Late Thanksgiving post :)

Sorry so late.. but happy thanksgiving!!! This year was alot of fun and alot of running around!! Again this year we went to Luke's side of the family at 1pm and then afterwards drove an hour to my side of the family's thanksgiving dinner! whoo.... i am stuffed thinking about it! Next year i think we might do one family one day and then the other family another day! I hate running around on thanksgiving, it takes the fun out of relaxing :(..... Christmas is a little bit easier and more fun. We do my side of the family on Christmas Eve afternoon and night, and then Christmas morning is with just me, Luke and Landon hanging out and relaxing.. opening up gifts from eachother. Later on that morning we will head over to Luke's parents and have their Christmas for the afternoon. Then, finally relaxing takes place again at our house that late afternoon and night! I love being with family during the holidays, but I also love being just me, Luke and Landon relaxing at the house. :) ahhhh!! anyways, The last two pics are from Nashville this weekends and the first two are from Thanksgiving day :) have a good weekend !!

I love doing these :)

5 Things I Was Doing 2 Years Ago

1. I had just had Landon on July 25th.
2. Getting ready for the holidays with my new baby boy and my hubby, Luke!
3. We were living at Camellia Trace Apartments then. It was very small, but very nice and cozy.
4. Working at Old country store as a server part time. Luke's mom watched Landon during the days that i worked.
5. Luke was interviewing for jobs then... and then got the job at central distributors in december.

Five things on my to do list today.

1. Be at the gym by 9:00 and work out for two hours.
2. Go home and then make Luke's lunch and take it to him.
3. Come back home and CLEAN!!
4. Somehow get Landon to take a nap... and have a little ME time !
5. Landon bath then cook supper and have FAMILY TIME!! my fav time :)

5 Things I would do if I were a Millionaire

1. Give to our church
2. Setting up Landon and any future children of ours education fund.
3. make sure we are set financially for the rest of our lives (invest..cds..etc)
4. Give "fun" or "needed" money to our close family members
5. Build our dream house and buy a brand new white Tahoe!!! haha :) Oh.... and maybe buy a vacation home :)


5 Places I have lived

1. Memphis, TN (don't remember that one)
2. Toone, TN
3. Martin, TN
4. Jackson, TN
5. I only have four... ha!

5 Jobs I have had

1. Joe's Restaurant
2. Abercrombie and Fitch
3. Hibbett Sports
4. Back to Joe's Restaurant
5. Old Country Store

5 Places I would like to live

1. Florida
2. Colorado
3. Virginia
4. Nashville
5. New York

5 Things I would like to be doing in two years

1. Be pregnant with me and Luke's second child
2. start some kind of company
3. Me and Luke be very active in our church
4. Start looking for nice schools for Landon or maybe consider homeschooling for Landon
5. Have done some home improvements to our house (flooring, diff furniture.. etc)

Just Ramblings....

