Vacation

So - I know I've been for a few weeks already, but I've finally decided to write a bit about our family vacation! I'm not going to post a lot of pictures because I posted them all on facebook and its kind of a pain in the butt to post them one at a time on Blogger - also ,I tried doing a slide slow but for some reason I'm not allowed to copy or paste anything from or into this text box....?

Anyway! Ryan's family invited us to go to Seaside, OR with them a few weeks ago. It was A BLAST!!! It was a long drive (during which we passed through a crazy storm where there was actually a fire right on the side of the road where lightening hit) - be we made it!

This is where we stayed - Its shaped like a U. I didn't take this picture so I need to point out that this is deefinitely NOT what the resort looked like while we were there. Imagine the front section (the part of the building on the left of the pic and the part that seems closest to the camera) covered in sheets - because this front beach-facing section of the resort was under construction while we were there.

Anywho - the resort was pretty cool. It had to huge hot tubs, a heated pool with fountains, and a heated kids pool with fountains. This is where we went when it was too cold to go to the beach.

The beach was right there! Just a few steps from walking out the door of the resort and our feet were in the sand. It was nice! The kids loved playing in the sand and the adults loved swimming in the ocean.

While we were in Seaside we got to shop, we visited the aquarium almost every day to feed the seals, and we went to Astoria to check out the Column:

We climbed the steps all the way to the top of the column - and I felt sick the ENTIRE TIME. The top was fun though - it had a great view:


We also went to Ft. Clatsop - all about Lewis and Clark. I'll admit - Ryan was more interested than I was, haha - but it was still fun. Last I can think of was our trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory - pretty interesting! Ryan retained my information than I did ..... but it was still interesting :-) The most important thing is that we got to sample cheese and buy ice cream, haha.

Many nights were spent watching movies, playing games, relaxing the hot tub, and waking up to people setting off loads of fireworks in the middle of the night. Most days were spent swimming in the pool, swimming in the ocean, or playing in the sand. After a week stay we were sad to say goodbye. Maybe one day when we can afford it we will go back again.

Cael-Bo-Bael

So, Cael had his 1st birthday about a month ago! Lots of family showed up and I'm sure Cael had a blast!

He started at 7 lb 1 0z, and by age one he was about 17 lbs taking him off the charts percentile-wise (meaning he is really small for his age). The doctor had me put him on a high calorie foods only diet and after a month he's now at about 18 lbs! That may not sound like much -but it is exciting for us! We take him in to see the doctor in a week and a half and we'll see if that pound he gained was good enough to not be worried about our little guy!!

Cael has been developing so well!! He can say "Hi" "Daddy" or "Dada" and "Daeda" ... for Jaeda... he can also say "Mama" "Yaya"....for Diana.... and "Boo." He uses the signs for milk, food, please, all done, and book - and he created his own sign for pacifier. He sleeps really well, he's getting a lot of teeth and he is so loving! I love all of the hugs and kisses he gives me. I also love how much he likes to imitate Jaeda - my kids are so dang cute!

I just wanted to point out - the picture to the left of this paragraph has Cael wearing the same onesie he wore when we took our family pictures - the same family pictures that are shown on the top of my blog and as my profile picture. They were taken when Cael was 3 months! (in the family pictures he has a long sleeve onesie underneath this onesie) - I told you he was small!

It's On!

So my mom, Diana, Michal, Cindy, GG, and I are having a weight loss competition. We started 2 Sundays ago and ....I think it ends September 1st. The winner gets 20 dollars from each participant to contribute to a new wardrobe- I am SO determined to win!!! I won't say everyone else's starting weight, just cuz I don't know how they'd feel about it - but I started at 158lbs and my goal is 135. I weighed myself this morning and I was 149. And as far as I know - I'm in second place (GG is winning - who would have thought?). So I'm excited - mostly because I've been making healthier decisions as far as food goes and I've been exercising more and it feels GREAT!! Who knew that the combination of more exercise and less pizza/McDonalds could lead to weight loss?? Oh wait...that would be EVERYBODY!!

