Playing Catch Up

It has seriously been 4 months since I last posted on here! I knew it had been a while but didn't realize it had been this long. I am posting from an iPad that I doesn't have any of my pictures on so I apologize this will be a pictureless post :( and a lengthy one too. I am just going to break down the things that have been going on month by month, for chronological reasons ;)

June: My littlest brother, Baby, who is not so little anymore, came to stay with us for the summer. We flew him out here so he could spend the summer with us and earn some money. We took Lexi out of daycare for the 2 months he was here and he babysat her :) It was nice for him to be out here and get to spend time with us before starting high school. My 27th Birthday was on June 21st :) I got my hair dyed ombré and Derek took me shopping for a new straightener and hair products. I'm sure we went out for dinner some where but I can't remember. Aside from that June was pretty uneventful from what I remember.

July: The beginning of July we went down to Southern California for my niece, Harlow's birthday. It worked out nicely because I had 4th of July off and even though her birthday is on 4th of July, my brother celebrated it on that Saturday. I wish I had the pictures on here to post of Harlow and Lexi; I love seeing them together. Baby's birthday was on July 26th and we took him to Boondocks, an arcade/miniature golf place, took him out to eat and made him a yummy cake.

August August was very eventful. Sadly baby had to leave at the beginning of the month to start school :( We had a fun Summer with lots of swimming and fun activities, so it was sad to see him go. We went to my cousin David's wedding which was so fun and it was really great to be able to see all of my family. We also signed Lexi up for a Creative Ballet class for Saturday mornings at Utah Dance Artist. One of my coworkers gave me 2 free tickets for the "new" aquarium they opened in Draper. Derek had work to do so Lexi and I made a date out of it. It was really crowded but we had fun :)

September The first weekend in September Derek got to go on a fun trip to Austin with his bosses from work to watch the BYU/Texas game and the Cowboys/49ers game. I was very jealous of the hubbster because I have always wanted to got to Austin. Derek and my mom's birthday are both on September 10th. Unfortunately I couldn't be with my mom on her birthday but I bought some food to go and a yummy cupcake for Derek and we had a quiet evening at home. Derek's little sister Holly came over and bought some stuff over for Derek and more cupcakes :) Derek was all sugared out. Lexi is loving her ballet class, she is a little shy but once she gets in there she loves it! We had her stay the first week for the Tap class but she seemed to distracted and the teacher kind of ignored her for the last half hour so it really wasn't a good fit, so just ballet for now. One of my good friends, Rachel, was visitng last weekend from Texas and Lexi and I got to spend some time with her. It was so nice to see her and catch up.

I have been so busy and stressed lately. I will post more about that later and also have some fun stuff to post about coming soon. Ohhhh I bought the pattern today for Lexi's Anna Halloween dress :) I am so excited. I promise to post more regularly. Enjoy!

It's About Time For An Update!

This month feels like it has been packed with so much so I figured it's time for an update.

I've been meaning to blog about Disneyland, it was so fun, I can't wait to go back! We headed down to Southern California the first weekend in May. My dad had his wedding reception on May 3rd. We had a blast there were so many people there, I didn't realize my dad knew so many people lol. They had a jumper for the kids which was kind of random but it was a relaxed backyard sort of reception. Lexi and Harlow had a blast in the jumper and running around. There was a dog there that Lexi was absolutely obsessed with; If I wasn't convinced before that she needs a dog I definitely am now. I met my dad's wife for the first time and she was so sweet and he was so happy. I am so happy for him and so glad that I got to be a part of their day.

I have some more pictures but not on this computer so I will have to add them later.

Sunday we headed out to Northern Los Angeles and drove around the different areas. It is no secret that I want to move back to California. I am a California girl and could never see myself making roots in Utah. We would love to be able to make a home in Northern Los Angeles and after getting to see the neighborhoods, we were interested in, I am in love. After spending some time in Los Angeles we headed to Orange County. We stayed right down the street from Disneyland. Derek and I had stayed at the same hotel almost 6 years ago, not too soon after we started dating, we went to Disneyland with some of his friends. We settled in at the hotel and I met up with my best friends, Kathy and Mags, we headed to Downtown Disney and had some dinner and drinks and got to catch up. It was so fun to catch up and reminds me of how much I want to be back home.


Best Friends!

