Island Paradise

 Hawaii has always been our very favorite place in the world, so it was fun to share it with the girls, and my family. We had an awesome family trip! We had such a good time, it always goes by too fast. Here are some of the amazing things we got to see and do.

 Two cute beach bums playing in the sand (Wailea Beach)

 Hiking through the rain forest.

 Dinner at Bubba Gumps in Lahina

 Just relaxing on the beach!

 Water falls in Hana

 Beautiful coast on Road to Hana

 Kaylee said Hawaii was better than Disney World!!

 Eating famous banana bread at Aunt Sandys and at some food trucks on road to hana.

 Brooks couldn't of gotten more wet if we would of thrown her in the ocean... even the rain is fun in Maui!

 Hiking our favorite bamboo hike...even though it was raining, and we had mud up to our knees, and we got soaked, and we couldn't even go very far because the river was too high to cross, it was still fun!

 Brooks choose an owl at the store for her souvenir...she wouldn't even consider a cute sea animal... or anything remotely to do with hawaii... oh well... its a very cute owl.

 Shaved ice...with ice cream on the bottom, and cream on the top.

 This is our ocean view from our back door!

 Uncle Bob fell asleep riding with the girlies.

(*Special thanks to Mam and Papa for organizing a wonderful trip, and for getting the condo!......How about next year in the Bahamas!!??)

*also special thanks to Nick and the girls for an amazing mothers day by surprising me with a massage at the Grand wailea! It was worth every penny!

April

 April is a VERY busy (and expensive) month for us! First we had  Bobby (my brother) come home from his mission in Africa! Its really fun to have him back home! Next was Kaylees birthday..April 6th (I wrote about in an earlier post). Then we had Easter, our 8th anniversary, my dads 50th birthday, and then finally today was Brooklynns 1st birthday...whew, I think that was everything!! It was a very fun and fast month! Here are some pics.

 Brooklynn couldn't get enough of the eggs...especially when she figured out they had treats in them! A day after Easter I found her in her room with her bucket, with a whole wad of Easter egg gum that she was chomping on! It must have felt good on her new teeth!

 Coloring eggs

 The Easter bunny (aka Nick) hides the baskets... kaylee found hers in the oven... and Brooks found hers under the table.

 Since it was our 8th anniversary on the 21st.... i thought i would post a couple of pics from our big day! I can not believe how young we look! I guess a high stress police job, a couple kids, and a mortgage will do that to ya! These past 8 years have been wonderful, crazy, and  surprising, and I would do it all over again! Cant wait for the next 8!

 We got the girls a swing set for Brooks birthday... they both love it, and would swing all day long if I would let them!

My Sweet baby Brooklynn turned one today! I am amazed at how the time goes by. This pic was on the day she was born, and now she is walking! We love her so much! She has added so much happiness to our lives. It has been so fun to watch Kaylee be a little mother for her... she is a great big sis!

 We skipped the traditional cake today, (since Brooks is a true Witzel) we went strait for the ice cream! She wouldn't put the cone down... afraid she would get it taken... and ate the whole thing, and then some!

Brooks kissing her new bear... Kaylee got her the orange monkey, and was soooo excited to give it to her.








We truly had an amazing April, but now its time to relax....so my next post will be... from... you guessed it... Hawaii...! Leaving in May.... so excited, this will be the girls first time... and our 5th! I will post pics when we get back!

New kitchen!!

Also, thought I would post a couple of photos of our kitchen project...we finally finished!! I never want to do another project again...but it was worth it.. I love the results!

This is the before pic... ugly plain cabinets...

and here is after...

painted everything white, added black knobs and handles, added back splash, and a new kitchen faucet.

5th birthdays...

I can't believe I have a 5 year old! That just seems crazy. My little baby will be starting kindergarten in the fall. I have no idea where the time has gone. It is so true what they say...enjoy it while it lasts, because in a blink of an eye they grow up!

 Of course Kaydes wanted a Frozen birthday party... what girl wouldn't? We had a lot of fun with it... we did her hair like Elsa.. and I made crowns for all the girls, and sven antlers for all the boys... I have to say though, I think the cake was my favorite thing..(thanks to Nick for making the ice sheets!)

Thanks for everyone that came.. she had a blast, thanks for making it so special for her!

We do breakfast cereal at our house... the birthday person gets to choose whatever cereal they want... which is a pretty big deal. 

We just had to get her Anna! 

 She finally got the bike she has been asking for for months...

 Birthday dinner at Chuck- a- rama...(kaydes choice!)

 Then a little fun time at Nicklecade...












Nicks present to kaylee... and alien autopsy..you eat the candy guts when your done... pretty gross, but she loved it!

welcome to weight watchers!

Its no secret that I've struggled with my weight throughout the years. I've yoyoed up and down... getting really close to my goal weight, getting lazy, and then letting it creep back up. And of course having 2 kidos hasn't helped matters much (neither has cold stone!) 

I have done weight watchers before, with great success (when I was almost at my goal weight.) I do really well with a structured plan to stick with, so I decided I better get my butt back on the plan, so I started back up last Tuesday. This time around, I feel confident that I will finally be able to get this baby weight off, and finally see the hot momma that's inside! One of my absolute most favorite quotes is "the skinny girls inside is dying to get out..... but I can usually shut her up with a piece of cake!!"  I love that... its funny and so so true!

So I've made some changes to ensure that this time is the time that sticks.... first I've cleaned out the entire house from all the junk and crappy food that calls to me in the middle of the night. Second I've enlisted my dear sweet hubby to be my partner in crime... now this might be a little humorous for those of you who know Nick... he is the thinnest bean pole of a person you've ever met, and can eat absolutely whatever and whenever he wants (stupid male metabolism!). I think in the whole 8 years of being married he has weight basically the same the whole time.. (I know don't you just want to smack people like that?) jk :)...anyways I told nick that it wasn't going to work with me eating food made for rabbits, while watching him down a big mac. He agreed... bless his heart, and offered to follow the eating plan with me. So now that I've got the fam on board, and the house cleaned out, and my motivation back, I'm very optimistic.

Week one went awesome on ww... I didn't feel horribly hard to eat healthy again. I actually think my body was craving some nutrients after far to long of fast food. I also started walking an hour about 5 times a week. Not everything has been easy however. If you have ever cooked dinner with a 4 year old melting down because you finally cut off her allotment of Daniel tigers neighborhood, and a 10 month old screaming in the high chair ( because how dare I put her down right?) ... needless to say there were a couple of nights I highly considered calling dominos, or having Nick swing by Café Rio on his way home, but I stuck it out, and made myself cook those rabbit veggies! And I'm very happy to say that it paid off. I lost 8.8 lbs in a week. Now before you freak out that I must be starving myself, let me say that's not the case. This was totally my body getting rid of water weight and probably a little Dr. Pepper weight too. I always loose a lot the first week, and then balance out loosing 1-2 lbs a week. It was very nice however to see that number this week.... very very motivating to keep it up.

So as for goals, I'm not going to say I have to be at a certain weight... I hate that...I just want to get to a point were I feel comfortable, and happy, and healthy... (and a size 6 wouldn't hurt either!)

I am still trying to come up with a fitness goal. I'm trying really hard to convince nick to train for one of the Disney marathons... we will see how that goes... we don't want to get to crazy here! I think for now I'm just going to commit to exercising every day, either walking, or going to gym classes.

Well, I will keep posting how its going every now and then... don't want to boar people to death... but I do like to hear about peoples weight loss success.. but any who, if any of you are needing someone to take away the carton of chunky monkey... weight watchers is awesome, and the meetings are fun!