Family Blog

I just put up tons of pictures on the family blog yesterday... go and enjoy! :)

www.newtonaaaa.blogspot.com

No frozen smiles here!

Even when it's freezing outside, they love frozen yogurt!

Happy kids

Happy Holiday's!

I can't believe the first week of December is already past! November just flew by and before I know it Christmas will be here.

We decided kind of last minute to go and spend thanksgiving in Phoenix with Rich's brother and his wife. We wound up stopping and seeing Carlsbad Caverns on the way out, and after Thanksgiving we drove up to the Grand Canyon where Rich and his brother did a rim to rim hike in one day. It was a fun week being able to visit with them, and see Rich's parents that flew out for Thanksgiving as well. I'll be putting up tons of pictures next week on our family blog with all the fun we had.

This past week I've been volunteering at the school every day. It was a busy and full week, but still fun and enjoyable. I am looking forward to things slowing down this week a little bit and trying to get caught back up at home.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Have a great month of December. I know I've got lots of plans to bake since I missed all my holiday baking last year. :)

Oh my...

I have neglected this blog! And... I haven't even been emailing people regularly either. :(

The last few weeks have just been busy. Between school stuff, church stuff, and other stuff we have had something almost every evening or afternoon.

Halloween came and went and I still haven't gotten the one picture I managed to take of three of our four kids uploaded. I forgot to get one of all four together, since Ashley went and trick or treated with a friend instead of with the rest of us. Also I actually dressed up for our ward Halloween party- I'll have to grab a picture from my friend to document that I have dressed up for Halloween as an adult!

so... what can I talk about here... some highlights...

Oh! I've lost 14.6 pounds so far on weight watchers! I'm down two sizes in my jeans... I was in a tight 12 and today I put on some capri's that are size 8!

My friend launched her first crafting DVD, and so it's been exciting watching the process she has gone through with it. If you are into crafting and stamping and know about Cricket's go and check out her blog www.mypinkstamper.com

I'm finding that the 2 1/2 hours that Angie is in school each day go way toooo fast! I can never get everything done that I want to get done in that time. Even if it's just relaxing and reading for the afternoon. The time just FLIES by!

I made bread this last week after not making bread for over a year... and we'll just say I'm surprised I still registered weight loss when I went to my weight watchers meeting today... :) Honey Butter and homemade bread are a temptation that I can't say no to! :)

And now I have one girl in her pj's and two girls that are supposed to be taking baths/showers and getting pj's on... but aren't. So I'd better get off of here and get them moving. :)

I'll try and post more soon... and get a few pictures up as well.

Blogs, Facebook, email, etc

So last night I had a fun time with some friends as we went and had a girls night out.

In the course of the evening we talked of many things, but one was how people that have gotten on facebook don't update their blogs as often because they post things on facebook. This morning I was thinking that as I started blogging, I stopped sending individual emails as much to people.

So I'm thinking that facebook is fun and all, and this blog is great, but I need to get back to individual letters via email... so that's my goal right now... to email more individual emails to people instead of just posting vague generalized stuff.

GNO

Girls Night Out!

We are having a gno tonight. Me and three friends. We went to a basketball game. Our hubbies thought it was a little funny that we would go to a game for a girls night, but we are having fun! The pictures are just from my phone, so not the greatest quality... oh well!

Susan G. Komen Race for the cure

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to participate in the Oklahoma City Susan G. Komen Race for the cure.

Rich and I along with my friend Robyn and her husband Brian all participated. Robyn has a personal connection to the breast cancer cause, and I think the rest of us participated just because it was a 5k race that we thought would be a good one to do.

It turned out to be an amazing morning for me. Previous to this I had only participated in one 5k race. It was a small PTA fundraiser for a local elementary school. There were only about 100 people that participated and I ran and walked my way through it to a dead last tie with two other ladies. We were running along and the van was slowly driving behind us picking up the traffic cones... pretty disapointing..

Last saturday I was actually in worse shape physical fitness wise than I was for the previous 5k. I knew I couldn't run the whole time, but I just wanted to do what I could and enjoy the experience.

There are THOUSANDS of people that participate in this race. I knew there would be a lot, but I didn't comprehend how many people would be there. Rich, Robyn and Brian all were in shape and ran competitive times. I started back in the slower pack, but I was amazed at how many people were around me running and puffing along with me. Reading the notes on people's shirts and tags of those they were running in support or memory of was inspirational, and seeing survivors running in their pink t-shirts was amazing. If they could fight cancer and then run this race, I could run just a little farther and walk faster than I would have on my own.

I finished the race with a time of 36:56 on the race clock. I didn't cross the start line right as it started, so my time could be a little lower, but I'm thrilled with the experience that I had and I will run this again next year. It was an emotional time and I found myself fighting back tears throughout the run- even though I had no personal ties or connections to people who have fought breast cancer.

Oh the funny thing is the three of them were finished way before me and they knew I'd take a long time to come in... my time was much faster than any of us realized I would get and they didn't start looking for me to cross the finish line until after I had already crossed! I wandered around for 20 minutes looking for them and they were still at the finish line looking for me. lol! :)

Autumn days...

Autumn has hit our part of the country completely the past 2 weeks. We've had cool weather and rain, and more rain and even more rain. I love to sit inside with a cup of hot cocoa and a plate of cookies and read the day away when the weather is like this.

But I'm trying to loose weight, so cookies are out, and the hot cocoa that I allow myself is a very seldom indulgence right now.

So instead I've found myself cleaning out shelves, sorting through kids clothes, rearranging my kitchen cabinets, and trying to keep myself busy through the day. The busier I am, the less likely I am to just grab something to "snack" throughout the day.

And so my closets are looking cleaner, my overflowing pile of clothes the kids have grown out of have been tossed, or given away to others, and I have a new found place in the kitchen to store some bulk items and other stuff I used to have to store in the laundry room.

I've also managed to loose 8 pounds in the process.

So as London Tipton would say "Yea me!" (If you don't watch the Disney Channel on occasion you probably won't get that- and that's okay. :-) )

What good things have you forgotten about recently?

I have a great soaking tub with a whirlpool in it in my bathroom. For the past few months I've been slowly but surely trying to get it back into good shape. See we moved into this house almost 5 years ago. I used the tub quite often while I was pregnant, and then slowly but surely forgot about the whirlpool function on the tub and the greatness of it while the tub became a great place to bath little girls, and the whirlpool function was ignored.

Then one day I wanted to actually use it, and I turned it on and great big black floaties came shooting out of the jets.

I didn't know how to get it clean, I tried really hot water, vinegar and baking soda, bleach (all seperatly) mixed in with a tub full of water and running through the jets. Yet every time I would still have the black floaties come spurting out of the jets.

I finally hunted around Google and found the tip to use dishwasher detergent. It doesn't foam up like normal cleaners and soap, so you can use it with the jets.

It took about 5 times of filling up the tub, running the detergent in it for 20 minutes, and then draining and running a rinse of clean water... each time there were less and less and less floaties coming out of the jets.

