Hogwarts

We are super big Harry Potter fans around here. Brett is reading Harry Potter with Gavin and Brynn. They are halfway through book five. The kids are really getting into it.

Tonight at dinner Gavin asked if he could go to Hogwarts if it turns out it is real and they send him an acceptance letter when he turns 11.

We told him of course! It is always good to have dreams right?

Swimming in Lava

This week we went to Lava Hot Springs with my sister-in-law Kim and her kids. We did this last year too. We had a blast. (And for the record Kim I agree that we are soul sister-in-laws. You are the best (even if you can't understand big words))!

Last year Alec conquered the small slides. This year he informed me that those slides were for babies and he conquered the big twirly slide. (It did take a bribe for a trip to the dollar store to convince him to try, but after he tried it he loved it). (I am a bribing kind of mom. The best bribe is the dollar store. My kids will do almost anything for a trip to dollar store).








I come from a long line of water loving people. My kids are defiantly fish too.

Brynn is my only Brave child. She is the only one who is up to trying scary things. She is the only one who went down the speed slides.

We love Lava and are already to go back again this summer.

I am an anomaly and it is driving me crazy. I have been for years now. And today I am going to whine about it.

I exercise at least 5 days a week for at least an hour, usually two. I eat heathier than anyone I know. I could write a book on health food. I know every detail about complex carbs, good fat, balancing carbs with protiens, how many carbs and protiens you should eat a day, etc. I also know a lot about the biology of the body and how it processes most foods and how to burn them off.

I know way too much about being healthy to be the size I am.

This frustrates the crap out of me. Especially when a lot of people around me drink loads of soda, and eat cookies for dinner, and they are at a normal weight.

I have to work very, very, very hard just to maintain the weight I am at.

Right now I am training for a triathlon and I haven't lost any weight. Even though I exercise 2 hours a day. I am pushing myself too because this is for a race. (I gained 9 pounds when I had my hysterectomy and I have finally lost it, but really I am back to square one so I don't count those 9 pounds).

No one can give me any answers. They just tell me to try harder. For real? I am not sure I could try any harder.

Now I know I am not perfect at my eating. I do have a treat a couple times a week. But I am very aware of portion size and am careful of what I eat.

There really isn't any reason why I am the weight I am. It frustrates me. It makes me angry. I would deserve to be this weight if I sat around all day and did nothing. But I am trying, doing everything you are supposed to to be healthy and I am still a big fat girl.

Three years ago I was at my heaviest weight and I deserved to be there. I was going through some Hell in my life and I ate my way through it. Since then I have been trying hard to lose the weight. I took pictures 3 years ago and found them the other day. I decided to take some today and compare. I have lost around 25 pounds since then (25 pounds in 3 years) and I do look better in these pictures. That makes me feel a little better. Progress is progress I guess. But I want more, I am working for more, and I wish I could be given more.

Done whining. Going to go ride my bike.


(The shorts are the same ones from 3 years ago. They sure have faded)

Suckers!

In our house we have a little girl who loves dogs. And when I say love I really mean LOVE! She wakes up in the morning talking about dogs and doesn't stop all day. She reads about dogs all day. Remember how I have a memory for dates and birthdays? Well she has a memory for every dog she has ever met.

She has been asking for her own dog for as long as I can remember. We keep telling her we will get one for her birthday, but every year we put it off. She won't let us put it off any more. This is the year Brynn is going to get a dog if it is the last thing she ever does.

Well as fate may have it (Brynn has been praying for a sister since she was 3. When I had my hysterectomy she was so upset that she would never have a sister. Ever since then she has been praying for a Dog. So it probably isn't fate at all), we stopped by an Animal Shelter on Monday. Just to see what we might be looking for. They had a puppy. It is hard to find puppies at shelters. This puppy was the exact kind of puppy we were looking for.

We asked if we could hold the puppy. As soon as that puppy was in Brynn's arms the look on her face told us we weren't leaving that Shelter without that puppy.

So Brynn got an early birthday present, and I get to rediscover sleepless nights.

Her name is Annie. She is 7 weeks old. She is a Chiweenie. She is tiny and will melt your heart.

Lucky 13

I am one of the luckiest people in the world because I married Brett. I love being married to him. He is so good to me in every way. Today is our Thirteenth Anniversary.

In my absence...

I haven't updated forever! And honestly I don't really have the time to update now, but I am doing it anyway. This week has been so busy. I am up at 6:00 and in bed after midnight, and every minute has been filled up. I hate weeks like these. They are stressful and tiring.
Last week was much more laid back. I liked last week. Last week we went to Washington to visit my Grandparents. We were gone for 6 days.

My grandparents live right on the Puget Sound and you can watch boats float by on their way out to the Pacific. This was very entertaining. Not something you see every day. We also went seashell hunting at the beach, went into Seattle for a day, and toured some fun old fishing port towns.