To 2011!!

With the new year quickly approaching, I have found myself reflecting quite a bit. There are several things that I want to have happen in this next year, and I am going to list them here. In no particular order --

1. LOSE WEIGHT AND KEEP IT OFF.

I pretty much binged from Halloween until now -- and I feel gross and disgusted with myself. I gained back about five pounds that I had worked so hard to shed earlier this fall. I think the only reason I didn't gain a lot more than that is because we have three flights of stairs that I am constantly going up and down (usually with a heavy baby in my arms) -- so as much as I curse the stairs, I think they've helped me out.

My goal is to lose 8 lbs a month (totally doable!), starting January 1st. That will give me a 32 lb weight loss by the time our 8th anniversary rolls around at the end of April. The weight loss is truly essential to my happiness -- it is a major depressing factor, so this year -- watch out. I am making it a top priority. It's COMING OFF.

2. Grow my business.

Growing the business was not on the top of my list of things to do this past year since I spent most of the year pregnant and having an infant to care for. But I still managed to have a couple of clients, and I found that having a project to work on (usually after the kids are asleep) is also essential to my happiness. I love to create, I love to write, and I love to help people feel connected to their posterity (and their posterity to them). It is extremely rewarding and satisfying work, and I hope to do a lot more of it this coming year.

I also wanted to link to Lindsay Call's recent blog post that I enjoyed -- even though I didn't comment. :)

3. Write my own memoir (or is it memoirs?)

For Christmas, I requested books/guides to writing memoirs to help me in my business (I didn't really realize the difference between memoirs and autobiographies...but now I do). What I didn't expect was to feel inspired to write my own! I'm on page 2 of mine, and let me tell you -- it is TOUGH. I want it to be good, but I know if I try too hard then I'll get discouraged and just end up not writing it at all. I think doing it will really help me understand my clients more and what they're looking for, but already I feel like it will help in my personal life -- figuring out who I am exactly and how I got here. I think writing is truly powerful -- for me (when I'm in the "zone") it often feels like the words flow through me and write themselves. It is revealing -- I always discover things about myself that I didn't quite understand before. It can be scary -- and exhilarating. I haven't written for myself for a long time. I don't count the blog really -- as I usually just spit out something as fast as I can before kids start screaming. (But it has helped me to be able to write some, at least.)

Here's a quote from the book I am currently reading, Fearless Confessions: A Writer's Guide to Memoir that I've found to be true and echoes what I just said: "The writing process itself is part of the journey. The insights you have while writing aren't things you knew at the time the events happened. It's only through writing about events after they happen --as we craft our memoirs--that we come to understand what they mean. All our lives have plots. We find them through writing."

And a quote from Robert Frost to go along -- "No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader."

By the way, don't worry -- my memoir is not going to be a confessional! Yikes. I didn't quite know what I was getting into with this book when I requested it, but it was highly recommended online. Despite some edgy stuff, it has really been helpful for me.

4. Be more spiritual.

Doing the obvious things -- reading scriptures every day, going to the temple more often, trying to serve outside of my family more, etc.

5. Be a better mother.

I'm sure most mothers feel that they are lacking in some way -- I am no different. I see many areas I am lacking, and I feel like the other numbers on this list will actually help me in this area. I need to have time for myself to grow and learn and be healthy, so that I will feel fulfilled, happy, and confident. When I feel those things, I know I will feel increased happiness with my children, be more patient and loving, and be a much better role model and teacher for them.

My visiting teacher came over this month, and we were talking about having interests outside of family. She is a grandmother now and said that she really regretted not developing her talents and interests more when she was younger -- outside of her children. Her husband died several years ago, and she said it has really been a struggle for her. She feels her only "identity" is being a grandmother. It made me realize that the way I've been feeling lately is definitely not limited to age or circumstance. I don't know if it's something everyone goes through or not, but in some way it's nice to know I'm not the only one.

So -- here's to 2011!! I have a feeling it's going to be a good year!

I would love to hear any resolutions you guys have if you feel like sharing and haven't done so already on your own blogs. :)

Sibling play

Here's some video of Christian, too. I'll be doing a 6 month update here in a little while. But rest assured -- he's ADORABLE.

