Chelsea's married!

Craig and Chelsea, they are just so cute together! Everytime I see Chelsea I realize how much Silas looks like her....they are just so sweet together. I am so grateful that Silas is able to see his birthmother.

Hannah and Silas, he was messy from his cake and punch, but as you can tell he was so happy eating it.

Ethan Graduated!!!

Wow it is a long time since I have posted anything!! Ethan Graduated with his MBA the end of May. Thanks to everyone that was able to come! We are so proud of you Ethan!

all done

I decided to finish my diet a few days early. I lost a total of 13 pounds!!!! I kept fluctuating between 13 and 15, I weigh 165 now. I am ready to start good old fashion diet and exercise. So there you have it! HCG is a really hard diet but it was great for getting the pounds off fast!

McCall Trip

Ethan and I took a trip up to McCall with our friends who haven't made it up to McCall yet. We had such a good time Swimming, playing games, and walking around McCall. Just wanted to share our pictures!

Silas wasn't ready to stop playing in the snow, so Ethan threw him over his shoulder. LOL

The boys walking out on the lake, I wasn't thrilled about this.

My hubby and I.

I have been to McCall many times and I have never noticed the jail. It is tiny!

Silas thinks he is too old to have to sit in his car seat. Alisha was trying to get him to smile! Alisha and Eric were good sports about hanging out with a Toddler. Thank goodness for good friends!

Diet update

These last 10 pounds are not coming off as easy, but they will come off! I am feeling so good and I am happy that I fit back into my clothes! I will let you know when I loose 10 more!

back on track

It feels good to loose another pound, 8 more to go! Yesterday I felt way more motivated, I am glad to be back on track. I think when I am all done with this I may have to pick up running so I can still eat sugar. I hate running so much, but I would hate to live without sugar more.

I've been bad!

I cheated this weekend!!! Lets face it people I LOVE food, or maybe just sugar! I am ready to be good again though because I want to make sure I have the right balance with food. Anyway I have lost 11pounds so far, I am feeling great about this and want to loose another 9. What I need to know from all my beautiful blogging friends is how do you deal with stress? I usually eat sugar and I need to stop that!

BAD DAY!

When I weighed myself this morning I GAINED 1 1/2 pounds! I am not sure why because I have been sooooo GOOD and Following the diet perfectly :(
We are in the process of car shopping right now and today was really stressful for me. So between car shopping, dealing with Mechanics, and trying to keep a 2 year old busy happy and clean I CHEATED. I ate a full candy bar, I have always wondered if I was a stress eater and the answer is YES! The biggest problem is that I still want more because I feel STRESSED, ugh!

10 lbs!!!!

I've lost 10 lbs in 8 days!!!!! WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!! The eating is getting way easier, I don't feel hungry like I use too at all. Ethan said he is able to tell and see a difference, I notice it only a little bit.
I thought I would share some of the yummy things I have been eating. All of these recipes serve 1 person.

Orange Chicken Salad
1 orange
2 Celery Stalks
4 to 6 oz of Chicken (I used a Rotisserie)
Cut up orange and celery into chunks. Add Chicken cut into chunks and toss. Add salt or pepper if needed. You can also add Crab instead of Chicken that is the way my friend Molly does it, and she loves it.

Warmed Grapefruit
Slice a Grapefruit in half. Cut around the inside and all segments. Add Stevia (a natural sweeter)and Cinnamon on top, as much as you want. Place in Microwave for 1 min 3sec.

Lettuce wraps
4 to 6oz of Lean Ground beef
1 or 2 full lettuce leafs
Red, Green, and Yellow Peppers, use half of each one. Chopped
1/4 to 1/2 an onion chopped
Fresh garlic or dry, Salt, Pepper, and Lime juice to taste

Brown beef, drain off excess fat. Add Onion and all the seasonings, Cook until onions are softness that you desire. Add Pepper and cook until lightly firm. Add all ingredients to Lettuce leaf and wrap like a tortilla.

Baked Asparagus
Preheat oven to 425. Wash asparagus and place in a oiled pan. Sprinkle with Salt pepper and lemon. Cook for 7 to 10mins. Serve with Grilled Chicken or Fish.

