March Madness...February Too!

 It's been a crazy month! OK, not really but it sure feels like it! Lots of pics I didn't get up so here we go!

 Lots of chocolate eating!!!

 Gabe got a big pencil from his aunt for his birthday!

 Kleenex fun!

 In February we headed up to Midway for its Ice Castles!

 Had some friends over for book discussions and dancing Wii style!

 Archie built a fort for Gabe in his bedroom.

That's about it. Pictures are worth a thousand words, right?

PS...It looks like a nice day today! Yeah! I hope we can go out and enjoy the sun and warmer weather!!!

January Wrap-up

January started off fabulous! Great holidays and some fun resolutions. I started counting my calories and I did great for a week....then I got sick, Gabe got sick, and I'm still fighting my back pain issues...so I haven't been able to get a lot of sleep and just haven't felt all that well for the past little bit. But I'm still working on my exercise and being positive. I'm getting some physical therapy and I'm going in to see a neurologist soon...so here's hoping my neck and back and stuff get feeling better! I wish I could somehow survive on no sleep. I could get so much more reading in and writing and all that stuff. Oh well....

But I did read six books in my spare time and finished two others from December. We also got a new bed and so far so good.

I have some pics to put up but have been way too lazy to actually get them off the camera! Gabe is growing like crazy and is doing so many fun things. He walks up the stairs and down them all by himself. He's learning more of the alphabet and some numbers. I hope to post some pics by the weekend. We're looking forward to his 2 year birthday next Wednesday! I can't believe how old he is now!

This month I'm hoping to finish off 4-6 books, blog more than once a month here....you know, I'm hoping to actually think of being creative one day!!! Oh, and to keep plugging away at my homework...sigh....Can survival of a month be a goal????

Shapes!

Yes, I'm a total nerd. Gabe, for the first time ever, put all of the shapes back into the big ball! It was such a crowning moment!!!! My big boy is getting so big! It was so amazing to just sit there and watch him dexterously put the star shape in and then the circle, triangle, and finally the pentagon!!!!! I just love watching his mind work and figuring things out.

I bought some sidewalk chalk yesterday and I had so much fun! Gabe made a few squiggly marks, but for the most part, he just wanted to throw the chalk and break it into pieces, or carry them around in his mouth and run away from me! But I drew a beautiful blue flower and a green cat! OK, they weren't beautiful, but they were fun to do.

I hope in time he'll enjoy some artsy things to do...and we'll throw in some science experiments for good measure.

My First 5K!

I ran my first 5K this morning! I've been training the last eight weeks for this...but about three days ago I caught a bit of a bug...coughing, stuffy nose, sore throat, the works. So I wasn't in top form this morning, but nevertheless I persevered and came in at 31:05.7 minutes!!! It was mostly downhill which really helped with my time since I haven't been able to do that well on my treadmill at no incline. I ran 3.1 miles without stopping once and while sick to boot! Very exciting and I have no shame in patting myself on the back! I'm hoping to run another one maybe this summer, but definitely next year without being sick. I may even try a 10K! I don't think I'll go beyond that, though. I don't really enjoy running and I think anything longer than 6.2 miles would just be beyond my sensibilities! So yeah me!

15 mos, Thanksgiving Point, and DVD Shelves

Gabe turned a whopping 15 months last Sunday and had his respective check-up this week. He's still a nail, but his height is averaging out. He's almost 32 in. long and he's only about 22 pounds. But he's my big boy! He even took some major steps, literally, on Mother's Day! He'll be running around in no time much to our detriment.

Friday Gabe and I were invited to go up to Thanksgiving Point with our friends Julie and her daughter Kambree and her friend Heather and his son Hunter to go see the cute farm animals. I hadn't taken Gabe there yet so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to do so. Gabe had a lot of fun playing with the other kids his age, but he wasn't so sure of the animals. They were pretty big and he still doesn't quite have the walking down and I didn't want him crawling around that! But they have a couple playhouses over there so they all had fun playing in the dance hall and the jail! Overall, it was a fun afternoon!

Archie has been working on our DVD shelves since last Fall and he finally finished them yesterday morning! He designed and made them and I am so proud of him. He's super handy and crafty. What more could I ask for? Well....I won't say! Anyway, they are beautiful now we have tons more room around our living room with even more space to expand our collection! Hugs to you, Honey!

 The shelves w/o DVDs

With DVDs and the shelves' maker!

The Many Adventures of Cars, Keys, and Books....

It's been awhile. Life's always crazy! So here come some updates.

