What to do... What to do?!

Summer is VERY quickly approaching...(I know, the weather might seem to disagree with that statement but it's on the way, promise!) Do you have a plan for the summer? Or a list of "want to do" this summer? I do... who knows what we'll get through... here are just 5 of my to-do's...

1) Camping...
    We got a super cute and pretty big tent this year - for our little family this year... now when we crash Mom & Dad's camp site at Boyer, we can at least have our own space instead of cramming into the camper... They've been nice and let us stay in before, but I think we're getting a little big to crash the camper!!  Hopefully we can make good use of it at least a few weekends this summer!

2) Going to the park, maybe the pool...
   While financially it is hard sometimes - right now I am blessed with working only two days a week - which makes for plenty of fun days to go to the park!! I'm hoping we get to go play at the park lots this summer... maybe even hit the swimming pool, maybe. That will require my LEAST favorite activitiy - SWIMSUIT shopping! ugh. I think I will retire my suit from FOUR years ago and find a nice one peice to wear with my shorts (I always wear shorts!)... Maybe if I can find a good suit I'll be ok with going to water aerobics... that would be nice... we'll see.

3) Rollercoaster Anyone?

I am DYING to go to Silverwood this year - I want to ride the Aftershock rollercoaster again so badly!! I'm hoping for a day up there with my hubby - just the two of us - maybe our Mini-Honyemoon... hopefully we can do it. We'll be taking Jaxson up again too, he got a free ticket for doing 10 hours of reading earlier this year - so I'm thinking maybe he will take a friend (and brother of course) up for a birthday trip! Maybe I'll get away with no big party this year!

4) The usual summer activity it seems...

   Do you have a wedding to go to this summer?? We do, so far - three.. let's hope that's it! That's a lot of weddings - luckily there are 5 weekends in July - because we have a wedding on three of them!! I feel like I'm forgetting one, hopefully not!

5) The biggest challenge of them all!!!

LEARNING HOW TO GARDEN...  ya, it's going to be a challenge. The weather is not helping my case either. There are two GORGEOUS garden plots that my dad has made - waiting to be seeded - hopefully this week we can get it going - and I'm hoping to learn ... maybe next year have our own plots... it's something that I need to learn - I will learn. :) It'll happen...



There are lots of things that we'll be doing this summer... lots of things that I'd like to do, learn, and there are LOTS of habits I'd like to develop (maybe that'll be my next list)! Hopefully I can do some of them!

I hope summer (real summer, the warm and beautiful kind) shows up soon!! :)  xoxo

Ch Ch Ch Changes....

Who knew that changing the way you eat food could be so dang hard! I had NO clue how much food I snacked on and consumed during the day!! How much food I could just sit down and eat in one sitting - holy crap! No wonder the baby weight hasn't even sort of/kinda came off!

 Have you ever thought about what you eat during the day? If you have a little one that you feed often, do you eat when the baby eats? Do you order whatever sounds good when you go out to eat - without thinking about how much they load on those plates... well, I am now. Not sure that I like it either! I used to love just eating and eating... now all I think about it how much food it actually is - and how much I really don't need it, no matter how good it tastes! Sometimes it makes food not fun at all.. but sometimes it makes you appreciate the food you do get to eat much better!!

Now for the cutie babies...........................

Falling asleep with the Cheez-its... bad sign! hahaha.... what a silly boy!

Sweet Jaxson and his missing teeth... PS: Landon took this picture...

And the sweet baby girl...



My life in numbers...

I did it last night. Signed up for Weight Watchers - over the past two weeks I have slowly been giving up the soda, and at least been losing the urge to drink 5+ a day... this past week I started tracking calories, and let me tell you - it basically sucks! Calories are hard to track acurately and seems to not help at all! The one day I decided to just eat at will - I lost weight the next day... ugh. My grandma Nancy has been doing the new WeightWatchers since January, she is down approximately 30+ pounds!! She looks AMAZING and is very dedicated to her program! I know quite a few others who are having success as well - so I figured, why not?! Here. We. Go!

