Hang Time with the Cousins

On Sunday we got together at Grandpa and Grandma Staker's house.  Mike's sister Megan and her family are here from Oregon for about a month.  We had a fun evening together catching up and planning some fun activities for their time here.  The cousins had a blast playing outside on the trampoline and running around the backyard.
The kids made a human pyramid.

Daynen tried to get on but it ended with quite a tumble.

The kids were all trying to show off on the trampoline.

Jaida and her new pal Aria

Bronson, our little superman!

Laina is all dressed up with nowhere to go.

At one point Logan came walking in crying that he had gotten hurt on the trampoline.  His Dad asked him what happened and he said, "I think someone broke my leg."  We all had to hold in our chuckles and smiles as he wailed.  Nothing was broken, but he adopted a little limp for the rest of the evening.  It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt!

Father's Day

We had a lovely low key Father's day for Mike.  Michela and I made him a yummy blueberry breakfast cake and some oh so delicious turkey bacon.  Actually I think Michela and I ate more bacon than anyone else.  :)  We gave him some grill ware, a new picture of the kids for his office, and a bunch of licorice.  We also included a little interview of the kids that Michela did.  She asked the kids a bunch of questions and put the funniest answers on it.  Here are a few of the questions and answers.

What is Daddy's Name?  Da Daddy (Laina)
How Tall is Dad?  5' 4" (Chase)  I'm sure Mike loved that one.
What is Dad's favorite thing to do?  Nap (Hunter)
What is Dad's favorite food?  Pasketti (Aria)
What is Dad's favorite sport?  Mountain Biking (Michela)
I love Dad because:
He likes treats almost as much as me (Michela)
He takes me to play golf.  (Hunter)
He makes us cookies. (Chase)
He tickles me. (Aria)
My Daddy. (Laina)

I think this and the picture were his favorite gifts.

After church we headed over to Matt and Sara's house for dinner.  Of course Peggy made her one of a kind cinnamon rolls for all the men in the family.  It is a pretty special honor to have Peggy make them for you.  And I had to snap a picture of Mike with his Dad.  Larry is such a wonderful father and has been a great example to his kids.  Mike is lucky to work with him and see him every day.  Mike has learned many wonderful things from him and I think he is one of the major reasons Mike is such an amazing Dad himself.  The kids and I love Mike so much and are so thankful for all his does for our family!

I Survived Cycle 1

Today is the beginning of Cycle 2 on my new exercise and diet plan.  Yes, I made it through Cycle 1, though at times I didn't think I was going to be able to.  The Fast day didn't kill me right away, it was the effects the day after that threw me for a loop.  I did okay on the whole water only thing, but the protein supplements got harder and harder to take as the day went on.  I was supposed to down a ton of pills that day, but I started to get sick of swallowing them every couple of hours, so I know I didn't get enough of them in my system.  That night I was so tired and worn out from the not eating, together with the 3 workouts I had to do that day.  Of course Michela was at a party so I had to wait until 10:00 to go get her.  When I finally got to bed I crashed.
Mike had to wake up at 3:00 in the morning the next day for his Marathon, so I got woken up too.  Unfortunately I could not go back to sleep afterwards.  I tossed and turned all night, not being able to get comfortable because my body was so sore and my stomach was turning.  I alternated between thinking I was either going to pass out or throw up.  My alarm finally went off at 6:45 and I laid there thinking there was no way I was going to be able to get up.  I was shaking so badly and was very dizzy.  I dragged myself downstairs and slowly made myself a protein shake.  (The day after the fast day is protein shake day.)  I lugged the blender out onto the patio so I wouldn't wake anyone up and blended up a much needed shake.  I gulped the thing down trying to fill the ache in my stomach and to get something in me.  I had the worst headache that day and felt so weak.  Of course I had to get all of the kids up, fed and ready to go because we were leaving at 8:00 so we could cheer Mike on at the race and then it was off to the soccer field for three games, one of which I was coaching.  As the day went on I felt a little bit stronger but I was so spent.  Luckily Sunday was coming up the next day so I could have a break from the workouts.
This time around I am going to have to tweak fast day a bit.  There is no way I can survive that experience again.  I'm thinking I will allow myself at least some veggies during the day and perhaps a protein shake after one or two of the workouts.  It's not like I can just sit around all day and recoup, I've got 5 kids to take care of and a billion things to do.  Hopefully I can avoid the exhaustion and sickness this time around.  The number on the scale did drop, but scales can be so touchy.  I'll wait to see if it drops again after this cycle is through before I can say if it is really working or not.  The funniest part of this whole thing is Michela's little comments every day.  "What can you eat today Mom?"  "Protein shakes all day!?  That  is so sad."  Couldn't have said it better myself.

Time to Fight the Flab!

I've been feeling rather unfit these days.  After having Laina, almost 2 years ago, I haven't been exercising too much and eating way too much junk.  When I got pregnant with Laina I got really sick and wasn't able to eat much during the pregnancy and felt too crappy to do much exercising.  All of my hard work of the two years before went up in smoke.  I felt my muscle tone slacking and saw the weight creeping back into places I had worked so hard to lose.  Let's just say when Laina was born I was so ready to start exercising again.  The problem came when I started to realize that my baby wanted to scream more than sleep and thought naps were for the birds.  I was exhausted, left with no time for myself, and incredibly depressed.  Enter the emotional eating.  I've always been an emotional eater, but I think I took it to a whole new level as I sunk deeper and deeper into depression.  I tried to put on a happy face, but inside I felt alone, sad, angry, and hated myself.  I lashed out at the people I loved and I had no energy to do much of anything.  I was in a serious funk.
The last 6 months or so I've been trying to pull myself out of the black hole I had fallen into.  I have started and stopped many an exercise regime, but have continued to fill the void inside of me with sweets.  About a week ago something inside of me just snapped.  The catalyst might have been a picture of me with Chase's soccer team that I have been coaching.  Let's just say I looked gross.  Of course I started cramming more junk in my mouth because I felt so bad about myself.  One day as I was eating a candy bar I realized I didn't even like what I was eating.  It tasted disgusting and I felt disgusting.  Something had to change.
I heard about this diet and exercise plan online and it is not for the faint of heart.  There are five cycles of five days each.  One of those days is a complete fast day, only drinking water and taking protein supplements throughout the day.  Guess what day I am on?  I figure if I just stay really busy I can make it through the day.  Let's keep our fingers crossed and say a little prayer for me.  Along with the diet plan there is hard core strength training and HIIT routines.  I will be working out 3 times today.  One down this morning, two to go.  Why am I taking such a drastic step?  Because at this point I need a big slap upside the head and a big kick in the booty to jumpstart my life back onto the path I need to be on.  Why am I telling you all about this?   Because I need some support and I feel like maybe I can be more successful if others know what I'm doing so I have someone to be accountable to.
So it is only day 2 of my 25 day plan and I know I have a long way to go, but I am so determined to see this through.  I guess when I had my birthday I realized I need to get going on getting healthy again, because the big 40 isn't too far away.  Along with getting healthy, I want to work on my style and get myself out of frumpyville.
So here's to hoping I can do this and don't turn into a grouchy beast while I'm doing it.  The good news is there is a cheat day every five days.  I should be able to hold out for 5 days, don't you think?