Brent and Val

Week of 2.4.12

2012-02-12T15:17:00.000-08:00

On Monday a miracle happened! I was babysitting another kid Cora's age and was trying to feed them at the same time. I put Cora's food (manicotti stuffed with tofu) on her try while I got the other kids food ready. She found my fork on the table next to her, and picked it up and started feeding herself. It got in her mouth with very little mess. Unfortunately she got pretty sick for the rest of the week and hasn't been eating to well.

Thursday night Cora woke up sounding horrible so I took her into our bed. A little bit later she threw up all over me and the sheets. I started a load of laundry, then cleaned us up, and then repeated that two more times. Long night!

With Cora being sick this week, we ended up canceling our play dates.

On top of being sick, Cora's two top front teeth also popped through! She is also starting to try to go down the stairs face first, but luckily she does it by sitting down, putting her feet onto the steps below her, lying backwards, arching her back, and then sliding down. It's pretty cute! Another thing she has started trying to do is put on mommy's flip flops.

The other day it was in the mid 50s which is unheard of for the middle of February so we decided to take a walk. However, as the sun went down it got a little cool especially with the wind. It was a good thing we brought a blanket for Cora. Here she is bundled up. She got to watch the ducks walk on the frozen lake.

Saturday night Brent and I went on a date. We started out with dinner by trying this Mexican restaurant we've never tried called La Hacienda in Draper. Unfortunately I don't think we will ever go there again. I got these chicken flautas that tasted like only chicken and greasy corn tortilla. There was seriously no flavor to it- and it didn't even come with salsa. The refried beans tasted like they were made from powder and water, again not much flavor. The Spanish rice was very bland with basically a little bit of tomato sauce on top.

After dinner we headed to Boondocks. It was the first time we had ever been there. It seemed like we were the only adults there that weren't chaperoning kids. We had a blast thought! We did the slick track bumper cars, lazer tag, and played some arcade games. Afterwards we went to Leatherby's and shared an ice cream for desert.

My sister Kimmy and her husband Tyler babysat Cora for us. Cora had a blast were their cat Milo!

Week if 1.29.12

2012-02-05T21:40:00.000-08:00

On Monday, I watched my neighbor Jessica’s little boy Walter most of the day. He and Cora play so well together. Jessica and I decided that we can work out our schedule enough to trade of babysitting each week so we don’t have to get babysitters. Jessica will watch Cora while I go to clients homes to train them, and sometimes when I have aerobics. Cora has been having a hard time in the daycare at the gym I work at. I’m not sure if it’s because there are so many other kids there and she doesn’t get enough attention, or if it’s because I have to wake her up early to get there on time, and they don’t allow her snacks for the almost 2 ½ hours she is there.

Wednesday I got done a little early at the families house that I nanny for so Cora and I head across town to go to a health store (I wish they would get one closer to us). I have been searching all over for some nutritional yeast for a couple of vegetarian recipes and finally decided I needed to head to a store that I knew would carry it. I can’t believe I haven’t discovered this stuff before. It is basically deactivated yeast that looks kind of like breadcrumbs, but almost gives off a yummy cheese flavor. We made a couple amazing vegan recipes this week with it.

Thursday my friend Marissa came over and we got some more scrapbooking done. Luckily Brent came home early that day and took Cora downstairs so that I could actually get some stuff done. Marissa’s baby girl just turned 6 months, and Cora wanted to clobber her with hugs and love. It’s so funny how little ones are when they see babies smaller than them. They get so excited!

Friday my friend Stacey took me out for breakfast to celebrate my birthday (it was the first free day I could get since my birthday). It was so good to catch up with her. Stacey just opened up a nail salon in her basement, so after breakfast I got to go and get pampered. She did my fingers in shellac, which is kind of the new trend in the nail world. They are similar to acrylic nails except they are painted on instead of glued on (it really just looks like my nails are painted). The shellac is hard and doesn’t chip or smudge, which is amazing for me being in the pool so much. They also don’t damage your nail when you take them off.

Yesterday I taught my aerobics class in the morning and then went to 8 hours of being trained on the TRX suspension trainer. Let’s just say that I am a little sore today! The TRX trainer is amazing. Below is a picture of me and the people who got the cert with me. I can’t wait to get one for my clients, and myself, and to start teaching group exercise classes with it. Speaking of which…..

Dear Brent, Valentines Day is coming up and here are some things I would love (sorry most of the stuff is pricey):

- a sweeper mop that I can use to quickly clean up Cora’s mess without hooking up several attachments to our HYLA cleaner

- Workout Clothes

- Medicine Ball Set

- Treadmill

- TRX suspension trainer

- To go on a cruise

- Another fitness certification (Pilates, Turbo kickboxing, or NASM- Corrective Exercise Specialist

- A massage (from a massage therapist)

On a side note: when Brent and I started dating I told him there were three gifts I told him to never waste his money on me for: flowers because I’ll end up forgetting to water them and they’ll die, chocolate because I’ll eat it, and expensive jewelry because I’ll end up losing it.

Still on the topic of gifts, someone in my ward who works for Creative Memories showed up at my door with a gift of a digital scrapbooking software. I started using it today and I am in love! It is nice to not have to print out several pictures and cut out a whole bunch of paper hoping to like it. With the software I can edit the pictures and page layout over and over again till I figure out what I want. This is totally going to help me stay on top of my scrapbooking. The other nice thing about it is that I can print out as many copies when I am done with the book. So grandparents I will let you know in advance that this Christmas you will be getting a scrapbook of our year with lots of pictures of Cora in it.

Well in other good news, Cora is picking up on her eating! She loves tofu, and this vegan shepherd’s pie (which really is amazing) that we tried. Today she also scarfed down a whole banana (in two sittings) and ate an actual dinner instead of going to bed with milk. One trick that we have learned is that she wants to feed herself like a big girl- so nor more cutting her bananas and sandwiches into pieces. She wants the whole thing or nothing.

Week of 1.22.12

2012-01-29T20:43:00.000-08:00

On Monday I realized that I had two days before my Utah drivers license expired and so I hurried over to the DMV to renew it. Luckily I didn't have to retake my driving test- instead I had to snap a new picture and fork over $25. The hardest thing about it was carrying around miss Cora, who decided not to be shy at all that day. She wanted to run all over the DMV and get into everyone's stuff. Luckily the line and everything only took about 30 minutes. I now have a horizontal drivers license instead of a vertical one (you get that if you're older than 21 and I wasn't when we moved to Utah).

Last week I told you about Cora having trouble sleeping and eating. A miracle must have happened this week. Nothing is quite perfect, but much better this week. Cora has been going to sleep right away again without fussing, and has decided to test out a few more foods. Her food eating is still off and on; one day she'll like something and then the next day not. But she has gotten more food in her this week. She has decided that for now she likes blueberry muffins, spaghetti, vegan chili, curry with chickpeas and spinach, and tonight she discovered that she loves tofu!

This week we also had to go and get an alignment on our car. After waiting a couple hours and spending $80, they told me they could get my front tired aligned but not my back ones unless if I spent $200 to get a shim put in as well. We decided not to because it really wasn't off by that far, and we want to go and price match some other places. We really weren't too happy with the service we got there. Unfortunately I don't think that $80 made our car feel any better.

Well Wednesday was my quarter of a century old birthday. We had celebrated last weekend, so I didn't really do much for the day. I babysat as usual on Wednesdays, and then when I got home I decided to not worry about studying or anything, and let myself relax. Brent brought home a Costco pizza so that I wouldn't have to cook. Yummy!