Today I used my tub for the first time in years with the whirlpool... and I had forgotten how much it is a relaxing place for me to unwind, and rest. Now that I'm trying to exercise more- the jets give a great massage to weary legs and a sore back!


So... what do you have in your house and life that you've forgotten about the simple pleasure you get from it?

I'm looking around my house to see what else I already have that I've forgotten about... that when I first got it I loved, and it's slowly gotten lost underneath piles of other stuff. Maybe I'll start sharing them once a week... that seems like a neat blog post... tuesday findings... :)

Busy Month

I can't believe that we are over halfway through September! It's been a busy month!

Over Labor Day weekend Rich and I stayed busy assembling a playset for the kids. It took all day on Saturday (until time to go and watch the BYU game), and the entire day the next Monday, but we finished it and there were no left over parts! ;) (a few screws and stuff, but I think they sent extra's of those. lol!)

The weeks are starting to fly by really fast as well. With three kids in school all day, and Angela in school in the afternoons every day I feel like I've been able to get a little better balance on taking care of the house and having a little bit of quiet free time to myself each week.

The second weekend in September, Rich and I were able to take a little trip on our own without the kids. It was a great escape for us to be able to spend some time together and have some fun. We went to DisneyWorld and checked out one of the waterparks. It was sprinkling with rain all day long but it was a great day to go to the water part because your already going to be wet, and the lines were non exhistant! Rich goaded me into going on the scariest water slide I've ever seen... a humongously high water slide that goes straight down! They even put a radar gun on it to show you how fast you went on it! We were also able to enjoy some nice dinners without having to watch out for kids fighting and spilling their drinks and reminding them to use their forks and napkins. :) We even had to dress up a bit, and that was fun. Rich also surprised me with tickets to the La Nuba show at Cirque du Sole. It was amazing and so fun to watch! The acrobats were wonderful, the comic relief parts hilarious, and the music is all done live- live vocal, live instrumentals for the entire 1 1/2 hour performance! Very amazing and great to watch!

While we were out of town the kids stayed with our great friends, and so this past weekend was our turn to return the favor and we kept their 5 kids while they went off for a weekend. It was loud, and crazy at times, but lots of fun having so many kids in the house. They left yesterday and last night at dinner it was so quiet... even though we still had our 4 kids there talking. lol!

This week a good friend is in town visiting, and I get to go and get some dental work done, there is activities wed night, piano lessons, volunteering at the school, and I'm going to start a new goal... on Wed I'm going to start weight watchers. I just have not been accountable enough to myself, so I'm going to do this to get my weight back down. I'm also starting fresh with exercise. I'm not going to beat myself up for my past failings, and I'm just starting new and going to get my exercise in each day.

So... that's a short synopsis of our September... I will try and get some pictures put up on the Family blog sometime soon. I need to just take a bunch of pictures of the kids to show how much they've been growing. :)

Happy Birthday to me!

It's been over 4 1/2 years since we moved into this house. From when we sat down and planned the house and went over the floor plan with the builder I've envisioned what our back patio could become. Through out the years we've had kids toys, lawn chairs, plastic kids picnic tables, and trikes and stuff on the patio. It hasn't been inviting for me to go out and sit and enjoy it at all. I've also never had a grill.

For my birthday this year Rich asked me what I would like, and I told him I'd like to get stuff for the patio, to turn it into a nice place that I can enjoy. It took a few months, but we have gotten pieces of stuff and today the last piece arrived and we now have a nice living area out on the patio. For me and the family to use the space and enjoy the space outside out house just as much as we use and enjoy the space inside our house. :)

Schools in, Schools in...

So we now have two weeks of school under our belt.

Three kids catching the school bus each morning, three kids lunches to pack and three kids to get their hair combed before they head off to school.

We've missed the bus about the same number of days that they have caught the bus.

But overall I think we are doing well. I've been able to keep up with lunches and the kids have plenty to eat in their lunch boxes with a little variety as well.

The kids all like their teachers, and are doing well in their classes. Ashley was feeling a little bit lost without her good friend in her class that she's had in her class the last 2 years, but she has lots of other friends as well and is doing fine.

Alex is adapting to the busy schedule of 5th grade and changing classrooms for different subjects.

Alyssa is doing just fine adapting to 1st grade and being at school all day long. She enjoys being at school and getting to go to Gym and Music and Health classes. She loves having lunch at school and riding the bus too and from school with her friends.

Angela is doing awesome! She is excited every day to go to school. We are carpooling with friends and when I drop her and the other little girl off she is just full of smiles. Our friends pick her up and bring her home from school and she can't wait to show me whatever item they made in school that day. She is so cute learning her nursery rhymns and loves to wear her "school clothes" I tried to get her to wear an outfit last saturday and she told me that it was her school clothes and she couldn't wear it on a Saturday when she wasn't going to school! lol!

I am finding lots of ways to fill my time during the day when they are all at school. I've exercised, gone shopping, cleaned the house, had lunch with friends, and more... it's been nice to just have those few quiet hours where I still am getting stuff done, but I also can just have my own thoughts to fill the time and not get interrupted all the time. :)

The weather is gorgeous now and we don't have school today so I'm about to head outside and insist that the kids find something to do out there. :)

Birthday Cakes

All of our kids have summer birthdays. We get to celebrate a birthday, then a week later celebrate another birthday, and then have a month off and then celebrate two more birthday's within a week and a half.

My favorite thing to do for the kids birthday's is to make them a cake. Now I am no professional. The cakes are flawed in many ways, but it is perhaps the most creative I am during the entire year when I make cakes for my kids birthday's.

Here is my gallery of cakes that were made this year for birthdays. Alyssa and Ashley each got two cakes- a family cake on their birthday and a birthday party cake. Alex with his birthday falling on the first day of school- had a store bought cake for the family party, so I can't take credit for that one, and Angela had her party on her actual birthday, so just had one cake.


Angela:






Ashley:









Alyssa:









Alex:

Thoughts

I'm sitting on the floor in the little girls room, waiting for them to go to sleep. It's such a struggle some nights to get them to settle down and go to sleep. Yet other nights they are asleep within five minutes of their heads touching the pillows. I know my mom and friends whose children are older always tell me to enjoy this time while the kids are younger. Don't get me wrong I am loving the ages of the kids right now, but at the end of a long day I definitly enjoy the nights that I tuck them into bed and only have to wait five minutes to hear their snores of deep sleep much more than nights that include tucking them in multiple times after additional bathroom a drink trips.

So... I think I do complain a little bit too much about the kids without pointing out the wonderful things I love about our kids.

Alex: He has matured so much in the last year. While we still get complaints about things, he is much quicker to calm down and talk things through. He has such an inquisitive mind and picks up on stuff quickly. On our recent trip he a few times saw the speed limit sign and questioned Rich on how fast he was driving! :). He is becoming great at taking care of younger kids and our friends are noticing how well he plays with their young kids and watches out for them. I think he will have some possible babysitting jobs when he turns 12.

Ashley: She is nine going on nineteen some days. While her debate style can be exasperating for Rich and I some days, she is so quick and so smart. She has developed a great whit and catches the tiniest of details if you aren't specific. She is becoming a great little mothers helper babysitter, and has shown that she can keep a cool head in an emergency situation.

