happy new year from the andersons!

2008 has been great... but we can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for us. we are so grateful for everything we've learned this year and we're anxiously awaiting God's lessons -- and surprises! -- in this next year. thank you all for your friendship, support, and love. we love you!

brian and amy

final weigh in results!!

well folks, we have been waiting for this for quite a while, haven't we? i'm sure you want to know LIKE RIGHT NOW who won the competition. but if you know me very well at all, you know i'm going to draw out the suspense a little. first of all, in case you want to catch up on the history of this competition, read these:

competition intro

week one weigh in

week three weigh in

week four weigh in

the dramatic biggest loser moment weigh in

the one where brian said he would win

you can also check out the final voting results on our poll on the right side of this page. so. what do you think? was brian right and he pulled ahead last week for the last time? did amy pull off a last minute victory? were we 'statistically tied' to the hundredth of a percent?









WELL? HAVEN'T YOU BEEN WAITING YOUR WHOLE LIFE FOR THIS????









maybe not. perhaps i am a bit dramatic.









okay. and now, drumroll please.... the winner is....





















AMY!

that's right, folks! i kicked it out in the last week and got it done! i am actually really proud of myself. the best things that have happened (besides now getting to spend $250 on whatever i want...) are that i now have TWO pairs of jeans i can fit into, plus i can almost comfortably wear my pink pants! (it's possible they are really tacky. fortunately, i adore them and i don't care what anyone else thinks!) also, i'm fairly confident that i'm now the lightest i've been since our wedding. i got all stressed out about the planning and accidentally didn't eat for like two weeks, but i think it all came back within 6 hours of being on our honeymoon. so this is a very exciting day for me! and brian did awesome too. i'm not just saying that. i truly didn't think i was going to win because he's been doing so well, and (shhhhh... don't tell) i really don't know how i wound up winning. i'm pretty shocked. (shocked and real excited!) but mostly i'm so proud of both of us. and in case you were worried that the drama factor on our blog would go down after today, we already have plans in the works for a continuing competition so we don't put everything back on.

it is a great day!

ps. as a personal favor to brian, if you see him, just don't talk about the competition. it's not a good idea. he will be real cranky and we don't really want to mess with that around christmas. thanks! :)

date night number free

it has been a couple of very busy weeks since our last date night. we went on a retreat with 90 junior high kids and brian has been working his butt off to finish his online classes... so let's just say, we really needed some quality time together! we have been looking forward to this one for a while. a couple of weeks ago, some kids in brian's class got free coyotes tickets and offered them to him (we think. actually we have no idea how they wound up in our hands, but we'll take them!!). THEN, at the fall retreat, while we were standing around checking in parent drivers to get us all home, we were talking about said coyotes game and how we were excited because we could eat at famous dave's while we were in that part of town. lo and behold, one of my junior high kids' moms who was standing there happens to own the franchise. she said she'd send us over some coupons. and by coupons, apparently she meant a certificate for a free feast for 2-- half rack of ribs, half chicken, 1/4 pound pork, coleslaw, corn on the cob, beans, fries, and corn muffins. HOORAY! (for those of you wondering about the final weigh in next tuesday... don't worry. i factored it in. a.k.a. i barely ate all day. i'm still gonna win, no matter what brian says!)

so last night we FINALLY got to go on this amazing date. it was everything we hoped for and more. if you check brian's twitter from last night you will see the remains of our dinner. we were going to take before and after pics, but we got to excited to eat and forgot! then we had to run over to the apple store because our charger stopped working this week. we got to the game right as the first period was ending, and we wound up winning 2-1! it should have been 5-1 since they pulled their goalie for the last minute and we took THREE shots at an empty goal, and missed every one of them. that was kind of ridiculous, but we were already winning so it's fine. also? people watching at hockey games in arizona is AMAZING.

