Love

Last night was absolutely lovely!  We need more date nights like that!

What Else Is New?

It's raining.  Again.  It's freezing.  Again.  Soup for dinner, third night in a row?  Yep!  This weather keeps me in the house and also a little crazy.  I am losing the desire to do much when it is so cold and rainy out.  And there are no gifts under the tree, pine scents, or Christmas music to help.  Although I have listened to Christmas music twice in the past 3 days and it has definitely brightened my day.  But that is about it.

Just before the awful weather set in, I started a new diet.  What else is new?  I wish I could be happy with myself, I really do.  And for the most part, I really am.  But I got a new book from the library and bought another one by the same author and it has changed my way of thinking about food, a lot.  I didn't even weigh myself before I started because this diet claims to make you feel so much better that I wanted feeling good to be my motivating factor, not the scale.  I must admit a few days later, I was really wishing I would have weighed myself.  Today marks the 7th day.  So tomorrow, I think I will start out on the scale.

The books I have been reading are both by Natalia Rose.  One is called Detox 4 Women and the other is Raw Food Life Force Energy.   I have enjoyed them both so much and have been eating a lot differently because of them.  Somedays are really hard and some days I feel so good that it is just so easy.  This diet is pretty much a raw/vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free diet.  When people tell me they eat like this, I laugh inside and say to myself, "I could never do that, it's crazy!"  The one thing I love about her philosophy is that you don't need to do this all 100%  Especially starting out.  And they way her books read, it was more about getting fruits and vegetables in your body and less about what you can't eat.  That makes things a lot easier.  The biggest change I have implemented is juicing.  The ideas about food made so much sense to me that I went and bought a juicer.  Every morning I drink about 2 tall glasses of mostly vegetable juice.  And I love it!  This morning I juiced an entire bunch of kale, about 4 medium sized carrots, 1 cucumber, 6 stalks of celery, a whole lemon, and 2 apples.  I really love my juicer.  I worried about working out and not eating protein in the morning, but the juice is amazing and I haven't missed my old routine at all.

However, it is hard.  Especially yesterday.  Which is what inspired to me write about this anyways.  I have been trying to spend some one on one time with my kids.  Yesterday was Jacob's day and he wanted to go to Red Robin for lunch.  Insert audible groan for me.  I LOVE their french fries!  I love their  bbq whiskey chicken wrap.  It got worse when he wanted to order mozzarella sticks for an appetizers.  The one thing I have missed is cheese.  I ordered a veggie burger, no cheese, wrapped in lettuce with a side salad, no dressing.  I couldn't even finish by veggie burger or my salad.  I did however eat 4 french fries and 1 cheese stick.  So I vowed to be better the rest of the day.

For dinner we had baked potato soup and rolls.  This soup is my favorite!  And since my day was already off, I picked up 1/2 a roll and dipped it in the soup, it was so, so good!  And I didn't feel too bad about that.  I ate half a sweet potato for dinner, but my night got worse.  My visiting teachers came and brought warm pumpkin chocolate chip bread.  I LOVE pumpkin chocolate chip anything.  So I ate some and it was good.  Then at 9:30 the doorbell rang and my friend (who is a great cook) delivered a chocolate cake covered in chocolate sauce and sprinkled with nuts.  It was beautiful!  What would you do?  I had some of that too.  Later when I was laying in bed, my stomach hurt and I did NOT feel good.  And I was thinking, "I used to eat this kind of stuff all the time, how come I didn't die?"  I really did not feel good at all.  It was all the ammunition I needed to get up and eat better the next day.  So I drank my juice this morning and had some watermelon and cantaloupe.  Watermelon is my favorite right now.

Then I sat down and read a few pages from Detox 4 Women and I'm starting to wonder if I should put my whole family on this diet.  There are so many benefits to eating fresh vegetables and fruit.  I definitely need to incorporate more.  I am not perfect and won't be on this diet, but so far it is the best I have ever done.  I really do have more energy, I have noticed a difference in my skin, I feel like I've lost weight, and I don't feel so dead tired in the afternoon.  I want all of this to continue, so I guess I'd better get busy trying to put together something for lunch.

