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.

Just Checkin In!

I figured I should update my blog since it's been quite awhile and I'm at work and super bored. I figured the title was fitting since I check people in and I'm at work.. and I'm also checking in with my blog peeps! I'm so punny! Punny! Get it? Like funny but a pun! Yeah, I'm bored. Normally I work Tuesday-Friday 2:30-10:30 and then Saturday from 3-8, but this past Saturday I had it off so instead of two days off I got three days off and it feels weird to be back! It definitely made me miss being a stay at home mom because I love spending as much quality time with Seeley as I can. It was a fun weekend too since Rey's grandparents are in town and they are staying with us and it's so fun to see them interact and play with Seeley. Seeley definitely loves his great grandpa! They had an instant connection! Since going back to work Seeley has really gotten clingy with Rey and now with his grandpa I think he is really starting to become more comfortable with males. I read that around 18 months boys generally start pulling away from their moms and start associating more with males. So maybe with me going to work that is going on a little bit sooner. I dunno, kind of makes me sad when we go places and he only wants to be held by Rey, but it is what it is. I know that Seeley loves me, and quite honestly, I love that Rey and Seeley love each other so much and already have a special connection. So let's see.. I don't feel like much else is going on in my life.. lame i know, but it's true. I work what feels like all the time and any spare time I have is spent with Seeley. I have been reading a bit more since I get super bored and you can only troll the internet for so long. It also helped that both a girl I work with and Mikaele mentioned goodreads in the same day which has been awesome. I'm finding so many good books to read. Right now I am reading the Mortal Instruments series and to be honest I'm kind of disappointed.. It's been slow and I hate reading things where it takes 100 pages for it to get exciting. I'm actually starting the book elixir tonight, which was written by Hilary Duff. I'm expecting a fun little fluff piece so that should be fun! Anywho.. I wish I had more to update on but I really don't.

working mama

well, i just got a job!! woot woot! i'm going to be working at the front desk at the homewood suites in midvale. one of my old friends that i used to work with posted on facebook that they were looking for a full time employee, and i had been contemplating going back to work anyway. i love being a stay at home mom more than anything but between mine and seeley's dr bills and rey's recent er visit our savings has been getting lower and lower. as you all know we are living in my parents house and the idea was to save money so we could have a decent savings and have a bunch of money to put on a down payment.. well that is not happening right now so i'm going back into the working world. plus, as rey gets further into school it's getting a little harder and i'd love to make things easier for him, especially if he can drop some shifts at work and mostly concentrate on school because that is going to be the number one way in which we better things for ourselves.

so yeah, i'm pretty excited to get things going, but a little nervous at the same time. i'll be working 4, 8 hour shifts a week, which means 4 days a week rey is going to put seeley to bed and that makes me a little sad since i've always been there to help and have always read him his bedtime story. i know rey will be fine since he is so good with seeley and seeley loves him but it still makes me a little sad. i mean, i've spent every single day with seeley for the past year. in the end, i know seeley will be fine with his daddy and having extra money will be awesome! well, i think that's all that's new for me.

the bad and good news

well, first i shall go with the bad news! the other day seeley got a hold of a spoon and decided it was his new favorite toy, in fact he is still holding it now. basically he was carrying it around with him all day. after playing with seeley outside i picked him up and began walking towards the door and pulled out my cell phone to look at the time. seeley decided it would be a fun idea to hit my phone with said spoon and my phone went flying out of my hands and right onto the cement stairs of my porch. yep, my screen cracked, and it cracked bad! i can sort of use it, but not really. luckily rey gets paid today so we are going to get it fixed today, but it will be a sucky $150 to fix it, which basically means that we don't really have any extra spending money this month. plus, i hate spending money on myself these days. i love buying things for seeley and i feel like i am taking away from him by having to fix my phone. basically it's lame and really depressing me, but it is what it is.

well, now onto the good news! i have a ONE year old! it is so crazy how fast one year goes by when you have a child. it's funny because on those nights when you are up all night with a crying newborn and only getting 1-2 hours of sleep at a time you feel like this time will never come, but here we are. pretty sure i'm the luckiest mom ever because i got blessed with the coolest little guy ever! he already has a silly and goofy personality and he just gets smarter every single day. this past year has been so fun and so amazing to watch and see this little guy grow and explore the world around him. plus there is absolutely nothing better than a snuggle from your little one, especially when they only want to snuggle with you! seriously though, it's the best! basically i can't get enough of this guy and i look forward to so many more years with him. anywho! that is all!

