Dear John

When I saw the first trailer for the movie, you can imagine it struck a few strings with my heart. I cried during the preview and I have cried during every preview that I have seen since then. I am very excited it finally comes out next week because the anticipation is killing me! So I decided I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie and that's what I spent this afternoon doing. I read the whole book cover to cover in about 6 hours with a few breaks here and there. Now I don't want to be the one to tell you what happens so I'm going to very briefly talk about it, I wont give any details other than this blog so don't ask what happens!! To me it hit very close to home because Eric is in the Army and gone as we speak. I loved the book over all but I cant decide how I feel about the ending! After you all see the movie or read the book we can talk! But I should have you know I cried a few times while reading it and I'm not afraid to admit that. Needless to say, I am even more ready to see the movie! That's all I'm going to say :)

Help me pick my new sweatshirt!

So I have really been wanting an Army Wife sweatshirt but cant for the life of me decide which one I want. So please vote, that way I can make a choice! Thanks!

Weigh in 1/26/10!

Yesterday was weigh in day at Weight Watchers, now I didn't do as well with tracking and exercising last week like I should have to meet the goal I had of loosing 2.6 pounds! But we all have our off weeks and its time to just get back on the horse and keep going! I will say that I was down:

-1.6 pounds!!!

Which is still great in itself. I decided to join a gym yesterday so I went to 24 hour fitness and got myself signed right up. I would love to say that after I got all signed up, I ran home, put my gym clothes on and went back to work out but I didn't. I was supposed to go in there this morning at 11 to meet with a trainer but woke up with lovely green flem, a sore throat and a cough that sounds more like a baby seal than anything else. I didn't want to risk getting anyone sick and I didn't go. Maybe I should have who knows! I'm going to try to go tonight but I cant promise it will be done. The truth is, I am extremely nervous to go to the gym. Well heres to another great week. I am .4 pounds away from 10 pounds and 1.4 away from my 5% which is 11 pounds! See you next week!

HaPpY 21sT bIrThDaY LiZ!!!

Happy 21st birthday lizzy!! So as a birthday gift, this blog is for you! We have known each other for what seems like forever but its actually been 7 almost 8 years! We met our freshman year in high school and had so much fun then and in college. We have been with each other during the best and worst moments in life! You are truly one of my best friends and I am so grateful for everything I have learned from you! You are a great example of what a wife and mother should be! I love you so much!

Here our some of my favorite memories in no order:

Eating cereal for breakfast lunch and dinner

Going to every football game and freezing our butts off

Cuddle time in your bed under the warm covers when it was to cold to get out

Roller Skating

Voo Doo dances in the kitchen

Sunday dinners with your family

Rodeos

Wearing spandex and sweats pretty much every where we went

Playing board games

Talking all night long

Crying over boys

Spokane Shock!!

Volleyball and mean girls!

Movies

Heart Attacking

Riding Cooper

Driving around with music blasting

Gooeys

Pasta, chorizo and home made pizza

Favorite snacks after a bad day

"So are you guys from Idaho?!"

Silly boys

I could go on and on and on!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZ!!!

Weight!

It seems that these days, women and their weight is still such a taboo topic. I have decided that it may be best for me to be successful in my weight loss journey to share it with all of you. I have been over weight from my early teen years all the way to now. This is the heaviest I have been in my life and am ready to make a life change, not only for myself but for the benefit of my husband and our future children. So here goes :)

My starting weight was:

when I joined Weight Watchers a few months ago. In about 6 weeks I managed to loose:

Sure, that's great but I didn't fully commit to tracking everything that went into my mouth and actual working out. So while my husband was home, I ate what I wanted because lets face it, I hadn't seen him in 6 months so we ate all of our favorite foods and drank together. I managed to gain:

in a matter of a month. Something finally hit me when he left and I decided this is something I need to do for myself and focus 100% of my time and energy into loosing weight. I don't want to be stick thin, I just want to live a healthy and active life. So after tracking everything that went into my mouth and exercising 4 times I managed to loose:

in my first week back at Weight Watchers!! This was such a huge boost for me and I realized I made it through that week without dying from my lack of fatty, greasy, nasty food and so I decided to try to do my best for another week. While I made a few mistakes and didn't track as well, I was still mentally conscious of went into my mouth. It paid off because I lost:

In my second week after Eric left. That is a:

So I am learning that hard work really does pay off. I plan to be open and honest with the blogging world when it comes to my weight loss. I weigh in every Tuesday and plan to give a full report about my week. I am very excited and am more focused on this than I ever thought possible. I can already notice a change in my face weight and body. My dear sweet husband also mentioned how I look like I lost some weight when he saw my on Skype the other day. I know this isn't going to be easy, but at this point I am willing to try my hardest to get as healthy as I can. Sure I don't like working out, but I am noticing how much better I feel the next day or even how proud I am after! So wish me luck and thanks for following me in this journey :)

R&R Part TWO: San Fran

I was lucky enough to grow up in California and one of my favorite places of all time is San Fransisco! I love the food, the culture, the architecture and the fact that its one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. I have been going there as long I can remember and I was so excited to take Eric there for the day. We didn't get to see everything because lets face it, theres so much to do! We had such a good time and I wish we could have stayed longer! I kept my post to only 15 pictures, so you wont get bored! Enjoy :)

Here is Eric in front of the bathroom that cleans itself after each use. While it cleans, it still smells funny!

We started the day off right with food from my favorite street vendor La Isabela which is on Fisherman's Wharf. We had clam chowder, curly fries and some fried shrimp. It was DELISH!!!

Next we went to a place that has tons of old arcade games. They uses to be at the Cliff House which is in the movie Princess Dairies. But they moved them all to San Fran. Eric decided to challenge this man to arm wrestling but he lost :(

I WON!! Mind you it was with 2 hands on the easiest level, but a win is a win in my book!

