Big Update & Happy Thanksgiving !

Hey guys well I know it has been a few weeks since I have posted but with the holidays I have been busy. But things have been going pretty good and just keeping busy with life.

As some of you know I just recently went to Tae Bo certification camp and I have been waitng for it seems ever for an answer. Well monday I found out that I am now an oficial Certified Tae Bo ® Fitness Instructor. WWOOOOOHHHHHOOOOOO! I praise God for all the blessing He has given me to do this and I know it was His will. My prayer now is that He can use me in a mighty way. So that is the major update and I am so excited for my first class. I am training and planning and getting ready for my first class which should be in a few weeks. I hear they are in desperate need of instructors at our base gym and I am hoping to be able to teach there every so often. I will keep you all posted the more I know.

Well Happy Thanksgiving all and I hope you have all had a blessed day because I know I have. I love that we are really not doing anything but spending time as a family and just relaxing. I am loving every minute of it.

Included are a few pictures of my dear sweet indian. Alex had such fun at his class even though his picture does not show it and I had to post about it. Also there is a picture of his placemat he made, so cute, click on it to see what it says. I also included a few pictures of the turkey cake I made the other day. Monday I went and taught a cake decorating class to the kids at my churches school which I was asked to do. We had so much fun and they all loved it. So remember to sit and think and pray of the many blessings God has given you through out this year. Love you all and miss you even more.

Back up and running.

Hey guys well things are back up and running and I am so glad to be back. My computer was able to be fixed and Praise God all my pictures were not lost. Its funny how stupid you feel for letting something so small bother you instead of at the begining handing it to God to take care. Boy will I ever learn to hand it over from the start so it would save me alot of headaches. I am doing much better with it and I can only take one day at a time.

Well things have been amazing and busy these past few weeks and I am truely blessed. My father is stable and is home now but still his health is not good and the doctors still do not know what is causing some of the problems. The more I know the more I will let you know.

My younger brother and his wife just gave birth a week or so ago to their first baby girl. Welcome little Marissa Jayde, I so cant wait to see you. I unfortunately could not go see her right away becasue some things came up and I also want my sister in law to have some time to relax and adjust with a new baby. We plan to go up this weekend to see them AND to see some friends from Okinawa that just recently moved to Brastow also. I so cant wait to see them too and I have missed them.

Well I am so excited because this past weekend I left on thursday the 6th and returned on monday the 10th for the Tae Bo Certification Camp. That weekend was sooooo amazing and I learned so much. God blessed me with the honor to attend this camp and God gave me the strength to make it past that life changing weekend. God taught me so much while I was gone and I came back a new person. I wrote a thing on my experience at cert camp for the Billy blanks web club and if I could figure out how to add it I would. But if you want to read it on what I learned and how I grew I will gladly email it to you, unless someone can help with the link or adding the file from my computer.

Cert camp was mazing and I am so excited and on fire in so many was in my life. It was a tough weekend but sdo worth it. I dont want to spoil and talk about all that went on in case someone is reaing this and plans to attend thmselves because you need to go expecting nothing but open to learning so much. I will say that for those 3 days worth of workouts I burned 11,000 calories and I feel amazing.

Well other then that things are going great and I am just now waiting to see if I get certified. God is working on me daily and I am truely blessed by His grace and mercy every day. As soon as I know if I get it I will let you all know. Ryan is so excited because this will really help with our ministry. Our church is really getting involved in a martial arts ministry to reach the bus kids and their parents and so far it has been going well. Ryan can not wait fo rme to get certified because then God can really use our gifts in a mighty way. Yes martial arts and Tae Bo will be our ministry to reach the lost and we pray God will keep useing our talents in a powerful and mighty way. We are so excited and we will keep you all update the more we do and grow.

Well I promised pictures the last time so here goes with a ton of pictures, so sit back and enough, hhehehehehe.

Me and a very pregnant Shellie Blanks 9 she went into labor this morning and praying for the delivery). Then this is some of the other campers I went with.

More campers and me and then at the dinner after camp.

Alex at his 2nd Bday and his cake I made.

Like father like sons acting silly from Alexs party.

Alex at his class 2 times a week.

Ian at his bday party and wanting a walle cake, so i made one.

The boys at the beach on Ians bday.

Alex at the bates nut farm field trip and picking his pumpkin.

