It's been awhile

I feel like I haven't blogged in a long long time! We've been so busy that I haven't been able to read others blogs or write on my own. Things have been so busy mostly because of Nick's schooling and how much time he dedicates to it.
The kids have been doing really well. Andrew is having a hard time not acting like the parent to Madelyn, but we are working on that everyday. He tries really hard to keep her out of things (which is nice) but the way he does it is the problem. Usually he'll drag her away from something by grabbing her by her head! She'll usually fight back by biting him, then they get into a fight. For the most part they get along well, the fights usually happen when one, or both of them are tired. We love naps around here, that's for sure!
I went to the doctor today because I've been having pain in my right ear for a little while and then this morning I woke up with pain radiating on the outside of my ear. The doctor said I have an ear infection and gave me some amoxicillin to take for the next 7 days. I hope it starts helping me feel better because I haven't been sleeping very well for awhile because I sleep on my right side or stomach.
Nick seems to be catching on to his class really well and is enjoying the new knowledge he's getting. Even though I'm exhausted from picking up the extra slack, I'm really excited for him to further his knowledge! It makes any time we get to spend together very precious, that's for sure!
I'm really excited for conference this weekend and can't wait for the talks that will be given. They always uplift and give me hope and sometimes I get great naps too!
I hope this next week finds everyone happy and well! Hopefully I'll be better about blogging and will have better and more interesting updates for next week...

What we've been up to

This last Friday Nick and I packed up the kids and went to Bear Lake. We met my parents there (they had already been there since Labor Day) and had fun swimming in the pool, sauna, and playing on the awesome toys they have for kids. Then Nick got a call from work wanting him to come in and fix something that only he knew how to fix. My parents had just left with our van to drop my sister off in Rexburg to start school, so there wasn't really any way for him to get to work. He ended up leaving at around 7pm, when my parents got back from Idaho. He went into work that night and then stayed home the rest of the weekend and went back to work Monday (which he had originally taken off for the vacation). I ended up staying with my parents and the kids had a lot of fun. I felt bad for my family because Madelyn kept crying randomly through out the night because she had a really bad bum rash and is teething. I had to be at work Monday by 2pm (the first appt was 2:10) and we were supposed to be checked out of the condo by 10am, so I thought we had plenty of time to get me to work on time. Well, we didn't end up leaving the condo until just before noon and I thought there was NO way I would make it to work. It took Nick 2.5 hrs to get home just driving in our car (at 80 mph after the canyon) and my dad was in the suburban pulling a huge boat! I felt like I was 12 again, throwing a fit about how I wouldn't make it to work and it wasn't really a day I could miss... My dad got me to work at 2:15, only 5 minutes late-so that means he made it from Bear Lake to West Valley City in 2 hrs 15 minutes, pulling a boat! My parents dropped me off and watched the kids for the 1.5 hrs while I was at work and then picked me up when I was done. When I got home my mom had unpacked almost everything and had done 2 loads of laundry-dried and folded! I couldn't believe it, she was exhausted but still managed to help me out so tremendously!
I haven't posted my weight update lately because my scale has been saying the battery is low and won't weigh me, but when I got back from the lake it decided to work again. So the news is I haven't lost anything more but I haven't gained. Which I'm very happy about because we've had so many birthdays and parties in the family-so I haven't been counting my cals or doing anything I was before. I just bought a jogging/bike stroller so now I can start walking and biking with the kids. I'm really excited and have Natalie to thank for finding a great deal for me!
Nick is starting to really like the class he is taking and to add a cherry on top-he just bought a new laptop for school. I told him he should try and get his work to cover some of it because it's for school but he doesn't think he should try. Whatever!
Madelyn turned one yesterday and we had a little birthday cake for her and sang to her. We didn't do a friend party for her because she wouldn't remember it and wouldn't even know what's going on but either next year or when she turns 3 we'll party...She goes in tomorrow for her 1 yr appt. so I'll put her stats up after then.
Andrew is growing and learning like crazy. We've been exploring different preschools for him and he's REALLY excited about the thought of going to school. He's on the waiting list for Hillside Elementary and the school district is sending me info on the other schools that have preschools and their stats. It costs about $80 a month through the school district and about $240 through Challenger.
Here are some pictures of what we've been up to...

