We've got a Walker

Little man is 11 months now, and walking more and more everyday. Started at 10.5 months, we were practicing taking steps. Then he began standing on his own with no support and attempting to walk. Now, he's taking more steps and working on his turning. He's doing great! He will still get a little nervous when he is on his feet and often sit back down, but for the most part he's brave. We have got some brave and early walkers in our little family! Lily was walking at 10 months, so Jacob is not far behind. I've been trying to figure out how to post videos on this thing, but can never figure it out. So hopefully it'll work if I post a video from Youtube.

Can't believe he has been with us for almost one full year! Feels like just yesterday we moved here and just yesterday that he started to sit up on his own...time really does fly! Love our sweet, funny, crazy little dude. He has got such a fun personality, so much energy and crawls so fast! He loves to get into mischief by pulling everything and anything from shelves onto the floor, his morning routine includes having a bottle, pooping and then pulling all the DVDS off the shelves. He plays really well independently and has gotten a lot better with being watched by a sitter. He says thank you (uh-oo), mama, amma,baba and dada, he also makes an 'mmm' sound when he wants some food. He loves to horse play with daddy and lily and play peek-a-boo to try to scare us. He has the loudest scream ever! Which I'm hoping means he'll have a good voice (hopeful, lol). We will be in Salt Lake next month during his birthday, so we will see what kind of celebration we can put together for the little man. Love my boy!

We will see if the video works but if not here are the links for the YouTube videos.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=JsrvTCjkJVU - Jacob walking

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=rrSH7FzKM_o - Jacob being funny


https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=YgWcmT2oDdI - lily little gym performance

I also made glitter slime with lily and took her to get a hair cut and nails done Saturday, she loved being pampered.

Show Week at Little Gym

Miss Lily finished her first season of Little Gym this week. Her class got to show us all of the things they have been working on.
My little loca loved the attention from everyone, she is still telling us how much she loved show week. When we started in January, she did not even know how to do a tuck and roll. Now she is sticking her landings off the beam, flipping all over the place and flipping from the high bar. We are looking forward to her continuing at the gym and to see the progress she will continue to make.

Lily loves Mr. Ralph her teacher. He is a good teacher and just the right kind of goofball for these kids. Glad she has found a mentor.

Our little champion. She was on the top podium and then was kicked off by Bobby. Those kids are hilarious.

She loves to be active and has made so much progress.

Jakey is ready too.

Mothers Day 2016

I really love being a mother, but I'm not really a fan of mothers day. It's all me, not anyone else's fault. Mark tries really hard to have me enjoy mothers day...I just don't like attention. So every year (since lily was 2, I liked my first mothers day) I've had to push myself to have a good attitude about the day. We came down to Tucson for the weekend to celebrate with our mothers, I attended my mom's relief society so I could be with her and then came home to a delicious brunch that mark prepared for us. He was unable to get me the charm for my bracelet that I wanted cause Things Remembered decided they don't do charms anymore (boo!) and so mark got me a Pandora charm which has Jacobs birthstone. It was beautiful, except, it does not fit my bracelet :( So, I'm taking back the charm and with the money I'm going to get Lily and I a hair cut and take her to a movie on Saturday for a Mommy Daughter date. I like that :) Then my sweet mother in law got me a huge pressure cooker/ crockpot/canner, it's pretty awesome. I've decided I'm going to take up canning for a new hobbies, so bring on the pickled veggies and fruit preserves! My mom gave me a bunch of herbs to pot on our balcony, so looks like I'm set in the kitchen.
As the day progressed and I got lots of cuddles from my babies and kisses from my Love, I realized how silly my attitude was at the start of the day. I am so blessed, with such an amazing little family and being a Mommy is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love my babies more then I ever fathomed I could. They are my world. Being a mother is such an honor that I should never take for granted. I thank heavenly father for the gift of motherhood every day.

How we wake up every morning, only way to wake up!

I did not even have to ask her for a kiss...makes my heart burst with happiness

I love my mommy, I have the privilege of having the most amazing woman in the world as my mother.

Jacob LOVES his Amma. He prefers her over me! I think it's cause she feeds him all the time and he loves to grab her eyelashes.

Oh my heavens, she is so amazing!

Love my little family!!

