Happy Birthday Dad

First and most importantly I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the BEST DAD in the entire world.  My Dad is so supportive and one of my best friends in the entire world and I am so blessed that he was chosen to be my Dad.  He has and without a doubt will always be in my corner and my biggest supporter.  He loves Bruce to pieces and is truly AMAZING!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH DAD! I wish so badly I could be there to celebrate with you, but I hope you have an AMAZING day!!! You truly deserve it!

A memory I will never forget :) xoxo

This week I will be reunited with the BEST friends a girl could ask for and I couldn't be more excited! We are headed to CT to stay with the Ginop family and celebrate Naomi's Bach party!! We will also be heading to NYC Saturday for a day of celebration!  We are going all out, the whole shebang.....limo, beautiful hotel right downtown, and VIP at the club.  I can't wait to have an unforgettable girls weekend.  Not to mention I will finally get to meet Tucker in person! YAY! I will be sure to post pictures when I return! 

Bruce is still sick, stupid annoying cough! He called into work yesterday, which he never ever does, to rest and relax.  I loved it tho, because not only was he getting some much needed extra rest but I also got to spend some time with him before leaving for a wk.   I was very "wifey" and made some homemade chicken noodle soup for my sickly husband :) He says after yesterdays rest he feels a ton better!  

This week I lost 4 POUNDS at WW!!! YAYAYAYA! I was super excited and even hit my first goal weight!! I contribute a lot of it to........the more I lose the longer and faster I run and the more weight I drop and it all comes full circle! :)  Hopefully I don't gain too much on my vacation splurge.  

Today it was beautiful, 75 with a slight cool breeze.  Perfect day to do some yard work! So Bruce (feeling much better) and I raked up all the old grass, pulled weeds, sprayed for weeds and bugs, and swept everything! :) Our yard looks so good! We are going to plant all of our flowers and veggies when I return from CT, I can't wait....it's one of my favorite parts of summer!! 

Well we hope you all have a WONDERFUL week!! I won't be blogging for at least a week, but promise to when I get back! Love and Miss you all so so so much!

Love, 

Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge xoxo

Sunbathing and Baking

Today was dedicated to relaxing in the sun! It was so beautiful! And I am happy to report that Bruce is feeling a bit better, just in time for the gorgeous weather! :)

I promised my amazing mother-in-law, who purchased our KitchenAid 600 stand mixer for us, that I would post pictures after I got it up and running and baked with it for the first time.  So after coming in from sunbathing, I decided to bake up a storm for Bruce.  What's better than your favorite cookies to munch on when you're feeling a little under the weather?! So I finally used our amazing mixer.  Now I will admit that I was not much of a baker, but I am slowly but surely learning and beginning to enjoy it! (Thanks to Pinterest for some great recipes!) And it helps when you have a great mixer to play with :)

So Rosie, here it is!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!! THANK YOU!! :) So Blessed

Sad Broncos fan

I am one sad Broncos fan today.  It is official, Peyton Manning is now the new starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos and Tim Tebow is in the process of being traded.  As much as I like Peyton, I mean come on he is truly an amazing quarterback, I am sad that Tim Tebow didn't get at least one more year to show his stuff as a Bronco.  So many people dislike him for all of the attention he gets, but I adore him.

Anyways...we are doing very well and had a great week! But Bruce did end up getting sick last night.  He has a head cold and he never gets sick, so it hit hard and fast. It makes me so mad, it's like COME ON, we are sick of being sick already!!!!!  But he is a super healthy man in general and I'm sure he will be back to 100% by tomorrow.....my poor hubby.  And the weather has been so weird.  We had such beautiful weather all last week, in the high 70's everyday and then came the clouds.  It was like we had traded states with family and friends back home.  They had the amazing 70 degree weather and we were stuck with windy cloudy overcast days and for CO that is very rare.  But starting tomorrow it is suppose to warm up and be in the 80's by this weekend.  So because of the weather a lot of this past weekend was dedicated to a bit of spring cleaning, organizing, and online shopping......which wasn't too bad :)

And because it was a bit too windy and chilly out to do anything outdoorsy we decided yesterday would be a perfect day to head to Pueblo to see Gram.  We had a delicious dinner (she is an AMAZING cook) and some quality time to visit, which is always so wonderful.  Then we came home and took a nap.....yes we, the Browns, took a nap! hahah We NEVER take naps because we would usually much rather be out doing something, but I guess it was much needed.  I set an alarm for an hour later so we didn't sleep too long and we were able to get up and have some quality family time before bed.