hello all!! Well Last night the inlaws and me took Landon and his two cute cousins, Caleb and Noah to Fun Zone (Medina)! It was so much fun! They have all kinds of blow up slides and bouncers and things.. perfect for little ones! Although Landon loved everything, we could not pry him away from the basketball things. I guess its a good thing, considering he is a boy and does love sports, but he was almost in tears when i said that he needed to play with something else! We were there two hours and he probably was at the basketball bouncer for over an hour! haha! I guess thats what i get for Landon being Luke's son! If any of you know my husband, Luke then you know that he is ALL or NOTHING! He is pretty much awesome at any kind of sports thing or anything he does. I'm not just saying that either. He can pick up a hobby and be the best at it in a week! I've never seen anything like it.. so hopefully Landon will pick that trait up from his daddy! :) Anyway, Fun Zone was great and a great idea for bday parties if anyone was needing an idea :) ...... On another note.... (my car is getting on my nerves!!) I finally got something besides that small cavalier..( Luke's previous car.. the montero) and the thing is messing up left and right!! About a month ago the battery would not stay charged.. so we jumped it and it worked for one day. The next day it was dead again, so we took it in to the shop and they put a new battery in.. changed the oil.. replaced the filter... and it cost us almost 200 dollars. It stunk but it had to be done. :( A few weeks later and here i am on my way home and my "service engine soon" light comes on! (ahhh!) I am so frustrated with this thing. So i just now took it by the same shop who did the battery.. and such and they said that it would cost 65 dollars to check and see what it was and then how much ever the problem was. The guy only looked at it but said that it was probably the oil gasket? Uh.. i am so tired of that car messing up i could just scream. I loved it when i first got it.. heck anything was better than the cavalier, but at least the cavalier never messed up (at all!!) I'm thinking of taking Luke's nice new car and giving his montero back!! haha :) do you think he'll go for that.. (yeah right!) The money part sucks, especially with how the economy is right now.. but thats not even what makes me the most mad. Its the car messing up every two seconds. I just want something that will drive me places and not mess up. (Stupid Car!!) Okay well i'm sure you've heard an ear full... so see you next time :0)

Well looks like somebody is now a gym addict!! I absolutely love love love the gym! And for all of you wondering out there... YES I'M SORE!!! We have been going the past three mornings for two hours straight. We do about an hour of cardio and then the other hour is spent on arms, back, abs, and legs.. depending on what day it is. We are only going to go about four days a week monday thru wednesday and then on sundays. So for any of you wanted to get on some sort of workout or diet plan, this is the way to go. Oh and i suggest you have a partner, otherwise there will be those days that you just don't want to push yourself as hard as you should... and they will will be there to convince you to go ahead and go for it!! Well i'll let you know more about it later on down the road :)

GYM Membership!!! whoo hoo!!

Alright.... finally!! Okay well i finally got on my husband's membership plan at the gym so i am Super Excited! I hope i can just get motivated enough to actually go on a regular basis! haha.. okay maybe i shouldn't joke about this! I have a workout buddy now... Yay for TARA!! (shout out to my sis in law!!)! So the plan is to use and abuse the daycare they have there and go monday thru wednesday for about an hour and a half or as much time as we can... then on sunday afternoons i'm probably going to go after church :) Thats the plan, i'll let you know how it goes next week :) haha!

Exercise...blah :(

Why is it so hard to get into the habit of exercising? Before i had Landon i never even had to work out. I could eat whatever i wanted and whatever time i wanted, but noooo not now! I'm pretty okay with my body, except for my belly.. ugh :( Well i guess i could tone my arms, legs and well thighs.. okay maybe i'm not happy with my body! What i really dislike though is my belly. Ever since Landon i have had this bump that i call my "pouch"! It looks just like a pouch that is right below my belly button that will not go away whatsoever!! I doesn't matter if i eat healthy or do crunches 100 times a day.. it will not leave! Not too long ago i did a diet plan for about 8 weeks. I did really really good on it.. i did crunches everyday, walked, and even cut out sodas, snacks and well almost all sugar! My face looked like it lost some water weight, my arms toned up a bit, and my legs toned, but my belly only looked like i lost my love handles. I still kept that stubborn pouch. I guess i probably should have stayed on the diet, but i was just so frustrated with not losing any belly at all that i decided to quit.. kind of! I am pretty much always on a diet. I don't eat too bad.. i only drink my diet coke when me and the family go out to dinner on weekends (so i would say 1 diet coke friday, sat and sunday.. so only three a week) thats not bad.. right? And only sweets every now and then. I honestly think that women aren't supposed to be able to lose their "pouches" after having kids. And for the women that do... i hate you! No i'm just kidding.. good job to you gals!! Well i have started jogging/walking again everyday.. so maybe i won't ever be able to lose it, but i need to at least stay in some sort of shape, right? ha!

My Poor Fridge!!!