Monday we headed to Disneyland pretty soon after opening. I had Lexi's Bibbiddi Bobbiddi Boutique appointment for 10:50 that morning. Alexis did so amazing when she was getting her makeover. I don't know what it was but right after her makeover Lexi became a little diva for the rest of the day lol. We initially were going to do the coach package, which would have included professional photos and meeting the Disney princess', but I decided to cut back on our trip and we went with the castle package. I really wanted to take Lexi to meet Anna and Elsa but it was a 6 hour wait! I felt we should save that for when she gets a little older and it means a little more to her. After Lexi's makeover we headed back to the entrance of the park to meet up with my family. My awesome brother, his girlfriend, my niece, my mom, and my littlest brother all came to the park to help us celebrate Lexi's birthday. We had some photo pass pictures taken but I haven't ordered them yet but I will post that later.







We didn't get to go on too many rides. One thing I learned and will never make the mistake of again is spending just one day at Disneyland with a toddler. One of the June moms I know was there the same day and did a 3 day park hopper and she said that was just about enough time with a toddler. We tried to meet up but unfortunately could not line up our times. Lexi did love the teacups! The Haunted Mansion was interesting; Lexi was just a little scared but the ride kept stalling and we ended up stopping and getting stuck for several minutes at a time. Derek finally got to try the Dole whip, it had been so long, and it was so refreshing. Lexi loved the buzzlight year ride and we had a blast at Space Mountain. My awesome friend Sam who super hooked it up at Disneyland, was working Space Mountain that day :) The stroller passes were really helpful we got to go on while my mom and baby watched Lexi and Harlow and than they got to get on and go straight to the front of the line when we got out.





I made dinner reservations at Tortilla Jo's so we headed to our hotel room to get the cute cupcakes and headed back to Downtown Disney. The food was so yummy and the cupcakes were too. Since it was Cinco De Mayo it was pretty busy and they had a sweet mariachi band playing. Lexi loved them and was doing a lot of dancing. After dinner we bought some Disney merchandise. Lexi loves her Elsa/Anna doll. She also loved her Minnie Mouse ears and her Mickey balloon. Derek's leg was hurting him a bit so he headed back to the hotel room with Lexi and my little brother; The rest of us headed to Disneyland and got on one last ride. My mom and I squeezed into a ride together, she is super skinny, me not so much but it was hilarious and a lot of fun. We headed back to our hotel and Lexi got to open her present from my mom and we called it a night. I was so sad to have to leave Disneyland but I am so looking forward to our next longer trip :)







Tuesday afternoon we headed to Las Vegas. We stayed at the Excalibur since I had a free room; I had never stayed there before and don't necessarily think I would again. The people who work the floor were really annoying and kept trying to get us to go to a time share presentation. The room was ok, we got a free upgrade. We ate dinner at the hotel and called it a night, the next morning we went to breakfast off the strip and came back to the Aria. We walked the strip and had lunch at Caesar's Palace and than headed back to the Aria, did some gambling, bought some dessert and headed home.

For Lexi's birthday I bought her some super cute balloons and we took her to Chuck E Cheese, it was her first time and she loved watching the characters on stage and also had fun playing the games. I remembered their pizza being a lot better but it was fun and she liked it. After pizza we went to Red Mango for some frozen yogurt. Lexi loved the mochi topping on her yogurt, now I have to find a store that sells it ;)

We have so much going on these next few months. It's kind of stressful. One thing I am so excited about is my little brother, baby, yes I still call him that, will be coming out to Utah for the summer! We will be driving down on Saturday, initially we were going to meet up with him in Vegas but decided we would meet up in Mesquite and drive back home that same day. We are going to have my dad drive him up to Mesquite so it won't be too bad of a drive for either of us. He is coming to spend the summer here because he wants to play football, he's starting high school in the fall, and Derek volunteered to help train him and help him with getting in shape and all he needs to know about playing football. Secondly we decided to have him babysit Lexi, since it would give him a chance to make some money while he's out here. So this will be Lexi's last week of daycare, more than likely she will go back there come August since it will be right down the street from her preschool, which I still need to register her for. I am excited for baby to come out here; I plan on having a lot of fun activities for us to do while he is out here.

My birthday is coming up next month. I am excited to be getting my hair done soon :) For July 4th weekend we will be heading to Southern California for Harlow's birthday! Also in August we will be heading down for my cousin David's wedding and to drop baby off. One of my favorite things that we have been doing a lot of on our trips down is getting to stop in Vegas. Even though it's only for a night there is a lot of fun stuff to do and it helps cut the trip short for us.

One thing I am really looking forward to is planning a fun mommy daughter Vegas weekend for me and my mom for her birthday in September. Unfortunately Lexi will not be joining us but I think she'll forgive me ;) My mom doesn't know about the Vegas trip yet, shhh it's a secret.

There is possibly more for me to say but it is bedtime. Goodnight and enjoy!

