June Updates

The 21 day fix is going, well...it's going! It's so hard to stick to it sometimes...especially with holidays & family functions. I have managed to lose & keep 6lbs off going into week 3. I'm okay with that, considering how awful I have eaten a few days out of the last 2 weeks! My goal is to do better each day...and see what can happen. This week I will follow my normal plan, and then next week (July 4th week) I will do the 3 day fix...which really restricts eating & focuses on exercising, to wind up the 21 day fix. Once 4th of July is over, we will hit it again for another 21 days...and we plan to continue this lifestyle indefinitely! Cheating & junk food is a must on some occasions! Gotta live, a little at least! ;-) 

Time is flying by...tomorrow our little man is officially 20 months old. FOUR months until he turns TWO. Speaking off, I placed the first order tonight for favors for his "Oh Two-odles" birthday party! Lets put it this way..."We've got ears, say Cheers" sums up what I ordered ;-) I need to control myself this year, last year was a bit...over the top. Haha. Oh well, I'm just "That" MOM! 

He has such an amazing personality, loves animals & balloons. Being outside, playing in the dirt & water, riding his 4-wheeler & driving his different cars (He seriously has a collection going...) He's talking a lot more & loves to say "NO!" but we've gotten a few "Yes"'s out of him lately! He has learned to open the fridge...which poses a problem when he wants to eat lunchables & cheese all the time, or when he's walking around licking a frozen pizza roll...oh yeah, never a dull moment! We have child locks on our pantry & exit doors to our home now, because yep...you guessed it, he's conquered the door opening 101! He's in such a routine when it comes to bedtime...it's so stinkin cute, I wished I could video it to always remember how cute this little man is, walking through the house butt naked before bath & then in his cute jammies on his way to bed. He must have Goofy (he has 2...a small one that we got him & a medium one from Jennifer, Jose & Tommy... he must have BOTH with him) and his little puppy that his Aunt Karen & Uncle Ted & Mason gave him for Christmas last year. And his silky blanket & his taggie...and he gives tons of kisses & it's just precious & heart melting! 

I don't see how anyone could not like being around him. Or any child who's of that age, with this type of personality (Not going to lie...the whiney, fussy, loud kids drive me crazy!) But he's pretty mellow most of the time. It's actually sad that some people, just don't want to be around him. But, it's definitely their loss! We love him, he's got a lot of family & friends who love him & enjoy being around him...and those are the people who matter to us! :D 

Anyways...here's some pictures since I just love making posts picture heavy...

My cute date with his "big boy haircut" before church :) 

We got to go to the beach last weekend when Aunt Sue was down, we went crabbing & he went swimming (not planned, he just has no fear apparently!) 

Isn't this just like "Hm, wonder what life will be like today?" Pose!?

LOVED the (nasty) beach water!

And of course...enjoying some rain puddles dumped on us by Tropical Storm Bill! First Tropical Storm to go through in our house & with Corbin...and it wasn't very bad. Our neighbor lost a big chunk of their tree, and we just got quite a bit of rain making our grass so very green we can't complain! 

Until next time...

Week 2, 21 day fix

Hey! So, officially 9 days completed of the 21 day fix! It's going really well for both of us. I weighed in on Friday, we both did...and for once, my results trumped Travis'! I had gone from 218, to 208! TEN lbs, in ONE week. Amazing. While I did the shakeology for breakfasts, I never found one I was "oh so in love with", no matter how I blended, mixed, froze, all were just not for me. So I decided to whip up some scrambled eggs with veggies to get me through the rest of the week until I can try a diff protein drink to weigh my options. Shakes are just faster for me, I can drink it on my way to work or to drop off Corbin at daycare. So we did 3 work outs last week. Shameful, I know. But still saw amazing results! We had my Aunt Sue in from Louisiana, so we did eat out more than we were planning. We plan 1 cheat meal a week...and while we ate out 3x's, we still controlled ourselves...at least I did. haha.

