The weight didn’t arrive from the Fat Fairy last night, and the Skinny Fairy isn’t coming tonight, either! (Long Post)

I've been working on losing weight my entire life. For as long as I can remember, I've always been the "chubby" girl. I've tried lots of extreme diets from eating only shakes and vegetables to eating only carbs. The only thing that seems to work and make sense is portion control. The only point in my life where I was remotely skinny was during my junior and senior year of high school. I was only skinny because everyday I ate only an orange for lunch... nothing else and I worked out like a mad women.

Towards the end of my senior year, my great grandmother passed away and I felt like my entire world collapsed. I did not know what do to without her- this woman was the rock and light of our family. She is, and forever will be, one of the most beautiful, amazing people I have ever had the privilege of loving. It was truly a loss that shook all of us to the core. She's been gone over 7 years now and it just now seems like I'm able to move on from crying every time I hear the name Anna, taste a peanut M&M or experience a memory without her there. My wedding was the first time I've realized how far I have come without her here. It has become evident that life does go on. You are allowed to experience happiness and not feel guilty because she's not there with you- because she is, just in a different way.

Along with letting go of my Grandma Emkes, I also let go of my "healthy" eating habits during this time. Gone were the days of my orange eating and 2 hours of cycling class. My life took a downward spiral to unhealthy practices. I started eating whatever and however much I wanted, I stopped exercising and started drinking much more. I believe I have tried to cover up sadness with food but when I eat like this it makes me look and feel terrible, which leads to more sadness.

It's really strange that I've been so sad the past couple of years because I've had so much good happen in my life. In the past 7 years I have done so many things I never believed I could accomplish. I have: got accepted to college & graduated, started pursing my master's degree, met, fell in love with and married the man of my dreams, moved into the home I've always wanted, have 2 of the greatest dogs ever and gained an entire new family. I am finally starting to realize what happiness is and how grateful I should be in life. With the new happiness I am discovering, I also have a desire to get back on the weight-loss bandwagon and this time I want to be on the ride of a lifetime!

In October 2011 I started back to Weight Watchers. Since October I have lost around 7lbs, a far cry away from where I want to be, but it's baby steps. Also since starting WW's I had my bridal shower, bachelorette party, Halloween, Thanksgiving, my wedding, Christmas and New Years. So, in Weight Watchers they say there is the Bermuda Triangle of holidays for weight loss: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas that members typically just "disappear" during this time. Well, for me I had a freakin' natural disaster lol! But, I never quit and I'm not going to quit.

Today marks a new day. With the birth of our second nephew yesterday, Benjamin Steven Waters it is becoming very clear that life will never slow down for us. Before I know it, Lyle and I will be ready to start our family and I need to be in the best health of my life in order to be the mother I want to be. Watching our nephews be born and grow up has been one of the greatest parts of our life. Lucas has been so much fun and we can only imagine how fun it will be with 2! So here and now I'm committing to getting healthier in 2012. My life will no longer be ruled by a cupcake or cookie- it will be ruled by me and what I want to get out of life.

Wedding Photos :):)

Here is the link for our wedding photos:

http://www.pictage.com/1197022

You are able to purchase photos from this link if you're interested.

I cannot say enough about how fantastic and professional Amanda Overmyer Photography was to us! She is so talented and easy to work with. For anyone who needs photos taken please check her out at her website:

http://www.aophotos.net/

Enjoy :)

Lazy blogger...

So there, I've admitted it. I've turned into quite the lazy blogger, but I do have some valid excuses. 2012 is off to a running start in the Waters household and it doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon, unfortunately. Right now I'm sitting here, looking back and trying to figure out where the heck January has gone. But, I guess, time never slows down and we just have to go with it. So, here's what has been going on in our lives since 2012 hit:

-We bought *NEW* couches! They're so shiny, perfect and beautiful- We love them! They are brown, leather couches from LayZBoy. They're very practical and will last us a long time. It's probably the first big purchase we've made as a married couple and it was kind of stressful. Lyle and I are both very opinionated people and it was a challenge to come to a joint decision, but we did, and it was the right one.

-Next, I started back to grad school January 18th. I'm back in the grind with my online program at Gonzaga University. I am scheduled to graduate in May 2013, so only 1 more year to go! Mark my words- when I finish this time I AM DONE. No more school because it's exhausting. I'm enjoying my classes but finding it hard to focus because I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

-We've been doing more small renovations on the house. We hired a local painting business by the name of A to Z Painting to paint the upstairs of our house. The upstairs has very high ceilings and there was no way we were going to be able to do it, so we hired it done. A to Z was awesome!!! Carol, the owner, came out, gave us an estimate and they were there painting within the next couple of days. She even had suggestions for paint colors that would work and the walls turned out perfect!

-Also, we had Lyle's uncle Doug replace our back stairs for us because the previous stairs were over 150+ years old. They were so old the nails they removed out of the stairs were square shaped! The stairs were beginning to crack and worried us so we got them replaced. He used solid oak for our new stairs and they look (and smell) awesome!