Does anyone else's fridge look like mine? I have absolutely no room left on it.. except at the bottom where Landon can get to it and do what he does best.. DESTROY!! I think that they should make the tops of fridges alot bigger for mom's. I mean where do they think we're supposed to put all of our pictures and grocery lists and what nots?!!

On a different note... this weekend was a blast! Me and Luke took Landon to the children's Museum of Memphis on Saturday, along with my sister in law, Tara and her husband, Brandon and their two kids, Caleb and Noah. We had so much fun watching them play with everything they could possibly get into! The boys could just run around without us having to follow their every move because everything is kid proof. No stroller, no leash ( you know those backpack leashes they have to put on kids..) and no saying "no don't touch that" every five seconds! It was great and very educational. Every single toy or set up had some sort of educational purpose. They had a playplace for toddlers and babies and another section for older kids, which Landon loved both parts :) We almost went to the zoo, which Landon has not been to yet (don't worry we are starting to make plans for it!) but we ended up going to the museum and it was awesome and well worth the 30 dollars! :) Oh... we even saw Grover (from sesame street) and that was probably the highlight of Landon's day! We spent about 3 and a half to four hours there and by time we strapped Landon in the carseat to go home he was already zonked out!!! haha! He was out for the rest of the night!!

Sunday we went to church (awesome service as always!) and then ate mexican. Landon caught a cold over the weekend so he was a little cranky after church, so i left him home with Luke while i went to one of my best friends wedding shower in bolivar. It was really really good seeing her again and it was great catching up on things! Two hours later came grocery shopping and then home for a night on the couch watching football with the boys!!

We had a great weekend and hopefully ya'll did too !!

superheroes, undies, and a passi

YES THAT IS MY SON!! AND YES THAT IS UNDERWEAR ON HIS HEAD!!

Any further questions!! ha!

I was making supper the other night and i heard grunting going on in Landon's bedroom, which is right next to the kitchen, so i decide to walk and see what is going on... and lo and behold this is what i found.... it wasn't as dolled up as this though. He had the underwear pulled over his head almost covering his entire face and the blanket was just in his hands. ..So actually this was my idea.. but he gave me the inspiration!! I decided to wrap the blanket around him and well i left the underwear on his head just to be funny. I took a few snapshots and waited for Luke to come home to see his son/superhero!! And yes it was histerical! The rest of these pics are of him flying around the house in his cape and such!! Oh and if you look closely his passi matches his cape and i didn't even plan it.. Landon is just that coordinated!! ha! I'm thinking about getting someone who sews to make him a cape with his name on it!! any suggestions on who would be able to do that???

New Shoes !!

So me and the little man (Landon) went shoe shopping yesterday.. I had originally planned on getting him another set of new balance shoes, since we loved his old pair that are just getting too tight. But then we came across the cutest pair of moccassin type shoes that i have ever laid my eyes on. I knew what they were because i have been wanting a pair for me for a while.. i just haven't convinced myself that i would actually wear them enough to even matter. Ok so to the point... we got him some Sperry's!! Oh and they are the cutest things on him! ( The pic above is of him with his "New Shoes." And he is so not allowed to play in them, at least not outside anyway!!! I also went to another store that i absolutely Love love love called Spoil Me Rotten. They are a little overpriced but they are so cute! We get all his holiday and dress up outfits there. They have smocked outfits and all kinds of cute things there. I have been wanting to get him one of those older kids diaper bags for a while. They carry crayons and play things in there, including diapers or extra what nots in there just in case. I'm not exactly sure what they are called, but it looks like a tote bag, but also has backpack straps on the back for him. It is blue, green and red and well too cute for words. I will have a pic of it next week.. they are monogramming his name on the front for me, so i won't get it back til at least tuesday of next week. !

I am !!

Hey guys!! I was blog surfing today and i saw this and just had to do one!!

