No more excuses!!!

I have dreaded and put this off for 8 years. Its the dreaded DIET time. I hate that word and the thought of it makes me want throw up. BUT, I have put this off for far too long and im not getting any younger. I keep finding excuses not to do this, but im totally done with all of that. The reason im writing this is because I want to be held responsible. Now that its out there, I have to do it. The only diet that has ever worked for me was Body for Life, but since I refuse to pay $150 a month for a gym membership, I cant really do it to the full extent. I have the Eating for Life book, so im going to follow that plan and then start walking and leading up to running. I have the worst knees ever, so running may be a but of a challenge, but I wont know unless I try, right? One thing my neighborhood is good for are the hills. Thats all the streets are. I am just so ready to start being healthy. I am cutting out all sugar and cutting my carbs WAY down. This is so drastic for me because I LOVE bread. Im such an emotinal eater. When im stressed I eat, when im bored I eat... So that pretty much sums up my life. Stress and bordem. Obviously not bored from lack of things to do, but being cooped up in this brown, log house gets to you after a while. It will be a challenge, but I think im up for one right now. Im just not a disciplined kind of person. I had Bill take some "before" pictures, but I will NOT be posting those. Sorry. I printed them out and put them in a notebook. I will keep a journal of what I eat for that day and keep pictures in it to keep me motivated. Just looking at my fat self is motivation enough.

I cant completly deprive myself or it wont work, soooo...Im not giving up my Diet Cokes, but I will cut down and drink ALOT more water.

I love blogs just for the fact that there is so much information to be shared. If you have something that has worked for you or just something you know of, please share. Im always up for some good advice.

My quote for the time being is...

NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS THIN FEELS!!!

Wish me luck!

Starting early

Who needs books about colors and animals when you can learn about the "Real" news??

A girl after my own heart.

Confessions

This may come as a shock to my family, but I hate to clean. I know what your thinking...my house is never, ever messy. Its true. I hate to clean. For those of you who may not get my dry sense of humor, Im totally joking. My house is NEVER clean except when I know someone is coming over. Im just not an organized person. I dont have schedules that I follow-I kinda just go where the day takes me. The funny thing is, im queen of projects. I have a project list a mile long and im constantly doing them. I love to re-organize and re-arrange things, but you would never know. I always use the "I have 5 kids" excuse, but thats not really it.

It doesnt bother me to go to bed with dishes in the sink, I almost always have laundry waiting to be washed, folded and put away, and my floor gets mopped about once every 1-2 weeks.

There are many things I would rather be doing than cleaning, but I guess it has to get done some time. I am lucky that I have a husband that helps out with the dishes and the dinner clean up and that is a HUGE help. I dread cleaning bathrooms the most, but almost as much as I hate bathrooms, I hate laundry. I usually put it off until we have nothing more to wear.

This is what a weeks worth of laundry pile up looks like

( this picture really doesnt do it justice)

This is the aftermath

(4 baskest of just kids clothes)

Now I get to put it all away!!

HOORAY!!!

Hmmm...

Do you think 1 is too young to start waxing???

Easter 2008

I have officially given myself the "Lamest Mom" award. Im not sure why, but I just wasnt into it this year. I didnt get Easter clothes, I went to the dollar part of walmart and got them each something and I filled some eggs with candy. That was about it. My parents were in town for some business meetings, so they spent part of Saturday and Sunday at our house. The kids loved having them here and ate up every second they could before they had to leave. If it werent for my parents saving the day with their fun Easter gifts, im sure it would have been a total disaster.

We have early church, so the kids are all half asleep. I didnt even empasize the whole easter bunny thing. Matter of fact, I dont even think I mentioned it once. Bill was out of town for the weekend and I of course put off getting any Easter stuff until then, so it was kinda hard to say the Easter Bunny brought it when they were with me when I bought it. But none the less, I think they liked getting easter baskets filled with gum and dollar toys.

I dont have a whole lot of pictures of my kids with my Dad, so I was so excited to get one with all of them. I absolutly love it!!!



