Oklahoma CityNationals Grand Champions

A couple of weeks ago we traveled to Oklahoma City for Karley's 3rd cheer competition.  Her team went up against several teams from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and surrounding states and we won!!!  This team is really good--so much fun to watch. 

Hope, Karley and Kiki......killing time before they went out to perform. 

 a few of the girls before day 2 of the competition.  They performed twice and did awesome both times. 

 I love this photo.  Makes me so nervous for her to be up there but she loves it and is very comfortable doing it so I just hold my breath...........

Next up?  Omaha Nebraska this weekend where we will go up against 7 teams....I'll keep you posted!

Christmas Classic Action Shots

Just thought I would share a few more photos from last weekend's cheer competition!   Enjoy

The whole team

Cheer Competition

Karley had her first cheer competition and they rocked it!  She is on 2 teams....the mini's (8 and under) who took 2nd place and the 12 and under team that took first place and grand champions.  We are so proud!  Here are a few photos from the event.  Go G-Force!

Heather & I with the girls after the award ceremony

Karley and her shooting star coach, Taylor

Karley and her Jr. Birdmen Coaches, Bree and Sarah

 

Karley, Katelyn and Mia

Karley and Mia

Kar and Mia again

This is all of the g-force teams.  So proud of ALL of them!



a few of the girls waiting for the award ceremony



Kar, Paige, Macie and Mia

Jr Birdmen in action

More Jr. Birdmen....that's karley up on top. 

Pre-practice team photo.  They were all so nervous!

Make up done! Ready to go!





Camri and I waiting to watch the girls!





Karley and TZ. 

Happy Birthday GG.

Today I would have been at Aldersgate Village celebrating my grandmas birthday. The have this place in the basement of the retirement home called Lou's place. It was a coffee shop, grocery store, card store, etc all in one.  It was not at all fancy and smelled like moth balls but she had her party there every year and was always so happy to have her family and friends come and get a cup of coffee and a cookie to help her celebrate.   I miss her a lot.  The holidays are so hard when you lose someone close to you.
Here's a little funny.  We were at Thanksgiving and Karley pipes in with "hey mommy, you know how you said GG lives in my heart??  Is she the one that makes it go Thump, thump, thump......?"  HOW CUTE IS THAT????

Today was crazy too.....my car is acting up, someone ordered a bunch of ammunition from Cabella's  under my name, and it's month end at work.  My mind kept going to the fact that it was my grandmas birthday.  

This has been one ROUGH week!   

My favorite thing lists

A few of My Fav-o-rite things.....
in no particular order

1. Pinterest.
 Love, love love this site.  I can sit for HOURS and come up with some pretty awesome things I will never actually do but would love to. 

2. Xyngular.
I am down 35 lbs thanks to this stuff.  It has been only 2 1/2 months.  And to all of my friends who made fun of this with me before I started it......i am eating crow now. 

3. Glitter Nail Polish. 
Sounds silly but I can't get enough of this stuff.  Its very festive and we get more compliments from this little bottle of awesome. 

4. Etsy.
Another great website.  People are so creative!!!

5. scarves. 
Silly but I have recently started wearing these.  I realize i am about 5 years behind but i have always had 4 extra chins so they haven't been my thing.  Now that they have the infinity scarf I am good to go! 

6.  name Brand Jeans. 
This is so stupid.  I never in a MILLION years thought I would ever shell out a chunk of change for designer jeans but when i started losing weight I decided to treat myself to a pair of Miss Me's.  If you have never heard of them or tried them on do it.  Somehow they make you feel fantastic.  Warning though---the price will make you want to throw up.  :)

7. uggs. 
these things will never go off my list.  I love them so much.  I have had the same pair for probably 7 years now and am due for a new pair.  (To TZ- triple Bailey button in grey or black please!)

8. keruig machine.
Thank you Sunni and family for letting us try out yours a year ago.  I love this.  I am addicted to the hot apple cider.  Yum.  I also just saw that they came out with Starbucks K-cups.  Can't wait to try em!

9. bath and body works winter candle
Best smell ever.  It's also the most strong smelling candle.  This will make our whole house smell yum real fast.  (we also like peppermint marshmallow)

10. kindle fire. 
This one i am just going to assume that i love.  Its on my Christmas list.  :) I love all the things I have been reading about it and i love the price way more than the i pad. 

so, now for a much less materialistic list--

1. my family.  Completely awesome and always there for us. 

2. Karley.  Period.  She is my most favorite person in the whole wide world.

3. my friends.  All of them. I love my daily conversations with Heather, Sarah, Richelle....I know i have a group that would be there for me lickety-split if i need them.  I am lucky.  And to those of you i don't talk to as often-- Amanda, Calli, Allison, Chrissy, etc.  I am glad that no matter how much time passes we can carry on like no time has passed.  This is a true gift.

