This n That

2011-07-14T10:05:00.002-06:00

I have been wanting to take a picture in the same outfit I was in on the first photo. I don't look so pregnant anymore :) Still fat though. I am down 6 pounds today WOOHOO!! I have bad days but I try not to let it get me down. I can't wait to get down to my size 10's I have so many clothes I can't wait to wear. My goal it to be able to wear some of those clothes this summer. I am thinking 4 more lbs and I will try them on again and see how it goes.

Down by 4

2011-07-07T18:00:00.001-06:00

Here I am at 4 lbs loss. I am starting to tell some changes are going on. One I was afraid of last time but this time I know what it means and I am excited.

Day 5

2011-06-16T14:46:00.003-06:00

Here is today's picture; day four of my newest beginning. I have been counting my calories and exercising and I think I am down 2 pounds. I wish I hadn't estimated my weight. But oh well I will just have to deal with it. I don't think I was even a pound off on my estimation. The only complaint I have is it's the end of the pay period and I am very low on healthy foods. The only reason we have healthy foods is because we went to store the other day to pick some up. Might have to take some money out of budget to set aside for and extra trip to store at the 1/2 way point to our next shopping trip. :)

New beginning #1769

2011-06-14T12:46:00.004-06:00

This picture was take of me Saturday June 11, 2011. I look pregnant but I am not!!! I hate that I gain all my weight in my belly. I started to think about how the last several months I have been trying and trying to do things to lose weight and yet the pull of the sweets and over indulging keep winning. I just don't know where to go and what to do with this. Yesterday I had this new bright idea to blog my picture and take frequent pictures of myself to up load on to my blog. Just so I can see myself. Maybe when I lose five pounds (again for the millionth time in the last several months) I will see some thing change and it will inspire me since I can't seem to get inspired any other way at the moment. I know I hate how I look and I hate that I have high blood pressure and I hate that I have the cutest clothes in the world that I can't fit into. I can't decided if I will up load a picture everyday or every week we'll see what I do. Knowing me it will be sporadic.

It's a challenge

2011-01-26T07:31:00.002-07:00

So I am working hard at being good. Doing some strength exercises every day. I did 2 sets of 10 push ups yesterday. Which is very good for me. A couple of days ago I could only do one set of 6. Last nigh we decided to eat out. Of course the skinny family (which is every one but me) wanted to have Panda. They are not in the ideal calorie range for me. I did good though I opted out of Panda and talked the hubby into stopping at Subway for me. I stayed with in my calorie guideline for the day. :) And even though I stole a bite of chow mien I felt very good about my choices for the day. Here i go again. Wish me luck.

Weight Loss Is An Emotional Roller Coaster

2011-01-24T09:02:00.003-07:00

Well the title of this blog pretty much says it all. It's been awhile since I blogged. I haven't forgotten about it but when you do daycare in your home, well that really leaves time for pretty much nothing else. Even exercise and eating right. I often wondered how I gained so much weight running around caring for kids. Well here it is, you don't have time to make a well balanced meal that is filling and fills all of your health needs when you only get a split second to do it. And you think "Oh I will get that healthy meal in during nap time so let me grab a hand full of this to hold me over" HAHA yeah well that hand full of, what ever, is never healthy.
Well this weekend I was given an insight of why I started to go on this weight loss journey to begin with. I keep feeling dizzy. Mostly when I get up out of bed. I can't walk in a straight line and it takes me a minute to gain my grounds. I kept thinking that it was my inner ear again, but then I realized it was different. When it was my inner ear I would fall on the ground before I even realized that I was dizzy. This time it's pretty much I am feeling dizzy as I am getting up. Took me a few weeks to remember that high blood pressure can make you dizzy and that I used to get dizzy when I would stand up from sitting last time I was having blood pressure issues. So I got my B.P. cuff to check things out. My B.P. was high, very high! I was medicated when my B.P. was 130's over 100. This weekend my highest reading was 156/104. Yeah, I was a bit freaked out. I wanted to cry so bad but I kept telling myself "you did this to your self. You knew this was gonna happen."
So I am freaked out enough to start caring. I reread my Letter to Myself. And I am so glad I did. I almost think I should print it, frame it and hang it on the fridge. Today I am going to get back on that tread mill and start walking and work myself up to running again. I should make myself a count down to the D.C. Marine Corp marathon I plan to run in October 2012.
I know i can do this. I am stronger then I give myself credit for. I love the high I get from running. And I want to be back in my skinny clothes this summer.

Letter to myself

2010-12-08T16:04:00.002-07:00

I can't find my CD of old picture and my heart is more into my weight today any way.

Dear Self,
Today is a new beginning. You have decided to take this into your own hands and you will succeed. You can do it. You have all the tools, you have all the knowledge. I want to remind you how far you have come......
You are 22 lbs. less then you were 3 years ago, however you are only down 20 lbs. from 2 years ago. Remember how happy the weight loss made you feel, how good your body felt, how much energy you had. Your knees, hips, and ankles didn't hurt. You felt like getting up and doing stuff. You were able to breath easier while doing activities. YOU WERE RUNNING!! Today you long to have all that back. Today your hips, knees and ankles hurt. You are sad every time you look at your self naked in the mirror. You don't want the stress of worrying about if the high blood pressure will come back, you hate that your mind wants to get stuff done but you don't have the energy. You remember being less cranky and irritable when you were lighter. Lets work hard to get that back.
Today you are doing great. I am very proud of you. You have been tracking and measuring your food intake. I know you can keep it up. It's not as hard as it seems. When you track you realize it's pretty easy and you actually get full on smaller amounts of food. Try to remember this and hold on to it. You know your Levi's? I want to remind you of the day you put them on straight from the dryer and they slipped down your hips. If it weren't for your butt they would have fell to the floor. Remember that smile that came over your face, remember the feeling of being on top of the world and thinking you will never let them get tight again. Now I know they are not tight, yet! But they fit and they fit good. They don't slip down and you get very nervous to put them on. It's time to make those babies slip off again. And this time lets aim for them to make it all the way to the ground.
You have a reasonable goal in mind. You can achieve it. And don't let people telling you negative thing get to you. They are just jealous. There is no one stopping you but yourself. Don't wait for someone else to give you a push, you need to push yourself.
Now go out there and get it done. I know you can do it.

Frozen Yogurt

2010-12-07T09:59:00.002-07:00

Have you heard of Yogurt Land? It's in Jordan Landing. I love it and it's so reasonably priced. .30 cents an ounce. You get a cup, put in desired amount of yogurt of your flavor of choice, then you get to add toppings. Well the first 12 days of December you get 2 oz free. So Jer and I have taken a little advantage of this and been sneaking in a date here and there. We just get the featured flavor and share. I have to tell you the nutterbutter is sooooooo good. We put Reece's pieces on top and it was a perfect choice.

SNOW!!

2010-12-01T12:00:00.002-07:00

I know it's Wednesday and I normally blog an old picture but today I just had to blog about our snow. I love the snow. Not as much as Jer-Bear but more then the average joe. And I have always wanted a real good snow storm. The kind that shuts down a city. Well I didn't get a shut down city but I did get a lot of snow.

Here is Jessica and Gloria standing in front of the pile of snow the plows pushed up to the neighbors yard. Now just so you know this is the day after the storm and from the sun shinning all day the snow has packed down. I don't think I am exaggerating much when I say I think the pile is shorter then the night before.

Here is a lovely picture of my car being stuck on in the street. I was trying to get Jess off to school while Jeremy was taking my sister to the airport.

And here is my shed. As you can tell the snow on the roof is touching the snow on the ground. I think the two storms left behind about 2 feet of snow. But had all the snow dumped all at once I am sure it would have been 3 feet of snow all together. There were a few days in between and the snow compacted. I love it. I also hope that every weekend it snows lots more, but only on the weekend please.

Family date

2010-11-29T21:58:00.002-07:00

We didn't have a date night due to the fact it was a holiday weekend and my sister Cynthia came to visit. But we did have fun. I saved up my spending money from 2 pay periods to buy myself a game. This game is called Telestrations. It's sorta like pictionary meets telephone. Oh what a hoot it is. And it's even better if you have someone who can't draw well. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard.
On Friday I did my annual Black Friday shopping with the sisters. Jessica joined us this year. Although it was hard because I was mainly shopping for her. I think I have her convinced that the sweater Cynthia allegedly bought wasn't for her. And she knows that she is getting boots and she saw Missy buy 2 pairs but I think I might have convinced her they are Cynthia's as well. Oh well. Lets hope she forgets, or at the least ends up loving them when she gets them.
On Sunday in the freezing cold snow storm we went out for frozen yogurt at YogurtLand. I like that place. It's cheaper then Basken Robins and you get to have fun tasting different flavors before making your choice and all the topping choices make your selection seem endless.
We had a great visit with Cynthia and Missy n Jory too. It's funny how we only live a couple of miles away yet never see each other.

Fun day

2010-11-24T09:36:00.004-07:00

It's been a week since I blogged. I have been so busy with lots of kids that don't want to nap at the same time, quilting with a dead line, and crocheting a very late baby blanket, hopefully I can stay on task for now on.
I couldn't find any Thanksgiving pictures which is very sad to me. I did have some but I fear I lost them. I wish I could find the pictures of my first Thanksgiving with a digital camera. In awe over the technology to be able to delete what ever picture I didn't like, I let the kids take what ever pictures they wanted. I ended up loving them so much I didn't delete any of them. There were pictures of people from the knees up. Thanksgiving from a 3 year old's point of view. They were priceless. Maybe I will give the camera to my nieces tomorrow.
Well here are some old pictures I found that I really like.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Some first

2010-11-18T07:47:00.002-07:00

I am sad that most of Brian's "1st's" are all on 35 mm. where as almost all of Jess' are digital. Sometimes I drag my feet when it comes to advancing with technology. Mostly because I hate change but some because it frustrates me to have to learn new things and change up what I already have. I am still refusing to advance to Blue Ray.

Today is just some random picture I wanted to share. Here is Jess with her first missing tooth. Sad to say I don't really remember the day. I can't remember if we pulled it or what. :( I will have to ask Jessi if she remembers.

Here she is on her first day of kindergarten. I can't believe how little she looks. I was so excited for her. She loved being able to go to school with Bri.

Here is Brian on his first baseball team. He was on this team for 2 years. I miss baseball days. I just wish he had coaches that took the time that was needed to teach him so he could have loved it. I really believe he would have stuck with it but he realized that coaches were full of empty promises. One of his favorite days in baseball was the time his uncle Phil came to see one of his practices and went out on the field to teach him some pointers.

Here he is scoring a point for the team. This isn't his home run, but he did get one of those :) that was exciting. But nothing compared to the excitement of him catching that fly ball in outfield and getting the guy out, and the teams 3rd out. The whole team ran out to him and picked him up and carried him in. I was in tears.

date night

2010-11-15T13:29:00.003-07:00

We had a very busy weekend that included 2 birthday parties, girl scout meeting, and Thanksgiving church dinner but we managed to get out just the two of us. It was great! As much as I love children I do need my breaks now and again. Plus dating grows your marriage stronger. We chose to go to a dollar movie. We saw The Switch. It was pretty cute. But word to the wise dollar movies don't mean dollar menus. I was a bit hungry so Jer said he'd splurge and get me a pop corn. I normally get a small which I feel is plenty for two people to share, but because I was hungry when Jer mention "lets get a medium and share" I agreed with out thinking. Then we get to the counter and were about the order and the girl tells us save 50 cents by buy a large. So we did. One large pop corn and one large drink $11.50. Yes you read that correctly $11.50! We didn't stop the think it wasn't 50 cents cheaper then the medium but 50 cents cheaper then it original price. Oh well live and learn right.
We walked the mall afterwards looking for christmas ideas. I love window shopping. I know it's not Jer favorite. So thanks honey for doing that with me.

I also want to take this time to mention my friends son Ryan who has run away. He is 18. Please pray for his safe return. Here is a link to his missing persons ad. Please keep your eye out for him. Thanks.
www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=13277050&cat=10&s_cid=S0001
Hope this link works. If not and you are on twitter or facebook I have it posted there too.

a lose is a lose; right?