Ok guys now here are the pictures of the cake I made for the cake decorating contest at our church that i won for best decorated. It is of the old rugged cross and has a crown of thorns with blood on it, the nails for his hands and feet with blodd on it, the red scarf and a marble looking piece that says It is finished. It is to look old and nasty and yes their is a cross pice for the cross even though in the picture it is hard to see. So many thought it looked like real wood.

So as you can see things are going pretty good and we so miss you all. I pray God keeps blessing you and watches over you. Know you are all in my thoughts and prayers.

God has a different plan :(

Hey guys I know I just posted yesterday but alas I have news today.

Hey guys well you might be able to figure out already what this post is going to be about.
I am happy to say that the doctors didnt keep me waiting for my letter of refferal. But alas it is not the letter I was hoping for.

Bad news is that the doctor I saw was new and didnt know that things have changed here. The letter said it was not approved due to the fact they no longer do that kind of plastic surgery in my area anymore at our military bases. And they said they cant reffer me out in town to a civilian doctor. They said I could get it on my own but would have to pay the entire cost.

Ok yes I will be totally honest, I am upset about this and I know I got my hopes up. I did pray that if it was truely Gods will He would let the rest of this move smoothly. Well God has a different plan and I dont know the reasons why but the story is not over yet. Who knows it may still happen but later on down the road.

I love who I am, every inch of me and this doesnt change who I am. This doesnt change how I live my life or how I enjoy life to its fullest. This only encourages and inspires me to work harder and stay focused and allow that person who I truely am shine out of me. I know it may be a few days for me to truely get over this and let it go but it feels like a loss and with all losses it can take time to get over it.

I am a very smart, kind of funny, caring, loving, helpful, strong, powerful, motivated and beautiful woman, and nothing changes that. I know I am getting older, sure dont feel like it, and our bodies change so this is just a part of it.

Thank you guys so much for your kind words and all you love and support and prayers. Know I will be fine and boy this came at the wrong time since it is my time of the month, hehehehehehe, what an emotional roller coaster, wow.

__________________________

I'm Back

Hey guys sorry I have been away for awhile but it has been crazy busy around here. I had a post all done and ready on saturday night and was just about to click post when the computer crashed and I got the blue screen of death. I was so upset because it was a long post with tons of pictures. Well I was so upset I cried and Ryan sent me to bed so he could work on it. I cried because ALL of our pictures are on that computer and Ryan was going to back it all up on sunday because we ran out of cds. So I had to wait for Ryan to get his laptop from work so I could get back on line. Sad thing is I dont even have the web addresses to all the things I need to go to because it is saved on the other computer.

But praise God we have someone from our church who works on computers for a living, it is his buisness. He told Ryan it is more than likely that major virus going around and he should be able to pull everything off of it so it wont be lost. He has already helped someone else from church that had the same problem and theirs is fixed now. So pray it can be saved and fixed.

So needless to say this post will be shorter then planned and obviously with no pictures to go with it. If it is not all lost then I will make a post later with all the pictures I wanted to post.

Like I said life has been busy and with Ian in school I still seem to not have enough hours in the day to get things done. Ian is loving school and is doing very well. Alex has been so upset that Ian is going to school and that he cant go. I thank God that He helped me find a mommy and me class I can tale him too that meets 2 times a week for an hour. He is learning so much and is having so much fun. We have had fun days of painting shirts and a fieldtrip to bates nut farm and it has a pumpkin patch. He had a blast and boy were we tired when we left almost 3 hrs later.

Well both my boys had their brithdays recently and yes I cried. Alex turned 2 on Sep 7th and we had a ball. He had an Elmo cake I made and he of course loved it. Ian turned 5 on Oct 12th and he wanted a Wall-e birhtday cake and it turned out very nice too. I will post pics later I hope.
On Ians bday I first went to train with my friend Shoshanna and Ryan joined us. We trained by running up a mountain trail doing alot of other exercises along the way, lunges, squats, pushups, kickes all while hold hand weights. It was a tough 1 hr 7 min workout but the view of the ocean was worth it all. I just loved how Ryan joined us and it was so fun to workout with him and have that semi alone time. After that we changed and we all walked the beach and took pictures and let the boys play too. We then left and had lunch and then went to a science place but it turned out to not be good and we left because Ian was not having any fun, neither were we.
But praise God there was a mall next door and they had 1.75 movies and we saw a kid one since we havent been able to go to a movie theater in a long time.
We came home and had dinner and opened gifts and they had cake. We stayed up as a family and watched movies together too.

