Progress

This week was a hard week for me to start goals.  I was just out of it I guess. But here is where I am so far:

Goal #71 Follow Body for Life program for 3 months
Around the 14th or 15th of this month, Sarah and I started the Body for Life exercise routine. OUCH! It is a combination of lifting weights and interval cardio training. We have really been pushing to get through the initial soreness of the new routine.  It is really kicking my bootie.  Working out hard 6 days in a row is no easy feat, but I felt great for that accomplishment. Towards the end of this week, I puttered out.  I think my body was rebelling from pushing so hard.  Today I am feeling much better so I think resting a couple of days really helped.  Now I will keep going with it.  I haven't noticed a big difference on the scale, BUT I am wearing pants today that I haven't been able to fit into for a long time(specifically in the thighs and butt).  That started a whole string of trying things on of course. I have the same skirt in 2 sizes.  Last spring I could barely fit into the larger size and now the smaller one is nice and roomy.  I see why people say when you are lifting weights, it is more about how your clothing fits.

I can't say I have just changed in the past 2 weeks though.  About 4 months ago, I decided to be a grown up (at least in my mind)  and make a couple of big changes.  I decided to start walking every morning at 5am.  It was hard!  I have always wanted to be a morning person, but liked being a night person too much.  The first couple of  months were so rough!  I hated getting out of bed.  Slowly over the next few months it has gotten much easier.  That kind of change does not fall in the 28 days to make a habit deal for me.  It really has taken about 4 months to adjust, and I am still tired sometimes.  I was also really out of shape to be walking over 6 miles a day.  I was sore for a couple of weeks.  These habits have deeply changed me though (thanks for the push Sarah!).  I feel better for starting my day off right.  I don't stress about when to exercise and then not doing it anymore.  I lost about 5 pounds of baby weight which felt great too. 

2 pieces of reality that I finally faced were that 1. I do not have enough motivation to do this on my own.  I had to have a partner to be accountable to meet each day. 2. Early mornings are my only option for long term, consistent exercise.  I think getting to this point with these changes has been the springboard to move on with more of my goals.

Goal #12: Go to bed at 9 and get up at 5 for a month
I started that this week, but need to start again tomorrow.  Weekends will be hard especially, but I am doing it so that I can really get the habit of getting up early solidified.  I also really want to feel the benefit of D&C 88:124:
"Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated." 

I want to feel that promise to the maximum benefit.  Doesn't that just sounds so appealing?

Goal # 6 Be 10 minutes early to church for 3 months
Starting Sunday....no more running in at the last second.

Goal # 34 30 minute personal scripture study at the same time every day for a month
Filling the 6-6:30am spot with that. 

I figure that is a big start and then I should begin a new goal about every 10 days.

101 Goals in 1001 Days

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined."

~ Henry David Thoreau
 
I have always loved making goals, planning and writing things down. A few months ago, I found this idea a  over at Intentionally Katie and made my list, but never really started.  I didn't want to jump into something that I wasn't going to take seriously or want to do long term.  Over the past few months I have thought about it a lot and looked it over and over.  Then last week I went through the list to revise it and realized that because I had written down these goals, I had accomplished many of them and was working on several without even really meaning to.  I think this will really help me to become a better person and will be a lot of fun over the next 2 3/4 years.  I will still go back and make some tweaks until I am totally happy with it, but I think I am finally ready to make it official.
{One thing that worries me is that over all this time, I will change and some goals will no longer have any value to me.  So to help with this, I am giving myself permission to make changes to goals for the only reason of keeping them meaningful. I don't want to be stuck with a goal that I have no desire to do at all.}

