Where Does The Time Go?

 Here is our favorite little man playing with Daddy.  If you notice, Nathan is under the blanket.  It was very fun to watch as Justin desperately attempted to uncover a snuggled up Daddy.   He is growing to fast and eating me out of house and home.  He can eat an entire container of "Easy Mac" and three chicken nuggets in one sitting!  He loves veggies and goldfish.  This week I bought him some Teddy Grams, but haven't given him any as of yet.  He is in between his 12 and 18 month clothes and fits into very few things!  He has a very long torso, but his legs are still pretty short.  I know that my brother Jeremy has the same issue...!

 One morning I woke up as usual to a little voice jabbering over the monitor, and slowly pulled myself out of my dream-state into reality.  I did the usual routine of going to the potty and then making him a bottle prior to going into his room.  You must understand that if he sees me and I don't have food right away he will let me know how upset he is.   So here is the situation, I walk in to a baby who is sleeping with what we call "snuggle blanky" over his face!  I was nervous at first that he might have hurt himself, or that he was suffocating.  Once I realize that he was fine, I began to laugh.  Then I went and got the camera!  Gotta love the sprawled out arms and legs too!  He sleeps just like his Dad!

And the last antic for the week is that while I was gone to Utah, Nathan discovered that our little man really adores sausage!  So on the tray in front of him, you see that he has some blueberry pancake and most of the sausage is gone!  I love that he has so much of his daddy in him (love of meat).  I am so blessed to have such fun boys in my life.  Between the two of them they really keep me on my toes.
     On a final note about myself, I am two weeks away from the end of my diet challenge.  It has been such a joy to learn about how to better take care of myself.  I am about 2 lbs. away from my goal for the 8 weeks and I know that I can beat that!  I don't think that most of the habits that I have formed during this time are going to change.  I feel so much better both physically and emotionally.  Taking care of yourself physically really can make a difference in ever aspect of your life!

Off, Off, and Away!

 First of all, my apologies for the stinky quality of my pictures this week.  Not sure what is up with my camera!  So I was out of here for the weekend and had a total blast with Natalie!  We started out a little later than we had originally wanted, due to the fact that Natalie is doing three jobs that should have three different people doing them!  She is a champ. So we began our journey to the south with a stop for lunch at 5th Street Bagelry in Poky.  I used to eat there almost daily when I was going to school and driving down each day.  Natalie had never experienced the finery of the super soft bagel smothered in high quality meats and cheeses with fresh veggies before.  She is now in love and promised me than one of these times when she has a lab down there, she will stop and hook me up with a few! :)
     When we arrived in Sandy, we went to our ghetto hotel (of which I now swear I am never reserving the hotel again)!  We then decided to make our first stop in our shop-extravoganza at Tai Pan Trading.  After spending at least two hours, we came away with some wonderful finds: Natalie a picture of the Helsinki Temple, and as for myself I got the large basket you see above and many other finds.  Then we made the decision to head off to dinner.  We called and made reservations at the Rodizio Grill in the Trolley Square mall.  It was really tasty and a whole new experience as the waiters bring around skewers of meat and they cut you some of each to try.  They just keep on coming until you turn this little thing over from green to red.  I really enjoyed the experience and my favorite thing was their Parmesan encrusted tomatoes, I would go again just for those!  After filling up we made the choice to head back to the hotel for a soak in the hot-tub and swim in the pool before getting some sleep.
     Saturday morning we got up and went strait to IKEA.  It was very easy for me to spend way more than I should have in that store!  We were there long enough that we decided to go ahead and have lunch there as well.  I had the stuffed Salmon with steamed veggies.  Everything was amazingly tasty and I convinced Natalie to split a piece of chocolate cake with me.  After lunch, we headed to the South Towne Center, which is a mall.  We bought a few things then found a salon and got our hair cut.  I really loved this, but my stylist was a talker and it took forever.  She told us we needed to head up to the Fashion Place Mall which has recently been remodeled.  They had a Carter's store where I bought some pants for my little man, and then Natalie and I both bought some Jeans as well.  And can I just say that the manager in Vanity at this mall was so amazing!  Natalie and I both decided that we would have bought the whole store if she would have told us to.  She was a great sales-woman!
      After that we went to dinner at Spaghetti Mama's in Sandy, and it was great food!  The service on the other hand really stunk!  We began our trek north and went to the Layton Hills Mall where we bought some unmentionables that both Nat and I really needed.  We headed home with a full car, and very happy hearts.  It was a wonderful trip home as we always have great conversations and enjoy our time together.  Natalie is more of sister to me than a cousin.  She truly is a blessing in my life and I love her very much!
     When I got home at around 2 in the morning my house was quiet and I could tell that Nate had tended it well.  He really gave me the best birthday present ever.  Now I feel recharged and ready to enjoy my days as a mom again.  Justin did really well and he is a happy little dude!  As you can see in the picture above, he is very mischievous and got into Mommy's bra drawer. He was carrying around that black one and then when I came in and caught him, he attempted to put it back in the drawer.  My only question is, what will he do next?  He is such a joy to have in our lives!  I smile each day thinking of the things that he has done!

My Birthday

I must apologize for my inability to follow my own resolution the last few weeks.  After Justin's birthday it seems that things just kept getting busier and busier!  The photo that you see to the right is my new finished wall in our basement, it is in our family room.  We have purchased a couch and it should be here sometime this week, they had to order it so that the chaise lounge would be where we wanted it.  It is a sectional and almost the same color as our upstairs furniture, which may sound funny but I really love how the upstairs furniture hides baby and Mommy marks!  I am really proud of the wall and thought those of you who don't live in town would love to see it.  The picture to your left now, shows you my sweet little boy with his present from his Great-Aunt Sue.  He still is carrying it around!  Out of all his wonderful birthday gifts he really loves the bus that Nana Thomas gave him, and the phone that Nana Meek gave him.  He is growing so fast and seems insistent on eating me right out of house and home!  I am glad that he is now on cows milk because it can help me balance my grocery budget!

     Nathan is working swings this week, which means he goes to work at about 1:00 pm and returns home at about 1:00 am.  So, that is why I actually have time to work on the blog tonight!  As you see in this pic, Justin confiscated my package from Aunt Sue as soon as I got it out of the mail box!  He insisted on carrying it around until I finally took it away from him so that I could give him his bottle before his nap.  He seems to be getting along really well at daycare each day and all of the girls in the tree house seem to sincerely be in love with his quirky personality.  He definitely is mischievous and gets into everything that catches is little gray eyes.

Nathan bought a new truck last night and seems to be very excited about it.  It is a White 99 Chevy.  I am actually willing to be seen in this one! :)  And it runs fairly quiet and doesn't have that horrible dead animal/exhaust smell in the cab.  Imagine that- Nate bought a truck that doesn't seem to belong at the junk yard for parts.

    Justin had his first chance to wander outside on Saturday as the weather here was so beautiful.  Don't worry it was just in our driveway as I got the paper and the mail and inspected the damage the snow has done to our poor lawn.  He giggled and laughed the whole time he was walking around as he thought he was getting away with something!  I was laughing as I was watching him do it.  Well, that is it for this week.  Tune in again next week and see what that little bugger is up to! :)
    Oh!  And on another note, I have lost more than 11 inches over my body in the last 4 weeks and almost 20 lbs. since January!  Yay me, GO ME!