Other then that things have been good and going just fine. I have just been training hard because camp is about 3 weeks away and I am very nervous.

Now with the big news. I wrote on Lauras blog that I had big news and a dear friend has been waiting long enough to find out.

AND NO I AM NOT PREGNANT. :)
Ok first there is nothing wrong with my heart. I wear a heart rate monitor for exercise purposes only. It is a thing that tracks your heart rate and lets you know if you are working in yur zone or if it is too low and you need to work harder or it is too high and you need to take it easy. It helps track how long you have workut for and how many calories you burned during your workout. It is a wonderful tool to have if you want to get really serious in yur workouts and to track how you are doing. The strap broke and I had to sew it back together and fix it until I can buy a new one.

Now for the recent update........

As some of you know and some may not know to date since Sep 2006 I have lost 120 lbs and gone from a size 24 to a 10 depending on the make since I can even get into some size 8s. I have not had sweets of any kind in almost 3 yrs ( Dec is my no sweets anniversary ), and eat very clean for the most part. My life has changed so much and this journey has been an amazing one and one with such growth.

Wednesday was weigh and measure day and the doc appt. Well I weighed myself and no change but barely .5 inch off of my waist, hips and calves. I was so mad, angry, upset, depressed and then I cried. I was upset that there was no real change after working so hard but then I was upset and cried because I let this affect me so much. I was upset because I let my sense start to control me and I almost felt ashamed to tell you guys. I felt defeated and didnt want to go to the doctors. But I stopped, wipped my tears and really thought about what was going on. I realized I have changed in so many ways and I am stonger and more fit, for goodness sake I lost my chest and I have so little on top now. I knew I could not let my feelings control me and had faith that one day my body would show all the hard work I was doing and will keep on doing. I am not going to stop or quit just because my body is late for the party.

So off I went to the doctors and prayed for good news and was willing to except what ever the outcome was. So the doctor saw me and took all my vitals and asked alot of questions. He told me I was in VERY excellent health and was very proud of me for all the hard work I have done and even shook my hand. He said I have made some hard life changes and kept up with it and was very proud of me. He looked me over and said I was good to go. I have a blood preasure of 108/67 and he was amazed since I am 31. He was happy to see i am in such great health with no physical problems and nothing holding me back.


So

Drum roll please.....


I have been given the refferal to see the plastic surgeons on base in San diego, Balboa, to have ALL the excess skin removed and on their dime.

WWWWOOOOOHHHOOOOO.

He told me I could not be anymore of a better candidate for the surgery and knows I will get the all clear. He said I have atleast 10 + lbs of excess skin alone on my tummy and a bit more on my inner thigh and butt. He said that what i see on my stomach is NOT fat but all the excess skin that just wont go away unless by surgery. He said no wonder you cant loose anymore inches off of my waist because there is no more fat to loose. I about cried and hugged the doctor when he said that.

He saw how my skin just pools when I am on all fours or when my leg is extended and it all hangs. He said he was happy to put in the refferal and knows there will be no problems when I see the plastic surgeons.

He said if in 2 weeks I havent got my refferal letter to call them and i will be taken care of. I would then make my appt with them and they would just give the all clear and then schedule me for my surgery. Now he doesnt know if they will do it all at once but I would know more when I see them. There could also be other areas they would need to take car of due to excess skin but the plastic surgeons would know more.

I left that doctors office on cloud nine and cried when I got to the car. All my hard work was finally paying off and I couldnt loose anymore in the areas that had all that excess skin. I felt so much better because I leaned on my faith no matter the outcome and i now get to see the fruits of my labor.

So as you can see this is big news and I am so excited and so is Ryan. I know if this is truely Gods will then the rest will all fall into place. I love who I am no matter if I have the surgery or not. I have prayed for so long about this and if I should even do it at all. But since learning so much and during my prayers and the people I have talked to I feel at peace about this. This will like the doctor said help stop any problems from arising before they happen and they will.

So the more I know the more I will keep you udated. and I will definately let you know the date when I do. Thank you for all your prayers and support and I love you all.

Sorry MIA!!!!

Hello all and sorry I have been gone for awhile. I have had so much going on and then we went on vacation for 2wks to AR. Right after my friend Neri from Australia left to go home I had just a few days to get us ready to leave for vacation. It was so good to get away and spend some time with Ryan. We went to his parents house and the boys had a blast.



