HApPy HaLloWeEn!!!

YeeHaw! Grab your lasso and guns we've gone western this year! Oh, the kids were too cute all dressed up as cowboys and cowgirls. I thought this would be super cheap...but um, not so much. I ended up making their little vests and buying them play guns and the girls wanted pink bandanas not the red ones we already had.... The kids had a ton of fun playing in the costumes and they are now a great addition to our dress-up box! This year was our busiest halloween yet. With the kids 3 different Halloween parties, the trunk or treat, the real holiday, and my little traditions I insisted we do like the pumpkin carving, making a haunted house, and sugar cookie making/decorating it was busy and SWEET! To my surprise my favorite thing ended up being the trick or treating...in years past its been a bust, but not this year. :O)


Here we are at the Trunk or Treat. I ran the photo booth so I didn't spend much time going to the different booths with the kids but we had a great time getting lots of candy and being with our friends all dressed-up for Halloween.

This is us heading out for Trick or Treating. This was the best trick or treating we have ever done. We had a lot of fun! We went in our little neighborhood and since so many little families have moved in recently the streets were filled with kids. I felt like a kid again going door to door getting candy. The kids loved being able to go with their friends. LOVED!

Their loot! They got a lot! Ben could hardly hold his by the end of the night. :O) He was our lazy boy he rode in the stroller between door steps....and the houses are close around here! LOL

And Angeli wanted me to include what she wore to her class party...all the other girls were being princess' so we last minute got her bell dress out of her closet and dolled her up. She loved it and insists that next year she will be a princess. I think next year I'll let them do whatever they want ...Ben wants to be green lantern, Angeli a princess, and Bridger a scary monster....we'll see.

This may seem odd...

But lately I have felt that it is so important to let people know my convictions about the things that matter most. To me that means the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all that it entails: Family, morality, and the reality of a loving Father in Heaven and His plan of Salvation.

Working with the youth in my church the past 7 months has reminded me what it was like when I was a teenager. EVERYDAY of my life I was attacked, mocked, and demeaned because of my beliefs. I had to stand alone so many times and just rely on the Lord to be my friend when I had none. I know the youth today are dealing with the same thing as they navigate through their lives. Lately I have felt that way a bit as I meet and make friends with more and more people who are not of my faith. I have been having more and more interactions like I did in high school. Here are a few from the other night, "Oh, seriously you can a have drink. I wont tell anyone!" and "Well, when your husband has an affair with a cute nurse then you wont be such a happy little family." and most of all "Wow, how can you stand having so many kids!". I realized as these comments were hurled at me that I am a bit out of practice with having to respond to negative comments about my life and values. I again feel those twinges of embarrassment and awkwardness when I am put on the spot to defend myself and morality.

This week as I have been pondering how I feel in a world where my perspective is now scoffed at as being trite, expired, completely backward, and to some they are even seen as threatening I have found such wise counsel in the talks our church leaders gave during our last general conference. In addition reading the New Testament in the book of Acts has been really a learning experience. Being mocked for being a follower of Christ is not new. And I feel a sense of resolve and also very encouraged.

I think the world is polarizing more and more to the degree that you can no longer sit on the side lines and procrastinate picking sides or even try to play for both teams. That is something I have never done but its a bit new for me as adult to defend myself so much. I think we all have to chose and then be ready to claim and defend our choices.

These are my favorite conference talks so far from this past session. I highly recommend listening to them! :O)

Niel L. Anderson - Children

Jeffery R. Holland- We are all enlisted

Thomas S. Monson - Dare to Stand Alone

Henry B. Eyring - Preparation in the Priesthood

David A. Bednar - Counsel to the Youth

Robert D. Hales - Waiting upon the Lord: They will be done

Boyd K. Packer - Counsel to Youth

So this is what I would say to the world if they asked... :) I believe that children are the crowning achievement of a couples life and that they are the entire purpose of mankind....the Family with its ancestors, and posterity link the ages of time together in meaning and purpose. And that the Temple of Jesus Christ makes it so we can make covenants with our Heavenly Father to ensure our family bonds will continue through all generations of time and be sealed together on into eternity. I know that there is a God who is our Spirit's father and that he provided us a Savior so we can repent of the mistakes we make so that we can progress to become like Him just as children here on earth aspire to grow to be like their parents. I Know that sin is real. That there is evil and that the great deceiver is real and that he strives to lead the hearts of men into darkness and misery so that we will be like him and so he can try and thwart the Plan of God which is that we progress to be like Him, God the Father. I know that if we pray and seek help that our prayers will be answered, that God hears us and will guide us into righteous paths that bring unmeasured joy in this life. I know that the family is a eternal unit, I know that we matter and our choices matter and that there is great purpose in this life and it isn't about gaining temporary pleasure. I know that good honest and faithful people are all around us who respect and love God and try to be good people. I know that God and Goodness will prevail and that it is only up to us to choice what side will we be on. I chose My Father in Heaven's side, I chose to testify of Christ and to defend light and truth all my life. I am on the Lord's side.

