Carters Birthday and Family Happenings

Well its been a while since I wrote down some of the Horrocks happenings and so I thought I should catch the three people who read this blog up-to-date. :)

Lets start with Carters first birthday party. I'm pretty sure that I had Carters birthday planned out way before the time came close for the celebration to begin. The theme of the party was Curious George. Being the curious little boy Carter is, it was only fitting. In my previous post, I mentioned making a cake out of fondant for the first time. I practiced making marshmallow fondant a few times and also on getting the fondant on smoothly. To my surprise, the fondant making wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be but pretty messy. Only a few people know this about me but I LOVE to bake and if I could go to school, become a great pastry/cake artist and start my own fantastic bakery, I would. So, needless to say, making this cake was a lot of fun for me. All-in-all, the cake took about 3 days to complete and I learned a lot about cake making. Though Carter couldn't truly appreciate all my hard work, I hope one day he looks back and thinks the cake was special because it was for him.



We mostly invited family and a few neighbor friends over to celebrate with us and my mom actually flew in from South Carolina for the party and ended up staying a month in Utah. Carter was spoiled with so many great presents and not one, but two cars that he could ride on. He loves them both and has played with them everyday since.

Around the end of the party, the time came to cut the cake and for Carter to dig into his. We stripped him down and let him do what he wanted but in the end, it took lots of encouragement to even get him to take a bite. We eventually got him to eat some of it and caught some good, messy pictures.














I find writing on this blog causes me to reflect more than I usually do and so I'd like to reflect on some of the milestones and personality traits that I've noticed in Carter. Your more than welcome to read but I know for some, these kinds of lists are boring. If so, skip ahead..:)

Carter at 14 months:
-Is completely off bottles and has been for about a month and 1/2 now. Hallelujah
-He loves to play outside. I think if he could be outside all day, he would
-Loves the water and swimming. Bath time is also a favorite time of the day for him. He also likes to sample the water he is in sometimes... Why? I have no clue..
-Some of the words he knows and does a pretty good job saying are: hi, bye bye, bath, dog, Kinley, ball, mommy, daddy, nana (for banana and his Grandma Nana), papa, that, balloon, P.U., complete with hand waving in front of his face (as in what you say when something smells bad), thank you, please, book, kiss, hug, cheese, and chicken.
-He will give kisses, hugs and snuggles with some encouragement or just randomly because he wants to. He will often times go straight to the kisses and hugs when he knows he's in trouble. I have a hard time being mad at him when he does that.
-Loves to be sung to. Some of his favorite songs are "Popcorn Popping", "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam', "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", the "Chicken Dance", "la Cucaratcha" (totally don't know how to spell it and I dont have the drive to look it up), and anything from the Children Songbook really.
-Will dance to random music or with mom. He really likes dance music for some reason.
-He has been scared of his own shadow on more than one occasion.
-He is a mommas boy. In the morning, if BJ goes in and gets him, if he hears my voice or see's me, he wants nothing to do with BJ. He's becoming very attached to me.
-He liked to brush his teeth at night. We have 2 toothbrushes; one for him to hold and use and then one for Mom or Dad to do the real brushing. Carter thinks its funny to have us hold his hand and brush for him.
-I know every parent says this about their children but Carter is very smart and catches on quickly when he is taught something new. We've been working on going downstairs for about a week or 2 and after only showing him maybe 8-10 times how to turn around and go downstairs on his belly, he'd figured it out.
-LOVES books. I could read to him for hours a day. Some of his favorite books are: Llama Llama, Red Pajama, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Mommy's Best Kisses and anything Baby Einstein.
-Carter will eat just about anything I put in front of him. His appetite isn't as large prior to being 1, but he can still eat with the best of them. Sometimes though it is a struggle to get him to eat. When nothing else works, playing some Baby Einstein from YouTube always works to distract him. I don't like using shows to get him to eat but when I've had a rough day and I need him to eat, it is a life and sanity saver.
-Carter all around is just a happy guy. There are times of course when he gets upset or cranky but for the most part, he is a wonderful, cheerful little boy. He's growing up WAY to fast and I tell him often that he needs to stay little. :)


