Catching Up

I have been slacking on this thing, I know! So sorry! Nothing too new with us. We just celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary end of March. We didn't do anything to celebrate because Tyson had to work. :( I did get a guitar for our wedding anniversary because I've always wanted to learn to play. Now that I got one, it's time to start learning!

Work is going well for both of us. There's nothing new in Tyson's job world, still doing the K9 thing. He's getting ready to go into instructor and F.T.O. school so he can be trained to teach some training classes up at his department, and the F.T.O. school is to train newly hired officers of the department. I'm wrapping up my second year of teaching. Only 30 something more days! C'mon summer! I am also so very thankful that I still have a job and work for the school district that I do with all of these budget cuts occurring. VERY scary!

Crossfit is going AWESOME! We're getting stronger and noticing changes in our bodies. Speaking of stronger!!!!!.........I deadlifted 200 lbs. yesterday, which to me is quite impressive for my size. I'm so EXCITED about that! I especially like that I'm getting that more fit look that I've always wanted to achieve that I couldn't seem to get with cardio and baby weights alone. Our trainers have defintely opened my eyes up to the importance of weight lifting and the significant effect it has on fat loss. I'm losing inches I never thought I could lose, so here's a message to you ladies.....YOU WON'T BULK! You'll just gain lean muscle, rev up that metabolism, AND create that afterburn that allows to you continue to burn calories. Gah! I just love all of this stuff, and I would love to be a personal trainer! Now, if only I could get that OOOOOONE pull-up without a spotter.............. That's the goal I'm trying to reach.

2011 Spring Break Cruise

We're back from our cruise!!! Well....we got back Sunday. Sorry for not blogging and posting pictures yet. I had to get back into the work grind and then I had to get sick at the beginning of the week, so I was a little out of commission. We had a wonderful time, but I think we'll stick to the 5 day cruises next time. 7 days was good. We relaxed, slept a lot, did the vacation/touristy thing, and ate. Oh am I SO SICK of food. I got in some working out, but not my Crossfit type of stuff that really whoops ya! I missed it so!!!! Tyson couldn't get motivated, so he never hit the gym with me.....bleh. Below is our cruise itinerary with a little description and some pictures to go along with. Here's a little how our cruise went:

Day 1: Board Carnival Conquest, and say goodbye to Galveston!........while being served some seriously, "knock you on your butt" drinks. We even got a couple's massage on our first day on the ship! HIGHLY enjoyable. What massage isn't?!?

Day 2: Fun at Sea. Eat, sleep, lie out, eat some more, sleep some more...

Day 3: Fun at Sea. Rinse, lather, and repeat........Repeat of yesterday. Eating and sleeping was getting old. First formal night.

Day 4: Jamaica where we went horseback riding! That was my first time. TOTALLY was scaring me. All I could think was, "Good horsey, nice horsey.....don't drop me." I KEPT THINKING OF YOU NANCY!!! hahaha!!! ---------> "Good Terminator..." Everytime we would gallop a little, my heart would race so hard. After our little ride on land, we got to swim waist deep with the horses. They ran through the water with us on their backs. It was the best part! After that, we enjoyed some jerk chicken and a Red Stripe! Classic Jamaican!

Now Jamaica really warmed my heart. In this country, they don't have ANY problems......only situations. They try to fix the situations before they turn into problems. I like that train of thought! They have a KFC like we do but they say theirs stands for "Keep From Cooking."....HA! When you want to say, "Yes," you say, "YEAH MON!" When you want to say, "No," you make a, "ne-eh!" noise while shaking your head. And, if everything is good and great, it is, "irie." The BIGGEST thing that warmed my heart was how upbeat and positive they were for having such limited means. I never realized what a poor country it is until I saw it and learned about it. Yet, they don't let money worries bringing them down. They are so uplifting, have such happy, positive attitudes, and have so much love for everyone. I LOVE POSITIVE ATTITUDES! I learned that minimum wage is $50 A WEEK! And 2 bedroom house would cost millions for them. Of course, it equates to only a hundred something thousand in U.S. dollars, but for the amount of money they make in Jamaica....that's a lot! The fact is that that they have their love, and that's all that matters. ♥

Day 5: Grand Cayman Islands. We snorkeled, window shopped (I was saving my money for Cozumel), had lunch at Margaritaville, and just enjoyed the crystal clear waters.