I put a countdown on my blog and I am so excited to start this!  I plan to track this and write about it all along the way.  The Green ones are in progress. Strikethroughs are completed with red date.
1. Attend BYU Education Week or Women's Conference
2. Go on a vacation with just Peter
3.Organize the spaces in the house(office, entry, linen closet, laundry room, garage, school room)
4. Keep a photo a day journal for a month
5. Go to the temple once a month for 6 months
6. Be 10 minutes early to church for 1 month
7. Try couponing for a month
8. Have family dinner together every single day for 2 weeks
9. Have really well planned FHE for 1 month
10. Go on a 30 day sugar fast
11. Complete "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons" book with Eden, Tanner, and Carter
12. Go to bed at 9 and wake up at 6 every day for a month
13. Make bed every day for a month
14. Don't eat after 7pm every day for a month
15. Make and follow a house cleaning schedule for one month
16. Get current on blog books and have them printed
17. Memorize the Family Proclamation as a family
18. Scan mission letters and pictures and make a book
19. Convert old home videos to digital and scan old photos
20. Create a legal will
21. Learn how to use Quickbooks
22. Run a marathon
23. Do a bedroom makeover including new bedroom furniture
24. Remodel bathrooms
25. Get and MP3 player 11/26/2010
26. Frame and hang kids school pictures
27. Re-create and follow the budget for 2 month
28. Don't eat any fast food for 3 months
29. Get nice beds for the kids
30. Wear cute outfits from my closet for a month
31. Help (or at least support) finishing the playhouse
32. Get some back drops and learn how to use lighting equipment
33. Improve the front landscape
34. Do a 30 minute personal scripture study every day for a month
35. Read assigned Sunday School and Relief Society lessons for a month
36. Buy a movie projector
37. Go a week without losing my patience
38. Buy a bigger van
39. Sing a solo 3 times 1. 12/19/10
40. Take a piano class or lessons and perform
41. Follow Accountable Kids program completely for a month (we adapted the program a bit)
42. Pray with Peter every day for a week
43. Create a new family tradition for each month of the year
44.  Get house painted
45. Say soul-searching non-repetitive prayers for a week
46. Fit into my wedding dress
47. Get a pretty area rug for living room
48. Practice sitting for church every day for a week
49. Teach Carter and Lily, and Luke to sit and play quietly
50. Make a list of things I want to teach my children
51. Memorize The Living Christ as a family
52. Create a wedding book
53. Write 25 memories from my life
54. Have another roommate reunion
55. Organize all of our computer backup files and make a better back up system
56. Take a Disney vacation
57. Get a new piano
58. Print and display some wedding photos in our bedroom
59. Create a new meal plan system with healthy meals
60. Do something extra and unexpected for Peter each day for 2 weeks
61. Use planner weekly compass and plan each day for 2 month
62. Organize recipes and create a cookbook
63. Shop at the farmers market once a week for a month
64. Decorate for Christmas
65. Make a wall collage
66. Finish Christmas advent calendar and plan activities 12/10
67. Follow a personal morning and night routine and follow for 2 weeks
68. Keep car cleaned and vacuumed for a month
69. Do a photo shoot with kids each month for 3 months
70. Take a one week media fast
71. Follow an exercise program for 1 months
72. Finish basement remodel
73. Decorate kids rooms
74. Dress windows in LR and DR
75. Do hair and make-up every day for a month
76. Make and eat only whole foods for a week
77. Find out recommended water storage and do it
78. Research bi-monthly house payments and how it would affect us
79. Create a photography website in addition to blog
80. Follow a healthy eating plan for 2 months
81. Make office into an organized craft room/office combo
82. Study Book of Mormon with religion manual
83. Study D&C with religion manual
84. Study Old Testament with religion manual
85. Study New Testament with religion manual
86. Read The Holy Temple and POGP with manual
87. Set up auto withdrawal for Roth IRAs, savings accounts and all possible bills
88. Make cute church bag totes for kids
89. Hem all my pants
90. Revamp my blog
91. Fill food storage shelves
92. Get a glass cover for dining table
93. Teach piano lessons to older kids for 1 month
94. Make a summer schedule for kids that includes work/learning/play/service and follow it
95. Make some clear long term goals with Peter
96. No TV Shows/Movies/Netflix in our house for a month
97. Make really good whole wheat bread
98. Be able to do 1 pull up
99. Complete the Teaching Children Responsibility book
100. Put door stoppers on all our doors and patch all the dings in the walls
101. Do 6 family service projects

Anyone else want to do this?

