For Better, For worse. Four years.

Four years ago, today, I married the love of my life. He's the most wonderful man. He's kind, thoughtful, strong, supportive, funny, good-lookin', and the list goes on.

As I sit here tonight thinking about all we've been through in the last four years I am so grateful that I've had him in my life to help me get through it all. He's been there for me with death, sickness, my only sister moving away, my acceptance into nursing school, and much more. And likewise, I've been there to support him in dealing with death, his mom getting cancer, illness, and I've had the opportunity to celebrate with him in his brother's missionary homecoming, the end of his mom's cancer treatment, getting through school, and much more.

I think back to the vows we made, "For better, for worse. For richer, for poorer. In sickness, and in health; until we are parted by death. All that I have is yours, all that I am is yours." And I realize, even in the short four years we've been married, we've been through ALL of that. And I know we'll see much more of all of that over and over in the years to come and I know that we can get through anything together and I know, even more than I did four years ago, that there is no one on this earth that I'd want to share my life with, except Max. You are the love of my life and my best friend, and I love you more than words can say.

Today, baby, I vow to you again, For better, for worse. For richer, for poorer. In sickness and in health; until we are parted by death. All that I have is yours, all that I am is yours.

Fighting Hard!

Nope! Not this week! =D

I did NOT cry when I stepped on the scale this week! When I weighed on Saturday, I was down to 172.4 lbs! I stepped on and off the scale 3 times to be sure and then I took a picture on my phone so I could send it to my mama! (We're losing the weight together!)

So I'm down 4.1 lbs in my detox week. When I got on the scale after work this morning I was up to 174, but it was after a 12 hour night shift and I'm day 3 of that lovely monthly thing we women do so we can make life! So I am hoping that all that was playing into the weight this morning and I have to always remember that a person's weight can fluctuate up to 2 bls per day, so maybe I didn't really gain 2 lbs in two days. I think I need to NOT weigh on mornings that I come off graveyards...

So the battle continues.

My food restrictions are lighter this week and so tonight I treated myself to a skinny cow ice cream bar after my grilled chicken ceasar salad. I have my delicious fresh fruit to get me through the night and then I'm off for a couple days so lots of gym time (which I actually look forward to now)!

Thanks again for all the encouragement and support! It means the world to me!

Update on the Diet...

So I haven't updated ya'll on the diet front because I got a little discouraged.

The week after I made my big resolve to get in shape I had finals weeks and it was the week of our extreme home makeover, Callie-style. So I didn't end up going to the gym at all that week. Our house was such a disaster that we didn't have any room in our "one-bum kitchen" to cook anything so we ate fast food most days. So needless to say, I gained back the 2.7 pounds I lost and then some. :( Boo.

Yesterday I had my appointment with my ONGYN to talk babies! Everything looks good except the WEIGHT! My doctor told me she'd really like to see me drop this extra weight before I'm pregnant. (My thoughts exactly) I've got the time to do it and I'm more determined than ever now because Max and I are beyond ready to start our family.

So. Here's the scoop, again.

On Sunday I weighed again. I've hit a new high, 176.5 lbs. UGH!

I got on the scale on monday Afternoon and I was at 175 lbs. Perfect! Down one lb, I'll take it.

Today at my appointment, the MA weighed me and I think she wrote in my chart as 174.5 lbs. WOOT!

So I'm dramatically decreasing the carbs in my diet. That's what my doc wants me to do and I'm going to the gym at least 5 days a week. I'm focusing on eating a lot more fruits and veggies and lean meats, and lots of eggs! (I've discovered a new love for eggs!)

I'm done with my "I gained the weight back" pity-party and I'm moving on to bigger and better things. If I want a baby I NEED to drop this weight. Done. There's my new motivation. I actually feel a lot better eating all this fresh food instead of the processed stuff and I feel like I could take on the world when I come out of the gym all sweaty and gross.

And so the war continues!

It's TIME!