Day 6: Cozumel. We lied out on the white sand and overlooked the clear water, did a little paddle boating, enjoyed some drinks, ate some authentic Mexican food, shopped, and PARASAILED!!!! First time for both! On the boat, there's so much noise and chaos, but when you get high.....I mean SERIOUSLY HIGH up in the air, it is SO peaceful.

Day 7: Fun day at sea. Slept, slept, slept, slept................and ate. We were over it at that point.

Sunday: Back home.

So, that's how we spent our Spring Break! If you look at the top of our blog underneath our big, main picture. I have a link that says OUR PICASA PHOTO ALBUMS that's highlighted in blue where you can see the rest of our cruise pictures not shown on the blog. At the end of the pictures in the album are videos I took during our cruise. One is us horseback riding in Jamaica, a couple of videos of the Jamaican taxi bus driver talking and singing to us in his really cool accent, one of us parasailing, and more! I'm still continuing to add more videos because I have a few more, so check back later to see them.

Overall......I'd say we gave this vacation a TWO THUMBS UP! We all know Tyson does!

Exciting News!

Okay, okay. So I've been holding off telling everyone, but I have been itching to get this news out. I think now's the time. No. We're not pregnant but MY SISTER IS PREGNANT!!! 11 weeks to be exact and due late September. For those that don't know. I have two sisters. Rylee who is 8 and Rebecca who is 24. Rebecca and I are just only 18 months apart and very close. I can't wait to be an aunt!!!!

What's really striking my curiousity is what this baby will look like. Rebecca and I have always talked about what we think our children will look like being that we're both married to blonde hair, blue eyed boys.....I mean...MEN! HA! Rebecca and I are only half Korean. Our mom is Korean and our dad is mixed with German and French. This will make our babies only a 1/4 asian, so we're dying to see how this will all turn out. Have any of you ever heard or seen Jon and Kate plus 8 on TLC? Well, I'm sure it will look a lot like Jon and Kate plus 8 babies since Jon is only half Korean himself, and of course we know Kate is white as they come. We wonder if there's a possibility for lighter hair (obviously not blonde) and blue eyes. Rebecca and I carry the recessive gene for both. Rebecca has a friend that is half asian while the dad is white, and their kiddo turned out to have brown with blonde going through the hair and BLUE EYES!!! Ahhh! I just can't wait to see how this turns out! ♥ I'm sure what ever the case, my sister's baby boy or girl will be so incredibly beautiful being that my sister is gorgeous and my brother-in-law looks like a Ken doll.

I'm currently living vicariously through my sister's pregnancy since Tyson and I are still waiting. I can't wait to see her growing belly, and I certainly can't wait to hold and kiss that baby! Rebecca is now living up in Dallas with her husband, so the day her water breaks or she has to be induced, you bet my behind is finding some way to get a sub for my class and head straight up there for the birth. I want to be there for my sister every step of the way. This is just so exciting!

In other, short news. Tyson and I will be leaving for our cruise in ONE WEEK!!!! We both can't wait! We're SO ready for a real vacation. Stay tuned for the next blogging about the cruise with pictures to come!

Happy 26th!

As you all know, Tyson turned 26 a few weeks ago, and his parents came down to help celebrate. It was a nice little visit! We went to Tyson's (and mine of course) favorite restaurant, Pappadeaux. It was delicious as usual. Sunday, we spent the day snacking on finger foods, vegging, cooking burgers and watching the Superbowl. We were all rooting for the Steelers, but unfortunately they lost. Here are just a few pictures from Tyson's birthday weekend.

The Mr. and Mrs. out to dinner for Tyson's birthday!

