DOVE FAMILY

For the last year I have been seriously focused on health.  No- I am not a health maniac who goes on diets, drinks crazy shakes, juice fasting, marathon runner or crazy exercise girl.  You know I don't diet.  However, due to the health issues in our family history it was time for me to take over and really concentrate on getting healthy. 
If I concetrate on losing weight- I don't lose the weight.  Numbers and I don't get a long.  The last year has been a wonderful healthy and mental transformation for me. I have been concetrating on being healthy and at the same time the weight has come off without the pressure of losing weight.   A friend asked me how I have done it and its all due to concentrating on being healthy and enjoying life.  I want to live a long life with the kids and grow old with Dave....

1.  I run 4 miles each day Monday - Friday
2.  I do core training Tuesday-Thursday (Sit ups, abdomen work, weights, arms )
3.  I am OFF on the weekends- no working out unless we do a family bike ride, family walk or family hike.  I rest my body on the weekends, I enjoy my weekends. Devote my weekends to my family
4.  I don't diet- nope. I don't deny myself of certain foods.  I eat chocolate, icecream, bread and pasta.
5.  I have fun. I laugh and enjoy life.

I WORK HARD during the week (work, school, kids, family, homework, chores, working out and eating good food) .  Life happens and there are days I cant make it to the gym but no worries at all- trust me when I say Im not upset if I miss a day or two at the gym!  That WORK HARD attitude mentally shuts off on the weekends and I switch to PLAY HARD with the family.  I give my body a rest on the weekends and its all play all the time!

Both Dave and I had fathers who passed away at a young age.  We both have a history of crazy health issues in our families.  Life is way to short - focus on your health, stay light hearted, Have fun.  Laugh a lot.  Enjoy life and EAT CHOCOLATE!

What is OMC?  "OLD MAN CRUSH"!

Yes- I have an OLD MAN CRUSH.  Actually I have 3 of them.  I am not scared  or ashamed to admit it.  Dave knows that he is the only man for me...but hey I can't deny my OMC.  So you are probably wondering who these lucky men are right?  You can laugh- its OK. Dave laughs at me all the time...

1.  Brian Williams- yes thats right!  Nightly News with Brian Williams has never been sexier.  Smart, Intelligent, handsome and has a great sense of humour...just like Dave :)
2.  Bon Jovi-- rockstar baby!  Why not Bon Jovi? I grew up listening to him through breakups, partying and young love.  Gotta love the hair, twinkle in his eyes, the rockstar and the smile....Dave definately has the smile and twinkle in his eye (the hair...ummm...not so much Bon Jovi like...)
3. George Strait- WOW EEE WOW...his music, his voice, that hat, the little smirk/smile he has.  Dave can sing just like him-- ask Dave to sing "Carrying your love with me..."

As you can see...Dave has qualities from each of my OMC (Old Man Crush)...he has Brian Williams sense of humour and intelligence.  Although he doesn't have the Bon Jovi Hair- Dave has the Bon Jovi Twinkle in the Eye and the smile.  No, Dave isn't  a country singer but he sure can sing'em just like George Strait does.....

I think the real song is "O Christmas Tree..." but we will use "O Oak tree...." for this blog.  We had a huge Oak tree in our backyard-- smack-dab right in the middle of our yard.  It was big. It was massive..0ver 70ft high and so large that we couldn't get our arms around it.  It was so big that Dave was uncomfortable that it was so close to our house-- the tree was literally over whole house-- thats how massive it was.  We lvoed it when we purchased the house because not only did it give us some shade but it was just beautiful.

Then- we had a small tree that came down from a storm.  It scared me.  It made me realize that this big Oak tree could have been the one to come down right on our house.  So we had a company come and clean up the storm damage tree and also take down the oak tree.  I know...its an oak tree I was sad when it came down becuase it had been there for years.  However, the safety of our house, the safety of our family won the battle and now its gone.  We love the extra space we have from where the tree was.  We have lots of firewood from the oak tree..but now I dont have to worry so much when a storm is brewing....

It is so big that it won't fit in the picture!  I guess I could have taken the picture from afar- but trust me...it was massive!

Here it is...all cut up for us to give away or shop down the smaller peices for firewood.

Well...or we could just sit on it and chill....

Working hard to stack the wood

Yes- I know...she is 5 years old now. She is a "big girl"  she no longer wears clothes that have an "M" next to a number like 6M, 18M.  She no longer wears clothes that have a "T" next to a number like 4T or 5T.
She is very strong willed and she knows what she wants. 
She has no filter and tells it like it is.
She has always been my free spirit where as her brother is our philospher and always thinking and looking for answers.
She talks to her stuffed animals, leaves, rocks and anything that may not talk back to her
She loves the little things and is in awe of life and learning
She is sweet and caring, she loves to play "mommy" and cares for her babydolls, barbies and stuffed animals. 
She loves her brother even though she can't stand watching ESPN or is so tired of hearing about sports all the time. 
She is kind but tough and she has learned to fight back and stand her ground. 
She loves completely but trust takes time with her.  Once she trusts you- you can guarantee that she will stick by you! 

Birthday Dinner at Noodles & Company- her favorite of course!

Happy 5th Birthday to me!

Birthday Sundae-- forget the cake!

Daddy and his princess

This was taken the morning her of birthday- off going to camp.  Seriously makes my heart melt that she is 5 years old.

Jumping on her new trampoline and wearing the nightgown her brother got her for her birthday!

