Back To Basics

Well I have been thinking a lot about this new year and what goals I wanted to set for myself. I haven't had the time until now to really sit down and write them out. One word I keep thinking about and keep trying hard at is, simplicity. As I have started my dietitian program we have had to start right at the beginning of basic nutrition. I tend to quickly get overwhelmed with all the amazing blogs, recipes, newest food item to cook with, cooking with meat is the best, only eat vegan, start juicing, only organic, and the latest supplement that we MUST have to have immediately. That's why  I have really enjoyed all my classes. We went back to the basics. Now it seems that nutrition is simple and easy. If you feed your body what is needs, exercise a little portion control, then to me you are doing pretty good in my book. Here are a couple charts and things I have been really using and applying. Remember this stuff is simple, no new sweet trick to loose 20 lbs in 1 day. It is simple, sweet and to the point.

The portions on this should fit nicely on an ikea kids plate.

Kids Nutrition

Every day they should have:

3 servings of veggies 

2 servings of fruit

3 servings of whole grains

3 servings calcium rich foods

(of course lean meat source of proteins, fats, and fibers too)

For me I wasn't even close to feeding Wes all of this in one day. So we quickly made some changes. The hardest one for us is the 3 servings of veggies each day. My amazing sister Jenna recently posted a kid friendly green smoothie. I quickly jumped on that to get one of my servings done within a smoothie. Genius. Here is the 

RECIPE. 

(Scroll down a little and you will see it.) Also check out Jenna's blog. She always has the best posts.  So click on the follow bottom so you can always see what this Mommy in Manhattan is up to next. 

There is my two cents on Nutrition for you. I have learned so much and will continue to keep sharing as I learn more.

2012 BIG NEWS

So far this year is turning out to be a great year. One huge item of business is Garrett and I bought our first house. We were going through all the paperwork and processing before Christmas and just got word of an actual closing date. January 16th, woo-who. We purchased the home when it was in the middle of construction, and it has been a fun process to see the house get finished off. The house will be finished on the 12th and we will be moving in on the 21st. Hopefully after we move this will break our moving every 6 months record. We are very excited and feel so blessed that we are able to get our very own home. 

This picture was taken a couple weeks ago. I ll post more later.

HAPPY 2012

Christmas in California

Once we got to California I realized we still have not taken Wes to see Santa. I felt like the worst mom ever. Every time I have tried I was to inpatient to wait so we ended  up never going. So Christmas eve day where were we, standing a the longest line waiting to see Santa. Luckily we came early and Garrett stood in line while Wes and I finished some shopping. So about an hour later, $23 poorer we left with our picture of Wes screaming on Santa's lap. Maybe next year he'll like him.

Do you see that line? We were up by the front and it still took an hour.

The food 

We ate at all our Favorite Restaurants. Our list includes, several trips to La Cocina, Stone fire, and Wahoos. The best food you can possibly get though is his moms good cooking. I don't think I ever stopped eating the entire trip.

 we all have chips in our mouth. That's how good it is. You have to keep eating.

This little boy was lovin on both Garrett and I. We love those twins. Mollie was to busy socializing to get in these pictures.

Hollywood

Every time we come into town we always try to go down to LA and do something fun. So this trip we decided to hike the Hollywood sign. It was a good hike. Wes loved it for about 5 min and he was done. It took us about a hour to get  up to the sign. m It was mainly flat with little inclines here and there. It was really amazing being that close to the Hollywood sign, and the views for LA from up there were so beautiful.

Christmas Eve

Wesley really loved Christmas this year. He didn't completely understand but he was so happy. Our Christmas Eve was magical. All the nieces came up with the program that night. They worked on it all day.

How cute is that. Before this we did this we had a delicious dinner, acted out the Nativity and got in our Christmas Jammies. One of my favorite traditions they have is Orphy the Elf. He usually comes by during our program, and drops off some presents and a special Santa Letter. This letter is directly from Santa. He talks about each kids that is there and their families about how the year went. Santa new about baseball games, dance recitals, and all sorts of things. This is so cute to see each child just light up when Santa mentions them in the letter.  I am going to carry on these tradition for sure. 

The Choir

Our Christmas Morning

Just Hanging

Loves Papa 

Towards the end of the week we took off to Bakersfield to spend time with Eric and Carlee and get some work done on our car.  Wesley helped Jayden with his roller blades. He loved his helmet.

Then we packed our bags and headed home Thursday night. Just in time for all of us to get sick. That's when you know I guess. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year. 