This week I spent some time with my neighbor Alicia, who I feel like even though we are next door to one another, we hardly see each other anymore. We talked a lot about the documentary FORKS OVER KNIVES (which if you haven't seen I highly recommend). I have been telling you a little about some of my research into vegan eating, and although I don't currently believe that going 100% vegan is the right thing to do, I do strongly believe that the majority (90-95%) of what we eat should be plant based. Alicia's mother is completely vegan, and Alicia's family is also looking into adapting more of a plant based diet as well, so it is fun to ask questions about what brands of vegan food she likes the best, etc.

Yesterday a friend of mine who is a convert to the church was baptized. I am so excited for her, but at the same time feel extremely saddened by the lack of support of her family. One of her own family members was trying to convince her over social media that she was making a mistake by condemning a religion they knew nothing about. I am thankful for my beliefs and for a religion that teaches you to seek for truth, ask for it, and then when given an answer to act upon it with free agency. I am also thankful for a religion that provides peace and aid in time of need, and for a family that understands and respects my beliefs. I can't imagine going to make one of the biggest choices in my life while being shot down by those who love me the most. I want this friend to know that I am here for her anytime.

Yesterday, my sister Kimmy and her husband, after only two weeks of being back from the National Guard training, moved into a new apartment. They moved from Bountiful to Murray, making them quite a bit closer to us. Brent, Cora and I brought dinner over and then helped unpack a little -well at least Brent and I helped unpack. Cora found Kimmy and Tyler's new pet Milo, a Tabby cat. He is about 8 months old and super friendly. He even let Cora pull his tail without a flinch.

Well I have some more exciting news! I am really trying to make progress in my career this year, and this coming week I am going to be getting TRX certified. I can use this certification for both personal training clients and group exercise classes.

My nutrition certification is coming along too, all though I did slow down studying a little bit as a birthday present to myself of relaxation. I feel like I it is a good refresher course to things I learned in school, but I also feel like I am learning quite a few more things. Make sure to follow my blog trainwithval.blogspot.com for weekly updates on health and fitness information.

Week of 1.15.12

2012-01-22T16:52:00.000-08:00

We have had yet another busy week this past week. Not really because of anything special. I subbed an aerobics class this week, and then spent 6 hours helping out at a local triathlon. I had such a blast working at the triathlon. It’s interesting how much I loved to swim as a kid. I pretty much lived at the pool all summer long and jumped at any chance I could to go swimming. But as soon as I started working as a swim instructor, I decreased the amount of time I spent swimming laps in the pool. It is almost nonexistent now. It’s weird how doing too much of what you love can make you hate it. But after working at the triathlon, I felt motivated to get in and start swimming. We’ll see if that happens!

This week Cora and I had our play date with my friend Jessica and her boy who is 10 days older than Cora. Guess what we talked about…. Milk! Yes- we seriously talked about milk for a couple of hours! Not only have I been talking about milk a lot lately, I have been researching it a ton and also the topic of veganism. I have been speculating whether or not we should be drinking milk since taking a few nutrition classes in college, and have actually switched over to drinking plant-based milks for the past little while. I have not given up cheese or yogurt (my weaknesses) but after doing some nutrition research on some questions a couple of my clients have asked, I have found more and more to stuff I want to research. I am not saying that animal products are good or bad or anything- just that I am researching it. I’ll tell you what I know for sure right now though:

- The Word of Wisdom says that meet should be eating sparingly and in time of famine. But the scriptures also teach us that animals are made for man.

- Research shows that people who eat more of a plant-based diet are healthier than those who eat more of a meet based diet.

So on top of that research I have been working on my nutrition certification. I seriously have 525 text book pages to read. I’ve only been working on the videos so far. I am currently on video 5 of 15, and have been spending a few hours on it everyday. Let’s just say I feel like I am taking on a full course load of school right now. Luckily it is all very interesting to me.

The hardest part right now is trying to do so much with Cora constantly on the move! We had Cora on this amazing sleep schedule and she was finally starting to go to bed without throwing a tantrum. But this week she has gotten back to the tantrums. I have no idea why. Her bedtime routine hasn’t changed or anything. The only thing I can think that is happening is that she is starting to teethe again. She still only has her two front bottom teeth that came in a couple of months ago, so it is about time for her to start getting some more.

The biggest problem of all that I am having with Cora right now is getting her to eat! It is seriously driving me insane! She pretty much will eat only milk, yogurt, cheese, bread, crackers, or a combination (she likes pizza!). Sometimes she will eat a fruit like an orange or strawberry, but then hate it the next day. Every vegetable I give her is flung across the kitchen (will I ever have a clean kitchen floor again?). At her 12 month appointment, she had only gained 12oz since her 9month appointment. She now weighs 17lbs 13oz. That is only the 5^th percentile. Her doctor says she isn’t overly worried about it yet because she is burning more calories with all the walking she does now, but says she will be concerned if she doesn’t gain a bit more at her 15^th month appointment. I promise I am trying- seriously at least 3 hours a day. The doctor also said that she can only have 3 servings of dairy a day so she doesn’t become deficient of iron. Unfortunately that is just about this only food she wants- so mealtime is also a tantrum. I would greatly appreciate any advice!

Last night Matt watched Cora again so Brent and I could go on a date. Brent took me to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate my birthday (this Wednesday). This probably doesn’t sound like much fun to most, but Brent and I love to go to Borders to look at books. I usually look at interior design stuff or health books, and Brent looks in the sci-fi section. So that’s what we did after dinner.

When we got home we got Cora to bed, and then turned on our White Collar t.v. series that we are addicted to on Netflix.

Week of 1.8.12

2012-01-15T13:56:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday night Cora and I dropped Daddy off at the airport. I didn't have any house projects to do this week (I think I'm going to take a break for a while on those because I have so many other things to work on right now), but I did get some other projects done.

I am spending hours studying for my nutrition certification. I have several hundred pages to read, several hours of video to watch, and a lot of studying to do for the test. I guess they give you a year to complete the test for a reason!

This week I also spent a couple hours with my friend Marissa getting some scrapbooking done- still have so much to catch up on! We will definitely have to get together again!

I had a lesson to prepare for on Sunday, which always seems to take a few hours.

And the biggest thing of all was having Cora's birthday party to get ready for.

My sister Kimberlie got back from her National Guard Training around midnight Thursday (after being gone since August), and then I had her spend her first day back decorating cakes. Thanks Kimmy!

Brent got home from the airport Friday night.

I got these invitations that I made out last week. It reads:

Our sweet little angel has grown oh-so fast.

We can hardly believe an entire year has passed.

We’d love for you to come & join us in our

Winter ONEderland of fun, as we frolic & celebrate

Cora Avery turning

ONE!

Saturday, January 14^th, 2012

4:00 - 6:00P.M.

Cora’s Igloo

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

RSVP to Valerie at XXXXXXXXX

or XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

We had 13 couples and their kids over at our house. We came up with the idea of taking out all of our living room furniture and replacing it with long skinny tables from the church and some chairs. We also put the main dish (pizza dip with drench bread) and the salads on the table so there wouldn't be too much chaos of people trying to move around each other. We did keep the messy drinks, wings, and deserts in the kitchen though. It surprisingly fit everyone very well- much better than normally.

In our living room window I hung a picture of Cora from each month of her life.

Yummy food!

I put Cora's highchair and gold and white (party colors) balloons on the stair landing along with her pinata and gifts (which were filled after the people arrived) so everyone could see her.

On the kitchen island we had chocolate mouse cups, the cake and cupcakes, the hot coco, and other treats to serve with the hot coco.

My sister Kimberlie made the mouse cups and

decorated the cupcakes and smash cake.

I made the cupcake stand by cover cardboard and soup cans with wrapping paper and holding it together with museum putty.

I got these little containers at Ikea, and used a combination of clip art and power point to make these little signs. I cut them out, distressed the edges, and strung a ribbon through them.

