books read in 2013

well, this year was a considerably small reading year for me. i was busy. lots of things going on. way more than normal number of nights going to bed without reading at all. i hope 2014 catches back up!

i typically post about books that i've read every year. see past years here. 2012. 2011. 2010. 2009.

here's what i read this year: i'll go back and rate them again, without going to my official goodreads rating - based off my current memory.

• My Story by: Elizabeth Smart [22] ****
• Heft by: Liz Moore [21] ****
• The Rent Collector by Camron Wright [20] *****
• The Namesake by: Jhumpa Lahiri [17] ***
• To Kill a Mockingbird by: Harper Lee [16] *****
• Can You Keep a Secret? by: Sophie Kinsella [15] ***
• The Storyteller by: Jodi Picoult [14] ****
• Looking for Me by: Beth Hoffman [13] ****
• And the Mountains Echoed by: Khaled Hosseini [12] ****
• The Language of Flowers by: Vanessa Diffenbaugh [11] ****
• The Orchardist by: Amanda Coplin [10] ****
• Crazy Little Thing by: Tracy Brogan [9] **
• Jane Eyre by: Charlotte Bronte [8] **
• Beautiful Ruins by: Jess Walter [7] **
• The End of Your Life Bookclub by: Will Schwalbe [6] ***
• The Light Between Oceans by: M.L. Stedman [5] ****
• Before I Die by: Jenny Downham [4] **
• The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by: Ayana Mathis [3] ***
• The 19th Wife by: David Ebershoff [2] ***
• Sharp Objects by: Gillian Flynn [1] ***
• The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder by Rebecca Wells [18] ****
• The Cuckoo's Calling by: Robert Galbraith [19] ***

favorite books: The Rent Collector, The Storyteller, The Light Between Oceans.

i boldied any books that got a four star or higher rating - cause i would highly recommend them to you! 

project life: my testimonial & plans for 2014

2013 is coming to a close and i'm ok with it. i'm ready for a new year. to leave some things in the past and to have a fresh start. to become bigger and better and smaller all at the same time. [smaller body wise. ha] there were some amazing things that happened this year - henry, for example, has been an absolute thrill. but there have also been some life changing, devastating things - which i won't go into detail about, cause if you don't know, you don't need to know, and if you do know, you know exactly what i am talking about. 

one thing that has - as cheesy as this sounds - gotten me through this year is project life by becky higgins. i got to meet becky this fall in downtown salt lake city & when i started talking to her, i burst into tears. it meant so much to me. i felt like such a nerd & probably scared the crap out of her. my mom was with me when i met her & as we walked away, i told her how embarrassed i was. i mean, i snorted and did the ugly cry at her. my mom pointed out that it has been a tough year for me & project life has gotten me through it. it has been my escape from stress. it has been my happy place. 

 i have been doing project life since mikey was born. his baby book and henry's baby book were project life kits. [mikey was cherry edition, henry's book is baby edition for him. paper kits, not digital.] it is a lot of work, but worth it. i cherish these books. my boys can have them when i am good and dead, i joke. only i might not be joking. a picture a day for their first lives - priceless. i did a family book in 2012, using the clementine on shutterfly approach, which is digital. i had never done digital scrapbooking before [note, i am not a scrapbooker, i am a project lifer. i was just being clear here.] and it was easy. i liked it a lot. in 2013, i have used digital pages by another designer, because i was doing henry's book and i wanted a simpler approach -- only because i couldn't keep up with 2 daily pictures. but i wanted a family book for "big events." i have loved it. i much prefer becky's stuff and am greatly looking forward to 2014's book. 

in 2014, i'm going digital. i have 2 weeks to finish up of henry's book and then it'll just be our family book for the year. i am going to do a two page spread for each week. on the left side, i am going to use the capture app on my phone for daily pictures. i will be using the midnight kit and the design F layout. on the right side, i will be doing "events" from every week. birthdays, field trips, art projects, whatever i please. i will use any and every kit from becky that i want - and believe me, this year i have bought way too many, so my selection is grand and any layout i want, too. i am super excited about this. it is going to give me lots of options and lots of freedom.   

the thing is though, project life doesn't just have to be a daily family album. here is a list of some of the other project life albums i've done this year. seriously, i went buck wild. don't judge. 

