Goals

Okay so this post is really just for me...I want to lead a healthier lifestyle. I have been eating like crap, not hardly exercising, and being kinda lazy. I want to have more energy and motivation to do things. I also want my children to see me as a hard-working and healthy mommy. They will do what I do. So here are my goals:

1. Eat healthier foods-this means more actual meals than eating one meal a day and junk the rest of the day. I want to incorporate more fruits and veggis into my diet yet still allow myself to eat sweets occasionally. I need to be more conscious of foods that have high cholesterol, fat, and sugar (I say that because I have high cholesterol believe it or not!).

2. Walk/jog 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes(the weather is perfect here so there is no excuse not to)

3. Try my darndest to get to church every Sunday (this tends to be hard because we are out of town a lot and we seem to get sick a lot too). I want the kids to have a good moral upbringing and church is the best way to implement that.

4. Spend more quality time as a family. Chez works 5 days a week from 8-5 which isnt bad but the days he is not at work, I am a good wife and let him golf or whatever he does with his friends. I tend to let him go out on work days to after work so that makes having good quality family time, a little harder. Today we decided that we will make a Disneyland trip in three weeks for a couple days since we live so close. Last time we went a few weeks ago, it was such a fast trip and the closeness we felt as a family that trip was awesome.

5. Make dinner at least 5-6 days a week. I used to have a fancy little dinner calendar for the month printed out and dinner made every single day. Since living here in Vegas, our day to day activities have interfered with that. Time to have more family dinner times.

6. Learn to relax more. I tend to be high strung which makes my nerves on fire a lot. I want to start taking a step back and thinking before reacting and breathing before freaking out about things. Life is too short to live in an anxious state.

These goals make me seem like I am normally a weirdo but I am just human. I dont want these goals to be annoying and hard-work, I want them to be an actual lifestyle. Something I live by always. When I was in college, I was in the BEST shape of my life. I weighed in at 100 pounds (which was actually okay because I ate healthy and worked out a TON just simply by walking to school everyday). I dont want to be that skinny but I want to have the clean bill of health I had back then. Wish me luck! I posted a picture of me back when I worked out a ton, ate healthy, and had so much more energy.

Preschool Blues

Along with the start of preschool comes sickness! It started with Chez and the kids and then I got it....BAD. I dont handle sickness or pain well AT ALL. I tend to whine and complain. I am a big sick mess right now. My throat has hurt for the past few days now. I am so tired too. I hate being sick for one major reason....I HATE being couped up in the house and I HATE not having energy to clean the house. SO I have the blues. Hoping to get better soon so I can have my energy back to run errands and be normal. I guess this is what I have to look forward to until my immune system gets used to the sick kids at school.

Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands

Okay so the title of my blog is kinda silly but it has a lot of meaning behind it. As any marriage goes, you have ups and downs. I am not ashamed to say in my marriage, we have gotten stuck in the "down" rut before. Well in one of the most trying times of our marriage, I decided to buy this book I heard about called "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands". This book hit me where it hurt. It was so true in every way. I wrote page after page of notes while reading this book. I learned so much. I was incredibly grateful I read this book and I thought how tragic it was that a lot of married women(in healthy relationships) havent read it. I brought it up once or twice on different blogs I had been on in the past and responses to the title of the book was so negative. It is amazing to me how so many women are negative. The biggest thing I learned from this book is how much your man just wants to make you happy and he will do what it takes to make that happen. And it is true. My husband works so hard to provide for the family, likes to be the handy man around the house, and make sure I am happy in every way. There are so many valuable things I learned from this book about my husband that I would hope the women close to me in my life would consider reading it. I cried the first time I read it because I felt like I had failed to do my part as a wife and I was so happy I woke up and smelled the coffee. Since the first time I read it, I read it again and my goal is to read it every year. My marriage has been so incredibly great since I read this book. I am not saying we dont have our problems but the problems we do have are solved quickly and with love. Anyway, I wanted to stand on my high horse for a minute and talk about this book. If you can, read it!

