Down 6!

So on February 18th I posted a blog that my friend Erica and I were on a challenge to lose 5 pounds by April 1st. If we achieved that goal we would reward ourselves with a girl's night out that would include dinner and movie and our husbands would watch the kids! I was pumped and very excited and could not wait to get started.
Since that day I have been working out 6 days a week, still sticking to my no sweets, watching my calories, and making sure that I drink MORE water.
Workouts have been great doing an every other day system where one day we do one hour of cardio, the next day 1/2 hour cardio and then lift, and continue that throughout the week and take Sunday off (at least I do). It has been so much fun seeing the improvements that have been made. Back in the fall I was training for the Turkey Day 5K and I started running the 5K at 45 minutes, the day of the Turkey Day I ran it in 34 minutes and now I am running it at 32 minutes! I am increasing my weights during lifting and it is so much fun! I have really enjoyed this challenge and will continue to challenge myself.
So if you are wondering what "Down 6" means in my title...it means that I have met my goal of losing 5 ounds and 1 additional! I am so happy and excited! I am still going to continue to push myself each day as I workout as my next goal is to run the "Race For the Cure" 5K in 30 minutes!

Before and After

This past weekend the kids and I went away to my parent's house so that my dad and hubby could work on the main level of our home! When we first moved in we weren't crazy about our white kitchen floor or our white carpet (especially with kids) and so it had to go. Finally what was now our polka dotted carpet and scratched up lenoleum is now beautiful wood laminate flooring! It was a lot of trips to menards, staying up late, cutting, and working hard to get it done in a weekend and now it is done! I must say that for there first time of putting in flooring they did a great job! I am so proud of them and so glad that it is finally done!

It's definitely still weird to me to walk in our home or just come downstairs, but I love it! It's beautiful!

What a fun birthday!

Today I turned 27 and what a wonderful day it was!

Even though it was a blustery and very cold day, I still had a great day!

First of all, my husband and I both took the day off from work. My husband did this so that I could enjoy the day however I wanted to. What a great guy!

I got to SLEEP IN! Erica, I did not get to the gym, I enjoyed my sleep too much!

We enjoyed a nice breakfast and then ventured out to get a tour of a preschool for Aspen next year and fell in love with it and will definitely be enrolling her, she loved it so much that she cried when we left! Too cute!

After that the kids went home with Zac and I met up with two of my best friends that I have known since junior high. We met up at TGIFridays and it was so much fun. We just talked, enjoyed great food, and just had a blast! After our meal we went to the Mall of America. We grabbed some Caribou and just enjoyed chatting while walking around the mall...however, what was annoying was always getting stopped by the kiosk people, "Excuse me miss, let me try this product on your hair...it was straighten it in no time." Well if you already know me, you know that my hair is already very straight (and the same goes for my friend Rachel who was with me). It was so annoying and there was no way we could avoid these people, but it definitely added humor to our shopping experience. Even though I did not buy anything, it still was wonderful!

When I got home my husband had made a wonderful homemade lasagna and a banana cream cheesecake...both were super yummy! *And if you want to know...tomorrow I am back to no sweets and definitely will need to work out HARD tomorrow*

Now to end my birthday my hubby and I are going to watch a movie, my choice, and I get to enjoy another night of not having to get up!

Thank you Zac for being such a wonderful husband and for making my birthday so great! You definitely deserve the Good husband award! Love you!

It's time to be challenged!

Since I have joined our gym I really haven't changed at all as far as losing inches or pounds, and to be quite honest, it's down right frustrating. The same thing has been happening to my friend Erica...and we work out almost everyday every week! It's really wrong!
Today while we were stretching Erica and I talked about a challenge and if we met that goal that we would reward ourselves with dinner and a movie, and leave our husbands with the kiddos! It's very exciting and I am so ready for this challenge.

The challenge:
To lose 5 pounds by April 1st!

I know that 5 pounds may not seem like a lot, but considering we really haven't been losing anything for awhile now, this is quite a challenge that we are both hoping to meet, we would even like to lose more...but we are setting our eyes on 5 right now!

So it is time to really buckle down and count those calories, make sure I am getting all the workouts in, and just being very aware of what I am doing and I will definitely be using the blog as a way to hold me accountable!

The challenge starts today!

I love my valetine!