Ok, ya'll. I've decided the time has come for me to stop being fat! Yes, FAT! I'm way beyond what "they" say I should weigh for my height. And I know the BMI doesn't take muscle and all that into account, but I still do not like the number I see on the scale and I know it's not healthy for me to weigh what I weigh right now. And since Max and I are hoping to be pregnant in the next year, I'd like to start at a HEALTHY weight. I look back at pictures of me from my wedding day and our honeymoon (back when I thought I was "fat") and I came to the realization that I looked pretty damn great and that I would kill to be that size again. So that's my ultimate goal. I weighed 133 lbs on my wedding day (I know because I was desperately trying to lose weight before the wedding and I lost 8 lbs the week of my wedding because I was so stressed about my mom's emergency, exploratory bowel resection surgery she just "had" to have so she could have all the attention on her that week... ;) Kidding mom! (she lost 15 lbs that week, and not in a good way...)) Anyway... SO I'd like to get down to 130 lbs by December of this year. That's 45 lbs in about 8 months. I don't think that's an outrageous goal, especially because I'm setting smaller goals along the way. Little half-way goals, I guess. My first goal is to be down to 155 by our wedding anniversary on June 9th. I started all this on April 6th so that's 10 lbs a month, broken down to 2.5 lbs a week, a healthy pace.

With all that off my chest, here's the scoop:

I started Weight Watchers last week and now that I'm almost out of school (two more lectures and two finals....) I'm going to go to Zumba 5-6 days a week because I love it so much and it makes me feel good when I go! I get 26 points a day with WW currently but as soon as I lose a few more lbs, that will go down. And I earn about 5 points a day when I do Zumba.

Here's my progress so far. I only made it ONE Zumba class last week but I was pretty good with the points. And this is what I have to show for it.

Starting weight: 175.4 lbs
Goal weight: 155 by June 9th (our anniversary)

Weight today (one week in): 172.7
Loss: 2.7 lbs
Weight to lose: 17.7 lbs

SO, here it goes. I'm doing this for real this time. No more messing around. I want to be the healthiest, happiest me I can be! :D

Just a little cat nap...

This is me and my sweet kitty, Icabod. He's taken a liking to the back of our new recliner because it has a perfect little spot for him to sit with us (not on us, he's not a lap-kitty). So this is his new favorite spot.

And our little cat nap. This is where you can usually find me lately. If I'm not studying or at work or school, I'm asleep. :)

V-Day.

Nothing fancy to report about Valentine's day this year. My husband got me a couple very sweet cards and we had two glorious nights to ourselves with no distractions, no homework, nowhere to be. Just us. Perfection. We did have our parents and Max's gma over to our house last weekend for Max's homemade lasagna (DELICIOUS!) and I made bouquets for our mom's and gmas. Overall, nice weekend, and now it's on to finish the rest of the week!

Take that V8!

This was my dinner tonight. How's that for getting my servings of fruits and veggies for the day. A homemade, all fruit smoothie and these fresh veggies! mmmmm!
I'm trying to be better about what I'm eating and I read about this girl who keeps a food blog so she literally shows anyone who wants to look exactly what she's eating and she holds herself more accountable for it. Good idea huh? So we'll see if I can find the time in my life to show you all how "healthy" I'm trying to eat... Here it goes! :)

Yearly Christmas Update!

Once again, it's Christmas time and we're looking back at yet another year gone by. This has been quite an eventful year that started with Max continuing to work on his degree with Weber State University and me applying for nursing school with Weber State for the second time.

Fast forward to April which is when I got my letter from Weber informing me of my position as an alternate for the program that started this fall. My mom and I attended a meeting at the school to look at what my points were and see how close I was to the top of the alternate list (because they will not tell you specifically). As it turned out, my points were the same as the student who got the 90th spot so we knew I had to be close to the top! We asked the advisors what I should do and they said to relax and know that if I didn't get in this year that I'd for sure be in the next year. So I patiently waited and on Tuesday, April 28th, Max brought in a small, uneventful looking letter from the box that turned out to be the letter I'd been waiting for 5 years to come - the letter telling me I'd been accepted to Nursing School! It seemed that it was never going to happen, but it did and I along with all of my family are so glad it has! Two days later, my sister got HER letter of accpetance to NIC's Nursing Program so not only do we both want to be nurses but we get to do school togther!

The next month was all about dad and his new wife, Mona. They married the last weekend in May and it was quite a party! It was a beautiful ceremony with a wonderful reception full of fun and dancing. His family came and it was nice to have some time with them over the weekend. The fantastic four (Gary, Carli, Laura and I) had a great time together. We haven't all four been together for quite some time so it was wonderful.

This summer Max and I went up to visit my family in Idaho, including my sis and her awesome boyfriend, Scott. My mom and her new husband met us up there and we all had a wonderful time together. Laura, my mom and I were lucky enough to be able to scatter my Grandma Carol's ashes while we were there and that was a wonderful experience.

