Our camping trip

Ryan got a long weekend this week so we decided to escape reality and runaway to the woods of Arkansas with our kids. It was a little last minute but we pulled it together and made it work. 

People have told me time and time again how brave we were to take the girls camping. I never once thought of how brave it was, it wasn't hard at all! Something about being outside in the fresh air makes my girls calm, it was the easiest 3 days ever. 

We did a lot of biking, exploring, hiking, and playing in water. 

EmmaLee loved playing with the flashlight in the tent once it got dark and AddiLyn slept like a rock both nights. 

The only problem we had was the second night Emma had a meltdown in the middle of the night, she woke up scared because she forgot where she was. So Ryan sat in the car with her until she calmed down. Not a huge deal. 

I didn't go camping with my family a whole lot as a kid, but the few times we did go I felt so close to my family and so happy. I want our kids to have lots of fun memories they can look back on and hopefully remember how much they love being together as a family. Camping brings us close, so Ryan and I plan to do it a lot as a family.

Camping List

I'm kind of a list person. I love everything about lists. And I made a really good camping list so I want to record it for next time we go camping, and I can add more the more we go and learn. Anything paper gets destroyed at my house in a matter of minutes so I'm recording it on here, safe from little toddler hands :) 

AddiLyn:

Bedding - laundry basket or little tent

                Blankets

Bumbo

Clothes: - warm Jammie's 

-onsies

-jacket

-socks, hat, gloves

-diapers/wipes/desitin

- binky and binky strap

-swim suit

-moby wrap/ carrier

EmmaLee:

Bedding - pillow/blankets/teddy bear

-toothbrush/toothpaste/brush

-warm pjs 

-pants/shorts/shirts

-socks/shoes

-swim suit/towel

- jacket/hat

- toys (bucket and shovel, little things like that)

-diapers/wipes/panties

-books/crayons/paper for calm down time

-sippy 

Ryan and my stuff

Miscellaneous:

-tent

-sleeping bags/pillows/extra blankets

-bikes/bike trailer

-umbrella

-frisbee

-playpen with fitted sheet to go on top

-book

-sunglasses/sunscreen

-camera

-bug spray/bear spray/Ryan's bear grills stuff

-air mattress if there's room 

-Plastic garbage bags

-skewers 

- flashlight

-camping stove

-matches/lighter

-soap/wash rags

-aloe Vera

-Benadryl 

-first aid kit

-camping chairs

-pots/pans

-cooler/ice

-toilet paper/paper towels

- food safety bag and rope

-

Food ideas we used (what worked and what didn't)

Breakfasts: oatmeal with fruit. Worked great, just brought a bunch of apples and oatmeal. Cooked them both over Ryan's cooking stove with some cinnamon and a little brown sugar. Super tasty and easy. (too humid to start fires in the morning) 

Also thought about bringing things from home, like premade oat bran muffins. 

Lunches: PB&J. Easy. Did that for all lunches.

Dinners: Tin foil dinners, precooked meat. Worked great.

Pigs in a blanket with veggies(veggies were wrapped in tin foil at home and then cooked over fire in tin foil). Got non-nitrate hot dogs and wheat dough and cooked them over the fire. Didn't agree with Emma's tummy. Not my favorite meal.the veggies worked great though! Probably won't do this again.

Snacks:

Carrots/apples/trail mix/granola bars/ crackers. Crackers were messy. 

-pots/pans

-paper plates, cups and utensils 

A day at the lake

We've been trying to go to the lake for awhile now, the first time we went it was closed for a triathlon, and then a random lightening storm appeared out of nowhere once we got there the next time.

But this weekend, we finally made it! 

We got there and had a nice little picnic and then played in the water.

EmmaLee played hard for about an hour and a half, and then fell fast asleep in my arms. She hasn't done that in a loooong time. I loved it!

AddiLyn splashed in the water a little bit too but slept most of the time in her car seat that was mounted on the stroller. So Ryan and I switched off going on swims. I needed the practice! Doggy paddle is the only thing I do when it comes to swimming, so I practiced the different strokes. It was quite the workout. 

Here are some pictures

We went home and ate German pancakes for dinner. I'd say it was a Saturday well spent :)

AddiLyn is 4 months

My tiny chunk is 4 months old! 

Where did the time go? It seems like it was just yesterday that I was looking at her as a tiny scrawny baby, wishing she would stay awake for more than 10 minutes. Now I can't ever get her to sleep! ;) 

Stats: 14 lbs and 26 inches (75% for both)

-Wears 0-3 month clothes still but their starting to get a little snug, so she's finally fitting into 3-6 month clothes!

- Wears size 2 diapers

- Smiles A LOT. She's such a happy baby. ( She even smiled at the nurse after she gave her the shots... After she screamed at her of course.)

- Doesn't take bottles very easy. 

-Takes a binky at night 

- Hand eye coordination is developing great. Reaches and grabs on to things.

- Fights nap time just like her sister. Stinkers.

- Has rolled over once. Hates tummy time.

- Loves being in her car seat. We can get her to sleep easiest by walking around with her in her car seat.

- Sucks on her hands and is a little drooly

- Still has blue eyes and still has her dark hair

- Loves watching EmmaLee play

- Sleeps through the night! 

- Nurses exclusively, about 8-10 times a day

We love our sweet little AddiLyn Mae!!!

20 facts about Ryan!