December Break

After I finished finals we could all now focus on Christmas. Yes me going back to school is a family affair. So with that, we started making a list of all the stuff we wanted to do before heading down to California to spend Christmas with the Fuller Family. We did almost everything we wanted to do.

We got to have all the girls spend the night so we made a village.

To finish the night off we watched a movie. Wes lasted until the popcorn was all done.

The Zoo

I know going to The Zoo Lights is a fun tradition to do around Christmas time, but I don't really get it. You don't even see animals, and you pay to walk around and look at lights of animals. So, we just went to the zoo in the morning and got to see both. We saw all the outlines of all the lights, and we got to actually see the real animals too. Perfect best of both worlds. We went with the Peterson. Our two little guys were in heaven.

Temple Lights

Christmas Party

All of us were spending Christmas out of state so before we all left we did a little Christmas Party. We ate lots of yummy food, played the famous white elephant game, and acted out the Nativity.

Wes was not a happy Shepard. 

Hawaii

Garrett and I just got back from Hawaii a couple of weekends ago. We were gone for almost a week and left Wesley home with Nana and Aunt Jaime. Thank you guys so much for taking such good care of him. :) we had such a blast. We went with Garrett's parents and one of Garrett's sisters, Kacee and her hubby Tyler. It is truly paradise out there. We actually did a lot too. We laid out by the beach and pool a lot, we went zip lining, and took a snorkel trip to Molokini. We also ate at the most amazing restaurants. I typically am not a fish person other then sushi ( i know that's a little backwards) but the fish out there is so fresh and delicious. The best place we ate was called Mama's Fish house. The menu would tell you when the fish was caught, on what side of the island, and by what captain. That was a little piece of heaven right there.

THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It really makes you reflect on your year and realize how truly blessed you are. Once you start thinking of all the things you are Thankful for the list just continues on and on. The you are suddenly overwhelmed with gratitude. This Thanksgiving was no exception. I am so grateful for everything that this year has brought to our family. 

This Thanksgiving was filled with family, fun and lots of eating. We had our dinner over at my Aunt Lori's house. There were so many kids between all the cousins families. It was a blast. Lori and Stewart had a blow up house, and a train they attached to a quad and rode around the neighborhood. The kids loved it! 

 

Can't forget the Family Rock Band

Breakfast with friends

 

The annual Turkey Trot

TGI Cyber Monday App - on The Today Show

Garrett's Cyber Monday App "TGI Cyber Monday" was featured on The Today Show this morning!!!  Here it is. I am so proud of him.  Everyone who wants to download it for free on Apple and Android devices, here are the links:

Apple Devices:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tgi-cyber-monday/id477565291?mt=8

Android Devices: 

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.tgicybermonday.cybermonday

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

TGI Cyber Monday - mentioned on The Today Show

Wesley 18 Months

This month marked a huge event, Wesley turned 18 months. YAY!! We are having so much fun together. I seriously can't get enough of him. He cracks me up all day long. I love, love this age. He is talking so much, and is just so busy all the time. It is so fun that we can actually communicate now. It feels good to have him finally respond to me. He actually understands me and will say things back too.  It mostly is in his language but he throws in a few words here and there so I get what he is saying.

Top 15 need to knows about Wesley

1. He loves "big Cars"
2. points at all airplanes and says "airplane" in the sky even if they are just a little spec in the air.
3. Loves to cuddle in the mornings with his milky, blanky, mommy and Einsteins (moms favorite thing in the world)
4. Loves to be the center of attention and when he knows he is, he is such a ham
5. Some of his favorite phrases are,  where is duke? where is dadda? Oh man. Oh no. lets eat! go outside. (and of course)  NO!
6. Surprises me everyday with new words and sounds he makes and says. I don't think I have even taught him 1/2 of the things he comes up with.
7. Loves any puzzles
8. Always keeps his tongue out
9. Loves getting his hair done
10. Thinks any group of kids is "Abbie"
11. He eats almost anything but is very picky when it comes to his hands. He has to have them clean or he gets very mad.
12.  Loves to dance
13. Copies everything anyone does or says
14. He is really into growling at things
15. He tries so hard to count things, but he only says twooo. so its twoooo, twooo, and twooo.

I just love this little guy. He had his 18 month check up and he has gained 2 lbs. Yay he weighs 22 lbs now. He has always been such a lightweight so any weight gain is something to take note on.  The best part of him being 18 months is him being able to go to nursery. I love being able to attend a church for the full 3 hours. I have really been missing it. The halls are great but I was pretty stoked when I could actually go inside and hear the messages.

We love Wesley and can't believe how fast he is growing up.

