November 2015

November 1st, our family was still celebrating Halloween! We had the Stoker Halloween party that day up at my brother's house in Clinton. His son, my nephew, Zeke was set apart to become a Deacon that day and was given the Aaronic Priesthood as well.

Curious George and The Man With the Yellow Hat

Popeye and Olive Oil- the winners!

Katniss and Peeta

My family is so fun. They all dress up! We took a vote on best costume and my brother Mike and Nicole won for being Popeye and Olive Oil and they tied with my younger brother Tyler who was a bearded pirate. 

I had to snap a picture of the girls with our pumpkins before throwing them out:

This was also my last night to be "bad" with eating. So I pretty much ate all of Lily's good candy (her Reese's, her Kit Kats, etc.) and ton of homemade chocolate chip cookies Aunt Diane gave us. I went to bed before I got too full and sick with treats!

Come Nov. 2nd I was ready to get down to business! I started the 21 Day Fix Extreme. This involved exercising for at least 30 minutes a day (following a schedule of workouts) and following a nutrition plan that is portion sized based and eating as cleanly as possible. Every day I got to have 3 green containers (about 3 cups of vegetables) 2 purple containers (about 2 cups of fruit), 4 red containers (protein servings), 2 yellow containers (carbs/potatoes, corn/peas/tortillas/breads/rice/treats/etc.) 1 orange container (seeds and dressings), 1 blue container (healthy fats like almonds and cheese), and 2 tp. of healthy oils and butters.

Every day on The Hungry Mom blog I posted what I ate, what exercise I did, and how I felt. I had a few cheat treats and meals here and there but mostly stuck to the plan and did so pretty easily. It is a very satisfying and nutritionally dense diet. Plus drinking Shakeology every day helped curb my cravings and give me an energy boost!

I ended up losing 9 lbs. and 11 inches! I felt really good after too. I haven't been eating the best since then and can feel a major difference. I need to get back on track!

This month Lily and I went to the dentist. We both were cavity free! Lily was so brave this time! I was proud of her.

My sister-in-law Nicole also took our family pictures this month. I will do a separate post of those :). To prepare for the pictures I went and got my hair done by my friend and old wardie Stephanie Tenney. She did an amazing job! I love it. 

We still had some sunny days so we went on a beautiful walk around the pond park that is behind Lone Peak High School. We walked down a trail we had never noticed before (we swear it must have been hidden) and found a beautiful ampitheater and a staircase made of stones and lots of cute benches and little bridges and scenery. It would be an amazing place to take family pictures and we plan to next year!

Amber and I took a UEN class together to help renew our teaching licenses. I was an idiot and thought the class was Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesday morning after finishing my workout I check my phone and I have a bunch of missed calls, texts, and emails from Amber and Michael trying to get in touch with me! First I thought something terrible had happened. Come to find out the class was that day and Wednesday! I was supposed to pick up Amber so I let her down and she had to drive with her hurting back and hip =(. Last minute Alison agreed to watch the girls and I headed up there getting to class almost 2 hours late! Luckily the teacher was nice and didn't make a big deal of it and I still got my 1 SUU credit. Few! It turned out all right in the end but I was extremely stressed and mortified! Amber and I still had fun going to lunch both days and hanging out :). She helps make those classes bearable! They really aren't bad. Just get a little boring sometimes.

The girls are starting to play more together. Its so cute! One afternoon they were Mickey and Minnie together for like an hour! I think we need to go back to Disneyland!

Lily and I got to have a magical Mommy Daughter date and girls night with our friends Amber and Sophie, and Mickelle and the other Lily :). We went to Disney on Ice. The girls all dressed like little princesses and Mickelle made the moms matching shirts that said "Official Princess Protection". They were so cute! We ate out at Zuppa's together first (probably my favorite reasonably priced restraunt) and carpooled together up to see the show. Lily was absolutely enraptured and loved it so much. Since the characters were all far away she felt safe to watch them and enjoy the show. She gets freaked out seeing them up close. We had so much fun! I think I might have loved the show even more than Lily. My favorite part was when Rapunzel and Flynn Rider kept grabbing onto long sheets of yellow fabric meant to be Rapunzel's "hair" and were just flying around the the stage doing cool tricks and poses. It was awesome!

Our kitty is still the best! He is sweet, affectionate, cuddly, and nice to the girls. We love our Toothless!

We also have some pretty adorable girls!

A bunch of us in the Stoker Family went and saw the new Charlie Brown Peanuts movie. It was really cute! I took Lily and Michael stayed home with Lucy. Lily was laughing and loving it the whole time. She brought along her Snoopy. We all had $1 popcorns too. It was fun!

Lucy fell asleep eating breakfast one day since she had been up since like 4 am

Thanksgiving:

We had two Thanksgivings again. We went to the church across the street from my parent's house and ate together with my family from about 1 to 4:30. My sister decorated the tables all so cute with magnetic boards showcasing pictures of our family and lots of cute fall decorations. We had the kids do the traditional Turkey Race which is always so funny. Lily put a sweatshirt on too and walked around like a turkey for a bit but didn't want to do the race. Michael thinks its down right freaky!

At 4:30 we headed over to the Malouf home and celebrated with them. More yummy food, family, and fun. I am so thankful for my daughters, my wonderful husband, and our extended family on both sides. We are so blessed. 

Most of the cousins. We are missing Holly, Zac, Bentz, Max, Katie, and Cami.

Elsie, Jayme, and Lily all pretty in black and grey

Lily got to go to her first BYU Basketball game with her daddy and her grandpa. She had so much fun!

 November was another fun and busy month. It flew by and December has already started to zoom away as well. This is such a fun time of year celebrating the holidays with our little families. The holidays are even more fun when you get to see them through the eyes of your children.