The Bonnie Hunt Show

Rachel and I met in Culver City today to go see a taping of the Bonnie Hunt Show. We had a great time! She is a fantastic host...hostess. She came around the audience afterward and was so sincere and kind. She asked us to tell all our friends about her show. Since everyone I told that I was going to the show asked me "Who is that?" I decided I would do a little advertising for her here on my blog. You can even start watching her tomorrow...and look for me in the audience. If you're here in LA she's on ch.4 (KNBC) at noon. The rest of you will have to check your local listings...now I really sound like a commercial!

A Week of Birthdays

We started last week with my mom's birthday. John made homemade tempura (yum). She wouldn't let us take pictures of her and the birthday pie.

Friday was Har's 35th. No cake, no pictures. Just he and I at the 007 movie and Target afterward. I love date nights - even if we have to wait for a birthday to get one.

Monday was John's 63rd. We had a cake with candles and even took pictures. Papa warmed his hands on all the candles...silly fella.

Christmas is coming...

Sunday night we went to my Dad's house to help decorate the Christmas tree...from Home Shopping Network, with ornaments...mostly from HSN. I'm sure the gifts my dad puts under the tree will be from HSN, too. He has a Christmas fetish. Although, Dedan said he'd be happy with the box the tree came in for Christmas. It was a nice night to have as a family and a very cool tree...even from HSN.

Grandpa Santa (as the kids call him) and my sweeties when our decorating work was done. I wish I could have captured the feel of the room with the roaring fire in the fireplace next to the beautiful tree, kids all wired from Grandpa's pizza, cookies, pie and hope for the coming Christmas. It was a lovely day!

Boot Camp Buzz

Today was yet another weigh in for Boot Camp, and the begining of the end. We only have two more weeks left in this session! Since I've been asked a few times about what we do and I'm trying to persuade my friends to do the next session I thought I'd tell you about today...and update you on my accomplishments.

Our hour went like this...

• one lap warm-up
• stretches
• 2 footed jump/squats across (side line to side line) the field
• "over the river" jumps
• jump/squats back across the field
• more "over the river" jumps
• 1 lap Indian run (Har warned me of these when he was in the Marines - ow!)
• up the stadium stairs across the bleachers and down, repeat until we've gone across
• stretches
• 1 more lap Indian run (double ow!)
• leg lifts
• one minute abs

This is why I'm cursing Melissa and/or Mandy during class. But the reason I love them the other 23 hours of the day...I lost 3 more pounds!!! That brings my total for five weeks to 13 pounds lost. WoooHoooo!

If I can do it then you could, too. Anyone want to join me in January?!

Satisfaction

Thanksgiving brought a plethora of family and friends who brought even more yummy food. It took more than one plate of all that good stuff to satisfy Har. I did pretty well even with all the tempting food around. My favorite is Aunt Boo's Stupid Spinach Salad (she named it), so I ate plenty of that. At today's weigh in I was pleasantly surprised that I lost more than anyone else and brought my total weight loss to 10 whopping pounds! I love Mandy and Melissa...of course, I can say that now while they're not here causing me pain & making me want to puke. During class I'm cursing them under my breath.

Hanging with the Hartungs

We (minus the working Har) met Amy, Al and the kids at Downtown Disney last Wednesday. We hadn't seen them since last Christmas '07 and they won't be back out for a while :-( Highlights from our day...

• Surprising Caitlyn while she was innocently doing some Christmas shopping ("Excuse me. Do you know where the bathroom is?")
• Emma enjoyed helping Caitlyn (her BFF) spend her savings at Build-a-Bear making a penguin which they named Cemmalyn (a combo of both their names).
• Amy and I fell victim to the cuteness of Calleya & her affection for elephants, and spent $10 each to buy her happiness.
• Allan pouted when he had to settle for chili in a bread bowl because they were out of clam chowder.
• The boys had a blast riding the tram to the parking lot and back with Uncle Allan
• Sweet Colby was just happy to be hanging out with Dedan.
• Taking fun pictures in front of the gigantic Christmas tree...Amy has all the good pix cuz my camera battery died.
• Finding out Amy is pregnant with Hartung #4, due next summer! Woohoo!

