Christmas time!

This post is kinda all over the place- so bear with me! :)

My baby girl is 9 months old today. How did that happen?! Wasn't I just in the hospital having her last month? It is absolutely amazing how quickly time goes when you have a baby. But, even though I feel like Kenzie's only been a part of my life for such a short period of time- I can't imagine my life without her! She is the sweetest baby! She can crawl pretty good now. She has also started pulling herself up to standing using furniture. She won't nap easily now because if she's upset- she'll stand up and scream. It's sad.

On another note- Christmas is coming up! I'm so excited for Kenzie's first Christmas. We finished all of our shopping on Black Friday. We got some good deals and feel pretty good about most of the things we bought. The Saturday after Thanksgiving- Tyler, Alanna & I drove up to Park City and went shopping. We got a lot of clothing for a little bit of money. Tyler got about 4 new pairs of pants, and a few shirts, a scarf, etc. Much needed new wardrobe for a man who lost 65 pounds in under a year! :)

I have SO much to wrap, and I'm kind of excited to do it. I was looking forward to it yesterday. When I put Kenzie down for her nap I got everything ready to wrap, and then I realized I have no tape. Dang it. Present wrapping is going to have to wait until I have time to pick some up. I just really want to put the presents under the tree. Most years we don't have money to do much so there aren't any presents under the tree except maybe 1 or 2. This year we have a bunch so I REALLY want them under it to enjoy! I love giving. It's SO much better than receiving.

I had a realization last week- I'm going to have a new nephew in about a month! I'm so excited! Laurie is going to be such a good mom, and I'm excited for her to have all the fun experiences that I've already had with Kenzie.

On the last Friday of November, Janet (Tyler's mom) took us to "The Roof" restaurant downtown. It is located at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The food was really good, but the company was better. Tyler's Brother, Zach, and our sister-in-law, Lindsey and their adorable son, Britton, were there with us too. After dinner we went downstairs and took some pictures in front of the Christmas tree there. Some of them turned out but some didn't. Kids wouldn't sit still. You know how it is! Britton wanted to push Kenzie off the chair. Kenzie kept trying to pull his hair, or just wiggle off the chair herself. Oh what a night...
After that, we walked around Temple Square and looked at all of the Christmas lights that were put up that day. They were so pretty! Here are a couple of pictures from that night.



Last week my brother, Mikey, took some pictures of my little family. I haven't seen many of them yet- but I am looking forward to it! We're going to print a couple of pictures for my mom & grandma for Christmas. Tyler took a few pictures too- so I'll post what I have so far.

So much fun with our little one!

Kenzie is just over 7 months old now. She is getting so much more active! She tries really hard to crawl, but just ends up either doing what I call "the triangle" (standing on her head with her butt up in the air and her feet in tippy toe position), or moving herself backwards. She has recently learned how to say 1 syllable words, such as "da da", "ma ma", & "ba ba". It is so cute!

As of yesterday, we discovered that her bottom teeth are finally starting to come in. She has the bottom left front that will make it's appearance first, and it looks like the one next to it will be coming shortly after. I can't wait to get pictures when she actually has the teeth showing- I love those!! :)

Halloween is coming up soon, and we're trying to decide what to do with Kenzie. We have a kitty outfit for her, but I don't really like it. It doesn't fit her well, and it's really hard to get her in and out of. We also have a little tutu (see last post) and a black onesie that I could use. What should I do?

I'm so excited for Kenzie's first Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas! After Christmas, she will also have a new cousin! So, that's exiciting too! My other sister just had a baby a couple of weeks ago, so that's the first cousin on my side. Fun stuff!! Too bad I don't get to meet him for another couple of months at least. I have a feeling the rest of this year is going to go by way too quickly...I am looking forward to the rest of the fun times the rest of this year will hold though!

