Late night rambling

Richard is working nights right now, and it's always hard for me to adjust to him being gone for the first few nights, and I end up staying up waaay too late! And of course I get online and decide to ramble on the blog for a bit. 
 We all just got over being sick, which was no fun. I should say Aubry got over being sick, because Richard & I are still feeling kind of crappy. Must be because we are getting old! ;) Aubry got sick first, and it must have been a 24 hour bug, because she was up puking all of Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning, and then all better by Thursday. Thursday is when we got it. YUCK! As long as Aubry feels better, I don't mind feeling a little crappy. Seeing her sick is the worst! 
 There really isn't anything all that interesting going on right now. Our lives are boring! Richard switched plants at work, so me & Aubry can't go see him anymore, which kind of stinks. Especially when he is on nights. I guess we were spoiled while he was at Central. It was just always nice to take Aubry to see him before she had to go to bed. She still gets to call him and tell him good night, though. <3 Hunting season over at the end of this month! THANK GOODNESS!!! Well, it's over for now, anyway..but still...THANK GOODNESS!! I am kind of bummed for him that he didn't get anything, but I am super happy I will be seeing more of my husband on his days off! We went on a date night on his last set of days off. It was nice, it had been way too long. I got a new dress right before we left for Safford, so I could wear it on our date. It was so nice & fun to get so dressed up for him! Or just in general, really. When you are a stay at home mom, you kind of lose than "getting dressed up every day" thing...half the time I don't even leave the house, so I end up looking like a bum most of the time! We had his mom watch Aubry while we went to dinner at the steak house in Safford, which was delish! Then we went to the movies and saw Contraband. It was a really good movie! It's always nice to do things alone, as much as we LOVE doing family things, it is important for us to get our alone time, too.
 My grandparents are coming out to visit next month which I am SUPER excited about! I can't wait for them to see how much Aubry has grown just since we were in Iowa. They haven't been to Arizona in a long time. It will be nice to have them here. I'm sure my mom is excited, too. We are planning a trip to go see my fantastic sister & her beautiful family in October this year, which I mentioned before. I am SO excited about that!! It has been way, way, WAAAYYYY too long since I have seen my nephews! The last time I saw them they were my little cuddle buddies, and now they are all grown up! It's so crazy to me! Time really flies. I used to go see them every summer, and then I lived there for a year after I graduated high school. Then life happened, and things changed, and now I have this amazing little family of my own! I can not wait for Aubry to meet Brandon & Seth! Of course I am excited to see EVERYONE, I just haven't seen them in the longest. Eve and Layla came out when Aubry was born, and then again for our wedding. I just can't wait to see everyone!
 Anyway, now I am seriously just rambling on & on. So off to bed I go!.....Hopefully!

Small progress

We went to Safford for a few days so that Richard could work on his truck & get it running for hunting. Yes, in case you were wondering, I am sick of hunting! Haha! Whatever makes the hubby happy, though. It would be more fun if I was going with, but we don't have anyone to watch Aubry up here, and taking a 2 year old hiking so you can bow hunt doesn't sound like much fun to me. Plus, she would scare away all the deer. :) Anyway, we stayed at Richard's parents the first night, and they are awesome! I have been trying to keep to eating healthy, which is more of a challenge when you're not at home, if you ask me. You can't exactly ask people to cook healthy just to suit your lifestyle. But Richard's mom was awesome & made healthy food anyway! :) They also have an elliptical that they let me use so I wouldn't feel like I was slacking on my work out schedule. I didn't think I would sweat so much from that thing! It was crazy. But also felt amazing. The second day I went grocery shopping with my friend Elicia. We were going to do a 2 day fruit & veggies cleanse, so we were stocking up on fruits & veggies. I wont lie, I didn't pull through on the cleanse. It's really hard to do something like that when you are not home! But, I did succeed in buying lots of healthy stuff. Step 1, right? Anyway, that night Lee Ann made chicken for the guys & was nice enough to also make fish so me & her could eat that. It was delish! Then I got on the elliptical again. This time I put it on the fat burning setting, and it totally kicked my butt!! In a good way, yes..but I was so sore the next day I didn't get to go on the walk her & I planned. Then we headed over to Matt & Elicia's for the night. It was hard not to eat the yummy nachos everyone was snacking on, but I stuck to my guns & ate a few Special K chip things. They're not bad. Though they have the texture of a rice cake! ha! The next day I was even more proud when Richard had me get him Burger King & I didn't eat any of it!! Okay, that's a lie, I took a baby bite from one of the burgers E was eating, but that was it! And it didn't even taste that good, I felt like I was eating garbage! I was more proud that I didn't eat the fries. Those are my weakness. Also, I didn't have any soda! Usually when we go to Safford I eat nothing but fast food. The only "fast food" I had was Subway!
 When we got home I had to jump on the scale because I wanted to see if I made any progress from eating right & kicking my own ass on the elliptical....and I DID! I lost 3 pound over the weekend! I know, I know...3 pounds is nothing, but it IS a start! And I proved to myself that even when I'm not at home I can still make healthy choices. I'm kind of proud of myself. I probably shouldn't be bragging, because I'm sure I could easily put those 3 pounds back on, but I look at it as more motivation to keep losing!

