"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!".... Thankful

I love Mackenna with all my heart since the day she was born, but I seem to fall even more

in love with her now that she can communicate with me and talk to me.

For the longest time Mackenna was always interested in "Daddy".

Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! 

So, not fair, right!?! 

All of a sudden it was "Mommy" Finally...

So now when she wakes up from her nap, granted if she knows i'm there or not, she scream "Mommy" 

until I go in there and get her. Everytime she says mommy, it melts me like a creamsicle.  She is starting

to pick up words left and right. Now when I put her to bed she tells me "nuh night mommy, I luv you."

She isn't even 2 yet.... but I love the fact that when I say I love you, she can tell me back. 

I'm am so blessed to have such a smart and loving child. She will be 2 next month and 

I feel like these precious moments with her and flashing before my eyes. When people

say "they grow up fast", I now am a firm believer of this statement, because it's so true. 

This Week I'm thankful for....

8. Mackenna Saying "I love you" and "Mommy"

9. 26 Hours of Overtime on my next check

10. Sunshine everyday (Finally Summer)

11. For Ian for loving me and dealing with my mood swings :)

12. For our New House

13. New Cali King Size Bed

14. Orange Popsicle Ray Ban's 

What are you Thankful For???

Go Lakers....

Go L.A. Lakers!!

I didn't realize some many people hated Kobe. Well, Anyway the Laker's won

I hope they dominate the series. 

Mackenna's New Doll and Monday Weekly Meal Plan

Yes it's true when they say once you have children the parcels in the mail stop coming for you!

It's so true, Mackenna Jane get's more mail than I have in my whole life. 

Ok, that is not true ;) She is sooooooo... spoiled. 

MorMor sent Mackenna a new doll. You can zip up her shirt, button, Velcro, tie shoes. 

Mackenna loves it. 

(MorMor) - is my grandma and the MorMor is the Norwegian name for Grandma. 

She is Mackenna's Great Grandmother.

Mackenna has only had this since Friday and the poor thing probably could stand 

a cycle in the washer machine. She drags it behind her thinking that the doll is walking

with her, but the poor doll is just getting dragged. Last night she insisted that

the doll went with her in the crib. Usually it's her $5 monkey from a gas station that says "I love California"

This is a good story actually...

About a year ago, my mom moved from Lake Tahoe, CA to Los Angeles. 

Well, (Thousand Oaks to be exact)

My mom left a day before me with Mackenna to drive down there. 

They stopped for Gas and my mom bought Mackenna this Red Monkey that has ("I Love California").

Mackenna to this day drags this thing everywhere and love's her Monkey.

She can even now say "Monkey" ... Pretty cute.

Anyway, her monkey has been in the washer machine at least 20 times in the last year.

So, I was super surprised when the monkey was on the floor and her new doll was in her bed wit her.

So, Kudos to MorMor good choice.

Since I was so busy with trying to win and post about the:

Happy House Wife Design Giveaway

I forgot to post my Monday Meal Plan for the week... Sorry!

By the way, if you are interested in an awesome blog design check out 

happyhousewifedesigns.com

She does the best designs and I really like her work. If I don't win I'm going to have her design

a blog design for me anyway because she is having a huge sale.

Ok, and now for the Meal Plan

Monday Weekly Meal Plan

Monday: Italian Sausages, Green Beens and

Red Roaster Potatoes. (last night)

Tuesday: Frozen Pizza

(I know boring, Softball Night)

Wednesday: BBQ Chicken and Salad

Thursday:  BLTA's with Salad

(BLT's with the avocado)

Friday: Cheese Burgers Marinated in Teriyaki Sauce

with Pineapple and Hawaiian bread buns

Saturday: Left Over's or whatever you can find :)

Sunday: Cheesy Chicken and Rice Dish with Corn

Have a good Tuesday!!!

Free Web Design June Giveaway @ happyhousewifedesigns.com

Happy House Wife Design Giveaway

Its her June Giveaway

Here is the kit for the June Blog Design Giveaway!

And this time the winner is going to get the works -

- Custom Background
- Custom header
- Choice of one or two sidebars
- Button with "Grab" box
- Up to 10 sidebar tabs or
- Cute sidebar/post font
- Signature
- Post Divider
- Two sidebar pictures with the frames

And 

- A matching TWITTER BACKGROUND!

