Weekend to California!!

This past weekend, I ventured to California with Carson and Logan! My goodness, how did baggage get so expensive?? We had 4 bags to check (2 of which were car seats) and it cost me $80. Little did I know that you didn't have to pay to check car seats (so I had to call Alaska Customer Care and will get refunded $40 within the next week). YIKES...still, it's expensive! Kelly had gotten some free tickets for giving up his seat a while back, so for the 3 of us to fly, the tickets only cost us about $150 or so (which wasn't too bad!). We flew out of Seattle and were flying to Burbank. 

We brought a little 'map' for the boys so that they could see all the steps that had to occur along the way in order for us to arrive in Bakersfield! (Thanks to my friend Hartley who let me alter her document she already made!)  We would stop along the way and the boys would cross off the steps we had already completed!  It was very cute and it worked like a gem!  There were no constant questions like "when are we going to get there?"...the boys could just consult their maps to answer that question!

My parents were anxiously waiting for us in Burbank, excited to see their grand kids!

No trip to California wouldn't be complete without a trip to 'In n' Out' Burgers...and it was as yummy as ever!  We even got Kelly a new t-shirt (they are black now, instead of white, which was surprising).  Carson even consummated our Burbank arrival with throwing one big hissy fit in the parking lot (over what, I don't even remember).  Poor guy...once he gets himself past the point of no return, he's a goner!  All I could do was protect myself by holding him in an arm lock (so he couldn't hit me) and just be patient for him to get himself together!  It felt like 30 minutes, but probably was only 10 or 15 minutes long...but too long to be in a parking lot judged by all who see!  At least it was in the parking lot and NOT in the airplane!  I think this was Carson's way of saying that he was DONE with the travel stuff for a while (although we still had to drive another 90 minutes in the truck to Bakersfield). 

Once we got to Bakersfield, the boys were very excited to play with Pepper, my parent's new puppy, which is a miniature schnauzer!

The boys LOVED Pepper!  But, Pepper, didn't always love Carson and Logan!  Isn't that how it usually goes?  They all got each other wound up and we had to separate them from each other, just to get them all to calm down!  It was very cute to see them having fun with the little guy!  Wait until Christmas, when we'll have 6 little kids (under 6 years old) and two miniature schnauzers all under the same roof!  YIKES...

The weather was very interesting in California!  We had two days of beautiful weather (in the 70's) and two days of rain!  The boys even got to wear shorts and sandals and were very excited about that!  Thank goodness I remembered to bring everyone's sun glasses, because you quickly realize how sensitive your eyes are when you are in the sun!  And...and quickly realize that we really have very limited sun here in the Pacific NW!!

We got to play at the park and the boys LOVED playing in the sand!  Grandma gave them some old Tonka trucks and some plastic bowls to help them dig and they were golden!

 Carson, of course, loved building his own sand castles!!

 And, Logan loved climbing the play structures!

Everybody at the park that day was in sweatshirts and pants!  Hey, come on...it's warm enough for shorts and sandals!!!

Friday night Carson started complaining about his tummy not feeling good.  By dinner, he was throwing up and pale as a ghost!  Poor guy!!  I slept with him that night and he only threw up once.  The next day came diarrhea and poor Carson's bum was quite chaffed.  I even made some special baby wipes to pat his bottom with so it didn't hurt so bad!  He had a hard time sitting and didn't eat too much.  But as the day wore on, his appetite grew and he was feeling spunkier by the evening. 

Saturday night, the boys went to McDonald's while I went to my 20 year high school reunion! Here's my picture from my senior year of high school (we went to Disneyland after our graduation)!

I was very excited to go to my reunion.  I didn't go to my 10 year reunion and there were a number of folks that I wanted to see.  I went through a nostalgic period where I perused my yearbook looking for familiar faces and then tried to find them in Facebook.  Some I found and some I did not.  But, I was hopeful that many of them I would see at the reunion. 
 
Kelly wasn't able to go with us to California because of some work issues going on at the time.  So, I contacted Tina, a childhood friend of mine, to see if she was going.  I was in luck!  Her husband wasn't able to go as well, so we planned to go together!  I teased her as we walked into the reunion, saying that folks were gonna think that we were an item!  Ha...my, how the times have changed, huh?
 
They did a really nice job getting set up for the reunion.  It was held at a country club in Bakersfield.  They had current BHS cheerleaders checking us in, BHS paraphernalia all over (class photos, newspapers, etc.,).  Our mascot was the Drillers (yes, the drillers!!).  Bakersfield is a hot spot for drilling oil, so that was an appropriate mascot for where we lived!  They also had a memorial table...6 classmates had passed away! (from cancer, car accidents, etc.,).  This is where I discovered that one of my friends had died in a car accident....very sad!
 
They gave awards to our classmates that were present...who had the most kids (6), who had the most grand kids (3...YIKES, 3 grand kids and you are not even 40 yet?? WOW!!), who travelled the furthest (Singapore), etc.,
 
I saw 3 friends that I was glad I saw...Tina Hunsaker Nickel, Melanie Evans and Joy Nybo Donald!

