Much needed update!

Some pictures from the last month of happenings.  

♥

Thanksgiving point with all the kiddos. Yes my child is the vanilla bean.

Pony Ride all by herself.

Rare to get a picture of all 3 of us. My lil Family.

Target practice before hunting.

All decked out on the hunt.

On the "wheeler" as Harper would say.



Homemade Chicken noodle soup, and homemade chili! Recipes to come asap! 

Homemade chicken noodle soup.

 

homemade chilli... i was on a roll that week!

 

Happy Halloween! Yess I spray painted and glittered my shoes.

 

 

My little Strawberry Shortcake trick or treating at Daddy's work.

 

 

Playing in the snow.. now if it could snow like this for xmas!

 

 

Probably the cutest picture ive gotten of us lately.
Thanksgiving at Michaels Parents this year.

Yes.. I have totally slacked on the blogging! I vow to keep it updated atleast once a week.  That is not the only thing I have slacked on... I totally have been a chubster the last month! Ugh. Visit from my best friend, getting the flu, and of course losing about 20lbs made me all of a sudden feel invincable so I thought I could reward myself for a while. umm no. I have actually kept the weight off tho, give or take a lb or two.. hey its the Holidays!! Soo.. after feeling sorry for myself I decided this week I would start counting calories and eating healthy.. which means I cannot go to Wendys and apollo burger in the same week. The horror!!  Have you tried a gyro? Umm amazeballs. Ok.. so anyways, I totally did good the first day, then slam! I started getting sick.. and running out in the cold was not going to work, and jumping up and down in front of my TV was a no go.. I went to bed at 8:30 last night. Id like to thank my daughter, and all the snot nosed children at her daycare for getting me sick. I feel much better today, it could be that ive taken a crap ton of cold medicine, and Michaels left over antibiotics.. hells yes im fighting this cold! 

 

In other news.. I started a NEW job.. ok so another, new job. Finally I feel content and happy, and I am making a decent wage... I no longer feel like an incompetent 16 year old. Seriously tho. Ohh and how nice is it to come to work and imediately hit it off with your female employees?! Score.  Also, I was reunited with a lot of old co-workers from my old job that I worked at before I got preggo and laid off. Double score!!  Right in time for Christmas, it has helped us out so much.

 

School is going good, Just finishing up my last classes until the new year! If you are thinking about taking online classes and think they are easier.. they are not! ugh. Especially for my A.D.D brain. Ohh ya im in school, totally forget for like 3 days and then realize I have to post comments and pretend I just spent 3 days reading all of my materials like a boss. not. 

 

Ohhh and my child, is freaking A smart. She can write "H" for Harper. Proud mommy moment. Now if I could get her to fully poop on the potty and not stop pooping mid way (meaning its not fully out of her crack and into her pants) then id be super happy.

 

Until next time. :) Up next: Christmas cheer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

Shit my kid says.

There are things that Harper does everyday that surprise me. Especially the things that come out of her mouth! Where does she get this stuff? (ok, I may be to blame but whatever). I wanted to document a few of the things she says frequently.

"Just shut up"- Which is always said in the sweetest, tiniest voice. Its hard to get mad at her.

"Don't see me"- When she is mad and doesn't want you to look at her.

"Talk to the hand, buddy!" -I am to blame for this, mostly. When she was younger we would make her say talk to the hand, and it was hilarious but she adds buddy to the end of it, I have no idea where this came from.

"I like your hair, its pretty"- Thank you child.

"I need to work on my computer" - Apparently this is a common excuse I must use, because when I ask her to help clean up she says she needs to go to work. hmm.

"I worka out" -Which is followed by heavy breathing, and running in place. Thats what I get for doing Insanity for 30 days straight in front of her.

"Durrkadurr"- Me and her aunt use this a lot, so she was bound to start saying it, except now it what she says shortly after saying "bitch" because she knows she has just said a bad word.

"Mama, what time it is?" - All of a sudden she started asking me what time it was, and then would respond with "its not nap time".

"I will crush you"
"I will kill you"
"I will throw mud on you"

^ Pretty sure this is the result of playing with the rowdy boy at daycare. Its always creepy when your child whispers any of those things to you from the back seat. Yes it has happened.

