30 before 30

Today I turn 29. I came across a challenge that someone had done and blogged about, and I loved the idea!! So, now I'm stealing it!! I have resurrected my blog so that I can do a 30 before 30 challenge. I have made a list of 30 goals that I will be trying to complete before I turn 30 next November 29th. (How cool is it that I turned 29 on the 29th!?)  So, to keep myself accountable, I am putting my list on my blog and I am hoping my readers will check back to see how I'm doing and keep me accountable!! Here goes:

1. Read Jesus the Christ.
2. Read my scriptures EVERY DAY.
3. Write in my journal at lease once a week.
4. Do my Visiting Teaching every month.
5. Earn my Young Womanhood Recognition award.
6. PRAY Every day.
7. Play my clarinet in a musical performance.
8. Share my testimony in Sacrament meeting.
9. Fast once a month for 24 hours.
10. Attend the temple once a month.
11. Visit a new place.
12. Work at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen.
13. Become CPR certified.
14. Donate blood 4 times.
15. Run the Color Run.
16. Run a 5k in under 30 minutes.
17. Try REAL sushi.
18. Weigh 125 lbs.
19. Fit into size 4 jeans (old navy).
20. Run 300 cumulative miles.
21. Organize my digital photos.
22. Finish reading the Book of Mormon.
23. Read the Bible.
24. See WICKED.
25. Read 5 Non-fitcion books.
26. Re-finish my coffee table that I got 10 years ago.
27. Get a SHORT haircut
28. Be married for 10 years
29. Compete in a triathlon.
30. NOT get pregnant.

November

Um...5 months?? Really?? That's so sad. Well, here's an update for those that haven't forgotten about me!! We've been in Florida for 7 1/2 months now, and it's slowly starting to feel like home. We have a SUPER awesome ward...I love it!! I'm getting used to driving long distances since we live out it the middle of nowhere. And we've even had visitors!! 2 of Andy's brothers brought their wives (one brought kids too) for their Anniversary. My friend Jenn also came to visit with her baby. It's been so fun!! My family is coming this weekend and spending Thanksgiving with us, then Dec. 15th we are flying to Utah for 3 weeks!!! Yay!! Can't wait! It better snow!! It doesn't feel like the holidays AT ALL with this 80 degree weather!!

Ok, and now for an update on the kiddos...Ashlyn is taking an intro to ballet/tap class and she likes it for the most part. She doesn't like having to wait through roll call, and she said she misses her family too much. Awww!!! The primary just had their program on Sunday and Ashlyn did AWESOME. Singing, waving, signing the words, and she said her part perfectly! It was "I love the read the scriptures!" It would have been nice if I could have watched from the audience, but I'm a primary teacher so I was sitting BEHIND her. Oh well! This picture is from Sesame Street live. We went with a couple from out ward and their 2 nephews. I'm gonna have to watch out for this girl!! Good grief!!









Drew is in the process of POTTY TRAINING!! After 2 weeks, he was pooping and peeing on the potty. He still had accidents, but most of the time he'd make it. Well, a few weeks later and he's starting to regress but I'm hoping he'll get better quickly. He will pee just a little, and if I notice I can get him to finish in the toilet, but he won't tell me he did it. Grrr...This is normal right?? He also turned 2!!! (In sept, I know!) He's talking a TON now, and it's awesome! I love all the funny things he says. He cracks me up!!

And Schuyler, he's 8 months old today!! I can't believe it!! my baby is growing up too quickly. :( He started climbing the stairs the other day, and yesterday he stood all by himself without holding onto anything for about 10 seconds!! Ahhh!!! He's going to be walking in no time, and I'm not ready!! He's such a happy baby. He makes all of us smile!! He seriously cries only when he's tired or Drew sits on him. Hardly ever!! We've been so blessed!!

Fun Times

This post is just a bunch of random pictures of the kids....enjoy!!!

Schuyler is holding his head up really well these days!!

And he's smiling all the time!!

Drew fell asleep like this. He was so cute...he would cover his head, and then keep checking to make sure I was still there. He did this about 10 times before he was totally out.

Ashlyn can't ever take a normal picture. She gets that from her Dad. But she sure loves her baby brother!!!

One of my favorite pictures! Too bad Drew is in his diaper!!

Look at how happy he is!! He has a rash, most likely an allergic reaction to the antibiotics I was taking for my infection. But even that can't keep him from being happy. He is such a sweet, happy boy! He never seems to get upset unless his siblings are picking on him. :) We love having him!!

Drew decided to climb in the cradle, so I used it as a photo op.