So to those who ask how I can I stand all my children I'd say, "I love them and consider it a great honor to be their mother and I will have as many as Gods wants me to have. It is the greatest work a women can do to be a mother." To those that mock my efforts to have a happy marriage and family I'd say, "My husband is not a man of the world and he never has been, there are good men in the world that cherish their wives and family and my sweet husband is one of them. We are committed to our goal of having a happy family and it will not only last our entire lives it will last for all eternity." And last but not least to those who can not understand why a grown adult would chose not to drink I'd say, "I do not drink. I never have and I never will. I promised God I would take care of my body and so I will and do."

The End! :O)

Living the Life: The RESULTS

Ok, so life got busy and I really didn't have time or energy to post about my progress and thoughts about my challenge. I have to say about mid week I started to feel a little unmotivated but I kept going and then by this weekend, which I thought would be hard since its only Halloween ! Talk about sweets temptations! I felt totally fine. Not an issue. I found it really did reduce my stress. I knew that no matter how my day had gone or was going I was at least doing one thing right...I was being healthy. Plus the exercise is so moderate that it is actually maintainable for me with how busy my life is. I love that.

With my going and coming this weekend I got off a bit on the times and such with my meals and yesterday we went to friends house for dinner and I have to say I care more about being a polite guest then being a few ounces less on weigh in day. So yesterday was way off. But to cut to the point here are my results:

I lost 1.5 inches around my waist
I lost 1 inch around my hips

and

I lost 4.6 pounds this week!!!!!!!

Holy cow! I cant remember ever having lost that much weight in a week. Um I think I will be continuing this "diet". Hello!

And I have to say that I didn't think I lost anything until yesterday at church I had several people comment on how thin I looked. I haven't had that in a long time. So I guess I will now be "Living the Life!"

I will post my weekly progress until I hope to reach my goal weight. Which if I keep this up will only take me a little over 3 weeks. I bet that I wont lose this much in a week again but if I did how awesome would that be.

Drinking in Fall!

Every year I take the kids to the pumpkin patch. I wish Stewart had more time to come too but it just never works out so its sort of become a mom and kids thing. I enjoy the Fall-ness of it all and of course taking pictures. The kids like jumping in the bounce house, seeing the animals, picking pumpkins, ridding the hay ride, and wondering in the corn maze. I took the little kids first and then we went with Bridger's school field trip as well. It was a little hectic with the school but still very fun. This year it was very warm. Like sweating hot warm as the day wore on but I'd take that over bitter cold any day. Enjoy the pictures of the kids!

Live the Life: Day Two

I thought I did really great yesterday until I realized I made some mistakes: like the milk I bought that I thought was non-fat is really 1%, I threw my carrots in the microwave to cook them because you can only crunch through so many vegetables in a single meal and forgot about them, I forgot to do my strength training as my day got crazy and I accidentally ate double the amount of jerky. ops! But I think besides that it was a pretty good day.

They say in the manuel that my sister read you will feel full until your matabolism speeds up and then once that happens you will be starving. They said you can get that starving feeling on day three or up to week three. Well, I am on day three and I am starving. I am so hungry. Which is weird because I am eating so much its 10:23 and I've already eaten two cups of my strawberry protein concoction, and a giant egg burrito and I cant wait until I eat again. So hungry. They say that is when you know you are going to start losing weight. Well, bring it. But I need to find out if I will spend my entire life eating like a pig and feel like I am starving. Um, I sure hope not. I don't like hunger.

I haven't really talked about the exercise. Its really rather moderate. 30 -40 of cardio and then up to 30 minuets of strength training...they don't really care what cardio you do but they do have set strength training circuits to do. I just bought a Jillian Micheal's strength training video that I love so I am doing that instead but I know from reading the list of exercises that the exercises are very much the same.

I've been realizing for that past couple months that my muscle stores were wiped out with Genevieve's pregnancy and that it really takes me more effort to maintain my muscles and the power house of calorie burning that your muscles are. So the once "never touch weights girl" is now a firm believer in strength training.