Cora waved to her guests as they arrived. We unfortunately didn't get pictures of them all but here are a few of them.

Walter- neighbor who is 10 days older than her

Boston- neighbor who is almost 3 months older than Cora

James- friend who is a month older than Cora

Neighbor Adelaide who is 2 years older. (Cora looks up to her and has fun playing with her)

Neighbor Jett who is almost a year and a half older

Friend Belle who is 3 days younger than Cora

I made this hat for Cora, but we couldn't keep it on her. We struggled to get this picture.

One of the games that we "tried" to play was predicting Cora's future career. We put a paintbrush (creative career) stethoscope (healthcare career) and a laptop (business/technology career). The goal was to have her pick one. Instead she chose mom- I guess that's the best career!

Here is the pinata I made. Instead of the typical swing-a-bat pinata I made this pull string pinata to make it more kid-friendly. I got a large punch balloon and using a ratio of 2 parts water to 1 part flour I pasted strips of newspaper over it then let it dry for 24 hours. After the balloon popping once and exploding the flour/water mixture all over my kitchen, I took the project outside and did three layers over 3 days on the balloon, before popping and removing the it. I cut out a little door on the bottom of the pinata which I attached ribbon to for the kids to pull on, and filled the inside of the pinata with fruit snacks and a variety of crackers. Then I cut up some gold tissue paper and taped it to the outside. Our friend Andrew stood on a chair and held it up high, as the kids yanked the strings and pulled the pinata open.

I have a lot of pictures of Cora with her cake. She was a little unsure of what was going on as we sang to her.

Of course mom ended up blowing out the candle.

She used her index finger to wipe the frosting off and taste it.

No mess was made (thank goodness because I forgot the bib!)

I pulled off a little piece of cake for her to eat, but that's all it took to satisfy her.

She seemed to like the taste of the candle more than the cake.

My sister also made these super cute snowflake sugar cookies that we gave as party favors. I wish I had a better picture.

Here is Cora with all of her gifts. She ended up with 3 outfits, a pair of boots, a pair of church shoes, a baby doll, a cat that moves, some food containers and sippee cups, a stuffed animal, a book, a microphone that makes your voice echo, and 3 puzzles. Thank you for all of the gifts!

Her favorite toy so far is her baby doll (it makes a crying, laughing and sucking noise when you her binky in her mouth). Cora ended up falling asleep with her baby.

Thanks to everyone that came! We had a blast!

Personal Training Blog

2012-01-09T11:23:00.000-08:00

I have started my own personal training blog as another one of my new years resolutions. Please check it out and spread the word about it.

http://www.trainwithval.blogspot.com/

Also, let me know if you have any health/fitness questions you want me to blog about on there.

New Year Goals

2012-01-08T18:52:00.000-08:00

In college I took a Behavior and Fitness Motivation class. In the class we were asked to come up with a list of 8 values that were important to us, and then write them down on each spoke of a wheel of life template, likes so:

After writing them down, we had to rank each item on a scale of 0-5 based on the amount of attention we were currently giving them, and then connect the dots. For the longest time (and still) my life has not been balanced. If this were a real wheel, it would not be rolling.

Here is what we were told in class:

"A balanced life does not mean getting a 5 in each life area: some areas need more attention and focus than others at any time. And inevitably you will need to make choices and compromises, as your time and energy are not in unlimited supply! So the question is, what would the ideal level of attention be for you in each life area. Plot the "ideal" scores around your life wheel too.

Now you have a visual representation of your current life balance and your ideal life balanced. What are the gaps? These are the areas of your life that need attention. And remember that gaps can go both ways. There are almost certainly areas that are not getting as much attention as you'd like. However there may also be areas where you're putting in more effort than you'd ideally like. These areas are sapping energy and enthusiasm that may better be directed elsewhere. (The bold describes me completely.)

Once you have identified the areas that need attention, it's time to plan the actions needed to work on regaining balance. Starting with the neglected areas, what things do you need to start doing to regain balance? In the ares that currently sap your energy and time, what can you STOP doing or re-prioritize or delegate to someone else? Make a commitment to these actions by writing them down."

So here I am writing some of my goals down for this year.

WORK GOALS:
Get my personal training business going:
I feel like there have been so many setbacks getting in the way of my virtual coaching business. The date of the software launch has once again been been pushed back- and no date has been given yet. In the meantime, I have decided that I need to find away to become more competitive. So this week I dug into my business account to pull out some money to get some training to become a Fitness Nutrition Specialist. I am so excited about this!

To give myself some more time to work on goal #1, I have decided to: Decrease the amount of swim lessons I teach. I decided to stop teaching on Wednesday nights. The second I finished calling my swim students to tell them that they needed to go to another instructor, I felt a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders. This decision will definitely force us to tighten our budget a little, but having one more night each week to spend with Brent and Cora is worth every penny I that I will not be making.

SPIRITUAL GOALS:
Not only read, but STUDY The Book of Mormon
I finally got that calling that I was so afraid of- teaching in the primary. I have been called to teach the 11 year olds. This year in Church we are studying the Book of Mormon. We all know that as a teacher we learn more than the students. The great thing about primary is that everything is broken down to the fundamentals. I once had a volleyball coach say that it wasn't the cool fancy tricks that was going to win a game, it was the basics. Without being able to pass the ball you had nothing. I feel like it is the same way with the Gospel. I am glad that I get to refresh my memory on the most important things that there are to know. On top of preparing my lesson, Brent and I are also studying our Sunday school and Relief Society/Priesthood Manuals Sundays after church a week in advance.

Go to the Temple at least twice a month:
There is something about going to the Temple that helps me keep everything is my life in perspective. I organize my time better, I become less selfish, my problems decrease and are solved quicker, and I am better prepared to receive the inspiration that I need to be guided in the right direction. This weekend Matt watched Cora so Brent and I could go to the Temple together (we have rarely been able to go together since having Cora). I was also able to complete a name that a sister in our ward had done family history for.

SOCIAL GOALS:
Spend time (in-person) with one friend each week
Sometimes I feel like I get so caught up in my own life, that I forget to make time for my friends. Not only is socializing important for our own mental health, but it provides us with more opportunities to serve. This week I set up a play date with my friend Gina and her little girl who is 3 days younger than Cora. The girls had fun chasing each other around and "sharing" their toys. Gina and I had fun chatting with each other. Thanks for coming over Gina!

PHYSICAL GOALS:
Do resistance training 3 times a week:
As a personal trainer I need to practice what I preach. (No it is not necessary to lift 3 times a week, I am just trying to get buff!) Just as everyone else, my biggest excuse is lack of time aka lack of time management. Really it has been me not wanting to get up early after a poor night of sleep (babies do that to you) not wanting to stay at the gym after work, and not wanting to pay for a babysitter during the middle of the day. If you know me, pretty much the only equipment I use in the gym are dumbbells, tubing/cables, and an exercise ball. So to fix my dilemma, I once again dug into my business account and invested in some equipment that I can use for both me and my clients in their homes. I have everything needed to get an amazing workout in my own home now!

As I stated in my other post, I have lots of goals this year. These are just some that are on my priority list.

End of 2011

2012-01-01T14:27:00.000-08:00

These are some pictures of Cora before church wearing a sweater that Grandma Bullock made for her. This is actually the sweater she came home from the hospital in, but it didn't quite fit until just now.

This is Cora in a little cap that Grandma Bullock made for her, but she still needs to grow into this one.

So Cora has been having a hard time being in her crib lately, and to show her that it wasn't scary I went in the crib. She happily joined me, and quickly fell asleep. This only worked one night. Now it is back to following her bedtime routine and letting her cry herself to sleep. It is down to less than 10 minutes now:)

Cora has found a fun place to play on our couch.