Lounging around in our living room with our dogs.....watching the Superbowl.

Tyson cooking burgers for the Superbowl!

Then Valentine's started coming up, and Tyson was asking me what I wanted. I told him that I don't require to have things BOUGHT for me, and that simple little gestures like a note saying how much he loves me is enough in itself. Save your money for Christmas and birthdays! We typically just do cards for each other and write a 12 page essay of how much we're in love and appreciative of each other, which I always enjoy doing for him as well as receiving. Sooooo.....Valentine's Day rolled around and Tyson was just the SWEETEST Valentine ever. Look what card he got me! Nothing says "I love you" more than this card did.

The front

The back

WELCOME TO OUR MARRIAGE! HAHA!!! I thought it was AWESOME! I got a good laugh. What's funny is that Tyson says this to me all of the time. He always says, "That's okay. You don't love me. You just want me for my body." That is the thing I love about "us." We have humor and play in our marriage. Tyson's witty, and he knows I've got a great sense of humor....so....WAHLAH! Of course, on the other side of the card was the 12 page essay of I love yous that we always do. It always makes me warm and fuzzy inside to read what he has to say. You always don't get a chance to tell your sweety every day how much you love them and how grateful you are for all that they do; so, it also always feels good to express it to them..........and of course.......to hear it back.

Now, for all of you fitness buffs....Tyson and I are still kicking it together as a team at this Crossfit thing, but now the place we work out at has been changed to LIFT STRONG RUN FAST. It's still affiliated with Crossfit, but the owner has fused his training methods to go along with the Crossfit methods, so he's renamed his business. I'm glad Tyson and I are working out together......FINALLY! It's always been me, by myself. It's nice to have an interest and hobby in common together. We're both getting stronger every week.....benching, pressing...etc. more than we ever have. I like all of our new muscles. I also like how I'm being taught how my body works, what I need to eat, the whole bit, and challenging it to a whole new level I've never taken it before. I'm also doing things I've never done before. Still working on my pull ups though!!! HA!

Anyways! Told ya I would have something to write about this blog around! Tyson and I hope everyone is doing great, and we send our love and hugs! ♥ See you next blogging!

February Ramblings

February is here already?!?! I've been sitting here thinking about how fast time flies. But, Febrary is a good month. It's the month of Tyson's birthday and it's the month of Valentine's Day.... ♥♥♥♥♥♥

Tyson's parents will be here this upcoming weekend to celebrate Tyson's birthday. It's always exciting when they can make it down for a visit. I can't believe he'll be 26, and then it will be my turn next month. I don't feel it. Tyson and I periodically talk about how crazy it is, and it seems like YESTERDAY we graduated from high school. But, we're over the middle mark, in our later 20's now, and approaching 30, which is CRAZINESS to me. I genuinely am not afraid to turn 30 like a lot of others typically are. It's just another age......and I never feel my age.........and I certainly don't LOOK it, so what's to worry about? Tyson and I still get told we look 17.......which BUGS me. My only reply is that we'll be one young, good looking couple when we're 40 or 50! ;)

I don't have much to blog about right now....same ol' same ol'. Currently, Tyson's doing a one month K9 handler's training course, so he has a DREAM schedule right now. Monday through Friday 8-3 with weekends off. I say "dream" because it's my dream. Hey! I like seeing my husband more than 3 times a week! Sadly, he'll go back to his "normal" schedule in 2 weeks. Bummer.

Anyways, that was my February ramblings. I'll have more to blog about in a week. Promise!

Just for Fun...PICTURES!

Thought I would just post a picture blog today. Below are pictures from our few days before Christmas in San Antonio and an update of us showing our healthy side and getting our work out on at Crossfit!

Early Christmas dinner since Tyson and I had to go back to The Woodands (Houston) the day before Christmas Eve.

A fun one in front of the Christmas tree! Just look at everyone's expressions...


Nancy got one of Precious wedged in the back pillows of the couch. It's such a hard life for my dog...