In July, Max's mom celebrated the end of cancer treatment!!! She had her last round of chemo and threw a fabulous party to celebrate! That was a long, hard fight and we're all so proud of the attitude Connie had the whole time and are so thankful for the support from EVERYONE!

The rest of the summer was filled with a few weddings that I photographed and I'm looking forward to shooting many more next summer too! My photography has really taken off and I'm so grateful to all my many subjects (especially the regulars, Karalee!) who keep me in busniess!

The summer wrapped up with mom's fantastic wedding! She and Larry got married the last weekend in August (literally two days before nursing school started for both Laura and me!) and it was wonderful! Laura and I gave mom away and stood up there with her as she married a man that loves her more than any of us knows. The ceremony was perfect and the reception ("It's not a reception, it's a party!" as mom puts it) was a party in a can! We danced, drank, ate, made toasts and had a great time! It is so nice to have both of my parents happily married and loving life.

I started Nursing School with Weber State two days later and am finishing up my first semester with two finals tomorrow! It's been a lot of work but I've enjoyed it and am still so grateful to finally be in! Max is also finishing up tomorrow and the one-year countdown to his graduation begins! He'll be graduated this time next year and we are looking forward to it!

As I said, it's been a busy, wonderful and eventful year. We want to wish all of our friends and family a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year and will make sure to keep you all updated through our blog as our life unfolds! We love you all!

P.S. I decided not to post pix with this particular post - but scroll down to check out older posts and see the pix from this very eventful year! :)

ThAnKsGiViNg!

Max and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with his family at his sister's home! She put on a wonderful spread and we ate til we couldn't anymore and spent a nice afternoon with some of our favorite people. I just want to take a minute to tell all my family and friends (the family you choose) that we are so thankful for all of you! We are so lucky to have people to go to when we're having bad days and celebrate with in times of joy! This holiday reminds me that I have infinite blessings from God to be grateful for every day. A few of the best blessings are pictured below, and I'm so thankful for these and many others.

Hope you all had as wonderful a holiday as I had and I wish many blessings upon you all as well.

A wonderful husband who never ceases to make me smile and laugh!

The love of my life

My brother-in-law and his wonderful girlfriend (who is also one of my FAVORITE friends)!

My Fantastic sister-in-law!

My loving mother-in-law who would do anything for me.

Max and his awesome dad who loves us very much!

I know, I've been such a lazy Blogger...

But once again, I remind you that I am a very busy girl! I have been going 90 miles an hour for the past 6 weeks! I have been in school 18 hours a week and at work 36 hours a week, plus I've had 1-2 photo shoots every weekend since October began! But It's been so great! I'm doing wonderful in school and if you'd told me I'd be doing this well 2 months ago I would have told you you were nuts and must be thinking about my smarty-pants sis, Laura! But Seriously, I'm doing well, the best I've ever done in classes like this, I guess it makes a difference when you like what you're studying huh? :) It's finally all making perfect sense and I'm getting it, not struggling through it! So I'm happy about that! Max is changing his schedule soon so he can resume the normalcy of working days, not nights. I guess I'm the only weirdo that actually LIKES working nights! :) So I'm happy for that because I think he'll feel better in general because he will be getting good sleep for the first time in a year! A couple weeks ago we went to our wonderful friends' Halloween Party and had a blast! I dressed up as a roman emperoress and Max went as Maximus Decimus Meridius (well a Roman gladiator anyway :) ) and we looked great! Our friend (and fellow photographer) has been wanting to go out together and photograph each other with our hubbies, and we finally nailed down a date and did it.! It a was blast and the pix turned out great! Now I just have to decide which one to use for our Christmas card... Hmm... I'm taking votes on the ones below!

Option #1, My fave!

Option #2, my other fave!

Option #3

Option #4: Max likes this one because he says it looks like I'm pouting, I didn't mean to, I think I look ridiculous! :)

Option #5: I love this one because Max is always making me laugh. God, I love this man!

This is a picture I took outside of my condo a couple weeks ago. It was the most PERFECT fall day. All the leaves were literally falling off the trees all around me, it was heaven!

This is just a picture I took while I was waiting for one my photography shoots to start. I just love this leaf. There is some tree up here in Bountiful that has these leaves that change into this blazing red color in the fall and I LOVE it! I love looking up into the mountains and seeing sprays of this color. It makes my soul sing!

And here's one pic from the party, can't really see our costumes, but I'll find a better one and post it soon! :)