So we'll see how the rest of my day goes. I am sort of having sweets withdrawals but like I said knowing I will have something to eat soon really helps me power past the urge to eat the crust of my kids PB&J's and stuff. I love that this "diet" lets you eat carbs and have fruit and such. I hated that with my tries with south beach and atkins earlier this year.

Live the Life: Day One

I Seriously like it so far. It is a lot of food. It will be fantastic if I can loose weight eating all this food. It is good food and really healthy, you feel good eating it. I do like not having to think about what my food will be or feel any guilt about what I ate or didn't eat. I didn't really like making dinner....I was a little uninspired to cook for the family. But you can get over that. I quit diets because I end up feeling deprived and controlled. If this diet doesn't give me that feeling I would be so happy. We'll see. My last day on the diet is Halloween...I have many parties and such in which I will not be eating anything so I"ll have to see if I feel deprived. I think I wont because I always have a yummy meal to look forward to in just a few hours. I did crave my evening sugar fix but I wasn't hungry and I knew I had "dinner" in an hour so I didn't pay much attention to it.

I realized that you need to eat on time. I kept eating a little bit later then I was supposed to and then by the end of the day I was having my 6th meal at 10:30. I ate and jumped into bed as you are supposed to bed to bed by 11pm and my husband goes to bed at like 9:30 and I hate going to bed without him. That was weird to be cooking a pita pizza at 10 at night when I wasn't even hungry and was sort of just doing it because and then going to bed but I want to do it right so I did it.

So anyways I like it so far....here are a list of my meals I get to eat for the next six days:

- Strawberry "ice cream" shake, very good does taste like it has ice cream in it
- Egg burrito, I cant have many eggs so I 1/3 the eggs and substituted with cottage cheese and chicken as they suggest, I really like it with hot sauce. :O) This was super filling.
- Tropical Fruit shake and beef jerky, I loved this! Really good. I'm a jerky girl and a smoothie girl, loved!
- Mexican chicken rice bowl, I added a little Tabasco to jazz it up. Filling and yummy too!
- Veggies, crackers, and ranch dip. You make the dip with cottage cheese and ranch powder I thought I would hate it but I loved it!
- Pita pizza with chicken, veggies, turkey, and pineapple on the side. This was yummy too.

Well, I am off to eat my egg burrito! Poor me! ;) and then do my weight trainning I couldn't get in before the kiddos woke up.

Stewart is getting really old!

Okay, not too old but he is getting old-ish. Were are both realizing that once you have four kids, own a minivan, a house, are a doctor, have no idea what songs Justin Bieber actually sings, and listen to talk radio when you are driving, you are in fact old. So to the point...My hubby turned 30! That is a big one! I was racking my brain to get all these really fabulous exciting things we could do to celebrate but then I realized that what my easy-going introverted husband would really like for his birthday is a "down day". So I called it our introverted birthday party and it was just that. In fact it was fun because in the end we sort of relived a day in the life of Stewart's childhood. :O)

Let him sleep in till 7 am! How sad is that?!?!? But I assure you that is sleeping in for him. Let him open presents in bed. Then I made him his favorite breakfast while he watched the Disney Nature movie I bought him, African cats...he loves wild cats and animals and such. Good movie.

After Breakfast we jumped on the trampoline all together which was really fun. He taught us all his childhood games. He was impressed I could jump on it without wetting my pants (its a I've had a million babies thing). The kids thought their dad was the coolest when he showed off all his back flips and stuff. Then we played the board game I bought him and the kids and he loved it.

Then we went swimming and had a great time playing in the water. Stewart loves swimming.

After swimming we ate my attempt to create his favorite Mexican resturant, Cafe Rio. It wasn't as good but it was still yummy. Dinner of course was followed by desert. My fanciest ice cream cake I have ever made. We were FULL.

It was simple but it was what I think he really wanted. He doesn't get many "just chill" days and so it was a real treat for him.

Oh, and least I forget...I bought him his dream b-day gift a month before since I knew he wouldn't get to enjoy it once he started his back to back ward rotations..... A big, flat screen TV. It is a smart TV which is awesome and its also 3D. The 3D is really so cool! He loves it. :O)

I did want to say how much I adore my husband. He is not only a great person who is so diligent in everything he does but he is my best friend and the perfect husband and father. He is such a good man. Solid through and through. I am so proud of him and all he has accomplished this year. It has been such a crazy year for him! Finishing medical school, becoming a father to four, matching and interviewing, taking months off to vacation, starting an etsy business with me, falling in love with woodwork, starting residency, and working so hard. I was listening to him talk on the phone the other day about his patients and I was so impressed with all he has learned and all his capabilities. His patients love him and he is such a hard worker. Plus he looks very handsome in scrubs! LOL. :O) I am so glad he is mine and that we have shared these past 8 years together. He is absolutely my favorite.