Something To Look Forward To

Work has been very stressful lately. Not stressful in a bad way just a lot of changes and I've been really tired lately, which is probably my fault because I've been going to bed late this past week. I find myself not being tired or restless so I'll stay up but find myself tired at work. This is a good sign of needing a vacation.

In 3 1/2 weeks we will be at Disneyland! I am not looking forward to driving for 10 hours, but it will be worth it. I am just excited to relax and have a good time with my hubby and Lexi. I am so excited to see her reaction to Disneyland and see how she enjoys all the fun activities. We have some cool stuff planned for our trip. I'm also excited to see my family again. 

I can't believe it's April already, time seems to fly. We've had some really beautiful days here lots of kite flying weather. I am hoping the weather continues to stay nice :) I'm finally feeling like it's Spring time. 

Loving The New Look On The Blog

I decided the blog needed a new look. I originally was going to go with something different but decided on this look and I love it! I also decided to link some social media on here :)

I haven't been blogging as much as I use to a lot of it is because I am usually too tired to blog when I get home from work or just busy around the house; Alexis has also been a handful lately. She is a sweetheart but has been going through a bratty stage, it's almost like the terrible twos waited till the end of her 2nd year. We are trying to get her to follow directions better.

Lexi has been potty trained for about a month now and she is doing amazing. She has had a night accident here and there, but I think a lot of it is because she kicks her blankets off at night and it's still pretty cold here; I've been giving her two blankets at night to try and keep her warm.

I feel like time is dragging. I have been picking up a lot of overtime lately since we have our mini-vacation at Disneyland in about 36 days :) I am really excited for this vacation, it is much needed. I am so excited for Lexi since it will be her first time and we're going for her birthday. Speaking of Disney, Lexi is obsessed with Frozen! I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it because people were talking it up, similar to Tangled and I hated Tangled, but we bought it for her and I absolutely love it; Lexi wants to watch it all the time!

Derek's work has these exercise one person trampolines, called a cellerciser we bought one and I've been using it everyday along with doing my 30 Day Squat Challenge. I'm almost at the end of the challenge. I've been losing very little weight lately and it's kind of annoying but I think the squat challenge is building muscle so that could be why. I may just have to change my routine up a bit :)

That is all for now. Enjoy :)

Spring Is Coming!

I cannot believe it is already March! I know I probably say that about every month but it just seems crazy that we are almost half way through March. Well I actually have a lot of stuff to update the blogosphere with.

After months of not seeing my family we finally went down 2 weeks ago to visit. Our brakes got really bad so we had to get them changed but did not want to pay $400 plus dollars to get them done here so we decided to drive down and kill two birds with one stone. We left on a Friday after work and I drove the whole night. We spent Saturday getting our brakes fixed by my awesome dad! We ate some yummy Mexican food, Utah has nothing that compares to California Mexican. I met up with Kathy and we had drinks and dinner at BJ's. That night my brother, his girlfriend, Derek and I went to San Manuel Casino to do some gambling, while my awesome mom watched the girls. We had a blast and I won like $100 dollars! Sunday we all met up with my dad to have breakfast for his birthday which was on the 26th. After breakfast we decided to head out, Derek and I both took Monday off so we were spending the night in Vegas :) I was sad to be leaving but knew that I would be coming back soon, so it wasn't too bad. Derek had a comped room at the Aria so we got to stay there pretty much for free :) I had never stayed there but I loved it! We got there Sunday evening and once we got settled in ate at the hotel at this yummy pizza place, they had the best calamari, we watched part of the Oscars while we had dinner. After dinner we got some yummy dessert and took it up to the room. After dessert I went downstairs to do a little gambling while Derek hung out with Alexis in the room. Just as the night before after 20 minutes I turned $40 dollars into like $170 and went upstairs to tell Derek and decide to go back down stairs and gamble some more and of course I lost most of what I had won :( which I guess is ok because I lost what I won and not just lost in general; I think the key is to walk away when you're up by a hundred lol we watched the Walking Dead and called it a night. The next morning packed up all our stuff and went out for breakfast, it was a beautiful cool, sunny day on the strip. After breakfast we came back to the hotel and walked around we took Lexi to the arcade and played some games with her. Come lunch time we headed to The Buffet at the hotel, I had a comped meal and it was amazing, the dessert bar was soooo good! **I gave up soda about 3 months ago or so and I had soda there for the first time since I gave it up and it helped me remember why I gave it up, not that I drank it that much to begin with, but definitely not wanting to go back to drinking it anytime soon.** After our yummy lunch we headed home, I drove the whole way home and even though I was bummed to have to come back home it was nice in some way to be back to the routine.

