Weekends and Good News

Last weekend was surprisingly relaxing.

Austin and I went on a date to the delicious Sweet Tomatoes.

We got a gorgeous dinner table from my parents.

I made some pillows.

Sickness came into our home [yes, relaxation still occurred with this].

We had dinner and spent time with Austin's family.

Homework was completed.

We were able to have much-needed family time.

Unfortunately, the only picture that I took this weekend was of the pillows that I made.

I whipped out the old sewing machine, and after a few mental breakdowns, these were the result!

I believe that a pillow is the simplest sewing project possible.

BUT this does not mean that it was easy for me.

Hopefully it is, however, a good start to a becoming a sewing expert! Ha...ha...

I do also have very good news for today.

I have a job interview/orientation thingy on Thursday for a sweet family of three children.

I will be their Nanny, before school and after school, for a few hours a day!

This job really is a blessing.

The kids are ages 18, 12, and 6! I will just be in place to make sure they are completing their responsibilities.

I love it.

AND I can bring my baby.

Does it get any better than that? I don't think so.

A Day at the Park

Ryker and I take frequent walks in the neighborhood while Daddy is at school.

A few days ago, we just so happened to take a walk to the park on a beyond beautiful day.

Luckily, I remembered to bring the camera.

[Our walk to the park.]

[Ryker loves being outdoors. So I laid him in the grass and we enjoyed looking at trees and watching the birds together.]

[This was our view from the grass.]

[Ryker is getting good at so many things. Recently, he has been able to actually grab for his toys and play with them!]

[We have so much fun together. Ryker is always such a happy little boy. It does not take much to make him smile!]

[We love him.]

[Ryker is hyper most of the time. This is something that we absolutely love. However, when he wants to, he can kick back and relax also. This was on our walk home.]

Spending time with Ryker is the best thing in the world!

Who knows, may you will have that opportunity some day too. :]

Help...

Does anyone in the Phoenix area know of a good job that will allow me to still care for Ryker??

If so, please please let me know. I will love you forever.

Casual Wednesday

For any of you who know Austin, you are aware of his love for comfort. When I say comfort, I mean that he loves to wear clothes that don't "restrict" him. His favorite outfits consist of basketball shorts, a loose t-shirt, flip flops, and a hat. And he does not care whether I dress like this or not...

For any of you who know me, you are aware of my love for dressing-up. When I say dressing-up, I mean that I love to wear clothes that don't look like I just got out of bed. My favorite outfits consist of jeans, stylish shirts, girlie shoes, and no hat. And I kind of care whether he dresses like this or not...

As you can see, there is definitely a conflict of interest here. I know it is bad, but I win most of the time.

Lately, I have been making Austin look more... presentable. However, I do allow him his 'casual Fridays' each week.

So you would imagine my surprise when Austin started putting on basketball shorts this morning.

Me: "What are you doing?! It's Wednesday!!!"
Austin: "I know! It's casual Wednesday."
Me: "What?? What do you mean? I have never heard of that before..."
Austin: "I always do casual Wednesday. Today is my big class-load and I like to be comfortable."
Me: "Oh Babyyyyyyyy please noooooooooo" [in my little girl voice].
Austin: "Oh, it's alright Sweetie. Everything will be OK."
Me: "I guess so... But you owe me."
Austin: "What?? I am not sure I want to hear this..."
Me: "You owe me a trip to Sweet Tomatoes!"
Austin: [Laughs...]

I wonder how many times I will be able to eat at my favorite restaurant...

[Disclaimer: Austin does not mind dressing-up for his loving wife. He loves me that much!]

The Sale of the Season!

This weekend is a very big event... Saturday morning to be exact.

It is an event that only comes around once in a lifetime.

[Like the dramatic effect?]

Do you want to know what event is so important as to make it on my blog?

It is my family's garage sale.

Each married couple is bringing a truckload of items to sell...

All I can say is that it is going to be huge.

So if you want something... unique, come on over.

It will be fun!

[The posts should start coming regularly now... Sorry for the long break.]

Personal Challenge

I am sorry that I have not posted in a few days. There have been many other things occupying my time.

