New neighbor!

Pai playing with Justin.

Sky playing with my glasses. She's obsessed with glasses!

Justin and Sky.

My loves.

Monday I couldn't wait to get off work and go get my girls to meet Justin at the pool. I swam several laps (as much as Sky would let me).  We left the pool a little later than we wanted to. I'd like to blame someone other than me but I just didn't want to get out.

Fitness: Yoga night! While we were setting up our yoga studio (my driveway) my other next door neighbor was walking by and we introduced ourselves. Her name is Rachel and she seemed very nice. She said she would join us when she got back home from visiting her parents in Alaska. I hope that she does! Kellie, Shayla and I had a great time. We came up with some great nicknames for each other. It was our best yoga class so far. We did some new moves that we hadn't done before. Thanks again Dad for doing such a good job with us!  We missed you Amy!

Something I struggle with ALL the time...

The following Q&A is from a blog that I follow called Runs for Cookies. The bloggers name is Kate and she is amazing. She has lost 125 lbs and kept it off!


Q. When you were losing weight did the compliments ever embarrass you? Maybe its because I still have such a long way to go, or embarrassment that I let myself get so overweight, or even that, yes I've lost weight...but I could have tried harder or skipped a dessert and lost more? But the compliments don't motivate me, they just embarrass me.A. Definitely! I was still very overweight when people started complimenting me, and I was embarrassed about accepting a compliment. I realize now that it's because I had very low self-esteem, and I thought that as an obese person, I didn't deserve to be told that I was "pretty". Jerry even started calling me "Sticks" after I had lost 10 pounds--I was horribly embarrassed about that! hahaha
But when people give you compliments, it's not because they are forced to--accept the compliments graciously, because they really do mean what they say! You're worthy of compliments, even if you feel like you "could have lost more" or "tried harder". You're obviously making strides to improve your life, so that is definitely compliment-worthy!



This is Elise again...
I'm not embarrassed when I'm complimented-at all-but I do feel like I've got so much farther to go that you shouldn't be impressed yet. I love every single compliment that is thrown my way. I am thankful for the support system that I have around me-DAILY! I'm sure that I will say this all the time throughout this journey...THANK YOU. Thank you for taking the time to stop me in the middle of my sentence to talk about my shrinking gut, my pants that are hanging, my boobs that aren't filling out my shirt anymore, how much thinner my face is, and more. I love that you guys support me. I love that you guys are so proud of me. I love that you tell other people that I've lost another person (I haven't, really, but I love that you think that I have!). If none of you ever said anything or cheered me on, I'm sure that I would have thrown in the towel by now. I am blessed beyond measure to have you all beside me cheering me on. It brings me to tears to think about how much I am loved and supported.   I love my life.

P.S.  Did I say thank you? :)

Rachel Lampa-Blessed. I love this song. If you haven't heard it, listen!

Wednesday was Yoga. Shayla, Kellie and I worked our butts off!

Flippin Fun!

My girl doing her thing!

Sky and Jakob.

My flippin girl and Jack!
Tuesday was a run night and Kellie ran with Shayla and I. Kellie did incredible! I'm so proud of you, girl! We saw our skunk friends out again. I think that they live in the drainage ditch. They are so cute! Well, as long as they aren't spraying me!
We weighed before we ran. Kellie weighs 99 lbs less than me. Ha! :)
Shayla hit her first 10 lbs lost! Woooo!!!! Proud of you Shay!! I knew you could do it!
Since I've been weighing on May 13th I've lost 18 lbs. I know I've lost way more than that. My best guess is closer to 40 lbs. I really wish I would have weighed when I first started February 2nd. Oh well!

Pai's new bed!

My girls enjoying a bubble bath.

Bubbly Sky.

Baths make you hungry!

I love snuggle time with Momma.

She was on an important call.

Sunday all of us got up late after such a late night out having fun. Needless to say, sadly, we missed church. I really hate missing church.  I gave both the girls a much needed bath. We hung out around the house, Paili played outside with her friends. I deleted all the pictures from the party. (See yesterdays post-Aaron got most of them back!) We ate some very yummy left overs from the BBQ. My Mom texted and asked if I would want the bed the Justin had made for my oldest nephew, Kyle. We've been wanting a new bed for Pai so I said, YES! My Mom brought it over and Justin and I took down Pai's old bed and put the new one up. She has so much more room to play now. I love it! She loves it. We're all very happy with the change.I didn't get any pictures of the transformation, I was still in my funk from deleting all the pics from the day before. We went back over to my parents and cleaned up the mess left from the firework party.
Fitness: We didn't get home until later than I would have liked and Shay didn't want to run that late so I just did some exercises at home.