How to enter 

- by leaving a comment
- by becoming a follower on Twitter
- by becoming a follower on Facebook
- by putting my button on your blog
- by doing a post about this giveaway

Make sure to leave a comment for each entry so they will all be counted!

Deadline to Enter
The last day to enter will be June 17 th and the winner announced June 18th



And I am also going to announce my HUGE sale! For the whole month of June I am going to offer 20% off the design price. 

Basic Design - $40

Deluxe Design - $68
Good Luck,

Goodbye Weekend!

Goodbye to the weekend.....

Weekends seem to go by so fast. We have officially been our new place for a week now 

and I love, love, love it. 

We played in the front yard in the grass this weekend and went to the park. 

Weekends keep getting shorter and shorter it seems. Although on a positive note

I think it really maybe summer in Tahoe... Finally.

Oops... My comments weren't working!

It was pointed out to me that my comments weren't working on blog.

They are now fixed

Sorry and thanks for visiting my blog.

Fat Friday's... Cleanse Day #1

Fat Friday's!

So, I'm starting another cleanse today. I'm going to do another 30 day cleanse. I lost 14lbs and 11 inches my first cleanse a month or so ago. However, I'm pretty excited because I only gained back 2 of those pounds I lost. Which I thought to myself that Isagenix really does work.

Here's my Story:

I'm a like every other mom out there that needs to loose baby weight. Mackenna is almost two and I still need to get back to the old me and get myself back in shape. My ultimate goal is to get healthy again and wear my post baby clothes. I started Isagenix in January of 2010. I did a 30 day cleanse and lost 14 lbs and 11 inches in my first 30 days, with little to know exercise. I'm a full time working mom and I go to school full time so getting back to my post baby body has been tough due to the little to NO TIME I have. 

Now let's be honest.... before I started Isagenix I was drinking 2 16oz Red Bulls a day. MINIMUM! I know that is just silly. You could say that I was very dependent on Red Bull for energy, well in all actuality I needed to get even through the day. I work on average at least 50 hours a week and after a week of doing the cleanse I felt amazing. I didn't need coffee or Red Bull. It wasn't just about loosing weight and cleansing , it's a life style change as well and it creates good habits of eating healthy.

I was so excited about my results that I got my aunt Dee started on the products and she lost 28 lbs in less than 3 months. She too feels amazing.

Now I know what you are thinking... CLEANSE!!?! Does that mean I will poop my pants. :) I thought the very same thing and you go regularly like you always have been. 

I wanted to share this with all of other mom's that are struggling to get back to their post baby bodies. I have tried all sorts of things, dieting myself, working out and eating some what more healthy, nutrisystem. I failed at everyone of them. I stated Isagenix and I acutally saved $200 bucks my first two weeks because I wasn't going to lunch and spending $7-8 dollars a day on Red Bull. 

If you are interested in anymore details and want to learn more about Isagenix 

PLEASE email @ Kristina.j.ruth@gmail.com

Thankful Thursday!

Thankful Thursday!

This is my first Thankful post. Again, I have to give credit to Alysha @ the Tarr Pitt again for

the good idea of Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful that we just moved into a new house in Glenshire. I'm happy to be back out in the shire :)

We had a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath place, but it was an attached townhome and the living space downstairs

was a little small. (i.e. the living room/dining room). So now we are in our new place with plenty of space, a 

yard for Mackenna to play in with her playhouse and sandbox. I don't think I ever will live

in another place that has 2 stories. It's tough with kids to watch the stairs all the time

and worry about if the gate is closed.

So, again I'm Thankful for our new house.

There are so many things to be thankful for. Here are a few:

1. Ian and I both jobs

2. The three of us in good health

3. Good friends

4. Mackenna that continues to sleep through the night

5. overtime, I know I know (weird), but I'm thankful for it and so is my bank account.

6. My Awesome family

7. The sierra mountains

8. Having unlimited access to Red Bull :)

9. The Rain, it's nice to see if once in awhile in the California w/out it snowing

10. My mom, soon to be cancer free I hope

The Day I Found Out.... November 19, 2007

I was inspired to right my story of the day I found out I was pregnant after reading Alisha's story on the Tarr Pitt Blog. Check her out she has some good stuff and stories.

