an activity a day keeps the boredom away

Since we've been back from our month-long vacation...sitting around the house isn't nearly as exciting as it was when we were surrounded by grandmas and grandpas, aunties and uncles and cousins galore!

It's just the two of us (C+Me) most of the day so I've been trying to make a big effort in getting C outside for a few hours as well as doing an activity at home each day :)

I did some searching and compiled a huuuuuge list of activities that should last us at least through the winter (message me if you'd like it. It's in spreadsheet form. I'm a huge nerd.) I'll be posting our favorites each week (at least that's the plan. I'm kind of a flakey blogger ;)

Here's what we did today...

Fan Fort!!

You need...

-a fan (or two in our case because they were so tiny)

-a duvet cover (or two flat sheets with three sides fastened together with duct tape, clothes pins, etc.)

-favorite books, toys, pillows and other fun things

Lay your duvet cover on a flat, comfy surface. Toss all of your fun things into the "fort". Place your fan at the opening of the fort (this should go without saying but make sure your duvet does not cover the back of the fan). Carefully snuggle your babe and yourself into the fort. Turn on the fan and have fun!

C had a BLAST!! We were in there for a couple hours just reading, doing puzzles, having tickle fights, playing with dinos, and taking a little power nap.

What are some fun things you're doing with your kiddos this summer??

gel nails at home!

So gel nails at home is a little bit of an investment at first but it’s more cost effective than paying $35-$50 every two weeks at the salon.

You need...

a UV or LED lamp

Nail file/buffer

Gel Foundation (100% acetone)

Gel Cleanser(91% alcohol)

Lint Free Wipes(cotton balls)

Gel Color Polish

Gel Base& Top Coat

Probably the easiest (but not most cost effective) thing to do is buy the Sensationails Gel Starter Kit from WalMart for $50. It comes with instructions, the LED lamp, the teeniest tiniest bottles of foundation, cleanser, color, topcoat and a few other things you really don’t need.

To get the most for your money…

Buy a UV or LED lamp on amazon for $25-$50.

Gel foundation retails for about $15 but it’s just 100% acetone, you can find it at Walmart for $1 for a small bottle.

Gel cleanser retails for about $10 but it’s just 91% alcohol, you can find it at Walmart for $1.80 for a huge bottle.

Lint free wipes retails for about $12 for 100 but you can use cotton balls or cotton pads, just be careful not to leave any fuzzies on your nails or they will get stuck under the gel and you cannot get them off without removing the whole gel nail.

Gel color polish retails for $15-30 but you can find them on amazon for $7-$12. I’ve found that IBD has the cheapest color polish and OPI and Gelish are the most expensive on amazon. Also, pay attention to what size you're buying. Most bottles are .5 oz but some, like Sensationails, are 2.5oz or less.

Gel base and topcoat retails for about $30 but you can find it on amazon for $8-$15. Again, pay attention to the bottle size.

APPLICATION

Make sure you have everything you need right in front of you! There will be a tacky moisture layer on your nails from the first time you cure until you completely finish your nails and they will get ruined if you accidentally bump them. The whole process takes me 20-30 minutes. And make sure you’re in a well-ventilated area, the gel fumes are a lot stronger than regular polish.

1. Prep your nails, remove old polish, trim, file, and buff.
2. Swipe the gel cleanser over each nail using your lint free wipes.
3. Apply a thin coat of gel foundation over each nail and let air dry (this takes seconds).
4. Apply a thin coat of gel base over each nail and across the top edge of each nail, cure for 30 seconds (I cure my four fingers, pinky to pointer together and then my two thumbs together).
5. Apply a thin coat of gel color over each nail and cure for 1-2 minutes depending on the brand of gel color (it should say on the gel color bottle).
6. Repeat until you reach desired color, curing for 1-2 minutes between each coat (Usually two coats is enough but try not to do more than three because the thicker your polish the more likely it is to chip).
7. Apply a thin layer of topcoat and cure for 1 minute.
8. Wipe your nails with the gel cleanser and lint free wipes to remove the moisture layer.

