We Wii???

2008 brought about one goal, that I did just because "everyone else was doing it" at work- weight loss. I just wanted to be healthier, make better eating choices rather than my usual chocolate chip cookie, mini candybar in the afternoon, and ice cream at night. To set a goal, I said "I want to lose 10 lbs" by whenever... no end date.

January 2008- We started Weigh-in Wednesdays at work, along with a detailed food journal to write down every little bite of food we eat... Not as easy as it sounds. February/March 2008- Decided to add working out to the schedule: 2 morning bike rides (as I watched episodes of the Biggest Loser from our DVR) April- I joined an ultimate frisbee league with Dan! It was only 6 weeks long, but I loved it! For about 3 weeks I thought I was in shape and decided to go on a run once a week- 1.8 miles took me over 20 minutes (I blame the hill, but still pretty pathetic)
May 21st, Release day of Wii Fit- I find myself at the local Walmart at 6 AM looking for the Wii Fit. Luckily they had one! I was so excited! So excited, that I hid it in my car (so no one would try to steal it from my back seat) as I worked all day, taught piano all night. 8 PM, Dan & I finally got it going. :) I LOVE, I LOVE!
To date: I have lost 20 lbs- CRAZY- and I attribute it all to my Wii Fit. The morning bike rides and even once a week jogs have been replaced with a good old body test, light aerobic workout, and some strength training or Yoga.

Friends that have dared to try (from left to right) Dan Hatch, Manda, Dan, Me (in the red), Marcia, Diane (Dan's mom), and Tara HatchThis is my FAVORITE work out- the Advanced Aerobics. It's a 5 minute routine that shows me and all of my mii friends on stage for an audience to watch! It's great!

If you ever want to try it out, let me know. We will Wii!

Summer Begins...

Happy Summer! I'm sure everyone is excited about the warmer weather, the sun staying out late, summer vacations, and all of the other wonderful things summer brings.

In Wisconsin, it rains.

Marcia's graduation party was rained out. The party moved inside.
Some found something to do outside.

Dan & my cousin Jeff diving for a frisbee... nobody got it.

The youth at the party...

Even with all the rain, the party was a BLAST! Luckily, our basement was dry when we got home.
I hope the rest of you Wisconsinites are dry too! Hang in there for just a couple more days.

What to do with empty space...

As summer neared, I was thinking of all of these great things we could do with our little back porch. I finally decided we should invest in a nice storage bench so we could store all of our lawn mowing shoes, odds & ends, sporting equipment, and have a place to sit if we needed. That was the day I came home and Dan had bought me something thoughtful.

He went to Lowe's a couple days before for some work stuff and saw this swinging chair. He took the measurements, came home and measured between our two doors, decided it would fit with both doors open, and then went back and bought it. He even set it up on his Sunday afternoon while I was at a presidency meeting (I think I even told the ladies at the meeting he was probably home playing video games... way to give him credit.)

Well, this is my favorite way to spend just a couple minutes of down time. Last night we read the newspaper together and just talked. It was just cooling down from a warm day and it was SO relaxing.

Sometimes Dan's ideas turn out to be my favorite things. And the tennis shoes and other crap that gets left out- oh well!