Every year, we usually do an easter egg hunt of some sort. In law school, they had some really neat ones and we did at least 2 every year. When we got home, our ward and our parents ward always did one that we would go to. I guess when there is still snow on the ground and its still in the 30's, its not so fun. I couldnt find one in all of Park City. I found tons in Salt Lake, but I wasnt about to pay $10 a kid to find plastic eggs. Sorry. So, when Bill got home he hid some around the house and the kids seemed to be just fine with that.

Tyson was a little curious as to why the Easter Bunny went to his friends house but not to ours. Whoops!!!

Lucky for me, it doesnt take a whole lot to make these kids happy. Im very blessed to have such sweet kids who love each other most the time and just like being together no matter what we do. I think I was blessed with these kids becasue im so not creative. Although I strive to be... someday!!!!
Happy Easter

Seriously, America

I want to know who the heck is voting for her. I wasnt a huge Chikeze fan, but come on-she hasnt even been in the bottom 3. How did Jason Castro get in the bottom 3??? She does NOT belong on this show. Seriously, America...Get it right.

TMTH

Can I just say YEA!!!!!

I am so glad this kid is off the show. I have to admit that I think he has a really good voice, but this last week was the breaking point for me. Way TMTH. I had to cover my eyes because I was about to throw up.

I just love this kid. So much talent and humility in this guy. I was in tears during his "Imagine" song. I cant wait to see him soar all the way to the top.

Im going to go out on a limb here and put out some predicitions. I think its going to come down to these 5.
1. David Archuleta

2. Michael Johns (my FAV)

3. Carly Smithson (Even though she has already made lots of money, I still love her to death)

4. Syesha Mercado (she seriously has the all around talent. She can sing, she has personaltiy, she looks the part. I love her)

5. David Cook. (His Lionel Richie song this last week just shows how talented he is. The only thing...I cannot stand his facial expressions. Bill and I just crack up. You gotta have a rocker in there)

My runners up...

1. Jason Castro (not a fan of the hair, but I love his voice)

2. Brooke White (gotta give some love to the hometown girl. I love her deep, raspy voice)

This is such a talented top 12. Its going to be sad to see any of them go from this point on. I loved David Hernandez until I found out he used to be a male stripper-that kinda ruined it for me. This is the first season that Bill has watched it with me and I love it. Finally a show we can agree on. On each elimination night, we pick our castoffs and whoever loses has to get up with the kids the next day. So far...Shelly 2, Bill O. I dont know why he trys, I am ALWAY right.

Also, my new favorite show, ELI STONE. If you havent watched this show, DO!!! It is clean, it has a good message and its so entertaining. Its on ABC on Thursday nights. Watch it!!

The many adventures of Avery Gwen

Surprised!!!!

Sassy

So Happy

Not alot really needs to be said about this sweet monkey except that I just love her to peices. She is our constant entertainment. She has the funniest personality and she seriously can have the whole family in tears. She still isnt walking yet, but she has taken a few steps here and there. She loves to climb up the stairs but hasnt yet figured how to come down. She will make so much noise on the stairs until you pay attention and come at her saying "im gonna get you". She loves to eat and will eat almost anything you put in front of her. She just got her 7th tooth 2 weeks ago and all is well again. She is such a good sleeper-she loves her naps (just like her daddy). She is so playful with Caleb-I think he is her favorite (dont tell the other kids) Her favorite cartoon is the backyardagins because she loves to sing and dance. When she hears music, she will sing and dance like crazy. I could go on and on. Maybe its because I know she is our last, but I want to savor every moment of her. They grow so fast and I dont want to forget a thing.


This is her watching Backyardagins. She likes to lay on her back, just like her brothers.

She loves the Dinosaur museum because their is so much to see and do. She loves to explore.


Loves the bubbles!!!




This is her new way to crawl and walk all at the same time. I dont think she likes the wood floor.

I have so many close up shots of her because I love all her different facial expressions.

Can you tell we just love this little munchkin!!!

The Randomness that is my life

This is probably my 2nd longest post ever, so feel free to skip. Im journaling.

Here is whats been happening...

