Family visits Phoenix for Christmas

Scott, Sema, and Shiho came out the day after Christmas to spend some time with us. We opened more presents together and played the Wii Fit alot. We also had a few tennis, bowling, and boxing matches. Rylan kicked butt on bowling with the highest score and had KO's against everyone in boxing!
We took them out to our usual spot, Sol Y Sombra and Armitage in Scottsdale. Shiho had never been and its beautiful to see all the lights from up there. We really didn't feel like clubbing so this was a better option.

Merry Christmas!!

Tanner woke up around 7am blasted through our doors and whispered in my ear with a big grin, "Mama, mama, wake up Santa came last night!" Now first of all Tanner found out that Santa wasn't real and we confirmed it. But he has a part of him that still believes a little bit I guess. This year all the presents that came from Santa were unwrapped by the tree. He said that he figured it out last year cause they were wrapped in the same paper as the others and the handwriting looked like ours. OOPS! There were no tears or mental breakdowns when he found out, didn't seem to bother him.
When Tanner came in we told him it was early and Rylan wasn't even up yet and we would get up when he did. Tanner raced back into his bedroom to wake up Rylan and we heard, "Rylan, come on...look Santa came, look at all your presents, hurry!" After Rylan was dragged out of bed, he ran into the living room to see what was out there. "Wow, Tanner this is awesome, so cool. Wow look at this, yeah, Santa came, Santa came!" Now they both run in our room as Chad and I have been listening to all the excitement laughing at their remarks. It was classic.
We logged onto Skype with Chad's brother and began to open our presents together.
It took us quite a bit longer. We open one at a time and if its a toy for the boys we take it out of the box and put it together for them before we move on. Unless its a big Mega blocks knight castle that took Chad 2 hours to assemble for Tanner.
Tanner got a zillion books, clothes, psp game, Wii games, puzzles, and fun toys. Rylan got pretty much the same except Santa brought him a Nintendo DS. What Santa didn't know is that this was going to be pretty hard for a 4 yr old to play if he can't read yet. Maybe in a year or so, he can play it with no help. He and Tanner will share their little hand held games. The PsP is much easier to play for Rylan.
Throughout the day we just relaxed in our comfy clothes and listened to Christmas music, helped the boys with all their games and toys, put together puzzles, read some books, talked to family on skype, and watched a little basketball. It was so nice and peaceful. We didn't have anyone over and did not go anywhere. It was too cold and rainy anyway. Chad got me a pink Cardinals jersey and tickets to the first playoff game next weekend. The whole family will be making a trip to the University of Phoenix Stadium in their new Cardinals gear to cheer them on. It would be so awesome if they pulled a win off.
I won an authentic signed John Elway framed picture from a Toys for Tots auction. Donated to children and scored with my husband. He said receiving this gift was almost as good as sex...hummm. HaHa! Yes, he loved it!
We spent the evening playing the Wii fit. Chad rarely works out, his BMI was high, he was overweight, and had really good balance. His Wii fit age was 24. Whatever. I work out all the time, have horrible balance, was in perfect weight/BMI shape, and my Wii fit age is 42. Chad laughed his butt off. Tanner had a wii fit age of 28 and Rylans was 29. We had to help Ry with some of the balance stuff, but he did a pretty good job. We all trained for a while to get used to some of the games.

Tanner played his PSP John Madden football 2009 game for most of the afternoon while wearing his Steve Nash jersey that he absolutely loved! Rylan was totally involved with his Space shuttle blasting it off into space and fighting the aliens.

Merry Christmas Eve

Finally...Santa is coming to our house tonight. We looked on line to track him and see where he was. The boys are overjoyed & bouncing off the wall with excitement. They could barely contain themselves when we took off our last ring. The last four years we started a new Tomasso tradition of making rings or "links" so the boys would know how many days it would be till Christmas. We have a little picture we drew of a Christmas tree that Tanner decorated when he was 4 yrs old. This year Rylan signed his name and 2008 at the bottom. The children are off to bed and the cookies have been laid out for the jolly Saint Nick.
This is the first year since moving here that we have not had family in town or gone anywhere. A Christmas all by ourselves. Could be nice. Possibly a little sad. Well thank goodness we have skype video conferencing. We already opened a couple presents with my parents the other day and saw family that was over tonight for dinner. Its always so nice to see everyone. But it makes me sad that we can't be there for the festivities.
The boys have been out of school all week. Chad now works from home which is nice. He did take the whole week off except for today. They boys have been spending some quality time with their dad going around town shopping, out to lunch, visiting the Arizona Science Center and logging in plenty of video game time. I have been working these last few days which were my days off so I could take off after Christmas when Scott and Sema will be here. We went to the Christmas Eve service with a co-worker and here husband tonight and it was awesome! Lots of great music and reminder of what this time of the year is really about. Since we didn't have anyone coming to our house this year, I wasn't planning on doing a big dinner. So after the service we went out for...yep...Chinese food. We sang Jingle Bells just like in the Christmas Story movie. It was funny.

Early Christmas with Family

Since Chad's brother and wife were going back home for Christmas, they had us over for dinner and gift exchange today. As always Jill makes fabulous meals!
The boys just adore their little cousin Ethan. Tanner makes him laugh so hard and loves playing with him. I can't wait till little E gets bigger and they can really play together.
Tanner got a Star Wars Space ship and Rylan a Imaginex toy boat. As a joke they also gave us Billy Bob jacked up teeth. That was a big hit for the rest of the night.