random bloggyness

first off, my weight loss and getting healthy journey is going AWESOME! i've gotten to the point where I look forward to working out each day. it's my me time and i feel so much better and have way more energy when i work out! so, as of yesterday i will have been working out and eating healthy for one month and i have lost 11 pounds! plus, add that with what i lost before my foot injury and that brings me to 17 pounds in all! to reach my short term goal of being at my pre-pregnancy weight by seeley's birthday i only have 5 pounds left! so woot! i have a little over a month so if i can lose what i did this month that means i'll definitely make it and maybe i can be skinnier than i was to start with.

this brings me to my next thought! seeley's birthday is in a little over a month! seriously though, where did time go? i LOVE watching seeley grow and learn new things and everyday he makes me smile and laugh with the new and funny things he does, but part of me is a little sad to say goodbye to this stage. recently he's gotten pretty snuggly and i absolutely love it and it makes me sad to think that some day he wont want to snuggle and give me hugs and kisses. i probably don't mean it, but i wish he could stay where he is at now! he's gotten a little more independent and will walk around and keep himself busy, but every 15-20 minutes he comes back to me, snuggles, gives me some love, and then off he goes to play again. then again, i seem to say this about every stage! it really is fun to see him do new things and see him develop a personality.

so let's see, what else? everything for me and rey seems to the be the same.. rey working and school, me taking care of my cute lil man.. all i can say is i'm so excited for summer! rey has decided to take the summer off from school and is planning on working a ton, but since he'll have no school he wont have homework which will mean when he's home we'll have good quality time. i can't wait to play outside, go swimming, go on hikes, maybe go camping! seriously, i'm just so excited for this summer and to have some good ole family bonding time.

lastly, i know this is bad since i'm trying to eat healthy, but rey and i saw a new cupcake shop open down by our walmart and then saw that they won cupcake wars so we went there and OMG! best cupcakes ever!!!! we tried two of the flavors that they used on cupcake wars to win and even though they wouldn't be flavors that i'd normally go for they were so yummy and i can see why they won! we even got a few other flavors and yum!! i think this will be my new guilty pleasure! the one good thing is, instead of doing a weird fad diet i'm just doing some good ole calorie counting and somedays i have tons of extra calories so those will be the days that i may splurge and get me a yummy cupcake!

Getting Healthy!

So as I mentioned back in January I really wanted to lose some weight! I got to a weight that I just was not comfortable with, and honestly I just felt gross! I hated looking in the mirror and I hated seeing pictures of myself. I started working out, and doing a little bit of watching what I ate. During the two weeks that I worked out I was able to lose 4 pounds and a couple of inches here and there, but then I ended up hurting my foot which put me out of the game for about 2 months, so that was a major bummer! Although, somehow during those 2 weeks I lost two more pounds. Rey thinks it was because since I was working out hardcore for those two weeks it got my metabolism going again. I dunno, either way, it felt nice! Well, the other week I felt like my foot was healed enough and I went and bought a nice pair of running shoes and got back to working out. This time I didn't want to phone it in and really wanted to do this so I started eating super healthy and calorie counting along with my workouts! Well, my first week back working out I lost 3 pounds! woot woot! My weigh-ins are on friday, but I couldn't help myself and checked my weight this morning and was down another pound, which means.. I have lost TEN pounds! awesome right?! My goal is to be at my pre-pregnancy weight on Seeley's first birthday, and as of right now I'm 12 pounds away from that, so I think it is totally doable! After that my next goal is to get down to a healthy weight. Now, I don't want to be super skinny, what i want is to be at a healthy looking weight. In all honesty I'd love to get down to a size 8. Right now I'm so dedicated and I truly think I can do this.

When it comes to weight loss my biggest problem has always been food! I just love to eat! Well, on my journey to become healthy, it hasn't been that long and I've already come to realize how much food I was eating that I didn't even need to eat. Since I've cut back on calories and have been counting every little calorie I've never once felt hungry like I assumed I would. I was basically just eating to eat. When i was bored.. I ate, when I was watching tv, I snacked. Actually, now there are times when I'm not even feeling hungry but I eat a healthy snack so I can make my calorie goal since I have to eat at least 1500 calories a day since I'm still breastfeeding. Seriously though, Pinterest has become my new best friend and I have found the yummiest food, and to top it off it's healthy! Also, the book Eating for Life has been a lifesavor too! Eating for Life has the best recipes and it's all from stuff you have around your kitchen, not weird ingredients that you've never heard of. It also gives you the correct portion sizes which is awesome. Tonight I made a pita bbq chicken pizza and it tasted EXACTLY like california pizza kitchen's and it was only 200 calories a pizza! I love that I can eat good, eat what I want, and still lose weight! It's definitely been easier than I thought it would be and I can't wait to really see the results of all this hard work!