So as you can see they are having some fun.



Alex w/ his new goggles.



Ian on the swings with his aunt amber.




One of the many things the boys rode while with Gram and Papaw.



One of the many things they did also. They had so much fun.

Well while we were there at one point Ryan and I got to leave and take off for four days by ourselves which was awesome. We have not had any alone time in a long time so this was such a blessing. We went up to branson MI and walked, talked and did so much together. We came back revived and refreshed.


While we were also there we just spent time as a family and enjoyed watching the boys play, have fun and grow. They got to run free, go all over the place, get into so much and be spoiled.



It was a time we will never forget. Well also the boys wont let us since they still keep talking about it and ask when we are going back.


On the trip home we stayed the night at my parents went in the pool and relaxed before heading home the next day. We are heading back to my parents this friday for labor day weekend. Since my dads health is not the greatest we have to plan to not stay to long. He is good so so every now and then. I pray he can start to get better soon.

Well since getting back last sunday we have been getting the house back in order and got ready for school. Ian started monday at our churches school and did awesome. He loved it so much and could not wait to back again. He is growing up on me so much and is not my baby anymore, while neither is Alex.









Ian on the first day of school and and Alex later that day but didnt make it past the door when we came in.









This is the boys at church this sunday, can you see how they are growing and look alike. I cant believe Alex will be 2 on the 7th and Ian will be 5 on OCT 12th. Ok I need to change the subject because the flood gates have cracked.God has truely blessed us since we have moved here and even with all the bumps along the way. I am thankful for all the bumps because we grow and learn and I pray we have been a blessing to others along the way. Time flys by so fast it seems latley and I stop to think on what I have done up till now, what I have been blessed with, and what I have not done. I see my boys growing and I am happy and yet sad for the blessings in their lives and the mistakes I make and keep making. I pray the boys can learn from me and look past all my faults and mistakes. I pray daily to be the kind of mother, wife and woman God wants me to be and yet I feel like I am so far away from that person. I know I am daily attacked about my faults from satan to get my eyes off God and I have to pray and give it to God because I can not live like that. I know I have a wonderful Redeemer and Savior and He shows so much grace and mercy to me daily. I need to learn to love myself as much as He does and just let Him work on me. I truely do pray my lifes testimony can be a good Godly testimony to others and that they see His glory and light and nothing of this sinful human. I love my Lord and can never say thank you enough. I pray daily to serve Him because I desire him and not just out of duty. There is nothing wrong with doing your duty but if thats the only reason you do it then you need to stop think and pray. To serve Him because you truely dersire Him and His will I pray we all do.
Ok I have rambled on long enough and should wrap this up. thank you for reading and looking past my faults. Thank you for your prayers and listening. Take care all and know my thoughts and prayers are with you.

New Journey

Well guys sorry for not posting in awhile but my life has been very crazy lately. Things are still good and we are all doing fine. On a side note my dad may be going back into the hospital because the lungs are filling up fast again and the meds are not working. He is in some what of good spirits but no word yet when he is going.

Ok so since the 6th I have had a wonderful guest in my house and have been having a blast. My friend Neri from Australia came out and is staying with us. She came out to train a bit, visit with my dear family and attended the Tae Bo certification camp. Well camp is over and she will be heading home on friday. I have learned so much from her being here and I am so grateful.

This is Neri with Billy Blanks at the cert camp. We have had fun training with Billy, shellie his daughter and some of his instuctors. I have learned so much and have grown alot.

Now for the new journey I bet you are wondering about. Well since she has been here I have been able to talk with Billy and Shellie alot and and do alot of praying and I have been blessed with a gift and realized God has a new journey for me. I have been given the wonderful priviledge to attend the Novembers Tae Bo certification camp to become a certified Tae Bo instructor. After talking with Billy and Shellie I was so blessed by this but I also new I wanted to do what God wanted and not go against His will. I prayed that if it was His will that doors would be open so I could go, and they have been. So far things are falling into place and I am so excited to be going. I also know that if things change before camp then it was'nt His will.

I am so excited to be able to take my love and devotion for the Lord and serving Him and my love for Tae Bo and helping people and putting them together. I feel that with teaching i can make it my ministry to reach others for the Lord. I can teach and get to know my students and then lay the foundations for the Lord to work and open doors so I can share the gospel with them. By helping them to loose weight and be an example to them and letting the Holy Spirit work through me I pray seeds can be planted and harvested too. I can make this my ministry and the one thing I can talk to poeple about to open doors for the most important thing, their salvation.