then we decided we didn't want our date to end. we called around to find out what starbucks were still open, went through the drive through for some americanos (mine decaf, brian's half-caf), and came home to play a game of monopoly. we played monopoly early on in our marriage and i vowed never to play it with brian again. he would not be a very nice landlord and he loves collecting rent. however, since he got monopoly on his phone, i have been playing it and finally came to the conclusion that my best bet is to build lots of properties. don't ask why i never realized it before. i really don't know. but anyway, i DOMINATED! it was fabulous.

this weekend we're looking forward to locking ourselves in our house and just relaxing. it's so easy to fill up our schedules and our lives with things, and before we realize it, we have pushed what we really love right out. so we are taking time just for us-- and i suggest you do the same! this weekend, for as long as you can, take time for YOU and something you are passionate about.

oh, and we also had an impromptu photo shoot in front of our christmas tree. here are the winners:

and the winner steps forward...

I do regret that Amy challenged me to this competition. I told her from the beginning that I would be the winner...and I meant it. While the competition is not over, I think that is leaning decisively my way. Here are the results from this morning's weigh in:

Amy - 3.08 % weight lost
Brian - 3.98 % weight lost

That's right people we are spread by almost a full percentage point. Our statistical tie has dwindled and I am the full on leader. We do have about 6 days left to kick some tail and I am expecting a mad dash to the finish. We will both be working hard this week to be the leader by Tuesday morning. You can never count Amy out on anything. She will work hard to get what she wants. Unfortunately, this time, I will be standing in her way. Now I just have to figure out what I will spend the prize money on...

it was GLORIOUS

listen. i fully realize that it has been approximately forever since i've blogged. and i was going to write a whole long apology about how things got busy, and then there were so many things i wanted to blog about that i didn't even know where to start, so i got overwhelmed and put it off, and how we have a whole house tour just waiting on our camera to be loaded on here so you should get real excited...

but THEN. this morning happened. and i couldn't waste any time with apologies, because this is essential information that you need to know now.

see, we haven't really posted for weigh-in wednesday for a couple of weeks (by the way, thanks for the accountability, people. we could weigh 600 pounds and you wouldn't even know!!). but we were still weighing in, and i think we each won a week. we actually did pretty good over thanksgiving weekend, and with only a couple of weeks left before the big final weigh in, we are both kicking it into high gear. that prize money is looking very real at this point!!

so this morning, like most mornings, brian got up before i did. he weighed himself and did the math, so then i did the math to figure out exactly what i would have to weigh to beat him. (at this point in the story, i really hope you watch the biggest loser. picture one of those weigh-ins where it's high stress, and you really don't know who is going below the yellow line, and allison sweeney says, "in order to stay above the yellow line you must lose more than X amount of pounds" and then the scale goes up and down and up and down and you are hoping with all of your might that they get it. picture that!) before i got on the scale, brian started trash talking me. he said such things as "and the winner pulls ahead..." and telling me what he was going to spend the grand prize money on. i told him it was not very smart to trash talk before i even weighed in.

then i got on the scale and i totally didn't think i was going to do it. i mean, i have been trying to kick my own butt this week, but i knew what i weighed 2 days ago after our junior high retreat, and i didn't think i was going to go down enough. i figured it would be really close, but that brian would win this week. and then. the EXACT number that i needed, down to 1/10 of a pound, appeared on that little digital screen. seriously, it was a beautiful moment. obviously, brian tried to backtrack his trash talking and told me that we were basically tied, because i only won by .03%. so i told him that in two weeks, that .03% will equal the grand prize winnings! let's just say it was a pretty fabulous way to start my day!!!

normally in a weigh in post i would tell you what my goals for this week are. but really, we are getting down to the wire now, and i don't want to give my competitor any hints about what my gameplan is. so my goal for this week is: to win next week's weigh in, and the weigh in after that, and then wait 3 days and spend my prize money on a sweet day-after-christmas sale. it WILL happen-- i won't let you voters down who have backed me up!

ahhhhh, the sweet taste of victory. and it's calorie free!