Happy 2010!

Happy New Year everyone!!  I hope everyone had a great time ringing in the new year last night, and hopefully you aren't paying for it too much this morning.  We had a great night with Michelle and Dre.  Michelle made an amazing dinner...bacon wrapped steak bites, iceberg salad and some smashed loaded potatoes, it was all delicious, but I don't even want to think of how many calories were consumed last night!  After we were done eating the dancing began!  We picked up 'Just Dance' for the Wii and it was so much fun!  Its definitely just a party game, there is not really much to it, but apparently I can't dance... who knew??  I thought maybe I could look into taking some rhythm classes to improve on my dancing skills, but Michelle and Joe informed me that rhythm is something you are born with, and apparently I wasn't born with any!  Oh well, it won't stop me from being a dancing fool!

Things I am proud of from 2009!

• I lost 65 pounds from January through August, which is pretty amazing if you ask me!  Unfortunately I have gained back about 5 pounds over the last couple months... but I will deal with that later!
• My baby girl learned to crawl, walk, talk and turned one this year!  Its amazing how many milestones children hit in one year.  Can you imagine if we continued to learn at the rate they do?  We would all be b'geniuses!
• Joe and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary...and we even still kinda like each other!
• My mom turned 50 this year!! Holy crap is she getting old! :) 
• I read the whole Twilight saga... woohoo!! This is a huge accomplishment for me, as I cannot tell you the last book I read before these! 
  

Things I am looking forward to in 2010

•  Hopefully losing another 15 -20 pounds.  Which means I need to stop eating all the horrible things I love, and I need to actually work out when I go to the gym and not just SWAG.  But I know I can do it!
• Continue to watch Kara grow and learn new things everyday.
• Improve on my dancing skills. 
• Get a handle on some of our debt... I hate debt, and I want it to go away forever! 
• Maybe, just maybe think about adding a second child to our family.  This is dependent on a couple other things...Kara's attitude, and debt.  Based on these things, baby #2 might need to come in 2011, or 2012.
• Dedicating some time to get some crafts done....maybe I could actually work on some scrapbooking, sewing, crocheting and whatever else my little heart desires! 
• Spending some good quality time with my husband... I think we need more than 2 date nights this year! 
• Look at going back to school.... I am kinda worried about this since I haven't been in any kind of school for 9 years!  I would probably be told I need to go back to high school for a few years and re-learn some things before they will accept me into any college! 
• Work on getting my hair cut more than once this year... I know its a simple thing, but I literally only got one haircut in 2009... how pathetic is that!?!?

 Words to embrace for 2010

"Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab hold of it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said ...life would be easy, they just said it would be worth it."

Happy New Year Everyone!!  Hope 2010 has lots to offer for all of us! 

Kara - A Year in Pictures!

A look back at some of my favorite Kara pictures from 2009!  I tried to limit myself to one picture for each month, but I just don't have that much self control!

January 2009!

Kara trying to crawl

February 2009!

March 2009!

April 2009!

May 2009!

June 2009!

July 2009!

August 2009!

Kara turns one!

September 2009!

October 2009!

November 2009!

December 2009!

September 2009

5 Year Anniversary
This was actually on August 28th, but I am too lazy to make a separate post... This is a collage of pictures from our 5 year wedding anniversary! Joe and I celebrated by going downtown for the night. We had an awesome dinner, went out for drinks with friends and had our first night alone without Kara since she was born. We had a great time and Grandma Julie got to have a slumber party with Kara!


Woodbury Days!
Here are some pics from the Woodbury Days parade. This parade is always awesome, it is over an hour and a half long, but its always really fun! And it starts about a block away from our house, so that makes it even better!!




MN State Fair 2009...
You can always count on the state fair for a lovely assortment of nutritious and delicious foods, such as....
Chocolate covered bacon, cheese curds, pizza, blooming onion, french fries, nut roll, mini donuts, cookies and popcorn chicken.



During our walks from one food stand to the next we also manged to see POS perform on The Current stage, Kara enjoyed some chocolate chip cookies, and Jayla had her first taste of pizza... so many memories!



30/20 Birthday Party
My mom celebrated her 50th!! birthday this year! My Sistafriend and I decided to get some sweet revenge and we turned a snuggie into a jump snug for her, it was probably the best idea we ever had!



We even made an infomercial...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBnHQXd9Fds

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone! It appears that I have once again let my blog become covered in cobwebs. Shall I make a new years resolution now that I will try to update my blog weekly? Maybe I should stick with a more realistic goal and say I will update it monthly! :)




Since my last post Kara has become quite the little toddler! Its hard for me to call her my baby anymore. She is constantly learning new words, doing new things and seeing how far our patience will stretch. She has definitely figured out how to manipulate us, but I am pretty sure that started when she was about 5 months old! She is just the most adorable, wonderful little girl!



We just got done celebrating Christmas and we had such a blast. I can't even tell you how many different Christmas activities we fit into a one week time period, but we sure had fun! We had Christmas Eve at our house with Michelle, Dre, Jayden and Jayla, Jerry and Becky, and Emily and Scott. Kara got so many new toys, books and dvds, and we only had one meltdown which all started when Kara tried to get into her doll carrier(which she doesn't fit into). Kara woke up at 4 in the morning Christmas morning, and I was expecting to go in her room and lay her back down, but I walked in to find her sitting in her crib and as soon as I got in her room she said "Santa". So I got her out of her crib and we read The Night Before Christmas a couple of times and then she was ready to go back to sleep.



Christmas morning we opened our gifts from Santa - he brought Kara lots of new books! Joe and I got Kara a membership to the Children's Museum, I can't wait to bring her! Later in the day we went to Grandma Julie's house where Kara got her very own kitchen! She had lots of fun opening more gifts and playing with her cousins.



Kara is so lucky to have so many wonderful people in her life - starting with her parents, of course! And all of her grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins. It is really nice to be so close to everyone, and let everyone enjoy our beautiful little girl as much as we do!

Merry Christmas Everyone!! I hope your day was blessed, and filled with memories that will last a lifetime!

Just in case you were wondering... This is what a 16 month old who has had too many treats looks like...

August 1st, 2009 - Kara's First Birthday!

Today was such a special day, our baby girl turned one. Its so hard to believe that Kara is one, this past year has just flown by. We have watched Kara grow from a 6lb 15 ounce newborn, into a walking, talking, silly little monster! Everyday with Kara is so special, and its amazing to watch her change and learn new things. Her personality comes out more and more everyday and she couldn't be a more perfect mix of Joe and I. You can tell that Kara hangs out with her older cousin Jayden way too often, as one of her favorite things to do is growl!!

For Kara's birthday we had a party with family and friends at Kara's great grandparents house. We grilled some burgers and hot dogs, Kara played with all the kids, opened presents and then devoured her cupcake! The weather was perfect and it was so much fun to have everyone together and watch Kara have so much fun!