Gabe is still the fastest crawler! He loves standing for a few seconds on his own. He's getting excellent balance! He loves peanut butter and bread, fruit of all kinds, red foods like tomatoes, yogurt, and graham crackers are his staple. He doesn't eat a lot but what he does eat he loves! His hair is also out of control so I have to try and keep it trimmed up while he's taking a bath. It's still crazy, but it's the only way. His hair is really bad and he has only me to blame. One day he'll stiller and won't need my non-expertise haircutting!

We're loving the weather right now. Nice and sunny. We've enjoyed walks and picnics outdoors. We hope it stays like this for awhile.

Other fun adventures? Well, this month alone I've locked my keys in the car twice and once with Gabe in the car! Which resulted in the calling of cops and me completely freaked out and embarrassed. Thank goodness for Jeanene, my level-headed friend! And today while on the way to the library my tire blew up and went flat. Not too good with the tools and fixing flats so called Archie and he came to the rescue....except we thought we needed a certain tool and so off he went to get that only to find out that we didn't need it...so more time spent...we needed two jacks to raise the car...oh, I could go on. I tried to help out where I could but VW tire changes are not run of the mill. And right after I left the key bolt on the ground!!! So we had to go back and get it and all the while with Gabe screaming in the background for his nap. But at least I got a free book at the library! So it was a pizza day today....yummy.

This weekend I also headed out to Park City for a night in a lovely mansion with my book club gals for our night of all things Austen. We watched Pride and Prejudice with Kiera Knightley and Emma with Gwyneth on the huge projection screen with the comfiest bean bags in the world! And I ate my weight in junk food.

I've also decided to run my first 5K ever here in Eagle Mountain for the Pony Express Days. I'm training three days a week and hope to run the whole way! Woot! I've been a bit of a slacker when it comes to my eating, but exercise is doing well! So not dropping what I want, but still plugging along!

Also throwing in a couple of pics of Wolfy cuz he's a sweetie and my basketball team won our tournament; we were undefeated and got free Gatorade! The sweat of victory is great!!!!

So life is pretty crazy, but we're having fun!

Here's a couple of videos with Gabe trying to clip a lanyard back together. I think it's pretty cute!

Sunday Outing!

It was a really nice day yesterday so we decided to grill up some hamburgers and head outside for a picnic on a blanket with the Gabester! Archie created some delicious burgers and we had a nice time playing and talking! We found that Gabe is not a big fan of the prickly grass and so would only stay on the blanket...though, we did get him to at least pick a few blades of grass and then return them to their proper places! Very cute! We are all very excited for warmer weather and thus more opportunities for outside play.

Gabe....Crawling!

Yeah! My little boy is officially crawling now! He's such a big boy. He was a bit wobbly for a few days and now he's really taken off! He explores a little bit, but he's really content to climb all over Archie and I cuz he can now. He's also pulling himself up and standing a lot more. He even pulls himself up in his crib and cries standing hoping one of us will come in and give him hugs n' cuddles.

Life has been a bit rough these last two weeks...got a really bad cough and still am getting over it so my exercising has been pretty nil and my eating habits while still respectable aren't enough to actually help me with my weight loss goals. So I'm sure I've gained back my two pounds or at least haven't lost anymore weight, but hopefully I'll be picking up a bit this week and within a week or two I'll be back where I left off. It seems to happen in life when things are going well...life sure knows how to set you back. But onward and upward.

Here's Boog with his sippie cup with a straw!

Boog being really grumpy but bundled!

Gabe put spoons all over his face!

He pulled his toy basket over himself! Too cute!

Playing a bit with my photo editor...

I love this one!

Not a happy camper

Still grumpy!

A short video of Boog crawling! I'm excited!

Christmas 2009 Family Pics!!!!

I haven't been real great at keeping up with my family blog. I guess I feel that I don't have too much to say that anyone really cares about....life is life. Gabe is slowly getting up a bit more on his knees in order to crawl. He's cutting his top left front tooth. He's recovering from an ear infection and is still doing great from his October surgery.

My ward exercise group is still going strong and am loving it! I just wish I would eat better as well, then I might actually lose some weight. But with the holidays....I'll do good just to maintain at this rate. Then when the new year starts I can keep the goal of eating better! But you know what? I'm OK with who I am. I'm almost thirty pounds heavier than I was in high school....but for me that's OK. I carried around an 11.1 pound baby for over a couple of months...my stomach stretched beyond belief...I was bigger around than my friend was who had twins the year before! So I have a lot of battle scars....the most ginormous stretch marks known to humankind and a c-section scar that still itches and twitches like the Dickens. So I say as long as I'm trying to eat relatively healthy, exercise, and enjoy life it doesn't matter what my waist size is! Just trying to be happy no matter what.

Archie is great. He's the super go-to guy at work and he's just the biggest support for me and Gabe at home. Don't know what I'd do without him. He's the best!

Here are our 2009 Christmas pics!




Isn't he just the cutest!!! We'll keep him!