hellllloooooooooo april

hello april, so far you've been great! nice and sunny, lets try to keep it that way, can we? please? but seriously.....please?! i think i'm ready for summer and warmer weather and longer days that turn into nights. i'm over the rain and i know i probably shouldn't complain, i should just get over it considering where i choose to live. i usually don't mind the rain and "hot chocolate" weather (as i like to call it) but i'm extra excited for warmer weather. i want to be able to let milly explore the world around her without her getting completely soaked in the process. unless of course it's due to a splash pad or pool and we're in bathing suits....then by all means, dive right in! anyways....the picture below has absolutely nothing to do with this post, i just really like it.

^ this cuddle session lasted all of 30 seconds..... i'll take what i can get.

so it's april, we're already in month four of this year. i still can't believe it's april of 2014 and i have a one year old! life is good. this year: so far, so good. i'm doing ok with my personal goals for the year. i am way ahead on my reading goal and have averaged about two and half to three books a month. that's almost double my original goal. having a library due date really gets ya reading. you can't have late library books, that's 10 cents a day! 10 cents people! i will admit, i owe the library 30 cent's soooo...there's that, it's good to get that off my chest, phew! as far as my other goals, weeeeeeellllll. i'm having a hard time being 'good' about eating. i just finished a bowl of warm brownie with caramel sauce and ice cream, and it's not the first time that's happened this week. i really need to get back on track. i've hit a plateau in my weight loss and it's been a little discouraging. they aren't kidding when they say the last ten pounds are the hardest to loose. i'm thinking of taking up kick boxing or something. i need to switch it up because i'm at a stand still with running. crazy as it is, and i never thought i'd say this, but i think the ole bod is use to running and needs a change to kick back in gear. also, i need to stop eating warm brownies with ice cream..... that might help :)  and that brings us to my last goal: learning to crotchet. i've decided to put that on hold, at least until this summer. i just don't have the time or energy right now to learn something new and put the effort into it that it deserves as well as make me happy. 

in other news: i've recently been asked to help with a theatre production the youth of our church perform in the area and it's taking up most my spare time/nights. it's gonna be so good, the talent these kids have is unreal. i haven't really done anything with theatre since my freshman year of college unless you count being a spectator. i've been asked to be the assistant back stage manager and although it's taking up a lot of my time, it's well worth it and i love it. it's also a fun complement when people aren't sure if you're an adult or youth ;) i've had some kids ask to see my ID because they didn't believe me when i said i was 29 and had a one year old. (lets be honest, i still have a hard time believing the one year old part too....)

lastly, i've been working on a series of posters that i'm hoping to sell on etsy. i'd like to have a 'shop' opened in the next month with a handful of posters i've created and see where that goes. i'd love to just design posters for the rest of my life, so we'll see! i'm pretty excited about it and will share more when the time comes. 

so yea, lets see what april has in store.

 in the mean time, here's some pictures of the one person i give most my time too. 

life is goooooooood!

^ sharing a dilly bar with dad.....

^can't get over those legs!

^ exploring...

^ more exploring, with dad.... love her to pieces!!!

15k for chocolate...

 ^ waiting at the start line \\ getting kinda nervous \\ questioning what i'm about to do...

(photo stolen from ashley's instagram: ashleydj13)

^finish line!!! hugs afterward...i was kinda emotional

 ^ wiping away tears, trying to gain composure before pictures...

i know this picture is blurry but it means a lot to me, a lot has changed in the last year and i'm so grateful for the friends and family who have supported me through these changes. 

i just feel like the blurriness adds to the emotions and feelings portrayed in this picture and i love it.

 ^ victory!!! let me tell you, after running 9.3 miles...this was the best tasting chocolate i've ever had and the hot chocolate was even more amazing! it would be interesting to see if the chocolate was really that good or if we were just so hungry and tired we didn't care...

 ^ joey and milly taking seflies while waiting at the finish line, she was sooo tired...

