What a difference a year makes!

This was me last July. I was not happy with how I looked or felt (or the fact that I tired out on a hike faster than my children). I knew I needed to make a change. So I signed up for a 3 week TERRAFit challenge. I did well on it and realized I had a lot more work to do, so I signed up for a 12 week challenge. Well, after 11 months, 38 weeks of which I have been on a TERRAFit challenge I am happy to say that I have lost 47 pounds!! And more than that, I feel great! TERRAFit isn't a fade diet, it isn't a quick fix, it's a program that helps you learn how to live a healthy lifestyle. I'm to the point where if I eat something unhealthy, I don't feel good, and some of it (Diet Coke) doesn't even taste good to me anymore! I'm so thankful for TERRAFit. I know there are other program like it, but this is the one that has helped me get my life back in order. I can now keep up with my four crazy, busy kids. I can keep up with my active husband (before I didn't enjoy hiking or biking because I couldn't do it very well). Going clothes shopping is fun again. :) And I know that I'm taking better care of the body the Lord has given me. Every day on there is a daily challenge and one of those challenges is what is a quote that motivates you. Something that always motivates me is the verse ""You were bought at a price, therefore honor God with your body" (I Corinthians 6:20). I used to figure that God gave us food to enjoy so I shouldn't have to worry so much about what I put in my body. But then I got gestational diabetes with my first two pregnancies and was told that I have a 50% chance of getting type 2 diabetes in the next 10 years and it's all to do with if I am overweight. I have four kids who need their mom to be able to take good care of them, so I had to come to realize I wasn't honoring God by not caring what I put into my body. Now I'm not saying you can never have anything that isn't healthy (have you seen the cupcakes I make? :)). But I was putting way more junk in than good food and I wasn't exercising. And do you know what I discovered along the way? Healthy food can be delicious too! That's what I love about TERRAFit, you don't eat weird, you just eat healthy. I still eat carbs, just the good kind. I still eat meat, just not ones so high in fat and not a lot. I still eat dairy, just not a ton. I've learned so much this past year about how to take good care of my body and in turn how to teach my kids to take care of their bodies. A lot of times when the twins are jumping on their knees or doing something else that could result in injuring themselves I will say to them "you only get this one body God gave you, you need to take care of it." Well, I needed to tell that to myself. And I'm so glad I did! So why do I share this? First off, I'll be honest, I get points for telling people about TERRAFit :). But secondly, I want to encourage anyone who is where I was 11 months ago. It seems like a daunting taste to overcome a weight problem. And let's get real, it is quite a task and doesn't happen overnight (11 months is a long time!). But it is possible to turn your life around and it starts by deciding to do something and then sticking with it until you reach your goal. Each challenge I did I got to the end and realized I hadn't reached my goal, so I signed up for another one. I'm excited to have reached my goal (even surpassed it) and now get to try to do life not on a challenge :). There are a couple of challenges coming up this summer (a 3 week one on July 17 and 12 week ones starting August 7 and 28). Let me know if you're interested or want more information. And here's a link to a blog I did going into great detail about how these challenges work.
They say a picture's worth a thousand words, so if me telling you I've lost 47 pounds and feel great isn't enough :), here's some pictures for you:

Life With the Bussis'- 6.21.17

This past week was the first week of summer where Micah was home all day every day (no basketball camp) and of course, it started off cold and wet :)). After a few days of being stuck inside we were getting a bit stir crazy, but we made it and the sun came out again and we all still love each other. :)

This girl has come to LOVE boots!! Good thing she has cool people giving her hand me down boots!!

This is what we saw a lot this past week. And this picture doesn't do justice to how crazy it was at this moment, raining, blowing like crazy, hailing! Steve was actually at church doing pre-marriage counseling and they got done and he asked them if rather than walk to their car they just wanted to go on to do the next session of counseling since he had no desire to walk home in that :). So they knocked off another session and didn't have to get soaked in the process. :)

She was very excited about the $1 sandals I got for her at the mall 

She loves boots so much she doesn't want to just wear one pair :)

Making Father's Day presents for daddy

My little construction worker

Sitting in front of the window soaking up the sun once it decided to show itself! It felt so good!!

They were pretty excited that I found Micah's old Dusty and Lightning McQueen shirt that now fits them

And there goes another tooth! He looks like a hockey player!! This one Steve got to pull when Micah came to our room in the middle of the night complaining that his tooth really hurt and they decided it'd feel better if Steve just pulled it out. I know think he's done losing teeth for a while.

Yes, she actually went to the store with two different boots on. She absolutely insisted and I just didn't feel like fighting her :). This girl has a mind of her own! (Not sure where she gets that from :))

We finally had to just get out of the house and do something fun. So we went to the park

And as you can see they all had a different idea of what the weather was like :)

She has to do everything her brothers do

Fun with the neighbors!

