May

May seems like a lot went on to write about but in true fashion when I looked at my notes there isn’t much here so maybe this will be a short post. (I hope family gets the reference there).

So my notes say that I had some updates from April to report on. First towards the end of April I had finally had enough (again) with my weight. A girl on my team at work is with Weight Watchers and I decided to give it a try. I’ve been on it about 5 weeks and lost a total of just over 10 pounds. I rollercoaster and will drop and then jump up and slowly come down and then jump again. It’s a long, slow, frustrating process. I did luck into the website skinnytaste.com I saw a lot of people on their connect site talking about it and I checked it out. One of my biggest hang-ups when I was tracking calories is how to track a homemade meal. With skinnytaste she calculates all the nutritional info for you. And I can honestly say that in the month that I’ve been doing it I haven’t had anything I didn’t like yet. It’s all super yummy.

My next note is about the HOA meeting. So I had submitted to be on the HOA board. The meeting night came and we went down there to see how the votes went and it was a tie between the current president and myself. So the HOA is coming to me asking me how I want to handle the tie. They can send out ballots again, they can take a vote of the people present, or we can flip a coin. I asked how the other guy wanted to handle it and they were like ‘we don’t know’. So I went over to ask him! He was pretty standoffish saying that if I thought I could do it then good luck and the people present had already voiced their opinions. I was like whoa! I’m asking you how do you want to handle the tie? He said he felt the most fair way was a coin toss. I said fine. Someone flipped a coin and I lost. LOL. So I am not on our HOA board. (Probably a big blessing in disguise).

So those were my two April updates.

To start out May I told John I wanted to take JJ to the Children’s Museum. So we went down there one morning and at first I was afraid it was going to be big waste of money. He was scared of everything. We started playing with some of the exhibits and he started to warm up a bit. Well, they have this giant 3-4 story ‘tree house’ that JJ went up. All the way. Through every different nook and cranny he could go pretty much. He was having such a good time. Next we took him to the next floor and tried a few of the different chimes and this thing that reminds me of Plinko, from The Price is Right. Then we got to the Noodle Forest. It is an area with pool noodles hanging at various heights and once JJ warmed up to that he was happy running in and out of the noodles for quite some time. Last, there was an area with a big race track car thing. He had fun climbing to the top of that and watching the cars come down.

That's John up by the light

JJ was having fun waving to me. John didn't like the height

After we left there we went to Paradise Bakery to get a quick lunch and headed home so he could nap. Overall it was a successful trip I think. That same weekend we went and picked up a few more paint samples. Now that the tile and grout is done we are ready to get rid of the blue.

I picked up JJ from school one day and this was waiting for me. Laura had done this with the kids and laminated it. She said JJ’s turned out really well on the first attempt unlike many of the others. I love it. All the wrinkles were added on the way home courtesy of JJ.

I received some flowers at work for Mother’s Day also. Then on Mother’s Day got some shorts and a DVD. We also went to breakfast and I think dinner on Mother’s Day.

Ok, so I’ve had some cryptic posts recently on facebook. There are actually a few things. I have been getting a little response on some jobs I’ve applied for and had to do some interviews and tests, etc. So far nothing has come from anything but even getting a response versus just a deny letter makes me feel a little better. I’ve cut back on applying because with some trips coming up I don’t like going into an interview demanding time off. More importantly though, I am in queue to become a LuLaRoe consultant. I first started to hear about LuLaRoe from Karol and then shortly after that from Stephanie. When I hear about stuff over and over in a short period of time it piques my interests. So I started to pay attention to see what this is. Essentially it’s selling clothes online or at in-home pop-ups. It’s a fairly young company although the family that started it has been making clothes for a long time. They are experiencing HUGE growth right now and I think I’ve gotten in at a good time. I’m being cryptic because it’s like a 10 week wait from when you submit your paperwork to when you get your call to order your inventory so I have some wait time, but I am really excited about it. I’m surprised as I’ve talked to people who does and doesn’t know about it.

Me in my first LuLaRoe shirt!

On the 6^th Laura was closed for the day so I stayed home with JJ. Such a funny, cute, little guy.

Then on the 7^th it was the Kenny Chesney concert. I was excited he was coming to Chase Field this time as it’s closer to home instead of driving out to Glendale. Stephanie, her mom, and I were all sitting by each other. We rode downtown with Teri and Trudy and met up with Jimmie and Laurie and such for some appetizers. Then we thought we’d be set to cruise into the concert. We were already about 45 minutes late. Oh my heck. The line was ridiculous. We spent easily another 30-40 in line and it was only that short of time because we cut more than ½ way up the line. It was horrible crowd control. We missed pretty much 2 of the 3 opening acts. We had good seats and it was nice outside. It was a fun night and even after 7+ times of seeing Kenny he’s still my favorite.

On Sunday we went to Scottsdale to a roadshow ‘Junk in the trunk’. It was something different and killed some time. That’s where I got this cute picture of this kid. I have to say that a lot has changed in the past 2 years. A lot of times it seems miserable because he won’t eat, he won’t sleep, he’s whiny, he’s hitting, he doesn’t want me to get him out of the car, whatever. But I also can’t get enough of him. I would say he makes me smile at least once a day. It’s fun to experience things through his eyes and with him. I’m glad I get to be his mom.

Monday we didn’t have a daycare and John and I are short on vacation time due to April’s hell week. I asked Erica to watch him and she said yes. I was so nervous for her! Two 18 month olds! JJ wasn’t thrilled when I left him but Erica text me that it didn’t last long after I left. I got such cute pictures and videos all day of Sophie and JJ. I was so relieved he was good for her. Erica wins the award for longest nap. She got a 4 hour nap from JJ. I owe her BIG TIME for watching him and I’m so glad they’re close!

