Oh nuts!

This past Saturday we took the girls to the Nutcracker. They were so excited and I was so excited to see them so excited. We got them dressed up and did their hair in buns and then went over the rules for taking big girls out to dinner and the rules for the ballet. They of course weren't really listening to me since they could see all the new Christmas lights that everyone had put out around their houses. Oh well. We haven't taken them out to eat at a restraunt in about 2 years because the last time was THAT BAD! This time was very enjoyable though. We took them to Texas Roadhouse so we could use the free dinner Liz got from taking 1st place in her reflections. They sat down and immediately started coloring. Brian and I got to watch a little of the BYU vs Utah game, but we also had some conversation with them. We got our food, ate, finished the fourth quarter of the game and then headed out to the ballet.

We got to the ballet and as soon as we were in our seats Caroline turned to me and said, "thanks Mom. I pereciate it." She's so grateful about so much. Elizabeth kept asking me questions and her reply was always, "cool". She's getting so grown up. I loved watching them and seeing their eyes light up and just really enjoy it. I loved watching them smile and seeing them clap. It was a magical time for me, not watching the ballet, but watching their reactions and joy. I loved it! At the end Elizabeth turns to me and says, "I'm exhausted!". I just laughed. It was so funny to hear her say that, but I think she meant bored. The last 20 minutes felt like forever, but all in all, it was really fun and a great night out with the girls!

November 22nd 2009

Security is........

...having a passy in your mouth and one in each hand for backup.

Love is.......

...waking up in the morning and sitting in front of the camera so your wife can practice with her studio lights!

Whadda day!

Today has been a great day. I think a day like this is what being a Mom is about. I've been struggling  (I know. Another thing I'm struggling with) with having fun with my kids. It's hard for me with their different ages trying to find something that keeps them all happy and something I enjoy doing. I do not like playing with barbies, dolls or a lot of pretend things. I'm a lame Mom I know. I love games and just hanging out together, but sometimes that doesn't work or isn't fun enough for them. We had a few kids games but either the pieces are missing or I can't find them, so I thought I'd journey down to the DI to see what they had and I scored big time! I got I think 8 games for $11. We've played 2 so far today and they are having fun. Correction... WE are having fun.

--OH, and on a side note, I set Isabelle down because she was freaking out and I'm not lying, 10 seconds later I turn around and she's totally disappeared. I wasn't too worried. It was hard to try and spot her though because there were all these clothing racks around, so I got down on my knees to look for her..... nothing. I told Cooper and Caroline to help look.....nothing. So I thought the worst thing would be for her to get kidnapped so I walked to the front of the store 'cause I'd spot the thief or someone would bring her to the front of the store. Well as I get closer I see her walking OUT THE FRONT DOOR!!! There was this older lady there and she was looking around wondering where the psycho mother was and this man grabbed her hand before she was out in the parking lot. She had to have run the whole way up there because I was up there in less than 30 seconds. Little stinker.

Elizabeth came home and was so excited because..........

Yep. She got first place in the reflections photography division. The next round of judging isn't for another 2 months, but we don't care. We're so proud of her!

After another game and some snacks we headed over to a neighbor's house to pick some apples to make an apple crisp. We pulled our wagon to gather them up and Cooper pulled it all the way home. It was so cute. The girls were so great about washing and drying them and then I cut them up but unfortunately they were all past their prime. A little soft and not much flavor, so we'll be heading to the store tonight. :) They did look pretty though.

And yes.... we do have a little bit of crazy hair going on today!

We also took a few mintues to do a secret service for a neighbor and raked leaves and cleared the sidewalk off. It was really rewarding to watch the girls have fun working hard and working together. I was proud of them and it was fun to do a "secret service". We don't do it often enough.

A little while later we ran to a few stores and then headed over to Elizabeth's school for Literacy Night. It was super cute. It was a pirate theme and they had different stations with fun activities. The kids got popcorn, Caprisun's, hot rolls and lots of fun. It was a good day. I need to have more days like this with them. There were a few crazy moments, but all in all, I really loved being with them today. It's nice to have days like that!

