My Favorite One

Oh my gosh...what a rush!  So awesome!  I won't go into much detail because I don't want to give anything away, but seriously, this is by far the BEST one!  This one is a far cry from the first movie, which I couldn't get over how horrible it was HERE.  How far we have come, LOL!  I hope to see it again in the movie theaters before it goes to Blu-Ray just to get the reaction from the audience again.
I highly recommend it.

It has been really hard for me to stick with the diet today.  I get this mentality that the weekend is here and therefore it's like a mini vacation and I want to just eat everything!  I am battling a major sweet tooth right now.  Although that may have something to do with the Pumpkin Pie I had in Miriam's 2nd grade classroom.  They did a Thanksgiving party today, and the teacher had the students serve their parents first and I would have felt really awkward turning it down.  Plus, I don't think life is about deprivation ALL the time.  I just wanted to start this project to see if I can find a happy medium, losing the weight but still enjoying good food.  So here is today's report:

Pre-Breakfast:
1 cup warm water, lemon juice and honey
1/2 grapefruit with 1 packet Truvia
Activia
1 cup water with White Flood energy powder (no calorie)
School snack:
Slice of Pumpkin pie
Lunch:
Salad with salmon
FF dressing
Grapes
Snack:
Choffy with 1 packet Truvia and FF creamer
Dinner:
Chicken lettuce wraps - sauteed mushrooms, onions, red bell pepper and garlic in Coconut Oil, add canned chicken and salsa.  Top onto Romaine lettuce leaves, add Light Sour Cream and RF cheese.  Eat like a taco.  Super delicious!

Workout Routine:
Upper body weights

I actually feel like I didn't eat enough today.  I need to do better with my snacks.  Any suggestions on some high protein snacks, maybe with a little bit of probiotics thrown in?  I'm suppose to have 2 servings of probiotics, and I'm finding it hard to get that second one in.  Or just any other kind of healthy snack suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

The Perfect Skirt

I just found the perfect skirt!  And to make it even better, it's on SALE!

A friend of mine has this in grey, and I am constantly checking her out in it, she probably thinks I'm a Grade A weirdo.  But once I found out where she got it, I bought two and now I don't have to be envious anymore!  It's an Old Navy skirt made from jersey.  It is SOOOO comfortable!!  And it does a magic trick, if you don't fold the top down you can use that extra fabric to hold in any unsightly muffin tops!  Ta-da!!

Seriously....so comfortable...

One Year Older and Wiser Too!

I had a birthday this past Saturday, and I think the only wiser part of getting older is that birthdays don't seem to have the same kind of importance as when you are younger.  I had the entire day planned out, but absolutely nothing panned out the way I wanted.  I wanted to go to the beach like I do on my birthday every year, but we saw it was suppose to storm around the time that we would have been out there.  Well it didn't storm, and by the time we pulled ourselves together it was too late in the day to make it to the beach.  Luckily for us I made a new friend who gave me the 411 on where to go on the boardwalk that isn't covered in crazies.  So we headed out for dinner on the boardwalk in Ocean City.  This place is pretty awesome!  It reminded me of  the fair, but unlike the fair it's all year long and it isn't full of dirty carnies working the rides.  Also Ocean City is a clean city, which means they don't serve alcohol!  Ergo, a great family activity!

I started off the night eating my first Philly Cheese steak while the kids downed some hot dogs. 

We saw this bad boy coming over the bridge into Ocean City and I knew that was going to be my first destination.

Here is the view from the top.  Isn't that just gorgeous!!  Hannah and Emma were the only ones brave enough to venture with me, but by the time we got to this point Emma was rethinking her decision.  She was sobbing by the third go round.  Hannah on the other was giving me a heart attack because she kept trying to get up and walk around while we were in the air.  She had absolutely no fear!

Charlotte was the best baby ever!  She sat quietly and patiently in her stroller while we walked around the park and rode rides.  Before we left we had to treat her to a ride also.  The carousel is just her speed!  She absolutely loved it!  In fact she was crying when the ride was over because she didn't want to get off.  This carousel was built in 1926, and had all wooden horses.  It sure was pretty!

 Even though the day didn't go according to plan I really think it worked out better this way. I've noticed through the years that I'm not too into getting presents for my birthday as much as I am into making memories, and this place did not disappoint!  We will be talking about this place for years!

