this is one of my favorites!!!

Look at this face!!! Couldnt you just kiss her death???

This is our first picture we have had made together since our wedding 3 years ago.

Our first ever family picture together. (sad that it took 18 months)

My poor pitiful baby girl!! She was so made at us for taking the car keys away from her. I didnt know that Amanda had taken this picture, but it turned out to be on of my faves. It captures Olivia's innocence.

my little model!!! I can brag...

She was so excited about this BLUE door... she kept saying it over and over



I hope you enjoyed... Amanda did such a great job I just had to share them....

okay so the monthly update...really need to be better at this...

We finally had some family pictures done last month and the Photographer was a friend of mine and she did such a wonderful job... I would recommend Amanda to everyone. I have so many friends that are such great photographers that I guess I will have to rotate them so I can use all of them. Once I get the pictures back I will put a few on here... but if you want to look at them go to www.amandazimmermanphotography.com click on client and password is Lynn, make sure the L is uppercase...

We are in the process of moving and I am so ready to be home. I will miss our little cabin in the woods but I cant wait to move. I never thought in a million years that I would move back in to my childhood home but I am and I think it will be wonderful to raise Olivia the same that I was and allow her to live right next door to her grandparents. I cant wait to see her running across the field to her Nana and Papa's house while I watch her from the back porch just as my mom watched me. Just pray that the closing on our house is not far behind this one, cause Lord knows we dont need two houses, lol.

A few Pictures

Olivia playing with her Uncle Scotty! SHE LOVES HIM

My Little ladybug and my Ninja....(Bryant)

Griffin the Monkey and Olivia

Cole the cop and Olivia being the tough ladybug... Not sure what she was doing here

Laughing at a dog in the book.... So precious!

Some fall flowers!

Well I had an excuse to do some fall decorations around the house. We had open house this weekend, only one couple showed up to enjoy all my hard work but it is worth the time since I get to enjoy it... Thought I would share.

My Granny would be so proud of the flowers and the set up... Miss her this time of year, well I miss her all the time but flowers were her thing, So I guess that is one reason why I have been really into the flowers this year.

My weight loss update!

Okay so here we go, I am not going to share my starting weight just yet, but this is a journey and when I am done I will share with people the full journey from start to finish... But I want to people to not focus on my total weight but look at me and know that I have done this myself and worked hard. I guess I dont want people running around talking about my #'s.... I am proud that I am 5 months into this journey and I have lost 46lbs so far. I need encouragement every day and I get by some simple things as people saying a "your pants are too baggy, you need to go shopping" or "that shirt looks so good on you". When you dress for so long to cover the rolls and hide your body it feels good to be able to put something on that shows the curves but not so much fat... and have people compliment you on it... Here are some pictures that show the journey as it is unfolding...

This is my "INSPIRATION" picture....

I already knew 3 days before this that I was about to

start this long weight loss and life style change, but this picture really sealed

the deal. This was at my cousin's wedding reception and it's sad this was

my "suck it in, skinny pose" needless to say at this

size there wasn't a skinny pose....

This was 2 1/2 months in and 31lbs lost

alittle better but still too big....Getting there!! But hey 31lbs can't complain at

all!! I worked hard for this.

This is the 5 month mark!!! 46lbs lost and 2 pant sizes down and 2 or 3 shirt sizes

(depending on make of shirt and Ladies you know what I mean)

Happy~!!

I used to hate taking pictures now I dont mind. I am still 75lbs away from the ultimate GOAL, but ABSOLUTELY HAPPY to say that my first goal was to
lose a total of 75 lbs before my 30th bday and I am 2/3 of my way to that
goal and then I will start on the last 50-55..... But I have to reach one at a time..
So everyone continue to pray for me to keep my motivation up and get
this last 29lbs down to reach my 1st goal...

9/14/09

So Jason and I finally got to have a date Saturday night... We found one theater that was still playing The Proposal and oh my goodness that I have to say is my new Favorite movie.... Sandra Bullock is hillarious but Betty White makes that movie!! My parents came and stayed with Olivia and let us go to eat and watch the movie... Well since they came up they witnessed the taking over of the house that I go thru everyday by Olivia, she is the most active child I have ever seen.... Lori you will like this quote, Mother said "she is stubborn as a mule", then Jason chimmed in and said, "and with a attention span of a flee", sound like anyone you know??

She is my life though, she and Jason. I wouldnt have her any other way, she keeps me on my toes.

One thing I need to ask of my friends, remember my family this week, We lost the rock of our family 1 year ago this friday the 18th... My Granny is so greatly missed by all of us and anyone of you that knew my relationship with her knows that I still deal with her loss on a daily basis, even though I know she is healed and she is singing now and happy back with my Papa, it is still hard to not call her and talk. Just remember as you pray this week to add us to your list.

Well three big milestone happened this weekend... We finally got a great family picture, I have lost 42 lbs and my best friend Tammy finally got married!! We had a big weekend, but it was so great. I loved standing next to her and watching her marry a great man that loves her and Cole. Olivia was so good too, she was quiet and acted like a little lady which since she turned 16 months old on Saturday. I cant believe my baby girl is 16 months old. The time is flying by to quick I dont like it. But she is definitely keeping us entertained everyday.

Well I said I would share some new pictures of Olivia, I will have to go way back and do quite a few since it has been a while since the last Olivia update. She is so funny.... She LOVES to dance and it is the cutest thing ever. She also has the most precious laugh in the world. She is starting the talk some butnot a whole lot... I am not going to rush her thought cause if she is anything like me she will start and never stop...haha... Okay well here are some pictures..

Coming back to Blogging

so it has been a really really long time... Olivia is now 15 months old and starting to talk and all the fun stuff... She is a beautiful toddler that keeps our lives very very active to say the least. We are trying to sale our cabin so that we can move to my parents house and they are moving in to my grandparents house. It is so strange to see the transformation going on in the home that was my home away from home all my life but it is okay I know that my Granny and Papa would want my parents to make it their own. Jason and I are going to do the same thing to my childhood home. The memories of my childhood is in both houses and always will be and now I am excited that Olivia will be able to have that too. I am still struggling with the loss of my Granny and I know that it is going to be really hard next month. It is hard to believe that someone that I loved so very much will be gone a year on Sept 18th. I know she is better and God healed her the moment that she left us but nothing makes it any easier when all I want to do is talk to her about all the cute stuff that Olivia is doing or the fact that I want to call her on my bad days just to hear her say she is going to pray for me and knowing that she always had the right words to say. Or the fact that the other day I dialed her phone # to tell her that I have lost 38lbs and gone down two sizes. I cant break the habit of wanting to talk to her. I just recently have allowed myself to be in her house with all her stuff for more than 15 minutes and it was so hard to go thru everything for the estate sale that we had. I actually could only be there a little at a time because it was too hard to see strangers going through her things, knowing that everything on those tables had a meaning to me and our family. I told my mother this afternoon that Jason said that all we were doing was becoming the next version of Granny and her. I wouldnt have it any other way. I know that I will be only so lucky to have the type of relationships with my Mother as I get older that she had with Granny. I know that we are already on our way. I dont think I go a day without talking to my mother at least 3 times a day. that was something that we both did with Granny and now we do it to eachother. I know that this is not the happy and cheerful blog that I probably should have done my first time back in 1/2 a year but this is one reason why i have been keeping this up is because I knew I would want to write about my Granny. Next time I will write about Olivia and post lots of pictures but this time I had to just talk. Promise to get back to being better at this. My baby is growing up and I know that this is a way for some of you to watch her.