New Blog Feature

Well, technically, it's not a brand-new feature. Some of you may have noticed it a while ago. It's been a part of our blog for almost 5 weeks... it was just sorta hiding out near the bottom of the page! So what am I talking about??

This:

Last Workout

Monday 2/23: Cardio (Treadmill + Rowing) + Lifting (Abs)

That's right. I am posting my last workout on our blog for everyone to see. Oh-so-daring, I know. My goal is for you to see the date change on this feature at least 3 times a week, but preferably 4 or 5. Last week was my first 5-day week and it felt great! I even did two days of just legs. Yeah... it hurt... a lot. And to answer some questions I've already been asked (or may be asked later):
* I work out at Gold's Gym. Love it. Delta location is best, though.
* I have NO IDEA how much I've lost. At this point, I haven't weighed myself or done measurements, etc. (though I'm sure my friend Liv is dying to!). I'll let you know when I need to buy smaller jeans.
* I prefer kickboxing to treadmills, but I'll take what I can get schedule-wise since I'm going later in the evening.
* 90% of the time I lift HEAVY. I am not a low-weight, high-rep kinda girl unless I'm taking a class. In other words? You won't see me doing bicep curls with those little 3lb. dumbbells.
* I have done this all before. In college I discovered my love for kick-boxing... which led me to one of my best friends, Livia... which led me to Gold's Gym... which led me to group exercise classes like Group Kick, Step, Ride, Power and Centergy (I heart exercise classes)... which ultimately led me to training for a while with Liv to learn proper form and technique when lifting weights. And let me tell you, 'trainer Liv' is like a frickin' Nazi. She would fit right in with Jillian and Bob on the Biggest Loser. Ok... maybe she's not quite that bad, but she does know how to kick your butt! And when you're lifting with her the words "can't", "don't", "tired", "this sucks", etc. are not in her vocabulary. Anyway... I kept the weight off for a long time... and then I got pregnant.

And finally, here are some of my goals:
1. Increase my strength, endurance and overall awesomeness when it comes to working out!
2. Decrease the size of my hips, etc.
3. Fit into my very cute pre-Ethan wardrobe.
4. Not have the engagement part of my wedding ring set re-sized.
5. Be in awesome pre-baby shape for whenever it's time for the next little one to come along.

Ok. I think that's it. Feel free to kick my booty if you notice it's been more than 2 days since the last date of my work-out (not necessarily including weekends - I don't workout on Sundays so I try to go in on Saturdays).

Some Valentine's Lovin'

Sorry my St. V-day post is a little late, there just wasn't much to report other than the BEAUTIFUL tulips that Sean sent me at work the day before and you've already seen those.

My Valentine's attempts fell pretty flat this year. I made Sean some brownies (being sure to use my heart-shaped measuring spoons :) and then cut them out with heart cookie cutters, wrapped them up and snuck them in his backpack since he was going to be on a YM campout Friday night. Umm... he didn't find them! So much for that idea! Other than that, I just had a really nice card and he was off the hook for cleaning and laundry on Saturday. Thank goodness neither of us are really into the holiday!

Ethan got some fun Valentine treats, though! His own, mini box of chocolates from Gramma & Grampa which made him feel so special! And a package in the mail from Nana & Papa. Packages in the mail are always fun, but especially when they're from grandparents!

Here's a video (mainly for Nana & Papa) of him opening his special delivery. Sorry about the first part of the video... I had just taken a vertical picture and forgot to turn the camera horizontal again for the video!!

Was having a rough day...

...and came home to this:

Today I was just having a really rough time. It was a busy week at work and then today Sean and I both had church youth basketball games to be at. Sean went to the young men's game in the morning (while Ethan was very much awake) and in the afternoon I am in charge of the stake young women's basketball (while Ethan naps - Sean lucked out on that one). Ethan was just being a little pain this morning, getting into all sorts of things he wasn't supposed to get into and making it difficult to enjoy our Saturday off together! So after I was done with the YW basketball game, I (somewhat reluctantly) headed to gym, hoping it would burn off some steam. Meanwhile... after Ethan woke up from his nap, he and Sean went and picked up some fresh flowers, goodies and a very sweet card (which brought me to tears) and had them waiting for me on the table when I got home. Also waiting for me was a sweet, little boy hug (complete with grimy hands) and a loving, comforting hug from husband. I feel so blessed to have them in my life.

