Dates & Updates

It's been a little while since Micah and I have really had date nights... Babies really complicate things sometimes! 

Micah was a gem the other night and babysat Livi for me so I could go to the U football game with my friend Sam. 

We lost to Oregon but it was a nail biter, went into overtime to hash it out. 

It was SO fun to just get out and enjoy a night with some crazy girls & high energy of the muss!

MUSE!

Micah and I went to the Muse concert and had my sister Jess babysit for us. We saw my brother Mark there and hung out with him on the floor (we had GA tickets). 

Muse, as always, put on an incredible show. They are my favorite band & have been since I was 17. I'd seriously die if I met Matthew Bellamy... Lead guitarist, vocals, pianist... Aka he's amazing. 

Goals Updates

Last night I ran a 5k, just around my neighborhood... I remember when I did my first 5k (2012 4th of July) and I literally collapsed on the grass afterwards, feeling way close to passing out/throwing up. Well I still felt like puking, but I did much better than I did the first time!

37 min. total, 12 min. average mile. 

Tomorrow I'll do it again then ramp my miles up to 5.5 on Saturday to then tone it down to 5 miles for the next week. I'm training for a half marathon ... Another goal added on because my friend Maegan's neighbor is putting one on it Herriman... We'll see if I can make it to 13.1 miles! Getting in shape is hard!! Love seeing the results but man.. It's tough! 

One big accomplishment that I've hit though: I'm back to pre-pregnancy weight!!! Wooo! Actually better than pre-pregnancy which I didn't think would happen til like November. So proud and happy that I'm getting results for all the work! 

Baby Olive Updates

Such a cute roley poley dimpley bum! Olive will probably hate me for taking these kinds of pictures, but how can you resist?!

I have started making Livi hold the bottle on her own so that she can start developing those hand-eye coordination skills. She's doing pretty well with it!

Olive is starting to discover rolling over.. No true flops onto her stomach from her back or vice versa, but she does this funny lean where she lifts her feet & plops on her side. 

This morning's daily dimples. My how I looooove those cheeks!

xoxo Mandi

New Goals

goals goals goals. 

We set them all the time and, if you're anything like me, feel super pumped up about it for the first like 2 weeks then get immediately burnt out and over them. 

*ugh*

We have a couple of goals that we're trying to accomplish this year and we just barely set them (literally last night...). Better late than never, right?

Our first goal is very superficial...

Micah and I have a cruise coming up! And, being vain, we want our beach bods to be trimmed & toned up. 

So we both have goals to lose 15lbs and to also be more fit all around. Olive is almost 3 months old and I'm 4lbs away from my pre-baby weight (without any working out ps) and can wear some pre-pregnancy jeans already. Pretty awesome! But I don't look as toned as I did before pregnancy... Hence the need to immediately start working on the bod.  ;)

I've started up running again which is kinda killing me... I forgot how hard it is. 

Zoey is my little running bud. She keeps very good pace with me and is a great motivator. Unfortunately she got hurt Sunday night when she was coming around the corner of our house - cut her shoulder open on a metal flashing (small ledge the bricks sit on) and had to get stitches. So my running buddy will have to sit out for a couple of weeks. :(

We took her to Utah Veterinary Center at midnight and they took great care of her. 

She's now rocking a t-shirt to avoid her licking at the stitches. 

Poor Zo. 

But as far as our goals go, our first is to get toned & more fit. With that we're trying to eat more healthy & be more active as well. 

Our cruise is in March 2014 so at the latest, Micah and I have until February to get back into shape. I want to see theweight  come off before then, like Thanksgiving/Christmas time but that may be unrealistic. Five months to drop 15lbs and get toned! I think we can do it. 

Our other main goal is to finish the Book of Mormon by Christmas. I know it's dumb, but I've never finished the Book of Mormon cover to cover. I've read it regularly with my family, on my own, studied it in seminary and at church, but never read it all the way through. 

