Friday, April 24th

After dropping the kids off with my parents the night before, they picked us up at our house around 4:30 in the morning, UGH, for our 6am flight. We boarded without issue and went on our way to beautiful Houston, TX for our connection.





We saw the craziest vending machines in the Houston airport!! I've only seen ones where you can buy food and beverages from them but electronic devices?? Really?!?!







Shots on the plane from Houston to Cancun.





After what seemed like a long flight, but really wasn't so bad (about 6 hours total, including layover time), we reached Cancun!! We navigated through the airport, customs, and all of the vacation planner people that were as bad as used car salesmen, to our awaiting shuttle bus. That was driven by a man that should have had a lollipop in his hand and singing "We represent the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild"....





We got to our hotel, Sun Palace, and were given an upgrade once we told the front desk that we were on our honeymoon. We had no idea what kind of upgrade we were getting, but figured it was better than nothing! This was our upgrade...:



Um, okay, open the doors to a little foyer....



Then this is what we see...





Huh, more doors...



Hello, rest of the room!











Our room had a dining room, living room, king-sized bed, and three, yes, three balconies. These are the views from each of them:



The "Lagoon," which is just a bay but "Lagoon" sounds much more exotic.




Of course, once we were settled, we had to do some exploring. The hotel was really nice!! And the best thing about it: NO KIDS ALLOWED!!! Sun Palace Resort is the only Palace Resort in Cancun that doesn't allow people under 21 to stay at the hotel, use their private beach, or dine in their restaurants. Right up our alley, right??









There were three restaurants at the resort and the first night, we ate at the outdoor buffet called The Steak. The buffet items varied each night but every night, you could get raw items like different cuts of beef, chicken, a few different types of fish, and seafood all cooked to order. There was a dessert buffet there too but we were always disappointed by it...

Me, Josh. Me, hungry!


Exhausted from the day.


Here's to finally a honeymoon!


Would you like some beef with your fat??


Dessert plate with the not-so-good desserts...


By the end of the day, we were exhausted but so excited to finally be getting away to take our honeymoon! One day in though and we were already missing Abbi & Hayden and wondering what sort of grief they were giving gramma & grampa. We feel very fortunate though to have been able to take this trip and very appreciative of the opportunity. And a big THANK YOU to gramma & grampa for all that they did!!

Frustration!!

I am having one heck of a time getting the Cancun, and now camping pics from Memorial Day weekend, uploaded and organized!! I used to thing that I was pretty intelligent when it came to that kind of stuff but alas, Photobucket has beaten me!! I'm trying to find a photosharing site that is user-friendly so I'll get them all uploaded soon.

One little tidbit from this last weekend: Abbi SWAM!! She didn't sink like a rock, she was actually creating wake behind her in the water. We were some proud parents!! Super Chicken, er...Hayden, was happily watching from the shore.

UPDATE: I've given up. I'm just going to post individual posts for each day in Cancun...

Cancun!!

I'm working on getting all of the pictures together and in order. Once I do, I'll post a blog entry, or four!, about our wonderful trip to Cancun. For now though, here's a little teaser.

Enough is enough!

Confession: I've fallen off of the FA wagon... All those weeks of doing so well and one errant Twix bar ruined it for me! I figured, "Oh, I'll just go to the gym tonight and work it off." Well, the gym didn't happen. Then it was another Twix bar the next day, followed by the same gym thought, followed by not going. UGH!! So, today will be different: I have eaten healthy, minus the little sliver of chocolate/caramel cake..., I WILL go to the gym tonight, and I WILL have a healthy dinner of grilled salmon and grilled veggies.

My water consumption level has also fallen. I was up to three bottles, just at work!! And for the past week or so, I've been lucky to even get one in.

There aren't any fun classes going on tonight at the gym so I'm going to kill myself again on the treadmill. And now, after my third bottle of water, I'm doing the pee-pee dance so I'm running off! I'll post my treadmill stats tomorrow, and a "Before" pic of myself - if I'm brave enough....