• a 9 year journal of my teaching years. i did a mini album using the childhood mayfield kit. this is kinda what got me started in mini albums and other things. i love it. paper kit, not digital. 
• a mini album about my parent's house, a stories of home album before they were called that, as they were leaving chicago and their home of 40ish years. this is what we would call a tray-sure. i used the seafoam kit. 
• a stories of home album about my house. it is a cracker box but it is where i bought a house as a 25 year old, independent woman, we lived as newlyweds, and brought home two babies. i never want to forget it. another mini album using the flea market mini kit.
• a childhood album using pictures from my parents' supply. my dad has always been a photographer, so we have a well documented childhood. my incredibly generous sister took all of their photos and had them scanned and shared. so we now all have all of the pictures of our childhood digitally. you should be jealous. this is beyond amazing. i used a full size album for this and many page protectors, and the olive edition. paper kit, not digital. another tray-sure.
• a friend got married. i did a mini album of her wedding pictures for her. i used the midnight kit. 
• my sister is a quilter. i did a photo journal of all of her quilts for her. i used a mini album and the kraft kit.
• "a day in the life" mini album. where we documented the snot out of a day in may. we took over 400 pictures of a saturday. it was a jam packed saturday, too. so much fun. i used a mini album and the kraft kit. 
• my dad worked for united airlines for 46+ years. he retired in 2012. i made an album for him, documenting his world travels, his career experiences, and much more. i left the journaling for him to do. he still hasn't done that part yet, but i will make him in 2014. and i know he cherishes the book. it is cool. we did a full size album and used the vintage travel kit. paper kit, not digital.
• i did a "garrett and hayley before the kids" book. i want my kids to someday be able to look back and realize that their parents were madly in love before they came along. ha. mini album using midnight and olive, mostly olive. just a few midnight highlights. 
• i have started and continue to work on a quote and art book by mikey. at age 2, he started saying some real zingers. they need to be documented. i love this book. full size album, using the jade kit. 
• i am also doing a december mini album using the merry and bright kit. 
• i also have plans to start a personal weight loss journal for 2014. i won't be sharing this book with many. i will include before/after pictures. journaling, goals, all kinds of stuff. i just want to have some way to document this journey. cause i know project life gets me moving. and i really want to make a push for a healthier hayley. i've got less than a week to get my plans finalized here. it'll be a mini album. i'm using the slate edition for this. 

so as you see, this doesn't just have to be a daily book. there are so many choices. i love so many of them. i have bought mostly digital, but some of the actual kits, as noted above. i have bought from amazon, michaels, hobby lobby, and the digital project life website.  

geez. i was going to link up all of the kits and websites. but it is late and i decided not to. [ha. late = 8:45 tonight. i'm still recovering from having strep this week. eek!] you can look them up on project digital life. 

i will also continue to use my other blog to keep updates for our project life. i'm not exactly sure how i'll share this year. maybe just the capture pictures, daily. maybe more. maybe less. maybe i'll just share the weekly two page spread. i don't know. we'll see. i've got to figure that out still. 

not happening

my goal of 2.2 is not happening. not even close. i started a part time job from home and i love it, but it keeps me a lot busier than i was when i wrote that blog post. come january though. hell or high water, i will get super serious about this.

nothing but diet pills and laxatives til summer. or something like that.

i'm not completely giving up and indulging in every little thing, i'm trying to exercise when i can. but it is a treaty time of year. and busy. and i'm just enjoying it and trying to not beat myself up too much. it is hard when i see pictures of myself, but i'm going to survive.

68. 150. 2point2. goals.

except i do daily, on my other blog. project life, baby. it is my favorite.

here's the point of this post: there are 68 days left in the year. my baby is 9 months old. i have not lost my baby weight. i did lose 11 pounds in april. but i have gained it all and more back. i don't like this. but i'm not going to beat myself up. its been a hard year. i have succeeded in so many other areas of my life. i'm not going to beat myself up and i'm not going to look back.

i started watching scandal this week. it is good. i told myself that i'm not allowed to watch it unless i'm on the treadmill. we recently improved greatly upon the tv watching situation while on the treadmill. momma likey. mucho. 3 days in a row i've gladly gotten on at 4 pm when garrett is done with work for the day. 

