The Emperor Has No Clothes On!

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m290/greenbong1der/emp.jpg

When you gain weight I think your family and friends tend to ignore the fact and don't say anything, much like the story of "The Emperor's New Clothes," because they are afraid of "hurting your feelings."  But, when you decide to go on a weight-loss program, everyone sighs in relief and then the truth comes out with plenty of really nice comments.  At least, that's the way it is with our family!  

No one wants to hear, "Gee, sure looks like you have packed on a few pounds."  But we all love to hear the opposite, "Gee, you are looking good!  How much have you lost?"  Huh?  I didn't think you even noticed!

Our 21 Day Challenge with Synergy Worldwide is coming along really well.  In just a week, Frank is down over five pounds, half of his goal, and I am down almost three pounds.  Darn these digital scales!  They record every ounce.  

We have been very consistent in our healthy eating this past week and haven't even missed all of the carbs and sugars.  We are also counting calories which is a big help.  I don't think you really realize how many extra calories you consume when you don't track them.

Veggies and cottage cheese is a great alternative to pasta or spuds!

Lettuce works really well instead of bread or tortilla's!  

ARE YOU READY TO JOIN US?

This Little Piggie Went To Market

Starting to eat healthy again requires a trip to the market!  

At least in my house it does!  

When I open my pantry I'm seeing way too many packages of cookies, chips, pudding cups, and other snacks.  Of course we have to have these for the grandkids.  Uh huh...  So it's time to clean out the pantry and go shopping.  Of course little Ashtyn is going to love taking home a big box of cookies!  

Frank and I went to the store and instead of the usual garbage spilling over in the cart, we loaded up on fresh veggies and fruits.  I find if I eat fruit I don't want sugar snacks, so why not indulge? Especially now when the mango's, pineapples, strawberries, and melons are so tasty. I felt a little like a hippy when I was at the check out with all my healthy foods!  

We are starting each day of our Challenge with a healthy protein shake by Synergy Worldwide called:

SLMsmart - Slim, Lose, Maintain

We like to add a few little extra's to make it more like a tasty milkshake. It's actually very good and satisfies me for hours. Frank even likes it!  It also helps me count calories, which is how I can eat my elephant!

This is working because I lost 1.2 lbs and Frank lost 1.8 lbs the first day!  Yes, we are going to weigh and track our weight each day because it makes us more accountable.  I am actually looking forward to each day and a renewed sense of getting on the right track.  

Learn more about the SLM System 

How Do You Eat An Elephant?

One bite at a time!  Corny, huh?  But it pretty well describes the only way I can wrap my head around losing weight.

About five years ago Frank and I were getting rather fluffy.  That's a nice way of saying we were fat!  We went on our first-ever weight loss program and both of us lost around 40 pounds in about four months.  It wasn't easy but it was necessary.  We not only looked better, we felt better!  We maintained our weight loss for about three years and then due to major lifestyle changes and going back to poor eating habits the pounds started to come back on slowly. Creeping at first and then running and jumping on our bones! Before we knew it we had both gained over 20 pounds back.  Ugh!

Time to get them back off again.
  
Two good friends, Mark B and Marty H, called and invited us to join them in a 21 Day Lifestyle Challenge. This challenge not only encourages us to make changes in our physical life but in our spiritual and financial life.

I am going to concentrate my blogging on the physical challenge. We set up a goal to lose 10 pounds by the end of our 21 days.  At our age, this ain't easy!  
Having a goal without an written action plan is like saying, "When I grow up..."  It just doesn't happen.  

GOAL: 
Drop 10 pounds in 21 days!  

PLAN OF ACTION:
Weigh and Measure - We will weigh daily.

