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!