Your nails are finished!! There is no drying time so you can touch them, do dishes, chase your kids…They should be super shiny and chip-free up to two weeks for nails and 6 weeks for toes!

 SOAK OFF

There are two methods in removing your gel nails. This process takes 20+ minutes.

Method 1 : Fill a small bowl with 100% acetone and let your nails soak for 15 minutes. Try to gently peel off the gel nail, if it doesn’t budge, soak it longer and try again. You can also use a cuticle pusher to gently scrape off the gel nail.

Method 2 : Use an acetone soaked cotton ball, place on gel nail andcover in foil, let site for 15 minutes. Try to gently peel off the gel nail, ifit doesn’t budge, rewrap for longer and try again. You can also use a cuticle pusher to gently scrape off the gel nail. You can buy gel soak off foil wraps but they retail between $30-50.

Here's how they look after a week! A little grown out but still pretty close to perfect!

(yes, this is the same polish as in the picture above, it just looks different because of the filter)

Have you tried them yet?? Let me know what you think! And if you've read through all this but don't want to buy all the stuff just come to my house! I do them for $10 :)

My fitness challenge - february update

My February goal was to commit to regular exercise (regular for me being 30+ mins 4+ times a week) and a goal weight of 140lbs. I came in 2 pounds short on my February goal! Boooo! Can I blame it on the short month??

I tried my very best to get up and go to the gym every morning at 5am. It is SO hard! I don't know about you but I need my sleep...lots of sleep. If I'm not asleep by 10pm...there was no way I'd be at the gym by 5am. So on the days that I missed the gym, I would do little workouts at home. Basically everything I would do was adpated from pintrest workouts.

I would do about 20 minutes of any combination of things below...
50 jumping jacks
5 push-ups (yea...I can only do 5 at a time)
50 crunches
30 mountain climbers
30 second plank
20 deep lunges
20 squats
20 leg lifts
And if it was warm enough outside, I would walk with C and Lilly for 30 mins.
I also kept up on eating healthy (my January goal). Even though I'm not hitting my goals dead on each month, I am seeing an improvement. I have more energy and my clothes are fitting better, which they should after losing 10.5lbs and 7.5 total inches.

As of March 1st...
weight : 142lbs
bust : 36"
waist : 29"
hips : 36.5"
After One Month (February 1st)
weight : 146lbs
bust : 38.5"
waist : 29"
hips : 37"
Day 1 (January 1st)
weight : 152.5lbs
bust : 39"
waist : 31"
hips : 39"

My end goal is to be fit, feel good, and be confident with my body by June (just in time for our trip to Hawaii). My end weight goal is 125lbs (my pre-pregnancy weight was 122lbs). That's just 17 pounds away! I can do this.

Anyone else struggled with losing the baby weight? Or had great success? I'd love to hear your story!! Tips, tricks, hints...send them my way :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I'll post more about the days happenings tomorrow...

Hope you all have a lovely day!!

date me!

"What do you wanna do?" " I dunno, what do you wanna do?"
Sound familiar? I made this date jar for B as part of his v-day gift so we don't spend half our night trying to decide what to do for date night (I'm banking on him not reading this post until after v-day).

Here's what I did...

I bought extra wide, wooden sticks and color coordinated them by type of date.
I wrote out all of the dates on the sticks (some of them are double sided so we can choose based on the season i.e. water park/sledding or if they're super similar i.e. park city outlets/traverse outlets).
Then I decorated a mason jar to store all of our ideas.

Here are some of the date ideas I used...

Plain : a date we can do at home
- homemade ice cream     - karaoke night     - themed night     - build a fort in the living room and watch movies     - takeout & redbox     - fondue night/BBQ     - picnic at the park/living room     - board games     - face painting & bubble bath     - make a bucket list    - do a pintrest craft     - play video games     - bake treats for the neighbors     - DIY spa date     - puzzles and pizza     - Netflix marathon & takeout     - plan a getaway     - high school music dance party     - go through wedding/birth photos/videos     - make a 4 course pintrest meal