I AM ... a momma, a wife, ,a sister, a daughter, a friend, a taxi driver, a chef, a nut job, honest, quirky, slightly OCD, ambitious, creative, scatterbrained, forgiven

I WANT... new wood floors and a sectional!!

I HAVE... a beautiful son and a handsome husband whom i love very much :)

I WISH I COULD ... take a pee in solitude!!!

I HATE ... rude people and laundry

I THINK... my phone is so cool!!

I FEAR ... abandonment and the dark

I HEAR ... elmo and Landon singing

I DON'T THINK ... before i speak... so when i talk it usually sounds like a bunch of jumbled words at once.

I REGRET ... not seeing my grandma enough

I LOVE ... my God, my family, my friends, my life!!!

I ALWAYS CRY .. when i bump into things.. i am very very very clumsy

iM NOT ... going to cook supper tonight

I SING ... in the car

I can never.... get enough of Landon :)

I RARELY ... get ME TIME!! and i need it!!

I CRY WHEN I WATCH ... The NOtebook :)

I AM NOT ALWAYS ... goofy.. just most of the time!

I HATE THAT ...potty training is difficult

I'M CONFUSED ABOUT ... why Landon never wants to watch anything besides ELMO!!

I NEED ... a nice bubble bath and a chick flick!!

I SHOULD ... take Landon to the park while its nice outside

Now it's your turn...
www.familymattersuniversity.com
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I LOVE THIS WEATHER!!!

I don't know what kind of weather you guys are getting.. but us here in the good Ol' South are getting 65 degree weather.. and it is AWESOME!! I love the kind of weather that you can wear just a light jacket in and be comfortable!! I don't think it is going to last long though.. i believe that it is supposed to be in the upper 80's by the end of this week :( Well it is good while it lasts!!

Recipe Ideas

Hello All!!!
Well i am fresh out of dinner ideas... I usually cook the same old stuff for dinner monday thru thursdays (friday - sunday) i am off kitchen duty..haha! Monday night is usually spaghetti or lasagna night. Tuesday is chicken (grilled or fried). Wednesday is different. On that night i always do something different, whether it be grilled cheese, homemade pizza or grilled ham and cheese subs..etc.. And well Thursday.. well i usually bring something home (bbq and such items).. Actually that means i only cook monday thru wednesday.. haha, man i'm slippin'!! I love to cook, but i just can't find any recipes that Luke likes. Landon loves any kind of food you put in front of him and so do i... to an extent. Luke only likes certain things.. hamburgers, pizza, sandwiches, spaghetti, lasagna, chicken.. he will not eat any type of casseroles.. i have even tried to force feed him, because i love love casseroles. He will not eat chile, roast beef (anything country or 'what momma would fix' you know? So that is the hard part in finding recipes. I know that i want to try a homemade three cheese ravioli.. so if anyone has a good recipe that doesn't involve to complicated directions then send them my way please.. or if you have any other fun and Luke-friendly ideas that would be awesome! Ok well thats all for today.. thanks!

On a lighter note!!!

Hey guys! Well the last blog was a little more serious so i thought i would lighten the mood... haha :) Well i was thinking of establishing a Yandell Family Game Night!! I'm super excited about it. If you know me then you know that i like anything that has to do with games! I even like the kind of games that you only find at family reunions.. like sack race and egg toss! So on that note... we are starting game night :) woo hoo! I think for right now we are probably only going to do board games and stuff like that.. i'll convince everyone of the more difficult ones later (egg toss..etc!) So what do you think? We are going to try and do them on Sunday afternoons after church... for right now they are going to have to be on sunday afternoon because my mother in law has a class to teach on sunday nights..! So maybe we can convince the guys to play instead of watching football :) haha...

It was GREAT!!!