Genevieve is 9 months old

Oh, she is such a doll! Wherever she is people are constantly grinning right back at her. She just sparkles when you look at her and people cant help grinning just as big as she does. She is just so cute. These pictures don't really capture her cuteness that well, she had just woken up when I plopped her out in the leaves. So just times her cuteness in these pictures by ten. :O) She really has a gift for making people happy. Even mom's who are sitting there holding their perfect cute babies start ogling over her. Its really fun to have such a "sparkler" on our hands. And man is she BUSY! Sitting through church is becoming very comical with it being just me and four kids. This month she has grown up a lot. She is all about learning new things: new sounds, new tricks like clapping and waving, how to climb more, only eating real food, and trying to get more and more mobile. She is in such a delightful stage and we are all just loving every moment of it. She wrestles the big kids and gets all of us giggling with her cuteness. I love hearing the kids call her "my baby" when they introduce her to their friends. Her favorite thing in the world is jumping on the trampoline with us. She giggles and giggles. I love her fluffy hair that seems to be staticy 24/7. At night I hear her and Angeli giggling in their room together and in the mornings Genevieve wakes Angeli up with her cooing and jabbering at her. It is very cute how their little relationship is developing. Anyways, We love her like crazy. Happy nine months!

Preping: "Live the Life"

Okay so my life is crazy and to be completely honest very stressful and a bit sad right now....So today not yesterday I went to the store and bought all the food for the challenge. My sister helped me with the amounts I needed to buy since it doesn't give amounts on the shopping list, that was annoying. So I will list below the amounts she gave me if you want to try it too.

It was basically the worst shopping experience of my life. I left fighting back tears. I don't think it had very much to do with the "live the life" stuff but that did add an element of stress. I think if I do the program I will only go shopping for my food when I can go alone. I was having to read labels and stuff to make sure I was getting the right calorie, protein, carb proportion in my items I bought which was annoying too. I will list below what products I found that best fit their criteria. I think in time this would get easy as you got used to buying the same items over time. My sister said in the real program they tell what brand and items fit their criteria. So that would be good to have.

It was quite a bit of food. I guess you eat a lot in a week. It cost me about $ 70.00 for most everything minus the stuff I already had at home with the most significant thing I didn't buy being the chicken.

My sister said that she found it works for her best if she buys her food on Friday, cooks it on Saturday, assembles it into containers on Sunday, and starts her week on Monday. But you could do it all in one day...she has five kids so life is BUSY for her. I can relate. She said its a lot of food to cook at once but then your week is super easy as you never have to worry about what you will eat and when. I am hoping to get it all cooked and packaged for me to start on Sunday or Monday. I hope this is a good thing that will be a life style that will make my life easier not a giant waste of time and cause undue stress!

Amounts for a week:

Jillian Micheal's Protein Powder: 1 small can
Salsa: 14 TB
Brown Rice: 2 cups
Black beans: 2 cans
Corn: 2 cans
Pizza sauce: 1 small jar (14 TB)
Ranch powder: 14 tsp
Strawberries: 7 cups
Skim milk: 2 quarts
Cottage Cheese: 1 quart
Chicken: 28 oz.
Eggs: 21
Oats: 2.5 cups
Whole grain crackers: 84 (kashi original)
Jerky: 9 oz. (any type and flavor)
Tortillas: 7 of them (low carb whole grain kind)
Pitas: Whole grain 7
Deli turkey: 3.5 slices
Crystal light: 7 tsp
Oranges: 3.5
Baby carrots: 56
Cherry tomatoes: 56
Bell peppers: 2
Onion: 14 TB
Zucchini: 2 cups

Live the Life Challange

I don't believe in diets. I don't. I think they may be good for some but a diet is not what I want out of life. I want to just live my life in such a way that I can look good, feel good, and not stress about it! Not stressing being the biggest component that has been hard to come by. Besides not believing in diets they have NEVER worked for me. I have had to just live my life with a general effort to be healthy and that has always worked for me, Well until now. The fourth baby has cursed me. I think its universal, "the fourth baby curse" I mean. I've been craving the science I need to know how to live with a nonexistent metabolism and with my schedule being sooooo busy. I'd just accept my mom body but honestly I just cant be really happy with that. So I have been floundering and praying I will magically start living the magically way I need to.

