Running for my life

Every other morning looks like this.

I am surprised by my diligence. I am doind the c25k (couch to 5k) program although its slightly altered by the hubs because he thinks I am a little more active than the average couch potato. It is an awesome way to build endurance into running. I am actually starting to enjoy it. Gasp.

I also do zumba, a circuit, or a jillian michaels video.

It feels good to exercise.

Baby Blessing

Labor Day weekend we were able to bless Baby Max. Much to the dismay of my younger sisters I did not use Kyle's baby blessing suit (white and teal penguin tuxedo... I am not kidding...and yes I will put Max in them eventually and have a photo shoot and a good good laugh). Instead I found the cutest little outfit in another city for him.

The blessing was held in my husband's home ward, which I also consider my home ward since I don't really have one being a convert and all... I visited it on holiday breaks and summer vacation and sat with Kyle's parents while he was on the mission and got to know the people in the ward anyway. They were always so nice to me and I couldn't imagine doing Max's blessing anywhere else since we were in Yakima anways.

Kyle gave the blessing and it was perfect. Simple and spiritual, emphasizing the great blessings Max could receive if he stays true to the gospel. No promises for an attractive wife though... (seriously heard that once at a baby blessing, for twins. Only one twin go the attractive spouse blessing. The other one just got a blessing of marriage)

My whole family, except for one brother was there (He's a doctor and had to work). It was great to see them there and I was grateful for their support and love, especially since my family is a little....disheveled lately. They came together for Max and I love them for it.

Since it was fast and testimony I took the opportunity to bear my testimony in front of them. It was a good day.

Everyone... minus JP...plus my sister's friend Cloey.

The Baby himself.

This is my all-time favorite picture. It is soooo......us.

Boats, Moving, and Mustaches

Well things have been pretty crazy round here but I figured I ought to get some awesome pictures of Max up to brighten everyone's day.

Max is now 7 weeks old. Wow. It feels like he has been a part of my life since...forever. In reality he probably was up there in heaven watching my life waiting for his time to come down and make such a huge impact.

I made a decision pretty soon after Max was born that I wanted to avoid feeling trapped as a mother. I think this mentality is purely conceived within our mind but it takes some power to push oneself out the door with an infant to try to resume life as usual. Life will never be usual that's for sure, but I think this mentality of trying to get out the door at least for 10 minutes a day is a saving grace. It forces me to get showered and dressed and I get to talk to adults instead of just coo at a baby.

So a couple of weeks ago my family went inner tubing. Max was like 3 weeks old and so it was assumed that I wouldn't go. I was so sad when they came back talking about the fun they had had. Luckily Kyle had to work so he didn't go, if he had I would have probably cried. But the next opportunity that arose to go inner tubing I let my family know that Max and I would be along for the ride for sure.



Max wore a lifejacket the whole time, except for when I nursed him. It was an awesome experience and made me realize how relaxed of a mother I am.

The next week we moved all of our stuff to Spokane. This was Max's first long car ride (only had to stop once to nurse) and it also became his first time at a restaurant. He is such a chill baby, except for when he wants the boob juice. But that's super easy to remedy.



Eating at a super nummy pizzeria in Spokane.



His new favorite stuffed animal "Snorf" made by my cousin.

So I just turned 23. I could feel this birthday would be a dud from a mile away. Maybe it was just my attitude going into the day but it seems like everything went all wonky. Kyle had to work his latest night ever (got home at around 8:30pm) so I couldn't go to my Zumba class or go out to get dessert and see a movie either (my mom was going to watch Max). The day definitely ended on a high note though. We were all watching something on tv when my little sister starting playing with a fake mustache. Then we decided that the mustache must go on baby Max. We were in tears laughing. It made the day of my birthday end on a high note.





That picture needs the caption "FIRE THE MISSILES!" He looks like a little dictator.

Don't worry I got a birthday redo the day after my birthday. Kyle had to day off and I got to spend the day reading a book, going to a movie by myself (it is one of my favorite things to do in all seriousness), and having a birthday dinner with my family full of laughter, three cakes, and root beer sodas.

