highlights & miscellaneous pics since last time

*All photos since my last post have been taken with my iPhone.  Hmm, I probably need to pull my camera out!  At least I'm documenting somehow, right?


Monday {May 9th} I went grocery shopping with Grayson while Beckham was home napping & Zac was working from home.  We got lots of fresh fruit which was so exciting to me.

Tuesday {May 10th} was a great at-home-day.  The boys and I played & chilled & cleaned all morning and after Beckham's nap & lunch, we set out on a trip to Bailey's house.  Beckham in the stroller, me pushing, and Grayson on his trike.  Bailey's house is about 1.2 miles from our house and takes me right now about 28 minutes to get there & back {I'm super slow right now-just walk/jogging}.  It took us 62 minutes to get there.  One way.  But it was a super great 62 minutes and I was so proud of Grayson for his good attitude and not giving up.  He pedaled his little heart out and it was really his first time riding his trike {besides a few times around our kitchen & front driveway}.  He kept saying the funniest things, such as, "I can see Bailey's house!"  "I am so good at this, huh Mom?!"  "I know I can do this, I am awesome!"  {I have no idea where he gets his humility...haha!}  And about 3/4 the way there he said, "Wow, this is getting kinda hard, huh?"  Beckham and I were barely moving the whole time {this was definitely a quality time activity & not an exercise activity}, and toward the end I put the stroller up against the back of his trike & pushed a little while he pedaled.  That helped all of us & we got to Bailey's house to find out no one was there!  He was bummed!  Grami saved us & came and picked us & our wheels up and took us home.  Grayson couldn't stop talking about it and I'm so glad we took the time out to do this fun thing.  He talked mine and Beckham's ears off the entire way, and I loved every second of it.  I hope we can continue these quality times so he will always talk to me.

{His well earned picnic-in-the-living-room dinner of cheese, homemade pizza, & strawberries}

Wednesday {May 11th} Started out with a run outside-love running outside because I feel it's much more challenging than on the treadmill, but HATE when it's remotely windy or too cold.  Got smarter & wore a beanie today.  Boys chilled with PBS kids while Z & I got ready.

Taylor watched our boys while we ran errands in Meridian.  Had a quick meeting with Matt & Jen about our books and then met Tony and Brenda for a business/pleasure lunch.  Love those two.  I was reminded of some great things during lunch.  I must feel incredibly comfortable & safe with them because I cried a little bit when I talked about my recent frustrations as a mom & with my kids.
Some things I want to remember from our meeting:
Brenda: "Be laser focused on what matters most to us.  The non-negotiables are easy: Zac, Grayson, Beckham, and Karli.  Choose to let some things go.  Sometimes it's choosing between two great things.  Figure out the most important things to you & give the reigns over to Zac about some of the other stuff.  Figure out what I can release.  You're doing the work of the heart.  You are dealing with the real stuff of life.  It's hard work, but so worth it."
Zac: "We must be intentional in everything we do.  In parenting, fortunately & unfortunately in some cases, the input doesn't always produce the same output."
So grateful for wise people in my life & especially the man I live with.  He is absolutely brilliant and wise and gives me exactly what I need every single day. 

 After our great lunch, we ran to the Nike outlet because I was due for some new running shoes.  The pair on the left were given to me the Christmas of 2002 by Zac when we were dating.  I have put LOTS of miles on those shoes.  I stopped using them for running a few years ago, but still wear them to lift weights & sometimes just to run errands.  They have been one of my all time favorite & most comfortable pair of shoes and I don't know if I'll ever completely get rid of them because of how much I love them and the sentimental ties.  For my new choice, I picked the Nike Vomero's with Nike+ to use with my iPhone.  So excited to start logging miles in these shoes!  We ran another quick errand and chatted on the way home to get our boys from Grami's house where Taylor had dropped them on her way to her other job.  They were having a ball playing outside & I was reminded again how grateful I am to have family so close & willing to help. 

Thursday {the 12th} I got lots of work done while the boys were at Taylor's.  I had a great run on mom's elliptical.  It was a pretty intense workout she found in a magazine & I loved it!

I hosted a client support night for clients to come chat, share their stories & tips, and to do a food swap.  It was fun to visit with people & I am so proud of all of my clients for their successes & just happy to know such great people. 

Friday {the 13th} I had a class reunion meeting at my house.  It was crazy.  Both boys hung out here, my friends stayed longer than I'd planned, and my house was torn apart, but it's all good.  I'm getting excited to see people I haven't seen in ten years & lots that I see frequently, too.
After the girls left, Bex took a nap and Gray and I played & watched a movie/read books.  I also finished the book Water for Elephants which was interesting.  I'd like to see the movie now.  Around 5:30 we dropped the boys at Grandma & Grandpa Cleaver's and Zac and I headed out on a double date with Amber & Todd.  We met them in Nyssa and rode together over to Red Robin & Costco.  Yummy food & better company.  Love these two and love our friendship with them.  We went to get our boys and it was storming outside so they were watching the lightning.  They were so happy & had had a great time playing outside before the storm hit.  Grayson even voluntarily let Acey {yellow & extremely playful lab} out & played with her super well for a long time.  Go Grayson!  The storm made the lights go out for 10 seconds and we all steered clear around the windows.  (:  Visited for a while and then went home to get the boys in bed.