CHANGE EATING HABITS:
Drink at least one SLM Synergy Shake daily
Healthy meal planning - more fresh veggies, salads, lean meats and fish, and fruit
Drink more water - at least 64 oz daily
Eliminate unhealthy snacks and sweets
Count and track calories - no more than 1200 to 1500 daily 
No eating after 7:00
GET ACTIVE:
Brisk morning walk of 45 to 60 minutes daily
Minimum of one hour alternate physical activity daily - swimming, working on houses, yard work, gym, etc

JOIN ME AND GET ACTIVE TODAY! LEARN MORE

Month of Love and I Mean LOVE!

Tera finally snagged the man of her dreams! Thanks Brendan for making her so happy and being a great Dad to Tenlee. They were married on Feb 18th. It was a beautiful wedding with Tenlee leading the way, carrying the rings, and stopping to smile at the photographer every few feet. Then came Tera with Frank and Terry both walking her down. It was very important to Terry to have this honor. After the beautiful ceremony, performed by Brendan's uncle, we then had a delicious Chinese Haystack dinner, followed by the reception. They had a nice turn out with several of Tera's old high school buddies attending.

Thank heavens for Valene as she took charge of serving the refreshments - Hot Fudge Brownie Sundae's. Theresa did a beautiful job on the invitations and on the slide show for the reception.

Darling, cute little Maci J had to let everyone know she was important as well, so she pee'd all over my lap during the dinner! Frank just told people that I forgot wear my Depends! Luckily, my dress was a silky print so you couldn't see it.

The next morning we met the newlyweds at Smitty's for breakfast. That is where Frank and I had our first breakfast, nearly 44 years ago! They then went to Southern California for a honeymoon, staying on the Queen Mary! It sounds like they had a lot of fun. She called me every day, it wasn't me calling her.....

The Month of Love - February - Part One

Even though it was a short month, it was packed full of events.

First came Super Bowl Sunday on the 6th. Yes, we did go to Church! Priorities, right? We didn't have much of crowd for Super Bowl but we loved the company we did have. Theresa, Rich and Maci joined us for the afternoon but left shortly after the game started to go his mom's house for a Family Home Evening. Tera, Brendan (the only Steeler's fan in the group) and Tenlee were here and the we were joined by our good friends (and my co-worker) John & Peggy Taylor and her mom. Everyone was rooting for the Packers to win and they did! Yes, we ate way too much but that's the best part of watching the game. Again, priorities!

We then enjoyed Family Home Evening at Dad and Merlene's houseon the 7th. Merlene fixed a great supper for us all and then Dad gave a lesson based on the experiences of Larry H Miller, owner of the Jazz team, and his conversion and belief in paying tithing. Excellent reminder for us all.

Ashtyn Sophie Garrett

Jana designed this card. Her father-in-law, John, took the pictures.

Love it! Good job Jana and John.

January and I Already Blew It!

My New Years resolution is to update my blog at least once a month. So far, I'm doing terrible. It's already Febuary! But, this post is going to be for January 2011 and I WILL post again this month!

We started our New Year off with Jana and Dave and our new little granddaughter, Ashtyn Sophie. She is named after my grandma, Sophie Neisess. Ashtyn was born Dec 2 and we didn't get to see her until Christmas Day! That was awful...

Ashtyn is such a little sweetheart. We spent nine days with Jana and Dave for the holidays. Ashtyn was blessed on Dec 26th. Jana chose to have her wear her own blessing dress. What a special thing to do and the dress is still beautiful. It was made by my good friend and one-time drapery business partner, Lynn Francis, while we lived in Alberta.

Jana and Dave are going to be wonderful parents. Dave is a "hands-on" dad and doesn't even mind changing dirty diapers!

While we were in Texas we visited the NASA Space Center. It is such an interesting place I hope we go back again and spend more time. We also spent a day at a huge flea market that had close to 1000 vendors! They sold everything you could imagine, new and old stuff.

Frank had knee surgery on October 27th to replace his ACL and do something about his huge menisus tears. He has done really well. During his down time he has been working on our Freelife and TAIslim business. We attended the Las Vegas Success School on Jan 14th - the 16th. It was a great time other than the six hours spent in the Twin Falls airport. Our plane blew a tire and they finally brought another one in from Washington so we didn't get into Vegas until 3:00 am! Bryan and Ali received a lot of awards and recognition for their accomplishments with Freelife. They are top qualifiers for the trip to Alaska in June.

