It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Taking pictures

Down by the bridge

Ta da!


Winner of the polar bear swim turning on the village Christmas lights


Mom and I went down to the Bridge and watched the polar bear swim...where abunch of crazy people swim across the lake in the freezing cold...and the winner turns on the Christmas lights at the Europeon village. Swimmers were from age 10-58...fairly entertaining...maybe Austin and I will do it one year, ha =) Anyways I love Christmas time and the lights are sooooooo pretty! It was a very fun, wintery atmosphere!

White chicken enchiladas

2 whole chicken breasts cooked and shredded or cut up
1 lb Monterey Jack cheese, grated
1 can of chopped green chilies (I used mild, approximately 3/4 of a 6 oz can...you can add or take away as many as you like)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 pt of sour cream
grated mozzarella cheese (this goes on top so you can put as much on as you like...you can also use cheddar cheese)
1 dozen flour tortillas

Mix together the chicken, jack cheese, and chilies. Mix together cream of chicken soup and sour cream in separate bowl. You can fry the tortillas very quickly on each side if you like...you don't have to...it's good either way. Put approximately 1/4 cup of chicken filling in center of tortilla. Add 1 tablespoon of soup mixture to that. Fold the sides in and then roll. Place in oblong baking dish with the seam down. Repeat with each tortilla and then spread the remainder of the soup on top. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake in the oven for approximately 45 minutes at 350.

This dish is soooo yummy so I had to share it for anyone who is interested. Me and Austin (yes, he's an awesome cook - learned it from his mama) made it this summer, than I made it again last night for my family. Everyone in my family (that is here of course) thoroughly enjoyed it...except well Daniel picked out the green chilies, haha...no surprises there, but the chilies give it awesome flavor. It's not the most dietetic, but thats why I made it on Thursday, the day after weight watchers so I would have all week to work it off ;) Anyways, enjoy!

Jacket

I know this is just a picture of me, but the point isn't me...it's the jacket i'm wearing. It's exciting because around a year and a half ago (and a whole lot more pounds ago) I found this jacket at value village and fell in love with it...I thought it was adorable and couldn't not get it even though it was much too small for me at the time...it was brand new, in perfect condition, still had the tags on it and everything! So I got it in hopes of fitting into it one day...and tried it on every so often over the time of my weightloss to see if it fit yet...each time it didn't...until the other night when I had not put it on in quite some time so I decided to put it on...and it fit! With room to spare at that! It is soooo warm and cozy too...the fur that you can see in the hood, is throughout the entire inside of the jacket. Anyways to some people it might not seem like a big deal, but needless to say - I was quite happy =)

Soon it will be Christmas day...

Austin (one handsome man...namely mine ;))

Plus all the rest of the family

Plus Christmas time (it's absolutely impossible to find one photo to represent Christmas so this will have to do even though it nowhere near suffices)

Plus Texas (I've never been there so anywhere new has to be exciting)


Equal the reasons I am very excited! I bought a plane ticket today to spend Christmas in Texas with Austin and his family! I forgot to include a picture of New years in there, but I'll be there over new years too. So, even though I will miss having Christmas in Seattle with my family I'm very happy! Anyways, thats my latest exciting news! On the downside I found out (the airlines I'm traveling on at least) are charging for any checked bags...not just the second one - blah

Landon!

He loves playing with tractors...especially green ones

He and Jack became pals...kind of

Jack was not interested when he tried feeding him flip flops

He loved playing on the computer

He wanted to take a bath in that little bucket, hence the reason he has his pants down

He thought my shoes were pretty awesome

Dad teaching him how to do two thumbs up, which he thought was pretty cool

One of my favorite pictures of him!

The stallings came to visit us so we got to spend some time with Landon...he is absolutely adorable...so full of personality and life! He loves to laugh and smile as long as things are going his way =] At one point he walked into the kitchen and burst into tears because Daniel was sitting on 'his stool'...and he was also very upset when he had couldn't sit in the back of the prowler (side by side) to go for a ride. He loves to pretend to strum the guitar while listening to music, he loves to play meeting, he loves bath time (except for the part where he has to get washed), he loves pringles and brings them with him everywhere (one of the few foods he will eat), he loves pressing buttons of any kind - phones, computer, radio, cars, quads etc., he loves tractors, cars, quads, trains etc., he is very independent and loves to do everything by himself, he stutters when he gets excited, he has a very short attention span unless of course it comes to something really important like videos of himself...he laughs and laughs when he can see and hear himself...anyways I could go on and on, but those are just a few things about him. He is so much fun and I promise he can melt your heart =)

A couple quotes/sayings I like

*What do you want to be married to me for anyhow? So I can kiss you anytime I want. - Sweet home Alabama

*Distance is not for the fearful, it's for the bold, for those willing to spend a lot of time alone in exchange for a little time with the one they love. It's for those who know a good thing when they see it, even if they don't see it nearly enough.

*When my heart is heavy burdened and I cannot understand, what I have no power over I will leave in Jesus hands. I will leave it all to Jesus for I know he understands, things in life I cannot alter, I will leave in Jesus hands. - #287

*If you see someone without a smile, give them yours.

*Distance between two hearts is not an obstacle, rather a great reminder of just how strong true love can be.

Austin's visit!

He is irresistibly cute :)

quading

Welcome to sin city

Bellagio fountains

Treasure Island Pirate show

Austin came to see me over my birthday for a week and we had a blast! We were super busy and tried to squeeze in as much as we could! We spent a few days in Las Vegas and a few days at home...In Las Vegas we of course went shopping (seeing as there is hardly anything in Lake Havasu) and he was a very good sport...he actually picked out clothes for me and had me try everything on and he would say what he didn't and didn't like etc. We stayed at a resort a couple miles from the strip and spent some time in the hot tub which was super nice...he also wanted to go in the lazy river which was freezing cold and when I didn't want to I got thrown in, ha =) At the resort they had a free shuttle that took you down to the strip so we did that several times and of course you will never run out of things to do along the strip...we did A LOT of walking, shopping/browsing, going thru casinos/hotels, watched the Bellagio fountains, watched the Treasure Island Pirate show, took more than enough pictures for his taste (once again he was a good sport - he always likes having the pictures, just not taking them) and had fun just spending time with each other in general. We didn't have as much time in Havasu so we again were super busy...we did a lot of quading and boating/wake-boarding, did pizza and dvds one night and played lots of ping pong which he got very in to =) Anyways we had a great time and he is amazing! I'm a lucky girl.

53.4 pounds down, 18 to go

Down 50 pounds! yay

45ish pounds gone

Around spring break time...I'd lost app. 40 pounds by now.

I'm getting thinner!


Over 20 pounds gone!

After 15 pounds or so

After I lost my first 10 pounds

Another picture in the beginning

This was in the beginning...scary!



Most people that know me, know that I have been working to lose weight...and I have lost...I'm not where I want to be at yet, but I feel so much better than I did before. It has been long and hard, but definitely worth it. I've struggled along the way, but managed to pull through. Everyone that has encouraged, noticed, and complimented me on my weight loss, THANK YOU! You are a huge encouragement...It feels so good and motivates me when someone is like "wow, you've lost a lot of weight, you look great!" or better yet "You inspired me to start exercising or losing weight!" This is one huge part that helps me to keep on going...It's hard for me to tell that I've lost without looking at pictures...A couple weeks ago when Austin came to visit he said he could tell a big difference from the last time I'd seen him, which was awesome...and No I didn't ask him if he could tell, nor was I digging for compliments, ha =) Anyways I put up a few before, during, and now pictures.