...DEAD...

We met our friends Mike & Shelly at the gym last night. I thought "Hey, since Josh and Mike are gonna work out longer than I can last on the treadmill, why don't Shelly and I hit the Turbo Kick Boxing class??" I asked Shelly if she wanted to and we happily walked over, with an excited bounce in our step, to the class room. The class is filling up and an instructor that could double as Will Farrel walked to the front of the room. Warm up's were going well and we were confident that we could take the full 60 minutes of the class. Oh, how wrong we were. Will Farrel kicked our butts! I felt like I was dripping sweat from every pore in my body and my legs were made of jello!! After we did our cool-down, we felt a lot better but still feeling like we had to puke. And today, even though I feel like I got ran over by a truck, I'm looking forward to going back and kicking Will Farrel's butt!

Oh, and I don't know why they have this picture on the 24 Hour website because I didn't see ANYONE in the class that looked as non-sweaty or happy about being there as they do!

Workout - Day 1

Since our weight loss from just eating right has slowed, Josh and I decided to hit the gym last night. And today, we feel like the gym hit us...hard. He did the treadmill for a bit and then worked with some weights. Me, I stuck to what I knew, or thought I knew, would provide me the least discomfort: the treadmill. Wow, I didn't realize how out of shape I am. I was a little sore last night but this morning, my hips hurt! Whoever started saying that exercise is good for you had to have been a fitness freak because what else that HURTS you, can be good?!?!?

Here's the breakdown:
6:45, Thursday night.
Ate so-so throughout the day but had energy to work out.
40 minutes on the timer.
Walked one lap.
Jogged two laps.
Walked one lap.
Jogged two laps.
Walked one lap.
2 minute cool down.
Dead.

After the gym, we went to tan. Yes, Josh is tanning! Heeheehee!! I'm telling him it's okay because he's doing it "in preparation for Cancun." But we both know that he's just vain like that. Anyway, because of the blood flow from working out, the melanin is closer to the surface of the skin. I don't know if it was because of that, or if they changed the bulbs in the beds, or what, but we both felt like we were burning up in there! Although my skin is still lighter than Noelle's, there is a bit of a difference now.

I got my bathing suit in the mail last weekend and have yet to try it on... I'm afraid that Captain Ahab will come busting through our door if I do!

New Trailer!!

Can't wait! Can't wait!! Can't wait!!!



Josh is suuuuuuper excited too....he's just reluctant to let it show. HA!

Toot, Toot!!

I have to take a little moment to toot my own horn: I've lost over 10 pounds, which is just over 5%, and am now down a pants size!! We've committed to follow the FA (Fatties Anonymous, which is really Weight Watchers) plan and surprise, surprise: IT'S WORKING! It's so silly that we have to PAY to be told to eat right. But it's been really good for us. We're accountable to someone else, other than each other, and we get the support and advice from our group and leader at the meetings. We don't have ANY junk food in the house right now. Well, take that back. We bought some Girl Scout cookies. But that's IT! It kinda stinks though when we get that sweet craving and all there is to choose from is fruit...

One of the plan elements is to "Move More" and we've been doing that too. We've been walking the dogs around a loop in the neighborhood and when I mapped it out, it's 2.51 miles. No wonder they're so beat when we get home!

Since we've been on our diet, we've been feeling much better, have more energy, and are seeing physical results. You know, all the cheesy things that you hear in the weight loss commercials. But it's so true!!! Once you SEE the results, it's almost like another motivational boost because you know that if you can accomplish just that little bit, you can accomplish so much more!

Here's to wearing a bikini in Cancun!!!

March 4, 2009

Dinner tonight: bison steak, Alaskan King Crab legs, and white rice. So good!! Surprisingly, the bison steak was much cheaper than a beef steak. And leaner too!

March 3, 2009

Our new toy!! Rather than buying coffee here and there, we decided to be big kids and buy our own coffee maker.

March 2, 2009

Dinner: English muffin, a little mayo, slice of turkey, slice of tomato, topped with cheese. Stuck under the broiler. And viola!!

