Brag About It

A little over 2 years ago I was absolutely hiding from my life.....in my brown-brown shirt, purple cut-off shorts and my misters work shirts

This morning I hopped on the scale KNOWING that I had finally reached another goal in my looong journey of becoming the me that is living my life on purpose and with purpose...and a lot of that has had to do with my continuing weight loss. I am officially down 81 pounds!!! I have not been this small since our last year in Albuquerque a little over 9 years ago. I just wanted to share a couple of pictures taken by my Whitney of me 2 1/2 pounds ago right before Jer and I headed out to the temple:

See you in another 10 = )

Happy Birthday Dear Livvy

Olivia turned 3 on June 2nd. We still refer to her as "the baby" and I wonder, if we don't end up having any other kids, we will always call her this? Livvy ended up having an "extended" birthday this year. Jeremy was out of town on business and didn't get home until way past the kids bedtime on her actualy birthday, so on the morning of her big day she opened her gifts from Grandma & Grandpa Van Dyke, Grandma Holt, the twins and couple from me and Jer.

On Saturday we headed over to Chuck E. Cheese - she has been asking to go there for the past 2 months and we promised her we'd go, and we promised ourselves that we wouldn't eat there - total win/win for everyone.  We went at 10:30 in the morning and it was practically empty, Jeff & Melinda, Jen & Jay and all their kids joined us.  Livvy had so much fun....

Melinda and Jen decided to battle it out on Dance Dance Revolution....

Her dinosaur cake

Second round of opening presents - we swam all afternoon, had a great bbq and then cake and ice cream and Jeff and Melinda's (thanks guys)

Happy Birthday love bug! You are such a funny little girl. We all love you so much!

Perfect Saturday.....

We started yesterday with a trip to the mechanic for Jeremy's car (which wasn't so perfect, but that's okay) and stopped for breakfast from McDonald's which was pretty great (Sausage McMuffin? Yes please!) Then we headed over to the park for an Easter egg hunt that one of the girls in our ward organized. The kids had a lot of fun and so did we.......

Whitney and her friend Abby

Where is Livvy?

They had a bunch of eggs on the grass and then up on the hill - I made the twins head for the hill because they were some of the oldest ones there

We invited Jeff and Melinda

and this is little Gwyneth

Whitney being a cheese ball

Livvy with her basket - she loved finding her eggs

Showing their eggs to Cooper's mom Laura

Zachy's haul

The girls showing their eggs to my friend Joanne (our primary president)

Me and Sweetie Pie

The girls

The Family (thanks Melinda for making Jer hop in the pic)

A perfect Saturday in Vegas must include swimming, and so we did!  Jeff and Melinda had the pool heated up and all the kids got in for some fun

Livvy actually only got in and sat on the top 2 steps - I think it will take her a couple of more times to actually remember how much she loves the water = )

Whit is a little bit obsessed with Gwynnie and asked if she could hold her - Melinda and I were getting dinner ready and saw this:

We didn't have dinner until bedtime for the twins but it was worth having the burgers off of Jeffs new charcoal grill and we just sat outside and enjoyed a great night....Then I headed home with Livvy while the girls, Jer, Jeff and Brady got in the pool and didn't get home until almost 10.  Perfect. 

Progress Pictures

This first picture was taken about this time last year and I weighed 235 pounds. The other picture was taken by my beautiful Whitney yesterday morning and I weigh 225 pounds.  I was "flexing" my abs in both pictures... I plan on posting progress pictures every 10 pounds now. I will also post my weight as of Saturday morning - I'm quite sure it will be the same as last week as this is the time of month where I retain water and have a lovely bloat (the joys of womanhood, am I right?) I'm also working on some pictures/recipes of my favorites right now.  I am also combining both of my blogs - so please look for more updates on my weight loss and also what our little family is up to right here on Emily's Big News.

Honorary Members =)

San Diego

It all started with this:

We were able to go to San Diego the last weekend of January.  It was part of the twins birthday gift.  We got to stay at Jeremy's bosses condo which sat right on Sail Bay.  The weather was perfect - it just rained a little bit Sunday night.  We were able to go and play on the beach for an hour or two when we got there on Friday and then headed over to Mission Beach to go on some rides and eat dinner.  Saturday was our big day at the San Diego Zoo.  I think that all of us had a great time - Livvy seemed to like the statues at each exhibit a lot more than the actual animals.  On Sunday we headed over to Old Town and went to the Mormon Battalion Historic Site.  If any of you are ever in San Diego I would absolutely recommend visiting this place - whether you are a member of the LDS Church or not - it was an amazing story.  They have activities for the kids and you even get your picture taken.  Then we headed over to La Jolla Cove to see the seals that beach there - it was really neat to be able to get so close to them.  It was absolutely gorgeous over there (and stinky by the seals).  On our way back to the condo we stopped by the San Diego Temple.  It was breathtaking - it is so big and gorgeous.  It sits right off the freeway and I can only imagine how it looks all lit up at night.  The kids played on the beach again for an hour in the rain and we just had a nice quiet night.  We had a great time and can't wait to go again.