So blessed to be their mommy, no better calling on earth or in heaven.

Weight Loss Competition done

Our weight loss competition has come to an end. BUT, it's still not the end of our change to life style. We had agreed at the beginning of the year to join a weight loss completion with a group of friends in order to kick start us back into shape. the challenge was to take the first 4 months of the year to reach our own personal goals.

Mark was good, and dedicated himself to the process of losing weight. He ate strict Paleo for three months and then Whole30 for the last month. Thru crazy busy season with work, working 10-15 hour days and eating out for almost every meal, he still managed to lose weight and surpass his goal. He amazes me and I'm so proud of him!

Marks stats:

• Starting weight: 265lbs; 30.2% BF
• Goal: lose 30lbs in 4 months
• Result: 227lbs; 19.5% BF...AMAZING! Surpassed goal by 8 lbs! 

I was not as disciplined as Mark. I did not start working out until the end of the second month, and was attempting to eat a modified Paleo diet the first three months, still allowing myself treats with Lily every now and then. And then Whole30 the last month. I still managed to lose weight, but it really kicked up a knotch when I started working out four days a week and being more strict with my diet. I struggle with the concept 'until you've reached your goal, you have to eat strict' I just want balance in my life! Enjoy eating healthy majority of the time, but allow treats. I am tired of caring about my physic and weight...I just want to look like an athlete but eat like a teenager! And then the voice of my once trainer, Kory Faber, pops into my head 'People who are satisfied with their health and physic are okay to eat treats, until you've reached that point, treats can wait.' He is right. And I know that. Some say I put too much pressure on myself, and they may be right, but they've never known what its like to be an overweight child/teenager/adult who's always wanted to be an athletic person. SO, with that being said, my weight loss journey is definitely not over. I still have an ultimate goal to reach, I want to be an athlete.

Andrea stats:

• Starting weight: 217lbs; 36.3% BF
• Goal: Lose 25lbs in 4 months
• Result: 193lbs; 30.8% BF...goal short 2lbs! tragic. BUT i still lost 6% body fat, which is pretty great. I also lost 4 inches from waist and bust and 2 inches from hips.

love being back in a box working hard, regardless of how unflattering I look doing it.

Our celebration, going to the Chipotle Cultivate festival. It was fun, until it was canceled due to lightning which stinks. Of all the days!





lucas graham

 

We also spent some time with my mom and Ricardo at the temple two Sundays ago, it was great.























and lily

 and I love snap chat... too much.

 

Whole30...DONE

We have completed our whole30 journey. Wahoo for us!
It was not hard, but it was not easy either. I think it helped that we were already eating pretty clean and Paleo, so that helped to not have the withdrawals from processed food that most people have.
Here are our stats as of day 30:

Andrea: -8 lbs, -5% body fat
Mark: -10lbs, ? Body fat...we did not measure his before we started W30.

Pros to doing whole30 for Andrea:

1. Skin is awesome. No trace eczema or dry scaly skin patches.
2. No longer craving sweet food... but I am craving veggies and BBQ!
3. Less bloated
4. Suppressed appetite
5. Less expensive then regular diet.
6. We discovered Dump Ranch...amazing delicious Dump Ranch.

Pros to doing Whole30 for Mark:

1. Lost weight
2. felt good towards the end with more energy (needed more protien)
3. Recovered from workouts faster

And... the cons to whole30:

1. Hard to find something to eat while traveling.
2. Nothing is quick and easy, you have to prep everything!
3. Never got 'tigers blood' (Andrea) in fact, I felt I had way less energy and was tired all the time!
4. Made my workouts worse. (Andrea)
5. Hungry all the time(mark.)
6. Very tired at the beginning of the diet.
7. Eggs..so many eggs
8. Figuring out what to cook for every meal is annoying.

Though it was good for us to have this experience, I don't think we will be doing it again in the near future. I really wanted to improve my workouts and joint pain, and it did not help. But again, I'm proud of us for completing it. And who knows, maybe I will see a difference once we start eating 'normal' again?

Dump Ranch
1 egg
1/2 c. Coconut Milk
1 c. Olive Oil
1tbs garlic powder
1tbs onion powder
1 tsp. Salt
Handful cilantro
Use hand mixer and ya!