For the first time ever we sent out Christmas Cards and neighbor gifts. We ran short on both so I am so sorry if we didn't get one to you. I decided that I wanted to give something besides food for a gift because we all probably eat more junk this time of year than we should, so I gave our neighbors a wrapping paper with a tag on it that read Wrap yourself up in a wonderful holiday season".

This year for the first time ever we also put Christmas lights on the exterior of our house.

Our tree was decorated with golds, creams, and bronzes, and we added a string across our window to hold Christmas Cards.

Cora and Mommy on Christmas Eve.

Daddy and Cora on Christmas Eve.

This year we also started a new tradition of opening up pajamas on Christmas Eve.

Here is Cora opening up her first Christmas present. She was very happy, and enjoyed help ripping the paper off. Of course I think she was more interested in the paper and boxes than gifts though!

I had a friend tell me about how they decide what gifts they get their kids each Christmas:

Something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.

I decided to follow it, but ended up with more than one item in each category because of how excited I was for her first Christmas.

want: Stacking rings, and a toy Santa. (We found they toy santa on clearance. We were walking by a shelf that had it singing and dancing. Cora instantly fell in love with it and we couldn't resist getting it.)

Need: Sippee cups. It is time to wean her off the bottle (and me. Now that it is finally time to she has discovered that she can get milk by pulling my shirt down- her new way of telling me she is hungry.)

Wear: I found a couple pants on sale, and then I got her a shirt and shoes.

Books: A couple animal story books, and then the Old/New Testiment and Doctorine & Covenants picture books.

Cora also celebrated her first birthday on the 28th! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by.! We are going to be having a party for her in a couple of weeks when my sister Kimberlie (who is a cake decorater) gets back from her National Guard training. We spent the day on house projects and then going to Brent's cousins house in Orem.

Matt (brother-in-law) arrived yesterday. He will be staying with us for a few months Brent's sister is done with school and Boise and can come down. (Matt just got a job at Brent's company.)

Last night we had a blast at a New Year's Party that a friend through. We played some minute to win it games.

In this one we are trying to get a penny out of each leg of pantyhose using only one hand.

Trying to get a cookie from our forehead to our mouth without using our hands.

Who can get the tissue out of the box first

This one was my personal favorite. It was hilarious to watch! You put a baseball inside of the pantyhose, them put the hose over your head, and then try to know over water bottles.

The girls

Brent had vacation time for the past couple weeks, so I put him to work. We finally got a lot of house projects done.

Since Matt is using the bedroom in our basement, we needed to get all of our storage out of there, so we decided to get some bookcases in the basement. We found these cheap (but sturdy) Billy bookcases at IKEA. Then we bought some bead board and stained it, and added it to the back, and some molding to the bottom and top.

What a difference the molding makes! (Notice we finally put the baseboards up in the basement. Now just to caulk and paint them!)

Now I just got to figure out how to make it look good with so many books. We will be adding some baskets on the bottom for Cora to put her toys in.

Our powder room is finally done!

I also got my fabric in to make curtains in our bedroom. Our room feels a million times better now.

I am so excited for a New Year. It always feels like such a fresh start. I have a long list of Resolutions to work on which I will post about soon.

Work

2011-12-12T09:19:00.000-08:00

Let me give you some more information on my work. Before I quit the gym that I worked at in July, I dropped a couple hundred dollars to get certified to do online coaching. The platform was supposed to be released in August for me to start doing the training, but it keeps getting pushed back. On top of that, the website is going to be merging over to another site. Over the weekend I e-mailed the company and asked when the conversion is going to happen because I can't keep putting off starting my business.

Here's what they told me: The conversion "should" happen by January, however they don't "think" the coaching platform will be available until March at the earliest. What this is going to do is make it so the website that I currently can train on goes down, and I won't be able to train online again until at least March. I am so tired of all of the "hoping" "should be's" and "thinking", I want an exact date that I can start my business.

So basically my options are keep teaching swim lessons and waiting, or go work at a gym. I have a gym in mind that would give me a pay increase from what I am making right now, but it would mean Cora being in daycare or with a babysitter more.

I have thought about starting up my own business going into individual's homes, but I have found that the time it takes to travel to and from homes equals out to making less money than what I would in a gym. On top of that, it would also require investments in equipment, and the marketing is a quite a bit tougher to do. I also kind of have a fear of safety of being alone with a client and no one being able to be witnesses if anything were to happen.

I seriously can not make up my mind about what to do and I need to do it quick. I need to let my swim lesson students know if I am not going to be teaching them anymore, and if I am going to get e gym job it would be best to do it for new years because it is a busy season for personal trainers. I should also mention that I work at a gym, I will not be able to do my online training because it would be a conflict of interest.

If you were in my position, what would you do?

Progress and Pictures

2011-12-11T21:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday came progress on our Powder room. Yeah! I am so grateful to have such a handy hubby! This room looks a million times better than what it used to!

Now I just have to figure out how to accessorize it.

The beadboard and molding are up, so is our mirror that we pulled out of our guest bedroom. Now all we have left is some touch up caulking and some painting. One project on my to-do list will be done this week.

I am still waiting for my fabric to come in so that I can make the curtains for our master bedroom.

The other project I am hoping to get done this next week is getting our basement move-in ready for Brent's brother-in-law.

December 1rst- 8th we basically moved in with a family in our ward while the parents went on vacation. We had four extra kids ranging ages 3-10. They have an amazing house! They also have a treadmill in front of a big screen t.v. which I found very convenient. A treadmill for me, and a big screen for Brent- someday we will have those! The kids were pretty good, and all except for the three year old were in school during the day. I got to take the girls to their gymnastics classes a couple of times. I am so looking forward to getting Cora into gymnastics as soon as she is big enough! The only hard thing that we experienced there was Cora having a fever the whole time. She had to be held constantly. I felt so bad for my poor little girl.

This past Friday we went to our Ward Christmas Party. The theme was Christmas Country. It was a blast. They had swing dancing, yummy food, guitar players, and Santa! Cora found Santa to be more scary than exciting. Maybe one day she will get it!

Speeking of Santa, what are your thoughts on teaching kids about Santa? I remember growing up and having that magical feeling of thinking Santa was coming. I don't feel any anger about my parents "lieing" to me about him. I don't want my kids to miss out on the excitement of Santa that I had, but I do worry about them worshiping Santa and thinking that they can get whatever they want from him, and getting upset if they don't.

Going backwards, here we are at Brent's Cousin's house down in Orem for Thanksgiving. His aunt is the Redhead, and her huband is at the opposite end of the Table. He is the bishop of a singles ward for BYU, and every Holiday brings home some of the single guys that don't have anywhere to go for the Holidays- at least he says! We think he's trying to set up his three single daughters!

Going back even more, here are some pictures that Brent's cousin Taygen took of us in Canada back in September.

Cora has this obsession with other people's teeth. If you hold her chances are she'll pry your lips open and start scratching your teeth with her fingernails. Here she is with Grandma Bullock.

Cora Rowing her boat after mommy and Daddy got back from Kayaking.

It's 3:30am and My Brain Won't Be Quiet

2011-12-10T02:42:00.000-08:00

Right now I am feeling completely overwhelmed. I have a long list of things that I need to get done, but I don’t even know how to get started on them. I am also feeling very pressed for time.

