InstaFriday: Sept. 30

Woahh, and bam, just like that tomorrow will be October. Pumpkins and ghosts and changing leaves followed by turkey and inevitably snow and winter. :( I really like fall itself, but I have a hard time enjoying it knowing what follows! Anywho, I am joining Life Rearranged for InstaFriday.



Here's a look at our week


We went to visit Dad and hit up the Science Zone. Brayden loved every second!


Brayden tries so hard to be a big helper! Sometimes he succeeds, and sometimes he does not. This was actually a job well done :)


Reading with Daddy at IHOP before we had to leave town :(


Headed home. Jesse stuck one of Brayden's foam blocks to my sunroof, I was sure it would fall soon but it's actually still there.. lol, 4 days later. Oh, ya think I need to wash my windshield? Yeah, me neither.


Oatmeal + Pecans + Maple Agave = Delish


Counting beans while Mom cooks


Just being stinkin' cute, getting into stuff


Making feta & basil shrimp, yummy!


Burned the CRAP out of my hand. Bumped the heating element on the oven this morning while I was flipping the bacon I was broiling. Yeah Ouch is an understatement. I text my Aunt who is a nurse and she suggested putting honey on it and wrapping it up for 24 hours, sounds funky to me but I trust her! We'll see how it looks tomorrow, the burning is gone so that's good!


Happy Weekend!

Time for another one...?

I get asked this ALLLLLL the time.

Other person: "Oh he's getting so big! How old is he now?"

Me: I know! He's 19 months.

Other person: "Aw, about time for another one then, huh?"



Me: Umm.. no


Seriously is 18 months like the magical number? Oh, your kid is 18 months old, time to get busy on the next one! I am amazed at how often I have this conversation. It seems to happen one a weekly basis. Don't get me wrong, emotionally, I'm definitely ready for number 2, BUT what about everything else??

I suppose I could understand people asking this question to a married couple who are both done with college, have good steady jobs, stable income, etc. Being 20 years old, a full time college student and mother to a 19 month old keeps me plenty busy without adding an I-need-attention-24-hours-a-day infant to the mix. It just seems so odd to me how that is the first question anyone asks me.. "when are you having another one?" Not for a while folks, not for a while.

And while my BRAIN knows this to be true and the right thing to do, my heart on the other hand is aching for another. Absolutely aching, I have baby fever like crrrrazzzyy. So, world, please stop asking me if it's "time for another one" because I might just cry if you ask one more time!





...Seriously.. look at that yummyness. How could I not want a second dose?

Embrace the Camera: September 29

I'm glad it's starting to cool down a little. Well, at least in the evenings and overnight. But I'm not so glad about the dang allergies that are kicking my butt, and Brayden's too!

Embrace the Camera: September 22

This picture is actually from a few weeks ago, but this week has been super busy trying to get ahead on homework and clean the house because we are leaving town this afternoon and won't be home until late Monday night.

Brayden loves being outside! I'm sad that in a few months it will be freezing cold and snowy. I'm sure we'll still be outside plenty, the kid loves it I tell you, but instead of it being nice and lovely outside, I'll be freezing my arse off! :) I guess I'll have to look back at this picture on those days.

101 in 1001

I first saw this idea over on Jess's blog. The concept is to come up with 101 things you want to do in the next 1001 days, roughly 2 years and 9 months. Some things on my list are little, some are big, and in all honestly, I may not complete them ALL within 1001 days, but I'm gonna try to get to as many as I can. As of right now I actually don't have 101 things but I will add the rest soon... maybe I'll organize them later too.. in order by the amount of time and/or money they will take to complete, but for now, here's what I've got so far: (My start date was August 27, 2011)

