Mother's Day 2012

Entertaining is something that I really love. Its hard living in a different town than the rest of my family b/c I would love to host Christmas or Thanksgiving or one of the major holidays at my home. This year, I decided that I was going to take Mother's Day. I love having my family over and knew that it would be a good time for everyone. We may not have the biggest house, but we have plenty of land for everyone to be outside.

My parents actually came to town early and had lunch with us. My mom and I prepped a few things and then my brother's family arrived. Once we were all here and settled, the girls jumped in the car and headed out to shop. :) The boys started a football game. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the "field", but Ken let the boys get some orange spray paint and mark off a football field. I was able to see that "Cowboys" was written across the end of field, which pleased me! :)

Not only did we enjoy shopping and football, but there's always food! :) We had hotdogs, hamburgers, brats, potato salad, coleslaw, chips, queso, salsa, strawberry shortcake and cheesecake cookies. We loved being able to sit on the deck and just enjoy the weather and peaceful country living. My family kept saying how quiet it was. I think Ken and I forget how peaceful it is sometime in the busy-ness of life. I was thankful to enjoy it with my family.


After dinner, there was more football

A family walk to the creek

A visit with the cows...

And the donkey

Flowers were picked


And, a bonfire was built

And, we definitely enjoyed each other!

We really had a fun day! I'm thankful that we could celebrate my mom together.

"We thank you God for our mothers.

I thank you that she gave me life 
and nurtured me all of those years.

She gave me my faith; 
Helped me to know You and to Jesus and His ways. 

She taught me to love and how to sacrifice for others. 

She taught me it was 'okay' to cry 
and to always tell the truth. 

Bless her with all the grace that she needs 
and what you want to give her today.

Help her to feel precious in Your eyes today 
and to know that I love her. 

Give her strength and courage, 
compassion and peace. 

Bless us this day with your love. Amen."

~The Reagan's Mother's Day Prayer (Blue Bloods)

Happy Mother's Day

For Mother's Day weekend, my mom and I spent 22 hours at a Bed and Breakfast. Now, at first you might think...."aww, how great!" Well, it was great! But, we weren't there for rest and relaxation. We were there for Press On Fitness's "Biggest Loser Retreat"! It was AWESOME!

We arrived to Stone Creek Bed and Breakfast on Friday at 4pm. We were welcomed and picked our room. We met new friends and had a protein shake, some almonds, and veggies and hummus. Then we got busy!!!

All 12 of us ladies loaded up and headed to the "Y" for some serious pool time. Not laying out, but an hour of laps, squat jumps, and treading water. From the pool we went to an aerobics room for an arm-session, which last 15-20 minutes. I knew this would be our easiest workout of the weekend, so I welcomed it. :)

When we returned to the B&B, there was a big fruit and turkey salad waiting for us. It was full of pineapple, mango, mandarin oranges, apples, bananas, grapes, thick chunks of turkey and a dressing that was made from greek yogurt and orange juice. It was perfect for our after-workout snack!

Saturday consisted of 3 one-hour-20-minute workouts. We of course had breaks and plenty of protein shakes, turkey and potato casserole, black bean fiesta salad (SO GOOD!!!! I'll post the recipe later), almonds, veggies with hummus, turkey wraps, pita chips, and fruit. The workouts were crazy-good! I was so proud of myself for finishing and pushing myself so hard. I was SUPER proud of my mom!!! She worked so hard and did a great job! There were so many great things about the weekend, but one of my favorites was to see 12 women, who didn't know each other, encouraging one another and cheering each other on to victory.

Not only did we work on our physical bodies, but we also talked about mental and spiritual health as well. It was such an incredible weekend! It was life-changing for me! I might touch on some of it in later posts...however, I'm thankful that my mom and I were able to spend some time together. Below is a "before" picture...the "after" picture I took didn't look much different, except we were soaked in sweat, filthy and exhausted! hahaha! It was a great way to end the weekend!
What could have been a better Mother's Day than to spend time bettering who we are, committing to being healthy and doing it together!