Weight Watchers went fantastic again this wk! I lost 3.2 pounds!! This was actually a bit of a surprise to me, not because I didn't think I lost but because I didn't think I lost that much.  I was so happy, all the hard work is paying off!!! I can't wait to keep on this path and reach my goal!! It is so refreshing and encouraging to see the number dropping each week.

Not too much else to report....just a happy, calm, and laid back week in the Brown household.  We hope you all have a fantastic week and weekend.  We love and misssss you all so much!

Love,
Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge xoxo

Quick Update

Not too much to report......we are healthy (again!!) and VERY happy :)  We went on our first hike of the season and it was BEAUTIFUL!  I did get some horrid blisters from my new hiking shoes, but it was my own fault, should have broken them in first.....lesson learned!  I lost 3.8 pounds this week at WW!!!!! YAY!! So exciting! And Bruce is excelling wonderfully with running and studying!

He and I are LOVING the 70 degree weather.  Yesterday we were able to run a couple miles in the morning and go for our hike in the afternoon.  We are trying to take full advantage! So next weekend we are going to try and go golfing....wish me luck!  We were also able to have a family movie night!  We pulled out the spare bedroom mattress into the living room and curled up as a family, one of my all time favs!! :) Here are a few pics from the hike! Hope you all have a beautiful and wonderful week & weekend!!

Love & Miss you tons,
Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge xoxo

Family Movie Night!! 

Tunnel hike 

 Love him 

 Beautiful 

 my boy :) 

 Pudge exploring the tunnels 

TVP!

LOOOOVE TVP products!! They have a giveaway going on as we speak, go check out their blog and amazing store!

http://www.thevintagepearl.com/blog/2012/03/love-connection-collection-win-one/#comment-58674

** I have my amazing hubby and my black lab Pudge :)

Have an AMAZING rest of the weekend everyone!

Taco Soup

So the dumb flu has plagued our household......again.  The kids were all sick, so it was pretty inevitable.  It didn't hit too hard until Monday though, so there were a few days of weekend bliss.  We are currently trying to sweat it out!!!  I'm hoping to feel better by Friday for my long run of the wk, but either way I'm sure Pudge will be pushing me out the door! :))

Nothing too exciting to report.  Just working and enjoying the weather!! It was 73 both Monday and Tuesday, and despite being sick, we did get outside to enjoy the weather.  The park was right out of a story book.  Kids flying kites with their Dads, Moms taking pictures, families playing soccer, it was beautiful!! I loved seeing it and of course this had my mind wandering into the future picturing Bruce teaching our children how to fly a kite.......love love love!! Bruce was also able to give both vehicles a bath, and also Pudge!  I of course kept him company..... hehehe :) Bruce is doing well, he is still studying his hinny off for his upcoming Sgt. test.

Weight Watchers went well this week.  I lost 1.2 pounds, and although I'd like to say I am one of those people that is happy losing any amount of weight, sadly I am not.  I was a little disappointed about only losing 1.2 pounds, but Bruce quickly set me strait by showing me a picture of what one pound looks like.  I was also a little bad this week, we went on a surprise date night.  Bruce surprised me by taking Saturday off and taking me to Denver out to dinner and to the Avs game! It was so much fun.  But I haven't been out to eat since my WW journey started and that was a bit of a splurge for me.  Not to mention I had already had my splurge day for the week (I always have a "splurge meal" once a week and it is on Tuesdays after weighing in) and we made homemade pizza!  So I had twice the splurging than I usually do, and still lost.  Thinking positive here people!! Bruce is such a wonderful support system, he is def my biggest cheerleader! Thank goodness for his encouragement and for setting me straight!! So in the end, thanks to my wonderful hubby, I am happy with my weight loss this wk.  BUT can't wait for next weeks weigh-in!!

And let me continue the WW talk by saying that we made the MOST DELICIOUS taco soup EVER yesterday!!! Since I splurged twice last week, I decided to not splurge this Tuesday, I gotta stay disciplined.  So we looked up a few taco soup recipes because Bruce has been dying to try it and surprisingly I found one on WW that sounded delicious.  And boy oh boy was it ever!!! I can't even put into words how good it was.  It was better than any other taco soup recipe I have ever made!!! We both were swooning over it! hahaha :) 1 cup is only 3 points! And it's very filling. I also added 1/4 cup of shredded cheese and 1 tbs of fat free sour cream to mine, which made it a total of 6 points and DELICIOUS!!  I honestly felt like I was splurging, but was far from it!!

