Biggest Loser

On Jan 15th, we started our own "Biggest Loser contest" at work & I am a participant. We all weighed in to get our official starting weights & everyone submitted $5 to the pot as an "entrance fee". With 23 people participating, the pot started out at $115 - that to me is incentive enough to drop some weight!

Every Friday, we are to weigh in at the hospital & if you don't lose at least 1 lb then you have to add $5 to the pot - another incentive to losing some weight. At the end of 8 weeks, whoever has lost the most percentage of body weight will win the money in the pot!

SO, after 2 successful weigh-ins, I am happy to report that I have lost a total of 5 lbs & am well on my way to becoming the Biggest Loser at work AND looking hot in my new swimsuit for Vegas at the end of April!

Only 12 more pounds to go before I hit my goal weight! I just wish I had these two to kick my ass in the gym & get me in shape:

LOVE Bob & Jillian...

Valentine Workshop

I dropped Neo off at the groomers this morning & had a few hours to kill before I had to pick him up. So I headed on over to Archiver's & participated in their Valentine Card Workshop. I had been wanting to attend this class for a few weeks now but it just hasn't worked out...until today. The class consisted of making 4 different Valentine cards using supplies provided by Archiver's and for a bonus we got to make a cute Valentine candy jar.
I took my seat at a table with 3 other ladies who were all over the age of 60. They were the cutest group of ladies ever & while visiting with them, found their stories quite fascinating. The two on the left of the picture (one is hidden) are attorneys & have been best friends for years. The lady who sat next to me on the right was in her 80's & loved to fly fish & travel any chance she could get. She was too cute watching her try to make her cards! Needless to say, I ended up helping her on several occasions! Three hours seemed to fly by & we had finished making our projects. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with these lovely ladies & have a few cute cards to send out in a couple of weeks as well!

Game-Night

Another monthly "game-night" gathering occurred & this time Erinn (pictured back row-left) was our hostess with the mostest :) As always there was a wonderful spread of food & great conversation gathered around the kitchen island. We actually sat down and played a game this time called "What's Yours Like" which had everyone giggling at some of the clever answers!

It ended up being another late night with these awesome ladies & a nice end to the work week!

SOLD

Woo hoo - Shane's dirt bike is finally sold & out of our basement! A guy from Shawnee, KS came by tonight to pick it up & while I was extremely happy about it, Shane was heartbroken! I could tell it really crushed him to see the dirtbike go! But it was necessary to sell as we had no room in the garage for a Harley AND a dirtbike. Hence the reason it has been in our basement for the last 8 months!

Here Shane poses with his dirtbike for the last time...I think there might even be tears in his eyes :(

Back to KC

12:01am - I awoke to a loud thud & then crying. Tanner fell out of bed. Fortunately, he didn't get hurt & got lots of hugs from Hehher. Put him back to bed without any trouble.

5:58am - "Mama...no more night night" *sigh* Should I have expected anything less from Tan Man?!?
Once again, we were up & at 'em early. Tanner was starting to catch on that getting up early meant watching cartoons with "Hehher" because as soon as he crawled into my bed he asked "watch toons?" That kid is too cute!

Ben ended up making breakfast for us and Tanner wanted to help make "cake cakes". He even has his own apron that he wears when he cooks:
We all enjoyed a big breakfast of pancakes & bacon & Tanner was SO proud that he had helped "Poppa"!

Soon it was time for me to pack up and head back home to KC. I couldn't help but feel sad leaving behind my nephews but was looking forward to getting back home to the hubby, furry children & my own bed - minus the human alarm clock :)

Little Fisherman

5:15 am ~ "Mama...no more night night"!

Are you kidding me? I am seriously re-thinking this "bumper party" thing in Tanner's room! Another early morning of snuggling & "toons"! Can't say I'm not enjoying all this "Aunt Hehher-time" though :)

Today Ben took Tanner on his very 1st ice fishing excursion & was he excited. So while the boys were away, my sister & I ventured out with Cael & had lunch at their favorite mexican restaurant. While there she got to enjoy her very first beer in 10 mos which she was very excited about...seemed to go down pretty quickly too!

