The little things...

Today I keep seeing the little things.

My blankets stay in the same place all night.

I don't have to adjust the seat and mirrors in the car every time I get in.

My bedroom floor no longer collects dirty cloths.

I haven't found socks stuffed in random places.

There isn't a cup sitting on my kitchen window sill anymore.

I don't need my book light anymore.

My house is only missing one person, but sometimes it feels incredibly empty.

I should say that things have been going very smoothly the last few days. The girls are doing well and I am doing much better than Day One. Cadence is sick, but it looks like just a cold. We will see what tomorrow brings.

One tough day...

Today was the day! Brady was sworn in and left for basic training today. It was a bit insane. To start the day Brady had to be down at the recruitment office by 8:30am. We had packed up everything he needed the day before so we all got up early and headed out. Once they started the paperwork we found out that Brady and one other recruit had to be re-finger printed. Where the first ones went, no one knew. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but there were no finger print cards in the office as well as no ink. The Army office upstairs didn't have any either. Brady couldn't leave for Basic without them and so it was looking like he would have to go to Salt Lake to be printed and then on to Texas for Basic. He kept signing paper work, and I took the girls over to the Target that was next door to let them run around a bit. Brady was supposed to be sworn in at 10 am and pretty soon a bunch of family started showing up for all the recruits. Brady called to say that there was another problem. Normally an email is sent out to all available officers looking for volunteers to swear in new recruits. The email was sent, but during the holiday rush no one checked to see if anyone had signed up. No one had! We got back to the office and everyone started making phone calls to anyone that was qualified to do it. My Uncle Les, a retired Navy officer, could have done it but he was in Reno. There were other calls made but no one was picking up. Thankfully, my father-in-law got a call through to Billy McCoy, a friend of his, who was able to come down and swear in all four recruits. It was wonderful! Billy McCoy is a retired Two Star General and I am sure that the service was better for having him. He gave them some wonderful advice and you could tell that he truly enjoyed the opportunity. Plus he totally save the day for the recruits and all the family that had gathered to see them entered into service. After that we waited around to possibly get the finger printing done and they finally found some cards and sent the secretary down to Office Depot for an ink pad. We finally left the office at Noon and headed to In and Out for some lunch. Then it was off to the Airport to catch Brady's flight to San Antonio, Texas.

I wasn't anticipating how emotional I was. Here I am watching Brady hug the girls, whispering last minute love to them and seeing how hard it was for him to let them go. I hugged him twice and told him I loved him. Then he had to go. I felt like a huge piece of my heart was walking away and I am sure that he felt the same way. Rory chose that moment to start hollering "Bye Daddy!" and waving. She continued that all the way out to the car. As we were loading up Cady asked if we could get some ice cream and then come back and pick up daddy. We had been trying to explain, the best we could, that Brady would be gone for a LONG time, but Cady has no concept of that. I told her that we could get ice cream, but that daddy would be gone for a long time so we couldn't pick him up after that. She got quiet and I got Rory buckled in. When I looked up again Cady was crying. I asked her why she was crying she said, "Cause daddy isn't coming back." I unbuckled her and just held her for a bit and then explained that daddy was coming back, but not for lots of days. I told her we could make a chart and she could mark the days off until we would see him again at his graduation from basic training. That calmed her down. I was still a wreck. It didn't help that, for the rest of the day, every time the girls saw a plane they would holler out, "Bye Daddy! Come home soon!" Well Cady did, Rory would just yell "Bye" or "Daddy" which was just as bad.

I knew this would be hard. I knew it. But knowing something and living it are two completely different things. It is crazy, but I can say that I was 100% prepared for today and at the same time I wasn't prepared at all. I miss him so much right now, and it hasn't even been a day. And I know that a huge part of it is knowing that he isn't coming home. That everyday the girls will ask when daddy will be home and I will have to explain again where he is and why he is there. That every time they ask I will remember he is gone. That our lives are changing completely and I have no clue how, just when.

A good friend told me that it doesn't get better with time, but that you get used to it. I really hope so because this spontaneous crying really isn't like me at all.