Alyssa has shed her outer shell this year. Where she was once hesitant, shy and very wary in large group situations, she is now bouncing up and down and leading whatever goofy activity she wants to do. I was so surprised on our last trip when she wanted to ride a bunch of the rollercoasters and really liked them! It is so great to see her confidence blossum so much!

Angela: One time a friend of mine mentioned how the Lord seems to send firecrackers for youngest children. That would be an apt description of our Angela. She keeps us laughing daily. She has the greatest sense of humor and uses it to diffuse crankiness so encounters. She is so quick to forgive and forget and move on with the fun times.

Tuesday is the first day if school. We've got the school supplies, meet the teachers and are about to embark on the new school year. I can't wait to see how much the kids learn this year, yet at the same time I'll be content with a snapshot to treasure this moment in their lives.

Oh.... The girls are now asleep... Great timing. :)

Um what was I just saying??

Rich came home from work yesterday and read this blog last night, then turned to me and asked me if I wanted to revise what I had posted or not?

Yes... yesterday was a difficult day. And we have those...

Maybe it's not so much that I'm not ready for them to go back to school, as that I'm not ready for the routine and busyness that comes when school starts.

But today I'm a little more ready for school to start... 1 more week. :)

One more week

School starts in a week and one day. Usually by this time of the summer I'm ready for the kids to go back to school. They are to the point that they are fighting and bored and just really we aren't having any fun at home by this point of the summer.

This summer has been different though. I don't know if it's that the kids are getting older, so going and doing things with them is easier, or if I'm just becoming more mellow and I'm dealing with the occasional fights better.

I decided last night that I needed to start getting myself used to waking up on time this week, so it wasn't as big of a problem next week when school does start.

I failed miserably this morning. Rich woke me up as he was headed out the door, and the next thing I knew it was an hour later and I had fallen right back to sleep! whoops!

I've got 5 more mornings to try and get myself back onto the schedule before it's an actual school day. This year Alyssa will be going to 1st grade, so she has to be up, eat breakfast and ready to go in the mornings too (and that includes combing the tangles out of her curly hair!).

For now though I want to really enjoy this next week with the kids at home. We have had a great summer and it's been fun having them home. It will be good for them to go to school next week though... before we get to the point that we are tired of being at home together all day everyday. :)

Pictures are up!

I've got pictures up from our trip finally... hey it's still under a week back so I think that might be a record for me getting pictures up. :)

Go over to the family photo blog:

www.newtonaaaa.blogger.com

Home sweet home

I love going on trips with my family, but there's no place like home. :)

We were gone for 11 days, attended a family reunion, went to Disneyland, and attended a wedding (that wasn't originally in our plans) and drove in the car for about 56 hours!

I have lots of pictures to share, but we had a blast. :)

We left on a wed and drove to Flagstaff, AZ and stayed the night. The next morning we drove the remaining 5 hours up to Escalante, UT where my family had a family reunion. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins that they don't see very often, and we had a fun time reconnecting with my siblings and their spouses. We hiked, fished, canoe'ed, played kickball, did smores, boche ball, watched a parade and rodeo, and talked and laughed and cooked and ate. It was a great 3 days and my brother and his wife did a great job with all the activities they planned for everyone.

After the reunion we loaded up the car and took off. The kids thought we were just going home, but we had a surprise planned for them. We wondered how long we could keep it a secret and despite the map in the front of the car we were able to get to the hotel in Anaheim before we told the kids that instead of being home the next day, we would be staying in Anaheim for the next 5 nights and going to Disneyland. lol! :) Rich's parents drove down from Northern California and meet us the next day and we had three very fun filled days at California Adventure and Disneyland.

The original plan was to drive straight home after that and arrive home on Saturday night, but Rich's Brother decided to propose to his girlfriend, and marry her within a week... so we diverted back to Utah and the kids got to spend a very fun filled day with my sister and her hubby while Rich and I shopped for clothes to wear and attended their wedding in the Manti Temple. It was a wonderful day and we are so happy that we were able to attend and be there. :)

We got back to my parents house around midnight, slept a few hours and then woke up and loaded up the car with suitcases and kids and drove home... all 17 hours straight. We got in at 2am on the dot... and promptly crashed. :)

Now we are in the post vacation messy house and I need to get suitcases emptied, dirty clothes laundered, and start thinking about the next two birthday parties (Alyssa's birthday was last sunday) and back to school! :)

I'm uploading photo's and will hopefully have them and some stories about the trip up on the family blog in the next day or so. :)

Hi

Just stopping in for a little bit.

We're still having fun this summer. We just had two birthday's. Angela turned 4 and had her first birthday party, and Ashley just turned 9. We'll have her birthday party next weekend... for some reason a birthday party on the 4th of July just didn't seem like a good idea! :) Also her best friend is out of town for the week and she just couldn't have a party without her. :) So we'll have it later. I'm sure I'll have pictures to share from it. I did just put a bunch of summer (and some of the end of the school year) pictures up on the family blog look for the link on the sidebar here and it will take you to it if you don't have it already.

We've been swimming, and playing... the kids aren't tired of the pool yet, and the girls are just loving being in the water this year. This is the first year that I haven't had any kids clinging to me in the water and I can just sit near the edge or in the pool and watch the kids easily. It's much more enjoyable for mom when we can do this than years past when I had one or two girls hanging on me the entire time at the pool.

I'm trying to get myself into a bit of a routine, doing some exercise and chores around the house in the mornings, and then we go and swim in the early afternoon, and the kids get to chill and watch tv a bit in the late afternoons when it's so incredibly hot outside. I think by the time we get the routine down pat, school will start. lol! The chore part of the routine is what constantly eludes me... it's hard to get the house cleaned up, when you know your just going to turn around and it will be dirty again. :)

Next week we have book club and they are discussing the book "Eat Cake" if I were a good blogger I'd link to the book or something, but I'm not... sorry... anyway in the back of the book are a bunch of recipe's for the cakes she bakes throughout the book and I need to choose one to make to take to the book club. I'm excited they aren't just cake mix cakes and do involve quiet a few steps, but I'm looking at it as a fun challenge. I do love to bake, but really just don't bake a lot because I don't want to have the treats around the house to eat... so I'll bake it, and take it and leave it there! :)

randomness

My head is full of random thoughts that litter my mind throughout the day. I know it drives Rich nuts when we are talking about one thing, and all of a sudden I start talking about something else in a half sentence as if he can read my mind and knows exactly what subject I've jumped to in my head.

I find at night time the thoughts swirl around so much one would think I am obsessing over things, but it seems to be the time of day when I can actually think full thoughts through and try to organize them a little bit.

I was at a friends house yesterday and as much as I say I'm not crafty, the idea's do pop into my mind of how to organize and decorate and stuff... it's the execution that I never get around to... and I'm thinking it's about time I stop jus tinking of things to do, and actually do them...

cleaning my bathroom would probably be a great place to start... so I'll get to that... after we go swimming, and have dinner and put kids in bed...

well that might have to still wait till tomorrow, but I do resolve to start using my down time in more productive ways.

like now... I'm waiting outside while Ashley has piano lessons, and blogging from my phone. :)

Busy days...