Next stop was the North Face outlet store where I had wanted to browse the selection of winter coats. After much deliberating, I treated myself to a coat I had been eyeing for the last few months & saved some money so I was pretty happy! Now I am awaiting some cold weather again in KC so I can actually wear it! We headed home after my big purchase & the three of us enjoyed a quiet afternoon watching TV & taking another nap....I think I'm beginning to like naps!

Ben & Tanner got back around 7:30pm and that little guy was so exhausted & very cranky as it was past his bedtime! He laid like this on the couch with all his gear still on and about fell asleep:

Even though they didn't catch any fish this time around, Ben said they had just as much fun snowmobiling & sledding with his friends that went with them. He is molding Tanner into quite the little fisherman!

While Tanner was being put to bed, I had a little "bonding" time with Cael. He is such a good baby...hardly ever cries unless he is hungry! Pretty cute too...

One Little Monkey...

5:58 am ~ dead asleep & I hear THIS: "Mama - no more night night"

Come to find out that this is Tanner's way of letting my sister know he is done sleeping! I refused to get up that early so I coerced him into laying with me for a little while so we could continue our "bumper party" & lucky for me he was more than willing. We layed there for a half hour talking, giggling & singing - they were the BEST 30 minutes ever! We then moved to the couch to watch "toons" & by then my sister had awoken & said to me "welcome to our world - there is NO sleeping in around here!" Hmmm...maybe tomorrow morning!?!

Later that morning, we were off to Monkey Joe's. When we walked in, I was in awe of the huge inflatable playground that was before me & secretly couldn't wait to get my shoes off and go play with Tanner in all the blown up bouncy-ness! We bounced in everything possible, went up & down the slides & bounced some more. What a fun place it was...even for this BIG kid :) My favorite moment was how everytime Tanner would "jump" he would sing the song "one little monkey jumping on the bed....no more monkies jumping on the bed" ~ I of course had to join in! We sang it over and over...too cute!

Here we are going down the slide:

After a couple of hours of bouncing around, we all headed home for lunch & a much-needed nap. We spent the rest of the day playing & lounging around & we all turned in around 9pm. I am soon finding out that it is early to bed & early to rise in the Trustem household :)

My sister Jen & Cael

"Aunt Hehher" Time

"Hehher" ~ this is how my nephew Tanner says my name! Too flippin' cute!

I am off to Wisconsin to spend the weekend with my sister & her family. I am so very excited to see them all, especially my newest nephew Cael.

I arrived at their house just in time to go with my sister to pick up my nephew Tanner from daycare. This is what awaited for me behind the front door:

This is Cael ~ how cute is he? LOVE the WI stocking hat :)

We got to the daycare & to say Tanner was excited to see "Aunt Hehher" was an understatement. He had the biggest smile on his face and made the biggest squeal when his momma opened up that car door. I wish I had my camera so I could have taken a picture :(

The rest of the evening involved much snuggling with the nephews & catching up with my sister while my brother-in-law took advantage of my visiting & worked late.

For sleeping arrangements, my sister thought it would be better if I slept in Tanner's room rather than the living room so I asked him if he would like to have a slumber party with Aunt Hehher. He was SO excited! Little did I know the treat I would be in for during our "bumper party" (as Tanner called it)!

Annual Progressive Dinner

It was another jam-packed weekend of social activities as this evening found us gathering with the neighbors in our cul-de-sac & participating in our 3rd Annual Progressive Dinner. Thank goodness we didn't have far to travel as it was a crisp 2 degrees out!

We decided to change things up a bit this year & instead of doing specific meal courses throughout the night, we had appetizers at each house with a different beverage of the host's choice served as well. It ended up being lots of great yummy food & we were getting stuffed by about the 3rd house!

The Taylor's were the 2nd to last stop out of 6 houses & rather than serving another appetizer, I ended up serving Strawberry Cheesecake (made by my friend Stetson) and a variety of caramel brownies & cookies. Also whipped up some icy fruity beverages in the blender! As you can see here, Julie liked them so much she had two :)

Everyone raved over how dee-lish Stetson's cheesecake was & were glad we added a little sweetness into the evening!