Here's a video taken before we lost the camera -- some time in November. It gets cuter/funnier towards the end -- around the 20 sec mark. I don't know how to edit videos yet -- sorry. Hang in there.

"I LOVE to dance!"

This is Kate dancing to "tip top" music -- or "hip hop" music. :) She watches a show called Angelina Ballerina and her favorite is where they dance to hip hop music. Anyway, this girl LOVES to dance. I am in Primary now, and so I get to keep my eye on her. When she was supposed to be exiting sharing time reverently to go to her next class, she walked calmly for a minute, then as she was exiting, she did a dramatic twirl. It was hilarious -- I couldn't help but laugh out loud! Everyone else was folding their arms, but Kate was in a world of her own.

That reminds me -- the Sunday after she turned four, she walked in to Sharing Time and sat down in the back of the room -- with a different, much older class. I asked her what she was doing. She said, "This is where the big kids sit."

Anyway, I hope everyone has seen the movie Girls Just Want to Have Fun a million times like I have -- that's where I got the title of this post from. :)


You can get a better sense of what her twirl was like in Primary from this one below--

"What's your favorite color?"

As I mentioned before, I got a video camera for my bday in November. Well, I only had it a month before it DISAPPEARED. I was SO mad/sad. Cute things kept happening, and I would think tragically to myself, "Oh if only I had a VIDEO camera."

Well last night Andrew's family was visiting. His step-mom couldn't find her keys. They looked everywhere. Finally, Andrew had a flash of inspiration -- walked straight over to the couch and lifted up a couch cushion -- revealing both the keys AND our video camera!! It honestly felt like Christmas. Andrew thinks he should "lose" more of our stuff, then wrap it up and give it to me for Christmas. Ha ha. :)

Now we know just where to look if we do lose something.

Anyway, I went a little crazy with the videos once it was found. So I am going to post some. This one makes me laugh -- Kate's answer to "What's your favorite color?"

Happy birthday to KATE!!

Kate this morning: "I was three for a LONG time!"

Well, Kate is officially a big girl (a FOUR year old!) -- and you better not try to tell her any different!! She is cute, she is cuddly, she makes messes and often times will help clean them up, and she's totally, completely potty-trained! (Well, still working on wiping.) She is officially way better than a puppy.

She is still extremely tall and extremely skinny. She is 35 lbs (finally!) and 42 inches tall. Her height is in the 95th percentile. Her BMI has gone up from 1 percent (in Sept) to 4 percent (in Nov). The doctor said that was way low, and they want kids to be at least in the 10th percentile, but she looked at Kate and said, "Well, she doesn't look sickly..." Great.

She has gone from being annoyed and sad about Christian to totally adoring him and getting mad at me when I put him down for a nap. She loves to roll over him, sing to him, squish him, kiss him, cuddle him, tickle him, feed him!, and clean up his spit up (without being asked!). She is a GREAT big sister, and Christian adores his big sis. She can get him to laugh and smile like no one else. He lights up when he sees her. I love to watch them together. I feel so grateful they will always have each other. Sometimes watching them together gets me all teary-eyed. I have to admit that after having two kids now it makes me feel like I want a lot more! I know that's probably (?) not in the cards, but I know their lives would be blessed with more siblings.

I love how she opens her mouth while she's feeding him. She is to the age now where she is actually helpful -- I love it!

Kate is the Queen of questions right now. EVERYTHING starts with a why around here. "Kate, can you take your toys upstairs?" "Why?" or "Why should I?" would be the standard response. The "Why should I?" response usually makes me a little grumpy, but I don't think she's intending to sound rude. Pretty much anything you say to her will elicit a "Why?" The other day she asked me who someone was. I said something like it was a little girl (cause I didn't know the kid). She then asked, "Why?" I was confused. "Why what?" Kate: "Why is she a little girl?" Anyway, it's exhausting, but I'm glad her mind is working!!

She is very curious about the body and all its many parts, like "What's inside your eyeball?" "What's inside your finger?" "What's inside your knee?" etc etc.

