Pumpkin Patch 2014

We decided to do the good parent thing and take Alivia to a pumpkin patch her first fall. We found one that had a "hay" ride(pulled by a hummer and no hay involved) through an old western town, a petting zoo, bouncy houses, and pony rides. Alivia is a little young for the bouncy houses and has yet to overcome her fear of animals. But we had a lot of fun with some friends. 

This is as close as Alivia would get to the animals and even at this point she starts whimpering. 

So when we tried putting her on a pony for a picture(note the death grip on Abram's shirt) 

This came as an unexpected surprise

She loved it!

Cute kids!

This is what happens when you try to get 3 kids under 18 months to take a picture together!

Love this picture(and Hank finding pumpkins in the background)

Alivia was talking(yelling) up a storm! We may have a drama queen on our hands!

Running and the 5k!

I have always had weight issues for as long as I can remember. After we got married I gained a lot of weight. I had a bad attitude about my body and in a way had just decided that I gain weight easily and I couldn't do anything about it. I felt like people looked at me like I was fat even before I started gaining more weight so what did it even matter! About 3 years ago I decided that I was going to try to make small, healthier changes in my life. At the time I didn't want to do a strict diet because I was afraid to fail. I substituted foods in meals that I loved and kept track of calories for a while to see where I was eating a lot of empty calories. I started walking a little. Before getting pregnant with Alivia I had lost 35 lbs by making the small changes.

Having a baby made me realize I needed to make even more changes in my life. I realized that how things were going I wouldn't be as active with my kids as I would like to be. And my activity level and eating habits wouldn't be a good example to Alivia.

After moving to Texas, the wives in the "BYU group" talked about doing a 5k. Stephanie found a 5k with a good cause and gave us some tools to help us be ready in 8 weeks. I was extremely skeptical if I would actually be able to do it. I could probably count on 1 hand the amount of times I had gone running since high school. But Abram and Stephanie were so positive and encouraging the entire way. I did a couch to 5k program and tracked my runs to be able to see my progress. 2 weeks before the race I ended up getting a cold(that I now think was allergies) which set back my training and discouraged me a lot. Without really running for those two weeks I decided to run the race anyways to do the best I could. And I did it! I ended up walking a couple of times but I am proud of how far I had come in two months. I've been slacking since my 5k but I'm planning to continue running and running another 5k to get a better time and do it without walking.

I've lost 45 lbs since I started making the small changes in my life 3 years ago(of course with the detour of being pregnant and having a baby). I have many more pounds to lose but am proud of the accomplishments I have made and how I'm starting to feel about my body. I am working on having a more positive attitude about my body and not worry about what other people are thinking about it. I'm so thankful for the positive people in my life that love me for who I am while encouraging me to better myself and accomplish my goals!

Thanks Abram for running slow with me for 2 months, pushing the stroller, and encouraging me to keep going even when I got mad at you for it! And thanks Stephanie for giving me the motivation to actually get out there and do it. Without you it would have been "someday I will do one".

The cause we ran for:

fundly.com/graham-s-road-to-recovery-fund

About to cross the finish line

Family picture after I finished

11 Months - Miss Independent and the State Fair

Alivia is 11 months old today! I can't believe how fast it has gone. She still isn't walking. She is very steady standing on her own but is too scared to move her feet without holding on to something. If we let go of her hands she will either just stand there or slowly squat down and quickly crawl where she wants to go. She is sleeping through the night most nights and has 6 teeth! She is becoming more social and when she finally warms up to people she is very loud(making church fun). She loves books. Whenever she crawls into her room she immediately heads for the pile of books and starts reading them. She loves socks. If there is a basket of laundry she will pull the socks out and we will find them all over the house! The past couple of days she has started to nod her head. She rolls her arms(sometimes), folds her arms for prayers(for a few seconds at a time usually), and starts clapping when we start singing songs like If You're Happy and You Know It.. And her new favorite thing is to pull all of the Ziploc bags out of the box and spread them all over the floor. She is starting to want any food that is on our plates and throws tantrums when dad's cereal is gone. She also dances to pretty much any music now! And hands things to mom and dad. When we go to get her out of her crib she hands us her blanket. 

