I'm feeling encouraged in my own discouraging (does that make sense??) I read a couple different blogs written by other ladies that are on their own weight loss journey, some who have hit their goal weights (and lost over 100 lbs. doing it!) and others who are still working on it. But it seems I'm not the only one that's gotten in a rut. I've read at least 3 of them that are motivated once again to jump back on the wagon and get their rears in gear! So it's encouraging to hear I'm not alone. Anyways, I've been doing ok at the excercise thing but AWFUL at the eating thing. I've been running once a week and mixing up workouts at home with a couple different things I like. But, like I said, have been not eating good (as of last week) I got on the scale on Monday and wanted to cry! It said I had gained 5 lbs! Not cool because that number was just too high and close to where I don't want to be. It was enough of a kick in the butt to get me in gear. I've been eating cleaner and avoiding the snacks and sweets. I tend to get obsessive about getting on the scale when I'm "dieting" and excercising alot and I just get even more discouraged sometimes, but I did weigh myself on Tuesday and I was already down like 2 lbs which just reminded me that my body fluctuates 2 or more lbs easily in a day depending on water retention etc. I do feel better eating cleaner and exercising like my body wants. Just frustrating that I can't just stick to it consistently and get the rest of this baby (does it still count as baby weight 7 and 3 years later??) weight off. I'm not giving up though!

Enough about that though...here are some pictures from my phone, enjoy!


Does she have modeling in her future?? She sure knows how to work it!

So stinkin' cute how she was snoozin' in the car with her legs crossed!

We've had some good rain lately and this is what we found in the desert one day, soo crazy to see all this water where it's usually just sand, so beautiful!

Had to take a picture of the rare rain we get, right after this picture it started pouring sooo hard! Love it!

We've been nail painting fools lately! Abby always wants something different on her nails and toes, I let her pick out her colors which is always more than 2, fun stuff! Now if I could just get her to hold still!

School has begun! Ben was soooo excited for his first day of school...and then he got home. I could tell immediately that something wasn't right. He was grouchy and kinda mean. Turns out his first day of 1st grade wasn't quite as he expected. After some digging I found out he was sad that he didn't have the same teacher from last year and there was just too much work. I guess they jumped right into school work and he is a perfectionist so he took his time making his work look neat and therefore had a little homework (just 3 small pages). But he was bummed. I tried to give him a little pep talk, encouraging him to give it some time, it was just the first day. I'm happy to report that his 2nd day was better and just this morning he was telling me he was bringing stuff for his "boys club" that him and the other 2 boys in his class have made.

In other news, I'm going to be doing the yearbook for the school again this year, I'm excited about that. We're not going to start until after Labor Day, which gives me time to get things organized and figure out exactly what all I'm supposed to do. I also found out that I'm the crafts teacher for the month of September. I'm finding out that I'm gonna have to get my rear in gear, I'm bout to get busy! It's all good, I love that!

My poor Abbers got sick :-( She started out with a runny nose, no fever though and it slowly progressed to some chest congestion, coughing, wheezing and so on. The first 2 days were kinda rough but she's feeling much better today.

That's all I've got for now. I'll leave you with our first day of school pics...

I think I'm finally back on Cali. time! Last week I was a total bum! I was tired and lazy the whole time it seems like.

Ben woke me up crying on Sunday morning. He said his lower back/side was hurting and it hurt when he had to go to the bathroom. I got a little freaked out because of his reflux and kidney issues when he was little, scared that it might be a UTI, which would mean we would need to go to the hospital and then start all over with the urologist and all that fun stuff. He never had a fever but he did start throwing up. After he threw up a couple times he said his back didn't hurt anymore and eventually it didn't hurt to pee. So I don't know. We're thinking that maybe he got a small dose of food poisoning (his daddy gets that easily) or maybe just a 24 hour bug or something. But, he woke up just fine on Monday morning, like nothing had happened. So thankful that it wasn't a UTI! God is good!

After eating like a crazy person while in Texas, I knew I had to get back on track when I got home. I've been eating tons of watermel on (yumm!) and salad. Not too bad really, my body was craving it I think. I decided to try a new workout as well. I found THIS on Pinterest and have been doing the one for the pear shape. I was honestly surprised at how hard it was. Not like super killer, but not easy! I want to try running again, just one day a week and see how my knees hold up, but that's not going to happen until this weather cools off just a bit, maybe possibly when Ben starts school next week, we shall see.