As a family, we have started having Family Home Evning once a month. We rotate from family to family where we go and the host family provides dinner and the lesson. This month we went to Layne and Val's for a terrific evening.

On Sunday the 23rd we took Rich's mom, Glenna, to Rexburg where we had dinner with Sam and Kendra Angel (Richs nephew) and then went Jake's Eagle Court of Honor. Jake is Richs youngest son. It was a nice evening and Rich did a wonderful job speaking. He is a natural speaker.

Theresa is so happy with Rich and her beautiful little Maci Jeannette. What a special little girl in our family. She has far exceeded our expectations! she really loves grandpa Frank and he has even babysat her.

On the 29th was Karlee's birthday. Zak, Tanner, Karlee and Brandi came over for Sunday dinner on the 30th. We played a couple of games and Yahtzee and had a nice time. It's hard to believe that Karlee is ten years old already! She is such a good little girl and so easy to be around.

First comes love...

Okay, I have waited long enough...

THERESA IS GOING TO HAVE A BABY!

What more can I say? We are so excited. She has been pretty sick, but oh well, that's what most of us go through. Now, she's finding quite an appetite. Due date is June 13th.

She has a wonderful husband, a beautiful new home, and now a little one on the way. Life is good.

Movin' on up to the East Side!

Saturday was spent helping Theresa and Rich move into their new home. They bought a very nice place just across the road from their place, on the East side of the road this time!

Everyone was sure a big help to her. In the morning we had Bryan and Ali and Ryder. Ryder who was told he had to put down his toys and carry things in! Tera and Tenlee drove up, Valene, Zak and Karlee came over, and Frank and myself were there. Rich's son Brian showed up as well.

What a good group of helpers we had going. Valene and I started putting away her kitchen stuff and then Valene emptied about 30 more boxes and had her storage area and laundry room all done. Tera cleaned out her old fridge and was a trouper hauling stuff. Having Bryan around to help is always good because he will tear into setting beds up and putting furniture together after it's been moved. With Ali's help they had her master bedroom put together and looking very nice. Zak, Frank and Rich were busy the whole time carrying stuff into the "blue" room! We had the spare bedroom, living room, and family room all whipped into shape in no time with all of this good help.

The second shift showed up in time to feed us and take over. Rich's mom and sister Sandra brought Papa Murphy pizza's! About the time we left Sam (Sandra's son) and his wife came over. Kendra then went to work and put together her office and sewing room and then tackled the blue room. By that night everything was put away with no boxes in sight.

Oh, Theresa was not feeling well so she just sat and gave orders!

Zak Attack and the Cat Fight!

Last night we went down to the Holt Arena in Poky to watch Zak's team in the State HS playoff's. It's the first time in 27 years that his school has made it to State!

We got there just as the school buses arrived carrying the band and students. Boy, were they all excited and everyone was sporting some sort of red/black, even me! The band actually played very well throughout the night and had the chance to play their school song several times; after every touch down!

It was sure a "cat fight" with the Cougars playing the Snake River Panthers. South Fremont only lost two conference games and SR was one of them. Our boys did very well during the first half and scored 31 to 14! Zak had his name mentioned 3 times during that time! He plays center and was doing a good job with his blocks. (I think that's what it's called.) The second half was a lot tougher and they came down to a nail-biter at the end with SR at 28 points and a couple of minutes to go! Luckily they couldn't seem to make it happen and their quarterback was sacked with 10 seconds left on the 10 yard line! Zak did play both offensive and defensive at times and so I'm sure he was dang tired by the end of the 2 1/2 hours of playing! They now move up the bracket and play again next weekend.

Way to go Zak and the South Fremont Cougars! I was one proud grandma!

Whose job is it?