2010-11-12T09:32:00.003-07:00

Other than yesterday I felt this week was fantastic as far as my eating goes. I keep track of the food I ate and stayed on track. Exercise was less then what I wanted but I did get some in. I noticed that I could not reach my toes this week when stretching. YIKES!! Not great. I am pretty flexible, not quite Gumby, but I can still do the splits if I keep stretching. So on the days I couldn't exercise I sat on the floor with the 4 month old I watch and stretch while I played with her. I can reach my toes again ::sigh of relief::
So confession time, yesterday I felt frustrated and I didn't get my normal nap time break. Today I wont either but I know about it in advance. I don't like surprises like that. Plus the older girls I was watching were driving me up the wall. So to take out my frustration I ate Oreo's and milk for my lunch. They were reduced fat and I only ate 5. I guess that rationalization doesn't help any does it? And I made pizza for dinner. Although he pizza wasn't bad how much I ate probably wasn't ideal. I LOVE pizza. It's not a diet friendly food for my. I know better but when planning the menu this weekend I didn't plan on having a bad day. Any way today is better. I am starting off with my healthy oat meal breakfast and I have a plan. I have already started to exercise today.
I have an exercise ball. I have done some squats and used the ball to get my arms involved. I used the ball to do some inclined push ups, and some crunches. But then the kids decided that the movie I put on wasn't interesting anymore so I moved onto dishes while they played. I am getting ready to walk up and down the stairs for about 15 minutes. Hopefully the baby will sleep while I do this.
Ok recipe today is pizza. Homemade pizza is great in the fact you control what goes in it and on it. last night I made the crust it's real simple:
1 pk yeast
1 cup warm water (105)
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups of flour
Mix yeast water and salt for 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup of flour at a time until dough pulls away from wall of bowl and forms a ball. cover let stand 1 hour. punch down cut dough in half to make 2 medium (ish) size pizzas or keep together to make 1 larger. (I used my kitchen aide)
Top how ever you want.
When I don't have time for this I used whole wheat pita bread as the crust. It's very tasty and so low in calories/points.
OH and last but not least I lost .2, not much. I actually weight earlier in the week when I was doing great and I was down .4, so I guess yesterday weighed it's toll on the scale this morning.

Opposites

2010-11-10T09:57:00.002-07:00

When it comes to being in the water my kids are as opposite as they come. The first time I ever took Bri into a pool he was about 1 year old, give or take a month. He freaked out like no other! He clawed my neck until it stung and bleed. He tried to crawl on to the top of my head. I laughed but not because I thought it was funny but because I couldn't believe what was happening and I didn't know how to react.
Jeremy's parents have a pool. Bri would have nothing to do with that pool. I had to talk to him and bribe him just to put his feet in the water. The only way he would touch the water was if everyone in the pool went to the other side. It took years to get him to even sit on the steps in the pool.
When we first moved to Utah we lived in an apartment. He wanted to hang out at the pool. Surprisingly he would get in but never let go of the side and never venture far from the steps. So I put the kids in swim lessons. Bri is 9 in these pictures. He does swim now but he'd prefer to not.

Now Jessica on the other hand is my fish. Her first time in the pool was at about 3 months old. And the only reason it took so long was because we had to wait for the pool to warm up. She never minded the pool. At the ripe old age of 1 she was in the pool in a floatation device and flipped it upside down trying to get a ball. I was out of the pool fully clothed and I freaked out and froze! Luckily daddy heard the commotion and ran to the back yard jumped in and flipped her back over. She laughed. Then later that summer she insisted she could swim. I though 'fine I will let her go and show her she can't' so I let go, held my breath so I would know how long she could stay under. When I pulled her out she smiled at me and said "see momma I can swim" I felt defeated. So of course when Bri took swim lessons so did Jess. The main thing they do with 3 year olds is teach them to float and flip over to breath. THANK GOD! The very next time I took her swimming she just went for it. Again I let her stay under thinking she really needs to learn and I am going let her stay under longer. Then she flipped got air and went back to her "swimming" Oh also when we lived in the apartments we had an incident where she was sitting with grandpa who didn't want to swim while the rest of us played. There were lots of people in the pool so the sound of a splash meant nothing to me. Next thing I know my F-I-L is in the pool fully clothed. Jess thought she could reach the noodle that was floating by and missed. He jumped in to get her. She laughed because grandpa went in the pool with clothes on. Yeah she is trouble.

Still to this day Jess is my fish and dreams of being on a swim team. The bad thing is with me doing daycare I make the money to put her through it but don't have the time to take her. All the high schools here have swim teams so maybe then. Bri still would rather not, but he's no longer afraid and will do some water activities.

Date with my daughter

2010-11-08T09:36:00.003-07:00

Jer and I didn't get a date this weekend. It was a very busy weekend. But I did get a date on Friday with my daughter. The church Washington Heights was having Christina speak. I heard Christina speak at our women's retreat just a few weeks ago and the spirit of God radiates through every single word and smile from that lady. I so much want to say she is amazing but the fact of the matter is God is so amazing through her. I adore how she can take the worse of worse situations and praise God. I wanted to share that with my daughter. Jess is turning into a teenager by the second and I want to make sure that she never loses sight of God and that she and I have a connection through it all. She too was smitten by Christina. She couldn't believe the things she has gone through in her life and I had to say "Yet God uses all of it for good. And she praises Him for it" During worship I almost could hear my daughters voice singing praises to God. That was so warming to my heart. Almost as if God was trying to whisper to me "she is a teenager and you will have to moments that you want to strangle her but I still have my sights on her." Thank you Lord for loving her more than I do.
I hope that next next weekend I have a date with Jer to share. :)

It's difficult

2010-11-05T09:11:00.004-06:00

I have decided to not go back to weight watchers. At least for now. I know how to lose weight. I know what I am doing wrong. I don't need to pay 9 dollars a week to see what I am doing wrong. So I am on my own. I am hoping I get my head in the game and start to recover from my pity party. I can do it. I have done it twice before, once on my own and once with the help of Weight Watchers. I know the real help, the real success comes from God. So here I go.
I will weigh in once a week, every Friday morning. I will never tell you what I weigh but I will tell you my progress. This week I start at a 0, then in the weeks to come I will state my lose for the week and my over all lose. I will tell you what I struggled with during the week. If you have loving suggestions I will gladly listen to them. If you want to join this journey with me I will gladly exchange ideas with you.
I did not cook dinner last night. My sister was sick earlier this week so we switched days to cook for each other. And I just through together stir fry veggies and chicken. Easy and healthy.
This weeks struggle was to squeeze in exercise. I did actually get one day of exercise in. Not enough I know but I have a new plan. Jeremy found a marathon in two years in Washington DC. I have always wanted to vacation in DC. So we are gonna start training. I really don't think I will run the whole marathon but I can see myself doing the 1/2 marathon. We are going to have a mini gym in our garage and start working out together. I look at my crazy busy schedule and it looks like we can work out evening sessions on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Then after FPU is over we can add in Monday. Since we only have 1 of everything we are going to alternate days of cardio and strength.
I ask for your prayers for me during this journal. Thank you

Free give away

2010-11-04T20:33:00.001-06:00

My friend Lori has another give away on her blog. Its a Kix give away. Go enter to win.
www.familyfishbowl2.blogspot.com

Once Upon a Time....

2010-11-03T07:22:00.006-06:00

Once upon a time, long, long ago these were my kids. So young and so Innocent. The world had not yet exposed them to such horror and corruption. They hung out with us they. They smiled when they got there picture taken. Family trips were fun and exciting, not heal dragging and torture filled.

Once upon a time this was my little boy with the most contagious laugh in all the world. Until puberty took it and made it deeper. He wore his hair short and you could see his beautiful face. When he smiled he had deep, wonderful dimples. And he called me his best friend.

Once upon a time this little girl let me play with her hair. She loved french braides and playing dress up. Princess movies was her favorite pass time as was helping me in the kitchen. When I used to fall asleep on the couch in the afternoon this little girl would cover me up with a blanket and I would wake up to a clean house and the sweetest smile "mommy did you sleep good. Look I clean for you so you could sleep."

Sometimes they let their guard down and I get a glimpse of those kids I had once upon a time.

Gouls, Ghosts, & Gobblins

2010-11-01T13:05:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago Jeremy won two free tickets to CornBelly's Corn Maze on Facebook. Since he only won two we decided to go as a date. For those of you who don't know what CornBelly's is its a small carnival type place for families during Halloween time down in Lehi at Thanksgiving Point. I think it's a bit young for my kids but they do have a haunted corn maze. This years haunted corn maze spelled out Fablehaven which is a book series we are reading and love. The book is full of great fantasy creatures and I was excited to see them in the maze. Well much to my disappointment the only character from the book was the witch. I was bummed about that. But I have to say that this haunted maze was way scarier then Nightmare on 13th. I don't know if they went easy on us there because we had Jessi and two of her friends with us whom are all short for their ages, or if the fact I stared at the ground the whole time and I bored them. Either way Nightmare on 13th was pretty tame compared to CornBelly's. I stared at the ground but that seemed to egg them on to try harder to scary me. I happen to startle quite easily. I may not be "scared" but I jump anyway. Just ask my family they think its hilarious. So these "spooks" would come up and say "boo" or make a loud noise and I jumped, even screamed out once (or twice but who's counting) OOOH I think they had too much fun with me. I didn't like it too much. This is the last haunting I am going to. No more. I think I said that a few years ago and ended up going to two this year. But really this is it, no more. I don't like that stuff.
So while at CornBelly's Jer saw the bucking bull. He begged. He pleaded. He promised not to say a word if he through his back out. I gave in and he road it. I will see if he will up load the video I took onto this blog later. I was so nervous that he would get hurt but he seems to be fine. Although his arms hurt from holding on. :)
It was a pretty fun date.

Unfit

2010-10-29T09:57:00.002-06:00

So I didn't make it to Weight Watchers last night. Thursday is a new night for me, I used to go on Wednesdays and a friend called to ask if I would go to a movie with her. I remembered W.W. about an hour before she came to pick me up.

But I did try a new recipe that was FANTASTIC!! I am always leery about eating cooked spinach because I think of canned spinach and well YUCK!! But fresh is so yummy. I really think you all should try this:

5.8 oz of couscous prepared (next time I am gonna cook with chicken broth)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts heated for 2 minutes in a sprayed pan then set aside
1.5 lbs cut up chicken breast (i added a little season salt) browned
6 cups of spinach add to chicken along with walnuts once chicken is cooked all the way. (I actually only used about 3 or 4 cups, 6 just seemed too much.) Serve chicken on top of the couscous. Once I topped the couscous with the chicken I thought it just needed some tomatoes for the eye appeal. I was right it was so pretty once I did that. And it tasted very good. My kids wouldn't touch it, but you know what I am passed caring about that.

Also yesterday I decided to walk on my treadmill during nap time. About 28 minutes into my planned 1 hour work out my legs started to itch. At the 34 minute mark my legs we so itchy and burning I just could not bare it any longer so I stopped and went to shower. My legs were bright red and starting to swell and felt very hot to the touch. After showering I went on line to look this up and see if there was a name for it and if I should worry. This is not the first time I have had this happen. I discovered what was going on.... I am unfit!! It was a hard thing to swallow. I guess while exercising my muscles get warmed up and require more blood but the capillaries can't supply the blood fast enough which causes the itching. This really broke my heart. It takes so much work and effort and time to become fit but it only takes minutes to become unfit. My new plan of action is to walk a little slower and maybe cut it in half and just exercise twice a day instead of all at once.

A new begining

2010-10-27T08:08:00.004-06:00

So yesterday I expressed my desire to blog again and asked what I should blog about. My friend Holly made some suggestions that got my wheels spinning. So here's the plan:
Monday- possibly blogging about date night. I love to do dates that as close to free as I can get. I thought it would be fun to blog what we do and how it was free.
Wednesday- "remember when" I will try to blog about passed things we did with the kids. You know before blogging was around.
Friday- health/nutrition/exercise stuff. Which works out great since Thursdays are my weight watcher days and the days I experiment a new recipe on my family and my sisters family. I am hoping it will give me an accountability to you guys and I will be too embarrassed to have a down fall so I will stay on track. here's to hoping.

So here we go with the first "remember when"

I thought it would be good to post pictures of my kids dressed up for Halloween. I think this is when Jessica was in Kindergarten and Bri was in 4th, so 2004. Bri had bugged me non stop for a scary costume. I caved! I didn't usually allow scary. But I only bought the mask he had to come up with the rest him self.

Jessica wanted to be a princess. But of course she refused to be Ariel. I couldn't talk her into it for nothing. So we went to the dollar store and got the gross hair spray, that probably causes lung cancer, because she wanted a wig and I didn't have that kind of money. Halloween in Utah is too cold for costumes. I think Jess has sweat pants on under her dress.

On a side note look at my tree it looks so tiny compared to today. Happy Halloween everyone.

Blogging

2010-10-26T10:32:00.002-06:00

I have not blogged in forever. A couple of reasons 1. I now watch a baby. Jack's mommy had a baby for me :) Good thing too my baby itch was getting so unnerving. I find that I miss her over the weekends though. And 2. my kids don't do fun things to blog about. In fact if I blogged about my kids on a daily basis those of you who had kids would give them up for adoption the summer before they went off to junior high and those of you who don't have kids would never have kids.