I do need to say that I am so very grateful that I get to be here surrounded by family and friends. I have such a great support system here and I couldn't be more thankful. I have had so many people call or text just to check on me today and I can't tell you how much that means to me. All you wonderful people with kind words and advice on Facebook are AWESOME. Really. I am also thankful for two beautiful little girls who will keep me very busy for the next five months. Most of all though I am thankful for the gospel and my Savior, Jesus Christ. Brady and I have known for a long time now that this is the path that we are supposed to be on. We knew that it would be hard and extremely challenging for both of us, not to mention our children. We knew that there was a possibility of Rory not remembering much of Brady when we finally got to see him again. We knew that there was a possibility that Cadence would suffer emotionally from his loss in our home. We knew that this could possibly be very difficult on our extremely tranquil marriage. But I have come to learn that with the Spirit of the Lord in our lives, homes, and hearts, that all these possibilities could strengthen us as well. I know that because Brady and I are both on the same page temporally and spiritually that the Lord will make our family strong and that this difficult time our lives will be a beautiful time, a happy time, and a learning time. I am so thankful for the technology that will allow us to see and hear Brady after Basic is over. I am so thankful for prayer and the comfort that my Heavenly Father gives to me every time I need Him. I feel so very blessed!

I added some pictures of Brady with the girls. I will post our family one with the news letter soon. I hope that everyone had an Amazing Christmas and I look forward to seeing those who are coming down for the Wilson New Year get together on Friday! :o)

Little Miss Rory-pants

So Rory had her 15 month check up on Monday...MY BIRTHDAY! lol. She is doing well. She weighed 18 lbs 9 ozs which puts her at just under 3% on the charts. She was 30 inches tall though, which put her in the 25th percent. She was also 50% for head circumference. Apparently her head is the only NORMAL thing about her. :o)

The Dr did express some concern about her weight this appointment, as she has only gained 12 ounces in the last three months. I explained that Rory eats twice as much as Cadence at just about ever meal and then has two to four snacks a day. I calculated her calories for yesterday and she ate just over 2000 calories yesterday (a big chunk of that was some birthday cake for me, but still!). I figure her normal intake is about 1500 per day at this point. The Dr is baffled and has us giving her Pediasure to see if she can put on some weight. She is always on the go, she never stops, even in her sleep she moves all that time. I am not to concerned. She eats plenty, is healthy and happy. Other than having to keep her rear facing in the car (a HUGE challenge right now) her weight is actually kind of nice! She is easy to cart around! :o)

She has a bunch of words now. She says Daddy, Cady, Uh-Oh, Whats that?, Hi, Stop it, Stop it Cady, Good Girl, Uh-huh, woof-woof, Belly, Soft and Up. She never says Mommy. She jabbers non stop these days though. She LOVES her daddy and Cady. She will just walk up to Cady and give her hugs and open mouthed kisses all the time. She follows directions very well and I am pretty sure that she understands most of what we say now. She is also officially a climber. She climbs EVERYTHING. It is really starting to freak me out! She is also sleeping from 7:30pm to 6:30am almost every night. It is HEAVEN for me. I love my little bitty girl!

In other news, today was Brady's last day at my Dad's office. We will be leaving for Sea World tomorrow and then we have him until the 28th when he leaves for basic! I am starting to feel the panic/excitement. They have melded into one very frightening emotion these days. I will post more when we get back from Sea World! :o)

Oh, da car...

This is what our car looks like. It is a 1999 Lexus RX300 (the picture isn't our car, but that is exactly what it looks like). It is our only car. We have been living with one car since our ancient Ford Taurus bit the dust in July/August of 2008. I thought I was going to go crazy without my car. I really did. I was very wrong. Yes life is a little bit more difficult. I am ever so grateful for my mom and my other mom (Brady's mom) for always being willing to help us with rides and letting us borrow a car from time to time when we had the need. And to be honest our car has been a gem. IT IS OLD!!! It has about 170,000 miles on it! And we have had our worst trouble with it in the last 4 months. I can't really blame the car. When cars get old things need replacing, and that is what we have been doing for the last little while. What makes it scary is it is our ONLY car. We are quite stranded without it and THAT is scary to me.

