Thriller

Did I mention that I've been teaching Connor the Thriller dance?

No? Well it was worth a shot ;)

Walking Boy!

Connor decided to start walking on Friday! I'd add video but Brandon was the one to record it on his phone. Connor just amazes me how he learns something new everyday. I sure do love that lil guy!

Amazing

Newborns amaze me. It's just a pure miracle how they are brought into this world. My nephew was born early this weekend. Tanner is absolutely adorable, I just love his hair! Since he was early his lungs weren't quite developed, but when we got to visit him on Sunday the had all of his tubes out and he was just on oxygen. He's such a cute little guy, I'm so excited to hold him again!

10 %

Last week Connor had his 12 month check up. He sure is one healthy happy boy. One thing that I didn't expect was that Connor only gained 0.10 lbs from his 9 month check up. Seriously!? He is a bottomless pit when he eats, and he's always hungry. I could not believe he hadn't gained anything (pretty much)! Basically it comes down to he wasn't drinking as much milk as he was supposed to. Don't worry, he's drinking his milk and I can already tell he's getting chunkier!

Quick side note! Our little family got pictures last month and we have a little preview on my wonderful friends page! You can check them out here. :) Thanks Sarah!

We've had a birthday shout Hooray!

Connor turned 1 on Friday!
His birthday gift to Brandon was to stand on his own! Wahoo, big boy! {Connor did this for me a week ago and I never go proof}

We love him so much and it has been such a journey for the past year. Connor continuously teaches me patience, and I never knew I could love someone so fast as I did when I met him.

He's learning new things each day, and we love watching him grow and learn. I think one of our favorites is his love of music. He'll sit and watch Music and the Spoken Word with us, or his favorite, Tangled. {He may have a thing for blondes}

For his birthday we had a little tailgating party with Brandon's side, and he got to eat his own chocolate cake.

We quickly cleaned him up and then walked down to the stadium for the game. It was quite nerve wracking game. Connor finally became a little comfortable in the end. He'd throw his arms in the air, kick his legs and go "YAA!" It was a huge relief that we won in the last 15 seconds. :)

It was a beautiful day. I still can't believe it's been a year, but time has just flown since he's joined our family. Connor keeps us on our toes, and I'm sure that'll happen more-so when he starts walking.

He has his 12 month appointment Tuesday, so we'll get all of his lovely stats, and not so lovely shots.

It was a great, simple day. We love our blue eyed boy more than anything and can't wait to see the new things he'll learn.

20 Minutes

What can you accomplish in 20 minutes?

Quite a bit in my case!

Recently I've been trying to figure out better ways to manage my time. I've been trying to figure out ways to get everything accomplished without feeling like I have to spend a lot of time on it. So one day I was browsing online trying to find tips and ideas on time management when I came across a post from someone. {I'm sorry I can't link the post to what she actually said, but just bear with me}

This person stated {I'm paraphrasing now}

"I dislike cleaning, but it needs to get done. So what I do is throughout the day I tell myself for the next 20 minutes I'm going to clean and see what I can get done!"

Seriously this person is a genius. I don't know why I've been having a hard time focusing recently, but this 20 minute cleaning time throughout the day has been working for our family!

So what do you think you can accomplish in 20 minutes?

Miracles

“And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.” (Morm. 9:11, 18-19)

I've been blessed to witness a few miracles recently.

Whoever says that miracles have stopped, aren't paying attention.

I don't think I can thank my Heavenly Father enough...But I'll sure try. ^_^

Torn

Here are the Keele's. { (left to right) Eric, Anthony, Laura, Jenn and her husband Lance Peterson}

{Missing from this image is Jared, Elise, Emilee & Jessica}

About a week ago I found out that Anthony, Laura, Elise, Emilee and Jessica (maybe Jared), will be moving to North Carolina...I've been quite torn about my feelings.

On one hand, it's a huge opportunity for Anthony and his family. He'll be making quite a bit more and from what I read on Jenn's blog it's cheaper to live in the NC...