This is my update from last nights date night. We ended up going out to eat at Longhorn steakhouse and then we caught the late showing of Batman, The Dark Knight. It was amazingly awesome!! I am not exaggerating here when i say that i think this is one of the best movies that i have ever seen.. ever!! I absolutely loved it! I was a little upset that katie holmes didn't play Rachel :( but it was still good. Christian Bale, of course did great and looked hotter than ever!! haha. And i couldn't even tell that Heath Ledger was the Joker. I mean his acting was superb! There was only one part of the entire movie where i could tell that heath was the Joker. It was when he was sitting in the jail cell and you could see his muscles.. and believe me, i know those muscles!! haha. Ok well for any of you that have not seen this movie, i suggest that you go! It was probably that much better, because we saw it in the theater!
Ok well back to the date night.. it was alot of fun! We needed some alone time and we had a great time! I didn't take any pics so i don't have any fun snapshots to post of last night, but i will try to get a pic of the family tomorrow at church so you can see how fast Landon is growing! He is getting so tall! It's also funny because we can actually have two and three sentence conversations now!! haha :) So cute ! Well hope everyones weekend is going well.. see ya :)

date night!!!!

HI!!!! Well here i am again.. Landon is at the lake tonight with his Nonni and PawPaw so i have some free time to write :) Ok well this is rare... i mean very rare... tonight is date night!! woo hoo! Me and Luke only get these.. oh probably on our anniversary, valentines day, and uhh.. hardly ever!! Landon went to the lake with his grandparents.. so that leaves me and Luke to one night of FREEDOM!! Now don't get me wrong i am going to miss that little squirt.. but gosh this means me and the hubby can actually go out to dinner without having to assemble bibs or smack a hand for trying to pour the salt and pepper all over the table. I can't even imagine not having to apologize to someone for Landon throwing a roll in the back of their head! ha! He really does that too. Sad.. i know! If you do not have kids then you do not understand the privelage of having a date night! (i love saying it!!) WE have not even been to a movie in... well i can't remember??? But tonight i think we are going out to eat... and then prob a movie. I really really want to see the Batman movie! I love Batman movies and have seen every one of them growing up, even the cartoons! Ha.. don't judge me! And well Christian Bale is just hot.. so that's all i'm saying :) Ok well i just wanted to update you all (if anybody actually reads this thing :) ) I'll let you know what we ended up doing on DATE NIGHT!!! Oh and the pic above isn't of date night, it's from Landon's birthday party, i just wanted to put a pic up of me and Luke for this blog :) have a good weekend !!

The best part of me.. is them

These are just a few pics of Luke and Landon over the past year....

The best part of me... is them... I was just sitting here thinking about my life... which basically revolves around Luke and Landon. Luke is my husband of almost three years! He is the best father to our little boy. Even when he comes home dead tired from working a 14 hour shift, he still finds the time to play and love on Landon. He helps me give him a bath every night and is so sweet to Landon. Lets just say that i'm the disciplinary in our house.. Luke is too soft!! haha! I couldn't of prayed for a better father for our son. Landon is a daddy's boy and loves him more than words could say. ohhh.... I love that man so much! Now don't get me wrong we have had our ups and downs, but over the last year to year and a half we have become one. And i'm not trying to be cheesy or anything.. so don't gag as you read this. I mean I love being home with my son.. it is the highlight of my life,but there is just something about when my husband comes home from work and opens that front door that makes my stomach get nervous and my eyes light up.. i feel like i'm screaming inside my body..(he's home...yay!!!) I mean of course there are those rare nights when i am mad at him for some stupid, petty thing and when he opens that front door... i walk in the other room and roll my eyes! (i mean that is with every married couple), but i don't know if most couples still get giddy around eachother, you know? As soon as he walks in.. (i'm usually in the kitchen cooking supper), he comes into the kitchen with that look of tiredness and happiness all at once... he always makes it a point to greet me with some sort of happy hello.. whether it be slapping my butt (sorry tmi!) or giving me one of those great bear hugs and kisses!! oh i love him!

