::insert catchy title here::

OK so it's only been like 2 months since my last post...sorry about that.  Well, everything is going marvelously (that sure is a word).  The house should be finished in less than a month...yep you read that correctly...LESS THAN ONE MONTH and we will have our own home, we will be home-owners, Carter will have a home... :D  They poured our sidewalk today, we've been working on our rock on the outside of our home, we got carpet on Tuesday...yep.  It's super exciting.  Here are the latest pictures since I haven't added any since...I don't even know what the last ones were so here you go.

 Our Cabinets and hardwood floors in the kitchen

 More cabinets

 Master bath

 Counter tops

 Master bath

 Carpet in the living room

 Carter's room

 Study

 Guest bath lights

 Master bath

 Ugly linoleum that is getting replaced with tile when we move in

 Front entry that's way dirty!  This was like almost a month ago

 Kitchen before cabinets

 Exterior lights

 My dining room chandelier that I LOVE

 Lights that are pretty much everywhere else in my house because they were cheap

 Rock that you can barely see because of the stupid sun

Close up of the rock.  I did this wall all by myself :)

We also have a beautiful deck in the back that John and I built.  It doesn't have the railing yet...hopefully Saturday and then I will post pictures.  Our open house is set for the 23rd of June.  If you can make it, you should totally come because it's going to be off the hook (yep, totally just said that).  

Carter is getting SO big!  I can't even handle it!  When he turned 6 months, we got some super cute pictures done. We had a million taken, but these are some of my favorites.  Enjoy :)

 The personality of Carter :)

 Our Little Man

 He is like 100% personality!!!

 "Squash Face"

We are the same child...are we not??????  This is me when I was little!  I can't believe how much we look alike...it's uncanny to me!  The end lol.  

Carter is great though.  He got his first tooth AND started crawling on the same day, May 16th.  Now he has 2 teeth on the bottom and is no longer "snaggle tooth".  He is so cute with his lil chompers :D  He also crawls all over the place and is absolutely adorable.  He is seriously SO much fun right now.  I could sit and play with him all day long.  He talks up a storm (usually "da da da da da da", "ma ma ma ma ma ma", "pa pa pa pa pa" etc.  He is funny.

This is the 16th when he got his tooth.  I was trying to take a picture but he just wasn't having it.  I got this cute one in the process though :)  The next picture is of us at my friend, Bree's, wedding.  This is before we danced during the "mother-son" dance :D

 

 

 He recently started this thing where he rips his socks off...and EATS them...yep.  These are from today

He is too funny!

John and I are both doing great.  I started school again this summer which has been great.  I am taking Elementary School Music, English, and Sign Language.  I absolutely LOVE my classes!  English is kinda hard because it is online (remind me to NEVER take an online class again).  But my other 2 classes are GREAT!  I have always had a great love for music and sign language has become a new passion of mine.  I started the class 2 weeks ago and I could probably carry on a decent conversation with a deaf person at this point.  I have a great teacher and I am going to pursue ASL :)

My weight loss has gotten to a total of 45 pounds lost since the first of the year.  I'm going to take a "fat pants" picture right now...please excuse the fact that I have no make up on, my hair is wet...get over it ha ha.

I honestly CANNOT believe I ever fit into these pants...in fact, these are the pants I was wearing when we took Carter's 3 month pictures.  They were TIGHT on me then!  Makes me sick!  I'm so glad I have been able to stay consistent with my weight loss.  Only 25 more pounds to go until I reach my goal and I know I can do it because I've already come so far!  I'm taking a kickboxing class at USU in the fall that I'm super excited about :)

John is doing great too.  His brother has a friend that works for this computer company and I guess they're hiring and Steve told his friend about John and I guess he is way interested in having him apply for the job.  It pays way better than his current job but we're not sure it has benefits and if it doesn't, there's no way he could switch.  I asked him how he felt about it and he said, "I'm thinking about it".  Typical John...but that gives me hope that he really is at least giving it some thought.  It would be nice for him to be able to work with computers.  He really loves them and I think that's probably what he will end up going out in.  We'll see how that goes but I'm not getting my hopes up.  He really is happy at his current job, I just think he would really enjoy working with computers.  

Anyhoozer, this is getting extremely long...for those of you who are actually still reading ha ha.  Good night and happy Memorial Day!  We're taking a family trip to my dad's grave on Monday.  It's been way too long since I've been up there and I'm excited to just sit and think about him for a while :)

Alive

Just wanted to check in and assure you that, yes, I am still alive.  My life has been sheer insanity for the past couple months and I will be blogging it up again soon.  House is supposed to be done in 1 month!  I will post house, Carter and skinny Jessica pictures soon :)

Much Love!