How Much I have Changed in 15 Years

****15 YEARS AGO (1994)****
1) How old were you? 9
2) Who were you dating? No one...see above question, ha.
3) Where did you work? I did chores, I worked in the yard & I babysat some neighbor's kids.
4) Where did you live? Amazingly enough- in the same house I live in now (in Taylorsville, UT)
5) Where did you hang out? I honestly don't remember...let's see- I was in 3rd grade...I probably hung out at Melanie Martin's house (Hi!!), DaNeil Atwood's house, Liz Barton I can't even remember where else!
6) Did you wear contacts and/or glasses? Nope
7) Who were your close friends? Melanie, DaNeil, Julie Cartwright, Liz Barton, (my memory sucks...I'm sure there were more...)
8) How many tattoos did you have? Nada
9) How many piercings did you have? Ears only.
10) What kind of car did you drive? I better not have been driving any cars- I was 9.
11) Had you been to a real party? If you are talking about parties where drinking was involved- then definitely not.
12) Had you had your heart broken? nope
13) Were you Single/taken/Married/Divorced? Single.
14) Any Kids? Oh yeah, 4 or 5...haha

***10 YEARS AGO (1999)***
1) How old were you? 14
2) Who were you dating? nobody
3) Where did you work? same as before- just in the yard, house and doing some babysitting. Oh, and I'd iron my Dad's shirts a lot.
4) Where did you live? Same as above. Taylorsville, UT
5) Where did you hang out? My house, DaNeil's House, Julie's House, etc.
6) Did you wear contacts and/or glasses? Nope
7) Who were your best/close friends? DaNeil, Julie, Liz,
8) What were you driving? Ummm...I walked everywhere.
9) How many tattoos did you have? None
10) How many piercings did you have? just ears.
11) Had your heart broken? Nope
12) Were you Single/Taken/Married/Divorced? single

13)Any Kids? None.


***5 YEARS AGO (2004)***
1) How old were you? 19
2) Who were you dating? Nope, I was married by then! :)
3) Where did you work? I worked at TJ Maxx until June of 2004, and 3form from June-December 2004
4) Where did you live? In an apartment in Murray, UT with Tyler & Anthony
5) Where did you hang out? My apartment, DaNeil's apartment, Traci Smith's apartment, Mikey/Alanna's Apartment, My Mom's house...the list goes on and on.
6) Did you wear contacts and/or glasses? Nope
7) Who were your best/close friends? My Tyler, DaNeil, Julie, Traci, Tyler, Anthony, Steve, Jon, etc...
8) What were you driving? I drove a Purple 2000 Toyota Tacoma (which I sold to my mom).
9) How many tattoos did you have? none.
10) How many piercings did you have? still just ears.
11) Had your heart broken? nope
12) Were you Single/Taken/Married/Divorced? Married
13)Any Kids? Nope, not yet.

****NOW 2009*****
1) How old are you? 24
2) Who are you dating? Tyler & go on dates sometimes. We've been married for 6 years next month.
3) Where do you work? 3form
4) Where do you live? In the same house I grewup in, in Taylorsville, UT.
5) Where do you hang out? Sadly enough- pretty much just at home. Sometimes at Mikey/Alanna's apartment. I pretty much just work and play mommy. :)
7) Who are your best/close friends? Tyler, Alanna, DaNeil (though I don't talk to her nearly as much as I'd like to!), I have a lot of others that I consider close friends- but that I don't talk to often unfortunately.
8) What do you drive? Charcoal colored 2004 Toyota Corolla
9) How many tattoos do you have? Only one.
10) How many piercings do you have? I still just have my ears pierced and I don't think that will ever change.
11) Had your heart broken? nope.
12) Are you single / taken ? Married.
13) Any kids? Yes, Finally! My little Kenzie :)

Feel free to fill this out if you feel like it! I'm amazed at how much every year of my life kinda runs together...it took some effort to sort out what happened in what year. I still probably messed stuff up.

My little giant!

Tyler took some pictures for Kenzie's 6 month mark. I absolutely LOVE them! They are so adorable! especially like the first one! (The quality isn't great because I didn't have them at work so I stole them from my facebook page...)

