Health and Fitness

A New Me

So i recently started getting back into the groove of things as far as fitness goes. I took a little break over the summer until about a month ago due to being overly excited that my husband was back from deployment as well as never wanting to leave his side. (LOL) 

Ive just joined a new ALL female fitness center and I absolutely LOVE it. They make you feel so welcome and comfortable there. There are a TON of fitness classes and groups, amazing childcare, and TANNING (WOO!) because this FL girl is starting to look a little pasty! 

My first class that I ever tried was STEP. O.M.G. Although I cheered for a few years, that class took some coordination. It was a full body workout and super fast paced. I loved it, but I definitely was looking a little crazy in there. 

What I most like about the classes is that they are a jump in kind of thing. Beginners-Advanced. All of the instructors are so amazing and full of energy and spunk. I love it! 

Just recently started ZUUUUUMBA! Hello booty shakin'! This white girl can shake a few things. (HAHA) I love that Zumba is so fun that you forget its an actual workout. 

Ive also been doing Yoga-Pilates lately and I just really enjoy that class. Learning new poses, learning to balance my body and mind and meditating is so refreshing. This is definitely a class I think everyone should try at least once in their life. I always leave this class just feeling so relaxed and at peace with myself. Its AMAZING <3

So looking forward to being a member of this amazing gym for the next 9 months, I know I'm really going to miss it when we move!

Cant wait to go to zumba tomorrow morning. That is all.

HO HO HO!

AHHHH... Christmas time, already? Where has the time gone? I seriously can not believe that this year is almost over. SIGH. I am so ready to get this next year started though. NINE more months until Dustin is FREE of the army. The army does have its pros and cons but lately there have been way more cons. We are anxiously counting down the days. I would say I hope it flies by, but then my babies will just grow up in the blink of an eye and I am just not ready for that. 

Anyways, It is December here and Maryland and Blakelyn is LOVING the snow. It makes me so happy that she gets so excited about snow and especially Christmas. She loves the Christmas music, and the lights and the trees. I just wish i could get more into the "holiday" spirit. Without family and friends here it is hard for me. That is ONE thing I am definitely counting on, having FAMILY around again. Decorating the tree together, putting up Christmas lights. The whole Shebang. (LOL) Whatever keeps me going right?

Going Christmas shopping with a friend tomorrow. I cant wait to see the girls' faces when they open their gifts on Christmas morning. BTW, did i mention we are so far behind? We still dont have a tree. Totally my fault. Dustin works a crazy shift, and i just dont enjoy doing anything without him. GRR!

Merry Christmas! Im sure I will be blogging again soon! ;) 

Here are some adorable photos.

The babes!

Thought I would write this just to remind me.    😄

Current likes : 

Blakelyn - (Age 2)  Tigers, Christmas anything!, painted nails, strawberry pancakes, Bass pro shop (animals) , chickfila, chocolate milk, anything chocolate (lol), going to the park,singing, dancing, Mr. Sun & Mr. Moon, Jumping in the Fall leaves, Ponies, Santa Claus

Things to watch :

Noonburies, Dora the explorer, Jake and the never land pirates, spongebob, The hungry caterpillar, Daniel Tiger, Bo on the  Go, A turtles tale. A tale from the mighty jungle. The lorax

Funny things that Blake says :

"Mommy, I'm a tiger" 

Referring to the moon "it's too high, Ill just get a ladder"

"Sissy don't go to sweep. We almost home" ;) 

"Mommy, I go see Santa cwaus"

"I wike Miss Taba, she nice"

"Trouble, trouble, trouble" (Taylor swift) 

Alivia- (Age 14 months) Dora, Babies, Binkies, ANYTHING FOODwise, Playing at the mall, the fox song (BOTH), taking wipes out of the container, baths, music

Words :

"uh, oh"
"mama"
"dada"
"dorda" (dora)
"hi"
"baba" (baby)

Long Time No Post

Havent been posting lately due to .... well just being extremely exhausted and lazy. LOL.

Anyways, since my last post I think there has been TWO holidays already. So crazy how fast this year has flown by I can not even believe it. This time last year I had just had Alivia. Was a very emotional time for me because Dustin wasnt there with me. But we got through it and it has definitely been so amazing since he has been home. Cant believe it has already been 7 months since he returned to us. :)

Our girls are growing entirely too fast. Blakelyn will be three in THREE months. AHH! Where has the time gone? She is truly an incredible little girl. So smart and kind. She learns things very quickly. Been speaking in complete sentences, asking questions, answering questions. She can color, sing, dance. She always brings so much joy to anyone shes around. I firmly believe that is her purpose on this earth, to bring joy and love to those around her. I am so blessed to be her Mother.

Alivia is now 14 months old. She can say so many words. She can even say "dora" and show you where she is on her walls in their room. She has been walking since before her first birthday. Definitely a different spirit than Blake, but i LOVE it! She is also a true blessing. Always smiling with those HUGE blue eyes. I can not wait to see what she learns next.

I am beyond excited to see where the rest of this year takes us.

Vacation--Tuesday

So we got up and met our sister Scarlette after her baby appointment at the duck pond. The kids absolutely loved it! I have never seen so many there at once. Me and Livy just watched while Blake, Emmy and Jayden fed the duckies! Here are a few photos of our fun little adventure ;) 

              Pie-pie and the girls! 

         Emmy wasn't scared at all! 

        Livy just watched with mommy! 

One flew right in front of us, how exciting!

              Blake was surrounded! 

                Look guys! Ducks! 

Getting too close to the water, Blake! 

           She wasn't ready to leave! 

