Biggest Loser Update

I forgot to mention in my last post that our final weigh-in for the biggest loser was last Wednesday. I went back to my old work to weigh in and had lost 14 1/4 lbs total or 11.4%!!! And, guess what?????? I WON!!!!! Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOO-HOO!!!!! I was pretty excited! I have to go up their and collect my winnings. I haven't decided yet what I want to buy. I figure maybe some new summer clothes or another swimsuit or something fun to celebrate!!!! It was hard work but worth it and I am now hooked on exercising! Hopefully I will stay hooked!

Update

OK I know it has been forever since I have posted, but my plug-in for my memory disk from my camera is not working and I haven't been able to get out to get another one to download new pictures. The kids have been sick since Easter morning. We got up and had our egg hunt that the Easter bunny hid and were getting ready to eat breakfast. Hailey took off running for the bathroom and threw up! So, we didn't get to go to church. We still tried to get out to my mom's for lunch and the big Easter egg hunt as Hailey is crying wanting to go. We put on comfy clothes and her robe and slippers and headed out there. Halfway out there I had to climb in the back and she threw up again. We got out there and I laid her down in my mom's bed to watch TV. She didn't eat anything. Then, as we were getting ready to cook, Hayden threw up! I laid him down on the couch and he fell asleep even with all the commotion going on around him. Hailey didn't feel much like an Easter egg hunt but she sure did try. Hayden seemed better. Later that day, they both began running a fever. They ran fever and were just puny all day monday and then the diarrhea and stomach cramping began. Hayden had more cramping then Hailey. And, of course, Brian had to go out of town Monday morning until Wednesday so I was home by myself with two very sick kids and no way to get out and get STUFF. Luckily, they didn't feel like eating because I really needed to go to the grocery store and wasn't able to. We made it though. We didn't get much sleep for the waking up and diarrhea and stomach cramping, but we slept in each morning to make up for it. It was not a very fun spring break! I guess if they are going to be sick I would rather it be when I am already off so I don't have to take extra time off. By Thursday we figured we would venture out because they seemed better. They wanted to go eat lunch at Holly's Country Cooking. We ate lunch and then headed to the movie to see Horton Hears a Who/Hoo???? Can't remember. Anyway, we weren't in the movie more than 10 minutes and Hayden said "my tummy hurts". I asked if he needed to go to the bathroom and he said, "no". Then Hailey turns to me and said, "I do". She had a bit of diarrhea but we were able to finish the movie. The next day (Friday) we headed to Jump Zone after lunch at Taco Bueno. The kids had a great time and were able to run off some energy from being cooped up all week. So, we at least got two fun days out of the week. For me, even though they were sick, it has gotten me so excited about being off in the summer and other school vacations with the kids with my new job. I am so ready for summertime and spending it together. It is truly a blessing and answered prayer to be given this opportunity. I am very thankful and have lots of fun "stuff" planned for us this summer. I will hopefully get a new plug-in tomorrow and can get to updating with my pictures soon.

A Day at the Races

Hayden was not very happy about getting his picture taken today. Who's scowl does THAT look like?

The day after I got back from Mexico, we headed to Hot Springs to the horse races. Brian loves to go to the races and the kids have never been. His mom is able to reserve her work box for us so it is very nice to have a blocked off area inside for the kids with chairs. It is great because it is

right up against the glass too! We got there just in time for the first race. Brian studies the horses and their "track" records. Hailey and I just pick the cute names or the names of people we know! :) She won a couple of dollars and really got into cheering for "her" horse! They had so much fun and Hailey said she wanted to come every day! They also really enjoyed all the good food. Hot dogs, nachos, chicken strips, fries, and ice cream were favorites. It was a great day to spend together as a family and we look forward to going back again next year.

Hayden had two hot dogs and nachos and ice cream while we were there!


Hailey getting excited about the race that is fixing to start.
Hailey keeping an eye on what her horse is doing.Woohoo! She is cheering him into the finish!

Hayden enjoying going outside with his daddy and crushing cups, his new favorite pastime. He like to stomp on anything and "crush" it.

My Mexico Vacation

M.O.D. Squad

(Mom's Off Duty)

OK, get ready for a long post. You know how I have to give all the details, so here goes.....

First of all, we all got each other gifts. I got us all t-shirts that said M.O. D. Squad, Traci got us the cutest monogrammed coozies, Jenifer got us monogrammed beach towels and M & M's that were printed with Mexico 2008, and Heather got us monogrammed beach bags. Linda's gifts got left in the van on the way down but they are bath sets....Imagine That!!! :) We can't wait to see them. All the gifts were great and alot of fun. Thanks everyone!!!