I know this may sound silly to some, a waste of time, or may sound like I am taking time away from my family. In no way do I feel like this. We all are different in how we reach others and talk to them about the Lord. I am a very shy person and this will help me be outgoing and open doors. I will be a better mother and wife by taking care of myself. I will have to pray sooooo much more for the Lord to help me get though a class to always be aware that others are watching me and looking to me. That I pray for every student that comes my way so I can talk to them about the Lord. So I will be closer to the Lord and leaning on Him so much.

I am very serious about health and taking care of yourself. If your body is not working right and you are not taking care of it then your mind starts to go too. I feel I am not taking care of what God has given to me and being a temple for the Lord. My father has really bad health and doesnt take his health seriously. In turn because of that he does'nt go to church or serve God at all. I know you can be in bad health and serve God but for me if I am in good health I can serve Him better.

Now when I do start to teach Ian will be in school at our churchs school and Alex will be with me depending on where I can get to teach. Alex will also be in school sooner then I would liek to admit. So i wont take away from my kids because I just wont do that. All my classes will be during the day and really not that many a week. If I should have to teach at night it will never be on a church night or during a time there is something at the church I would go to.

I know God will work this all out and help me to know what to do. From now and until Nove 7,8,9th I have training to do to get ready for cert camp and I ask for your prayers. This is going to be very physically and mentally challenging until camp and I need all the suport I can get.

Thank you for letting me ramble on about this and I will keep you updated as I get closer to cert cmp. Take care all and know you are always in my heart and prayers.

Weightloss testimony/biography!!!!!

First I want to say sorry for this being a bit of a long read but I did'nt know how to just add it as a link. I am constantly adding and updating this so please overlook its mistakes.That being said I hope you learn just a little bit of this long journey and I hope I can inspire or help you in anyway.
I also have to make one thing clear also. The ONLY way I am where I am today is completly by Gods love and grace. He is the reason I am still alive and I have come so far. If it ever sounds like I give credit to anyone or anything please forgive me now and I plan to rewrite it soon. I cry every day in how God never gives up on me and loves me and still gives me a second chance even witht the zillion mistakes I make everyday. I can never say thank you or I love you enough to God and I pray I can grow and become closer to Him daily.

My Name is Jennifer Page, I am 31 years old and a stay at home mom of 2 boys.

I have always had a problem with my weight from going up then down and up again like a roller coaster. I had a low self esteem and my confidence was always low and I would talk bad about myself. When my husband Ryan and I got married in 2003 I had lost a lot of weight and was doing great but eating was not the best. Well 3 months after we were married I found out I was pregnant and that’s when my depression started. I was scared I was going to gain a lot of weight and to top it all off my husband was deployed to Iraq. Well I did gain a lot of weight and I ate what ever I wanted I didn’t care. A year after my son Ian was born I finally started to loose weight by exercising and trying to eat right. I did well and was proud of how I was doing but never lost all the weight. I still had a problem with food and sticking to a plan.

Then in July 2005 after my husband came back from Iraq the second time we moved to Okinawa Japan and by DEC I found out I was pregnant AGAIN. I was happy yes to be having another baby but not to gain weight again. And yes I gained a lot again and the depression kicked in too. But this time I knew what I did wrong the last time and I was NOT going to make that mistake again. So SEP 7th 2006 I delivered my son Alex and that’s where my true journey of my transformation began. I had to make this journey because I was tired of how I was living my life or lack there of. My father has bad health, you name it he has it and I did not want to end up like that. I wanted to live a life that I could teach my children how to live life to its fullest and the right way. I did not want them to hear me try to teach them things but myself not doing what I was saying. I wanted to be a walking testimony, knowing I do make mistakes but I learn from them, move on and grow. I had to do this mainly for me.


This journey was hard to begin but I took it slow, one day at a time. The first thing I did was change how I was eating. I started to really watch what I ate, when I ate, how much I ate and how often. I started to cut back on how much I was eating and ate smaller meals 5-6 times a day and nothing past 7pm. I am eating very clean and a lot of fresh foods and really limiting the processed foods. I eat a lot of fruits and veggies, whole grains, low in fat, limit my sugar, and only drink water or un-sweeten tea. I no longer eat sweets of any kind, drink sodas, limit fried foods to once a month, and eating out. All this I have kept up since SEP 7th 2006 and still eat very clean but I do treat myself once every few weeks with one meal. I love how I feel in control of food and food not controlling me. Food to me was a drug and I was an addict.