After the duck pond we enjoyed some yummy tacos at Taco Bell! 

Didn't snap the greatest photo here.

Headed over to Ulta Beauty after that. Spent a little too much ;) but the girls had fun! 

Later that night we (Meg & I) got the chance to go out with some friends. Much appreciated. Lots of fun! 

           Dolled up! Mommy time!

                        Primpin'

Thanks nana for watching the girls! (Blake passed out and is not pictured) 

      Nana cut her bangs! What a doll! 

Sunday in Florida!

So it was a loooooooong drive, but it was definitely worth it. I love my girls getting to see their family. Family means a lot to me. 

Forgot to share some of my Sunday pics!

             Church was great!  

                 Time for Grams! 

            Playing with my girl! 

             Time for Nana fun! 

Monday Funday!!!!

So took a drive from Maryland Friday to Tennessee to pick up Meg and Emmy. Left Saturday for Florida. 

Been hanging out with our family. It has been so much fun. 

Church with mom and my sister on Sunday. The girls also loved it. Then went to grams for the usual family lunch get together. (I miss that) saw so many wonderful people. Uncle D & Aunt Mary. DJ & Alex and their beautiful babies. Uncle Danny & Terry. An of course our amazing Gram. She cooks the best food around this area! 

Today we took the girls back over to grams and hung out for a while. Went to lunch with mom and our girls at Sonny's (yummy!) and then chilled at home. 

We took the babies for a walk to see the ponies and of course they LOVED it. 

Some bath time fun which ended with POOP! 

And now we are all enjoying some much needed back rubs while watching some Lion King. 

So blessed. 

Here are some photos of our day, enjoy! 

                 Little bit of Sonny's

                  Walking time!!!

               Time for dinner!!! 

                   Movie time!!!!

Kilgore Falls

I am a little behind blogging about our amazing experience at Kilgore Falls here in Maryland. Dustin and I are always trying to find ways to have fun here. We are from Florida so we are serious beach people. Since Maryland has nothing even close to Florida, we search for fun outdoorsy things to do. While searching Dustin found this beautiful place. It is about an hour and a half drive from where we live but so worth it. We hiked about a mile through a crazy trail and finally reached the beautiful Falls. The girls absolutely LOVED it. I mean what is better than mud, water and rocks? We hit the jackpot and the best part was that we only paid $5 to park. Enjoy some beautiful family photos :)

Here's Daddy and the girls on the way up the trail.

 

A sweet stranger asked to grab our phone and snap this shot. Love it!

 

Alivia was really enjoying the freezing cold water, and the rocks.

 

Blake really enjoyed looking for rocks.

 

Daddy's Little Buddy. Isnt she so tiny?

 

 

Couldn't have been a better weekend. Summer is now over but we had a few good summer days here in Maryland. I just keep falling in love with my family. Each day more and more.

 

 

The All Natural Way

So it has been a little over two weeks since my husband and I decided we wanted to change our eating habits as well as our childrens'. After reading into what fast food restaurants and chain grocery stores put into their products, it was quite disturbing to us. This didn't come easy to us because like America, we LOVED us some fast food. Why might you ask? Because it is FAST and for me its because I don't have to dirty my kitchen or cook it myself. I know, I know that sounds extremely lazy. But what is America? We like everything to be fast. We basically approached it the "cold turkey" way. Just decided one day to stop eating all of the fast food, sugar, and junk food. Has it been easy? NO! I swear I am having pizza hut, buffalo wing withdrawals. Oh and soda withdrawals. SO. NOT. FUN. But, I think one of the biggest reasons we decided to do this is because of our two adorable girls. We don't want to raise them on McDonald's and high fructose corn syrup. I am guilty of being so exhausted and running to McDonald's or Chickfila to get them meals. Its fast and easy. But it is not healthy unfortunately. It has been especially hard getting Blakelyn into this new eating style. She's what we call our "grazer", the girl can eat all day long and still be hungry. So I like to always have little snacks for her. I would like to share some of our new found, Natural and organic favorites. :)

These are the girls' absolute FAVORITE. You can find them at Target, or Natural Food Stores.

• Gluten, Egg, and Peanut Free
• Little to NO mess
• No artificial flavors
• Dissolves easily for teethers
• Comes in Banana and Vegetable Flavor

Get them, your babies will LOVE them!!!

Another Favorite of the Girls! Not to mention the adorable little panda. Gluten and Wheat Free. I like knowing that my little ones have all natural ingredients in their bellies vs. things that could harm them.

 

 

 

My new found favorite from David's Natural Market. All NATURAL and unsalted peanut butter.

It just tastes delicious. And is about the same price as what you would buy from a chain grocery store.



So this is just a little about our new found journey into the All natural Way ;)

~UPDATES~

Haven't blogged in a while and would like to get back into it regardless if anyone reads them!


BIG Things that have happened so far :

• 16 DEC 2009 - Man of my dreams proposed to me in Harrogate, England. Magical!

• 05 MAR 2010 - Married to my amazing soul mate!

• 29 MAR 2011- Gave birth to a beautiful Blakelyn Grace; 7lbs, 11 ozs; Colorado Springs

• 04 AUG 2012- Dustin left for deployment; Afghanistan; 9 months

• 03 OCT 2012- Gave birth to sweet Alivia Jane; 6lbs, 1 oz; Gainesville, FL

• 05 MAY 2013- Daddy returns home to see Blakelyn Grace & meet Alivia for the first time!

Just wanted to start with giving a little update about my life. I love everything about my life. Such an amazing husband who just happens to be my best friend and two beautiful daughters. I will be blogging about anything and everything. Hope you enjoy!