A lovely anniversary evening

Brie and I clapping our hands after throwing rocks in the water.

Here's some pics from our lovely evening at Wehle State Park on our wedding anniversary. It was a beautiful evening and Mat took some really cool pictures of the water crashing over the rocks. 

Good morning!

Gabriella woke up this morning fully rested and ready to go.  When I came into the room to get her out of bed, this is what she was doing and going through everyone's names.  Mama, Dada, Naynay, Ronron, daddy (maddy).  It was so cute, but when I got the camera, she just did her bouncing in crib no talking.  I apologize for my weird laughing/breathing noises in the background!

Reality Check

This weekend, Mat and I decided we'd go for a bit of a bike ride together since Brie enjoys riding in the cushy seat in back.  Well since we were going for a longer than usual one, I decided to wear some biking shorts.  Obviously, I haven't been bike riding in quite awhile and so when I pulled out my biking shorts to put on I had quite the reality check.

I couldn't zip the shorts all the way up and snap the top. 

What?

I didn't realize I'd gotten that chubby. 

I knew that I had lost muscle tone even though I walk a ton and since February have been jogging/running.  I guess that's the problem of weary baggy clothes.  I'm still wearing clothes that I wore 10 years ago...apparently, they are not fitted so when I get chubby I don't notice.

Because I have been exercising and doing stuff, I decided I have to change something else in my life. 

So, I am now a calorie counter.  Or at least being more aware of the amount of calories I'm taking in.  As I've always been a grazing type of eater, I now am looking at serving sizes on the bags of pretzels and yogurt and measuring out and keeping track, so that I don't go over my alloted amount.  No longer am I a growing kid or a nursing mama, so I need to be more "present" when I go to snack or eat my meals.  I've found that serving sizes are surprisingly a lot smaller than you'd think and the calories quickly add up. 

It's been four days...only the rest of my life to go!

A glimpse of Brie

Here are a couple of videos from our trip out to Utah. Gabriella loved Grammy's swing set/slide and trampoline. Plus she loved playing with all of her fun cousins!

A month of fun!

Gabriella and I had an awesome time out in Utah.  We were able to spend loads of time with my mom, saw some friends, then got some fun family reunion action before we headed back to NY.  Brie loved all of her fun cousins that she saw and played with!  You can see more pictures from that trip here, if you haven't all ready.

Then when we got back, I started my summer job.  It's been fun and Brie has loved going to daycare and playing with the other kiddos, which is a relief.  It would be much harder if Brie didn't enjoy going to daycare.  She only goes for a few hours 3 days of the week and the rest of the time the schedule work for Mat to get to spend some one-on-one time with her. 

Mat's parents came to visit the week of the 4th of July and it was a fun visit.  They were able to spend lots of quality time with Brie.  You can see Ron and Naomi's pictures here.   The video below is taken after we went down to The Trolley for some ice cream.

I haven't had much time for updating the blog, but we've been having a great summer and hope you are too!

Crazy good life

Seriously.  We've been having a fabulous time lately.  I guess we are getting it all in before I start my summer job in a few weeks. 

This morning we walked with our walking partner and then she took us on a boat ride out to an island that her family has a "camp" set up at.  (This camp has running water and toilets.) 

It was BEAUTIFUL out there!  So tranquil and peaceful.  I could stay for weeks...

We enjoyed a delicious picnic and had so much fun hiking around the island.  Brie was so worn out and tired, she slept on the boat ride back and the bumps didn't even bother her at all.  (note her poor little black fly bites, so sad looking.)

Then we went for a walk with Mat at the El Dorado Nature Preserve so that he could check on some stuff for work.  Brie was a trooper and hiked most of it, since we forgot her stroller at home.  Our bad. 

I can't believe how good Brie and I have it.  Sometimes I feel like I'm on a lovely vacation.  Although I did mow the lawn today and I don't think people do that on vacation.  :) 

Gardening 2012

Brie is a great help in the garden and when she gets bored with helping me, our friends have a bunch of toys that she brings out to play with.  It's great!  She is learning that she can't step on plants and run them over with the stroller or car or throw the ball in the garden.  She now just plays nicely with them on the grass patch inside the fence or in the driveway.  She's a great little girl!

The garden is coming along nicely.  The zuchini plants are getting big and healthy and we have a few tomatoes forming on a couple of the tomato plants.  Yay!