My work:

I have been teaching swim lessons since I was a teenager. I competed in swimming beginning at age five. I was one of the top swimmers in the freestyle and butterfly stroked in Arizona. In high school, they decided that they would put me on the dive team instead of the swim team, because I had no competition with swimming. The dive and swim team points were added together to make a win, and I was able to contribute more points through the diving. At 15 I became a lifeguard. At 17 I got certified to teach swimming lessons. I never thought that I would be teaching as long as I have- I am completing my eighth year as a certified instructor, and 10 years working in the aquatics field. I have done everything from being just a lifeguard, to being a pool manager, to teaching lifeguarding classes. But some how I have stuck with it because it is my safety net. I make more teaching private swim lessons then I do with anything else (although I do have the potential to make more with my personal training,). But that just hasn’t been the case. To give you an idea, I have averaged making about $8-10 more an hour teaching swim lessons then I have personal training clients over the past couple years. So here’s my dilemma- I just have too much on my plate. I feel like I have a million different jobs and I just need to focus on my “career”. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy teaching, but lately going to work to teach swim lessons has been a drag. I seriously start dreading to go into the water on Sunday, which is my first day off and my only day besides Monday away from the pool. I have been so anxious and upset about it lately, and I’m wondering if it’s kind of a “sign”, I guess you can call it, that it is time for me to stop holding myself back from going full on out into my career. Maybe it could just be that it is cold outside, and it makes it miserable to go in the cold water for a few hours at a time, and then come outside after finishing it with wet hair. Maybe it’s because I have a couple clients that are really just driving me crazy and testing my patience. Maybe it’s because I’m tired of my hair always being in such bad shape and not holding color. I just realized the other day as I was cleaning out my nail polishes, that I haven’t painted my nails in years because the color will chip off in a single session at the pool. Maybe it’s because my eyes always feel horrible with my contact lenses constantly soaked in the chlorine. I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t stand it anymore. But again, I feel financially secure here. I also feel confident with my skills in teaching swimming. I am a highly sought after instructor at my facility. Not even kidding you, I have turned down six clients in the past two days because I am already booked through next June (and this is the slow time of the year). My other problem would be leaving some of my clients. Some of the clients that I have are physically are mentally handicapped, and are not able to go to regular swimming classes, and will always need to be involved in the pool. I have had some of my clients for almost four years. I can’t imagine leaving behind some of my kids that I have watched grow up so much.

Next thing on my work list is starting up my own business. I quit my personal training job at the gym in July in hopes to get started on a virtual training business that I got certified to do. To an extent it is my own business, but it is also kind of contract work at the same time, as the organization provides the website for me. It is hard to explain how everything works without going into a ton of detail. The company is working on getting a particular platform fixed that they were supposed to have done…. well about a year ago. There is a way to go around it and still get paid to do the coaching, but they keep saying the platform is going to launched any day now, so I keep waiting. I would hate to have to transfer everything over. I cannot tell you how frustrated I am with this right now. I have put at least 20 hours of work and research into getting this set up almost every week since July, and yet I feel like I have gotten no where. I know this is going to be amazing when it does get launched, and it is going to allow me to work more from home….one I build up a clientele. But I sometimes feel like giving up, and just going and getting another job at the gym. I really want to get this business up and running for the New Year, and yet December is already half way over!

Cora:

Can you believe Cora is going to be a year old on December 28^th! This year has gone by so fast and I feel like I have not been able to do near as much with her as I had always hoped. We started out the first 6 months of her life with me working way too much while Brent was unemployed with no unemployment benefits. I am sad that I will never get that time back with her being so little.

I had always hoped to keep up on journaling and scrapbooking for her, and here she is about to turn a year and I have only done the first month of her life…and it doesn’t even look that good.

For her birthday I have been wanting to do something “big”, and now I am trying to figure out how to do it. I am probably making her party way more complicated then it needs to be. For one, I have no idea how to fit everyone in my house that I want to invite. I also don’t know how to politely tell people that gifts are welcomed but not required for her. Second, my sister who knows how to make and decorate cakes is in the National Guard and won’t get back here until mid January. I have been trying to make simple little things like cookies, but it is just not my thing. So I think I am going to wait until she gets back to help with the party. Then I am debating on colors to use, decorations, games, and exactly what food to have., etc.

Calling- I was released as the relief society secretary a couple months ago and still have not been called to anything else. The suspense of what my new calling is killing me! I can't stop thinking about what else is going to be added to my plate.

House- We are in the middle of a couple house projects (powder room and master bath) and I don’t know where we are ever going to find the time to get it all done.

Other- Brent’s sister’s husband (brother-in-law) who lives in Idaho just got a job at Brent’s company and will be moving in with us for at least for or five months while Brent’s sister stays back in Idaho to finish up school and figure out what to do with their house that they are completely underwater in.

Future Fears:

They keep saying there is going to be an earthquake in the near future in Utah. I don’t think I’m prepared for one to hit at all.

How are we ever going to get out of debt with student loans, cars, and a house? Will we ever be able to upgrade to a bigger house with being so much underwater with our house? Is it selfish of me to dream of a large beautiful home when I have already been blessed with so much?

I hate to say “just”, but will I ever be able to be just a mom and not have to work, especially when our kids are young?

Can I really ever handle having another kid? I know we have a while before we think about getting pregnant again. For me it affects a lot of career decisions I make, especially since all of my jobs require a well functioning body at all times. I cannot tell you how miserable it is to be fat in a swimsuit and kicked by crazy kids when you are pregnant, or to feel fat as a personal trainer (because every pregnant woman feels fat and ugly at some point) and to try to motivate people when you feel like throwing up and sleeping a lot, to teach an aerobics class (especially water aerobics where it is like 90 degrees with high humidity teaching from the deck at an indoor pool), and walking around with swelling feet and the worst back pain in the world, working retail and bending up and down to pick up clothes that customers so purposefully love to throw on the floor. Then it is also hard having a baby and being sleep deprived and getting up at 5am and working till 10pm like I was doing.

I have a list in my planner only a few pages long with lots of other things that I need to do. I have a ton of things on my mind… mostly worries and decisions that I can ‘t make, and yet I feel so pressured to hurry up and do and decide.

It is 3:30 am, I have not slept yet because Cora has been having a hard night, and I have to get up in a couple hours for a full day of work. Now that Cora is asleep my mind won’t shut up.

I have more to tell you about our past week nannying and our ward Christmas party last night. But right now I think I need to go read my scriptures to clear my mind and give me some peace, and hopefully be able to fall asleep. I think I am in for a long day.

Guess Who Is Walking!

2011-11-21T15:02:00.000-08:00

This past week Brent was in San Francisco again. He got back just in time for Cora to start walking with more then one step at a time. See the video here. Don't mind my magazine and her diaper bag that she tore threw in the background. Also, ignore my gasp when she started walking. I couldn't believe it! Brent and I were trying to convince Cora to walk, and decided to pull out the video camera (on the phone) just in case. I am so glad that we were able to capture her first few steps on camera.

Cora also had another surprise for daddy Friday night. After finally getting her to sleep around 11:45P.M. She woke up screaming (her first two bottom teeth are finally starting to come in and she has not been happy at night lately) around 1AM. The only way I could console her was to cuddle her in my bed. A few minutes after I fell asleep again, I woke up to a weird coughing noise. Cora projectile vomited all over Brent, me and our bedding. As I cleaned us up and put in a load of laundry, Brent cleaned our mattress and put a quilt over for us to sleep on. At about 2:30AM we started to go back to sleep- and then she did it again. Let's just say I had a lot of laundry to do over the weekend and I was not very happy having to get up at 7AM Saturday morning to go teach aerobics and motivate people on very little sleep.

