Halloween Traditions

This week we comensed our Halloween seasonal traditions. There are only two, but we are hoping to continue them throughout our lives.
We first visited the Corn Maze at Buckalew Farms. Mark and I first went to the Maze together when we began dating. It was our first date after deciding that we would take our friendship to the next level. We have four years of photos taken with the same pumpkin, it will be cool to see how our lives (and looks) have changed over time as we continue this tradition.

First date, 2008

2012

We were curious how Lily would manage the long walk through the maze, but she did awesome! She especially was happy when we started eating kettle corn together. Honestly, the kettle corn and bom fire are my favorite part. We only last an hour in the maze and begin to get annoyed cause we have only 3 out of the 18 check points. Overall we had lots of fun and happy that lily got to experience her first corn maze.

 

Then on Saturday, we carved pumpkins with the Ontiveros family. Mark carved Lily's pumpkin, which he tried to make it look like her, he did a great job. My pumpkin...not so much. I was over zelous and tried to do a dia de los muertos pumkin. Just as I was carving the last piece, the face popped out of the pumpkin and cracked on the floor. SAD DAY! I could not save it, so I opted for carving two big hearts and attaching them with toothpicks in the area where my real carving once stood. So lame. Lily was not to impressed with the pumpkins, she was way to tired to care. But, at least mark and I still had fun!

Next up...HALLOWEEN!!

September Celebrations

Well, I'm pretty excited about it being October on Monday. October is pretty much my favorite month, due to the fact that all the holidays are in line for the next few months. BUT I do love September. Just to cap some things that happened...
Mark celebrated his 26th birthday! My big boy is growing older. We celebrated his birthday with his family. Sullivans for dinner and then Cake out on the patio at his parents. He had a great birthday and we are looking forward to many more.

Lily was smart and stayed away from the fire.

Happy birthday daddy!

We also celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary. We kind of celebrated on the Saturday before our anniversary, just cause we both had the day off. All three of us went to Scottsdale to go shopping and then ate at an awesome Brazilian restaurant called Fogo de chao, it was delicious. Lily especially enjoyed the fried bananas. Then on the 25th, which is our anniversary, Marks parents watched lily so we could have a few hours alone to celebrate. It felt wonderful to have some time alone...but we were both anxious to play with lily. Crazy to think of all that has happened in three years of marriage. Mainly because we have a child now...but we still have had alot of changes. I have loved these past three years of marriage, it is definitely not as hard as people made it out to be. Just grateful I have such an awesome person to share this journey with. Mark makes life easy, and helps calm me down when I think life is to stressful. He is my everything, and without him, my life would feel incomplete. Here's to a whole eternity to come!

Lovely roses that mark brought to my work...I really love flowers!

Overall it has been a good month. It's gone by fast, but I am looking forward to fall. Except, I wish that the leaves would change...same complaint I have every year! lol.

Until November...

We had a great labor day weekend. A great way to finish the summer and a great three day weekend until Thanksgiving in November.

Saturday we went to the U of A opening football game vs. Taledo. It was Lily's first game...and may be her last for the rest of the season. Not saying she was not an angel, but it was just to ruff on the little sweetie to be up that late.
And it was so F-ing HOT! We knew it would be hot, but not as hot as it was. When you think about it, those seats are soaking in the hot sun all day long, we are in tight seating with a crowded stadium, and Arizona is the hottest place on earth...so hace calor! We were sweating like snow cones in phoenix. We had to wipe lily down with wipes to make her feel cooler and feed her some Italian ice. She stayed awake for the entire game up until half time and then crashed. Little trooper, she was the best cheerleader and everyone around us enjoyed her happy little face.

Lily watching the game

The wildcat and his future wild cat

Love my little cheerleader!!

On our way to the game

My lily and I

Made it to half time...dad and I almost fell asleep too.

