Skyler turned 3!!!!!!

Our little girl turned 3 last week. I haven't had time to blog about it yet, so I thought I would and share some pictures too. What a sweet little girl she is. She is generally always wants to be a good girl and lets you know if she has been wronged. Usually by her sister. Her latest crazes are My Little Pony, Kitties (and kind of cute cat toy or real), Princesses, Tinkerbell, Animals of all kinds....etc. She loves to have a bag or purse or small luggage and fill it with every toy she can cram in there. We found out from our friend who works in her room at church that she does the same thing at church. She gets the big tea pot and fills it with all of the kitchen stuff and walks around with it. It's hilarious. Until everything doesn't fit. Then she gets frustrated. lol She also likes to play games (including some Wii ones now). She is always asking questions and telling us random things she knows. We are always amazed by the things that come out of her mouth. (In a good way.) Some of her favorite shows to watch are Backyardigans, Little Einsteins, Wonder Pets, Dora, Skunk Fu, Sponge Bob, etc. She loves reading books and is always bringing another out to read. She likes to pray for our meals and at prayer time before bed. And she ends every prayer with, "Amen, Amen." She loves to be a part of everything and this also includes stamping and crafts. Painting is a huge blast too. She is a runner. Sometimes she will be on her trike for a while and just stop to get off to run after her sister (and catch her). She loves her family and prays for everyone often. If she could, she would take all of her toys and animals to bed with her. She's really quite a special little girl. Even though she would say she's big. I can't believe she's 3 years old already. When did that happen? Where did all of that time go? She sure is growing up. We love you Sky!

Oh ya, some of her nicknames are: Sky, Pumpkin, Bubba(s), Sweetie Pie, Silly Goose

Ok, so these are totally out of order now. Oh well. This is from Skyler's birthday.

On her birthday we went to the park with her cousins, Madi and Josh.

Later that day we went to Disneyland. Yes, she needs a pass now. But at least by going on her birthday we got $59 dollars off.

After Disneyland we got home and had a little cake and ice cream.

I took some pictures of Skyler for her "3 year pictures" at home this year. They were taken on the day of her birthday.

This is one of my favorite pictures from Skyler's party.

It's my party!!

That funny smile of hers. This is the fake one.

Weight Loss Journey

I have become newly motivated to continue on my weight loss journey. I had lost 9 pounds already, and was at a stand still. This week I lost another 3, bringing my total to 12. I'm always motivated when I watch the Biggest Loser. But this time it really hit home with me. One thing they asked was, what are you waiting for? Because circumstances will never quite be right. I have been very active at the gym, but this last week I did an exceptionally good job. I went to the gym 4 days. All with using the eliptical machine for 40 minutes each time. Once I added strength training with my arms. Once I did strength training with my legs. And each time I did 200 sit ups (which I always do when I go to the gym). I also cut lots of things out of what I am eating, but I am not necessarily following a specific diet, per say. We are eating in for almost every meal. Very rarely do we eat out anymore. And I've been drinking way more water. I feel really good about these changes and I am excited about the weight loss this week. I did have a few little things I probably shouldn't have eaten. But I only had a little each time so that it wasn't a huge indulgence. I have set my first goal and am currently going for that. Then it will be my ultimate goal. I may shoot for smaller goals a long the way to keep me motivated too. I go to the 24 Hour Fitness gym at the Whittwood Towne Center if anyone is interested in joining me.

I was reading about interval cardio training in the Biggest Loser book I have and how you should integrate your workouts with interval ones. Most people do steady state, where you workout with the same resistance or ramp height the whole time you exercise. But interval is where you do a higher resistance or ramp height (or both) for 3 minutes, then have a 1 minute resting period, then do the 3 minutes again, until your workout is done. My body seems to be used to doing this now and all of the last 4 workouts I did were interval. It's fun to switch it up a little and makes the time go by faster. 30 second sprints along the way are good too. I do those at the end of the 3 minutes so I can rest after. :)

So, anyway. I'm excited about this and know I can do it. I keep thinking about those contestants and how hard they workout and work at it. And I think to myself, I could be doing that. I can do that. Sometimes I picture what Bob or Jillian would be saying to me. Especially when I rest my hands on a machine. Anyone who watches the show would understand.

This is a journey and I expect there to be some ups and downs. I hesitated writing anything about this because I didn't want people scrutinizing every move I make or everything I eat. So, please don't say anything if you see me eating something considered "bad". You never know if that was the one "bad" thing I had eaten all week. And all anyone needs is for someone to be all in your face about it. Not that anyone would. I'm just thinking outloud.