On the other hand... I'm really sad to see them go.

I lived with the Keele's for a good chunk of my teenage life. I've considered them a foster family of such even though there was never quite that 'title'. Anthony was the witness at my wedding {my Father not being able to attend the temple}, and Laura was the one to be my escort through the temple {my Mom also not able to attend the temple}. The Keele's took me in where I felt like I had no place to go. I can never thank them enough for the kindness and love they offered to me.

I know that they will have wonderful adventures on their way out to North Carolina, and I hope one day Brandon, Connor and I can make our way out there to visit them. But it will not be the same without them here.

I feel horrible Brandon and I did not visit them near enough. I hope they can forgive that.

I'm glad Jenn and Eric, {maybe Jared} will stay in Utah. They are some of the best friends I've had. I'm grateful they shared their family with me. I don't know if I ever thanked them for that...But thank you.

Remember when...

I used to update this? Yea...it's been awhile. I guess that's what happens when you're working two jobs, and attempting to be a good Mom and House wife.

I miss friends...and family. Since Brandon has been full time work AND school we don't really get out much.

Life is changing and I'm still not quite used to all the changes. I know change is good, it helps to make you stronger and more faithful, as well as chances for new blessings.

Brandon's schooling is going great. He has his last two finals this week (one tonight, one tomorrow morning). I know he'll do amazing. He is one of the smartest men I know and he is one great example to our boy!

Pound the Pavement for Parenthood

Thanks to Jill for the photo!

About a week and a few days ago I did something I said I would never do...

I completed a 5k

My original thoughts on why I think 5k's are ridiculous...

Who likes to run for fun? Seriously.

I could spend my time doing something much more enjoyable.

And really, who likes to run?

Last November my dear friend Jill started a non-profit organization called Pound the Pavement for Parenthood. I wasn't able to run at that time because I had just had Connor and lets face it, not quite prepared for that. On May 14th they had another 5k sponsoring a different couple and Brandon and I decided to continue supporting our friends and walk/run this one! We signed up and a day before the race Brandon found out he needed to be a good home teacher and pick up someone from the airport at the exact same time. So it came down to Connor and I.

Saturday morning rolled around and we got ready for the day. Brandon dropped me off at the park with Connor, said he loved me and off he went! I "signed in" and started to get pumped up/nervous of this whole experience. One of my biggest problems is I'm very out of shape, and I didn't quite prepare for this 5k. I kept telling myself if worse came to worse I'd just "take a short cut" and finish a bit early. Well the time came, everyone lined up, and we started!

I decided to start off the race with a small jog. It didn't go on very long (remember out of shape), but I still tried to keep the mind set of, jog until I'm uncomfortable, walk until I get comfortable and switch it up. I had a few goals in mind...to finish before they had "picture time", and to not be last. Connor and I started going along and everything was great, music was great, outside was great, Connor was fantastic. About half way I really started to feel my out of shape mind saying "ok, it's time to take that short cut." But in the back of my mind I kept remembering that I needed to accomplish this. Brandon had told me how proud he was of me, and I just was feeling horrible if I decided to just cut the race short. So I persisted.

As I was walk/jogging so many thoughts popped into my head. One of them being, when I was growing up I wanted to do a few things in high school (mostly ballroom and some other sports). I asked my Mom about it but she just said, 'we didn't have the money' and that was that. I never pressed it because I knew my Mom was working so hard for my family and so on I went. I realized that I've told Brandon that so many times. "I'm sorry babe, we can't do that right now, we don't have the money." I hated myself for realizing it! I've said it multiple times, and I came to the conclusion that if I could finish this race that instead of saying "We just don't have the money", I could then say "How can we make it so we can do 'insert item/event' ." I want my children to be able to do whatever they want! I want them to be the athlete, dancer, smart kid, etc etc etc. I want them to be them! I learned that instead of thinking the negative side on how we couldn't be able to do things, I should be thinking, 'ok how can we do this?'.