Another big thing thats happened in our household is that I quit my job. While I was completely planning on working one more year before I stayed home, BJ and I had the prompting to think about me staying home sooner. We fasted, prayed, went to the temple multiple times and ultimately decided that it was the best decision for our family. I must say that making that decision for me personally, was one of the most difficult in my life. I've worked one or multiple jobs at one time ever since I graduated high school and I can honestly say I love working. Teaching especially is/was rewarding and I loved the people and place that I worked. Prior to me going on summer vacation, my principle had really gone out of her way to arrange a schedule so that I would still be able to work part-time. Needless to say, she did not take the news well that I was leaving to be at home and her reaction had me second guessing myself. While it was a tough decision to make due to leaving friends, great kids, making people mad at me in the process and having to give up having more of a social life away from home, I can honestly say we made the right decision. Carter and I will have many fun and trying adventures together and I'm glad I won't miss anything! There is nothing like being a mom and theres nobody I'd rather spend my day with than my family.

Children on the news, more often than not, make me cry..

Before I had Carter, I watched the news pretty often. We all know there is heartbreaking, tragic stories told every night, if not every minute of our lives somewhere. Nothing though prepared me for moments like today and this past month when I've heard of little toddlers being found in rivers, canals or accidents where shortly thereafter hope is gone and the children end up dying. Becoming a mother has completely changed my life and perspective in many ways. When they involve case's such as this, my heart breaks and I literally find myself in tears. When I hear of these children, I just think that someday that could be my child and the pain that such an accident would cause me to have I know would leave me devastated. I can't get through a movie without crying if a little boy is hurt or killed. Anyone else as dramatic or sensitive and I am or am I just crazy?

If I'm being completely honest, I get angry that such a small, innocent child has to die while there are horrible people living on this earth who deserve not to (sorry if that sounds judgmental but its how I feel). It all just doesn't seem fair. I believe that our Heavenly Father is in control and that there is a perfectly good reason why these things happen. I just have to exercise a little more faith when I hear stories like this. Anyway, I just needed to vent. Sorry this post is kind of depressing...I pray nothing like this ever happens to me or any of you.

Easter and South Carolina

Recently BJ, Carter and I took a trip to my home back in South Carolina. My sister Lindsay and Brother-in-law Kell were blessing their baby Grady and so it was time for a visit. Grady was born about 3 or so months ago and so before this trip we hadn't had a chance to see him. He's such a cutie and we were glad to have been able to make it to the blessing. Holding him I was reminiscent of when Carter was that little and made me think about having another.. Then I realized that I probably won't want to have another until I'm done with school (1 more year or less hopefully).

I learned a few things on that trip about traveling with infants, soon to be toddlers. One is that you should bring new toys and plenty of distractions. Carter is in the phase where everything around him visually stimulates him, but after about 2-5 minutes of something new, he moves onto something else. Our flights both going and coming back we're pretty brutal at times.

Our first flight left around 7 AM and so that meant we all were up bright and early around 4 AM. I was expecting that Carter would totally fall back asleep in the car ride to the airport but sadly I was wrong and he ended up staying awake until about 1 hour into the flight. My thought process before getting on the plane was this, "I wonder how an infant, soon to be toddler, would go down for a nap on a plane? It seems logical that if he falls asleep easy in a car that a plane would be almost identical. Yes, I'm sure he'll go down easily on this trip." See, this was the mindset I had going into our first flight and I soon was re-educated in my all to naive thinking. The process of going down for naps was to say the least, stressful. I'm not to sure if it was his ears popping or if he was over-tired (probably was a combination of the two) but it took 30-45 mins of consistant crying and screaming before he finally gave into sleep. We felt so bad for the people around us. You know that time after your plane lands and everyone is in the aisle waiting to get off the plane? Well, BJ and I took this time after each flight to apologize to those fellow passenger for having to put up with our screaming child. Most people were sympathetic and admitted wanting to help us, while there were those who you could tell we're irritated... Oh well, not much else I could've done.