First Great Wolf Experience

A few months ago we were invited to get in on a group deal for the Great Wolf Lodge up in Washington through Peter's brother.  It was open to anyone, so my whole family made reservations as well.  The kids were highly anticipating all the water fun and cousins.  It was almost more than they could bear. 

So last week, the day finally came.  It was such a blast.  There was so much for the kids to do at the water park.  Dallin loved the water slides once Peter pretty much forced him down the first time.  Then he couldn't get enough.  He also loved the wave pool and was surprisingly brave about going way out in it.

Eden just loved to do whatever Miranda was doing.  They hung out a lot doing the wand game and playing in the water together. Tanner liked everything that involved sneaking away from us and doing his own thing. Between him and Dallin, we were kid searching a lot.  He also loved the wave pool. Carter especially loved all the little kiddy pool slides and splash areas.

The kids put their costumes on that night and did trick or treating with their cousins.  Then they enjoyed story time.  The next day we played in the water all day until we were to exhausted to stay any longer.  We were seriously worn out, but it was worth it.  The kids keep asking to go back now.




Lily was hilarious. She much preferred to be down and would crawl around in the water like she owned the place. If she got splashed, she paid no mind. She would even crawl around in the wave pool with waves crashing around her almost taking her down, and loving every second. We got a lot of concerned looks, but whatever. I was amazed at her excitement and intensity. What a fun baby.




Favorite parts:

• Riding the tornado with my parents who have never done anything that intense before.
• Lily in the water.
• Going on slides with Dallin.
• A mini reunion with my fam. All our rooms were by each other.
• Being with Larry's family.

 

Least Favorite Parts:

• Losing a kid, finding them, and losing someone else in the process. Repeat 100,000 times.  
• Since we brought our own food; half a bottle of red Gatorade spilled on the carpet within 5 minutes of checking in.
• PB&J squished into the carpet within 6 minutes.
• Cracker crumbs all over the floor within 7 minutes.
• Saying "I'm not the maid" over and over again.

 

Funniest Parts:

• Brother-in-Laws comment that with all the Mormon families there, there was twice as many kids and half as much skin!
• The underwear fairy: Getting ready for bed I realized that I did not bring any extra underwear for Eden and (sparing details) she really needed some. I didn't know what I was going to do for her. The next morning I left our room and when I returned I noticed a pair of Eden's underwear hanging on the outside doorknob fresh and clean! We were baffled, but grateful for the mysterious underwear. We later found out that my sister had brought them because we left them at her house and she, not knowing the situation, thought it would be a funny delivery. Good one Cam, our little underwear fairy!
• One of my male children waking up in the middle of the night and saying, "Someone peed on me!".  Sure they did honey, sure they did.

 Can't wait to go again!

Silly Lily Tricks

Lily is doing some awfully cute things.  She is pretty good at performing on demand most of the time, which is fun.

Things Lily says: mama, dada, ha(hi), ba(ball), baba(just bable).  Not bad for 10 months! She is 11 months now, but these are not new.

Lily loves blowing raspberries still. 

When I make kissy sounds at her, she does them back, but instead of smacking her lips, she uses her top lip and tongue!  She also makes this sound when she wants another bite of baby food.

Big plus: It only took once to learn about stairs.  Lily is very capable of climbing up stairs, but will not go near the top to go down.  I don't even have to use baby gates for this.

Big downer:  She has a major love affair with the toilet.  More than any baby I have had by far!

Lily hugs and cuddles more than my other kids did.  When I hold her she holds me really tight, I LOVE it.

She is also the master of  the huge open mouth grin. She will always return a smile and has a very sunny disposition.

Newest tricks:
If you squint at Lily, she will do it back and it is the cutest face.

Her big sister taught her how to clap last night and she loves it.

She pulls herself to standing a lot and lately, I have seen her let go and stand on her own for a couple of seconds. 

I imagine I feel this way every time, but really, I don't think I have ever seen such a cute, happy, easy going, lovable baby in my whole life.  I actually get a rush of happy feelings when I pick her up and squeeze her.

