Halfway mark

We are through 6 weeks of the 12 week challenge and so far I have lost 10 pounds and 3% body fat!!!

Yeah me!

Team Weight Loss

As if I don't have enough on my plate I have added one more huge committment in my life... I joined a 12 week weight loss challenge at Lifetime. It is all Heather's fault. She wants a personal trainer for her birthday and she took me up there to meet him (his name is Chris) and I got talked into this challenge.

It started Monday with the worst part... weighing in and being measured. Today we had to prove just how out of shape we are by showing them how many sit ups and push ups we can do ( or can't do in my case)! It is a grueling work out but fun with the group of ladies I am with. Here is a video promo -

http://www.lifetimefitness.com/team/index.cfm?strWebAction=video&intVideoId=9

I like that it doesn't focus on your actual weight but on fat loss because that is what I am focusing on. I have started taking a new supplement called Osolean that is supposed to burn fat- it is all natural (not like Alli or what we call poopy pants pill) and does not flush fat out of your food but burns the actual fat on your body. I have a special scale that shows my fat content (yuck) so I will update on how I am doing.

I Love Tim Hawkins!

The Pond Saga

I'm still not sure when it all started but somehow we have ended up with a huge pond in our backyard. For years the kids have swam in this large black (indestructible) stock pond that belonged to my in-laws. Our kids had outgrown it and having a community pool really made it obsolete. Chris had been wondering what to do with it so he decided to bury it in the ground and make a small pond out of it (remember that word small).

So we got our pool in the ground, Chris plugged a pump into and we even added a few Koi. We then started reading about Koi (always do this before digging random holes in your backyard) and we realized we needed our pond to be deeper for the winter months. Soooooo ...... Chris started digging again. This time he moved the Koi to a rubbermade bucket where one of them devised an escape plan that involved leaping from the bucket after a rainstorm. Obviously the little koi hadn't thought his plan completely out and we found him the next day on the sidewalk.

Chris dug a much deeper hole with several levels and filled that in with a black plastic sheeting. He made a huge mess while doing this and turned the water a dirty brown ( he thought his filter could handle it- it couldn't). He also added the koi back into the pond (1 original, 1 replacement) but since the water was so muddy we never saw them again along with a frog Chris tossed in that sunk straight to the bottom!!

After more research Chris realized he would need to pump all the water out and start over again. It took almost a whole day but he got all the water drained out (and into the neighbors yard). We were surprised to discover our 2 koi very much alive at the bottom of the muddy mess- no frog though.

Now with clean water in it and we started adding plants, rocks, and crushed granite around the pond. Chris also put 4 fish in this time- 2 koi and 2 goldfish which all promptly died.

We finally got the water balanced so I surprised Chris for his birthday and bought him 2 LARGE bright orange koi and put them in the pond. At that time I noticed the water had turned a very murky greenish color and I couldn't see the koi at all. This became quite the joke in the family as there was even doubt cast that I had bought Chris anything and just made up the fish since no one had ever seen them except me.

We finally fixed the green water and now the pond is wonderful. You can see the fish all the time, the lily pads are blooming like crazy and frogs no longer sink to the bottom.

I found this little pond on clearance at Walmart for $15- pump included! We have goldfish in it.

Just in case you missed the acceptance speech!

Traveling and sickness

July has been a busy month for me. We took our first real family vacation in a long time and drove to Colorado for a week long of incredible weather and relaxation. We got back from there and Chris and I made a quick trip to College Station for the Texas Firefighter Olympics. As soon as we got home we realized something was really wrong with Heather as she had had a sore throat and was not getting any better.... we took her to the doctor only to find out she had Mono.... Yuk!! She has since been sleeping for 2 weeks.

I will blog about the trips as soon as possible, keep Heather in your prayers. Now here are some pictures to tease you with!

My favorite picture from the trip

The girls at Desperation

I can't wait to blog all about Desperation... it was amazing!