When It came down to getting Carter to sleep,BJ tried his hardest to help but I guess it just takes a mommy's touch because Carter would only fall asleep on me. When he finally took his nap, he was much better behaved so at least we had some relief afterwards. The picture below is of him looking out of the plane right before we boarded. Oh, about that.. I also learned that having children will bump you to the front of the line in airports which is a very nice thing. I remember we got into SLC airport and the line to go through security was backed up all the way to the baggage claim. BJ and I just looked at each other and were like, "There's no way we're going to make it.." But to our surprise, the kind airport workers informed us of a "special" line that we were allowed to go through. So, instead of spending forever long in a regular line, we were through security in about 20 minutes. And, before every boarding, we were given the privilege of boarding first. I cannot tell you how helpful that was to get on first and get situated with Carter before everyone else boarded. It helped a bunch!

Once we got into South Carolina, we all went out to dinner as a family (minus Ashlee and family :( ) which was so nice. Simple things like going to dinner make me so very happy. Times like that don't happen very often for me but when they do, I relish in them as much as possible.

The following day was spent sleeping in and hanging out at home. Carter had some sweet Grandma and Grandpa time while I got to sleep in. We tried to take a walk during the day but I sadly forgot how hot it is there and our walk turned more so into a 5 minute stroll. That night we went over to Lindsay's mother-in-laws home and had a BBQ. There were so many people there that I had grown up with and former leaders who have added so much value to my life. It was really good to see everyone and to be able to again spend time with family. I'll spare you all the sappy details :)

Sunday was blessing day and it was a good day. Call me crazy but there are some people in this world who know how to talk to Heavenly Father and know how to give a great blessings. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes I don't completely and intently listen to every prayer but there are some people who just know how to invite the spirit and who are so in tune with the spirit that you can't help but listen to every word. My brother-in-law is that way; he invites the spirit when he speaks and gave a beautiful blessing.

Me, Carter, Mom, Lindsay and Grady

Group picture complete with people looking in various directions

Carter and how he spent some of his time in the pack-n-play.

After the blessing we had very limited time till we needed to leave for home. Lindsay had a fun idea and thought that since Easter was so close, she thought that we should take cousin pictures. So, we each went and bought white onesies, put bunny tails and ears on them and had a photo shoot. I dont think they turned out as "professional looking" as I think we had hoped but they aren't to bad.

I bet you can't tell which one of Carter :)

Cousin loves

.

Our model in the making

All in all the trip was a good time and we're really glad we were able to go. We do wish we had more time but I think my family will be coming out soon for Carters birthday so it wont be to long.

I promise we're alive..

So whenever something happens in our family, I always have the greatest intentions to blog but those good intentions often don't materialize into much as you can tell by my lack of blogging. I hopefully will do much better this summer and document more. I don't know why I dont blog more, I find writing my thoughts and life happenings to be therapeutic in a way. Anyways, here are just a few things that have been happening lately in our crazy, oh so busy lives.

Carter is growing up so fast! I know every parent says that it feels like yesterday that their child was born. For me, my feelings aren't any different. He is growing, moving, and doing all kinds of new things. He has recently started saying "daddy" at random times and ironicly often yells out "ma ma" when he needs something or wants something.

Carter has also learned how to climb the stairs and loves to climb on anything and everything he can get his hands on. We've already had our moments of tumbles and falls. Just the other day, Carter climbed up and leaned on the gate that protects him from going down a set of stairs in our house. We'll I guess I failed to secure the gate tight enough and Carter ended of taking a tumble down the flight of stairs. Can we say horrible mom award? But, I'm quickly learning that he's a tough little kid and that he has little to no fear. He was right back to leaning up against the gate no less than a couple minutes later (with mom close behind this time).