Rylan's last soccer game

Its been a rough couple of months. The Rattlesnakes only scored one goal the entire season. Not one a game...one for the entire season. (did I already say that?) Now, they did score on themselves a couple of times, does that count. ahhh nope! Ry was doing pretty good there in the middle of the season, playing the best he could with the older kids. Then I think as the weather got cooler he was not into all that. He would pull himself out of the game again and take breaks. Today he didn't want to play at all. Of course we told him Santa was watching and if he played well and was nice there was a possibility that he would bring some presents. Worked like a charm! They gave out medals today. Rylan was sooo proud. And we were too.

Training for my first NPC Figure Show!

I have decided to do my a figure show. For real! I have been pretty wishy washy bout actually going through with it. With support from my hubby and a great trainer at the gym, I think I can pull it off.

I am not going to like the diet part. That is why it has been a challenge for me in the past. I love sweets, carbs, pasta, and anything fattening. I at least have some form of a cookie or dessert on a daily basis. To cut that out completely for 3 months might kill me. I think I eat somewhat healthy other than that.

Back in November when I decided that I would train for this I joined a new gym that was built by our house. Signed up for a nutritionist and a personal trainer. My body fat was 19% and I weighed in at 140lbs. I am at a healthy weight and body fat. Feeling pretty good about myself.

I got hooked up with the right people at the gym and they are giving me all kinds of great info on healthier eating tips and better ways to make my body transform into the shape it needs to be for show time.

Now its time to hunker down and get busy. I have to eat pretty clean during the week and only have cheat days on the weekends. Lots of protein, veggies, good carbs, while staying low on sugar and cutting out processed foods. Ohhh very challenging for me! I have to admit, I have been sneaking some chocolate in :-( I can't help myself.

This morning I measured in. 17% body fat. 116 lbs of lean weight, 22lbs of fat weight.

I am happy to see my numbers going down.

Do I have what it takes??

I hope so. I can't believe I am actually going to do this! ! After a long time of going back and forth in my mind, and encouragement from my husband, I have decided to compete in the March 28th NPC Max Muscle Figure Show(the day before my birthday!) that takes place in Mesa Arizona. Now this doesn’t mean I have to get all big and bulky like a body builder…that is the first thing people ask me. Its FIGURE. My muscles need to be defined and cut, but soft and smooth. I have to get a suit that I can floss my booty with however. I tried one on the other day and that was enough to make sure I get my butt in gear so I don’t embarrass myself on stage in front of friends and family.
I enjoy working out and am at the gym daily, sometimes twice a day. Most days I am at there by 5:30am weight training and doing cardio. I am on a pretty strict diet for the show and its only going to get worse. If you know me, you know that a diet is the hardest thing for me to follow. I love to eat sweets and carbs. I miss eating all those crap foods...for example one of my co-workers took out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (I had mixed veggies and chicken) and I almost started to cry! They all laughed at me and said, think big strong lean muscles, you don't need that stuff, eat your veggies instead!!! At least they are encouraging me to do the right thing. Since there was no way I could stay on track with all the goodies around the holidays I started after the first of the year. Since January 2nd I think I may have fallen off the wagon once at a baby shower. Otherwise I have been doing pretty darn well. I feel like all I do is eat. My whole day is pretty much planned around me stuffing my face with lean protein, meal replacements and veggies every 2-3 hours. Now that I am starting to see changes with my body it makes it easier for me to stick to it. I was told that in March I will have to cut out all carbs and I will be a monster to be around...we'll see what happens.
In middle of December when I first got measured, my starting weight was 139lbs & 18% body fat. Every month at the same time we’ll do it again. Since then my weight dropped to 134 and my body fat is now 15%. I lost 3lbs. of body fat! I also lost and gained inches in the all the right places. I still have a ways to go before the end of March. My trainer wants my body fat to be at 10% and mentioned that I could possibly weigh under 120lbs when its all said and done. Everyone seems to ask me…isn’t that unhealthy to be so low? Well kinda when the average is 20%, but to compete that is where I need to be. Its not like I will be there forever. When my show is over I am going out to party for my birthday, have a few drinks, and then head to Cold Stone for a gigantic chocolate covered waffle cone with the Oreo overload creation inside! Then I am sure to be real sick for the next day or two.
Stage presentation is everything. Soon I will be working with other women who have competed on how to pose and walk in my 4inch heels. This should be interesting. I have been told to practice daily and watch myself in the mirror.
Check back later and I will keep you posted on my progress.
To see me compete in the evening show, purchase tickets at http://www.npcmilesproductions.com/ticket_info.html

Putting up our Christmas tree

For the last 12 years we have had the same fake 7 ft Christmas tree. Last year while we were opening presents it took a nose dive onto our couch and broke in half. That tree was handed down from my parents who had if for lord knows how long. This year it was time to get a new one. Costco has awesome pre-light trees for a great price. I can't tell you how nice it was not to have to put lights on the tree. This puppy is a 9 ft tree that almost reaches the tippy top of our ceiling with our angle on top of it. We let Tanner and Rylan start the decorating ceremony.

Ahh the finished product...wait who are those two handsome boys?? I think they are waiting for Santa to come on his train. Yep, last year I got Chad his Polar Express Christmas train that he wanted for as long as I can remember. It has all the bells and whistles.

Here is our little Jack-Jack. I hope he is a good kitty and stays out of my tree. "I see you eye-ballin my tree mister" When we lived in Nebraska our two cats every Christmas would knock our tree over almost every other night. After the 3rd year of that, I nailed the sucker to the floor.