Thunderstorms

I didn't take this picture, but that was a pretty accurate looking picture of a thunderstorm that you would see here in L.A. I really hope they have thunderstorms in NJ.

When we lived in CA the beautiful days of clear blue skies began to take its toll on me. I missed those sweet summer showers with the rolling thunder and the cool relief the rains would bring. I even would turn my computer off and back on because its start up sound was a thunder clap. Whenever I heard that sound I would get so homesick.

As I'm typing this entry now there is a wonderful storm outside. The rumbling outside is so relaxing. There is nothing like a lazy rainy day or evening, especially with the static in the air from a refreshing thunderstorm.

I really hope they have thunderstorms in NJ.

Adios to Uniforms!

When we first moved into the area we found out that the kids would be in uniform at school. At first I was so excited and loved seeing them in their uniforms ready for their first day of school.

Now though, not so much. With 3 being in uniforms it's hard keeping up with everyone's things, and if an item gets lost you have to spend all morning looking for that one item. I can't tell you how many mornings we have been nearly late because I can't find a white shoe! If there were no uniforms I could just put them in an available pair, problem solved! But with uniform requirements we can't do that.

I also hate that not only do I have to buy them uniforms, but I have to buy them play clothes as well. Not too friendly on the pocketbook. Also I have a beef with the stores here. They usually have this big going back to school sale where all the uniforms are available at good prices. But then during the year when those clothes get torn or stained you can't find uniform clothing anywhere! What's up with that?

I know there are benefits to wearing them, but I am looking forward to the school system in NJ were our kids are free to wear whatever they want! Or whatever happens to be clean, whichever comes first...

Just Keep Them Busy

A few months ago I came across this article in the February Ensign "The Power of Early Preparation", by Ronald Errol Bartholomew. In this article he talks about the importance of feeding our children spiritually now. There was one quote that really stuck with me and I have quoted it several times,

"As a friend of mine once mused, “If I were the devil, I don’t think I could get to Latter-day Saints with any of the big sins. I think I would just keep them busy.”"

This really stood out to me because I find that happens too frequently in my house. And I'm not talking about the time outs that I take for my well being and sanity, like Bunco or my time at the gym. I'm talking about the time that is filled with mindless activities around the house that is eating up my time to be with my kids and teach them the importance of the gospel.

There's Facebook, Pinterest, Netflix, computers, XBox, Wii, Kindle, even games on my phone that my kids will beg me to play if there isn't anything else for them to do. We even turned off the satellite thinking that it would cut down on our tv watching, but I think the opposite has happened. We got Netflix which saved us a lot of money, but with on demand viewing there is an endless supply of shows we love to watch!

This ties into my last post as well, it's ironic that I spend a lot of my day pinning things on Pinterest that I imagine doing with my family, but at the end of the day I run out of time because of my mindless cyber surfing. And then, because I run out of time to do those things I think I am an inadequate mother, just like in the article that I linked to Wednesday.

It's a vicious cycle!

I realized a while back that Hannah, my 4th child, will most likely be going to Pre-School this fall, and I am missing out on her toddler years. That's mainly the reason I didn't get to post yesterday. I spent the day playing board games and hide and seek and snuggling on the couch watching whatever her little heart desired. I know these moments go by fast, but I don't want to look back on my life and have regret. I want my memories to be filled with simple fun, not how many cool things I found on the internet. Through this I know I will find those sweet moments to teach which will allow His Spirit to be in our home, and through that they will know the fullness of the gospel.

Iceland Roots

Tonight is our Quarterly Enrichment night at church. My sister who is the Enrichment Leader started to tell me months ago that the theme was going to be International night. I have to admit, I was less than thrilled about this theme. We have done it so many times before, and I just couldn't really relate to it. They ask the ladies to randomly pick a country that they have to put together a table presentation, make a native dish and speak briefly about that country.

But I always felt disconnected to this activity, because unless I am going there, there is no amount of Schnitzel that is going to give me the true German experience, for example.

Then Rochelle (my sister) continued to tell me that this theme has a twist. We are going to incorporate genealogy to the theme! You actually have to do some genealogy and find out where you ancestors come from and that is the country you are going to present. BRILLIANT! What a great way to make this more personable!