Seriously.

I have some fun pictures from a day with the Arizona Hartungs and from Thanksgiving, but when my mom came downstairs this morning dressed like this...

I was too distracted to post anything else.

She said she was just dressing up for decorating the tree and to annoy me. I think she would dress like this more often if I didn't live here. She was more concerned about having her picture taken with the curlers in her hair than this crazy outfit.

Disneyland Ditch Day

Our lovely Emma turned ELEVEN on Wednesday. We surprised the kids, pulled them out of school, and went to Disneyland for the first time in more than 4 years. Happy Birthday, Ems!

This was the first trip to Disneyland for Nash. We'd been talking up Mickey Mouse so much that we totally forgot about Nash's obsession with Toy Story. We'd been there for less than 10 minutes when Buzz Lightyear walked across our path. Nash froze and his mouth dropped open. If you know Nash then you know holding still is very unusual for him. Even after Nash composed himself enough to walk over to Buzz for a picture he couldn't stop staring (center below). It was a great start to an amazing day: perfect weather, no real lines to wait in, and we continued my favorite family tradition of having the kids silhouettes done (I think the one below is beautiful). I like this picture (Har & I don't often get our picture together), but Har thinks there's too much orange hat. That orange hat made it real easy to find him all day though!

Less than 2 minutes after we hooked Nash in his car seat....

Playing Catch Up!

We've been so busy - good busy - the last few weeks that I haven't had more than a few minutes to sit down in front of the computer let alone accomplish any blogging. Here's a quick peek at our afternoon with my bro, James, his wife, Jess, and baby Riley. The boys got Uncle James to watch Journey To The Center Of The Earth in 3-D...for about 5 minutes. Grandpa was a huge hit with Riley. Gotta love anyone who looks like Santa, right?

I've got lots more blogging to catch up on...stay tuned!

SHUT! UP!

I had my week 2 weigh in this morning. I was not very hopeful, because I worked out less this week and wasn't as good at counting my calories. And yet...I lost four more pounds! I wonder what would've happened if I'd been better! So this week (being the week before Thanksgiving with all the yummy food) I am on my best behavior. Maybe I won't dread getting on the scale next Monday morning. In the words of London Tipton, "Yay, me!"

3 lbs = iPod shuffle

Week one of my training with Melissa and Mandy's Boot Camp Challenge is over. I worked out 6 days, averaged eating about 1400 calories daily, and I lost THREE POUNDS! I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!! They had a prize for the person who lost the most weight. Three of us tied at 3 lbs, so they did a drawing and I won the prize this week - this brand new iPod Shuffle! Sweet! Stay tuned for more progress reports.

Halloween Highlights

First, thank you to everyone who voted for Emma's costume. Wednesday Addams won by a bigger margin than Obama vs. McCain. But the combination of not being able to find the right outfit and the will of a 10 year old resulted in the punker outift. She never listens to me either when she asks for my help picking out clothes.

Emma as a punker (plays her part), Dedan as Luke Skywalker, and Nash as Mater (from the movie CARS for anyone without small kids) just before we went Trick-or-treating in Vista/O'side.
Rachel went Trick-or-treating with us while Har worked at the mostly annual Hartung Spook Alley. The ever bossy Nash quickly had her working for him. As he'd walk away from the door he would hand one of us his pumpkin then put his hands up and look at Rachel. Her job was to put him back in his stroller - walking is a lot of work - for the stroll to the next house...and more candy. Good thing she thinks you're cute, kid. This is my favorite picture from the night. Emma took it when Dedan fell asleep in the back of the van at the drive thru for some yummy rolled tacos...and this was before the time changed. Cutest Luke Skywalker ever.
The crazy Hartung boys decided to do the Spook Alley on Saturday also, but they lost some of their workers. Emma, who would NOT go through it the night before, volunteered to be a zombie in a grave. Creepy, huh? If you live nearby and missed the spookiness, I would highly recommend making it part of your Halloween next year.