What a week!

Last Thursday was the last day my kids have been out of our house. Why you may wonder, have we been home for the last 5 days strait, when normally we are gone every single day? Because after our fabulously fun day at Lagoon, we all got horrible colds. One after the other came down with it, Jackson being the last to get it on Sunday. Oh, and our trooper Carli has yet to get it. I don't normally get sick, so maybe I just don't remember, but I have to say that this is probably the worst cold I've ever had. If I don't keep up on the Advil Cold and Sinus (the BEST medicine) EVER... then I've got a nasty fever, freezing, wretched sore throat, cough etc.. It sucks. So, what did Kaitlin do to entertain herself?

She rocked my world and potty trained herself! That's right, folks. She potty trained HERSELF. I've tried here and there but never pushed it because I learned the lesson with Jackson that a child won't potty train unless they are ready. So, I guess she was bored and decided it was time. She informed me that she had gone potty, so I came up with a great idea of telling Kaitlin that we were out of diapers for her and there was only 1 pair of underwear left. I've noticed that if she sees her pile of underwear, she purposely goes potty in the one she is wearing, so she can wear the next cute pair (that's a girl for ya!) Wham, bam, thank you ma'am! 3 days of pottying all by herself and only 2 accidents, I think we've succeeded! I even took her to run some errands today in underwear! And she almost made it home, only 5 minutes from home she had an accident. But that's ok. At least she can go to preschool in the fall, and we only have 1 little person left in diapers. YAHOO! Despite how yucky I feel, this has made it all worth it!

chatting and gluing and giggling

Kait is my ultimate crafter. Logan and Jackson love it too, but Kait especially does. She spends tons of time on her artwork. All of the moms in our preschool group this past year talked about how much time she spent being creative each time. I got this cute email from one of those moms that has since moved away, that I have to share:

"I was pining for Kaitlin the other day, when I set up a craft making some really cute fish out of paper plates and tissue paper. I excitedly told the kids about it, and they spent an entire TWO MINUTES half-heartedly gluing on a few tissue paper scales. Anyway, I told them that if Kaitlin Howick were here, she would have spent at least half an hour with me at the table, chatting and gluing and giggling."

Our Super Fun Day!

Every summer, we look forward to a day at Lagoon. That day happened this last Thursday. So, my mom came up and happily took care of Carli at Lagoon for us while we rode all the rides with the kids.

We don't normally go into Pioneer Village but I wanted to check it out. It was so cool! There was one building that was filled with old fashioned dolls and this amazing mini circus. It took this sculptor, 20 years to create this. It was incredible!

After our first time down Rattlesnake Rapids (there were 2 or 3 more times after this!) We were nice and drenched!

Halfway through the day, we met up with our good friends Beth and Chad and their little girls. It was great because Beth and I could take turns riding the rides and Jackson finally had a pal to ride with since he is tall enough to ride alone, that's basically what he did all day while Brian and I each had to ride with Logan and Kait. It was super fun hangin' with them!

Jackson and Melissa

Ghostbusters!!!

We had a playdate over at our friends house this past week, and their dad had made Ghostbuster Packs for the kids. Well, of course, out of allll the toys there, that was my kids favorite thing! So the first thing we had to do when we got home was to make my kids their own Ghostbuster packs. They haven't put them down in 3 days! ;)

Haircuts, babystrollers, and parkdates oh my!

I took the boys to Cookie Cutters for haircuts today. They look SO cute!!!

We've been doing a lot of playdates this summer - this one was with our friend Emma that moved away. I'm so glad we are keeping in touch!
Kaitlin had a great idea to put the baby into her baby stroller and push her around the house. And yes, it was very nerve-racking. It only lasted for about 30 seconds!

Cute outfit, cute girl

a super cute outfit from a super cool friend, Liz Kilburg, for a super cute baby!

I finally broke down...

and got a Cricut Expression! I've been wanting one for a long time and have been trying to figure out where to get one, how to pay for it etc... Then I was talking to my friends Steph and Angie and turns out that they both have been wanting one too. So we found a deal we couldn't pass up and went during our monthly girls day out yesterday and picked them up. Now we've been trying to figure out how to use them. I think we are going to sign up and take some classes together. This machine is awesome though I am a little intimidated by it... for now!

Family and Ronald McDonald

An actual live Ronald McDonald and Jackson. Brian commented that he's never actually seen a live one before. Come to think of it, I don't think I have either! And Jackson saw him today!

We've been getting together about once a month with Brian's siblings -it's been really fun. (Brian's brother Chris makes THE BEST smoked salmon and ribs!)...
The cousins - they played and played and played and played and not a single fight. Yea!
The gang playing our favorite game - Rumikub

Swimming

I walked in my room last week and saw this... this cute little baby checkin' out her fingers. She was like this for a good 10 minutes.

