This past weekend was filled with ups and downs.  We visited my mother in law and as well as attended the wedding of my wife’s best friend.  Sadly when we got back home we received news that my father in-laws mother had a stroke and they don’t expect her to make it.   It always amazes me how life can bring joy and pain within minutes of each other.

In the previous blog post I mentioned that I wanted to take photos of my mother-in-laws flowers using different lenses than the one I had used over the Easter holiday but due to everything that was going on that did not happen.    I did take some portraits of Dawn, my wife’s cousin over Easter weekend and I have posted them below.

Dawn entered the Weight Watchers Inspiring Stories Contest and by losing 60 lbs over the course of 9 months she ended up being one of the 100 winners nationwide.   While attending college I was a personal trainer at Golds Gym and over the course of 4 years I met a lot of people who struggled with their weight.  I know how hard it is to change your lifestyle and to be consistent with a diet and excercise program and I would say that the average client used to burn out over the course of 1 to 2 months.  To this day I still remember the names of clients that stuck it out and achieved their weight loss goals and  I admire them because I saw how hard they worked to get there.   Surprisingly Dawn says she never stepped into the gym but she did do some additional walking around the neighborhood 3 to 4 times a week.   Congratulations Dawn, I am happy  that you were able to achieve what you set out to do and picked up an award along the way.   Here is a link to a news paper article where she gives a little insight about what made her set out to achieve this goal.

http://www.pennlive.com/bodyandmind/index.ssf/2012/02/inspiration_for_weight_loss.html

The Before