I think we as mothers tend to delude ourselves into thinking that once school is out, things will calm down and be easier. We won't have to get up and get the kids on the school bus with hopefully a homemade lunch... if we don't have time to make the lunch- the lunch account in the cafeteria will cover for us and feed the kids. If they miss the bus, we can always just drive them to school. But it feels hectic... getting everyone off to school, then going about our daily routines while we have a few less kids at home.

We think in the summer- we won't have that morning stress, we can sleep in and relax and have fun...

Well then one child wants to sign up for this camp, and another one has these other plans, and along with that are invitations to go swimming at friends houses and playdates at other friends houses...

I've felt like a taxi driver the past few days. lol! I'm actually getting up earlier in the morning than I did when the kids had school, and I feel like I'm on the go for most of the day. I'm fitting in washing clothes and exercising in between dropping off kids and picking up kids. If I don't get lunch made, there's no cafeteria to bail me out (unless you count my friends Robyn's house whom we tend to wind up at often lately) and I have to find something for the kids to eat. With all this activity- hours at the pool and playdates with friends you would think the kids would be exhausted and dropping down on the floor and ready to sleep at bedtime... but no... it's not dark outside points out my almost 4 year old... as she sits in her bed and sings song after song after song... and finally falls asleep closer to 10pm than the 8pm I would like.

It's been busy, but it has also been fun. We have been able to play, and relax in the afternoons at the pool. The house may be suffering a little bit from it, but so far the kids and I have been doing well and having fun with each other. :)

Um yeah... we are still here!

I haven't posted anything in a long time... sorry!

We have gotten through the last weeks of school, and are now in the first week of summer vacation. We've filled the days so far with the pool, getting together with friends, doing housework (much to the dissapointment of the kids), watching movies, playing in the backyard, and baking. So far so good, but I'm tired and it's only the first week of summer break! lol! I'm sure it will fly by way too fast so I just want to try and enjoy it for as long as I can. :)

I've got a bunch of pictures I need to upload and post, and will try to do that sometime soon.

Shoes

This past week as Rich has been out of town my girls have been in and out of our closet on a daily basis playing with my shoes. They find one pair of heels and wear them for an hour or two and then come and trade for another pair of heels. There is something about wearing mom's heels and dressing up that is a natural action for every little girl.

It's fun and sweet to watch them pretenting to be grown up and wearing my shoes. Someday the heels will loose their magic and they'll have the same love hate relationship with them. I love my heels, but hate how my feet hurt after a few hours in them. lol!

But it brings back memories that I have of walking around the house wearing MY mom's high heeled shoes. :)

Quick trip

I'm home now from a quick trip I made out to Utah this last weekend. My baby sister and her hubby were sealed in the Temple, and I was so happy that I was able to make a quick trip back there to attend that. I was only in Utah for about 36 hours and I tried to squeeze as much as I could into that time.

Some highlights of the trip:

• I surprised everyone and brought my sister and her little 14 month old boy down from the airport. No one else knew they were coming except my brother (we needed to figure out somewhere for the 14 month old to go the next day during the sealing).
• We sent my sisters hubbie to the store not once, but twice to get ingredients for cookies we were making for the next day.
• Going and getting my hair cut on a whim, and having my little sisters tell the stylist just how to cut it... I LOVE IT! I'll get a picture up once I actually wash it and style it... no one wants to see it now. lol!
• Seeing my mom after having two hip replacement surgeries- walking around the house without using a cane or holding onto anything to help her balance! She hadn't been able to walk without help for a few years and it was great to see that. :)
• Seeing my little sister who is pregnant with her first- and seeing that little baby bump that to her seems huge, but to my other sister and I who have had 4 pregnancies- it was a cute little baby bump!
• Attending the sealing ceremony.
• The stresses of driving around in Salt Lake when I haven't really driven there in 10 years... there was so much new stuff, that the landmarks I was used to- were hard to find. I took a lot of wrong exits, missed turns and got turned around quite a few times, but it was fine and my sister and I had a good time laughing about it in the car.
• Visiting with my Grandma. :) She is a strong wonderful woman. She just was diagnosed with a form of cancer and when asked how she was feeling, she grabbed my sisters hand and felt her fingers and said "I'm feeling fingers, what about you?" She has the greatest sense of humor and it was so fun to be able to see her and visit with her.
• Going out to dinner with my sister and her hubbie. She is younger than I and I wasn't really around as she went through her teenage years and young adult years. I also hadn't really had an opportunity to sit and talk with her and her hubbie much because I'd always had 4 kids climbing all over me when we had seen them. We had a great time at dinner together.
• Visiting with old friends. I had initially not contacted any old friends that I was going to be out there, because it was such a short time, but I emailed a friend last Thursday that I would be out there and maybe we could get together saturday night. Then I got out there and in the whirlwind of the weekend found myself at 8pm on Saturday realizing that I hadn't talked to her and we hadn't made any definite plans and I was dissapointed that we probably wouldn't be able to pull it off and see each other. She called a little while later and she came over and she pulled a surprise on me! One of our other best friends from highschool had just come back to Utah after being away for many years and she came over too! We had a great time talking for a few hours, and it was such a great time seeing them and reconnecting with them. We haven't seen each other in years, yet it was just normal to sit and talk and giggle just like we were back in highschool. We are recommitted to making time to get together again more often...
• Staying up late playing games with my sisters and their hubbies... I think us girls were more committed to staying up late, but their hubbies toughed it out and stayed up with us. We had a great time playing card games, eating leftover cookies from the reception, and teasing my sisters little dog.

I had an awesome weekend! Thank you Rich for supporting me and encouraging me to go out and be a part of the weekend. :)

Now this week may have a few whining posts from me since Rich is out of town till saturday... We had to pawn the kids off on a friend for a few hours yesterday since Rich had to fly out before I came back from my trip, but it all worked out and Angela didn't even want to go home with me last night! lol! :) I'll try to keep the whining down to a minimum as well. :)

Hi

Life has been busy... I've been avoiding this blog because I have to report that I did NOT live up to my goal of staying away from desserts and sweets until my birthday..

Oh well... I have increased the exercise and am fine with where I am for now.

I'll try and get back and actually post a decent post sometime soon. :)

Just checking in

We had a great weekend! It was the weekend of General Conference. We hole up in the house and watch two sessions on Saturday, then the men get a special session Saturday night that they get to go and watch, and then another two sessions on Sunday. It is always a balancing act of keeping kids entertained and quiet, letting them play unsupervised so I can listen to the talks, and having them come and watch and listen to some of the talks.

Overall I think we did pretty well with the balancing act, and I've come out of the weekend feeling spiritually rejuvenated.

On another note, I did cave and have a few bites of the leftover donuts on Friday after I set my goal on Thursday, but... I haven't had anything since, and we even made cookies with the kids last night and I didn't even try a bite of either type of cookie!