It was a Sunday afternoon and my period was always on time to the date. I didn't think for one moment that I was pregnant, I thought it was the stress of life, work and school. We were spending the day with Ian's parents and were about to head to breakfast. I thought why the heck not to rule it out, I had no thought in my mind that I was pregnant, but I took a test just in case. I sat there in the bathroom after I peed on that silly stick just thinking holy crap what if I was PREGNANT! I waited and waited. It felt as if it was hours before it finally started  to reveal the results. I looked at it and was OMG I can't tell. It was hard to tell if it was a plus or a minus, so I let it go and headed out to breakfast. We eat breakfast and I come back and say well I better take one more just be sure. I took another test that actually says Pregnant and Not Pregnant, Just to be sure! So, I waited and waited and it finally showed up PREGNANT!

 I was in such shock that I didn't believe it. I came downstairs and gave Ian a look and he knew. I didn't have to say anything and he already knew I was pregnant. I kept thinking to myself.... I don't want to make that phone call and tell my dad. It didn't seem real and I wasn't even sure still if I was 100% Pregnant. Ian and I were in such shock that we got in the car and went for a drive. I then started to freak out and cry a little. We get back to Ian's parents house and as we were eating dinner Ian just came out and said, "Welp you are going to be grandparents again!" Ian's dad dropped his fork for his mouth with food on it and hit his plate. It was super overwhelming and I still didn't really have any emotions towards it.

I couldn't get the courage up, so I called my mom first. I just said Mum you are going to be a Grandma. She took it pretty well and was excited. I then called My Grandma (MorMor) and told her. Then it was time to call my Dad. I didn't really have any emotions until I called my dad and then that's when it hit me and I started crying on the phone with my dad. Instead of crying or happiness, and excitement, I felt ashamed. I felt like I let my Dad down. It was a very weird feeling. I was 20 years old in the middle of my bachelors degree and here I am pregnant. On the bright side I had and still have a very good job, so in all we were ok financially to have a child.

On Monday I called the doctor to set up an appointment to confirm that the two tests were accurate. It didn't really hit me until I was in the doctor's office that I was pregnant and saw the flicker on the screen. I pretty much broke down again and cried.

The next day I told my friend at work Kelli that I was pregnant and then not long after everyone knew that I was pregnant. It was hard, I was only 20 years old and felt as if I cheated myself out of my life and my future. It took me a long time to get to the point to where I accepted it and I was excited.

Now, we have Mackenna Jane Wright. She was born July 25th, 2008 at 4:33am.

 She was a large one weighing in at 9lbs even and 22 1/2 inches tall. I L.O.V.E being a mom and I love her more than anything. We  all have are regrets, but I don't regret her one bit. She brings light to my life. When you are down and out, tired, depressed she lift's me up just with her life and her smile.

Memorial Day Weekend....Moving, Unpacking, Settling, BBQ!

So, this 4 day weekend was kind of a blur. It was a lot of tough work, but we made it through 

and finished the move.

Friday: 

My mom and I primed my new office with a primer grey paint due to the very exotic blue, red and yellow colors from the prior owners. Let's just say I now understand why most landlords do not want you painting their houses. haha! Not all of us have the same tastes. Oh ok, back to what I did Friday. So I started painting on Friday all day, the color I wanted finally after the primer had set and dried. I painted it a sage green it looks awesome. While I was painting I waited for the DirecTV guy, internet and the gas company. It was actually amazing, because we were only without internet for 5 hours during the transition of our service from the old place to the new place. I know, I know get REAL right!?! Hey, internet is the life line for all of us in this fine 21st century. Maybe it was just me BUT I was relieved that it was all set up. Anyhow it was my grandpa's birthday and I was running down to the wire of getting down to Reno for dinner. The DirecTv were holding me up. So, long story short I get down to Reno with no shower and paint in my hair, but I made it RIGHT!?!

