Hmm..

Okay so today is Friday Jan 6th and I overspent at Christmas so I sadly have to buy my groceries with my credit card. The first of the month paycheque is always the tightest due to rent and utilities, and typically I keep a reserve from the middle of the month cheque, but that was the Christmas one - i'm sure many can relate to overspending at that time of year! Oh well, next Friday i'll be able to pay it down, it just sucks!

Speaking of Christmas, Michael and I have decided that assuming the costs aren't out of this world, we will be cruising the Caribbean next Christmas with my folks (and likely my brother)! We're in the process of checking/comparing prices to see if it'll actually be a reality or not. -cross fingers-

What else... I have organized a little um, garage sale? lol, nothing for sale, it's all give away stuff - but basically all the home-mom's in the ward have purged toys/clothes/housewares after the Christmas season and we're going to bring it to the church so we can see everyone else's 'junk', take what we want, then we'll donate the rest of it to a used store here in town afterwards. You know the phrase "one person's trash is another person's treasure" :). We're also having our second craft night. The picture frame below (if I can find reasonably priced supplies) is what we're making. I'm going to find hopefully frames we can paint to the color we want.

In February we are going to Lacombe for a re-do on a Christmas get-together with my really good friends Crystal and Shelley (plus families). We're thinking of making the following crafts:

And then the banner is also one i'd like to make just because I think it's cute! I'm going to give my cricut a good test run with it I think.

Otherwise, I think that's all the news? I havne't had any Bowen clients (or any scheduled thus far) for January, which is fine - the past 2 months were SO busy that I gladly look forward to the break, but by the end of the month the money I made will be gone as I have to pay my trainer and am taking Zumba once a week (thus won't be able to hire her unless I have some clients - I have vowed not to use household money for my fitness endeavors)... all in hopes that I can get where I want to be by my vacation!! I'm enjoying working with a trainer again. I still wish I could get a better grasp on my food intake - it's been a good New Year for that so far, been able to say no to things.

Speaking of vacation, we are on the 1 1/2 months to go countdown! I'm very excited - of course nervous about how Carter will be while we're away, but so far he's proven to be a really easy going baby so hopefully this trip doesn't screw him up too badly!  

Oh, we had vaccinations yesterday. Carter had I suppose what you could call a reaction - he reacted in a way i've not experienced. It was like an insta-fever. He came out of the room with bright red cheeks and a flushed face and it stayed like that for a few hours afterwards (likely until the tylenol kicked in). He had a kinda rough night: he nursed like 4-5 times (but I wasn't about to deny him as they say you shouldn't after a vaccine) and he slept on my tummy for a portion of the night, and when he wasn't he was moany and groany in his sleep.

I think that's truly all the news across the nation for us! I am positive I could ramble on about a few other things, but I'll leave it at that for now :)

New Year

I don't particularly believe in "resolutions" but I do believe in goals. Every year I make goals for myself, but I honestly haven't sat down this year and really decided what I want to focus on.

In church today there was a really good Sunday School lesson taught, and one of the thoughts discussed was that we maybe need to focus less on ourselves and more on others - aka: service. Now, there are certainly things we need to do for ourselves in order to grow/progress - and for me I have two that I will focus on this year:
    1. I am going to read the Book of Mormon this year along with the Sunday School reading schedule. Along with this I had a potentially inspiring idea come to me while sitting in church today. Michael and I do not watch much TV but now that we have cable again since Carter's birth I find it is just on in the evenings - a couple nights a week we actualy watch a show or two (like Mondays and Tuesdays...sometimes Wednesdays) but otherwise it is just a channel surfing fest. SO, what we've agreed to do is that we will allow ourselves to watch TV if we so choose on M,T,W, and then we will keep it off on T,F's. That will allow us either time to spend together as a couple, to work on projects/goals, or whatever we so choose - it'll just be TV free time. In alignment with my goal, I will likely do alot of scripture study on these particular nights.
    2. I want to work on my physical appearance. I have yet to figure out how (aside from the "last 10 lbs") I want to accomplish this, or at the very least where I can get the strength from. There are some serious things going on in my head when it comes to my "relationship with food", and as of recent I have considered trying seeing a hypnotist or a counsellor of some form as I am uncapable of getting the right frame of mind.

Then of course there is service! I have yet to think of a way I can do this on top of what I already do... but I would like to have an equal balance of personal goals and service goals. :)

Happy New Year to you all!!

Christmas Day!