Photographer in the making...

Elizabeth decided to do photography for the reflections contest at her school. She took all the pictures herself and decided instead of doing one she wanted to do a collage. I told her one time the five steps she had to do to get them all over there and ran to do something. I kept waiting for her to call me for help, but about 5 minutes later I walked back in and she was nearly done. I was amazed! How can a young brain remember something to do with technology so well and yet it can sometimes take older people several times to grasp. Amazing! Anyway... so I sent it off to get printed and picked it up later that night. The guy pulled the picture out and said, "do you have the copyright release for this?".

Me: What?

Guy: Do you have the release for this or are you the photographer of the picture?

Me: What did I print off? ( I thought that maybe I had accidentally printed off a picture from my photoshoot on Saturday)

He opened it up and it was Elizabeth's picture. I laughed.

Me: That picture was taken by my 6 year old daughter.

Guy: (leans over to the other guy) this was taken by a 6 year old

Other Guy: well, she must be destined for great things.

It made me smile. How funny. I do think she did a great job putting it together! It was so fun to watch her play around with the saturation and exposure and see what her creative eye ended up with. She loved it. Maybe she can be my assistant in a few years! :)

Just about me!

As many of you know, I've been struggling with losing weight for oh, like 4 years! I've had many things that have kept me from losing weight, mostly my own issues. I've had "a new day" a number of times and it just hasn't stuck for very long. I'd say "okay, I'm going to go without candy or sweets for a week." I make it a day and say to myself, "I guess I can do it, I just don't want to." So then I quit. I would think I had the self control to do it and fooled myself into thinking that if I could make it a day, I could make it as long as I wanted to.

Last winter we signed up at a gym and it was good. Brian said I could get a personal trainer and  that was great too. I worked out so hard and didn't see any real results on the scale. My trainer worked with my food and said I was doing everything right, but just wasn't losing. I was so frustrated. I was spending almost 2 hours a day at the gym. I had one week where it went well and I lost 3 pounds, but shortly after that we were in the process of moving and I couldn't keep up with it.

We moved up to Logan and lost our membership because they didn't have a gym up here. I also started feeling guilty about taking the kids to the daycare there for that long every day. I was starting to think this was just the way it was going to be for the next 4 years 'til my kids were in school and I could work out then. It was very frustrating. I hated waking up and putting on the same clothes that I packed away last year saying that I would for sure be out of them by this year. I hated, well, so many things. I hated the way I looked and the way I felt about how I looked.

Two weeks ago I started the South Beach Diet. I've done Weight Watchers and it's a great program, but I just didn't want to have to think about it. This diet took the thinking out of it. It also took out pretty much all the good things, but I didn't want to think about it, and this sounded easy enough. Surprisingly it was pretty easy. We went down to my parents house 2 days after I started it. The last timewe went down there I gained 3 pounds and just barely lost it, after 3 weeks. My Mom, being the great Mom and Grandma she is, made 2 different kinds of cookies for everyone to enjoy and had candy in various dishes around the house. I didn't even take one bite. Even at night when we were sitting around the table playing games and there was a plate full of cookies, I wasn't even tempted. I couldn't believe it. The next day we got pizza and I so wanted a bite, but I didn't. Again, couldn't believe my strength. There have been so many times in these two weeks that normally I would have taken a bite here or a little bit there and I didn't. I'm so freakin' proud of myself!!! Even through everyone in my house eating candy from Halloween. Not a bite here!

So it's been 2 weeks. I'm down 8 pounds and feel like I'm finally in control of myself. Brian told me I could buy an elliptical, so we did on Monday. Now I can work out at home when the kids are in bed, or in the morning before everyone wakes up and not feel guilty that I should be home with the family. I feel like there's light at the end of a tunnel that was so long I never thought I'd make it out of. Eight down, 22 to go!