New Year New Me!

We had a wonderful start to the new year.  We celebrated with Danny's family up in Brigham City.  We stayed at his grandparents house and his parents came along with some of his brothers and sisters and their families.  It was a full house but it was a lot of fun.  Family is the best!

We helped one of his sisters move in to her new house in Odgen with her little family.  It's nice being closer to them so our kids can play.  Cousins are fun!  Then we spent New Year's Eve playing lots of games.  The next day a bunch went over to the church to play basketball and I took the kids sledding.  What is up with this Utah winter?  We have had hardly any snow.  Sledding was still fun though!

Kayzee loves her Elsa Anna Dress...thanks grandma Thorpe!

 Me and my hilarious sister in laws!  Love you Mary and Emily!

 Sledding!

 We loved pushing each other down the hill

 I love my kids.  We have so much fun together!

 I bought these for New Years and forgot them.  So as soon as we got home we had to try them out:)

I have two callings now.  I am back to playing the piano in relief society.  I was not too excited about that one because I just finished playing for the relief society for the last THREE YEARS!!!!!  They released me for a year and then called me back to it.  When I asked them why I was doing the same calling again they said they didn't remember me playing before.  REALLY?  Oh well, it's easy cause I can play anything so I just have to show up.  No work involved.

My other calling is Activity Days with the 8 year old girls.  I usually don't like callings with kids because I teach kids all week but this calling I LOVE!  It is a little more work;) but it is FUN!  The girls are so great!  Here is one of our activities we did.  January is a new year so we talked about different goals they could set like spiritual, personal, physical, family etc.  We also talked about setting attainable goals and always setting new ones to keep growing.  We then made these cute frames with paper behind the glass so they could write their goals and then erase them with a dry erase marker to set new goals.  They turned out so cute.  My partner did most of this creative process.  She is fabulous!

Speaking of setting new goals...

I have been thinking a lot about my health and trying to take better care of myself.  For those of you who know me well and have been reading my blog for awhile, you know I have tried many different weight loss programs and diets and none seem to hook me and keep me motivated.  Well no longer.  I finally found a program that taught me better eating habits and included workouts.  I saw results from Day 1 and that was another reason I was hooked.  Another teacher I work with did the program and she looks amazing!  I talked to her about it a lot and finally bought it for Christmas.  Best present ever!  It's called 21 day fix.  

I don't have a lot of time to go into details but it's basically portion control but they help guide you with the food groups and what to put in the containers.  It takes a lot of preplanning meals but I loved it.  I am a very picky eater but this was doable.  It also included 7 workouts.  I LOVE the workouts.  They are killer but amazing!  

I get a free coach by buying the program and she told me to take before and after pictures.  I am going to post them here but it is really hard for me.  I have never really shared my exact weight with people before but I am gaining the confidence to just be proud of myself and I really do feel so good! And I am definitely sticking with this program till I lose the 100 lbs I need to lose!  

Here is me back in Jan of 2012.  I was at my heaviest.  I just had two kids close together and a very stressful life.  I EAT MY STRESS.   

Then I got sick and couldn't eat food without being up all night sick so I lost 50 lbs.  I maintained that 50 lbs lost for a year and figured out my health problems and knew it was time to lose another 50 lbs. 

Here I am Day 1 (Jan 3, 2015) of the 21 day fix program.

And here I am 21 days later...I lost a total of 11 lbs and 6 inches!!!  I actually lost 9 lbs the first 9 days.  That is the fast results I was talking about...I maintained my weight the 2nd week and then doing two workouts a day for a week I lost another 2 lbs.  AWESOME! 

I have seriously been so much happier every day.  Also before I started the program my IBS-D symptoms would flare up at least once a week.  Since I started the program more than 21 days ago, I have not been sick at all!!!  Eating healthy and taking care of myself is what my body needed!  

I can do exercises I have never been able to do before (like push-ups!)  I have muscles I never knew I had.  And the reasoning behind the program is that it takes 21 days to form a habit.  It's so true for me.  Now that I have completed 1 round of the program I am going to take a week off and then do it again.  I was planning this week out and I automatically planned healthy meals and figured out what workouts I wanted to do.  I actually want to workout and I don't go to bed without doing one!  Eating healthy feels so good and it has helped me fight cravings.  I have not had carbonated drinks since Jan 1 and I have not craved them either!  I have made desserts during this program because we went to different dinner parties but I literally had enough self control I only had one bite every time!  On Sunday to celebrate my success I made a dessert Danny has been craving.  I decided to eat a whole piece and it made me feel sick.  I will stick to one bite from now on.  That seems to satisfy my craving of chocolate.  And I have not craved or wanted fast food at all!  It sounds so disgusting.  Healthy habits are the best!

Danny has been a huge support through all this.  He does the workouts with me when he is not too tired:) and he is always giving positive compliments to help me get through.  He eats the healthy meals with me too!  

My kids have been my biggest supporters.  Memphis likes to remind me to get my workout in:)  One night I was not in the mood to workout.  Memphis grabbed my weights and said, "Come on Mom, let's do this!"  My kids work out with me at their own cute little levels and they are trying new healthy foods.  We are going to be one healthy family!

My kids are awesome!

Thank you to all of you who have encouraged me and helped me through.  Your compliments are the best thing!  I have the worst self-esteem but I have the best family and friends and your words stick in my head to help me through each day.  Here's to a healthier new year!  Life is great:)