Weight loss Challenge!

So I have managed to start a biggest loser (yes kinda based off the TV show) at work. There are 15 of us in the contest. I am excited about starting it.

So I told you I wanted to be held accountable and I do. So here it goes. I am in the top 4 heaviest in my office with the three others being men (big men). So I am a little depressed and down in the dumps. The only thing helping me is the fact that I am 5'10" which also makes me as tall if not taller than at least 1 if not 2 of those other 3 people.



So yeah... Slightly depressed this morning.

Here's hoping next week will be good news with a weight loss of 5 pounds. That is my goal this week. Aggressive yes but so is my plan.

Thanks for the support
*Shay*
P.S. Friday was also my 1 month anniversary of NOT smoking. I am also going to try and post pictures each week. Let me know if you see a difference! (Best picture I had this week sorry next weeks will be better).

Silent Saturdays! Accomplishment!

TYGF....

So it is time for another edition of Thank You God For...

Josh.

Yep I know seems generic again right? Well nope!

He is such a good dad. That is the specifics this week. He is a good dad. He loves his kids. He spends time with them and plays with them.

If he gets home in time he loves giving them their bedtime bath. The kids love it too because well I love him but he is a pushover at bath time. They splash and laugh and have WAYYYY to many bubbles in the tub (see why mom isn't fun at bath time). We have races to get them dressed into their jammies (which normally end in a tie).



He picks them up and carries them on his shoulders (even Leanna and she is a big girl now). He tickles them and watches cartoons with them too. (X-men and Spiderman being his favorites but he watches Dora and My Little Pony all the same).

So thank you God for sending me a man who loves his babies. Who plays tea party and crawling races. Thank You for sending me a man who has Jammie races and plays horsie (being the horse). Thanks for letting me have this man who my kids call Daddy!

Join me today in being thankful and expressing that. You can't be angry and worry about things when you are expressing thanks. Cause usually what you are thankful for is a happy thought and makes you smile! So what is it you are thankful for?

Thanks YOU for reading!
*Shay*

Apple Pickin'

So I told you I wasn't finished right? We also went apple pickin' on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day the sun was shining, a breeze was blowing and it was just cool enough to wear a jacket. We had so much fun.

Apple picking is something Josh and I started doing when we were just dating. We have continued the tradition each year. My kids love it. The enjoy getting there bags and picking the apples...
We normally go to Eckert's but on the recommendation of my girlfriend Beth we went to a local orchard called Beautigram's (Sp?). They aren't as large as Eckert's (so I missed the country store ALOT) and Josh didn't get his funnel cakes but we still had a great time. They were 9 cents a pound cheaper on the apples too.

We just really had a great time. The kids were awesome and had a blast having daddy pick them up and have them get the "REALLY REALLY" great one right there over their heads. It was a great time. And some pictures for you to witness said great time....
Leanna and Daddy getting the "Great" one.

Leanna and brother sharing an apple. (They ate almost as much as we picked I think!)

And of course we took pictures with pumpkins.

They had a corn shelling station too it was lots of fun to play in the corn.

And finally a picture of the 34 pounds of apples. That is right people I said 34 pounds!



Have a great day!
*Shay*

"Just Get it Over With"

Leanna says to her brother not two seconds after I snapped this picture "Hudson if you just look at momma and get it over with it'll be... it'll be... well it will just be over with". I think this may be a sign I should stop making them say cheese for me?

Have a blessed Wednesday!

Weekend (on a Tuesday) Pumpkin Hunt!

The Brewers LOVE FALL!!!

I don't think I can say that enough times. I truly enjoy the fall it makes us so happy. We love leaves and pumpkins and just being outside and the cooler temps. Everything about it.

Well we decided to make this weekend our fall extravaganza. We had the annual pumpkin hunt out at the Dark Horse Ranch (my parents friends where they board their horse) on Saturday. The kids had a BLAST. We loved watching them hunt for their pumpkins, play musical plates (it is easier than chairs), eat yummy food, play hide and seek with friends. It was a wonderful time like always.

So I am going to stop telling you and start showing you!
Friends just hanging around...


Look at mine!


"I can DOOO it".... "Leave e-lone Daddy I do meeeself"

Nothing says country boy like the back of a pick-up truck!


Leanna got to hold the sweetest little 8 week old bunny...