So during the summer I decided I wanted to run a 1/2 marathon next fall. Why oh why do I shut down when I give myself a dead line. Do any of you do that. I gave myself a dead line for my weight loss because I wasn't doing so good and I am still not doing good. Just stressing that I will never be healthy and never fit into a normal standard of weight. It's quite depressing. So now that I have set the goal of running a 1/2 I no longer have the desire to run at all. Someone please tell me that they are this way too! (I have probably lost the 2 or 3 readers since I stopped blogging)

So I am looking for a subject to blog about. I think I really need an outlet, some where I can ramble on and on about a subject. It gets kinda lonely in the babysitting world. I can talk to the kids but they just ask me if I want a crabby patty or stare at me with a blank look. Plus nap time well yeah that is just a bore for me. I have considered putting the boys down at different times so I have someone to play with at all time but in reality I need a break. So if any of you have a suggestion let me know. I just refuse to do politics, not my cup of tea.

Another give away from my friend

2010-10-14T08:51:00.002-06:00

For a chance to win a betty crocker give away go to my friends blog at www.familyfishbowl2.blogspot.com it's easy to do. Good luck to you all.

It's breast cancer awarness month

2010-10-05T15:59:00.002-06:00

Yep that's right it breast cancer awearness month. I am gearing up to do my annual run/walk with my weight wathcers group. This year it's not a 5K it's 5 MILES!! Woo hoo!! and Jeremy is gonna go with me.
On my very good friend Lori's blog you can enter to win a breast cancer package from yoplait, who have been a Susan G. Komen supporter for years. Go here www.familyfishbowl2.blogspot.com to enter for a chance to win. Good luck

Dawn vs. the cheap brand

2010-07-15T20:42:00.002-06:00

So a few months ago I got a bottle of Dawn dish soap for something like 0.35 cents, it was on sale and combined with a coupon. I was so amazed how little of the Dawn that was needed to get the dishes done. I swear a 1/4 of a teaspoon of Dawn does more than 1/4 of a bottle of the cheap brand.
Well today I had a flash back or an absent minded moment or something. I cleaned out the sink and squirted tons of Dawn in the sink and then turned on the water. Didn't take but a second to realize what a mistake I had made. SUDS EVERY WHERE!!!! My dishes we so slippery and it took so much water to rinse them. Oh and if your ring ever gets stuck on your finger do dishes with too much Dawn, mine slipped right off into the garbage disposal and the ring is not too big. Oh and the commercials that shows you a greasy, difficult to scrub pan being easy to clean after 1 minute in the sink soaking actually happened tonight. I guess they just don't feel it necessary to mention how much dawn is in that water :)

Drug testing

2010-06-01T09:39:00.003-06:00

A few years ago I decided to start randomly drug testing my teenager. Not because I didn't trust him but because someone brought it to my attention that random drug testing your child is a great way to give them an easy out when peer pressure comes about. It's sorta scary to ask for your child's pee. I get butterflies in my tummy and I fear the "what if." It's also hard sometimes to go to the store and spend the money on a drug test when you have no indication that your child is doing anything wrong. My reasoning in spending the money is 1.) it's cheaper than re-hab. 2.) I love him enough to give him an easy "no" to drugs and 3.) His life is worth more to me than money can buy. So with that I faithfully go to the drug store and buy a drug test. When I say it's random that's no joke. The first two seemed to be back to back and this weekends drug test it has been almost a year. I never meant to go that long but like I said when your child doesn't give you a reason to think he does drugs sometimes it skips my mind.
So I get very nervous right before I give him the pee cup, and the second he sees the cup he just says "Oh OK" and takes the cup to the bathroom with no problem. That sets my mind at easy. But this weekend he goes into the kitchen to drink some water and after the 3rd cup says. I just don't feel like peeing. "Oh my" I think. So we give him some time. A couple of hours later he goes up to pee. Those couple of hours feel like an eternity. But I am so glad to report another clean drug test. I always tell him Thank you for not doing drugs after a test, most of the time he just shrugs or says I told you I don't do that, but this time he looked at me and said Yeah it's hard. It broke my heart that the reality of peer pressure exists for him. But I am so proud of him for saying no and for never having a bad drug test.
Pre-Teen has been warned that her drug testing will start here shortly.

PS the reason I decided to blog the drug testing of my children is because several people have mentioned they had no idea drug tests were so available. You get them in the pharm. section of the store. I have bought all of mine at Wal-Mart (bottom shelf by the nicorette gum) And Walgreen's has Breathalyzers too. Bri has told me one of his friends gets tobacco tested by her parents although I have never heard of or seen one of those.

Entomology lesson

2010-05-21T12:07:00.006-06:00

OK Utah you need a lesson on BUGS!!! Every since we have moved here the above bug has been refered to as the potato bug. I have seen a real potato bug in my own back yard in California and the above bug is NOT a potato bug. This is a pill bug or as the kids in CA. like to call them rollie pollies because of there cute little way they curl into a ball when you pick them up. They provide hours of intertainment for the young. They live in your grass not your potato garden. Now here is a picture of a real potato bug "warning not a very cute bug!!"

This my dear sweet Utahns is a potato bug. Not fun, not cute, and not something you want to see your kids playing with. I don't know if they are dangerous or not and they are big (as compaired to most bugs) and scary when you come acrossed one. :)

for a chance to win

2010-05-13T14:16:00.002-06:00

Hey check out my friends blog for a chance to win a gift card to Jiffy Lube
http://www.familyfishbowl2.blogspot.com/

1.8 is my number

2010-05-13T13:48:00.002-06:00

OYE OYE OYE!!!!! I posted a couple of weeks ago my unhappiness about my weight ups and downs. I told you all I was watching very closely to what I am doing so that I can figure out what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong. Well I was only confusing myself. I have come to one conclusion however. I think what I do this week wont reflect on my Wednesday weigh in next week it will be the week after. I think! And here is how my weigh in have been going.......
up 1.8
down 1.8
up 1.8
down 1.8
and so forth. I guess that means I am maintaining my weight but that's not what my goal is. I think this week I am gonna take a close look at my water intake and my exercise. SIGH!!! Wish me luck!!

Anniversary Trip

2010-05-03T09:07:00.002-06:00

Today is our 13 wedding anniversary. To celebrate we went to Arches National Park. We left Friday evening for Moab stayed in the KOA and woke up early on Saturday morning to spend all day in Arches and come home on Sunday morning. Because we only had one day in Arches I felt like we were racing against the clock to see all that we wanted to. Our first big hike was to Landscape Arch. We also did several of the small trails that branched off of the main trail. Jeremy calculated that it was about 6 miles of hiking. It took us 3 hours with our stops and picture opportunities. When we got back to the truck we were both pretty sore. Our feet were killing us. I knew I probably had a blister or two because I get blisters pretty easily. After lunch we went on over to Delicate Arch. Looking at the map that one was a 3 mile round trip hike. I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal. So we started hiking and as we were climbing up the hill I started to notice a stabbing pain in my hip. I really did not want to turn around and miss this view so I pressed on. The pain was horrid and Jeremy stop me to ask if I just wanted to go back to the truck. We decided to go on. When we had gone so far that we were thinking it's got to be any minute now I noticed the pain all of a sudden wasn't so stabbing anymore. It still hurt but I was able to bend at the hip and bare it. I picked up my pace to get there before the pain came back. When we got there I was so relieved to see there was a great place to sit and rest. We sat there for a bit. When I stood up to leave there was no pain at all. I don't know what I did wrong to cause the pain or what I did right to make it go away, other than pray :). So the walk back down the hill was at a much faster pace and with much more easy. On the way down there was an Indian family (the India kind) hiking down with us. The man was caring his daughter who was too little to walk, I would guess somewhere between 7-8 months old, and he didn't have his shoes tied. He fell and was sliding down the hill head first unable to stop himself because he was holding the baby to protect her. Jer stood in front of him so that he would stop him from going any further and the other man with the group grabbed him to stop them. The baby was crying but not hurt and the man had road rash on his elbows. He tied his shoes to finish up the hike. I couldn't believe some people's choice of foot wear for hiking. I saw a few wearing flip flops, most in tennis shoes. Some in shoes that I don't know how to classify them other than work shoes or old people shoes. I have very sensitive feet so I can't imagine wearing anything but the proper foot wear. I did end up with very nice blisters and bruises on the bottoms of my feet. I am still having a hard time walking on the balls of my feet where the bruises and blisters are. All in all this was a fantastic weekend. there are still some more things I would love to do down in Moab. I wold love to do Canyon Lands by night and the Firey Furnace hike. So maybe next time.

complaining again

2010-04-28T12:53:00.002-06:00

So I have decided to keep a very close eye on my weight. So close in fact I weigh myself every day to see if my different choices of food and exercise makes a difference in my weight. Well i have just made myself aware that nothing is making any since at all. I start off the week losing weight and every Monday I not only gain but I gain all or more back. I have been extra good over this last weekend to make sure this doesn't happen this week and it did AND it's a gain more week. I can't seem to lose any weight between Monday and Wednesday. Wednesday's I weigh in. I have been charting this weight loss/gain and I feel so confused. If you have any advice other than starving myself send it my way. If not I fear I may resort to starving!

Neti Pot

2010-04-20T10:26:00.004-06:00

Our allergies are horrid right now. The news said this morning to expect it to be a very bad allergy year. Both kids are miserable right now and I know for me, meds. just take the edge off of the misery, I still have a yucky nose and itch eyes, throat and ears it's just not as bad as if I am not on the meds. Last night in the middle of my sleep I woke up sneezing like crazy. I had to rip of my mask in a hurry, because I don't like to sneeze in it, and frantically search for tissue. So I decided to give this Neti Pot thing a try. I figured it can't hurt much to run saline through my nasal cavity. Well I just did the Neti Pot for the first time and I can't decided what to think. I was under the impression that very gross nasty stuff would come out the first time I used it and nothing did. It was just clear water, or saline. And now I think I have more pressure in my ears then I did before I did the treatment. I plan to give this a try for a month or so to see if I improve. I am hoping to be able to talk the kids into this also. I sorta see them freaking out on me. I will let you all know what my opinion of this is as time goes on.

still working at it

2010-04-19T13:08:00.002-06:00

Weight has been an issue for me my whole life. Started to "diet" when I was in 3rd grade. But of course what does a 3rd grader know; so my diet was skipping breakfast. Right now I have been in Weight Watchers for 2 1/2 years. I needed to lose roughly 55-60 lbs to hit goal when I started. Most of the people I see who put their whole heart into it can lose 50-60 lbs in about 5 months. Sadly i am still not at goal. But I am still working hard at it. This last month I have been watching what I eat and trying to get in as much exercise as my schedule will let and my weight keeps creeping up. 3 weeks ago I went into my meeting and the scale said I had gained 4.2 lbs. ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME!!!!!!! I bawled all the way home. I couldn't think of anything I did to deserve that kind of weight gain. I decided not to change anything and see what happened the next week, and I was down 4.6. Huge sigh of relief as well as major confusion. Then last week I go in and I am up 3.6. Again can't really see where I went wrong. I did share a dessert with a friend though. So through all of this I realized that in the beginning things seemed easier than they are now. I have to fight to lose any weight at all and I gain on weeks I think I should have lost. I have decided to go back to the beginning and do all the strict things I did then. Not use my bonus points not allow myself to eat a dessert and to weight myself everyday. Wednesday is my weigh in days and I am looking forward to what their scales my say. Mine tells me it's been a good week. I like to share a quote from a writer friend of mine...

In my internal dialog, I say to myself, "I want to lose a pound. That's all, just a pound." When I lost that pound, I'd start the saying over, "I think I'll try to lose a pound." When I lost that pound, I was two pounds lighter. I have a big goal: lose 65 pounds minimum. But that goal is too big for my confidence, so I focus on one pound at a time. -Al Gansky.

That's what I am doing just one pound at a time. Baby steps. That's what I did in the beginning. First I started to evaluate what I ate, Incorporated healthier choices, left out unhealthy choice. Once I got the eating under control I then started to add movement, go for a walk around the neighborhood, start walking on a track to measure my distance, added in a jog from this light pole to that light pole, jog most of the time. Maybe add in some weights from time to time. Baby steps all the way.

Another thing I did in the beginning was I had friends who were starting weight watchers too. I loved motivating them. Although I don't have that now I have found blogs of local fellow W.W. goers that I am reading. I leave comments from time to time but their stories are inspiring me and my comments make me feel useful.

