Exercise?

Bad news... it finally got cold here. And by cold I mean, way too cold to open the front door. This is troubling because I was just beginning to see the results of my working out. I was starting to believe that my exercising was doing something for me. Not only that-- I was beginning to enjoy my time walking outside in the morning--(if you even call my leisurely stroll exercise). And though I was FAR from even beginning to think about enjoying running when I managed to get motivated enough to do it, atleast I felt good when the workout was over. Now, I'm sad to say that the stroller has not left the trunk of the car in over a week. I know what you're thinking-- "Amber, stop being lazy and just go outside, it can't be that bad; there isn't even any snow on the ground." To you I say, "Would you have me freeze my baby?"

Ok, lame excuse. I know, she would be just fine if I bundled her up. In fact, she falls asleep as soon as I start moving with her in the stroller... but I can't help but think she might get cold!

You're right, that's not why I quit exercising outside... really, it's because I imagined myself in what I would have to wear. I decided I might look funny running with four pairs of pants on, my huge puffy winter coat, two hats, a scarf, gloves, and snow boots (in case it snows while I'm out there). With the added weight and the resulting slowed pace, my neighbors might not even be able to tell I was moving-- much less exercising.

I'll stop now, because really, I don't need to explain or justify to anyone. I just tell you these things to explain why I have now elected to use Dance Dance Revolution as my daily exercise. For those of you familiar to DDR, I am working out with Ultramix 3, and frankly, I'm quite the dancer.



See, they have a cool feature on the game that lets a person track how many calories they burn for each song. This is great, a great tool for working out. Too bad you have to dance for 4 straight hours to burn the same amount of calories I could burn running two miles. Not to worry, I'm a stay-at-home mom. I have 4 hours a day to spend staying in shape. The dishes aren't done, the bed isn't made, and I can't remember the last time we wore clean clothes, but not to worry-- I'm getting in shape!

Angel's Landing

We decided that since Benjamin and Emily were in town we should go on a hike to Angel's Landing in Zion. We had heard a lot about it, and thought, "hey, we're pro hikers, we can do that hike easily." Well apparently everyone we know that has gone on that hike is more pro than we are. We (and by "we" I mean myself, not Tim), struggled a bit to make it up to the top. Thankfully, because of the treacherous terrain, there were several times we had to stop to let people coming back from the peak pass on the path. I'm sure those people thought we were just being nice to let them pass so they wouldn't fall off the cliff, but really, we just needed a break. Brooklyn was even winded from the hike, and she was riding in a pack on Tim's back (early Christmas present). Anyways, several hours into our never-ending workout, we finally made it to the top. I was a little nervous taking Brooklyn up the last part because of how high and scray it was, but of course, she was just fine. In fact, she slept through much of it. We took tons of pictures, and then high-tailed it down the trail to make sure we made it off the mountain before dark-- and before the last shuttle came. All in all, it was a pretty fun hike, though next time, we'll definitely plan a little better:

1. plan to take more time than we did
2. don't carry 5 pounds of Halloween candy up the mountain for "nourishment"
3. find the elevator
4. wear cooler clothes
5. wear more deodorant and take samples to pass out to others
6. hire a sherpa to carry sufficient water supplies

I'm sure there were more things that we mentioned doing differently the next time, but I can't remember.
Anyways-- we made it back late that night and managed to survive until we could order a pizza and pick it up.
We spent the rest of the weekend playing a Pirates Cove game and Oodles--- both were lots of fun.
Thanks to Benjamin and Emily for making the trip down here! We had a great time!

Happy Halloween!

