Spinning

About 2 weeks ago Phil decided to join 24 hour fitness. Since then he has been going to different classes after work every night. Last night I was feeling the need for a good work out, so I decided to meet up with him and do a week trial to see if I like it. I met him there and we dropped Livi off at the daycare and went to a spinning class. HOLY COW! That class kicked my butt and made me realize just how out of shape I am. There was a girl on the bike next to me that was quite overweight, but she had way more stamina than me. The last 20 minutes of the class I just did my own thing. I honestly thought I was going to puke. The instructor was the quintessential spinning teacher. She was this blond German or Swiss girl with a really thick accent. And she would yell, "2 more minutes! Then you can recover!" (imagine that in a German accent). I ended up joining as well and am really excited to work out. I love to sweat. Tomorrow I think I am going to try the step class. FUN!

LES MISERABLES!

                                                                         

Phil and I went to Les Mis on Saturday with a group of friends. It was definitely one of the best days of my life! I grew up listening to the broadway CD and know every song like the back of my hand. I read the book last year (the ginormous unabridged one, nonetheless) and am generally obsessed with this musical. When my book group told me it was coming to Houston I knew I would be there with bells on. As soon as the lights dimmed and the orchesrta started playing I got chills and was on the egde of my seat for the next three hours.  I can't say as much for Phil. He made it to the intermission then he crashed on my shoulder for a little while. I had to nudge him during the last song so he wouldn't miss the finale.  I laughed, I cried and was overall very impressed. I will say, I was a little bummed with Jean Valjean's rendition of "Bring Him Home".  That is probably one of my favorite songs, and I don't feel that he did it justice...close but no cigar. However, Marius' "Empty Chairs At Empty Tables" more than made up for it. The man they had cast as Marius was incredible.  After, we all went out to eat and a few of our friends were commenting that they didn't think the cast did that great of a job, but I think I was just so happy to be there that I was a little oblivious. I think I would have enjoyed just about anything. We left Olivia with a dear sweet friend that I am so indebted to now! She watched her for 7 hours! I don't think I could have left her with anyone else. Thank you LYNN!  

It was an amazing day and I will remember it for a long long time.

Super Saturday!

Yesterday was a fun filled Saturday for us. First, we woke up early to go and clean the church. I had to open the doors and hand out cleaning duties. I had been trying all week to get people to agree to come and help but wasn't having very much luck. So I was worried that no one was going to show up and it would just be me and Phil cleaning the church by ourselves. But quite a few people came and it went just lovely.  We came home and had lunch and then I went and got a haircut and my highlights redone, (it had only been 6 months). So that was awesome. I love fresh highlights. The only bad part was that it took the chick 2 and half hours to do it and I missed a baby shower that I was supposed to go to. Finally, I came home and we decided that we wanted to go and play tennis. We used to play every day, but since being pregnant and having Livi we have played maybe a handful of times. It's hard to make the time because when Phil gets home from work we eat dinner and Livi goes to bed shortly after that. It's also difficult because we have to find a babysitter. But yesterday Phil had the bright idea of asking one of his scouts to come with us to the park and push Livi around in her stroller for an hour while we played and we would pay him 10 bucks. He was more than willing and he ended up sitting on the bench with Livi and watching us. A great time was had by all. On the way home he decided he wanted to spend his cash money on ice cream so we took him to the store and he spent almost all $10 on helado. Classic.  It's so nice to get out and play tennis with Phil, that has to be one of my favorite past times, ever.  We finished off the night eating HUGE bowls of ice cream and cookies and looking at houses for sale. 

We found the absolute most perfect house in the entire world here in the Woodlands. I want it so badly. We have been going back and forth about whether or not we should buy a house right now. We know we will be here for at least 2 more years, but after that who knows. So we're not sure if buying a house at the moment would be the smartest move.  I love this house so much I almost don't care if it's wise or not.  I just have to remember to be patient. All in good time. 

RODEO!

