Weekend Away in Maryland

January 13 - 17 Jason and I went on a trip to Maryland for his best friend Jeffrey's wedding. We ledt McKenzie here with my Momma and Daddy (they're so good to come up) so it was a vacation for us. It was my 1st time leaving McKenzie for a night and I did really well with it. Wednesday we drove the 11 hour trip to get to Maryland. Thursday we went to Washington, DC and then snow tubing in Pennsylvania that night. Snow Tubing was a BLAST!!! I've never done anything snow related before so it was perfect. I was exhausted after tubing for 2 hours. Basically what it is is going down a water slide but its ice. Friday we hung out with Jeffery and Courtney and then had the rehearsal. Saturday was the wedding and it was beautiful and fun. They are such a great couple and I'm sad they live so far away. Here are pictures from our weekend!

Washington, DC - the White House

The Capital Building - probably my fav in DC
It was soooo COLD but we had a great time!

In front of the back of the White House

Jason and Jeffrey in the Museum of Natural History

Jason and myself in front of the 1st plane by the Wright Brothers - they are my 5th cousin so it was really cool to me

Jason trying to land a plane on an aircraft carrier ... he didn't do so well

The Snow Tubing Lanes

Jason is the dot on the inside and Jeffrey is the dot on the outside

I really wish my computer would let me crop pictures ... this would be so much cuter croppedThe Groom and Best Man

Rehearsal Dinner Night

Wedding Day ... I have the Best Man there is!

I didn't get a lot of great pictures of Jeffrey and Courtney ... here

is my favorite

Cooking with Mommy

One of my favorite things ever is to cook. I LOVE mak,ing new things and putting my twist on recipes. I also collect aprons. I know its a little strange but I LOVE them. I almost always have on an apron when I cook. Jason's parents got McKenzie her own apron to have on when she cooks with me. I have to say I am jealous because she has a Florida State one and I don't. So here are some pictures of my cute little girl cooking with me!

Playing with the tupperware containers

Us in our aprons!

Nifty Nine

McKenzie is now 9 months old! I can't believe it! She has changed so much in the past month. She now has 2 teeth, crawls and pulls up! She's really good at Dada now too.

We took her for her 9 month check up on Thursday and my little baby who was 7 lbs 1 oz and 17.5 inches when she was born is now 19 lbs 12 oz and 29 inches. She's a chunk!! Everything is great with her. She had to get her finger pricked to see if she was anemic but she isn't. The nurse told us to take the band aid off when we got in the car so she wouldn't choke on it and we did ... well McKenzie bled all over the place. All on her blanket, clothes, car seat ... it was a mess.

Yesterday was a Snow day, however there wasn't really any snow. The raods were nasty though so we've stayed home these past two days. Jason and I cleaned/ reorganized yesterady. I finally got McKenzie's room done ... its so much better now! Jason's working today so I've finished up on the rest of the house. Tomorrow after church he goes to work again and I get to get a baby gate then read by book. I strongly urge anyone who likes mythology to go get the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick, Riordan ... I can't put the books down! Even better is they are young adult so it isn't a hard read.

Here are some pictures of my little 9 month old!

McKenzie playing around on her changing table

As is customary here are some pictures of McKenzie and her bunny

Resolutions 4 and 5

Ok, Ok I promise this is the last of my New Years Resolutions.

Resolution #4 - Reduce Debt
Most everyone has this as a resolution and Jason and I are no exception. While we are not up to our eyeballs in debt we would like to become more debt free. We have a couple of credit cards, student loans, car loans, and a house we'd like to work towards paying off. I'd just really not have to send out these payments evrey month. We're going to start with the credit cards and then work our way up. I have the Dave Ramsey "Total Money Makeover" I'm going to read soon. I know lots of people who have been helped by his book so I'm going to try and be one of those. I'd love to get stuff payed off and then start a wedding and college fund for McKenzie.