"I freaking love you mama" -Simply the best.

"I so esited!" - Excited!

"You want a baby in your tummy? I need a baby in my tummy!" - No, and no you don't.

"You guys make me so goofy!" -After me and her dad play with her.

"Im so sorry" - Yes she can be polite, but she is using this whenever she falls, or trips over something.

No, sir!" - I have no idea where this came from, but I caught her reading a book to herself and after everything she read this was her reply.

"I sleep so good"- She will tell you this after her nap, or she will fake you out and say this to make you think she fell asleep and that its time for her to come out of her room.
 


There are so many funny things she says its hard to keep up! She talks so much. Now if I could just get her to count in order instead of counting everything as "Three".

♥

Because.

Because I know you like to hear me talk about myself.
Because I haven't blogged in a few weeks.
Because two posts in one day is just amazeballs.
Because Ive had entirely too much coffee this morning. 

So Jillian Michael's is a Bitch. Somehow she has made a 25 minute workout, feel like a 5 hour workout. But I know my thighs will thank me after the pain stops and they look like Carrie Underwood's. The 30 day shred is going great, now that I have started over so I will no longer be completely shredded by Halloween, but partially shredded which is OK by me! My new schedule kind of put me in a funk, but we are back on track!  Id like to announce that I am officially to my post-baby weight. Wahoo! I'm sure that happened shortly after I had Harper, but I somehow lost my way and blew up over the course of 2 years so here we are again! The only thing about then and now is nothing is the same even if the number on the scale tells you so. My hips are wider, and everything is "looser"  gorgeous right?  The best part is that in the midst of complaining about my chubby midsection the boyfriend chimes in and says "Wont it always be like that?"  He is confused with chub, and massive amounts of loose skin, because he assumes fat is "solid" because his is. He clearly doesn't get that beer gut, and baby gut are different. Bless him. I feel a lot better physically, mentally, and I am happy with myself but I still am not where id ideally like to be, so I am pushing myself!

side note...
I did not end up doing the 5k in September, it came and went before we knew it, we were not prepared. BUT I am still planning on doing one! Cheers.

Horror!

Cue the knife stabbing murder music...
 Enter 2 year old main stage, front and center.
Yes, Harper is starring in the most frightening movie ever, its called "Terrible Twos" that shits real.
I always heard the term, and never took it seriously. Kids will be kids right?Word of advise, never think it wont happen to you because the karma gods will laugh at you and before you know it you are facing your worst nightmare.
It amazes me how quickly a fun filled day out with my daughter can turn into a scene from the exorcism of Emily Rose. Seriously, I keep waiting for her head to spin! Fortunately Harper does not spew green vomit all over, but the screaming and crying leads to a lot of coughing and gagging which is quite similar. In the past month I have had 3 serious public tantrums. First tantrum was at Target where we fought over a pair of pink cowboy boots. I could have let her continue to try on every pair of shoes, and throw them all into the cart while I tried on 6 inch heels and looked like the biggest white trash mom ever, but I opted for wheeling my screaming child out of the store to calm down in the car. It all seemed so clear in my head as to how it would happen. I Would do the walk of shame til we got outside, then she would realize I was being serious about leaving and calm down and we could finish our little shopping trip. Nope. I literally had to carry her over my shoulder kicking and screaming, all while carrying my over-sized purse and Her backpack. Of course I parked by some sweet family with 4 well behaved children which were leaving at the same time I was attempting to get my child into her car seat. By now I am sweating, and laughing because I cannot get her in her seat, I felt like I was being closely watched by said perfect family that I had to restrain myself from elbowing my daughter in the chest and dropping multiple F bombs. At this point I have given up so I let her freak out in the back seat, and embarrassingly sit in the passenger seat and hang my head in shame. At this moment it seems as if everyone and their dog shows up to target and all the available parking spaces are right where I'm parked. Lucky!
My demon child is literally trying to climb out the window, keep in mind the window is rolled up, so it looks like I have a possessed midget spider man in my back seat.  At one point I'm pretty sure she was head butting the glass, which seemed like a good idea for me to do at that point in time as well. Eventually we did leave the store and all was well in toddler land.
 I really hope this phase ends soon, because I am going to lose all my hair. In a perfect world Harper would have fruit snacks for every meal, and watch endless amounts of "Marfa" (Martha the talking dog).

