P90X-Week 1 Complete!

Emily and I started a workout program last Sunday called P90X. The name stands for Power 90 Extreme and it is 90 days of some of the most hard core exercise I've ever done. Em heard about it through a family friend in Crossett that has been doing it and is apparently getting major results. She has been talking about if for a few months but I was resistant to it at first because I didn't want us to spend the money on something that was just going to sit in the closet. After all, we all know how my Bowflex quickly became the Noflex! Not to mention, it's six days a week for at least an hour and, last time I checked, we have other stuff going on, like jobs, sleeping, breathing, etc. So when were we gonna have time to do it? But Em was pretty persistent and seemed really motivated so after some deliberation we ordered it online. I never really planned on doing it because I work out fairly regularly with a friend, but when we got it in the mail, I was pretty impressed. It's very high quality stuff. Guides, books, charts, "how-to's", recipes, workouts, DVDs... everything we would need to get started from an information standpoint. It's all home exercise so all we need is dumbells, bands, and a pull-up bar. We already had the bar and bands, so we just picked up some dumbells. After reading through everything with Em that first night, I got kind of excited too and we decided to do it together. Quite a committment, but a great way to keep each other motivated. We're following it to a T as much as we can, the workouts for sure. We're kind of doing our own thing on the nutrition side, but eating healthy and feeling great. Last Sunday was day 1 and we picked Saturdays as our "off" day. So yesterday we officially started week 2! I can honestly say that in a week's time, we both feel great and are already visibly noticing changes. The workouts are very intense, but in terms of time, we've just made it part of our daily routine and it hasn't been a big deal. We are both getting home each day, or getting up in the mornings, excited to pop in the next disc. Emily has been working really hard and is doing great. I'm really proud of her. I'm sharing this info, not to brag, but so that friends and family know what we're up to and can offer words of encouragement if they want. Every little bit counts. We'll keep you posted on our progress every now and then.

The Big 31

Thursday was my 31st birthday and I thought it would be a good idea to throw myself a party. I say I threw it, but Emily pretty much did everything. She prepped all the food and made the house look pretty. I had to do all the really hard stuff like make the the invitations and set up the Wii in the living room. The party was Saturday night at our house and I think we ended up having around 20-25 people. I had a blast and I hope everyone else did too. We grilled burgers, visited with friends, and played Rock Band and Wii Tennis til the cows came home. It never ceases to amaze me how, even in a group of adults, if you break out those games everyone turns into a kid again. I got to see some childhood and college friends from out of town that I haven't seen in a long time and it was a great chance for them to meet some of my Longview friends. Em and I are really lucky to have so many great friends and I wanted to share some of our fun with everyone. Enjoy the pics!

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Em and I went to Atlanta over the 4th of July weekend to see Hudson, Melissa, Olivia, Maxwell, and to our surprise, Abigail! The doctors said she wasn't due until sometime this week, but apparently she had other plans. Baby Abigail "Graced" us with her presence (sorry, I couldn't resist) around 3:17 am on July 4th, 2008. Hudson picked me and Em up at the airport and took us straight to the hospital. We hung out there for a little while before he took us and the kids back to their house. After a 2 hour nap, Hudson went back to the hospital and we wouldn't see him, Mel, or Abigail for another 24 hours or so. That's when the fun began. We took Maxwell and Olivia to see WALL-E, which was pretty cute in a "political comment on the sad state of humanity disguised as an animated kids movie" sort of way. Then we went to Chic-Fil-A for dinner and headed home to play Wii, where Maxwell proceeded to destroy everyone in bowling! This kicked off a weekend full of playing Wii and resulted in the question of the year, which was most definitely "Adam, can we play the Wii?" If there is a world record for the number of times that question gets asked in a 3-day time span, Olivia and Maxwell SHATTERED it! It actually worked out great for me though, because most of the time they wanted to watch me play instead of play themselves. Who knew? It was cloudy and kind of rainy most of the time we were there, but we got a little sunshine and Emily and I had really been looking forward to taking the kids to the pool. I almost fainted when we said "hey let's go to the pool" and the response was "Noooo! We want to play Wii!" We practically had to beg them to go swimming!

I know this post is long, but we had so much fun and there's so much to say. So from here on out, I'll try to summarize everything else we did and then explain the reasoning for the title of this post. We hung out, watched TV, played Wii, ate ribs that Hudson made on the Big Green Egg, swam a few times, played more Wii, went to Dick's Sporting Goods and Marble Slab, looked at baby Abigail, ate watermelon, held baby Abigail, played some more Wii, did sparklers and snappy-pops (well, some of us did), looked at baby Abigail some more, and got pounced on very early every morning by two crazy kids! Oh, and did I mention we played Wii? So during all of this activity, when you're with Maxwell and Olivia, you're bound to hear some funny stuff. I thought I'd share a few comments that made me laugh. I already mentioned the question of the year... well, the quote of the century was when Emily was working on Abigail's letters. She was sketching the design on a piece of paper and there were these little paisly, swirly things. Olivia walked up and said, "That looks like germs." That made me laugh very hard and I wrote it down right then so I wouldn't forget it. Another good one was when we were at Chic-Fil-A. Maxwell really wanted a brownie with ice cream for dessert. Well, his brownie was probably big enough to satisfy all four of our sweet toothes (Or is it teeth?). He gets about halfway through the ice cream and is full, turns to me and says, "Adam, I think next time I'll just get the brownie without the ice cream." Hilarious. And last but not least, we're sitting at the table eating ribs and somehow get on the subject of eating meat. Olivia makes a comment about being a carnivore. I asked her if she knew what that meant. Big mistake. She replies, "Yes, a carnivore is someone that eats meat." I told her I was impressed and she said, very matter-of-factly, "I learned that in pre-k." I'm sure there were many other comedic moments, but this is getting ridiculously long so I'll leave any others to Mel.

We had such a wonderful time in Atlanta. Hudson and Melissa have 3 beautiful children. Olivia and Maxwell are so well behaved and so much fun. Maxwell has such a sweet heart. I've never seen a 5-year old that thinks so much of others before himself. And Olivia is so smart that it's almost hard to believe. They are going to be such good examples for Abigail to look up to as she gets older. Thank you guys so much for having us. We can't wait to see you at the beach!!!

He's trying so hard!