October Fun

 We had great weather in October and took advantage of it one day after church and ate our dinner up in the tree fort.

It was a fun adventure

 Tyler turned 31 end of October.  He had a lot of fun surprises...including a surprise birthday party with all his buddies and a friend and I decorated his room at church where he teaches seminary from 6:00am-7:00am every morning to high school aged kids at our church.  I left some cupcake for him and his class in the fridge. 

 It was nice to just have one cupcake for everyone rather than a huge cake! 

We got daddy a bucket toilet for his birthday so Blake decided to try it out

 Carving pumpkins for Halloween

Lincoln log building buddies!

I have a Kindergartener

 Austin's first day of Kindergarten picture. He is in a Spanish Immersion program and it has been going so well! We love it! And he loves it.  He has an amazing teacher Senora Koppes. He has already learned a good amount of Spanish.  Tyler is very excited and happy with him, especially since his pronunciation of the words is perfect! 

Blake was COMPLETELY against a first day of preschool picture so this is just a random picture of him.  He goes to preschool twice a week and loves his class.  He's made a really great friend in his class too and those two are inseparable! 

Not long after school started Austin came down with a HORRIBLE toothache one night.  Thank goodness our dentist is a good friend so I texted him for some help and he got us in early the next morning.  Austin handled his new "robot tooth" like a champ! They couldn't pull it since his permanent tooth wasn't surfacing yet so he has a silver tooth now.  He is quite proud of it.

My Goals

 I started a weight loss journey when Cody was about 9 months old.  This picture was taken October 2015.  I was not happy with my weight but nursing is always a struggle for me and I feel like I have to eat a lot to keep my milk supply.  So I started a Health Challenge through Meltdown Challenge when my cousin encouraged me to join.  She was my Health Coach and I loved being a part of a group that supported me and encouraged me every day! I was surprised to lose 7 pounds in my first challenge of 6 weeks when I was still nursing and my goal wasn't even to lose weight! It was mainly to eat healthier.   My exercise has always been consistent so I knew my diet needed to change.

 This is me before my last Health Challenge I did starting June 2015.  I was down 13 lbs from the picture up above

This picture was taken July 2015.  I was so excited to meet my weight goal!!! I am 20 lbs lighter than the very top picture!  

Once I got down to the desired weight I continued my exercise pursuits.  I go to Fitcamp at our local YMCA 3 times a week and very recently our trainer had us do a 6 week bench press routine along with our other workout.  I increased my bench max from 155lbs to 170lbs! I never thought I would ever be able to lift that much. EVER! It was such a rush.  I had to get a guns picture as proof of what I have accomplished!  My workout buddy Whitney pushes me hard every workout! 

Blake Turns 4 - July 21

 Blake loves Hot Wheels cars so we had a Hot Wheels Birthday for him which was perfect for a hot day in July!  I completely messed up his bday cake which was going to be 3 layers, but only managed to salvage one layer so I made the rest into cake balls. We also had fruit on a stick representing a stoplight. Loved hose!

 I loved all these checker flags and colored balloons!

 LOVED the entrance! We used garbage bags and yellow duct tape.

 We have some spare tires from other occasions and I thought the entrance turned out perfect. 

 Tyler set up an obstacle course/racetrack in the backyard and the kids all brought their bikes to ride.  Perfect entertainment for a bunch of kids.  Also off in the grass we set up our PVC pipe car wash for everyone to get wet since it was so hot!

 The Start Line!

As much as Blake shies away from crowds he loves being the center of attention on his birthday which I am so glad cuz his birthday parties always seem to turn out the best! Happy Birthday to my sweet, soft spoken, adorable Blake!

Goodbye Dredge's!

So it took us FOREVER to blog about Spain....So here's to playing CATCH UP.  Not long after we returned from Spain I threw a Goodbye party for some really good friends of ours who are medical students and moving on to Iowa for residency.  Allison always threw AMAZING beyond AMAZING parties for everyone so I wanted to throw her something special.  We had a great turnout to give them a good ol' Texas Goodbye.  BYE Y'ALL!

 We had a great time with music and BBQ in the backyard

 We had a picture booth set up for everyone who came.  We had an instant Polaroid camera so everyone took their picture and taped it into a book and wrote a farewell note to them.  I was so excited that I got to have bales of straw in my backyard!

 Loved this sign my friend Kellie made for the party.  So much craftier than I could ever pull off.

 Food table before guests arrived.  I wish I would have got a close up of my mason jars with lace and twine and lemons floating in water. So cute!

We had a "SALOON" inside with Italian Sodas made by Bonnie and Spencer.  They turned out DELISH!

 Master Chef doing his thing!

 Water outside since it was pretty hot!

 Here they are! One of my favorite families! Allison was so fun and spontaneous and could get me to do anything crazy with her.  Things such as doorbell ditching at 11:30pm, going to the Y to swim in a flash flood warning downpour, and spending evening after evening late into the night helping her with her parties.  

I have loved all the people I have met here in Texas and I'm truly grateful for great friends like these gals!