I love me a good root beer soda.

Love Story Part 12

In the blink of an eye the summer was over. What did that mean for Mongoose and I? Throughout the camp season I learned that he was going to be a freshman at Central Washington University, a small college 40 minutes outside of my hometown. In the beginning, we had assumed that our relationship would fizzle out by the end of the summer. But we were more attached than ever and I was scared for what was ahead. Forty minutes seemed so long and I was just going to be a senior in high school.

Would he even want a girlfriend starting off in college?

The subject was in the back of my mind and we just enjoyed whatever time we still had together.

Right after camp ended, we jetted off to Lake Chelan. My family had rented a cabin there for the week and my mom suggested I invite Mongoose and some other friends.

“There are plenty of beds and we can always set up the tent!” She suggested with that peppy voice.

So Mongoose and I caught a ride with my uncle and Smalls and our camp friend Kennedy joined us two days later.

As we pulled into the driveway, we passed a community pool. Mongoose and I looked at each other knowingly. Over the summer, we had made it a goal to kiss everywhere possible. It became a game to find interesting and fun places to kiss. Even though camp had a pool, the counselors were never without kids in it. We knew we had to kiss in that pool, it would just have to be the right timing to do so.

After dinner we walked out to the dock to talk and watch the sunset. The water rippled beneath our feet and I played with a broken splinter of wood as we discussed everything and anything you can imagine. There was this ease that came from the stillness of the lake, an ease that washed over my usually racing mind. There was no pressure or hidden agenda to our conversation. No expectations for answers, we talked openly and honestly. We discussed our individual goals and ideas for the future. He mentioned wanting to do something medically related, due to his nerdy love of the sciences. I hadn’t noticed this love quite yet as I still considered him to be just a good-looking, incredibly kind jock. He talked about how he wanted to get married in the temple, a sacred place where he could be sealed to his wife and children for time and all eternity. This thought was new to me.

Eternity? I inquired a little more about his ideas of marriage. What he wanted in a wife and in a mother for his kids. His answer was a little on the side of female house slave but after I pointed that out he seemed to delve a little deeper. In actuality he wanted someone to make him laugh. Someone he could talk to and share ideas. I liked this version a lot better. My inner feminist had raised a red flag at his first response but he salvaged himself when he described his relationship with his future wife.

That idea of eternity still got to me, and what did he mean by sealed? He explained that the person that he marries will have to be someone he wants to be with forever; someone who he will be bound to not just till death but beyond that, in heaven. It was a new concept to me. I had never realized that the vows said in civil marriage end that relationship at death. The idea saddened me and I came to the discovery that I wanted an eternal marriage, one that lasted forever.

It was a daunting thought that made spouse selection into an even more difficult choice. Not that I was thinking marriage already. Ok maybe I was a little.

I was a sixteen-year old girl, remember?

The sun set as we started in on our future together. The conversation went on and on and on. I didn’t want it to stop. Soon though our words turned into kisses as the moon grew in the sky. I remember thinking that life could not get any more perfect. I was with the most wonderful guy. He made me laugh, he was handsome, and he listened to what I had to say. Plus he respected me, even with his ideal of marrying a perfect housewife. He couldn’t be perfect right?

With no one watching us and our joints stiff from sitting on the hard wooden dock we looked to the pool. It was closed unfortunately but Mongoose had a mischievous look in his eye.

“Let’s jump the fence.” He declared.

I wasn’t so sure. I was a stickler for following rules and this would definitely be breaking some.

“It closed at ten though; I really don’t think we should.” I suggested we head on back to the house.

“No. I just have to kiss you underwater. Come on, no one is out right now and no one is watching the pool. It’s not like it has a guard.”

I thought about it as he pulled me closer and closer toward the fence. We were wearing our bathing suits already…. So we stripped off the rest of our clothes by the dock and made a plan for how to actually jump the fence.

He easily got over and helped me as well. We slid into the pool and he immediately drug me underwater for that kiss he so badly needed. After a couple of minutes of kissing and playing in the abandoned pool , we heard a noise.

“Gina?....”

It was my dad.

