Family Time!!

We had a family reunion this past weekend (one of 3 that my family has each year)! It's been about 3 years since Steve and I got to go. A LOT has changed since the last time we were there! Our immediate family alone has grown... we went from 8 to 12(13 if you count my dog). It was GREAT to get to see everyone and spend some time just "chilling" out with my husband, parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephew, and all of my other family! So, this blog is going to have a lot of pics from the reunion... sorry if it's too many... but I LOVE pics and videos!!! So... here goes: First, here's a pic of ALL of us: Here's a pic of "my" family: (we have no pics of just Steve, me and Briley) Here's Mom and Dad: Jason, Jenn, Julia, and Johnathan: Brad, Shannon, Mallory and Morgan: Here's 3 Generations of Bankheads: Julia LOVED Briley: Here's Mallory's "surprise" face:


Here's one last video. It's of Morgan going cross-eyed while looking at her pacifier:


Ok- I think that's it for now.

Pics Updates

First, here's a picture of Steve teaching Zach how to play the guitar...


Here's a picture of me w/ our niece Autumn at our house...


I've got some pics w/ me and nieces Mallory and Morgan, but they are on my cell phone... I haven't downloaded them yet... as soon as I get those done, I'll post them.

Here are some "before and after" pics so far of mine and Steve's weight loss. The main thing that I could tell a difference in myself was by looking at my neck.




Then, as I mentioned in my previous blog... Steve hand made me the card with the poem in it... here's a picture of it... I LOVED it!!!

5 WONDERFUL years!!!!!

HAPPY 5th ANNIVERSARY HUSBAND!!!!

Yesterday was mine and Steve's 5th Wedding Anniversary! We bought ourselves bedroom furniture a month ago for our anniversary... so our plan for the day is pretty much to eat dinner since we've already done our "gift".

Let me start off by telling you how my day went...

Steve woke me up at 7:30am with breakfast in bed! He made me scrambled eggs and toast. He brought it to me along w/ a pink rose and a hand-made card w/ a poem written in it. I sat up and started reading the card... the title on the front of the page brought me to tears immediately!
(I took a picture of the card... but something must be wrong w/ the blog because it isn't letting me download any pics!)


Here's the poem Steve wrote... (it's about the night we went and to a Billy Graham crusade w/ Jars of Clay and DC Talk)

"The Night I Stole Daddy's Little Girl"

She straightens her curl:
She's Daddy's little girl.

We were on our way,
By bus I should say.

To see Jars and Billy "live",
And hopefully come back revived.

I was sweatin' bullets the whole time,
Would she marry me even though I don't have a dime?

We heard Billy and rocked out with Jars,
What a night to get to see such "stars".

The time had come, my last chance,
To ask her daddy if I could dance...

With his little girl for the rest of time,
What would he say, "Are you talking about mine?"

I walked up to the spot not knowing what to say,
But nothing else got in the way.

He doesn't even know me and I'm asking for her hand?
God must be in this, because he just said,

"Do you love her?" as I bowed my head
"With all of my heart!" Nothing else was said.

We hugged real tight and the burden was gone,
Now my next thought, "How will she respond?"

I wasn't really worried about what she would say,
I knew our love would go a long way.

It was just that night that scared me so bad,
Would daddy cry or be really mad?

It wasn't like that at all, God had a plan
When I asked your daddy and he gave me your hand.


After I composed myself, we sat in bed eating breakfast.Then, later that day we decided to do something a little different that we had never done before. So, went to a "wiener dog race"! It was okay... a big crowd... a "one time" kind of thing. We experienced it once... and once it's all you need. Then, we went to dinner and got a yummy dessert at Shake's! (not on my diet... but I only get ONE 5th Anniversary... so I didn't care!)

After dinner, we got home and Steve told me to go wait in the bedroom while he got something ready for me. He came and got me and told me to shut my eyes. He then lead me into the kitchen where he had candles lit. He had moved our dining room table and chairs out of the way to make room for a "dance floor". He turned on the stereo and played the song we danced to as our first dance at our wedding!!!! We danced right there in the kitchen and dining room to our favorite "love" songs! It was AWESOME!!!!

Thank you Steve! It's been the most amazing 5 years of my life! I love you with all my heart and look forward to the rest of our lives together! God has truly blessed me by picking me to be your bride!!! I LOVE YOU!

(I'll try to get online later and I'll post some pics... hopefully it will be working!)

And the winner is........