The second thing I did was to workout 5-6 times a week. I went back to my first love, Tae Bo, which I do 4-5 times a week. I walk/run 4.5 miles 2-3 times a week and mix it up with other cardio also. I count my steps and get a minimum of 10,000 a day. I also have a strength routine I follow 4 times a week. I also add in conditioning exercises to the mix. So all in all I workout 5-6 times a week with 1-2 rest days and I feel amazing and great, better then I ever have. I first focused on my eating and then later my workouts came into play. I would take care of my inside and if I could get a small workout in or a walk that was great. I would get some crunches and jumping jacks in here and there. I also would go over the basic tae bo moves getting the technique down, really focusing on them going slow and hard. I would do this a little all day and boy that was a workout in its self. As my new born got older I was able to get more workouts in. It was not until he turned 1 that I had a really good regular workout routine.

I feel amazing and strong and my confidence is better then it ever has. I know I had to do this for me and no one else. I had to learn to love myself no matter what I looked like. I had to tap into energy I never knew I had and lean on my faith to get me through. The most amazing thing is since SEP 7th 2006, I have lost a total of 117 lbs and a lot of inches and have gone down from a size 22/24 to now getting into a size 8/10 depending on the make of the brand. I had to change how I was thinking and what I was telling myself. I stopped saying I will try to do something to I WILL DO IT, I CAN DO IT. The word try or cant was no longer in my vocabulary.

My self esteem is better then it has ever been and I have confidence in myself, and in what I can do. I love to talk to people now and to help them if I can. I live my life to be an inspiration to others that they too can make a change in their lives and loose the weight also. Tae Bo has been one of the most amazing things in my life and for making me who I am , after God of course. Billy Blanks is an amazing inspiring person to teach you, train you and help you to become the person you have always wanted. He gives you the tools and info you need and then you make the stand for the change. He can not force you to change but once you workout you realize you can do it and you begin to see the changes from the outside to the inside.

You are the only thing to stop yourself from doing what you want. If you listen to what you are telling yourself you will begin to believe it. So if you are feeding yourself negative talk that’s all you will believe and see. Think positive, stay strong, and give yourself time. Train and change your mind and know you are stronger then you give yourself credit, dig deep and let out that amazing person hiding inside. Reach out to friends and family and find a support buddy, someone you two can keep accountable too. Lean on your faith and never let go of who you are, do this for yourself and no one else. Love yourself no matter if you never change. Please remember my new saying that I learned from Billy Blanks, “ Live the Triple T’s “, Trust Truth and Time. Trust in yourself and what you are doing will show results. Listen to the Truth and not the negative talk and what you think you see but what is actually there. And most of all, give your self Time to change and transform, it takes time to put on and it takes time to come off. I have learned that if you race through life you will miss so much and never have time for anything or yourself. If you take your time on this journey you can see so many wonderful things and can enjoy it. Yes life may be a race but enjoy that race. Look to the future and not behind you or you may run into something, but always learn from your mistakes and use it to grow and improve from.

I know this is a lifetime commitment and I am willing to make it. I feel the best I have ever felt. I still have 30 lbs or so to go for my ultimate goal but I am looking forward to the journey. I may be in a platue right now but we all have times in our workout journey that we have to evaluate what we are doing and learn and grow from it. I am looking at what I can change and do different and find fun new things to challenge my body. I’m always wanting to challenge myself from the small things to the big things. Keep the spice in your life, marriage, kids, and of course your workouts.
As of today we have moved back to the states to another base in CA. Since we have been back I have had the most amazing opportunity to be apart of the new T3 tae bo videos. I was able to go to Santa Clarita for the filming and had the time of my life. That time was so life changing and I learned and grew so much. I was able to be in the transformation, empowerment, target abs, target legs and one of the funk videos. My new goal is to tone up and loose weight more to be in next years videos and hopefully be a testimony also. I am in the works of trying to get a personal trainer to help me reach my goal weight and help build my muscle tone and endurance. I know having a trainer will help me reach this goal and show me things I never new and to educate me more. By getting to my goal I want to be able to walk into a store and not be afraid to go clothes shopping and know I can fit into a lot of the things in it. I feel I am on the right track. The Marine Corp ball is coming up in November and I want to be able to fit into a descent sexy red dress to go with my husbands dress blues and to look good in the pictures. I also want to be able to have fun on the cruise that my husband has been wanting to take us on next year since we never had a honeymoon. My husband is the most supportive person to me and helps me in any way he can. We eat healthy together and try to do activities or workout together as a family so we can teach our kids. He is the most amazing husband, father, friend and Marine I know. I am truly blessed. And my journey still continues…