L.O.V.E

Since it's Valentines Day I figured I would write a little something about the two people I love the most!  First off, My amazing husband Rey! I am so thankful that he and I are sealed for time and ALL eternity because I cannot imagine my life without him. We have been apart due to deployments in the past and I know what it's like to have him gone and I just don't like it. Although, as much as those deployments stunk, I am so thankful for them because it has shown me not to take any day with a loved one for granted! Really though, I am so incredibly lucky! He is my bestest friend in the whole entire world and is always making me laugh, and knows just what to say to make me feel better when I'm feeling sad. He without a doubt is the hardest working and most determined person I have ever met. He is working full time AND going to school full time and he still finds time to show Seeley and I how much he cares about us. I know I don't thank him enough for all that he does, but I am so grateful to have a husband that would do absolutely anything to make sure Seeley and I have a good life. Not only is Rey and amazing husband, he is an amazing father. I thought I loved Rey before, but the way he is with Seeley has only made me fall even more in love with him. He is so tender and caring towards Seeley and you can just tell how much he loves him and know that he would do anything for him. We are so so lucky to have him in our lives! I love you so so so much Rey and I look forward to spending time and all eternity with you. Thank you for being such a good husband and father.

Next, Seeley! This kid is so amazing and has changed my life in a way that I never thought possible. I thank Heavenly Father every single night that he has chosen me, and has allowed me to be his mother. He is so sweet and is getting funnier every single day. One of my favorite things is in the morning after he wakes up and is finished eating he looks up at me with the BIGGEST smile ever and then starts "talking". It's so cute and even though sometimes he wakes up at crazy early hours I can't help but smile and be excited that I get to spend my day with the most amazing little boy. When he takes naps or goes to bed at night my heart aches a little because I miss him so much! The best part though, is when he wakes up from those naps all he wants to do is snuggle for 10-15 minutes as we watch cartoons. As much as I love him being little, I so look forward to watching him grow and learn. I love you my little Seeley Bug! Thank you for being such an amazing little boy!!

Good News, Bad News

Well, the good news is, after two weeks of working out I've only lost 4 pounds, but lost two inches off my chest, and two and a half inches on my waist! I think I only lost 1 pound this week because I had built some muscle, but I'm super happy with the inches I have lost. Now, the bad news.. Something in my left heel is killing me! I seriously can barely walk! It really stinks because I had finally got into an awesome workout routine and had got my mile down by a whole minute. I was really getting into working out and was dead set on running and training for a half marathon, and then boom! I tried just walking on the treadmill today and only made it a mile and a half before I had to stop due to the pain. I knew that if I kept pushing it then I'd make it worse and it'd take even longer to heal. So for now I'm going to take time off and hope that it heals on its own. I'm really hoping that it will be feeling better by Monday so I can once again get going. So yeah, boooo! I was really looking forward to this week since I figured since this past week I mostly built muscle that this week I'd be able to shed the pounds! Oh well! It is what it is.. just hopefully I don't have to wait so long that I'll basically have to start all over!

healthy krito

So, as I mentioned in my last post I am sick and tired of being fat! Clothes fit on me weird, I feel blah, and honestly I just don't feel good about myself. I HATE seeing pictures of myself and really want to get down to a healthy weight. My goal right now is to get down to my pre-pregnancy weight by Seeley's first birthday. Honestly, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get there, but that is my goal! After Seeley's birthday I just plan to get healthy and to a good weight! I'd actually be happy with 160, but think 150 would be a really good weight for me. As I said before, dieting just seems weird since I breastfeed and I have to eat extra calories, so for now my goal is to get in shape. Then, when Seeley is done nursing I can be in good shape and add a good diet and hopefully can shed off those extra pounds. As of right now I've been working out for a little over a week and so far I've lost 3 pounds and an inch off my waist. It may not be much, but it has made me feel like I can do this! I'm also getting really serious about my running a disney half marathon. They do one twice a year, one in January and I think the other is in September, and right now I'm hoping that I can be ready by September 2014! Obviously that is a long time away, but I feel like it will give me the perfect amount of time to get in shape and really get prepared. With our tax return money I'm hoping to invest in a jogging stroller and that way I can practice my jogs! Oh, and maybe a good pair of running shoes since the shoes I have been using this past week are killing my feet! Anywho! Just thought I'd share since I've really set my mind to it, and hopefully me writing it out will help me want to achieve this even more!

I work out..