I need to say that the Lord has blessed our car for us. I'm serious. This car only breaks down or needs a new part when we have the money for it. It is shocking really. The hard part is that we were planning on doing something else with the money. Something that we don't really need, but had been waiting for and hoping to get after MUCH saving and planning ahead.

This time our car has thwarted Brady's wish for a new computer. He doesn't need it, but it would be nice. But, today our car is in the shop. We were really worried that it would be the transmission, the only thing we can't afford to replace. And it's not like we can afford a new car right now. In a few months with Brady in the Air Force it would be possible, but that was with the money we could get for THIS car factoring in! I was on pins and needles this morning waiting to hear what it would be and the cost. Right now things are looking good for the car, but very bad for Brady's computer funds. You would think we would be used to the pattern by now, but I don't think I ever will be. I am thankful for it though. I am thankful that we have always had the money needed to repair this important part of our lives. I am looking forward to next year when we will be able to trade this great car in for a newer, more spacious, less OLD vehicle. I will miss this car though. It has been so reliable for so long and really that is all you can ask for in a car. :o)

So behind...

I am totally behind on my blogging. In my defense I have been really busy lately with lots of last minute photo shoots, a Christmas choir I am singing in, being a mom and wife, getting ready to go to Sea World next week, trying not to think about my birthday next week, getting ready for Christmas, and preparing my family for the day Brady is leaving. I have pictures of the girls I need to post, but that probably won't happen for another couple of days with all the pictures I already have to work on and get up on my site.

I am holding steady at 154lbs, which is pretty nice considering all the food and crap that goes on this time of year. :o) I am hoping to lose some more by next week!

I am going to leave it at this for now. Just know that we are well and things are CRAZY! Hope you all are having a great Holiday Season so far!

My weight week...

I apologize for this being all I have posted of late, but things have been really crazy lately. I weighed in at 153lbs this morning and I am happy to still be losing!

Had a great couple of girls nights this past week! Watched Twilight and then saw New Moon. LOVED New Moon (yes I am a Twilight Saga Fan...yes there is part of me that is annoyed by my love for it...but for the most part I just enjoy it). Ashleigh and Wendhy we are totally doing that again next summer, I don't care WHERE I have to fly in from. And I officially found my "Team" Shirt...it says "Team Switzerland...enough said." :o) I really can't decide...and since I have the most fabulous guy in the world "imprinted" on me I figure I can get a way with being ambivalent.

We are getting closer to the day Brady leaves and it is going by way to fast for me. I am really starting to get nervous about it and I am wondering how I will cope. I am really really really glad for all of you family and friends out there whom I know I can lean on a bit once he goes. Thanks so much in advance for that!

Coming soon: Family pictures from both sides! :o) They won't be anything fantastic since I am taking them with self timer and hoping the kids all look where they should!

My weight week and other news...

I weighed in today at 154 pounds! I am surprised since this week was loaded with parties and all kinds of other problem situations (food situations). My niece turned five on the 4th and her party was the 10th, at Chuck E. Cheese, followed by the Thunderbird Air Show on Saturday (all day out of the house) and then my brother-in-law, Colin's, surprise going away party combined with my other brother-in-law, Casey's birthday! Crazy amount of food and goodies going on there. I still managed to keep things under control! I am so proud of myself! One more complication added to the pile is I threw out my back Saturday morning (this is the fourth time in the last 18 months). This started when I was pregnant with Rory and has been a problem ever since. I hate it because, even though it goes back in by itself with in a day or two, it stays bruised for four or five days and so I can't work out at all and it makes it hard to do some of the house work that needs doing!! Annoying and just not fun. So with any luck I should be back to working out in a few days.

In other family news, I want to wish Brady's brother, Colin, luck as he leaves for basic training today! He joined the Army around the same time we were doing the Air Force thing. Colin's wife, Heather, and I will both be moving sometime around May. Any extra prayers would be much appreciated!