1. Create some kind of family birthday/anniversary calendar
2. Graduate with Bachelor's degree
3. Create a household cleaning schedule and follow it for one month
4. Potty train Brayden
5. Write a letter to Brayden once a month
6. Do a craft/special activity with Brayden once a week
7. Read 10 new books
8. Do a project 52 (or maybe project 365)
9. Shop at a Farmer's market [completed August 27, 2011 - blog post to come]
10. Teach Brayden all of the colors
11. Get Brayden to eat veggies (voluntarily) again!
12. Complete the couch to 5K program
13. Run a 5k
14. Get to goal weight (130)
15. Buy a DSLR camera
16. Learn to shoot in manual
17. Get 1,000 page views on blog
18. Buy a house (this is iffy, probably not within 1001 days)
19. Watch 10 new movies I wouldn't ordinarily watch
20. Go to Vegas
21. Take Brayden to Lagoon
22. Go on a family camping trip
23. Take Brayden sledding
24. Build a snowman
25. Go back to Cedar Point and ride EVERY roller-coaster
26. Take Brayden on his first airplane ride
27. Take Brayden to the beach
28. Water ski again
29. Create a family photo book at the end of every calendar year
30. Participate in Embrace the Camera every Thursday
31. Learn how to sew
32. Volunteer somewhere
33. Go indoor skydiving
34. Write a biography - or at least start one
35. Go to the aquarium in Salt Lake
36. Buy a pair of Tom's shoes
37. Have a day of pampering followed by a fancy date-night dinner
38. Update address/phone book
39. Learn to drive a stick shift
40. Contribute at least $10/month to Brayden's savings account
41. Take my dad out to dinner
42. Finish designing/decorating Brayden's room
43. Have a fire on my dad's patio & make S'mores
44. Visit Michelle, Bri & Noah in Phoenix
45. Go to the Denver Zoo with Julia & Addy
46. Wear a dress or skirt once a month
47. Find new ways to style my hair
48. Make homemade bubbles with Brayden [completed August 27, 2011 - blog post to come]
49. Learn how to snowboard
50. Send Christmas cards every year
51. Go to a professional soccer game
52. Buy a bike trailer (for Brayden to ride in while I bike)
53. Go fishing and actually catch a fish
54. Buy Brayden a new book at least once a month
55. Start selling... (don't want to expand on this because I'm not ready to do it yet and I don't want someone to steal my idea!!)
56. Go to a MOPS meeting
57. Make Brayden a crayon monogram [completed August 31, 2011 - blog post to come]
58. Make a growth chart for Brayden

and because no post is complete with-out some pictures, here is our week through Instagram!



*Trolley Square, eating at Spaghetti Factory!
*Throwing pennies in the fountain



*Cuddly boy just waking up from a very, very long nap
*Who knew a storage trunk could be so entertaining?



*Baked Carrot Fries. oh.my.lanta. YUM.
*Carrots and farmer's market green beans, again I say, delish!



Have a good weekend!

Embrace the Camera

I am joining the fabulous Emily at The Anderson Family Crew in Embrace the Camera Thursdays. My brain thinks in structured organization and I think that's why my blog gets neglected. Plus, I really REALLY love the idea of making a point to get IN FRONT of the camera instead of staying hidden behind it. I want Brayden to have pictures of us together! Okay, and I want to have those pictures too. Especially when he grows a mile a minute - I don't want to forget these days.

Earlier this week my Dad was in town so my Mom, Dad, and I took Brayden to the zoo. He's still a smidge too little to get really excited about it, but he still thought it was pretty cool. (Mostly because he got to run around like a wild man for 2 hours.) Anyhow, here are me and the boy sitting on a lion.. don't mind the little girl, no clue who she is!

Finding the Right Groove

I'm a music fanatic. I love finding new music, undiscovered artists. It's like an adrenaline rush for me when I find a new song with that perfect beat. I especially love when I find a new work-out song. Some songs are good for working out and some are absolutely not.

As I've been working out the past few weeks, I've been browsing my iPhone for some good songs to listen to while I run. Eventually I will search online and download some new ones but for now, the two that I'm really loving are:



For me, finding good, upbeat music to run to makes me be able to run farther and longer, and that's always a good thing!

Speaking of working out... I'm a little nervous about leaving town this weekend. Every time I've gotten into a good work out routine, I've left it in the dust when I went on vacation, and never picked back up when I got home. I'm DETERMINED that this will not happen again. I'm giving myself the day off tomorrow if I choose, but who knows I may decide to go for a run when I get to my dad's. After that, I am probably going to have to run during the day on Saturday & Sunday and just toss Brayden in the stroller :) How do you keep on track with your work outs when you're on vacation?

PS- Found my camera cord! Yay! So I'll have fun stuff to share in the next week. Here's a preview:



And just because my baby is so darn cute.. here's some snapshots of him playing outside. It's starting to cool off a bit in the evenings (by "cool off" I mean it's 85 instead of 95), so it's making it a tad more bearable to be out there for any amount of time. I never thought I'd admit that I'm ready for fall!