We were supposed to leave Saturday morning at 6:00 a.m. Due to unforseen SNOW, we decided at the last minute (about 4:00 Friday afternoon) that it would be best to leave that night and get a hotel close to the airport due to the expected re-freeze overnight. That was an adventure in itself due to the "condition" of our room. But nevertheless, after frantically flying around the house to get packed, we made it down there about 7:00 and had a nice meal at the Waffle House :).

Saturday:

After a horrible nights sleep, or lack-thereof, we made it to the airport safe and sound. Our flight was due to leave at 6:00 but got delayed until around 7:15. The funny thing (or not so funny thing) was that Jenifer who packed SOOOO much stuff had to pay a $160.00 fee for her luggage weighing too much over the limit!!! WOW!!! Anyway, Linda, Heather, and I flew to Houston while Jenifer flew to Atlanta to meet Traci (from So. Carolina) and then we were to all land in Cancun by 12:00 ish. Of course, that did happen. With delays, everyone but Traci landed around 2:00. We decided to hold off on our shuttle until Traci got there so we could all go together. She did not get in until almost 6:30!!!! It was so good to see her! We got to our resort, checked in and FINALLY got to eat dinner around 9:00. When we got there it was FREEZING!!! It was probably in the 50's. We were very worried we would come back less tan than we went.

Us riding the trolley/shuttle everywhere on the resort.

Sunday:

Sunday was cloudy and cool so we decided to hail a taxi van and head to downtown Playa to the Pedestrian Boardwalk to do some shopping for our souveniers and stuff. It was really cool. There were lots of neat shops and restaurants. Although, the food was not that great. It was a great day to shop so we didn't waste any good laying out days! We then walked to a Wal-Mart to buy some food for at the condo. That was an experience! You parked in an underground parking deck, got a buggy, and went up an escalator, that was flat, into the store. The escalator was a magnet and the buggy stuck to it. We didn't recognize much of the foods and couldn't read the labels, so we didn't end up with much food, but oh well. We then headed back to our resort via a very scary taxi ride!

Us on the beach in downtown Playa during our trip to the Pedestrian Boardwalk to do our souveneir shopping. Check out the cute beach bags!!!!

Us at Wal-Mart with the strange entrance.

Monday:

Monday was beautiful! Sunny and warm. we headed to the beach about 8:30 and stayed until about noon, then headed to the pool area to lay out until about 4:00. It was amazing and so relaxing. We just lounged and talked all day. You are waited on hand and foot there.

Bathing Beauties with our cute monogrammed beach towels!

Tuesday:

Tuesday we took an all-inclusive excursion to Tulum to tour the ruins and Xel-Ha. At Xel-Ha it was all the food, drinks, and snacks you wanted, snorkeling, tubing, floating bridge, etc. We had a great time. We trekked through the "jungle", swung from a rope by some cliffs, and floated in tubes along the river around an island. We also "tried" to walk across a tight rope over the water but it was too hard. We were not tall enough for one. After a long day, we headed back to the resort for dinner.

Isn't this beautiful? The water was crystal clear!

At Xel-Ha

At the restaurant, Tramonto, where we had our awesome filet mignon's!!!!

Wednesday:

Same as Monday plus we parasailed!!!! It was awesome. The plan was for Me, Jenifer, and Traci to go up first together and then Linda and Heather to go up. Well, as we were up in the air the boat or parachute broke. They pulled us in and Linda said they were worried they would not be able to get us in because it was making a terrible noise and the crew had to yank up the decking. They changed Linda and Heather's time till Thursday, but they still were unable to go due to the boat still being broken. That night, we got a taxi and went back to downtown Playa to Senor Frogs. It was so much fun. Our table was right by the stage area. Waiters would grab you right in the middle of your meal, etc. to go dance. You had to stand on your chairs sometimes and do dances, too. It was so much fun! Heather, Jenifer, and Linda even won a "contest" which was our 3 US girls against 3 much younger Canadian girls. Guess who won? Jenifer couldn't let those babies show us up! After some took a dip in the ocean right by our tables, we headed back to catch our taxi back to the resort. It was a great night!

Thursday:

We stayed at the pool all day until time for our spa's. We all got massages that were wonderful! Very relaxing!!! Then we headed back out to the pool for some more R&R until time to head in to get ready for dinner.