I had started potty training Lexi the weekend before we went home and we figured this trip would help us figure out if she was really potty trained. Well she was absolute perfection on the drive down and back up, no accidents. When we were in Southern California we stayed at my brothers; They have my niece who will be 2 in July and she is not potty trained yet, though they did have a potty for her. Well Lexi was soooo excited to be with her and play that she had 3 accidents within a 2 hour span, which is not like her, whenever I took her to the potty she would sit and get up right away because she was so anxious to play so I figured she just didn't have to go. At daycare all of the kids in her class go so I think it was hard for her to adjust to the situation. I don't really think her accidents were a really big deal because it was isolated to that situation, the second we were out of there she was perfect. We have a potty for her here at home and before we left on our trip I bought her a portable potty seat. When we were in Vegas I kept it in the bathroom and Lexi was a superstar taking it and putting it on the toilet. After our trip we definitely decided she was potty trained. I am so impressed by her and myself ;) having never potty trained anyone, I think I did great and she was a total superstar. When we got back we took Alexis to Target and she got to pick out a toy for being such a potty training rock star, she picked an uber cute lalaloopsy doll.

We have a lot of stuff coming up in the next couple of months. My dad surprised me by telling me he is getting married!!!! I was shocked to say the least. I feel bad I think he felt I wasn't happy for him, but I was just so surprised. I am very happy for him. I have not met her since they've only been going out for a little over a year, is what he told me. He is getting married May 3rd! My first thought, well second was that Lexi's birthday is on the 14th, not even 2 weeks after the wedding and with the wedding my dad probably wouldn't be able to make it out for Lexi's birthday so as sad as it is to have to cancel my plans for her circus themed birthday party, we decided it would be best. We are going to take Lexi to Disneyland instead that weekend for her birthday/first time! I haven't been to Disneyland in years, since Derek and I first started dating, so almost 6 years. We are going to take Lexi to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to have a princess makeover :) I am sooo excited to do this with her. I am counting down the days to Disneyland.

We have Disneyland in May; I have my best friends birthday at the beginning of June; My niece is turning 2, July 4th; Lastly my cousin is getting married in August. Than of course September starts all the awesome fall holidays, so we have a pretty packed Summer ahead of us. Lucky for us March and April are uneventful so we will be saving for the upcoming festivities.

I have been trying to be really good and keeping with my "diet". I have a protein shake for breakfast and lunch and eat a regular meal for dinner. It's not too bad except for the occasional headache in the middle of the day. I just started the 30 Day Squat Challenge :) Today is my third day and I am so sore but looking forward to seeing some results. I am hoping to lose atleast 20 pounds before Disneyland and I think that's pretty doable.


Lexi is such a doll and gets more and more beautiful as she grows. She looks like she is getting some fat on her. Lexi is wearing 2T clothes, which I know is crazy because she is almost three but of course she is super small, which I don't mind :) Lexi is so smart, she loves to read and she recently discovered a love for The Muppets :)

Here are some pictures of our trip. Enjoy :)

Potty Freaking Training!

So it's been a while since I posted anything and this is very exciting so I thought I would post about it.

Alexis has been using the potty at daycare off and on, while she was still in diapers. Lexi's daycare had been telling us for the last month that they were going to start potty training her and I never heard anything and finally on Thursday her daycare teacher told me to bring Lexi some panties and pants/sweats so they could start this week. We already had some panties at home for Lexi but went out and bought her a ton more and some pants/sweats since we don't really have a ton laying around. Well Friday at daycare Alexis did great, she didn't have any accidents at daycare. I decided this past weekend we, or better yet I, was going to potty train her. I had read a lot of stuff in the past on Pinterest about how to potty train in one day so I read over one of the pins and this is the one I decided to follow How To Potty Train In One Day. I didn't follow it completely, more of that ahead. I was lax about it on Saturday because I just wanted her to get used to the potty before I committed to a whole day of potty hell haha. Well Lexi did have a couple of accidents on Saturday but I also wasn't being too strict.