Matthew

2010-04-16T07:22:00.003-06:00

God has answered prayers. It has been a long time waiting to hear those beautiful words from my friend "Matthew is ours". I have spent countless hours praying for over a year. Always wondering "WHY GOD WHY MUST THEY GO THROUGH THIS" I know in all things God has a reason and purpose. I know that sometimes the reason and purpose are not necessarily for those God is using. And this time I think this could be one of those times. Well sort of. Through all of this a whole body of believers has been praying and even when the situation seem bleak we saw God answering prayers. When it seemed the world was gonna fall apart we felt peace. And now that it is all done I see a relationship between 4 parents where 2 are not believers. I see this little boy growing up in a wonderful Christian home who may someday maybe the key instrument in his biological parents accepting what Christ has done on the cross for us.

Allergies vs. Sleep Apnea

2010-04-14T09:48:00.002-06:00

It really seems unfair to have both Sleep Apnea and Allergies. It's a horrid thing to deal with. The allergies are making my sinuses have so much pressure and then at night when I lay down and the pressure is at is worse I then have to put a face mask on that hits just about every sinus pressure. If I sleep with out the mask I wake up with a terrible head ache from not breathing well (or at all) But I just can't handle the pressure of the mask. sigh.

Matthew

2010-04-07T08:30:00.002-06:00

Please pray for the sweetest little boy named Matthew.

My consumer report

2010-03-17T20:29:00.002-06:00

I have been trying to decide if buying a Shark would be a good investment for quite a while now. I have gone on web sites, nothing. Tried to go on consumer report web site but you have to pay. I don't know how they can charge people for that when you can go to library and look through the consumer report for free. I don't know any one who owns one because they are like me and want to read a consumer report before the purchase. Well last week this purple steam mop went on sale and I just couldn't resist. So far I like it. It is a little flimsy filling when you move it from left to right. I really like how it got the area around my stove clean. There was a grease film that collected dirt and grime and no amount of scrubbing made it come clean, until I used the shark. I have noticed the more I use it the more it gets my floor clean. It's not industrial strength by any means but so far so good. Next I want to buy the hand held shark for cleaning other areas.

Strange Dream

2010-03-11T18:24:00.002-07:00

The only reason I am blogging this is cuz I want to find out where this came from. Usually my dreams have a reason like I watched a CSI show or discovery channel or a conversation or something like that. So here goes my bizzar dream I had last nigh...
Jer's parents were with us and we wanted to go out. There was much talk about a carnival type deal going on down at the pier so we thought we'd check it out. People were every where and we went in. At first it was just a normal walk on a pier and then it started to look different. The buildings were a gold and orange color and they kinda looked like the castle on Aladdin. There were many of these buildings crowding both sides of the street. At the end of this street it was a pier that looked out to the ocean and you could see a floating island that had yet another one of these building but it was shorter and slightly different. The water was a strange black tar and I turned around and there were all these people working hard labor kind of work. Hauling water in jugs on their head and making the bricks they used to build the buildings all by hand. The people were all black. Now I am not talking African American here. They were very very black and they almost looked fake like statues that move. They were wearing hardly any clothing and it was all yellow and orange. Then I noticed Bri was missing. We decided to get everyone to one central location before I headed out looking for Bri so I could find my way back to them. There was a food court that had all the tourist type of people there eating. Jer's folks got a table and I went out to find Bri. I called his cell and he was disoriented and couldn't tell me where he was and he had eaten some of the food there. I got Jer to help me look for him and we just had no luck. I called his cell again and told him to meet us at the truck. Jer and i headed out to the truck but no matter how much we walked we stayed the same distance from the parking lot. Then I noticed that lots of people were entering but no one was leaving. That was suspicious to me. Finally we caught up with Bri and he seemed to be coming out of a trans and started to make some sense when he talked. Immediately one of the black people came up and tried to give him some more food. It smelled so good but I made him refuse. The person went a little crazy not knowing what to do because he wouldn't eat the food. We walked away to meet up with the others and they were eating the food. They were very disoriented and couldn't think. Jess was missing. Then I woke up.

Very weird dream. I can't stop thinking about it. Very vivid too. And another thing that is weird is I woke up several time during this dream and every time I went back to sleep I pick up right where I left off. Which never happens.

An emotional roller coaster!!

2010-03-08T10:03:00.003-07:00

Thursday was parent teacher conference. The teachers in the junior high seemed to always hate their jobs and hate the kids. They were very rude to me and disrespectful to say the least. So I have become defensive. I had been working myself up all day to walk into Brian's High School and defend him and tell a few teachers just what I though of their comments. Well I was pleasantly surprised at the comments. Every teacher there truly like my son. One teacher even told me out of all the students she has ever taught she can only say she loves about 20 of them and Brian is one she loves. Comments I heard over and over again were...
Brian is...
very respectful
a delight to have in class
incredible smart
funny
sweet
genuinely nice
My heart swelled so much I just though it would burst in my chest right there. I was having to walk away from teachers to cry and compose myself before going onto the next teacher and then the phone call came in. Brian was at a friends house and supposed to meet me at the school. He forgot to leave on time and was running very late. He calls and I hear angry voices yelling into the phone. "MOM I WAS HIT BY A CAR. I AM SO MAD. THE IDIOT HIT ME!! I ALMOST FOUGHT HIM!!" I was freaking out big time and couldn't think. I was already a basket case and just couldn't focus so I called Jer and told him. When he called back he says things are ok sounds like Bri wasn't really hurt and he would be at school soon. When he showed up he was fine. The guy did run over his foot and hit him with the side mirror. He was more angry than anything. He was only sore for a couple of hours and now he thinks he is so tough he can take on a car and win!!! Great that's all I need is for my teenage son who thinks he's too tough to die as it is to believe he can take on a car!!

The Weekend

2010-02-22T12:54:00.002-07:00

Most days as a mother of a teenager you sit back and your head spins as you try to figure out what just caused the outburst, or wander what happened to that wonderful, loving child you once had.
Not this weekend.
I had the BEST weekend. Started out running errands with my wonderful husband then came home to get my daughter who helped me clean the church nursery (along with two wonderful friends Lori and Joanna and my sons best friend Jessica) Then we joined GAP at our church and had tons of fun. Jessi and I took Jessica out to coffee before dropping her off at home and had a wonderful conversation with her. Came home to my boys and we all four went out to dinner at the Melting Pot. It was a special treat I had been planning in my head for months. We had a blast. Normally Brian won't even go out to dinner with us, he just requests our left overs. Brian and I had a sword fight with our forks, we laughed so hard our tummies hurt. He and Jessi are both studying the same subject in World Civilizations and they shared with us all that they had learned. It did get a bit silent when the chocolate fondue was set at our table about the only thing you heard was, mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Then UHHHHHHHHHHHHH, because the full tummies kicked in.
It even continued into the next day, the smiles, talking, and just being nice. I didn't want this weekend to end!
We stopped at the store so that two kids we had given a ride to youth group could run in and get their mom some stuff and we were all talking. So many people have been coming up to me lately to tell me how nice I am, I wasn't fishing for a compliment but I was trying to tell my family that I am not "nice" I just allow God to use me. All I got out was I'm not nice and both kids and husband piped in saying "Yes you are!" I don't know why but hearing Brian say I was nice was a perfect ending to a perfect weekend. I hear so much of how unfair I am and how mean I am and judgemental I am. So it meant so much to hear him say that.
OH I so hope we can repeat this weekend every day

Public Apology

2010-02-19T09:47:00.002-07:00

Last weekend on Saturday evening at 8:10pm my phone rang. It, of course, was a telemarketer. I only remember her name, Sophia. I don't remember what company she was calling about (or for). I felt a little bold and so I proceeded to tell her that it was rude to call on a Saturday evening and I hung up. Not even on full minute later the phone rings, AGAIN. And yes it was Sophia, AGAIN. I then raised my voice and got angry with her. I said some mean things and she never let up, she continued to tell me her little sells gimmick. Then I said take me off your calling list and the woman told me NO!!! She tried to tell me that my number was public information and she could call anytime she wanted. So I informed her that it is federal law to take me off if I asked and she started over again with her sells gimmick. SHEESH! I ended up just hanging up the phone.
I do apologies for losing my temper it was uncalled for. I really should have taken a different approach to this whole situation. I do however strongly believe she was in the wrong from the very first phone call. But I don't need to act like a fool.
For now on I am going to calmly ask for the persons name and company and possibly a phone number and then ask to be taken off of the list this way if I have problems I will then be calling in a formal complaint.

better days

2010-02-12T13:55:00.002-07:00

If today could just be started over that would be great!! Falls, stuck heads, screams, cries, melt downs. I think we should have spent the day in a padded room listening to calm music. Lets see if I can stay away from my normal stressful day retreat, foods with high sugar!! So far so good.

Frusterated

2010-02-10T11:18:00.001-07:00

I wanna go to the biggest loser ranch in st. george utah. I can't do this on my own. It's too hard. What am I supposed to do when I get cravings for sugary sweets!!!! So I am gonna run away to St. George. It cost $1000 a week. Who wants to donate to my cause.

underwear

2010-01-26T09:36:00.002-07:00

T: Cwissy do you have buz light year on your underwear?
Me: Um.... no
T: Cwissy who's on your underwear?
Me: (pause: trying to decide if it was appropriate to describe my underwear to him) Um... Nothing
T: Oh, you just have girl underwear.

attempt #3

2010-01-22T11:27:00.002-07:00

ok so I am technologically challenged. Her blog is named Living in a Fish Bowl and she is on my list of blogs that I follow.

attempt #2

2010-01-22T11:24:00.001-07:00

Ok so that didn't work at least I don't see the link. Let me try this again in a different way.

Prayers

2010-01-22T11:22:00.001-07:00

I am attempting to add a link to a friends blog. She is going through an adoption and could us all the prayers she can get. You can follow her incredible story on her blog. It's amazing and scary. But I know that our God is loving and caring beyond all of our understanding and I know that no matter what the out come is God will be glorified though it all.

Library

2010-01-12T11:53:00.002-07:00

Today Jer needed me to drop something off at the post office and it happens to be pretty close to a library. So I thought if all goes well I would sneak on over for a book or two. I didn't tell the boys where we were going. When we got there Tyson says "Where are we, what are we doing here" I told him we were are the library and he chimes in with "OH YEAH the car's fixed YAY YAY!" and just for the record my car is still running ;-)

What has this world come to.

2010-01-10T20:13:00.002-07:00

Now I just think that peoples manners are going down hill. It is driving me crazy. The other day Jessica needed a book for school so we went to the library. She saw a man approaching the library behind us so she stopped to hold the door open for him. She does this a lot, both my kids do this actually. But it bugs me to no end when a healthy man who is not old and/or needs special assistance excepts my daughters open door. It is just good, polite manners for the man to stop and hold the door open for her and say thank you but lady's first. So this particular man excepts her open door and says thank you and goes to the next door and say "Well I guess it's my turn" (to open the door for her) So for a split second I forgave him until he decided his idea to open the door for my daughter was to throw open the door hard enough so he could go through first and if Jessica hurried up she could make it in after him. It warms my heart that today at church Brian jumps out of the car to open my door and then goes to the door of my dear friend Arthea and opens her car door for her too, and still yet walks up to the church to wait for us and holds open the door for us all there. Now Brian does this every Sunday morning (not opening Arthea's door it was just luck that she arrived the same time as us today) and when he holds open the door at church he goes above and beyond at times by waiting for ladies he has seen just arrive to hold open the door for them or even gentlemen who have there arms full. I so wish that moms took the time to teach there sons that this is just how it is done and that dads would do this in front of there sons as an example.

Believe it or Not, it's true

2009-12-23T10:14:00.003-07:00

Well my church had it's 2nd annual children's Christmas play. My daughter and hubby were in it again and they were fabulous!!! My husband made people laugh and my daughter, well she's just so darn cute who wouldn't love to just watch her up on stage (No, I am not bias in the least) And one more person from our family was up on that stage...... ME!! I can't even believe it my self. It was a tough roll to play, let me tell you. But after 3 months of practice I think I have the part of Jessica's mom down. I was so nervous and I kept going over and over my lines and Jessica say "don't worry mom you know what helps me calm down, getting up on that stage and seeing everyone there watching me" OK if she didn't look like a little mixture of me and Jer I would so think that child had been switched at birth! Sorry I have no pictures at this time. Due to that fact that I was on the stage and so very nervous I didn't remember the camera. Brian probably would have taken only one picture any way. Oh and one more thing, my friend Jessica's son Jake came up to me after the performance and told me I play a good mom. HAHA that made me giggle for hours.

