Finally...a new post!

Ok, so I've been busy with other things for once. Strange, I know. Let me catch you all up though on the exciting happenings at the Patterson residence: (If you don't want to read anything, there are pictures at the end to enjoy)...

• My in-laws weight loss competition finished on July 1. Henry won with a weight loss of 26.5 lbs/ 12.01 percent weight loss. I was second in pounds but not percentage. I was a little bummed about that, but I definitely tried my hardest. I did lose 20 lbs though, and it's nice that a lot of my old clothes fit again.
  
• I still have 10-12 lbs to go, and have entered another competition with two of my sis-in-laws. Whoever loses 10 lbs first wins the pot. So, I may post stuff occasionally to keep track of myself and to keep myself motivated. I really want to shed the last bit of weight.
• My parents-in-law were here for the Independence Day weekend. We had so much fun. I particularly enjoyed seeing how much Sophia loves her Grandma. There really seems to be some sort of special bond, and I love to see how excited and happy she is when she sees her Grandma. They had a lot of fun together.
• I made sure this was my in-laws (and husband's) most patriotic 4th of July ever. We went to see the city's fire works on Friday night, then had burgers on Saturday, sang the National Anthem, had a patriotic game, a patriotic dessert (sugar cookies with cinnamon cream cheese spread on them and then blueberries and strawberries on top - try it, it's supertasty), flags and fireworks - all organized by: the German. Ha! Henry and his parents admitted that this was the most they had ever done for the 4th, and we didn't even get to my Independence Day trivia game.
  
• Speaking of the 4th of July, I also need to say that my ward pleasantly surprised me. Sunday was not all super patriotic and crazy as I anticipated it to be. It actually was pretty void of anything that may have suggested a patriotic holiday. I guess Ohio is just not Utah.
• We've got new arm chairs. Henry's parents gave them to us, and I just lovelovelove them. We took out our loveseat and sold it for $40. Yipee.
  
• Also cool is this big fat old painting we got from Henry's parents of his great grandfather Henry Daniel (which is Henry's name also). It needs some fixing, but I'm excited to get it fixed and hung up in some cool spot in our apartment.
• Lastly, our balcony is turning into a jungle. The tomato plants are all over the place and so are our zucchini and cucumber plants. However, the first tomato I harvested, despite its alluring red color promising unmatched taste, looked rather gross on closer examination. It had blossom rot. Arghhh. Otherwise, our tomatoes still seem fine though. Our broccoli hasn't grown at all though, and our zucchini and cucumber plants seem to die off as well. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I better figure it out quickly. I've planted and watered these little dudes for a reason. Is anyone reading my blog a gardening expert by chance? If so, please enlighten me.
  

That's it.

Here are some pictures of our new chairs (in the back ground behind Sophia) and of us hanging out on top of the OSU parking garage to see the fireworks.











P.S. You wouldn't think I had lost 20 lbs looking at those fat arms of mine. Does anyone else hate having their pictures take because it's always such a shock to think how you may look to the world??