This morning felt like a stereotypical monday morning. I'm getting a slow start and haven't exercised yet, but I am getting Alyssa off to school today and then I'll get my exercise in this afternoon.

little kids

I'm watching my friends 2 kids today. I'm jealous that she's off on an awesome trip, but it's been fun having her two little ones here today while her hubby has to do some work.

The kids are 4 and 1, and the 1 year old is a little sad because he is out of his element and his schedule is all messed up. It is so sweet to watch his big sister and my little girls as they bring him toys and snacks and try to keep him entertained. They are giving him rides on the office chair and carefully taking turns sitting on it and holding him, and the other two gently turn the chair in circles.

They are walking around the couch with him, and cuddling up on the couch with him and his blanket to watch tv.

These little ones of ours watch us. They see us as mom's and what we do each day. I love to listen to my girls as they play house and hear them as they mimic what I do and say during the day. Sometimes I am surprised by what they have witnessed and mimic that I have done, but most of the time I'm touched that they pick up of what I do throughout the day. Instead of spending time mimicing how I scold or when I get frustrated- they mimic the fun times. They mimic the daily routine of my chores- without my frustrated angry voice.

So many times in my life I've uttered the phrase- "I can't wait till they are older" Now, for the very first time I'm looking back and realizing that while I still am glad that my kids are getting older, there is an entire chapter of my life that is closing. I don't have little tiny babies in the house anymore. In 2 weeks I'll be signing my youngest up for pre-k! It's been fun today to have the extra little ones in the house, and a great reminder to me that our kids really are paying attention to us and how we act throughout the day.

The Biggest Looser

So my friend and I were doing a Biggest looser competition at the start of the year. I started out with great enthusiasm and results the first two weeks. Then I started getting frustrated that I didn't have anything to do cardio on. We decided it would be a good investment to purchase a treadmill to have at the house. So I kind of lost some momentum telling myself that when the treadmill came- I would go gung ho and get that enthusiasm back. Well the treadmill came and it didn't work. It had a problem with the console. A call was made, the console would be replaced, but we had to wait for the part on back order. It would be about 3-4 weeks. THUD... there went my momentum and desire to exercise. It was like the rug getting pulled out from under me. So I waited, and waited, and waited. And the 3-4 weeks came and went and the console was not here. I called them again. They asked me to give it one more week. I gave them one more week and it still wasn't off of backorder. So I told them I wanted my money back. We ordered a different treadmill and that came within 2 weeks.

Now I have a treadmill, and I'm trying to find the enthusiasm that I had at the begining of the year. I had so much enthusiasm then, and now it's a struggle to have that enthusiasm. I know it's a mental thing though, so I'm choosing today to change that mental struggle.

It's April 2nd. I just bought donuts for my daughters class breakfast study club, and bought some for the family and came home and ate one. I've been snacking on too much junk and I know that contributes to me not wanting to exercise.

So... from today until my birthday April 24th (or whenever the family celebrates it) I'm not going to have desserts... no cookies, cakes, candy, hot chocolate. I've done it before, I know I can do this, and I'm posting it here to be accountable. :) I'll eat my normal meals, but just cut out the snacking between meals and the desserts.

Oh... my friend that started with me at the begining of the year?? She has done AWESOME!!!!!!!! she's lost 30+ pounds and looks amazing. She had never really gotten into exercising and she has just learned to love it. I know that once I get into my groove that I love exercising... I just have to get back into the groove of it again. :)

So... wish me luck!

Branson Trip report

I'm working on putting a more detailed "trip report" with pictures on the family site, but here is the pictureless story.

We decided to take the kids to Branson for Spring Break. While we drove out Alyssa got car sick, then we got there and checked into the hotel. We went to a nice buffet for an early dinner, and then rode the Ducks. The Ducks are a bus/boat that gives a tour through Branson and onto Table Lake. Alex took the opportunity to drive the boat while it was on the lake and we all had a fun time. Then after that we went miniature golfing at a fun dinosaur place. Then back to the hotel to sleep.

The next day we went to Silver Dollar City. It was overcast and cold and windy that morning. It was also the first day that the park was open for the season, so we wound up with a long line to get tickets to get in that morning. Once we got in Rich and the big kids went on a ride, then we got some hot chocolate and watched a show. It was starting to warm up and the kids wanted to play in the kid area- it was lots of fun and I think we spent about an hour in there! We did loose track of Alyssa for a short while and that gave me a mini anxiety attack, but we found her and all was well. Then we got some lunch and after lunch we split up- Rich and the big kids rode all the big rides, and the little girls and I went and rode all the little kid rides. We meet up at the end of the day just in time to ride a few more rides and then the park was closing.

We went back to the hotel to change into some clean clothes, and then headed back into town for dinner. Alex was not enthusiastic about going to the Olive garden for dinner, but once he realized he could get a dessert as part of his kids meal there, he was happy again. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and tucked the kids into bed for the night.

The next morning we slept in a little bit, and then walked over to the lake from our condo (we stayed at a lakeside condo place) and took the paddle boats out. Alex and Ashley had to go on a boat together and they really learned a lesson in co-operation! It was pretty humerous as we were out in the middle of the lake and they were fighting about where to steer the boat and how fast to peddle... Rich wound up coming up next to them and steering them when they got back close to the dock. lol! We got a great workout on our legs! I tried to take some pictures out on the lake, but with Angela trying to help us steer I couldn't have the camera out very long.After we dried off from that excursion (water lapped up into the boats at times and we had some wet seats from it) we headed over to the outlet mall to get some shopping in. I got some great deals on clothes for the girls, and we also found some good prices for Rich's jeans and Alex's shirts. The kids definitly are not used to shopping a lot, and by the end we were all getting tired of it.

That evening we went to the Dolly Parton Dixie Stampede Dinner show. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it. I had a hard time getting Angela to eat because she kept watching the show so intently! After the show we decided to go miniature golfing again at the same dinosaur place on the upper course. Then after that we weren't ready to head back to the hotel for the night, so we went and watched a movie. Race to Witch Mountain. It was a fun evening and by the time we got back to the hotel the kids were so tired, they went to sleep without any complaints! lol!

The next day we slept in and then headed to IHOP for breakfast. Everyone got breakfast foods, except Angela. She was adamant that she wanted a cheeseburger! We were certain we would order it and then the kids would have their pancakes with whipped cream on top and she would get upset, but she was adamant that she wanted that cheeseburger, and nothing else! So we got it- and she surprised us and ate the whole cheeseburger and never even once hinted she wanted a pancake. lol!After breakfast (which was really close to lunch time) we went and did a little bit more shopping at the outlet stores (oh how I wish I had outlet stores close by!) and then went and watched a chinese acrobat's show. It was a little bit disapointing in that it didn't really have a huge wow factor and it was mostly kids performing and they made mistakes that just took away from the performance. We went back to the hotel to hang out for a while. Then went out that night and picked up some dinner from Sonic and brought it back to our condo. We had a quieter evening and just stayed at the condo for the night.