Alivia loves the fridge. Like the dryer and the dishwasher if it's opened she has to get to it as quickly as possible. While I was unloading groceries she climbed up me to get in the fridge. I guess she really wanted some yogurt!

Daddy is nice to her and shares his food. Here's her first time trying donuts. When it was gone she climbed over him to get to the bag and went for another one!

Hank is one of the kids Alivia loves to follow around. They love playing the piano together.

Abram's work rented the ballpark for a family fun day. The girls made super cool sand necklaces. Mine looked pretty cool, until Alivia decided she liked it and shook it up! And in true Texas fashion it was a nice 95 degrees outside in October!! 

Abram had Columbus Day off and we went to the Texas State Fair with some friends. It was a lot of fun. Next year Alivia will probably enjoy it more. Right now she cares more about other kids then she does animals.

Alivia enjoyed the jalapeno cheese corndog! 

Daddy tried to help her color Big Tex after seeing all of the animals in the kids area.

Watching the pig races!

Trying to hold hands!

Livi decided she thought it would be fun to feed herself. I would put the food on her spoon and she would put it in her mouth. Sadly the spot on her head was when mom was trying to feed her!

She loved it!

I can't believe how independent this little girl is getting and that she will be 1 in a month!

10 Months

Alivia is even more active now. Loves playing with other kids, also known as chasing them around while grunting.

Moving around like crazy

Look, no hands!

Love this girl!

As soon as Alivia hears the door to the dryer open she crawls over as quickly as possible and "helps". She does the same thing with the dishwasher.

Abram had Labor Day off and we took Alivia to her first baseball game with some friends. She did a great job and even was on the big screen(Mom fail- I didn't get a picture of it) 

Love these two! We always have to take pictures when she actually will calm down enough and sit with us. This doesn't happen often!

She loves swings!

Like I said before Alivia loves other kids! Zoey is so nice to share her toys!

Murder Mystery Party

I will probably end up saying this a hundred times but we have been so blessed with the friends that we have here in Texas already. There are a group of guys that Abram graduated with that work for Capital One here in Plano. And lucky for me their wives are amazing!! The first week we were in Texas they were already having us over for dinner. A couple of the awesome wives put on a Murder Mystery Party at the end of August. They wrote it themselves and it was so much fun!

Some of the girls

The group of girls

(No those aren't real cigarettes)

I loved the amount of detail they added into the Murder Mystery and how much thought went into it. And dressing up like it was the 1920s was fun too!

*More pictures to come

9 Months - Cousins and Dancing

One advantage to moving into a new apartment right when Alivia was starting to get mobile was baby proofing had to be done with unpacking. This month she started pulling herself up and cruising along furniture. She also started dancing, which right now just means bouncing and starting to wave her arms. I love seeing her fun personality coming through!

Alivia's first time pulling herself up in her crib. It took her a couple weeks to be brave enough to get back down!

We love IKEA shopping and think we need this cute chair!

Heading to church

Sorry there is always something blurry in pictures. When she's happy she is generally not holding still!

This face was looking at a picture of a baby of our friends Chase and Rachel(we miss them a lot!). She loves looking at pictures on our phones, especially of herself!

When mom realized that she needed to block off the entrance to the back of the couch! 

Still loves playing in the water!

Bryce, Ashla, and Lydia came to visit! We are so happy to be closer to family now that we can do weekend trips! Alivia loves her cousin Lydia so much and just wanted to follow her around everywhere. They had fun riding horses outside the restaurant that we went to. 

Shopping with daddy

Her cheesy smile, one of many

Lunch with friends!

Clove Family Reunion 2014

After spending time with Abram's family we flew to California for the Clove Family Reunion in Tahoe. We were only there for a few days but it was so much fun to catch up with everyone!

The night we got to Tahoe Alivia decided to start crawling!

Family Hike

Most of the cousins on a hike

Beautiful view from our condo!

Driving Livi

Playing mini golf for the first time!

*hopefully more pictures to come. I was really bad at taking pictures while we were there!