Today was my first full day of "points" ... everything has a number - but amazingly there are lots of things that are FREE! 0 Points! woohoo!! hahaha... luckily for me today, Strawberries is one such food.. I'm still learning how to divide my points for the day, and not wanting to get to dinner with no points to spare, I basically ate strawberries and a turkey pita sandwich for the day... I had 20 to spare at dinner, so I had my pasta - which any other day would be WAY too many by the end of the day and had a pepsi as a treat... I'm hoping tomorrow is better, grandma Nancy gave me some resources to look and study - like her first few months of tracking to see how she ate every day. :) Should be interesting... She took my measurements for me tonight and we weighed on her scale - I will weigh on Monday mornings now, we'll see how it goes! Wish me luck!! ;)

Sunny Days... please don't go away!!

Today was SO BEAUTIFUL!! The sun was out - it was nice and warm and being inside was NOT an option!! Today Landon had a playdate with his preschool buddy - Cora... They are so cute together - I love watching them run around and play! They played outside at our house and after lunch we went to the park for a while... super fun times! Now that we're super used to all this great weather - it's supposed to rain tomorrow - super. At least we got a little sun and shine for a while! ;)

While at the park - I was reminded that my youngest little one is rapidly becoming a little monkey - she eats a banana every day for breakfast AND her favorite activity is CLIMBING! On the couch, on the table, on the dog, up the stairs, up the slide.... she's fast and crazy good at getting UP and fast! YIKES! She definitely keeps us all on our toes! I'm sure it's only going to get harder and harder to catch her...

Also in this fine weather - we've had some super fun T-ball!! Yeah! ;) Jaxson did great his first game!! ;) He smacked the ball great and stopped a pretty speedy grounder AND threw it right to first! YAY... the concept is catching up with him!! :) Can't wait for all the years ahead watching the kiddos' games!!

First Birthdays... oh the fun!

First birthdays are such a fun thing... but they can also be kindof saddening for some Mommies - it's the point at which you realize you no longer have a sweet little baby but a movin' and shakin' toddler... Hang on tight!

One of my bestest friend's experienced just such an event today! Her first child, Hatley - turned a big ONE! She enjoyed a classic first birthday theme - John Deere Tractors with a hint of pink, any farm girl's dream! :) She did great and had lots of friends there to celebrate with her. We love Hatley -

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROO!!

I've been through three first birthdays... The first for Jaxson was a Race Car Birthday! Over the top -60 people with a potluck, penant race flags all over, flags in every telephone pole from town to our house (almost 3 miles of poles)... and lots of cake! Yummy yummy Costco cake (my favorite, a MUST have for every birthday for Jaxson...) ...

Jaxson's 2nd Birthday

(I don't have a pic of #1 on this computer!)

Landon's first birthday was a costume party - he was "Landon the Lion" and adorable... it was sized down a bit - only 30 people or so - and lots of pizza instead of a potluck since it couldn't be outside - too cold in October!! Landon had cake for his first birthday - but he's had ice cream every year since then - he does NOT like cake, not at all! It's kind of weird, but for his birthday he is allowed to be picky!

Landon's First Birthday

Reisse just celebrated her first year this February - she got a pretty small gathering with about 30 people and again more Pizza... She enjoyed her cake but unlike the other two kiddos - she'd had cake since she was old enough to be eating food - seems the more kids I have the more liberal I get with what they can eat in that first year - I guess if we have a fourth that baby will have a well rounded taste for food by the time he/she is one!

Reisse's First Birthday

OK ... Happy weekend to all ...

Motivation... know where I can get some?

  Spring is here! I think, maybe? I hope! For some reason all my "motivation/ambition" to start working out is connected to the weather ... so if it's freezing cold, no walking for me! I even have a treadmill in the shop behind our house, and yet - no walking for me... So, what is it that I have to do to convince myself to GET OFF MY TUSH?! 
   Don't even get me started on eating better... I am the worst!! My big bad habit - SODA! I am finding it almost impossible to give up - and for some reason, water is my cryptonite! Over-sensitive taste-buds that only like the well water I was raised on, even the cooler water at work tastes funny for me, I'd much rather grab some soda...  
   So... how do I kick this bad attitude? Start to think better and get going!? I keep saying - when the weather is better, but somehow I think I'll still end up too busy, too tired... unless I can just kick it into gear... Step one... cut the soda! Step two... move my tush! Step three... keep it up...

Wish me luck...

And for fun, a pic of my lil' girl playin' at "The Train Store" . . .