Did I tell you I made it!

I almost forgot, some more big news.  I made my fitness goal of making it an entire year without missing one workout.  Now what?  Now I continue to sculpt and make the best me possible and maintain all the muscle I've gained.  My fourties are going to rock!

It wasn't easy, but it was SOOOOO worth it.  Hoping I can keep going.  This next year I'm allowing myself at least 3 missed workouts instead of 0.  Now that I know I can do it, I think it is OK to give myself that grace.  I don't want to add anymore for fear it would be a slippery slope.

I will say I learned a lot on this journey.  I learned how capable and strong I am, I learned that I have real limits and how to listen to my body.  I actually had to gain some of the weight back I lost because I got so low that some of my girly functions stopped if you know what I mean.  I never set out to get that low, it just happened because of what I was doing. First time I had to actually try to gain weight in my whole life; it was nice to have an excuse to get a second helping.  I learned how incredibly delicious fruit is when you reset your tastebuds after eating a clean diet with not processed sugar.

I am so incredibly thankful how supportive my family has been of me doing this.  It takes a lot of time and traveling can be tricky.  Fitness doesn't stop just because I'm in a different location.  I even took some of my weights with me to CO if you can believe that.  Needless to say, it can be a hassle to be this committed, but they have been accommodating and understanding.    

My diet has gotten even healthier than it was.  I have actually kind of good at creating my own healthy recipes.  Eating and cooking for the first time in my life has been.....fun.  I used to hate it and I used to eat the same things ALL THE TIME.  Now it's rare for me to have the same things.

What has gotten me through?  Honestly, seeing my body transform into this image I've never seen before.  An image I am proud of and enjoy dressing each day.  That is VERY motivating.  Mantras have helped save me on a lot of hard days.  Wanting to be healthy for my family has motivated me.  Wanting to be a good role model for my family has motivated me.  Hearing positive feedback from others has motivated me.  It is a total package.

To celebrate I bought myself a fancy smancy fitness watch called a fitbit blaze. It is not perfectly accurate, in fact the distance can get off by as much as a mile by the end of the day, but i do love some of the features on it like the silent alarm, the timer, the workout recognition, and the heartrate monitor.

Theme nights and more!

It almost seems silly anymore to blog, other than it does help me keep more detailed records of the going ons in our lives.  Other than that, it seems Facebook is such an easier vehicle to get information out there to those we love about what we are up to and things that are going on in our lives.  So, here I am documenting some of our favorite things in a little more detail.

If you are following me on facebook you will know that this summer we have done something new, theme nights.  It started with the girls and I sitting down and trying to think of one fun activity/craft.  We looked at a pin on pinterest with some good ideas.  A luau  was one of those ideas and B (not even knowing what it was) decided she wanted to pick that for the week.  We bought all the fixings, made a hawaiian meal, dressed in our hula skirts, and had a ball.  It was such a hit, we decided to keep it going and have had a new theme night almost every week since.  I am so sad school is about to start.  I won't be able to continue too much longer.  Here are some of our fun photos from the experience.  I highly recommend doing these with your family.  They make great memories!

As you can see we have been having a lot of fun and making some great memories.  

We have also been doing our weekly beach trips.  Love my time on the lake!  So do the girls!!!

Lastly, we did make a trip up to CO to see my folks.  Jeff stayed back in Denver to take a class.  We got to spend one evening with him on the town making more memories.

I  also did some home improvement.  I repainted the master bedroom and bathroom (twice because I didn't like the first color I chose) and redecorated it all too. Now the entire upstairs is finally the same color scheme.

I also reorganized the refrigerator, freezers, and all bathroom cabinets thanks to the dollar store.

Oh, and the girls have been having a ball with the neighbors up the street.  They have been having a ball with their new karaoke machine and even created their own, "band" called "The Four of the Future."

I also started the girls on violin this summer.

We also had a couple sleep overs where all kids got to make a homemade pizza together.

We made all kinds of cat crafts.  One of which was a cat garden.  Harry started in on it in less than a minute.  He approves!

BUT.....the most exciting news of our summer is that we are adding on to our family.  In less than two weeks we get to pick up Sir Winston, a pure bred Maine Coon.  We have BIG plans for him but I'll spill the beans on that later.  Let's just say he won't be an indoor only cat.  He will be very accustomed to getting out and about and meeting folks by the time we are done with him.  This meant we actually bought a cat stroller, which it turns out Harry absolutely loves.

He will officially be ours on July 30th!!!!

Harry won't know what hit him, but we're sure hoping he loves him as much as we already do.  What an exciting summer.  We are so blessed.