the difference 15 lbs can make.

I'm trying to be brave here...I wanted to show you the difference 15 pounds makes.

                            JULY 2011                                                             NOVEMBER 2011

I'm really proud of myself...losing this weight has been extremely difficult, but so worth it. The thing I want to stress though, is that I'm doing this to feel healthy. I'm not doing this to get rock hard abs, or become a world class runner...I'm doing this because I feel better. My acid reflux has become barely noticeable, I don't have a little belly roll, and I just feel better about myself. Through it all, I've discovered that I can do anything if I dedicate myself to it. 

The reason I'm posting this is because I have about 10 more pounds to go and I've plateaued. I can't seem to get below what I'm at now, so I wanted to post this to motivate myself to keep going. 

Any words of advice or encouragement would be greatly appreciated!

Surgery

Nov. 22nd - Surgery Day!

8:45 - check in/sign forms/pay bills
9:05 - bathroom run
9:10 - walk to pre-op room and get all pre-op-y
9:15 - chat with the really friendly nurse and joke about Thanksgiving dinner.
9:30 - get IV and nearly pass out.
9:35 - surgeon meets with us and reviews procedure. Writes "YES" with a sharpie on the knee with the torn ACL. (they really do that!)

10:00 - walks to operating room, kisses wife goodbye.
10:15 - wife sits in waiting room nervously.
10:18 - wife busts out the yarn and crochet hook and finishes up a scarf while watching a movie on her iPod.
10:35 - nice lady brings a basket with yummy treats to wife (who is hungry, but too nervous to leave the waiting room in case something goes terribly wrong.)
11:15 - wife checks the clock every 30 seconds wondering what is taking so long.
11:30 - surgeon calls wife back and informs her the surgery was a success, and he should wake up within 30-45 minutes.
11:45 - wife moves to post-op waiting room and for a nurse to take her back.
12:30 - still no news. wife reads a magazine in the waiting room from March 2004.
1:30 - wife is getting really nervous...what is taking so long?
2:00 - nurse gets wife, brings her to husband.
2:05 - husband is totally out of it and looks green.
2:15 - wife makes sure husband is okay, then leaves to get a quick lunch from the cafeteria.
2:30 - husband is still okay, meets with the physical therapist.
2:32 - husband throws up; physical therapist leaves.
2:33 - nurse administers Zofran; husband feels better.
3:15 - husband is released, wheeled out to car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So now you know how our day went! Morgan doesn't remember most of it...he was pretty loopy! We were both very impressed with the hospital and their staff...everyone was so accommodating and very friendly. :) I highly recommend TOSH (The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital) for anyone needing orthopedic care. I also highly recommend the cafeteria in the hospital. The food was soooo good.

want to know what's funny? this was taken before surgery and before any drugs were administered. That just shows you how out of it he really was all day. ;)

It's the most wonderful time of the year

This is what we do in our free time.

Happy Birthday!

Morgan's birthday was on Nov. 2nd, and we celebrated by meeting with an orthopedic surgeon and not spending money! Morgan got a yummy caramel apple from Kneader's as his present (it sounds lame until you've tried one. They are to die for.) and we went to Red Robin for dinner because we had a coupon for a free burger. I made Raspberry cobbler instead of a cake and we loved it! When I put the candles in however, the ends that were in the cobbler melted before we had a chance to blow them out (gross!) so I plunked down a tea light instead. So resourceful! ;)

You make 27 look good babe!

ACL Update

This is what my honey looked like last Monday after he tore his ACL. He was so sad.

  I will tell you now, this was a very forced smile. I was not very happy at the time. In fact, I'm pretty sure we both cried on the way home.

Thanks Nikki for the photos...I stole these off your facebook page!

We went to an orthopedic specialist two days later, who basically told us what we already knew...Morgan had an isolated ACL tear and would need surgery if he ever wanted to be athletic again. JOY! The good thing, it wasn't an emergent situation, so we had time to figure out our finances and schedules and see when would be a good time to get the surgery. We debated between several different options, but we eventually decided the sooner, the better. We are scheduled for ACL reconstructive surgery on Nov. 22nd. 

FUN!

Halloween: Treats, then tricks.

Halloween was really fun this year, until about 7:30pm.

Morgan and I went trick or treating with Becky & Jordan and their beautiful children at the local shopping center...it was fun but CRAZY! Good thing I'm not terribly claustrophobic, because there were swarms of people pushing us in every direction. We saw some pretty cute costumes though...lots and lots of Angry Birds! :)

We dressed up as a cowgirl and a pirate...thank you Dollar Tree for $1.00 costumes!

Morgan left early to play in his intramural championship game while I stayed to pass out candy with some of my girlfriends. Here we all are...I love Lindsay's Kangaroo costume! 

(thanks for the picture Heidi!)

Brynn's costume was so adorable...she had the best lion outfit I've ever seen! She graciously allowed me to take a picture with her. (After I bribed here with candy!)

Our amazing pumpkins...I did the ghosts and Morgan did the haunted house. Pretty impressive, eh?

After passing out almost all of our candy to our cute trick-or-treaters, I packed up and went inside (because we live in stairwells, it's safer and easier if we set up tables outside and the kids walk around on the sidewalks). About 2 seconds after getting back to my apartment, my phone rings. It's Morgan. I think, oh no. He lost the game...he's going to be so sad! I picked up and sure enough, he sounded depressed. 

Cate: "Did you lose? I'm sorry honey!"