After debating between having Brooklyn be a flower or a cow for Halloween this year, Tim convinced me that Brooklyn would be the cutest cow ever. In following with the theme, we decided to be farmers. We went to a few different Trunk-or-treatings and then went to a Halloween party at Tana and Ben's house. We thought about going trick-or-treating in our neighborhood too, but weren't sure anyone was home because there weren't too many trick-or-treaters coming to our house. Sure enough though, they came out of the woodworks later that evening.
Anyways, we did go to Tana's Halloween party and had a great time. Tim, Brooklyn, and I decorated cupcakes to donate to the cake walk. Fortunately, we won a great cake in the cake walk, and I won a round of Bingo as well. We fished at the fishing pond and managed to come away with princess crayons, a princess coloring book, and a claymation Davey and Goliath video.
Benjamin and Emily also came down for the weekend and accompanied us to the Halloween festivities. They dressed to the theme of Yin and Yang-- Emily dressed as a missionary, and Benjamin dressed... well, gangsta style.
All in all, Halloween was a success. We got WAY too much candy, but managed to eat most of it by the end of the weekend.

It's Pumpkin Time!

We carved our pumpkins last night! We drove around to every store in Cedar to find the biggest ones, and eventually made our way BACK to Walmart because their pumpkins were only $2 each, regardless of size. We weren't sure the ones we picked would be big enough to fit Brooklyn in them (this was our goal), but we got the biggest we could find. While Tim gutted the pumpkins, Brooklyn had some more rice cereal in her new chair that we finally broke down and bought. I think the chair will definitely be a good investment. Since she loves looking at herself in the mirror so much, now she can sit on the counter without me having to hold her there, and I can get ready at the same time!
Anyways, back to the pumpkins... they were gutted pretty fast-- Tim used an icecream scooper to clean them out and it didn't take long at all. Then we just had to convince Brooklyn that sitting in a pumpkin was fun. She actually didn't mind it, until we tried to get her to sit down. It was a little too small for her, so we ended up cutting leg holes. We thought it was super cute, but I'm not sure she enjoyed it as much as we did. Finally, we carved our pumpkins. I did a simple face and Tim went for a much more complicated witch design. Both turned out pretty nice, and it didn't even take all night!

Rice Cereal

We made 4 months as well and were told by the doctor that Brooklyn is growing wonderfully. She is now 15 lbs. 3 oz. and 25.5 inches long; both above the 80th percentile. She had to get several more shots which, as always are no fun for either of us. But good news-- we don't have to feel bad about giving Brooklyn real food. Let's be honest, she's had tastes of many things up to this point, despite my urgings against it. The doctor told us we needed to start her on rice cereal between 4 and 6 months old, so we gave it a try this week. After smelling the cereal, I decided it smelled just like cream of wheat... and Tim tasted it and said it tasted like oatmeal with no sugar. Anyways, she didn't seem to mind it!
Brooklyn is beginning to watch us more carefully when we eat. I think she's starting to figure things out.

Tim Got a Deer

The rifle hunt started Oct. 18, last weekend, so we went to Enterprise so Tim could hunt with his dad and brother. Opening morning, while Brooklyn and I slept in, Tim and his dad went to Gunlock to hunt. We were going to meet them over there later in the day, but I got a phone call a few hours later to make sure I brought the truck rather than the car because TIM GOT A DEER! This is very exciting because Tim hasn't taken a deer in 2 years. He is a dedicated hunter so he can hunt each season (rifle, muzzle-loader, bow) for three years, taking 2 deer within the three years. His first year was last year and he didn't take anything, so he was happy to get something this year.
Luckily, after we took the deer back to Enterprise, Tim decided to let the deer "age" for a day until his mom would be there to help. I don't mind learning how, but I was glad I didn't have to jump in and figure it out alone. So the next day I watched Tim and his mom take care of the meat. I helped spice the meat for jerky, and wrap the meat... and that was about it. But I do think I learn more about taking care of the meat each time (this is my second time)! Brooklyn was mad that we had to ignore her while taking care of the meat and lay on the floor screaming until Grandpa Shurtliff picked her up. So... we jerked most of the meat, and took a few steaks as well. It didn't smell too bad during the process, so hopefully it won't taste to gamey either!
I have plenty of pictures of Tim and his dad cleaning the deer... but in good sense decided I shouldn't post them. I don't want to make anyone sick.

