GET FIT

Sorry I haven't posted much lately, we have been kicking butt on the house addition/renovation-Here is one of my work outs I like to do either daily or every other day- I do modify it so I'm not doing the same thing every day. Lee recently got me a new bike so I'M IN LOVE with it!

There is an amazing bike trail into the nearest town to us which is 41/2-5 miles each way

I start by stretching and making sure my IPOD has enough battery to push me through :)

at every bench or road crossing I like to stop and do some sort of plyo. There are about 8 stops that I encounter each way.

Stop 1
25 calf raises with both legs
25 left leg
25 right leg
stretch

stop 2
15 triceps dips on the bench
10 pushups on the bench

stop 3
15 leg swings-do each leg ( stand on one leg and swing the other out its side)
get a drink

stop 4
25 crunches
25 mountain climbers

stop 5
25 RDLs-(legs a little closer than shoulder width apart, keep back stiff, knees slightly bent, and bend at the waist until you touch your toes stand back up)

stop 6
stretch and get a drink

stop 7
10 pushups
25 crunches

stop 8
25 calf raises
25 leg swings (25 per leg)

on the way back from town maybe stop at only the benches or mile markers or split it up and do every other both ways so you aren't stopping as often.

remember to keep hydrated and only go as much as your body says to-

bike on!

FOURTH, FAMILY, FUN & FOOD

I start my 4th of July blog with a GIGANTIC THANK YOU to those who serve in our military so that we can celebrate another happy 4th!

Today we had both sets of parents over for a late lunch/construciton/bike ride party :)

Mom and dad came up around 10:00. Mom and I went for a bike ride while dad hung out here with Lee and his dad.

for a late lunch we had
(see the next few posts for the recipes of the dishes listed in this post)

Meat:
Seasoned Sirloin Patties from our local meat locker- DELISH!!!
Smoked Brats

Fixings:
Flat Buns
Regular Buns
Brat Buns
Lettuce From the Garden
Onions
Cheese; Gouda, Mozzarella, Colby Jack
Mustard
Ketchup

Sides:
Pasta Salad from my mommma
Watermelon
Deviled Eggs
Best Roasted Red Potatoes (recipe from my earlier posts)
Chips
Carrots

Desserts:
Cheese Cake Stuffed Strawberries (see older blog post for recipe)
coolwhip pie(will post a recipe later)
Lees moms bars- I have no idea what they were - sorry

Some fun things I used today

An apron to decorate the front of the oven that my grandma used when she was a school lunch lady

tea towels to cover up the stove to so we could use it as a serving surface and not scratch it

white plates with dry erase markers so people knew what was in front of them (yes I tried it on the bottom of them before I wrote all over the top :)  )

the silver ware holder was one of the flower holders from our wedding

I had to use a table cloth on our AMAZING table and bench that Lee and his Dad made(we ordered and stained the chairs) so that nothing scratched it (I will post pictures of the table in full later)

we took a cooler of drinks and kettle corn and twizzlers to the fire works at our local golf course where we met the rest of Lees family that we watch these with every year.


OVER ALL WE HAD AN AMAZING DAY WITH FAMILY, FUN & YUMMY FOOD

celebrate on!

ODIE BEAR

The story of Otis/Odie-

what a giant bear this dog has become!

He made it into our engagement pictures of course in his beloved pool- May 2011not a year old yet

We got Otis late December of 2010 from a family off of craigslist, yes he stole our hearts the first time Lee found him on there.

here he is when we picked him out. only 4 weeks old maybe, such a cuddle bug- his mom(yellow lab- had 10 babies- holy mamma-all survived and were adorable

Otis is a St.Bernard and Yellow Lab mix- and he's hilarious because he's black and white and a lap dog

Otis has a history of no knowing how large he is and that he actually has 4 paws that work - well they don't work together but they work. He is getting better with his coordination, but we love his ignorance of his size- makes him funny and even more lovable!

He quickly had us suckered into his quirks and we couldn't say no when he wanted to come in the house, especially in the winter. So we had plenty of fun playing tug of war and stealing my potatoes and boxes to drag around the house-

 Uh Oh- he likes dew like Lee

 Handsome boy

he is still obsessed with towels

Some where along the line Otis became obsessed with towels, gloves and brooms- WHO KNOWS why but its funny and if it keeps him busy then fine destroy 5 brooms(yep he has demolished 5 shop brooms, handles and all)

This was his favorite broom- he would growl at it and shake it dead

Otis grew so fast that we had to give him vitamins because his hair was falling out- whoops not enough in the food we were giving him- silly boy vitamins are expensive slow down :)- don't worry his hair came back and it is different than the rest which is funny- he reached 80 lbs before he was 1 and at 1 1/2 he is at least 110- its been a few months since the last vet visit-hello large lap doggie

As if I don't sound like the crazy dog lady yet don't worry I'll claim it by the end of this post :) 

Here he is sitting up and angry at his reflection- too cute! 