I found these little hot dog muffins on Pinterest and decided to make them for the kids. I tasted one and thought they were actually pretty good! I didn't follow the directions that were given but used the idea. I just bought a box of cornbread mix and some hot dogs, cut the hot dogs in 1/4 and put 2 per muffin tin, topped with cornbread mix and baked. Easy to make, kids and hubby liked them, so it's a winner!

I got new tennies too, I thought they were super cute...(picture by Abby)

Abby wanted "Barbie" makeup...so i gave her a lil makeover on Saturday, girls are soo much fun!

Texas!

You get 2 posts today!! We just got back from Texas last night. The kids and I were there for about 2 weeks and David flew in for a long weekend and to drive home with us. It was a wonderful trip, and instead of trying to remember everything we did, I'm just going to use my pictures to tell the story...

My mom flew into San Diego on a Wednesday so she could drive to Texas with the kids and I on Friday. We went and ate brunch at The Mission at Mission Beach. It was soooo good! I reccomend it to anyone. After we ate we went down to the beach and the kids ended up getting soaked, what kid can resist??

Grammy took the girls to get manicures and pedicures!

Pots read Sammy The Seal to the kids. As soon as he started reading I knew something wasn't right...he was totally making up his own version. It was pretty funny, but I think it was wayyy over the kids heads...they still laughed!

We went out to Nana and Papas house to BBQ and hang out and the kids got to slip n' slide! Soo fun!

We got a nice rain while we were at Nana and Papas and this is what we saw on our way home...

My mom and I took the kids to the Children's Museum. They love that place. They put on a small puppet show for us

and Abby was loving shopping!

We went over to Daniel and Ellen's one night for dinner and let the kids play with the water table, next thing we knew...

Grammy bought the girls new dress up clothes. Little princess'...or gangsters?? Haha!

Climbing trees!

And of course, no trip to Midland in the summer would be complete without going to a Rockhounds game. Ben with Juice the Moose!

We went to Dallas/Fort Worth for a weekend. This was my view out the car window on the way there, SO beautiful!

Kinda a dream come true! We stayed at the Westin at the Galleria in Dallas. They have an American Girl store there. I had a doll when I was a girl and of course thought Abby would love it. Grammy, Annie, Ellen, Abby and I went to the store and the girls got their first dolls. It was soo much fun! Definitely going back!

Abby and I with her new doll Brianna!

They had a small LEGO exhibit at the mall so I took the kids to check it out and this is one of Ben's creations...

My first ever Rangers baseball game! Soo fun!

He just had to have one of those fingers

Precious girls! They are such good friends! Really makes me wish we lived closer!

Me and my girl after the game. It was really hot...that's why I'm glistening...

Got to meet up with my cousin Nicole and her mom and little boy Tucker and her little Julia in her belly! So good to see her!

And no trip to Grammy and Pots would be complete without a big ol' bubble bath!

We had such a wonderful trip! Lot's of fun! Can't wait to see everyone again!

I'm baackkk! Sorry for the absence! I've had this particular post saved as a draft for awhile now, just never got around to actually editing and posting. David and I went to San Diego for a weekend with no kids to help celebrate a friends wedding. It was beautiful! The actual ceremony was at Point Loma overlooking the ocean (amazing!) and the reception (which I failed to get any pictures of) was at Balboa Park, very fun and cool. It was a nice weekend, but wayyyy too much driving for these country folk. So here are the few pictures we actually took and then a couple more....

This was where the ceremony was, it was cloudy the day of the wedding, but the day before at the rehearsal it was sunny and beautiful. Honestly kinda glad it was cloudy during the ceremony because when the sun was out the day before, it was just hot!

Me and my handsome man before the wedding...

Us with the groom (Daniel) after the wedding. And just as a side note, I was extremely disapointed with my hair that day. It was nice and full and curly before the wedding and after the wedding my curls had fallen and it was nice and flat (my bad because I forgot my hairspray and when I tried to get a small bottle of it before the wedding, dumb me accidentally got mousse, fail!)

On our way home on Sunday we took a detour with Justin (David's cousin) and his girl Bri. We went to Temecula and had lunch at Rosas! Yumm!!! And then we went and did a little hiking (which I didn't get any pics of).

This one is just kinda random. I made these quinoa patties, they turned out really good! HERE is the recipe for those (that I found on Pinterest!)

Ben and Abby got a couple sheets of stickers from their Grandma and this is how they used them...silly kids

And this is how we spent our family night...we went shooting. Ben got to shoot this little rifle and loved it (just like me!) It's really fun to shoot!