A love like this

Oh Logan aka Logie Bear - this one is for you...

You have been given to us to love, play with, care for, provide for and just to provide a happy and healthy life. In return we are blessed with your happy presence, unconditional love and your loyalty to us. Duncan is very fortunate to have a brother (or bruder as I call you) that he can play with at anytime; not to mention that we all love your cute little growls and adorable whine noises you make as you play with him. They never get old; unless we have a headache or something. :) We have taken you to the dog park twice now and you are quite the social butterfly, just spreading your love to everyone whether they like it or not! ;) We are very anxious to see you swim for the first time because you're just so clumsy with those legs\paws!

I have grown to love you, but not without it taking some time. I never knew what it'd be like getting a dog that wasn't a puppy and bringing it into ones home, but now I do. Love didn't necessarily come easy, we've had you for about 5 months, but now Logie Bear I can truly say you're loved more than you know. You're our boy, (albeit special @ times, but that's what makes you, you!) Duncan's bruder and we couldn't be any more happy that we brought you into our home.

Yes, that is a chuck it ball they're playing tug-o-war with

Snuggling on Duncan

Mama Jen caught a yawn!

Happy and Lazy Logan @ the dog park, must be tough spreading your love around

Can't get enough of his bruder, awe!

This Moment

A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Your Weight Watchers questions, Our answers and more!

First of all, we are seriously humbled by the messages and support regarding our Weight Watchers success. Thank you to all of you for the continued support! There are so many factors as to why we have been so successful with it, but rest assured we're not done yet! ;)
The messages that we've received on FB are pretty much the same; People have been asking... What's working for you? Do you attend meetings? Planning? Tracking? etc.. so here it goes. This is a compilation of responses and we just thought for those of you wondering yourselves it might be a good place to get some info.

1. The biggest thing has been doing it together for sure. We are each others biggest fans.
2. The next would be earning activity points. From riding my bike to work to Nicole getting up at *gasp* 6am to workout before work, we earn approx 12-17 activity points per week on average.
3. Planning, this includes but is not limited to a meal plan then grocery shopping based on that.
4. Attend meetings!! We go to the BEST meeting, hands down. Tuesday nights @ 545pm in Roseville. There, the support and recognition is priceless and the tools you learn help you at least through the next week and beyond.
5. Tracking using eTools - this is a must. When tracking doesn't take place, it's guaranteed your body still knows!
6. We weigh and\or measure practically everything we put in our mouths
7. Just being committed! With the end goal of starting a family, this has come naturally for us. We want Nicole to have a healthy pregnancy and want to be the healthiest Mommies we can be.

Fun facts:
We enjoy exercise now.
Nicole is in size 10's and 12's down from 16's
Jen is in size 12's and 14's down from 16's
Our rings are loose, like scary loose
We feel "brand new"
We are 60.2lbs less today than we were 11/1/10
We no longer own 2XL clothing and just barely any XL's
Though it costs us 80 per month to be members, we're still saving tons!
We do not feel deprived of anything, if we want it we have it! (see the steps above on how)

Then (Sept 2010) and Now (April 2011)

March = no dining out

As most of you know for the month of March we didn't dine out once. We did this for a few reasons... we were up for the challenge, wanted to break some plateaus with our weight loss and to save money. Well, the results are in.... we compared March to February, same year:

Jen
2/1 to 3/1 -1.2lbs
3/1-3/29 -9.8lbs **

Nicole
2/1-3/1 down 3
3/1 - 3/29 down 7.2 **

Saved approx $320 on dining out and we actually spent 100 less in groceries as well. We attribute this to planning!

I encourage anyone to do this. It's healthy in more ways than one and we're proof it can be done!