She loves talking about the "World" we live on and has many, many questions about that. And about other worlds (other planets) and what they're like. She watched Contact with us recently and that made her even more inquisitive.

Even though it can be quite draining at times to keep up with her questions, I keep getting the feeling that I am really going to miss this age. She is so fun.

Kate loves to dance, loves to play dress up, loves to eat hot dogs (usually two in a sitting), loves to "read," loves to count, loves to play computer games, and loves to go to preschool.

Kate is FUNNY. She really has a great sense of humor -- I love it. The other day I waited too long to use the restroom, and suddenly I had to RUN to the bathroom that's next to the kitchen. I got going too fast, and I totally smashed into the bathroom door. I was trying to open it as I slid into the bathroom. But it didn't work out. Kate was watching and was soon laughing uncontrollably. It's been a couple weeks since that happened, but she will still say, "I have to go potty" then run frantically into the bathroom door (on purpose), fall down, and laugh herself sick. It makes me laugh every time.

Speaking of bathrooms, she had a bit of a potty mouth at preschool at the beginning of the year and would get the other kids all saying poo and pee. We had a talk about it, and she now knows we can only say those words if we are talking about actually going poo or pee. Lately, every time she tells me she has to go poo, she will say, "We're talking about poop, right??"

Last night I took her to get her haircut, and as it was being cut, Kate was making the most hilarious faces in the mirror, seemingly oblivious to anyone watching her. It cracked the hairdresser up. It was almost as if she had never seen a mirror before, the way she was so into it.

This week Kate was singing her version of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Here are some of the lyrics: "Rudolph the other reindeer -- you're supposed to call him names!" and "Won't you drive my slave tonight?" :)

Kate is a great conversationalist. At dinner she'll ask how my food is and if I like it. She almost always tells me thank you for the food I get her.

One of my favorite things about Kate is that she NEVER whines or begs for things at stores. She does whine quite a lot at home, I have to say, but never has she EVER thrown a tantrum at a store. We'll go look at toys sometimes when we're at Walmart, and if she sees something she really loves, she'll show it to me, looking up at me with her big brown eyes and say, "Some other little kid is going to have this, huh, Mama?" I just say yes, someone else will get that, and that's the end of the conversation. I have to tell ya -- it makes me want to buy her whatever she wants!

She is generally a joy to be around and is really becoming a friend. She is so tender-hearted and also easy to please -- which makes pleasing her even more fun. She is always so grateful for the things we do give her.

Lately, Kate will ask, "Mommy. Guess what?" Then she'll come over and hug my leg and say, "I love you."

Well, guess what? I love her, too!!

Preschool pics!

Kate looks like the tallest in the class, except for maybe the kid on the end (but I think his hair gives him an unfair advantage)...and I don't know why Kate's running over her neighbor, but at least her tongue isn't sticking out. :)


I haven't had much time to post lately, but I am taking a brief break from the book I've been working on to post Kate's preschool pics she got today. So cute! And for fun, I scanned a picture of me at four years old for comparison. I wish I knew where Andrew's pics were, too. I think she looks a lot like Andrew in her picture above. I'll look for them.

Don't you love my 70s collar and elbow that looks like it's broken? Hehehe.

Nothing like a happy, semi-clothed baby

Finally got video of Christian laughing -- so cute! Sadly the cuteness was cut short by a princess screaming for help about a bracelet being stuck.

New and improved dance moves

Grandpa and Grandma Farnsworth came over last night to watch a movie, and afterward Kate got down to the beat of the credit music.

PS Woah -- just watched the video and there is tons of "noise" -- what the heck? This video was taken in 1080P, so maybe when it got compressed to post, it didn't quite work or something? Hmm, well -- you can still enjoy her cuteness.

A chorus of scary voices

Woohoo! For my birthday Andrew got me a little bitty video camera. Yay! We had a video camera on our old crappy digital camera, but it bit the dust a while ago. So Christian hasn't had any videos taken of himself! The horror!

We haven't gotten a memory card for it yet, so we had to just use the memory on the camera itself, which at the lowest setting was only about 20 seconds. I took video after video, erasing each one for hopes of a better one. It was so sad -- I got a video of Christian laughing a little bit, but thought I could get more laughs on the next one for sure! Sadly it didn't work out.