Landon.... oh that little monster is so much fun! He is my two year old ball of energy that just doesn't stop going until he passes out!! He is me and his daddy's world! We get teary eyed if we have to spend just one night away from him! Ever since he was born he has had my heart. Every time he calls me Mama or recently its (manda).. Luke got him started and it drives me crazy.. but its still cute! He is so smart, he can already say his whole alphabet and count to 15... i don't know how the typical two year old works, but i say that is just pure genious! (i'm sure every mom says that though!) He eats a ton! Most of our grocery bill is spent on him! He can out eat me and almost his daddy! Which might i say is very impressive! Not to say that some of it is probably ending up on the floor and we just think that he is shoveling it down his throat!! haha.. My favorite part of the day is when we lay in bed at night watching home improvment (nick at nite) and cuddling together. I know he is too old to be sleeping with us at night, but i have to say that i love it... i love him being in a mommy and daddy sandwich cuddled up with us at night. (ok that was a little too cheesy.. sorry ha!) And i know that i will miss that when he is older... :( Thinking about it now already makes me sad :(..... Anyway, this blog is getting a little too sappy! To the point now.. i love my little man so much..he is my everything and i am so glad i get to be with him everyday :)

Those two are everything that make me..... well me!

Recent pictures of us !

Pajamas....all day?????

Hello..everyone!! sorry it has been so long since my last post, but its hard to find time to do these things, you know? Ok NO EXCUSE, i know!!
ok well it is almost two in the afternoon and i am still in my pajamas! ha! i don't know why i'm smiling as i write this.. this is actually kind of sad, right? ok so me and the kiddo woke up at seven this morning and after we ate breakfast we got dressed of course to run some errands. Now let me explain here, it is one of those rainy, cloudy kind of days that you just want to stay home and watch movies all day in, NO EXCUSE again, i know.. haha! Ok so after we got back from running errands i just did not want to wear those uncomfortable jeans and kind of dressy shirt anymore, so i rummaged through my closet. I kept picking my pj's up and putting them back down, thinking to my self (hmm.. i want to slip these things on so bad, but what would Luke, my husband think when he got home?) He knows that i had on "normal" clothes on earlier because we took him some lunch earlier....so as long as i haven't had them on all day....right? so at this point (in the closet) i'm trying to convince myself of being able to wear pajamas all day and not feel guilty about it... ha, ok so i won!! i am wearing my red flowerdy pajamas and t-shirt..ooohh and it feels so good!! let me tell you for those of you who are wrestling with this decision at home, don't feel guilty just go for it!! it's great! Now i'm not saying do this all the time... no! but every once and a while, heck go for it!

Introducing ME !!!!

Hello! This is my first blog everyone so be patient with me.. i feel that i have alot to say just not enough time to write it all down, as you all can see from my profile that i am a mother of a 18 month old! My name is Amanda and i just moved here to jackson probably a little over two years now. I am married. I know its probably a shocker considering my age. I am 23 years old. And yes i love being married with a child at this age. My husband and i have been married a little over two years now. In the beginning it was tough, to say the least. My mother spoiled me to the core. I came into this marriage not even knowing how to fold, cook spaghetti, macaroni, or grilled cheese (ok maybe i knew that one, but you get my drift).. i don't know if i would call it lazy, but i would call it SPOILED!! It took some getting used to of course, but now its just everyday life. I still of course hate laundry.. i don't think anyone gets used to that one. It seems no matter how much laundry i do for the week, even when i completely get it done, there's still a small pile when i wake up in the morning! I call it Satan! lol.... back to cooking.. I have even become a cook addict!! ha ha.. i love it. i love looking on the internet and finding new things to cook! Anyway, back to the story... marriage and motherhood have completely changed me, for the better! I love being a mommy. And Luke is a great daddy... him and my son, Landon are the perfect pair together. We can't wait till Landon hits the age for t ball and pee wee football and all that so we can see the games! Ok well Landon is waking up from his nap so i will talk to ya'll later :)