Resolution #5 - Do stuff for myself
I'm really bad about doing things that need to be done and not what I want to do. I LOVE to read but I often put it off because the house needs to be cleaned or I want to watch TV with Jason or whatever else gets in the way. I am currently reading the "Percy Jackson and the Olympicans" series. The books are so good! The Lightning Thief will be a movie coming out in February ... you should read the books before the movie, especially if you like mythology.
Other things I enjoy but don't do that often :
Go see musicals (ok, these are expensive but I'd like to see one or two this year)
Get a pedicure (I love them but don't like spending money)
Go shopping at Goodwill
Have a picnic
Go to museums/ historical sites
Blog (I'm actually doing this during my planning at work instead of getting ready for my sub tomorrow)

Anyways, thats all for now. Tomorrow we go for McKenzie's 9 month checkup so more tomorrow!

Resolution #3

New Years Resolution #3: Have a clean, organized, baby proof house
This one stems out of necessity. I always like my house to be clean and right now it isn't. I am currently in the process of going room by room and reoganizing and baby proofing everything! McKenzie is crawling and pulling up onto everything now so I have to make sure what she can get into is safe. I've only done my bathroom so far because I've had company since we got back from Pensacola. I still need to take down my Christmas decorations too. Ahhh... so much to do!

I also have a "celaning" plan I'm going to try to put in place starting tomorrow. If I can do this then maybe cleaning won't seem like such a daunting chore.
Monday- dust all rooms
Tuesday- Sweep and Vacuum
Wednesday - Bathrooms
Thursday - Laundry (wash AND put away)
Friday - Nothing (who wants to clean on a Friday?)
Saturday - Deep clean the kitchen
Sunday - whatever else needs to be done

AS for babyproofing ... Jason and I are going soon to get a baby gate for the top of the stairs! We're getting one that you don't have to move every time you go in or out. We also need to get some drawer and door locks. We've already got the outlets covered. I think thats all we need baby proffing wise.

I plan on getting rid of a bunch of stuff that is just taking up space by having a yard slae soon. We have a bunch of stuff that Jason has recoverd from houses that we need to sell so hopefully we get do that and mak,e some money soon!

Resolution #4 to come tomorrow (there's only 2 more ... I promise)

Resolution #2

New Years Resolution #2 : Be healthier
Now I k,now almost every girl makes the loose weight resolution but I've changed mine this year. I don't need to loose weight (I'm only 130 lbs) but I do need to be healthier.

I plan on weighing myself every Friday AND measuring my waist. I want to focus on getting tone so I think, the measuring of the waist will help me to see results faster.

I also have a new spiral notebook where I am writing down everything I eat and drink.. you know to keep tabs on things. Yesterday was not soo hot with all the holiday food but I'm trying to be better. One thing I notice is I really need to drink more water. That will take out calories and make my face look better. Why is it water is so good for you but no one wants to drink it?

Lastly I'm writing down what I do for exercise each day. Yesterady all I did was walk around the neighborhood. Its really hard to work out when you have guests and its FREEZING outside. Jason got some gym equipment out of a house so we need to set that up and I can use the glider thing. I have a couple of videos that are pilates and abs related. I want the Dirty Dancing cardio video too. I think I might have to make a stop a Wal-Mart for it.

Another part of being healthy is maing sure I take vitamins. I HATE them even when I was pregnant is was a chore to take vitamins ... so we'll see. I'm bad about pills in general. I also plan on maing sure I do things like get my teeth cleaned, go to the dermatologist (and wear sunscreen everyday) and girl doctor. I probably need a family care general practice person too ... just to make sure everything is ok. Anyone else use a regular doctor now? I know its really important when you get older but what abuot at 26?

Thats all for resolution #2 tomorrow will be resolution #3.

Happy New Year and Resolution #1

Happy 2010 everyone! I hope this year is as amazing as the last one was. So far its started out really well. McKenzie slept until midnight and then went back to sleep (she woke up because of fireworks) until 4:45. Yay!! I think she just missed her daddy. Jason was in Virginia for his uncle's funeral on Tuesday and Wednesday. Also the Noles won today! It was quite emotional for me because it was Bobby's last game. I creid at the beginning when he planted the spear. This year is also Bobby Cox (Braves coach) last season ... what are these people trying to do to me?

On to resoultion #1: Get closer to God.

I need to get my quiet time back on track. I've filled it up with so many other things and I can feel the stress from it. I need a good devotional. Any suggestions? I'd like to have one for myself and one that Jason and I can do together. God is most important and I have not had him in that position in a while. So my fisrt resoultion is to get back with God ... can anything be better?

Tomorrow I will post on my 2nd resolution ... its the one I have the best laid plan for!