 Source: Message with a bottle. Hilarious blog!

Fresh start.

Yay for October! Seriously. I have been dying for cooler weather, fall everything, and of course HALLOWEEN! Halloween is seriously one of my favorite holidays. I cannot wait to dress up, and of course dress Harper up. 

Some Halloween decorations I already have up! Can you tell I love owls? ;)

This month also kicks off Jillian Michaels 30 day shred! So you are probably wondering where I stand with Insanity. Firstly id like to say I am not a quitter  I was well into week 1 of month 2 of insanity.. and it was death. I was near tears one day, and almost throwing up the next. Then my lovely bff flew in from California for 2 weeks.

One of our last nights out. Miss her. 

 

The plan was to do Insanity together.. but we were doing something every day and having sleepovers (yes we are children at heart) that I didn't get any workout in! I ate pretty well, but i figured I would enjoy the vacation and not be to hard on myself while my sidekick was here... so that called for a lot of frozen yogurt, a lot of drinks, and lots of pizza and pasta in Park City. I die.  The good news in I didn't gain much weight!! I fluctuated about 2 pounds here and there.. but i'll take it!  I would start Insanity up again, but going into month two with that long of a break would result in serious injuries... So new program, along with getting my mileage up in hopes to run a race before the year is over. 

Soo.. October marks a new month, new challenges, and my new (old) job! I went back to my office job that i left last year around this time, they offered me a job and it felt like the right decision to make. It works well with school, harpers daycare, and I don't feel overwhelmed with having to start a new job with new people. I am happy. :) 

Chicken Tacos

This was a complete last minute thing, because we argued about what to make for dinner. Then we had dinner at 10:30 pm! ugh. But they were delicious, so I couldn't complain. Here is my recipe I put together.

You will need: 

Tortillas

Chicken ( I used boneless skinless chicken breasts)

Italian salad dressing

garlic powder

chili powder

red pepper flakes

Cheese (Taco blend) 

Sour cream

Lettuce

Hot sauce! 

For my chicken, I just cut it up into bite size pieces, we used 4 chicken breasts for the two of us and had some left over.  I cook it on the stove in a frying pan with the Italian salad dressing, I used almost a whole bottle, but I suggest using half, because you will have a lot of sauce still left in the pan. I have cooked chicken like this since I was 16. haha its amazing! Even tho it is not a flavor you would normally put with tacos.. that is why I add the garlic powder, chili powder, and red pepper flakes! So add those to your liking and cook until done! 

Now the next part I tried I found here.  Our recipes were quite similar, but I wanted to use her technique of making the tortillas into actual taco shells.. if you get what I mean. Well 3 mangled tacos later, and some oil burns I decided to just do it my own way.. I just put them in the pan of hot oil for a little on each side, and then folded it over to make the crease, but not long enough so it was too hard to add all the ingredients. Turned out a-ok! 

I really hate that I write full paragraphs to describe how I cook something. Sorry for rambling. 

I may, or may not have had 4 of these. yum. 

Picture Overload.

Pictures from this past week.

Harper posing. My mom has the best back yard for pictures. 

Another one. :)

And again. Shes a goof. 

Me & Laura at poker night with Michaels friends. 

Frozen Yogurt. Laura has me hooked! 

First night out. Somethings never change. haha

My friends have some gorgeous foreheads. 

Dancin our bootys off. 

Sandy Beach, Utah Lake. So sad I didnt know about this sooner! 

Relaxing morning with my dooble. Movies and toast. I love being home with her. 

Guilt.

If there is one thing I HATE about trying to lose weight/get in shape it is the guilt. The guilt after you miss a workout, or eat those delicious chips that were staring at you in the pantry. Why?! I have done pretty well.. I think at least! There are things I have cut out completely, and I am doing more than I have ever done in the past year.

Month 2!

Yesterday was day 1 of Month two of Insanity. I can already tell this month is going to kick my butt! The workouts are longer, and I'm using my body differently, so as usual I'm hurting today. Lat night was hard.. but I pushed through.. ok i fast forwarded through the last interval.  Sue me! I make the mistake of doing my workouts wayy to late, so I never sleep. 