Christmas shopping has officially started over here as well. I plan to take advantage of Black Friday sales as much as I can so we can get the stuff the girls want and need at better prices. Cadence has a list a mile long, and I have no clue what to get Rory seeing as she gets all Cadence's hand-me-downs and we already have more than enough toys. :o) I am totally looking forward to Thanksgiving and seeing my siblings all together and trying to get a family picture before Brady and I are gone for who knows how long. That and spending time with my sisters and teaching everyone how to make beanie hats on our knitting looms, and trying to make some mozzarella cheese with mom. Should be a fun Thanksgiving!

My weight week...

I weighed in at 156 lbs this morning! Aunt Flo is still visiting, so I'm interested to see how next Monday shapes up.

I love my new app! Lose It is totally awesome and I have only gone over my calories once this week! I am soooo proud of myself and I feel much better too. I am really amazed by how full I am and I am really amazed by the things that I am willing to pass up now because of the Nutritional Info on the box. I totally didn't know that a serving of M&M's has over 1000 calories.

I am still craving my sweets. Thankfully all the halloween candy is in those fun sizes so I can have one or two and not blow my whole day.

All in all I feel like I am doing great for my first week and I hope to keep seeing and feeling results! :o)

I love my girls...

My girls are the best. They love on each other all the time. Cadence is always hugging Rory and Rory is always getting annoyed with how much Cady is hugging her. If I tell Rory no, she crys and runs to Cady for a hug. I love how much they love each other and how well they get along. They are the best part of my world and I look forward to every day that I get to spend learning and growing with them! Bonnie has been an awesome addition. She is soooooo patient with all the crazy stuff that the girls put her through. We love her and life wouldn't be the same without her! Here are some pictures of my beauties. Enjoy...

Weighty Issues...

Some of you may know that I have been trying to lose weight for almost 10 months now. Trying and failing. By trying I mean I would exercise as much as I could get in everyday before the kids would try killing themselves or Rory's insane screaming for me to hold her made working out pretty pointless. I could usually get a good 30 minutes in. I was watching what I ate as well, but not as strictly as I could have. I have never been good at following a set diet plan. I do better just watching my portions of the things that I like to eat, while adding in some new things slowly here and there. Not that I'm not up for new things, I am, but I do have true aversions to certain foods and sooooooooo many "diet" plans include large amounts of my aversion foods. I realize that I sound like I am making up excuses, but honestly I am trying to save myself pain and sometimes embarrassment. Case in point: Tofu. I have several healthy minded friends that have told me time and again that I just need to substitute Tofu for certain other things and that I would feel fuller and it would be healthier, etc. Like I said, I am game for new things so I went out and got some to give it a try. I then spent the next 12 hours vomiting. Yes, vomiting. It was horrible. I am not allergic to Tofu. I have no idea why this happens to me, but it does. I have an extremely sensitive gag reflex when it comes to fish. I love the taste, but after about 3 bites I can't force anymore down no matter how much I like it. There are some other things as well, but you get the point. So for a while now I have been working out and trying to eat better and nada. My body has changed dramatically since my high school days when all I had to do was exercise and my body would stay where I wanted it. Now it takes much much more.

When Brady and I got married I weighed 123 pounds. This past Monday I weighed in at 160 pounds even. I have never weighed this much (when not pregnant) in my entire life. My Dr.'s assure me that I am not unhealthy yet, but I know I am because my body is screaming at me to get the weight off. A week ago I was getting extremely discouraged about it in general. I don't like the woman in the mirror and mirror woman is stubbornly hanging on for dear life (or at least the last 10 months). The worst part is that I can't even blame it on pregnancy! I ALWAYS lose my pregnancy weight within 2 months of having the baby. At the 2 month mark I am always back to where I was before getting pregnant. I feel very lucky, but despite nursing both girls for over a year and staying active and really stepping it up for 5 of those 10 months I GAINED weight. It's frustrating, especially because I have no major medical reason to blame, nor have I had trouble losing in the past.