On Siblings
Tanner loves Lily so much that he makes her cry a lot. She is pretty easy to maul. Carter calls her "Wiwy". Dallin is so tender to her it is sweet to watch this side of him.  Eden loves sharing a room with her now and wants to know when she can teach her how to do art.

Jack-O-Lantern

Dallin has only lost 2 of his bottom teeth until now.  The other day he FINALLY lost a top tooth.  He thought it was funny when I told him it was good timing to look like a Jack-O-Lantern.  Most kids his age have lost 9 or 10 teeth, so he feels much more grown up now.  Way to go buddy!

Toy Story 3

For Family Home Evening last week, we decided to take the kids to Toy Story 3.  It was playing at the cheap theatre and I thought it would be so fun for them to dress up in their Halloween costumes for it.  They have been dying to see it so it was very exciting.  When we got there though, we realized we had the wrong time and had to wait 2 hours.  We just couldn't bring ourselves to leave after all the anticipation so we ate a fast food dinner and bowled to kill the time.  Dallin is the only one of our kids that has bowled before so it was all new and fun for them. 

Then it was time.  I told Eden she could wear her mermaid costume too and kind of look like a barbie.  She totally went for that.  The employees really swooned over how cute they were in their costumes.

 Sorry about Tanner's bird, I am still not editing pics.  Tanner wears his Woody costume every day, it is so cute.  During the movie toward the end a little girl says, "My cowboy!".  Tanner perked up and said really loud, "Hey, I'm a cowboy!" I think that was the point in his life that Tanner really became Sheriff Woody for a moment.   He also got really excited and started yelling when, in the credits Zurg comes to the day care.  All the kids really enjoyed the movie, it was a hit.
 


Tanner is begging for Buzz and Woody dolls for Christmas.  I told him I would put in a good word to Santa for him.

Mission Reunion

A few days before General Conference weekend we found out that Peter was invited to a mission reunion in Utah.  We went back and for about going for a couple of days, not sure if it would be wise to take our rowdy bunch on a trip. Peter thought it would be so great to see so many old friends so we got brave and went for it.  Lucy came along to help so that made it a lot easier to manage, and Peter's brother Paul let us stay at their house.  We decided if we were going to do this, we would have to stay really busy out and about the whole time so that the kids destroying any one's house. 

Friday we met up with Heidi on the BYU campus and took a golf cart tour around.  My goodness, campus has changed so much.  It is beautiful!  We loved showing the kids our old stomping grounds, but they were pretty much underwhelmed.  Oh well, we tried.    Then we went to this restaurant called Pirate Island.  They had us at "Pirate".  The food was affordable, the decor was totally amazing, and of course the kids love arcades.  I think this was the highlight of the trip because some of them have asked me when we get to go back to Pirate Island. 

 Enjoying his loot.

That evening we went to the Mission reunion.  We were nervous about taking all the kids with us, but there were a lot of other kids there so it turned out fine, we just let them run around and play for 5 hours.  It is hard to believe that Peter has been home for 10 years.  We were amazed at what a huge turnout there was.  There were probably 60 or more people there.  There was a neat chapel meeting and then a light dinner in the gym afterward with a slide show and lots of socializing.  Peter really loved seeing so many people from such an important time of his life.  I have gotten to know enough of them, that I had fun too.  Here are a few people that were there.

 One of Peter's favorite companions, Gulbrandsen.

Another favorite companion, Farmer.  I became good friends with his wife one year of pest control so it was so fun to catch up with her.

President Christensen, Peter's second mission president in the Argentina Resistencia Mission.

Eden's new bestie Chase.  They played so cute all night.  His dad is one of Peter's buddies, so they got a big kick out of it. 

Saturday, John and his family came down from Blackfoot to party with us so we headed back to Provo to hike the Y.  Dallin was so excited about it.  I think I forgot how hard of a hike it is.   It was about as hard as hiking Multnomah Falls, but way hotter and deserty.  We pushed through it and made it all the way to the top though.  Man, that was a lot of work and kids carrying.  Yeah, we are crazy, but adventurous right?

