I {heart} my church.

(I was planning on posting WWW today but this came to fruition while I was blowing out my hair this am so check back next Wednesday - I will have a WWW post, I promise!)

I love my church. I love, love, love my church.

I was raised in a Christian home and grew up going to church on Sunday. When Jason & I got married, neither of us were really going to church faithfully. I can't tell you a reason why because I don't know a reason why. We both believed in God and both loved God but just were not going to church. We tried a few out but never found one that we both felt the spark at.

Fast forward 6 years. Looking back on those 6 years now, it seems like an eternity without a church.

There was one we felt the spark at. We tried Palm Valley a few times but my own stubborn reasons kept us from going back there. After every different church we tried and didn't really click with, I would feel a tugging at my heart that said "Palm Valley". I knew that was where God was wanting us to be. I felt God finally say "Katie, get over it."

Fast forward 6 months.

When we started going to PVC, we joined a small group like the 2nd Sunday we were going, no joke. The church has 4 different services so we knew if we wanted to feel "plugged in" we needed to join a small group. The group had just started a book called "The Divine Mentor" and I know for a fact we read that book for a reason. It spoke about the importance of daily time in the Word which is something that neither Jason nor I were doing. There is a story in the book where Wayne (the author) talks about how someone on his staff came into his office complaining about feeling like he wasn't being fed spirtually at the church. Wayne point blank asked him if he was spending time in God's word and the staffer answered no. Wayne then went on to ask "If you were starving but had access to food, would you not eat?" The staffer scoffed and said "No! Of course I would eat!" to which Wayne answered "Exactly - you would feed yourself."

This little story smacked me across the face. If I wanted to be fed and grow, I needed to feed myself.

There are many reasons why I love the my church. I love that Jason & I have grown closer to people we can "do life" with. I love that Addison LOVES to go to Sunday School and Drew runs to the nursery. I love the woman's Bible study that I have been a part of the last few months. I so look forward to the time I get to spend with our small group & my Bible study ladies!

The biggest reason why I love my church is because it makes me feel uncomfortable. (Say wha?) I know that might not make sense right away but my church challenges me. Sitting in a seat on Sunday morning, nodding my head doesn't cut it. They challenge me to grow, which can feel uncomfortable at times.

We could just go through the motions, do what we feel like we "should" to do but I feel like PVC dares me to do more and for that - I HEART MY CHURCH!

{The current series at PVC is titled The House. Last week's message talked about loving the church which sparked this post. You can click the link to see the message if you'd like! Like my shirt? It says "I heart my church"!}

Disney! Part Uno.

Betcha didn't think I was gonna post any Disney pics, huh??

I debated just uploading them all to FB and linking the album but I decided what the hay, let's just put them up on the ol' blog. So here are the first few days of our trip!

We drove over on Sunday and decided to go into the park as soon as we checked in to our hotel. It was nice to go in late in the day so we could stay late for the fireworks.

Dinner at the French Market. It was delish! New Orleans Square is my favorite part of Disneyland. I could literally sit there all day and people watch so having dinner there our first night was just perfect!


Disney puts on an AMAZING firework show every night. It is huge! It is choreographed to different attractions at Disneyland. It is DEFINITELY worth staying later in the park for!


The next morning, Addy got to meet Jasmine & Ali. She was so excited! I was excited because we only had to wait like 5 minutes. Some of those lines to meet people are ridiculously long!


Drew was excited to see Mater & McQueen again! He has a new found obsession with Cars so we had to take him by them again.


Lil' man didn't want to leave! Waving bye to McQueen.


My boys!


My loves!


My mini Minnie & me!


On the Storybook boats, taking in the sights.




As great as it was to go on a vacay as the Lacy Fam 4, it was a bummer to have to ride the big rides by yourself. J & I took turns staying with the kids so we could still hit our favs.

Well, clearly, I got over my disappointment of having to go by myself. Ha!

(How funny is the little girl in the front? She is squnched up!)


After I got lost in space, we headed to Toon Town.





Found it fitting that I would shop here, right?



We also meet some characters...


Love Jason's face in this pic!




That night we ate the Carnation Cafe on Main St. It was our first time eating there as well. We made a point to try to eat at new places this trip!

Addison ordered the Painter's Palette. It was a create your own PB&J but it included the Holy Grail of Awesomeness (according to Addison) - MARSHMALLOWS!


Look yummy, huh? (Not.)


Toy Story Mania is a newish ride over at California Adventure. The long is ALWAYS long and I don't like waiting in an hour long line with an 20 month old. Do you blame me? We waited like 40 minutes when we were there in Feb. and LOVED the ride! It is so cool but Drew was a handful. Anyways, CA opened at 10 so we had the idea of sleeping in a little and heading straight to TSM as soon as the park opened. We booked it down to the ride and what did we find when we go there? AN HOUR WAIT! As soon as the park had opened?!

It angered me.

Anywho...


We did get to meet Minnie!



We rode Mickey's Funwheel as well! That was a lot of fun! We did the "swinging" carts so as the wheel turned we slide from side to side. It was scary at first because there wasn't really anything to hold onto except the sides of the cage thing we were in. It was definitely fun though!!

