Light at the end of the Tunnel

For most of you, you know Jared has been trying to get into Dental School. It has been a long LONG LONG long process.  Study, Take the test, Wait, Apply, Wait, Fill out applications, Pay LOTS of money for applications, Wait, Wait, Wait  still waiting, hope to hear for interviews  wait, If lucky enough to get one pay LOTS of money to go there, wait, and wait and hopefully hear at the beginning of December that you maybe got in, if not wait some more and once you don't get in you get to repeat the process. This is our 3rd year doing this process. It is hard to plan for things when you don't know where you are going or what you will be doing in a year. REALLY FRUSTRATING!
This year we felt really blessed, Jared scored  high on his test and was invited to several interviews. We waited anxiously to see if we were going to get in and I feel really blessed to say that we did get an acceptance into the University of Michigan School of Dentistry.  We will be leaving sunny California in June and moving to Michigan. It has been a long process that I hope to never have to repeat again, but I am grateful because during these past 3 years that we have waited I have learned Humility and Patience. I feel closer to my Savior and my Spouse through this trial. We are now praying that our friends get accepted too then we wont ever have to look back on the application process again!

Birthday:
My birthday was this past weekend and of course i didn't take any pictures, i'm such a loser, but my husband spoiled me rotten!!! I literally got a TON of new clothes and as i predicted there were no shorts anywhere so i had to order them online and hope they fit.

We are packing for Hawaii tonight and leave tomorrow.

 Remember that weight lose goal i made for myself back in August?? I am down 32 Pounds!!!!!!! Can you believe it? I can't, what the heck how come i had let myself gain so much weight? Well D-Day tomorrow- the dreaded WEIGH IN to see if I made my goal !!!!!! AHHHHH dun dun dun

I was 0.2 pounds away from my goal on birthday Saturday morning, except "it was my birthday"  so therefore my attitude towards dieting was bad, I had a bacon cheeseburger, sweet potato fries ( double order) double scoops of my favorite Baskin Robbins Ice Cream, Box of Chocolates, Potato soup and Chips and Salsa, Next day big plate of Biscuits and Gravy and eggs and 3 helpings of Chocolate Crepes. Needless to say I have had to work my butt OFF this week working out and dieting to make my goal for tomorrow since i gained all last weeks hard work back in two days, so hopefully i will be posting a picture of my cute newly pedicured toes on the scale with a weigh in under 140lbs next update.
 In the meantime Jared and I made these cute ornaments for our works ornament contest.

We didn't win but mine was an Aloha Christmas and Jareds was Michigan School of Dentistry.

Can you tell i have been tanning? haha i didn't want to fry my face off in the intense sun in Hawaii
Have a great Christmas- i am so excited to be heading off to Hawaii to enjoy my time with my family!

Thanksgiving

We had a great and bad Thanksgiving with Jared's family this year. Great because we got to spend time with family and bad because I was sick most of the time we were there. And not just the normal stuffy nose sick it was stomach flu sick so lots of throw up and time in the bathroom. It helped my diet immensely though! I was already doing great and being disciplined but this definitely helped quench my appetite.

Jared made a promise to his niece Richelle when he got home from his mission that he would take her to the Sky City Restaurant at the top of the Space Needle, so lucky me I got to tag along 5 years later and it was pretty cool, the view was Phenomenal! Food was expensive so it is something that you do once and say yup been there done that.

 I finally got to meet Jared's Brother-In-Law for the first time( it only took 4 years) and since the whole family was together was got a new family picture. First one I was in! Yeah! I wore these awesome boots that I scored on Amazon for $40, I am on the left end. I am excited to see how the other pictures turned out. Pretty cool park we took pictures at right? I never realized how big Jared's family is until we took this picture. I am used to my tiny family. It was a blast being with everyone though.

We came home early Monday morning and we were both out of work Monday and Tuesday cause we were so sick, I hate being sick, especially stomach flu sick I mean who has the stomach flu for 4 days straight? apparently I do... it gave me a chance to make some Christmas gifts and catch up on wrapping them.