The next morning we woke up and packed up and headed on the road for home. Ashley got carsick this time (the roads are really windy through the ozarks). We drove through Benton and Rogers and Lowell, where we lived when Ashley was born and stopped and showed the kids all the significant places there. We stopped and had lunch at my favorite Chinese Buffet- Panda Buffet in Rogers, AR. When we drove past the hospital Ashley was born at, it was closed down. I need to look and see if they built a new one, or what happened to it. The rest of the drive home was uneventful and went quickly.

Since we've been back we've had book reports, cub scout and activity days, an almost snow storm, and a friend moving that we've been busy helping as well... it's been a busy week, and the way life is- the future weeks are busy too. :)

um... been busy??

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. We went to Branson, had a fun time, and are back at home now. I've been busy, and haven't had much computer time. Our treadmill came and it works this time so I've enjoyed using it.

I've got a busy week going on, so hopefully I can get a chance to post pictures from our trip and write up a little "trip report" sometime in the next few days. :)

Hello, Hello, Hello

I haven't posted much on here lately. We have just been busy with life in general. Next week is spring break for the kids so we will head over to Branson and check it out. We have friends that have told us how fun it is and great to take the family to, so we thought we would go. I'm trying to slowly go through the house and tackle some of my clutter traps and organize things so hopefully they will work better.

Anyway... nothing great to say right now, but Hello! Hope everyone is doing well. We thought spring was here, and then got hit with the cold front that swept through here. I'm hoping it will warm up again soon and then stay nice for a while before the sweltering summer heat starts!

Freebie...

Okay... so I forgot to get back to this last week... that's why I normally don't do things like this. lol!

But... I did get a few comments, so those people will be receiving something from me. :) I don't know when it will come, but it will be a nice surprise when it does. :)

Whew what a week!

And it's not over yet!

We have been moving the little girls bedroom upstairs to the bonus room. Alex's bedroom into the little girls old room (along with painting it), and we will be moving our exercise equipment and desk into the office (Alex's old room) along with some of the electronics from upstairs.

We've gotten the girls moved up, Alex moved over, and now we will focus on the office and then move the electronics down and the equipment over from our room.

All of that along with the normal weekly stuff... dr's appointment, school meeting, cub scouts, lunch date, church meeting, piano, cleaning, cooking, etc... it's been busy!

My first ever Freebie!

Last week I was pulling up my daily list of RSS blog feeds. I got to my friend Gale's blog and she had posted for everyone to hurry over to her sisters blog and post a comment to get a freebie...

I usually never do these... I just write in my blog as a journaling and self therapy...

But that day I clicked over to her sisters blog, Gale's sister put my comment in (it was past the first 5) and spent some time wandering through her gorgeous sisters blog. Her sister emailed me and told me she would still send me something, so it's my turn to post this on my blog and I'll be doing my first ever give away...

I will give out 5 freebies... if I only get 5 comments, those five people will get the freebie. If I get more than 5 comments, I'll put the numbers in a hat, and let Angela draw out the numbers of who get's the freebie.

As for the comments, I tried this on facebook and only ONE person replied, so I'm trying it here and hopefully it will work out better. In your comment tell me one memory you have about me.

It's monday now. I know a lot of you don't check blogs daily, so I'll wait until Friday at noon and then close the comments and do the drawing then...



Here's the small print...Of course there are some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I send to you! I can send whatever I want, this could be very risky.

2. My gift to you will more than likely NOT be homemade by me. Sorry I know my limitations.

3. It will be mailed to you sometime in the next two months. That seems like a long time but I also know my busy schedule and I need to give myself some room. It will most likely come sooner but you never know??

4. And last but not least...you can be out of town ...I will mail it.

More small print...

The catch?Oh, the catch is that if you win......you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people willing to do the same on their blog. (Unless you don't have a blog, in which case - feel free to post "anonymously" but post your name at the end so I know who you are and I'll still send you something anyway.)

monday, monday...

So I've got larengitis today, well I can talk a little bit, but not much. I had a sore throat and went to choir practice at church yesterday, and now I don't have much of a voice left.

It's just a regular monday morning here, cleaning, kids fighting, feeding kids, cleaning more, tempertantrums, laundry, and more laundry....

And it's only noon.

And I'm still in pj's!

Such is life... :) As much as I grumble and complain about it, there's no other place I'd rather be. :)

Girls night out...

We are having a girls night out tonight... well kind of. My friend's hubbie is out on a campout tonight, so two of us came over to her house and we are scrapbooking, and talking... and listening to her kids running around... it's all fun.

And I'm going to try and get some backgrounds up on the blogs tonight.... I'm tired of the plain white. :)

Happy Valentines Day!

I know... it's a little late.

I've never been a huge valentines day fan. There's no history or tradition behind the holiday- it's purely a holiday made up for commercial reasons. It is sweet to celebrate love, but it has become way too huge and commercial for my tastes.

We had a ward valentines day dance that was so much fun on Friday night. The girls had a blast and just LOVED dancing for hours! Alyssa really broke out of her shyness and was dancing up a storm. I loved seeing her having so much fun, and our friends noticed too how outgoing and happy she was dancing around.

On Saturday we had a low key day at home, Ashley had a friend over for a while, then we decided to finally buy ourselves a bed, instead of just having our mattress on a frame with no headboard or anything... so we took all 4 kids to not just one, but two furniture stores... they did surprisingly well. Although they did try to talk us into buying more items for their rooms... lol! Then we had a great romantic dinner at Golden Corral. :) I was shocked at how busy it was... I don't think I've ever seen it so full... but it was a good dinner, I didn't have to cook- and we all got to eat food we wanted to eat.

The kids were home from school yesterday for the holiday and now that we have school today, the girls are all starting to feel sick. I'm not sure why the timing is like this- they had a 3 day weekend they felt fine during, but are sick now... so we'll have a pj's and movies day and let them rest and hopefully feel better tomorrow so they don't have too much make up work...

Relief Society Lesson- Nobility in Motherhood

I taught in Relief Society last Sunday. The topic was taken from the Relief Society theme/mission statement: Finding Nobility in Motherhood, and Joy in Womanhood

I actually never got to the second half of my prepared lesson, so I'll just post what I did get to teach. The really neat thing was later I found out that the young women had a very similar lesson on the Joy of Womanhood... there was absolutly no communication between the Relief Society and the Young Woman's organizations about our lessons. It just happened that we were talking about the same general topic that day. Very neat!

In the June 1992 ensign, there is an article written by Marie Hafen. She starts it out with a great question for all of us.

"Consider three familiar symbols—a diaper, a frying pan, and a boy’s worn-out
tennis shoe. How do you react to these objects? Are they symbols of joy and
fulfillment? Or are they symbols of drudgery and submission?"

President David O. McKay (1873–1970): “[The] ability and willingness properly to
rear children, the gift to love, and eagerness … to express it in soul
development, make motherhood the noblest office or calling in the world. She who
can paint a masterpiece or write a book that will influence millions deserves
the admiration and the plaudits of mankind; but she who rears successfully a
family of healthy, beautiful sons and daughters, whose influence will be felt
through generations to come, … deserves the highest honor that man can give, and
the choicest blessings of God” (Gospel Ideals [1954], 453–54).