Morgan: "No, we're still playing. But I'm pretty sure I tore my ACL, and I'm going to need surgery."

*silence*

Morgan: "I'm okay though, I want to watch the rest of the game, but I thought I should call you and let you know."

*silence*

Cate: WHAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTT?????????????????????????????????

After a somewhat confusing and heated conversation (he told me to stay home and he'd come back after the game was done), I asked my friend (thank you Brooke!) to take me to the intramural field. When I got there, Morgan was laying on the ground bandaged up, intently watching the game. He explained what happened, and I decided it was a REALLY good thing I wasn't there when it all went down. Apparently he was thrashing about on the ground screaming the whole time. 

On the bright side, his intramural team was made up of his entire Physical Therapy class, so they knew how to fix him up! Everyone was SO nice and helpful and nice. Brian and Ryan helped us home and even stole a pair of crutches from the PT building. We didn't feel that bad, considering the amount of tuition we pay! ;)

Morgan didn't want to go to the doctor last night because there wouldn't be much they could do besides give a referral. I took him to school today and he is hopefully finding out what to do next from his professors. I'll keep you posted on what's going on.

Fall Festivities

Last week we got together with some of our Sheffer siblings and had a blast at Cornbelly's Halloween Festival, over at Thanksgiving Point. There was so much to do! I thought we might be a little bored just because we don't have children yet...but I was wrong. Morgan and I ran around like five-year-olds! Here are a few photos from our adventure.

(Be sure to scroll to the end, because there is a hilarious video of me riding a bouncy-horse. You won't be disappointed.)

The cow-train...so fun!

After we took the picture, our niece pointed out that I posed in the man spot, and Morgan in the girl spot! Lol

That's better. :)

Me and Isaac. 

They even had rubber-ducky races!

Don't you love my face? 

How you doin'?

aww

eating corn in the corn maze.

This was Morgan's attempt at the alien from the movie Signs.

And probably the BEST part of the day...the bouncing horses! Watch it...I promise you will finish it laughing at me.

Told ya.

bow chica wow-wow

New hair:

Lovey-dovey

Morgan and I went on a weekend getaway to the Aspen Grove marriage retreat! (It's the BYU alumni resort where they do family camps and marriage retreats...such a wonderful and beautiful place!) To change things up, I thought I would have Morgan sum things up...which is nice because most of the time, I don't think he even knows we have a blog! ;)

Morgan:  On the contrary! Our blog is my home page right next to ESPN and Pinterest (jk on the last one). The retreat truly was a great experience though. We arrived a little early and just enjoyed the gorgeous mountains and some of the activities they had to do around the grounds. As you can see below, we became instant professionals in shuffleboard (we just made up our own rules because we didn't really know what we were doing) and even had a quick round of mini-golf. Along with great food and fun activities, a key-note speaker named Brother Brinley gave some excellent seminars about including the gospel in our marriage. It was a very deep discussion about the role our marriage has in the plan of salvation and our true potential as husband and wife. It made me love my sweet Cate all the more and we had a wonderful spiritual discussion between the two of us following the lecture. The temple is a special place and is absolutely crucial to achieving our potential and we should never settle for anything less than what Heavenly Father has in store for us because He is willing to give us so much. The next morning we walked around and debated participating in the ropes course until we both realized we'd probably die on it. We drove through the famous Alpine Loop and really enjoyed the fall colors (or as much color as I can see being colorblind). It was really a great and wonderful weekend.

and of course...a little video!

Sheesh.

I'm just going to come out and say it. 

Having thin walls in student housing with newlywed neighbors is just awkward.

That is all.

Cabin trip!

This week was Fall break for the University of Utah students, so we went to an amazing cabin with some friends! Don't ask me where it is though, because I have no idea. Somewhere after Evanston...it was such a beautiful drive! On our first morning there, we looked out the window and saw three moose within 20ft of the porch! It was my first moose sighting and I must say I was impressed. I was also terrified...I've heard too many horror stories to want to encounter one in real life. Let's just say I admired them from the second story deck. ;)

Playing with Sophie on our first morning.

Relaxing with the kids...and listening to Maylee's amazing harmonica skills! (lol)

right after 4-wheeling!

Sitting around the campfire and making s'mores! Don't be fooled...I was actually TERRIFIED during this picture. The moose were still hanging out about 15ft from the campfire, and although everyone seemed confident they wouldn't bother us, I did NOT want to be out there with them.

The whole group (minus the two babies). We had so much fun! It was a much needed vacation. We love you Tams and Woods!

Old Soul

Sometimes I feel like an old soul. Strike that. I always feel like an old soul.

I am sitting at my desk wrapped in a shawl, sipping mint hot chocolate, and listening to Enya. I have cookbooks scattered around my kitchen counter, various knit & crochet projects strewn about my living room, and the heat cranked up. 

And I love it.

Conference Weekend Drive

My heart is full this weekend.

I've heard wonderful talks from God's prophet and apostles, and other leaders of the church.

I've had my testimony strengthened. 

I cuddled with my husband. We ate yummy food. We might have kissed a little too. ;)

In between sessions on Sunday, we went on a drive through Emigration Canyon...it was beautiful! I was amazed at the beauty that is all around us. I love just taking our point-and-shoot camera and not caring about the quality of the pictures and instead focusing on having fun. Even when life seems unbearable, I'm reminded how lucky we are to be on this earth and how many blessings we have.

And as a side note...

I'VE LOST TEN POUNDS!