We're ready for the show!

Donut, potato chips, peanut butter & jelly-it's whats for lunch! For a prego!

Thursday for lunch Yvette had an interesting lunch combo and I thought I should capture it. Brooke is getting ready to be gone next week on vacation and her birthday is at the end of July. For her birthday she is going to do a random act of kindness for every year she's been alive. We all were trying to help her come up with idea's of random acts of kindness. I love that idea of doing a random act of kindness for every year of life. So cool. If you think of any, let me know.
Fitness: NONE. Shayla had something come up. I don't even remember now.

Friday was a great day. Joe and Brooke offered to let us come over and swim but when I left work it was lightening and raining a little so we didn't go. The storm passed quickly so we should have just gone. Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20! When I got off work and went to pick up my girls Paili wanted me to go with her to feed the chicken, Sweetie.

Pai and Cupcake.

Pai and her chicken, Sweetie.

Sweetie follows Pai around.

Hand feeding Sweetie.

Feeding the horses. With an umbrella.

Sky "helping" us put the tent up!

We started getting stuff set up for the annual firework extravaganza! We love this tradition with our friends and family! Damon, Kellie, and the kids were outside when we got home and I walked over with the girls for a minute to chat. Kellie told me she had gotten her yoga mat! She's serious! I'm so excited! I bathed my girls and put them to bed. Justin went outside to get fireworks prepped and I went out to help him. I really enjoyed just being with him and working on the fireworks. It was a very late night with fireworks, cleaning, and prepping food!
Fitness:OFF on Fridays.

Kids Klub Live Day 3

The Black Knight (Andrew) and Princess (Paili)

Todays theme at Kids Klub Live was medieval times with princesses, knights, princes, jesters, etc. In the picture above Paili is wearing the tiara I received when I was nominated as Homecoming Queen in 1999. It's pretty old now!

These guys have been so funny this week. Skip Holden, Isaac Shade, and Peter Buckland.

The opening and closing time have been so much fun. These guys have been absolutely hilarious. I think I've laughed just as much as the kids have. Peter is one of Justin's favorite professors at Ozark Christian College. Yesterday Peter was the sheriff in a western town and Skip was telling him about Jesus and as the lights were dimming you know how they have to act like they're talking I heard Skip whispering to Peter as he was holding the Bible that he really should know what that was because he's a professor at OCC. I was cracking up. I love these guys using their abilities and strengths to show the kids Jesus.

Madison, Paili, Bethany, Addy, Lauren (looking at me) Mrs Garrison (with the necklace)
Mrs. Garrison was Paili's Preschool teacher. She's wonderful.

Abby (in the green) Jenna, AnnaBeth,Aimee (teacher) Aiden and Zoe.

Pretty Princesses enjoying a fruit cup.

Sweet girls. After I took the picture Addy told me she used her princess smile. So funny.

I've really enjoyed getting to know Aimee better this week.

 Funny side note: Aimee's little sister, Ruthie, lived in my parents basement in college for awhile. Ruthie and I've had tons of good times together. I miss her!

AnnaBeth, Jenna, Andrew, Paili, Madison, Colby

One more night of KKL. It's always a bittersweet time. I've enjoyed the girls in my class so very much. They're such sweet, funny girls. Tomorrow night is Pirates night...Aarrrrrr Matey! Good thing my Mom is working on the outfit. Otherwise, she'd just have an eye patch. Who knows what she'll have.

Sky is always so happy to go into her class to play and is always happy to see us come and get her.

Tonight's workout was cut kind of short after we got stopped by my neighbors across the street, the Patricks. They had had some stuff stolen the night before...2 pairs of Oakley's out of their cars. They also were telling me some of the other things that have gone missing out of their home like snack cakes, socks, a nice jersey, and video games! Crazy! They know who did it and are trying to figure out how to fix the problem. I really enjoyed talking with them. They are a sweet family that places God first in their family. It's so nice having great neighbors. We always lock our front door but never our cars. Well...There was one time that I left the front door wide open but it was during the school year so none of the kids were home. In my defense I was trying to get myself, my newborn, my 5 year old and all of our stuff out the door(in one trip) and forgot! Good times. Shayla and I ended up walking to her house then doing all kinds of fun or not so fun exercises in her driveway on the concrete.(Sorry to her neighbors!) I'm feeling it today. But, that's a great thing. We listened to Pandora's Summer Hits of the 90's station. If you haven't listened to it, oh man! It brought me back to night swims in my parents pool with all of my buddies laughing and singing along at the top of our lungs. AND! I got to talk to my good buddy Tia on the way home tonight. I miss her. She moved to Texas last year and left me! We are quite the duo. I love you, Tia!