You Get a Wife and Thirty Pounds

I've heard it said more than once, "You get a wife and thirty pounds." I never really understood who was supposed to be receiving the gift of the 30 pounds, or when it would come? Is it something that you receive slowly over time, like a return on an investment? Or would it all come at once? I don't know when it happened exactly, but let me tell you the gift of the 30 pounds had definitely been received! Now, because Logan and I  always share everything, we decided it would only be fair to split the lovely gift together. We split it in the form of donuts, pizza and my personal favorite- home made icecream. (Side note- When you think you're being cute and sweet and give your husband an icecream maker for a wedding gift... just don't. That sinfully delicious, creamy, homemade goodness was the death of my waistline (and a few pairs of pants))

We both realized that our health was an issue that needed to be addressed. We could no longer continue eating like defensive linemen, while only working out like offensive linemen (Logan had to put his 2 cents in haha). If the two of us couldn't pull it together and figure out a healthy lifestyle at the age of 24, when we're supposed to be perfect physical specimens, then what kind of example were we setting for our families, the kids on the team and our future hypothetical children. So we made the commitment to ourselves and to each other to do something about it, and that came in the form of Advocare's 24 day challenge! Our energy skyrocketed and our nasty cravings didn't seem so overpowering. In fact, the healthy stuff started to become addictive, and I can't even begin to describe how much better I felt. Logan and I had so much success with the products and our new life style that we had to share it!

We invited my youngest sister Natalie (12 years old) to come down for the summer and get healthy with us! I'm so proud to say that Logan is now 25 pounds slimmer (and looking super hot), I've knocked off 10 pounds and my baby sister lost 20 lbs, and gained all kinds of confidence! This summer was absolutely amazing! We went to the beach almost every day, made delicious meals and we got to spend quality time with my baby sister (which basically meant I was able to force her to snuggle me anytime I wanted). We set mini goals and every time we accomplished one we went out for a celebration, we played putt-putt, went go-carting, played a lot of volleyball, caught some fish and became professional boogey boarders (aka beach bums).

Natalie went home about a week ago and took Advocare with her. She's been such an inspiration to the rest of my family that now they're all doing it too! I am so excited to watch her progress and to be a part of such an amazing change!

Sometimes You Change the Game Plan

It is my opinion that marrying a coach should come with a warning label. Caution: husband will be late for dinner; will only talk about tackles, broken bones and something called a blitz?; will perpetually smell of sunscreen, and will keep you up at night watching game film.

I will never forget the moment Logan told me he wanted to be a coach. My eyes filled up with tears and  I couldn't even attempt to hide my emotion, "We're going to be poor forever!!!!" Not my proudest moment, I'll admit. But that wasn't part of THE plan, and I ALWAYS had to have a plan. Before we got married we had planned out our life- Logan would use his degree and go into Business, I would get an amazing job in sales and make bagillions of dollars (of course). I would work for no more than 3 years, we'd save every penny of the larger salary (financial genius, I know) and then I would retire and start having babies. Now this wasn't just some obscure plan I had invented on a whim, oh no, it was thoroughly researched and mapped out, complete with a time line. We got married at 23 which meant we would have the first baby at 25, the second at 27, the third at 29 then that would give us the option of having up to 2 more before I was 34 (obviously planning pregnancy and child birth is that easy). I would stay at home until the youngest was in elementary school, then go back to work. We would pay for college and summer camps, braces and even their first car. The plan was perfection :-)  So you can see that this whole coaching thing, it really just didn't fit in the plan. At this point you can laugh at me, or shake your head at my selfishness, or maybe you can even relate to me, but anyway you spin it, neither the plan nor I was exactly realistic. 

Needless to say, my super excitement and loving support led Logan to believe that a career in High School football wasn't exactly what he should pursue. He continued on his search for a cookie cutter business executive job that would fit the bill and pass my test. And then he found it! He was lined up for a second interview for an amazing opportunity in Charlotte. The pay was great, the city was fun and I even had a connection working as an assistant for an event coordinator (dream job!). We woke up early and spent the morning practicing for the interview. I drilled him on questions and coached him through answers. Then out of nowhere, only two hours before the interview, Logan got a phone call from one of his college coaches. "How's it goin' boy, I'm down here in Florida and one of my old buddies is looking for a new D-Line coach. Are you still interested in coaching?" For one split second I seriously contemplated killing Coach Mac! How in the world would Logan be able to focus on his upcoming interview if all he could think about was Coaching football, while living at the beach? 

Logan made it through his interview, but I knew he was only doing it because he thought it was expected of him. The interview was over the phone, so I was able to sit beside him and listen in on the conversation. He hit all the main points, and did really well. But it wasn't something that came naturally to him. He had to work incredibly hard at shmoosing, and had absolutely no desire to manage workers. For the first time I realized that the whole idea of working in an office 9-5 made him miserable, and he was trying so hard to squeeze himself into a businessman mold that he really didn't fit in. By the time Logan got off the phone, I had realized that my plan wasn't so great after all. And it was pretty obvious that the Lord already had a much bigger plan for us. 

A week later we were in a condo on the beach touring the school, and meeting the kids. Within a month we packed up the house, loaded up the babies (Wallard and Lilly, our dogs) and fish and made our way to Fort Walton Beach.  With the help of our families we set up home in a little ranch house about 5 minutes from the water. We also managed to adopt a 21 year old (my sister) and her two dogs as well (don't even get me started on the joys of parenting). 

Logan and I have only been married 7 months, but we've been together for almost 6 years. In that time I've seen him accomplish so many wonderful things- he graduated with honors from an amazing school, won an ACC championship, and he even tried out for two NFL teams, yet I've never been so proud of him and had so much respect for him as I do now. What a blessing it was that my plan didn't work out, and that God had an even greater plan for us! 

So, as a brand new coaches wife I'm already learning a few things myself- I've managed to push dinner back a few minutes, and I now sleep with a mask to block the light. Maybe one day I'll understand what a blitz is? But I have to be honest, I am starting to love the smell of sunscreen!