Lots of Random Ramblings

Ok, so some of my family was here for the weekend! We had SO much fun!! My mom, my sister, and my niece and nephew all came to visit. They got here in the wee hours of the morning Friday and left about an hour ago. It was a short visit, but a really good one! We went to Rock Island and to see the fireworks that they do at the fairgrounds here every year for the 4th. Here are some pictures my sister took while we were out and about that day! First, the ones from Rock Island. We got rained out after we had been there for less than an hour and then when we were leaving, some guy in the parking lot rear-ended mine and Justin's back bumper. Typical of our attempts to complete any sort of out of the house activity. There was a tiny hole in our rear taillight, but Justin was just like "eh, I don't care", so we left.

Anyway, here are some of the falls at Rock Island:





Gorgeous, no?

Bethany and Julian acting crazy:



Sebastian, Julian, and Sophia:



Dorian, looking highly annoyed:



In both of those pictures he's making SUCH a Sebastian face, I can't even believe it. He was annoyed because we were trying to finish eating. We were gonna get him out so he could play when we were done, but pretty much right as we finished, it started raining.

Here's Sophia, getting herself muddy:



Here's another one of Sophia, getting in trouble because she wouldn't get out when it started raining:



Now, here are some really pretty ones of the fireworks from later that night!








Ok, look how insanely excited Sophia and Sebastian got about the fireworks. It was SO funny!





Then, last night, we went to the drive in and watched some awesome movies. It was a triple feature, but I fell asleep about 30 minutes into the second one. They played Wall*E, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and The Incredible Hulk. Me, Justin, Sebastian, and Dorian left after the 2nd movie and Bethany stayed behind with my mom, Phoebe, Sophia, and Julian to watch the 3rd movie. We had a really great time all weekend! They left today and we all cried. I get really lonely for my family and I was SO glad to see them. The best thing is that Julian gets to stay for 2 weeks!!! Yay!!!!!!!

Ok, update on Operation Unfat. I've decided that I'm not gonna post my food/water intake every day. It gets a little hectic at el Casa de Mequet sometimes and I don't have time to do it every day. But I have absolutely stayed on track!!!! Yesssss!!! With all the activity and my family being here, we've eaten out 4 times in the last several days and I've eaten well every time! We went to Chili's where I got a salad w/fat free ranch dressing and the guiltless chicken sandwich and water to drink. Then, we had Subway where I got a turkey sandwich on wheat with mustard, no cheese, and lots of veggies. No chips! And water to drink! Then we went to eat Japanese and I just ate edamame and 2 sushi long rolls. Yum!!! Water to drink, of course. Lastly, we went to McDonald's and I managed to resist the siren song of the fries and I had the Premium Asian Salad w/low fat sesame ginger dressing and no chicken, and the snack size fruit and yogurt parfait. It was surprisingly realllllly good (that dressing was sooo good) and filling!! So yay for me! Also, while we were at the movies, I only had an apple and some rice cakes. Woohoo!!! I made it through the popcorn/candy/fried food gauntlet. I'm going to post an update every week about how I've been doing whether I've avoided pitfalls, had a temporary lapse, etc. I'm also starting my exercise routine tomorrow (ouch) and will let you know how that goes. As soon as we get a scale, I'm going to weigh myself and I'll be able to fill you in on my weight loss once I start doing a biweekly weigh in. So, that's all the update for now!!! I hope all of you had a wonderfully exciting 4th!!!