Going to Georgia.

Now this, I HAVE to blog about. My mom and I discussed a possible trip to Georgia, or having her come visit us to see the baby. Seriously, she hadn't seen Brooklyn since she was 3 weeks old, so it was about time they met up again. We decided it made more sense for me to bring Brooklyn to GA, because then everyone could see her again. I agreed and the ticket was bought. Don't get the wrong idea about this post, the stay in Georgia was awesome, but getting there? Not so much. I was nervous about flying by myself with her because I didn't know how she would do, and without anyone to pass the baby off to... well, that's important sometimes. For starters, I don't think I have ever had as much attention as I received while walking through the LAS VEGAS airport with Brooklyn. Not one person walked by without smiling or saying something. They weren't smiling at me though, you know. I can't lie though-- she did look adorable in her white traveling sweatsuit. Anyways, plenty of people offered to help with her if I needed it-- unfortunately, none of them were on my flight. Go figure.. So, I learned some things while in the airport. It is really hard to go through security and practically disrobe yourself AND get dressed again while holding a baby. Yes, I decided that wearing flip-flops is a necessity while traveling with a baby, regardless of the weather. In addition, wearing a belt is not a good idea. Also, it is really hard to fill up a water bottle at a water fountain, and make a bottle while holding a baby. I didn't come up with any great ideas there. ... I think that's about it for waiting to board the plane. Now most importantly what I learned about flying with a baby. Babies are just like us! They do not like to be cramped into impossibly small seats for 4-5 hours, with no room to move around, particularly when it is 400 degrees. Needless to say, Brooklyn had a rough go of the traveling. Part of that could be because she slept in the car for 2 hours while we drove to Vegas. Then, because she doesn't take long naps, she would scream until she fell asleep for a few minutes on the plane, but then wake up mad again. And you know what? That's ok. She was just voicing what everyone else was feeling. But now, I have something to say about old grumpy people, people with hangovers, and those who do not like children. Listen, just because you lost a lot of money in Vegas, got on a plane hungover, are a lonely bachelor, and were never a child, DOES NOT mean you have a right to be rude to others. I was near breaking point with a screaming baby, stuck in a window seat when you so unkindly leaned up over the seat behind me and rudely asked me if I could not ask the stewardess to find a bottle for my baby. If I had had more gumption I would have thrown the bottle I already had at you, along with a very angry child and told you to give it your best shot. HUMPH.... Anyways, that's really all I have to say about that. Thankfully, there was a wonderful couple next to me who helped as much as they could. I'm kind of glad they were between me and the mean people. Atleast I felt a little protected, and you better believe they were protecting the grumpy people as well. There was no way I could fit out the aisle to jump on him with them sitting there. OK, so that was getting to Georgia. After that, the trip was wonderful. Brooklyn had a hard time adjusting to the time difference, but she LOVED seeing everyone. By the time we left she had Uncle Matthew, Aunt Anna, and Grandma and Grandpa SO wrapped around her little fingers! It was really nice for me to see all of them too. We climbed Stone Mountain, visited with friends, and went to a Corn Maze. Beside from those things, we were all busy sitting around, staring at Brooklyn and talking like babies. Thankfully, the return flight was not nearly as bad. I sat next to a mom and her little boy, with her husband and daughter behind us. Behind them were tons of their family-- all on their way to Vegas for a wedding. They were wonderful and the father of the Bride, a proud grandpa himself, wanted nothing more than to hold Brooklyn for a while (he put her to sleep as well!) They were great, and Brooklyn was much more enjoyable. Still, even at that, because I spent the better part of 4-5 hours doing my best to make her be as quiet as possible, it was still VERY draining emotionally, physically, mentally, etc. I hope Tim is on the next flight with me! Here are (probably too many) pictures from our trip to Georgia! Thanks for the ticket MOM and DAD! It was wonderful.