Our BIG Trip!

We are back! We are very well rested, relaxed and rejuvenated. I think everyone should do a 2 week or more vacation! Ours was 3 weeks long, but let me tell you, it was AMAZING! We spent 10 wonderful days in Orlando. 9 days were at Disney World and 1 day at Universal to check out the new HARRY POTTER Wizarding World! It was amazing. More on that latter. Then we rented a car and drove down to Miami and stayed there for 1 night, and we were upgraded to one of the suites in the hotel! The next day we then embarked on our Carnival Cruise to the Western Caribbean for a week. We also had to divert a hurricane on the cruise and the whole thing was great! Here are the pix that you all have been waiting for... I will post them on the next post up. Check it out!

Trip Highlights:
9 days in Disney World
Keys to the kingdom Tour-Backstage tour of the Magic Kingdom
Segway Tour around the World Showcase at Epcot
Wizarding World
Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party
Comedy Club on the Cruise
The SPA!
Amazing Pizza in Italy (Epcot's Italy) and in Miami
Last but not Least...Time with Matt!

Still Here

I know, I know it has been awhile since I have written. I stay pretty up to date on Facebook though. Anyhew things are going well for us here on the East coast! In just 2 weeks Matt and I will be jet setting away on our HUGE trip for a few weeks. We are going to Disney World, Universal Studios, and then on a week long cruise to the Western Caribbean. I am very excited for our trip together.

I am still working out super hard, well not as hard as I should be but I am still trying to lose another 10 lbs by the trip, and well, that is proving to be more difficult that I thought. It is really hard to leave at night when I only get a few hours a day to spend with Matt before he has to go to bed. I have made some progress though. I AM A RUNNER! That is right. I have started running and it doesn't hurt my shins or anywhere else. I have run more than 3 miles as my longest run so far. Now I am just trying to get a faster speed. My goal is to run at least a mile every morning and then when I go back at night to run for 30 minutes and try to get 3 miles in to that 30 min. That is too fast for me right now and I can do about 2.5 miles in 30 minutes but still, back in November I could hardly walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes without dying from not being able to breath or something hurting. I am still doing the elliptical on top of that so I am really working the cardio. My goal is to run my first 5K this November without stopping! Which I have done but not on the open road, which is more difficult for me. Anyhew, I just wanted to let you know we haven't fallen off the face of the earth but we are still around.

Half Way There, Me...

OK well with the pix of our New York trip each of you got a sneak peak at the New Me. Well I am not all the way at the new me yet. I am really only half way there. so I just wanted to post some comp pix of the old me and the Half Way There me. Stats are as follows

Starting weight From Heaviest-(can't believe I am posting this but we all have to face our demons)

Starting Weight: 240 (August 2008)

November 2009 Weight: 225 (When I started with my trainer.)

Current Weight: 198

Total Inches Lost: 36.15 from all over.

~August 2008 @240 lbs~

~August 2008~

~October 2008 @ 240 lbs~

~October 2009 @225 lbs~

~December 2009 @220 lbs~

~December 2009~

~July 2010 @ 198 lbs

~July 2010~

~July 2010~

Eeek! So with that all said and done now, my goal is 165 but my trainer says 140-145. So I am going to go where my body feels comfortable and where I am satisfied. I will tell you now even though I have lost 42 lbs I am not "satisfied" yet. I looked at some of the pix from New York and I still don't look where I want to look. So I am Half Way there which is better than where I was and I am so proud of myself for what I have accomplished so far and will continue to accomplish over the new few months. I would like to reach my goals by the end of this year, even if there is a little surprise for us I still plan on keeping fit and not "gaining" more than I should.

(end most embarrassing post ever)

NYC 2010

We are back and "resting" from our vacation full of fun and good times which equal good memories! We didn't just spend our time in NYC this time. We took a few days to enjoy a lot of New York in general. We drove A LOT! 1700 miles to be exact from our house up to Intercourse, PA, Rochester, to Niagara Falls (Canada side) Palmyra then to NYC and back home. We also took the "scenic" route all over to see the most of our beautiful country, and I will tell you that New York, is a very beautiful state. I also love driving through Pennsylvania. I will tell you that almost, almost every home in Penn has a BEAUTIFUL GARDEN. You know I love gardening and I loved looking at the amazing gardens around the homes in Penn State.

Our first day driving we made a stop to our favorite little Amish village in Intercourse PA, the Kitchen Kettle Village. Matt had to get his fav popcorn from Pappy's Popcorn and I had to get some jams and salsas from the Kitchen Kettle store. The next day we went to Niagara Falls and enjoyed a wonderful day there getting soaked by the falls on the Maid of the Mist and Behind the Falls attractions on a hot and steamy day. The next day we went to Palmyra to see all the church Historical sites and the Hill cumorah Pageant. We also had a visit to the local Hospital because of a mishap with Matt, his toe and our luggage. He is fine but it was just a little too blue for our comfort. Anyhew! I had fun pointing out to Matt what I was when I was in the pageant 9 years ago. We really enjoyed the pageant.

The next day we drove to NYC I actually drove in the city and parked at La Guardia, then into the city for us. Matt took me on more romantic evenings than we have had in a long time. He went out of his way and found 2 of the 3 romantic dinners before he even came home from Afghanistan. We had dinner at 21 Club in Manhattan which was AMAZING, the next night at Barbetta's and then the 3rd night on a Yacht that sailed around the Bay and seeing the sites. Also made a stop at Serendipity 3 for AMAZING desserts, and had a wonderful Bike ride thru Central Park. We rented bikes and road all the way around the park. It was great.

We had great food everyday and I am so glad that we went and can't wait to go back to the city. So here are a few pix after our trip. Sorry for the short snipit of info here but we had way too much fun for me to really write it all down.