 The day we brought him home- so funny already

 Tired from the drive- had to nap- He still lays his paw like that when he's sniffing out the ground squirrels at home

The car ride home

Otis made it into our engagement pictures! the bottom picture i have his ball and well he LOVES HIS BALL- it squeaks and he will squeak it all day if you will play with him- LOVES IT! 

These are more recent pictures- May 2012,top one he is "sneaking"-when he crawls on his belly to you - with his ball, and the bottom one is him sitting waiting nicely for Lee to throw the ball

 Being nosey about the hole in the ground

 The wagon was kind of sketchy, but he needed to be with daddy- yes he knows the word daddy and hunts Lee down when I say it- and he will continue to circle the house, truck and yard until he finds him

 THIS DOG IS HILARIOUS- he LOVES drinking water from the well or hose, not the water dish we provide - we will say- are you thirsty and he will walk over and wait for us to turn it on, or do you need a drink?- I hope he stays smart and we can leave him out at some point when he's older.

He was mad about all the construction at the house the other day and barked ALL day I was told :) whoops, he just wants to see everything- Plus all those sketchy guys there- He definitely isn't a fan of new people and vehicles and will always let us know even if its just a bird that entered the yard-

Often he knocks us over because he's so excited so I'm not too concerned about him being able to take care of someone if they came in the yard and we didn't want them to be there- Loud bark and probably a big bite :) we haven't had to find out yet nor do we want to.

ok nutso dog lady title claimed :) he's a funny boy and has more character than we thought possible

dog on! 

JAMAICA-IRIE

THERE IT IS OUR HONEYMOON PARADISE


Montego Bay, Jamaica- that was set our destination for the honeymoon- i was skeptical yes, but sooooo excited for warmth, sand and water in February.


We left Minneapolis on a non-stop flight for Montego Bay, Jamaica. The non-stop flight was one of the best things we did- that gave us the freedom to not have to worry about connecting flights or the chaos of bags being lost-


We arrived in Jamaica roughly 4 hours later and holy cow it was humid and warm and beautiful! my hair immediately curled while waiting to go through customs (By the way, fly on any other days except for sat and sun, customs took over 2 hours to get through)


Sandals resort was amazing to work with- they had a butler waiting for us at the sandals lobby and he had ice cold beers for us -Lee appreciated that a lot- we waited for the next van to the resort which was probably 10 minutes and the ride was 15 minutes so we were ready to get there by the time we did


we arrived and were able to meet one of our butlers-holy cow we had a butler- At first I was worried on how to "use" the butler service, but by the end of the week I was a pro, don't worry :)


our room was AMAZING to say the least- Lee did such an amazing job at booking this place and I/We appreciate the hard work he does ALL the time to provide these amazing opportunities for our family.


Here was our Romeo and Juliet swim up suite

 THE BATHROOM

 WALKING INTO THE ROOM

 HUGE BED

 ONE OF THE SEATING AREAS

 LEE FIGURING OUT WHAT TO DO FOR THE DAY

 THE OUT DOOR PATIO-WHERE WE ATE BREAKFAST EVERY DAY

 THE PATIO LED DIRECTLY INTO THE POOL-LOVED IT!

AGAIN LOOKING INTO THE ROOM-IT WAS AMAZING!


We were blessed to have two other couples join us- strange some may think, but it was very nice to all have fun together!


we spent our days waking up whenever we wanted, ordering breakfast, lounging on the beach under the umbrella and drinking endless -ENDLESS amounts of drinks brought to us by our butlers-what ever we wanted they provided with kindness, a smile, and usually a story to go with it.

there is our camp out spot-most of the time we could hang our feet in the water right there


the view and atmosphere of Jamaica was truly unique- so care free- EXTREMELY care free- along with my husband being there, and the Sandals resort this vacation was one where I was completely worry free- usually I'm a panic attack waiting to happen, so this was very nice!


we went horseback riding, visited the other resort and spent time laughing and eating new foods an simply  being there-

It was exciting to go home because our four legged little boy was waiting for us (above is a picture of Otis-playing ball)-I'll tell you more about him later), but I was ready to go back a few weeks later for the sun and quiet beach!