After two days of self pity (that is the max I will allow myself on any topic) I decided to make some major changes. I found a good tracking app on my iPhone to help me really count my calories (thank you Stef for that one...I remembered reading on your blog about the one you use and you are right! It ROCKS!) The app is called Lose It and it is free. It figured out how many calories I can eat a day if I want to get to my goal weight by losing 1 or 2 pounds a week. It will even help you maintain a weight. You can also input any exercise you have done and it will keep track of that. I have also started taking the girls and the dog on as long of a walk my body can stand (the girls in the stroller are heavy to start, then you add in all the major inclines here in Providence and I am burning everywhere in no time). Once my body gets used to the walks again (I'm giving it 2 weeks) I will then add back in my videos. I think I have picked some good ways to get back on track.

The plus side? I started on Monday with the tracking and my current weight is 155.5. I have already lost 4.5 pounds. I anticipate gaining some of that back temporarily since Aunt Flo will be dropping by today or tomorrow for her monthly visit, but I anticipate that I will have lost some more by the time she leaves.

I wanted to post this here so that I feel more motivated to meet my goals. :o) With you all checking up on me every now and again I won't want to let you down. Plus I want to prove that this can be done. Like I said before, this has never been an issue for me until now. I have always been lucky enough to stay thin pretty easily so this has been humbling and challenging. So keep me in line you guys! I will be weighing in weekly and I hope that I see some changes.

I will say that I feel better now that I am back to exercising vigorously (I have been coming home from these walks pretty wiped out). Thank you to those of you at church who have offered to run with me. Sadly running is not something I can do well, as I have a heart murmur and I have been advised to avoid running and sports like soccer that involve a lot of steady running back and forth. I do play Volleyball and Softball and I can ride a bike (and pull the kids).

PLEASE feel free to share any ideas with me. I can use all the variety I can get my hands on! And thanks for reading all this and for your help in keeping me accountable. I want to be bikini ready next year (even if I wouldn't be caught dead in one!)

Until next monday...

Our Halloween...

This year Halloween was a busy time for our family! We went to the pumpkin patch, played and found the perfect pumpkin (I am very much a pumpkin carving person and my pumpkins need to be just so...) here is what we ended up with! :o)

We had to modify the pattern Cadence wanted to be big enough for the face and, thanks to mom's pro art skills, then we were ready to get to the good part! Cutting!

These pictures would not load in the right order, but I think you can figure it out! :o)

EWWWWW! Gooey fingers! AHHHHHHHHH!

Our Halloween festivities started on Thursday with our ward Trunk or Treat! Brady dressed up for that. Thursday our Master HOA (Providence) had Trick or Treating at the Promenade (a really long walking area between communities that is accessible at both ends and has a little play ground for the kids. Local businesses signed up to hand out candy and to give out information. It was really really fun! Then on Halloween we went to the Shark Reef and had a blast! That night we went to Grandma Suzi's Ward Trunk or Treat and had a blast! Grandma Vivian, Grandpa Randy, Aunt Cecily, Tyson, Uncle Colin, Aunt Heather, Saylor and Paisley were all there and we now have too much candy. Brady didn't join us since he was going on a "guys night" to see Frank Caliendo with all the boys in his family! He said it was awesome and I am glad that they got to have some fun before all of us head our separate ways! Pictures...

Our Lady Bug was a bit afraid of the Afro Pirate...

Brady as the Afro Pirate...

Our Lady Bug...

And our Unicorn...

We had a great Halloween! I hope that you all did too!

Want a bunch of good laughs?

Check this website out:

mylifeisaverage.com

You won't regret it...

Meet our newest little girl...