I love how dazed and confused Livi looks
  HUGE venue

Awww
Phil and I are officially legit Texans. Last night we attended a full blown Texas rodeo! I have been to my fair share of rodeos, but I have never seen such a huge venue. The rodeo took place in a football stadium! But, amazingly enough, the rodeo has the same feeling no matter if you are in Wayne County Utah or Houston Texas. I was quite amazed that the people all looked like they could have come straight from WC. So that's where all the cowboys are! Before last night, I can't recall seeing one cowboy in the nearly two years that we've been here. I guess they were at the rodeo.  A Texas rodeo is no joke. It has been going on all month, every night. And every night there is the normal rodeo with the bull riding, etc. And then after that a concert begins. Every night is a different performer. Last night when we were there it was Gary Allen. Honestly, I don't know who that is. I know I've heard the name but couldn't tell you what he sings. So we didn't stay. But other performers have been Keith Urban, Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, Taylor Swift and on and on and on. AND the tickets are as low as $10! That pays for the rodeo and the concert. You can't beat that.

We had awesome seats thanks to Doug and Julie. Free tickets are awesome. And we had a blast hanging out with Kaylene and Trevor and Max. Max and Livi were trying to be friends, but Max kept getting annoyed with her because she was climbing all over him. She's a tad aggressive.

The rodeo was awesome. That was definitely the most fun I've had at a rodeo.  Phil was quite mesmerized by the whole thing as well. And a side note, the winner of the bull riding was from Payson!  Good times.

Car Repairs

Before I talk about the car I have to mention that Olivia is finally feeling better! Her rash is almost completely gone! We took her to church this morning, but I had Phil take her home after sacrament meeting just because she still has a little bit of the rash. Apparently, she could still be contagious as long as she has the rash. Here is a picture of the rash at its peak. I don't think I mentioned before that it ended up being roseola. That's why she had that fever a few days ago. It's amazing how many diseases there are.

Now on to the car. Last week the passenger side window in the accord came off it's tracks or something. It just fell down all of a sudden and wouldn't go back up unless you pushed it up manually with your hands. So we (Phil) researched good auto repair shops and happened to find this one called Dans about 20 minutes south of us. They were so honest and did such a good job. They were literally half of what another place quoted us. We also had them do the 30,000 mile check up and every other time I have taken a car in for one of those they tell you that you need all these flushes and what not. All they replaced was the air filter! On top of that we asked them to look at the brake fluid because a friend of ours changed our brake pads a few weeks ago and said it looked like it may need to be changed. So here is a perfect opportunity for them to get more out of us, but they said it looked fine and didn't need to be changed. Phil emailed me later that day at work and asked that I give Dan's a shout out in my blog because he was so impressed with them! We have found a mechanic for life! (Or as long as we are in Houston.)

New Routine

Last week I was nursing Livi and she bit me so hard that it brought tears to my eyes. I was hoping it was a one time thing, but the next time I fed her she did it again, and again and again. I couldn't bring myself to flick her in the mouth (what everyone told me to do). So after talking with my mom and her doctor I decided to wean her....sad day. The only problem with this is that she will not take a bottle or drink out of a sippy cup. My dr told me that she will not dehydrate herself and to keep offering her a sippy cup and eventually she would get hungry enough to drink from it. Well by the end of the first day she had only drank about 2 ounces from the cup and my boobs were going to explode. It hurt to walk. I had every intention of sticking it out. But she is still sick, in fact the dr says she now has an ear infection and so she is on an antibiotic.  She was/is so miserable that I decided now was not a good time to wean her.  So I braced myself, started nursing her and....she didn't bite me! And I'm happy to report that she hasn't bit me since! I guess she felt the threat of no more boobie juice.  I'm no longer engorged beyond belief and she is no longer hungry. 

I'm also trying to undo the bad habit of letting her nurse to sleep. It has it's good points: It's so easy to get her to sleep that way, and I enjoy the cuddling and I'm sure she finds it comforting as well. But the negative aspects are: Phil can't put her to sleep, she has to be dead asleep when you put her down or she will wake up, if she wakes up in the night she won't go back to sleep unless I nurse her. So for the past few days we have been trying to retrain her. We lay her down, let her cry for 10 minutes, go in and comfort her, lay her down, and repeat the process. The first few days were amazing, she would put herself to sleep in about 10 minutes! But last night and her morning nap today were rough.  I had to go in and comfort her 3 times and it ended up taking about 45 minutes for her to go to sleep. She has been asleep for almost 3 hours because she cried so much and just wore herself out. Poor thing. It kills me to walk away when she is crying. But I have already noticed a HUGE difference, especially at night. She hasn't woke up during the night since we started. And that in itself is worth it.  It will be interesting to see how things go with a second child