~Archer, on the way to the Kennel. He was pouting!~

~Our secret place we found on the way to Niagara Falls. Us in front of Lake Erie.~

~Maid of the Mist~

~The American Side of the Falls~

~The view from our table at lunch.~

~The constant rainbow from the falls! Great pix with the flag~

~Lunch with a view~

~Journey Behind the Falls!~

~That is where we were on the Maid of the Mist~

~The Hill Cumorah Pageant stage~

~Serendipity 3. The frozen Hot Chocolate.~

~The view from our Hotel, Marriott East side~

~Matt in front of our hotel~

~Bike riding in Central Park~

~Date Night!!!~

~View from the Yacht!~

~Park in Dumbo, Brooklyn. (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass)

~We went on 2 pizza tours this trip and this is from the second one. Matt loves this place.~

~The Pizza before Matt~

~After Matt~

~Second pizza joint on the tour, Before!~

~After. Not my fav kind of pizza I liked the first one better personally!~

~Coney Island~

A Little Longer

I know I haven't been writing that much as of late, however, my life has not been that full of fun stuff to share. My best friend has been gone and I have been either at the gym or at home teaching, both of which I have noticed that people don't want to hear about all the time. Anyhew, I just wanted to put a little bug out there that I am alive and very well. Matt will be home in less than 30 days, finally, and I am sure that next month I will have plenty to blog about after our 2.5 week trip to NY.

But for those of you who don't know. I have been going to they gym like a mad woman. I go for 2 to 3 hours a day, depending on the day and if I have training. I am doing at least 2 hours of cardio on the elliptical everyday but Sunday. I have finally made some head way with losing "pounds", but more importantly I have lost inches, and a lot of them. As of today my trainer, yes my personal trainer whom I have been working with since November, advised me not to send Matt and more pix or to tell him how my progress is going so that he will be surprised when he sees me. I look so different now. Anyhew you will see in another month how much I lost and how good I look. It has taken a lot of work and effort on my part and I am proud of what I have accomplished. That's all for now folks!

Beautiful Spring Time

Hey, you remember me? It has been a long while huh? Well I need to get better at this and not have so much time between posts. Today I taught my first Relief Society lesson, and well, everyone enjoyed it. I got a lot of laughs, comments, and well wishes. They seemed to enjoy it and surprise, I ran out of time. I thought I was going to be luck to finish in time, but I actually couldn't finish it and had to end earlier than I wanted to because we had to save time for testimonies.

This Sat is my studio's 3rd Spring Recital, YAY!!! I am so excited to get it done and over with. The kids are ready, I'm ready and excited for it to finally be done.

I am getting a roomie! Yep, one of my old students, an adult. She lives with her sister and bro-in-law with their family. Well the family is moving but about a month before she is done teaching at a local public school in C-ville. So for that month she is going to live with me and keep me company. It will be nice. She will move out about a week before Matt gets home, which is now less than 2 months away, finally.

Other than that everything seems to be going well. I have been busy in the garden and enjoying all the beautiful spring time pleasures from last year that I planted. Here are a few pictures from my garden. A couple of new additions, I planted 2 blueberry bushes and they are coming in very well, the pix don't do them justice. Also I am going to have about 500 strawberries again. Oh and my carrots and CORN are sprouting. Enjoy the pix!

~My phlox, I love it.~

~My new Wisteria. This puppy is going to grow huge and climb all over my pergola.~

~My strawberry patch. I have a couple of ones that are already red and beautiful. 1 month early~

~Carrots, for my husband!~

~I was curious if I could actually grow Corn. I have 8 stalks coming in~

Myrna M. Birchett 12/12/1919-3/23/2010

I know, I know. My parents keep reminding me that it has been forever since I have posted on here. They are right but I didn't have anything that was really worth posting about until this last week, and I have been avoiding writing this because it seems to make everything more finalized with me.

My dear, sweet grandmother, Myrna Birchett, passed away on March 23, 2010 just after midnight, in Chandler, AZ. This date is exactly 15 years from when her husband, Robert Birchett, passed away, and it was also my brother's birthday. That is right, both grandparents, whom my brother and I were closest to growing up both passed away on his birthday. My brother is okay with Grandma passing on his birthday, because she is in a much better place now. Anyhew my grandmother was so special to me, not just because she was the GREATEST GRANDMA EVER, but because she was a very close friend of mine. As many of you know I lived with her a few times, and I grew up only 3 blocks away from her house, so I was there a lot as a child. I was living with Grandma, when I met Matt up until I married him, then I moved back in with her during the summer of '05 while I was finishing up my degree at ASU.

My fondest memories of my Grandmother were of her praying every night and praying for every single child, grandchild, and great grandchild, and never missing one of them. Of her stuffing me to the gills with her microwave omelets with ham, green chilies and cheese with a splash of milk, which I still make them that way, sans the microwave and on the stove. Her love for cinnamon swirl toast and hot chocolate every morning while she read the newspaper. Always doing the crossword puzzles in PEN which I still try to do even to this day. Her teaching me canasta, gin rummy, speed, and solitaire and never letting me win just cause I was a kid, and I did learn to beat her and we would laugh over how long if finally took me to win a hand against her. I loved talking with her and calling her on the phone over the past few years just to see how she was doing, and her always asking when I was coming home to see her. The way she fattened up Archer when we were there, (I went out of town to visit Matt for 2 weeks and came home and Archer had to have gained at least 5 pounds.) The way that Grandma always loved my best friends and invited them into her home lovingly and fed us. I loved playing my piano for her and she always thought I played so perfectly, hence while playing at the Funeral I was so nervous because she would really know when I messed up now.

Anyhew, I have many, many more memories of my Grandmother. I will miss you so much Grandma!

~The last photo of Myrna taken. Date taken Sat. March 20th~