Haircuts & Pjs

Well it is another crazy week and always so much going on so it took me a bit to post again. Praise God it has been the normal day to day life and nothing serious. Sometimes I think I get not depressed but I guess blue that it is same thing different day and nothing exciting. Well that is such a blessing to know that things are good in my life and we are truely blessed with SO many things.

Then the boys remind me that having boys it is never boring. Like the time they went fishing in the toilet with their gold fish crackers. Well water was everywhere and I asked why, their response, it was storming. Then how about the time they found a permenant marker and had to write their name on their stuff. Or the time they want to paint the table with their bananas and ketchup from lunch. Or how they like for one to sit under the toy bucket and the other will be on top until they scream to get out. Then there was a time when they had their sidewalk chalk and started to give me pictures on the side of the house. then of course they love to get into their dads boxing gloves stuff and fight each other. Theres the constant running in circles chasing each other laughing and screaming the whole time but when they do that when I am working out and they come running across the exercise step I am using is hard. I go up on it then down they come running across, I go up then down they come running across, very hard to get a workout in. I laugh so much when they come out dressed in their dads clothes and try to be like him, not when they some how find my underwear to put on their heads and hold a sword to fight like a pirate.

There are so many things they do and alot of the time I forget to grab the camera. Life is never boring with these two and I thank them for the reminder. I think the things I love most more then them being crazy, silly, creative and everything else is the sweet hugs they give me each day. I love how sometimes they wake up before me and then come to my bed and want to climb in and lay there and cuddle for a bit. Or the times when I am having a hard day and they stop what they are doing to come up and give me a hug and a kiss and tell me they love me or Ian tells me, Mommy your my best girl. It melts my heart every time he says that. I love that they both argue in who gets to pray before we eat. So we let them each have a turn. I love how Ian loves to pray and how his brother copies him and wants to pray too.

So even though I think satan trys to get me to think my life is boring and nothing exciting happens I then remember I am blessed and my life is never boring or w/o excitment.

Now I am sure you are wondering where the haircuts and Pjs comes in. Well here are a few pictures of the boys after their haircuts Ryan took them to get ( yes at the barbers on base )and sporting their new summer Pjs. Since it is sooo hot and we have no A/C and we still have'nt bought fans yet we had to get them their haircuts. Well with all that hair it was making them hot and they needed some thinner Pjs to wear to keep them cool.

Trying to get these two to stand still for a picture is hard since they love to make funny faces and act silly for the camera. You can tell by their expressions and how in one Alex ran to me in taking a picture of them both.

I hope you enjoy and remember life is never boring when are Heavenly Father is in control.

Being Creative

Hey guys sorry for not posting in a while but things have been busy and crazy around here.

I wanted to post a few pictures of a cake I made for a friend at my church. Saturday we had a going away luncheon for her since her hubby is being restationed and sunday was her last one. So since she was moving I was given the opportunity to make a cake. I have been wanting to try and make this cake for awhile now and I finally had an excuse to make it.

I made this cake from scratch and even the icing. It had two layers and each layer was split in two to make it four layers of cake and icing. The only problem I had was it is very hot in my house since we dont have AC here so the icing was soft and things went sliding at one point. I decided to put it in the fridge for awhile for it to set and it finally held. If you click on the picture you may see more detailing of the cake. If you cant see it the icing has a wavy pattern all over it. Not my best work but I learned for next time. It was alot of work but it was so much fun and I liked making it all from scratch and cant wait for the next time.

Just a few pics

Ok so I figured I would post a few pictures of the boys and Ryan. Sorry I am always the one taking them so none of me, hehehehe.

These are my 2 goofballs in their new outfits gram sent them.

Like father like son and this one decided to join in too.

These 2 are the best of buds.

Here is one of Ryan and Ian when we went to Legoland.

Ok so here are 2 from Jane Wayne day at hubbys new duty station.

Well I hope you enjoyed them and I will post more another time.