Red : a date we can do with C
- just dessert out     - dino museum     - dinner at an old favorite     - dinner at a new place      - fashion place/south towne     - temple square/city creek     - tracey aviary     - riverwoods     - drive through the canyon     - tourists in our own town     - library/book store     -  drive in movie     - build and fly a model rocket     - house hunting     - dinner north of here     - dinner south of here     - look at cars     - batting cages     - her favorites     - his favorites     - provo beach resort     - decorate a room     - animal shelter     - visit an old dating spot     - ikea     - discovery gateway     - hogle zoo     - go on a hike     - feed the ducks at the pond     - watch the planes fly by at the airport     - go to the park and fly planes     - handball at the elementary school    - water gun fight/snowball fight     - 7peaks/sledding     - trip to the aquarium    - park city outlets/traverse mountain outlet

Purple : might take some advanced planning and get a sitter!
- art show/exhibit    - bowling    - couples massage     - paintball     - ice skating     - pedicures     - color me mine     - movies at the imax     - see a play/concert     - cooking class     - sports game     - volunteer somewhere     - laser tag    - classic skating     - 9 holes of golf    - bed and breakfast    - go to a store and pick one thing out for each other     - weekend in park city     - weekend in vegas

I also found this cute post on the PPB Blog about Valentine's Day recipes for a date night at home.

I'd love to hear yours! Leave a comment with some of your favorite date night ideas :)

It's been a while but I'm back!

Thanks to my lovely insta followers, I've decided to start blogging again! I used to LOVE blogging but after I had my son, I kind of forgot about it!

I got on a few nights ago and gave my blog a little facelift and read through old posts...I can't believe how many things I posted that I completely forgot about! Now I'm super sad that I missed out on blogging the past year...and the first year of my sons life! But no need for sorrow. Better late than never, right?

Take a minute and look around. Even though my last post was over a year ago, it might be new to you! And don't forget to leave some love, I love hearing from my readers!

P.s. If you have a blog I would love to follow you! Please leave your link in the comments :) 

Surgery #2

Here we go again!

March 16, 2011 I had my laparoscopy to drain the 28cm cyst on my right ovary.

A month and a half later, at my 12 week ultrasound, my OB saw that the cyst had come back and was about 11cm. For some reason he thought it would be best to just keep and eye on it and see what happened.

At my 21 week ultrasound, my OB saw that the cyst had grown to over 30cm! Finally, he decided to act and sent me to a specialist. The specialist was pretty astounded that my Dr had waited so long to do something about it and she scheduled me for surgery two days later.

I had a mini laparotomy to remove the cyst, remove my ovary, and repair an umbilical hernia I got from my last surgery.

The surgeon and doctors were amazing, they took great care of me and baby boy. As soon as I was out of the OR they took me to Labor and Delivery for 36 hour watch. They had our little man hooked up to monitors to make sure he was doing well and that I didn't go into labor. After I was cleared from L&D, they sent me to the postpartum floor for 24 hour watch and continued care. All of the hospital staff was amazing and took great care of us.

The night I left the hospital, Mom flew in to help take care of me. It was so nice to have her here and to have her help. She did everything! Cooked, cleaned, helped me with my medicine and kept Lilly occupied. Thanks so much mom! I love you!!

Now I just have two more weeks of initial recovery and I should be good as new?

Ew, and I have to give myself shots in my stomach everyday...thank goodness for my sweet neighbor who is a nurse and has been willing to come over everyday after work to give them to me!

My belly is about half the size it was before surgery but now it's ugly :( like Quasi Moto...at least our sweet little guy is safe and sound and has the whole place to himself!

Good riddance alien egg...

YAY!! IT IS OUT :)

My blog is private and no one really looks at it anyways so I don't feel weird posting these pics but if for some reason you think it's gross...don't look :)

On 3/2/2011 I went in for a checkup with complaints of a belly ache and a fat, yet firm pooch.

My doctor did an ultrasound and found what he thought were two giant cysts on my right ovary. One measured 15cm and the other was 13cm.

He decided it was best to have the cysts drained asap and scheduled me for an "emergency" surgery...Two weeks later. I was more than ready to get these little alien eggs outta me!

