12.16.2010

Enjoying It

I only have a minute but here are a few pics of some enjoyment this Christmas season so far

Our Christmas Tree!! I love the ambiance and smell a Christmas tree brings



An abundance of goodies and sweets


Christmas FHE activities (this house is Phil's... mine and Bruin's ended up a pile of rubble... i guess we don't have the skills)




Unlimited tractor rides for Bruin... *a perk of Phil's job :)



This weekend is our ward Christmas party so I'll post some pics of the boys with Santa on this site instead of their private blogs... I'm excited to see Bruin's reaction this year!

11.13.2010

Furniture

My furniture repair class ended and I am still in mourning. It was so wonderful to get away for a few hours every week with my friends and learn a skill! I now have lawn furniture and a desk chair that are half taken apart/sanded and unusable. Hopefully I will have the time to keep working on them this winter so they can be ready to take out next Spring, but I am a realist and they'll probably sit there taunting me for years. We'll see. It was fun though, especially using power tools, LOL! Someday I'll post some before and after pics of my projects





**Also I have update Bruin and Crew's blogs for those of you subscribed to them**

11.06.2010

Favorite Toys?

I am starting to look for Christmas presents for the boys this year. I would love to hear what your kids' favorite toys/play things are to help me get ideas. Please drop me a line with what your kids couldn't live without! :)
THANK U, and Happy Christmas shopping!! LOL

11.02.2010

Say Cheese

I leave the kitchen for 2 minutes and this is what I get when I come back...



The boy likes his cheese!

11.01.2010

2nd Halloween

Another Halloween night, another Halloween costume. This time he matched Grandpa, which he loved because they got to sword fight. And look at my beautiful angel mother :)

10.30.2010

Hola! Happy Halloween



Ward Halloween party last night. It is 9:45am the next day and Bruin is already hyped up on all his candy from his trick-or-treating pot... I started to regulate it but then I thought, what the heck, its Halloween, make yourelf sick kiddo.
As you can see, Bruin and I were Dora and Boots and Phil just threw on a Brazilian soccer jersey last minute. Crew was fast asleep in his froggy costume and since he is the second child I forgot to take a pic of him :) I'll put him in it tomorrow maybe and take one. Have a great Halloween!

10.28.2010

I Wish Mom Was a Job

I LOVE being a mom. But I also HATE being a mom. I was sitting one night thinking about this contradiction when I realized what would make being a mom better.... and I figured it out. Being a mom needed to be more like a job.

A job gives you set hours, like 9am-5pm.
Wouldn't we all be such better moms if we worked set hours? I'd spend the day doing creative things with the kids and keeping the house clean, putting in a good day's work. Then I would say goodbye and leave it all behind as I went home and enjoyed spending the rest of the evening doing anything I fancied! I could eat my dinner in peace. I could pop open a book and relax while watching the sun set. I could make a quick stop at the grocery store to restock my pantry. I could go hang out with some friends and bake cookies together. I could do my visiting teaching and spend hours chatting away the night. Any job is doable when you can leave it behind for a few hours.
Jobs legally must give you at least one day off a week. ONE FULL DAY OFF! Could you imagine?
You can call in sick to a job. They don't want you spreading your germs to everyone so you stay home in bed, eat soup, and watch a season of 24 as you wallow in your kleenexes. Probably one of the WORST parts of being a mom is working while you're sick.
Jobs give you lunch breaks. My lunches I am usually holding a baby and wiping noodles off the floor while trying to shovel in a few bites for myself.
You can quit if it gets too much ;)

Notice how I didnt mention being paid, because I know I get paid in the sweet tender moments with my kids and how my boys just adore and love me. Holidays I don't mind spending working because holidays are that much more fun with your kids because you get to re-live them through your kids and get excited again for them.
BUT OHHHH TO HAVE A JOB instead of a lifestyle, I think I would wake up every day and say, I can't wait to go to work and be with those cute kids, instead of, oh man, here goes another day..

judge me if you will, but these are the thoughts of me, mom of 2, crazy in the head
:)

10.13.2010

Another Visitor!

My sister, April, came to visit with her two little boys and we had a blast playing with them every day! All the boys were so cute together!



My sister made the boys matching ties and coincidentally Phil had one just like it!


We went to splash parks, farms, carnival rides, parks, you name it.

Playland






Visiting a farm with my little cowboys



In N Out stops

Roasting hotdogs and marshmallows with Grandpa


Halloween fun! Never is complete without Phil terrorizing children







I love my sisters! I wish I could live closer to them!

9.29.2010

Blog Updates

We had some visitors last week that made things much more fun around here! AubRee and Grace Barney came to stay with us for the week while Royce studied for a big exam. Thanks to the good weather the kids had tons of fun playing outside at various parks, running in the sprinklers, fingerpainting, etc. Here are some pics of the week! Also I updated both Bruin and Crew's blogs for those of you who follow them.


Running in the sprinklers


Riding on the train at Storyland


Painting outside


Dressing up in costumes


Making oatmeal cookies

We look forward to them coming again!

