Christmas was great this year. I think we hit a good balance of new and second hand toys, and we also hit a good quantity balance, not too much to overwhelm, but enough to get everything she wanted. Don't you love Courtney's pink and brown cupcake dress? The Grandparents Mitchell got it for her. The random picture is a picture I took when she was watching a show from Netflix. The red progress bar for the show looks like a health bar you'd see in a video game! I have a health challenge for myself that I'm going to let you know about. Hopefully I can stick to this one :) I have a hard time eating chocolate in moderation, so until February 1st, I'm not buying and bringing home chocolate. Anyway, Merry Christmas to you all; the Tartinis love you!

It was inevitable

Has any child anywhere made it through childhood without cutting their own hair? Or someone else's hair? I don't think so. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised by this then. The pictures don't do it justice. At the front of her hair, along the part, there's a chunk of hair that's less than an inch long! Devin and I were able to salvage her hair, but there's still some uneven, blunt layers hiding in there.

Healthy Living

Well, I'm going to be adding a new dimension to my blog; I will be talking about healthy living now and again. Sparkpeople is a website for weight loss, and specifically for long term healthy lifestyle changes. I have been lucky because I have maintained a healthy weight despite 2 pregnancies. However, Sparkpeople gave me tools to track my nutrition, and I learned I was eating horribly. I also learned that my bad eating was contributing to very bad headaches, near the severity of a migraine. I also learned that my eating was putting me at risk for all sorts of crazy diseases, such as high blood pressure and various cancers. I have learned something about myself. I am not very good with keeping promises to myself, so I continue to eat poorly and suffer from headaches. I am bringing my lifestyle makeover to my blog to track my progress, and then I will feel accountable to you all! Yay! Don't worry though, I'll keep the cute kiddle pics coming. I love you all!

Church

Thanks to day light savings time, and a baby who didn't adjust, I had lots of time to get the kids ready. And they looked especially cute.

The dresses Grandma Mitchell made

Grandma Mitchell loves her grandkids very much. She loves to shower them with love, and as part of that, she sends Courtney dresses for the holidays. Here is a record of Courtney's dresses up to this point. This dress was made for Easter 2012

Grandma sent this dress for Christmas 2011, but it was too big. Courtney loves it, and can't wait to wear it this December.

Valentine's Day 2012

Independence Day 2012. For the first picture, she made up the pose herself!

St. Patrick's Day 2012. She made the first pose again.

I hate to admit this, but I can't remember what this one was for. I think She got this for Christmas 2011 along with the green and red one. She posed herself in the first picture.

Halloween 2012. She choose the final pose. I think it's very Diana Ross and the Supremes, "STOP, in the name of love!"

Mason's Alternate Choice

Too bad it was too small.

Happy Halloween!

I carried SUPER MASON while Courtney the Fairy Princess went trick or treating. The best part of the night was when one house left their door open, and the candy giver was sitting in his living room. Courtney went up, rang the doorbell, and said "Trick or treat" like a good girl. Then she immediately added, "I can SEE YOU in there!" Thank goodness I was standing in the dark; maybe they didn't see who I was :)

Courtney loves to wear Mason's clothes. Why? I couldn't even guess. But it sure is cute.

One minute. Just one minute it takes me to go to the bathroom. Last night, in one minute, she ripped up all this paper for a road for her little ponies toys. Then today, in one minute, she put EVERY necklace she owns on Mason, as well as her hat. I swear, I can't take my eye off of her for a second. But I wouldn't change her for the whole world!

This is what I get for organizing and throwing out my old make up!

Curlers, my life story

These three pictures of Court pretty much sum up my life experiences with curlers. She woke up with only a few curlers missing, but it didn't matter. Her hair was wet! So she had a little bit of volume for a short amount of time, but then it fell as flat as a pancake. I need my old curlers, those never failed.

