The Importance of Family

What an eventful weekend! 

I won't say week because not much else happened besides hosting my family for Memorial Day and having a BBQ. I will say that hosting has become more stressful than I ever remember it being when my family would host others. My role as daughter, wife, sister, and mom all at once while planning things to do with everyone was more than I thought I could handle. I learned how to ask for help if I wanted to have time to accomplish things for myself, like my running, showering, and writing this blog. My greatest asset in helping me was Chris and he was so good about doing something that he hates doing while watching Claire so I could get my run in for the day before everything else started.

An update on Claire now!

Her crawling is getting closer and closer to being what should be considered crawling and can do one foot and leg at a time, but still hasn't lifted that butt off the floor. I look at her onesie after she's crawled on my floor and I'm amazed at how much dirt she can attract after I've just vacuumed, swept, and moped my floors. We are also trying to get into the habit of closing the doors leading to the bathroom and bedrooms so she doesn't get into things we aren't expecting. For all the toys she has, she is mostly interested in things that mommy and daddy touch and look at instead.

Once she has spread all of her toys throughout the living room she seeks our anything else that she hasn't touched yet. She recently ran into a box and we had the fun idea to 'drive' her around which she enjoyed immensely. We keep her in her PJ's most of the time because she started getting little red marks on her elbows and knees from scooting around the carpet so fast! But she is such a joy to watch grow up that it is all worth it and... I LOVE MATCHING! I can't even express how happy I was to find cute outfits that are already in our closet that match with each other.

An update about us too!

Chris took his GRE test that will allow him to apply for the PA schools he wants, and we have worked to get his application all ready including transcripts, admission essay, and everything else that is required complete. As happy as we have been to start our life in Rexburg, we will be moving on soon and look forward to knowing where we will be moving on to. The planning has all been done until we know which school we will be going to then we can do more, so for now we are packing our apartment. We pack things we won't need for 6 months into boxes to be stored and will leave things we will need out for later packing. Our house keeps looking like it is missing things...

My update is boring because all I do is teach VIPKID in the morning, watch Claire all day, cook, run, and clean. I've loved being a homemaker so far though and my VIPKID teaching has been so convenient and perfect for my situation. I've found some new recipes that I like as well since we are trying to empty the freezer before we have to move it all. My running has been going great and I'm up to being able to run a solid 10 miles without feeling like I will die afterward. Next week I'm going to focus on hill training by running up our hill to the temple as practice because I've been too easy on myself running with no incline. I know practicing the hills will help my time and endurance for races I don't have control over the route we take.

Thanks for reading!
 

Matching My Family

So I tried to write this on Sunday but all of it was lost for some reason I still can't fathom so I'll try to remember what I had...

Update:

We have been traveling for the past couple of weekends and I find it to be good practice for our days we will be traveling over the summer. I've been able to practice planning how many sets of cloths and diapers Claire needs for the trips and also ways to save space while still being prepared. One huge thing I've noticed is that packing and being prepared for the trip is like an art and I personally cannot do it without some forethought. I'm glad to have the experience early on in the summer because our summer is quickly filling up with all the trips we are going on. The camping trip we are planning is the main reason I am practicing my packing skills and hope that I can master this art before then.

Claire is becoming so good at 'crawling' which is her scooting across the floor, but only sometimes seems interested in pulling herself up to things. With her new mobility, she has a very single track mind after she spots something she wants and it is the most adorable thing to watch her go for it, even if it is something she shouldn't have. A lot of the things she should have is grass that she will put in her mouth as fast as possible so we don't take it from her. Other things she gets into is my classroom, our front closet, and the door stopper that makes a sound when she plays with it. She is able to go from a sitting position onto her belly so she can crawl for things in front of her and has been very talkative over the last month. I am still waiting for her to say the /m/ sound so she says mama though! Her new abilities cause me to adapt to baby proofing very fast, as well as acceptance of toys all over the floor...

Matching and Coordinating:

Now to what I really want to talk about! I love to match our little family when we dress up to go places that mainly include: church, dates, costumes, reunions, and activities. I know this addiction to matching hasn't always been a part of my life, but it seems that as soon as I got this ring on my finger it has gotten worse. It was only a few years after high school that I noticed how I like matching in our family pictures that my mom organized and now it is a full blown hobby! When this interest first started I even made a dress that matches a tie that I was very proud of and fed the addiction.

The best feeling is when you find the perfect outfits that match each other and people notice how cute it is even when it isn't obvious. I am mostly surprised at how many people don't match...it is honestly the best! Since we aren't a huge picture family, I don't have all the outfits we've worn, but every so often one works so well I can't help but subject my husband to a picture.

There will be times in the future when I know this obsession with matching will come to a point where it will be hard with more than three people to match, but I am excited for the challenge. If you are wanting to start matching your spouse or family, I started by getting a variety of colors in my wardrobe. My husband has every color of tie in his closet and several different shirts that are bright so they can match with Claire and I. The most important thing to have is support, Chris loves asking "What color are we wearing today?" and not having to make decisions. This turned out to be perfect for me because of my matching obsession and I feel like he is supporting my love by participating so willingly.