Anna's first roasted marshmallow

She wasn't such a fan

Silly boy thought he fit in this car

They were pretty excited to get to eat lunch in the living room while watching US Open golf with Daddy

Our cute little Massey Ferguson kid (only in Montana :)

 

She did not think I needed to sell these things in our garage sale. She was wrong :)

Helping Mommy at our garage sale

 

Daddy with his little people on Father's Day.

Thanks Steve for being such a wonderful dad to our kids!!!

 

Speaking of Father's Day, this was the best I could get for a Father's Day card :)

Pretty in pink!

Life With the Bussis'- 6.11.17

We had another fun week over here in the Bussis household. It was the first week of summer but Micah had basketball camp in the mornings so we didn't really notice it (although I did notice not having to set an alarm since camp didn't start till 9am :)).

The wanted a picture with mommy :)

Ready for a bike ride around town

 

And off we go. When we ride around town the boys get to ride their own bikes. It always sounds fun for them, until we're like half way through and they decide their legs are tired. :)

A picnic outside. I made this picture big so you can check out Micah's teeth. Notice they are all there on the top...

 

And then one goes missing :). He lost another tooth! And the one next to it is pretty loose too!

At night we got to ride our bikes again over to the firehouse to have a hog roast! Love living in a small town!!

 

Micah at basketball camp. It amazes me how much he loves going because he seems so shy and timid when he gets there, but he always came home having loved it (an knowing exactly how many baskets he made :))!

My mom had asked me the other week if we ever did anything one on one with the twins and I realized we really don't, we always lump them together. So Monday after I dropped Micah off at basketball camp David got to go with me to run errands (with Anna) and Jonathan got to hang out with daddy at home. What I discovered is when David is not with his brothers he never stops talking!! And he talks to EVERYONE! You walk through the store and anyone you pass he says "Hi! My name is David! What's your name? How are you doing?" :) Steve said he thinks Jonathan wanted to do everything, which meant he couldn't stick with anything for more than a few minutes. So a couple minutes of playing baseball, in the sandbox, Frisbee golf, bike ride, scooters. And bringing recyclables away. :) He wanted to get it all in before he had to share Daddy again. :)

Getting ice cream at Costco

He was nice (because Mom made him) and shared with Anna

 

I let Anna feed herself her yogurt, she was a bit of a mess :)

 

We decided Monday night was a fire kind of night. Steve had lots of (unhelpful) "help" to start the fire :)

Anna hanging out by the fire

Roasting marshmallows

 

S'more, oh so good!

 

 

Anna just got graham crackers :)

This girl is such a stinker, even when running a low fever (which I think was due to the fact that she was cutting four teeth, two of which finally came through, the top eye teeth)

They were very proud of the track they made

 

This girl loves to sing, and is very proud of herself :)

These three had to come with me to my foot doctor appointment (to see how my new orthotics were fitting) and the doctor gave them cool stickers that the were very excited about

 

They needed to have their pictures taken with their stickers (that changed pictures when you moved from side to side)

 

I look horrible in this picture, but I just had to show you because I'm very proud of the fact that I put that ceiling fan in all by myself (except for the part where someone had to come tell me which wire to connect to since they didn't match the colors my instruction book was telling me they should be :)). And it works!!

 

The boys wanted to make certain mom gets them new socks next winter, so they turned all their old long socks into sock puppets :)

 

Micah made about 20 puppets :) so now I have socks ALL OVER my house! But they had fun making them and putting on puppet shows

Micah got this cool terrarium for completing Kindergarten. He was very excited to put it together and now loves watching it's progress, it's just starting to grow.

Our neighbor's mom (who also lives nearby) put up a pool and let the boys come swim in it. She also has lots of fun floatation toys

However the water was FREEZING :) It was actually pretty funny watching them jump in and then go nuts :)

Anna just got to play in the tub to wash your feet :)

I made a new cupcake this week, Banana Split. I only had just enough frosting to make the amount I had to give away, so I didn't get to try one. I'm hoping they tasted as good as they looked :).

Micah had a dentist appointment and I didn't have any arguments out of the other three for having to go along. :)

David finds friends wherever he goes

Anna's crazy hair!

 

Out for another bike ride. And don't let the blue sky and white clouds behind us fool you, it was not always like that. :) Yesterday was the type of day where if you don't like the weather, just wait 10 minutes and it will change. So we rode through sunshine, through dark clouds, sprinkling (thankfully not full on raining because it was doing that somewhere), high wind (of course against us). :) But it was still fun (and a great workout).

The water is sooo high! those ripples over to the right, that's the rocks we were sitting on in the family picture on the right side of this blog!! Crazy!

Mom fail, I forgot Micah and Jonathan's lunch, so we just quick had the boys eat their apple sauce and headed back to try to beat the rain. 

 

Playing some checkers

Helping mommy scoop the cookies

And then watching them bake :) That didn't last long. :)