The Darkness of Life

Even surrounded by people, your darkest moment will usually be the one when you feel most alone. Most people are not going to care, and the ones that do will not understand what you are going through.

It's Been A While

Okay so since it has been so long since the last time I wrote this is just going to be an overview. So much has happened that there is no way I can put it all down in one entry. So here we go one family member at a time.


Laiken is getting so big and he is such a little boy. He is a social little guy that absolutely loves to be around people. He is pretty much potty-trained during the day although we still have to get him to poop in the potty. He has friends in the neighborhood that he goes outside and plays with on a regular basis. Ryan and I finally got him a big boy bed because he was starting to mess up his crib by jumping on it so hard. Where last year he was totally and completely about Elmo now he is beginning to branch out a little bit. He now loves all the Sesame Street characters and two of his favorite movies that do not include these characters are Annie and Old Yeller. He is very much an outdoors kind of boy. He loves sports and his favorite one at the moment is football. He loves riding his trike and running behind all the older boys that live on our street.





I just began my third full semester at ASU and am taking 5 classes plus an internship. I am in what is call my Professional Teacher Preparation Program which is just basicaly a fancy way to say the teaching program in the college of ed. I am in my first of three semesters of field experience and then I have my student teaching. So with 4 semesters left I am feeling good and ready for this to be over. I still like to try to workout but it doesnt always work like I want it to. I have a workout program that I am trying to master at the moment it is called Insanity and the name is a perfect description of what it entails. I have tried it several times since I got it for Christmas but so far everytime I do I wind up stressing out my knee or my shoulder so it is slow going. Plus with this new class schedule that I have I am getting home later so most nights there isnt time to workout before bed. I will get there though.



Ryan, well what can I say about Ryan. He is doing well just working and doing his thing. I think that he and Laiken get closer everyday and now that Laiken is older he is like Daddy's little shadow. No matter what Ryan tells people I will testify that he is a wonderful dad. You can look at Laiken (his mannerisms) and he is so much like his daddy that it is hilarious sometimes and aggravating at others. Other than work and Laiken Ryan trys to stay home as much as possible although I am usually able to coerce him to go out when I want him to. I couldnt have asked for a better husband even if I wanted to.

A New Better Michelle

Okay so as many people know I have begun upon a new journey this year. I have decided that I am going to work at making myself the best me that I can. I am doing this for my family (extended and immediate) but most of all I am doing this for me. Those that have known me a while know that I have been bigger all of my life. With this came many problems that I personally wish that I could have been willing to deal with earlier. For many years I ignored so many aspects of my personal life. I have decided however that I am going to take control of my life from this point forward. I am going to stop neglecting myself when it comes to my physical, emotional, & spiritual well-being.

Well now I can honestly say that I am ready.

I am ready to be healthy.

I am ready to lose this chain that is known as obesity.

I am ready to deal with the fact that I am a diabetic (or was anyways).

I am ready to work on my emotional health since that too has taken a beating from the way I feel about my physical self.

I am ready to get back to church and working on my commitment to God and myself.

I am ready to be a better wife.

I am ready to be a better mother.

I AM READY TO BE A BETTER ME!!!

For anyone that wants to follow my progress you are more than welcome. As you can imagine this is not going to be an easy journey but I am ready for whatever may come with it. I welcome the support of all my friends and family as I work my way through this process of improvement. If you would like to track my progress you can follow me at http://maricopamamasmovement.blogspot.com .

The Waterpark

So this past weekend Ryan and I along with our neighbor Angela decided to take the kids to the waterpark. We had so much fun while we were there although I have to say that by the end of the day everyone was completely wiped out. We went to Sunsplash which for those of you that dont know is a huge park with slides, a wavepool, a river with tubes you can ride, and so much more. I only went on one slide but my tube tipped over and I got totally freaked so for the rest of the day I stuck with the wave pool and riding the tubes on the river. Ryan, Angela and Nefertiti went on the slides multiple times however.

There was one slide called the sidewinder that Angela and Ryan were supposed to go on but one they got up to the top I guess the story is that Ryan backed out. This slide was probably like 3 or 4 stories up in the air and was probably an 80 to 90 degree drop straight down. After you go down it goes back up, down again, and so forth. So they got their tube (a double) and waited in the line all the way to the top. Once they got up there Ryan looked down and said that he so was not going to do it. Angela said that the fact that Ryan backed out was okay with her because she didnt want to go anyways she just did it so that Ryan wouldnt have to go by himself (I'm afraid of heights).

We did most of the day without eating because the food was so expensive inside the park and you arent allowed to bring food inside with you. We got a snack about 2/3 through the day to tide us over until we left. We decided that after we left we would just go to this place called CeCe's and eat because it is an all you can eat pizza buffet for like 4 dollars.

Overall we had a ton of fun and I am so glad that we got to go. I hope that we get the chance to do it again before the summer is over because it is such a good family activity. We got lots of pictures some of which are included in this post and they are just fun memories to have.

Michelle's Journey

Okay so as some people know I have recently set upon a journey to lose weight and become a healthier better me. This is my own personal journey and I have chosen to keep track of my progress on a second blog that is not linked to other family matters. In the second blog I talk about my dietary, workout, and lifestyle changes that I have made to try to achieve my goal. I welcome anyone that wants to to read and comment on this new blog. I will also be periodically posting updated pictures of myself so that I have a running record of my progress. If you would like to check out what I have been up to lately you can go to http://maricopamamasmovement.blogspot.com.

Update

So okay I can now send messages to blogger from my phone. Let's find out if this helps me to post more often.

The Graduate!!!

YEAH!!! Okay so this is kinda hokey but I am totally psyched. I finally graduated from Mesa Community College last night and I fell so good. It was a nice ceremony even if it was a little long and all of my immediate family was there. My mom came in from GA for it and my uncle was even there from South Lake Tahoe. These past 2 days have been absolutely awesome having all of my family around again. It has been years since we have all been together. Ryan even held up okay with all the family events and usually they are just exhausting for him. We put my mother on a plane back to GA today and while I will miss her I have to say that it was wonderful to see her and have her here for this.