After that, we went on a tour of this old Navy ship that was used in World War 2. I have always wanted to go on a ship. It was fun except for getting a little sea sick!

I thought this was the best picture of the entire trip. The way the flag is just makes me so proud!!

This was our (or my) attempt at taking a picture of us on the boat. It only took 4 tries lol!

Then we headed down the street and had a few beers before we walked to the trolley!

Heres us, pad picture of me but how cute is my husband!! Remember me here though because that is my FAT picture (more on that later)

Here is Eric on the trolley which he had never been on in his life so I told him he must stand up for the ride, and we did. I think he had a lot of fun!

We rode the trolley and got off in China Town. I have been to San Fransisco a million times but have never stepped foot in China Town. I wish I would have sooner, it was awesome. Any one who knows Eric, knows he has seriously love for Anime, particularly Naruto. Don't judge people!! We went into a small anime shop and he was in heaven!

We ate the best Chinese food I have had in my life. As you can tell from the picture above, we enjoyed it! We sat on a roof top alone, enjoy hot tea and just people watched.

This little market was so cool and had tons of neat stuff. I wish I could have shopped more but lets face it, Eric hates shopping lol!

We rode the trolley back down to the Wharf and went to the Ripley's Believe it or not museum. It was very interesting to say the least!!

We ended our night down on Pier 39 with a nice dinner over looking the water! We had such a great time and it was so nice to re-connect our love for one another! I truly cant wait for us to go back there and explore some more :)

R&R Part ONE!!!

So this post is one of many! Eric came home for R&R on December 14, almost a month ago. It has taken me forever to post because I couldn't get my pictures to load until now!! There is going to be several posts, and you will probably get bored but oh well!! I will go in order, and this is just for blogging purposes so maybe one day my kids can look back on our life!!

This is how it went, I got a phone call from Eric telling me he was in Germany and that he would be here at 10pm the following day! Talk about a freak out and a half, I was running around my house screaming like a big baby but I was so excited! On Monday, Kaitlyn, Amanda and Kaila came over to help me get ready because I was so nervous to do it myself! A huge thanks to Kaitlyn for taking pictures for me! And another huge thanks to Sherri for letting Eric and I take over her room while he was here.

This is me with my signed that I had ordered off line. Thanks to www.buildasign.com for giving it to me for free! It turned out to great, and embarrassed the heck out of Eric :)

I love this picture of me. I feel so beautiful. My Mom, Lexus and Rich were at the airport with me, waiting for Eric.

I was at the airport an hour early, and it was by far the longest hour of my life. I was very nervous and extremely on edge. A few women came up and talked to me about their sons who had just gotten home from Iraq. They cried and I cried too!

Since it was late at night, Eric's flight was the only one coming out of the gate. When people started coming down the elevator, I really freaked out. Several people would stop and tell me that he sat behind them, or that he wasn't far behind. Finally after pacing back and forth I heard a man yell "I SEE A SOLDIER," then I saw this:

And this is what I did,

Eric doesn't like to make a scene in public so this was totally out of his element! When I saw him I freaked out, started crying, and ran into his arms. Just then, everyone in the airport started clapping and cheering for him. It was just like in the movies :) You can see Eric's emotion in this pic.

Just another great picture that I love!

After we found Eric's one and very dirty bag, we headed to BJ's Brewhouse for some pizza and beer! There were some guys at the bar that were nice enough to buy Eric his first beer of the night!

We had some great food, delicious beer and time to spend with Kaitlyn, Lexus, my mom and Rich.

This is in the parking lot, its amazing how it felt as if he never left.

This just truly shows how happy and safe I felt that he was back :)

Waiting for Eric and seeing him was like nothing I will ever experience in my whole life. I truly felt like the luckiest and most blessed woman on earth. I love this man more than anything and it was so nice to have him safe in my arms once again!

sleepless nights...

I'm laying in bed wide awake, nothing new there, I just can't find the energy to sleep when its actually time. I found myself thinking the most at night and sometimes I wish it wasn't that way. I stay awake for hours just thinking, hoping and dreaming. Eric has been gone for over 6 months so I am glad to say this deployment is finally half over. Most of my nightly thoughts are about Eric and I and us. I can't wait for him to come back so we can finally be together again. I dream of going to Red Lobster (and FYI I don't even like that place) and eating food and just being us. I can't wait to live together again, to make dinner and breakfast, to watch him play video games and act like I'm bored but secretly stare and watch his every expression. I am so greatful to have a husband as amazing as mine but he keeps me up at night without even knowing it. Ill be so glad when this is all over so we can be together again to make up for lost time. I love you Eric and I miss you so much!!

BLOG GIVE AWAY!!

So this lovely lady that I have never met, nor do I even know, is having a wonderful blog giveaway! So please, go check her out, sign up, and perhaps you just might win!

busybeelauren.blogspot.com

Good Bye 2009, Hello 2010!!

Since Eric left on Wednesday, I was just kind of in all around blah mood New Years Eve. I was supposed to hang out with friends but that didn't happen because I felt like being alone. I drove up to my moms house and have been there since! Eric was staying at a hotel in Texas so we got to talk when both Texas and California had their New Years! I was glad about that! Now I don't usually set resolutions because I always seem to break them so instead I'm making a list of things I will try to do! Here goes:

1) Drink more water

2) Not eat fast food (and if I have to, make better choices)

3) Keep going to Weight Watchers

4) Read more, watch TV less

5) Be a better wife

6) Exercise

7) Keep my room clean

8) Make better food choices

9) Journal

10) Don't interrupt Eric when he's talking

11) Listen better

12) Decide what I want to do with my life

13) Be a better friend

14) Pick up a few hobbies

15) Save money