The reason that gave me the motivation to start up again was a 14 year old girl in my Young Women's group. She just finished the book cover to cover on her own. Seriously! I thought "Man, if she can do it, why can't I?"

So we have 212 chapters left and 105 days til Christmas. We were reading only one chapter a night, but with that deadline we will have to start reading 2 chapters a night now. 

The reason I chose Christmas as that deadline is to help us remember the "reason for the season." I know, cheesy line, but I really do want to have a more meaningful Christmas this year. I have more thoughts on that but that will come closer to the season. 

Anyway, I'm hoping that by writing it down and putting it online will help make me more responsible for those goals... Lets hope!  :)

YW Inspirational Thought

So I was recently called to be a Beehive advisor in my ward, in Young Women's... so I'd be advising/teaching 12-13 year olds. Way stoked! I loved being in Young Women's as a teenager, and I've always wanted to be involved in that when I was married...

Wish granted!

Awesome, except I forgot one big thing - I'd be teaching on a regular, weekly basis. Gah! I really don't like being the center of attention, so this has been a growing and learning experience for me. 

So my lesson this Sunday is on "How Do the Things I Say Affect Me and Those Around Me?" 

Thinking about this and reading the material I somehow was mentally drawn to a quote my friend Sheridan had on her bathroom mirror...

"Objects in mirror may be more beautiful than they appear." 

Such a cute thing to see in the morning as you're scrambling to get ready and, if you're anything like me, end up getting frustrated that something doesn't look right, you don't feel pretty enough in some way, or your hair just absolutely hates you that morning. 

So since all of my little girlies are just barely starting the school year out again, I figure they could do with a little boost. 

I went to Michael's & got these:

 

I bought 3 packs of 5 each mirrors because I have 14 girls. 

And wrote with the fine pointed sharpie that cute quote. 

(It was extremely hard to take a picture of the writing!)

Then I cut 1 inch sections from the magnet strip. 

And placed it adhesive side down onto the top of the back of the mirror. 

And done! My quick little give-away inspirational thought was done in about 20 minutes, cost me $9 for the supplies. 

Now all I have to do is prepare the lesson... Or procrastinate with other projects instead.  :P

Project: Halloween Wreath

It's Halloween!

Well, almost. ;)

I wanted to get a jump start on my decorating this year so I could enjoy one of my favorite holidays a bit longer. 

Project time!

I saw the idea for this on Pinterest here. Loved how bright and fun it looked! On Etsy it was $54 though... No thank you! So I thought I'd take a shot at making it myself.

Supplies:
20" wire wreath form
(Totally forgot to take a pic of mine but they look like this)

Orange burlap ribbon (4)

Accent ribbon (for the bow)

And a pipe cleaner. 

(Forgot to buy them ugh! But I improvised.  :P )

Hobby Lobby was my store of choice for this project, since they frequently have 50% off their merchandise. Also, I found out that if you go to www.hobbylobby.com and click on "coupons", when you're in the store they can use the coupon there on your smartphone. They typically have a 40% off one item coupon. Fun fact.  ;)

So I set out making this little wreath. Total, it cost me $26 to make this.
My How-To:
Cut the burlap into 10-12" lengths.

Then cut them in half length-wise.

At first I was tying the burlap on like this.

But found that looping them like this made the wreath more fluffy.

I started on the inner most rung, adding 4 looped strips of burlap per section.

Then continued that same pattern for each rung in each section. On my wreath form I have 4 rings... I chose to only fill the first 3.

The last step is to make the accent bow.  I chose the chevron style in favor of the skulls so that I could use it for fall, and not just Halloween.

To make it fancier than a normal shoe-lace style bow, I created this poofy looped bow. I kept mine on the roll while I created it, unsure how much ribbon I was going to need. 

First: loop the end of the ribbon, pinching it tightly in your left hand (if you're right handed)

Next: create a second loop, by twisting the ribbon so the pretty-side stays up & visible. Pinch the ribbon between your left hand's fingers, keeping a firm grip on them. 