Friday:

We were so sad to leave the resort and each other. We missed our families but it was so awesome being together with a group of friends that have been friends for at least 20plus years! They are friends that you can tell anything to. Friends that you don't have to talk constantly to but you find that you are always talking! I love them all and had the time of my life. We are already planning next years trip....sounds like Cabo San Lucas!!!! That evening we got into LR around 9:00, however, one piece of my luggage was lost so we didn't leave until around 11:30! The kids were so sweet. When I came down the escalator, they were waiting with a flower (thanks Momma) each behind their backs with the biggest grins on their faces. It was priceless. It was so good to see them and Brian.

Breakfast before leaving.

Just wanted to end by thanking Roger a.k.a Poppy for coming down and staying with the kids and Brian for the week. I probably would not have been able to go if you hadn't. I appreciate it so much and know the kids enjoyed it so much, and Brian, too. I know it is alot of work, but sounds like you did a great job. He even did laundry, dishes, etc!!! You need to rub off on Brian :)!!!! Really, thanks so much! Also thank you to my mom for helping with Hailey's events. I know it was a hectic week for everyone....but me!!!!! And thanks to Brian, for being so supportive of my much needed trip. He was very excited for me and interested in all that I shared with him. I appreciate him making it possible for me to go when it was going to be hard on him...but good for him :) HAD A BLAST!!!!!!

I will post more pictures as I have more time. I know everyone is waiting to hear and see pics of the trip. So, here are a few. We have 526 pictures now between the three of us who brought our cameras so it is taking awhile to sift through them and pick out what I want!

I'M HOME!!!!

Hey everyone! Just a quick note to let you all know I am home from my wonderful trip to Mexico. It was unbelievable. I had such a great time and can't wait to share it all with you. I have gotten all my pics downloaded to a shutterfly account but I am trying to decide the best way to post them or some of them on here. Also, I am trying to get caught up with things here so it may take me a few days to get the post ready. I will try to get it up as soon as possible. Check back soon for a detailed report of my trip! I missed everyone!

Hayden's Soccer Schedule

Just wanted to let everyone know Hayden's soccer schedule. They play 8 games and have already had one so they have 7 left. If you are interested in coming, here is the schedule:

chg
H/A
Date
Time
Opponent
Location
*
A
Mar 1, 2008, Sat
11:30 a.m.
U5 01 WASHINGTON
FSP # 5C
*
H
Mar 8, 2008, Sat
8:30 a.m.
U5 21 FREYALDENHOVEN
FSP # 5C
*
H
Mar 15, 2008, Sat
8:30 a.m.
U5 03 CAMPBELL
FSP # 5C
*
A
Apr 5, 2008, Sat
10:30 a.m.
U5 07 KIILSGAARD
FSP # 5C
*
H
Apr 12, 2008, Sat
10:30 a.m.
U5 22 MCFADIN
FSP # 5B
*
A
Apr 19, 2008, Sat
9:30 a.m.
U5 02 BRUICH
FSP # 5A
*
H
Apr 26, 2008, Sat
11:30 a.m.
U5 06 STACY
FSP # 5B
*
A
Apr 26, 2008, Sat
2:30 p.m.
U5 08 SHIPP
FSP # 5C

One More Thing

OK, I had to post this because I thought it was too cute. As I have been typing this forever long post (see below) Hailey has been anxiously waiting for me to get off the computer so she can get on. She has been drawing lots of pictures including spongebob and patrick, etc. She asked me what she should draw next and I told her how about momma in mexico. This is what she drew.... I wonder who the little one on the end is?

She is so funny because I drew something similar about 6 months ago as we were planning on making -shirts for our trip. I guess she remembered it and drew this. Pretty good, huh? You can see a drawing showing through on the back though. Anyway, I thought it was cute.