I’ve written before about Hogwarts Running Club… well I got the cutest package from my friend Liz’s mom; Mary. She sent me a little owl and some car stickers and a coaster for John. It was so sweet of her to do that! I loved that this owl is twinsies with the owl BrookLynn and Cailee got me a while ago. Funny that you can meet some of the best people over the internet.

On the 10^th we were invited to attend Stephanie’s graduation. Nick and Shar took JJ so John and I could go to the ceremony. I found her ceremony more interesting than either of my own. I really liked their faculty speaker. Stephanie had invited her old manager (also my old manager or manager of manager, whatever) but it was really nice to see him and visit with him for a while. It was exciting to see her walk and reach that milestone. After we went to LoLo’s for some dinner before heading home.

That week I found someone selling a stainless stove on facebook. It was brand new so it was a bit more than I was planning on spending but it was still a great price for brand new. So we went and picked it up. It probably wasn’t obtained through legal means but………..it works!

This is just one of the many creations I have subjected John to with my skinnytaste obsession. It is salmon quinoa burgers. I put mine with some spinach; he doesn’t. This was probably one of his least favorites, but he still ate it.

We went out on the 14^th to try and get family pictures. It was hot and humid and miserable, and JJ didn’t cooperate at all. So no go on family pictures.

We went to Stephanie’s graduation party at The Living Room. It was a good time. I got to see so many people that we’ve gotten to know in our time here and are great people. I told Nick we wouldn’t be gone long and 3 or so hours went by really fast.

And on the 15^th we got some more paint samples!

The following week I picked JJ up and Laura gave me this picture. She said it was the first time JJ had shown interest in painting and she was so proud of him.

On the night of the 19^th my parents flew in. They didn’t get here till later so nothing much happened that evening except picking them up. On Friday Nick and my dad went golfing early. John took JJ to school so we could have some grown up time. My mom and I got up and ready and made a kale smoothie and then went to Hobby Lobby. We were at the grocery store getting groceries when Nick called and asked if we wanted to go to Top Golf. So we finished up the shopping and went there for some fun and food. After that we went and picked up JJ and went home. We did hamburgers that night at our house. I made Hawaiian teriyaki burgers.

My mom made me a sunflower wreath

Saturday was Cailee’s baptism. I was glad Sophie was there to play with JJ and share snacks with each other. After the baptism we went to another ward building for a brunch. It was lot of good food and nice to have a big area for the kids to run and play. After that we went up to a sale at the park that my LuLaRoe sponsor, Kristy, was selling at. I wanted to show my mom that they have more than just maxi skirts now. JJ had a good time playing on the toys. That evening we’d planned adult night out. We went to Escape the Room and did the Western Bank Heist. We did escape but we had a guy in the room who annoyed all of us. After that we went to High Tide. As always, High Tide is good. I may have found a new favorite from there; the ceviche.

Love these two!

Sunday we went and picked out more paint samples!

Later that day we went to the Gilbert downtown. I thought JJ would like the splashing fountains but he didn’t. He went back over to the big ball. The other kids had a good time playing in the water and Ashton earned $5 from me by getting him mom wet.

Sunday evening we were trying to go for snow cones but the place was closed so we ended up at Frost. After that we came home and put JJ to bed and finished up my craft project.

I was off work Monday too so we kept JJ till later and played with him at home. He decided that he loves grapes. Then my mom and I took him to daycare and went for a pedicure. It had been 6 months since I’d had one and it was so nice. After that we met the guys for lunch and then I ran my mom and dad to the airport.

On the 26^th I finally got Edward in to get his rabies vaccination. I brought up that he seems to have seizures sometimes which turned into doing bloodwork to see if it’s diabetes. It’s not. They wanted to do some experimental medicine and I told them no, I want to monitor him more closely to see how often it’s happening, etc.

Then for Memorial Day weekend we started out Friday by going to Joe’s Farm Grill for dinner. It went pretty well since it’s a big outside area for JJ to run around. I tried the ahi sandwich and it was good. I look at it every time we are there have never tried it before.

Saturday morning we met Stephanie and Bart at a place I’ve wanted to try since my mom and I were in San Francisco. It is a crepe place. It wasn’t as good as the SF place but it was still good.

After that we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get some stuff and then to get JJ’s haircut. It’s still a traumatic experience for him but he looks so cute and like a little boy and not a baby. That afternoon we went to Juan and Kerry’s housewarming party. JJ bee lined for their pool. I was surprised by that. He had such a good time kicking his feet in the water. Good food, good people; it was fun.

Sunday was the usual errands, groceries, Ikea, etc. I started working on this 4^th of July wreath my mom left all the stuff. I really had no idea what I was doing. I just know it was taking up my kitchen and I wanted to get it done and put away.

That afternoon we let JJ go out in his pool. He thinks that is pretty great. Later that evening I was organizing the desk and cubes and JJ was in the room hanging out with me. He liked my disco ball.

Monday we went to the aquarium again. We haven’t been in a long time and JJ has been into Nemo lately so why not. Not sure how interested in it he was or not, but he liked running through it. After the aquarium we went to Chik fil a for lunch and then home for naps. Another round in his pool that afternoon capped off the weekend.

Tuesday was the last day of the month. It was busy at work. Then that evening while John was doing some painting I worked on this dang wreath some more!!!

That caps off our month of May. It was a busy month!