On a fun note, I got the Jillian Ultimatum workout Wii game from Christmas if anyone wants to do it with me. I'm excited to try it out more. And the Wii Fit is always fun too. Not a substitute for the gym, but a fun addition to your workouts.

Year in Review 2008

Welcome to Traci's year in review of the year 2008. I was inspired by my husband's blog to do a review. It's amazing how different our perspectives are and how we were involved in different things or what pictures spoke to us more of a certain event. Be prepared, it's long. But worth it.

In January, the highlight for sure was Skyler turning 2. Below is Skyler at her birthday party.

She had a Tinkerbell themed party.

So many events happened in February. First of all, my birthday. A big one for me. I turned 30. Scott threw me a girly party. It was so much fun to just invite all of the girls over to have fun and help celebrate.

My Aunt Maureen, me, Mom, and Shauna all went on a scrapbooking cruise with Screamin' Susie's store. It was so much fun. We actually had a scrapbooking room where we could go at anytime of the day and scrap. Or just hang out at the pool or do whatever else there was to do in the ship. We sailed to Ensenada, Mexico. It was my first time to Mexico.

Courtney turned 4 in Feb also. She was so elated to have her 2 best friends there together with her. She was in heaven. She had a blast with all of her family and friends.

In March, was our church's serve weekend. This is a massive church wide event that had over 100 projects in the local community on one weekend instead of church services that weekend. One of the huge projects was restoring this run down home for this older woman who couldn't keep up her house anymore. It was such an amazing project. Scott was on the committee for this weekend and had his own project too. However, the project got cancelled at the last minute so we got to tag along with the rest of the leaders going around to all of the many sites. We got to pray for them and help encourage those who were working on projects. And I took a million pictures to document all of the projects we went to see and help with. It was such an amazing experience from that perspective. Seeing all of those people in the community helping out was awesome.

Here is a picture of that one house project.


Easter was in March this year.

Jen, Monica, Sunshine and I went to our church's Women's Retreat. It was nice and local this year (near the Block of Orange). We had a great bonding time. Here we all are after our beading class we all took.

Oh the Dodgers. Sorry boys in blue, but I will never again go to see you if you are in the Collesium. Ug what a crazy, scary event. Not the most enjoyable experience of my life and I will not be doing it again. But hey, Scott got to go to the historic game here, so all is well. Just bring it back to good ol' Dodger Stadium, boys.

In April, we went to Goofy's Kitchen. If you have never been, it's a character dining experience. You get to have buffet style food (that is absolutely wonderful), and while you are eating the kids get to have pictures and meet characters. Then they get to dance with Goofy too. So much fun. Here we are with Goofy and the Hoopers.

Courtney's best friend at school is Charis. They are inseparable. This picture was taken at Charis' birthday party. It's so sad right now for them because they had to say goodbye to each other. Charis' family is moving to Hungary to be missionaries. So, for a good reason, but still so sad to see their family leave.

We normally take a picture of Steven and Scott together on their birthday (or whomever's party for the birthday). This year we lost our camera, so we don't have any pics of Scott's birthday, so here is one of Steven's.

And the older girls are posing for pics on the stairs. This was actually taken at Autumns 1st birthday party in Lake Arrowhead.

May started off with a trip to Knott's Berry Farm for Shauna's birthday. It was a crazy night of roller coasters. I managed to keep my dinner in and decided not to go on all of the rides they all went on. Those crazies. This is a pic in the ride line for the Log Ride. Ahh nostalgia.

May for me always includes the end of a semester of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). This was my table who was there at the last meeting (Tea and Testimony day).

As part of T&T, the table leaders (me) decorate their table. This was my table for this semester. I was pretty proud of it. I also made journals for everyone at my table.

This was at Parnell Park for Mother's Day.

In May, Courtney's class did a field trip at the Kidspace Museum. It was awesome to see them all interact with each other. Here is Courtney with 2 of her friends.

At the end of May, we got to take a driving trip to Colorado to see Susie and Adam. We stayed with them, but got to visit with so many people. Scott has a lot of family up there. Here is a picture of our meeting with my friend Jody and her child, Andrew.

While in Colorado we got to go to the Denver Zoo. The girls had an easy riding experience. hehe

Courtney started choir right after she turned 4 (as early as you can start) and this was her first choir performance. She's in the front, farthest on the right.