This year we celebrated the 4th in style with the local Severna Park annual 4th of July Parade and then decided to see Fireworks at Chesapeake Beach and in downtown Annapolis. Although I would prefer to stay home and watch it on our big TV with a big bowl of popcorn, yummy ice cream sundaes....I was out voted so we went with the masses to see the fireworks.  I do have to say that although we had some traffic to deal with, hundreds of people standing beside me and cramping my style on a hot sticky night- it was great to see the fireworks with the family.  Nothing beats the All American 4th of July celebration!  Happy 4th America!

Waiting for the parade to start!

Love...love...love...

Father's Day is very meaningful to me.  Its a time that I celebrate my dad who was just such an amazing man. I thank God everyday for the things he taught us, for his generosity for his sweetness and for his love.  I never will forget the lessons he taught us and most of all the importance of family and celebrating life.

We celebrated Father's Day this year at the O's game.  After an afternoon cheering our O's on- Dave decided to have a shrimp and beer fest at home and the kids really enjoyed eating and peeling their own shirmp and we had yummy s'mores on the fire pit!  Happy Father's Day to David and we truly hope he knows what a wonderful fad and husband he is.  He is just spectacular and we are so thankful for him and everything he does.  We all get so busy in our lives and we sometimes forget to stop and appreciate all the things that he does for us.  When he gets home from work he plays baseball and basketball with Matthew.  He then finds sometime to put the dishes away or other housework, then he still has plenty of time to play cards or Candy Land with his Princess.  He helps with dinner and packs lunches. He does lawn work and did I mention that he also does the laundry??  He is amazing and after a full day at work, spending time with the kids, housework and yard work- he has time for me too. 

He is so sweet, he is so handsome, he is silly and he is generous. 
He is kind and thoughtful
He has an abundance of love and its truly endless for his family

We were waaayy up there for this game but who cares-- we were there to see the O's!

Kids walking on Eutaw street at Camden Yards!

I know I posted this picture from OC before...but we dont have many pictures of just the two of us.

So ya'll know I don't diet. First- life is too short to have the word diet in my vocabulary.  Second- I run hard so I can eat my bread, pasta, chocolate and ice cream as much as I want and when I want- BTW- if you don't know already those are my food groups :)

We took the kids to their first trip to Hershey Park this past June with Auntie Debbie and Grammy.  It was a blast- we knew going into the park that the kids really wouldn't ride many rides.  They are not dare devils yet when it comes to coasters and thrill rides.  They did ride a few of the kiddie rides and we watched a fun musical number and walked the park.  My most most favorite stop was when we entered Chocolate World.  People-- you know me...the smell, the taste of chocolate just rocked my world!  I know that you can find most Hershey items at the grocery store but this place everything chocolate in one building!  We rode the Chocolate Ride a few times because they gave us a peice of chocolate at the end of the ride- awesome right? 

What a fun and memorable trip.  Sadly we didn't visit the "Boardwalk" waterpark but I have a feeling that this visit is coming up in the near future.  I am also sad to say that I didn't have the Hershey's Frozen Hot Chocolate. Dave tried to entice me to try it but I saw the words ICE CREAM from across the room and I just kept walking towards the sign.

Next visit to do: 
First stop Herhsey Park Boardwalk Water Park. 
Second Stop-- Hershey's Frozen Hot Chocolate!

So after our day in the park, we decided to visit Kettle Kitchen Village and visit the wonderful, hardworking, very nice Amish people.  Debbie, David and the kids did take a little buggy ride to visit some Amsih farms.  Their trip included a tour of a few real working farms and my kids saw children working in the fields.  They also met a few new friends along the way and had some yummy homemade lemonade and zucchini bread. 

Great trip and we are looking forward to next year's Dove/Fargo trip...hmmm....where to next??

Can't go to Lancaster without going on a Buggy Ride!

Blurry picture- I know...but its Matthew driving the bumper cars!

Firt real trip to Hershey (MRD went when he was like2 yrs old!)

I made my own chocolate bar!

I did too-- I can't wait to eat it!

TaDa!  We did it!

Thanks Auntie Debbie and Grammy for this special treat!

Everyone loves a carousel ride!

We took a mini vacay to Ocean City this summer.  We didn't have a chance to go to the beach last year because of our big Disney trip so we decided to take a mini beach vacation.  We went down during the Dew Tour and yes- it was busy.  However, the crowds stayed at the boardwalk and we had a perfect amount of people tos hare the beach with.  We had excellent weather and so much fun.  We did the usual beach activities of laying around in the sand, making sand castles that was destroyed by Monster Trucks (Alex of course), made our own personal hot tub in the sand, tried out the boogie board, the pool, the boards and something new...we went to the Dew Tour and watched a bit of the Krewella Concert!  Woot -Woot!

We had a great vacation and look forward to our next beach visit.  It's always great to hang out at the beach and just chill out in the sand...No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem....

Look Lola!  Its a shark!  No...a dolphin!

No words for this....

First boogie board!

Our first visit to a Dew Tour...interesting people...cool bikes and skateboards

Sand Angels Rock---you can't imagine all the sand that we found hidden in her clothes...

Uncle Abe and Amaya hanging out in the sun and waves!

Love this!  We love Sand Angels!

Sweet Love in Ocean City...

Sea Shell hunting

wooohoo!  We love the beach!

Gosh- I can't believe its been almost a month since my last post.  I do have a very good excuse though- our home computer crashed so there...that should be a good enough excuse.  Anyway, we are back up and running and we have lots of new stories and pictures to share with you all!  I hope you all are enjoying the summer, spending time with your loved ones and enjoying life-- because life is too short to spend your days worrying. 

It's too short to always feel busy and stressed.  Try something new one day.  Spend the day with the family- play games, make S'mores, go for a walk, be silly.  Go out and explore with your family.  Enjoy every little moment, laugh A-LOT and eat chocolate :)