Input please!

Ok.
So Ethan's birthday is a little less than 2 months away and I am already thinking about it.
Is this pathetic? Or just a control-freak mom getting a jump on the planning?
Don't answer that. We've already decided to keep things pretty small this year. Probably just family at our house. My dilema, though, is that I'd still like to decorate and have a theme at least for the cake. But what to pick for the theme?!?! There are so many choices!! Here are my theme ideas:
* Handy Manny - He loves the show and got a bunch of Handy Manny toys for Christmas that he already likes to play with.
* Cars/Trucks - Hands down, number one favorite toy.
* Firetruck - More specific than the previous option and I thought this might be fun since it may be his last birthday in this house and we live across the street from the fire station.
* Frogs - His Southworth animal nickname. Wouldn't a big, bright green frog on his cake be fun?!
* Sesame Street/Elmo - His other favorite show - especially the Elmo's World segment.

Alright faithful blog readers. Go forth and do what you do best: comment!! I'm also open to any other suggestions you have for what has been successful at a 2 year-old's birthday party.

Funny, but just writing it out, I'm finally leaning toward one idea - but I want your thoughts, too!!
Thanks for your help!
Over and out.

Just Delivered...

"Happy Valentine's Day, My Love!

Love, Sean"

So sweet. I LOVE him!!

[One of my favorite flowers in one of my favorite colors.]

Chuck E. Cheese's

The weekend before last (on the 30th), Sean, Ethan, my sister Lizzy and I decided it was high time we checked out the new Chuck E. Cheese's in town. Now, we never had a Chuck E. Cheese's anywhere nearby when I was growing up, so I had never, ever stepped foot into one. In fact, Sean called me a Chuck E. Cheese's virgin!

I had already been warned of several things:

- bad, "cardboard" pizza

- dirty and crowded

- loud, noisy kids

Well, we went after the rush on Friday night and had a blast!! The place was fairly clean and only a handful of other families were there so that definitely helped with the noise level. I don't know if I could handle it when it was crowded. Granted the pizza wasn't gourmet, but we didn't think it was bad by any means. And such a deal! We had a coupon, so we got pizza, drinks and enough tokens for everyone for under $25.

Ethan loved the safari jeep ride and even got to where he could insert the tokens himself! He also enjoyed the merry-go-round and toddler zone - though I discouraged him from doing the Teletubbies ride. They just creep me out.

Sheesh! He's not even watching the road!

Big grins all night.

Elisabeth tried just about everything: horse racing, shoot 'em up with old-school villians, hoops, skeeball and anything else that spit out tickets for prizes. She was also a good auntie and played with Ethan in the tunnels and slides.

Sean stuck to his favorite: skeeball. And I mainly played hoops and a little skeeball. Lizzy and I had a couple of hoops competitions. I won. :)










































Did I mention I won the hoops competition?! He he he. I can just picture her scowling at me right now for writing that. Love ya, Lizzy-lou!! :)

I was also very impressed by the number hand stamps for security. Everyone in our party had their hand stamped with the same number and then they check that all of the numbers match before you can go. We will be back!

"Ha Ha, He He"

Now just sing that to the tune of the Lost Boys "Te-dum, Te-dee" song on Peter Pan and that's what Ethan sounds like!

We just bought the Peter Pan DVD this past weekend - gotta add it to our collection before it disappears into that dang Disney vault, you know. And it is now Ethan's new favorite movie. We bought Rescuers Down Under a couple weeks ago, too (found it randomly at Costco). He likes that one as well, but I think he enjoys the movies with singing. He is already quoting Peter Pan, saying, "Poor Nana!" for the dog/nursemaid that Mr. Darling trips over in the beginning and then he also sings, "We can fly!" My favorite, though, is the "ha ha, he he" - too funny how his little brain works.

