Let's get going!

They have yet to dig our hole. We are so eager for them to get started and it's taking forever! We are getting so excited for our yard too! It's a bit longer then we thought it would be! Our lot is just one big rectangle... it looks smaller in the pictures, but from the house to the fence will be 68 feet! There is plenty of room for a swing set and all the veggies we hope to grow!! And even plenty of room for Brent's "project" of a patio and fountain with room to spare! It's going to be so great and time is going WAY too slow!!

Here are just some fun pictures of Mariska...

She loves ice cream!

Part of her Easter basket was a package of 4 sunglasses, she needs "back ups" because she keeps braking all of them. She doesn't know her own strength.She makes these funny faces where she rolls her eyes up into the corners and she thinks it's so funny... and it is, she laughs so hard!

Spring Break!

This last week has been fantastic!! Brent had Spring Break and didn't end up going on his training trip, so he had the whole week off at home! Since Brent didn't get trained for his summer job this week, he'll be flying to Utah during a weekend in April.
We were going to take a quick over night trip down to San Antonio, but after getting a lot of work done on our car, we decided we'd better not. BUT our car is running better then ever and we're so excited about that!
Instead of a trip to San Antonio we just drove up and spent the day up at our "local" IKEA. We had a great lunch, and found a table we really liked... but then we drove over to Plano to Neal's Unfinished Furniture and found the exact same table, only made out of solid wood that we could finish in the "two tone" fashion we want. That's a little ways into the future but well worth saving up for!
Then on Thursday Mariska had her very first, come to our house babysitter. We took off and went to the temple. It was really exciting to have my Grandpa be the one to greet us at the door! We went through a session and afterwards we stayed to do a few sealings, where my Grandpa was also with us to act as a son to Brent and I for a family that needed to be sealed! It was such a great experience! Not only to be with my Grandpa in the temple, but just to go and be reminded of how great it is and that we need to go A LOT more often!! Afterwards Brent and I of course took the opportunity to go to a restaurant without Mariska! Food some how tastes better when you don't have to lean over to pick up a crayon off the floor every 3 minutes!
The rest of the week was spent taking Mariska to the playground, going on walks and READING!! We both went through two books this week and it was so relaxing.
One day this week we drove down to our "house"... they have where the house is actually going to go blocked off, so we could see just how big our yard is. When we first pulled up, the view from the street was very disappointing. Our yard looked so tiny, and we even bought a bigger lot then the standard ones... it was a bit disappointing until we walked back there! It was so much bigger than it looked from the street and we're SO EXCITED!
Well, I didn't do too well with exercise this week, although I did better with my food. I've read a great book called, "YOU On A Diet" by Dr. Oz (on Oprah a lot)... it's very good. I love learning about just how you digest and process food and just how your body reacts to certain things. I almost couldn't enjoy my Lava Cake this week, thinking, "this is going to reduce my serotonin and lepton levels"... which did help me not take as much this time! And that's a start. Then we also went on walks for the last 3 days in a row. And I did a walking video this morning for about 1/2 an hour. So, things are getting easier... it's also nice we didn't go way overboard with Mariska's Easter Candy!
Speaking of which, Easter was fun... we went to church and then after Mariska's nap we took a walk. Once we got home she dyed her Easter Eggs. Then she had dinner and then a short Easter Egg Hunt around the living room. Then just went right into the candy. We charged our camera batteries and I was really focused on using our video camera, because we've been really bad at taking good video, but... I was so into using that camera, I completely forgot about taking regular pictures with our regular camera!! Once I remembered it was all undone, eggs put away and candy basket scattered. So, maybe with the next holiday I'll get it right!
That's about it for us! Now it's just back to regular life. Brent's back to work and I've got to get working on a short little talk on respect for New Beginnings this Wednesday!

some of my clothes...

This is a shirt I got, and another pair of my shoes. I've also put in a link to the other shoes I bought. I was very very out of my comfort zone with this shirt!

http://www.payless.com/Catalog/ProductDetail.aspx?&TLC=Womens&SLC=WomensDress&BLC=WomensDressTrendy&Width=Regular&ItemCode=55362&LotNumber=061052&Type=Adult&Popularity=1205&DescriptiveColor=Tan

If you can't tell, this has thin green stripes down it...

This was in a hat box for a hat I bought Brent at the garage sale, Mariska keeps putting it on her head and I found it funny.

Several Things

One fun thing... The leveled our lot!!! They finally got all the permits and are getting started!!

So as to my weight loss goals... things didn't go well this week. It was a crazy week. So alas, I start again on Monday. BUT I did go shopping and got some cute things... one pair of shoes I got is pictured below. I got these so that I can not wear heeled shoes everywhere but also not look/feel so frumpy wearing sneakers everywhere. I've also figured out that I love the look and feel of a belt. A good ol' belt. The only time I've worn a belt was as part of my work outfit when I was a server at IHOP. But I got one and tried it out and I love it, it makes the whole outfit feel so much more "together".

We also got new couches! The Young Women's in our ward had a garage sale to raise funds for camp... we got a couch and love seat for real cheap. The couch had a leg broken off of it and so Brent, being the man he is, bought a stick of wood, sawed it to length and fixed the couch. They are going to take some getting used to, and will need slipcovers, but they'll serve us well until we can afford the ones we really really really want.

