I wanna see you be brave

CUPID'S CURTAILING THE CHUB

You may recall that Cary's New Years Resolution is "the year of the 6 pack."

Well, in an effort to help him achieve his goal and because we're always looking to earn a little extra $$... we signed up for this

http://www.dietbetter.com/games/33723

Eeek. I'm a bit nervous about losing 4 percent! That's not insane, but it's serious, and well, goodbye sweet tooth--see you in a month.

So wish me luck!

We're hoping to double our monies and be healthier for it. If you're gonna bet, might as well bet on yourself I say. 

Feel free to get crazy with me and sign up, the more the merrier! 

And remember

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And baby even on our worst nights

5 MONTHS!

Sheesh, where does time go? Except I also wonder how he's only 5 months old? August was forever ago!

Tucker Stats

-14 lb 7 oz (11%)

-Height is 45%

-Tucker started solid foods! He is still figuring out how to eat off a spoon, he tries to slurp it up, but he LOVES rice cereal so far. He screams when it takes me more than a second to get more food on the spoon.

-He had his first flight to Colorado and took it like a champ. He only cried at the very end.

-He can roll over from stomach to back and back to stomach, but he lacks motivation and usually stays just where you put him.

-He also can sit by himself... for about 5 seconds when he nosedives head first.

-Oh and his laugh is probably one of the best ever

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Only miss the sun when it starts to snow

Aaron Tucker Tippets

was given a name and a blessing Saturday (January 18)

Cary decided to do a home blessing in Colorado, so his father and brothers could all be there.
It was low key, but neat to have almost all of Cary's family there.

Tucker was blessed to be a peace and comfort to this little family of ours. He was blessed to have a strong testimony and to grow up and get married in the temple (to which all the brothers said he started squirming and fussing--(tippets men don't like to be rushed when it comes to settling down ;)) He was also blessed that he would be a help to his mom. It was a sweet blessing and nice to have so much family there to participate.

Yeah you think I'm crazy, but that's not fair

Update Tuesday

(Just kidding... I can't commit to an every tuesday thing, but it is time for updates...)

In reference to the title, man it can be so frustrating trying to communicate with little people who lack the language skills to tell you what the problem is... 

back to business

Tucker-man:

-He rolled over for the first time last week!

-He has found his toes and loves to play with them

-He's moved up to a size 2 diaper and weighs 14 lbs!

(I think zoey was in size 1 until she was 9 months old...)

-He's found his voice and babbles all the time. Loudly. 

-He's in the feel around while nursing stage. It was cute at first, and now I'm just sick of his hands all over my face while he eats--super annoying.

-He was at one point sleeping usually 6 hours at night, and is back to 3 hours being his longest stretch. It's killing me. I'll probably start solids next week.

Zoeyisms:

(imagine Agnes voice about unicorns in despicable me)

We went out while it was raining, "PUDDLES! SO MUCH PUDDLES!!!"

"Mom, I want daddy to come home" "Oh really, why?" "Cause he's my best friend"

Cary and I had to run the YM/YW activity wednesday, so while she was running free in the church she found a book of mormon, tucked it under her arm and started marching "I got a book of mormon, mormon, mormon, A book of mormon..."

It was hilarious! I didn't know she even knew what a book of mormon was, and here she is marching off mission style.

I believe in Christ

I'm pretty sure everyone who reads my blog knows that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints... but if you didn't... now you do.

In most congregations the first speaker in sacrament meeting is a youth speaker (age 12-18). In my branch, however, the first speaker is any member of the congregation asked to speak on "Why they believe." 

It's seriously my favorite part of church. I've been in the branch for over a year and a half and it's fascinating and uplifting to hear why all the different members believe and how the spirit has testified differently to each of them. Of course, ironically I've also dreaded them asking me to give my own why I believe. 

How does one effectively articulate a very personal belief that is a result of personal spiritual experiences? 

But here's my attempt... (because in the shower I decided if I die on the way to church I want my kids to know why I believe and that I do have a testimony (yes, I do have morbid thoughts like that... all the time))

Why I believe? 

I have always believed. I know in my heart it is true. Unlike most, I can not identify one specific point of conversion or several instances that added up to my belief, it's just something I know in my heart to be true.  Of course, I have had many wonderful experiences and I see the hand of the Lord in my life on such a regular basis that I can not deny my belief, and the truth of this gospel is regularly testified to me by the spirit. 

I suppose to a skeptic, just saying I know because the holy spirit has testified to me is never enough. It's not "proof."