Buzzkill

Sean said I had to blog about this.

And take pictures.

Probably payback for the "What's that noise?" post when he broke Ethan's plate.

Gee. Thanks.

So what's the one word you don't want to hear while having your hair cut? "Oops!" "Whoops!" "Uh-oh!" and the like. Well, for the record, I did not actually say any of those words while cutting Ethan's hair on Sunday night. Though, apparently, maybe I should have.

Ethan's hair seems to grow crazy-fast (which is probably a good thing after Sunday's attack) and I feel like I just cut his hair. Of course, it doesn't help that I like to keep it "long" as in not all-over buzz cut. So I've been the only person to trim any of Ethan locks. See?? Sean won't even trim his fingernails, let alone his hair! A hair-cutting mishap was bound to happen sooner or later with a squirmy toddler as the client. Anyway. I've gotten pretty good at both the top and the sides (though the sides took quite a bit of practice) and now I've just been struggling with the back and resisting the urge to just cut it straight across and call it done. This does not look good. Trust me.

So Sunday night I was done with the top and the sides and was moving on to the back. Long story short (no pun intended) it ended up looking (unitentionally) like a bit of a hack job and I got a little too close in a couple sections. So I decided to try and even everything out with Sean's beard trimmer. That was helping, but it wasn't fully charged and quit before I was finished! Argh. Of course, my mom noticed the discrepencies in the length of the back of his hair right away when I dropped Ethan off Monday morning. Nothing like pointing out the obvious! Anyway. I got the trimmer all charged up and finished evening out the back Monday night. There's still a couple spots that are a little bare compared to the rest and the overall length of the back is much shorter than I would've like - sort of a reverse mullet. Short in the back and longer on top. But Ethan will survive. I will survive. And Sean will have a good laugh at our expense. Next time I'm taking him to a barber and watching very carefully so I can pick up some tips. I wonder if they'd let me video it?

Looks good in the front.

Sides are decent, too.

And here's the back. Please try to contain your laughter at my little boy's expense. It's not his fault his mother is not trained in the art of boys' hair (although he is the one who was squirmy)!

And remember, I evened it out a little more Monday night!

This is why I can't talk on the phone...

The floor was clear and the table was neat before I turned my back.

Enough said.

Sparkly Vampires and Friendly Werewolves

Alright.

Fine.

Sign me up.

I am officially a member of the Twilight fan club.

Friday night I stayed up until after 3am to finish Eclipse. I was about 220 pages from the end when I started reading that night sometime after 11:30pm and couldn't put it down. I knew I wasn't going to have another opportunity anytime soon to stay up into all hours of the night and just read to my heart's content. So I took advantage of not having to work in the morning and sacrificed some sleep to finish it up. The next morning, at breakfast, I decided to get started on Breaking Dawn and was hooked on that one by page 2! I just wish I had the time to sit and read all day. But alas, there are certain responsibilities that I can't let slide. Like going to work and taking care of Ethan. Apparently you can't call in sick for staying up too late to read - no matter how good the book is. Dang it!

So here I am, 400+ pages into Breaking Dawn and less than 350 pages to go! Tonight I've got to make dinner, get to the gym (I skipped out yesterday to read some more!) and make sure Ethan gets a bath. Other than that, you can bet I'll be reading as much as I can as long as I can force my eyelids to remain open!

Also, I've got to give props to Stephenie Meyer for writing a series that has gotten me interested in reading again! I used to read a lot, but have put one of my favorite hobbies on the back burner since I've been married and especially once Ethan came along. Dishes, laundry and paying bills normally trumped sitting down with a good book (though I did read all but the last Harry Potter book), so it's been nice to read again. :)

January Recap

Here it is. Our oh-so-not-exciting January recap. Most of the entire month's events summed up in just one post. Yeah. It's been a relatively non-eventful month. Here are the highlights.