Oh, the madness of March!

Oh my, where to begin?  Well, March has certainly flown by so far!  I can't believe it's already half over!  At the first of the month, Carter had his 4 month check up.  He did really well with his shots.  He cried for about 3 seconds and then he was fine once I picked him up.  He is seriously such a trooper and I'm so lucky!  Watch, my next kid is going to be crazy and do nothing but cry day and night...that would be just my luck, right?  ha ha.  Well, I'm glad to report that the chubs finally evened out with his weight.  He weighed 15.8 which is the 55th percentile, so pretty average.  He was in the 68th for his height which doesn't surprise me.  He's pretty long.  At his appointment, the doctor said we could start feeding him solids.  This little gem of a picture is from yesterday's feeding :)  ...PEAS!!!

He absolutely LOVES everything I've given him thus far.  I've only tried peas, peaches, whole grain cereal (his favorite), fresh cantaloupe and fresh avocado.  He's definitely going to be a good eater...no question about that.  He rolls all over the place now.  He can roll from his back to his tummy and vice versa.  When I lay him on the floor, he scoots all over and always ends up in different positions than when I laid him down.  Same when I get him out of bed in the morning...he is NEVER in the same position.  He's usually laying vertically at the top of his crib.  I think it's a security thing?  I dunno but he likes it.  He is a great sleeper.  He sleeps from 9 at night til 7:30 or 8 each morning.  He and I play until I have to go to work and it's so much fun!  I love hanging out with my lil Bunky!  Here's another cute one :)

We call this "Squash Face".  He started doing it about a week ago and it cracks me up.  He bites down on his bottom lip and his cheeks look even huger (yes, that's a word because there's no red squiggly under it) than they already are.  He also pops his lips and makes a fun noise with them :)

On Saturday, one of my very good friends, Kellyn, got married.  Carter came down with me after I worked on the house in the morning.  We had a great time.  It was a beautiful ceremony and I'm so incredibly happy for her and Mark!  

  After the wedding, we went to see my sister, Crystal and her little boy, Riley (Carter's bestie).  They love each other, even if they don't know it yet ;)

Here they are, looking super enthused that we're taking MORE pictures of them :)

He liked it :)

HOUSE UPDATE!

Things are really moving along now!  We started our finish work last Saturday and I'm happy to say that we are almost done!  We just have to put on the base boards, door casings, and caulk all the little holes and we will be ready to paint!  Then the only big things left to do are the floor and the rock!!! I'm so super excited!  Here are some updated pictures.  Enjoy!

Alright, here is my BEAUTIFUL siding!  I'm so in love with it!  I was worried it was going to be too dark, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Our shudders aren't on yet, but they will be soon.  They will be black.

Alright, after I uploaded all the pictures, it wouldn't let me type under them and I wasn't about to go back, delete them all, type under them, and re-upload them, so whatev...you get the idea...closets, pantry, hubby working etc.  If you have questions about what is what, just ask.  I'd be happy to answer any questions :)

John is loving his job.  It's been kinda slow lately but as long as he has his audio books, he is a happy camper.  He's probably listened to more audio books since he's worked there, than he's read actual books in his entire life...not even exaggerating.  It's like his new favorite thing but I'm totally not complaining.  He got me the Hunger Games trilogy for Valentines Day and I'm still trying to talk him into listening to those.  He may have already.  I saw that he downloaded them even though he probably didn't want me to know ha ha.  

Let's see...I've been doing really really well!  Since the first of the year, I have given up soda and sugar, joined Gold's Gym, taken spinning classes and have lost a total of 35 pounds!  I'm going strong!  My goal is 40 more so we'll see how long it takes me!  I've never been this consistent with getting healthy.  I usually try it for a month or so and then give up but this is for real.  I don't even really miss sugar anymore (although I do miss Cadbury Eggs and Girl Scout cookies lol).  I've been drinking green smoothies every day and that really helps with the sugar cravings.  I've noticed a change in myself that I've never felt before.  I have more energy, I am able to stay on the elliptical for 30 minutes and I feel like I can go longer and I'm not going to die.  Yesterday, we went on a walk because it was such a beautiful day and John kept having to tell me to slow down because he was having a hard time keeping up with me and it's usually the other way around.  All in all, I just feel GREAT!  I feel like it's been a long time coming and I'm finally getting healthy without starving myself, taking pills or drops or the dreaded calorie counting.  I'm just eating right and exercising...losing weight the way God intended it :D  Maybe I will post before and NOW pictures.  (I'm not going to say "after" because I'm not to my goal yet)

As always, thanks for reading ♥