Sunday, September 29, 2013

Just couldn't wait!

There are two things I couldn't wait for:
 
1.  I couldn't wait for October to dress Kenna in some of her cute Halloween clothes, so I put her in this outfit and made an orange headband for it.  She has a few cute Halloweenish things that I am excited for her to wear and don't want her to just wear them one time, so I am starting early!
 
2. I couldn't wait for Christmas to give her this toy table.  We bought this a few weeks ago with the intention of giving it to get her for Christmas, but since she started pulling herself up recently, I think she needs it now, haha.  So Merry Christmas, Kenna (in September), hehe!
 
 

Friday, September 20, 2013

Crawling Kenna

We have a crawler!  She is getting faster everyday!



https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=10100353407267734&set=vb.193309952&type=2&theater

Crayon Wreath


I got this beautiful wreath from one of my Kindergartners 2 years ago.  His name is Kace Royce and he made this crayon wreath with his mom.  I hung it in my classroom ever since and I was excited to hang it in Kenna's room in our new place.  As I tried pushing the thumbtack into the wall, it fell along with the wreath and the styrofoam broke in a bunch of places.  I tried to place it back together for this picture, but you can tell it is a little crooked.  I love this wreath and want to remember it even if it is in pieces now. 

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Best Husband Award

Today was a good day, but there was one point where I texted Kyle telling him I was feeling a little down.  Moving to a new place and starting over can be hard and today was just one of those days. I made myself get out and go jogging this afternoon even though I really didn't want to.  Of course, afterwards, I felt really great and proud of myself for doing it.  So I came home and hurried and cleaned the house so it would look good when Kyle got home. He took an extra long time coming home (I thought he got off work late), but it turns out he was buying me flowers and chocolate :)  What an amazing guy! Well, he went to Walmart and I guess they didnt have any fresh flowers, so he got me some fake ones, but I love them because they are fall colors and fall is my favorite :)  When he got home, he told me to go enjoy a bath while he took care of Kenna.  He is so wonderful :)  I think I'm in love. hehe!



 

Friday, September 13, 2013

Shoes, Sorrow, Success

 
I have been doing the Couch to 5K program to get ready for my 5K and to get in shape.  I loved that program... until I failed... I failed big time.  It happened at the end of week 6.  It was the first time in 6 weeks that I couldn't do what it was asking me.  I was supposed to jog 22 minutes without walking.  Mind you, the week before, I jogged 20 minutes without stopping.  But on this Friday, guess how far I made it?  6 minutes... yep, only 6 minutes until I had to walk.  I soon found a bench and sat down with my disappointed self to have a self chat (in my head, not out loud)  Although when I am jogging and feel like I am about to quit I do actually talk out loud and tell myself or Kenna that we can do it.  I didn't have Kenna with me that day.  I was jogging with no stroller.  I think I might have been using the stroller as a crutch the way that some people use the rails of a treadmill to hold onto until Jillian yells at them to let go.  I need to run without Kenna more often because she won't be with me on race day.  I also want to do this for me, so I'll be a better mom for her.  I do love taking her on jogs though.  It is hard to find a time to jog without her, but I need to start trying.  Anyways, I decided to change my training so that I was mastering distances instead of times.  So my goal will be to run 3.1 miles without stopping instead of running 30 minutes because who am I kidding pretending that I can run that fast?  I honestly don't know at this point if I will be able to run the whole thing by November, but I am not giving up.  I made my goal today which was to jog 1 mile without stopping.  Tomorrow will be 1.25 miles.  I can do it.  And even if I can't, I am working towards it.  I have come so far already in these few months.  When I started, I was huffing and puffing after 60 seconds of jogging.  It's amazing what our bodies can do when we put the time into training them.  These are the new shoes Kyle let me buy.  We went to the Lloyd Center one Saturday and he let me buy any shoes I wanted.  These were comfy and on sale (and pink), so I got them.  And I love them so far!  Happy jogging!

We have a crawler!

Kenna has caught on to crawling. (She is 7 1/2 months)  She has been up on all fours for over a month now, but now she can slowly maneuver herself to get anywhere she wants.  She would definitely prefer to be carried, but if no one is around, she will crawl and roll to get something.  She is growing up so fast! 

Watch her crawl here!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10100346889045304&l=1975411463941346516

1124 Days

Tonight, Kyle has gone camping with his cub scout troop.  This is the very first time since we've been married that we have been apart for a night.  There have been times when we have slept in different beds (like at the hospital) or even in different rooms (I end up in Kenna's room on the guest bed many nights), but never in different houses.  He is excited to go and I hope he is having fun :)  We miss you already, honey!  Happily, Kenna went to bed at 7:45 without a fight (she loves fighting bedtime).  I can't decide if I should stay up late watching tv by myself or hurry to bed so I can have the whole bed to myself for once :)

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Toothbrush and Pilgrims

Kenna and I walk to Target often. Today we had nowhere to go, plus I let Kyle take the car, so we just walked to Target this afternoon for fun.  I got Kenna her first toothbrush and she knew right what to do with it, haha!  The same thing she does with everything... put it straight into her mouth!