Then my sisters found "Kristy Approved Program" called what would you guess "LIVE the LIFE". It already sounds like my dream plan. They are two Mormon girls, and I assume their hubbies, that I think are going to change the world of health and fitness for regular people like me. My sisters have gotten fabulous results and I love that my sisters talk about how un-stressful and easy it is. Music to my ears.

Here is my very basic break down. They give you a shopping lists, recipes, and times to eat your food. Then you make all your food for one week and have your meals portioned out in your fridge ready to go when its meal time. Then you do weight training (not tons) and cardio (20-45 min) almost everyday and then tada. So here I go. I am taking their free seven day challenge.

And I am going to do it publicly. So cheer me on peeps! ; ) Or even better join in!!! I think this may be "IT" but we'll just have to see. And lucky you, you get to see it with me. I will journal for you all and let you know what I am doing and all my results. If I feel like it I will even take a pic for you all. Ha, we'll see about that one though.

Today: I am going to go to the store to buy everything on my shopping list. Pray that my elliptical I ordered last week arrives, and make sure I understand all the exercises and all that jazz. Then I will pick my start date. I am sort of wanting to wait for my elliptical to arrive but maybe I will just gun it without it.....running with the triple here I come! I've got to get everything else in order first and then I will be letting you all know when and how and all my results. ha! I know my teaming readers are on the edge of their seats! LOL but maybe one or two of you out there will get a kick out of this and maybe someone will even find that this will bless their life. Hopefully it will bless mine! : O)

Turning 27

I am now 27. Woot woot. That seems a little too close to 30 for my liking but what can you do? Every year you get a year older - unless you are dead and aging is a much better option in my opinion then being dead. :O) This year we had a lot of fun for my birthday. Our play days are dictated by Stewart's days off so the day before my birthday Stewart had a day off and so that was our party day. As almost all of my favorite days I woke up early and did some awesome exercise including a lovely run in the misty chilly morning. LOVED.

Then Stewart and the kids surprised me when I came home with my gift, many cards, and the house decorated all cute for me. Stewart always is so sly with his gifts and bought me my little dream gift from Hallmark that I wanted all the while I was thinking he hadn't even thought about getting me a gift. So sweet of him. I love it. Then Stewart and I went to the temple. I honestly think that was my favorite thing we did. I miss Stewart with how many hours he works. So to be in the temple with him and to be the witness couple was really nice. Plus it was snowing at the temple when we got there, it was this pretty fluffy snow and that was really fun.

Then we raced home for a showing of the house... I picked Bridger up from school dropped the babysitter home and grabbed some lunch for us to eat on our way to see the puppies!!!! Oh, we were so excited! We get the pick of the litter since we are the first ones to reply to her add. She lives out in the middle of no where Nevada about 50 minuets east of us so I don't think we'll make the trip too many times but at least once more before we pick up our puppy next month. These little pups are just 3 weeks old. So cute to watch them walking...they are all clumsy. It was hard to tell much about their personalities since they are so young but we narrowed it down to two, Choco (short for chocolate) and Cuddles. Stewart wants both of them but I don't think that will happen. :O)Cuddles:Choco:Then we hung out until we were hungry and headed to a yummy Thai restaurant...but we were disappointed because they have new cooks in the kitchen and the food was not real great. One dish was so disgusting I sent it back it was inedible. I was really nice about it but I wanted them to know that some of the food they were serving was really nasty. But the kids loved what we ordered them so that was good. They were all like, "Lets come here all the time!". After that we headed to pets mart to get some food for our little pet lizard Blue. And While I waited in the car with Genevieve for them to get their crickets I checked my email and found out we got an offer our our house. That was awesome. We could be moving in two months! So crazy. Then we headed home for a movie, cake and ice cream. It was so lovely. Hearing the kids sing to me was my perfect finish to my day. I felt so blessed and so loved and so in love with my cute family. It was a very happy birthday!

Getting Spooky!

We love this time of year. The changing leaves, the cooling crisp weather, the indulging in soups and homemade bread, and of course the anticipation of Halloween! I saw these cute jammies and I couldn't pass them up. I thought Stewart would be bugged that I bought the kids holiday jammies (not really a necessity) but when the kids jumped out and scared him when he got home form work he loved them. He declared they were their Halloween and radiology jammies....such a nerd. LOL! The kids look pretty dang cute in them. I love these crazy kids of ours!