* Holiday Bowl Game - University of Oregon Ducks vs. Oklahoma St. Cowboys: 12/30/08

Ethan and I went over to Grandma Mary's to watch the game, deliver Christmas presents and catch-up with grandma.

Ethan had fun sitting at the 'big people' table and playing with all of great-grandma's toy cars and trucks while we watched the football game and attempted to play Typo. Kay, Grandpa Ken, Gary, Mom and Elisabeth were also there. And the best part? The Ducks won 42 to 31!! Wahoo!! Go Ducks!

* Evening with Tory: 12/30/08

When we got home from grandma Mary's we found that "uncle" Tory was already there visiting with Sean. We stayed up late and chatted for quite a while since we don't get to see Tory very often now that he's all grown-up and away at BYU. We miss his Sunday afternoon visits!!

* New Year's Eve with the "Tofties": 12/31/08

This was pretty much the most uneventful New Years ever. We went to my parents' house to have dinner, play on their new Nintendo Wii and watch the ball drop. Ethan slept most of the time and we were out the door by about 12:10am ready to be home and in bed! Sean was still pretty sick.

* Portland visit: 1/3/09

Elisabeth, Ethan and I drove up to visit John, Stephanie and the boys.

I got to hold and cuddle with this cutie (Baron Graham - this was the little guy I was supposed to visit in December and then was too sick to go!)....

...while Ethan got to play with this little guy - cousin Jackson (technically 2nd cousins, but who's counting?). Elisabeth was a good sport about keeping Jackson and Ethan entertained while I held the baby and chatted with John and Stephanie. It was so great to see all of them!

And then we all (Elisabeth, Ethan, me, John, Stephanie, Jackson and Baron) met up with a good friend of mine from high school, Katie, and her husband, Charlie for dinner at:

* Katie Blair gets engaged: 1/4/09

A very good friend of Sean and I. She would've been a bridesmaid in our wedding except that she is a real-life example of the movie 27 Dresses - I think her count is only at 7 or 8, though. I told her I loved her too much to make her do the bridesmaid routine again. She's doing me the same favor. :)

* Ethan's Papa (Loren) goes into the hospital (again-3rd time) with pancreatitis. Finally has surgery to remove gallbladder (and hopefully fix the problem for good): 1/6/09

* Matt (Christine's boyfriend - I think it's official now :) visits: 1/9/09-1/13/09

Don't they look cute together?!

We went out to Red Robin Friday night for dinner, along with grandma Sandy and grandpa Chuck. Then, on Sunday, we had dinner at my parents' house and played a mean game of Ticket to Ride.

Very intense (not really)!

See the stress of the game getting to Christine?

Aww... I really like this picture of the two of them. And I forget who won. Elisabeth had to get to bed.

* Sean & I get a date night to go see "Eagle Eye": 1/17/09

Pretty good movie. Not what we expected, but it kept us on the edge of our seats most of the time. Good ending.

* Seven friends announce their pregnancy, bringing the current count of prego friends to 17. This doesn't include the five who gave birth in the past six to eight weeks! And no, I am not on the current list. (Squash that rumor before it starts.)

* Costco date night: 1/23/09

This was actually a "date night" between me, Elisabeth and Ethan!! Friday night we went to Costco so Sean and I could get a membership and reap the rewards that are Costco! Sean was at a YM camp-out on the coast. We spent most of the time just sorta wandering around and trying to get a feel for what items we might start regularly purchasing there. It's hard for me to wrap my head around the prices there to see if I'm really getting a good deal. One of the downsides to buying in bulk.

Ethan was a good helper, pushing the cart and grunting at how "heaby" it was. "Heaby" is Ethan talk for heavy, in case you were wondering.

In the end, we just got some juice, marinated tri-tip (yum!) and some of my favorite wheat bread! I get really excited about this bread. It makes good toast. Loren and Lynnie always have it on hand when we visit (Lynnie understands my passion for this bread!) and I hadn't been able to find it up here. I bought some at Wal-Mart - same brand and everything. It was not the same. Costco has the right stuff, though!