Pictured below are also some great pictures of Mariska...

Captain Pickles!!

How's it going you ask??

Not good. Not good at all. Monday I slept in, but I did work out 25 minutes while Mariska napped... but then ate a bunch of left over cake. Tuesday I didn't get up early enough to work out and had a bunch to do during the day and ate a bunch of beef and cheesecake at Enrichment! And now today I slept in too, but I walked over a mile going to Burger King for breakfast while our brakes were changed... does that count even though I had Burger King? It is so hard to work out on days I have to take Brent to work!! We have to get up, brush our teeth and such and then work out and then both be ready, plus Mariska by 7:15... so we'd have to get up at 5!! It's hard enough on days I don't take him to work to get up at 5:30, that half hour difference is a big deal!
And I have to take him to work tomorrow and Friday as well, to fulfill Young Women obligations... so this week is some what just a "bust"... plus next week we'll be in San Antonio at some point, not sure when yet... But I'm just praying for a hotel with a gym!
Although, I had a GREAT time at Enrichment last night talking with a bunch of ladies! We talked until 10 PM!! I didn't get home until 10:30. But it was great because they helped me realize the value of having nice clothes and feeling good about yourself even when you're big.
I was talking about how I feel so frumpy but I have a lot of cute clothes that I just can't fit into and they obviously went on to tell me I needed to buy new clothes. But I explained that I'm too cheap and that I don't want to because I'm really afraid of getting "comfortable being fat"... but then they helped me see that isn't what happens. That if I feel good and have nice outfits, while I'm big... that I won't be so depressed and go for the 2nd or 3rd brownie to comfort my feeling bad. I stopped and thought and simply realized that it's so true! I do eat a bunch of crap as "comfort food" and just bring myself down and its an endless cycle.
So, today while our car was being worked on, I strapped Mariska into her little stroller and we went and got breakfast and to Payless and a clothes store called Rainbow... I got 3 pairs of shoes, a pair of jeans and 3 shirts!! I'm really excited. I'm also going to go to Walmart and Target to see what they have and just get/keep the best stuff!!! But I'm so excited!! I really like some of the stuff I got (I didn't get all solids!! And 2 shoes even have bows!) Pictures will be posted as soon as it's all been tried on and I figure out what I'm keeping!!!

Here I go again

Well, I promised myself I wouldn't let it happen. It did. Christmas ruined me! For a good while before we took our trip to Utah I was doing really well getting up every morning, working out and not only not eating junk food, but not over eating at all. I was down a good 25 pounds! But alas... Christmas ruined me. I got out of my work out routine and now getting up early enough to work out seems impossible. The endless treats and desserts were too much for me to handle and I have let loose on my food addiction and have had countless cookies, brownies, cakes, french fries and pieces of pizza. Before I knew it almost 3 months have gone by and I'm back up 5 pounds! I can't describe my level of disappointment in myself and my anger at how easily I let go of my goals and the lifestyle I truly long to have. (a healthy, active, "fit" life)
So... I am making it official on my blog, making it public so I have some accountability... I am starting over, starting Monday March 10th. I am going to get up and work out and I'm starting a "detox" of sorts. I'm going to try my best to lose about 1.5 to 2 pounds a week for the next 6 weeks. I need to make my goals somewhat short term or else I procrastinate and they aren't very high priorities. I'm also going to be doing weekly posts on my "progress".
Here I go... keep me in your prayers!!

Just some thoughts

I really hate this "Primary process"... It is so much harder then it needs to be. I don't see why it can't be more like the presidential election. Everyone goes in and votes and who ever wins is the nominee. I don't want to get into politics, but I'm just getting annoyed that a certain candidate won't go away!

Brent is loving his "new toy"... the summer job he's going to be working requires going to a lot of different places within the mextroplex and if anyone has ever driven within the Dallas area, they know how confusing and ridiculous it is. The same road will have 3 different names, or two different roads will have the same name! Just down the road from us is the intersection of Beltline and Betline... one is Beltline Rd and the other is Beltline Rd/route 1382. And just down the road from that is North Clark rd, labeled on the sign as N. Clark RD... not to be confused with New Clark rd about 1/2 a mile away, also labeled N. Clark rd...
Anyway, we decided after being lost 1,000 times that Brent needed a GPS system for his job. We spent the night driving around Waxahachie and finding out how many pizza places were within 5 miles of our new house. We also found the school we believe Mariska will eventually go to, the library and the dentist office that I took 35 minutes to find the other day... it was at 200 Ferris Ave in Waxahachie. Only Ferris Ave had no sign and the road I was on (77) was ALSO called Ferris Ave, so that confused me, was the office on 77 or another road called Ferris Ave?!?! I finally started turning up and down any road that didn't have a road sign and eventually found it!

We can't wait to get into our house!! We are so cramped here! I don't get why we were so much more comfortable in Aggie Village... I guess it's just that now Mariska has more toys which are also bigger, and Aggie Village had a big balcony to store things on. Here we only have our closets for storage and they are completely full!! I've just decided to box up all our books and decorative things like picture frames that don't go on the wall. I'm sick of clutter!! We're just going to store it until we have our house, where we'll have separate rooms for it all!! Right now our living room is 3 rooms in one, living room, play room and office!

That's about it, just thought I'd share some thoughts! I've got to get working, I have mutual tonight!