So Kenzie had her 6 month appointment on Tuesday. She grew 3 inches in 2 months. Here are her stats now:

28.25" tall (25.25 at 4 months)
17 lbs. 12 oz (15 lbs 3.5 oz at 4 months)
43 cm Head Circumference (41 cm Head Circumference at 4 months)

All of this sounds about normal, right? Well...let's just say that she is in the 96% for her height, and 75% on weight. She is so tall that we have to get her a new carseat this month. The one she has only recommends children up to 29" use it. Her feet overflow over the bottom and her head almost hits the top. Such a cutie! But how crazy it is that she's so big! The downside to this is the fact that we now have to fork out another $50 to get the new car seat. Luckily- we can get one that will be rear facing for a while, then forward facing so we won't have to buy yet another new one so soon.

There are plenty more updates- but I'm at work, and being too lazy to add them.

I can't believe the difference!! :)

I lost 16 pounds since the end of June!! I am now the lightest I've been in 3+ years. Yay!!

See before & "after" (I'm not DONE yet!!) pictures below!!

BEFORE (June 27th, 2009)


AFTER (August 29th, 2009)



YAY!!! Only 25 pounds to go! :)

New adventures for the babe :)

Kenzie is 4 months old today. We took her to her 4 month check up. Here are are measurements:

15 lbs 3.5 oz.

25.25 inches tall

41 cm head circumference.

The doctor also said that she is about a month ahead as far as motor skills. She holds her head up really well, reaches for things you put in front of her, puts things in her mouth, can stand if you help support her, can also sit if you help support her, etc. She smiles, she giggles- overall, she is just a lot of fun.
At her appointment today, we asked about solid foods, and when we should start her out on rice cereal, etc. He basically said that she is where she needs to be and that we can try it anytime. We tried it when we got home. Boy is that child a messy eater! :) She did well, but still more of the rice cereal ended up down the front of her. We also bought her some stage 1 bottled foods: Carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, bananas and a few others. We will try those in the next few days. I can't believe how much she is progressing and how big she is getting is such a short amount of time!



We bought a "Snugli" front & backpack to hold Kenzie in for when we hike- or just need to get stuff done that requires 2 hands. It took us quite a while to figure the stupid thing out- but once we did- she seemed to like it.

Oh!! And the most exciting news of all- Laurie is pregnant! She's about 12.5 weeks along today. She is due in January- and has somehow managed to keep the news from us until recently. I am so excited for her!! She is going to be such a good mom. She might get to find out what she's having on August 5th- so that should be fun!

Making Progress!

I lost 5.6 pounds last week! YAY ME!

Some motivation for my weight loss

I joined a competition that my friend Melanie put together for weight loss. It is called "The Battle of the Bulge". The competition officially starts tomorrow- but I took my before pictures and got my beginning weight today (I'm going to be busy most of the day tomorrow and knew I'd forget to do it.). After I put my post up on the competition blog- I decided I'd go run on the treadmill. I ran/walked briskly for about 25 minutes. Not great- but it's definitely a start. Then I did some ab work outs- and some arm work outs. I am exhausted from a long day ( and very little sleep last night), but otherwise, I felt GREAT after working out! I have a hard time believing in myself and that I can lose weight. It's really hard when I leave for work at about 6:45 AM, and then get back at roughly 6 pm and Kenzie doesn't go to bed until 8:30-9 pm. I will do the best I can. I have started walking during lunch at work. I walk roughly 3.5- 4 miles every other day when I can. I walk from my work to Decker Lake, around the lake and back to my work. It is incredibly refreshing. NOW THE PART I NEED TO WORK ON IS MY DIET!! I am seriously a junk-food-aholic. If chocolate is available- I eat it. I've started to do better when people offer me stuff, such as donuts, etc- but I'm still struggling. I'm trying to eat more bananas and yogurt, oatmeal, etc. I am a VERY picky eater- and these are some of the little healthy things that I don't mind adding to my diet. The next problem I have is portion control. When I enjoy something- I tend to go overboard with it! I'll eat 2-3 times as much as I should! I guess I didn't really realize how much I did this until the last month or so when I started watching the calories & portions, and thought back at how quickly I would have eaten them before.

I intended this post to be a bit shorter than it ended up. I really just wanted to put up my disgusting (in my opinion) "before" pictures. This I believe will help motivate me to get where I really want to be.

Any suggestions for additional weight loss would be appreciated. Any websites that have helped you, etc.