The Final Blowout...Part 1

Well it finally came. Our last Disney trip on our annual passes. It would be so fun to renew them, but lets be honest, even we could use a vacation somewhere else. But man, did we go out on a high note!

Quick editor's note: Mom and Dad didn't take as many photos as normal because we took the time to buy photo pass plus that allows us to keep all the photos taken by the Photo Pass people in Disneyland. You will just have to wait with bated breath until all 300 of those photos come back!

Mom and Dad planned four and a half days at Disneyland. It ended up being four days and all but one hour of that fifth day! (Our Daddy is a good man!) We stopped and played with Aunt Becca at a fun arcade near her house! It was neat and we can't wait to go back.

We woke up bright and early on Aunt Angie's birthday and headed out to Disneyland. We were so excited!

Iva LOVED the Dumbo ride. She would point to it and ask to go on. (Well ask in Iva language!)

I got to ride on Walt Disney's horse on the carousel.

We jumped over and had a character breakfast at the Storyteller Cafe. It was so fun. We got to meet characters who are never out and around the park like Brer Fox and Meeko and Kenai from Brother Bear!

We loved spending time together.

Iva was awfully brave. She kept trying to stand up or lean over the sides of all the high rides! People in line would squeal over her little pig tails. They thought they were so cute.

We got REALLY lucky with Disney magic. It was a Sunday so it was crowded and fairly busy in the parks and we took some time to play a fun basketball game with an employee who ended up giving us a pass that allowed us to skip a line at any ride! We of course used it on Toy Story's Midway Mania and were given BONUS magic of being allowed to keep the pass. We promptly walked over and skipped the line at Mickey's Fun Wheel, one of our very favorite rides!

We take this picture every time we are at the Lady Bug Boogie in Bugs Land. Thumbs in! Iva even started trying to do it!

Iva seemed to really light up at all the characters. She turned 15 months old during this trip and about two weeks ago just started JABBERING. No words, but very obvious complete sentences. It's hilarious.

When we met Anna and Elsa, I only talked to Elsa and Cara only talked to Anna. It was very funny to Mom and Dad. Iva was a little unsure.

Stay tuned....

So before Disney....

I know that you guys are just dying for all 300 pictures from our Disney trip (I'm not exaggerating!), but first we have a few photos from before.

Aunt Angie gave mom the idea to do fun Valentine's hair. We loved it.

More swimming in new swim suits...

And Iva got a MASSIVE goose egg at the daycare. The sweet daycare ladies were crying when Mom came to get her. They felt so bad. A kid pushed her off a chair and on to a toy. So sad.

Didn't slow that gorgeous babe down though. Later that day she was climbing and scrambling and scaling anything and everything at the park.

Okay now...we will start our Disney posts!

Exercise Fun and Changes

Guest post by Mom:

Our lives revolve around exercise at our house and I hope it's not in an obsessive lose your friends kind of way. I teach classes at the gym and Pete loves to run races. It's kind of hard not have our lives centered around it. But I also became a Beachbody coach just recently and so it has taken on an even larger role. In December, I started drinking Shakeology for one meal a day and I had such success on it that Pete joined me. He ordered the Insanity Max30 fitness program and has been faithful.

I lost the last 13 pounds of my "woman weight". I can't exactly say it's my pregnancy weight. It's more like the weight I put on as I became a woman who was going to get pregnant. It's been crazy! I feel great, but I also never thought this would happen. Maybe 7 pounds, but not 13. I'm most excited though because it helped me finally clean up my nutrition. I try and do some of Pete's workouts with him at home, but they are HARD.

The girls go to this awesome class called Fitkids at the gym. While I'm teaching, they go do fitness tests with Miss Chanda and try and run one mile during each class. They love it. It's so fun to watch these little kids run around the track.