The last stop was Dave & Gaels' where we enjoyed one last appetizer of stuffed shrimp wrapped with bacon which was awesome as well as many cocktails! We have also made it a tradition to do a White Elephant gift exchange at the last house but instead of a nice gift, you have to give a somewhat trashy gift & one that has been laying around your house. It was quite hilarious some of the gifts that were opened. The three best gifts that got the most attention was:

1) the briefs that said "Worlds Biggest Driver" modeled by Brian

2) the rubber chicken shown by Gael

3) the "head massager" demonstrated by Gael

After the gift opening, Julie, Gael & I enjoyed some shots made with Gael's homemade Baileys! Mmm Mmm good!

Self-portrait of Shane & I! Looks like Shane has had one too many Wild Turkey's!? :)

We had such a good time this evening with this group of friends - too good a time that we didn't notice it was well after 1 am once we looked at the clock! Wow - haven't been up that late in a LONG time! Thank you neighbors for another fun night - looking forward to all our get-togethers in 2010!

What the....

As I was making my way to the salon to get my haircut, I pulled up to this intersection and saw this on the corner. If you look closely, you'll see a man dressed in a Statue of Liberty costume standing on the snow mound waving obnoxiously to all the people driving by. I have no idea what he was even promoting or doing for that matter! Now mind you it was 8 degrees out, the roads were a bit slick and at any given moment a car could have slid right into him!

Can you say CRAZY?!?

Italian food & fun

It was a LONG day at work today so I was looking very forward to the annual Holiday Dinner with my "work-girlfriends" at Buca di Beppo on the Plaza. Marlo & I went right after work and enjoyed the happy hour until our party of 14 arrived. We had a fun time socializing with the bartenders & enjoyed the free appetizers of mozzarella sticks & calamari they brought out to us as well as only charging us for one drink! We made sure to leave a nice tip for their kindness :)

Once our huge party arrived, we were seated & enjoyed catching up with everyone. It seems we got a little loud as we ran off the table behind us not once but twice. The manager had to come and tell us to try and keep our conversation at a decent noise level as guests were asking to be reseated - ooops! I guess that's what happens when you get all of us together and alcohol is involved!?

We all dined on yummy italian dishes "family-style" like spaghetti, chicken parmesan, shrimp diablo, & delicious garlic bread. Stuffed myself silly but it was oh so good!

It turned out to be a wonderful evening spent with great friends at a great restaurant! Here's to another fabulous year together!

Fun with Fondue

This evening found us battling the weather as we headed down to the Plaza to meet the WR game-night group for dinner at the Melting Pot. We all gathered for Michelle's birthday as well as our 1st official outing as a group for 2010!

B-Day girl Michelle & Rob The WR girls

Jeff & ErinnShane & I had never been to a restaurant that served only fondue so I was interested to try this experience out - Shane not so much! My husband is a meat & potatoes kind of guy and nothing about dipping your food into sauce or waiting for it to cook in a pot excited him in the least! BUT he was a good sport about the whole thing & I appreciate him being a trooper and coming with me! I think he even had fun & enjoyed dipping his food into fondue!

The girls posed for a quick pic before the "dipping" began. I loved how we all had color-coded fondue sticks - quite clever!

Our first course was the cheese fondue served with bread, veggies, & apples. We all shared 3 different kinds of cheeses & I must say the spinach cheese fondue was declared the winner!

Next course was the main meal where we simmered vegetables & raw meats/seafood in a fondue pot with flavored broth. Took awhile to cook all this but ended up being worth the wait. The last course was everyone's favorite - dessert served with chocolate fondue. We enjoyed dipping brownies, rice krispy treats, toasted marshmallows, strawberries, bananas & cheesecake in the yummy chocolatey peanut buttery sauce of hot goodness :) Everyone shared in some good food, always good stories, and lots of laughter!

Ken & Keri also had some news to share with the group! They announced that they will be moving this February but fortunately it won't be out of state! It is bittersweet for us as we will miss seeing them around the 'hood but are also very happy for them! We have all agreed the Jackson's will ALWAYS be part of the WR crew regardless of where they live & we look forward to the first game-night gathering in their new home!

3 courses & 3 hours later, we all parted ways and made our way back home in what was now blizzard type conditions. But before we left, Melissa was oh so nice to take a picture of Shane & I in the beautiful snow:

Thanks WR crew for a great evening and fun start to 2010! Looking forward to many more outings with this group!