On Sunday after Church, Frank always goes in and changes his clothes immediately. The suit and everything goes on the bed. Usually in a heap... He must think he has miracle clothes because by the time he goes into to bed at night the clothes are gone and hanging in the closet.

This past Sunday I went in and hung up the miracle suit but somehow his tie ended up on the floor by his side of the bed. He picked it up off the floor and put it on the end of the bed that night and said, "You forgot to hang up my tie." Oh wow!

Monday morning I made the bed and put the tie on it. Monday night, the same thing, "You haven't hung up my tie." Oh WOW!

Tuesday morning I made the bed and put the tie on it. Tuesday night I come home and look what I found! I couldn't stop laughing. Like I told him, he could have hung the dang tie up quicker than finding the paper and pen to write his note!

Yes. I did hang it up. He wouldn't have put it in the right place anyway...

Cabbage, cabbage, and more cabbage

The Gardners' (Theresa and Rich) have proven they can be real gardeners. They have grown a very nice garden this year had cabbage coming out of their ears! The cabbage was coming up so thick they transplanted a bunch of plants, thinking they probably wouldn't grow - but they did!

On Monday night Theresa drove down and brought about 15 heads of cabbage with her. We proceeded to grind it up and make a frozen cabbage salad. Coleslaw is what I call it. Again Frank was quite the helper in the kitchen. He sure comes in handy chopping onions and veggies but I worry that my plastic Pampered Chef chopper isn't going to last too long the way he pounds on it! He said his hand is sore now....

If you want the recipe for this, check out my Sharing Recipes blog.

Challenge and Canning

Jana and I have a challenge for each other. It started with her telling me that she read an idea for scrapbooking where you take one picture a day and make a scrapbook book page around it. I told her we need to do that but do a blog page... So, here I go...

My picture was actually from Saturday. Theresa shared a great recipe for making homemade soup to can so I decided that I would do it. I haven't canned for quite a few years! So, I went with Frank out to the farm sites on Saturday morning and then we stopped and bought the fresh veggies we needed to make the soup.

He actually helped by chopping all of the veggies for me! We had it all ready and cooking within a half and hour. The recipe is on my "Sharing Recipes" blog and on my eHow page. It turned out so well that we are going to make another batch next weekend!

Another year down...

Well, I was fortunate enough to make it one more year! At my age, you just don't know for sure! I had a very nice birthday on Sunday. 59 if you are wondering... My kids have all had to ask.

Val and Layne invited us all up to their home for a very nice dinner. Everyone made it except Jana and Dave, living in Texas and always missing out - Brandi, I guess she was traveling - and Caleb who was at Guard duty. So we had the Terry family, Bryan, Ali, Ryder, Tiffany and Bryler, Theresa and Rich, Tera, Brendon, and Tenlee. And, everyone got along wonderfully - Tanner did bug Tera a little...

I am so lucky to have such a good relationship with Val and Layne. We couldn't have asked for a better woman to enter our lives. What a difference she has made.

Theresa and Rich just got back from a week in Washington DC and had some very interesting stories about their trip.

It was just a very nice way to spend my birthday. Good food (and I didn't cook one thing) and good company!

Hannah Montana was at our house!

Saturday night was a busy one around our house. We had four of the grandkids! Karlee came down to stay for the weekend and of course Tenlee had to be with Karlee. Tiffany needed a babysitter for Byler while she was working because Caleb was gone to the Guard and Byan and Ali dropped off Ryder for a few hours.

I rented the Hannah Montana movie - cute show! It was so fun to watch with the girls. They both knew every song and sang at the top of the voices, couldn't hear Miley Cyrus at all, but they were just as good! They also had to get up and dance for every song. Bryler also had to be in on the action. He's just 10 months old but he's walking and such a smart little guy. He was holding onto the back of the couch and just bouncing and shaking his head whenever the music was on. He would try to walk and dance at the same time but that didn't work!

Having a little blonde and a little brunette, I felt like I had Hannah Montana staying with me!