Madelyn's first pigtails, cheese!
She'll let me do her hair if I let her splash in the sink at the same time
Andrew took about 20 pictures of things around the house (i.e. me, toys, cars in the garage, shoes, bottle caps, etc.) This is just one of the many pictures he took of Hailey right after she ate. He loves Hailey! I did a slide show at the bottom of the post of the random pictures he took because it's pretty funny. He knows how to turn the camera on and off and take many many pictures. He even knows how to change it from taking pictures to viewing them all...he's just like his daddy!
Madelyn at Bear Lake having a blast with daddy on the swings. Notice the matching nail polish? This is actually the first time I painted her nails-I know I'm lame!
She was being so photogenic!

Here's Andrew waking up from his nap to get ready to go to the lake. He opened his Pooh tent and put his spiderman sheets, Owl Babies book (gift from Rachel Harding when he was born), tin box, baby doll, and other treasures with him. I was really surprised when I opened his door to wake him and Madelyn up! Madelyn and daddy going down the slide.
Andrew climbing a rockwall at the Bear Lake park. He insisted on wearing this swimming floatie "life jacket" thing even though it's way to small for him. I would post the other pictures of him but you can see his "junk" way too clearly because the thing is so dang tight on him!
A rare moment when Andrew would smile for me while I had the camera. He's so devilishly cute!


Here's the slideshow of Andrew's pictures...

Six things...

I was tagged by Christie.

The Rules:

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks you possess.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

1. I have a really sensitive gag reflex. I can barely swallow tiny pills let alone big huge vitamins. I can't even take prenatals when I'm pregnant because I absolutely will throw them up. When I go to the dentist and they take my xrays, the tech ends up running to push the button to take the picture and runs back because I'm gaging so bad and tears are rolling down my face. I reassure them I'm not crying, just gaging.

2. I can't wear turtleneck shirts or really anything that touches the front of my neck. Again relating to the gag reflex...when I'm pregnant even if the seatbelt sits on my neck I will throw up. I have to wear v-necks or round neck shirts, which are sometimes hard to wear with g's.

3. I hate swimming alone. In my family we would often go camping for long periods of time, of course only where there were lakes present. My older brother (Ryan), my older sister (Monica), and I would always try and swim across any lakes we were at. One time I was in the middle of a lake (Suttle Lake I think, which has tons of full size, huge trees on the bottom) when my brother started telling me about fresh water sharks...Needless to say, I found a huge tree that was floating in the lake and sat there for a good while, until I could find the courage to swim back to shore. One thing that probably aggravated my hate of swimming alone was that my classmate in 6th grade, Rory, drowned at the same lake during that summer.

4. I have very high expectations when it comes to Italian food and I love fettuccine alfredo! I order it almost all the time when at Italian restaurants. Even when dieting I just order the kids meal and eat half of it, to fit it into my calorie range for the day. It's so yummy! My best friend Kelli and I would always go to an Italian restaurant in Bend, OR that served spinach fettuccine alfredo with chicken, it's rated #1 on my list, Carrabba's #2, Macaroni Grill #3 (just recently moved up), and if I'm dying for an Italian fix and the above named restaurants aren't close- Olive Garden comes in as #4.

5. Speaking of food...I could eat a whole batch of cookies by myself! Cookies are my weakness, if I didn't like cookies I would probably weigh 100 lbs. less! My favorite are Oatmeal chocolate chip and white chocolate macadamia nut. Nick's sister just made some chocolate chip zucchini cookies that were delicious and are now a favorite.

