Healthiest Life 4 Me

This has been an interesting year for me.  I have started so many new ventures as well as completed some important things in my life.  I have enjoyed new milestones with my kids that brought both joy and heartache.  It has been ONE WILD YEAR!! 

January brought me some new friends here in person.  And by February some of those friendships turned into business ventures.  I had met these few people before, but got to know them better the first few months of the year.  The local Max Muscle owner (Max Muscle Orangecrest), Austin Browne and his staff helped me learn a little more about diet and exercise.  They showed me new moves and taught me the importance of pushing my limits in lifting.  So grateful!! In February, Austin introduced me to the company I am now an Independent Partner with and had me sign up under one of his young employees to help him.  That turned out to be one of the best things I did in 2008. 

This young man turned out to be a good friend.  We are not only building a business together, but he has taught me SO MUCH about nutrition and fitness.  He has spent much time with me and has really become a blessing!! Thanks RYAN!! And even more than that, he has been great to my kids who think he is amazing!! 

Since February, I have been completing my bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies (basically multiple subjects) which I finally finished in October.  I have been working on building a business.  I have been working on transforming my “mom” body into the body of my dreams (which will still be a work in progress in 2009.after all, dreams can’t come true over night). 

In the spring of 2008, my 9 year old lost her LAST tooth.  She has all her adult teeth in and she even has her 12 year molars already.  And with the thought of no more tooth fairy visits for her, she asked “Mom, are you and Dad really the tooth fairy?”  And of course, I couldn’t lie.what was the point.  She was done with the fun.  I told her that she had to play along because she had a brother that only had 4 adult teeth and we still want him to have the same fun she did!  So sad.  My first baby is no longer a baby.  She is growing up and FAST!!!

April brought my husband and I a milestone of its own.  We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary with a Limo Ride to Newport Beach, dinner at Chart House, drinks at a Piano Bar (have no idea where or what it was called-limo driver took us there), a stroll along the cliffs in the moonlight, and a relaxing drive home!

 

 

 

We spent a great year together as a family with time at the beach, time at the lake, time in the mountains, and just having fun at home:

 

 

Trip to the Snow of Lake Arrowhead: Feb ‘08

What fun we had and it was 72 degrees F out!

 

 

 

 

Coloring Easter Eggs with Matt’s parents ‘08

 

 

 

 

Matt and the kids at the March Air Fest ‘08

We love our Air Shows!

 

 

 

Mother’s Day trip to Newport Beach ‘08

 

 

 

 

 

Huntington Beach: Zack’s 1st time boogie boarding in the ocean ‘08

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laguna Beach Tide Pools: Dominique loves checking out all the creatures ‘08

 

 

 

 

 

Trip to Lake Mohave ‘08 to visit Matt’s parents and take the boat out.  Our favorite summertime activity: Family Time on the BOAT!

 

 

 

 

Xmas Day ‘08: My side of the family

 

 

 

The end of 2008 brought about the biggest changes.  Upon completing my degree I found a website called Twittermoms that not only brought me much joy, but a few really nice new friends (that live in my computer of course).  One of these friends I have written about before, Erin, introduced me to blogging and her and her husband (@miguelcarrasco) have helped me get started in this new venture. I am so very grateful for them!  My blog has become a fun little side part of my life.  I hope to build it to far more traffic in 2009.

The biggest change of all was that I entered the workforce again.  Of course, I knew that when I completed school I was going to have to go back to work, but didn’t really expect it to be as big of a change in our lives as it has been.  I started substitute teaching in December.  So 3 weeks of the hardest schedule a new schedule each day.  Hoping that I can figure out how to make this new schedule work.actually find an actual schedule that works. 

And so for the tradition of many in the world I leave 2008 with fond memories and grand ideas of the future.  The 10 things I hope to do in 2009 are:

1)  build my blog to have 5 times the traffic as it does now.like 100 visitors a day would be great!

2)  learn to make money on my blog through affiliates!

3)  build my business to 5000 points a month (which would earn me an all expense paid trip next January)!!

4)  to complete my teaching credential and get hired on an internship sometime between now and Sept!

5)  to cherish the little moments with my kids, as they are growing fast and life only gets busier!

6) perfect my diet!! (of course I know I will eat something I shouldn’t now and then, but want to accomplish a new way of life where I don’t falter very often.not even weekly)

7)  I perfect my crazy schedule and my workouts still get accomplished!

8)  that I achieve my goal of 120 pounds and 16% body fat!!!

9)  that we get out of debt or closer to out of debt

10)  that I not only change my families and my life to greater health, that I have stories of the people who I’ve either directly helped or just inspired whether it be in person, via blog, through nutritional supplements (business), etc. 

And with that.  I wish you all a wonderful New Year’s Eve that is full of joy and is safe!  And prayers and thoughts of a Happy, Healthy, Safe, and Prosperous 2009 for all of us!!