Christmas & Such

Christmas was wonderful! We spent Christmas Eve at Richard's parent's, and his grandma & grandpa got to be there, they came down for about a week, so it was great to have so much family around. We had a blast there, like we always do. Aubry thought everything was about her. Which really it was! ;) Christmas was so fun with her this year. As she was opening her presents she would get SO excited, before she could even see what it was! She would be saying "oh wow!!!". She's a crack up. A few days before Christmas was Jeff's(Richard's step-dad) birthday, so we went down for that as well. THAT was a blast too! He turned 50, so we all poked fun at him a little. He was a good sport. Aubry thought it was her birthday. We gave Aubry her power wheels jeep a few days before Christmas as well (I'm kind of going backwards here), since we were going ot be in Safford we didn't think we would have room to bring it back with all of the other stuff, but since it was her biggest gift we didn't want to give it to her late. She was SUPER excited about that! She loves it. Which makes me & Richard both very happy.

Christmas Day we spent at my mom's. Me & Aubry were the first ones up, so we had to wake up Richard & mom so she could open gifts. I love Christmas! And it is so much fun now with a little one! Todd called to tell us Merry Christmas I guess around 10 or 11, and he also told me, and only me, that they were going to be heading to mom's in about an hour! I haven't spent a Christmas with Todd, Jess & the boys in SO long! I almost cried when he told me!! Then I called my wonderful sister, Eve to tell her merry Christmas & she put my niece Layla on the phone so she could tell me all of the things Santa brought her. When she was getting off the phone she told me she loved me & Merry Christmas, then she said "wait wait wait...I love Aubry too!!!" & needless to say...I LOST IT!!! I started bawling like a little kid!! I don't even know what happened. I'm almost crying writting about it. I miss them SO much, and I can't believe how big my niece & nephews are getting & I never get to see them. We are planning a trip out there in October, though. =D Well, then we headed over to my dad's which is always awkward. Not because I don't love them more than anything, but because things are complicated with our relationship & the relationship I have with Evan & Kathryn. They were there, of course. But Christmas is about family, so we all got along really well. Aubry had a blast playing with her cousins, and it was a good time. Then it was back to mom's because Todd & Jess were there!!! I was really nervous about how the whole thing would play out, because Evan & Kathryn said they would be right behind us, & none of them have seen or talked to each other in quite a while. It went really really good though. It actually really made my heart hurt that day just knowing that our family will only be together like that on holidays, and only because we have to deal with each other. I don't like it. But things happen, and people do & say really stupid things...and well, relationships get ruined. Anyway, over all it was a wonderful holiday! I am extremely blessed to have my family! I love them all!
 I got to go have dinner with my best friend from high school, Stephanie, while we were down! I can't even tell you how amazing it was to see her!!! I don't think I have seen her since my wedding! So over a freakin' year!! How does that happen!? It was so great to just get together like old times & gossip, of course! ;) Seeing her also really inspired me to get into shape this year & get fit. Of course I was already planning to make that my new years resolution, and I was really, really set on it. But seeing her kicked it up a notch. She's such an awesome person. I know, I say that a lot. It must be true!!! So, fir the passed 4 days I have not had any soda, I have been drinking lots & lots of water, eating more healthy, and working out at home every night. We went & signed up for the gym today, but since it's free & through Richard's work, you have to do an hour long walk through & all this stupid stuff. So we go back Friday to do that. Then we will be good to go! I can't wait to get back in the gym! It was been WAY too long! They even have a childcare center there where they will watch your kids for up to 2 hours while you work out. FREE!!! How awesome is that?! I can't wait! I have never, ever been this motivated to get in shape! That's part of the reason why I know 2012 will be an amazing year, and it will be the year I get in the best shape of my life!