So much happening!!

Okay wow!  So much has happened since my last post...I will try to give you a quick update on our lives and then hopefully I can just start blogging about the current happenings in our lives.

I have failed miserably with my baking experiment.  I pretty much have just baked what I blogged about in the beginning of the year and that is about it...things got chaotic.  I might try some recipes this fall, but we shall see if I can find time.

As of February we have a new addition to our family.  His name is Riggins Leeper and he is a Siberian Husky that was born on December 8, 2012 (my sister/brother-in-law's anniversary).  He is great but also a lot of work and a lot of energy.  So we have a routine down at this point, but it has taken a lot to figure it all out.

First day of Riggins in the Leeper home!

Riggins in the pool in August.

In April we headed to St. Augustine, FL to see Mike's step-brother (John) and his lovely bride (Erin) get married.  Unfortunately Morgan had an asthma attack and she and I missed the wedding due to her being admitted to the hospital.  We also missed our flight out on Sunday morning after the wedding, so we were in Florida two extra days.  We were very sad to not participate in the wedding, but Mike and Tommy were there to share our love.

Our summer was filled with swimming, Tigard Safety Town, 4th of July trip to Black Butte, and more swimming.  The good news is Morgan the final two weeks of swimming lessons decided she could jump in and just swim.  So that was exciting.

The first weekend of June I did my first Triathlon.  It was AWESOME!  I loved it and the next day signed up for the Portland Triathlon that is next Sunday, September 22nd.  It was a wonderful experience and people that do triathlons are all so friendly and helpful.  Everyone is there just to do their best - whatever that may be.  So it was an outstanding experience and I am excited that I took the dive and tried out this sport. This upcoming triathlon I am a little intimidated for because 1.  I have not been training as much as I had for the June race and 2.  Mike bought be a new bike and it is WAY too fancy...it is a tribike (made especially for triathlons).   I am pretty sure it might kill be because I fall off my mom-hybrid-road bike so say a little prayer or happy thought for me a week from today because I will need it!

Post Race Medal :)

My pit crew...Mom was invaluable part of the experience.

Me, Salina and Tracy post-race beer!  Always the best part!

My littlest sister (who really is our neighbor from growing up - that Diana and I adopted) Ashley married Matt (our new brother-in-law) last weekend.  So the summer was filled with super fun showers, dress appointments and a bachelorette party in Black Butte.  It was so fun to celebrate this wonderful young lady and get to spend time with family.  Their wedding was amazingly beautiful and so much fun to see the union between such a lovely couple.  Tommy and Morgan were ring bearer and flower girl.  They were super cute and I am so excited to see pictures of them in the wedding.  They were also amazing on the dance floor!

Making sure the tux fits...and pretty much being too cool for school.

Morgan in her princess dress.  

End of the evening and they are still smiling :)  Aren't they so cute?

I am still health coaching with Take Shape for Life.  I love talking to my clients and finding out how happy they are about the health they are creating in their life.

Tommy started the school year as a 1st grader the day after Labor Day.  He LOVES it!  He has had a great start to the year and feels like a "big boy" because he is at school all day.  Of course his favorite parts of school are recess and lunch.  Morgan also started school at Wee Wisdom (or as she calls it "brother's old school."  She loves it and gets to hang with the ladies who love her!  So great to be back at Wee Wisdom.

My volunteer obligations are pretty much at maximum capacity.  I am PSO (Parent Support Organization) President for Tommy's Elementary School, I am chair of the Advisory Committee for my church's preschool, I am the co-registrar on the Tigard Safety Town Board and I am the Volunteer Table Coordinator for our church.  So I am trying to balance that all out and still keep life fun.  It is a challenge at times, but all are good things so I am trying to make it all work.

I think that catches you up on what we are up to.  I will try to be better about blogging with what we are doing and how we are doing.

Cheers to trying to catch our stride!

Improvement

Okay so last year was all about improvement in my health - mainly getting my weight under control (see my previous post).  While I am still working toward Optimal Health and really love working to help other people with their health goals as a health coach, one of my goals for 2013 (and probably 2014) is to work on my skill of baking.  While I am not planning on eating the items I produce (because I do not want to undo losing over 85lbs), I truly enjoy baking...it is definitely one of my happy places and strangely enough I do some of my best thinking and relaxing while baking.  So here is my plan to work on my skill of baking:

Mike purchased the book Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel (With Susie Heller, Matthew McDonald, Michael Ruhlman and Amy Vogler - Photographs by Deborah Jones) in November of 2012...I did not pay much attention to in as Mike has a cookbook buying problem and it arrived during a time where multiple large cookbooks were arriving at our house.  I was annoyed at all these books because we truly do not have the space for them.  Well this bakery book sat around for a while, but then I picked it up one random day.  I have to tell you this book is not only beautiful and large, I think it is really going to stretch me as a baker.  So I decided that in the new year (2013) I would start to bake through this book, page by page.  Now I am not promising a recipe a day or even a week because my schedule is so crazy, but I promise each time I do a recipe, I will post it (with pictures).  Even if I fail at a particular recipe, I will post it because we not only learn from our successes but our failures as well.

400 Glorious Pages of Beautiful Baking

The first recipe is "Pecan Sandies for my Mom."

That is my plan today...to make these Pecan Sandies.  I will let you know how they turn out - along with pictures (hopefully tomorrow or if I get ambitious, later today).

Also I know many might ask, what will you do with all the baked items?  Well, the nice thing about Mike working in a big office is there are a lot of people there that can help consume the baked goods.  Remember nothing is terrible for you in moderation...I encourage making healthy choices, but the occasional yummy is also okay with me too.

Cheers to stretching yourself in what you enjoy doing!