Click here for Part 13

the in between

Life is very in between lately, hence a lack of writing on the internet.

Last week we picked up a budget truck and moved all of our stuff from the garage to spokane. We came back to realize we had not thoroughly thought out our plan of moving our stuff before we moved ourselves. We have no bed. The first week we slept on a mattress topper on the floor. When the back pain was realized we moved into my Mother's RV in the driveway. Yes. I live in an RV currently. Ok so really we just sleep there but still.

I miss my bed. And my clothes. I pack a few shirts and the one pair of pants that fit me. I want more options now...

I am almost 23. My birthday is on Tuesday and it already feels different this year. I feel like my parents have less claim on me than usual. Is it motherhood? Their divorce? Who knows but I trying to keep myself away from expectations this year. I just dont know how the day will pan out so I am deciding to be grateful for whatever happens.

It's almost fall. Can you believe it? Summer in Yakima is firing its last shots of heat trying to stay alive but the calender tells me that soon I will be crunching leaves beneath my feet.


My body feels ever so in between lately. It's a bit frusterating. Remember all those clothes in Spokane? None of my pants fit. It upsets me a bit and I am trying to remember that it takes time to make a baby so surely it takes time to recover, but why do those super models have to flaunt that they are the exception to the rule? Making the rest of us feel like we got bad genes..... I am trying to figure out what my body is planning on doing right now, and prepping for the realization that I might actually have to consistently exercise. Oy.

Baby Max is doing wonderfully by the way. He is Mr.Smiles lately and I love watching Kyle play with him. It's quite sweet.

Well that is an update to how my life feels and I am just waiting for when I can settle a bit and establish a small routine.

In a flash.

Motherhood comes like a lightning bolt. It zaps you in a moment as you meet your little one for the first time, electrifying your very core with a new sensation.
When friends and family come over to visit Max they always ask how it is, being a mother now. I always stutter out a few words trying to find the right ones that could possible explain the way my life has changed without sounding cliché. I feel like I end up sounding a bit strange and dazed but maybe that’s exactly what my life feels like.

It is strange becoming a mother because as gradual as pregnancy is, when your baby lands in your arms it shocks you. You think to yourself, “why did no one prepare me for this wonderful feeling?” and then you realize as you try to describe it to others that it’s nearly impossible without others looking at you like you’ve ingested a few too many rainbows…

You are a bit dazed because everything is so exciting and new and boy they weren’t lying about that sleep were they? You’re mind feels a little bit groggier but when you actively take part in beholding the wonder of your very own creation that fog diminishes completely and you are filled with the most brilliant light. Your heart swells and by golly you just want to go out and give everyone a baby and then maybe we could have world peace. Everyone would be too busy sniffing their new baby and laughing at the bodily functions of their very own little one and they would forget they were mad at so and so and that they were going to launch that missile….

So I have decided when they ask me about how it feels to be a mother, I will tell them it feels like lightning. I’m utterly electrified.

Remember me?

Hey there. It's been awhile and I kept thinking every day that I needed to jot down a post and confess my love of motherhood (a very real love I assure you) but I wanted it to be genuine and the words just weren't coming to me. So I waited for inspiration to strike. Or a time when Max was napping long enough for me to think through my thoughts.

Unfortunately that time has yet to arrive because when Max sleeps I sleep. Or try. Like right now I should be sleeping but I had some photos I wanted to share.

What is it about new mothers wanted to post a bajillion photos of their new baby? I think Shakespeare described it best in his sonnets...basically we are narcissists and want to look at the mini versions of ourselves we have created. That and he is just too stinkin' cute and I know you all love to look at pictures of cute babies.

So pictures commence:












I love those pics of Max and Kyle. It cracks me up that they have similar expressions in each picture. I thought Max looked like me when he was born but Kyle's mom showed me a newborn picture of Kyle and the two are identical, like I thought it was a picture of Max.

I am happy to report Max is gaining weight like a champ. On thursday he weighed in at 9lb 6oz. Apparently I am feeding him buttermilk. He likes it I guess...

There he calls....wants some more of that buttermilk...