Saturday: 

Today was the big move. I finished packing everything in the morning and finished all the laundry before we moved, which was awesome! We got everything out of the old place within a few hours. Thanks to the help of Chris, Justin, Ian and Tyson. It really amazes me how motivating beer is to men to get anything done. :) They did a great job and they ROCK! So, I went over to the new place once the last load was loaded. It took 3 trucks, including our beat of a truck, and my little subi to get the rest of our JUNK, I mean stuff to the new place. I bet everyone is wondering how the heck we did all of this and still managed to keep our eye on Mackenna. Well, I'm just that good and SUPER WOMAN! No, not really. Ian's mom came to pick her up that morning to go to her place, which was a huge help because we got everything done in one day! After everyone had left I went into complete unpacking mode and got the place unpacked by midnight on Saturday night. Although, we did take a hour and half break for dinner and a beer at the Blue Coyote. The best beer in my life. :) By midnight I was completely tired. 

Sunday:

Ian and I slept in till 8:30 which is pretty late for us considering Mackenna wakes up around 6AM these days.  Ian headed down to pick up Mackenna to bring her home to the new place all set up. I headed over to the old place to clean up and get everything in order. The rest of the day we hung out with Mackenna and unpacked some more things and ate dinner at the new place. Mackenna loves her new room she played in there for 2 hours all by herself. Reason 1,000,0000 why I'm excited not to have a 2 story place anymore. Went to bed pretty early this night. 

Monday:

Got up and headed over to the old place to get the stuff left behind and take the ending dump run. We really did part with a lot of junk, which in the end was nice. Then later, some friends and Ian's dad and my brother came over and we had beer up the butt chicken, ribs, garlic bread, corn on the cobb and salad. Ya....... it was a feast. :) ...........and oh poo! I have to go to bed early and get up at 5am for work. Oh well only 4 days of work this week. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed themselves.

Again I would like to thank anyone that serves our country in keeping us save and protected. 

You are all Heroes to me!

Plus the U S of A Rocks!

This is it... moving weekend, and my Friday!

So, i worked for a co-worker this Sunday in exchange for tomorrow (Friday) off! Weeeeee :) Don't get to jealous. I have a lot of work to do this weekend. I have to pack up the rest of the house between tonight and tomorrow morning. I still have to paint my office. Which I had to paint with primer first before I could even get the color I wanted to paint that room.

It's coming down the wire...... and I still have like the whole upstairs of my house to pack. We still need to take our dump pile to the dump. Oh, and the pile for donations still needs to go. 

My Mom starts her new job today, so good luck to my Mum. I made BLT's last night and they were delicious.

And get this......

There was snow on the ground this morning. Seriously Lake Tahoe.... ? Not Cool, It's May!

Yikes! I really hope this weather holds up for our move. I'm sitting at work as we speak drinking my cup

of coffee of course and looking out the window to snow falling. 

Where is Summer!?!

4 Day Weekend... starting today at 3pm for me. Everyone have a good safe holiday weekend!

Mackenna Love's Bubbles

Mackenna absolutely loves bubbles. She loves to chase them and run around and laugh.  She is getting so smart these days. She is learning word after word. Yesterday she told me "sorry", "please" Her newest words or sayings have been "love you" and "it's alright"

Life Lesson Tuesday!

Life Lesson #1

Take your life into your own hands and make it what YOU want it to be, no matter what everyone else's opinion is. :)

Marriage? Yes Marriage. I'm 23 years old with a almost 2 year old and the best possible dad/partner/spouse I could ask for. We are NOT married yet!! Yes I said it. At this time we are not married. 

At first I stressed about it and made it a bigger deal than it was. I didn't like being out in public with a newborn, especially at my age, with no rings. People in this world are very harsh and judgmental. (I'm guilty of judgment too). Mackenna wasn't planned like most babies in my opinion, but we wouldn't change it for anything. I think some people get married for the wrong reasons, and to get married just because you are pregnant or just had a baby isn't a reason to just get married. I feel as if I've been married the last 4 years anyway. The car loans are in both of our names, Mackenna and I and Ian are all on his insurance, car insurance has had both of our names for at least 4 years. I guess at this time, it's not a real importance to us at this time, because marriage would only bring in legality and paperwork, it wouldn't change how we treat each other or how we live our life. 

I never thought how much it meant to my own family that we get married. I wish they knew that its something that we want to do, but wedding's costs a lot of money. Which we are more concerned with saving money to buy a house rather than save money to get married. It's really hard to do what you want when you have an over bearing pressure. The pressure and the constant reference to marriage makes me not want to get married. I want to do it for me and the day that I want.