I don't blog about Ryan very often, even though he's a huge part of my life. I love him so much! So I've decided since I wrote out 20 little known boring facts about myself, I'd come up with 20 facts for Ryan too, since this IS our blog, afterall.

So here you go.

Facts I know about Ryan that not many other people know.

1- Ryan is an amazing cook. His taste in food is extravagant, he likes things with lots of flavor and texture and he does an excellent job at making up great recipes.

2- He is sensitive. He has such a sweet sensitive soul. 

3- He is all about being the manliest man. He has even researched the art of manhood.. Meaning how to be best at chivalry, outdoor skills, things like that. 

4- He doesn't like candy very much. He can eat a piece or two and he's done. Chocolate too. It blows my mind.

5- When he was younger he put himself through ninja training, that's what he called it. He ran around the ranch smacking things with sticks, jumping off small cliffs into ravines, climbing up vines and trees... All on his own. He's a self trained ninja.

6- He wanted to be a construction worker up until he got home from his mission, then he decided to go with his dad's counsel and go into accounting. With no regrets.

7- He has a patch of dark skin on his left upper quadrant of his abdomen. It's a skin condition that's been caused by halo moles, at least that's what he's been told by dermatologists.

8- He's a good problem solver. When I come to him with a problem that needs to be solved he almost always can solve it. He's creative in that way.

9- He still opens the car door for me, even after almost 5 years of marriage. I love that.

10- Ryan doesn't get angry easily. Seriously. I've seen him noteably angry only a couple of times our whole marriage. 

11- When were driving down the highway at night he can look at the backlights of a car and guess what type of car it is and tell me everything about the car. He almost always guesses right, just by the shape of the backlights. It's nuts. He knows a lot about cars.

12- He's working on getting his CPA, he's a couple credits away from being able to take the CPA exam. So he's registering for college (even though he already has a bachelors degree in accounting) to take an ethics course that's required to test.

13- EmmaLee and AddiLyn have him wrapped around their pinky fingers.. He has the hardest time disciplining Emma. He does it anyways but he always feels so bad afterwards. I've been putting him through a crash course on how to discipline. I'm the mean one. ;)

14- Ryan has a goal to get up early and read scriptures, and he listens to conference talks to and from work. He's amazing.

15- His favorite superhero is captain America.

16- He asked me to marry him on both knees :)

17- He has a need for speed when driving. Cars, four wheelers, bikes, you name it. If it's driveable he will drive it about as fast as it can go at least once. It drives me nuts! Crazy man driver. 

18- He doesn't like playing games (card games, chess.. Stuff like that) with me because he hates losing :) 

19- Ryan loves doing things outdoors. He's a mountain man at heart.

20- He's the best husband and friend a girl could ask for! I'm a lucky girl to be able to call him my man :)

Healthy Living

Why do I care about my weight?

I don't. Not really. I used to be very conscious about my figure but these days that's not on my mind. I actually love my amazing body, I mean, it can grow a beautiful human in 9 months and it can solely sustain that humans life for months after their born. Wow. How can you not respect something with that great ability? 

No, it's more of a need to be healthy for my family. A need to be a good example to my girls. It's a need to be happy with myself. It's a need to get rid of the negative energy, anxiety and stress that I grudgingly carry with me way more than I'd like.

That's the reason I care so much about my health. It's not because I want to look better than everyone else, it's because I want to feel better than I ever have. 

Having goals helps me keep on the path of healthy living.

Sooo I think it's time to once again start holding myself accountable for the things I eat and how I workout. 

I've been okay at working out and eating healthy, but there are days that I just can't find motivation to do either. 

And let's face it. I LOVE to EAT. 

So I just need to hold myself more accountable. 

Blogging it is much better than writing it down on paper. I can feel accountable to anyone reading and... I can't rip it up and throw it in the trash the days I want to stuff my face with ice cream.

So here it is. My physical health goals:

-Get down to 18% body fat.

Current: 21%

Goal weight: 125

That's a little on the small side for a 5'8" big boned person like me but I got down to 124 after having EmmaLee, and I felt AMAZING. I want to get there before I'm expecting again. (So that gives me a couple years. Phew! ) 

Current: 134

Measurements: 

Arms: 10

Waist: 30

Butt: 38

Legs: 18.5

Goal: tone and tighten. I may not lose many inches but I can firm up the flab.

Before picture: 

What? You think I'm going to post that on here? Not in your wildest dreams. It's safely tucked away in a folder on an undisclosed camera in an undisclosed location. 

Plan of execution:

Workout everyday. Cardio, strength training, yoga, Pilates, lifting weights, running. It doesn't matter what. As long as I do something fitness wise for an hour a day. 

Eat healthy.  I eat pretty healthy, it's just the sweets when I'm having a hard day. I just need to keep it all out of the house and I'll be okay. 

No processed foods, canned soups, sugar, nothing like that. Keeping it clean.

The weekends I can have a treat, holidays too. If I completely deprive myself I snap and eat all the food in the world. It's flat out counterproductive. Moderation is key.

Other health related goals:

Get out of the house with the little ones. Every day. We're all so much happier the days when we all get out and get our energy out together, preferably in the warm sunshine. It helps ease the anxiety and stress.

Get at least 8 hours of sleep every night. Now that AddiLyn mostly sleeps through the night, I can maybe do this. Early to bed, early to rise. I need my sleep to be happy and function properly. 

Alrighty. Here I go!