Her name is Bonnie (I know...not what I would have chosen...). She is 4 years old and is a Chihuahua Mix. We aren't sure what she is mixed with since she is a bit longer than most Chihuahua's and has these crazy awesome spots all over. Her head and ears are a lovely rich brown and she has the sweetest face in the world. She is smart and I am pretty sure that she will be house broken soon (she was pad trained so she we are trying to teach her to let us know when she has to go...). Cady has been asking for a dog for sometime now, and she had some savings from birthday's past so my amazing other mother (Brady's wonderful mom, Suzi) took us down to the NSPCA to check out the doggies that they had. I really didn't want a puppy (way to much work), I wanted a small dog (as small as I could get really) and the dog needed to be good with the kids. We told the gals down there what we were looking for and out comes Bonnie! She started licking us all over and then jumped right into my lap. She let Cadence walk her around really easily and she didn't bark at us or the other dogs around her even when the rest of the dogs were going nuts. We asked Cadence if Bonnie was our dog and she said, "No, she is my dog." The small dog expert thought that was pretty funny. She warned us that the dog would probably want to sleep with someone and Cadence looked right at her and said, "Don't worry, I have a big bed!" It was a done deal from there. We signed the papers, paid the fee, and off we went to get the things that we needed for her to live with us!

I love her already. She sleeps all night with Cadence in her own cushy bed on Cady's bed, and we have only had two accidents so far! She loves to play tug and chase the girls around the kitchen. She is also big on cuddling up with people which Cady loves. She is always licking Rory's nose which makes Rory laugh and doesn't mind when Rory pulls her tail or lays on her/hugs her. The Shelter told us that she came in with a family who had a little girl about Rory's age. They were giving her up because she had been the grandma's dog and she had gone to hospice and recently passed away. Bonnie is very friendly and super sweet. She likes to go on walks and listens to most of my commands. She has been my little shadow for the last little bit and has finally settled in enough that if I leave a room she doesn't always follow. We love our little Bonnie and can't wait to grow old with her!

About time...

I know I am a slacker! Things here have been busy and yet not. We have been transitioning Rory to her own room, which was quite the ordeal since we had to get all my craft stuff moved out of her room! We made a new home for it in the loft (got a sweet new cabinet to store all my fabric in!! Thanks mom!) and I got a new Sewing desk from my Mom-in-law that is totally awesome! I will have to take pictures once I have it completely ready! I painted Rory's room a sunny yellow and we moved her mattress in after it had aired out! She is doing alright in there and it is SOOOOOO awesome to have our room to ourselves again. Brady and I haven't had our room to ourselves since before Cadence was born...yeah...

Anywho, I have been busy getting our house organized and our garage is now full of stuff for the big Providence Yard Sale on the 24th of October. Our address with be on the map they hand out at the information center as will every other address participating so if you are looking for some good deals come on out this way on the 24th from 7am - 12pm!

Cadence and Rory have been great...with a few exceptions of course. Cadence had the chicken pox at the end of August and we thought that was it until she got another out break at the end of September...not cool. Rory has had two Chicken Pox total but she has had a horrid diaper rash for the last two weeks and has been extremely clingy. It has been rough, but Cadence has been a huge help as she tries to keep her sister occupied with silly games and funny faces so I can get a few things done here and there. Other than that things have been really pretty mundane around here! lol.

Brady will officially leave for Boot Camp on December 28th. He will be there for two months and then he will be off to Computer Training for about three months. We are hoping for more details soon, but for now it is nice to know that he will be getting paid and will begin a career that he will enjoy and have the opportunity to grow in! I am really starting to look forward to moving somewhere new and seeing now places and new people!

Here are some recent pictures of the girls...Cadence has been helping me with some product shots for a dear friend who makes the most beautiful bracelets! :o)

We can't decide what color Rory's eyes are...as you can see they are very yellow/golden in the center, but the outside is a grey/blue...I think they are lovely, but when people ask I have no idea what to tell them! lol...


We hope you are all well and are looking forward to Halloween! We are!

I just love them...

Aren't they just wonderful?

Rory and Aidric get their party on!

Rory and Aidric had their 1st birthday party on Sat! It was a blast and there was much preparation for this massive party beforehand! I made the cakes and it was totally fun! Here is what it looked like once assembled and frosted...

There are a total of 6 cakes involved here! The bottom layer was banana cake (SOOOOOO GOOD!), the middle layer was pumpkin chocolate, and the top was lemon! It was awesome!

The is the finished cake!



And the smash cakes which were rainbow chip! :o)

The party was awesome and we had so much fun with all the kids that came, and especially all the family that was able to come from all sides! I'll let the pictures tell the story from here!