Here's my breakfast, snacks, & lunch for tomorrow. For supper we're going to do ground turkey/beef mix and either do spaghetti with it or make meatballs...something. haha. Below is: Ziti pasta, Grilled Chicken, Squash, Carrots, Cucumbers, Watermelon, Yogurt w/ fresh strawberries, my "omlette", a cliff bar & in the orange container...peanut butter! My after dinner snack for when my sweet tooth kicks in!

I decided on Monday to take my 2nd picture in front of the mirror...wearing the same outfit that now is loser on me. I can totally tell a difference in how my clothes are fitting. All of my athletic shorts are becoming large on me, to the point my husband makes a comment (compliment) every day. I wear uniform scrubs to work...and kind of the "turning point" for me was when my scrubs were tight. Tight to the point of ..."Maybe I shouldn't squat THAT far..." and one of my co-workers has had huge success with the 21 day fix, so I inquired more and ordered the goods. My scrubs are BIG on me. To the point of..."how much tighter will this drawstring REALLY go before my pants just give up & fall to the floor?!" Ok...so maybe not THAT severe...but pretty close. I have SOOOO much more energy. Trust me, when someone sits beside me at lunch with a bag of crunchy cheetos I want to pounce on them like chester...but I know better. I know I'm seeing results, and I know my food is VERY good tasting & good for me, and leaves me feeling hyper/happy/energetic...vs how those "delicious at the moment cheetos" do! that being said...I am already brainstorming our 'cheat meal' this week. I guess it'll depend on the number on the scale. We worked out last night and tonight, last night we did the cardio video, tonight was Yoga. Tomorrow & Thursday we will have to hit the arms/legs again, and my legs are probably STILL sore from those crazy moves last week! BUT it'll be totally worth it in the long run. Here's week 1 picture vs week 2. I will take measurements again at the end of 21 days.

Until next time...

HERE WE GO!

Hey everyone! SO, Travis & I decided to take the 21 day challenge with Shakeology & Beachbody! One of my co-workers has had amazing results and became a coach recently, so I ordered through her. We began on Monday, June 8th...the 21 day fix with the containers & work outs. I am drinking a shake for breakfast, but Travis isn't. I'm so excited. The work outs are only 30 minutes long, which is PERFECT. Because frankly, working out for any longer than that will NOT keep my interest for very long. I always get "bored" or just find something "better" to do. Haha.

So I'm getting my water in, working out now, and eating a LOT healthier. It's only the end of day 2, and yes while I feel like my legs may fall off & my arms burn...I am feeling 100% better. I can already feel & tell the differences with my clothes & energy level.

I'm hoping to post at least once a week, maybe more if I have time..during this 21 day fix! I want to be held accountable, and with Travis participating as well that makes it SO much better & easier for me!! I don't have to listen to him go on about how good Whataburger, Grandys or Chick Fil A sound! hah!

So, I'm willing to put my stats out there. They are embarrassing! Maybe that will hold me more accountable??! When I weighed in on day one...I weighed 219lbs. Most people don't think I weigh that much and usually make me stand on a scale in front of them to prove it (silly, I know...why would I make myself weigh more!?) I am tall-ish and I feel like I do carry it well. However, I know I am over weight...and not eating healthy. Life is busy, fast food is EASY. But the lack of energy and bleh feeling...I had enough! Here is one of my before pictures...so, here's to 19 more days! I'm excited we will finish round one before 4th of July! I'm just nervous because my Aunt Sue comes down tomorrow for a week...luckily I work all but the weekend while she's here, if not I'm sure I'd be very tempted to eat bad with all the good cookin my Mom will be doing!

I hate the fact that I still have such a "baby belly" pouch! Time to CHANGE that!

Day 1. Let's do this!

2 days of my meals! Went with whole wheat pasta, tomato sauce, grilled chicken & grilled turkey/beef mix for my meals. Salad with: Spinach, Kale, Cucumbers, Tomato's, Carrots, and olives. Clif bar for snack, peanut butter for snack, fruit & shakeology for b-fast! It's really a LOT of food! 

My short term goal is to lose 25 lbs-ish. I'd like to be around 195 when we go to Disney! YES we're going to DISNEY WORLD! Not for a few more months though :) Let's do this!!

