The Reveal

So we did the big reveal yesterday and it was awesome.  We hid 5 big poster boards up around the house and told the 3 kiddos that we had a game for them.  They had to find all 5 of them and put them in order.  They were so excited it was adorable.  It read out "We are going to the store - go get in the car"  Then we hid the last poster board in the car that said Disneyland.

So the kids put it all together and then went out to the car and when they opened the car door and saw the sign they screamed and were so happy.  Then they spend the rest of the night talking about the things that they want to do in Disneyland and watching videos about Disneyland.  It was really exciting.

So this trip I decided to really involve the kiddo in the planning.  I gave him this notebook to help me plan everything out and a calendar to figure out where we are going to eat on what days.  It's going to be so much fun.

Baby Steps

So I started going to the gym at lunch this week and it has been great.  I think I will post a weekly check up every Thursday to keep me accountable for my workouts.  I decided that I am going to do this and really get healthy. So I went to the gym every day this week and I feel fantastic.  The first day was really hard but I got better each day.   I did 30 minutes each day

Monday- 2.35 miles

Tuesday-2.41 miles

Wednesday-2.42 miles

Thursday 2.43 miles

The first two days were really differnet in miles but the other days were only .01 miles better :)  But anything better is good right?  

I have also given up soda and eating out.  I haven't eaten out or had soda in over 2 weeks!!  The first few days were hard but now it's actually easier than I thought it would be.  I have been cooking every night and I have even gotten the kiddo to eat everything on his plate which is fantastic.  Then after dinner and homework we have been taking the dogs for a mile long walk.  I can't express how different I feel and how happy I am compared to a month ago.  I find myself happy most of the time which is AMAZING.

Next week I am going to do a Pinterest week on my blog.  I am going to pick a recipe each day and cook it and review it and see how it goes.  Here is a link to my pinterest:

My Pinterest


Well it's about time for me to get the kiddo in bed so have a good night everybody.  I will post about our reveal for Disneyland on Sunday.  I am so excited!!!

We are booked

So yesterday was the registration for the Wine & Dine half marathon and we managed to get all registered.  YAY!!!!

Last year we went without the kiddo but this year we are going with the kiddo.  We are doing the 5K in the morning as a family, followed by the kids races, then the half marathon for the hubby & I. The kiddo doesn't know yet and we are super excited.  Last year we did a Vlog of our trip and at the end of it we stood on Main Street and said "We really missed you this trip so we decided to bring you this year"  We never showed it to him but now we are going to.  I am hoping that he is going to be really happy about it.  Now we just have to decide on a hotel and hope we can do all of the running in one day lol.

On other booking news we booked our hotels for the trip in August.  The kiddo still doesn't know about it, but I booked the two of us at Paradise Pier for when we first get there and then we are moving to the Disneyland Hotel after the hubby gets there.

My friend and I went out shopping this weekend and we decided that we are going to do sort of a scavenger hunt to find everything.  We are doing the big poster boards where they have to put the words together.  It is going to say"We are going to Disneyland"  They will have clues to find the big poster boards which are color coded and they will have to match them up with the matching colored boxes on her play area.  They have a very large house with a very large yard so we will have tons of paces to put the boards :)  I am really excited, so not this weekend but next weekend we are going to do it.  I can't wait.  I hope the kids will be excited.

Surprise Trip for Kiddo

We have done a few trips for the kiddos birthday.  This year he just assumed we would be going to Disneyland.  We told him sorry buddy, but not this year.

Well we have a whole plan with my really good friend to take him and her kids to Disneyland to celebrate his birthday.  We met up last night to go over how we are going to surprise them and we are really excited.  Her kids have been to Disney World once, but never to Disneyland.  So none of them know.  

Normally my kiddo and I go to Disneyland for Mothers Day but because we did the Star Wars 1/2 in January I didn't want to pull him out of school for an more days so we are skipping the Mothers Day Trip.   My kiddos birthday is August 27th so him and I are going to head to Disneyland on the 23rd just the two of us and then hubby and the friends will join us on 26th and we will spend a few days together.  So you will see a lot of blog posts coming up about our planning and then our trip.

So back to last night....We had so much fun planning it out all.  We are going to stay at Paradise Pier for just the two of us and then we will move to the Disneland Hotel.  The friends are staying offsite because they don't really think they will use the benefits of the hotel much at all.