I met up with several of my girlfriends and their kids for a day at the swimming pool. The kids had a blast and it was so fun to catch up! Jackson and Sebastian had matching floaties, except Sebastian's are um... pink... with frills! And he didn't mind at all! Bless his heart...

Logan jumpin' in!

Kait's big moment - being saved by the lifeguard! ;) Good thing I had my camera handy, huh! (she actually was swimming in the same part she always had been in but for some reason she got nervous I guess!)

This is Peyton - Steph's little girl. This was right before she toppled over and got stuck face down in the water and Steph saved her life. I've never seen Steph run so fast, fully clothed into the water.. and not only did a lifeguard not see Peyton face down in the water, they never even noticed when Steph was racing through the water to get to her! But I can't complain, since afterall, a lifeguard did save Kait!

Me

In lieu of recent posts about me working on myself, I got a really cute highlight and cut today and so I thought I would post the pics of the new 'do as well as a progress report on how I am doing. (I hate my chin!) I had a little setback last week, I had an evening appt instead of a morning one, so my weight was up but my nutritionist noted that and I probably really only gained 1 lb. instead of 3.8 like the scale said. Overall, I am feeling a lot better about myself - I am halfway through my program! I hope I can double my weightloss and lose 24 lbs within the next 6 weeks and keep firming everything up. I have learned a lot about eating right though and I hope to prevent the diabetes that is looming over my head!!!

This next picture I took, to show Steph and Angie - we had quizzed the girl (that did my hair today) at our last appt at this salon about how to get "the poof." So when she was styling my hair today, she did it on me. I will share the secret!!!

Brian isn't much for compliments - he just doesn't usually vocalize them too much. But we went shopping in Park City yesterday at the outlets and I got 2 new shirts from Old Navy. This one and another one. He surprisingling commented on both of them when I wore them saying how much he liked them. And then when I walked in the door after getting my hair done this morning, he said how much he loved it! And there have been many a time, I have come home from getting my hair done and I have to tell him I got it done. Do all guys just not notice or is it just him!? (love ya anyway, Bri!)

Color blind...?

while I was out snapping pictures of the pics below, I realized I should mention that we have finally (after we put in a brand new yard 2 years ago) have started planting some bushes and such. Yea! So here's a pic of our first area that we did. My lovely parents gave us a bunch for my birthday. It's Brian's most favorite job in the whole world - to plant all these bushes! But he does it with a "happy heart."

Is this crazy to anyone else? What are in the following 3 pictures that is a little odd...


aside from the fact that we have a million cars in front of our house... (the neighbors are having a wedding)
isn't it a little weird that every.single.car. is either grey or white?

I think we counted 12 white cars and 6 grey. And no other colors... weird!

Oh the wonders of...

This stuff is a MIRACLE worker! Yesterday, my friend Beth came up to my house with her family, all bearing bags of hand-me-down clothing for my girls. How awesome is that? Mind you, just a few days before, she gave me a huge black garbage bag filled with clothes too. However, some of the clothes were stained with yellow stains. She said she isn't sure where they came from, but they've been stored away for about 3 years so maybe just old stains that yellowed. So, out came the Oxi Clean. My first round of just soaking it didn't do much. So I made a paste and put it right on the stains, then put a small amount of water in the washing machine and in the clothes went for 6 hours. Just ran them through and voila! No more yellow stains! Does anybody else use this stuff? I can't imagine life without it! ;)

Best Compliment!

I was at my brothers house the other day and he said, "Have you lost weight?" I said, "why yes, I have!" And he said, "I can totally tell, your butt is not nearly as big as it used to be!"

While that might be offensive to some, it was the best compliment! Someone noticed!!! My day was made!

Make new friends but keep the old...

Last month we had a playdate with Adri and Jody and she made the kids all lunch. I just snagged this picture from her blog, I think it is so cute! I hope these kids stay friends for a long time, they've grown up together, known each other since they were little babies. There's something about friends you've had for life. They will make lots of friends along the way, and they do, but these friendships with each other are unique! Like that old saying:

"Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver, the other is gold!"

My secret to a healthier me!

People are beating my door down to find out how I am losing weight! So, here's the story. I've slowly gained weight over the last 5 years while having kids. I've had zero motivation to lose it in between pregnancies because I knew I was just going to get pregnant again, therefore, get fat again. However, I am done having kids now so it's time to get that weight off and get healthy again! 2 weeks after I had Carli, I was reading this blog that I follow and I came across this post:

http://heatherdwhite.typepad.com/unwrapped/2009/04/still-going-strongand-getting-even-stronger.html


I know this girl, well, I don't know her personally but I know she is real. So when I read this post, I thought, I am going to do this! I don't to the Taislim stuff, but I saw the link to Total Health and Fitness - the place she has gone to to learn how to eat right and excercise right. So I went to their website: http://www.thfonline.com/ and I was INSPIRED! I didn't want to feel bad about my body anymore. I didn't want to go all summer feeling insecure about how I looked especially when I am with skinnier friends! I just wanted to feel happy with myself inside and out. Also, I am prediabetic which scares the dickens out of me. I really don't want to have diabetes later on. It's such a hard disease to have. My doctor has told me many times that if I excercise and eat right, I might be able to prevent it. So, I signed up online that night for a free consultation. They had a location near my house and several others throughout Utah.