Here's the results of our "Biggest Loser Competition"... Who do you think the winner is? Yep, you guessed it... Steve won! He not only won... he kicked my rear!!!! He lost 14.6% of his body weight!!! WOW! If you've seen Steve lately, you'll have the same response of "where is the weight coming from that you're losing?" Everyone is asking him that... even me! He looks great and he's already hit his goal. Way to go Steve! You did great and you deserve it! And... you're HOT!

I on the other hand only lost 11.4% of my body weight. I am not done with this weight losing thing though! I'm going to keep going until I reach my goal. I am already more than half way there. The only frustrating thing is not being able to see a physical difference when I look at myself or see a picture of myself before... and now. I still look the same. But, I've dropped in clothes sizes and the scale says I'm losing weight... so I'll wait for the physical appearance to catch up! I'll try to take some pics and I'll post them... but I promise, it's not an obvious difference for me yet... but by the summer it will be! Thanks for all your support and prayers for me to have discipline! Keep praying!

Hard to hear

It's been a pretty rough week! I found out on Wednesday that I will be losing my job. They are shutting down our entire department... managers and all... and our last day is May 9th! As a lot of you have heard me talk about... I've been expecting a lay-off to happen since around January. I just wasn't sure when or how soon it would happen. It's something that I never want to experience again!

I've never been through a layoff before, so I had no idea what to expect. We were told on Tuesday that we'd be having a department meeting on Wednesday with one of the "big-wigs" from Seattle. I think we all knew what was coming. However, I have to say, no matter how mentally prepared I was, it was very hard to hear!

I actually love my job! Yes, there have been very frustrating times, but that comes with any job! So, for me, when I actually heard the news, my heart felt broken. It's amazing how you almost feel like you're not good enough. I know that's silly... but it's how I felt. I'm not stressed and I'm not worried because I'm completely putting everything in the Lord's hands... I'm just truly sad!

Mine and Steve's prayer, (and if you can pray for us the same thing... the Lord tells us to come to him with our requests and to make them known to him- so that's what we're doing), is that the Lord find a position for me at Wamu making the salary I make now or better! I would love to stay with the company (for lots of reasons) so I'm praying for this to be a smooth transition. Please be in prayer for us.

PS... on a lighter note... Steve and I have our FINAL WEIGH IN on Tuesday. When we planned this (back at the first of January) we didn't know that it was also the finale of "The Biggest Loser". We're huge fans of the show and it inspires us! So... tune in for the end results!

Saying "I love you"

Last night at church as soon as our pastor got on stage to start preaching... he didn't even say a word and he was crying. He started out by talking about the shootings that have taken place over the past year across our nation... the Virginia Tech shooting, the high school shooting that took place in Ohio (I think is where it was??), the shooting in the churches in Colorado, just last week there were 3 different shootings at a work place in 3 different states "shot by an obsessed angry man". After naming that last one... he paused again as his eyes filled with tears... then he said "Yesterday... (pause w/ a cry)"... at this moment... my heart just sank. He then said "we lost one of our very own members... Dr. Julie Abbot... shot by an obsessed angry man" while in her work parking lot. He went on to talk about how all of these people lost there lives suddenly. Now, some of you are wondering if I know Dr. Julie Abbot... the answer is no. However, after what happened in our family two weeks ago and the message Robert (our pastor) preached was so touching it inspired my "post" for today.

He talked about living life with no regrets, no "wish I would've...", or "I should've...". He preached the gospel so that any one that was there would know that we are not guaranteed another day... and that Jesus Christ is the only way to get to heaven. One of the scriptures he read was 2 Corinthians 5:6-10. But, the main focus of the sermon was on what you do with your life on earth.

One of the points in the sermon was in regards to how you treat your family. He said to remember to tell your spouse you love them everyday, tell your children you love them, tell your family you love them. He said to settle any "hard feelings" or anything that you're holding on to because you aren't guaranteed that you'll see them again to settle it.

Personally, I think I take for granted my husband, my parents, my brothers and sisters-in-laws, my in-laws, my nieces and nephews, and my friends. So... this message kept running through my head last night as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep. I kept thinking of Dr. Julie Abbot who was 47 years old and left behind a husband. I thought of my cousins William and Sloan, my uncle Roger, my old roommate's brother (and friend of mine) Brandon Kirby... these are all people that passed away suddenly and left behind their family. I just know that I want to be at a place in life that if the Lord decides to take me or my family home... that I have lived with no regrets! I want my family and friends to know that I love them.