So there are some pictures of our fun filled day! More to come tomorrow of our Sunday adventures.

Slacker Much?

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't been very wordy lately. Although I am sure that everyone is okay with that right?

I hope everyone has been well.

I have some very fun things to post on this week and some "picture worthy" things as well.

So sorry for the lack of updates recently stay tuned! It is coming I promise!

Silent Saturdays!

Weight loss Challenge...and Updates!

So I am asking my few and faithful readers (you know who you are hehehe) to help keep me accountable. Also I am sorry in advance but once a week there will now be a check in weight loss post! Wednesday weight loss!

A certain person close to me (she wants it to be a surprise when she comes to visit so I am not saying names) has lost 50 pounds. I am soooo proud of her. That is amazing!

(This is kinda the update portion)
I have quit smoking! I haven't smoked in 3 weeks. If you know me you know that that is amazing. However in the 2 months (that I was trying) and the 3 weeks (I have been successful) I have gained probably 10-15 pounds. (Josh is still working on it please keep him in mind he is really trying he even signed up for a program through his job to help him I am soooo proud of hard he is working).

(This is kinda the challenge portion)
She (is incredibly proud of me and when she comes to visit she is taking me to eat at my favorite restaurant) has challenged me to reach my goal weight of 200 pounds by Christmas this year. She is going to try and make it from a 16 (she was a 24) to a 12 by then. So I need help in being accountable for my choices. I have already made myself healthier by the whole quitting smoking thing. Now I want to lose weight too.

So prayers and encouragement and well wishers are welcome. That and ask me the hard questions. Get in my face. Make me feel guilty and make me be ACCOUNTABLE. That is the important part of this.

And if you choose to join in the challenge with me ("C" I know you are supposed to be gaining weight for baby boy "E" so I know you won't be joining me :).. I get giggly think about your baby boy) and try and drop some weight or just eat healthier or whatever feel free. Let me know and I will help with all the prayers and encouragement you can stand but please know I am gonna ask the "hard" questions too!

Silent Saturdays! Handsome!

TYGF

So today is thank you God for day! I do so love these days it gives me a chance to focus on the positive. I love putting into words the things I am thankful for. It gives me a chance to speak out loud and praise God for the things I most often over look. It can be something as small as a fall breeze or as big as you surviving the terrible two's with your children. Just come on in and speak the words out loud and let us and Him know what you are thankful for.

So TYGF... Thank you God for loooong walks.

I have been taking long walks. Sometimes in the mornings when I wake up. Sometimes at night after the kids have gone to bed. Sometimes after I get home from work and the kids just aren't quite ready to go inside yet.

I love the weather being just right for stepping outside in jeans and a t-shirt or shorts and a sweatshirt (which seems to be my uniform most afternoons after work) and just picking a direction and walking. I love breathing the crisp cool air, taking in the leaves falling from the trees, my kids finding joy in a butterfly or a cricket.

It is so nice to just enjoy. To not be running from here to there. To just walk and take it all in. And hey here's hoping it is helping with the weight loss too!

What are you thankful for today?

Are we really one of the few?

"My husband and I have never considered divorce... murder sometimes, but never divorce."
- Joyce Brothers

5 years.

5 years has passed since I looked into the gorgeous brown eyes of a young man of 20 and told him I would love him for the rest of my life.

Josh and I totally missed our anniversary again this year. It IS important to us but I guess when life throws 2 kids and 2 full time jobs and a "NICE" hospital stay and the wedding of a sibling you tend to forget.

It has been a fun five years and a short five years and at the same time it has been a ridiculously HARD five years and a LOOOONNNNGGG five years. Isn't it amazing how it can feel like so many things all wrapped into one big giant ball of AHHHH.

We were sad to find out that out of all the couples that got married "around" the same time as us, a couple before a couple after etc. Only like 4 of those couple (out of 10) are still together. Two or three of those couples are probably reading this blog and the other we haven't seen or spoke to in almost 2 years and are assuming.

I guess I just missed the train on where it became so easy to stop loving someone. I missed the "easy out" way of thinking I suppose. I love Josh more than the world MOST of the time but there are those rare occasions where we grate on each others nerves and want to walk away...... for a few moments ... not forever.