So this is the last video taken before Christian lost it and took a nap. So this is the one that I downloaded. Nothing exciting. Just the three of us using our scary voices to try to get Christian to laugh. He wasn't in the mood. I thought I got him looking really scared at the end, but it cut off just before that I guess. Dang. There will be many more videos to come in the future -- whether you like that or not, I don't know. It's just the way it is. :) Hopefully we'll get some good, leg-flipping Riverdance type stuff going on in the future.

By the way, 31 is OLD. Not a fan.

Can't handle the cuteness!!!

I'm sad this one is so fuzzy -- so stinkin' cute -- ugh.

Kate has a scary Halloween finger on that she's "scaring" Christian with. He loved it. He loves it when we talk to him in a scary voice. I was doing it last night, and Andrew shuddered and said, "That is really freaky." But Christian likes it -- so come on.

Holy cow -- these kids are cute!! I'm just sayin'. Today is one of those days when I love being a mom!!

Today was picture day at Kate's preschool. Of course, yesterday I went into the kitchen for a minute, came back, and Kate had a huge gash on her cheek. "What is that??" She said it was from Christian's toe nail. Geesh. That raises a lot of questions, but I let it go. Then this morning I went to an aerobics class at the church, and Kate got jumped by another kid (it was an accident) and her chin got all smashed up! Great...just in time for pictures. You have to pay $8 for blemish removal -- forget that. I'll just scan it when I get the pic and clean it up myself if I want to.

I had fun showing Kate my preschool pictures from way back when. She looked at all my formal pictures that were taken each year, and said, "I have to wear that shirt" (pointing to my shirt in the picture) "for my three year old picture. And that one for my four year old picture." And so on. Ha ha. That's what we call vintage, dear. If I get a chance, I will scan some of those pics -- I had a crazy collar going on for my three year old pic.

Happy Halloween!

She's a "good" witch.

He's doing his Garth mouth in this one, in case you were wondering. "Excuse me, I'd like to get by now."

This video makes me laugh. Just seeing Andrew in a wig makes me laugh. This was sent out to Andrew's whole company -- hehehehe. So I figure it's okay to post, too. :) In case you didn't know, Garth is one of Andrew's all-time favorite characters.

I've decided I will buy a Wayne's World hat and be Wayne next year. They can be our go-to Halloween costumes -- for the rest of our lives probably. I feel kind of lame being the only one not dressed up -- Kate keeps asking me what I'm going to be. She had a super fun Halloween carnival today at preschool. Ahhh, to be a kid again. I still eat the treats like one... :)

Garth quote for fun:

Benjamin Kane: So, Garth, what do you think of the new set?

Garth Algar: It's kinda like a new pair of underwear. At first it's constrictive, but after a while it becomes a part of you.

FOUR Months! (and a ton of pics)

Let's not kid ourselves -- I see a lot of this lately (above pic) and not enough of that (below pic).

It turns out I haven't been the best about taking pictures of Christian on a consistent basis. I'll realize I haven't taken pics in a while, then have a little photo shoot. But hey, he's still gonna have a million pics of himself.

He had his four month check up today, and I was right. He's pretty huge. Almost 16 pounds and 26 inches long. He's in the 75 percentile for weight (thought he was bigger), 90th for height, and
get this-- ABOVE the 100th percentile for HEAD. Ha ha ha. We grow those noggins big over here. With a head that size I think it will be a Herculean feat if he's able to sit up and balance before he's fifteen. Reminds me of that Seinfeld when Elaine dates that guy who tells her she has a big head. Then she's walking through the park and a bird flies into her head. An old man on a park bench says, "That bird flew right into your head. It's like he couldn't avoid it." Hehehe.

I just fed him his first "solid" -- oatmeal. He seemed to enjoy it. It was more like I fed him his hands with oatmeal all over them.

Last month I said he was a mellow baby. This month I take that back. He's been extremely fussy and irritable. I thought maybe he had teeth coming in, but I don't see anything yet. The doctor said his top gums did feel firm, so they are probably forming up there and bugging him.