My husband is such a sweetie and what a blessing he is to me!
Thursday I was having such a terrible day, just everything that went on from the beginning, kept getting worse. That night I was supposed to have a MOPS meeting and so my husband was going to pick up the kids from the Y so that I could go to my meeting...well my meeting ended up being cancelled and so my husband called my friend Misty and left her a message saying that I had, had a bad day and needed some cheering up.
Thank you Misty, coffee with you was great...I definitely think that we need to do more girl outings, it definitely brightened up the end of my day.
After my time with Misty and her daughter Sydney...I ventured home finding my adroable husband working on Valentine's for his students. Well he wasn't working on Valentines for his students, yet...he was working on something for me. He proceeded to tell me (when he was finished) by telling me that he was done with my gift and that I could open it tonight being that I had a rough day. This is what my sweetie did...
He took our biggest vase and filled it with little tiny scrolls of paper that were tied with ribbon and each one says something that he loves about me. He made enough for me to open one per day for a little over two months. Girls, this brought the BIGGEST smile to my face! It definitely gives me something to look forward to each day!
Another reason why I love my Valentine is that he took me out on a wonderful date last night. He had this planned earlier in the week and had talked to his mom to babysit our kids so that we could go out, just the two of us, for Valentine's Day. We enjoyed a wonderful meal at The Good Earth in Edina...you MUST try it...SUPER YUMMY! After that we went to the mall to shop, which was super nice without our children...and then finally to end our night we enjoyed coffee and Cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory...we shared the White Chocolate Caramel Macadamnia Nut Cheesecake and it was to die for...so yummy!

*I know, I know, I told you all that I was not going to eat any sweets, and trust me...I did not eat even half of the cheese cake I just took a couple bites, and now I am back to not eating sweets and I still am not drinking pop*

My valentine is such a great guy and I am truly blessed to have married my best friend! He is such a great dad and is truly the whole package both inside and out. I love the man that he is and all that he does for our family. I also have really enjoyed our new habit every night, after the kids are in bed we sit together and talk about our day and what we need prayer for and then we proceed to pray for one another. It truly has been such a blessing and is something that we definitely needed to start doing.
I love you Zac! You really are the best! Thank you for a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Polar Bear?!?

So, all day today Aspen kept saying, "Mom, tonight are we going to Polar Bear?" I said, "No, Aspen, we are going to Build A Bear!"
Too cute!
Tonight we got to enjoy a fun evening out! Because of our wonderful Mortgage Insurance we got to go to Build a Bear at the Mall of America and make not only a Bear for each of our children to take home, but they each got to make one to be sent to a child at a Gilette's Hospital. There were lots of people there and the hallway was filled with many puppies and bunnies to be sent to children, how fun!!!!!
Aspen chose a bunny, she named her Chloe. Aspen dressed Chloe in a jean skirt and a white t-shirt that said Forester's on it!
Titus chose a puppy (ok, we chose it for him), he named it Yahtzee (ok again, Zac named it). He is wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Too cute.
We chose two bunnies to be sent to children, and we know they are going to enjoy them!
After we did Build a Bear, as a gift we got $20 to use at McDonalds. So after making our bunny and puppy we ventured up to McDonalds and enjoyed a dinner together! Even though it wasn't the healthiest of places, it was free, and Aspen enjoyed it because she got a Hello Kitty watch in her happy meal.
Tonight was just great and we just truly enjoyed spending time together as a family. We are very thankful for our insurance company and love the fact that they give back to the community and do many outreaches.
Thank you Forester's for a wonderful evening!
*Pictures to come!

Titus' Birthday (With Photos)...sorry it's so late!

Aspen with her friends Britten and Ella eating nummy birthday cake!

Daddy, Titus, and Mommy - Titus was really into his cake!

He had so much frosting everywhere that just when we thought he was "clean" we found more behind his ear!

Yummy! Thank you Byerly's!



Misty, Chloe, and Amanda




Grandma Holm and all her Grandkids!




Titus and Grandma Tepley




Happy Birthday Titus! You are 1!




Big Sister picked out this balloon! It is still alive and well in our living room!



The wonderful cake from Byerly's! And it was free!
*For those of you that do not know this...Byerly's gives free First Birthday cakes! They are sooooo good!




Titus' first birthday was so much fun! We still cannot believe that a year has gone by since we had him...it still feels like it was yesterday! We had a wonderful celebration and are so thankful for all of our friends and family that came and for all of the birthday wishes that were received! Titus loved everything about the day and even though he was not really aware that he was turning 1, he definitely realized he is loved, and by so many, and had a blast! He did not nap that day and so that night he was wiped out...he still did not sleep through the night, but we are hoping that day happens soon! All in all it was a day that Zac and I will never forget and are so happy to have two beautiful and healthy children. We definitely feel blessed and are thankful each and everyday!







*On the side note...I tired to get rid of this huge blank spot, but as you can see, there was no success!*