Halfway there

Just over a month ago I decided to lose about 13 pounds. So what does my wonderful, supportive husband do? He takes me to the gym to sign up for a membership. Honestly I don't think he thought I would actually use it. LOL Well, he was wrong! Sorry honey! :-) I am at the gym about 5 days out of the week. I have also cut my calories by limiting soda, alcohol, sweets, white flour, fried food, fast food and any other good thing you can think of. Ha Ha I have been eating more protein shakes, whole grain, fruits, veggies, peanut butter, lean meats, green tea and lots of water. Now I do treat myself a little bit on the weekends and sometimes I'll have a little treat during the week but I have really been trying to limit my calories and eat healthier.

Great news is that this has all been paying off! I have lost almost 7 lbs as of last Saturday. I am only allowed to weigh myself on Saturday mornings so I don't drive myself crazy. :-) My clothes are fitting a little better, I bought a size smaller than normal in jeans yesterday and I feel great! I am actually lighter than I was on our wedding day. I do still have 7 more pounds to go but I know I can do it. I am super blessed to have such a supportive husband and mother-n-law!

Happy Birthday Mike!

Happy birthday to a wonderful brother and brother-n-law! We are so lucky to be able to call you our brother. We hope you have a day as special as you are! We love you!

Grateful for Grammie!

Words can not describe how special our Grammie was and still is. I will always remember my summers at Grammie and Papa's house, riding our bikes around the yard, swimming, going to church, playing with Tanya, eating watermelon and corn, using Grammie's heating pad while watching Wheel of Fortune with Papa, tempting to help Grammie with her many crafts, walking down Main Street during their sidewalk sales, visits to Gove, washing dishes :-) and so many more wonderful memories. I can only hope to be 1/2 the woman Grammie was. She is the most genuine, kind and loving woman I know. She has instilled such good values into all of the family and that is one of the many reasons that she will always and forever live on. She may be with the Lord but I almost feel her presense even stronger now than when she was here on earth. She is with me always, watching over me and all who she loves so much. We miss you Grammie and love you forever!

An Amazing Birthday!

Ok, so I know I am terrible when it comes to posting anything in our blog. This will all change. I have started a wellness challenge called The Best You which will last for 12 weeks. One of the things that I need to do for the day (there are 10) is to write in a journal or blog. I figure why not kill two birds with one stone! So here I go!

This weekend was my birthday and it was awesome! I received lots of phone calls, emails, gift cards, gifts, a beautiful bouquet of flowers and love. One of the gift cards we received was to Bonefish a yummy restaurant here in NN so Randy and I had date night on Saturday night. Luckily it didn't turn out like the movie Date Night! LOL :-) So anyways, we went to dinner at Bonefish, ate dessert at the Melting Pot (fondue restaurant) and then took a little walk. It was so wonderful for us to be able to enjoy a date night like that. Thanks Tom and Eve!

For my actual birthday Sonia, Precious, Randy and I went to VB for the day. We met Mike and Ashley and went to the beach. Holy cow, the weather was amazing! I could have stayed out there all day. In fact, God blessed us with amazing weather ALL weekend! Once we were done at the beach we went back to Barney and Deb's and Deb made a yummy dinner. We had BBQ baby back ribs and pasta weesie (one of my favorite dishes from Carrabbas). Oh my gosh it was all so good and to top it off we had ice cream cake! Thanks Deb for all the super good food you made and bought for us! Randy and I are truly blessed with such incredible families and friends.

Better late than never!

Ok, so we know it has been a LONG time since our last post, 8 months to be exact, but we are back and figure this is the best way to keep our loved ones updated.

We had the best summer! To start, we had Jaclyn's graduation from ASU on May 14th. We couldn't be any more proud of our little sis! Then at the end of May beginning of June, Jaclyn stayed with us for a whole week in VA. We had so much fun going to the beach, botanical gardens, navel ship tour and a wine tour. For Labor Day weekend Eve came out to visit us. It was so incredibly nice to spend time with her too. We spent a bunch of quality time with her and tried to keep it mellow but still went to the beach and took her on the wine tour as well. We missed them both as soon as they left and wished their trips were longer but we were grateful to have spent the time we did with them. Love you girls!

Randy's birthday was September 20th and his mother, brother and I got him Redskins tickets. We went to the game in middle of October and had an awesome time even though they lost. :-(
Sorry honey, there is always next year. :-)

I need to run. Will post more later, I promise!