This is all that is important to us right now..... Mackenna Jane

New Meals, Moving.. Oh My!

 New Meals and Moving

This week is going to be very busy. I was thinking about planning out my meals this week, but then thought we are going to be so busy with moving and packing, that I figured I need to come up with some quick and easy things this week. I have already packed up half my kitchen, so I'm not going be able to get all fancy or anything.

Monday 

Chicken and Cheese Rice Dish

Tuesday 

Green Chile Sauce Enchiladas 

Wednesday

Italian Sausage's and Salad

Thursday

Pizza

(Moving Day Eve)

Friday

TBD

(Moving Day)

Saturday

TBD

(Moving Day)

Sunday 

BBQ Chicken and Salad

So, pretty boring for us this week, but I found it hard to start getting organized and really start planning meals until you are settled and not in the middle of moving right. Much to do this week, but can't wait to move! 

Starting a New Weekly Meal Plan.. So Far a Success!

After a lot of research I've been doing on the internet on how to get more organized, I think I've finally found some good idea's that I can stick with and follow through on. I shared the website last week, where I've gotten these great ideas from.

I found a weekly meal planner on this website. I planned all of our meals on Sunday night and cooked Monday's dinner right off the list last night. Ian walked in the door and asked if he had walked into the wrong house. I get off of work 2 hours earlier than Ian, so I thought how nice it would be to have dinner cooked and done by the time he gets home and then we wouldn't be eating so late. 

Now I work full time, a full time student, and a mom. So trying things to get more organized and make things a little more easy on the family is good. Plus if I have something to do for school, or overtime at work. Ian can look at the weekly meal planner and get dinner started for me if he gets home before me. (Sometimes this happens a lot). But, making things easier for Men, I have learned you will have a better outcome.

So here is my Meal Planner for this week May 17- 23rd

Monday

Pasta with Garlic 3 cheese sauce and meatballs

Corn Bread Muffins

Tuesday

Pizza (Softball night)

Wednesday

BBQ chicken and Salad

Thursday

Teriyaki Burgers with Pineapple

Sweet Potato fries & Salad

Friday

Tri Tip Marinated 

Cheesy Cali flower dish

Caesar Salad

Saturday

Leftover Tri Tip made into Sandwiches

Caesar salad

Sunday

Home Made Shepherds Pie

I'm so excited to know what I'm going to be cooking this week and weekend. Also, Ian can make any of these items so if one of us has overtime at work or something we can both know what to cook for dinner. 

Most of these menu items are our little family favorites. Please feel free to try them. 

I need to start getting Organized

I've been doing some research lately on how to get more organized with some things and found a lot of good information out there. I've always been a very organized person and love to be organized, but lately I've been so un-organized and need to get myself back on track before I love everything and my mind :)


So, Any who. First of all I want to have more of a budget for things. Such as grocery shopping. We've never really had a budget, but I think organizing my spending on groceries and things might be more helpful to me for planning dinners and who know by doing this I might even save some money. That is always a plus. 


http://orgjunkie.com/menu-plan-monday/recipe-index 
This website has been super helpful with some idea's and I got to download a meal planner PDF and a grocery List PDF. It's pretty awesome and excited to get started with it and use it soon. 


If you have any meal planning or recipe ideas for me send them my way. 

Sccccchhhhhhooooooooools Out For Summer!

So today marks the last day of the spring 2010 semester. Thanks Goodness! It was a very long semester. Working full time and being a full time student and having a little 22 month old girl is not easy. It's been late nights, running back in forth between, home, school and work. It gets real tough when you don't have enough time for you all the time. I took 5 classes this semester and about killed myself, but then again I did it. Ian has been a huge help and without him school would not be possible for me. So thanks to Ian.


I finally decided to change my major and become declared. I changed it to Elementary Education. As long as I could remember I wanted to be a teacher, so for once I'm no longer doing what everyone else wants me to do, but what I want to do. So, I'm going for it. 