Here is the recipe:
2 cans Healthy Harvest Tomato Basil soup (it calls for progressive tomato parmesan, but healthy harvest was "healthier" so I went with that ;) or you can use any tomato soup as long as it is only 2 points per serving.
2 boneless skinless cooked Chicken breast (shredded)
1 3/4 cups canned black beans
1 3/4 cups canned yellow corn (NOT cream corn!!)
8 tbs diced green chilies (you can buy canned chilies, but if you have fresh ones, def use those! We always have fresh ones and it is so much better! Also, we just add to taste, we like it a little more spicy!)
1/4 cup Chunky Salsa
1/4 cup Taco Sauce (we used the Taco Bell medium spice home originals, can buy really cheap at WM)
1/2 tsp Chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp Taco Seasoning (we used 2 tsp just for more flavor)
1/2 onion (it doesn't call for onion but we like it so we threw it in and it was so good!)
** We threw all of that in the crock pot to simmer for an hour and a half and it was good to go!! 1 cup = 3 points.  And remember you can add 1/4 cup reduced fat cheese and 1 tbsp of fat free sour cream for an addition 3 points! Seriously, soooo good!!! I hope you all get the chance to try it!!

Well we hope you all are having a fantastic week!! We love and miss you all so so so much!!!

Love,
Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge

Pudge running back with his ball!! :)

Washing the car! :) 

 And washing Pudge :) 

Decor

So I am feeling a bit blahhhh about our home decor after taking the pics.  But here lies the probably, we are renting this home.  We must use those wall hanging sticky things (my description of course) and they can get quite expensive. So we have, as you can see, only hung a few photos and wall decorations.  We just don't see the point in buying a bunch of those, when we plan to buy and move into our own home within the next year, and waste all that money......

And we can't paint! blahhhhh (again) I hate that! We have all white walls, no color!  This makes for a seriously boring home.  We are also hoarding a lot of our beautiful wedding gifts, that would look amazing throughout the house, but want to wait until we get a new home to put out.  We want to have some new things for our new home, but in the mean time I am DYING to put them out! :(  And as you all know from our table dilemma, I am very hesitant to buy new furniture.  We LOVE a beautiful bedroom set (everything except the headboard bc we plan to finish the one we started) from afwonline.com , but again would like to wait until we buy to make sure it is perfect for our future master bedroom.  OMG all this waiting is soooooo frustrating!!! We want to buy these things NOW, and my patience, as you can tell, is wearing VERY thin!!

Now don't get me wrong, all this complaining makes me sound ungrateful, when I am indeed the opposite. We do have a lovely home to live in right now, with so many beautiful things and we are enjoying the time in the home too, but I think we are just ready ready ready to move on.  We are completely obsessed with HGTV (home and garden) and LOVE LOVE LOVE the show Property Virgins.  We dream of being on that show! ha! We also LOVE Property Brothers, we love to see what can be DIY projects.  One of the things we look forward to when buying a new home is working together to make it our own, WE CAN"T WAIT!! Oh and don't forget Pinterest, and all the wonderful ideas there too!! :))  So hopefully we can make a move sooner than later! All depending on Bruce's Sgts test with the State of CO and Border Patrol! And I am along for the ride! Graduating in May and then from there will start applying for jobs depending on our location.

On another note, Big Red strikes again!!! (Bruce's truck) Yesterday we had to take the old girl into the shop, and it cost us a PRETTY FREAKING PENNY!!  This was a big surprise, but it was taken care of and she is back on the road.  Needless to say, shopping for our new vehicle is quickly moving up in the ranks on the list of To-Do's! :) But on a happier note, I lost 3.2 pounds with WW this week!! Weighing in is so gratifying! Yes, I am stilllllll LOVING it!!! :)) Side note, my skinny husband dropped me off at WW this wk as we had to drop his truck off to get fixed first, and he decided to go and get some fast food to go.  He then ate it in the parking lot of Weight Watchers, haha.  I just had to laugh, too funny.

Running wise, we are doing VERY well!! It was so cold one day, rainy and so windy it felt like I was running in place, but Pudge and I bared the weather because I am totally addicted.  We are just a wk away from moving on to the next section of couch to 10k!! Stilllll loving it.

I also made some homemade dog treats for Pudge.  It was sooooo easy, cheap, and he LOVES them!!! Pinterest is so amazing, if I haven't told you before!! ;) Anyways, we hope you all have a wonderful wk and wkend.

Peanut butter, oatmeal, applesauce, flour, and baking soda! :) 

Love, 

Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge xox