NEW CAR!!!

Okay so I dont want to jinx it because I am so excited for it but we FINALLY found the perfect car. This is one I may not be so eager to sell after just one year! It is a Land Rover LR2. I love it. It drives very smooth, has leather which is perfect for the kids, and so many other extras that we like. Kingston loves it because it has a sunroof in the back for him too. It's the little things. Since you can buy built in dvd players for such a good deal on ebay, we are getting one for the back of the front seat head rest for Kingston. I am just really excited. It is in California so we are driving down on Sunday evening. Fingers and toes crossed it wont get sold before we make it there!

Recap of Our Insanely Busy Lives

This summer has been so crazy busy for me. I watched a friends kid all summer everyday until 5. He was a nice kid all around, but he and Kingston did not get along at all. I wont go on regarding that.
Besides babysitting a lot, we sold our truck and have been frantically searching for a new car. It has been so hard. We dont really have a particular vehicle in mind, just anything that is a good deal. I have been blessed with a husband who works very hard to find ways to make money every which way he can so since we have been married, every vehicle we have bought (about 5) we have made money off of when we sold it. We usually buy off of either ebay or just the classified ads. So right now we are looking at the Land Rover lr2, Hummer h3, BMW of any kind, and Porsche. Seems like a wide variety of cars but its because we have found great deals on all of these vehicles. It is a matter at this point of which one will give us the best deal and if I will just end up driving Chez's Audi (his current car) and Chez buy a smaller vehicle now like the Porsche, or me drive a bigger car and Chez stick with the Audi. So many choices. Hoping to make a decision ASAP.
Chez also just came back from a 10 day trip to Alaska. It was a birthday present from me to him. The past couple years has been challenging for him. We started in Idaho Falls where he grew up, had a very nice job, we finished building our house, and I was pregnant with baby number 2. When the economy crashed, Chez lost his job. It was a very sad thing but Chez had so many offices he could transfer to. He was offered a job through his previous company in 3 or 4 states. It was such a hard decision but he had decided on Wolf Creek Utah. We moved there for a year and we made much less money. We made it through okay but Chez decided he wanted to transfer to Vegas where there was potential to make as much money as he had in Idaho. Along with that decision however came a whole bunch of issues. Chez's boss in Utah was causing major turmoil because he did not want Chez to leave. The thing was though, Chez was not doing very well there and we were struggling. After dealing with two bosses in Utah, we were finally cleared to move but right before we had moved, Chez recieved another job offer in St George, Utah. We tried it out there for a couple weeks and Chez was doing exceptionally well but our thoughts and hearts were pushing us to Las Vegas. People in our lives were unsure about it because it is Vegas but we had to follow our hearts. We have been here for 6 months now and it has been one of the best decisions we have ever made. Our lives are so wonderful here and we feel so blessed. The challenges we have faced until now though have been trying and Chez has been so hard working and patient. I feel like we have grown so much as a couple and we have such a great bond and love for each other. With every obstacle in life comes great rewards and benefits. He deserved that Alaska trip.
After Chez came home from Alaska, my parents and sister flew into town for my brother's wedding. We had such a good time. I showed them the town and pretended to be a tourist. We ate well and played hard. They just left two days ago and now Chez and I can hopefully find a car and get our lives back to normal.
Kingston starts preschool next week and more swim lessons. He just finished swim lessons last week but he excelled so much that I hurried and enrolled him again. The swim lessons are only two weeks so you wouldnt think a kid could learn much in that time but boy did he. He started out afraid to even put his head under the water and the very last day of lessons, he shocked both his teacher and myself. The teacher was having each kid jump to her in the water. When it was Kingstons turn, he purposely jumped away from her and with his head under the water, he swam all the way back to the stairs. The teacher looked back at me with a look I will never forget-complete shock, and I started to cry. I was so proud of my little guy. He is going to do so well in preschool. The nice thing about preschool is while I drop him off, I can also drop Kenna off at their little babysitting center while I work out. Oh and PS, I UNenrolled Kingston in that preschool I told everyone about. Why? I found a much much better place that is far less cheaper and offers sooooooo much more. I am pumped.
Kenna-well, she has been so adventurous this summer. She started walking a couple weeks ago and now she is a full blown walker. It took her a while to get it down but she looks so cute doing it. She is the happiest kid in the whole world and fearless. She loves to dive into the pool even though she has no clue how to swim. She always comes back up with a smile on her face. She climbs up and down stairs or anything for that matter. The best thing about her though is her heart. She is the cuddliest, sweetest little thing ever. She kisses anything with a face like people and dolls or even pictures and she gives the best hugs. She will just cuddle with you for a minute and make you feel so loved. This girl is going to be a heartbreaker. One day she will make a good man very happy.
We are looking forward to our new car, school, fall, and all the holidays in the next few months. We love where we live right now and we feel blessed for all that we have. Busy life but a good life.

