Blogging? An Explanation...

The year is almost through and I have done a TERRIBLE job of blogging. Absolute rubbish. All I have to show for it is 10 blog posts, including this one! To be fair, I've been updating my Instagram  account fairly regularly. But it's not the same as sitting down to write a complete blog entry, with multiple photos. The big reason I had stopped blogging was because my MacBook Pro was dying! It was slower than molasses and it was a pain to edit my photos. It was coming up on 7 years. I avoided using it and just stuck with the convenience of my phone. Luckily, Ryan got a new desktop computer! So I have no excuses now. Other than I'm really rusty at photography, and I'm a busy mom that just wants to watch TV at the end of the day instead of blog. Ha ha! Maybe it'll be my New Year's resolution- blog more. 

A lot has happened since I've been gone. 

1. We bought our first house in September! It's just big enough for our needs- 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a good sized back yard, and a garage. It's small, but we love it. In my mind, I thought we'd have everything packed away in time for Christmas, but we still have some stray boxes floating around, and no cute pictures in the wall, yet. Oof! If I wasn't so busy chasing around these kids, I might have a cute house. 

2. My sister-in-law and family moved here to Arizona! We have been really enjoying having family close by, again. Oh, and one of Ryan's brothers moved here, too, back in June(?). It's nice to have a weekly family dinner on Sundays with them, a tradition I was always jealous of when friends would mention doing that with their own extended families. 

3. I joined a new gym. And I meet with a personal trainer twice a week. WHO AM I?? To be completely honest, I was struggling with my body. I didn't necessarily want to lose a bunch of weight when I joined, I just wanted to get my body moving again, because that makes me feel great! But there was this free consultation with a trainer when you first join the gym, and well, they sold me. It has been so good for me to go workout regularly. And Gwen loves playing with the other kids at the "kids club", so it makes me feel like a good mom when we go. ;) 

4. Gwen has been potty training, again. It's our second attempt, and I gotta say, she's improving! Once you've come to terms with the fact that you'll probably be doing a load of poop/pee stained laundry a day, it's not so bad. I was much more high strung during our first attempt, but now I feel more chill about it all. Our new house doesn't have any carpeted floors and our couch cushion covers are washable, so that helps. 

5. I am feeling very blessed lately. 

That's all I can think of right now, although I'm sure there are more things that have happened. 

Please enjoy some of these beautiful photos that my friend Fatima took, that make us look like we have our crap together and love each other all the time.  

All photos taken by Fatima Dedrickson.