Lately...

Lately, I’ve been working on growing out my mustache…



Okay so not really, but lately, lots of changes have been happening around here! Thus the reason for my MIA status. But alas, things are slowing down and we’re starting to get back into somewhat of a routine; thank goodness because my must-plan-everything-and-be-organized-all-the-time-OCD personality was struggling there for a minute. The beginning of last month we loaded our ridiculous amount of stuff into a HUUUGE U-haul and trekked down to Ogden, finally!! This included a very-very late night drive, followed by some moving induced bruises and a no hot-water induced sink bath. But it also led to a cute little boy who was pretty excited to have a real bed again.




Brayden had his first stab at an ice cream cone. He thoroughly enjoyed sucking the crap out of it and smushing it all over his face. Yummy!


Just over a week after getting here, it was time to head back to Casper for my friend Ashley’s wedding! Had such a good time getting all fancied up, chatting with the bridesmaids, and basking in the sunshine that was Ashley on her wedding day. Congrats again, Ashley & Eric! (Ah, I just realized we were so busy all day preparing that I have NO pictures on my phone, oops!)

Got back home and killed this nasty guy:



So nobody faint or anything, but this Mama’s got a “job.” Whoa, I know. I thought the extra money would be nice to take a little pressure off of Jesse financially but I really didn’t want Brayden to have to go to daycare in order for me to work (for financial and crazy-mama reasons of course). I scoured care.com every day and finally found a family that was looking for something I could provide. Brayden and I are spending our mornings with a sweet 2-year-old boy and it’s so much fun! No pictures of course because I don’t have his parent’s permission, but trust me, he’s a cutie! I’m so glad Brayden has someone close to his age that he can play with, especially because we miss Addy so much!



And most recently, we went to see TyRea and John and their brand new baby girl Dru! She’s a doll and I’m so happy for them and their new family! We also visited with Grandpa while we were there and went to the parade. Brayden sat in his stroller the whole time occupied by some delicious dum-dum suckers. We missed the beginning of the parade but that’s okay because it was H-O-T!



And we’re starting this:



Yikes! Wish us luck!

Coming soon: some yummy recipes and an easy DIY project!

A home!

Woo! First things first, my mom and I made another trip to Utah last week/end and we both finally found places. I am so relieved. Basically for our budget there were some compromises to be made, as there usually are. It was either lower our (my) standards or settle for a 2 bedroom instead of 3. Since we technically only NEED 2 bedrooms, that was the decision that was made. I really was looking forward to having an office-slash-playroom, but well, you can't have it all. Considering Jesse is the main breadwinner I don't want him to be stressed about money so it is a sacrifice that will hopefully pay off. Plus, it's not like we're buying the house - its just temporary. And I'm not complain' tooooo much because the place is brrrrand new, big and spacious. It's in a nice residential area on a cul-de-sac. Regardless, I'm so excited at the thought of having our own space again and not having to live out of suitcases and boxes!

Moving day is a week away! And does anyone else think the moving truck industry is a flippin' joke? $500 bucks for a truck to move 6 hours away. HO-LY COW! That's of course not including insurance coverage on the truck or the billion gallons worth of gas it will take to get there in a truck that gets roughly 6 miles to the gallon. This is the not-yay part. Unfortunately, no way around this one.



Hanging out with Grandpa :)


Grandpa teaching Brayden how to garden


Hi mom, I'm just gonna sneak in this closet and get out the vacuum, k?


Lazzzy Day


Loving on Abraham


Such a big boy!

Yesterday I finally had my appointment at Bamboo Spa & Salon for the Ultimate Spa Package I got for CHRISTMAS (ha!). Anyway, it was marvelous and such an awesome 3.5 hour break from reality. Mhmm :)





Jesse's 21st birthday is on Sunday. I'm working on a little somethin-somethin' and will share after we celebrate!

Searching. Waiting. Searching. Waiting.

...So goes the process of house hunting. I am trying to remember that being patient usually pays off in the end. When my brother wrecked my car, I was without a vehicle for SIX WEEKS. A full-time college student, a mom, and with no car for a month and a half. But the wait and inconvenience paid off when I found basically THE EXACT car I wanted, at a price I could afford. I keep trying to remind myself but dang it's hard! Searched online again a bit tonight and found a few places to look at. We're in Ogden now so hopefully I'll be able to look at all of them tomorrow and make a decision so we can move down in the next two weeks or so! We'll see, cross your fingers and toes!

We Are Indeed, Alive!

Well gee it's been a while, eh? Wow lots of things have changed since I was blogging last so here's an update:

- I decided to transfer to University of Wyoming in Laramie for the fall semester to finish my Bachelor's Degrees in Mathematics & Statistics with Honors endorsements.
- We were supposed to move to Laramie June 4th.
- On June 1st I saw this on Pinterest:



- I decided I REALLY REALLY did not want to live in Laramie. And even more, I didn't want to study Math. I WANT TO STUDY INTERIOR DESIGN

- June 3rd I applied to Weber State University in Ogden, UT

- June 4th I had to be out of my apartment. Loaded all our stuff into a Uhaul and into a storage unit. We are all presently staying at my mom's house. HOLY CRAP. For those who don't know: my mom's house is a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, less than 1000 sq. ft. house that is seriously not big enough for 4 adults and a toddler.

So, now we are looking for a house or townhouse in the Bountiful/Layton/South Ogden area and cannnnotttt wait to move! I will be studying Interior Design at Weber State and I couldn't be more excited. Doing something I love and not to mention a bigger city?!?!


Layton, Utah

P90X: Week 2 Recap

Week 2:
Your weight {if you don't feel comfortable sharing this, you don't have to}: Not sure, I'll have to update this in the morning!