My heart breaks for those couples who have already walked away. Sadly one couple made it one year and that was it. People say it is age, maturity or the infamous "these things happen". How sad. How truly sad.

That is why I love that quote above. Murder sure! Divorce never! He is stuck with me. Or at least until I off him.

Now I jest. I make light of what I don't understand and what I can't fix. In all honesty it is a hard and hurtful and ugly truth. To be honest I am sad. To be honest I am happy. Happy that it has been hard work. Happy that Josh feels the same that I do that our love is worth that hard work. Thankful that Josh is willing to walk away and walk right back. Here's to another 5 years. To the couples that I speak of my heart breaks for you it truly does. For the couples I know are reading this Happy 5 or almost 5 years and congratulations sadly/gladly we are truly one of the few.

Summing up my feelings this week...

Some houses try to hide that fact
That children shelter there.
Ours boasts of it quite openly--
The signs are everywhere.
For smears are on the windows,
Little smudges on the doors.
I should apologize, I guess,
For toys strewn on the floor.
But I sat down with the children
And we played and laughed and read.
And if the bathtub doesn't shine
Their eyes will shine instead.
For when, at times, I'm forced to choose
The one job or the other,
I want to have a lovely house,
But first I'll be a mother.

--Author Unknown

You Scream...I Scream... We all Scream...

Okay so you probably have guessed what this post is all about by now. You are right. ICE CREAM! I know ice cream in October? What is this you say?

You decided Friday night was go and return jeans night. (Leanna got some jeans that were WAYYYY to big for her skinny self... for. her. birthday. I know I am a slacker mom!). So we loaded up the van when I got home from work (Josh is off on Friday's) and we went to the store and did some shopping. Leanna got 3 pairs of jeans and Hudson even got a pair of jeans and two long sleeve shirts. I love fall clothes!

Well Josh then tells me that the kids ate a really good dinner (I had to work late so it was 6:45 when I got home). So he and I decided that they deserved a treat. That and mommy can't turn down good ice cream.

So we went to Maggie Moo's which is AWESOME! We had a good time the kids got to pick whatever they wanted (with some restraints). Leanna had strawberry ice cream with chocolate sprinkles and fudge ice cream with reese's pieces. Hudson well he copied sister. Maggie Moo's calls it the half-n-half. Leanna ate every bite of it. Hudson well he tried. I had the half-n-half as well (in a chocolate dipped waffle bowl...) but I had espresso ice cream with peanut butter and reese's cups with cheesecake ice cream with chocolate chips and caramel sauce (see picture below). It was wonderful!

Some pictures of our fun evening out....
Leanna enjoying her bowl of deliciousness

Hudson was all about the yumminess

My bowl of heaven (looks larger than real life)

Finally, a little bit of sweetness outside of an ice cream bowl...


Fun times! How are all of you enjoy the "end" of your summers?

Silent Saturdays! Siblings.

TYGF

Good morning to the two or three people who read my blog.
Today is Friday so that means... TYGF...Thank you God for...

The ongoing post that happens every Friday. To list off something that I am thankful for (please feel free to join me and let me know what you are thanking God for).

So today's post is an interesting one.
Thank you God for....

STUBBORNNESS.

Now why would Shay be thankful for that you say?
Well because I am please to announce to the blog world (my few but magnificent readers) that Josh and Shay Brewer have not purchased cigarettes in a week.

Josh is having some struggles but he is working very hard on quitting as well. So if you think of him say a few prayers for him please!

Now Shay hasn't smoked in 5 days. Due to sheer stubbornness and because I refused to look like I was a liar again. I know that I have said several times that I was quitting. I never followed through. My will power was no good. My stubbornness was not up to par for the course so to speak.

I wanted to do this for several reasons. One I have determined I don't ever want my children to do it. Two, I don't want to waste the money doing it anymore. Three, I want my husband and I to be healthier and around for a long time. Four, I want to be an example to the rest of my family (there are several that smoke) that if we can do it so can they. Finally, I want to make sure that everything I am doing is honoring and pleasing to God.

So this week I prayed for Stubbornness. Not patience or peace or to take the want away no for sheer will power and stubbornness. It hasn't been easy and it sure is easy to fall to the temptation when I see someone else or smell it somewhere. So stubbornness is what I needed for this.

So I am thankful for Stubbornness! What are you thankful for this week?