Dallin bit it on the way down and got some pretty bad road rash on his ankle.  Other than that, he loved it.  Most of the kids looked about like this afterward. It was hot!

 We coud hardly wait to get back to Heidi's apartment and get in her pool.  It was very refreshing and just what we needed. Then we paid one of Heidi's room mates to watch a movie and eat pizza with the kids so we could go out with the family to Tucanos, a Brazilian barbecue place that we love.  It was so yummy and we enjoyed good company.

 That night we went to Thanksgiving Point to the Cornbellys corn maze.  It is way more than a corn maze though, it is a whole carnival of fun things to do.  These air trampolines were great.

 Eden loved the princess land.

 They had a closet area where the girls could pick out a princess dress to wear while in there.  It was too cute to see all the little princesses running around. 

 The boys really liked this go cart track.

 There was so much to do there, we just kept playing for hours. We did the corn maze last at like 10:30 at night.  The kids were getting so tired, but we worked our way around it for a quite a while.  Finally, we found ourselves back at the first checkpoint.  Many of us groaned and decided that we would go ahead and exit the entrance.   We didn't really tell the kids so they thought we made it through.  Works for me, I was exhausted!  What a fun place, I wish we had something like it here. 

I love how Peter's hand looks like Lily's.

Sunday we hung out at Paul and Kari's for Conference and played games.  Then we went to the park by their house and had a great picnic.  Our friends Cory and Jill came, who we hadn't seen in a long time so we had a great time catching up.  Another one of Peter's mission companions came too.  Some played ultimate Frisbee and the kids had fun at the park.  We hung out at Paul and Kari's a bit more (while the kids destroyed their house) and then headed to Temple Square.  It was neat to walk around and show the kids.  We got there pretty late, but we did get to spend some time in the visitors center and the tabernacle. 

When we came out of the tabernacle, I noticed Dallin wasn't with us so I went back in to find him.  I saw him down in the front talking with a senior missionary couple.  Then the Elder invited Dallin to sit down with him.  I walked over, not wanting to disturb them too much to see what was going on.  The sister told me that Dallin walked up to them and while shaking his hands in the air, said, "I came to see the prophet!".   They got a big chuckle out of it, so the elder had him sit down so they could talk a bit.  I looked at Dallin and he had this look on his face that was sort of awestruck.   After a couple of minutes we said goodbye.  As we walked out I asked Dallin if he thought that was the prophet.  I think he did, but he said no.  Then he said, "Maybe he was one of the apostles or a really important guy."  I smiled and let him know that he was a missionary, but he was really important too.  That was just such a precious moment. 

That night we went and stayed with an old friend and Peter stayed up much of the night visiting.  Then early the next morning we headed for home. I am so glad we decided to go, it was a memorable trip for us all.   We loved seeing family and old friends and doing so many fun activities together.

Soccer 2010

We put Dallin, Eden and Tanner in a free church soccer league this year.  It was so fun to go and watch the kids play.  They all made big improvements.  I loved enjoying the last few warm summer evenings as a family.  I also liked being in a family setting with all those LDS people.  It reminded me of the feeling at BYU.  We went Tuesdays and Thursdays for an hour and it was mostly games each time, which I like so much better than tons of practices.  It was so convenient to have all the kids play in one place at the same time, cousins everywhere, you can't beat the price,  and HELLO, no Saturdays! We are definitely fans of doing this while the kids are little.

Larry was Eden and Tanner's coach.  He is a fun coach.  The kids just love him. My favorite was the day we showed up and he was wearing goofy glasses while he coached.  He really knows how to reach them.

 The little trooper.  This picture made me laugh.

Eden's new found athleticism was awesome to watch.  Some games she scored 6 or 7 goals!  Larry said she was the secret weapon. 

This picture puts it perfectly.  Tanner was not quite as into it as Eden.  That's putting it gently.  This was Tanner's first time playing, so it took a few games to even get him to go out on the field.  Then one day Larry just picked him up, took him out to the ball and said "Kick it Tanner!"  Tanner liked chasing the ball so he could kick it more after that, but his attention span still got the better of him most of the time.  Still he came a long way and enjoyed it.