We strongly recommend this resort if you would like a quiet but fun get away to a warm and friendly place!


Lee did an amazing job at providing an unforgettable vacation for us-we got back to reality,me to work and him to planning our next adventure of our house remodel- to be started in June after the spring field work is done-


Here are a few more pictures of our trip

 AFTER RIDING HORSES THROUGH THE WATER-HE TOOK ONE FOR THE TEAM

 BEFORE DINNER AT THE THAI PLACE- THE SUNSETS WERE UNREAL EVERY NIGHT

THE DAY BEFORE WE LEFT MILLIONS OF THESE LITTLE GUYS SHOWED UP ON THE SAND

I DO

Well the chaos of planning a wedding hit full force spring of 2011-Mom, sister, a friend and I went to a local bridal fair- holy wow-never again never again- (any of you that know me I don't like a large amount of people, not to mention WOMEN WHO ARE PLANNING A WEDDING + vendors gag) so we took the fastest track through that place possible! I think we were able to book a DJ and a party bus in 20 minutes- HELLO wonderful !


As things fell into place we thought everything was going toooooo smoothly- and well it was. Lee and I ( well I) had fallen in love with a location and booked it. IT CLOSED 3 MONTHS BEFORE THE WEDDING- and I found out it closed from the local news website- are you kidding me- PANIC BUTTON fully engaged at this point- so we were able to book another site and get all our money back plus some for the postage and the amount of money we had to spend on re-ordering invitations and maps-yes we had to re-order invites and maps-BOOOOOOOOO- but in the end everything was perfect!

Dress time-Only had to try on 4 until I found the dress of my dreams, not to mention it was in our price range YAY-and the veil was free-even better. The dress came in on time, was loose :) and the perfect color. how could anything go wrong from here. Wellllllll- the veil got sold- i called the store and kept hounding them about where my veil and barrette were, well I had later found out that they ordered my veil, got it in and then sold it to someone else and decided to not tell me or order another one- holy cow why would you do that. The store corrected themselves and got us a new one and took care of that-nedless to say I wouldn't do business with that store again because of the disorganizaiton and lying.


I took the week off before the wedding to go home (where the wedding was being held) and make sure things were in line and to relax. We had planned on decorating the church on that Thursday so that Friday we wouldn't have to do anything but get the rehearsal dinner ready- God always has other plans to keep us on our toes- there ended up being a funeral Friday morning at the church so we couldn't decorate until Friday night during the rehearsal-not usually a big deal, but we had to un-christmas it quite a bit-thank goodness the church ladies decorated in white and gold that year and we could use the white.


Saturday 12-10-11 came around and I'm not sure I slept at all the night before and I was up so early, bursting with excitement, anxiety and ants in my pants! Our day went off without a hitch (that I was away of :) I found out later there were a few hiccups ) The ladies met up to get our hair done by Flo-gotta love that crazy gal! She did an amazing job!

                             Sister, Bridesmaid and Me
Meanwhile the boys were getting ready in Lee's hotel room-gotta love these silly guys!

                                 Lee, his Dad and Best Man Jackson


The time had come to go to the church and get ready- we all piled into one Sunday School room and had fun laughing and putting on make-up- The excitement was building inside me to see Lee at the end of the aisle. I started crying the minute i walked into the chapel- The smile on his face was priceless!

we finished up pictures and got ready for the real thing to take place- warmly surrounded by family and friends on that December day we took each others hands and became one family- We couldn't be more thankful for both of the sides of the church being filled with so much love and support for our marriage-here are some more pictures from the rest of the night.

 HE PUT A RING ON IT

 END OF THE NIGHT IN THE PHOTO BOOTH

 HUSBAND AND WIFE OFFICIALLY

 CAKE CUTTING-WE HAD AN AMAZING CAKE

FIRST DANCE-LAUGHING HARD AS ALWAYS


It was an amazing,exhausting and perfect week full of wedding happenings-We would do that day over again any time-there is no feeling like knowing we get to spend the rest of our lives laughing, crying and seeing what each day brings TOGETHER!
Thank you to all who made our day possible!




(we made all the decorations ourselves so I will post those in the craft page when I get that going-with directions)
**our photos were taken by AO Photography, reception site- Elks Lodge, Cake- Cakes by Isabel, Hair- Studio Image, Tux-Milroy's Tuxedo**