For today, I feel that I should probably do my weekly update on my personal challenge. Overall, I did pretty good this last week. I am down three more pounds; making me 20 pounds lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight.

Many people, on and off the blog, have asked me how I am accomplishing this. If you are wondering whether I am doing this the healthy way; have no fear! I am. I do eat at every single meal, BUT I have resorted to cutting my portions in half. For those of you who really know me, you know that I love my food; and I can eat a lot of it. That is why this challenge has been so much of a... challenge for me. I am not doing P90X, but do go on plenty of walks during the day. I also do too many squats bouncing Ryker, and I run up and down the stairs a bazillion times a day while holding that 15 pound bundle of joy. See, I have got workouts in disguise.

So there you have it, my plan! Now, some of you may think that there is no way to lose 20 pounds by just doing that. This brings me to my body... I have always had the tendency to lose weight fast; when I really try to. This is a curse in disguise; seeing that it goes the other way as well. I also have the ability to gain my weight back even faster. This motivates me to just stick to doing what I am doing and to continue keeping myself busy during the day. Go, go, go is my mindset... which fortunately brings the calories with it!

Satisfied? I hope so! I also hope that you all have a wonderful weekend! Be good.

The Best Night's Sleep in 3+ Months

Since Ryker was four weeks old, he has been sleeping for about six hours straight during the night. We have tried to push him longer, but our attempts have failed each time. So last night, we put him to bed at the usual 7:30pm; believing he would just wake up in about six hours. Boy, were we wrong. Ryker ended up sleeping for ten hours! This is a miracle beyond miracles! I kept waking up every few hours to see if he was OK... because really, I was scared that something might have happened to him! Each time I woke up, he was fast asleep and snoring like usual. The last time I woke up was at 5:30am. Ryker was tossing and turning and I just knew that he was about to burst out crying in hunger. Of course he did, but luckily his bottle was ready at just about that time.

We are so proud of our little guy! He is growing so much. We have discussed recently that in just the past few days, it feels like Ryker has become much more of a 'little boy.' We feel that he is just progressing so fast! This scares us; but we are also very delighted at the same time. Along with him growing, he is also crying much less. However, he does have little outbursts of personality when he wants too, though.

Dreamer

Click here to see where I have been spending a lot of my time as of late.

That's right, Austin and I have been looking.

I dream of my future home all the time.

I cannot wait.

There are so many great homes with great prices right now.

You will hopefully find us in a cute, little place in [let's just say] six months tops.

But we hope for sooner...

As for now, I am content just being with these two handsome boys.

They are my life.

And that is all for today.

L.O.V.E.

 is for the way you look at me!

is for the only one I see!

is very, very extraordinary!

is even more than anyone that you adore!

Happy Valentine's Day, Sweetheart!

I love you so so so much!

Oh, and who could forget the cutest, bestest little Valentine of all??

Notice how he is not smiling in any of these pictures.

Well, it took a lot out of him just to get a couple of good ones.

The rest look like this:

Our poor guy is just having a rough Valentine's Day.

Hopefully he will feel better when we go out on a little family date tonight!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

The "Farewell"

Yesterday was Grandma's "Farewell."

No, it was not a funeral. 

We will see her again someday.

The day was beautiful.

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the angels were singing.

All of it was for her... For our dear Grandma Ruth.

Grandma's single, yellow rose. Her wish.

We sure do pray for Grandpa.

He has lost the love of his life for a short period of time.

We admire his strength.

Grandma asked my dear husband to speak at the services prior to the burial.

He did a wonderful job.

I know Grandma loved it.

Ryker was such a good boy throughout the entire day!

We were some proud parents.

We are very grateful that families can be together forever.

It was nice to spend some time with Austin's siblings.

We were able to laugh, joke, and reminisce on memories of Grandma.

Grandma was loved by so many people.

Grandpa told us to take some of that love home.

Now, we can each have a sweet, little reminder of Grandma's Farewell with us for some time.

The day was perfect.

We love you Grandma!

Yipee!

Guess what?!?! My little sister, Kelly, just got...

ENGAGED!!!

To this guy, Kenny Packer:

Aren't they just adorable together?

We are so excited for them!

Let the wedding planning begin! :]