I could have gone with my royal heritage and done my Creek background, but we actually have a couple of ladies in the ward that have Native American ancestry and signed up before we did. So instead we went with Iceland! My brother, Ruffin, was doing some genealogy of his own and was able to take our line all the way back to the Vikings in Iceland! Pretty cool if you ask me. We are actually related to a Thor, who had a son named Odin.

I'm making this, just don't ask me to pronounce it! I love doing genealogy! It is so fascinating to me to find out where you came from. And now a days it is so easy to find out with all our technology. There are so many websites you could try, and it really is fun. I encourage you to check it out and see where you come from.

My Mother's Day Gift

I'm not much of a "guess what I want!" kind of girl. When there is something that I want I tell Theo, and sometimes I even buy it myself, not that Theo wouldn't just I'm impatient and if he gives me the ok, then it's a go!

I got the Deseret Books catalog in the mail with the wonderful news that this gorgeous statue, (that I have wanted for YEARS I might add) is 70% off! And on top of that it had a $10 coupon off a $50 or more purchase. This 19 inch Christus statue is normally $300! I had no plans of getting it anytime soon, but when I saw this marble marvel on sale I knew what I wanted for Mother's Day!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

My Meager Garden

Growing up, my Dad headed the Prophet's advice to grow your own food and work to being more self sufficient. We had an Olympic sized swimming pool of a garden out back that the whole family worked on. I hated that thing...

But in my older years I have come to appreciate the self sufficiency that you can obtain from having your own garden. Unfortunately my green thumb is only equipped with growing weeds. I'm a pro at that!

I don't let that hinder my resolve to have a flourishing garden some day. I say 'flourishing' because this is my meager garden now. I have one, but so far all I can grow is flowering buds and insects. I'm hoping that through trial and error one day it will click and I will get the garden I have always worked so hard for.

Bangs

Pinterest is a funny thing. You spend all your time finding crafts, recipes and organizing ideas that you think to yourself, I could totally do that! So you pin it with the intentions of doing them. But ask yourself, how many of those things have you done?

I found a video on how to fix your hair if you have short hair like I do. The girl in the video had these cute bangs and I figured "I could totally do that.". Just like all the pins I have on my boards, I saw this as something I could actually do. And this time I took immediate action.

I parted my hair, carefully piecing off the part that would look good as bangs. I measured and remeasured, and then measured again just for good measure. I stood looking in the bathroom mirror with scissors in place to make the first cut. For 5 minutes I was a statue, staring at myself arm poised with raised scissors. The devil on my shoulder told me, just don't think about it, just do it! And the angel was no help, it reminded me of how long I have wondered if I could pull off bangs, so what the hey, just do it.

I shut my brain off and SNIP!

I thought I did a pretty good job, Theo loves it and that's what matters most! It's cute and fun, although I have to get used to the constant feeling of something on my face. I like them, but I think this might be a one time thing.

Pinterest-ing

I have a new addiction. It used to be Facebook, but as soon as I get that one under control here comes another awesome thing to distract me and keeps me shirking my blogging responsibilities.

Pinterest...it is pretty dang awesome. I have been repinning recipes, organizing ideas, gardening tips and cake decorating ideas. I haven't figured out how to actually 'pin' a page yet, but I'll get there eventually. I have been trying all kinds of new recipes. A lot have been hits, like the Pumpkin Cookies. But some have been misses, like the Pumpkin Cream Cheese bread. Here is what it is suppose to look like:


Here is what mine looked like:


Although I don't think that was my fault, I think the recipe was misleading and I want to try it again doing it the way I think it should be. It says that you can make 2 loaves out of this recipes, which will require you to quarter the batter since there is a cream cheese icing through the middle. But I seriously think it is only for one loaf because as you can see from the picture, the loaves came out crazy flat! Next time I make it I will make just one loaf and hopefully then I will achieve the right thickness.

Some successes have been the sock bun. This is Miriam's hair after using the sock bun. Super cute! And really easy for her to sleep with. One trick that I discovered the second time doing this is that it's best done with day old washed hair.


My next project I want to make an ornament wreath made from a wire hanger and there is this recipe for Eggnog Pound cake!

So much to do, so little time!!