So I sometimes ponder the approach, Why wouldn't I believe? We all have hangups. We all have aspects of the gospel that we don't understand or we just don't know or are perhaps still praying to receive a testimony. I also have questions and a great deal about the gospel that I don't understand. But I'm ok with this. I think Satan knows we have hangups and he uses them as a tool to drive a wedge between us and the lord, to drive us away from what the spirit has testified to us. 

I think Elder Utchdorf gave wise counsel this past conference when he (my summary) counseled us to not toss away our beliefs because we have doubts. 

And although there's a lot I don't understand, I do know god lives and he loves each one of us. I know that we matter to him. I know because I have prayed to know and the spirit has testified of this truth to me. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that the Atonement is real, and it's healing power is real. I know this because I have felt Christ's love in my darkest days. I have never been alone, when I seek after Christ I find his comfort. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know this because I have read it. I know that we can grow closer to god by following it's teachings, because I have tried it. I know I'm happier when I am following Christ's teachings, when I am striving to love others and live righteously. I know we have a prophet who lives today. I believe he receives guidance for our day and provides counsel to guide us and protect us from the storms of today as well as tomorrow. And I believe that these things are enough to get by, that the Lord will help me understand what I need to know as I need to know it.

And yes, I want my kids to have a record of my testimony, but I hope to live a better life that is a testimony itself of these truths. I leave this as my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Everyday I fight for all my future somethings

Ok, I can't just tell you my goals. I, for some reason, feel the need to spread my love of goal setting and explain why I think it's important first ;) (scroll to bottom for my actual goals)


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1. Goals give you something to plan and work for (read: energy and focus to progress)
2. Goals make the unachieveable achievable. Breaking a goal into steps over a year increases motivation and satisfaction
3. Goals fuel ambition.
4. Goals hold us accountable.
5. Goals help us figure out what we really want.
6. Goals help us live a full life by helping us achieve those things we want to achieve.

As I was researching and trying to decide what exactly I want out of 2014, I came across the book the 4 hour work week. The author recommends having a "dreamline" where you write down things you dream of having (house, great clothes, etc), being (great cook, fluent in foreign language), and doing.

If you're struggling to think of goals for the year he recommends
-1 place to visit
-1 thing to do before you die (memory of a lifetime)
-1 thing to do daily
-1 thing to do weekly
-1 thing you've always wanted to learn.

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Anywho... after deciding on some goals, and then actually taking into account the reality that I live in, and re-deciding on some goals, I came up with goals that will be challenging but do-able... hopefully ;)

  
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1. Read the entire Standard works.
-(Yup here we go again, but with 2 months under my belt. And they say it only takes 21 days to make a habit, blah, blah, blah...)

2. Run a half marathon. 
-Yikes. Right now the High County Triple Crown in Boone NC on August 24 looks like the one.

3. Cut out negative talk around Zoey. 
-About myself and about others because as Cary and I like to say "Little piggies have big ears"
-To make this quantifiable Cary got me a jar and everytime I slip I have to put a quarter in the jar that he gets to spend however he wants (read: I better be careful or I see lots of lotto tickets in the future... (or maybe he'll buy me a book on how to be positive ;))

4. Once a month spend at least an hour learning about photography and practicing with the camera.


As for Cary, he has decided it's the year of the 6-pack Abs! 

HERE WE COME 2014!!! 

It's that time of year again

Goals, goals, how I love me some goals!

The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.

— Bill Copeland

I've been pretty dedicated about New Years Resolutions for a while now, but I started using blogging as an accountability tool in 2011. Past new years goals here: 2011, 2012, 2013

So a recap of 2013

1. Read entire standard works: FAIL. But I restarted my little calendar in November and am 2 months strong now.

2. Rosetta Stone in Spanish: FAIL. Pregnancy beat me on this one.

3. Keep in touch with friends/family once a month: BETTER, but not where I wanted to be. I think I texted family members more often and called some friends, but I wanted these relationships to be more meaningful and less superficial. I also wanted it to become a habit more than a goal I had to remind myself to achieve.

4. Fitness Maintenance: SUCCESS! (ha, well at least I did one. I weigh the same I did at the beginning of the year... My Santa's bringing Sexy back challenge was almost a success, just 1/2 a lb off my 10 lb weight loss goal)

So... I failed. A lot. 

This is reminiscient of the year I had Zoey. Obviously babies/pregnancy throws me off a bit. I need to keep this in mind as I set my goals for this year. I'm still hashing out what exactly is most important to me to set as my year long focus, because as Napoleon Hill said:

"A goal is a dream with a deadline."

Stay tuned... tomorrow's the 2014 reveal...