Christmas Program

2009-12-18T13:00:00.003-07:00

This is my first attempt at putting a video on my blog. This is Jessica's school Christmas performace. I thought it was so cool I wanted to show every one. It's not a good quality video because I am taking it with my still camera but it's all I got. Oh and I didn't get the whole performance I must of hit the button but I got enough for you all to see how cute they were.

Rats!!!

2009-12-14T15:27:00.003-07:00

Last week my Girl Scouts and I walked in 17 degree weather and delivered 100 fliers asking for donations for an animal shelter. We are trying to earn our Bronze Award and this was there service project choice. Then on Saturday we took Jeremy's truck and drove around to pick up the donations. Every house was empty. They were supposed to put the donation on the porch and no one had anything on there porch. When we got to the top of the second street we saw a plastic bag sitting on the porch. FINALLY!! Jessica jumps out of the truck and runs up to get the bag. Next thing I know the bag goes flying in the air and she is shaking her hands saying "ewwie ewwie" and runs back to the truck. I ask her what was in it and she says a rat. I start laughing and asked her are you sure it wasn't a "toy rat" after all we are looking for donations for an animal shelter. She tells me there is not way she is going to go and double check so with much laughter we drive away. When we realized we were done and no one set out any donations for out troop's service project I said "well rats, girls" Jess gets the heebie jeebies and says "mom don't remind me". Ha. Bottom line is I have a very disappointed girls and we have to go out again in January to another neighborhood. Cross your fingers for us that this next neighborhood will feel more giving.

how do you know

2009-12-09T09:51:00.003-07:00

How do you know you have a static electricity problem in your house? When the kiddos you babysit are running in a circle in the livingroom and you get shocked and they didn't touch you!

How do you know it's time to up grade your 20+ year old windows in your home? When you wake up and the frost is on the inside!

OH MY

2009-12-03T10:20:00.002-07:00

About 5 years ago I lost my transmission. It was horrid to be with out a car for so long but I was thankful it was summer and I just walked everywhere. We got lots of exercise. When it was done they asked if we wanted to buy the extended warranty for somewhere around $1000. YIKES. We were all ready having to put it on the card because we didn't have $3000 for the rebuild. We talked and decided to go for it, I don't have plans to get a new vehicle and who knows it could happen again right.
I told the boys lets go to the library (words I am learning I should not say out loud) and I get them one in the car and walk around the back of the car to put the other in and there is liquid all the way up my drive way from the street and it ends just under my car. It's red and oily. I know that transmission fluid is red because of my mom coming in the house when I was a teen and saying her car was bleeding, turned out she lost her transmission. So I call Jer "Hun we've got a problem. "
So now I have to explain to the boy again we are not going to the library. This time they are not quit as bummed and I get to tell them about the tow truck that is on it's way.
The huge bummer is that I now have to figure out how to have my busy schedule with out a vehicle. ::SIGH:: I am wondering if God is telling me to slow down. If I put too much on my plate. If I need to take a breather and realize the world will go on even if I am not wonder-women.
I guess I should just praise God I am not out in the cold with two 2 year olds and a broken car. I should Praise God that I have a smart husband who thought that a warranty might just be a good idea. And I should also Praise God that my husband doesn't usually leave for work until after the kids go to school so I can use his truck to get them there and that he did leave early today so he can be home to run out and get the Girl Scout supplies I need for this afternoon. again ::SIGH::

Dieting

2009-11-30T11:02:00.002-07:00

So I started my weight watchers journey almost 2 years ago. WOW two years. It's been a long time. I thought for sure that at a year and a half and I would be at goal. I also thought a year and a half was giving my self a few screw up weeks. Realistically you can lose 1-2 pounds a week and remain healthy. So I should have been able to lose the weight with in a year being I only needed to lose 60 (ish) pounds. But I didn't want the pressure. Here it is almost 2 years later and I am 20 pounds away from my goal. ::SIGH:: I have been 20 pounds away from my goal for a whole year. Last year November was the last time I had a significant weight lose.

When I made the decision to join Weight Watchers I decided it was a life long decision. No opting out for any reason. Over this last year I have thought several time about quiting. I am happy where I am at, I just can't justify spending the money when I apparently am not taking it seriously, this is the weight I have always gotten stuck on so maybe it's the weight I am supposed to be. ALL LIES!!!!

I am NOT happy with where I am at. I have never been content at this weight I have always dieted, trying to lose a few more pounds. This is the weight I was when I got married and I was always trying to lose then. This is the weight I spent most of my teenage years being and I was always trying to lose then too. I am not happy here. I want the best I want the -20lbs. I will achieve this.

I can't justify spending the money when I am apparently not taking it seriously. Well I am taking it seriously I just can't figure out what needs to change. If my exercise needs to increase or if my diet needs adjusting or both. If I wasn't taking this seriously than I wouldn't be going to my weekly meetings, I wouldn't be calculation my points, I wouldn't have reached out and asked for help.

This is the weight I am always stuck at so maybe it's the weight I am supposed to be. Yeah I don't think so. I have been smaller I just forget. And I just need to look back at my "before" picture and see how far I have come and know that I can do this. If I have made it this far I can go the distance.

Last week I reached out for help on a blog site that I know fellow weight watchers post and someone answered my cry. I am meeting her this Thursday. She is a life timer (means she is at goal and has kept at goal for a while now) She wants to take on my case, so to speak, and see what needs to adjust and how to help me get to goal. I am so excited I can't wait to slip into my new body. I can't wait to look at myself and say I DID IT!! I can't wait to post how much I weigh (only me, my doctor, and the weight watchers instructor know) Some have a guess and they are close but I won't reveal the numbers of where I have been or what I am until I get to post the "after" picture.

Wish me luck, say a prayer, cross your fingers. I need it all. I just think that for someone who went on her first diet at age 10 she should be able to reach her goal by the time she is 35.

Build A Bear date

2009-11-25T08:09:00.002-07:00

I haven't taken my nieces on a date in over a month so I have been raking my brain for what to do. I don't want to repeat a date with the same girl. Well Jessica is a faithful shopper of Build A Bear Workshop and every year for her birthday she gets amazing coupons. Which is funny because for three years in a row all she wanted was build a bears. Anyways a few weeks ago we get a coupon for $12 off an animal purchase. That means you could get a free bear!! So Jess and I talk and since she has plenty of animals and Ana is as much of an animal lover as she we would take Ana out on a date and get her the some accessories. Every weekend has been busy busy busy, so we were going to squish in the date on a week night just before the coupon expired. Well she got sick :( so Jess and I went to build a bear last night to see if we can get an unstuffed bear and bring Ana when she was no longer sick. They said no problem. Not only was it a free animal they gave us a coupon for $7 off a $10 purchase. WOW this is going to be a very inexpensive date.

oops

2009-11-12T13:46:00.002-07:00

Yesterday I went to hancock fabric store to buy some material and ended up standing in two lines that took 1 hour and 20 minutes total. The boys were so good. I kept telling them how good they were and that I would take them to the library for a reward. ::sigh:: I completely forgot that it was Veterans Day and the library was closed. Poor little Tyson, when we pulled up in the parking lot I said " OH no I am so sorry the library is closed." Tyson stuck out his lip (and boy he can stick it out far) and said "oh no how can this happen." and started to cry. Talk about ripping out my heart. I felt so terrible.

Zuri

2009-11-04T13:38:00.002-07:00

Today I took the kids to the zoo. Zuri our new baby elephant was so active. I took some video on my phone and I will make it Jeremy's homework to put it on here. I tried to get her trying to dive into her water bowl but by the time I got my camera out and working she decided that wasn't no fun any more. I got her running around and digging in the dirt. Oh I could just sit there for hours watching that cutie pie. The other baby animals are cute an all but they just sleep all the time. Zuri is so entertaining and full of personality.

Stupid Dog!!!

2009-10-31T12:15:00.002-06:00

I just went to have Holly shampooed because the cold weather has hit Utah and she pretty much stays indoors during the winter months. Jess let her out to go potty and I caught her rolling in the dirt. OH I am so mad I could just spit. You can't even tell she was clean a few minutes ago. Worst part is she so knows what she did is wrong because she is cowering. I swear that dog hates me.

ADD overdrive

2009-10-20T08:29:00.003-06:00

OH my goodness. I went into the kitchen to make myself breakfast and this is what ended up happening. Had to unload dishwasher because the pan I wanted was in their but they were too hot to unload, Jer walks in which reminds me to talk to him about washing hands and stuff so that we don't bring the flu into our home, which leads to sanitizing the counter tops, which leads to cleaning off the dust from the kitchen aid, which almost lead to baking bread but bread made me think about the toaster oven and that is when I decided to clean out the crumb catcher and that is about the time the boys started to fight over a toy and I went to the play area to finish the vacuuming that I started yesterday but didn't finish because I got distracted then I went back into the kitchen but couldn't remember what I wanted to do in their and so I proceeded to clean the stove. Then my tummy reminded me that I was hungry and I finished unloading the dishwasher so that I can get back to my original plan and make my breakfast. Sheesh.

preprgramed or influenced

2009-10-19T10:01:00.002-06:00

So I was once told we program our children to be masculine or feminine. Such as, we buy dolls for our girls creating them to be feminine and truck for our boy creating them to be masculine. I have always felt that was incorrect. From the beginning there was no mistaken that Brian was all boy and Jessica was all girl. Jessica had a choice what toys she wanted, because of having an older brother, to play with and she always chose dolls (well honestly stuffed animals that she used as dolls). Now I am babysitting little boys and I have some of my kids old toys and I have bought a few new stuff. But truly none of the toys favor one sex over the other with the exception of baby drowsy which has been renamed to Gracie. I find it so funny that before I bought the boys toy cars they were taking every toy and making it act like a car. And I don't have toy guns and yet one of them is right now using a toy and making gun sounds and shooting everything is his path.

Music for Kids

2009-10-06T14:18:00.002-06:00

I want to start doing pre-school like songs for the kids I watch so I went to the library to get some music CDs for us to preview before I buy any. Thank goodness I did. There is a song called "I am my own grandpa". It's a very strange song to say the least. I want fun songs that can also teach the kiddos like, 5 little duck went out to play and Days of the week (sung like the Adam's family theme song) Where does one find CUTE preschool songs. And and all suggestions welcome

Hmmm.... Ads on my blog?!?!?!

2009-10-05T19:16:00.002-06:00

So I notice today that some of the words in my blog were highlighted green. I put my cursor over them and they are ads. I don't know how they got there. I didn't give permission to anyone but my hubby to be an author on this blog. How can this be?

My first complaint

2009-09-30T08:32:00.002-06:00

Sometimes I have no backbone. I am sure most of you are not surprised at all. I get very upset with myself for some of the things I put up with. Like the time I was at Wal-Mart and the lady grab the twisty bag holder thing and twisted it aggressively and using a mean voice to yell at my daughter then froze to realize she twisted it out of my hand. I should have asked for a manager right then and there, I should have left the store without making my purchases. I really should have done something but instead I tried to give her a look of disappointment. It didn't work because she wouldn't look at me for nothing after that. I am learning my lessons.
So this last weekend I went to Joann's fabric store (mind you I love Joann's and I don't usually get negative attitudes form most of the employees there. I assume that she is a hired on seasonal helper because she is new and it's that time of year.) I went to get some fabric cut. The counter was full so I had to grab a number. Jessica squatted down like she was tired and didn't want to stand but changed her mind and stood up. Well on her way up she bumped a shelf and it made a loud ruckus. Everyone looked at her and she turned a million shades of red and ran to hide behind me. One of the lady's cutting fabric looked at me with a glare and said "she deserves it". Holy Cow deserves what!!!! She didn't do anything wrong. So I thought maybe just maybe she wasn't talking to me. So I was watching her out of the corner of my eye and she was continuously casting glares my way. So I assume she had to be talking to me about Jess. Jess didn't see or hear this lady and she was already embarrassed and I didn't want to call more attention to her so I just waited until my fabric was cut (by someone else) then I went around the long way to cash out so that I could see her name tag. I waited until I got home and I called the store to complain about this. The manager was in SHOCK and apologized and reassured me she would be getting a talking too. I don't think that she should have said that too me even if Jessica was being obnoxious and did deserve it.

Brownies

2009-09-24T13:25:00.003-06:00

OK you have got to try these brownies. It will sound weird but they are so YUMMY and healthier. And if you have an egg allergy you can eat these brownies because you do not add the egg.

Ingredients
1 fat free or reduced fat brownie mix
1 can of fat free black beans

Pour the black beans into a colander and rinse well. Also rinse out the can. Put the beans back into the can and fill it up with water. Pour into a blender and blend well. Put the brownie mix in a bowl and add blended black beans. Stir together and pour into an 8 x 11.5 pan bake at 350 for 30 minutes. They are like cake brownies and so good. I can't even tell the difference. I was very hesitant to try them at first but I have made them twice now. If you live near by and are nervous to try them just let me know I will let you taste mine.