He can turn over both ways, but the times he turns from his tummy to his back seem to be an accident. He also went through a phase where he was ONLY happy in transition -- meaning in the process of turning over. Not satisfied with either side. Very frustrating for both of us.

He is still not sleeping in his crib...working on that.

He giggles for two things these days. First, when you bounce him -- sometimes you can get a good giggle that way. What he loves most, though, is when you take his shirt off. It's not that he likes being naked necessarily, but he loves the act of pulling his arms out of sleeves. Don't ask me why -- but it's a surefire way to get a laugh (if he's in an okay mood to begin with, of course).

Loves his big sister, which is good because she LOVES him, too. He always has a big smile for her when he first sees her in the morning. She speaks for Christian all the time. I'm so used to it now, it's kind of like I actually believe he's answering me. No matter where she is in the house, if I ask Christian a question, I'll hear a little high-pitched response (Kate's "Christian" voice), "No, I don't want to" or whatever the response is. Her replies often make me laugh really hard, but perhaps I'll save that for her next update. :)

He makes weird noises. It's like a weird groaning/grunting that Kate calls a growl. It's loud and can go on for quite a while. Got some more stares at church yesterday.

Sorry--this write up feels more disjointed than usual. I'm typing one-handed with a fussy four month old on lap. :) Albeit a very cute, fussy four month old.

Starting anew

We have had lots of changes around here -- mostly a new place to live, and this morning Andrew headed off to his first day at a new job! We are finally getting a little bit settled in our new home, and I hope it doesn't take long for Andrew to feel comfortable in a new work environment, too. I don't generally use the blog to brag about Andrew (and when I do it's usually about his photography), but I have to say something -- because I think it is amazing -- especially given the "economic climate" we are in and the vast amount of resumes companies receive.

He asked me to keep my eye out for jobs that he could apply to. So I sent his resume out to five local companies, and he got interviews with every company except one. Then, out of the four interviews he had, he was offered jobs at THREE of the places -- all in one day (he was able to get better offers as a result). (The one job that didn't offer him a position wasn't really in his field of expertise, but I wasn't sure and sent his resume/cover letter out anyway.) He has got mad skills, and I am so proud of him. We feel very fortunate.

There's a lot of stress involved in starting a new job, and this is his first real "corporate" gig -- not a start-up. It was great for him to be able to choose the job that would be best for him, but very stressful as it all happened the week we signed the lease for our new home (which, by the way, is just SIX minutes from his new job -- how perfect is that??). It feels good for me (and I'm sure way more for him) that the interviews are finally over, he picked one, and we decided to take the condo so our lives feel stable instead of all up in the air as they did a couple weeks ago.

Anyway, here's to Andrew! He's a jolly good fellow. :)

Christian at 3 months

The most frequent comment that Christian receives when out and about isn't the obvious -- that he's the cutest baby alive -- but this -- "That is a BIG baby!" He doesn't have his check-up until next month so I don't have the exact stats to back it up, but yes, he is big. And adorable!

I don't know if he really looks like me or Andrew -- I can't really tell. But sometimes he reminds me exactly of what Kate looked like at his age. So since everyone thinks she looks just like Andrew, maybe he does, too?

The hair on the sides of his head has rubbed off, so it looks like he has a perfect little crew cut.


I still can't really tell what color his eyes are going to be, though they look like they'll probably be hazel or brown. He is officially sleeping through the night -- hallelujah! -- and sometimes will take a LONG nap during the day. When he wakes up from these long naps, I swear he has gained two pounds. He usually goes to bed between 9-10pm and wakes up around 5 or 6 am, then will go back to sleep for a couple hours.

He has major reflux problems, and so is still not sleeping in his crib. He sleeps in a little chair. If he is laid down flat, he will almost always throw up and wake himself up. But if he's upright, then he sleeps just fine. It's just that he's getting too big for his little chair, and he is really close to turning over. He sleeps on his side in the chair. It's cute.

Christian has also learned how to suck his thumb --yay! (until he gets older...) -- and is pretty good at self-soothing.