Wow, I am one sore Kristen!!! I absolutely hate seeing pictures of myself these days. I went from chubby, to just plain fat and I hate it! I feel like dieting is just too hard right now since I have to actually eat extra due to breastfeeding so for now I'm going to try exercising until I'm done breastfeeding and then I'm going to try a real diet. Well, to start off my exercise routine I did Jillian Michael's 30 day shred. I did it once shortly after I had Seeley, but I got so sore and Seeley was a much more demanding baby so I only did it that once. Well, I started it this past Wednesday and I can tell I'm even more out of shape then I was the first time I did it. I woke up Thursday feeling crazy sore, but knew if I didn't keep going I probably wouldn't keep up with it so I did it again. OMG! Well, Friday I woke up the most sore I have ever been in my entire life. Seriously, every single muscle is sore.. my calves, my thighs, my biceps, triceps, chest, shoulders... you get the point. Also, to top things off , TMI alert, I got my period. Not only my period, but my very first since getting pregnant with Seeley. It was pretty depressing! My last period was August 27th 2011. As you can imagine it was pretty amazing to go a year and a half without having a period. I'm actually kind of wondering if me exercising helped trigger it. Well, because of my sore body and my period I took a break. Although, today I made sure to jump back on the wagon and exercised again. I know I have only done it for 3 days, but I feel so accomplished and really hope that I can keep it up. I seriously can't wait for Spring & Summer because I plan to go on walks. That way I can do my 30 day shred for toning and use the walks for cardio. I eventually want to get where I can go for jogs, and where I can enjoy running again. I used to love to run and when I was younger I remember always talking about wanting to run a marathon. Well, I think that if I can get back into running, perhaps as a way to reward myself I can do one of the disneyland half marathons. Twice a year Disneyland does a half marathon and they sound amazing!! You get to run through the park and go backstage and you even get to run through Angel Stadium, and also along the way there are disney characters that you can stop and take your pictures with. Obviously, that is my kind of Marathon! So I'm pretty serious about my future walks, so as soon as the temperature is appropriate if anybody is up for it let me know and we can go on walks together! Anywho, I can see Seeley stirring on the baby monitor so I better kick it!

holidays, sickness, and life

well, we recently had seeley's first christmas! it was such a fun day, and it's even better knowing that as seeley gets older it's only to get better and funner! it was funny because my sister-in-law said we could do christmas morning with them and when i asked what time she said 6 in the morning and i just said you guys have fun and we'll be up around 10-11. We woke up around 10:30 when Seeley woke up and had a fun little morning. I'd open a present one at a time for Seeley and he'd look at it and play with it for a minute then we'd open another one. It was so cute and funny because he'd be playing with one present and then I'd open another for him and then he wouldn't know which toy he'd want to play with. After that we went upstairs and hung out with the family. It was fun having my parents there for Seeley's first Christmas, but kind of sad to know that they wont be here next year, especially since next year will be even better. So yeah, that was Christmas. Seeley got a ton of presents and just spent some quality time with the fam bam! New Years was a bust since Rey had to work till 11 New Years Eve, and then had to be back at 7 in the morning New Years Day so he just decided to stay at the hotel that night since they can stay there for free when they work back to backs. I was a little sad, but I let Rey make the decision since he was the one who would have to go to bed late and wake up early and drive. So not only did I spend New Years Eve alone, New Years Day was horrible because Seeley got sick for the first time. Seeley got a fever that went up to 102 and there is really NOTHING worse than seeing your baby sick. I know that when I'm sick I feel like junk, and I can only imagine how horrible it would be to be a little baby and feel that way and not know why. Sometimes when he would cry in pain I'd just hold him tight and cry with him. I wanted more than anything to take away that pain, but the poor guy just had to suffer through it. After two days of being sick I decided to take him to the dr. I was figuring that it was just one of those sickness's that would pass on its own, but I started to get worried that maybe he had an ear infection or something like that and I wanted to make sure it didn't turn into something worse because I waited. Well, we ended up taking him to the dr and they basically said it was a bad cold. The funny thing is, after we got home he started feeling so much better and by that night he was acting like the same old silly Seeley. He was even feeling well enough that I went and played some women's church ball. I knew I was out of shape, but holy moly! By the end of it I thought I was going to pass out. I even was guarding the only old lady on the other team and was still having a hard time keeping up! haha! One time I even had a breakaway moment and was going towards the basket and felt like I was going to pass out so I just stopped and shot halfway there... yeah, it was a little sad, but this just gave me the motivation to start really working out. I can't wait for spring because I can once again take Seeley on walks and hopefully start going on jogs. I hate being this out of shape and I hate being this big! Plus, I'm at such a weird size. For christmas Rey took me shopping at the mall and I tried on clothes and in the normal stores I tried on the XL's and they were too tight. I then decided to try going to Torrid. I asked about their sizing and they told me their size 0 was actually a size 12. Well, I tried it on and it definitely was no size 12.. that thing was HUGE on me! I think they say that to make them chubby girls feel better. So yeah, I'm not exactly sure what size I am these days and I'm hating clothes because they all fit so weird on me! Anywho.. I think that is all for now... not really much going on here except for me lovin' on and takin care of my lil man! He's the best! So laterz for now!