 ^ chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!!!

 ^ 15k's make some people soooo tired, she crashed as soon as she was strapped in the car seat.

 ^ nothing like a greasy burger, fries and chicken nuggets after a run. 

and then of course i took two naps that afternoon thanks to joey bringing our mattress out to the living room and letting me crash. sunday was a good day!

so here's the back story of this race.... this race was so much more than just running 9 plus miles. like i said earlier, a lot has changed for me in the last year. the two biggest changes: having milly and getting my health back on track and maintaining a healthier lifestyle...and yes i realize there's a giant picture of a burger right above this paragraph but everything in moderation, right? right! anyways, i digress! as i started this race, i proclaimed to no one and everyone that this was "for you miss milly, so here we go!" when i crossed the finish line and saw joey and milly waiting for us and cheering us on, the tears just burst out of my eyes! it's so hard to explain how symbolic this race was and explain how it really felt crossing that line. 

a year ago, when i first heard about this race (thanks to ashley) i told joey i wanted to run it. i'm sure he was thinking "ya, right! you? the girl that complains about her weight and then eats everything she can and gets hamburgers and then hides the wrappers and wonders when she's gonna get her next coke fix (pre-pregnancy of course)...." maybe he wasn't thinking all that but maybe he was and he had every right too. that's what i did for the first seven years of our marriage, so what was gonna change now. as you may already know, milly was what changed. (read this post for more on that story) so seeing my little girl and my proud husband as i crossed the finish line, it made me so emotional and helped me realize how far i've come. thanks for all the love and support, husband, you are my best friend, a wonderful husband and an amazing father. i also have to do a huge shout out to ashley for also being a huge support and running with me. i can't thank her enough, she was such a good example and inspiration to get me started and is such an amazing running partner. so thank you, ashley!

so now my first 15k is behind me! a goal that was a year in the making - i can cross it off my list! feels pretty dang good. now i need to figure out what i'm gonna run next, i'm thinking something with mud...

happy monday!!!

hope everyone had an amazing weekend! we sure did, couldn't get any better when the seahawks destroyed, literally destroyed, the broncos yesterday! am i right or am i right?! weeeeee!!! (and yes, i will admit, i don't own any seahawks gear and am a total bandwagon fan...at least i can admit it, right?)

anyways, it's already february, the month of love! we're already into the second month of the year and it's going by so fast! i think i've been doing ok with my goals for the year. it's funny, as the days go by i keep thinking of other aspects of my life i want to improve this year and then at the same time i'm like "whoooa whitney, slow down there girl!" (kinda like how you would talk to a horse..what?) i don't want to get overwhelmed and i do want to stay on top of things, sooooo we'll see how things go and maybe add some new goals as the year progresses. so how about it? how are everyone's new years resolutions going? milly and i have taken full advantage of the library here in redmond, which is walking distance from our apartment. i love it! it's a smaller library branch and because of that, i've had to put all the books i want to read on hold hoping they would become available in a timely manner. well....they've definitely become available...

^ i have to read all these books in about a months time. since they're on hold i can't renew them online because someone else is waiting for them to become available. i will say i've finished the jodi picolt book, it was ok but definitely not my favorite of hers. i tried to read the interestings by meg wolitzer and after about 10 pages in i just knew i wasn't going to like it...it rubbed me the wrong way, so now i'm onto the giver. i remember being told to read it in high school and have no relocation of ever doing that and since it's gonna be a movie this year i really want to get it read before it comes out! phew! so far so good! (fyi: i'm trying to read a lot of books from this list, which are all quite popular, hence the holds.) 

as far as my book goal is concerned, i'm right on track. i {barely} finished two books in january, which is more than i was planning. the other book i read was j.k. rowlings adult novel casual vacancy...not my favorite and kinda depressing. i'm hoping to read the books above before i have to take them back to the library and if i do, i will be way ahead of my goal of a book and a half a month! 