These are just some of the good food that I am enjoying, just thought I would share.

American Idol Fans

I want to know what all of you think of Michelle Delamor loosing. I thought she would be there close to the end. However, I never voted for her because there were others that I liked better. Michelle had the whole package though, looks, incredible voice, and star power. So I am interested in what all of you think. I was soooo surprised that Didi stayed. Don't get me wrong I love Didi and I didn't want her to go, but Michelle was way better. So what do you think?

It's really working!!!!!

I woke up this morning feeling energized, happy, awake, and excited!!!!! I NEVER EVER feel that way in the morning. Seriously I use to feel sad every morning until about 10 am, it would take me that long to feel like the world was a good place. It has been a long time since I felt like jumping out of bed and going for a walk or cleaning first thing in the morning.

I weighed myself this morning and, drum roll please..............................I have lost a total of 5 pounds!!!!!!!! SWEET! This is really working, and it is changing my life in so many ways! The first 2 days were so hard I didn't know if I could do this. I think my stomach has finally shrunk because I don't feel as hungry. I have been cheating a little by eating an apple wedge here or an extra Melba cracker. But that is only when I feel like I have hit a wall and I need to bring my blood sugar back up. I am loving being off of sugar, I feel so good and healthy. I have been so addicted and used it for energy. I am so happy to finally be treating my body right. I really am going to loose 20 pounds!!!!! 15 more to go!

Day 5 Getting easier

I dreamt about food all night last night, ha ha ha ha! Yesterday was a little easier but I did cheat. I just couldn't handle how weak I was feeling. I ate more protein than I was suppose to, a few more tomatoes, and a couple of extra apple wedges. But the good news is that I still lost 1 pound!!!!!!

Ethan is being really supportive and sweet about this diet, but I am sure I am not very much fun to be around. Yesterday he asked me if I would feel this weak and grumpy for the whole month, poor guy. The sad thing is I thought I was pleasant enough to be around............ I was trying really hard people. Hopefully my body will get use to it and my appetite will shrink.

A couple of things I am loving about this diet are........... I wake up in the morning feeling awake and well. Usually I feel nauseated and tired. Secondly last night as I was eating lettuce it tasted sweet to me, LOVE that! And lets not forget about the herbal tea, I had some before bed last night and slept like a baby. I will definitely try the tea you suggested too Meagan, thanks! Thanks for all the comments they really do motivate me, blogging about this helps keep me on track.

Harder than I thought it would be

This is hard!!! For a few different reasons. 1st I just don't feel good, I have read that I can increase the protein if I need to but I want to give it a few days before I change anything. I just keep thinking I need a few raw almonds to get me by till it is time to eat. I know that I am a baby so I am trying really hard to be brave and stick it out. I always give up on things when they feel too hard or I am not succeeding so I really need to stick with this. I am hoping this will be the end of self indulgence. This really is about more than just weight for me.

2nd I am cranky!!! I feel so irritable and I just want to be alone. Yesterday Silas was just being a 2 year old boy (which it is hard to find Patience on normal days) but Yesterday was even harder. I finally looked at him and said "Silas, mommy is very grumpy today and I really need your help." To my surprise my son who always wants to play tackle football and has no time for hugs or kisses said. "Mama hug?" And reached over and gave me a hug!!! Then said "mama kiss?" And gave me a kiss, I couldn't believe he was old enough to put all that together. What a sweetie it really meant the world to me. I cry about it every time time I think of it.

3rd I am a tense person, I get worked up easily about things, and I stress. I always eat something before I go to bed so I saved half an apple for before bed. I ate it too early though and was feeling hungry trying to fall asleep. That made me really tense, which made me clench my jaw, which made me tighten all the muscles in my head and now I have a monster of a headache. I need to learn to RELAX but it is really hard for me!!!!

THE GOOD NEWS is I lost 2 lbs!!!! I am LOVING eating this healthy. Last night I had Tilapia, a huge bowl of spinach with lemon, salt and pepper on it..... and a couple of melba crackers. YUM! I am excited to change the way I think about food and to shrink my appetite. I drank a gallon of water yesterday and I felt so energized from that, and I am loving the herbal tea it helps me relax. Thanks for all the motivating comments!!!!!