On Monday, we went to Breakers water park. Just the three of us and it was so much fun! Lily loves the water. Though she hates for it to get in her face (understandable.). We had lots of fun and loved to spend the day together, just the three of us. Later that night we had a BBQ at our pool with our parents and grandma O. We love getting together with family, especially when good food is involved.
Not looking forward to work tomorrow. That is the hard part about holidays, they end. But, just have to wait till November, and then it's another long weekend with my loves. Wish everyday was like this, but I guess, it would not be as special.
Okay...now LOTS of pictures...

Isn't she the cutest!!

Trying to get used to the hat

Oh heavens, I love this child

She gets the cleavage from her mama

My two loves

Little Water Lily

They are beautiful

The strawberry suit was from her great cousin Lena...looked so cute!

Los Ontiveros

My little lady is starting to sit up! She is so strong.

The peeing Monkey for the Pee filled kiddy pool. That pool was cloudy for a reason...yuck!

Kicked in the face!

They have so much fun together. What a fun day!

 

Lily Pad In the Water

Our sweet little Lily had her first pool experience this weekend. She loved it!

Took her a little while to start enjoying it. When I brought her into the water she started at the water for about 5 minutes before starting to splash around with her hands and feet.

We gave her a little dunk in the water. She was shocked at first, but did not cry. She is my adventurous little lady and she loved the pool.

We definitely want her to get used to water, and teach her to swim young. Who knows, maybe she'll be in the Olympics someday? We shall see :)

Here are some pictures of her newest first.

Her face made me laugh, I just picture her saying 'okay mom, let me choose to put my foot in the fountain!'

The Diva

Little Lady with her Amma

Huge moth...had to take a picture of it

Yeah, it was bright.

MY CHUBBERS!



Big Loser

Sorry, this isn't a post about me being a loser...and for those who thought it was, SHAME ON YOU!

So, I was weighed in yesterday by my trainer. Took the body fat measurements, weight, the whole shabang. The results? Over a 4.5 month period I have lost a total of 34 lbs of body fat. AWESOME! I've dropped 13% of my body fat and a total of 20 lbs of weight, gaining 14 lbs of muscle. I can now do pull ups on the high bar using a small band for assistance, which at the beginning was using pretty much every assistance band in the gym. I feel stronger, leaner and happier...but I am done yet! Still have 10 lbs to lose to achieve my goal. Even when I meet goal, I am going to create a new one. I love crossfit work outs and I have a great trainer who I could not have had these kind of results without him.

As far as the eating, I have allowed myself to have a little cheat at least once a week.  I've realized the things I used to eat were really not as good as I remembered them being. Which is a good thing! I actually feel disgusting after eating something unhealthy, makes me want to eat healthy even more.

This experience has brought Mark and I closer and we feel better about ourselves. We are excited to introduce lily to exercise and will continue to eat healthy as a family. The more you strive to take care of your temple, the more you show your love for your family members.

So needless to say, I'm a loser. And I love it!

I tried on this dress yesterday and my mom wanted to take a picture. This dress is three sizes smaller then I was before I got pregnant with Lily. I was shocked it zipped up, I obviously have some mommy tummy to lose, but I was pretty pumped. I also tried on my wedding dress, and it's loose!

showing off the new muscles



Half Way There!

Our little lady is a whole 6 months old today! She is half way to completing a whole year of life. Can't believe how big she is getting.They always said the time would go fast, but I never believed them till now.

She is the sweetest little girl. She loves to stand and is very strong. She'll be doing crossfit workouts with her parents in no time! She loves sticking out her tongue when she smiles and loves to rough house with her daddy. She growls and then cracks up about it and loves to be startled. She sleeps with her back arched and her face up against a pillow. She is definitely going to be a creative, wild and independent spirit. We love our little Lily bug and are so very grateful for her sweet spirit and beautiful face in our lives every day.

Our little monkey! We got her this hat for her 6month birthday, how cute is that!

Another 6 month present. This is actually going to be part of her Halloween costume, minus the hat. You can't see it but the leggings have polka-dots and ruffles...so cute!

I'm trying to upload some videos, but blogger hates me. Someday it'll happen, but it ain't today!