6. I refuse to clean the toilets! Nick and I had a discussion before we were married about this. I let him know that I would not be the one who would be cleaning toilets (this only pertains to toilets that guys use). I don't know if it was from living with brothers, or what, but guys make bathrooms disgusting! When he cleans the bathrooms, Nick does a fabulous job!

You're it:Lianna, Natalie, Summer, Allana, Rachel, Shellie

I Bet

You all just couldn't wait for me to post my weigh in update! I know I'm a little late posting it, but here it is...this last week brought me down 3 more lbs. Not the huge numbers I was hoping for, but a loss and I'll take it. That leaves 46 lbs. to get to my 1st step goal. I only have about 7 weeks to be at that goal, so it probably won't happen-but I'll take whatever I can get. Nick has finished 2 class days out of 32 for this semester and I hope he will hang in there. The first day was a huge disaster because right before he left work to be at school things blew up (that of course he designed) so orders could not be tested and sent to customers, then the teacher announced that the course was going to be very fast paced and they weren't going to do much review at all (Nick last took the pre-req classes 3 yrs ago), and then on the way home from class his car started smoking! What a way to be welcomed back to school, eh? I think if Nick can take it one class at a time, he'll do really well. We were able to go to the temple tonight, thanks to Nick's mom watching the kids and the bishop's daughter filling in last minute as well. It's such a nice way to hush the mind and not think about all the little everyday things. I have to give a shout out to Natalie for being willing to watch the kids even though she wasn't feeling well. THANK YOU!!! Well I think that's it for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!!

Dilemma

We're having a dilemma because apparently Nick and I aren't capable of making decisions (especially REALLY important ones)...Here's the deal. When we got married we decided that once we started having kids, we would space them 2 yrs. apart. So we were planning on getting pregnant this September or October, but...we can't decide if we should wait another year or not. I don't know if it's better to wait because I could lose a lot more weight in a year or just keep losing until I actually get pregnant within the next couple of months and then lose the rest after the baby comes...One reason I don't want to wait is because the sooner we're done having kids, the sooner I get to go back to school. Another is I really like the age difference with Madelyn and Andrew. The reasons for waiting are losing more weight and of course saving more money...So any opinions about spacing between kids, please let me know what you think...

It's past time for another update...

Yesterday I didn't have time to post my update for the weigh in because I was watching my sister's 3 yr old twins and 11 month old baby. Needless to say, it was a busy day!
Well my weight loss totaled 4 lbs. for this last week (2 lbs. more from my last weight update), leaving 49 more to go. I was hoping for 5 lbs.+ but I think the monthly cycle didn't allow that to happen. I'm hoping next Tuesday I'll be able to put up some good numbers to catch up to my goals. I have 10 more lbs to lose in order to be at the half way mark of meeting my goal.
Every day Madelyn is walking more and more. It's good to see her try over and over again, even when she falls. She keeps saying random words here and there, mostly repeating what we say. Some of the things she says: Dada, mama, here, yeah, And (for Andrew), Madyn (for Madelyn), and of course the famous "NO."
Andrew seems to be going through a phase of testing the limits again. I don't know what brought that on, but he is finding himself on timeout quite often. He's been really quick to say "I'm sorry", and somehow thinks that means he shouldn't have to face any consequences. Hopefully this new phase will pass quickly!
Nick and my dad are getting tons done in the basement. Plumbing is done, vents are pretty much done, framing is almost done. I can't wait for these last rooms to look like the rest of the basement. It will be so great! Well I think that's it for now.

Cute Videos

The first video is of Andrew "helping" Madelyn walk/dance. They are the craziest kids and we love them so much!!!!


This next one is Madelyn walking...Tonight she took 11 steps by herself so we grabbed the camera to capture it on video. She ended up only taking about 6 steps or so to Nick but we got it on video. Her hair is crazy because we had just taken out her pigtails to get her ready for bed...