Pull it to the other side of your center loop by doing the same twist & pinch menthod, still keeping the pretty-side up. When you create the next loop, pull it up to make sure the length is the same as your other side. 

Do these steps for each side of the now 3 times, giving yourself a fluffy 3 tiered bow, matching the lengths to each other as you go. 

For the last loops, make them slightly longer and check to make sure they are the same length on each side by pulling them up and towards the center. 

For the tail: pull the extra ribbon into a big loop. 

Cut the excess off, pinching the ribbon in your left hand. (Mine was seriously cramping when I finished! Ugh) 

Leave the tail as is for the moment. 

Grab a twisty tie like the pipe cleaner or floral wire. (I used my bread's twisty thing because I didn't plan very well!)

Pull it through the center where your thumb has been gripping and is probably ready to fall off. 

Twist it tightly and secure all of your loops. 

Now that you have both hands free, fold the loop of your tail flat. 

I then folded it again, making it skinnier.

Depending on the type of ending to your ribbon that you want, you can cut the ends in varying ways. I cut mine like this:

Creating this look:

Fluffing! Simply grab the loops you've created and pull and fluff them up as you like. I separated mine and pulled them into opposite directions to make it more full. 

Next I grabbed some stretchy headband ribbon (again, I planned terribly for this so I didn't have pipe cleaners or floral wire) and secured my bow to a looped burlap section.

I didn't tie it to the wire form simply because I wanted to make sure my ribbon stayed in the front and poofy. 

Then you're finished! 50% the cost, 100% the look. 

I looooove how this turned out! It's a fun, simple Halloween wreath that would work with any decor style.

 :)

Olive's Baby Blessing

Today has been busy!

Miss Olive Lynn Russell is the newest member of the LDS church. :)

Micah and I had so much to prepare for everyone coming over.. Naturally we did everything the night before.

I was super stressed the week before, trying to make sure we planned accordingly and had everything ready. He wasn't nervous at all though! Stinker. 

The morning of though, Micah and I switched places... I was surprisingly calm, totally not stressed out at all and he was nervous for the blessing! He wanted to make sure he did a good job, followed the proper "guidelines" of giving a baby blessing... And plus, we had a lot of people coming so the pressure was on!

Olive was all smiles in her carseat, sucking on her hand before the blessing and of course just as Micah picked her up to head to the front to bless her, she started getting cranky.

Awesome. 

Thankfully she quieted immediately when Micah started into the blessing. In the circle with Micah was my dad John, brother Mark, father-in-law Lynn (who Olive's middle name is from), and brothers-in-law Matt, Josh, & Ben. 

The blessing was beautiful, absolutely perfect. If Micah was still nervous when he was up there he hid it very well; his voice didn't shake at all and he was very steady throughout. 

Once he was done, he held up my cute little baby girl, showing off her ridiculously fluffy elegant dress. (My mom bought it for me, from The Quilted Bear - it was hand made and absolutely darling.) 

For the rest of our sacrament meeting Olive decided to cry her sweet little head off so I stayed in the hall with her until the very end when she fell asleep. 

Back at my house we had a simple brunch of muffins, fruit, bread, & smoothies! (Lynn brought the smoothie machine from the Russell's ice cream factory with him... One definite perk of having the Russell's ice cream be in your family - endless ice cream!) That was the most people our house has ever had in it and it was packed! We had probably 50 people coming & going through. Way fun but a little crazy!

Olive stayed asleep for the first little bit then woke up for some pictures. 

Poor little grump, she was hungry.. I forgot her headband too.  

We changed outfits before I fed her.. She was not happy with Uncle Matty or that headband!

Sheridan had slightly better luck keeping her happy-ish. 

And her Great-Aunt Erin gave her this darling bracelet! 

Such a fun day, crazy busy, but so fun. Micah and I cleaned up once everyone left then passed out for quick naps before our weekly Sunday dinner at my parents house. We had such a fun time catching up with our friends and family that could make it!