Oh how I love Christmas time :) We had a wonderful Christmas day! First we had to go to church and I was singing in the choir, so we were there early for me to be seated - I also accompanied a version of the First Noel on the piano with someone on the Cello and someone on the Viola, and 6 singers. It was beautiful!! We had a great church and then we rushed home to open gifts! :)

Logan loved it! He got a good haul - and he wasn't bratty or rude about opening/not opening certain gifts! woohoo! lol Our big gift to our family is Disneyland so we stuck to a pretty tight budget for Christmas. I was spoiled still even on budget. I got various picture frames, UFC Trainer for the Wii (for michael and I), my dad printed and framed my Anatomy certificate, got various nail/hair supplies, some soaps, and my mom got me a Spa booklet giving me 4 visits - 2 for hair and 2 for nails/waxing/etc. I got a christmas tree cake pan, and a flour sifter...i'm drawing a blank if there was anything else! lol I felt loved and blessed :)

But on another note, I just love Christmas time - I'm not sure why this year was so different, but I didn't feel stressed about finding gifts for people, I felt confident in my choices, and it was just very laid back. We had a big meal (chicken which didn't turn out very well lol) and various sides. It was lovely to have my mom and dad and brother home with us! The only downside both Michael and I felt ill last night in the middle of the night - havne't heard if my mom and dad did or not yet, but hope not! I'd feel awful it was something we all ate (i'm hoping it was the leftover chinese food we had for dinner).

And now we're off to Magrath for 2 nights!

Christmas is around the corner

It's almost Christmas! I feel like a little kid again, I love that feeling! It makes me think about all the scriptures that suggest we need to be as little children - it's the innocence and love that Christmas brings. I don't even feel the 'stress' of the holidays (ex: shopping) as we have really simplified our Christmas. I buy and/or make gifts for immediate family and friends, and I will admit I spoiled my boys...but I feel like Christ has really been the center of my reason for gift giving - a love for who i'm giving to.

My only sadness is that I wasn't able to do Christmas photos/cards this year with the timing of Carter's birth - but next year is a whole other story! :D

Anyways, I am counting down this last week with just as much excitment(or likely more than Logan because he doesn't realy understand 'time' yet) for next Sunday. We will go to church in the morning for sacrament meeting and then come home and enjoy a lovely family day together and a great meal and mingling! I couldn't be more thrilled!!

Girls and boys

I have been asked recently a few times (oddly enough) if I am going to 'try for a girl' - asking in such a way that suggests my family is incomplete without one. I'll be honest, I don't feel a deep desire to have to have a girl. I feel completely content with boys... of course if I have a girl I would be completely thrilled, but my family wouldn't be incomplete without.

Does that make sense? :) It only crossed my mind becuase I keep getting asked.

A little of this, a little of that..

Bowen business is booming for me. I am pretty excited for that actually - I am working on 3-5 clients a week, and that is my preferred max to be honest. Carter is still just a little baby and I don't want to be any busier than I am with Bowen at this point in time. But I have to admit, I have loved bringing in a little bit of extra spending money into the household - it has been paying for my fitness efforts (personal trainer & zumba), it has been paying for 'things' and objects - especially for Christmas, and it will be paying for new clothing for myself when we're in Disneyland. It's really rewarding for me. Also I have had realy great feedback from my clients and Bowen has been working so well for them.

One of my best friends had a tragic event happen in her life, and frankly I am just heartbroken for her! It is one of those things that there is nothing you can really do or say to someone in her situation because really, it's just a matter of letting her and her family mourn their loss. She is deeply in my thoughts and heavily in my prayers right now and I know she has a great support system and help to get her through. It's one of those events that you only -hear- about, and even though it's not me, it surely hits close to home because this friend is surely one of my closest.

Christmas is right around the corner - two weeks from yesterday. I can't believe it! I am most excited to see Logan's reaction and face(s) that day when he gets to open gifts from Santa. We did get Carter afew things and frankly I wrapped them only so Logan could help his little brother open a present or two. I love this time of year! It's so much fun :) The spirit of Christmas seems to affect basically everyone and it's just a joyous time. i'm excited to have my family at my house for Christmas. In the morning we will attend church and I am actually in the choir for the musical sacrament meeting - and even playing a song for one of the numbers (SCARY). But then we get to come home after church and have a lovely family gathering and gift opening, followed by a lovely dinner :) awesome! 12 days!!!

Aging..

I have particular noticed this past 4 months that I truly am aging. For the past 5 years I have really felt like I was still 21, but now I am starting to "feel" my age because I now see 21 year olds and think 'gee, how young are you!' - kinda like when I turned 19-20ish, I would look back on 14-15 year olds and think 'oh gosh, I hope I wasn't really that bad/annoying' lol, and not that I think 21 year olds are annoying or anything but they definetly are for the most part...younger. So i'm feeling 25 now.

Other things that make me feel older is that my body is changing, which i'm not thrilled about but am not against either as it's the circle of life right? I am starting to notice wrinkles forming, or my once silky smooth lotionless hands/feet now need to be lotioned and cared for, and the weight loss is harder now, and of course just the way my lifestyle is with children and a family to care for, etc - that can be tiring on any body right? Thankfully generally my energy levels havent deteriorated but my energy levels certainly have changed!

On the flip side I really am not digging the aging process! I like being young - and i've certainly got a handful of years left of young life and would argue with any 30 year old that they aren't old...as i've aged my idea of 'old' has changed. I used to think of my current age was old for heavens sake! My mom is 'getting old' as she is in her mid 50s lol, and i don't even consider her old!

But moral of my blog, I feel 25 now - not necessarily 26 lol, but for the next few years I will likely feel 25 (probably until I hit 30)...I figure I was 21 for 5 years so now I can be 25 for 5 years. :)