Saturday {May 14th} was a fun day.  I got some work done in the morning-including cleaning out the "weight room" and getting an awesome lift in & we did lots of playing in the afternoon.  Around 4 we left to drop the boys off at Uncle Ryan and Aunt Alicia's house.  Grayson was SUPER excited all day to go play with his firefighter uncle & with cousin Connor.  AND, their recently adopted 8 year old daughter, Lexi!  We are so excited to have her in our family and that the LONG process of adoption is coming to an end for their family.  She is absolutely adorable-looks just like the girl who plays Ramona-and is a sweetie.  It's going to be an adjustment for everyone, but a happy one.  Grayson acted a little shy when we dropped him off, but Beckham walked in like he owned the place.  We left the boys in great hands and headed to dinner.  Because I met my business goal back in March, one of my coaches took many of us & our spouses who met our goals out to dinner.  We went to Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse and it was awesome!  There were about 30 total in our group and we had a ball!  We sat around the tympanaki grill & it was so cool to watch our cook make our meal right in front of us.  We had delicious chicken, shrimp, veggies & sushi, and the steak {filet mignon} was the best I've ever had {and I'm not a steak eater}!  I even caught a piece of shrimp in my mouth-yes, I'm looking into careers needing this skill. (:  Anyway, dinner was great & we had fun chatting with Tony & Brenda and the others.  Loving this business & where we are headed with it.  So many great things ahead!

 

Afterward, Zac & I met up with my mom where he dropped me off to go with her and he went back to get the boys & take them home to bed.  Meanwhile, me and Mom went to see Wicked!  It was even more incredible than I'd imagined!  I knew several of the songs, but the storyline was pretty new to me, and I loved every second.  We sat next to Kefford, Elizabeth, and Kenedy, and that was a lot of fun too.  Such a great show-would definitely see it again and recommend it.  It was fun to see it with Mom as well because she loves good music & we had fun chatting-albeit in the scary dark rainy drive home-and always enjoy each other's company.  Got home around midnight, told Zac all about it, and went to bed after kissing all my boys.

{we look like washed out vampires, but you get the picture.  And yes, the girl taking the picture asked if we were sisters. Seriously!}

Monday {May 16th} was busy & full and just the kind of day I love.  I got up early to do my lower body lift & loved having it out of the way before the kids were up.  Taylor picked the boys up & had them while I worked.  I also booked our plane tickets & hotel for our trip to Florida in July, so I'm pretty excited about that.  Got lots done.  Picked up the boys & Taylor and headed to Ontario for a couple errands and a quick stop to see Amber.  Always fun and headed back home.  Dropped Taylor off, dropped groceries off, headed to Mom's to do my run so the boys could play.  Did week 4, day 1, workout on the couch to 5k routine I've been doing and it kicked my butt.  I am loving that workout routine though.  Got done & visited for a bit longer.  Came home & made dinner, bathed boys, had FHE, and put the boys to bed.  It was our first night of putting them both down in their room at the same time.  Usually we put Grayson in there about 7:15-7:30.  He's asleep within 15-30 minutes and then we wait another 20-30 and put Beckham in his crib where he is out within 5-10 minutes.  It's worked well, but I have a hard time really relaxing until both of them are asleep and by the time we get Beckham down it's usually 9:30 and then I'm wanting to go to bed so I don't get time with Zac or to do things I want to do, or we stay up WAY too late to combat that.  Zac finally had had enough and suggested we put them both down at the same time.  Knowing it would be an adjustment for a while, but the payoff would be worth it in the long run.  Put them in there at 7:38 and they both were finally quiet & asleep at 8:52.  Wow.  That was after many trips in to reprimand Grayson for egging Beckham on by screaming {happily} at each other, putting every toy in their room in Beckham's crib, etc.  I'm serious, I went in there and Beckham's big Bullseye rocking horse, the biggest tractor they have, tons of tools & other miscellaneous toys, were all over in his crib.  He was just laying in there chillin.  Haha!  I was grumpy, but happy after they were asleep.

After they were out, Zac and I worked on our vision boards.  We've been wanting to do them for a while, but just haven't made the time.  We cut out pictures, wrote out words, etc., of things that we want to achieve & goals we have for ourselves, each other, and our family.  Things we want, things we'd like to be able to do, and all debts we want paid off first.  It's so fun to visualize and see things we are working for.  They are still a work in progress, but I'm loving it.

Today {May 17th} has seemed longer than usual.  Grayson got in our bed in the middle of the night & instead of putting him back in his bed, I just came out and slept on the couch.  Got up to do some work before the boys woke up and then started our day.  Stayed in my sweats all day, but got lots done and lots of quality time spent with the boys too.  My dad came around 2 and picked Grayson up to go to work with him.  I love that he does that & is such a willing Grandpa and patient with my ever-talking 3 year old.  I also loved the one on one time it gave me and Beckham.  We practiced some words, tickled, and danced, and he is just such an amazing and joyful baby.  I adore him.  Packed him in the car and headed to my mom's to use her elliptical.  Had a quick, but fun conversation with Candace while working out.  Grayson had a great time & wanted to stay longer, so I left him for an extra hour.  As a sidenote, he is totally in love with strawberries right now & has gone through a ton of them super quickly.  Glad they are in season right now!  And, while at my mom's I was telling her about our bedtime routine changes and Grayson said, "Yeah, and I put the toys in Beckham's crib and my mom said, 'this is such a joke!'"  I kinda laughed until I realized what he said and remembered that last night when I was taking everything out of Bex' crib, I said-in a not very friendly voice-"urgh, this is such a joke!"  He is so sweet & literal & I just love him.  I totally cracked up and realized I have to be so careful not only about what I say, but how I say it.  Sure love him for keeping me on my toes!  Got more done at home and Zac spent a couple hours totally detailing the Acura-one of the many reasons I adore him.  I despise cleaning out the cars, so I'm glad he loves it.  He does a dang good job too!  Night two of boys in bed at the same time: down at 7:44, asleep by 8:18.  Much better!