At the end of the school year, they threw a party for the kids and for the "graduating" pre-k class. The younger preschoolers got to enjoy the party too. Here Courtney is with her teacher, Mrs. Zulueta.

In June we took one of many trips to Disneyland. This is a favorite destination for all of our family. It's fun to see if we can find something new to do. Courtney went on Tower of Terror for the first time right before this picture.

We also took a trip to San Diego & Coronado Island with our Sunday school class. Here is Scott and Skyler on the beaches of Coronado.

June started the beginning of swim class. Both of the girls took a "Mommy and Me" class. My mom went with us. Courtney ended up getting upgraded to the next class since she was ready. By the end of that class she was jumping in the pool, not being caught, and swimming to the side of the pool all by herself. Skyler had lots of fun being a part of the class this year. They both enjoyed practicing in Grandma and Papa's pool.

In July, I took my first solo plane flight to St. Louis. I went there for PartyLite's National Convention. Here I am with my friends, Margaret, Lupe, and Toni. We had such a great time hanging out with just the girls and really getting to know each other. Late night chats and going to Hooters and getting hit on. lol Good times!

After swim class was over we decided to have the girls try out a gymnastics class. They LOVED it. They both did extremely well. They got to move on to the next intermediate class too.

Skyler was the youngest one yet was the only one who on the first day could get her feet up on the bar. Crazy strong girl. This just proved our thoughts of her strength and the instructor mentioned her strength too. By the end of the classes they both were doing flips on the bars. And almost doing cartwheels. Very close.

At the end of July we were crazy enough to do yet another trip. ahhh! But this was an important one. Our annual camping trip. This year we went to Lopez Lake. Ahh the bees. Crazy bees there, but very fun water park.

After Shauna and I had our cruise in February, we joked that we should take the guys on a cruise. Well, here we are in August on our second cruise. :) With the guys this time. We actually went on the same boat. We had a great time!! This time we sailed to Ensenada, Mexico, San Diego, and Catalina.

Since Scott got hired on officially as an employee at Chevron and not just a contractor there, we got to enjoy all of the benefits of being an employee. Our first picnic. It was amazing. The highlight for us was riding the elephant.

My girls are lovers of dance. Especially if it involves a bride. Or any girl in the fancy dresses. Here Courtney is with my cousin, Teri at her wedding in September. They both kept dancing with Teri and any bridesmaid that would dance with them. Or any cousins they knew or didn't know. It was hilarious. Courtney later told me she wanted to dance at more weddings. I told her we could dance at home with that music. She informed me that we couldn't have any of that cool dance music. How are we uncool already?

October came around and we got to see Susie and Adam again. Woho! They came down for a visit and we had a baby shower for them. That's right!!! We have a little niece coming in February!!!!!!!!!! Isabella will be her name. Here is Suz with Court and Sky.

Here the girls are in their Halloween costumes. Courtney as Jasmine and Skyler as a pirate.

The girls got a chance to dance at another wedding. My cousin, Jamie got married to Kory in October. So, we went up to northern CA to come. We went with my parents and camped after the wedding. We were so thrilled when we found out that Jamie and Kory were camping with everyone too. Their honeymoon wasn't until after camping. We were very excited. Here is Courtney and Skyler with their cousin Kayde and one of the flower girls.

November always means that Holiday Elegance is coming. This is a yearly tradition. It usually is at the Disneyland Hotel in the Gran Ballroom. There was a fun fashion show featuring all people from our church. The speaker was great. It was such a wonderful day, as usual. Our family and Shauna's hung out after playing games too. Here is a picture of some of the ladies at our table. (Mom, Linda, Nora, me, & Shauna)

At the beginning of December, Courtney's school did a Christmas Musical.

Courtney's choir at church did a Christmas musical too. They were so cute.

Candlelight 2008. Here is the best shot Scott got of us up there. There was a massive crowd, and the guy's head is covering where I am. But here is an idea of what it looked like. (See previous blog for details.)

Here we are on Christmas Eve. Taking our traditional "Myspace style" picture (taking it ourselves).

Christmas Eve Pajama picture--well, mostly all in pajamas.

Our family on the day after Christmas. We suddenly realized we didn't get one of all of us together. This was taken right before we said goodbye to my brother and his family as they move to Colorado. What's with Colorado, people? Seriously, no one else is allowed to move. Good memories from this past year. I hope you have enjoyed it.