May catch up!

Busy is an understatement. And is that wasn't enough, I've taken on yet another adventure...I now sell Jamberry nail wraps! I'm mainly super excited because of all of the product I get for cheap (or free) and I love them, so if I sell a few and spread the word about something so amazing...even better! Here's some of my nails over the past few months...

We've been busy with home projects, vacations, quality time with family...you know, enjoying life! God has blessed us, we say this a lot, and we Thank God all the time for all of the wonderful blessings spiritually, physically, mentally and financially. 

We celebrated my 28th birthday here at home, my hubby got me a cookie cake and I was able to spend the day with both of my boys! It was great! We did dinner at Peter Piper Pizza with the in laws, I was blessed with many gifts, cards, calls and texts! 

Easter was just 2 days after, we had a small hamburgers and egg hunt here at our house, my oldest sister was able to stop by, we had my parents, in laws and my husband's father's parents here for lunch & to watch Corbin (ever so slowly) hunt the eggs! 

He had to check out what the bunny left for him before getting ready for church...

Every good egg hunter must take a M&M break!

At the end of April we took a family vacation to San Antonio! We had a great time. We stayed at a Drury, so we had free breakfast, free (ended up being supper both nights!), free soda & popcorn mid-afternoon, indoor pool, and for Mommy & Daddy...free adult beverages each evening! (We mainly booked here for the drinks indoor pool! :) 

Our first day there, we went in through San Marcos so we could reminisce from Travis' Texas State days! (can't believe he graduated from there with his Bachelors 6 years ago!!) We ate at Gills (best fried chicken & biscuits EVER) & realized that his apartments on the river were no longer there! The river changed SO much since we were there last...6 years ago I guess! And so has the campus. Crazy. We did some shopping, of course Corbin received an abundant of new clothes! I purchased a cute little Vera Bradley wristlet & that's about it! 

We checked into the hotel, ventured out to the Bass Pro Shops & I got some new sunglasses (Whoop whoop!) 

Swimming, running around our hotel was on the agenda the remainder of day 1! 

Day 2 we drove out to Fiesta Farm Zoo! That was to be the BEST place for kiddos, heck, I enjoyed it too! (Super cheap!) Corbin was able to interact with chickens, goats, bunnies, pigs, horses, even rode a PONY! He had a great time, as did we. We took a hay ride & all... 

No, we're not holding our nose...we're blowing kisses to Daddy!

After Fiesta Farm we went out to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch Drive through zoo! We have been there a couple of times prior, but Corbin has never been (Unless you count the weekend when I found out I was pregnant...and he was only like, 2 weeks in the womb!) 

He got a HUGE kick out of it. Of course, anytime he gets to ride shotgun he LOVES it. 

Not going to lie...the Zebra scared the bag right out of my hand!!

After the drive through zoo we ate at Red Robin...I'm pretty sure Corbin's favorite part (besides freckled lemonade) was the doting waitresses, and receiving a balloon on our way out! That balloon made it the whole evening, next day, and until we were unloading in our driveway...then kaboom!

On Friday, our final day...we went to the San Antonio Zoo! It's much larger than I remember, so we knew we weren't tackling it all in one day. We began the day with a FUN train ride! Not many people on board, and it was nice weather. 

I'm pretty sure he enjoyed chasing the "free" animals more so than viewing the sleeping exhibit ones!

Yep, still terrified of the carousel 

Afternoon snack in his red wagon! Let me explain this picture...it almost didn't happen. You see, while we were on above train ride, we left this gem of a wagon parked between the train station & the track, with people who work there (thankfully) all over. Everyone leaves their strollers, buggies, ect. there, because you can not pack these items into your train car! Well, we get back and get to loading up Corbin in it, to take off to the zoo, and a conductor comes up and says "You know, someone came up and started to take off with your wagon, but saw we were watching & dropped it and took off" We were both in shock, and if Corbin could understand to that level he'd have been as well. You really can NOT trust people. Don't get me wrong...the wagon is nice, but it's not overly expensive and it even has a license plate with Corbin's name on it. How could anyone steal from a child? I just don't get it. After that we kind of "took turns" with exhibits that required us to forgo the wagon...until the carousel, we insisted we do that as a family...and our concept was "If someone needs that wagon more than us, then so be it..." It was still there, and that is how I was able to capture this image above. He's eating his animal crackers & drinking out of his monkey cup (from his Birthday party, yes, I'm cheap...he knew no different, and he thought it was awesome he got to use it!) 