Well, when Brent is gone, that means project time for me! I have two projects going this time! Before Brent left we decided that after three years, it was finally time to decorate our powder room on the main floor. It is hideous! So we picked out some bead board that is going to go 1/3 of the way up. The top half is being painted in a light greigey color called Hazy Skies from Benjamin Moore. We replaced the ugly builder mirror with an oval one with dark trim that we had from downstairs. When it is complete it will look very similar to this:

I had some leftover paint and decided to try it in my bedroom because I cannot stand the color that is in there. I ended up loving it and now the whole room is painted. Of course one thing only leads to another. I have ordered this fabric

to make curtains in my bedroom and will be changing out my cat torn and flattened bedding for nice white and ivory fluffy bedding. I will show you pictures when it is all done. Now to find good deals on the bedding!

As far as work goes for me, my swim lessons have finally slowed down enough for me to take off Monday nights. What I am doing right now in teaching private swim lessons, aerobics, nannying, and starting January 1st I will be opening up my online personal training business. I am hoping that this will be successful enough for me to not have to work evenings anymore so I can actually spend some time with Brent and Cora together at the same time. I have actually just signed myself up with an online personal trainer who is using the same technology platform to train that I will be using so that I can see how it is from a clients point of view. This is going to be amazing guys! I will give you more details on how it works and how to sign up with me soon.

Fall 2011

2011-11-06T18:03:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I got to help run a carnival that was being put on by one of the recreation centers that I teach aerobics at. I was in a panic to find a costume last minute, and my friend Amanda (thank you Amanda!) let me borrow her lady bug costume. It was super cute- but I didn't get any pictures.

Last weekend we also took Cora to a pumpkin patch down the street from us. I think her favorite thing was petting the goats.

She also had a good time playing in the pumpkins.

For Halloween, one of my students from my mom and me water aerobics class let us borrow her baby's duck costume. I was glad becuase I did not want to spend $20 on something you only where for a couple of hours. For Halloween we took Cora to daddy's work and went trick or treating to his co-workers desks. Then we came home and handed out candy.

Here's Cora with our neighbor Walter the Frog (he is 10 days older than her). Jessica I need to steel more pictures from you!

Cora had fun greeting all of the kids.

Mommy made some yummy treats and we had some neighbors come over to eat them with us after trick or treating.

Cora is just about to pop a tooth! One of her bottom incisors is srarting to poke up. That explains why she is constantly waking up screaming in the middle of the night for mommy to come comfort her. I will be glad when her teeth are done coming in, so that I can start sleeping through the night again!

She is also starting to learn how to go down the stairs. 10 months old- and I think we are skipping having to get a baby gate. Can I teach her to potty train soon too so that I can also skip the diapers?!

Our House

2011-11-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

Okay, so about two years ago I made a post about us starting to finish our basement. Well we finished it back in March of 2010- at least most of it. There is still some touch up work to be done in the bathroom, and we still have a couple baseboards to put up. We rushed through it and did all of the work ourselves, except for the HVAC, plumbing and flooring. That was a ton of work, and I don't think I will ever do it again. But it is kind of cool to say that we did it. I have yet to decide how to decorate it, but here is what the basement family room looks like today. We also have a bedroom, bathroom and storage room in our basement.

At the beginning of October, Brent had a work trip in San Francisco for 10 days. To keep myself busy while he is gone, I try to do a little projects to surprise him. This time I painted the room. It used to be a yellowy beigey color, but I painted it this light grayish blue. It looks much better with the sofa with chaise that I found used on KSL for only $350! The coolest thing about the sofa is that the fabric is all velcroed on, and can easily be taken off and machine washed. The cushions are very durable. I still have yet to chose some fabric for the throw pillows. I already had the movie reels that I had bought from hobby lobby. I spray painted the small one gold... because I am not the biggest fan of red.

This entertainment center has been a life saver. It keeps Cora out of the cords, computer (which our t.v. screen is our monitor) and all of Brent's other electronics. I found this on KSL for $125. I had to put something above the t.v. to hide the outlet covers from where the t.v. used to hang on the wall.

Over the past few months our living room on the main floor has also gradually changed. I made the curtains on Brent's previous trip to Las Vegas a few months ago. I also updated the room with the chairs (more info. about them below), the pedestal end table that I found on KSL for only $20, and the ottoman that I found on KSL for $60 which replaced our coffee table to make it more baby safe.

And then I added the sunburst mirrors that I got at Hobby Lobby for 50% off.

Here daddy and Cora are in the living room.

I found these chairs on KSL a while ago. It was originally an ugly, roughed up brown wood color, with a soiled blue velvet fabric covered in dust. I took all of the fabric over, sanded, primed and painted, then reupholstered them. They don't look perfect up close, but I love them.

Week After Vacation

2011-09-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

This has been a hard week. After the long trip back from Canada last Sunday, I got to get up nice and early Monday morning to start back to my early morning workouts, followed by a full day of work. I am starting up my own business on sharecare.com. After working pretty much full time outside of the home, being a mom of a baby on the move, trying to keep the house clean, and having dinner on the table each night, I feel overwhelmed trying to get everything set up. Right now I am working on doing a daily blog five times a week M-F, answering user questions, trying to fix a few glitches on my site, and I am working on tons and tons of online continuing education courses. I feel like I am just about ready to start excepting new clients. I am hoping that once everything gets going, I can slow down on a couple other things... Maybe if we stop getting the most ridiculous medical bills we aren't expecting. I think we're up to about $8,000 in extra medical expenses we weren't planning on since the beginning of this year.... don't even get me started on that. Wish me luck!

This week has been a little rough on Cora too. Her schedule is very messed up. I am afraid she is going to start skipping one of her naps. A couple days this week she has stayed awake all day until 5pm. Usually she is in her third nap by then. I am going to die if this continues! It is impossible to leave her in one place anymore. She has picked up some serious crawling speed, and gets into everything! I have set up her play yard in the basement while I try to get some work on the computer done. I can sometimes get a few minutes in before she starts screaming for me :) She is also getting more efficient at pulling herself up to a standing position on any piece of furniture she sets her mind to. Her solid food eating has gotten a little better this week. By the end of the day I can usually get her to finish most of a little jar of baby food. She still mostly wants my milk, but she is becoming more and more interested in what we eat. She loves to suck and gum on any fruit I am eating, especially strawberries and peaches, and has also decided that she likes salad. She always reaches for a piece of lettuce off of my plate (I make sure it doesn't have dressing on it) and sucks on it. Cora has also discovered drinking out of a cup over the past month or so. One night daddy was drinking some water out of a cup, and she started reaching for it anxiously and kept sucking her lips and swallowing. She can drink out of a sippy cup pretty well, and is starting to get the hang of cups even though some of it always ends up on her shirt. Call me crazy, but I have a goal of starting to potty train her as soon as she can start walking. Do you know how much money that would save me in diapers! I know it's possible as I have heard of so many kids being trained by the time they are one. We will see how that goes soon....

Brent has had a busy week with work as well. After returning from vacation, he learned that two of his supervisors were quitting. His team is going to be going to San Francisco in a couple weeks for a huge conference that they are responsible for running for ten days. He is definitely loving his job though. The company he works for his amazing, along with all of his co-workers. He feels like even after all of his schooling in biomedical engineering, this (business analyst) is more of what he should be doing.

Canada in September 2011

2011-09-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

We left for Canada on Friday 9/2 after Brent was able to finish up the work he had to do from home. It took us about 11 hours to get to our first stop at his grandparents who live in Welling, AB (a small town south of Lethbridge). We got there just after Brent's cousins from Provo, UT who were up there for a baby blessing. Somehow we managed not to get any pictures of other family members besides the three of us... I do however have 28 pictures for this post alone though. One of Brent's cousins took some family pictures of us in Calgary, so those will be coming soon too.

On Saturday morning we took Cora out for a run and found some cute little kittens oustside of his grandparents house. They were so cute and cudly. I wanted to take this grey and white one home so bad.... but then I remembered that I just got rid of our other two cats for a reason.