That's it - I'll try to do a little blog about Cael's 1st birthday as soon as I upload the pictures from my camera.

Random Thought

So, I was thinking about it today - and I decided that without faith and hope, I'd be a total mess! I was worrying about things like school and money and I really just wanted to freak out....instead I just took a breath and thought, "it's gonna be ok..." That little bit of hope and optimism was just what I needed to clear my mind and it helped me to focus on setting goals and figuring out what needs to happen in order to better our situation. I know trials pretty much suck, but its comforting to know that that Lord will help me through them and that when I come out of my trials I will be a better and wiser person.

.....and thats my blog for the month :-)

Oops and Uh-Oh!

The oops - So, after I had Cael I had to buy some new clothes because I was a little bigger than normal...well, now those clothes are too small! I'll admit - I've been eating A LOT lately! So my new goal is to excercise daily and eat less junk - so easy, right? I started tonight because I didn't want this to be one of those "I'll do it tomorrow..." things. Also, Ryan and I made a goal to not let any junk food in our house for the next month (which ....is going to be really hard for us, haha). So, wish me luck! The Uh-Oh - So, it has sort of been coming on gradually, I think - but I'm convinced that I have been dealing with some sort of depression. I don't know if it is some kind of post-partum thing or if it is a side effect to a new drug, or if its just out of no where - but its starting to become more apart of my life than I'd like it to be. Its like one minute I'm "normal," optimistic, and happy - and the next minute I think I'm the biggest dissappointment in the world, everyone hates me (which totally isn't true...cuz I'm so awesome, right?), and nothing is possible. Maybe its weird that I'm bringing it up in a blog - but its not something I'm really worried about people knowing because I'm not embarassed or ashamed and I would like any advice, thoughts, ideas or whatever you think might help me get through this! Anyway - so thats my oops and uh-oh..... .... .... Go Giants!

Getting the Housewife Thing Down!

So, ever since school got out (btw - I totally got a 4.0 in my chemistry class) - I made a goal to try to do more housewife things (since I don't have school taking up all of my time). So I've been cooking and cleaning as much as I can for the last week - and let me tell yuh, I'm AMAZING...ok not really. I clean the house and ten minutes later the toys are all over the place! The cool thing is that I have time to cook. Ryan has been doing pretty much ALL of the cooking up until now (...boy do I love that man)! The thing is - it was mostly hamburger helper or pizza....and I'm tired of dinner from a box. So, I've been making stuff from scratch and it has been a blast! I've now made shephards pie (yum!), honey fried chicken (not so yum), pot roast with a mushroom gravy (super yum!), and cheddar baked chicken. Coming up is beef stew one day and zesty pork chops the next. I don't know why I just started cooking - I'm having so much fun! Anyway - I just thought I'd share with you how much I'm enjoying my unexpected break from school. Oh....and Cael took his first steps a few weaks ago

Meant to Be...

So the last month has been pretty crazy for me. It's the last month of the quarter so I've been trying to stay on top of things - but my family decided we should all get sick, my kids decided to keep me up til 2 am, and my body decided that it doesn't like sleep anymore anyway! So I'm sick, tired, exhausted (so sick, tired, and exhausted that I had no energy to celebrate my birthday) and after a few days of, "Wow - you look really tired!" or "Are you feeling ok - cuz you don't look so good..." I found out that I can't go to school next quarter because with trying to transfer to a different school and trying to turn in paperwork on time - I apparently missed a deadline for something and didn't qualify for financial aid :-( This has an unfortunate effect on my plans for being finished with prerequisites, but I won't go into that now, because I've decided that not being able to go to school next quarter is a major blessing! I haven't been able to be a good mom or wife because I've been so out of it! So that little break, I think, will be very healthy for me and my family and I am looking forward to it.