Family

On Sunay, July 29th, my parents arrived after driving for three whole days to come see us! We had so much fun with them. Williamsburg was our first stop, and Courtney had a blast having them take her picture everywhere! I look forward to seeing the pics posted hopefully soon. We then stopped at the airport to pick up Becky, and Courtney couldn't have been more excited to see her. We had a "Phineas and Ferb" themed FHE that night. It included watching Phineas and Ferb while eating Perry the Platypus cookies. The next day we drove to Washington DC, and the traffic was awful. I've never been more frustrated in traffic, and I wasn't even driving! It was so cool to see all the sites though. The best part had to be relaxing in the hotel, everyone just chilling, watching the girls gymnastics. The next day, my parents kept the kids, and Becky, and Devin and I went to the DC temple, which is so beautiful! We haven't been close to a temple since Spokane, and the DC temple is 3 hours away, so it'd been a while :S Then we spent the day at the Smithsonian museums, which were awesome! By the way, my little monster killed the batteries in my camera, so all I got was Grandpa and Mason relaxing before we left for DC. Becky posted some great pics on her FB though. The traffic was soooo bad on the way home, and because it was stop and go, Mason didn't sleep, he just cried. Ugh, so miserable. Devin had to work Wednesday-Saturday nights, which meant sleeping during the day. So we left him at home, and went to Virginia Beach. It was my mom's first time seeing the ocean, so that was cool. Mason got too hot, so my mom and dad took him inside a shop. While there, they bought him the cutest bucket hat, and bought sand toys for Courtney. My parents are awesome, and they agreed to take me and the kids with them to NY to visit my brother, Patrick, and his family. It was so nice to visit and have so many family members together. There was a very special spirit around everyone; I miss that the most. His stake had a large pool party/BBQ, and when they went on a hike, I stayed back with Patrick's wife's mom. She is awesome. I didn't really get a chance to know her when I met her at the wedding, but we talked nonstop while everyone was gone. She's great; how many people can just talk like they've known you forever? Sunday was such a welcome break from the crazy site seeing and on to go-ness(?). My little nephew bore his testimony, and Courtney actually paid attention and was quiet! After church we went to Taughannock Falls, although there wasn't much water. It was still pretty though. We celebrated my Dad's birthday with an awesome chocolate cake with jam filling and York ice cream bars. That was the day Devin was supposed to drive up, but he didn't get in until 1 am! We spent Monday touring Palmyra and the historical church sites. That was our last day. We went home on Tuesday, and I ached to be back in NY with everyone. Oh, did I mention all the Amish? It was so cool to see them, and buy their delicious baked goods?! I kind of wish our family was all in close proximity like them. This post is lengthy, but what I want my family to know, is I love them! I wish we could be together all the time here. Thank goodness for the Celestial Kingdom, where we'll always be close :)

Yes, I'm still talking about this

I am so proud of my race on the 4th! I fell short of my goal time by 5 minutes, BUT my secondary goal was a win! My secondary goal was clear: run the whole time. My time ended being 50:12. Also, photographers were set up all along the course, and I had some (very unflattering) pictures taken of me! I think it's pretty cool I got a picture of just me. my next race is going to be "Race for the Cure" this October. Since breast cancer hits close to home, I hope to raise money as an individual runner. And my goal for that race will be to cut 2 minutes off my time :) I'm having trouble adding the pics; here's the links to copy and paste: https://picasaweb.google.com/109873468692971585252/2012YorktownIndependence8K#5762543055736808722 https://picasaweb.google.com/109873468692971585252/2012YorktownIndependence8K#5765156945254085826

Courtney has been imitating me more than usual lately. She likes to wear my t-shirts and say, "I'm just like you!" Awwwwww. Today though, she surprised me. She was holding her baby, named Jason, to her chest with her shirt lifted up saying, "I'm filled with juice". Then she sat next to me and told me I had to feed him because she was empty! Then I changed Mason and put him down for a nap. When I went into my room again, this is what I found, Mason and Jason down for their afternoon nap

More pictures of the cutie patooties! Courtneygot lots of fun, Fourth of July gifts from both sets of grandparents, and she was so happy to get them! Mason is doing what yoga (and life) refers to as the "happy baby". Also, I finally had my first 8k! I ran the entire time, and the one look I saw of the clock about 100 ft from the finish said 49:59. So I'm guessing I finished at about 50:04; I'm still waiting on the official results. Isn't the shirt sweet? Devin is so jealous :)