The Events of Last Weekend

This past weekend was a FIRST for the Fuller family. Garrett went to California with Wesley without me for our nephews baptism. I want everyone to know this was Garrett's idea. I found out I had a couple exams this next week and knew I wouldn't be prepared if I went to California. So Garrett took Wesley and gave me a weekend to myself of mostly studying and some relaxation.

This is what the boys were up too:

This is what mommy did:

I didn't just study. I Was sick of studying one day so I decided to go get my hair cut. So I chopped it all off. I also hit up the friends and family GAP sale. Thanks Emma for my lovely coupon, and even saw a movie. I was so happy last night when my boys came back though. After a day to myself all I wanted was my family to come back home the rest of the weekend. I am so grateful that i have such a wonderful little boy and a husband who loves me and supports me on this crazy going back to school venture.

Happy Halloween: Our Weekend


Can I just say I love Halloween. I always say I'm going to put on the best Halloween Party ever, but I never do. This year I got kinda close. here is what our Halloween was like. Halloween Night was so fun. This was Wesley's first time trick or treating. He loved doing it, and once he got his first piece of candy he would just eat that for a couple houses. We went over to Brad and Jaime's neighborhood to do it with all the cousins. They truly live in the best neighborhood ever. It was nice not having to bundle up on Halloween this year. Coming from Utah this is usually a time for first or second snow fall. So glad I'm not experiences that right now. Another fun fact, apparently my new favorite candy bar is Butterfingers. I'm pretty sure I ate 2 king sized candy bars worth. I loved them last night. Sorry these pictures are all just poor quality. Wes was not wanting anything to do with taking a picture either. So most are action shots that failed miserably. Oh well. You will get the concept of how fun our night was. Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween.

On Sunday we had Brad and Jaime's Family over for a Halloween Sunday Dinner. My mom and I did the dinner. Our menu: jack-o-lanter pizza, spider pizza, twice baked potatoes that were witches, a yummy salad, and Dracula's dentures for dessert.

Saturday night we hung out with friends and were going to carve pumpkins. We ate chili, cornbread and the yummiest desserts ever. We were suppose to carve pumpkins but all of us were just chatting away and didn't get around to it. It was a really fun night. Thanks Jade for your delicious chili and hosting a fabulous night. And a thanks to Rachel and my one picture I was able to come up with this college of the night. Rachel being the cute teacher that she is, brought crafts for the little boys. They made these cute pumpkins with Halloween stickers on them.

Fall Festivities

This October has been all about outings. We have gone to a pumpkin patches with friends, The Boo Zoo, and another zoo called Wildlife Zoo. All so fun and Wesley had a blast at all of them. Of course I didn't take the best or that many pictures but here is what we have been up to these past couple weeks.

Vertuccio Farm. A bunch of us got a Groupon passes and went. I was so excited to go because its fall and fall is so fun. Well, in AZ going to these outdoor pumpkin farms isn't the most fun. It was still like 100 degrees. we were dying of heat but all the boys had so much fun. I love hanging with all these girls. Look at all our boys playing together. They all are pregnant with another boy too. I know I missed the memo on that one but Wes will just have even more boys to play with. :)

Next up the Phoenix Boo Zoo. I went with Rachel and Parker. Wes loves Parker.

Some of our friends from Utah came down and we met up with them at the Wildlife Zoo. Their little girl Naomi and Wes aree going to get married one day. :) This Zoo is a little bit of a trek to get too, but so worth it. The animals were so close. The aquarium was pretty sweet too. Of course we didn't get a group pic, and the pictures we have are mostly of Wes, you will still get the idea of how awesome this zoo is.

Happy 30th Birthday Garrett

The most amazing husband in all the world just turned the big 3 0. Well, on October 4th he did. So it was time to celebrate. I threw him all of his "favorite things" party. All our family came. Some of his favorite things included: Chevy's salsa, grilled Carne Asada tacos, banana cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory, and my famous guacamole. :) I think its famouse because its bomb.com

The next weekend Garrett and I took off for a surprise getaway to San Francisco. It was so fun. San Francisco is the most amazing city that is full of things to do all hours of the day. We just walked everywhere, ate out every meal, tried to sleep in, and went to movies every night. Garrett celebrated his new age in style. Our hotel was gorgeous and right in Union Square. One highlight was we went to a diners, drive-ins and dives place we found. Garrett loves this show so we found a restaurant called Rocco's. It was amazing!!!! Such a hole in the wall but the best Italian food. It was so good it tasted almost light. Weird huh? Best vacation ever. My sweet Mom watched Wesley for us while we played all weekend. Thanks MOM!!!