Well on Sunday we hit it hard. Here are the tips I did follow from the blog. We woke up in the morning and had breakfast like normal and right after breakfast I had Lexi sit on the potty and she peed, the potty plays music and cheers when she pees or poops, I cheered with her and gave her tons of praise and gave her a candy; I had gummy bears and Twizzlers. We put her in just her shirt and panties, no pants. I put a ton of her toys on the kitchen floor and I sat there with her. We made sure to stay off the carpet. I gave Lexi tons of water and snacks, but no candy, I made sure the candy was only for when she successfully went potty. We spent practically all day this way every 15 minutes I took her to the bathroom and would time her for 10 minutes, she would sing the ABCs and I'd sing her songs and just play and keep her busy, after those 10 minutes I'd set my timer for 15 minutes and we just did that all day. We'd take her pee or poop and dump it in the toilet and I'd have her flush it and wash her hands, she knows how to wash her hands really well from when she first started daycare :) She peed several times and pooped at least twice with no accidents. Come 6:30pm I went to go pick up my brother from work and of course when I'm gone she has an accident with daddy, he told me he made sure to tell her "no pee on the floor, pee on the potty" than I got home and The Walking Dead was on I took her to the toilet during a commercial and she peed and I had a feeling she had more to do but of course I wanted to get back to The Walking Dead so of course a minute later she has a little accident, so that was really my bad I didn't give her the whole 10 minutes I should have; Those were the only two accidents she had all day she was a total rock star, she blew me away and I am so proud.

Come night time I had wrapped her mattress in plastic because we decided not to do any pull ups at night, we are doing panties only and not looking back. Well Lexi and Derek have been sick on and off for the last month and Lexi was having such a hard time going to bed. When we went to bed she was fine but in the middle of the night I woke up and she had peed herself, so I woke her up and had her sit on the potty and she didn't pee so i cleaned her up and put her in fresh panties. A couple of hours later I woke up and she was peed again so I sat her on the potty again she she went and I cleaned her up again and put her to bed, I put another blanket over her sheet, also Lexi had a pretty bad fever so I gave her some Tylenol and had her lay with me till she fell asleep. In the morning when i woke up she was peed and had some throw up on her sheet. Poor Lexi had a rough night and I didn't expect her to stay dry. She stayed dry on the way to daycare this morning. So overall I think Lexi did amazing with potty training. I was pretty upset when i picked her up from daycare I asked the daycare teacher that was there, not the normal teacher Lexi has, if Lexi had used the bathroom, she said she just had so we stopped to get some food on the way home and I kept praising Lexi for staying clean, well come to find out when I got home and put her on the potty that she was wearing a diaper!!! I was so upset. I did not spend my time trying to potty training so that they would put her in diapers. I am pretty upset about it and will be talking to them about it tomorrow; I'm not sure if it was just miscommunication with her usual teacher and the new one that was there today but I want to make sure she is only in panties from now on. Lexi went out with me to the store today and she had no accidents and has not had any at home today :) I haven't been going ever 15 minutes we've been doing it every 20 to 30 minutes. I am constantly touching her underwear and saying "no pee pee" and she says "no" and I say "good girl". I think Lexi definitely loves the praise. I'm trying not to give her any drinks before bed, and we are going to be moving Lexi's bed time up to 8:30 or 9. Someone also recommended to me some disposable bed mats that would go over the sheet so it would be so much easier and nicer than having to wash sheets everyday.

I was feeling really behind with Lexi starting so late; We bought her her potty for her 2nd birthday but decided we were going to wait until she was ready and interested and it happened to be now. I was surprised by how many other June Bugs either just started or haven't started potty training at all.

I have some other new stuff going on but I will post about that later. Enjoy!

What's New?

It's been about a month since I posted; I told myself I was going to post more often but I feel like my life is so uneventful as of late. 

Lexi is getting bigger and sassier! She has been very whiny lately, those terrible twos are living up to their reputation. She is very temperamental but than super sweet. We call her a sour patch kid. She loves to say no and lately she's been pulling my hair. I am definitely not down with her misbehaving so I've been super stern with her and hoping together Derek and I can get her to stop acting out. 

Aside from being extra sassy, which may be due to her growing pains, she is talking so much now and is ready to potty train :) she's gone at daycare a couple of times and they let me know they are going to officially start soon so we can mirror it at home. I am excited for her to learn and excited for no more diapers. Yay for cute underwear! 

As Lexi gets older I love seeing little bits of her personality that remind me of me. She loves "reading" she will sit with a book and look through it like she's actually reading. Her daycare teacher tells me that she loves to sit in the little reading nook and just read all day also she told me she points to the radio whenever she wants to dance and apparently she loves to dance; Definitely my little mini me :) 

I gave my 2 weeks notice this weekend at OG. The only reason I worked there for this long was the extra money. I think I may have a bone spur in my foot so continuing to work there is making it worse. I have to see a doctor about it. I am going to miss the extra money and I do love the people I work with but it's just not worth it anymore.

We had planned to go to Seattle next weekend for my brothers birthday but we decided we couldn't afford to go :( but I am hoping end of February we can go to Southern California and see my family and friends. 

Well that is all I have to say. Enjoy :)