More Family Pictures

Here are more family pictures. I love love love them! Dylan was being a stinker towards the end of the night so it was hard to get a good shot of all of us. But Jaci is awesome and caught some great moments!

Mexico - Day 1

We had so much fun on our vacation. I hope to be able to post about all of it before I forget.

Technically, our first day of vacation was spent in airports and shuttle vans. We left our house at 4 am and didn't arrive to our hotel until 9 pm. It was a long day of sitting in an airport, but I did enjoy some yummy chocolate while we waited. What a way to break your diet right. This picture was taken when we finally got to our hotel, that's why we look so chipper.

 Some views from our balcony. This is the Lagoon that was part of our hotel. Well I actually think it was a public area but I only saw hotel guests swimming in it.

This is what our Villa looked like that we stayed in. We upgraded our room when we arrived, mostly to have free Internet access. But our room was really nice and I liked not being connected to the main hotel.

 There were iguanas everywhere. We watched these in the mornings from our balcony.

 Hitting the pool. It was so nice to just relax after our long day of travel.

Just one of the 6 pools we got to choose from.

The had really fancy restaurants to eat at during the evening. You had to make reservations everyday to be able to eat there. The food was ridiculously good and looked like works of art. You almost didn't want to eat it and mess it up. There were 5 speciality restaurants and we only got to eat at 4 because we missed the night the other one was open.

 We ended the night sitting on the beach just listening to the ocean. Perfect way to end our first day of vacation.

My Little Monster

8 Months Old-

This is my "little" big monster. I helped to shape him into that. He loves to cuddle to fall asleep and sleeps the best when mom is holding him. This makes getting things done around the house nearly impossible. But I can't be mad because I love that he lets me baby him like that still.

Just this week he has started going from laying to sitting by himself and actually standing up when you hold his hands. He would not put weight on his feet and that was kinda making me nervous but now he's a pro. He scoots around the floor backwards and will get on his hands and knees to rock.  I'm sad though, I thought that with Dylan not being as far as my other kids were at this age he would stay a baby longer, but I'm sure within a few weeks he'll be right on track with his brother and sister.

He just cut his 3rd tooth and the 4th is about to break through any day. He looks like a vampire.

He started clapping this week too. His favorite song is Pat-a-Cake so it was only a matter of time before he started clapping along with it.

He still LOVES Tray and Kinlee and would sit and watch them play all day if they would stay in the same room as him. I'm sure when he's fully mobile he won't have a problem following them around the house.

He went swimming for the first time yesterday and had so much fun! He loved watching all the kids play in the pool and loved playing in the water.

He totally surpassed the weight restrictions on his car seat so we had to get him a new one, so that means he gets to sit in the cart at the store like a big kid. The look on his face is so cute, he knows that he's a big boy and feels so special.

  

I can't get enough of this boy. I could hug and kiss him all day and I usually do.

Family Photo

Remember Dylan's gorgeous newborn pictures. Well my friend Jaci (U Pix Photography) recently took our family pictures and here is a little sneak peak. I can't wait to see the rest of them!

Who Do I Look Like....

I hope that Dylan only takes after his brother in the looks department, I don't know how well I can handle another Tray personality.

I love this picture! This is how our recent family pictures looked, Tray with a smile and Kinlee with a smirk.

Week 10 - 2 Pounds

I did it! I won the contest and lost 25 pounds! I never thought I would get on the scale and cry tears of joy. But I did! It was hard work and I missed out on lots of yummy treats and snacks along the way. But the results have been totally worth it!
Thanks to Kylie for all her help! And for Travis for doing the diet with me. It's great to feel so good and know that I'm healthy.
Now I get to go shopping! Yahoo!!!

Week 9 - 2 Pounds

Hooray! Looks like I've worked through my plateau. I want to get 2 more pounds down this week and then I will be at exactly 25 lost! Then I hope to drop the last 5 before we go on our trip!

I've had some people ask about my diet. I'm no fitness expert but my one piece of advice for any diet is to keep a food journal. I honestly feel like that was a key habit to help me stick to my diet. You honestly feel so guilty when you think about writing down the cheat meal you ate or even that extra helping of carbs. It's great to see what is actually put into your body on a daily basis.

The Daily Dish even had a segment on food journals this morning. (I'll post the link once they get it on their website)

I'm really nervous for my diet to end. Although I would love to be on this diet the rest of my life, we can't afford it. My grocery bill is outrageous and it's nothing that clipping coupons can fix when you just buy meat and produce.

I think I've learned some great habits that I can incorporate into our daily lives. Portion control, not cooking with a stick of butter for every meal. Eating small frequent meals, and exercise daily. I love the way I feel in the mornings after my workout! My goal for now is to keep this weight off.