Myrtle Beach Vacation

We hadn't gone on vacation as a family since 2011.  My nephew didn't exist then, my sister wasn't even married, and Dave wasn't diagnosed with cancer yet.

We drove from Pittsburgh to Myrtle.  Dave and I were in one car, then my parents in another, then Missy, Rob, and Owen in theirs.  My parents and Dave and I, decided to stop halfway through at a hotel.  Missy and Rob drove all through the night and got there at 5 am!  This was their sunrise selfie.

We went golfing when we were in Myrtle.

Then there's Owen and Dave relaxing in the car.

The merry-go-round

Crazy drummers

Right before we went out to dinner the one night,

On the last day, I took some photos from our balcony.

Then, last day photos on the beach.

It was a great week that went way too fast!!!

On the way home, we pass New River Gorge in West Virginia.  Dave and I decided to stop at take some photos at the overlooks.  It was amazing!  I actually just went there for a girls weekend, last weekend, but I'll show you those photos later.

It was so hard getting us both in a photo and trying to get the bridge in teh background.  I don't know what I was doing that I was making myself look taller either.

Then we ended the vacation with Sarris Chocolate Factory milkshakes!

Sam :-)

My Birthday and Dave's Family in Town

Dave's family came to visit about the 2nd week in July.  We had a great time, and they were here for my birthday, July 10th.

Everyone was so sweet on my birthday.  We went out to breakfast.  I got all sorts of cool things for my birthday.  I got new soccer shorts, a Team USA women's soccer jersey, a new hair straightener, and yoga gear!

After breakfast we went to Kennywood!  Kennywood is a local amusement park that I haven't been to in a long while.

The lines actually were not that long because we went on a Thursday.

We rode a ton of rides!

I'm not very good at taking pictures at Kennywood because you are constantly moving and doing stuff.  We actually went to our local water park, Sandcastle, the day before my birthday, but I have zero pictures from that day.

The day after my birthday we went shopping,

then rock climbing!

Dave then pretended to climb.

There was a mat involved in the above picture for someone to be taller! :-)

We managed to cram a lot in a week and it was a blast!!

PS.  The pups got really tired from all of the excitement.

We originally made up this little "bed" for my nephew, Owen, to try and nap during my birthday party.  He never used it, but my pups decided it was comfortable.

Next up, vacation photos!

Sam <3

Since the 4th of July?

I was trying to figure out where I left off with blogging.  The oldest thing I have on my camera that I had wanted to share was the 4th of July.  So, why not?

Dave and I went to an area of Pittsburgh called the North Shore (its the north shore of the rivers) for the 4th of July.  They have all sorts of cool stuff going on.

They had boat races during the day!  These boats go really fast!

There were tons of vendors with good food!

There were a ton of people and the city looked amazing when it got dark.

Heinz Field (the stadium where the Pittsburgh Steelers play) was right behind us and had tons of lights around it.

Finally we were ready for fireworks!

It was a really great 4th!  I love fireworks and they put on a really good show!  There were so many people down there that we hung out in the casino for 2 hours after the fireworks and we still sat in traffic to get home!

Tomorrow, I'll show you some photos from when Dave's family was in town and my birthday!

Current news though, Dave had his 6 month scan last week.  Yesterday the doctor told us that it was clean!  Still no cancer!  Next scan will be in November!

Sam :-)

Fitness

On Monday June 16th my sister and I decided to make some small goals for one week.  We had already not finished 2 different 30 day challenges.  On the first week our goals were:

• No pop
• No candy
• No fast food
• Exercise 2 times no including our soccer games
• Log food/exercise

It felt great to finally try and do something whole heartedly about the weight I gained since Dave first got sick.  I didn't gain quickly, it happened so slow over the past 2 1/2 years that it was hard to notice.  At my highest, when I weighed in on that Monday I had almost gained 30lbs!  So my starting weight that day was 177 and my goal where I felt good and happy is at about 150.

The app my sister and I have been using is LoseIt.  I have been logging everything I eat and all of the exercise that I do.  There are a lot of similar apps and they are all very comparable.  We really chose LoseIt because my family has used it before.

After 3 weeks of short term goals each week I'm down 9lbs.  I'm just excited to see progress.  It makes me so happy and determined to keep going.

I've added yoga a few nights a week to my 1-2 days of soccer.  My sister, my friend Candice and I have decided to try a couple challenges.  We are keeping each other motivated.  The ones we chose are a squat challenge and an Ab challenge.

The ab challenge is from back in February, hence the cupid and hearts and such.

It feels good to be getting back to my active self.  Dave and I went to hit golf balls at a local driving range.  Dave wanted to see if it would hurt his stomach (5 surgeries in 2 1/2 years leaves some tummy pain) to swing a golf club.  He took it easy and did very well.  I think we can go golfing on vacation!  He said he thinks he hit it straighter because he wasn't trying to hit the ball super hard.  The day was beautiful and hot!  I got sunburn from 1 hour there.

The view wasn't too shabby either!  You can see the city in the distance.

Last week, my boss set it up so that my group volunteered in the morning on the 3rd.  That way we could eat lunch together and then get out early for the 4th of July holiday.  We were cleaning up the road near our corporate office.  If I've never mentioned it before, I work with Heather from Amarylis Musings.

We walked a whole bunch that morning and it was hot.  I was a sweaty mess.  Our company has a big partnership with the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team.  So the Pirate Parrot came to visit, help, and film a video.

Heather and I helped him put on a safety vest.  He was a good sport!

Just to keep myself accountable, here's a photo of myself today that Heather just took.

It's not quite where I want to be, but I'll get there!

I don't know if I'll ever get back to this, but this is me rock climbing back right around when Dave and I first met 6 years ago.

Notice how fast I pass up the small child to my right haha

Sam :-)