Also, when I told my neighbor I was doing this, she called me back and had me watch this on the internet.  I cried and cried because I was laughing so hard.  Then I watched it again and cried again.  Jim Carey on In Living Color was the best!

Sometimes, The Land Speaks to Me...

Have you ever been traveling and catch a glimpse of scenery and suddenly you feel like it is wrapping its arms around you and saying, "welcome home!"?  This has happened to me a couple of times.  The first time I remember it happening was when I was a teenager.  I was driving home at night in my grandma's car, going to her house.  We were up on the east bench on I-215.  There is a small section before the 39th south exit where you can catch a glimpse of the valley/city.  It is beautiful.  I remember years later when Kirk and I lived at my grandma's house and how much I enjoyed that view as I came and went.  I still love it over there and feel a little like I am coming home when I go to my grandma's house.

The other place I feel at home is Southern Utah, more specifically St. George/Zion area.  I love the heat!  I love the red rock!  I love the small towns in between!  I love the nature that is in Zion!  I actually did get to live there for a few months to work during the summer.  And sometimes after we visit, I daydream about living there full time with my family.  A swimming pool?  Yes!  Simple life in a small town?  Yes!  Beauty all around?  Yes!

There is one other place that tells me I am home.  And that is Hawaii.  Especially this last trip.  We got off the plane, got in the car, and I felt like I was home.  I really do love it there.  The ocean, beach, palm trees, humidity, and warmth!  I love it!

Currently I live in a great area.  My neighbors and friends make up for the lack of warmth and scenery.  And little vacations help a lot too.  I suspect London has started to speak to me as well. 

Lost

Tyler lost his first tooth.  He will for sure be the child who complains that we don't have any pictures and didn't document anything for him.  And it is all true.  Except that is the only thing he should be able to complain about because coming in at the end has some serious benefits as well.  I feel bad that he maybe lost a little childhood as well.  He is just starting the tooth fairy thing as his older brothers are just deciding she doesn't exist anyways.  It doesn't really seem to phase Tyler much.  Today on the way home from school he told me that while he was snooping around in my night stand looking for a DS game, he saw part of his Christmas present, so he knew what he was getting.  And it was a gift from Santa!  Now he tells me.  I'm not sure if he is putting it all together, but I'm hoping he doesn't lose his childhood too quickly.  

For His Grandma...

Kirk's grandmother is quite the talented lady.  She paints, bowls, plays tennis, golf, and has learned to use the internet!  She is the only grandma and great-grandma I know that does that.  She has given us some beautiful paintings that I need to take pictures of to document.  She grew up in France, met and married her American husband while he was serving in the war.  He brought her back to a desolate cattle ranch near Colorado City.  If you have ever seen Colorado City, you get the idea of how awful that must of been.  If you have never been to Colorado City, count your blessings and take my word that it is awful!  Growing up Kirk used to watch Bob Ross movies at his grandma's house.  About a year ago, he discoverd that Bob Ross episodes still air on KBYU and he set our DVR.  He watches it about once a week and has talked about doing a painting ever since.  He bought a Bob Ross paint set at Hobby Lobby and put it to use on Saturday morning.  Introducing his first piece of work!

If we are lucky, he will have inherited his grandmother's talent and his work will improve.  I thought he did a great job!

The Royal Event

I mentioned to many of you how I longed to be in London for the big day.  I wanted to be there and see the horses and carriages go by.  I wanted to load up on souvenir junk.  My husband was the only one who took me seriously.  He said, "go."  I nearly died!  Really, I could go?  But he had just returned and didn't want to go back and every time I mentioned this, no one really seemed interested.  And I wasn't about to go by myself.  So I continued to talk about it and look forward to the day.  In the meantime, Kirk and I used all the frequent flier miles and marriott points to go to Hawaii.  It was a magical trip!

One day I had gathered with some friends to celebrate a birthday.  I went on about the royal wedding and how magical I thought it all was and  how I wished I could be there.  My friend Melanie said, "We should have a tea party!"  So that is exactly what we did.  And it was magical!  After seeing the crowds I realized I was better off at home watching it anyways.  It was such a fun afternoon.  I wish there was a royal wedding every year so we could do it again!  