While we were in AZ last month, Lani thought it would be funny to put some small, styrofoam balls into her ears. I told her to take them out, and while she did that, she managed to push one in so far that no matter how hard we tried, we couldnt pull it out. I figured that since she wasnt in pain and since it wasnt causing her any hearing loss, I would take her in to the Dr when I had time. She was due for an immunization, so I killed two birds. The Dr brought this mega suction machine and had it all the way against the ball and it wouldnt budge. He sent us to an Ear Dr and Lani was so terrifed of the long thing he had to stick in her ear that she was shaking and she couldnt sit still. He was nervous about puncturing the ear drum so he said she would have to be put under. Are you kidding??? So the next day, we went to the hospital, got it out and were on our way home in an hour. Lani is a funny and VERY talkative girl as it is, but she seriously was soooo funny when they gave her a sedative. She was slurring her words and cracking up at nothing. She couldnt believe that she couldnt remember them taking it out. She tried to stand up to get dressed after it was all done and fell flat on her face. Hilarious. Cant wait to get the bill!!!

(I forgot to put the picture right side up)

Our other car has been snowed in since Christmas. A guy in our ward gathered up some youth in the ward and they dug it out for us. So nice!!! We had a guy Bill knows come over with his tractor to dig it out, but the car wouldnt start, so these kids finished the job. Gotta love snow.

Noah was in his first science fair. It was kind of an easy experiment considering we started 2 days before the fair and Bill was taking the Bar. He didnt win anything, but he did a good job and had fun doing it.

The kids are enjoying the snow before it melts and they play outside as much as they can. Its not so horribly cold anymore, so they actually have fun. Noah decided to make the ultimate sleddng hill and set his ramps up in 2 different spots. He got so much speed that we had to have him use a smaller sled and put on a helmet. Noah almost killed himself and Tyson ran into the house.

I just realized that I never posted AZ pictures. The kids had so much fun and they never left outside.

Avery loves my moms floor.
These 2 crazy kids got into all sorts of trouble and loved every minute of it.
I long for the days of eating outside in the sunshine!!!
(These kids all got haircuts right after they ate lunch)

Its so much fun to have a scout. Noah got his Bear award and the whole family was there to see it. Isnt he soooo handsome.
This night was also a cardboard car derby. It was so fun to see all these creative boys and their cars.
They had to run around the obstacle course 15 times. These poor kids, I dont think I could have done 3 laps. They all looked like they were gonna die.
Noah did!!!




We got a pass to the Thanksgiving Point Museum. The kids love it and they seriously could go everyday. They love all the HUGE dinosaurs and all the fun, hands on exhibits.






I finally was able to get Tyson into a preschool. I guess its technically not a preschool-just a few moms taking turns teaching the kids. Its been so fun for him because he gets to go to his friends houses and learn. Its been awesome!!! This week, we went to the Discovery museum with his class. Caleb loved that he got to tag along.

( Forgot this picture too)

Tyson loved to pretend he really worked on a ranch.
Caleb was in heaven with this horse. I think he thought it was real.
Tyson is such a climber. This was the perfect place for him. Caleb even got the hang of it and now hes climbing all over the house.

So much crazy stuff going on, but not too much out of the ordinary. Just trying to survive this so called "Spring". (It has snowed the past 3 days)

Sweet Baby

I am so bugged right now. My computer is acting crazy again and I cant upload more of these cute photos. I think its time for a new one!!!

ANYWAY, while I was in AZ I decided to take Averys one year pictures. My sis in law Jackie if a good photographer, so I asked her to do them for me. She brought her black background and I had everything all set..only thing was the baby wasnt cooperating. She had been sick all week, she was tired, hungery and not into it at all. But Jackie was able to get some really cute ones despite all of it. I spent 3 hours editing the pictures and what do you know, Lani decideds to turn off the computer while I still had them up and I hadnt saved them yet, sooooooo, all that hard work for nothing. And now, for some reason, blogger wont let me upload the photos. Total bugger. I happend to take a few, so thats what these are-unedited, but still ok. I love the pictures and maybe I will try again when she doesnt have snot running down her nose. She is still my sweet monkey, snot and all!!!!

She is so cute I could just squeeze her


I love this picture because it shows how long her legs are
(dont mind her hair, by this time it all fell and I had no bow that matched)
This pretty much summed up the day.