Carter will turn 1 in a little over a month. I completely plan on being an over-the-top mom and making his cake out of fondant. Truth be told, its always been my dream to own my own baking/cake shop so now is a perfect time to practice those skills. Curious George is the theme and this is kind of the design I'm thinking of:

While is doesn't look extremely difficult, I think it will take some good practice beforehand. I just hope that it turns out.

Recently BJ took a trip to South Africa for his MBA. To finish his Masters, he needed to take a class that focused on international business. If there's one thing you have to know about BJ its that he LOVES animals so the minute he found out those going on the South Africa trip would also get to go on a safari, he was hooked. I originally was going to join him on the trip but the idea of spending all my vacation inside business instead of out touring the area didn't really appeal to be nor did it make me want to shell out $3000. Ironically, (and stupidly I might add..if stupidly is even a word), the trip left the weekend before Easter and so when they got to SA, they found that most of the business they were going to tour were closed. This meant that the class would have a majority of the time in SA to tour and do fun things they wanted to do. Needless to say, I was a little bummed hearing all the fun things he got to go and do but I was happy that he got to go. Here are some of the pics from his trip.

He swam with Great White Sharks.. so jealous!

Was able to pet adult cheetahs. The cheetah wasn't tranquilized, just asleep.

He was able to visit an orphanage while there. A bunch of the people in his class and BJ bought soccer balls to bring and give to the kids. I guess they just kick balled up trash around for fun. I told BJ that if he wanted to, he could bring one of them home!

Yeap, he was close to that giraffe. Again, I'm jealous..

Here he is visiting a lion exhibit. This 'baby' was only 3 months old.

While BJ was off have an adventure, I was here taking care of Carter. It actually wasn't as rough as I thought it would be but I was ready for him to be home.

So here's hopefully one of many posts to come. I'll post some South Carolina trip and Easter stuff soon. :)

A little update...

This month has just seemed to fly by with everything thats gone on with BJ and I. I am officially 32 week and 5 days along and life just seems to be getting more and more uncomfortable. I swear I haven't had a good nights sleep in over a week due to my mind just racing about all that there is left to do before the baby comes. Plus, I have just weird and probably to come peoples classification, "psychotic" dreams that drive me insane at night!! I swear lately I'll have those dreams that I have partial control over the outcome and in the attempt to make the dream good, I end up making myself crazy at night to where I'll wake up repeatedly only to go back to the same dream over again. SO annoying... Can anyone relate?

Then, there's those nights where my brain just doesn't shut off no matter what I try... I've been told its just a 'first time mommy' thing where I try to plan everything down to what I'll do if I go into labor early, step by step, and that when I have other children, I won't have quite the same problems with worrying. I don't know and I guess won't find out till I have another child but one thing is for sure that this whole no sleep thing is no fun at all... Oh yeah, and I have a sweet head cold. :)

Other than the fact that I've been a whiner the past couple of weeks, BJ's been working on our basement. Over the past month we've gone from a framed couple of rooms to a sheet rocked, mudded, and base boarded basement which make us both very excited. Every time I go downstairs it seems like something has gotten done or has changed. BJ and crew have done a fantastic job. It's moments like this where I'm so happy to be married to a man who is so driven to achieve. I myself can take none of the credit for its progress other than I am the one who cleans up all the dust that comes up and makes a mess of the other rooms in our house. I don't think I've ever dusted this much in my life. All for a good cause though right?

After the sheet rock... (Sorry these pics are out of order)

Before the sheet rock...

Other than that, BJ and I are both counting the days till we are done with school and work... I believe we have a total of 30 working days till I am finished with this school year and BJ will be done with his masters classes till the fall. The end of the year is always difficult for me at school with wild children but this years 9th grade bunch seems to be my own personal hell. I don't think I've ever loathed teaching a class as much as I loathe teaching them. Not only is it difficult to teach them in general but teaching with a teacher at the same time who has no discipline skills whatsoever makes some days downright ridiculous.. Its bad enough that I have to get onto my class about misbehavior and such but when I have to be Hitler for his class to, it emotionally drains me and in all honesty, it's unfair that I have to always be the bad guy. I'm sure that I am the hated gym teacher for many and I'm ok with that..I'm sure one kid likes me in that class...maybe. I guess if it means that those kids know I'm not a push over, than its worth something right? Regardless, I chant everyday in my mind 30 more days, 30 more days.....