The royal invitation sent out in the mail.

We each had a royal title...

The best hat!  And she even made it herself the night before!

Complete with souvenir plates!

This was one of the best things I have done.  I don't know why we don't have more tea parties for adults:)  We bought the best herbal tea we could find at the grocery store and it was actually good.  It needed a few sugar cubes, but we all liked it.  And the rest of the food was so yummy!  I am thankful for friends who humor my "dreams"

Coming Soon....

Brains!

My boys are some smart little cookies.  Sure they are still boys and can be really annoying and smelly, but they have some good book smarts.  And while their friends have showed a little interest in girls, my boys have remained more interested in ESPN and haven't seemed to notice much about girls, at all.  Except Tyler.

A couple of weeks ago the boys came home from school saying they had seen Tyler with a library book about brains.  They thought it was silly, so I asked Tyler why he picked a book about brains.  He said, "because I like to show the girls because they get grossed out."

And then, just today he told me a secret about a girl in kindergarten and he did not want me to tell his "bruders".  He said I couldn't tell anyone, not even Grandma.  I am not really sure what I am in for with this kid.  Let's hope he learns to use his brain!

My Legs Are Claustrophobic

Yesterday was pretty warm.  Warm enough that I put on a pair of shorts and my legs rejoiced at the freedom!  My kids have been wearing shorts on and off for a couple of weeks.  It really isn't that warm, but maybe their legs are claustrophobic too because I couldn't bear the thought of putting on jeans today.  Shorts, skirts, capris, anything but pants!  It is not really warm today, but my legs need some fresh air, I can't wait for summer!

Pictures From My Cell Phone

David hurt his eye sledding last year.  He doesn't know what he hit because he closed his eyes:)

Our dinner table at Christmas time....

Driving to Zion

Ethan at the school spelling bee

The Manti Temple the day I went through with my sister

Tyler in his 3D glasses

Me hanging out at the hotel in London waiting for my room to be ready, enjoying a bottle of water

David and Jacob trying to do laundry

The End of a Really Good Chapter

There is a movie out there right not called Born to Be Wild.  And I really wanted to see it.  But Kirk didn't want to, the tickets were expensive (3D and IMAX), and my older boys weren't interested either.  I said, "Fine, I'll take Tyler during the day and we will go to the movie!"  And that is exactly what we did.  It was a lot of fun, Tyler's first 3D movie.  It was fun to see him reach out for things and jump back once in awhile.  He sat at the edge of his seat and asked questions during the whole movie.  It is a short film, less than an hour, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  As we walked into the theater I got thinking about how much I am going to miss having Tyler around during the day.  Soon he will be in first grade and then I won't have any kids at home to use as excuses to do kid like things.  Who will go on picnics with me on warm days?  What about silly movies that I want to see?  I remember dragging all my kids to high school musical 3 just because I wanted to see it:)  What if I want french fries from McDonalds and there are no kids at home who "need" happy meals?  It will be an adjustment, but I thought of one idea.  It was great to have a little "date" with Tyler yesterday and it would be great for each of my kids to have that experience, so I am just going to check them out one at a time while I can.  Good grief, by twins are almost too cool to be with me at their age and I know it is going to get worse.  I have been busy with babies at home for just over 10 years.  Next year I will be entering a new stage of motherhood because kindergarten doesn't really count for anything in my book.  It was easy to give up diapers, bottles, formula, high chairs, baby food, pacifiers, etc, but this is harder.  I am officially going to be an empty nester for more than half of my day.  Now what?

The Horse/Grandkid Whisperer

That is my dad with his pets.  He loves animals a lot.  Especially dogs and horses.  When my dad is around, we are dead to Reggie.  He wants nothing to do with us.  Sometimes he will obey us, but NEVER when my dad is around.  My dad has the same draw when it comes to the grandkids.  He always has one with him on the riding lawn mower, the tractor, in the garden, or on his lap eating (you never know what he will feed them, he seems to know when they want ice cream, even if they are only a couple months old).  When we were home for Kaitlin's farewell, it was freezing cold and snowing on and off, but he still went over to his field and saddled up a horse for the kids to ride.  I am so glad for the fun times he makes for all the kids.