New pics and updates

This evening my lovely sister called me and chewed me out because I haven't posted any new pics or weight updates in a few weeks. She really made me feel bad! She said I disappointed her! So as all good big sisters do I decided to give her what she wanted. But what do I see when I log in????? No new posts period! Nothing from her in a week or so either! What a hypocrite, huh?? But I will take the high road and I won't make a big deal about it or even say anything to her. Sometimes you need to know how to pick your battles. ;) Anyhow...I have been so swamped with work stuff and kid stuff and sister stuff the last couple of weeks that I have not even taken a look at the blog. The good thing is that I have still continued to lose weight and even dropped another pant size! Below are new pics of me at 240lbs. As of this morning, though, I am at 237lbs. :)

On the road again...

Well, the Houston part of my trip is over. It was really, really good to see everyone, and I had a really good time in New Braunfels with my uncle, aunt and cousins. Now I'm in the Dallas area, staying with Word's parents and seeing people I haven't seen in years :)

Haven't posted any updates in a while, so I thought I'd get something up now.

Weight: 222.4

It's been really good seeing everyone, but I really miss Colorado! I can't wait to get up there and get back into my routine. I never thought I'd see the day when I, Miranda Fairman, enjoyed routine, but I guess it's what makes the time go by faster and makes me feel like I'll see my honey sooner. Plus I really miss the gym :)

Back home

I'm in Houston! It's great to see my family :) When I walked into the house lastnight I couldn't believe how different Shalena looked! Wow.

I forgot to post my weigh in for Wednesday. Officially my weight for this week was:

224.4

But I'm not discouraged, I know it's water weight. One of the lovely monthly benefits of being a woman ;)

Tackling Waterfalls

When I typed the titled I heard "Waterfalls" by TLC in my head :)

This weekend I revisited my current favorite spot in Colorado Springs- Helen Hunt Falls. It's only about 12 minutes away from my house and it's free to go, so I love to drive up there and sit by the falls and read. It is very peaceful- usually- until the summer tourists show up starting in late May. I haven't been up there too much this summer because I've been very busy doing schoolwork (which is almost done!), but I decided to go on Saturday and use hiking to the top as my workout.

When we first moved to Colorado I went on a photography "expedition" through Colorado Springs with the Outdoor Recreation Center on post. The guide took us to a few places in Colorado Springs to take pictures, taught us how to shoot landscapes. When we got to Helen Hunt falls I fell in love, but when we started hiking up to the second waterfall and I could barely breathe halfway up the 1/3 mi hike, I lost my affection and just wanted to get back to a normal elevation- like below sea level...

I haven't tried to go to the top since then because the falls quickly froze after my first trip up there last year, but since it was a beautiful day on Saturday and there were no rainclouds, I took a couple of friends and finally hiked to the second fall. The view from the top was amazing, but honestly not too different from what I saw the first time I went up and didn't make it to the top! But, the exciting part is that I climbed without getting tired, and when I got to the top I wasn't even breathing hard! I know that I'm acclimated to the altitude now, but that's only part of it. I wouldn't have been able to get up so easily a couple of months ago :) Yay!

My Family Readiness Group (FRG is a team of volunteers that assist spouses of deployed soldiers with information regarding their soldiers and act as liasons between spouses and the unit) is joining the Pikes Peak Challenge this fall. It's a fundraising event for traumatic brain injury research and care, and participants hike up to the top of Pikes Peak. I'm really excited because I wanted to hike Pikes Peak this summer anyway, but now I have people that are going to train to do it, too :) It's funny because when they were talking about the event at the FRG meeting they were treating it like "just a 13 mile hike." But, man, that's a 7510 ft elevation gain, and it will take at least 8-10 hours to get from the trailhead to the summit. That's not just any 13 mile hike...