Ending with Ice cream

Phase 1 is gorging and it is over!!!


My sis Christy who is doing the diet too.


not sure what to say about this.....thought it was funny though.

I just look so hot in my PJs, without makeup and my hair pulled back..........Wow!

I am not going to hold anything back, since I am being honest......... I decided to end my gorging with 2 different kinds of Cold Stone Ice Cream!!! I just couldn't decide which one I wanted so I got 2 small ones, Birthday cake remix, and mojo something........ YUM! A little embaressed to admit it but that is what I am suppose to do on day 2. I forgot to mention that my sis Christy is doing this diet with me as well so I posted both of our before pictures above. So there you have it, you know all my stats. I will keep you posted on how I am feeling on 500 calories.

HCG Day 2

Well I ate a ton yesterday just like I was suppose to and I feel sick! Red robin burger, fries, shake, onion rings, hot dog, and spinach artichoke dip. One more day to go than I start my 500 cal a day. I weighed myself this morning on the Wii fit. I weigh more than I thought I did so I am a little embarrassed to post this. My starting weight is 178, my BMI is 24.9 which is still normal, I am not considered overweight by all the charts but I really feel overweight. My goal is to loose 20 pounds, which will put me at a BMI of 22. For those of you who don't know anything about this diet I will try and explain very simply. I will not even try and pretend that it isn't a fad diet because it is, but I am excited to try it. Basically the doctor that discovered this says that there are 3 types of fat in your body, 2 which are normal and 1 which is abnormal. According to his studies when you do normal diet and exercise your body holds on to the abnormal fat until the other 2 types of fat are gone. HCG allows your body to tap into the abnormal fat 1st and resets your hypothalamus (If you have weight problems, according to doctor Simeons there is a disorder with your hypothalamus). You eat 500 calories a day and are not hungry because you are burning so much fat each day. I know several people who have done this and it worked for them so I am really excited, nervous, and scared!

TAbLe

The Table is done!!!!! Wow it was way more work than I thought it would be but we are really happy with how it looks! Don't you just love the pathetic way Taffy is sitting there begging, silly dog!

HCG

I wasn't sure if I was going to post about this or not, but after much thought I figured why not. I decided to do the HCG diet, for many reasons which I honestly don't care to explain. Anyway today is day 1 and I am suppose to gorge today and tomorrow!!! I must admit I am having a hard time with this as I am mentally ready to change my lifestyle. Anyway I am trying to eat a lot, it is only 9:30 but I have managed to eat waffles with peanut butter and a cookie.......I just LOVE sugar people. I will keep you all posted about the good the bad and the ugly of the diet.
I don't have that much to loose but I will take a before picture and post my weight and measurements, I have nothing to hide you all see me anyway. (Sara this is for you since you put the bug in my ear....... and all those other lucky readers)

Valentines Day

Ethan took me out to Asiago's for dinner on Valentines day. I have never been there to eat before, we loved it! The food was so good, the atmosphere was awesome, and the service was great. Ethan knows how important food and good conversation are to me, so he had a whole list of interesting topics and questions for us to discuss. After dinner we walked around downtown and took pictures of us. We are so bad at remembering to take pictures so we worked really hard to snap pictures of everything. Then we went to the movies and saw Valentines Day, Ethan was a good sport to sit through a chick flick that I know he didn't enjoy at all, LOL. Thanks for the great date babe.

This was an appetizer we had that was soooo good.

Little Gym

Silas feeling so cool with his new shades and back pack.

We have been taking Silas to The Little Gym, and we LOVE it! I just had to share the pictures for journaling sake. This class has definitely taught him some cool moves that I am sure is a good thing, ha ha! It is just so fun to see him stretch each week and do things that he wouldn't do the week before. Wow they just grow so fast.

Refinishing

Ethan and I are working on Refinishing our Table. Do any of my blogger friends have advice for us? We have it sanded and now we are ready to stain it. Please share any advice you have, and of course wish us luck!

Silas' new room

I have been meaning to post pictures of Silas' new bed, I just love these pictures of him. Usually I can't get a great big smile out of him but he has been giving me lots of them lately. Silas loves his Robot bedding and demands to sleep on the robot pillow which is a sham, oh well not a battle worth fighting.