Updates

OK, sooooo sorry for the lapse in updates. I have just been stressed to the max and overwhelmed with so much! To catch you up from the last post, I put my 2 week notice in with the assumption that I would be available to my current employer until March 28th as I would start my new job on the 31st. That was the plan as the therapist I am taking over for, remember, is pregnant with twins and trying to get to the 31st. So, the very next week (last Monday) I get home from work and their is a message from my new work that the therapist (who is also my neighbor) is on bed rest with contractions!!!! I was excited, nervous, sad, and STRESSED as I needed much more time than that to wrap up loose ends at my current work and prepare to start a whole new age group, etc. So on Tuesday I let work know that Friday would be my last day and I helped out at my new work that Wed of that same week. So, essentially I had two days to complete paperwork on all my kids and clean out my office by 3:00 on Friday to get kids picked up and ready for their activities because my brother Scott was graduating from Game and Fish Commission at state capitol that night and I had to be there around 5:30!!! Talk about MAJOR STRESS!!! I went to my new job on Wednesday and it went very well....everyone was really nice and helpful. Stayed up till about 1:00 each morning to finish up stuff for my old work place and flew Friday afternoon to pack stuff up!! After one bin, one huge duffle bag, and two laundry baskets full of toys and books, I was outta there!!! Sweating bullets and all!!! I got the kids picked up (Hayden ready for Drew's Bday party and Hailey ready for a basketball game) got changed and out of the house. Went to Scott's graduation and it was really nice. I would have loved for Brian and the kids to have got to come and see it, too, but they were told their was only a small space and we weren't sure how many he was able to invite, so we split up. Afterwards, me, my parents, Sean and Garret, Scott and his family, and Kristen's mom and grandma all went to Marketplace. We had a great time.

Saturday, my mom and I headed out for LR on the hunt for a new swimsuit for my trip. That has been my plan since I started my diet to splurge on a really nice swimsuit. I began to get discouraged because I just couldn't find ANYTHING and was running out of time. Oh, by the way, I forgot to post my last Biggest Loser Update which was only 1/4 lb so I believe that brings me to 12 1/4 as of last week. I told work I would be back for the final weigh-in!!! :) I finally, last stop found a swimsuit that I was happy with and we headed for home. I have bought a few things here and there for my trip so that has been fun, too. I cannot wait but am a little nervous, too about leaving the kids for so long. I know they will be fine but I haven't been away from them longer than a weekend before. I know I will be fine for the first probably 3 days and then by day 4 I will probably be pretty homesick!!! I am just very thankful for Roger (Brian's dad) and my mom for their willingness to come and help Brian out next week. It will make me be able to relax much more knowing their family are with them. I know I will be glad to see them when I get back on Friday night!!! I have been busy trying to get my house/laundry/food in order and planned to make it as easy as possible for everyone, too.

Saturday morning, Hayden had his first soccer game. We have been kind of put out because they did not have even one practice before the first game and did not know who was on their team, etc. The coach was on a cruise so Brian stepped in and coached without notice. I was very proud of him for doing that and doing a good job. He is not a soccer fan, but sucked it up and did great. Hayden participated which was much better than last year!! So, hopefully it will go better since HE is the one that wanted to play this!!! Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day here. It was in the 70's. After the game is when my mom and I headed to shop and Brian, Hailey, Hayden, my dad (PopPop) and Garret went fishing. They fished ALL day and were exhausted and sunburned!!! Brian said they had a great time and Hailey caught 2 bass that she was pretty proud of. They waded out in their boots and got in the mud, ya know fun stuff like that! That night, Hailey had a sleepover with Mimi/PopPop/and Garret.

The next morning (Sunday) we missed church because we all got together for hamburgers at Momma's for lunch. All three of our families were there and we had a great time. It was nice to have everyone together which is hard to do these days!!! After lunch, Brian and the kids went with my brothers and their families out to Scott's to ride 4 wheelers. Brian said they had a blast. I know they did because they were SOOOO tired when they got home. Hailey was in bed watching TV by 7:00 and out by 8:00. She was very sore the next morning I guess from riding the four wheelers. They have so much fun with their cousins. We just wished Garret lived closer so they could spend even more time all together.

So, back to the weather, here. Saturday....beautiful/sunny/70's. Sunday...warm/becoming cloudy/temps dropping from 70's to 50's. Monday morning.....severe weather in parts of the state and by Tuesday morning....SNOW!!!!! We woke up to about 3 inches of snow this morning!!!! Is that crazy or what!!!! The nice thing is....since I now work for the schools, I am off because the schools are closed!!!! Yeahhhhh!!! Brian was supposed to leave for Fayetteville for work this morning but waited because of the weather. Russellville supposedly got around 11 inches!!!!!! WOW!!!! It is unbelievable. I cannot wait to be enjoying 80's in Mexico!!!!

Well, sorry for the long post but I wanted to catch everyone up to date. That is pretty much it in a nutshell. This week will be very busy for us also. I will try to do better about updating and am FINALLY going to post those valentine pictures I have been talking about. You will have to scroll down to valentines to view them! Have a good week!!!