Brace Face No More

2009-09-15T13:15:00.002-06:00

Today Brian got his braces off. I didn't get to go with him because I was babysitting 3 kids. So Jer took a few hours off of work to help me out. While sitting at home wondering how it was going I actually almost started to cry about it. For four years I have been taking Bri to the orthodontist once a month to have adjustments, new brackets, band changes and much much more. It has become a huge part of life. I remember in the beginning how incredibly sore he got, and the nights he woke up begging me to make it stop hurting, the days I wasn't thinking clearly and would make his favorite dinner, shredded beef burritos, on an adjustment day and him just sulking because it hurt too bad to chew. It seems I always plan that dinner on the painful days, mind you not on purpose. The end never seem to come, and then it did. His teeth are beautiful. They are perfect. He loves them. I hope this means all that pain was worth it. I found it so funny that the orthodontist gave him a bag of candy that contained, skittles, star burst, twizzlers, jaw breakers, and jolly ranchers. All the forbidden candies to a brace face. Although they didn't put gum in there. He gets to be care free for one whole week but next week starts the retainer which he will have to wear 24/7 for the first few months and then I believe it will go to just 12 hours a day after that. If anyone out there needs an orthodontist I highly recommend Dr. Poulsen and Dr. Endrizzi, they are awesome and so is there staff. Plus Brian get life time check ups for free. I don't know if all orthodontist do that or not but I thought it was nice of them. Kid #1 done, kid #2 still in braces for a while.

Potty training

2009-09-11T10:53:00.004-06:00

Ok I have been trying not to blog about the kids I babysit. I do think I have said this at least once before. But it is getting harder and harder with them getting older and funnier. And quite frankly I have a boring everyday life so unless I blog about my kids (not really mine. well not biologically but in my heart they are) then I really have nothing to blog about. And this will keep me form telling my husband about someone elses kids everyday when he gets home from work. I guess for the momma who ready this blog she can look at it as a way to see what he has done for the day.
Yesterday I decided to start round 2 of the potty training adventure. It's a much different experience when it's not your kid you are potty training. It's much more funnier and a lot less stressfull. Yesterday I declare a success. Today well there was success and laughs. Of course I had to laugh away from him because I just don't want him to get a complex about himself. Yesterday we peed, we were rewarded, was great. He loved it and smiled for hours over his success. Today he figured out you don't have to let all the pee pee out in one sitting, that way you get more rewards. So we spent and hour peeing a drop and being rewarded. Then when he ran out he had to get creative, right? He pulled a string out of my bath rug and told me he pooed. Oh the laughter was so built up inside of me but I had to hold it together and explain to him I knew it was string and he couldn't get his reward. He just said "Oh".

Size matters

2009-08-27T09:57:00.002-06:00

OK I need to vent!!! Why is it that manufactures of men's clothing skip the size small and 29 inch waists. I am going crazy trying to find clothes for Brian. He is in need of P.E. clothes and I cannot find his size anywhere. Do they think that boy go from lg. boy to med. men's over night so there is no need to create a small. Or is it that now days small is so far fetched in our fast food nation. Hello get a clue Mr. Manufacturer I need a men's small. And seeing as I have slow growing children and there momma practices the ancient art of cooking at home with out the microwave even being involved I don't think that he will be gaining super fast anytime soon so please start making his size.

The first day of school

2009-08-25T13:33:00.002-06:00

Well the first day of school went well. They both came home with smiles on their faces. Brian gets two first days of school, they have A days and B days. But first day of A day was great. He likes all his teacher so far. He like being treated like an adult (those are his words) He LOVES open campus lunches especially with an Arby's, Carl's Jr., Panda, Mc D's, Burger King, and Papa Johns pizza so close to the school. Oh yeah and Starbucks which is what he had for the first day of school. He came home and rested about 10 minute and got right on his homework without being asked. I was amazed at that. This is a first in all his many school years. Jessica likes her teachers as well. They tested her reading with the dibbles test (BTW, I hate dibbles) and she did very well. This is a first for her she normally scores 6 months below to right at reading level. At there standard if you score at reading level you are a low reader. Don't ask. But they went as far as testing her at a 9th grade level. Well that's what they told her and she struggled at the 9th but did very well until then. I am proud of both of them. Let's hope this is a sighn for what is to come; lost of smiles and doing well in school

School starts today

2009-08-24T09:35:00.003-06:00

Yep that's right. They are off to school. Looking cute in new clothes. Brian is off to high school (10th grade here) and he is excited and nervous all at the same time. I can't believe he only have 3 more years of school and then he gets to make his life choices of college and career. Doesn't seem possible. Jessica is in 6th grade this year. She is very very excited to have gotten the teacher she wanted (Brian's 6th grade teacher). Inside I laugh at her because she will have all the teachers. They change teachers for different subjects like jr high and high school. But she got the home room teacher she wants anyway. She is doing crossing guard so I have to have her there by 7:40. Also she keep telling me 180 days of school and she will be a jr. higher. OK I don't want to hear it. Especially since I am so thankful to have a year break from that school. I really didn't like it at all. If I have to deal with a certain teacher one more time I am going to have to tell her off. I was speechless last year although rumor has it she retired. In my opinion 3 years late.

Miss Edith

2009-07-30T09:55:00.002-06:00

Dear Edith,
Today you went to be with our Lord. Even though I know where you are I can't help but to cry selfishly for myself. You once told me you couldn't wait to be able to sing again. I can almost hear you singing your praises to our Lord. I will miss you so much and I will never forget the times we spent together giggling like little girls and playing word games. You have touched so many lives and you will not be forgotten. I made a promise to you once that I will always pray for your daughters especially after you were gone. I will keep my promise to you. I will pray. Miss Edith I love you so much.

Brian the commedian stricks again

2009-07-20T22:36:00.002-06:00

So last night our power when out. Only for about an hour, thank goodness. In this heat who could stand to live with our AC and fans running. Any way we were all settling down for the night when the power when out. Jeremy and I were in bed watching a show Jer got us hooked on called Man Hunter. Jess was on her way to bed and Brian was in the shower. When he got out of the shower he came into our room to discuss with us what happened
Brian: "that was weird"
Us (Jer and I): Yeah the power went out
Bri: I know but I thought I did it
Us: what?
Bri: Well I was washing my hair and when I opened my eyes it was dark. I re-closed them and finished rinsing and when I opened them the lights were on again. So I though maybe I was magic so I closed my eyes and opened them and it was dark. I though no way so I re-closed them but when I opened them it was still dark so I figured it wasn't me after all just a power outage.
Us: laughing hysterically at our son
Sometimes I wonder about that kid.

The story of the young buck and the old stallion

2009-06-04T21:13:00.003-06:00

One night while the young buck and the old stallion were eating their oats, the young buck started talking smack to the old stallion. "Oh you old stallion you have nothing on me. I can run faster than you any day." The old stallion warned the young buck to watch it or he would have to eat his words. The young buck said "bring it on old stallion, right now." Old stallion got up and went to the center of the pasture, young buck joined him with a grin of satisfaction, just knowing he had the race was in the bag. Ready, set, go! Young buck was off in a sprint. Old stallion set his pace. It wasn't long before young buck slowly started to lose steam and the old stallion came up from behind and passed him. But the young buck couldn't give up, he kept on going. The old stallion finished the race first and then slowly but surely young buck arrived at the finish line. Old stallion was very pleased with himself but those oats started to turn in his tummy and off to the backwoods he went. Young buck didn't lose his oats, but doesn't feel very well and is off trying to get better.
Why oh why does this competitive nature run in my men. Do you think they would learn, NO!! Young Buck (aka Brian) is plotting his come back after a week or so of practice he wants a re-match with the old stallion (aka Jeremy) Hopefully they will be smart enough to race before dinner.

Striker is found

2009-06-03T13:44:00.002-06:00

Here is Houdini trying to figure out how to escape again. Crazy snake, I have got my eye on him now. Hopefully no more escaping for him. Striker was found in the guest bedroom on the floor in plain view by Jeremy. Thank goodness. Both snakes are in there home safe and sound. And I plan to keep it that way!

The case of the missing snakes

2009-06-01T12:14:00.005-06:00

Sunday morning we woke up to find that the snakes were missing. Both of them. Now I am not really a snake person but as long as I don't have to touch, feed, water, or clean up after them they can live in my house (preferably in their tank) Since the lid was on the tank I found this to be suspicious but who knows. They are known to be sneaky creatures. We did what we thought was a pretty thorough check of the house. I knew those buggers could hide in plain view but I figured with two of them on the lamb we were bound to find one of them. No such luck. So I started to come up with scary thoughts of someone breaking in to my house and snake-napping them. Well today I was doing laundry and quite often the sound of water causes nature to call so I went into the restroom and I noticed something on top of the shower door frame. I looked up and sure enough there is one of the snakes. Now how the heck the snake got there is beyond my imagination but he was. After freaking out I called Jer half hoping he would say " I am on my way to the rescue." No he says "OK can you put it in the tank for me. good luck" I try hard not to be one of those annoying girls, unfortunately it is in me to be one. I found Jeremy's ski gloves and went to get the snake. But he had to be difficult and grip the shower and make his body bigger in the area that was wedged. Afraid to hurt the snake I got a wrench to pull the metal he had wedge himself into so I can get him out. It took quit a while, and lots of heebie jeebie and squeals, and one loud call out for God to help me, before I finally got him free. I carried him to his tank and put the lid on and tightened every screw and latch. And then I had to hide Tyson's fake snakes I bought him to play with because they made the heebie jeebies run up and down my spine. And can you believe that snake is trying to get out again!! I just saw him poking around the top of the cage. He must have liked his freedom. Unfortunately for him I am sending my husband to the store tonight to buy another tank topper that is better!! One more snake is out there. I sure hope he is found when Jeremy or Brian is home and I hope he isn't in a dark hiding place that I stick my hand into and scream so loud that my neighbors call the police. OH why did I ever agree to buy them snakes!!

WARNING NOT A PRETTY SIGHT

2009-05-23T17:41:00.002-06:00

Alright, as embarrassing as it is, here is my backyard. Not to appealing I know. It's a work in progress. I have decided not to fix the grass until I have finished the landscape. I want a flower bed right in front of the porch with lots of colors. Hopefully my peach tree will give us peaches next year. No blooms this year.

Here is Jer cleaning out our free pond. This is were it's home will be when we install it. We are thinking of putting a water fall in the corner there by the house and porch, there will be a garden surrounding the front of the pond. And maybe even misters around the porch. I can't wait to have cold lemonade on a hot summer day relaxing.

I also have flat rock that will be making a path from the shed to the RV parking. The RV parking is going to get it's new wood chips this year and up against the fence to the left I am adding another garden for squashes and pumpkins because the take over a garden quickly so they get there own. And yes I do know that pumpkin is squash. Keep checking back I will, hopeful, have new pictures soon of progress. :)

Jessica's Performance

2009-05-05T09:22:00.003-06:00

Jessica was is the Up with Kid production of Enchanted with Alvin and the Chipmunks. They spent 9 months working on this performance. Of course my daughter was awesome. She has a minor roll of Dorthy. There were a few kids who were INCREDIBLE. Josie was great and boy can that girl sing. Her mom say some days it gets old though because she will sing every word she speaks. Being that it's not my daughter and I don't have to deal with it I think it cute and funny. I am sure I might not think so if Jessica did that. There were some others that did very well like Tinker Bell but I don't know them as well as Josie. Over all I was quite disappointed in the performance. Given that the had 9 months of practices I expected more. Especially after Lori had 3 months to put together our church's Christmas program and it was pretty much flawless. All except one of the only 2 adults had a brain fart and forgot for a second what his next line was. But I wont say who. (I love you Jer.) Jessica has already decided not to do this again next year. She thinks that she might like to have some piano lessons for a while. I guess if she does a piano performance I might have to learn to put video on here.

The nose KNOWS

2009-04-30T14:27:00.004-06:00

Spring is here for sure. Who needs that darn old groundhog, just follow me around to know when it's spring time. ah... Ah...AH...CHOO. The weather warms up, birds begin to serenade us into our day and the flower make there appearance, along with the weeds. Who could resist a warm beautiful day outside weeding, soaking in the vitamin D, smelling the flowers, and enjoying life. I can't at least not that first day. But day two I can't make it more then a few feet from the tissue box. Thank goodness those things can go outside with me. Since I don't have a grassy back yard Missy and I are going to have a huge garden back there. She said she wants to plan a million tomato plants but I think I might just talk her down to 20 or so. We are going to plant all the ingredient for salsa, then we want some corn and a pumpkin patch. My brother suggested watermelon. Why not, I have nothing better to do with all that back yard. I can't wait to post picture of our progress. So stay tuned. Oh and if you live near by and need tomatoes please don't go to the store, stop by here and get them for free. Missy is very persuasive she might get her million.

