On The Up & Up

So its been so incredibly long since I last blogged, and even the thought of trying to catch up is so overwhelming that I can't deal. So Im going to try to catch up in bullet points. Here goes, in no organization and no particular order. Stream of consciousness, beware.

• I know 5, count them FIVE pregnant women right now. Is something in the water? I'm mostly excited about this because I will have plenty of friends to give me my baby fix this summer. :0)
• Speaking of babies, we wont be having anymore. Ryan got fixed in November. No accidents in our future.
• We are going to our first Jeeping event next month - Tierra Del Sol, with Skye. Im really excited since this is really the first thing I will have ever done with my brother. (Besides hang out at a family event or see him when I visit my mom).
• I'm on day two of the skinny bunny cleanse. This will be my second time. I had gotten back up to a daily average between 135-140 and I needed to reboot, since I was becoming a slave to devil food again. Having trouble with portions, lack of self control... I think I will likely need to use this cleanse every 6 months or so, just because devil food is so prevalent, cheap and fun to eat! Its such a shame its so terrible for you and your health & well being just spirals out of control when you eat it. It feels so good to get back to basics, clean your body back and remember what its like to eat to live, instead of living to eat.
• That said, Ryan and I are headed to the city of sin this weekend. We are Vegas bound, sans girls or friends. Just the two of us. I bought two new lingerie outfits just for the occasion, and I think I'm more excited for this trip than I was for our wedding. Just kidding. Kind of. Seriously, we have not had an alone trip - just the two of us - since before we had the girls. LONG overdue.
• This year is seriously going to be the best year ever for trips. Last month we went to big bear with my cousin Jay and his family, where I got to go snowboarding for the first time since before the girls. The girls loved the snow and we got to go sledding RIGHT behind the cabin, and make a life sized snowman that will hopefully win us a return weekend back up there. Then we have Vegas this weekend, TDS next month, and then Santa Cruz for Easter. Kings River in May, and *hopefully* Yosemite in July. Ill let you know how the craziness of booking goes for that.
• As you can see we are finally back in the saddle for trips and getting out there, and it FEELS AMAZING. 
• I've gotten myself in the to the best shape of my life. I have never been as just generally fit in my whole life. I really make my lunch hour workouts count and I have really great routines that are nice and varied.
• We got girl-carrying bike accessories. Abby is now in a weeride  and Rory is attached to my bike on a copilot and they couldn't be happier. As the weather warms up and it stays lighter longer, I anticipate us going for a family bike ride every night after dinner!
• Abby is teething again and tied to her pacifier. She has all 4 corner teeth to come in (canines?) and then the second round of molars, then shes done with her baby teeth!
• Shes totally the opposite of Rory in demeanor. Abby is very easy going, not quick to emotion, and not sensitive at all. (You can give her the sternest look and voice and she just looks right back at you like, "whats your problem?"). Rory is very excitable, very emotional and dramatic, and incredibly sensitive. (You can give her a stern look and she will break down crying and apologizing). Abby is very observant and focused. Rory is totally absorbed and oblivious. Abby lives to eat, Rory eats to live - every other day. Its a lot of fun to have two girls who are so different but its also very worrisome, given that they will have to be handled differently and it will be hard to give them both what they need but still maintain a level of "fairness".
• We went through a little housing midlife crisis, where one of our "dream houses" (more about location and lot than the shape the house was in) came up for sale, and we scrambled to see if we could pursue it but when all was said and done, it was too much of a stretch, we were not financially ready and the market is apparently going crazy right now anyway so we couldn't offer a competitive bid. So it was more about going through the motions, really seeing what it would take to buy a house, and assessing if it was going to be worth it - now or ever - for us. And for the most part we determined that we are happy where we are at, and that the cost of moving up (given that we don't have money growing out of our ears) would not be worth what we would have to sacrifice. 
• To that end, we splurged and replaced our entire AC/Heating system, as we had been doing without the heater since it broke a few years back, and hardly ever ran the AC due to its inefficiency and cost. Its got a top of the line filter and UV light which will help with germs and our allergies. Sayonara $9,000.

I think that's about it for now... I might as well publish this otherwise it will turn into a novel and never get put up.