So we are trying to decide on how we are going to tell them.  Right now it's between a scavenger hunt for puzzle pieces that they would put together together or big poster board color coded with words on it that they would have to put together.  We are hoping to tell them in 2 - 3 weeks.  I am so excited.  The only time we have surprised kiddo is when we went to Disneyland Paris and it was so AMAZING.  He had no idea.

 For kiddos birthday dinner we are going to try to book the Fantasmic Dinner package again at the Blue Bayou for all of us.  I have never done it for more than 3 people so we will see how it goes for 7 people lol.  We will also probably do a birthday cake at the restaurant for his birthday.  We did that one year but it was so HUGE.  We had to share with two table around us and then we had to give the rest to the staff :)  My friend has a daughter and I am so exited to do the girly princess stuff with them.  I already have bought her a few outfits because I can't help myself.  We are planning on sending the boys off together to go do all the fun boy things and then the three girls are going to go to the Bippity Boppity Boutique and then go meet the princesses :)

It is going to be so much fun.  I can't wait to tell them.

Yoga & Meditation

I just finished up a 6 week intro to yoga and a 5 week meditation course and it has been really interesting.

I have actually learned a lot about myself.  I wasn't too sure what I was going to think of the meditation.  I am always really nervous about taking classes and putting myself out there around other people because I am so scared they are judging me and don't think I belong.  With that being said I really enjoyed it and plan on continuing it.  When I first started I realize how negative about myself I am.  I kept telling myself that I couldn't do this, I wasn't strong enough, I could never accomplish getting healthy, etc etc. It was kind of shocking and honestly scary.  I never really had a lot of support growing up, I was always told I wasn't smart enough, or athletic enough, I was fat, I was lazy.  I love my parents and they tried there best but some stuff just really stuck with me. I guess it just kind of spilled over into my mind and I just have never really been positive with myself or really believed I was good enough to accomplish anything.  Over the 5 week course I learned to treat myself a lot better and not be down on myself.   I also learned that I am really strong and that I have overcome a lot and have accomplished a lot in my life.  And if I really work at it I can accomplish my dreams. It has helped me a lot with how I feel about myself and continuing this journey of getting healthy, losing weight, and running.

The Yoga has been great.  I didn't think I could do it and sometimes it is tough and I can't hold the poses as long as I would like to, or the inversions are really hard but I am making progress and that is what counts.  I was really worried about fitting in and not feeling like a total loser but most everyone has been really welcoming.  I really like how good it makes me feel.  I am seeing muscles that I haven't seen or felt in years.  I really like the twists and sun salutations, and I really hate downward facing dog lol (although I am getting stronger & better at it)

It's funny because when you look at me you wouldn't think runner or someone who does yoga.  I am at my heaviest I have been in years and I am really not happy about it.  I just feel sluggish and sick and fat.  It can really effect my every mood to how I deal with other people, how I treat myself and how it makes me not want to do anything.  I am realizing that even though I am not happy with my weight and that I need to do something about getting healthy and losing weight I need to be kind to myself and not so negative in order to achieve my goals.

So I am hoping this journey is really positive and I get the results I want.

Happy Valentines Day & Kiddos room redo

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day.  Today we took the kiddo to his Basketball game, then we came home and had Mimosa's and watched a few episodes of Game of Thrones Season 3 (I know really far behind) then we cleaned the kiddos room.  He is getting bigger now and he has outgrown a lot of his room.  I wish I would have taken a few before pictures, but here are the after pictures.  With having a small house (980 square feet) we try to take advantage of every square foot.  The kiddo is still in trantistion between a young kiddo and an older kiddo. It's actually harder than I thought it would be to turn his room into a big boys room.  Here is what we came up with.  We still need to get a Twin Bed rather than a toddler bed but he hasn't decided which he wants

He is trying to pick between this IKEA bed & headboard

And this one from Target

The hubby and I really like the Target one (we think it will last longer)  but we want it to be the kidos choice.

Here is what his room looks like now 

The sailboat valance will go.  The sailboat one has been with hanging there since before he was born lol.

We will hang up the bulletin board we are just missing the screws.

Excuse the laundry bin overload I am working on cleaning out his closet and washing all his clothes.  Also the I Dig You balloon is what the hubby and I got the kiddo for Valentines day.