Your fitness challenge(s) for the week: P90X routine Saturday thru Thursday + CardioX on Friday

Your food challenge for the week: MORE WATER. WATER! WATER! WATER!

How well did last week go: Went pretty good. I still ate out too much but not as much as the week before. Stayed within my calorie window and went on a couple extra runs. Ran 2 1/2 miles on Saturday by myself and Brayden and I went on a 2 1/2 mile run yesterday. I will also add that I hate YogaX and think it's way too long, so again this week I only did 60 out of 90 minutes.

Failures and slip-ups: Not enough water! Not doing the whole yoga video.

Weekly challenge wisdom: "Strive for progress, not perfection."

Advice to fellow GET FIT members: Set a goal and STICK TO IT. Start small, and build up from there.

Your Beautiful Selfie ( optional but strongly encouraged): I think I'm just gonna do these every 3 weeks.. so.. next week.

P90X: Week 1 Recap

Whew! Week one of P90X is in the bag. Only 12 more to go :) But I just have to rant here for a minute because a conversation that came up in my statistics class this week really just IRKED me. Somehow we got on the topic of weight loss/weight gain and it basically came down to one girl [who is not obese or anything, but a little overweight- she is also very tall, if i had to guess i'd say close to 6 foot].. anyway, she says "some people are just overweight genetically." At this point I literally had to FORCE myself to keep my mouth shut because I didn't want to say what I wanted to say and have it be offensive. BUT, that is the biggest crock of crap I have ever heard. YES some people's "genes" tend to I guess be more overweight. However, every single person can achieve a HEALTHY and FIT weight with some hard work.

This same girl then claimed that she "counts calories" but still will "never ever ever in a million years weigh 175" (which she said was the suggested weight for her height based on a BMI). Umm, well no, she won't, so long as she thinks simply counting calories will make pounds shed off. Diet and exercise go hand in hand. If you want BIG results then you have to make BIG changes and BIG sacrifices. Losing weight is HARD. Really hard! I know because I'm doing it. If you just buckle down, make the sacrifices, dedicate the time, put in the hard work and sweat, it WILL pay off and you WILL see results. And pshh, once you get to a healthy weight, staying there is a piece of cake.

The final point is that you can't run, run, run, lift, lift, lift, and cut calories -- get to your goal weight, and then go back to your old habits. No, you don't have to be as strict about your diet, and no you don't have to work out for an hour every day - maintaining a weight is much easier and simpler then losing weight. But to stay healthy you have to keep practicing healthy habits. You have to lose the love/love relationship with food and look at food as a source of energy, not a source of pleasure. You have to make healthy, smart decisions about what you eat, and you HAVE to continue to workout regularly. Even if it's going for a 30 minute walk every day, do SOMETHING. Your body will thank you later. :)

Okay so now for this weeks recap:


Week 1:
Your weight {if you don't feel comfortable sharing this, you don't have to}: Um well this morning I was 149 [down 0.6 from last week]

Your fitness challenge(s) for the week: Keep doing P90X every day, + CardioX on "rest day"

Your food challenge for the week: MORE water. LESS eating out. Continue to eat 1400-1500 calories per day

How well did last week go: As far as exercise it went really well. I need to get heavier weights for the weight lifting days, especially Shoulders & Arms, I definitely didn't feel like I worked out has hard as I could have with heavier weights. Other than that did good, really liked KenpoX and CardioX was definitely a good workout today. Also walked about 4 miles with Julia and the kiddos this afternoon. Eating on the other hand was not so good. I ate the correct number of calories, BUT I literally ate out like almost every single night this week.. Ooops

Failures and slip-ups: Eating out too much, not drinking enough water

Weekly challenge wisdom: "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going." [There is NO short cut to getting healthy and fit, but the hard work will pay off!

Advice to fellow GET FIT members: Stick to your goals. Start your workout and make it part of your routine. You can never finish if you don't start!

Your Beautiful Selfie ( optional but strongly encouraged): Eh not this week.

P90X

This arrived in the mail today:


SO excited. I have mentally prepared myself for this. This is like my.. oh 10th take on a healthy eating/exercise plan? I'm for real this time. I know once I start cranking out results I'll be SO thrilled with myself, so it's time to just DO IT already!

These are my friends for the next 90 days:


I'm linking back up with the GetFIT, GetHEALTHY Challenge that I had talked about. So, here is my starting entry:

Your weight 149.6 (ish) this was 2 days ago

Your fitness challenge(s) for the week: P90X 6 days a week- Monday thru Saturday!

Your food challenge for the week: Drink at least 3 bottles of water per day. I'm starting slow this time. In the past I've jumped into NO pop, and 80 oz of water a day?! It's never worked. So we're starting slow; I'm not limiting my pop JUST YET, so long as it is DIET soda (no calories), and striving for 48 ounces of water per day. Eat no more than 1500 calories per day (follow P90X nutrition plan).

How well did it go:

Failures and slip-ups:

Weekly challenge wisdom: "You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy." -Arthur Ashe


STARTING MEASUREMENTS

-bust: 38 inches
-chest: 33.75 inches
-waist: 32 inches
-hips: 38.5 inches
-right thigh: 23.25 inches
-left thigh: 23.5 inches
-right arm: 12 inches
-left arm: 11.75 inches

STARTING SELFIES




Here we gooooo! :))

PS- I was just looking back on my old posts and saw my original GetFIT Challenge post. This was on February 1. My weight was 155.6! That makes me happy that even though I haven't really realized, and haven't been doing THAT much in the exercise department since then, I've lost SIX pounds in about 7 weeks! This makes me even MORE excited to see my progress once I sock it to me with P90X. !!! :)) <-- happy face.