For my birthday this year my wonderful AWESOME husband is treating me to a new wardrobe because I have stuck to my weight loss goal, I am pretty excited especially since it is before our Hawaii trip. Too bad they don't sell shorts in the winter, I may have to convert some jeans into shorts.
Hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving!

Tough n Dirty

This past weekend I signed up my family to do a 5K Fun Mud Run. And boy was it FUN! It was a little cold but the day was sunny and we had a blast. My mom did it with us but took pictures which is awesome cause we got a bunch of cool ones. See below

 This was obviously before the race

We had a blast and are still cleaning out mud from our ears! We are excited to begin the holidays next week and see family and friends. I am trying to plan ahead what I am eating that way I don't ruin all my hard work of dieting.

Diet Update:
By the way I am down a total of 25 pounds! yeah!  It felt good the other day when I was searching for a pair of jeans to wear and I found some at the bottom of the pile which were my 'save until I am a little skinnier jeans' and when I put them on they were a little big! SCORE! I have a few more weeks to hit my goal and I can do it! I ordered smaller bathing suits for Hawaii so I definitely have to get down my goal now otherwise I will be swimming naked!

Halloween

Every year I dread Halloween solely because I have to think of a costume for both Jared and I. This year Jared was going to be away for Halloween so it was just me. I decided to go with the normal witch costume and bought myself one online. It came last Friday and was kinda lame. My work does a competition on Halloween and give out sweet prizes for winners. This year they added the  category "weird/funny costume". There are two people in our office who always win because they are so creative so I had already given up by buying the witch costume, but after hearing the added category  I decided I really wanted to win! I can do weird! The prize was a hotel night at any hotel I choose! Umm I think yes! So my mom and I dashed around the house to find odd and weird things that I could do for my costume and here is what  I came up with...

  

"Exotically Undecided"

That is my pet squirrel Rufus who is tied to my belt and dragged behind me and that is my real hair which I will be trying desperately to untangle tonight!

and guess what...

 I WON!!!!!

I was so excited, now I get to plan a fun trip for Jared and I!

Here is everyone at my work

Happy Halloween!

Weight Loss Update

Hello- We have had a busy month , I can't believe its October 23rd already! Where does the time go? Just an update I am still doing Weight Watchers and exercising like crazy I have now lost a total of .... drum roll....    20 POUNDS!!!!!! (No pictures till the end cause I still have 22 more to go!) Yikes! I'm only half way? Bummer but it feels good though. I have singed up for a Obstacle Mud Run in 2 weeks and then another Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving so that I have to keep running and exercising. I am currently having issues with Shin Splints and am trying to correct it... any advice? 

Baby Weight

This past weekend I got to go visit my younger Brother and his beautiful wife and their most sweet precious new baby girl Kyrie. This is my first niece on my side of the family and I just love her! I bawled like a baby when we left Sunday night handing her over to my mom. It was so sad.

Isn't that the most precious face you have ever seen- I just want to kiss it all day long she is so cute!

Me kissing the cutie pie- I was doing this all weekend!

And good news I am now down 12 pounds! Weight Watchers is really kicking this weight loss into high gear! Thank you Weight Watchers. I am keeping my running and exercising up, I signed up for another 10K Race on Thanksgiving Day in Seattle.

I also found 1 of my before pictures for the whole "before and after pictures" for my weight loss and oh man is it bad. I'll post it for fun...

This was me 12 pounds ago

and here is another one- look at my double chin and tum tum- oh man that is embarrassing

Good thing these were 12 pounds ago- only 20 more lbs to go before Hawaii! Then I will be shooting for an additional 10 lbs after that date. 

I CAN DO IT! I CAN DO IT! I CAN DO IT!

