Hi!

"Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!" That is what I get to hear over and over and over again. Zoey has learned this new word and says it to anyone and anything she can. We went for a walk yesterday and I think she said "hi" to every tree, leaf, fence, and car that we passed by. I must say, it's pretty cute. In the morning we go to wake up Billy and she starts patting his shoulder saying "Hi daddy!" and I swear his face lights up. Do I ever get a "Hi mommy!"? No. Am I hurt? A little. I know I just need to be patient but...come on already!!

In other news, I am a mere 9 lbs away from my goal weight! I have been working crazy hard and I am so excited to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I may try losing a few extra pounds once I hit my goal, but that is in the future. Most of my pants are too big and I must say, it feels great. I am running out of cute clothes to wear, but I think I'll survive. In a couple of months I will be able to say that I have lost well over 50 lbs since having my sweet little Zoey and I will be 25 lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight. Woot!

Billy is on swing shift now so I have been spending my afternoons and nights alone. It's been nice to have some me time, but it does get a little quiet around the house. I have been exercising and cleaning to keep busy and also prepping for work the next day.

Which brings me to my next topic: My new job. I just got a job working from home and so far it has been great. I am adjusting to being a working mom, but at least I get to be home with Zoey while I am earning a paycheck. It's nice to be able to feel like I am helping out financially while still be there for my husband and child whenever they need me. Plus, now I can go shopping for some clothes that fit and maybe get some new shoes just for kicks. :)

Life in Omaha has been great for our family. We definitely miss all of our wonderful Utah friends and family, but the people here have been so kind and welcoming to us. We have been blessed so much and I am grateful that we have such an amazing life.

What else? I am crazy excited to go to Seattle next month and see Billy's family! It will be great to spend some time with the family and get to know our new niece and nephew. We can't wait to see you Owen and Maren! Zoey is going to have a blast getting to know her aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Speaking of Zoey...did you know she turns 1 year next month? 1 year!!! My baby won't be a baby anymore, she'll be a toddler. Time really has flown by.

Time to finish for the night. I haven't taken too many pics, but here are the ones that I managed to get. There is a picture of me during my show and some fun videos of Zoey. Enjoy!

September adventures...

Things have been a bit crazy this month because my show finally opened and I have been at the theatre a ton. Now that I finally have a little time to myself I thought I'd give you all a little update on our adventures this month...

It has been getting colder out here but that hasn't stopped us from going to the park at least two times a day. Just like Katalyn talked about in her last blog post, rain or shine we end up going on walks and playing outside. The cooler weather has been nice because I finally get to put Zoey in her cute winter hats and sweaters. She loves to play on the slide down at the park while coco goes searching for bunnies in the field. There is one thing Zoey does not love at the park...swings! If I even take her near the swings she holds onto me for dear life and starts whimpering. Here are a few pictures from our two hour park excursion yesterday.

As you can see, they weren't happy I made them wait.

Another fun perk that comes from the cooler weather is cute winter jammies! Zoey has some super cute sleepwear I have been dying to put on her, but it was too warm until now. I love this set because it has the face of a bear on the tush. So Cute! I'm lucky she is small for her age and I can put her in the cute six month winter jammies I thought she'd be too big for.

Zoey is walking now! She prefers crawling, but she will walk all the way across the room if you can convince her to do it. I tried to take some videos of her standing and walking, but they didn't turn out so good. I'll post them because she is cute...just don't expect too much action.

Well, other than the 40ish lbs I have lost since December...yes I said 40...not much else has been going on. I'll try to post more often now that the show is wrapping up. Here are just a few random pics for the road!

This is the before picture of our house. Once I finish my fall decorating I will post and after pic.

My top 10

I have been thinking about all of the things in my life that I am lucky to have and I thought I'd share it with the world...or at least the few of you who read our blog. :)

10. Aside from a couple of minor problems (aka my bad eye) I have my health.

9. Having several members of my family who live eight hours away or less

8. I am lucky to have the world's best in laws (sisters and brothers and their children included in that). I have been lucky enough to have these great people in my life.