After I was thinking that I started thinking of the many things in my life that I never 'finished'...So I pushed on, I never had any idea that participating in a 5k would make me reflect on my life so much.

I started thinking about Jill and Allen. I was there for them, for their baby E & D that will bless their family some day. I was showing my faith and hope for their family. Brandon and I have said time and time again how much we love them, they will be the most wonderful parents and we're so grateful for them. They are truly more like family and I thank and plead with our Heavenly Father every day for their cause.

I got my burst of energy at the end when I knew I was close to the end. I finished at a horrible time of 48 min some odd seconds. But I finished. Connor was amazing and just talked the whole time. I'm so proud to say that I completed a 5k. I'm proud of the Witt's for their strength and for them to push me through something I said would never happen.

I wish I would have brought my camera. I technically don't have documented proof, but I did have Sarah and Jill take a picture, so hopefully I can get a copy of one soon. (Haha thanks to Jill, there's one at the top now! )

Decisions decisions decisions...

I hate…hate making decisions. I have a bad habit about worrying what others think about me too much, so I tend to go with the flow a lot. Recently I’ve been wanting to color my hair. Since a bit before I met Brandon I colored my hair dark dark dark brown. I loved it, it made my skin and eyes pop and I felt like I stood out for once. Problem is when it’s summer time my hair tends to get golden/reddish highlights naturally. My highlights aren’t a bad thing, it’s just when I’m paying for it to be darker for a long period of time. So long story short, I’ve been thinking about changing up the color. Last time I did that I didn’t really like it though (I tried adding blonde highlights in it for a short period of time and didn’t appreciate it too much). I think my biggest problem is I want a change and tend to just go get it done as soon as possible and doesn’t turn out the way I’d like. Basically…I’m not patient. Now I’m trying to look around and make a sure decision on what I should do and be confident. Below are a few pictures of ideas I’m looking at or that have been suggested to me.

This is Brandon and I a few months after we were married. Dark dark brown. Such a pretty color.

This is the color Jenn suggested. I love it, I really do...I'm just afraid it would look super unnatural and I wouldn't be able to pull it off.

So then I started looking again today. I though Kristen Stewart has super pale skin, maybe I could pull off one of her colors. So it's kind of dark with a bit of highlighting, very pretty, not too bold.

Another Kristen Stewart picture, more highlights, bit more auburn. I actually asked the Cosmetology director at my school her opinion and this is what she suggested. Well she told me auburn with caramel highlights and this is what I pictured in my mind. Maybe I'm off, but I still thought it was cute. (Once again I've turned timid! I don't know if I could pull this off either)

So there you go, what are your opinions?

Motivated

Recently I haven't been feeling myself. I've felt like I have no self worth, and to be honest...inadequate. I'm not quite sure what was going on with me, I was down.

Yesterday's beautiful sunshine totally flipped it around. I felt motivated, and focused. I was able to accomplish so much. After work I went home and Connor and I had lunch, then we went on a wonderful walk. I want to say he enjoyed it, before we went out he was screaming his head off, but then as soon as I stepped outside he was quiet and just looked around at everything. It was just so nice to feel the warmth of the sun and get out of the house!

After our walk I put Connor down for his nap and I started cleaning up! My co-worker does a great thing every week and Brandon and I want to incorporate her advice. Every Thursday is her clean up day; she runs her errands and cleans the house so that she can enjoy her WHOLE weekend. That's what I started to work on once Connor was asleep. I was able to clean our living room, dining room, the half bath down stairs and start laundry before Brandon got home. When Brandon got home I vacuumed downstairs and he cleaned the kitchen while I continued with the laundry. Then we were off to run a few errands, get the car washed and hit up Costco!

Yesterday was just wonderful; I am so excited for today to be even better! :) On a side note: I've learned a lot recently with my photography and I'm excited for the new look.

6 Months

Connor is 6 months today and I cannot believe it has gone this fast! He is learning so much and growing way too fast. (I still have a hard time packing his smaller clothes). He is such a joy, Brandon and I are constantly trying to get him to laugh or smile and it's so cute when he does!