I think we're finally done for a while with projects around the house. Our patience and pocketbook is wearing thin! The first couple of months of marriage has definitely been interesting and eventful. I can't wait to see what the rest of our lives has to hold.

Thanks for reading! I promise to be a better blogger in 2012 :)

Cayla

Happy 23rd Birthday Lyle!

On December 16th we went out to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate Lyle's 23rd Birthday. My sister was working that night and she was our waitress. For anyone who has never been to Texas Roadhouse for a birthday, they really like to embarass you on your special day. Since my sister was our waitress she spared no expense for her brother-in-law! The waitress brings a saddle up to the table and makes the birthday boy (or girl) get on the saddle. They proceed to yell (in the loudest voice possible): AAAAAATTENTION TEXAS ROADHOUSE GUESTS, WE HAVE LYLE CELEBRATING HIS 23RD BIRTHDAY WITH US TONIGHT. PLEASE HELP US GIVE HIM A BIG YEEEEEHHHHHAAAAWWWW!!!!! Then the restaurant yells YYEEEHHHAAAWWW! For everyone who knows my sister, this was a very loud yell. Needless to say, she got everyone's attention! Here's a picture of Lyle's embarrased reaction:

Before we left he asked where we were going to eat. When I told him Texas Roadhouse he instantly told me he wasn't getting on the saddle. He didn't even want to sit in my sister's section because he knew what the outcome would be! The only thing that got him to go was the fact that he could custom order a steak. He got a 20 oz ribeye!  Looks like you didn't get all of your birthday wishes Lyle, but you provided entertainment to the rest of us :)

Happy 23rd birthday to my wonderful husband and best friend :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We put up our Christmas decorations about 3 weeks ago. It was a fun evening when we put up everything because Dave and Shirley came over for spaghetti made by Chef Lyle! Actually, let me rephrase this, Shirley and I put up decorations while Lyle cooked and Dave surfed the internet. It's always nice to get to spend time together because they're usually really busy. Hutch and Duke joined in on the Christmas fun as well. They sat and watched us put up the tree. I took some pictures of the finished decorations (and pets) but please excuse the camera quality because I took them with my phone. Here are the pictures:

  


Our tree



Photogenic Duke



He's sweet, but not photogenic- Hutch



Waters Homestead Swag

Finally settled in (and down)!

I know that I've been MIA from the blog for a while, but there has been so much stuff going on in our lives! As many of you already know and witnessed, we got married November 26th! Our wedding was one of the most beautiful and amazing days of our lives. Everything came together perfectly and it was beautiful. We have received so many compliments on our wedding, and people who didn't even attend told us they heard from others how beautiful it was. That really, really means a lot to us! We put a lot of hard work, time and money into our big day and I'm so glad it paid off!

Now that I'm done gushing about the wedding and how fabulous it was, I will give you an update on our lives. Currently, we are in the stage of finding a place for all of the amazing gifts we got. Even though we live in such a big house, it still seems like we don't have enough room for all of our stuff (I think this might be an indication it's time to have a garage sale...) and we're working to find a place for everything.

We are using some of our wedding money to have painters come in to paint the upstairs and foyer in the house. They should be done painting by the end of this week. This is phase 1 of the foyer/upstairs project. I'm unsure how many phases this project will entail... I will be posting pictures of each phase so everyone can see what's going on.  For anyone who's ever seen the upstairs of our house, you can understand why this has to go in phases. There is so much space and so much to do. Luckily, Dave and Shirley did all of the really hard work when they lived in the house (i.e.- new electrical, plumbing, drywall, heating, installing a bathroom) so basically all we are doing is putting in new windows and some aesthetics. The fun stuff as I like to call it :)

Once I have pictures I will be uploading and sharing all of our exciting adventures. Thanks for reading. I promise to be a more dedicated blogger from here on out!

-Cayla

Busy, busy, busy!

We have been so busy the past couple of months so that's why I have been MIA from the blog. Mid-September the guys started in the field. They are moving right along with getting the crops out. So far, they are finished with all of the soybean harvest and have moved onto harvesting the corn. Last night they worked on filling the grain bin at our house and they worked pretty late, but they finished which is a relief for them. All of the corn that goes into that bin is under contract with Frito-Lay, so we have a lot of corn ready to be made into yummy chips :) If the weather stays as nice as it has been the past couple of weeks they should be done harvesting by the end of October, plenty of time to spare for the Wedding! (Thank Goodness!)

The Wedding planning is coming right along. We are about 6 weeks out right now and I am getting so excited! I don't know where all of the time went. It seems like we just got engaged yesterday, but we've been engaged for almost a year now! I had my first dress fitting last Thursday and it went well. Trying on my dress makes me so excited for the big day! The RSVP's keep coming in for the Wedding so I think we're going to have big turn out.

Well, I better get back to working! Thanks for reading!

-Cayla