Fashion Intervention

BJ received a gift card to Foot Locker for Christmas last year to go buy new basketball shoes. Upon arriving home from the mall, I see he's bought some nice black tennis shoes and I immediately became very impressed with his selection of shoe style. Lets be honest, BJ has rarely ever needed help from me in the dressing himself department and so why would shoes be any different??

Last Wednesday, it came to my attention that we needed to have an intervention when it came to his sock/shoe style. Now I know men care a bit less compared to women when it comes down to their gym attire but this was more than I could bare... Just take a look...

Oh how I love him... I just thought it was to funny. He was kind enough to pose for the camera so that we could document for future reference why white socks and black shoes do not go together... I actually think he could careless how his socks and shoes match but needless to say, I will be buying black, no show or short socks in the very near future... :)

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

I dont know why you cant see it but David Archquete is on the list also.. 3 girls though? I never knew BJ had such feminine features :)

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family search - Free family tree

My Celebrity Look-alikes

I thought this was fun.. I found it quite interesting that I look like all these beautiful women and then theres Bam Margera...

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Dynasty - Family history

Slacker, thats me :)

I think its official that I am a horrible blogger. Its been almost a year since I've written anything and I'm sure the 3 people that might have checked in on our blog have all given up on me.. But alas, I know I must repent of my slack blogging ways and write something. So much has happened I don't know where to begin... I'll start somewhere...

I guess the most life changing thing that has happened in the past year is that BJ and I are pregnant. Well, really I'm the one thats pregnant. It's been an interesting roller coaster to say the least. In the beginning I went through all the lovely little (and sometimes large) symptoms that most doctors (and those who have been pregnant) tell you will happen; all things ranging from feeling constant nausea and fatigue to forgetting how to back a car out of the driveway with the garage door being up rather than down. In case you didn't already know, you should probably make sure the garage door is up before you back your car out. I learned the hard way and felt like an idiot. Ask BJ how he reacted to that one since he had a front row seat.

We've had quite a few doctors appointments and have had about 3 sonograms thus far. We've decided to be strong and surprised and not find out the sex of the baby. It's funny to see peoples reactions when we tell them that we're not finding out because it really goes one of two ways. We either get the wide eyed, head shaking in disapproval, "Wow, your crazy!" reaction or the thumbs up, high fivin', "Good for you. Your doing it the right way!" response. I really could care less what people think because its our decision and I think it will only add to the wonderful day of surprises that is to be had. :) Secretly we're hoping for a girl and I think there's a good chance it is but I've been wrong in my life before so who knows. We will love the baby and be so happy regardless, boy or girl.

If there was one thing I could and will complain about until the end of my pregnancy it will be the weight gain.. Many have tried to 'comfort me' and convince me that the more weight gain, the better but I"m just not buying it and can't wrap my head around it. If you don't know much about me you would probably see what I just wrote and be like, "oh Jenn's just one of those silly, vain girls who worries so much about her looks/weight and if she gains a pound she freaks out." Partially you would be right. I do freak out if I gain 3-5 pounds when I check the scale but not for a reasons that you might associate.