So... in closing... I just want to encourage you to not take anything or anyone for granted and know that each day on earth with them is a blessing! I am blessed to have Steve as my husband and a family (immediate, extended, and in-laws) like I have. I LOVE YOU all!!!

The Challenge is on!

As some of you know... Steve and I are having a weight loss challenge. (if you've seen me in the last few years... you've seen me get quite large!- it's okay... I know it... but I'm working on fixing it!).





Anyways... the contest is whoever has the largest percentage of weight loss wins. Yes, girls, I did agree to this bet! I've had lots of people tell me that I shouldn't have because Steve is a guy and will lose weight faster. But, that's okay... I am still doing it. So, here's the deal... we weighed in on January 5th and the challenge lasts until April 15th... yes, tax day... that's how we remember it! The wager: If Steve wins... I have to cook dinner for 7 nights in a row. Now, some of you are thinking... "so what, I do that already" or "that's nothing". Well... if you know me, you know that #1, I HATE to cook!!! #2- I CAN'T cook! I only know how to make a few things. So, for me... this is TORTURE! YIKES! If I win... Steve has to take dance lessons with me... like country or something to learn the twists, turns, things like that... not line dancing! He HATES dancing. I try telling him that if he knew how to dance, then he would enjoy it.





Here's an update on where we are at... Steve has lost 27 lbs and I have lost 20 lbs. Percentage wise... Steve is beating me too! That's okay though... I'm loving my clothes getting too big and having to drop to the next size smaller!





If you're wondering what we're doing to lose weight... I'll tell you. Mainly, we're just watching calories. We are eating 1500 calories a day. Lots of people ask us, "are you cutting carbs, sugars, fat, or anything?" When we started the diet, we said we weren't going to do that because we've tried those kind of diets and they worked only for a short time. However, we soon learned that in order to keep a 1500 calorie/day diet... you CAN'T eat most of that stuff. It's been VERY enlightening as we've counted out EVERY calorie! It's kinda funny... before I eat anywhere, I go online and look at their nutritional information so I know what I'll be eating. If I can't find it... then I have a chart that lists just about all foods and I look up each food item individually. What's crazy is when we look at the calorie count on what we used to eat in a day... HOLY COW! No wonder I gained so much weight! (here's an example... we went to Chili's. I used to eat a Grilled Chicken Sandwich w/ French Fries... that alone-- not counting honey mustard or the tea-- was 1100 calories! Steve would eat the chicken fried steak w/ sides, toast, and gravy and it was 1890 calories! YIKES! That was just one meal! Now... in an entire day we only eat 1500 calories! WOW, WOW, WOW!!!!





We also exercise on the elliptical machine... Steve is WAY better at the working out part. I am still not very disciplined at doing this.





All this to say that this is now becoming our lifestyle. This is not something that when April 15th gets here that we're just going to throw down the drain. It's amazing what it's done. This might sound funny to some people, but before we started the diet, I was nervous as to whether or not I could do it. Most of you know that I'm quite the picky eater! Well, as part of my prayer I prayed that God would change my taste buds. And... He did! I eat some things that I would have never eaten before. Now... there are still some things I still just don't like... but, I'm better!





So, my challenge for anyone who is wanting to lose weight or just to get healthy... is to count your calories! Steve and I still have a hamburger every now and then... but we split it and the fries. And... that will go in our calorie count for the day. So, we know we have to eat light calories the rest of the day or something. Anyhoo... just letting you all know! It's changing our lives and I challenge others to try it out!

A relationship with Jesus Christ... can't live without it!

This past week our family went through a tragedy. We got a phone call on Easter night that my 9 year old cousin (3rd cousin) suddenly died. Twelve years ago, this same family lost their first born child, Sloan, at age 8. I have really been struggeling this week with all of this in my mind! I just don't understand how this could happen... but one thing that I am CERTAIN of and NO ONE and NO THING can ever take this away from me... and that is that God is GOD and He is in control of all things. I know He has a purpose for everything and His name will be glorified.

This is a time when a Christian's faith is tested... and some non-Christians are drawn to the Lord and they begin a new journey in life by having faith in Jesus Christ. What an awesome God! Using something like this to draw people to him! Please be in prayer for this family and our extended family as they greive. Just pray that we are all reminded of God's love and pray for His peace to pass all understanding! Please also pray for family and friends who do not already know the Lord and have that relationship with him... that through this... they accept him as the Lord and Savior and begin that relationship with Jesus.