I’ve thought a lot about this for the past few months since I knew I would be teaching on this topic. I also have thought about the phrase “Finding Nobility in Motherhood, and Joy in Womanhood” I wondered to myself why it was phrased that way. It would have equally sounded wonderful if it was phrased “Finding Joy in Motherhood, and Nobility in Womanhood” but… I then looked at it closer.

Joy is often equated with motherhood. Even here when I look up the definition of Joy on Dictionary.com, the first definition gives an example of a mother’s joy in a son’s accomplishment.
Nobility also is easily equated with Womanhood. We know that we are Noble daughters of our Heavenly Father.

I think it is wonderful that in this declaration of the purposes that our Relief Society is here for, that they wrote it this way. Finding Nobility in Motherhood and Joy in Womanhood.

It is easy to find Joy in Motherhood, but we feel less noble when we are changing the dirty diapers. It is easy to equate Nobleness with Womanhood, but sometimes we forget to see the Joy in being woman with uniquely divine and noble characteristics, when society around us tells us to not embrace the differences between men and women.

Sheri Dew in the October 2001 conference gave a talk that is one of my favorites. She titled it “Are We Not All Mothers?” (for those who don't know who Sheri Dew is, she was the President of the entire Relief Society Organization- church wide a few years ago. She is a wonderful lady in her 40's or 50's and has never been married or had children.)
In it she said:

When we understand the magnitude of motherhood, it becomes clear why prophets
have been so protective of woman’s most sacred role. While we tend to equate
motherhood solely with maternity, in the Lord’s language, the word mother has
layers of meaning. Of all the words they could have chosen to define her role
and her essence, both God the Father and Adam called Eve “the mother of all
living”—and they did so before she ever bore a child. Like Eve, our motherhood
began before we were born. Just as worthy men were foreordained to hold the
priesthood in mortality, righteous women were endowed premortally with the
privilege of motherhood. Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is
certainly that. It is the essence of who we are as women. It defines our very
identity, our divine stature and nature, and the unique traits our Father gave
us.

I know that a lot of you here are further along the road of motherhood than I am, and others are still waiting for the opportunity of motherhood. Sheri Dew talks to all of us in her talk and goes on to say:

the subject of motherhood is a very tender one, for it evokes some of our greatest joys and heartaches. This has been so from the beginning. Eve was “glad” after the Fall, realizing she otherwise “never should have had seed.” 9 And yet, imagine her anguish over Cain and Abel. Some mothers experience pain because of the children they have borne; others feel pain because they do not bear children here. About this Elder John A. Widtsoe was explicit: “Women who through no fault of their own cannot exercise the gift of motherhood directly, may do so vicariously.” 10 For reasons known to the Lord, some women are required to wait to have children. This delay is not easy for any righteous woman. But the Lord’s timetable for each of us does not negate our nature. Some of us, then, must simply find other ways to mother. And all around us are those who need to be loved and led.

As daughters of our Heavenly Father, and as daughters of Eve, we are all mothers and we have always been mothers. And we each have the responsibility to love and help lead the rising generation. How will our young women learn to live as women of God unless they see what women of God look like, meaning what we wear, watch,
and read; how we fill our time and our minds; how we face temptation and
uncertainty; where we find true joy; and why modesty and femininity are
hallmarks of righteous women? How will our young men learn to value women of
God if we don’t show them the virtue of our virtues?
Every one of us has an overarching obligation to model righteous womanhood because our youth may not see it anywhere else. Every sister in Relief
Society, which is the most significant community of women on this side of the
veil, is responsible to help our young women make a joyful transition into
Relief Society. This means our friendship with them must begin long before they
turn 18. Every one of us can mother someone—beginning, of course, with the
children in our own families but extending far beyond. Every one of us can show
by word and by deed that the work of women in the Lord’s kingdom is magnificent
and holy. I repeat: We are all mothers in Israel, and our calling is to love and
help lead the rising generation through the dangerous streets of mortality.
Few of us will reach our potential without the nurturing of both the mother who bore us and the mothers who bear with us. I was thrilled recently to see one of my youth leaders for the first time in years. As a teenager who had absolutely no self-confidence, I always sidled up to this woman because she would put her arm around me and say, “You are just the best girl!” She loved me, so I let her lead me. How many young men and women are desperate for your love and leadership? Do we fully realize that our influence as mothers in Israel is irreplaceable and eternal?

How can we all find nobility in motherhood? Whether we have children at home that we mother, or we take the opportunity to love and cherish and help mother those children around us.

Let’s look at what the Prophet’s have taught concerning nurturing children.

Deuteronomy 6:7 [Deut. 6:7]: “Thou shalt teach [the words of the Lord]
diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine
house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou
risest up.”
Mosiah 4:15: “Ye will teach [children] to walk in the
ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to
serve one another.”
3 Nephi 22:13 [3 Ne.
22:13]: “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be
the peace of thy children.”

Questions we can ask ourselves:
What can I contribute?
Why was a chosen to be the mother of these children?
What can I do to strengthen the sisters in my ward?

In the July 2002 ensign, the visiting teaching message was on this very subject. I can distinctly remember sitting in a 5th wheel trailer, which was the home of a young couple finishing up their schooling. They were excited to be getting ready to move into a house and start the next phase of their lives and hopefully start a family. At this time in my life, I was in the throes of young motherhood. I had a very active 4 and 2 year old and I spent many days wondering what in the world I was doing with them. I was depressed. I could find no Joy in motherhood, and definitely no divinity. I was paired up with a wonderful companion. She had young children as well, but she was further along and had much more experience than me and was expecting her 4th child. I think at that time she had a difficult visiting teaching route because she was not only teaching the sisters we visited, but she was also teaching me. As we sat and talked, three women each in different stages of motherhood and womanhood, I remember the sweet feeling that came to me. I would feel the divinity in motherhood and the Joy in womanhood again. I had forgotten what and why I was as home with my children each day, and I had forgotten why I had wanted this. One quote in that visiting teaching message changed my outlook that day.

Mary Ellen W. Smoot, former Relief Society general president: “Each of us has a
vital role, even a sacred mission to perform as a daughter in Zion. … It is our
destiny to rejoice as we fill the earth with greater kindness and gentleness,
greater love and compassion, greater sympathy and empathy than have ever been
known before. It is time to give ourselves to the Master and allow Him to lead
us into fruitful fields where we can enrich a world filled with darkness and
misery” (“Rejoice, Daughters of Zion,” Ensign, Nov. 1999, 94).

It didn’t snap me out of depression, but it allowed a ray of light to come through the darkness. I don’t always feel the divine part of motherhood. This last week, being stuck at home with the kids multiple days on end, did not feel divine, but knowing that this is a Divine roll that we have, and knowing that this was what we would be talking about this Sunday- definitely helped me find some joy in the situation.

