Music, Music, Music

I love music! I know I'm not the only one, but I just really really love music. I've never been the greatest singer, and while I was a part of the school musical choirs in both middle and high school that's never what it's been about for me. For me, music has always been about the way it makes me feel and the feelings that the music evokes. Whenever I'm having a rough day music is what makes me feel better. When I'm doing some mundane chore like doing the dishes, laundry, or vacuuming it's what makes me do it with a smile on my face as I jam out. I also love seeing my love of music being passed down to my children. It's always so cute when I'm singing along in the car as we drive to one of my favorite songs and to have one of my kids join in. I also enjoy seeing them each develop their own taste in music.

One of my twin's personal favorites right now is "Can't Stop the Feeling" by Justin Timberlake (Thank you Trolls)

One of my oldest's favorite songs is "Sunflower" by Post Malone (Thank you Into the Spiderverse)

As for my favorite song, well it changes almost daily, but right now I would say it's "Slow Dance" By AJ Mitchell.

I went to the Year 3000

With this being my first blog post back, I feel like the best way to start things up is to talk about my last Thursday night. Like my title suggests, I went to the Year 3000, and for those that don't speak JoBro's, that means I went to a Jonas Brother's concert and it was amazing! I would like to say that it took me back to my teenage years, but I was actually into the Jonas Brother's as a twenty year old, so I'm not sure I get to say that, but I'm not ashamed. I really do love Kevin, Joe, and Nick and those boys really do know how to put on a good and fun show.

The last time I saw the Jonas Brothers was in 2009, just before the band had broken up. I had been lucky enough to get seventh row seats, and I still think I would qualify that concert as one of my favorites. This concert however I was up in the nosebleeds, but it was still so fun. It was so great to dance and reminisce to the old songs, and just as fun to sing along with their equally great new music. Actually, the two songs that I had the most fun dancing and singing along to were Cake by the Ocean, which is a song that Joe put out with his band DNCE during the Jonas Brother's hiatus, and their newest bop, Sucker. 

As mentioned, the last time I saw the Jonas Brother's was all the way back in 2009, which means there was a ten year difference between that concert and this one. Wanting to celebrate, and once again reminisce I decided to recreate a few pictures from that original concert. I may be a few pounds heaver and have a lot more gray hairs, but that's okay. 

So if any of you ever get the chance to see the Jonas Brother's in concert... Do it! It was such a blast! I know that I am defininitely hopeful that they will stay together, create more music, and give me the opportunity to attend more concerts and take more pictures like the ones above!

long time no blog

I can't believe how long it has been since I last blogged. Honestly I totally forgot about my blog until my friend Autumn mentioned it. So here goes!

Usually I don't have much going on, but a lot of changes have happened recently so I actually have something to blog about. Probably the biggest thing that has happened was in August, Rey got a job at Fidelity. This was HUGE for us! His starting salary was well over what we were both making with him working full time and me working part time. I could have easily quit my job, but since we now could afford to buy a house we figured me working would just be bonus money to go towards a house and my mom offered to babysit.

Rey has absolutely loved working at Fidelity! He loves what he is doing and is super passionate about it so that is awesome. One of the best things about Fidelity is there is tons of room for growth and within five years he should probably be doubling his pay, and within 10-15 could even be tripling his salary. When you start there the first month is just studying to take the series 7 test. It's a crazy hard test and Rey would literally be studying from the moment he woke up till about midnight. When his class went to take the test only half of his training class passed and he had the third highest test score. I was so crazy proud of him since a lot of the people that didn't pass had college degrees and Rey hasn't gotten his yet so it was a huge moment for him. Also, during the training class they vote on an MVP and Rey is the one that got it and he got to go on a lunch with some high up in the company. I seriously could not be more proud of him. He has worked so darn hard and I'm so happy to see all of his hard work paying off.

So, as I mentioned we are planning on buying a house in the near future. We are now spending our weekends looking at houses, and are currently filling out the paperwork to get approved for financing. So far there is one house that I just love, but we still have some more houses to see, so I guess we shall just wait and see.. especially since our realtor said that house is priced about 5,000 over market value and he isn't sure they plan on budging in price.. so we shall see. We are actually planning on moving about 40 minutes north of where we are now, so it will stink to move away from family and friends, but I can't wait to finally be settled in a house.