Not sure if she liked it, lol!



I also bought some cookies and reeses to try making these pilgrim hats.  Gotta get ready for Canadian Thanksgiving!

I won!

I won the "Early Bird" drawing at our Relief Society Night yesterday.  I arrived just on time actually, so I guess I got lucky, haha.  I was nervous to even go because I only know like 4 people in our ward since moving.  I thought of texting one of the girls (Mary) to go together, but didn't want her to think I was a sissy.  Then as I got out of my car, guess who was walking right up?  It was Mary!  What a blessing!  Then I didn't have to feel anxious walking in.  It's the little things that matter. (I have always had anxiety about walking into a room and people staring at me, but that's a post for another day, haha)  Anyways, the early bird gift was some cute fall colored dish towels with leaves and owls.  Kenna is enjoying the gift bag and the ribbon as we speak :) 

Our baby is a genius!

 
I don't actually think she is a genius, but I am happy she can learn new things!
 
Phew... Kenna learned how to turn the page just in time to go back to story time this week!  The library has been taking a break for the month of August, but they are starting baby story time again this week!  When we went in July it seemed like all the other babies could turn the page when the teacher asked them, but Kenna would just stare at her!  It made me feel like we needed to read more with her, haha.  Chances are, she will still stare at her this week too, but at least I know she can do it now!

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

No Excuses

No pain, no gain? Well, in my couch to 5K training, I had to jog 8 minutes today, then walk 5 minutes and jog 8 more minutes. I was so proud of myself for cruising right through the first 8 minutes. I was feeling really great... Until I started the 2nd 8 minute stretch. My pride instantly crumbled as I looked at my timer and it had only been 6 seconds and I wanted to quit. Luckily, I can't quit... I have committed to do this 5K and to jog the whole thing! I talk about it all the time...how I am going to run my first 5K on my 30th birthday.  I bought a new jogging stroller, new running shoes, signed up for it and face booked about it just so that I could have no excuse to quit.  So on days like today, when I am jogging so slow that I can watch the reflectors go round and round on the stroller wheels, I am glad that I CANNOT QUIT! I did however tell Kyle that the dishes and laundry will not be touched today, hehe!

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Remember to 'look up'

I have commited myself to running a 5K... I have wanted to do this for a long time.  When Kenna had her 6 month birthday (on July 25th), I decided now was the time to get to it. I found one that is being held on my birthday.  I will be turning the big 30, so I figured this would be a great memory of my birthday!  It is called "Battle to the Pacific".  I will be running it alone since strollers are not allowed, so Kyle will be staying with Kenna.  I am glad actually becuase I like to run at my own pace and not worry about anyone else wanting to go faster, haha.  So I began the "Couch to 5K" program which basically just tells me how many minutes to run and walk each day in order to build up my endurance and run the whole thing.  So the program has me doing 3 runs per week.  Last weekend, my sister Carisa and her family came to sleep over on Thursday night, so I did not do my usual run on Friday morning. We were planning to go to the ocean and meet up with them on Saturday, but I had to get my run in first.  This was week 3 of training by the way.  I really did not want to go, but finally convinced myself to.  I did not have the stroller with me for once since Kyle was home and kept Kenna with him.  Part way through my torturous jog, I passed another jogger and lifted my head to say hi.  After lifting him head, I began to think that I must have been looking down that whole time if I had to lift my head to say hello.  So I began looking up instead... and the beauty of the trees and the greenery that surrounded me was breathtaking!  I began to see what I had been missing.  It was truly majestic.  The last few times I've been jogging I have tried to remember to 'look up'.   Physically looking up towards the sky also helps me remember all the blessings I've received from my Heavenly Father as I try to spiritually 'look up' as well.  We live in a beautiful world :)

We are home

Life has not slowed down since Kenna was born.  Kyle and I were just talking this morning about how much our lives have changed just in the first half of 2013!

1.  Kenna was born in January which was the biggest change ever!  We are still getting used to being parents even after almost 7 months!  Going on maternity leave and then returning to work were all big milestones for me as well.

2. Kyle graduated in May and started looking for jobs.

3. We sold our house in Caldwell, Idaho.

4. I resigned from teaching at the end of the school year and became a stay at home mom.

5. We found a job in Vancouver, Washington.  Then we picked up and moved! 

After all of this, I am happy to say that we are home here.  We loved Idaho and were at home there then, but there have been a few very distinct experiences where I have truly felt like this is the place for us right now and we are home again :)  It's a good feeling.

Kenna likes it here too :)



Thursday, August 15, 2013

I'm back!!

I want to get back into blogging for a few reasons. 1) I share way too many pics of Kenna on Facebook, so I could put some here. 2) I am really bad at writing in my journal lately, this might help 3) I wanna write how I'm feeling more often  4) I wanna track my 'getting healthy' journey here

Looks like I have a lot of updating to do... I think I will just write about a few of the important things in my life the last few years and then move on with the present. But I am excited to be back!