That's us!! Just living life!!

Memorial Day 2009

Drew enjoying his first time at the ocean. Ashlyn and her cousin Kyleigh enjoying the waves and sand.

Schuyler enjoying the shade. He and I were the only ones who didn't get burned. Drew LOVES his cousin Katie...

This was the first Memorial Day we didn't get to celebrate with our traditional trip to the drive-in the Sat. before Memorial Day, and the family BBQ at my brother-in-law's house. I was really sad to be missing out, but we made up for it! We went with my in-law's here to Cocoa Beach!! It was a BEAUTIFUL day and the kids had so much playing in the waves and the sand. Schuyler and I spent most of the time relazing in our little shade tent I picked up at the huge Ron Jon surf shop. I've heard a lot about it, and man it's HUGE. Andy and Kip (his bro) spent the entire time body suring. I couldn't find them so I didn't get any pics of them. Andy got so sunburned, he was in pain for about 3 days. He learned his lesson, sunscreen washes off after 2 hours of body surfing.

When had all gotten enough sun (or too much), we went back to Kip and Martha's for a BBQ. I guess the kids hadn't had enough of the water, so they jumped in their pool for the rest of the evening. It was a great day!! We are having lots of fun!!

Florida

So, we've been living here in Florida for over a month now...I guess I should update my blog!!

The Move:

We decided to move to Florida and closed on a house just a couple of days after Schuyler was born. I thought it would be a REALLY bad idea to move so soon after giving birth, so we took my 6 weeks postpartum and slowly got things packed and taken care of while I recovered. After my 6 week appt., we loaded up the U-haul and we were off.

Here's the kids saying goodbye to our neighbors across the street. Ashlyn and Drew really loved playing with the. Emma, the one with Drew, would come over and ask "can Drew play?" We miss them!!

My sister, Adriana, flew out from WV to help me drive the van. I wouldn't have been able to drive across the country with 3 little ones by myself! She was a HUGE help. Andy was the lucky one who got to drive the U-haul. We left Wed. April 29th and we arrived in Florida on sat. morning at 4:30 am. It was a LONG drive. The first night, we drove straight through and only stopped for about 2 hours at a rest stop to sleep. The next night, we had to take a break and we got a hotel in Kentucky. We finally got a good rest (like 6 hours!) and a good breakfast, and best of all, SHOWERS!! We stopped in Chattanooga, TN to see Ruby Falls. There's a cave that you can take an elevator down into, and it has a huge waterfall inside the cave. It was cool, but after being cooped up in the car for so long, the kids just wanted to run free. Not the best place for that. We were in a group for the tour, and everyone was so annoyed with our crazy, cranky kids. Needless to say, I was a little stressed!! But, here are some pics anyway...

Andy waiting to go down to the cave, with Schuyler.

My sister, Adriana, with Ashlyn and Drew. They were checking out the gift shop.Exploring the cave! Drew wanted to climb and run and wasn't happy when he couldn't.

We look terrible!! But the waterfall behind us was cool. Sorry you can't see it.

When we finally got to Florida, we had to go to Andy's brother's house because he had our key to our new house. When we decided to move to Florida, Andy flew out and stayed with his bro to look at houses. He found one he liked and made an offer. Yes, I had to be very trusting!! They took video and pics and I approved. Well, we didn't get that house. After Andy came home, he kept looking and found an even better deal on another house. His brother checked it out for us and told us it was a great house. We took his word for it, and made an offer. This time we got it! I told Andy it was a good thing I felt right about moving to Florida or there was NO WAY I was going to move to a house and place I had never seen before. Anyway, we got to my brother-in-law's house at 4:30 and cracshed there. The Elder's Quorum pres. of our new ward had arranged for some men to help us unload the U-haul sat. at 2, so we left the kids with their cousins and went to see our house for the first time!! Lucky, I LOVED IT!!!! I really like the house, the space, everything. I'll post more about that later. Overall, Florida has been a fun adventure, although it doesn't feel like home yet. I'm sure once we get to know people and get involved, I'll feel more at home. We'll see!!

It's been nice to live so close to family that we haven't gotten to see much of, and get to know them. Andy's brother Kip and his wife Martha have 3 kids, and they been having a blast with our 3. They love holding Schuyler and Ashlyn wants to swim in their pool like EVERYDAY. We've been looking into getting our own, so we don't have to drive 40 min. for her to go swimming.

One of Drew's favorite things is taking a bath. When we were at Kip and Martha's, he couldn't even wait to take his clothes off!!! He was so glad to not be in his carseat anymore!!!

