Excited For 2013

This year has gone by so fast; I know that 2013 will be here before we know it!

I figured it was time for an update. I was going to blog on one of my days off but I just never got around to it. So I've been working my new work schedule for almost 2 weeks and I love it! It's so nice to have 3 days in a row off and work the other 4; Don't get me wrong, it is difficult at times to work 10 hours straight, the last 2 hours are the hardest, but it is so worth it. It's nice to have team meetings and things like that through out my day to break up my 10 hours, so on those days I am very appreciative :) The 10 hours, I'm sure, are made more difficult because of the no carb thing lol. (I am thinking about working towards becoming an at home agent ;))

Speaking of no carb. So when I first decided to go on this "diet" I was going to do completely no carb, but as I went along I decided that I would do more of a low carb thing. Most of my day is made up of no carb, from 5am to about 5pm I have no carbs, work makes it really easy for me to do that. At work I have a banana in the morning, for my first break I have a ton of fruit, lunch I have chicken, salmon or salad, for my second break I have an apple or pear and that's about it till I'm off work. I have lots of water throughout the day as well.

I'm doing a low carb diet over a no carb because I have some exceptions for carbs that I am eating. I do eat croutons with my salad, because I love them and can't imagine eating a salad without them, for the most part ;) I'm eating black beans and brown rice which are considered complex carbohydrates and they have a lot of protein so that's still staying on the more healthy side.

It's been a little over a week and the first week was so hard. I had a massive headache almost everyday but now I think my body is getting used to it. Also, I am not drinking soda so I'm sure that contributes to the headaches, I am by no means addicted to soda, I would drink very little when I did. It feels good to be eating well and working out. I can't wait to see some results :)

I am so excited for Halloween, Thanksgiving (not as much), and Christmas! Next week I am going to go buy the stuff to make Alexis' Boo costume. We were watching Monsters Inc last night for some inspiration :) Alexis is going to be so cute in her costume. I hope I can do a really good job. We are planning on going to a pumpkin patch at Thanksgiving Point, not this weekend but next to get some pumpkins and have a fun family outing :) For work we have several cool stuff going on this month. The one I am looking forward to the most is our "Trunk or Treat", which is at Thanksgiving point they are going to have different little areas with candy, games, and costume contest for the kids :) that is on the 30th and then on Halloween we will just be taking Alexis for a stroll around the neighborhood to look at all the other kids in their costumes and to show off hers ;) Alexis loves kids and I know she will have a blast looking at their costumes.

For Thanksgiving we plan on just spending time as a family the three of us :) It'll be nice to just have some time away to be together as a family.

For Christmas we are planning on going to San Diego and doing the Zoo, Wild Animal Park, and Sea World thing. I am really excited about that, I did get the time off work so I can't wait. I also can't wait to buy presents and decorate and bake :) Depending on how far I get on my diet I may make some exceptions for holiday baking ;)

I am really excited for next year. Derek and I are planning to buy a house, I know I blogged about this before. I wanted to just get into a new construction home and not have to worry about doing any work but Derek has convinced me about a remodel. We can get an older home for a lower price and make whatever updates we want, at least on the inside. The more I thought about it, and the more he convinced me, the more I realized that buying a new home is definitely not going to have all of the things I want so from there the choice was clear. We have been doing some research online on some older homes and it looks promising.

My big requirements are 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, I know for a starter home 4 bedrooms may seem like much, but we live in Utah 4 bedrooms is not to unattainable. Plus I would like for us to have an office, if i do want to work from home and if Derek and I go back to school that is going to really come in handy. I do want to have a decent sized backyard, keeping Alexis' 2nd birthday in mind. I want a big kitchen with an open floorplan, so definitely being able to buy a home and gut it and do what we want with it, is the answer. Derek has been talking to a ton of guys that he works with that have recently purchased a home and that have experience with construction so he has guys that totally want to help him out once we buy our home so that is going to help us out a lot :) My biggest thing is our kitchen I want a gourmet style kitchen with nice appliances and all of that and doing a remodel is going to give me the freedom to pretty put together the kitchen I want. I have been pinning like crazy on Pinterest all my ideas ;) We get a corprate discount at Sears on appliances for people remodeling, building, or moving, so it'll be awesome to save money on appliances being able to use the discount.

Derek and I have been paying things down and working on getting all our debt payed off before next year so we are in a good position, though I don't imagine it will be a problem. So these next few months we are going to balance paying things down and enjoying the holidays :) I am so excited to work towards getting into our new home. Even though getting into an older home and remodeling is not ideal, it'll give us the most return on our money for when we are ready to move back to California in a couple of years.

Anyway, on to my baby girl. Alexis is such a ball of energy, she is always moving. I had to take her to her pediatrician on Tuesday to get a dose for one of her vaccinations that daycare said she needed or she wouldn't be able to continue, Utah seems to require different vaccinations than California. She was such a trooper though, she got the shot and cried for maybe a minute and then got happy staring at the murals on the wall :) She is doing amazing at daycare :) She did fall at daycare the other day and had her first "ouch" report, is what they call it lol, she just bumped her head but was ok. Alexis is looking older and older everyday especially with the new clothes that I bought her. Alexis also has a new tooth that has come in I believe it's her 13th or 14th have to check her tooth chart. She also loves when I brush her teeth, she has her little toothbrush and toothpaste and is such a big girl, letting me brush her teeth at night and in the morning.

Random: Alexis loves pickles! This makes me really excited only because Derek doesn't like pickles, so I'm so happy that Alexis will partake of them with me :)

I am trying to think of what else is new. I am finally going to get Alexis her stroller. I had originally wanted to get the Quinny Buzz 3, but they never have the color that I want :( I thought about getting a baby trend.

But I don't really like it that much. I feel like it's too big and bulky. My brother has one and he said it's really big and heavy to carry around. Plus I think the speaker thing on there is kind of weird and don't care for it. Plus apparently the Britax stroller is good for jogging as well. My good friend Amandalyn has the Britax B-Agile.

When we went shopping I got to see it in action and I like it because it's a more similar style as the Quinny, more sleek and lightweight; I found a really good deal on it as well, I'm excited to get this at the end of the month :)

I think that's all I have for now :)