I'm thinking he looks a lot more like Brandon now, but when he smiles I still see a bit of myself. It's just crazy how he's changed, definitely a cutie though! We'll keep him. ;)

Opportunity

Like most families the economy has been hard for everyone. Brandon and I have been able to deal with lots of big changes (me losing a job, finding another one that's less hours and less pay, and also having a baby). Throughout it all our Heavenly Father has been with us every step of the way. Even though I work less and don't make as much as I used to we were still getting by. Now having Connor our expenses have gone up, we have been able to consolidate quite a bit and work off a lot of our debt to get ready for these new expenses but it's still tight.

Recently a full time position opened up at my company. I was hesitant to apply because I love being part time and able to still help out with expenses, but I still get to be with Connor in the afternoon. After thinking about it for quite a bit I applied. I know an employee or two that the company works with their schedules so I thought "why not?, if I don't apply it's already a no." I had my interview and everything went well. They told me I did a great job, but they had already interviewed quite a few people, so I would have to wait and hear back from them. I felt confident and excited, but knew I had done all I could do it was in the Lords hands now.

This morning I heard back that I didn't get the position. My feelings are honestly torn. I am disappointed that I won't be able to relieve some of the stress of our expenses. Yet I am slightly happy that I still have my afternoons with my sweet boy. Currently I'm more disappointed, but I know Heavenly Father is watching over our little family and he'll guide us where we need to be.

Maybe I'm supposed to focus on my photography? I would really love that! I had a wonderful maternity shoot this weekend with a great couple! It's one of Brandon's old roommates and his beautiful wife! She is 37 weeks pregnant and looks fantastic, seriously! I am so excited for them and their little boy to arrive!

If you know anyone that may be interested in having new pictures done I would love to do it! Check out my photography blog here or click on the link to the right.

I hope everyone has a great week, and lets hope the warm weather comes and stays soon! I'm getting sick of this cold dreary weather!

Push Yourself

Brandon and I are HUGE Biggest Loser fans. (We would like to thank the Witts and Toblers for that!)

The other night (after finishing the recent episode of BL), Brandon and I were talking and decided we were going to push ourselves to being the weight we were when we got married by our 3rd anniversary in May. In total we both have about 15-20 lbs to loose, and since Brandon is male I'm sure he'll lose it faster (stupid water weight!). But whether he loses it first or not, it's not a race, it's a goal we have for ourselves and each other.

At night Brandon lifts weights and does manly things, and I do my stretches, crunches & ab workouts. During the day I also am working out my legs with the great Shapeups he got me! I know they look retarded, but I've got to say they actually work! One of the things I hate about myself is my legs, my thighs are so huge, and my calves are so manly...it's gross. BUT with the shapeups my legs have in all honestly toned up (even Brandon as noticed!).

That is our goal. I feel like if it is not placed where we can read it constantly, or others don't know about it we won't feel as accountable. So here it is for all to see (well for the few that read this to see)!

Worry

Do you ever just worry what other people think of you?


I have a horrible problem with this. I am constantly over analyzing things, worrying what others will think about what I do or say, and basically just making myself unhappy. I have a tendency to want to make others happy, and in doing so I sometimes think I loose sight of how to make myself happy.

I love taking pictures. I am not the most talented photographer (by all means I admire so many of my friends and others who do photography), but a part of me does think I have a little talent in taking pictures. For a few years Brandon and I have thought of the idea of me making photography a business. I have been very hesitant (and I still am), I am worried if people would really trust me to capture those precious moments...I worry if they will like my work or if I will get sick of the process...So many worries, thoughts just holding me back.


What I truely need to think is, I love, love...LOVE taking pictures. I love the way it makes me feel like I can be creative. I love going through the images to edit them and realizing "wow I took that!" I shouldn't think what people may say or think, all I should think is the happiness it brings to me and the others it may bless.

I was blessed to take a few pictures of baby Livi. Isn't she beautiful?