about 2 miles and the kids did great.

I'm sure we are hilarious and look like a bunch of tourists -- snapping pictures and stopping every 20 seconds to see boats and barges underneath us or semi trucks on one of the other bridges.  But, hey, we have fun!

I saw the following on Pinterest tonight.  It is very "me".  Time for less excuses and more getting off my butt.  {My mother will die because I typed "butt" on one of my posts!}

And, yes, I'm making those small daily improvements.  Hopefully, not in the too far off future, I will see the staggering long-term results!  Can't wait...

Thanks to all of you who keep encouraging me on my journey!  The best is yet to come!!

Great friends are like brownies. I love them. A lot.

Last week, I got a text from a dear friend, Jill.  Her husband's job took them to Louisiana almost a year ago. She was coming for a visit and wanted to get some friends together for a dinner date!  So, Friday night, we all met up at Kansai for some good grub and great convo.  Bonus: Gretchen was coming in town, so she was able to join us!  

The funny thing was that when G moved, almost 3 years ago, Jill was pregnant with her third child.  Jill is now pregnant with her fourth child, so it's as if time stood still for their reunion!  Ha!  I love these girls!!  The older I get, I realize just how important my friendships are to me.  

After dinner, G and I were able to spend some much needed bestie time together.  Lemme just tell you something: when your best friend moves, it sucks.  There's no other way to describe it.  So, when you are able to spend time together, even if it is just a couple of hours here and there, you just make the best of it.  I love this girl so much!  

Saturday morning, we had a surprise baby shower planned for Jill while she was in town.  After four kids, she probably didn't need a whole lot of "stuff", but let's face it, another chance to gab and eat? I'm on it!  

Jill had NO clue about the surprise brunch - I love it!  Look at that adorable baby bump!!

Again, I just love these girls and am so blessed to have them as a part of my life!

Saturday afternoon, G called and asked if we wanted to meet up and go geocaching with them.  SURE!  I had never been before, but the kids all love it.  I am not one who has a big love for hiking through the great outdoors, but having G there would make it worth it.  Ha! ;-)  The guys took charge and headed off into the land of ticks and mosquitoes while the submissive wives hung back and let them do their thing. 

I adore all of these people.

So thankful for time with our friends!