March 1, 2009

Awwwww....

February 28, 2009

Boredom at the dinner table...

February 27, 2009

IKEA meatballs, mashed potatoes, and garlic bread are diet foods, right???

February 26, 2009

Palm trees in front of an In & Out. I think they always look so sad and lame when they're "babies" like this.

February 25, 2009

Can someone please tell me what is sold at an "OOD MAR"???

February 24, 2009

WOO HOO!! Jury duty!! I think I'm part of a small amount of people that actually WANTS to get called for jury duty. I'm pretty sure that I would've gotten bounced out of the group had I made it into the box because it was a medical malpractice case against The Regents of UC Davis, whom we contract with at work. AND the plaintiff, who was a Type 1 diabetic, was suing for medical malpractice. The cards were stacked against me from the beginning! :(

February 23, 2009

A love note from my ultra-sensitive husband.

If you can't read what it says in the picture, here's what he wrote:

Mirror, mirror on the wall.

Who's the grayest of them all?

The answer is obvious,

It is she, who is not so tall

Yes, she is up there in years

Aging swiftly, without stall

No reason to shed tears

For it's experience that makes her strong

And a little crazy for her fears

She has good reasons for she has lived so long

She feels her age slowing now on beers
She will soon be using an old person supplement

Diapers, dentures, Centrum Silver and have no peers
But at least she can use social security to pay rent!

I love my husband...

February 22, 2009

The California entrepreneur.

February 21, 2009

First signs of Spring...

February 20, 2009

The fastest little scooter that was!

February 19, 2009

A new find for Josh. And a new reason for earplugs for me....

February 18, 2009

I saw this car parked on the street downtown. I don't know who is brave enough to park a car like this on the street for any length of time, but I sure wouldn't!

February 17, 2009

A sign of my commitment to not only weight loss, but to be more healthy. We're getting out and moving more and we've been much more happy for it. Instead of DRIVING the dogs down to the dog park, we're taking the 10 or so minute walk down there with them.

February 16, 2009

A Christmas gift from Dan & Tami. Josh and I were talking about how lucky we feel to have each other and that we love the life that we have. That discussion made me think about this meaningful gift and the meaning of the words. Boy, do we really have a story...

I found a quote from M. Scott Peck that I thought is really relevant to our relationship and how we've gotten through some sticky situations:

“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.”

February 15, 2009

The sight of a very sad dryer... It stopped spinning today. After the first stinking load!! We, HA!, who am I kidding? I had to hang dry EVERYTHING after it was washed. There wasn't a hangable place in the house that didn't have hangers on it. Everything from Josh's heavy work pants, to chones hanging in the doorways. And let me just say one thing: hang drying makes for very stiff, very uncomfortable, chones.

After some threatening words and some coaxing of the drum, the dryer started working again.

Valentine's Day 2009

So I'm a little slow in posting pics and here are the pics that I took on our annual snow day trip that coincided with Valentines's Day this year. We got to Donner Lake after a four-hour drive, took two pictures, and promptly dropped my camera in the snow. I ran it back to the truck to thaw and thankfully, it's still functioning.

This is what we faced going up the hill


And this was part of the reason why. The other reason is that people were being LAME and only going 40 mph on clear roads!!


The little girl looking out the window, fogging it up, then getting frustrated because she couldn't see out of it anymore.


Abbi in the snow. I wasn't able to get any of Hayden playing in it, because of the aforementioned camera incident...., but they were having a BLAST! It was pretty fresh powder and they thought that they could walk in it but were totally surprised when they sunk down to their heads! They both learned pretty quickly that it wasn't solid and then only started walking in the trails that we'd made in the snow.


We stopped at Cabela's in Reno before heading back home. It's a pretty cool place and it's HUGE. We went to go check out the guns and dog stuff (THREE WHOLE AISLES!!) and stopped by the restaurant. We both got bison burgers and fries and this was all I could put down. Josh loves the bison meat but to me, it just tasted like high quality ground beef. Much to his disappointment...