[this is not scandal. this picture was taken before i discovered scandal, but after the tv watching situation was greatly improved on the treadmill, last week. i realize there is only so much scandal to watch. i will watch other shows, as well. but for now, my interest is there.]

i'm getting started again. stress in my life is going down, i think i can handle not comforting myself all of the time with food. less french fries and pans of chocolate chip cookie bars. less. i make no promises of none. i'm tired of my clothes not fitting. i'm tired of my double chin. i'm tired of being embarrassed. 

i want to set a goal: to log 150 miles by the end of the year. that'd be roughly 2.2 miles per day. its not impossible, but it will be a challange. i'm gonna do it. 

yep. i say gonna. 

you should watch scandal. it is on netflix. my sister said there is hot love on it. i laugh at her, but she's right.

mikey is three!!!

my sister designed mikey's birthday invitation. it was awesome. we said, "whoa!"

sunday night was family night with garrett's family. we celebrated mikey's birthday then. 

mckay and sindi gave mikey this jake and the neverland pirates treasure chest complete with a sword. he now insists on wearing pants with belt loops. 

tuesday nana took mikey to build a bear, as she does with the grandkids on their 3rd birthday. what a special tradition!

mikey was a little overwhelmed at everything in the store. he fixated on ivor's backpack... until he woke up from his nap and then he fully appreciated ivor. [ivor is the baby's name on henry hugglemonster... one of mikey's new favorite shows. also, where we got any form of hugglemonster nicknames for henry!]

 mikey started preschool last week - before he was even 3! - and this is his teacher giving him a lil' present and singing happy birthday to him. 

grandpa was able to go read a book to the kids on mikey's birthday, too. what a special treat for me, him and mikey. 

 we had mikey's wall*e birthday party last night. grandparents and a few aunts and cousins came. it was fun. 

 mikey got a few REALLY cool airplanes! he is in hog's heaven!!!

 cars cookie cutters!!!  like we need another excuse to have more treats. as i'm typing this, garrett is making the dough! mikey is running around with a balloon in hand squealing in excitement about making cars cookies.

 this airplane came from auntie tiff and crew - its amazing. mikey built the airplane and can take it apart and build it again to his little boy's heart's content. it is seriously awesome! thanks, auntie tiff!

 we made cupcakes [complete with green plants a la my amazing & talented mother] in a cup. courtesy of buy-n-large. 

 the big boy blowing out his candle. you can also see a fairly decent shot of his wall*e t-shirt that we made. this will be a part of our family themed hallloween costumes, too. more on that later. 

auntie heidi gave mikey some water color and finger paints. with special papers. when he opened it last night, i said, "we'll do that tomorrow!" and this morning when we woke up, he had an agenda. we got down to business painting. we might be painting every day for the next while - maybe until we run out of paper or paint. another awesome present.

we didn't even give mikey his big present yet. cause we forgot until everyone was leaving and it was way past his bedtime. its a bike. and since we didn't want to torture the poor kid, we're waiting until tonight when garrett is done with work to give it to him. when they can go outside and play with it for a while. 

i love being his mom. he's a special kid. i am in awe at how fast he's growing up, too.

sometimes i'm a fun mom...

 i melted chocolate chips while mikey had the time of his life beating graham crackers. 

 i love his smile. he looks so big to me sometimes. 

 mikey helped roll the marshmallows in the chocolate and graham cracker crumbs. also, i love henry's photobomb in this picture. 

 sometimes he just had to take a bite out of the 'smellows [as he calls them]

 and then, in the end - he didn't even like them. he kept asking for plain 'smellows. crazy kid. they're delicious treats!

i have never gotten a bad idea from pinterest!

henry @ 5 months

my sister is a photographing genius! 

may was a giant failure

i logged 2 workouts in may. and they were pathetic. i've gained weight back. i'm really ticked at myself.

life is hard right now and i've spent way too much time this last month indulging myself with comfort food. i wish i had the energy to fight life's difficulties with being super strong, but i think i'm suffering from a little situational depression. and we all know that depression doesn't encourage productivity.

i'm going to try to rededicate myself though. calorie counting starts today. more veggies, less donuts. more movement, more green smoothies, less eating my misery away.

april exercise overview & may goals

at the beginning of april, i wrote about my goals. i did ok. some weeks were great. some weren't. it is ok. life is tough right now, and quite frankly - i'm just proud of myself for not dipping my sorrows in double stufs everynight. i'm down inches and pounds [over 10!]. and there is always may.

i kept an exercise journal. indulge me while i share what/how i did:
4.1 - ML arms with 5 pound weights [until later when i specify that i changed to heavier weights], 30DSlevel2
4.2 - ML arms, 30DS level 2, 50 squats, 15 situps
4.3 - ML arms, 55 squats
4.4 - ML arms, 60 squats, 30DSlevel2
4.5 - ML arms, 70 squats, 30DSlevel2
4.6 - ML arms, 75 squats, c25kw1d1
4.7 - ML arms, 80 squats, 30DSlevel2
4.10 - ML arms, 105 squats, c25kw1d2,
4.11 - ML arms, 110 squats
4.12 - ML arms
4.13 - ML arms, 130 squats, c25kw1d3
4.14 - ML arms, 135 squats
4.15 - 140 squats, c25kw2d1
4.16 - ML arms  with 10 pound weights [from here on out!] 30DSlevel2
4.17 - ML arms, 150 squats, 30DSlevel3, c25kw2d2
4.19 - c25kw2d3
4.20 - ML arms, 160 squats
4.21 - ML arms, 165 squats, c25kw3d1
4.24 - 30DSlevel3, c25kw3d2
4.29 - c25kw3d3

as you can see, i tuckered out as the month went on.  i stopped doing arms and squats super regularly. that wasn't good. like i said though, i did better than i have in the past, and also - i could've done a lot worse.