Ragnar Race

I ran the Ragnar Race this weekend. It was crazy, fun, tiring, frustrating, exciting and insane all at the same time! I would definitely do it again!  Ragnar is a relay race made up of 12 teammates. You each run 3 sections of the race varying in mileage. You start Friday morning early and run through the day, the night and then finish the next day! We ran with over 200 teams. 194 miles ran in 34 hours! Here are some pictures from the excursion!

 dinner after the race with the whole team at MiMi's Cafe- I was craving and looking forward to my Corn Chowder all day and night long!

 This has become the sweetest sign to come up on. the leg is almost finished!

 My van girls!

 They gave us tattoos of the Ragnar symbol- I haven't had a fake tattoo for years it was pretty fun!

 The whole team at the finish line- tired but happy

 Friday morning at 1am getting ready to leave for San Francisco

 waiting for our team at the finish line

Getting ready to run my first leg! yeah

It was a blast and I think I will do it again next year with my husband! It will be a whole lot better with him there!

Almost Widowed

Hello Friends,
    This past Labor Day my family went River Rafting. My dad was our guide and we borrowed some equipment from some friends. The day was great until we hit the last rapid of the day which was also their biggest rapid in the section that we went to. My wonderful husband was thrown from the boat when we hit the first rapid, I tried to reach out to him and was yelling to my brother to hang onto him but Jared said he would be fine to ride the rapid out so he let go of the boat.  At the bottom of the rapid someone had left their 70 foot throw rope in the water which was tangled around a rock. Jared had floated right into that rope and it wrapped around his waist and trapped him at the bottom of this rapid. I watched him the entire time from the moment he left the raft. Jared always makes fun of me for being so paranoid about everything that could be dangerous- but this is why! So when I realized Jared was not coming out of the rapid and I was still in the raft floating away panic sunk in. We were able to pull off of the river to a rock area and I watched him get smashed and smashed by the waves. Thankfully there were wonderful people on the rocks and shore that came to his aid throwing ropes and trying to get him out ( I love those people so kind and courageous- and were sent from Heavenly Father) but those ropes weren't helping because of the rope at his waist. He tried to go over the rope and as soon as his feet left a ledge that he had found in the water( A blessing from Heavenly Father) he got sandwiched around the rope from the pressure and force of the rapid and water. He broke a bunch of blood vessels in his bicep trying to get the strength to move the rope to go over it. See below picture

  He realized he needed to go under the rope but this was nearly impossible because of the weight of the water pushing on him. In the meantime another raft is coming down the rapids ready to smash Jared. This is the part where I start screaming and crying thinking that I am going to watch my spouse drown in the water and no one can help him.Miraculously the rafters were able to be warned ( from the wonderful people on the rocks)and made their raft stop half way through the rapids. (Another blessing from Heavenly Father) After 3 very long minutes of watching  Jared struggle and seeing that all the attempts from the people on the rocks with the rope were not working I starting to pray out loud to Heavenly Father because at this time no one else could help Jared but him and my Savior. I prayed over and over out loud and within seconds he was free. Jared said that he felt that he was thrown back on the rock and that the rope was loose enough for him to lift it above his head.  As soon as he was out you could tell his body was beat he just floated down the river on his back. My dad and brothers who were still in the raft quickly paddled out and pulled him in the raft. Here are some pictures of the injuries from the rope

 Rope rashes and broken blood vessels on his stomach from where the rope was caught

 here is the other side up around his back

 lower arm rope rash from trying to pull it over his head a few times

Emotional wife for the rest of the day who wouldn't let Jared go anywhere without her.
The rapid Jared was stuck in is called Trouble Maker. It is their biggest rapid so their are Photographers on the rocks and one of them captured it on film. The link is below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEXdcry_2AY&feature=youtu.be
"Man Gets Trapped in White Water Rapids- Amazing Rescue!!"

If you noticed when Jared gets free there is no rock that he was pressed against. Jared and I know someone was there pulling Jared back so that he could get free. It will be cool when the day comes that we can find out who it is whether it be a family member passed or one to come. But my thanks and gratitude for having my spouse with me today is to my Heavenly Father adn Savior  Without them Jared would not have made it by himself. He must have something in store for us that he needs us here a little longer.