Pre-School

I shed a little tear after we drove off from Kingston's pre-school open house yesterday. Whenever I think of him, I am immediately brought back to the hospital bed where I held him for the first time. I remember the first night we had him, the nurse wheeled his little crib into my room to tell me he was hungry and I remember looking over at him and thinking, "that's my sweet little guy". Now he is 3 years old and going to school. He is still my sweet little guy but now turning into a handsome, smart kid. He is so ecstatic about going to school. He tells me all the time, "mommy, I have to get on the school bus and go to preschool and you cant come okay?". When we toured his new school, he was so amazed at everything. It honestly is the coolest preschool I have EVER seen. It is brand new and like a wonderland for kids. The pictures dont do this place justice. The curriculum is amazing too. In Kingston's class, they will learn to count, recognize colors and shapes(which he already does), learn how to recognize and write their name, and learn to speak a little spanish. The thing I most look forward to Kingston learning is how to socialize and get along well with other kids. This is a bittersweet time. I want him to grow up and learn, but I get emotional when I think of how fast he has grown up.

Happiest Birthday Ever!

I havent really remembered my last 4 birthdays but this one I think will stay in my brain forever. I dont think it was super over the top at all but i was treated so well that I will never forget my 26th. I started off the morning by lying on my swing on the patio with nothing but peace and quiet. Our roommate brought me out breakfast. It was so thoughtful and very unexpected. I am usually waiting on the boys all day. Once I came inside, my house was spotless. Chez and Josh did laundry, dishes, made beds...I then took my kids to Baskin Robbins where we had yummy ice cream Sundaes. I wanted to spend some time alone with my kids on my birthday (no worries because Chez and Josh happily went and watched the soccer game). When we came home, Chez had a cake and presents all ready and everyone sang happy birthday. My mom had gotten me a box full of cash. Who doesnt love that?! Chez outdid himself. He gave me a free day any day I want to do whatever I want, tickets to a cooking show at a resort close by which is followed by going in first to an amazing buffet, he took me shopping for anything I wanted, and also took me to one of the tastiest restaurants I have ever been to. After presents and cake, Chez took me to the outdoor mall in Vegas (which is really cool). I got a ton of clothes, jewelry and a very awesome purse. I am trading my diaper bag in for a purse now. I dont need to lug the diaper bag around much these days. After shopping, we went to the restaurant called Mon Ami Gabi in the Eiffel tower in Vegas. The views were perfect. We sat right in front of the Bellagio where we were able to watch the water show every 15-30 minutes. The food was outstanding. We shared a bowl of French Onion soup. It was so yummy. The cheese melted on top was gruyere which was delicious! I ordered Salmon with orzo, peas, and asparagas for my entree and Chez ordered a steak. Both meals were amazing. I had one of the funnest times with Chez. He made me feel so special. I loved every bit of yesterday. I can truly say I am married to a wonderful man!