With the storms that we've been having, we're hoping to have another snow day soon!!

February 14, 2009

View thru a dirty windshield during the FOUR HOUR drive to Donner Lake. It was so worth it though to see the dogs act like crazy animals. Wait! They are crazy animals!!

February 13, 2009

I forgot to take a picture today....

Lazy Days and Lazy Dogs

DISCLAIMER: Animal abuse, or negligance at the very least, can be seen in the following pictures!

These were pictures from last night. The cold, rainy weather has been keeping us inside more than any of us have been in a while. And whenever the dogs need to go outside, they flatten their ears and crouch down, like they're being assaulted from above. Then they scoot back inside as fast as they can!

The last picture is Hayden telling me that he's had enough of me taking his picture while he's trying to sleep. HA!

And Josh is seriously questioning his judgement in getting me a new camera...

February 12, 2009

The best, and possibly the worst, thing in the world. These are the feet of little Hayden's blankie: his Bad Cuz. He carries this around with him all of the time and thankfully, doesn't make it squeek. Anymore... He'll have it in his mouth and shake his head violently so the thing is hitting either side of his face. But watch out!! He'll lose grip of it sometimes and it'll go flying! Ask Josh about the time when he got hit in the head with a hard rubber football...

February 11, 2009

Just because we're on a "diet" doesn't mean we can't eat yummy foods!! Josh surprised me with this dinner last night. We were both nicely satisfied after peppers and rice.

February 10, 2009

A wet, sad reminder of warmer days.... Josh said he's "missing the taste of bbq" so I took this picture for him. When really, we're not using it because we ran out of propane. Where's Hank Hill???

February 9, 2009

Mom, mom, mom....we REALLY wanna go outside and plaaaaaaaay! How could you say no to a face like that?? Thinking of wet, muddy dogs with wet, muddy paws will MAKE you say no to that face!!

February 8, 2009

Lake Nute!! We're in the process of installing a boat ramp and will be charging $5 use fees since the puddle in our backyard is about as deep as Folsom Lake now...

February 7, 2009

Abbi enjoying one of her birthday treats on her bed. She's such a good girl because as soon as she gets a treat, she'll trot over to her bed to eat it. Unlike Hayden, who will chomp it right on the carpet and not care how much of a mess he makes. Abbi likes the mess though because then she can come in and clean up after him!

Sorry! Sorry!!

It's been called to my attention that I've been slacking at the picture-a-day thing. Well, to be honest, I have. My camera battery died and I was lame about putting it back in the camera once it had been charged. SO, without further ado, I am going to re-start the picture-a-day today. Well, technically four days ago because that's when I started taking pictures again.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, big girl!!

Saturday was Abbi's third birthday and we had to celebrate! We bought her a cake from a doggie boutique in Granite Bay: The Doggie Bag. According to the owners, the cake is human grade and we could even enjoy a slice with the dogs. Um, no thanks. I'll take your crazy word for it. But the dogs absolutely loved it!













After cake, we took the kids to Petsmart to pick out new collars, get new toys, and some special birthday treats. Petsmart didn't have the collars we wanted, but there was a baby boxer there that wanted to play! Hayden wasn't too keen on it but Abbi was super curious. She's such a good, patient, momma-dog and she let the baby paw all over her without batting an eye. Then off to Petco we went in search of new collars.

Abbi's birthday haul ended up being a cake, two different types of treats, some wet food that smells like FISH, a treat ball, and a pretty new collar that she picked out herself. I wanted to get her a pink one and Josh wanted a red one so we let her pick. He held a collar in each hand and called Abbi over. She nosed the red one and walked back to me. She didn't even acknowledge the pink one!! I guess it was pretty obvious which one she preferred... We initally only got one treat ball for Abbi and since Hayden can't be left out, we got him a ball to play with. Well, you can't give one dog a treat without giving something to the other... DUH!! So we had to go back out and get Hayden his very own treat ball too.

I swear, these dogs are so spoiled!!