The 100 year old Bible (at least)

2009-04-07T12:38:00.003-06:00

I have decided to make it my mission to return this bible to it's rightful family. Years ago, about 1983 or 1984 ish time frame, my family acquired this bible. Legally mind you, but it's not a very interesting story so I will skip it. Anyway upon it's arrival my sisters and I were interested in it and opened it up to look through it's very old pages. I realized that it not only was once someone else's bible but that is was a precious heirloom. This bible contains hair clippings from some ones first hair cut, lots of births deaths and marriages are recorded in it's pages along with news paper clippings. I figure this blog would be a good start to begin. I will be posting this post about once a month or so with different titles so that maybe some day someone surfing the web looking for their heritage will stumble across one of my postings. I will gladly hand this bible over to the family. Although I do have to mention that this thing is HUGE and if it needs to be mailed I may need to ask for shipping cost, I estimate it to come to $25+ dollars at least.

Family names in bible:
This was presented to a Mr. George Fred Hale by his mother Mrs. Annie Hale
Other names that appear William W. Hale a civil war vet. who died in 1910. My guess is this would be George's father. Then there is a McLean family mentions with death dates in the mid and late 1800's and my guess is this would be Mrs. Annie Hales parents.

The deaths and burials of these people were Prince Edward Island and Dorchester, Massachusetts. The bible was acquired in California near Fontana.

I pray that the rightful owner shows up someday so I may return this heirloom. I have no idea what to do with it if no one ever clams it. Also I am up for suggestions on how I can get this more public so it can be found.

Tyson

2009-04-04T12:34:00.003-06:00

When I started to babysit I realize how easy it would be to blog all day long about this cutie pie. But I decided not to because it wouldn't be right. I would be taking away from him momma and it would take away from my kids. But toddlers give you so much to talk about and laugh about. Not that my kids aren't funny it's just well they are mostly funny in there words not in there actions which is more difficult to blog.
Well the other day Tyson just did something that cracked me up so much Jeremy heard me laughing from the shower. So I asked his momma permission to share and she said yes. I had my Wii fit out and he had got one of the Wii motes stood on the Wii fit and knew exactly what to do. Now not only do I use mine as much as I remember but I know his parents also have one. I thought oh I have got to take a picture so I got up and got the camera. By the time I got back he was done. I told him "oh but I wanted to take a picture of you" so he got right back on through his arms up in the air and yelled "CHEESE". That is when I lost it.

April Fool's

2009-04-01T09:54:00.002-06:00

Jessica really wanted to get her brother and father in an April Fool's joke. Her rules were not hurting anyone and no making food taste yucky. She got an idea from the Disney channel to switch the cereals to different cereal boxes, i.e. the Trix cereal was put into the Lucky Charms box and vise versa. This morning both kids arived to the counter at the same time and Jessica patiently waited for her Brian to choose his cereal. When he did he became confused and Jessica's tiny morning voice said "April Fools". Brian just smiled that ' you got me' smile and went about with his breakfast. She counldn't see her dad's reaction because she had to go to school but I was getting ready to take a quick shower when I here "Why is the Lucky Charms in the Trix box" in a very accusing tone. I told him "Oh yeah, Jessica told me to tell you April Fools" I could tell he was proud of her behind his smirky look. I also know my husband well and Jessica watch out dad is going to be thinking all day long how to get back at you.

A day with Aunt Tiki

2009-03-11T17:25:00.002-06:00

It's no surprise that I love being an Aunt. I enjoy so much seeing there faces light up when I walk into the room. It's the best feeling ever. So I have to spoil them a little so that I can keep their faces lighting up like that. So from time to time I take the girls out on a one on one date. Recently I took Ana to barns and noble for a "special" drink at Starbucks (coffee free of course or Missy might end my dates with them) and to buy a book. She adores books. Unfortunately I didn't think to bring the camera on our date so you will just have to take my word on it when I tell you that she loved it and had lots of fun.
A couple of weeks later I took Mia to the living aquarium. She had so much fun saying OH WOW over ever little thing we saw. Even the not so interesting things. I loved to see the amazement in her little face every time she saw a new fish. Her favorite was the octopus. He was pretty cool. Then at the end of our date we stopped at the gift shop and she instantly fell in love with a stuffed fish she carried it around while Jessica picked out her prize. Then right before we were leaving she threw it down and didn't want anything to do with it anymore. We picked out a new prize and left before she had time to change her mind again. It was fun. I can't wait to go on our next date.

BTW Tiki is the nick name Ana gave me. Isn't it the cutest.

I am so confused

2009-02-03T08:53:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I had to punish Brian. When I told him the changes what would take place until his grades improved he sat there for a second and then came back with. "Fair enough."
What does that mean?!?!?! I didn't punish him hard enough if he approves? That he would have countered the punishment if he felt it wasn't fair? Or that he honestly think I punish fairly? I felt defeated when he said that like I didn't punish him at all.

Scoliosis

2009-01-30T13:17:00.002-07:00

Today was Brian's scoliosis check up. These are annual check ups he has had since he was 2. It turns out that he is not done growing, there is still a space between his growth plates, so the doctor feels like surgery is still out of the question as of now. The scoliosis is expected to get worse as he grows. He is already at almost a 50 degree curvature and this doctor does do surgery at 50. But because of Brian's uniqueness we wait a little longer. Brian has been having some back pains that I have been recording them over the year and presented to the doctor and he thinks I should keep up on monitoring it and if the pain becomes unbearable then I take him back in because we would have to worry about spinal core stuff. I asked my questions and one of them was about his hunch back and will surgery help it a lot but not eliminate it. Brian at that point educated the doctor on a moob ( translation "man boob") Because of the twisting in his spin one of his pecks is bigger the the other and he calls it his moob. The doctor actually laughed. (This is the same doctor that when he was checking Brian's reflexes in his knee last year Brian kicked the other leg he just sat there for a minute and then, with a straight face, says "Oh I get it he is being funny" and never once cracked a smile.) He might not have such a predominate moob after he is fixed. Brian is a little bummed about that. He says it's his staple. So until next year Brian is free from being cut open. But if probably can't be avoided for ever.

The laundry basket incident

2009-01-26T11:47:00.005-07:00

When Jessica was 3 I found her one day sitting in her room silently crying. Tears were just rolling down her cheeks but not a sound was coming out. I went to see what was wrong and her little baby chub finger was stuck in my laundry basket. I gently tried to put her finger out but it was VERY stuck. I told her don't worry there is nothing to cry about I will be right back with the scissors. Then the crying wasn't so silent any more. She went hysterical and was freaking out. I grab the scissors and told her to clam down she was being a little bit to crazy. "Mommy don't cut off my finger"
I was in shock. I knew exactly what she was crying about and I couldn't believe she remembered that. It had been at least a year before and she was sticking her fingers into every little hole she saw. I teasingly told her that if she got her finger stuck I would have to cut off her finger. So when her finger got stuck in the basket she hid in her room so I wouldn't cut off her finger. And of course I don't remember this and tell the poor thing I am going to go get the scissors.

Dumb Dogs

2009-01-17T22:17:00.002-07:00

I finally get to read some of my friends blogs. I went and saw Marley and Me tonight. I think we were the last of the last to see it. It seems that everyone is blogging about it.
So I like dogs but love them, come on, they are just dogs right. They are not humans. She eats her own vomit. She licks her butt. She smells. She sheds hair every where. Yet when she doesn't look like she feels well we rush to take care of her. I say I would never spend hundred to thousands of dollars on a dog to keep it alive yet I know I would if faced with the decision. Well maybe not quiet thousands. You have to draw a line some where. And tonight in the middle of the movie I realized how this movie was going to end and I had the over whelming urge to go home and let Holly know I lov.... I mean appreciate her. She has never destroyed any thing of mine. Only her stuff. She listens so good. I rarely have to tell her anything twice. Sometimes she puts her front paws on the good carpet. I yell at her but inside I am laughing at her and think it's kinda cute that she is trying to be near us. But don't tell her, I don't want her to think this behavior is going to be tolerated. I think the worse part is some day we too will have to say good-bye to Holly. I know I don't want another dog. It is tough to travel sometimes. And I do long to have a hair free home. But I sure hope I get a few more year before we part. Alright I love her but we don't have to say it out loud. I have a reputation to live up to as a dog hater.

Wii Fit

2009-01-09T08:22:00.002-07:00

I started to run about 4 months, or so, ago thanks to my friend Jessica. She sort of tricked me. She called and invited me to go for a 'walk'. After a few laps she says lets run just to that marker up ahead. I tried to tell her I don't run unless there is an emergency and I don't see an emergency so no. Well she talked me into it. Then the next day she called and said hey do you want to 'walk' again. When I showed up she says "OK this is what we are going to do. I have a running plan for us." I was speechless. Reluctantly I started running and now I find myself highly addicted to it. I actually crave running if you can imagine that. I am not fast but I can now run about 2 miles. But I sometime want to work out and don't feel like going to the gym, mostly because I don't want to drive in the weather, and the thought of an exercise video sound boring. So I got this bright idea that the Wii Fit would be fun. I asked a few people who own it to see what they thought and all of them recommended it. So after a week and a half of trying to locate one Jeremy found one at Best Buy and brought it home to me. There are several exercise categories such as Aerobic, Strength, Yoga, Balance. Then within the categories there are appropriate exercises. I tried the strength training the first night. I was wondering how the heck a video game was going to help me out with strength. Not only did it just about kick my butt, but it could tell when I didn't do the lunges correctly and now that I have done them a couple of time it has upped the amount I am supposed to do. I am so sore in my tummy muscles, thigh muscles, and back muscles. Now there isn't any arm stuff yet. I am hoping there will be soon. As you exercise you earn points for every minute you do and it unlocks new exercises. It is fun and exercise. But I still go to the gym as often as I can I just added the Wii Fit to my work out.

ATTENTION ALL UTAH DRIVERS

2009-01-06T08:07:00.003-07:00

OK so maybe I should title this attention ALL drivers. Wait let me get out my soap box. OK I am ready. SLOW DOWN!!! There is this very cool invention call the TV and it airs something called the news. On this show called the news you get the weather report and traffic report. It's not all ways right but it is pretty darn accurate. Not only that but you can look out the window in the morning when your alarm goes off and see if that fun white stuff is falling from the sky. If this is happening please leave early and drive slower. I am so fed up with drivers trying to make it to work on time in bad weather and causing accidents because the didn't leave early.
Yesterday my son who is in Jr. High came home to inform me that the crossing guard who was hit by a car just before Christmas break died. It was very very bad weather that day and yes stopping was hard but if you are driving 20 miles an hour, which is the speed limit in front of the schools, you should be able to stop. Now there is a lady out there that now calls herself a widow. She probably has Christmas presents she bought for him in her house wondering what to do with them. On Christmas morning she woke up to a house that felt foreign to her. With presents addressed to her from her late husband. She didn't have him to drive over to their kid's houses with her to watch the grandkids get their gifts. That is if she was even able to get out of bed on Christmas. I know that loosing a loved on any day of the year is hard but loosing them near Christmas is a little bit different.
A few years ago when my son was in 5Th grade he wanted to ride his bike to school. I reluctantly let him only because my husband made me. I left the house about 5 minutes after him to take my daughter who was in 1st grade to school. This was during a time when we had a crossing guard who left too early or didn't show up at all. There was a car accident when I got to the cross walk. I looked for my son all the way to the school but never saw him. When he got home that afternoon he told me the car accident was his fault. After hearing the story I tried to convince him it was not his fault. He had stopped at the cross walk the crossing guard was not there. A nice lady stopped to wave him through. While he was crossing another car came up and hit the car stopped for my son. The one who did the hitting got out and chewed out the first lady in front of my shook up son. So he not only witness the accident but heard them fight about it. I thank God that my son was in just the right spot that he wasn't hit.
So please people slow down, pay attention, and leave a little bit earlier. I love my children too much to loose them.

AHH back to 'normal'

2009-01-05T11:45:00.003-07:00

It's funny to think that I freaked out at the thought of being home alone when Jessica was getting ready to start kindergarten. I didn't like silence, I missed my chaotic house in CA when people would just stop by to hang out and eat the food, I missed my home in Fort Huachuca where all my neighbors were stay at home moms and we sat outside all day talking and watching the kids play. It was a huge change for me. Now after a very busy Christmas break with lots of people I am sitting in the silence wondering why I haven't loved this my whole life. Ahh it so peaceful. Although I am not alone. Tyson is sleeping and my other day care kids are due within the hour I am sitting here loving the quiet for now and I am glad that I have it. I still love the chaos of family visits but I do love the quiet after they have all gone. I missed my 'normal' schedule I missed nap time. Welcome back normal.