On our run we went to an old park right behind the church a couple houses down from his grandparents. The run ended up turning into a walk as we explored. The park was... not new- something we could picture our parents playing on as kids. There was an old teeter-totter (unfortunately broken) and a merry go round. Just behind the park was a wheat field divided by an old fence. We went back to his grandparents house, got ready for the day, and then had his cousin Kirsten come take some pictures of us. They turned out so cute. Here are a couple.

We left Welling on Sunday morning and headed up to Calgary to visit Brent's parents and brothers, and Brent's moms side of the family.

This is a picture of a coulee behind Brent's parents backyard.

Sunday we went to church with the family and then went back to the house and relaxed.

Monday we got together with several of the cousins and aunts and uncles. We were going to go hiking in Kananaskis but there were to many bear sightings, so we ended up going kayaking down the Bow river. The water was ice cold and I was afraid of falling in the whole time. Brent's poor brother Braden fell in twice. Other than having to wait over two hours to change your clothes and get a towel if you fall in, the worst thing about falling in is having to be dragged in the freezing current, holding on to the boat until you find a shore to stop on. Brrrrr! It was fun to have a little current rather than the still water that we are used to in our community man-made lake. Hopefully we can get some pictures of the boating from the people who took them.

The river that we boated on goes right behind Brent's grandparents house. After boating, we went to their house for a yummy BBQ.

Tuesday we checked out a couple Canadian stores. Then Brent's cousin Taygan took us to a park in Calgary and took some family pictures. They are super cute and I can't wait to show them off. That evening the girls went to a Bridal shower for Brent's cousin Brittany, while the boys stayed home and watched Tron. The bridal shower turned out very good. They played this game that I had never seen done before. Most of the gifts were wrapped in a piece of clothing: dress, swimsuit, pants, socks, sweaters, etc. After unwrapping each gift, she had to dress herself in the item of clothing. They piled on her and thickened her up quickly. But she still looked super cute, especially as she danced.

This is downtown Calgary.

Wednesday, Brent, Brent's mom, Cora and I went to the Calgary zoo. Cora loves animals!

Here we are in front of the flamingos. Cora had a hard time looking at the camera because she wanted to look at them.

This giraffe was super cool! We were all alone standing by a fence on the opposite end of where the giraffe was standing, and it walked all the over to us to say hello.

Cora riding the lion.

Towards the end of our journey around the zoo, Cora started getting a little relaxed. Love the one leg propped up!

This little peacock didn't want us to get by. He was blocking our walking path. It just sat there and stared as we walked around him.

Cora finally gave in to her tiredness. She didn't sleep very well at all the first few days of our trip.

Red Panda

Good shot taken by Brent. This guy was pacing back and forth.

Right before we left, mommy and daddy got a picture together.

At Grandmas house Cora had lots of fun playing with Brent's old toys.

Thursday was kind of our relaxing day. I was lazy and watched several HGTV/DIY shows (we don't have cable, and it's a good thing because I would be glued to those shows and get nothing else done). That evening we went over to his grandparents and had some of the yummiest pizza in the world, Canadian Pizza. Yum! Yum! Yum! It's also a good thing we don't have that chain down here...

Friday morning we headed back to Brent's dad's side of the family in Welling. We realxed, played with the kittens that were still hanging around, and then the boys and I went to the movies and watched Captain America in 3D. I'm usually not the biggest fan of comic book type movies, but this one was actually pretty good.

Left to Right: Grandpa Bullock, Chandler, Dad Bullock, Brent

Saturday we headed out to Brittany and Jerry's wedding at the Cardston, AB Templer. Their colors were red and yellow (the bride and groomd favorite colors). Aren't they super cute together! We are so excited for them to start the happy adventure of married life together.

Here is Cora in front of the Temple.

After the wedding we a had a dinner. The food was delicious! After that Taygan took a couple more family pictures of us, and then we said our goodbyes. Cora was loved and played with a ton this past week. She is going to be sad only having mommy this next week.

We left Welling this morning and are home safe. We'll see ya next year Canada!

Update

2011-09-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

This week Brent and I are in Canada. We are going to have lots of pictures from this trip so I thought I should quickly catch up on some things before I forget about them.

Cora is doing very well in the bath tub. Sometimes we let her go in the "real" tub instead of her whale tub. She loves to slip and slide all over play.

One of the reasons she likes the water so much is because we have been trying to expose her to it a lot. Being a swim instructor I know how important it is to get kids comfortable in the water when they are young. It helps them learn to be safe in the water so much quicker. Here Brent and I are with her at our community pool just a couple houses down from us

I just thought this picture was so cute! I sat her up on the stairs while I quickly vacuumed the living room.

Cora started crawling about a week before she turned eight months old (8/28) , and is already trying to get on those feet and walk. She looks like she is going to hike her baby doll with her helmet on and her bum in the air in this picture. Cora has pulled herself up to standing on some furniture a couple times here in Canada. I was about eight months, when I started walking, and Brent was about ten months... we may not have that much longer until we have a little walker!

This is Cora waking up after a nap. She is usally pretty happy when she waked up... unless if you ignore her for to long.

Now that she is a little bit more mobile, we have had to lower down her mattress in her crib. Now her room doesn't look quite as cute.

But she loves being able to see through her bars, and has discovered the ties on her bumber pad.

A couple other things that Cora has recently discovered are: door stoppers, outlets, and how to clap her hands.

I am behind n mentioning a few things. In May, my sister Kimberlie and her husband Tyler were sealed in the Bountiful, UT temple. I am so excited for them! My mom, dad, and brother Jacob were all able to come up for it. Tyler's parents and sisters also made it up. When they were here, we took Cora swimming for the first time in a public pool. She did so good floating on her back, pancaking (flipping back and forth between tummy and back) and going under the water!

Kimberlie just recently joined the National Guard and is in basic training right now (she has been there for about a month now). After 11 weeks there, and another 11 weeks at her specialty training (cooking) she will be coming home. We can't wait!

Family, Anniversary, Party

2011-07-31T21:34:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my Grandma and Grandpa Bowles (my moms parents) came to visit us from Ontario, Canada, and my mom flew in from Phoenix. We had a lot of fun catching up together. On Saturday my grandpa took us out to eat and then came back to our house and watched a movie. On Sunday my sister Kimberlie and her husband Tyler gave talks in their ward on Pioneer Day, so we went up to Bountiful to watch them. Afterwards we had a yummy dinner that they made for us. Before we had to take my mom to the airport that night, we made sure to snap some pictures at Kim's apartment. It's just from a pone camera without a flash, so the pictures aren't the best.

Mom, Grandma Bowles and Cora, Kimmy, and me

Me, Cora and Brent

Kim and Tyler

Grandpa and Grandma Bowles, Me, Mom, Kim

Tyler & Kim, Me & Brent

Cora and Me, Grandma and Grandpa Bowles

In these two pictures, Kimmy is holding Cora and flying her through the air. Cora was having a blast.

This past Wednesday 7/27 was mine and Brent's 6 year anniversary. Man has time gone by so fast! I work evenings, and weekends, but because of the state Holiday (Pioneer Day) on the 24th, I had Monday night off. So the three of us grabbed a quick dinner, and then went hiking in Draper near the Temple.

Here's daddy and Cora at the beginning of the trail.

And lucky me not carrying Cora- after carrying her and the other 30lbs while pregnant, I thought Brent could handle her at 15lbs.

Cora was so excited to go exploring, and of corse bouncing in her carrier.

Here's pretty much the last pictures I got to take on the hike. It is at a spot called Silica Pitt. We got to a river part and I was trying to take a picture of Cora and the water, but I dropped my phone into the river. I was so scared I was going to ruin the phone, but luckily the phone fell onto the bridge and the battery fell out before it hit the water.

