Little Shutterbugs!

I brought the big camera bag over to Mom's house when we celebrated Chad's birthday and the boys got to try their hand at photography!

These are the pictures I got of them. I am hoping to get the pictures they took off the other camera and add them!

Also, Ironman.

(sorry for the load of pictures tonight, I finally was able to clean off my memory card!)

Chad had a birthday!

Landon was so excited to celebrate!

Emmett want I-keem!

Our First Home!

This is our house!

BIG window in the living room

I think the sun room is my favorite part of the house!

Future garden spot

I like how open it is!

Look Mom! A laundry chute!!

LOTS of storage

/The Keys!

Being a Big Loser...Week 7-8

.8 pounds down!

That is something to celebrate, because talking to my coworkers, it seems that everyone is hitting the dreaded plateau.

That thing is the worst!

In this weight loss journey, (and in general) there's nothing worse than working so hard to get to a goal and then not see results.

Anyways, the whole weight loss thing is kind of paling in comparison to OUR FINAL WALK THROUGH TONIGHT!!

I brought the camera, to document some "before" pictures of the house.

My goal is to take "after" pictures as we go, whether it's a complete room re-do or just a new piece added.

Anyone can have 4 walls and a door that they own.

That is a house.

Our goal is to turn our "4 walls and a door" into a HOME.

Our goal is that when we walk through the door, we can take a deep breath and relax, because it is a safe place.

That it is filled with love and laughter, family and friends.

That it is warm and welcoming to anyone that enters.

That it is a place of rest and relaxation.

I could go on for a while, but I guess all in all, we want this place to be HOME.

                                     

Being a Big Loser...The Halfway Point.

So we've reached the halfway mark.

And of course this is the week I went up.

.4 pounds, but STILL.

I have been doing Zumba 3 days a week and trying to stay under 1600 calories per day.

Maybe I'll just tell myself that muscle weighs more than fat and I'm getting Zumba muscles.

Right? Right?!

(Update: I weighed again and was down .8 from last week. How does that happen!?)

Either way, I am a little disappointed, but that is definitely overshadowed by the fact that we close on our house in EIGHT DAYS!

The financing deadline is tomorrow too.

At least we have started the packing process.

With Chad being off work Monday and only working part of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, he gets to do a big bulk of packing.

Lucky him! Haha.

I am helping in the evenings so that is good.

He will soon being finding out where his office will be located. We should know by the beginning of next week, which is great because I want to know!

This week on the weight loss/healthy lines, we are adding in protein shakes for breakfast instead of skipping breakfast (Chad) or whatever is quick and semi-healthy (Me).

(Chad is starting to drink them too)

Hopefully this will help me get less hungry!

Well, and it's convenient to take along with us wherever we are going.

Because it's not like life is hectic right now or anything!

(HA!)

Travel Bucket List

Yesterday we were slow at work, so I made our "Travel Bucket List".

Chad had some input on these...

Anything in Italic was already done by one of us but we want to experience it together!

Adventure is out there!! (Think Ellie from Up!)

• eat gelato in Italy
• drink wine in France
• kiss on top of the Eiffel Tower
• take an espresso shot in an Italian coffeehouse
• do the ridiculously tacky "holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa" photo
• go up in the London Eye
• go to a black sand beach in Greece
• attend a real Hawaiian luau (at the PCC)
• tour a coffee plantation
• have dinner on the beach
• take photos from the top of the Empire State Building (I've been there, just not on the deck because of the weather!)
• see a show on Broadway in NYC
• get coffee at Dean and Deluca
• take a glass bottom boat ride to see the fish and reefs
• swim with dolphins
• go to Alcatraz 
• eat sourdough bread on Fisherman's Wharf (Amy)
• throw a fish in Pike Place Market
• visit the original Starbucks
• have a picnic in Central Park
• try to get a Buckingham Palace guard to smile
• go horseback riding on the beach 
• drink blue curacao in Curacao
• ride a zip line (Chad)
• 4x4 safari ride through the Caribbean
• take a ride in a submarine (Chad)
• visit the San Diego Zoo
• snorkel the reefs in Grand Cayman (we were supposed to do this on the honeymoon but our port day got canceled because of weather)
• go to the Atlantis Resort (from the Mary Kate and Ashley movie!)
• take on a ropes challenge course
• wine tasting in a foreign country
• eat at the ultra-plush steakhouse on the cruise ship
• take a ride in one of the trolleys in San Francisco
• visit the Anne of Green Gables mock-up home
• take a backstage tour of a cruise ship
• see the volcanoes in Hawaii
• do the skydive adventure on the new Royal Caribbean ship (this is the closest I will ever get to skydiving)
• do a grape stomp in Italy
• take a ride in a cable car
• "Ride the Ducks" land cruiser and water boat (Chad)
• eat a beignet in New Orleans
• bathe in a hot spring mineral bath thing (whatever, you know what I mean)
• take a kayak ride
• set foot in a country I never imagined visiting

Yes, we have BIG travel dreams. 

And we will only achieve these once we pay down our student loan debt.

Chad is better with dreaming about that goal before any of the adventures that come after.

I dream better about the adventures and tend to spend less time thinking about our student loan debt.

We're a good balance, right?

Being a Big Loser Week 5-6

Down another pound this week.

(Note to self, always weigh twice! I thought I went up this week!)

I was hoping to be down more than that, but that's okay.

Yeah, I am happy, I am just also sick.

Chad woke up Saturday morning SO sick and yesterday he decided to pass it along to me.

Awesome.

It's not his fault though. I get sick if someone sneezes in the same room as me!

About the House:
-Appraisal is done
-They are fixing just about everything we asked for
-Loan companies need WAY too much info before they issue a loan. Sheesh.

Still no boxes packed yet...oops.

Being A Big Loser...Week 4-5...and an update!

So in the midst of:

• Sewer Lateral done on the house
  
• Loan Documents signed
  
• Filing State Taxes
  
• Filing Federal Taxes
  
• Filing a Police Report
  
• Filing an insurance claim
  
• 
  

(More on those two later)

• Super Bowl

• And last but not least celebrating Chad's birthday...

(No, life is not hectic at all!)

I LOST ANOTHER 1.4!!!

This girl is happy!

Honestly, after dinner at Tucanos and the Superbowl, I was expecting to go up.

That was a GOOD way to start a very cold, very snowy Wednesday morning.

Holla.

Anyways, we are waiting on hearing back from the seller to see what they will fix, although our Realtor thinks  its looking good for them to fix most if not all!

And we have a stack of boxes to start packing, compliments of Hyvee:

Oh, and about that police report/insurance claim?

SOMEONE (cough...neighbors...cough...) decided to throw a bottle at my windshield and shatter it.

Poor Sophie!

And poor us for having to pay THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY DOLLARS to get it fixed.

Its not like we are getting ready to make a down payment or anything...whatever...

But now Sophie is back to normal with a new windshield...and an owner who has lost 1.4 pounds this week!

(sorry, I just had to mention it again!!)