During the surgery, the doctor found that there was actually only one cyst that had twisted in half. This cyst was a whopping 11.6 inches! Freakin disgusting... I'm just relieved that I wasn't turning into a pot belly pig :)

After a 2 hour surgery (just 3 little incisions) and 7 1/2 hours in the recovery room, I got to go hoooome!! I was so happy to get out of there.

Day 1: This is me the night of the surgery. Somehow I gained 13 pounds that day. Sick, I blame the saline.

Day 4: Definite Progress! Bruised and swollen but there's progress!

Day 9: Almost Normal! Can you tell the difference between this picture and the first? I hope so! Just a little bruising, some soreness and flab but a couple weeks at the gym and I'll be ready for summer! WOOOHOOO!!!

The recovery has actually been a lot harder on me than I thought...honestly I thought I would be back to work the next day, two days tops. But no...I went to work yesterday FOR AN HOUR and had to come home because I was SO exhausted. I guess when they say up to 3 weeks recovery, I should plan accordingly. Oh yea, I forgot to mention, on Day 3 I flew to California and on Day 5 I got the flu. So that didn't really help my recovery but I will be back in action next week for sure! I'm determined :)

Alien Egg...

Don't get too excited...I'm NOT pregnant.

I have a couple giant cysts on my ovary. My stomach is so swollen that I don't fit in any of my pants. I just thought the swelling looked super funny so I took a picture :)

Weird huh?! Hah.

Obsessed with PLL!

I have a new obsession...Pretty Little Liars! I just cannot get enough...I watch the show every Monday night and I'm on book 2 of the 8 book series. I know it's a teeny-bopper show but I am hooked! Anyone else watch/read the series? Please say yes so I don't feel like such a loser :-/ Well either way, it is my new love haha

Aaaaand I have nothing else to blog about hah.

APX Alarm is now Vivint.

FINALLY! We are now Vivint :) Hello home automation!

Every Wednesday this month we are giving away 10 full home automation packages and 1 year of free service on Facebook. All you need to do is visit our Facebook fan page and ‘like’ us. (http://www.facebook.com/VivintHome)

And let us not forget Prince and his amazing performance at our launch party!!

New Job!

I am SO thrilled to announce that I have left Career Step and started my new job at APX Alarm! WAHOOO!!! I absolutely love my new job! I work in the APX Gives Back/ Service Billing Department. My very first assignment has been to help coordinate Sub for Santa! It is probably the best job ever. My second day, I got to go to the Ronald McDonald house and make breakfast for all of the kids. Since then, I've just been getting things all set for Sub for Santa on December 6th and 7th. Let me know if you want to come!! I'm in my second week and LOVING it! Oh, and having my desk just a few feet from Brandon hasn't been bad either ;)

Welcome home Lilly!

Since we've moved, we have been talking about getting a puppy either the end of this year or the beginning of next year. About 2 weeks ago, Brandon was on KSL and someone caught his eye. It was love at first sight! He named her Lilly and was determined to get her. After some convincing, we headed over to the breeders house and picked up our little pup.



We seriously have had SO much fun with her. She is such a good puppy, super smart, and the cutest ever. When she's not sleeping, she's running around like a mad man and we love LoVe LOVE her!

She is two and a half months and just about 4 lbs. She's expected to get up to about 7 lbs and 12 inches long. YAY PUPPY!

It's official!

We are official Utah residents

This month Brandon and I traded in our California licenses for Utah and bought our first home!

May has been SUCH a whirlwind and we are just starting to settle down. The first week of May we went on a Mexican Riviera cruise with our best buds, Ryen and Alex Farnworth. Two days after we got back, we closed on our house and started moving in! This week we finished unpacking and have been tying up lose ends. I'll post pictures of the trip and the house as soon as we get internet :) Let me know if you need our new address!

ALSO! APX Alarm is giving 250,000 to 6 non-profits and Rider's Against Cancer is one of the nominees! Please take a second to endorse their charity! All you need to do is

1) Login to your facebook and add the application APX Gives Back or click this link APX Gives Back

2) Click to Start Nominating and Voting

3) Select the Mountain region

4) Scroll down until you see Riders Against Cancer and click Endorse this Charity

You can vote once a day, everyday. Please just take a second to endorse their charity. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks so much!!