_____________________________________________________________

So that was the lesson. I felt really good afterward and we had some great discussions throughout the lesson. It was a little funny. When I first saw the topic I was excited about teaching it, because I knew that "I" would be the one to learn the most and benefit from it the most. It's always true for me that I tend to really NEED the lesson topics that I wind up teaching. I really needed that reminder lately that what I am doing here is a divine work. It is a precious responsibility to raise children and I have been blessed with four beautiful children. At times I get caught up in the day to day grind and I forget to take time to sit down and enjoy my children and have fun with them and teach them and to give gratitude for the blessings they are in my life.

One of the sisters shared that she has always felt that her children choose to come to her and her family, and how blessed she feels that they wanted her to be their mother so that they could teach and grow with her. I loved that thought. Instead of wondering why I wound up with some traits in kids, I need to remember that they choose to come here to this earth and be a part of our family, because they knew that our family would be able to love them and learn and grow with them.

A week gone by

So it's been a week... I have a friend that blogged the following...

Blah, blah, blah, blah, BLLLLLLLAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I'm not really feeling blah, but I'm not really feeling like there's anything to blog about... so I haven't. We are just busy with the day to day stuff.

Rich is holding up the fort so to speak with cubscouts. They released the cub scoutmaster, so he's working with all of them while they get another one in there. Last night I went up and helped him with it. It's an interesting dynamic and can get a little crazy with all of the boys there. There are the ones that don't want to be there, and the ones that are excited to be there, toss them all together into one small room and it can be a little crazy. Last night Rich used candy to bribe them to participate, and it worked okay- to the point of silly answers at times to get a piece. lol!

I'm in the midst of helping get an enrichment meeting planned that will be a lot of fun, it's just sorting out a few details right now that I am working on. I taught the Relief Society lesson last sunday. That actually is post worthy and I'll try and put my thoughts up on that in a different post.

We seem to have a full schedule for the rest of the week. Tonight open house at school, and Rich get's to pull a late nighter going into work to help out with something tonight, tomorrow we get to go and clean the church building, and Saturday the girls have a birthday party, and we'll try to catch up on stuff around the house as well.

Oh... we got a treadmill that I'm itching to use, but the control panel was damaged, so we are waiting for the replacement, which of course is backordered... hopefully it will come in on time, or early and then we'll be up and running literally! :)

Tonight is the kids open house at the school, so we'll see if anything is blog worthy there... Alex has his science experiment displayed, so if I remember to bring the camera we'll take some pictures.

Kids pictures

There are some pictures of my kids playing in the snow/ice... over on the family blog- see the sidebar for the link if you don't know it. :)

Funny email

I've seen this a few times, but thought I'd share... it's such a great window into how I feel many days. lol!

C. A. A. D. D.Recently, I was diagnosed with C. A. A. D. D. - Child Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests: I decide to do the laundry. As I start toward the laundry room, I notice that there are cheerios all over the floor and my car keys are in the cereal bowl. I decide to pick up the cheerios before I do the laundry. I lay my car keys down on the counter, put the cheerios in the trash can under the counter, and notice that the trash can is full. So, I decide to take out the trash. But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash I may as well pay the bills first. I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left, my extra che cks are in my desk in the office/playroom, so I go to my desk where I find a sippy cup full of juice. I'm going to look for my checks, but first I decide I should put sippy cup in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the sippy cup, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need to be watered. I set the sippy cup on the counter, and I discover baby wipes that I've been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back in the bathroom, but first I'm going to water the flowers. I set the wipes back down, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote, one of the kids left it on the kitchen table. I realize that when they go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote as they fight over who lost it, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I splash some water on the flowers, but most of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down, get some paper towels and wipe up the spill. Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do. At the end of the day: the laundry isn't washed, the bills aren't paid, there is a warm cup of juice sitting on the counter, the flowers aren't watered, there is still only one check in my checkbook, I can 't find the remote, I can't find the wipes, and I don' t remember what I did with the car keys. Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail. Do me a favor, will you? Forward this message, because I don't remember to whom it has been sent. Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming.

Dog

For the story about our dog, go to our family website:

www.newtonaaaa.blogspot.com

Hi

I just finished my workout this morning. My friend that I'm doing the biggest looser with is doing so great, and I'm just doing moderately. I've been doing the bowflex about 3 times a week. And that's about it. I did start last week doing crunches on an exercise ball as well, and I'm really feeling that in my abs. I like the bowflex. I can feel muscles getting stronger and I know it's good for me. I also like the workout on it and I feel better mentally as well as physically after working out on it each day.

I haven't been able to incorportate much cardio into my days yet. I think that's why I'm not really seeing much weight loss at all... a few pounds, but nothing spectacular. I'm hoping I can get myself out and to start taking walks at least and that will help, but I don't know if I will mentally motivate myself to get the girls ready and take walks with them along... :)

I weighed myself this morning and I'm at 171.4, so that's another couple of pounds off from last week.

I just realized that I forgot to eat breakfast, and since I just worked out I'm starving... so I'm off to go and eat something. :)

Hi

So... it's been a week and a half sense I posted... whoops!

We haven't had a whole lot going on. I've been trying to be more cosciencious of what I eat, but I will admit to grabbing a couple bites of m&m's or chocolate once in a while.

I have been drinking lots and lots of water. My friend got me a big water bottle that holds 8 glasses of water, so it's easy to keep track of what I've been drinking. I've easily been able to drink about a bottle and a half of the water bottle each day- and I'm not forcing it at all, just drinking througout the day.

I've lost about 3 lbs last week, we'll see what I can do this week. It's not a huge number or anything, but for just exercising 3 times a week and being more conscious of what I eat- not snacking all afternoon- I was able to do that. I'll be happy if I can continue to have a 2-3 lb loss a week... slow and steady. If I start doing some cardio too, I might get a bigger number, but I haven't gotten myself to do that yet. :)

Yesterday and today I haven't had to do the half day drop off for Alyssa. She was sick yesterday, and although she feels better today- I'm keeping her home for the 24 hour rule of staying home from school 24 hours after the symptoms dissapear. She and Angela are playing really well today. Yeah!! Since I'll have 4 years in a row with a half day schedule for one child, it's nice on the few days that I don't have to do it. :)

Hi

Hi everyone!

So today's it's monday... back to the grind for everyone...

I hope everyone has a great day! It was nice to get the kids up and to school this morning. The early morning didn't bother them as much as me, since they tend to get up early every morning! I'm the one that's been sleeping in for the last 2 weeks. lol!

Today is the begining of my biggest looser competition with my friend. Rich is joining us too, so I have two people to compete with!

I'll be honest and say that I already caved this morning and ate one of the cookies that Alex made last night.... Oh well... I'll just go from here and do better. I did get a workout in this morning so that's good. I've got a bunch of salad stuff that I LIKE, so I'll have a yummy and healthy lunch. I really do enjoy salads, I just get into a rut of not taking the time to prepare a lunch, and grabing something more snack food like- which is not as healthy. So that's going to be a big change for me. I bought salad stuff that's already to just open up and toss together so I can make a salad quick and easy instead of having to do a lot of prep for it.

And Water... lots of water... I'm going to start using a water bottle and keeping track of what I'm drinking better.