{via}

See the carts close to Mickey's ears? Yah, those ones move. That's the ones we rode!




Addison & I waiting in line for the Matterhorn. On of our FAV rides!!


Oh, this was nice! When we parked in the parking lot, the attendant chose us as the pass holder of the day. It was so great to get to park close!



I will post the rest of our trip later this week so stay tuned! :]

It's Friday!

Wahoo! I love Fridays. I am taking pictures both Saturday & Sunday so technically this is work weekend but I love weekends regardless!

Have you seen this video? Jason and I saw it on the news last night. Crazy how putting yourself on YouTube can get you famous! I am so gonna put a video of my signing on the 'tube. Kidding, that would break your computers.

Anyways, lil' dude and I are gonna head to Target to make this Friday even mo' betta. Hope you have a GREAT weekend!

Mr. Man!

Drew's personality is start to POP and we L-O-V-E it! He is such a funny little kid and he is starting to understand what makes us laugh.

My girlfriend Jen suggested I tape Monster Jam on the SPEED channel so Drew can watch it. It popped on yesterday after I had just given him a bath. He stood in just his diaper for a good 10 minutes yelling "WOAH!" at the TV. I thought he looked a little WT in just his diaper so it was appropriate he was watching Monster Jam! HA!

This picture makes me laugh. It 100% will be in either his senior year book or his wedding slide show. Perhaps even both.


He LOVES when I take his picture on the computer so we made a little video yesterday. We sure do love our Mr. Man!

My BIG past & WWW!

I love food. Like, el oh ve ee pink puffy heart LOVEEEEEEEE food.

The downside of loving food is that if you consume to much and don't burn any off, you um, become a little pink & puffy yourself? Or in my case, a lot puffy.

I have watched my weight climb & climb. I haven't ever talked about this on my blog but I used to weigh 327 pounds.

That's right, I said THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVEN POUNDS.

morning of surgery

3 and 1/2 years ago, I had gastric bypass surgery. I feel like the person I am now is the person I always was, just bigger. Does that make sense?

one year post op

Anyways, I lost a lot of weight and got pregnant with Drew. I spent the next 10 months breaking the rules that I had taught myself the previous year. Bad Katie! Once I had Drew, I looked to Weight Watchers to help me relearn portion sizes. (My stomach was able to hold more food after the first year which is normal. It still is less than most people but definitely a lot more than right after my surgery. )

Some people will probably say "If you had gastric bypass, why do you need Weight Watchers?"

Here's the deal.

GB is not a silver bullet. It doesn't magically make you thin for the rest of your life. It is a tool to help you but if you make the wrong choices, you will not be successful with it.

I have to say, I as much as I LOVE food, I really, really love Weight Watchers. It WORKS. If you follow your plan and stick to your points, you will lose weight. I lost all my baby weight through making the right choices and following along WW.

I still have some weight I would like (love) to lose so Jason & I are hitting WW hard core. No little cheats here and there. We have goals and we want to hit them!

Last night, I tried a new recipe that is from WW and I wanted to share!

Turkey and Swiss Calzone

PointsPlus™ Value: 8
Servings: 6

Ingredients
1 pound(s) Pizza crust dough, refrigerated (You can usually find this next to the crescent rolls and cinnamon rolls in a can. Don't buy those though. Be strong!)
½ cup(s) Cream, sour, fat free
4 tsp Dijon mustard
1½ tsp Dried oregano
¼ tsp Pepper, black
6 oz Luncheon meat,turkey lean, deli-sliced, diced
4 oz Cheese, swiss, low-fat
1 spray(s) Cooking spray, or enough to coat calzone

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Divide dough into two equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into two 10-inch circles. Transfer circles to prepared baking sheet. Set aside.
3. Whisk together sour cream, mustard, oregano and black pepper. Spread mixture all over both circles, to within 1 inch of edges. Top one half of each circle with half each of ham and cheese. Lift untopped side of dough and fold over filling so it meets other side, forming a half moon. Pinch edges together to seal. Coat surface of calzones with cooking spray.
4. Bake until puffed up and golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. Slice each calzone into thirds. Yields 1/3 calzone per serving.

I didn't take pictures of each step. Whoops, I will be better next time.


Mine got this brown after only 17ish minutes so definitely watch it!



It was deeeelightful! It was a hit with the entire Lacy fam & Jason even said it's his new favorite. I am going to try making some with pizza sauce, veggies & FF mozzarella.

Since I have given you a little back ground on my & my struggles with weight, I want to invite you to participate in Watching my Weight Wednesday (WWW). If you are following WW or just watching what you eat, I think it would be fun to be able to share recipes & cheer each other on. If you want to participate, leave me a comment!

We are home!

We met the Mouse.



Again.

So many people said "You are going to Disney AGAIN?! You just went?"

Here's the low down...We bought annual passes when we went to Disneyland over New Years and we had always planned on going for Spring Break. We had a FANTASTIC time and made lots of sweet memories.

I have like 400 pictures to sort through so I will probably chunk up the posts. In the mean time, I will be doing lots of laundry & getting back into our normal routine. Vacation is grand but I love getting back to our normal, day to day routine.

I hope you all had a fabulous Spring Break! Can't wait to catch up on my reader and see what everyone did!