October Days

I have been a little busy and have decided to just do one big post for the month of October to wrap up all the highlights. This will basically be our month in photos, with a few captions! Enjoy!

Fall means pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to me! Maybrie quite enjoyed making and eating them too.

Brian and I were lucky enough to go to the BYU football game in Corvallis, Oregon against the Oregon State Beavers. It was Thomas' first trip, and he did quite well. Thank you to Tony and Amy Christensen for inviting us and to mom and dad Naylor for watching Maybrie while we were gone and to Emily(Brian's sister) for putting us up for the night. We drove down to Portland Friday afternoon and enjoyed yummy Thai food with Tony and Amy and then stayed the night with Emily and Jeremiah and their kids in Vancouver. We had fun visiting with family briefly. We drove down to the game the next morning and headed back home (well, to Brian's parents' house in Grandview) right after the game. It was a quick trip, but a fun getaway for us.

Headed to the game... we wished we had warm clothes for Thomas in Cougar colors!

Brian, Thomas under the blanket, Tony and Amy

Me, Brian, and sleeping Thomas :)

Our cute cuddly teddy bear all bundled up!

We won the game! Go Cougars!

(Thomas doesn't seem as excited about the win as we were!)

Our happy traveler

Just playing with daddy

Full grin... this little cutie is now 4 months old and weighs a whopping 18 lbs! Wow!

Halloween preview... Thomas as a monkey

We had the pleasure of having my sisters Ashley and Noelle and their kids come visit from Utah. They stayed with my sister Jessica and her family in Pasco, but they all came up to Yakima on Saturday the 22nd. We had a picnic in the park and then went to a free harvest festival at Barrett Orchards. I didn't do a very good job of documenting the visit between chasing kids and enjoying conversation, but here is a little snapshot.

Pumpkins picked in the pumpkin patch

Maybrie, Afton, Maeryn and Howie in the toddler hay maze

Maybrie and Howie

The twins

Maybrie and Howie on the tractor

Daddy and Maybrie

(in case you can see a cotton swab in Brian's ear, he burst his ear drum in a work accident the day before. He was such a trooper to join us despite the pain.)

The fam minus Thomas asleep in the stroller

Kids playing school outside the gift shop

Maybrie loved it!

Howie on his mommy's shoulders

Noelle and Howie

The following Monday I headed down to Pasco and spent a couple of days visiting.

All tuckered out

Maybrie's favorite, swinging, at Columbia River Park

Ren

Eliza

Daphne and Thomas

Mean while, back at home...

Thomas fell asleep at the dinner table

One night we wanted pizza...so we added up all of our change we could find and had enough for one hot and ready pizza! It was an awesome frugal Friday!

Family time!

Thomas happy in his swing.

Maybrie thought cleaning out the pumpkins was yucky, but thought it was hilarious on mommy's hand!

Halloween memories

All lit up! They turned out great!

Elizabeth and Jon joined us for the pumpkin carving

Can you guess what we were?!

Smores!

(Thanks to Scott and Brittany Olsen!)

Tired from all the monkeying around

Go Huskies...I know it's not BYU, but the outfit was free. Brian's second favorite University.

Check out the loot!

Maybrie loved lining up all her candy and putting it back into her bucket

Such a cutie!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Progress

#1: Healthy Lifestyle/ Weight loss

After I had Maybrie I discovered that I did not know how to exercise and really lose weight. Up until that point in my life, maintaining weight was all I really knew how to or needed to do. It took me a long time to figure out how to exercise and watch my eating habits. I was looking forward to doing a better job losing the baby weight after having Thomas, now that I have developed some good fitness habits. Here is the plan that I came up with back in July when Thomas was 6 weeks old:

I made a daily point system: 1 point for exercise, 1 point for eating my fruit/vegetable servings, and -1 point for extra treats (I was allowed one small sweet a day... cutting it completely never works for me)

I set the goal to earn 50 points, hoping that achieving that would have set the habits and shown some results as well.

I measured my waist and butt. I don't have a scale and I am more concerned with losing inches to fit into my old clothes than I am about the exact weight.

I am pleased to announce that I reached my goal and that the results have been very exciting!

I reached the 50 points before the move, but the weight and measurements are current, and show the change that occurred since July 18th, over a 2 1/2 month period.

I lost 2 1/2 inches from my waist

I lost 3 1/2 inches from my butt

I lost 16 pounds!

I am currently the weight I was when Maybrie was 15 months old, and Thomas will be only 4 months old this week! I am amazed what some self control, dedication, exercise, and healthy eating choices can do. I have moved down a size in clothes and am just thrilled that all of my hard work is paying off! I am only 5 lbs. away from my goal weight and now actually feel that maybe someday I will reach my dream weight! Below is a picture of me right now. I didn't take many pictures of myself after Thomas was born, so you may not be able to tell without a comparison picture next to it.

#2: Sleep

Thomas has been sleeping in his car seat since he was a few weeks old because of his colic and reflux. We would cushion it with several blankets, but I still felt kind of bad about it. The incline helped him sleep. This past week we transitioned him to his crib, laying him on his stomach, and I am thrilled to say it was a smooth transition. Thomas now sleeps in his crib! Yay!

With so much going on since the move, and having a never ending to do list, I find it important to celebrate the progress we're making, no matter how small.

Our New Home

We found someone living within our ward boundaries who wants renters while they try to sell their house. For the same rent amount we get a house that is twice the size of our old duplex. It may cost a little more because we are now paying all utilities, but not much. We moved in two weeks ago at the end of September, and though everything is not completely unpacked and set up the way I want it, I figure if I don't post it now, it will never happen! While this place is old and could use a lot of updating in the kitchen, new paint, and flooring... there are still plenty of reasons we are happier here. Some of the positive upgrades from our old duplex include: carport, better neighborhood (we didn't like living right next to the high school and backed up to a busy street), no neighbors to hear through the walls, a garbage disposal, an extra bedroom, an extra half bathroom, a storage room, central air/heat (rather than base board heat- would have made me nervous with the kids), more light, more space, and more storage!

While we've taken the risk that the house could sell before we are ready to move, we are feeling good about the decision. The owner's are asking a lot for the place and we figure that with all the updating the house needs, it won't sell soon at all. When we find a problem with the place we can turn it into a positive by saying it will keep buyers away!

Here is a little picture tour of our new home:

View of living room from front door

View of living room from opposite side

Dining (you can kind of see the backyard through the blinds)

View of kitchen from dining

Laundry room off kitchen

Half bath off laundry room

Small bedroom/den we are using as a storage room

Huge multi-purpose room: our playroom/ office

Office area

Down the hall from the living/ dining you find:

The bathroom (you can kind of see the tub/shower in the mirror)

Maybrie's room

Thomas' room

Master bedroom

We are still working on it, finding places for everything and making it look and feel like home. But we are pretty well settled. Maybrie loves all of the colors and is constantly pointing out the yellow or blue walls, pink carpet, etc. in our "Geen" (she doesn't say the r sound) house! She loves all of the space to run around and play in too. Hopefully we will be here until we know where we're going for dental school.