All- American Weekend

What a wonderful 4th of July, we started out with a baseball game on thursday night with "all you can eat" hot dogs. Jordan won by eating 6, Caleb came in second with 4.... they are still feeling the effects. The weather was perfect, Heather was disappointed to not make contact with her favorite mascot Deuce the Prairie Dog (Caleb insists he is a sloth- who picks a sloth as a mascot?) but Tom oops Deuce is trying to bribe her back Monday night with free tickets.

On Friday we cooked and shopped and swam for all of 5 minutes.... there is nothing like a large lightening bolt to clear the pool!!

No I might sound like I am bragging a bit (and I am) but our 4th celebration meal was incredible, you cannot go wrong with Pioneer Womans brisket... it is perfect every time I make it. We are using the leftovers to make PW tostados today..... yummy!

Jordan and I tried a new recipe for Bacon wrapped Jalapenos (again from PW), we called them firecrackers and they were delicious. I used nitrate free bacon.

The best part of the weekend was spending time with family. We had a wonderful visit with Aunt Gladys, Kathy, Jenny, and of course baby Jack who is now walking!

P.S. Yes Seth has a black eye... it is a long story and Hunter will reenact the whole thing for you if you ask.

I haven't used shampoo in over a year!

That's right... no shampoo. About a year ago I read a post on a mother's message board (imagine that) about a new approach to curly/naturally wavy hair. I ran out and bought the book Curly Girl and then found the website http://www.naturallycurly.com , this has changed my whole attitude about my hair.

As a baby I had a big black curl on the top of my head and by age two I had a cherub face surrounded by blonde ringlets(and a nasty temper to go with it). When you are little everyone loves the curls but then I reached puberty and not only did my body become confused so did my hair. It went from long natural waves to some sort of half straight, half frizz nightmare that earned me the name "Brillo head" on the bus (I am not making this up). I heard about women who lost their curls when they became pregnant but much to my horror the opposite happened..... more curls and more frizz! I tried growing it long believing the weight would pull some of the frizz and curl out but found instead I just had a giant head of frizz and curl. Then I made the Curly Girl discovery.

Here is my routine now-
- I wash my hair with 365 Herbal Mint conditioner from Whole Foods
- I use Avalon Organics Lavender conditioner as a leave in and let me tell you it smells amazing and since you leave it in it smells amazing all day.
- I use Aussie gel for curly hair and a little bit of scrunch spray.

I feel I am finally embracing my curls and since I have a feeling they will always be a part of who I am that's a good thing.

This is so good!

What is your cardboard testimony? I don't think they make cardboard big enough for mine.

Weddings!

My family loves a good wedding. We love to get dressed up, love seeing old friends and family (the young ones too), we love the food but we especially love the dancing.

My nephew got married this past weekend in Austin at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. It was a lovely location for a wedding. The wedding was short and sweet and I missed most of it as a bug flew in my eye and I had to keep asking Heather for updates.

We had a wonderful meal of chicken medalions with jaberno cream sauce, garlic mashed potatoes (my nephews favorite) and the most delicious salad with spinach, strawberries and candied pecans ( I considered that my dessert).

Once the dancing started though my kids were ready to go... they were bummed they had to wait until the bride and groom, bride and dad, groom and mom all had a dance ( the nerve of them) but once that was over they hit the floor. I did discover my kids are not real fond of country and western and kept wanting to know when the "real music" was going to start.

At the end of the night Seth informed me this had been the best day of his life.... and wanted to know when the next wedding was, hopefully not too long.

GREEN SMOOTHIES!!

We have recently discovered a new health food fad that is going over great in my home.....Green Smoothies. I read about a 30 day challenge on a scrapbook board and decided to try it myself. The first thing I did was purchase a Magic Bullet blender (don't forget to say blender or people look at you funny). I LOVE this thing! I can't believe I went so long without it.