I went to my free consultation and met with my now, nutritionist. She measured me, weighed me, talked to me about fat loss and weight lifting / cardio etc... She told me that when people diet they can lose weight, but you have to lift weights and do cardio to tone your body so you're not left with a bunch of flabby skin. And keeping it off is a whole other ballgame. People generally lose weight and then gain it all back because they return to their old eating habits. But if you lose weight by eating foods that you like, then it will be easier to keep it off because you're just eating stuff you normally eat. So, I signed up for 12 weeks and I've been on a roll ever since!

I'm super duper uber motivated and determined. I have been eating right every single meal, drinking tons of water / crystal light (if you remember, I got kidney stones while pregnant because I was such a crappy drinker of water) - I drink now 87 oz per day. I eat 3 meals and 3 snacks per day. I excercise 4-6 days per week. My nutritionist tells me what to eat each week, the amounts, etc... and the same for excercise. She prints up my schedule for excercising, what weights to lift, how to lift them, how many reps, etc... same for Cardio. That's what I need. Someone to tell me exactly what to do. Tell me what to do and I will do it. I can't be left alone to figure it out for myself. My motivation goes right down the drain.

I am very proud of myself and my determination. I meet with my nutritionist every Monday morning to get weighed, once a month I get measured, and then we review my eating and excercise plans for the week. I tell her what I like, what I don't like, ask questions, etc... So far, every week so far, I've lost 1.5 to 3 lbs. each week. Seeing results keeps me going. And having accountability with her each week also keeps me going.

So there you have it. I'd only told a couple of people about this when I started but I am so much happier that I decided to share it with everyone! I still have 7 weeks to go but this is the longest I have ever stuck with something like this. I think having the gestational diabetes so bad in my last pregnancy also showed me that I can stick with something, even if it feels so restrictive. But I find that I don't really even crave sugar anymore like I was when I had the diabetes. Yea!!!

So let me share with you how that girl who inspired me looks now! This was the final inspiration I needed... I will look like this in a few weeks! And I'll post my before and after picture on my blog for you all to see!!!

http://heatherdwhite.typepad.com/unwrapped/2009/05/jazz-it-off-winner.html

That will be me in just a few more weeks!

Carli J.

This is what Carli looks like these days. She is 2 months old, finally smiling, even somewhat laughing! We have pics of each of our kids smiling big huge smiles on this couch, in the same spot. Dang, we think she's cute! And she is finally out of newborn clothes and into 0-3 month!

The big 3-5!

The birthday went something like this... woke up at 7:30 and went to an appt. Came home and ate french toast with the fam, got the cutest cards from them ever. Brian said the phone had been ringing off the hook. Got some cute messages from friends, one friend and her kids sang me Happy Birthday on my answering machine. Cute. Got the kids ready and went to swim school. Stopped by Wendy's and grabbed them some lunch. Dropped them off at my parents and went to the dentist. Picked up 2 kids from my parents and went to Beth's. Went back to my parents and met up with Brian and my mom and the other 2 kids. Met everyone at Tepanyaki's for dinner. (see picture below!)

Went back to my parents and met up with their neighbor that we adore and had cupcakes and ice cream. Brian and the boys left and I stayed for a while longer with the girls. Left Kaitlin there for her first sleepover with Mimi and Grandpa. Got home at 10:30pm. Got home to lots of messages on my answering machine, 3 cards on the porch, a plate of insanely good mint brownies from a friend. My Facebook comments are O.O.C (thats short for OUT OF CONTROL!) One person wrote "Happy Birthday!" and it spawned an insane amount of more Happy Birthdays from friends, some of which I haven't seen or talked to in YEARS! Finally went to bed at 1am. Today, this lovely cookie bouquet arrived. How GOOD do those look? I took a picture so I could invite you all over to have a cookie. But guess what? My kids pretty much ate almost all of them. I am so proud of myself. I only had 1... that's right ONE. Someday I will tell you about my new eating and excercise plan that I have lost 2 sizes, 8 inches, and 12 lbs on so far, in 5 weeks! Oh happy day!!!

Thanks all, for a fabulous birthday, the bday wishes, cards, gifts, etc... I look forward to going to Coldstone and using my $10 giftcard, going to Target and buying some new clothes with my $25 giftcard, wearing my cute handmade earrings, and overall enjoying year 35 in my life!
I am blessed!!!