Schooling the boys. Love it!

My batteries died the day I brought a camera so there is only this one of Dallin.  Dallin showed lots of improvement this year as well.  Peter was his coach, which turned out great.  Dallin learned to play defense and goalie this year and I think he liked that the best, although he does great on offense too.  He even scored a goal from across the field while being the goalie once.  In his last game, he blocked every single shot of the game but one.  What I really liked was seeing him really into the games.  When he was younger, it was like he would wait and go play when told, but didn't really see the whole picture.  Now he does.


Making a sweet block.

Team Pictures:

The Cougars

The Ice Fire Scorpions

Again, I just loved how this turned into such great family time.  It made my heart happy when I would say "Time to get ready for soccer!" and the kids would get all excited and run around the house and yell "Time for soccer, time for soccer!" while putting their gear on. 

Tanner Quote

Tanner: Do you like me the best mom? (He has been asking that a lot lately)
Me: You are my favorite 4 year old.
Tanner: (not satisfied at all) No, do you like me the best?
Me: You are the BEST 4 year old.
Tanner: (touching my face and wide eyed) But, but you didn't say it.
Me: I like you the best!
Tanner:(cutest smile ever) You said it.



Tanner: Mom, can we buy that Sunday?
Me: No, we don't spend money on Sunday.
Tanner: But I want to buy it Sunday.
Me: No, we are supposed to keep the Sabbath day holy so we don't shop on Sunday.
Tanner: Mom, you said we could buy it Sunday!
Me: (sudden realization)  Oh, you mean SOME DAY.  Yes Tanner, we can buy it some day.

Thirty-Onedurful!

My birthday happened to fall on the day of a triathalon this year.  I decided to go for it with my sister.  I had missed the sign up deadline, but was able to get back in by replacing a dropout.  I was so glad.    I had to get up early and be in Salem by 6 am.  The first part was swimming 500 meters.  I was not worried about that because I am a pretty strong swimmer and that isn't very far for me.  I was in one of the first heats because the person I replaced was a beginner swimmer.  I think I lapped everone in my lane 3 times.  I didn't really make great time, but got like 12 minutes. Then, since this was not timed in between events, I waited for my sister and we did the rest together.  The biking was 12 miles and the run was 3.6 miles. 

The biking wasn't too bad until the last couple of miles.  Then to try to run after that was super hard.  It was like I was going in slow motion because I just got off a fast bike and my legs felt like they weighed 1000 pounds each.  We managed to get through it and finish strong though. My time was 2:03:23, about in the middle, so nothing to brag about.  This was my first Triathalon and it was so much fun!  I loved saying that I did it on my birthday though so I could totally feel like I am not getting old or anything.

That night, Peter took me to the Melting Pot!  This was a really big deal for me.  I had seriously made a goal to go there on my some day list(right next to doing a triathalon).  I was so excited I could hardly stand it. It is like a whole eating activity.  I think we were eating for over 2 hours.  It is so different and fun. 

 Cheese appetizer.  They gave us so many things to dip, that we were full already.

They even make raw meat look nice.  Okay, I was still a little grossed out, but it was fun to cook it and try different things. There were so many different sauces and meats and veggies, it was gluttony. Note: I am not a fan of duck. Lobster tail is just okay.

Cute!

Dessert was my favorite part.  It was deliciousness, and we ate it all.

I was so blissfully full afterward, but we weren't about to see a penny dollar of it go to waste by leaving any food behind.  I don't think we will go again because of the cost, but it was a neat experience.

Father Daughter Campout

Eden has been talking about the Daddy Daughter campout literally since last year, patiently waiting for her turn to go camping with "just Daddy" again.  Our ward didn't have one, so Peter joined Larry D's, which was even more exciting because Miranda was there.  It was at someone's property in the country not too far away.  They cooked over the campfire, watched the new Tinkerbell movie on an outside screen, and chased chickens the whole time.  Eden had the time of her little life.

Caught one!

I am so glad Peter took the time to do this with Eden.  She sure loves her daddy.