The first batch I made was SO green I was afraid the boys wouldn't even try it so I called them "Incredible Hulk Smoothies" and the boys drank them right down... no complaints! Later that day Seth told Hunter he couldn't cross the monkey bars at the park at which Hunter reminded him that he had drank the smoothie and what do you know?.... Seth went right across the monkey bars!

So what makes it so green you ask..... spinach. Yes a huge handful of spinach. I mix that with various other ingredients and it taste great! Our favorite recipe right now is-

1/2 a banana

4 chunks of frozen mango

2 large strawberries

scoop of pineapple with juice

large handful of spinach

I also add a few pieces of ice, 1/2 cup of almond milk, a couple of scoops of ambrotose and a scoop of organic vanilla yogurt.

You can mix this with pretty much any fruit and other greens to use are parsley, aragula, or kale. I am going to try parsley tomorrow.

Be sure and leave me a comment to tell me what you think.... especially if you try one yourself. I would love to hear of other recipes.

Family Traditions

I am a big believer in family traditions and one of our favorites is Family Camp at Camp Arrowhead in Glen Rose, Texas.

I went as a little girl and my parents took a pop-up camper and we stayed all week. I have such wonderful memories and am still in touch with many of the friends I made on the campground.

When I got married and had children we would pop in for a night or two but when Jordan was a baby the camp opened the new lodge and I decided to go and stay all week.

We have been going every year since. My parents go, along with both of my sister in-laws which means the kids get to spend all week with their cousins.

We head up on Monday morning with a 1 1/2 hour drive. The kids know the way by watching for landmarks -turn right at the canoes, hay bales, nuclear plant, huge ant hills, honk at the birds and we are there!

The younger kids go to their own services in the morning much like a VBS and the teens have a bible study at 9 am. We have church services at 10:30am and again at 7:30pm. The teens get back together after the service for fun and games while the younger ones run the grounds looking for frogs.

We spend the afternoon swimming, chasing frogs and hiking nature trails. One afternoon the teens float down the Brazos River and we try to get to the Black Hole at the Paluxy River on another day. The week is always an incredible time for the whole family.

This year we had such a special time as one of the speakers was our former pastor, Dwight Gunter. It was so good to see them again. We celebrated Caleb's birthday at the river and no one wanted to leave. It was a very peaceful week with some wonderful messages that spoke to all of us. We came home with two frogs, tadpoles, a butterfly and a dragon fly.

We can hardly wait until next year!

Hunter's birthday

Hunter had a special birthday this year as it fell on Memorial Day. We decided to do it up big patriotic style. It started with this amazing cake....

I found the recipe at Pioneer Woman's Blog- http://thepioneerwoman.com/

I also made her brisket recipe and it was yum-meee!

The spread! Hunter picked out all his favorite foods.

Katie made a completly organic 7 layer dip that I will have to post later.

Hunter opening gifts. Heather had painted a large star on his face.

We all dressed in red, white, and blue.

Pinata time!

The candy scramble

The party ended with a water balloon fight and then swimming at the community pool.

More pictures from the Outcast Conference

We are still excited from this incredible conference... it has really energized the youth group and we are looking forward to next year already!

JUMP!
Heather and Travis partying "Jesus style".

What could I say....what could I do but offer this heart of mine... completely to you.

In my life... be lifted high, in my world... be lifted high, in my love.... be lifted high.

Heather signing with Travis leading worship in the background.

At the Zoo

I haven't been to the Dallas Zoo in several years... in fact I have made the effort and traveled over to the Ft. Worth Zoo as I had found it to be quite better. Well the Dallas Zoo has come a long way! I was very pleased with all the new exhibits and especially the children's area. The best part of the day though was Sting Ray Bay where we got to feed and pet the sting rays. They were so friendly and gentle... we are already counting the days until we go back, it is our goal to go once a month.

Can you tell he is SO happy to be here!?

Petting a white rat!

"This is the best job ever"- Caleb

A monkey?

The butterfly garden was incredible!

OTTERS!

Feeding the sting rays