4. books.  (which will be way cooler with the kindle fire) Just sayin!   I read all the time.   I love a good book.

5.  Fall tv shows.  Oh boy.  There are just too many to list here.  Thank God for DVR!

6. Karley's teachers at Indian Hills-we have been so lucky to have 4 years of awesome perfect matches for her. 

7. Our Elf on the shelf.  Buddy.  It will transform a kid into an angel.  really.......

8. The crock pot.  This one sounds silly but I bet i use it 4 nights a week.  It's a life saver since we are always on the go.

9. Karley's cheerleading crew.  She has finally found something she ABSOLUTELY loves.....it makes her happy.  It's expensive as crap and a total time commitment but she is always ready to go and talks nonstop about it. 

10. TZ.  He drives me crazy most of the time with his mellow, laid back personality but i can't imagine life without him. 

There you go.....I could go on and on with these lists but i need to stop and get something done today!   Enjoy!  Hope you come up with your very own lists as well!

Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving came and went at our house so fast.  It was a relaxing weekend and we had a blast eating yummy food and going out on black friday to watch the crazy people fight over waffle irons.  We had dinner at my parents, watched a few movies and headed out at 9:30 to the  walmarts. (i love calling it "the walmarts"  makes it sound so much more fun, right??)  I didn't need anything but my mom had never experienced the madness so we really just went to watch.  We were home in bed by 11pm.  Todd, Karley and I did get up around 8:30 Friday morning and headed to target where I was STILL able to get everyting i was wanting off the black friday list.  I did not have to wait in the freezing cold for 2 hours or tackle anyone for anything.  We also went to the mall, Sams Club and out to breakfast with no wait times.  Christmas 2011 is almost completely shopped for.  WHEW!

Hope your Thanksgiving went well!  I can't believe it's only a couple of weeks until Christmas!!!  I love this time of year.  Sleeping in, staying in, and hanging out with Todd and Karley. 

Getting ready to eat!  :)

Weight Loss Journey

I wanted to share with you this diet I have been on for the past month.  First let me give you the explanation why I decided to do the diet in the first place (aside from the fact that I absolutely need to lose weight)  I have a friend from College that began posting about this weight loss/ energy increasing super product that was bringing her mega extra income and making her feel better.  She was posting all the time and getting a whole slew of people to sign up too.   It was laughable to my group of friends and we were making jokes as to the "cult" that was starting up with this diet product.  However, we were also all secretly trying to look into the product for ourselves which cracks me up!!!   I finally bit the bullet and made the investment a month ago.  I was ready...determined....and willing to give it a good effort. 
First step was to weigh myself and take my measurements.   I had TZ do this for me.  What a depressing day that was.  UGH.  As I stepped off the scale, I was asking myself: "How in the HELL did I allow myself to get to this point?"  I literally didn't weigh this much when I was 9 months pregnant with Karley.  So depressing.  I knew I needed to do something.  I could no longer blame my flab on Baby weight or genes or anything other than I was picking the wrong things to eat every.single.time.   Dont' get me wrong....I have given a lot of different diets a good run at one point or another.   I can tell you that I was way more determined to do something this time.  I know that plays a big part in why it is working so well for me.  So, back to this adventure.  I ordered the product, took the measurements, weighed in and took photos of myself to chart my start point.  I will share the photos soon but am so incredibly mortified with how awful I looked when I started I have only been able to share them with my mom, husband and one of my BFF's.  I am happy to say that I am down 20+ pounds and overall feel better.  I still have a LONG way to go but I am happy with the progress I am making.  
The product is called Xyngular and I began with a 8 day  plan that i followed to a T for that 8 days.  Within that week alone I lost 13 lbs.  I know I was feeling better but wasn't sure if it was the product or the drastic change in my diet.  If you know me, you know that I am a diet coke fanatic....freak really.   I drank it all day, every day and nothing else.   So, that first week I cut out diet coke completely and got no withdraw effect from it.  Hmmmm.  Something was working.  However, I also cut out all chocolate, sweets, and evening snacking I was doing.  I was happy with my progress but ready to start eating some real food. 
The 2nd week I noticed that all the things I craved before were not what I was searching for now.  (change of habit maybe)  Instead of a candy bar i choose string cheese and almonds.  I substituted one shake a day for a meal and lost another 5 lbs that week.   Super. 
The 3rd week I did the same thing as week 2.   I lost 3 lbs that week.  
The 4th week lost another 5 lbs.AND I hit my first goal and am still going strong. 

I like it.....i like it a lot.  This is going to be my one and only plug on this product so if you are interested please let me know.  I can get you in contact with someone who will answer your questions or i can tell you more about it.  Want to see photos of me before and now?  Send me a text and i will text them to you.  785-220-8374.