So, onto the personal stuff, which for some reason is hard for me to put out there. The stupid thing is, there are tons of people with the same problem and maybe I wouldn't be feeling so bad and upset about it if people were just more open about this thing. So for the past 9 months Rey and I have been trying to have another baby with no luck! I started taking my temp every morning and charting and discovered that I have a short luteal phase. Which, for people that aren't trying to conceive and don't know the lingo and what not.. that basically means from the time I ovulate to when I have my period it's only 10 days, and the average women's is 12-14 days.. so pretty short. Long story short, I could possibly be having a fertilized egg, but by the time it goes to implant, my period is already starting and has shed the lining so I can't get pregnant. Last month I went and saw a dr about it and he agreed that my luteal phase is too short and had me take femara, a fertility drug that helps women to ovulate that usually don't, and for women like me that do to have a super ovulation so it just helps, and then on day 22 of my cycle to get a blood test to check my thyroid and my progesterone. Progesterone for those that don't know is basically what your body produces to help sustain a pregnancy and is super important. Well, I got my blood test and my thyroid is good, but I have a super low progesterone level. Like I said, I normally ovulate just fine.. but I think the femara screwed me up and made me have a super weak ovulation, and that's if I even ovulated at all.. so I am super annoyed. I was hoping my dr would call today to discuss my progesterone results.. but he didn't. All I know is it is very unlikely that I will ever take femara again.

So I have no idea if any of that made sense.. I just felt the need to get it all out since it has been so frustrating. What makes it worse is, is every week it seems like someone on facebook announces a pregnancy or gives birth to an adorable little baby. Believe me, I am so incredibly happy for them, but I can't help but feel jealous. I want nothing more than to give Seeley a little brother or sister and I keep feeling like I am failing. I don't understand why people can get pregnant so easily and on their first or second try and for me it takes all this constant planning, and temping, and tracking ovulation and I still can't get pregnant. I know it takes the average couple 6 months to a year, but it took us 7 months to get pregnant with seeley, and I highly doubt we are getting pregnant this month so we are coming up on 10 months of trying.. I just can't help but shake the feeling that something is wrong with me.

Anywho! Enough of the depressing stuff! Besides the not being able to get pregnant, things have been going really well for Rey and I and I can't wait to see where life takes us!

it's been a long time coming...

WOW! It's been forever since I last blogged. So it looks like my last post was about my resolutions. Honestly, I was doing awesome and was well on my way to meeting them. I was eating healthy and working out 5-6 days a week. I lost 15 pounds and then in April a disc slipped in my back which took me out of being able to work out, which led to me forgetting about my healthy eating and before I knew it I gained back all 15 pounds. Boo!! I keep trying to get back into it, but I swear it's all in your head and I can't get my head back into it. I think I need to pin up some pictures of me at my heaviest and hang them around to motivate me.

So, let's see.. what else has happened since I last updated. Probably one of the biggest things was my parents came back from their mission in Singapore. I have loved having them home and Chloe and Seeley are happy as well. Chloe spends ever waking moment with my mom and every day Seeley asks if we can go up and see Franny. Plus, with Franny and Dave coming home it also meant that all my family has been coming around. It's been so fun to see my siblings that I haven't seen in awhile, not to mention Seeley has gotten to see and play with his cousins. My sister has a daughter, Caitlin, that is three and her and Seeley had so much playing together. Whenever he sees pictures of her he get's all excited and shouts "Kee" I wish she lived closer so the kids could play together all the time.

Another big thing is Rey got an AMAZING job opportunity with Fidelty. He officially starts Sept. 22nd and gets benefits starting day one. This is HUGE for us because he is going to be making more than enough money for us to get by and actually we are planning on house hunting after we get our taxes back in march or april. It's so fun to think that we will finally have a house of our own and get to be our own family unit in a place that actually feels like ours. Don't get me wrong, we love living with my parents and it helps that we have our own apartment area in the basement, but it's never felt like home really.

Speaking of Rey's work, I have started back up at work. Late July my old work called and said someone just walked out and quit and they needed someone asap and asked if I would be interested in a part time position. It worked out perfectly that my parents had just gotten home from their mission and offered to watch Seeley. We wont really need me working with Rey's new job, but since we are planning on buying a house soon we figured all the money I make will go in a separate account and be used just for future house stuff. The extra money Rey's job makes while we live at my parents will go towards the down payment and all my paychecks will be going toward things for the house like paint, a lawn mower, grill, patio furniture, and I am hoping we will even have enough for a nice sectional.

So yeah, that's about it!

Resolutions & Goals

Wow! I can't believe that it has almost been 2 months since my last post! I seriously feel like it was just Halloween. I would normally write about Christmas and how much fun it was, which it was to an extent because Christmas morning with Seeley was a blast, but working on Christmas, especially when Seeley is getting older and starting to be more interactive about it is a total downer. So, in a nutshell it stunk that I had to spend it away from Seeley, but the time that I did spend with him was magical! He loved waking up to all of his new toys and didn't know what to play with first!