Tina Hunsaker Nickel...my childhood friend!



Melanie Evans...we lived across the street from each other!  Our parents still live there!

Joy Nybo Donald

They put our high school picture on our name tags, which was a nice way to sneak a peak at folks to see if you recognized them.  Unfortunately, once you got past 'where do you live?', 'what do you do for a living?', and 'how many kids do you have?', I kind of ran out of things to talk about....I was glad that I went, but I was disappointed that more of my friends weren't there!  Our graduating class was 700-800 (which is HUGE!) and there were probably 80-100 there...just a mere fraction of the class.
 
Many folks looked the same, many were very different!  It was weird to see everyone 'all grown up!'  Many of the guys were very grey and balding and many of the girls were just as pretty, or prettier than they were in high school!  It's hard to believe that we are all almost 40 years old!  WOW!
 
After a fun night on the town, it was back to reality for me!  We had to leave for Burbank bright and early in the morning and I think Logan crawled into bed with me before 5 am that early Sunday morning!  YIKES!!  We were out the door by 7am and stopped at McDonald's for breakfast on the way to the airport.  We took an opportunity to take a photo of grandma and grandpa with their grand kids. 

We ventured to the airport and began our journey home to Seattle! 

The guy who checked in our bags was super sweet!  He let the boys weigh themselves on the huge baggage scale!

A moment in time when the boys were actually getting along!  Gotta photograph those moments, right??

We had to trade seats with a lady in order for us to all sit together.  She seemed nice at the time and even commented to me in the bathroom that she had grand kids of her own.  I was thinking that we had it made.  About 3/4 the way through the journey, Logan really ticked her off.  He had accidentally kicked her seat and she just about bit his head off!  But, rather than chatting with me about it, she began attacking HIM!  YIKES...not good!  In my opinion, this had been a good plane journey and she should be thankful...she has NO IDEA of the potential of a disastrous plane trip!  Oh boy...don't even go there!  So, we kept to ourselves and just did the best we could with what we had!
 
We were thankful to see dad at baggage claim!  Thankful to find our van, make a quick trip to the grocery store (since the snow was coming that night and we needed food!) and mostly thankful just to be HOME!

This week's weight loss!

WOOHOO!  I lost 2 pounds this week!  (19.5 pounds total....another 17 pounds to go!)  I worked my butt off at the gym this week.  I think I went 6 times!  WOW...yah for me! (gotta be my own cheering squad, you know!)  I had one day that I didn't make the healthiest food choices and then sat on my rear-end scrapbooking for 12 hours...and I still lost!

This week is going to be a tough one.  I'm volunteering at the school two of the days that I would normally go to the gym.  It is also the boy's birthday party on Saturday and we have some family coming to town (yay...auntie Kendra and the girls are coming to stay with us for a couple of days).  I'll make the best of it and do my best to make it to the gym as much as possible. 

Here's to another good week!

Taking Care of Myself!

Back in September of 2009, I started Jenny Craig and lost about 20 pounds, hit a plateu and wasn't losing and then I quit being able to afford the food (YIKES...that stuff is expensive).  I dropped out of Jenny Craig in April or May 2010 and just focused on trying to maintain and gained about 10 pounds back.  I then tried to lose weight on my own or with using Weight Watchers online (I've been a member of Weight Watchers since high school) and still couldn't seem to shed any pounds.  I was frustrated, stressed, depressed and wasn't exercising (nor did I have much time for exercising).

When I got the opportunity to quit my job and stay home with our two boys, I made ME the focus (I need to take care of myself in order to optimally take care of those around me!) by getting rid of the stress of trying to juggle too many things at once, made exercise a priority (I go to the gym 5 days a week and work off 600-800 calories each time) and really started keeping track of my Weight Watcher points.  Since September 1st, I have lost 9.5 pounds (18 pounds total since Sept '09).  I feel so much better and I can honestly say that I crave exercising!  I didn't think there would EVER come a day when I say that, but it's true!  I can go one day with no exercise, but two days in a row with no exercise is just too much for me to handle.  I get cranky, a bit anxious and just feel that urge to get out there and work hard!

I'm so proud of myself!  I have my 20 year high school reunion coming up on November 20th and my goal is to lose another 10 pounds.  I figure if I put it out there and let my friends and family know what my goal is, you can help keep me accountable!  Please help encourage me!

Have you seen the show called The Biggest Loser?  Did you know they workout 5 hours a day?  Totally an unrealistic goal for myself, but it helps to motivate me that someone in much less shape than I is being pushed beyond their limits every day!  Can't I take an hour of my day to push myself to my limits?  I think so....and I'm doing it!  Are YOU taking care of YOURSELF??

If you don't mind, I think I will post my progress WEEKLY!  That will help keep me accountable!

My pre-Jenny Craig photo in Dec 2009

My September 2010 photo with about 15 pounds (total) GONE!  Sorry Dawn, hope you don't mind me posting your photo!  She's lost I think 65 pounds with Weight Watchers...Go DAWN!!