After I was about the age of 9 or 10 I was always chubby. From chubby I progressed to overweight to obese to finally morbidly obese. When I was a freshmen in high school (9th grade) I had reached over 200 pounds and was maybe 5'5"-6". From there I just grew and by the time I started college I weighed well over 240 pounds. In college though I happened to lose more than 100 pounds over about 2 years through changing my life completely with diet and exercise (I could write a whole book on the subject and my experience but I'll save you the time in reading b/c this already getting to be long). From that point on I vowed to never regain the weight and until I got pregnant, I can proudly say that I have kept off the weight for over 5 years. Ironically though I've been paranoid of gaining it ever since I first reached my goal. I can honestly remember having nightmares where I would wake up in the middle of the night in a panic because I had dreamt the scale read 160 pounds.. I know.. a little psycho... But in my defense when you've worked so hard for something, its tough to see it all "go away" in a sense without really trying to sabotage yourself, even if it is just a dream. Now, not that pregnancy is sabotage but its just mentally so difficult for me to view weight gain in the way I maybe should. I'm now almost 25 weeks along and I've gained about 25 pounds... not horrible I know, but for me, I wanted to gain 25-35 pounds total when I went in to have the bady. If the 3rd trimester is anything like what I think its going to be like with a 1-2 pounds a week gain, I'm screwed with that goal.

With that said, and I know it sounds as if I'm just a whiner and complainer and being pregnant is the worst thing thats ever happened to me. Not to worry and so not the case. I'm so happy and I am reminded everyday how happy and excited I am be to be a mother. I feel as if I have moments when I am blessed to have a glimpse into what it will be like to be a mother and the strongest emotion is not disappointment in that I didn't reach my weight goal (or any other goal for that matter) but that I am so happy and proud to be a mother. I truly am thankful to know that my Heavenly Father loves and trusts me and BJ enough to take care of one of His children. It is an honor and blessing I don't take lightly. But, I still hate gaining weight and not fitting into my clothes..:) Oh well though.. only 4 more months right?

Anyway, I can see I've written enough for today. There will be more updating to come in the future.. the near future that is... not a year from now :)

Fab 5!

Fabulous Five

OK! So this is how this works...the first 5 people to respond to this
post will receive something made by me for you.
my choice.
made especially for you.
of course there are some restrictions and limitations:

~
1 .I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. what I create will be just for you.
3 It will be done sometime this year.
4 you have no clue what it will be... it may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure. ;-)
5 I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? The catch is that you must repost this on your own blog
and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!!

Field Trips.... Should be fun but really, they aren't...

So today my fellow teachers and I took our team to see the exhibit called Body Worlds downtown... It was a really cool exhibit and all the kids had a fun time looking at the different muscles and people/animals. I thought it was an awesome experience!

Until.... We all got in the buses to go home and not two minutes later we are stopped at a stop light. Well, my kids had just gotten done going through an exhibit where they got to see a lung from someone who was a smoker; a big, black lung. (This will all make sense in a minute) As we are stopped at this stop light, the bus is next to the library and there are two men that my kids seem to be fasinated with.. One, a man who was playing guitar and the other is a gangster looking fellow who is smoking a cigarette. Oh, the kids on my bus decided that they would tell the man with the cigarette, through the bus window (that wasn't open by the way) that he "sucked" for smoking among other wonderful names like mother F**...you know the rest and one of the girls says she has a gun... Hello!?! Are you stupid!?! Well, the man doesn't hear anything and only see's a busload of 8th graders talking to him and looking like they are challenging him. The man doesnt like what he sees.. The man crosses two lanes of traffic and walks up to the side of the bus. Chaperones, other students and myself think that the man has a gun and is honestly going to shoot us all or do something! I was literally scared to death but was the only one to speak up when things got to this point.

Luckily, the light turned green and we left two seconds after this happened but I was LIVID!!! Mad that first of all, I was the only one who had done or said anything up to that point and that all day during the field trip, I felt as if I was the only one who was really trying to keep kids in line. I gave everyone on that bus a mouthfull and had the girls who were the ones talkin smack sit by me. I asked them how they would feel had everyone or anyone for that matter been shot or killed because of their actions just then? Of course, they see that they did something really imature and dumb but whats done is done and consequences must follow...

Oh... I don't think I'll volenteer to go on another field trip again... Today was a very bad day. I honestly wanted to just cry when I got back to school. I didnt but those girls are in so much trouble. Its sad to me that they are that (to put it bluntly) stupid.... Ahh!! Tomorrow better be a freakin awesome day to make up for today! I had to get this off my chest...

Body For Life... I will do it!