Britain and Brody opening some presents! They're getting so big!

Nancy and I sampling some Crown.......and laughing the whole time. Maybe a little strong???

Helping out while the kids made Christmas cookies! Look at both Britain and Brody with their eyes so fixated on that bowl of cookie mix...

Brody, Tyson, and Precious.

Officer Brody Downs. Tyson and I got Brody a cop play outfit for Christmas.

Now...Tyson and I keeping up with our goal to get buff! This Crossifit stuff is some serious business people!!!

Tyson doing Russian kettle bell swings. I found those to be interesting. Look at him working hard! We had to do squat thrusts, then immediately go into pull ups, then immediately into Russian kettle bell swings, and you had to repeat that circuit over and over and over again. Oh....and not to mention this was after "WARMING UP" with bench presses, dynamic push ups ( where you do a push up and clap in the air), and some other thing with the barbell. It was HARD!

Me doing squat thrusts. So focused.......and you can't see it, but this work out was kicking my butt! Behind me is the pull up bar where I had to do pull ups immediately after the squat thrusts, then into Russian kettle bell swings...boy oh boy...so hard. The first time they had me do pull ups a couple of weeks ago, my immediate reaction was, "You have got to be kidding me..."


Getting strong! This was a separate day from the other two pictures where it was a max out arms day.

It's been about a two weeks of Crossfit for me and almost a month for Tyson and we both have not had a break from the soreness. NOT A SINGLE BREAK. We have to roll out of bed, and we grunt and groan with every body move we make. I haven't been this sore since drill team 8 years ago. I'm sore from shoulders ALLLLLLL the way to my calves, and I can barely move or bend over.....but it hurts so good! At least we know this program is working!

Welcome 2011

And so it is, yet again, a new year. Tyson and I are optimistic that it will be a great one! We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had a nice Christmas spending time with family and just veggin' out. Tyson had Christmas Eve off, but he had to work Christmas day. What a bummer...but at least I had him Christmas Eve. We spent two days in San Antonio doing an early Christmas with Tyson's family, and then we both spent the rest of Christmas with my family. We got a lot of cash to do spend it on what ever we wanted. Needless to say, we have both been shopping. Tyson has finally come to the mall with me to get him new clothes. His clothes were still from high school and beginning of college, and they're so worn out. I've been begging for Tyson to get some new things, and he finally gave in. Overall, we had a lovely Christams!

For the New Year, Tyson and I are already starting it off right.........with getting our bodies in shape that is. I know it sounds cliche.....everyone goes on this weight loss kick after the holidays and makes a resolution.......but that's not what we're doing. I've already lost the weight, and Tyson doesn't care much about him losing weight. I've been really into fitness for a year and a half now...more like obsessive... and about a couple of months ago, after a few things went down at work, Tyson has decided that he really needs to strengthen up. Over the past couple of years, I have been able to lose a good chunk of weight (first step completed)...but I've also always wanted to buff up. I do weights, but never achieve the look that I want. Now that I've lost the weight, I really want to strengthen. About a month ago, Tyson got into this Crossfit thing. It's like a boot camp, but different. I don't know how to explain. All I have to say is that it is intense.

Tyson really wanted me to try it since I want to get buff. My first day was Wednesday, and since then, I've noticed a TREMENDOUS difference in my body already as far as "buffing" up, and it's getting me really excited to see what changes I can make in the future. I'm also noticing a difference in Tyson. So we're excited about the New Year and bulking up as a couple....hee hee. My goal for the New Year is to get us both looking like a hot, buffed couple. ;) I'm really excited about this! I know they do Crossfit in other cities/states. I really recommend people trying it. If you're interested in what it's all about, click the link below. This is The Woodlands' Crossfit page by the way:

http://www.crossfitthewoodlands.com/

I made it on the front of the website yesterday! They had this picture up on the website. A lovely shot of me doing mountain climbers with my tush in the air.


We hope everyone has a happy New Year, and may this New Year bring you health, wealth, and happiness!