After this, he was crashed out. We grabbed a bite for the road...and vacation was over. It was a blast spending so much time with my 2 main men. 

In between all of the fun above... with the help from our parents, we were able to replace our privacy fence! It saved us a lot of money being able to do it ourselves, and we appreciate all of the time & help our parents gave between giving advice, wrangling Corbin & physically helping remove/replace posts! It looks great...and even our 2 pups enjoy it! 

We all know what spring means, especially in south Texas, ESPECIALLY with the amounts of rainfall we have received as of late...DEWBERRIES! We loaded up! Corbin was eating them as fast as we picked them, he's definitely our child, haha. I've already made 3 cobblers, and still have 1 gallon bag in my freezer, Whoop! 

Travis tackled a "pinterest" idea...! We had been discussing a "catio" or "cat-itat" to get their box out of the main house, and give them some "freedom" of outside. Based on the layout and where we were willing to budge...they have a catio in our garage! They seem to enjoy it. The shelves are covered with green outdoor carpet, he used left over wood from my craft table he built me to do the shelves & total cost out of pocket was under $100. Not bad :) 

To end this ever so long (was going to be a quick post... & not picture heavy (ha, like I've EVER done that!)). Here's a capture of our front page of the newspaper. I'm sorry, we live in SOUTH Texas. Not the Panhandle anymore! We lived there in Amarillo for a little over TWO years, and NEVER did we ever see this, nor have to have a "Code Black" at work! Here, TWICE in one WEEK! This is crazy weather! Thankfully no major damage has been done, and everyone's stayed safe! 

Anyways, thank you guys for reading & keeping up with our 'adventures of married life...with kid!' 

Until next time :)

Stockshow & Birthday Shenanigans!

Lately I've fallen guilty to "plopping in my recliner and watching trashy t.v." in the evenings, I go through phases of having a show every night of the week, to not caring if I miss it all! I fell guilty to "Prince Farming" on the Bachelor, Hell's Kitchen, Survivor, Criminal Minds, and of course, Big Bang Theory. OH and lets not forget, I must catch up on "Little Women::LA" at some point! OH gosh, I just realized, that is a huge variety of different types of shows! Therefore, I don't have the energy to turn on my computer, upload pictures, and blog! But I made time to catch up a bit. 

Not too much has been going on with us. Just focusing on our goals of paying off student loan debt, small projects around the house, raising our (almost) 17 month old little ball of energy...seriously, he took a 30 min nap on Saturday and he was going non-stop ALL day! I was exhausted! He's such a blessing, wouldn't trade it for the world, being this little mans Mommy! 

In February my wonderful husband entered his last year in his 20's! Wow. Let the planning for the "Dirty Thirty" begin! We didn't do anything major, we spent time together on his birthday and took little man to the local livestock show. As much as he LOVES cows, and horses...I think he liked the pigs the best on that day! They had baby piglets in the petting zoo...and bunnies...I'm honestly surprised we came home empty-handed! Sometimes I think Travis is super glad we ended up living in the city vs in the country! (At least for the time being....BWAHAHA!)

Checking out the many pigs!

Chickens...

And bunnies!

I'm pretty sure he thought this was a "Puppy"

Just after Daddy snapped this picture, this piglet started squealing! 

The the "Moo's" 

Happy Birthday Cake Daddy! 