New month, new challenges! I still am not following the diet plan completely, but have bought myself most of the menu items.. and plan to eat a lot better this month! I slacked of the last 2 weeks.. still did my workouts, but missed at least 2 days each week.. and the last week is recovery week so the workout is not at all as intense as the other ones. I have lost 10-12lbs so far! Why the variation? Because my scale likes to play tricks on me. This 2lb up and down crap is annoying. But I cant complain, especially because I'm gaining muscle and getting toned.. now if my mid section would start fitting into that category id be ecstatic! Thank you  post-pregnancy for the ever lasting doughnut chub.

 Im also excited to say that I have added 2 pair of jeans to my wardrobe.. that were packed away in my closet! Ahh.. feels good. Still got a pile to go through tho! One day at a time. 

Harper's Happenings.

Its been a while since I did one of these posts. 

Lately.. 

My ever so energized 2yr old is giving me a run for my money.

She is a handful. 

She makes me laugh everyday. 

She picks up on EVERYTHING you say. 

(Good and bad.. ugh!)

She is very independent. 

She talks A LOT. 

Loves her books. 

(Definitely going to be a reader like mama)

She is into trains, trucks, and dinos

(thanks to Grandpa.)

She loves shoes 

She is in a "baby" phase and loves carrying around her baby doll, wrapping her up in a blanket, pretending to change her diaper and feed her. 

(She will be such a good big sister some day)

She is in the process of potty training

(more on that later.)

She sleeps in a big girl bed

(no, really..a full sized bed!)

She says please and thank you. 

She loves music and loves to dance. 

We are pretty sure she has an imaginary friend. She mentions "annie" every once in a while and we cannot figure out who it is. 

(kind of creepy) 

She already tells storys.. after we went to the zoo she told everyone the porcupine ate her finger, and that we rode the elephant. 

(quite the imagination with this one!)


I seriously love watching her grow into a little person! She has so much personality.

Ohh.. Did I mention she is such a daddy's girl.. especially with football and basketball. 

I was Runnnninnn'.

Soo Back in the day I used to run cross country. NBD. But I'm pretty sure that if any of the avid cross country runners from my class heard me say that, they would slap me. Because honestly, I only did one race. Just 1.  It sucked. I didn't miss a workout though! I was in great shape, and could run a lot.
Nowadays.. not so much. I have always ran on and off, but never enough to build up good stamina and speed, or distance for that matter. I absolutely HATE pacing myself.  I would rather run as fast as the beat in my ears than barely lift my feet. I then realized I should have taken track instead of cross country.
I started my weight loss/get in shape/do something with my fat ass journey about a month ago.. and I ran the first day and I died. Last week I ran again and felt better than ever! I was so proud of myself!

I could have kept going.. honestly. But my goal was to run 2, since I'm doing Insanity during the day, and running at night. I am proud to say that I did not stop to catch my breath! Now the only trouble I'm having is with my feet.. I am pretty sure it is the shoes I'm wearing. Other than that I focused on pacing myself.. focused on breathing, and kept going! Of course I had my lovely playlist from Rock my run, I have two playlists downloaded, one is 30 min, the other 60. The music is on a loop so no switching songs! I downloaded the dubsweat and dubforce and love them! 

Hoping to see my time improve in the next couple of weeks, hoping to run a 5k at the end of this month! 

What I'm listening too...

Lovely Music.

Ben Howard

Bon Iver

Ed Sheeran

Birdy 

 and of course Lana Del Rey. (She basically sings to my soul.) 

Some songs worth checking out. 

Ben Howard- Black Flies & Only Love. 

Bon Iver- I cant make you love me.

Ed Sheeran-Give me love. 

Birdy-Shelter

Lana Del Rey- Blue jeans & Born to die. 

p.s. How cute are these men! They could sing to me any day. :)

Lemon Garlic Tilapia

Yes.. another recipe. Although this one is not spicy at all.. surprise! Eating healthier has made my dishes a lot more plain.. not that they are bad by any means.. just not piling on the hot sauce or making my famous spicy chicken Alfredo (skinny version to come soon.. because its to die for). So here you have it... 

Lemon Garlic Tilapia

Frozen Tilapia(I use Kroger brand.. 3.99 a bag!)

