The Comparison

I think anyone that has ever been on a diet has a hard time seeing the weight loss. You get use to seeing yourself a certain way. Even though the numbers on the scale go down, and your clothes get looser, you still don't see it. So I had Colin put together a couple photos so we could do a side by side comparison. The photo on the left is us at our heaviest a couple years ago. The one on the right was taken this weekend. We still have more we want to lose, but it's nice to be able to see that our hard work is paying off.

A Father's Day Poem

Anyone that knows me (or reads this blog) knows how much my dad meant to me. I miss him on Father's Day, just like I do every day, and I can't help but be thankful for the 29 years I did have with him. I mentioned in a previous post that he use to leave me "Roses are Red, Violets are Blue" poems when I was a kid. His poetic talents went further than that though. Whenever someone retired from the police department that he worked with, he would write them a poem and it would include memories he had of that person and funny things that they had done. He became known for these poems, and would read them at the persons retirement party. He even wrote a few for funerals. I got to thinking one year that he wrote these poems for everyone else, but no one ever wrote one for him. So I set out to do that one Father's Day, and this was the result. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

It's Father's Day 1998 and the Seipert family has come together
To pay tribute to the man who we all treasure.
He is the head of our family, the one upon whom we all depend
The one we go to for love, encouragement, and even some advice every now and then.

He was born the second of four boys to Frances and Vernal
And as far as we know, he stayed out of trouble.
He was vice president of his class,
And he will always tell you the story of his touchdown as you drive through Colfax.
His accomplishments in sports always made it to the school paper,
But if you look real close at the article, you will see he was the writer!

It was May 25, 1963 when he married Lois Lucas and settled down
To start a family and career of which he could be proud.
Jeffrey Dean was born in July of 68,
The first of two children he looked just like his dad
Big brown eyes and dark curly hair
Where you saw one, the other was sure to be there.

Six years later in April of 74, Heidi Marie was born
With a resemblance to her dad that couldn't be ignored.
She was a "daddy's girl" from the very beginning
With "We're buddies and pals" being one of their many sayings.

He has worked two jobs most of his life
To provide the best he could for his kids and wife.
A policeman for so many years
Sworn to serve and protect
Every man, woman and child he comes in contact with.

His kids are grown now, and one has kids of his own,
Grandpa is just another role he didn't have to be shown.
He is always ready with gum and hugs,
A trip to "Sharp's" and all that's fun.
"Can we go with you Grandpa?", are words that bring a smile to his face
To him, wherever they are, is the best place.

Dad, we hope you know this Father's Day, and every day,
You are loved beyond compare.
Thank you for all you have done for us,
And for always being there.

Baggy Pants Battersby

Last time I posted about our HMR diet fail, so I am glad to say that we can now post a success. We did join weight watchers online about 7 weeks ago, and have stuck to our routine of working out 5 mornings a week and we are actually losing weight. Who knew that the whole diet and exercise thing really worked?!? :) This diet is much more doable for us. We did still have birthday cake on my birthday (and the rest of that week until it was gone), and we both still lost weight that week. The beauty of this diet is that we haven't had to give up any of the foods we love, we just have to count the "points", and when you're out of points for the day, you're done eating. It's something that we have been able to stick with. I have lost over 30 lbs since I was at the doctor in mid March (18 of those after beginning weight watchers), and Colin has lost over 20 lbs since we started on weight watchers. The commercial they show on tv about averaging 2 lbs a week weight loss has been true for us so far. It doesn't seem like much, but it adds up. I do want to apologize to all of Colin's co workers for Baggy Pants Battersby. His pants are about 2 sizes too big for him now, and they look kind of ridiculous on him but he refuses to get new ones until he loses more weight-so hopefully that belt is doing its job!