Drastic times call for drastic measures right? Two weeks left!

Sooooooooooooo, we're on week 23 of this 24 week challenge and Big 'D' is #16 on the leader board. For close to six months Darrin has steadily been losing on average 2.5 pounds a week and has lost over 15% of his body weight.This is very realistic! The current #1 on the leader board has lost over 29% of his body weight. Holy. Cow. Now, we have no idea how much this person weighed at the beginning. Lets just say he weighed in at 350 pounds. He would've had to lose approx 102 pounds by last month to be at that weight loss. That's an average 5.1 pounds a week. And who knows what number he will pull at the last weigh in. What in the heck is this guy doing?? Ok, so come on everyone..... We all know that he is probably doing something pretty drastic right? And that's ok, we knew that drastic times call for drastic measures. We knew that Darrin would be going up against some big dudes and up against some pretty drastic measures. Some how, in the beginning, we thought we were going to be able to pull out our own drastic measures, but we learned early on in this game that Darrin's busy daddy/student/nurse schedule wasn't going to allow it. We both came to terms with that reality and we learned to be happy and excited for his steady 2.5 pounds a week loss.

Now, we know that we can't even come close to this #1 guy on the leader board; BUT, we do know that he is only 3.3% away from the top 10 and only 1.4% from the top 15. What did we say? Drastic times call for drastic measures right?? Oh yeah! Darrin's been hit with doses of reality for the last 22 weeks, and we have been very grateful for everything he has learned on this journey, but he wants to hit reality where it hurts, and he's gonna pull a drastic measure out of this sleeves. He wants to be in the top 10 and he'll take the top 15. I think he deserves to be in the top 10! He has worked so hard, and he deserves a prize! We'll come back to reality in a couple weeks. We like reality, but let's just have some fun. Will he do it? We know he CAN, let's see if he WILL!

Here are just a few pictures we have missed posting. Besides our CSI obstacle/ropes course, in the last four weeks, our family physical activities have included hiking the Centennial canyon and Dierke's lake trails, quite a few family walks, some mommy/Tommye jogs, and some more volley-tennis (as it is a Tommye-Lynn/Brylee favorite). We have come to thrive off of our family activities. It's something we never took time for before this family challenge, and now we can't live without it. What amazing memories we are making with our children. I personally discovered that I thoroughly enjoy trail running! There isn't much to offer here in Twin Falls (unless someone can show me otherwise), but I did find the canyon trail to invigorating to run! I've added this in to my own routine and will hit this trail at least once a week. :) I wish I had more pictures!

And I am so proud of our new healthier eating habits! In our minds we have already come out on top in this challenge, we are already winners! Tonight we even got to eat some of our broccoli! I was surprised how much I liked it because it looked quite a bit different than what we buy at the store, so me and Brylee were hesitant, but pleasantly surprised! Brylee kept asking for more and kept repeating "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm eating broccoli from our garden, oh my gosh. I love it, I love it!"  What an awesome reaction from my five year old!! Six months ago, she wouldn't even have tried the broccoli because of the way it looked. Wahoo, success! Tommye will have to taste the next batch, she is at her cousins house for a couple days and missed out on the actual consumption.

Tommye-Lynn and her cousins harvesting our first ready vegetables from our container garden.

My girls now will just about anything a taste now! Yay! If they can open their minds to new and healthier tastes, that right there is half the battle. We had a salad dressing taste test that didn't go over so well, they are going to stick to there ranch and their italian dressing, and that's ok with me.

Bryee enjoying.....wait....drum roll......AVACADOS!

Tommye actually came home from school asking for a cucumber snack, and then Brylee joined in! Disclaimer...cucumbers must be peeled or it is a no-go. I'm willing to let them be a little picky, and choosing my battles.

Italian dressing and ranch will be it for now. We'll let there taste buds grow up a little.

Okay, here we go! Two more weeks till the rest of our lives!! GO BIG 'D'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!