I can't wait for the summer to kick off and really get started. We are moving into a bigger place in a couple of weeks and everything is moving along nicely and smoothly. After I get the house and us settled, I can't wait to get back into my scrap booking and catch up on my reading and do some other projects with Mackenna. It's going to be so nice to be home for the summer and not to worry about when the next assignment, exam or paper is due.


Here's to a great Summer!
Kristina Jane

Las Vegas for Autumn and Jessica's Bach Party

Couple of weekends ago 8 girls and 2 brides were hitting up the strip in Las Vegas. It was an awesome weekend. Plenty of drinking, gambling, poolside relaxing. I can't disclose all the details of the events of that weekend because, "What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas!" I can't wait for the wedding in August. It was such a good time.

Mother's Day and Moving to Glenshire

Good Morning,
We are officially moving to a 3 bedroom house in Glenshire. Can't wait to move into a bigger place and have more space. Last night I packed 7 more boxes and still feel as if I have a million other things to pack.

Yesterday, Ian and his dad made eggs benedict. It was so good. Ian also surprised me with a necklace from Zales. My first Mom necklace.

Busy 2 weeks ahead of packing and some more packing... but very excited for the new place.

On the hunt for a bigger house in Truckee

So, we have been looking for a bigger place with a yard in Truckee the last few weeks and so far nothing. We would like to be in Glenshire if we can. 

If anyone knows where we can find a place in Glenshire, let us know. 

Mackenna's New Friend

A lot has been going on this month. It's starting to finally starting to show signs of spring in the Truckee/Tahoe area. The last week has been absolutely beautiful. Today is going to be a high of 55 degrees.

Mackenna has a new friend Kiaya and they get to play together all day now. She get's very upset when Kieara doesn't bring Kiaya over. Mackenna is getting very big and can now sing her own ABC's almost all the way through all by herself.

I volunteered at the Rotary Crab feed last weekend and we raised $14,500 for the Kid-Zone, so hopefully we can redo some of the exhibits and get some new things in there for the kids. So this is going to be exciting for the kids.

This month we have tried to get caught up on everything and get our last play days in the snow. Here are some photos of Mackenna and one of her new friend.

Deciding to give this another try.

So, I thought this was really cool when I first started one a while back. But, then I figured the only person reading this is me. haha. So I'm going to try and give this another go and get my family to start one as well.

Memorial Day Weekend in So Cal

Memorial Day weekend we packed up the Subaru and headed down to So Cal to vist Mackenna's grandma. After 8 hours of driving we were glad to almost make it to Thousand Oaks, but we hit traffic at the Grapevine at 1:30am. They had it blocked off to one lane. In L.A, are they nuts! So we arrived in Thousand Oaks around 2:30am. Mackenna went right back to sleep pretty quick. The first day we kind of lounged around since we were still tired from the drive. Our poor cat got an absess while we were gone, so Ian was a little worried while we were gone, since Smokey had a hole in his head. He went to the Vet and he is fine, and is looking a lot better now. The next day I was able to drag Ian out for a drive in Malibu, downtown L.A. and Hollywood. He wasn't too impressed with the Traffic. Me, on the other hand, really enjoyed myself. Small town people, can't appreciate the city. Mackenna had a blast playing with her Grandma, Sky and Uncle Drae. We bought her a swimming pool down there and she played in it at least twice a day. My arms got really burnt and 2 weeks later peeling. It was a good time. 

Grandpa and Great Grandpa Visit

This weekend Mackenna's Great Grandpa came to visit us from Seattle, Washington. His softball team played in a 60 and over tournament in Reno, Nevada. It was really nice to see them. My dad, grandpa, aunt, uncle, susan and Ian all got together for my grandpa's 75th bday at Olive Garden. It was a  brand new one in Reno, and it was absolute chaos. We waited for an hour and a half, and they never called us for our table, even though they told us it was a 25 minute wait. It was ridiculous. My uncle, the pain in the butt he is, talked to the restaurant owner and he told him that he wasn't happy and their service pretty much sucked. At the end of our dinner the manager asked my uncle if 25% off was satisfactory for the bill. My uncle, told him no. Anyway the $170 bill turned into $66 bucks. My uncle is awesome. My dad stayed the night with us last friday night and I took him to his first in-and-out burger experience. My dad is still convinced that dicks in seattle is better, I don't think so! It was a really good weekend and good to hangout with my family.