2013 was a fast and very crazy year! My little man turned a year old, which I still can't believe, I got a job, and now I am quitting that job! While 2013 had some great moments I am definitely ready for 2014 and what it has to offer. I think what I am most looking forward to is my parents coming home in July! I miss them tons and Seeley has changed so much and I can't wait for them to get to know him all over again. Another thing I am looking forward to is carbonation!! Honestly, I don't really miss it that much and don't plan on drinking it a lot, but I have been getting some nasty migraines recently and a little diet coke would work wonders right about now. Plus, I have been itching for a cherry limeade for quite some time now.

So, now that I have almost gone a full year without carbonation I figured it was time to make some more resolutions and goals. Last year I only had the one, but this year I have quite a few and hopefully I can stick to them because I think they would help me become an all around better person.

My first goal is to lose 30 pounds! 33 to be exact! In 2013 I was able to lose 20 pounds so I know if I really put my heart into it and stick to it that it can be totally accomplished, plus I have set some short term goals that I HOPE will help me stick to it. First, by Easter I want to be at the weight I was when Rey and I met. That means I have until Easter to lose 11 pounds. Then by the time Dave and Franny come home I hope to be at the weight that I was when Rey came back from his second deployment which means I need to lose 18 pounds by then. Then, I hope to have lost all 33 by my birthday! That will put me at my goal weight and then hopefully by my birthday I can be a couple of pant sizes smaller and buy some cute clothes!

My second goal is on the more spiritual side and I plan to read the Book of Mormon every day this year and finish it! My dad just finished reading the Book of Mormon every single day for the past 40 something years this December! I think that is amazing since he has not missed a day since well over the time I have even been alive. So that is goal number two!

Goal number three is I want to do fun and creative things with Seeley. I pin fun toddler activities on pinterest all the time but have yet to actually do any of it! Especially with me quitting work and getting to be a stay at home mom again I want to be the best one I can be!

Lastly I want to spend more quality time with Rey. In all honesty I'm not sure how feesable this one actually is, but I miss spending quality time with him so I want to try and get more date nights in, even if it is something like going to costco for dinner and renting a redbox! I miss my naldy and I miss spending time with him.

So yeah, those be my 2014 goals! I know it is a lot, but I know it can be done. And I am sure you could care less about my goals, but I figured just getting them out there into the universe will help me stick to them!

Halloween 2013

 Last night was by far the best Halloween I have ever had. I had some pretty fun halloweens as a kid and even a teenager and loved coming home with almost a full pillowcase of candy but nothing can beat watching Seeley have fun.

The first thing we did was take Seeley to the south towne mall at 4. Every store had someone handing out candy and it was a great way for Seeley to figure out the general idea. At first we had to carry him from store to store but eventually he figured it out and wanted to walk himself. It was so cute to see the little guy carry around his bucket, grab the candy from the person and put it in his bucket. His favorite were the dum dum suckers because he could open them himself and eat them whenever he felt like it.

After going to most of the stores we came back for dinner. I made some yummy taco soup! After we are dinner we went trick or treating in the neighborhood. By this time Seeley was a trick or treating pro and loved walking up the doors and getting his candy. We even decided to make a stop at mikaele and Bobby's place and Laura's. Seeley even decided that Laura's house looked like a great place to visit because he just walked right on in and made himself comfortable. By the time we got home it really was Seeley's bedtime but he was definitely on a crazy sugar high so we let him stay up for awhile. Honestly the best part of the night was watching him freak out and get excited every time the doorbell rang. His whole face would light up and he would start screaming and run to the door. 

All in all it was a very successful Halloween and I can't wait till next year when Seeley realizes even more what is going on.

It's on like donkey kong!

So as you may all remember I got crazy into eating healthy and working out awhile back and so far have lost 15 pounds. Well, I got sick and just really never got back into it. Well the other day I saw a picture of myself and got remotivated! This past Thursday I pulled out the myfitnesspal app and have been once again tracking my calories and started doing my last chance workout DVD. It's an awesome workout because its a 35 minute work out and it beats me up good! In fact my legs are still sore! I also have the 30 day shred and just bought ripped in 30 to add into the mix. We also ordered a gate that we can put around the treadmill so as soon as that arrives I will start running again which will be nice because I can add that to my workout DVD and get in an hour workout everyday. Anywho! Back to why I said its on. Well, Rey wants to get into shape too so he suggested that every week we decide a price like a back massage or redbox movie pick and the person who loses the most weight each week wins. I am pretty stoked because I really feel like this will motivate us and help us not to cheat. The cheating part is my biggest thing because late at night I get snacky and even though I just restarted on Thursday I have already cheated! Anywho! Just thought I would post that and update you all since hopefully when I lose that weight I will probably post on here and brag since I know most people don't like weightloss/working out posts on Facebook.