1tbs Garlic 

1tbs Butter

 1/4 cup Lemon juice 

sprinkle with dried parsley

The recipe I adapted from was from skinnytase I love this website! Her recipe calls for 2tbs of butter and only 2tbs of lemon juice.. I used more because I cooked zucchini with mine and wanted everything covered. The Zucchini tends to dry out. 

I made this last night, and only used 1tbs of butter and it seemed fine. Tonight I made it with 2tbs and more lemon juice because the plan was to cook for the fam.. but they had tacos instead!

(I died a little inside from the cheesy fatty goodness)

The fish was still good.. its pretty impossible to screw this one up. 

melt butter in pan

add garlic and saute for a minute or so

add lemon juice 

set aside. 

I cooked mine in a glass casserole dish, layered the fish and zucchini and poured the sauce over everything. Cook at 400 degrees for about 20 min. 

Its honestly really hard for me to say an exact time because I just do the "check to see how it looks" method. I took my fish out when the edges looked like they were starting to brown and the sauce was boiling.

The best part... my 2yr old ate it! 

Each filet is 110 calories! and has 33 grams of protein. Score.    

I apologize for the not so appealing pictures that you might find on awesome food blogs.. I'm an amateur. 

 prep

 Saute

 assemble

Enjoy. 

Hell Week.

This week is my 4Th week into Insanity.. Last week I missed 3 days. Bum knee :/ it sucks.. but id rather be able to do my workouts then struggle through them and injure myself more. My body is totally not used to pushing itself this hard.. this fast. But I am still feeling accomplished! So this week I need to push it extra hard. No slacking.

The hard part with working out and eating right is wanting instant gratification.. that's what has stopped me in the past. I have to keep reminding myself that It takes time, and hard work pays off! It does, right? (still doubtful sometimes.) 

I will have to say that I'm enjoying feeling better, the changes i've made have given me more energy and I feel stronger, so that's a plus. Since I missed 3 days last week I'm attempting to do 2 a days this week on my days off. Insanity during the day, and a run at night. Id like to see what my time is compared to when I started this journey... last time my feet hit the pavement I was barely making a 12 min mile.  Im most likely running a 5k the end of September!

I would love to post progress pictures.. but the ones I have taken are not flattering.. or im pant-less. Not a good look. So I will take a end of day 30 picture and then another one on the end of day 60! Only 42 days left. Holla!

Spaghetti squash.

This veggie is amazing! Wish I would have known about it sooner. So here is another quick and easy recipe.

Spaghetti Squash (pasta)

1 large spaghetti squash

EVOO

Garlic

Spaghetti sauce

Parmesan cheese

Cut squash length wise

 I suggest microwaving it first to soften in up, its pretty tough to cut through. You can cook it as directed on the label, I cooked mine a little different, and it wasn't as cooked as I would like it to be. 

Scoop out seeds

spread garlic and olive oil in bottom of squash

Bake cut side up at 375 for 45 min. or until squash is softened. 

Then using a fork scoop out the strands. It comes out like noodles! Awesome. 

Pile onto plate, top with sauce and cheese. 

I really REALLY. Love pasta. I could eat it all day. So I really love this alternative. The squash took the flavor of the sauce, it didn't taste vegatable-y at all! 

There are a lot of variations.. next time id like to cook it with meat inside the actual shell. So many possibilities.

and p.s there is only 40 calories per cup! Considering that a cup of pasta noodles as 200 calories. Score. 

Zucchini Boats

Another quick, easy, and healthy dinner.

Zucchini Boats

1 large Zucchini squash

Garlic (I used minced) 

EVOO

Parmesan Cheese

Red pepper flakes 

Cherry tomatoes 

Slice zucchini in half, scoop out seeds making a "boat". 

I then spread garlic and evoo to the bottom of the zucchini, 

layer on the cheese, my spices, then slice up cherry tomatoes and lay those on! 

Bake at 350 for 20-30 min (may depend on your oven) 

Seriously delicious, and about 200 calories for one slice! 

I know I do not give exact amounts of what I use.. but that's how I like to cook! :)

As of late.

Growing up wayy too fast. 

 Definitely my child. 

She is such a little freak! Keeps me smiling everyday.