On a lighter note- 1st weigh in at Weight Watchers this week and I lost 4.6 pounds this week! YAY! I have my Ragnar Race this weekend and will post pictures from that after. I ran 8.6 miles this morning to prep for it, I feel like the tin man at work because my body is SOOOO stiff. haha oh well no pain no gain/lose !

My Weight Loss Goal

Here is my new weight goal for the next 4 months before my family goes to Hawaii in December.

"Desired Weight: 135-140 Lbs before December 16th, 2012"

Lbs to lose: 30-35

I did it, I said how much weight I need to lose on the internet for everyone to see! AHHH- But I think this will help me. I have tried several times to start a diet and exercise plan over the past 2 years and  I do great for about 3 days and then I have 1 bad day and give up. But last week when my  family was here we wrote down what our desired weight goals were for our Hawaii Trip, and needless to say after everyone put down how much they wanted to lose it was embarrassing to say how much I wanted to lose. Even my cute pregnant sister-in-law has less to lose than I do and she hasn't even had the baby yet! But that got me motivated. I have decided to start eating less and healthier choices for food and I go to bed early so I can get up early to go out and exercise. So far I am 10 days strong and down 3.5 pounds! YEAH!!! But like I said before I do good at the beginning, its the long run that I need motivation for. So... I signed up for Weight Watchers and am doing that with a church friend so I will be accountable each week for my food intake and exercise.  I also look at really cute outfits on Pinterest all day and think "When I get skinny I can buy that outfit" haha, kind of a mean thing to do to myself but it is working. Also I am tired of my body aching in places it has never before because of the weight gain (mainly my back, and joints!)

There was never a big push in my family when I was younger to eat healthy and exercise so once I got out of high school and off on my own to college my weight started to pack on and its just been hard to keep it off, I LOVE food so much, and I love sleep even more so to get up early has been hard.

Anyways I figured if I put it on here for everyone to read, it would help me to stick this through. I want to do a lot of things (take family photos, buy a new wardrobe, have less back aches, feel pretty) but are all dependent on my weight, so.... here  I go... wish me luck

Car Purchase

We spent all day last Saturday at the dealership trading in our two cars into one bigger car that we will have for the next 20 years. We are so happy with our purchase!

 We had come back to the house to pick up both of our cars and get all the paperwork that we needed to take back in order to make the purchase. We had already been there for 3 hours in 100 degrees!!!! ( PS in this picture while we were standing there posing a bird pooped on my HEAD! Eww and haha)

 This was after we purchased the new car and walked out and saw our two old cars already placed on the lot next to each other :( it makes me sad to say bye to a car every time. Thanks for taking care of us all those years.

 Here is a new car! 2012 Toyota 4-runner

 These were pictures from earlier in the day- I think they show the color a little better

We are super excited and LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I almost cried the first time it got dirt on it.

Our summer vacations are now coming to a close and work is going to pick back up really fast. We will now start the countdown to Hawaii in December,  I already started my Christmas shopping!

Vacation

We were able to visit family and friends this last month in Washington. I will let the pictures do the talking

 We took a train ride which was way fun! 

 Jared moving the Semi Truck so we could wash the back of the trailer

 Midnight showing of Dark Knight Rises with Bro-In- Law and Nephew

 Visited Carsten and Allison and their cute new baby Ava, she was so precious I could barely put her down, she really liked Jared's face in this picture and we could not distract from it at all. haha it is a pretty cute face I find it hard to look away too.

 Jared showing on the JetSki at Fishhook campground in Washington

 Baby Abby loves  her mom so much that when she went out on the Jetski she just cried and cried so I thought maybe if I stuck her cute feet in the water that would make her feel better... It made it worse... lucky for me her blankee was close by and saved the day

 Eating and relaxing

We had so much fun seeing family and friends and can't wait to go back at Thanksgiving!