DISNEYLAND!

Here I was thinking this Thanksgiving was just going to be me and Josh because family is so far away...and then i have this brilliant plan to tell my mom that Josh and I should meet them at Disneyland for Thanksgiving. Miraculously, We plan it and everything works out!! We will be going to Disneyland and California Adventure from the Thursday of Thanksgiving until Sunday! WOOO! I havent been to Disneyland since i was in 8th grade!! :)

This Thanksgiving we were originally going to try and visit Josh's family in PA. We looked at tickets and tried so hard to make things work, but tickets were just too expensive and didn't work with the time schedule we were allotted through Josh's work. He doesn't get much time off (and wont for quite a while) so the 4 day weekend we are getting for thanksgiving is miraculous and we are grateful to be taking advantage of it by going to Disneyland and still getting to spend Thanksgiving (even if not in a traditional way) with some family. We know its going to be packed there but we're still excited anyway!!

Because I want my hair done :)

Last Summer, right before Josh and I got engaged I lost about 15 pounds, its not a lot but I was feeling pretty good in my skin, ya know? I was comfortable with my body. Well around October of last year I started on birth control and started gaining weight. Im not going to blame my massive weight gain on birth control, although I think it was part of the reason I gained so much. From October ish to May of this year I gained about 40 pounds, yeah, not good. SO i gained back the 15 plus MORE. ick. Since getting off of birth control I have maintained weight (better than gaining right?) However, I really want to lose weight. It's an easy feat for some, however, for me its not. I get discouraged, i like food, it takes too long. The list could go on and on. However, there will be no list this time. I am going to do it even if it takes forever (and i guess technically it will take forever because im going to make a lifestyle change, just hopefully not forever to lose the weight i gained!), I will be healthy and I will exercise. [I feel like if I say it to people (ok, not really people just on a blog that anyone may or may not read) I will be held more accountable, hence why im stating it here.]

I have many motivations for this:

health in general (the whole not dying too young thing is pretty appealing to me.)

My husband. I want to look good next to him. My husband is a pretty thin guy, i feel like a big blob next to him, it would be nice not to feel that way :) Also, although he tells me Im beautiful and trust me there is still attraction, romance, and passion :) between us, I want to look hot for him too :)

My future children. I want to be a mom that can play, run, and show her kids how to live a healthy life.

Also getting pregnant in general is easier/more likely if you are healthy. (also having a cute baby bump would be nice, so that people could actually tell that im pregnant when i get there lol)

Playing sports. I want to always have the ability to get down and dirty on the softball field (or any field for that matter. Im pretty competetive)

Feeling good about myself. This one is really important. All the others are too, but this one will help all the others. I want to look in the mirror and like what I see, or at least be satisfied with it and know that I am healthy. I honestly am not going to try and be "skinny." I never have been and never will be skinny, its just not for me, but I CAN be healthy.

And my most inconsequential but very motivating reward is I want to get my hair done! :) Josh and I agreed that once i get started on this, I can get my hair done. Most likely when I lose about 10 pounds...however long that may be...

Im excited and Im going to read this post every time I feel discouraged!

CAKE-ING :)

For the past couple months (basically since my parents decided to learn to cake decorating so they could make my cake instead of buying one) I have been obsessed with learning how myself. I wanted to take the classes when we were at BYU but never had the time, so finally I technically have the time but the only classes here are at night and Josh gets home around 630 or 7 (when the classes start) so i would rather just teach myself. I have had the books for a while and have tried a bit but I really just wanted to try fondant so thats what I have done in the past for the most part. However, This week I decided to FINALLY try buttercream decorating!

I went through the book, practiced, and decided I wanted to try everything on a cake! I found a great website with yummy filling recipes so that was part of the reason I wanted to bake a cake as well :) SO this is my cake, it was fun but frustrating! I'll keep practicing and hopefully get better!

This is a devils food chocolate cake with banana cream filling

OH AND>>>

We got cable and Internet! Its a BIG DEAL!

We had to go to the lodge at our apartment building anytime we wanted to do internet (including watching our favorite shows online!)

Just had to let EVERYONE know!

The Happenings

Well, actually not much is happening (for me). Josh started the academy this week. It is so crazy and intense for him, but he comes home happier (even though his whole body hurts everyday) than I have seen him in a while. We both know that he is going to love his job, especially if he enjoys the academy which is like boot camp on steriods (at least thats what they say). We get up at about 5 every morning and I make him breakfast and pack his lunch (with a cute little note) before he goes to work. He didn't ask me to do this or anything, just letting you know, so anyone who reads this doesn't think he's some meanie who just wants his wife to fix his breakfast early because he has to get up early. He's not. He thinks I'm crazy for wanting to get up and fix him breakfast so early, but I want to support him and I know if I don't fix him a good breakfast (usually just eggs and toast) he won't get a good one. I want him to have some energy because the first thing they do in the academy usually is Physical Training(PT). Anyway, so he gets his stuff together gives me some love and takes off at about 550 am. He doesn't get home until 630 at the earliest, it varies though. It's been kind of hard for me this week because he has been gone so much and then we go to bed about 9, so we don't get to spend too much time together, at least compared to our last month of 24/7 because neither of us worked or had school, luckily I have made some pretty great friends here in Tucson who let me hang out with them all day :) [Thanks Brianna and Kamry!]

For those who really know me this is a BIG DEAL >>I also have been doing a really good job keeping the house clean, doing dishes, etc and cooking dinner (real dinner) almost every night! [only missed one so far because Josh and I both got home at the same time] I'm trying new recipes and found out that we love Rhodes Rolls and our Aunt Maryann gave us a Rhodes Rolls recipe book that has amazing recipes! mmmm! SO GOOD! Everyone should try them!

Fridays Josh doesn't have academy so we get to spend all of today together! Hooray! We are going to the cheap theater here to see the Proposal! It's going to be a GOOD day!

Sidenote: New background and banner, you can see the picture under the banner but im too lazy to fix it now, sorry!