So last Sunday night we finally saw snow! It snowed for about 24 hours giving us about 3-4 inches of snow. Since our roads are not maintained and not many drivers in our area know how to drive in snow, we decided to work from home. Precious didn't mind the snow at all, in fact she licked it and ran through it. We would take her leash off and she would take off running in circles as happy as could be. One week later we are in the 70s and possibly the 80s. Gotta love VA! :)

Things have been going great. We are training for the Shamrock Marathon (8k, 5 miles) in two weeks. We are running it with Deb and our friends Rachael and Sarah. We hope to beat our times from last year. Otherwise, we are both busy with work and greatful to have jobs.

We hope you are all doing well! Miss you and love you all!

Snow in Virginia

I couldn't not
post a picture
of Precious.

Hello All! It has been a while since our last post but better late than never. :-) Our holidays were absolutely wonderful. We enjoyed our very first Christmas together as husband and wife. We spent Christmas in Phoenix with family and friends and couldn't ask for a better visit. Sonia, Randy's mom even came out for a couple days. We took her to Sedona with Jaclyn, Randy and I. When we got home to VA we were lucky enough to have 2 more Christmas dinners, one with Mike (Randy's brother) and Sonia and the other with Barney and Deb. How lucky are we! I think we were full for a week after all the yummy food in AZ and then coming home to 2 excellent dinners. Needless to say we haven't been dieting since the trip. Ha Ha

Hello! I know that it has been a very long time since we have published a post so I will try and fill everyone in. First off and seems to be most important lately, Precious is still bleeding! After a visit to a specialist we found out that she has an infection and SIPS which means that part of her placenta did not attach to the uterus after she had a litter in April. We are hoping that she hasn't been bleeding since then. We feel so lucky to have found her and we think she is happy to be with us too.

Randy has lost 10 lbs on the diet that we were both supposed to be on. I am so very proud of him and his dedication to the diet. Unfortunately I did not do as well and I think he gave Precious and I some of the pounds that he lost. J/K Ha Ha Way to go honey, I am proud of you!

Work has been busy, got a new dining room table and looking forward to the holidays. That about sums it up.

Love to all! The Mars Family

This is my friend Brandi's daughter Madison. She was a cowgirl and looked so cute with her red hair and freckles! We had a great time trick or treating. It has been a while for me. Ha Ha

This is Precious as a pink bug and her friend Sohpie the chicken. We went trick or treating with my friend Brandi and her daughter and had to take the dogs. Too cute! ;)

My new sweater that I REFUSE to walk in. I stand at the top of the stairs and sit real pretty when my mom and dad try to take me for a walk. I don't care how cold it is outside, I refuse.

She did not want us to leave. :-(
So cute!

This is what happens when my husband falls into a deep sleep on the plane. I couldn't help myself. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard on a plane before. Sorry honey, had to do it.

Trip to Kansas

In the middle of September Randy, Dad and I took a trip to Hays, KS for the weekend. We arrived Thursday morning and left on Sunday. We had a great time visiting with Grammie, Papa, Maxine, Larry, Art, Becky, Elsie, Candy and Scott. Dad and Randy did a couple things around the house like fixing the stove, working on the computer, working on the sump pump in the basement and setting the special brick that Dad had for Grammie and Papa in front of their house (see below for picture). Aunt Maxine and Uncle Larry came over on Friday and spent the day with us. The boys all went to have coffee and I got to go to the excellent Chinese restaurant across the street with Aunt Maxine to have lunch. I don't think Aunt Maxine and I have ever had one on one time, it was very nice. Thank you Aunt Maxine. We also got to see all the beautiful quilts that Grammie has been busy making, she had pictures to show. Then on Friday evening we had Uncle Art, Aunt Becky, Elsie, Candy, Tony and Scott over for hamburgers. It was wonderful visiting with everyone. Saturday Dad made ribs and Papa made milk noodles so we were definitely full. :) Papa was able to show Randy all of his antiques in the front office and Uncle Art brought over his race car (see below). Then on Sunday we had to leave. It was a quick trip but well worth it. Randy keeps telling people that it helps him to understand why I am who I am. I forgot to mention that Papa told lots of stories about his kids. Good stories, but I found out that I am a lot like my Uncle Mack. We both want things 'our way'. So Uncle Mack, you aren't the only one. :) Plus, with almost all the kids with tempers I didn't stand a chance. Ha Ha
Thanks Grammie and Papa for having us out there! We love you!

Happy Birthday Mike!

On September 8th we celebrated Mike's (Randy's brother) birthday. We had dinner over at Sonia's with Sonia, Mike, Ashley, Randy, Precious and I. As you can see, Mike was VERY surprised when he opened his gift. :)

We love you Mike!

Football with Dad