Birthdays!!

This week was my little sister Amber's birthday.

She is one of the sweetest, most genuine, creative, intelligent, spunky girls I know!

And on Thursday she turned 12!

Happy Birthday AM BAM!!! We love you so much and are so proud of all of your accomplishments. Wish we could have celebrated with you...maybe next year ;)

This week was also my birthday! On Wednesday I turned 21!! I'm a big kid now :)

The morning started off with me going through the many fb messages, texts, voice mails of my siblings and friends trying to be the 'first' to say happy birthday! Then I went to work and we had a little birthday bash. My co-workers decorated my desk and we celebrated with cake and ice cream!

After work Brandon and I went to dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen and then we walked over to the mall to pick out my birthday present. Oddly enough I was in a weird mood and could not find anything I was in love with...then right as we were leaving Brandon found this awesome skirt...

Cute huh? After a little shopping we went home to open my gifts!

I got this beautiful graduation plaque from my parents. I have no idea how they got that picture but isn't it awesome?!

I also got clothes from Victoria's Secret!

(I got this bathing suit in black)

Steve & Shelly also sent me a package with a huge jar of candy that is already a third gone because I take everywhere with me :) They also got me this sweater and a little tank to go under it...

and this perfume from VS that I am IN LOVE with!

After we opened presents I went into the bedroom to put some stuff away and I found this wonderful surprise!!! I have wanted this bedding FOREVER...see Brandon took me shopping at the mall to make me think he didn't get me anything when really he had already come home and set up this wonderful surprise <3

We also got Season 2 of Prison Break!! I already had the 1st season and I begged Brandon to watch it with me and now he's hooked! We finished the 1st season in about a week and we've already made a good dent in the 2nd season :)

I also got a bunch of cards and gift cards from Great Grandma Carol, Grandma and Grandpa, Hermana Anderson, Auntie Nani, Uncle Dave, Jaymi, Sara & Lila. What a happy birthday!!! Thank you to everyone for your birthday wishes and gifts. I love you lots!!

Graduation and Anniversary celebrations!

This past weekend was my BYU graduation and our one year anniversary!

For graduation my family, grandparents, and Brandon's parents came up for the weekend. We had such a blast!

Our families got in late Thursday night and my brother and sisters slept over at our place so the fun lasted all through the night!

On Friday we all went to my graduation, which only lasted about an hour thank goodness!

Waiting for my name to be called...Almost there!

This is right after I gave one of my leis to the Dean of FHSS

The Class of 2009!!! WAHOOO!!

The coolest kids on earth!

My amazing parents!

My loving & supportive husband!

The graduate

So long BYU...it's been fun!

A personal congratulations from Cosmo the Cougar

After the ceremony & pictures, we visited my old office and only TWO people were in! So we said a quick hello and it was off to Salt Lake for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory!

Diane & Melba of the MSS office :)

Mmmm we LOVE Cheesecake

Brandon trying to get out of another picture

Group shot at Cheesecake

...My graduation gifts...

Tanzanite & Diamond necklace from Gma & Gpa. Gold "Lehuanani" Necklace from Mom & Dad. Orchid lei from Auntie Nani & Ginger Lei from Mom & Dad!

Diamond bracelet from Steve & Shelly

After lunch, Grandma & Grandpa headed back to the airport and the rest of us went to Cabela's, the mall, Red Box, and then home to relaaaax!

On Saturday we did a little shopping in Provo and then headed out to Gardner Village for...more shopping!After Gardener Village, we went to Mo Bettah Steak for lunch with Mom's cousin and family. After lunch we drove back to Provo and I went swimming with my sibs at the hotel and then we had dinner at Sizzler for the first time, according to my parents it is much different than it was when they were teenagers.

On our way to the Sizzler!

Watching Amber do...something?

After dinner we went back to the apartment and fell asleep to a movie...

Sunday came way too soon and it was back to CA for the family :( I miss them already!!!