News

Well, It's been a long while since I posted, and LOTS has come about since then. So I'm going to play catch-up a little bit!! First, the BIG news!! Today is (was) my due date, but a week ago Schuyler decided to come early! Yay!! Drew was also a week early. I can't believe that Schuyler is already a week old!! I'm so glad he is here, that I'm not pregnant anymore, and that labor is OVER!! I said in my previous post that I was going to have him naturally...and I did!! Although I have to say, it was much harder than I planned, and took a lot longer. But I did it!! Maybe I'll post the story a little later. Our computer bit the dust and I am using Andy's trading computer so I don't have any pictures or anything, so those will come later as well. He's such a happy, beautiful baby that sleeps and eats a lot and I'm just so happy he's here. :) I love you Schuyler!! Our other BIG news is that we are moving!! We just closed on a house, and as soon as I'm finished recovering, (shooting for the first of May) we will be moving to Kissimmee, Florida!! I am SO excited and SO SO SO nervous!! It's going to be a huge adventure!! Andy quit his job with Nestle and has been doing his investing full time. We were originally thinking of moving to Texas a while ago, and Andy started thinking about that again, but found that Florida has REALLY cheap houses, brand new and close to where his brother lives in Orlando. So, he flew out there a few weeks ago, and decided we were going to do it! So, our next big adventure in life is about to begin and I will keep you all posted!!

Happenings

So, lately I've been thinking a lot about the new baby we have coming. I'm beginning the countdown to his arrival, less than 10 weeks to go. I feel like I'm running out of time!! There are a few things I need to do before he comes. By the way, I'm not sure if I posted on here or not but we are going to name him Schuyler Malcolm. Both names are family names. Schuyler was my great grandpa's middle name and Malcolm is a family surname on Andy's side. Does the Schuyler spelling confuse you? Probably, but I've decided I'm ok with it. There was a city in Andy's mission called Schuylerville and that pronounced it Skylerville. So there! :) Anyway, I've been thinking back on when Drew and Ashlyn were newborns, and the things that I would like to change to make things easier, and I've been doing some shopping, mostly online. :) Last night, I purchased this to help me in my last 10 weeks.

I hate being so uncomfortable every night, so I bit the bullet and spent the money. I let you know if it's as super comfy as they say as soon as it's shipped!!! I'm also trying to find one of those nifty swaddling blankets I've seen recently. The ones that have velcro that don't come unwrapped. Any suggestions??? I've also seen these pretty cool nursing blankets that have a strap around your neck, and have boning that keeps it away from your neck so you can see down so you can "adjust" everything without having to put the blanket over your head. Even after nursing 2 babies, I'm still not that coordinated with it. Anyway, I've decided I'm going to try and make myself one of those. I also purchased a new infant carseat. We have never actually paid for one, with Ashlyn and Drew we were given ones that my sister in laws had used. I want a new one that has all the things I want!! So this time, I bought one!!
I also bought a new diaper bag. After using the same one since Drew was born, I decided it was time for a new one.
Now, we just need to find a van!! Yup, we are going to become minivan drivers!! We decided we can't fit 3 carseats in the back of our honda civic. Andy is very picky about how much he will pay for the miles and year it is, so it will probably be a little while before we make the plunge. But we have our eyes open!! We don't have much time!! Now I just need to figure out where to put all of the babies clothes, fix the cradle so it doesn't squeak, and practice my HYPNOBIRTHING!! Yup, I'm still going to go for a natural birth. That's the biggest thing I've been thinking about right now. I have 10 weeks to practice the breathing and visualization. I was feeling nervous about it, but after getting on a website where lots of woman have written their birth stories, talking to my friend that taught my classes, and reading the book again, I'm feeling very confident, actually even a little excited. I'm excited about being in control of the birth, and of how easy my recovery will be WHEN I'm successful!! From now on, all of my thinking and speaking will be positive. I can do it!! (If you think I'm nuts, tell me afterwards! :)) My Mom is going to fly out to be here, and since she had 6 kids naturally, I'm going to be using her to help me. I'm also trying to put together a CD of relazing music to listen to while I'm in labor. Please gives me some ideas!! Now to get through the next 10 weeks!! One of my new years goals, aside from a natural childbirth, is to participate in a Triathlon. I looked it up, and Orem has one Nov. 7. That will give me about 6 months to train!! I've already started planning what my routine will be. The triathlon consists of swimming 350 meters, biking 10.5 miles, and running a 5K. That's my plan to work off the baby weight and get in better shape than i have been for a long time. Overall, I'm really looking forward to all of the things to come!!!