Our Cruise!!

Mike and I celebrate our 10 year anniversary this month, and so we got to go on a 7 day cruise to the Caribbean!!  It was THE.BEST.WEEK.EVER.

Here we are getting ready for formal nigh in the Dining Room

Cozumel

(Probably my favorite!)

We went to the Mayan Ruins in the middle of the Jungle in Cozumel!

 Grand Cayman Islands

We did Kayaking & Snorkeling here

Jamaica

Ya Mon!

(They really do say that all the time!)

We hiked the Dunn River Waterfalls here, but couldn't take any pictures.  It was amazing!

This is us just lounging around the ship

 This was such an amzing week for me and Mike.  Life gets busy with 4 kids, and work, and church, and activities!  It was so rejuvenating to just focus on each other, and bring to the front of our minds, why we are in love with each other!  We set new goals for our relationship, and for our family,This is a week we will never forget!

My 2014

I never thought I was skinny.
I always thought I was kinda pretty.  
I have always been lazy.

This year has been a changing year for me.  In January Mike and I booked a cruise for our 10 year anniversary coming up almost a year later in December.  So this was it!  I was determined that I would look good in a swimsuit.  And just generally feel good about my body.

I have a VERY pear shaped body.  I have ugly legs. I even got made fun of for these features in High School! And then after my babies I had a significant gut too.  And each year the pounds slowly crept on, kind of without me noticing. I  always just figured that was my body shape, and I couldn't do anything about it!

"So what I have to buy a size 12 pant, its just the cut of the pants."

"Ooooh look at that loose shirt that will hide my belly!"

"Maxi dress, yes please!  Hide my ugly knees"

This may sound pretty self deprecating, but it was true!  Each of us have an inner monologue about our own insecurities.  This was mine.  And the funny thing is I was still confident in myself, still very happy with my life.  And I was active too, having babies doing things with family or friends all the time.

I even scoffed at those people who watched what they ate, or exercised everyday, thinking they were fanatics, and I just wanted to bake and eat it.  And my life was making sure that everything got finished so that I could watch TV {pretty much}  until I fell asleep.  I did exercise periodically, and tried to eat fruits & veggies.  But that just wasn't enough.

Enter Beachbody.

My husband did P90X and lost 35 lbs!  Oh man did he look good.  So then I got "Turbo Fire"  I LOVED it.  I did it every day, but didn't do the diet, lost 5 lbs(ish), and then got pregnant with baby # 4.

And I stopped exercise completely - until that baby was 18 months.

So , then we booked that cruise...And  we bought T25 & P90X3, and started on Shakeology. (Can I just say that Shakeology is the favorite part of my day?)

I did T25 for about 4 months, and loved it.  Then I started P90X3, and that is when my body ... wait for it... STARTED CHANGING SHAPE!!!!!!!!!!  NO joke.  My legs shrunk, my thighs hips and booty shrunk.  I started seeing muscles in my stomach.  This was the best feeling ever.  And it was hard!!

Thats the thing I love about Beachbody.  Its NOT a gimmick, or a quick fix!  You have to put in the work, you have to NOT put junk in your stomach.  It can be so challenging some days.  But so thrilling and empowering to know that it was YOU who did it.

My new motto for life is  - I can do hard Things!  And I did, and I will continue.  I set goals, blew past them and now I have new goals set for my body  my health, and lifestyle. Another great part is that my workout is 30 minutes, my kids are in the other room watching a show.  I love not getting ready for the gym, and dragging my boys there too.  Its way more efficient for me!

Now I feel almost skinny
And I am sooo not lazy! (except for Sunday mornings)

I recently got the amazing opportunity to be a Beachbody Rep.  So if you want to try this with me, Or just have questions
... send me a message, or an email, or call me!

Its amazing!

Halloween 2014

Well, like most people we carved pumpkins!

Both boys kinda hated digging out the guts of the pumpkin!  I loved watching their faces as we went through this process!

Then the girls, of course dug in to that Pumpkin!

And here is the result!

October 31... Two Vampires on the hunt.  Peter Pan  and Jake trying to keep up!

We had a Peter Pan... off to Neverland was our phrase of the night!  And then we had Jake and the Neverland Pirates!  Yo Ho Lets Go!

My girls decided to re- do costumes this year, since no one knew what they were last year in Texas.  Chloe wore this outfit, but as a lady bug.  We made a few tweeks and we have a fancy vampire!

 And here we have a scary Vampire!

The Whole Crew

Fall Break

Now that we are in Arizona, we get to have a Fall Break in October.  It is really great, because you can go do things when its not so hot outside!  During the break we hit the big pumpkin patch!  It had a ton of stuff, a corn maze that we couldn't get out of, a big jumping thingy, rides, a petting zoo, and even a roller coaster!  And then we all took  a pumpkin home with us :)

Then the next week, we headed off to Utah!  Our first stop was Zions National Park.  If you can't tell from these pictures, it was Phenomenal!  Really breathtaking.  the funny thing is that I think our kids favorite part was riding the shuttle bus, because they didn't have to wear seat belts!  We took a small hike up to some waterfalls.  We all liked it, exceptt Chase, who takes off his shirt because he is hot, right as we are getting started, and then says... "can we never come here again?"

I think he came around  as time went on :)

One of the fun things we did with family was another fun Pumpkin Patch in St. George :  The kids had a blast with their cousins here, and we stayed until the dark of night!

And finally, when we are in Utah, all roads lead to Grandpa Pratt!!