Resolution Review.

It's been two months now since I made some resolutions and I'm doing pretty good. I have yet to get my morning routine done before 10 am so that obviously was too high of an expectation. If I could just go to bed before 10:30pm it would work but alas that rarely happens. Last night I fell asleep at 9:30 and was wide awake and ready to go this morning at 6am. If only I could do that every night. My scripture study usually happens during nap time. I have been exercising regularly though. I got a really bad cold and took a week off but other than that I've kept it up. I try to switch between Jillian and treadmill. I started a from couch to 5k training program and just finished the second week and it wasn't too bad. I think the fourth week is going to be hard but I'm going to still try. In May our stake is doing a 4 mile fun walk/run, mainly for all those going on trek, and we will have to complete it in 1 hour. My goal is to be able to complete it in 45 minutes. I've got a long way to go but I can tell my endurance has increased. So now that I've been exercising for 10 weeks have I lost any weight. I have but only 3 pounds but I am very happy with that. It's not enough to be able to tell any difference but it's something. I'm happy because the only real change I've made to my lifestyle is to exercise for 30 minutes a day. I still eat whatever I want. We have cut back on the sweets but I'm still eating my fair share and I want too. I like food. It's meant to be enjoyed. It took me 4 years to put the extra weight on so I don't expect it to come off very fast if I want it to stay off. So I figure at the rate I'm going I should be able to get back to the weight I was after having Conner by the first of next year. Why don't I try to get back to my prebaby weight you may ask. Well that's unrealistic. I weighed 112 when I got married and was a size 2/4. I'm sorry but after having kids my body has changed. My hips got wider and my chest bigger and that's not going to change. Back then I never exercised, was not very active and ate whatever I wanted. It was the life. As I've gotten older my metabolism has decreased. I may not get back to my post-Conner weight because that may not be realistic either but I'll try. I figure that as long as I exercise and try to listen to my body when I'm content and full (which is very hard), that my body will naturally find it's normal weight whatever that is. My main goal is to be healthy and get rid of this tummy fat!

February was a tight month for us financially. We made some unexpected purchases so we had to tie down the reins that month but it was so good. I love being able to have self control, which isn't easy. I was the only one who went out to eat and it was with my friend Kristin from college. I love that girl and it is always so nice to visit with her. I felt like Ammon when he ran into the sons of Mosiah and saw that they were still strong in the gospel after so many years. Life is hard but it was so good to see that we've both made it through and are honestly happy. So that meal was well worth it. With 12 days left in the month I only had $42 left in my grocery fund. Really? Yep. You can't buy much for $42. It's not like we don't have money for necessities because we do, we're just trying to reach some goals. So I had to be creative and eat from the freezer and food storage. It was a challenge and I loved it. Most of the money went towards milk, eggs and produce. I even had $2 left at the end of the month. We ate really good except for one dinner. I've had tilapia in my freezer and on my menu now every week for 2 months and it never got made. The kids don't really like fish although I kind of enjoy it most of the time. Well the day came where we had to have this fish if we wanted to eat anything but I was lazy and not looking forward to this meal so I just marinated it in Yoshida sauce. I should have broiled or grilled it for some extra flavor but as I said I was really lazy so I baked it. I made some yellow rice I found in the fruit room and cooked carrots on the side. When we try something new the kids vote thumbs up or thumbs down. I don't care either way. Sometimes we get a keeper and sometimes we don't. So on this night when asked thumbs up or thumbs down Mikey disgustingly says 10 thumbs down with all his fingers pointed down. It was the funniest thing. I didn't think it was that bad but oh it still makes me laugh. Another night I found some meat in the freezer that was covered in ice. There was no label on it so I just put it in the fridge to thaw. I thought it was probably pork chops but it ended up being steaks. I can' t remember the last time I bought steak so they had to be two years old. I remember buying some for my family when Lucy was blessed and we never ate them. How's that for mystery meat. Now that it's March and I have some money again I feel like a millionaire and am dying to go to the store.

One of my goals was to try to blog everyday. Well I'm definitely failing at that one but then I had to reevaluate and think about the reasons why I blog. The number one reason I blog is for family, especially those out of state, to know what's going on in our lives. It's a way for them to get to know their grandkids/cousins better since they rarely get to see them. I know my kids love looking at all our family blogs and seeing their cousins pictures and videos. I hope that's the same with y'all. My second reason is for documentation. I don't keep a journal. I've been terrible at baby books. I know I'm awful but it's just not my thing. At least now with this blog I'll be able to remember a little better what each of the kids were like at a certain age. I've made one blog book for the first year of the blog and I need to make the others. It's a huge expense but worth it. I was thinking I should probably make four more copies for each of the kids. Ugh. For some reason, knowing I'm writing for my family is a great motivator for me. Those are basically the two reasons I'm keeping this blog so I'll update as something meaningful happens.

Some funny things the kids have said lately. Sam gets up and after a lot of nagging is still not dressed. When I ask him why he's not he replies because I want to wear something handsome to school today. What do you mean by handsome? Well something like I would wear to church. You're not wearing a suit or tie to church so how about a sweater. He picked out a sweater and I asked him why he wanted to dress handsome. Because I want the girls to chase me at recess. Seriously! This kid loves the girls and he's only almost 6! Also last Sunday morning Neil was shining his shoes and Sam asked what he was doing. When Neil told him he was shining his shoes to which Sammy replied, shouldn't you have done that on Saturday? We both stopped for a minute confused and then we remembered . . . Saturday is a special day it's the day we get ready for Sunday. We shine our shoes and we shampoo our hair . . . Primary songs do teach correct principles!

Mikey as he was laying down for naps said Mommy I think I should sleep for a really long time. I ask him how long he wants to sleep, til maybe 3:30? (our normal wake up time). No, I think I should sleep until daddy comes home. Well that's at 5:30. I ask him Mikey why do you think you need to sleep that long. He says, I think if I don't I'll be naughty.

Conner got a token at school yesterday and instead of getting candy like he always does he picked out a top but it was a hot pink, glittery top. The first thing out of his mouth was mom I don't care if it's pink and a girly color. That doesn't matter. What matters is how much fun I can have with it and he proceeded to show me some tricks he could do.

Lucy has picked up a couple new words. She has started to say baby, bye and Iiiiii for ice. She also says shhhhhh for shoes. She basically says the first sound of a word and hasn't quite caught on that there's an end syllable yet.

So an updated post wouldn't be proper without some pictures so here are some from the last few weeks.

Sam with all his sleepies as he calls them. They must be in his bed at night or else he will have bad dreams.

I made smores brownies (brownie mix baked with graham cracker pieces, chocolate pieces and marshmallows put on top last 5 minutes) and we each had to make a funny face while eating them.

Sam loves playing Hero Quest, a game from Neil's childhood and in constantly making his own quests.

The Treehouse had a members only birthday party. It was Neil's first time going and he wandered around with Lucy.

I got to stay with boys and watch the magician. It was so fun listening to Mikey especially busting a gut with laughter.

Neil has been dying to take the boys to see Stars War Episode I in 3D. I think it was a little let down for Neil. He came back with a terrible headache.

This is my go at being crafty. My goal is to decorate this mantle for each holiday. Each year I'll be able to add more decor so check back in a couple years and it should be pretty cute.

I have all these red berries stuck in the wreaths that go with each holiday except St. Patrick's Day and Spring so it looks like I'll be taking them out soon. What a pain.