So.. throughout the last couple of years I have gone off and on a program called Body For Life... I've taken pictures of me with little clothing, eating the 6 small meals and done the workouts. I saw results, great ones! But sadly I have always failed to finish the 12 weeks. I think the farthest I've ever gotten on the challenge is 6 or 7 weeks....

Since getting married, I really havent seen a change in my body at all (meaning the gaining of weight that is usually associated to marriage).. I actually went to a party with some old co-workers and they told me I'd looked thinner which is always good to hear... But, I want to do it, I want to finally see what would happen to me if I followed the plan to a T, not missing a day, and making it to the end. I want to also see if I can win!! That would be so cool!

With all that said, I vow on this blog that I will complete my 12 week challenge!! I will go as far as to post pictures of me and my progress to hold myself accountable. Now, hopefully only those I love and care for dearly will be able to see the pictures but if not, oh well.. I'm going to look great in the next 3 months so the old pictures wont even matter.

I hope this doesn't seem crazy or like I'm a fanatic. I'm just a goal setter and like to see myself change for the better! Thanks for any and all the support you give!

Below are my stats to start out the challenge with:

Start date: August 25th
Height: 5' 6"
Weight:146
BF %: TBD
Bust:34"
Waist:35"
Hips:38"
Upper Thigh:23"
Calve:14"
Upper Arm:12"


Goals:

1. I want to lose 15-20 Pounds of fat and gain muscle tone in its place.
2. I want to fit into my size 4 jeans I've bought but never worn!
3. I want to have more energy and drive to accomplish anything that comes my way.
4. I want to have more confidence and feel better about myself because I've accomplished something that is a huge personal challenge. I want to overcome my mental stumbling blocks.
5. I want to be below 18% body fat!

Reasons.
1. Because I've started and stopped to many times. It's time to finish.
2. Because I have faith this challenge will add value to my life in other areas.
3. Because I can do this! I can prove to myself how strong not only my body is but my mind! I can prove to myself how dedicated and determined I really am deep down.


I'll include a picture soon enough.. but thats all for now! Here we go!

Ahh.. back to the grind

Since BJ and I have gotten married, we've had a lot of time to hang out and do whatever we want. This week and next though, that will all change! I started my new job today with a "New Beginnings" (your having flashbacks of Young Womens right now huh? :) ) programs put on by Granite School District (the one I will now work for.) All I can say is that I hate to go to meeting and feel like I'm in college again filled with work and "fun activities" that honestly, arent all that fun. Some of the things I learned today were very informative and educational but when people try to give you information and expect you to do the work to learn it, thats where I tune out.. like today for a while...

Anyways, I went off on a tangent there. I will be teaching all 8th graders this year which will be SOO nice not to have to prepare 2 different History lessons a day. I am excited to get started on this years curriculum b/c I get to teach the Revolutionary and Civil Wars!! Yay!! Ok, so I'm a dork but boy are we going to have fun.

Today I came to be thankful for not working in the school I worked at before. Its funny how Heavenly Father works sometimes in that He makes you suffer something as bad as losing your job to see that thats not really where you needed to be. Its days like today that I am thankful for trials.

Well this Friday BJ and I will have been married for a woopin' month! I don't know what we have planned just yet but I'm sure it will be a grand ole' time! I'll update more on that later. Till then.. Here are some pictures from our Honeymoon... It was a very fun time as you can see :)

And so it begins....

Well, I've come to a sad realization... Once you get married, people dont want to be your friend anymore. I had a friend of mine from college tell me today that he thinks we shouldn't talk ever again and just end our friendship because I'm married now. Granted, I'm sure it will be all for the best and that in the long run, I'll thank him for his actions but it still sad to me. Whoever made the rule that once you get married, you can only be friends with married people???? Or that all of a sudden you become a leper, not fit to talk to because you have a ring on your finger!? It was just a sad realization and reality check for me today that I'm sure I'll get over. It doesn't mean its easy. I'm guessing I'm just going to have to go find new friends... married ones..:)