Iva even gets in on the fun. If we pull out the yoga mats, this is what she does. The funny part is that we don't ever do yoga! Okay, I guess I did do a few PiYo workouts...maybe that's where she got it! Oh and I do teach the preschool kids some simple downward dogs. As I type this out, I'm starting to realize that it actually makes sense.

She is sometimes less helpful. She kept giving Pete extra weight during yesterday's workout. It makes it quite hard to finish!

January Fun

The last two weeks have January have been pretty ordinary and yet full of activities! We have had a lot of fun!

We have played at the park with Lexi. Well okay not we. I was actually at school, but THEY played.

We have been teaching Iva how to jump on the tramp.

Mom almost ran out of gas which she has NEVER done.

We have gone swimming because that's logical in winter!

Iva loved it and kept just trying to jump into the pool. She even asked for the goggles to be put on.

Mom was so proud of Cara! She went down the tube slide ALL BY HERSELF with no life jacket. It's a huge slide and she just left her at the top and waited for her at the bottom and she loved it! I was all over that slide and was such a good swimmer!

Iva's favorite part might have been dipping both hands directly into the nacho cheese sauce and just eating it.

We tried out Mommy's old wagon on a walk. It was really squeaky so we gave it up after awhile.

Mom and Dad showed me how to ride on the back of Uncle Eric's bike!

Iva has been enjoying our sandbox in the back. And she's been a bit sick. It's an ugly combo!

First piggie tails and the dogs...

Look at what Mommy did to Iva's hair!

We love it when she puts them in! Mom thinks it looks a little silly, but when you only have hair in the back, you do what you have to do!

A note about our dogs, Cara and I have taken over a lot of the care of our dogs. Gabby is mine and Chester is Cara's. We have started taking them for long walks on Sundays (owing to the fact that our church doesn't start until 1 pm now.) I feed Gabby, Cara feeds Chester. We each like to snuggle our dog. Mom doesn't think it will last long.

Throwback Thursday...

Mommy spent some time looking through her text messages and discovered that she has some photos from Aunt Becca and Grandma that probably have never made it on to the blog. And if they have, oh well! Enjoy our throwback Thursday post of these photos!

These two were from Aunt Becca watched us in Vegas while Mom and Dad played in Disneyland!

This one was actually just last weekend when Aunt Becca and Uncle Phil came up to play!

Grandma took these photos of Mom and Iva. Aren't they awesome?

I think it was over Christmas Break, we begged Grandma to let us have a sleepover and make cookies! We are happy Grandma is finally all healed and able to have us over!

Based on the photos on Mom's phone....

The winner of cutest kid around here would go to Iva! That's the only person Mom seems to take pictures of! But who can blame her?

Iva's two top front teeth finally broke through her gums! She loves her new biting ability. Almost as much as she loves throwing things out of drawers, cupboards, boxes, etc.

She is 14 months old now and has discovered books. She LOVES them. She drags them around the house or drags you to the rocking chair and begs to be read to. Her favorite is Sandra Boynton's, Blue Hat, Green Hat, know as "Oops" in our family.

She is also a bit of a daredevil. She likes to climb and stand up on everything. If it has a ridge she's going to climb it. Mom left her in her highchair unbuckled and this is what Mom came back to. She was trying to jump out.

Nap time is interesting with Iva. Some days it's two naps, some days it's one. Most of the time if she gets interrupted even after 5 minutes, she'll wake up. This time at Target, not so much. Mom couldn't get her to wake up.

This is later that same day. Mom was exhausted from teaching at 5:30 in the morning and wanted to just lie down on the ground for a few minutes with her eyes closed. Iva wanted none of that. She climbed right on top of her and cried in her face.

Iva is a funny baby because she is so much of a person. She acts like a much older toddler. She is most definitely "Iva". People comment on it all the time. She's very observant and likes to copy which is why it appears that she has taught herself things like how to pray or try and put on a coat. It's a little hard to put into words exactly what we mean by that, but it's definitely a thing. Now if only we could grow some hair!