New Year Resolution

2009-01-01T15:22:00.002-07:00

Here are my new years resolutions...

1. To finish loosing weight

2. To smile more often

3. Find the positive in everything

4. Praise Him more often

5. Be more faithful in saving for my Hawaii vacation

6. Learn to be more organized

What a surprise

2008-12-29T07:31:00.002-07:00

So The day after Christmas we were expecting Jeremy's parents to come for a visit. But they didn't make it, the "traffic" was bad. Well actually the traffic was bad but come to find out there is another reason. They had four stow aways they didn't tell us about, Jeremy's brothers family. This is a huge surprise because they have only made it out to visit us once the whole time we lived here. Dad called to tell us he was at point of the mountain and that he would be here soon. Jessica ran up to her room to watch for them out her window. She couldn't have been in her room more than a few seconds before she was yelling down "there here". OK now point of the means you are close but not even speeding would get you here that fast. So we didn't believe her. She ran down stairs and made us look out the window. No grandpa. "But I saw him out my window". OK so a 10 year old knows what her grandpa looks like so I go up to her room with her to look out her window. She got to it first and said "see there he is and there is Phil". We all turned as fast as we could and ran out the door. Jeremy almost fell he slipped on ice and slid all the way into Courtney's arms. We were all in so much shock. I was shaking for almost an hour. It took me two seconds to rearrange the family to accommodate every one. We bribed Brian with being able to keep his cell phone if he would give up his room to the grandparents and sleep on the couch. It worked. Everyone seems comfortable enough and the hot water is lasting for every ones showers. I was worried about the food because I only bought for 2 house guest not 6 but surprisingly my fridge is so full I am making every one eat the left overs for daytime meals.

Oh by the way for those of you signing times fans Rachel posted a comment on my Thank you Signing Times blog. Can you believe it.

Thank you Signing Times

2008-12-19T14:18:00.002-07:00

When my sister told us they were going to teach my niece sign language I thought how fun. I always wanted to learn sign and I had heard that children can communicate so much earlier when taught to sign. They are right. It was so convenient to know what she wanted at an early age.
I am not an out going person. Is any one surprised by that comment. I didn't think so. So today I went to Jessica's Christmas program at the elementary school. I had an empty seat next to me and I offered it to a lady. After the kindergartners were finished I decided to get up the nerve and strike up a conversation with her. I took me a second or two to work up the courage and when I did she politely informed me that she was deaf. Oh well there goes my chance. But then I remembered a few signs that I was sure would have got the point across that I was asking her what grade her child was in. That took a little longer to work up the courage for that but I thought "what the heck if I make a fool of myself I probably will never see her again anyway. " But surprisingly it worked. Her daughter is in 2ND grade and she even took out pictures to show her to me. Although I couldn't make out all her signs (one I thought meant colors but I now think I am wrong) we were able to communicate pretty well. In fact she got it across to me that she didn't know what grade was singing. Then it dawned on me she couldn't hear the principle tell her in what order the kids would be singing. So I let her know when the 2ND graders were up. She was very happy that I helped her. What a good mommy she is to go to a singing program when she can't hear. In the freezing weather no less.

The Mojave desert

2008-12-17T17:04:00.005-07:00

I know to most of us this picture just seems normal. Especially for this time of year. But let me explain; this is my mom's house in Phelan Ca. Yes Phelan does get snow but never like this. Usually an inch on any give year. On the bad winters you could expect 2 to 3 inches. Oh yeah and not all in one storm mind you. When I was in middle and high school they would cancel school if there was a dusting of snow on the ground. I am talking 1/2 an inch or so and the world would come to an end. They would close the freeway down people wouldn't be able to get to work or get home from work. Schools were canceled because the insurance company wouldn't allow the school buses to run in the snow. They don't have snow plows or salt like we do. I am used to the snow now but I remember when I first moved here and it snowed I just naturally assumed school would be canceled and was utterly shocked that it wasn't. I also remember a certain father in law of mine who made me drive on a patch of ice when we got here because "I need to get used to it." I seriously thought I was going to crash the car. I didn't, and now I have been driving on ice all week to take my kids to school.

Hectic Morning

2008-12-16T10:25:00.002-07:00

This morning we wake up to a nice new blanket of snow on the ground. When you see that, you just know all the drivers that make you go crazy are out. I was having one of those morning where you wake up and you start your morning rituals to realize, "OH NO it’s not a normal morning I have no time to waste and I need to leave earlier than normal because there is snow and the roads are covered." If I could have known about the snow I would have gotten up earlier but I didn’t know. So I start running through my morning trying to get it all done so that I can go to the school and see my daughters band performance. When I get this way I have a hard time settling back down and turning off the fast pace in me. So I finally get into the car and start to back out of the driveway, in a hurry, to get Bri off to school. When I push on the brakes at the end of the drive I remember, ICE!! I can’t drive this way in the ice I will end up killing someone. And I have an ‘almost driver’ watching my every move so I make a big show of calming down and say out loud "No matter how late you think you are do not drive crazy in these conditions it’s not worth it." Then I start to talk to Bri about how to drive in the snow. He has come a long way with his attitude towards life in the last year or so and today is one of those days were I can see it. I start off by telling him that in the snow you want to drive more cautiously because you can’t stop well on ice.
Bri- "I KNOW I KNOW MOM. What do you think I’m dumb."
Me-"Well no I don’t but I didn’t know how to drive in the snow until I drove in it."
Bri- in deep thought for about a second then his body language changes and he listens to every thing I said.
Now just over a year ago this would have turned into a full blown fight over how I called him dumb. And he wouldn’t have talked to me for at least a whole day. But he is maturing and I think he is starting to see that I don’t mean him any harm.
Any way I got to show him lots of bad drivers and what not to do. He seemed to agree with me on how to deal with it all. And by the time he got out of the car I was calm and collected and the rushing of the morning was gone. When I got to the school for Jessica’s performance I set my coffee on top of my car, like I always do, and bent over to get Tyson out of the car. The next thing I know something hits me hard on the back of my head and then everything got hot. My coffee melted the snow and slid off onto my head. The back of my hair was wet, very wet. I grabbed the baby blanket to dry off as much as I could. I couldn’t miss her performance so I watched it with wet sticky hair, that when it dried felt like I put way too much hair spray in my hair. Ahh gotta love the snow.

My Honey Lamb and Lil Cora May

2008-12-15T14:34:00.004-07:00

Last night after many weeks of practices our church had its showing of "It all happened in the Country." It was a children's play to remind us all of the reason for the season, Christ's birth. After one week of having the script Jessica, aka Cora May, not only had all her lines memorized she had EVERY ONES lines memorized. Not that she didn't make her mistakes during practices because she did. Jessica has been saying for a couple of years now that she wants to be a star, on the stage or on TV. I figured it was because of Hannah Montana. So we'll see. She did fabulous. She even had a solo and even though I could see she was nervous and fidgety I think she did very well. Jeremy was also in this play as Uncle Yule. He also had a solo. He was fine during all the practices then on Friday he got a major case of the butterflies. On Sunday night as he kissed me good-bye he said "I think I am going to be sick" Thanks dear next time tell me that BEFORE you kiss me. But he did so good. He was the only one who had a goof but from my understanding it wasn't all his fault. Someone mixed up their lines and it threw him off. Better then what I would have done. I would have froze the second the lights came on and not said anything. Little Luther, a young gentle men in our church, took the show with his perfect hick accent and too small overalls. He was made for the part. And Chelsea and Daniel were perfect as city kids who learned about the real meaning of Christmas and learned the country ain't so bad. One little girl who was a country girl that told a little bit of the story as a narrator did so well I can't wait to see her get a major part next time.
I think my two little country folk are very brave for getting in front of friends, family, and strangers last night. I am proud of them.

Is this wierd to you? and I am not going to catch it!

2008-12-12T15:26:00.004-07:00

I was watching Brian pour himself a bowl of cereal today. After he pour it, he grabs a few cereal from the bowl and puts it back in the box. Now first of all the bowl was not over full and second when I said a few we are talking 6 or so pieces of cereal. So it prompted me to ask him "why did you just do that." His reply was "Well it never fails after I pour the milk in about 5 or 6 pieces will fall out of the bowl so I am just picking them up before they have the chance to fall out." Crazy kids.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was 4 years ago this month that we rescued Holly from the pound. I guess she was an escape artist and her past owners got tired of paying her bail. So we got a really great dog already trained and spayed. And she has never tried to escape, well except for the time we came home and there was a thunder storm and she figure she couldn't get in the back door so she would try the front. She is crazy afraid of thunder and fireworks. So she is a great dog, BUT soon after we got her I was noticing wet spots from time to time and I never saw her squat so I figured it wasn't her and I just couldn't figure it out. Well as time went on we noticed it was her. She would just be laying there and pee would come out of her. We contacted the vet and they said it can happen in spayed females and there was meds for it. So med #1 worked for a while, about a year I think, and then she started to leak again. So we moved on to med #2. Which is stronger and no way will pee come out. Well they are wrong. She still leaks. Not as often but it happens. So at her vet appointment yesterday we told them and they decide there could be something majorly wrong and they wanted to do blood work. The blood work is fine so now they want to run a urine analysis. We have to get my great big Labrador retriever to pee in a tupper wear container and take it in. Now how do you supposed we do that. I can't tell her "hey Holly I need you to pee in this for me K and then hopefully we can fix you right up" Can you just picture one of us following her around the backyard while she smells every inch of it to decided were she will squat and then leaning down with her to stick a cup under her. Well I guess I should be thankful that they aren't asking me to wipe her first then catch it mid stream like they tell us to do.

Cereal?? Really??

2008-12-03T14:14:00.003-07:00

Did you know that your cereal can get weevils. I had no idea. I thought it was only in flour and dry mixes, you know things that have not been cooked. Now I am utterly disgusted. I like to make rice crispy treats from time to time and I only use 1/2 of the box of cereal when making them. Apparently it has been a while. I went to make the kids an after school treat and I killed weevils when I added them to very hot melted marshmallows. So be alert of those nasty weevils.

she kept me laughing today

2008-11-30T20:39:00.000-07:00

Today was the first Sunday in advent which according to our pastor means to look forward to. Every year on the four Sundays leading up to Christmas the pastor calls up the little kids and tells them a little bit about the reason we celebrate Christmas and a chosen child gets to light a candle that will remain lit during the sermon and after church another child who is chosen will blow out the candle. The pastor asked a different Sunday school teacher every Sunday to choose 2 of there kids for these jobs. The kids love it and look forward to it. So today our pastor asked Jeremy and I to choose two of our kids. We teach the 5th and 6th graders and today being the Sunday after Thanksgiving only had two kids show up so our choice was easy. Jessica wanted to be the one to light the candle so our other student got to blow it out. At the end of class Jess volunteered to close us in prayer and her pray went something like this “Dear God please watch us today so that we don’t catch the church on fire” Oh yeah I forgot to mention my daughter is deathly afraid of fire.
Our pastor also starts off his sermon with a short story that almost always gets us laughing. I wonder if he is trying to figure out who sleeps and who listens. Well he’s so funny you don’t dare fall asleep and miss his story. Anyway today part of his opener was to mention the family member we all have. You know the one you can’t decide if you want to admit you are related to or not. The one who gets labeled the crazy aunt or uncle. Jessica leans over to me and says “that’s dad in our family isn’t it.” Oh I died.

Memories of a Seagull that put a smile on Jess' face

2008-11-24T15:08:00.002-07:00

We were visiting with Jeremy's family this last weekend. When visiting Jeremy's family they all tell stories of the passed. It's cool. So Jeremy shared one of our funny stories with his cousin Richard that I will re-tell.
When we first moved to Salt Lake City I did not know that the state bird was the seagull. And had I known that I would have never believed it because there is no ocean here. But there are tons!! Well one day right after we first moved here and all the snow had melted away, we decided to go fishing up at Jordanel Reservoir. I had made up a lunch and at lunch time Jessica who was 3 at the time decided she only wanted chips. Trying to be a good mom told her 'no you must eat 3 bits of the sandwich first' Well we all know how 3 year old can be at times. She had a fit and refused to touch the sandwich. So I refused to give her chips. The bread was drying out and I was getting more upset so I decided to walk away from her for a minute. Here comes a seagull to Jessica's rescue. It swooped down, grabbed the whole sandwich, took it out into the lake and ate it. Jess giggled and said 'can I have chips now'.