He picked out all the pictures on the wall.  He wanted a Seahawks & Star Wars room.  Now before anyone goes and says "Seahawks really?"  I wanted to say that we are Season Ticket Holders and have been since 1981 (a year after I was born)  This household bleeds Blue and Green.  My first game I was 3 and it was against the Raiders.  My dad and I used to go to the games together and then when he passed away from cancer I was able to continue with the tickets. My dad was in the military and when we were stationed somewhere other than Washington he would give his tickets to other people.  At one point we were stationed in Spokane Washington and my dad and I would drive 4+ hours to the game on Sundays and the drive back right after the game. I am no bandwagon fan and neither are my hubby or son.  I grew up in the era of  Jim Zorn, Steve Largent & Coach Knox.  I am one of those girls who knows a TON about football and will always cheer on my Hawks, Win or Lose.    It feels really silly to have to explain myself, but I know that a lot of people do not like the Seahawks (not sure really why) so I felt the need to explain that I am no bandwagon fan.

My kiddo is super excited about his room as are my hubby and I.  We spend a lot of the day getting it all put together and we are really excited about the way it has turned out so  I thought I would share Stage 1.  

I hope you all are having a fantastic Valentines Day.  I will get my Trip Repap #2 up soon.

I also thought I would tell you guys that we are planning another trip in August but my kiddo doesn't know about it yet.  My close friend has a kiddo who is the same age as my son and we have always talked about going to Disneyland together (Her daughter and my son are crazy close, especially since we were pregnant at the same time) so we are planning our trip together which I will be sharing the planning stages with you over the next few months.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE.

Trip Recap Part 1

This is my first ever trip recap so bear with me.

We had a great flight down there.  We usually fly either JetBlue or Alaska and since JetBlue didn't have the best return flight we flew Alaska down to LAX.  The flight down there was really smooth only some minor turbulance (thank goodness because I am a terrible flier)

We got a beautiful view of Mount Rainer

Just watching some Once Upon A Time

We got in around 7:30  and after getting our bags we headed out to get the shuttle to take us to the rental car.  As anyone who has ever flow into LAX can attest, it SUCKS trying to get to your rental car and then hitting the road at a reasonable time.  So after an hour and half we were finally in our rental care and on the road.  Luckily the kiddo is a seasoned traveler so he did great.  He kept watching for our shuttle and was calling out all the incoming shuttles for everyone around us.  

We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and it was great as usual.  We were in the Fantasy Tower which is really nice for proximity to things.  We got all checked in and then headed to bed.

The next morning we wanted to do the Expo right away so we skipped the early morning entry into the park and instead lined up in the Ballroom at the Disneyland hotel for the merchandise.  We waited for about an hour before we actually got in to get the official merchandise but it wasn't to bad.  I had brought along a Mimosa to enjoy while waiting and they were playing Star Wars on a big screen.  Plus we got to meet a few really nice people and chatted most of the wait.

Waiting to get in.

We got some nice swag.  I mean besides the bling and the bragging rights there is nothing better than some tshirts and hoodies right lol.

We got our race bibs and then headed back to the room and into the parks.

We had reservations for lunch so we headed over to California Adventure over to Wine Country Trattoria.  This is our favorite place to have lunch before a race, but my hubby really likes it so we went there twice during the trip.  

I had the Shrimp Scampi and some wine.  I can't remember what wine the hubby and I had, but it was really good.

Then we headed over to do some Cars Land.  We rode Maters Junkyard Jamboree which is one of my sons and my favorite rides.  Then we did Toy Storia Mania, Silly Symphony Swings, Golden Zepher and Goofys Sky School.

Then we headed over to Disneyland and rode Buzz Lighyear Astro Blaster, Astro Orbiter, & Autotopia.  Then it was time to hit up the Blue Bayou for the Fantasmic Dinner package.  I didn't get many good pictures of the meal, but hubby and I had the Filet Mignion, and kiddo had Mac N Cheese.

You get a dessert with the package.  It was a tiramisu so not my favorite but hubby liked his.

 My son and I really like it here, although I think my son loves it the most.  We have to go there every time we are in Disneyland.  It was really nice to have the Fantasmic package option.  We got a special fastpass to sit in a reserved seating area along with nice seat cushions so that was nice.  It was well worth every penny.

Our view of the show

All in all our first night was a great night.  Part two and the race recap will be done later this week and early into the next week.