I've put together all these pictures of my obsession that I have so you can see how it has escalated.

   

9 Months a Mother

What a cool and unique day today turned out to be! My first Mother's Day
where I actually have an adorable baby to hold and wake up to, but also Claire turned 9 months today too! She is now as old outside of me as she was inside of me and it is on Mother's Day which makes it such a great day for so many reasons. Claire is doing great with scooting herself forward along with rolling all over the place and can get to anything she sees. She also is determined to put everything she grabs into her mouth and taste everything. I was convinced she hasn't changed very much but now I look back at pictures she is so different! Her hair is getting longer and she is getting taller but she still isn't gaining enough weight according to the doctor so now we have to get her to eat some more.

We went on a trip to Moab this week and gave Claire her first experience camping and even though it was short it was a success! I know there were things that I would have done differently, like wanting to make a place for her to be able to sit on the ground outside a little more. Having the camper/trailer was nice when the wind was trying to blow us all over and the sand was attacking us as it blew past. Now we are planning longer trips to see how well we can handle those before going on our week long trip to the Wind Rivers in July.

Half marathon training didn't get a lot done this past week because of the camping trip but I'll be back at it next week and I'm still looking forward to it. I have a color run with my nephew planned for this Saturday and another 10k run next month I'll be doing before my big half marathon. These test runs are good practice even though I never imagined I would be paying to run years ago when I first found out I liked running. Free shirts weren't the best incentive but it turns out that I enjoy it, especially when I can do it with others!

That's all we had going on this week but enjoy some of the pictures from our Moab trip!

50 Things About Me

1. Lara D Bell is my full married name
2. My parents planned to name me Jessica but when I was born they chose Lara
3. My name comes from an ancestor 
4. I was born in Tacoma, Washington
5. My hometown is Ogden, Utah
6. I graduated in St. Louis, Missouri
7. I have lived in 6 states
8. Math is my favorite subject in school
9. History was my least favorite subject in school
10. I have three brothers (two older, one younger)
11. Jefferson College was my junior college
12. I got my bachelors at Southeast Missouri State University 
13. My biggest fear is losing a loved one
14. My eye color is hazel
15. The most important thing in my life is my family
16. Orange is my favorite color
17. My favorite fairy tale is Beauty and the Beast
18. I love anything flavored with teriyaki
19. I was a cheerleader and loved it!
20. My aspiration is to visit New Zealand
21. I am a morning person more than a night owl
22. When I wear scents, I like fruity scents
23. My favorite child TV show was Kim Possible
24. I like to read in my free time
25. I can touch my tongue to my nose
26. My first job was at Hancock Fabrics
27. The one chore I hate doing is cleaning the toilet
28. My oldest friend is Rhyana
29. My best friend is Hailey
30. I can solve a Rubik's Cube in less than a minute
31. I recently got my birthmark removed from my neck
32. Dancing is my favorite form of exercise
33. We had one pet growing up, a dog named PD
34. I'm not allergic to anything...that I know of...
35. My blood type is A negative
36. I have found my soulmate and married him
37. The greatest injustice in the world is how much teachers make compared to professional entertainment people
38. I am a Leo and born in the year of the Sheep
39. Horseback riding is my favorite outdoor activity
40. I went on 97 first dates with different people before getting married
41. I got married at age 24 and had my first child at 26
42. The worst injury I've ever had was a sprain on my wrist
43. I've taken a year of Karate and half a year of jiu jitsu
44. The first book I remember liking a lot is Ugly series by Scott Westerfeld
45. I hate scary movies but I'll watch anything else
46. My bed time is 10pm and I usually wake up at 4:40am
47. I want to skydive
48. The last book I read was "The Selection" by Kiera Cass
49. I drive a Chevy Impala 2008
50. I've wanted to be a teacher since I was in 5th grade

That was pretty fun! Enough about me, let's talk about Claire and how adorable she is! She has just recently learned how to pull herself forward with her arms in an army crawl style movement. Chris is very proud that she learned his army crawl and it is one step closer to her actually crawling all over the place! She is more curious about everything she can get her hands on and is able to reach a lot of things that I keep putting out of her reach. Going through some of her cloths, we found a few more cute onesies that we get to use while she is still such a little girl.

I try really hard not to compare her to other babies because she is quite small for her age and it is worrying, but I know she is growing and progressing jut the same. Our genes are probably going to make small babies in the future too but since we have no comparison for the first, I can't help but worry. It is basically the first thing anyone says when they see her. Despite being worried, we are still so in love with everything about her and I don't completely mind that she is still such a cute little thing. If it wasn't for worrying, I wouldn't even mention it!

In my training for the half-marathon, I signed up to do a 10K with my sister-in-law and went with Claire on Saturday! I now notice I need to do hills more often when I run outside and get Claire used to being in a stroller for that long! She didn't like it after a while and wasn't happy until she fell asleep. Now were looking forward to next month and then the half-marathon the month after that! It's getting pretty close.