^ milly likes the library too...

books have taken over my life but i did have some other goals, right? i did have other things i wanted to accomplish, didn't i...? of course i did!!!! because i have so many books to read, i have watched way less tv and i love how i feel less like a drone. i do have my guilty pleasure: the kardashians, that i like to watch sunday nights, haha! i will never give that up! (should i be admitting that to the world...?) next up: running. it's going slow but steady... i think that's a good way to say it. i have been watching what i eat (minus yesterday) and trying to get out more but after i go on a really good run my right knee kills me for about two days... not really sure what that's about and i'm hoping to just push through it but then i think that might be stupid...so we shall see. i have a month before my 15k and i might want to get it figured out before then. also, your welcome, milly! your dad and i have crappy knees so you probably will too, along with horrible vision! ;)

lastly, i've been pinning more and more ideas on pinterest for crocheting and found a book on amazon i want to buy. i have never crotchet anything in my life so i'm pretty excited to get started but probably won't be able to until i have my four books read (remember, books have taken over my life?) i also found this!!! i want to make it soooo bad for milly so i better get really good, really fast! i only have 11 months!!!

with one month down in 2014 i'm happy with where i'm at. goals are going good! i need to remind myself that i don't have to have them all done right this instant. they're yearly goals for a reason, as in i have the whole year to complete them. ;)

speaking of...how about them seahawks?! (was that a weird transition?) we made way to much food and then we ate way too much food with the help of my good friend ashley. milly was also a good sport and didn't try to pull down the tv too many times during the game thanks to some sensory activities and nap time! we also managed to watch part of the puppy bowl! because you can't call it super bowl sunday without watching some puppies...?

^ giggles after our victory

^ beast mode...SOLD OUT! we did, however, manage to find some and proceeded to eat them for good luck!

^ this photo was just taken at church and i love it so much so i thought i'd add it, because who doesn't like looking at photos of babies sleeping? especially when it's your own baby!? 

hello 2014!

well hello 2014 and goodbye 2013!
i'm so excited for the new year, something in my soul is telling me it's going to be a good year. which part of me is like "really? 2013 was amazing! you're gonna try to beat that?" 2013 was amazing! as you may have read from this post, i started making a lot of positive changes in my life and gave birth to a healthy, happy, beautiful baby girl. it's going to be hard to beat that but i'm excited for what the future holds. i'm excited to get back on track (it's hard to not eat all the candy that comes into your house during the holidays...) and accomplish some goals for the new year. joey and i surprised ourselves by being able to stay up to actually ring in the new year at midnight and as the clock starting ticking down i was feeling a little bittersweet, that's how good 2013 was! i was having a moment where i had to say goodbye to a wonderful year in hopes that the new year would be even better. and at the same time, i can't shake this feeling that 2014 will be yet another amazing year!

so here's a list of a few of my goals for 2014:
i want to start reading more, my goal is a book and a half a month (18 books for the year) including the book of mormon. this may sound easy but after having milly i don't read nearly as much as i used too. after i put her down for the night i get sucked into watching mindless entertainment on the tv which brings me to goal number two: watch less tv! i have plenty of books laying around the house that i have yet to read (perks of your husband working for amazon). i'm also gonna try to follow this online book club to help get ideas of what to read next.
another goal, which is a pretty big stereotype for the new year, is to loose wieght. specifically: get down to my wedding weight. i'm predicting i won't be a stereotype and give up in two months because i already started this journey in 2013, so technically i'm gonna be ending a goal in the new year...right? right! to help me achieve this goal and stay on track i want to sign up for my first half marathon. eek! but also exciting!
lastly: learn something new. the 68 year old woman inside me (or hipster, depending on how you look at it) is telling me to learn how to crotchet! what do you think? all in all, i'm hoping these goals will help me be a better person, because that's what's really important. happy new year y'all!

^ first photo of 2014!