I think that pretty much sums it up! It looks like a lot more, now that it's all listed out, but remember, this is for the whole month. On to February!!

$5 Steal of a Deal

Ok, so I realize that this is not very exciting to some, but I'm totally loving my $5 necklace find on Saturday at Macy's. Half off the already 50% off price (originally $20 for those of you not wanting to do the math in your head) and I couldn't pass it up! Even better? I had a gift card to use (thanks grandma Sandy!) so no cash leaving my pocket! You know it's a good find when I've already received over a dozen compliments on it. That's right, I wore it Saturday night when I helped chaperone the stake youth dance, Sunday to church (what little I was there - it's a long story) and Monday to work (different shirts, of course!) and I'm not too proud to admit it! I just love adding another necklace to my fairly eclectic jewelry collection. Although... I leave the fancy stuff to my hubby, he seems to do a much better job with the real jewels and picking out what I'll like. :)
Also, the picture doesn't do it justice, but it's bright turquoise, a sorta lime green and a dark, rich brown.

One Silly Kid!

We don't have much to report, now that the CA trip has been posted in full detail. In fact, what we've been up to in the past three weeks will probably be summed up with a handful of pictures in one post... but not tonight. Here are just a couple of funny pictures of Ethan from the last couple of weeks. I am amazed at how much personality he has and how quickly he continues to learn, particularly with his vocabulary. He is picking up new words and phrases all the time and regularly communicates in 3 to 4 word sentences. I just love how much fun he is!

Here he is wearing auntie Lizzy's new slipper boots. Just a few sizes too big.

And then the other night he decided to empty out the drawer underneath the stove...

And, of course, once it was empty he had to sit in it!

"What's the problem, mommy?"

This is where I found his Saturday, though initially his legs were tucked up under his cute, little bum. "I'm stuck!" he kept saying while I grabbed the camera (like the good mom that I am!) to take a picture of his plight. Don't worry, he got out...

...and then yesterday I snapped this picture of him, also while he was saying, "I'm stuck!" Silly kid pushed his chair away. Not too smart when your feet don't reach the ground yet while sitting in the chair. (I helped him out with this one, too.)

Ethan Somersaults (sorta)

Ethan was actually doing this much better last night when he wasn't as tired - a little more of the bum over the top instead of to the side, but you get the general idea. When he finishes each one, he has a big grin on his face and is very proud of himself. Now we just need to work on him rotating enough to land on his feet instead of his back! Oh, and in case you are wondering, he is self-taught.

Good Soup Weather

I've come to the conclusion that one of the perks of all this cold winter weather is that it definitely makes for good soup weather. Or chili or stew, but you get the point. A meal in a bowl, and a bonus if you've got a nice chunk of crusty bread.

When Sean and I were first married, we used to have "soup and sandwich Sundays". With a summer wedding and living in Oregon, cooler Fall weather was in full swing by late August/early September and we spent almost every Sunday after church (having 11am church helped) enjoying our last bit of weekend together over a bowl of hot soup. It actually wasn't always a sandwich that went with it, sometimes just a bisquit or some french bread, but the same idea. Now, with church callings and Ethan added to the family we don't always get the luxury of sharing our Sunday afternoons together like we used to, but we still enjoy a good bowl of soup on a cold day.

So... the other day I made Taco Soup. Threw everything in the crock pot before work in the morning and presto-chango we had dinner hot and ready when we got home. Seriously, this was some good soup and so, so easy.

Taco Soup

1 lb. ground beef - cooked and drained

2 cans diced tomaotes

1 can pinto beans

1 can beef broth

1 can corn

1 small can diced chilies

1 packet taco seasoning

1 handful dehydrated onion (or chopped fresh onion but I try to avoid chopping onions when I can)

Step 1: Plug in crock pot.

Step 2: Dump all ingredients into crock pot and stir.

Step 3: Cover with lid and turn on low.

Step 4: Let cook for several hours (or all day while you're at work).

Step 5: Serve with corn chips, cheese and sour cream.

It's that easy!! Enjoy the soup weather! :)