9.17.2010

The Loss

Many of my friends and family have been curious how I lost weight so quick and I told them I would post what I did. I don't mean this to sound like an infomercial but if it does, sorry! Just skip this post if you don't care. Its good for me to document it as well though incase I need to do it again after the next baby :)

This is the way I have lost 8lbs in the last 2 1/2 weeks WITHOUT EXERCISING
Pretty much I decided to temporarily cut out stuff like breads and sweets and just stick to a "fresh food diet" as I liked to call it. Some meat with some veggies or fruit.. minimal starches. Keep in mind its temporary and then its easy to do. And by the end of a few weeks it'll come way more natural and you won't crave that fatty stuff so much anymore. So here are some examples of what I ate for some of my meals below, with some tips at the end:

Breakfast:
*1/2 cup oatmeal with some salt and a spoonful of brown sugar (this is not the instant packages with all the sugar.. Straight oats)
1 banana

*2 eggs scrambled (only one yolk) seasoned but with no cheese. Sometimes I chopped up some turkey ham and put it in and sometimes I put some salsa on top depending on what I felt like that morning
1 banana


Mid-morning snack
*Cut up fruit mixed in Light N Fit vanilla yogurt (like peaches, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, bananas.. whatever I had)

*Fruit smoothie with fruit, ice, yogurt, half orange juice/half milk


Lunch
*Leftovers from dinner usually (i'll get to that)

*Sandwich using the Orowheat Sandwich Thins 100% whole wheat. I cut the sandwich thin in half and piled sandwich meat in there with lettuce and mustard (NO CHEESE). Or tuna mixed in Miracle Whip Light with Dill Relish and lettuce

*Taco or tuna salad


Late Afternoon Snack
*Almonds

*Carrots

Dinner (this was most important to me and took planning because I had to make my husband AND me happy..; and Phil is all about the cheesy bready fatty goodness of food.) Also important because it became my lunch the next day usually

*Pot roast with baby carrots and potatoes cooked in the crock pot (Potatoes are for your husband not you )

*New York steaks BBQd with corn on the cob

*Teriyaki Chicken (marinated that day and bbqd) served over steamed yellow squash/zucchini. Cook rice only for husband.

*Pork loin roast slow-cooked in salsa, lime juice, brown sugar, and half pkg of dry italian seasonings. Serve shredded over romaine lettuce with black beans, avocados, cilantro and salsa. Serve in a cheesy tortilla for husband burrito style.

*Seasoned chicken breast or salmon filet (...lemon pepper, or a Grill Mates chicken rub for example) with steamed veggies like broccoli, (I sprinkled some cheese over it and smothered Phil's portion with it... only cuz I dont like broccoli without it). You can bake a potato also for the hubby or bake a few Rhodes rolls for him.

*Onion soup with chicken in it (ask me for the recipe if you want it)

*Chicken breasts slow cooked in BBQ sauce and liquid smoke. Shred and serve on romaine lettuce with black beans, avocado, and a dressing consisting of bbq sauce mixed with some light ranch. Serve just bbq chicken in french roll for husband with chips. Side dish of chopped up fruit/melon.

*Homemade chicken-noodle soup:
2 cans chicken broth, 1 1/2 breasts chicken cubed, chopped carrots, 1/2 onion and 1/2 celery stalk chopped finely in food processor, pepper, 1 Tbl minced garlic. Cook in slow-cooker 3 hours. Add a handful of egg noodles during the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Late evening sugar craving:
*Orange julius consisting of orange juice, ice, vanilla extract, Light n fit vanilla yogurt, blended.


TIPS I can think of:
*Plan ahead. Go to the store every 3 days instead of once a week and restock your produce/meat. Buying smaller amounts of produce at a time keeps it from being forgotten and going bad.
*When BBQing, throw on an extra chicken breast and save it in the fridge for the next day's lunch (chicken taco salad for example). It heats up just fine
*Make large amounts of dinner so that you always have leftovers for lunch the next day with only having to do the work of cooking it once.
*Utilize your slow cooker!
*Buy the pre-chopped romaine in a bag... its just way more convenient and easy
*Drink lots of water throughout the day and with your meals. Curbs hunger and is no calories.
*If you don't like fat-free milk like me, Buy a quart of it and mix it into your 1% milk. Hey, its helps save some fat grams and you can't even tell.
*When grocery shopping try to only buy stuff that goes in your fridge. If it can sit on your shelf for days its probably too processed for your diet

Hope some of this can help or inspire someone to try it and lose some of that weight! Keep in mind I am breastfeeding so naturally already burning around 600 calories, so if you're not breastfeeding you'll probably have to work out as well to see significant results :)

Bon Apetite!

9.15.2010

Still Here

So I had a big post with pictures and stories that took me three days of naps to put together and somehow it just got erased a few minutes ago. I'm a little ticked. Soooo, sorry but it'll be awhile until I get over being mad at blogger and make another.

Short version, we're not dead, we just moved and it is wonderful being in this new house with so much space. Boys are good. We're good. I've lost 8lbs in the last 2 1/2 weeks which is exciting and I'm taking a furniture refinishing class at the Adult School, which has also been fun. Nap time almost over, gotta split.

8.25.2010

Priest Lake 2010

Every year we look forward to the annual family vacation at the cabin on Priest Lake. The cabin is right on the lake and the week is full of tubing wars, games, good friends, and good food (I gained 4 lbs!)

Here are some pics of the week.




Tubing wars



Bruin concerned about his mama falling into the water


Night tubing wars



Campfires



Family Pictures












View from Phil's front yard... isn't it amazing?