I'm not exactly sure why we took this picture, but doesn't Cora look so cute!

This past week I finally bought myself a swimsuit not for work. I have been tired of wearing a red swimsuit that says Lifeguard on it to pools that I don't work at, and having people come up to me and asking about pool rules, or where things are located at the facility.

On Thursday Cora got her helmet in. She is actually doing pretty well with it on. On Friday morning, I had a swim lesson student not show up, so I pulled Cora out of the daycare and let her explore my pool for a little bit.

Last night I was able to go to a bridal shower for my freind Violet who is getting married in August. She had the cutest little garden party for it. The other cool thing was that I got to see a couple other girls that used to work with me when I was a pool manager when we first moved up here. Left: Kelsey (used to be one of my lifeguards) Violet (used to be my assistant manager), and me (I don't know the other girl.... It was a ton of fun, and I am so excited for Violet!

While Daddy Was Gone

2011-07-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

Here Cora and I are waiting for Brent to try on some new pants that he had to get for his work trip to Las Vegas.

Brent left for Vegas on Saturday 7/9 early in the morning as I was also leaving for work. Our wonderful neighbor Jackie watched her most of the day (Saturdays are a busy work day for me). Jackie also watched her M, T, and W evening when I had to teach private swim lessons and aerobics.

This is a picture of Cora being fed sweet potatoes (her third solid after rice cereal, and peaches). She didn't like them very much, but she kept putting her hands on her high chair table as if she were demanding more.

Brent kept saying "she better be gone before I get back" referring to our cat Emery. Emery had been having some litter box troubles for a while now, and so after she peed on my curtains that I had just sewn, I decided that there wasn't going to be any other fix to the problem then getting rid of the problem. So on Tuesday I packed her up, and my neighbor came with me to take her into the Humane Society. It was hard to give her up after having her for five years, especially knowing she'll probably be locked up in a cage for a long time, rather than roaming around our house as she pleases. But our house does already smell better. On Wednesday night, the night before Brent came home, he once again begged me to take her in. I told him "I already have" and he said "no you didn't!". It took a while to convince him. He thought I would never get rid of her. So this is the last picture I took of her.

Here are the curtains that I made out of a material that I fell in love with at Home Fabrics. It was such a good deal and add a lot to our house. (The brown was too dark). I still need to replace the throw pillows, but that will have to wait a bit. These pillows are the ones that we have had since we first got married (They were covered up in the brown and turquoise pillowcases I made before).

These curtains, other than getting rid of Emery were the other surprise that Brent came home too.

One day I was working down in the basement on our bean bag when my phone rang. I left my pen and paper next to Cora, and quickly ran up to get my phone. I came back to this. Cora had founf my pen and drew all over her face (probably trying to eat the pen) It looks like she drew some whiskers. 6months old and she is already getting in to everything!

One morning after I had fed her, I tried to get in a quick shower while she was occupied with her toy. I found her fast asleep in this position (the dinosaur death pose) when I got out.

Here is Cora during her bath time. She has figured out that she can sit up in her whale bath tub instead of laying down.

She had a fun time playing with her toys. She is getting very good at using her thumb and fingers together. She would pick up a toy, shake it, try to eat it, and then would get distracted by another toy floating in her view, and reach for that one and repeat the process all over again. It continued for about 30 minutes.

Daddy got home late Thursday night. We picked him up at the airport, but Cora fell asleep on the way there and ended up not waking up until Friday morning.

On Friday we took Cora to get her helmet fitting. We had to undress her because her shirt got in the way laser scan. The only way we could get her still enough to get an accurate reading was to give her a bottle.

Afterwards we went to the grocery store, and since she has been sitting up pretty well, we tried to put her in the shopping cart without her car seat. It worked and she loved it! Now I can see over my shopping cart without smashing into people with her car seat blocking my view. Of course now she's probably going to be grabbing at everything.

Here's one more funny picture of her. She has this long hair right in the middle-front of her head. Brent says she looks like a Who from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".

The 4th of July

2011-07-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

We started out the day going to a community 4th of July breakfast with a couple of our neighbors. Here is Cora in the parade (we walked in a parade and then finished at a park where we had breakfast)

and the neighbor boy who is 10 days older than her.

Here they are again at our little picnic spot at the park. We had some yummy pancakes!

After the picnic we had our friends Andrew and Gina and their baby Belle come over for lunch. We BBQ'd the most delicious steak:

1/4 C soy sauce

3 Tbsp vegetable pol

2Tbsp lemon juice

6 cloves garlic, smashed

1 tsp crushed red pepper

1 lb boneless beef sirloin cut into 1" cubes. Marinate the meet and sauc for 4-24hours in fridge. Discard marinade and tthread the meet onto 8" skewers with 1/4" between and then grill.

After lunch the boys went and worked on some filming at the Temple down the street from us (Andrew does filming and is working on time lapsing). Meanwhile Gina and I snapped some pictures of our girls (Cora is 3 days older).

This one is my favorite.

Then for dinner we had some friends from our Ward get together for another BBQ, and then we went to a park and did fire works.

Me, Lisa, Erin, and Kirsten

Cora and Mommy

Cora and Daddy

Our Family

Here's our kids sitting on one of the play structures at the park. I was standing near by ready to catch Cora in case she decided to lean forward. The picture isn't the best, but Cora's pose is adorable. I wish I didn't leave her bow in the car.

After doing our own fireworks, we went to a ledge at the end of our street where you can see the whole valley. We were able to see fireworks all over the place.

We had a fun, busy day with friends!

Catching Up

2011-07-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

Time is going by so fast and Cora is getting so big. At her 6mo appointment she was 25" long (77th percentile) and 14lbs 6oz (18th percentile). She is sleeping 10 hours through the night (9pm-7am pretty consistently every night). She now drinks up to 8oz at a time! We have started trying some solids on her when she turned 6months old. So far it has been rice cereal, peaches, and sweet potato. None of them are very tasty to her yet. I have decided that it is best to feed her solids without her clothes on because she somehow manages to get the food everywhere, even with her bib on. She also likes to put the spoon in her mouth by herself, rather than having me help her. Cora has also learned that she loves bouncing, whether it be on a trampoline or a bed, even if she's only watching someone else jumping. She laughs and laughs with bouncing. Cora has been developing her motor skills very well. Her pediatrician says that she is close to a nine months development in most things, including sitting up which she has been doing by herself for a while now. It is weird though that she won't really roll over. She only does it when she is sitting up, and then folds in half, goes on to her tummy, then rolls to her back. Other than that she has no desire. The only thing that is going wrong in her development is her head. She has been diagnosed with torticollis where her sternocleidomastoid is shortened on one side, causing her to turn her head to only her right. This has caused her head to flatten, especially on the right side. We take her in to get her helmet fitting this Friday, and then in another week she will be wearing the helmet for at least the next three months. With insurance this is going to cost us $2000 out of pocket. Luckily I have been working a lot of extra hours.

Until about two weeks ago, I have been working approximately 70 hours a week, personal training in the morning, nannying during the day, and teaching private swim lessons and aerobics at night M-S, pumping to feed Cora with every break in between that I had. I quit one on my nannying jobs, and just finished up my last week personal training at Gold's gym on Friday. I am now down to working only 35hours per week, which is a huge relief. In August I am starting up my own business of health and wellness coaching on sharecare.com. I'll tell you more about that later.

Brent left for his first business trip on Saturday morning and doesn't get back until late Thursday night. It has been quite an adjustment considering that in the past six years of being married the longest we have been apart from each other is one night. It has been hard to go to sleep without someone by my side, and not to have the extra help with Cora. We miss him and can't wait for Daddy to come home!

I will be putting on some more pictures soon.