7. Having wonderful friends who live just a day trip away...that includes you Brad and Erica!

6. I am lucky enough to have the chance to do what I love the most...perform. I am so happy that we live in a place where I can use the talents that God has given me.

5. We are lucky to have a place to live, food to eat, and a steady paycheck. There are so many people right now who aren't so lucky and so I consider our family blessed.

4. Support. I have wonderful sisters who have been hugely supportive during my weight loss journey and I can't thank them enough for helping me have the strength to continue.

3. Coco! She is the best dog we could have ever wished for and she takes such good care of us...especially her pal Zoey.

2. The Gospel. I feel so blessed to be a part of our church and feel the peace and comfort that it brings into my life. Nothing compares to the unconditional love of my Heavenly Father. (Lumped into this one are the scriptures and the temple and all other "churchy" things)

1. My family! I have such a wonderful husband and daughter and each and every day they bring so much joy into my life. I cant imagine life without them and I am looking forward to the many memories we will make with each other.

So there you have it! These are a few of the many things I am happy to have in my life. I'll post tomorrow about what is going on around here and how the show is going. Love to you all!

P.S. I was able to find the pics that I thought were lost forever so here are some of the baby food photos I mentioned in the last post.

Lazy...

Sorry I have been lazy about posting the past few weeks! Between the show and ZoeyI don't have much extra free time. I have lots of fun videos and pics to post today so lets get right to it...

Zoey has really been having a blast at meal time so I decided to takes some pics of her many eating adventures. Boy does this kid love to get messy! (I can't get the font to match the rest of the post so oops!)

We took this with Billy's iphone so it's a little blurry, but you can still see the happy little messy baby!

She has also been trying to feed herself as of late and, as you can see, food gets EVERYWHERE!

No matter how messy things get she still manages to look like a little lady. So cute! Since our little princess loves eating so much I have taken to making homemade baby food so that we spend less in that department. Here are some pics from my baby food adventure. Wait...I just loaded my pictures onto iphoto, deleted the originals, and then an error occurred and now they are gone forever! That makes me very sad since I had about 50 pictures of Zoey, the flooding, baby food, and Zoey's nursery. I guess you will just have to use your imagination this time!

Moving on I guess...Zoey, Billy, Coco, and I have been having a blast walking all over the neighborhood and taking coco to the dog park (see pic below). All of these activities make her a messy baby so we always make sure to give her a bath at the end of the day (see other pic below). She loves getting into the warm water and playing with the bath toys her pal Gina gave to her. She is just the happiest baby and I love hanging out with her every day.

Billy has been busy as well. A few weekends ago he volunteered to participate in some sort of exercise for the medical people and he got to have some pretty gross makeup put on him. On my birthday weekend he volunteered at the air show and ended up getting a pretty bad case of food poisoning. After a few days feeling pretty crummy he is now back to feeling healthy.

As for me? Well, I am still busy rehearsing for Children of Eden. Our show opens next weekend, so let me know if you want to come! As far as my diet is concerned...I have now lost 25 lbs in the last 2 1/2 months and I am feeling great! I feel better and better every day and soon I think I am going to need to buy some new clothes!

Zoey has woken up from her nap so I guess I should go and get her. Sorry for the scattered thoughts and lack of pictures. Until next time!

P.S. Don't you love her "just woke up from a nap" hair in the second video?!?!

Dinner ideas...

Hi all! I'd like to ask my blog readers (because I have sooo many of them lol) to tell me their favorite recipes. I want to change up my dinner menu and I figured the best way to get tasty dinner ideas was to ask for your favorites. You can leave more than one if you would like, and feel free to include desserts as well. I'm on a diet so if any of you have some good low calorie recipes please leave them too. As a thank you I will leave you with a couple of my favorite recipes. Hope you are all having a fantastic day. Enjoy!

