Vacation Pics......

The beach when we first got to Destin about 5 pm after a storm earlier in the day.

Getting ready to go eat dinner on the beach our first night there at the Back Porch. We ate lunch there several times. It was great and right on the beach and you can go in bare foot in your swim suit. They had some of the best seafood gumbo I have ever had.

Walking down the beach the first day we found this sand castle.

Sunset stroll on the beach after dinner the first night.

The beautiful water of Destin. I still can't believe this is the Gulf of Mexico! The water is crystal clear and gorgeous!

The guy we rented the chairs and umbrella from took this pic. I can't believe I am actually posting a pic of me in a swim suit.

Yes we did cheesy writing in the sand on the beach.

Waiting for dinner at Dewey's in the garden. It was beautiful and the food......seriously they have the best crab cakes I have ever had in my life. If you are ever in Destin, you must go there.

I made us stop for front back and side pics since it had been a while since we did them.

Chris said since the water is too cold to snorkel he has to at least put them on! Crazy man and boy did we laugh after seeing the picture!

The guy next to the table and the drill is Michael aka Nick Nolte. He was the guy we rented our umbrella and chairs from everyday. He was so nice and gave us great recommendations on places to eat and things to see. Everywhere he recommended we go he said to tell them Nick Nolte sent you and they will treat you well. He was super nice!

Enjoying the sun!

If you go to Destin you must go to McGuire's!

We had the best ribs I have ever had in my entire life and yes I got them in FL not TX! Seriously if you are there they are the best ever! We got so much we split the plate and still had half of it left over.

We sat outside on the 2nd story deck and watched the sunset over the bay! Absolutely beautiful!

The waiter was nice enough to take a pic of us!

Inside there are dollar bills all over the walls and the ceiling. You put your name and the date on a dollar bill and they give you staples to hang them up. Really neat inside.

inside the gift shop.....too bad we can't drink anymore. You can get some amazing wine and beer!

Before we left for home in front of the hotel. These were beautiful snap dragons everywhere.

On the beach on the edge of town as we headed home to Texas after the best vacation ever. We could have stayed forever!

Can you believe I am 1 today???

Wow its been a long long time and lots has happened. So sorry for the delay but we have had more computer trouble and both computers have been down. We finally have one back so I feel like I am connected again!

So can you believe I am 1 today??? No really I am 1 today! Today is my 1st Re-Birthday or the 1st Anniversary of my gastric bypass surgery! I can't believe it has been a whole year. We went out to dinner tonight and had a wonderful seafood meal. We brought half of it home but it was fabulous none the less. So one year ago today right now I had just finished walking for the first time and I was in lots of pain, but here I am a year later and I can honestly say it was all worth it! I feel amazing and I have so much more energy than I have had in years. A few days of pain and even the horrible protein drinks and the pureed food were all very much worth it. So my official stats one year later is I weigh in at 176 lbs and I have lost a total of 129 lbs so far! My goal weight is 140 lbs so I still have 36 lbs to go but I know I can do it. The rate at which I am losing weight has definitely gone down, but I have the tools and the knowledge and the will power to get the last of it off. That includes upping the exercise which I have been slacking on since I have gone back to work. I also need to intensify my work outs to include machines and weights and not just walking and bike riding.

Last week we had our 1 year appts. Everything went fabulous and Dr. Davis was amazed at us and couldn't stop smiling at us. He told us to keep up the good work and asked lots of questions to all we answered NO because we don't have any problems anymore! How amazing is that? So with that he said, here's your paperwork for labs (yes 12 more vials of blood and I was not happy) then he said do you have any questions for me? With that we said only one, am I released now to try to get pregnant again? With that he looked at us both smiled real big and said, now don't tell me you haven't been trying already because I know better than that. So I said, OK so that's true but obviously it didn't work so that means the weight loss didn't fix the infertility so do I have your permission now to go back to the Fertility Dr? He said yes absolutely.....just call me once you are pregnant and I will work with your Dr to make sure you and the baby are healthy. So with that we left with huge smiles on our faces and headed to have our blood work done. We got our blood results back and those weren't perfect. Chris's vitamin D is low and my vitamin D is low and my iron is very low. So he said no problem we can fix that. So we are taking additional vitamin D and I am doubling the amount of iron I take on a daily basis. Then is 6 months he wants to do more blood work and make sure everything is better. Other than that everything went perfect and we don't have to see him again for a year unless we have a problem or I get pregnant.

So with that we were very happy and the next day I called Dr. Dunn to get an appointment. He is the fertility specialist that our friends A & B use and several of their friends. So our next big appt is on 6/16! So we will have more to come on the baby front in the next month or so. Our plan is to start IVF between July and Sept at the latest. We will see what we find out on the 16th. So please say a prayer for us.

As for our friends A & B, if you haven't checked their blog, they have had complications but so far she is still pregnant and baby Cullen is growing. As long as her body cooperates Cullen will be born via c-section in two weeks. Please keep them all in your prayers.

Let's see so much has happened.....On May 3rd I started my new job! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! I was so scared to start over but now that I have, I couldn't be more happy. I had lunch with a friend from Talent Tree last Friday because I get off at noon on Friday's now (how awesome is that?) and we have known each other for 12 years and she said she doesn't think she has ever seen me look better than I do and be happier than I am! That made me feel even better. We really are so happy right now because it feels like some of our biggest dreams are coming true.

Also we again participated in the March of Dimes March for Babies this year and it was an absolute success. We beat our goal and we walked the 5 miles without breaking a real sweat. We laughed because we remembered last year at the walk when we hit 2 miles we looked at each other and said, oh my gosh how are we going to make it another 3 miles. But we were determined and we made it. Then this year, here we are both over 100 lbs less than last year healthier and happier and when we got to mile 2 it felt like we had just started. When we finished the 5 miles we both looked at each other and said wow that was nothing I could go another 5 miles! My how a year can change you!

I know I owe you guys some pics so I will do my best to get some posted tomorrow. Until then, God Bless each and every one of you and we can't thank you enough for all of your support over this last year.