We finally bought enough pieces for Silas' train. He got the Table for his birthday and some random trains. We gave him the train set for Christmas, I had no idea how hard it would be to get the track to fit right LOL. I LOVE that Silas is getting old enough to play with toys. He is starting to use his imagination and gets shy when I catch him pretending.

Words to live by

I saw this on someone else's blog, I loved it so much I had to share!

MARY ELLEN SMOOT
on creation

We each have to say to ourselves, What will I create of my life? My time? My future?

First, go where the Spirit directs. Be still and listen. Your Heavenly Father will guide you as you draw near to Him. Immerse yourself in the holy word of the prophets, both ancient and modern, and the Spirit will speak to you. Be patient, ask in faith, and you will receive guidance in your creative efforts.

Second, don’t be paralyzed from fear of making mistakes. Thrust your hands into the clay of your lives and begin. I love how Rebekah of old responded to Abraham’s servant who came in search of a wife for Isaac. Her answer was simple and direct, “I will go,” 3 she said.

Rebekah could have refused. She could have told the servant to wait until she had the proper send-off, a new wardrobe, until she lost a few pounds, or until the weather was more promising. She could have said, “What’s wrong with Isaac that he can’t find a wife in all of Canaan?” But she didn’t. She acted, and so should we.

The time for procrastination is over. Begin! Don’t be afraid. Do the best you can. Of course you will make mistakes. Everyone does. Learn from them and move forward.

Third, support others along the way. Every person on this earth is unique. We all have varied interests, abilities, and skills. We are each at different levels physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

Finally, rejoice. Creation isn’t drudgery. Creation flows from love. When we do what we love, we rejoice along the way.

If you are unhappy, if you are feeling weary, troubled, or disillusioned, may I ask you to try something? Instead of dwelling on your troubles, focus instead on creating something remarkable, something of eternal significance. Nurture a testimony, strengthen a relationship, write a family history, go to the temple, serve.

now go take on the day!

Baking!

Before Silas was born I spent lots of time day dreaming about the things I would do with my children and the lessons we would learn together. LOL.......... I think I was dreaming about having a doll and not a real child. Life is never exactly what we dream it will be, thankgoodness! I never realized how stressful it would be to try and bake with a 2 year old! Naturally like any 2 year old Silas wants to do everything on his own, he just doesn't understand that there are some things that he cannot do. We made cookies together in this pic, and we had a blast. I have had a good laugh thinking about all the stressful funny things that Silas did when we were making the cookies. For example dumping the cinnamon in after I already added it, grabbing an egg when I wasn't looking (he is sooo fast!) , and making a bit of a mess with the blender. Believe me when we were making the cookies I was a little frustrated, but I really cherish those moments I have with him even if they do not happen the way I thought they would. I LOVE this picture of us and I am so grateful for my determined little boy!

New Table and chairs!!!

We just bought new chairs!!!!!!! I am so happy to be rid of my ugly farmhouse chairs. It is so nice to have new leather chairs they make the clean up from Silas so easy. One of our friends gave us the table, we need to refinish it but I am so happy to have a big table. I LOVe getting new furniture, isn't it fun?

Christmas

We spent Christmas at home with my Sis and our good friends the Zwiefels. We had lots of good food (I can actually make good food) Stuffed mushrooms, spinach artichoke dip....honestly I can't remember everything, LOL. We played moods which is a very fun board game and lots of Rock Band. I am so mad at myself I didn't take very many pictures of our Christmas.....I am so bad about taking pictures ugh!

Si enjoying all the good food!

These are our mice that we make every year, they are so good and fun to make.

The boys playing Rock Band, that's Alisha in the back making the funny face. LOL

We opened presents at Christy's house this year. While we were opening presents our friends the Turley's stopped by with warm muffins! Thanks guys that is an awesome tradition. Silas got a toy laptop among many other presents, we totally spoiled him this year. I said that I never would, so never say never. He didn't even open up his train set till the day after christmas he was having so much fun playing in his new tent on his toy laptop.

Si sporting his new Madagascar pjs and Laptop

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!