On the Move...

Chase (6 1/2 months now) has been showing signs of crawling for a while now. He's been doing the push up position on all 4's, but has not tried to pull himself up. I know he's strong enough to do it, but I don't think he realizes that it's a possibility. I'm sure he'll figure it out soon.

(Chase and Issac -doesn't like it when moms not around)


We've been around Issac (4 months older than Chase) a little lately and thanks to his example, Chase has figured it out and started to crawl! Yeah! So proud of him. As I write this, he's getting faster and ALL over the place now! It's awesome. I think he likes the ability to get what he has his eyes on. Why do they always go straight to the dvd player and remotes?!

Teigen has discovered that he's not too fond of this new milestone for Chase. Chase now "bothers" Teigen by getting his toys and such and he tries to get away from him. haha. It's actually quite funny to watch. If only Teigen knew that soon enough Teigen won't be able to hide from him at all. Teigen is constantly saying..."No, Chase...No, Chase!" I told Teigen that if he doesn't want Chase to get his toys, then he needs to play/leave them in his room. Maybe I'll have a cleaner house now!! ;)

Here is a clip of Chase's first time crawling, which was just on Tuesday. Now he's much faster already. Enjoy...


(Oh yeah...and Chase has his first tooth! It just broke through his gums yesterday. I see many more almost breaking through as well.)

New Camera? YEAH BABY!

Costco was having an incredible package deal on this beauty below.....

Here's the story....I graduated high school in 2002 (yes I'm a young pup-as my dad would say)I didn't exactly know what I wanted to do "when I grew up". I knew I wanted to do something "hands on" and able to talk to all different types of people. So, instead of going to a major college and "waste" money trying to figure out what I wanted to do, I went to community college.

When I was signing up, I met with a counselor, who said I had to pick a major even if I might change it, just so I know what direction to go in. I knew I was interested in radiology because it just seems fascinating to me to see something the natural eye can't. So, i signed up for computer science, computer technology, an English class, a speech class, and psychology. I had room for one more class. I was standing there needing to select a course and in my mind was wanting something that would be fun. So I turned the page and there! There was the course, "Photography". I had taken it in high school and knew that I really enjoyed it and did well, so I decided, Why not? That began my change of major towards photography. I only took 2 years and was needing a change and to leave home for a while, so I moved to Florida for 10 months. So, I never did finish my major and maybe I will one of these days, so for now it's a hobby.

Back track...I had/have an awesome canon rebel camera when I took photography but it was dare I say....film you had to develop! I loved it though. It was before digital got big. I loved developing the negatives in COMPLETE darkness and only by feel. (We practiced with a negative strip in the light so we knew exactly what to do). It was so neat. Then we would hold the negatives up in the light, choose one that looked cool and go develop it in the darkroom (has dim safe lights). It always took a few tries to get just the right exposure time though. It was such a beautiful procedure. Not only did I love taking pictures, but I fell in love with photography because of the long process it took to develop one picture. I appreciated it so much because of the hard work involved. When digital came around, I actually didn't want anything to do with it because I felt that it wasn't true artwork. The computer did all the work for you, making it easy for anyone to take pictures. Then when I took a digital photography class, I realized it was a lot of work and you had to have an "artsy eye" to create things that you weren't able to capture. I think I appreciate photographers more who still develop their own film and photographs, but I do LOVE the world of digital too!

One of my desires that I wanted when I was younger, (before digital) was to have my very own darkroom when I had my own house. I guess I forgot that technology is always changing and didn't realize it would be a lost art.

Either way....here's to my new DIGITAL camera! I love you!

Healthy and Happy Habits :)

Today is the first day of my 11 week "diet" WITHOUT SUGAR!! Ahhh!! It's not really a diet though.....it's more of a healthy lifestyle change. My friend is a personal trainer and she got a bunch of us on board. The goal is to produce daily habits and if you practice them long enough, they'll just be your lifestyle. I think this is a great idea.

Now natural sugars in fruits are completely fine and this "diet" is more towards you avoiding sugary snacks and sweets. This includes sugar cereals or anything sweetened with lots of sugar (like craisins). My goal is to do this mostly sugar free and avoid anything with more than 3grams of sugar. That doesn't sound hard but go to your pantry or fridge.....go on.....look at the labels and read the sugar content. More than you thought, huh?

Most things we have in the pantry and fridge have more than that, so I will be cooking every meal. This morning I had eggs. Lunch, I had a healthy rice and black bean quesadilla. Dinner...hmmm....maybe some chicken....any ideas?

Justin is not very excited about me making sugar free or very low sugared treats. haha. It'll be good for us. :) The hardest thing for me will be no chocolate! Chocolate is my good friend who I won't see for 11 weeks!

We have sheets that we use to track our points. (At the end of this, there will be prizes and whoever gets the most points, gets the prize of their choice. Which we each had to submit one.) So everyone will go away with a prize.

There are certain things that you get points for, if you do them daily.

Here is the list of daily habits:

1.) 48 oz. water

2.) 30 minutes of exercise

3.) No soda

4.) No sweets

5.) No fastfood or unhealthy snacks

6.) 2 servings of fruits and veggies

7.) No eating after 8pm

8.) Read 15 minutes

9.) Write in your journal/blog

10.) Personal goal



So, stay tuned to see what tasty sugar-free desserts I make....because I'm going to have to learn. Life without desserts makes me stressed! (desserts spelled backwards) haha.


If you are interested and want to check out all the rules and guidelines, here is my friends blog.

Three!

3 years old! I still can't believe it! My baby boy turned 3 today! Maybe if I keep repeating it, it'll sound normal to me. :)

I was going through old pictures and videos the other day and came across some of Teigen when he was like a year old. I feel like he's still that little until I look at the videos/pictures and see how far he's come. It makes me sad that the "baby" stage goes by sooooo fast!

Today I wanted my "Teigen-boy" to know that.....mama loves you so much and is so grateful you are a part of our lives. We feel incredibly blessed to have such a special boy. Thank you for keeping us on our toes. (I'm pretty sure that will be a trait you'll always have....although it makes me a little nervous. ;) )

Here's a video when Teigen was 1. I think this video is appropiate since we'll be taking Teigen to play minature golfing today for the first time. (And he's getting the rest of his golf clubs and bag today) Shhh....he doesn't know yet. He's always had a love for the sport. Pro someday???

T alented

E nergetic

I mpressive

G rateful

E ntertaining

N eighborly