Beef Stroganoff

2 Tbs vegetable oil

1 pound beef sirloin strips

Salt and Pepper

6 Tbs unsalted butter

12 oz sliced buttoned mushrooms

1 medium yellow onion, chopped or sliced

1 Tbs tomato paste

2 Tbs flour

2 cups beef broth

1/4 cup sour cream

2 tsp Dijon Mustard

2 tsp lemon Juice

1 Tbs chopped Parsley (or you can use dried)

For noodles:

salt and pepper

One 12oz package wide egg noodle

2 Tbs unsalted butter

Directions

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Raise the heat to high and heat 1 tablespoon oil (I just use cooking spray to make it "healthier"). Season half the beef with salt and pepper, add to the skillet, arranging it in a single layer, and saute, without stirring, until well-browned and still pinkish inside, about 1 to 2 minutes. (it will finish cooking in the sauce) Transfer to a large plate and set aside. Repeat with the remaining oil and beef. Discard any excess oil.

Return the skillet to medium-high heat. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter and, when the foaming begins to subside, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until well-browned, about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to the plate with the beef.

Heat 4 tablespoons butter and, just as the foaming begins to subside, add the onion and cook, stirring, until lightly caramelized, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 1 minute more. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Pour in the beef broth and, whisking constantly, bring to a full boil. Remove from the heat. Whisk in the sour cream, mustard, and lemon juice and season with pepper to taste. Set the sauce aside covered.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt generously, and cook the noodles until tender but not mushy. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Toss with the butter and season with pepper to taste.

Add the beef and any juices, mushrooms, and parsley to the sauce and reheat over medium heat until just hot.

STUFF YOUR FACE! :)

Brown Sugar Oat Muffins

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup 2% milk

1/4 cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

In a small bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In another small bowl, beat the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 400° for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm. (They taste great with honey butter)

Back in Business!!!

Well, we finally made it Nebraska and are settling in quite nicely. I am excited to get back to blogging regularly and keeping you all up to date on our many adventures. We had a very long and exciting road trip (it took us three days!) from Mississippi to Nebraska, but we made it to our new home and have finally have our stuff unpacked and organized. Here are just a few pictures from out road trip to the Midwest:

We were able to move in to our house about two days after getting to Offutt AFB, which I'm told is very lucky. The bad part about it all was that the moving company wasn't going to get our stuff to us until a little over three weeks later. Not fun! Everyone here was so kind and lent us some dishes, towels, and other basic necessities so we could survive until the moving truck came.

Soon after moving in we spent the 4th of July with our good friends Brad and Erica (they live only two hours away!) and had fun just relaxing and grilling some delicious food. The next weekend I was able to take Zoey and go to Wisconsin to visit my parents, and as an added bonus I was able to see my cousin Brooke's family AND my best friend Gina.

About a week later mom and I drove back to Omaha and she helped me get the house unpacked and decorated...thanks mom! It was really fun having her here to help out with Zoey and all of the moving in chores that I absolutely hate. Because she is so amazing, we were able to get everything unpacked in 3 days! Crazy right?!

Before mom left I had the chance to audition for the show Children of Eden at the local theatre and I was fortunate enough to be cast. We have been rehearsing for a few weeks now and it has been a blast. We open on Sept. 16th and run for three weekends so if you are in the area you should come. I have been cast as part of the Snake, a storyteller, and Yonah. I can't tell you how much a have missed being on stage. I am so happy to be doing what I love and meeting wonderful new people. Billy has stepped in as super dad and watches Zoey while I am at rehearsal. Those two really have become the best of friends.

Coco has also had some fun here in Omaha. She has a little girls who comes by to walk her and play with her. That coupled with the trips to the dog park and the bunnies in the back yard makes for a very happy dog.

On a completely different note...I've lost about 20 lbs since my last post! I have been working really hard at keeping up with my diet and exercise regimen and I am seeing results. I still have a little ways to go until I hit my ultimate goal, but it is so fun to slowly watch the numbers on the scale go down and down. I am starting to be too skinny for my skinny jeans. Woot!

Well, Zoey is up from her nap so I should probably wrap it up. I'll post pictures of the house and the area as soon as I am feeling better (Zoey and I got sick). Until next time...