as for eating and diet - the first two weeks, i did really good with my calorie counting... then i kind of just stopped, but maintained smaller portion control, less snacks/treats and cooking healthier.  i'm going to try to start the calorie counting again. i find it very useful. planning out meals and cooking better really helps too. basically - writing down everything i eat is beneficial just for the purpose of being aware.

here are my may goals:

• food & exercise journaling again.
• Ripped in 30 Days by Jillian Michaels - all 4 weeks, at least 3 days per level. i'd like to get 5 in, but if it only happens 3 times, i'll be satisfied.
• continue with my couch to 5k training. i'm a little behind this week, but i can get caught up.
• Mama Laughlin's arms. I really like this arm workout. every day. 
  
• these two challenges: 
  
  
  
  
  this way i'm still doing squats. and i like the plank part & push ups. [i do girlies] and my abs are so weak, after having 2 babies fairly close together c-section style. and the part about chuck. it'll help for sure.
  
  
  JOIN ME????!
  
  
  i plan on sharing at the end of may my success, too., 

their last few nights

this is the house i grew up in. this is where i was born and raised. this is where i had an ideal childhood, with amazing parents. they've sold it and are moving out to live very close to me in just a few days. 

it is a bittersweet moment in my life. i feel nostalgic to see that house go. to have it not be home anymore. but i'm so excited to have my parents close by. to be able to see them every day if i want to. to have my kids grow up having their grandma and grandpa very close by. [nana and papa are close by & we love that! two sets of grandparents? even better!]

my mom and i were just texting [talk about a modern day miracle - marleeny girl on an iphone!] about how this is one of their last few nights. my parents are exhausted from packing. for months, we've facetimed and they've asked if i want certain things; old toys mainly, some furniture. i've wanted to say yes to everything, but when my 1200 square foot house is pretty maxed out with 4 people in it, i've had to refrain. [don't worry, i've taken some things...] i can't wait til they're here and i can help them unpack and get settled. 

i grew up in this home where saturday mornings were cartoons, a fancy breakfast and then cleaning house. i grew up in this house cuddling my mom almost every morning until i started seminary. i grew up in this house sharing a room with my sisters. [i share with heather for most of my childhood, then a few years with holly] i grew up in this house being afraid of the basement. i grew up in this house with the most amazing, magical christmases you could imagine. i grew up in this house taking baths with my sister and being afraid of bats out side of windows. i grew up in this house having neighborhood wars with the neighborhood kids. i grew up in this house having family home evening - or S.A.M. as we called it. i grew up in this house where i was afraid of the step down living room when it was dark and i'd talk my dad into going upstairs with me when it was time to get ready for bed. i grew up in this house having my sister tell me stories to get me to go to sleep and sleeping sitting up when i was sick. i grew up in this house dusting, vacuuming and cleaning the bathrooms & re-doing it when i cut corners and my dad wasn't satisfied. i grew up in this house learning what "lengthen your stride" and "decide to decide" meant. i grew up in this house with an incredibly cheerful mom teaching seminary at a very early hour - wanting to hurt her for being too happy and loud when i was tired. i grew up in this house having family dinners where we talked about things and often i got told to not talk about bodily functions so much. i grew up in this house with parents who loved to high five each other, even when i was highly embarrassed, in fact - i'm pretty sure it was done to highly embarrass me. i grew up in this house where my mom made amazing cinnamon rolls. and gingerbread houses. and many other things. i grew up in this house lining up in the kitchen to kiss my dad when he got home. 

life was good on firestone drive. i'm so glad i had the childhood that i did, i was so blessed. i'm thankful for my parents - they're amazing people. i know they'll be missed. but they will be enjoyed out here, i promise. i think utah might finally start to feel like home to me now. so in the next few days, as i fight tears knowing that i will never go in that house again, i'll remember all of the wonderful things and smile. and then head over to my parents' new house and hug them. life will still be good, just on a different street.

this isn't my goodbye forever, chicago.