The weather has been pretty awesome lately. So we have began outside projects! YAY! We have been so up in the air on what to do first. Remodel master bathroom or haul in dirt for backyard...but before we get dirt should we tear down the old shed...if we tear down the shed should we redo the fence in that area...if we're going to redo the fence there should we just redo the whole fence...if we're doing the whole fence should we wait to get dirt?! THESE ARE THE THOUGHTS WE HAVE BEEN BOUNCING BACK AND FORTH FOR THREE MONTHS! So finally we came to the conclusion, lets tackle the back yard first, vs the bathroom. The backyard is somewhere that we can spend a LOT of time at, make it our little sanctuary where Corbin can play with the puppies, and summer is upon us shortly, so lets get it done before it's 300 degrees outside! 

So Travis tore down the old shed (that's the pieces you see behind Corbin in the following picture), and today he started taking apart the fence. We will be replacing it within the next few wks, little by little! I'll take some before/after pictures! 

We have patch of dirt in the backyard...this kid LOVES it. 

I can't believe he's on the verge of being a year and a half...

Daddy got an action shot!

Silly goose! 

Please excuse the backyard in the above pictures...it's somewhat embarrassing looking at these pictures! Shortly, hopefully we will have a decent looking backyard, the front yard is looking great, so hopefully by time for a certain someones TWO year birthday party...we will have a nice place to have it! :D  

Until next time....

Eatin' Healthy & Getting Fit

This is honestly the LAST thing I thought I'd ever write a blog about. Meal Prep!? REALLY!? Who has time for that??? Well, WE made time! And WE are seeing results already and feeling great. January I decided to set a "goal" of eating better and losing some weight. We discussed some options for us, weight watchers...counting calories....portion control...how about a mixture?

Not a set plan, but what we did was chose 2 meals for the week (for lunch prep only, dinners were different) and we spent Sunday evening prepping. Grilled chicken, sweet potatoes for me, red potatoes for the hubby, steamed green beans, steamed squash & zuccini. Weighed & Measured it out, and wa-lah! Lunches for both of us for a couple of days, and dinner Sunday evening.

Monday evening I made turkey meatloaf but in a mini muffin tin! They were EXCELLENT! I'm not sure how "healthy" it is, I used my old faithful meatloaf recipe and went light on the breadcrumbs and used turkey meat.
1lb ground turkey
few dashes of Worcestershire sauce
few dashes of hot sauce
few dashes of ketchup
italian bread crumbs to thicken
1 egg
(Sorry, no pictures of these, I forgot!)

So we each had 3 meals of chicken w/ veggies & a starch, and the other 2 days I had a serving of turkey meatloaf & a salad with boiled egg & easy on the dressing.  

We usually eat dinner out 2-3x a week. Which is RIDICULOUS. It's expensive, unhealthy, and one or both of us get frustrated as to "who's turn to pick a place" and we can never decide. We ate out ONCE during the week. Sunday-Friday ONE time! HUGE accomplishment! We had a continuing education class, and had Mexican food during the class. If we hadn't had that, we would have ate something at home! 

Dinners we had: 

Grilled Chicken & veggies on Sunday

Turkey Meatloaf on Monday

Steak on Tuesday

CEU class on Wednesday

Grilled Chicken Parm over spaghetti Thursday

Left over night on Friday

Usually Friday morning we splurge for donuts, NOPE, not this week! And Friday night is usually our Mexican food take out night...NOPE not this week! Today (Saturday) we did keep our routine of Chick Fil A for breakfast before grocery shopping. Then I got so busy cleaning the house & steam cleaning the (playroom) I didn't eat lunch!  Whoops. :-\ You're totally not supposed to "skip meals" when trying to lose weight! Then we had dinner out with my in laws at Golden Corral. I did control myself, somewhat! Ha! 

Jan 1-Jan 31st, I've lost 7lbs & Travis has lost 10lbs. Not bad, and on the right track. I'm only about 13lbs over pre-pregnancy weight at this point. My "goal weight" to be achieved by March is already almost met, so making new goals as appropriate! 

Anyways...life is busy as normal, but there's always time to cook a decent dinner. This little man is getting SO big so quick. 15 months already. Wow. I can't believe I probably need to start looking into themes for a 2nd Birthday Party. Where does time go!? He keeps us busy, he's our pride & joy and just loooove picking Mommies flowers! He's definitely an outdoorsman...and loves to get dirty! 

Until next time....

Tara ;)