He is a LOUD eater. It is somewhat embarrassing when in quiet settings (church), and he and I often get quizzical/accusing stares. Nothing I can do about it, people! He enjoys his food, what can I say? One lady next to me turned to me multiple times, amazed at how loud he was. She said, "It's like he's starving!" One look at the kid will let you know -- he is not starving. :)

He's also very "talkative." He loves to coo and guhh.

He's generally a very mellow baby -- a lot like Kate was. He isn't overly smiley, but he will light up with smiles if the mood strikes him. He loves playing patty-cake with Kate (and me), and loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He also enjoys being bounced in the air and will really smile/laugh and make the cutest scrunched up smiley face ever. I have to get video or something of that.

I've decided that I like babies. The three months+ kind. He rarely cries unless he's hungry or tired, but mostly he's just a happy little guy. As Kate is getting older and discovering how to push Mommy's buttons, I have a greater appreciation for the baby stage. :)

Brief update

Ok, so no pounds gained or lost this week, but that seems like a miracle considering we've eaten out a ton this week. We started moving, and it's such a pain to cook in the middle of a huge mess. I guess I burned it off moving because I haven't done an actual workout this week.

So...I think I'm going to cancel the photo session. #1 reason is it's this Monday, and there's no chance I could get hair cut and clothes by then in the middle of moving (we didn't know we were moving when I scheduled it). #2 reason is, of course, I want to lose more weight. So I think I will reschedule for the week of my birthday -- which is about 6 weeks away. That should give us time to get settled and time to lose some more FAT! :)

Disappointment...

Argh! I only lost two pounds this week. Two pounds used to be great weight loss for me in a week, but I got spoiled with a 4 lb and 3 lb week. Oh well! I'll take whatever I can. I had just hoped for more with the weight loss shakes. I think it's because I've been super stressed this week with a bunch of stuff I can't go into right now. But I will let you know when our lives settle a little bit and we have things figured out. Because right now -- we DON'T.

Hmm...anyone think I can lose SEVEN pounds next week? My last week before pictures...

Taking off to Bear Lake for the weekend with Andrew's grandparents. Looking forward to a little relaxing, swimming (in a pool), and sun!

Smiles for Sunday

I am posting so many of these (almost the same) pictures mainly for my mom because she has a hard time picturing what he looks like. All of these pictures are very much what he looks like right now (and he has slightly different expressions in each). He is SO smiley and easy-going. Andrew and I both think he is an awful lot like Kate was -- in looks and temperament. He almost always wakes up happy from a nap -- full of smiles and coos. He loves getting his diaper changed and LOVES it when we sing to him and rub his cheeks or chest/belly. He's a happy little man! I thought the last picture was just funny because both he and Kate have a similar funny face. :) Oh, and Christian has a sad little nose here because he scratched his peeling burn -- and it got all nasty and bloody. Poor thing.

He's wearing a cute little onesie my brother, Paul, bought him. Hehehehe.

First day of preschool!

How cute is this kid?? She loves preschool, by the way.

Second Weigh-in

Well, as expected, camping was not what I needed for weight loss. Four days of eating too much! Luckily, it ended up evening out with the exercise I got hiking, and I didn't gain or lose while camping.

That left me with three days this week to get busy! I worked out twice (P90X -- I'm loving it), and started the shakes I ordered. Wow! LOVE the shakes, first of all. The first day I was constantly thinking about food, and didn't feel satisfied at all and really questioned my ability to live off shakes for two meals. But I kept doing it, and now I crave those shakes (I combine fresh fruit, ice, and chocolate soy milk to the powder -- yum). I don't think I was feeling hunger as much as I was just battling my addiction to eating. Strange...there's a difference?? :) I have felt mildly hungry at times, and just snack on fruit or carrots. But yesterday I didn't feel hungry at all and even delayed drinking the second shake because I didn't need it yet. Then I just eat what I would normally eat for dinner (well...no more frozen pizzas)-- just not so much, and no chocolate or Twizzlers after dinner! :)

Anyway, the shakes are part of a multi-level marketing scheme, and for that reason I almost didn't try them. I hate MLM. I will tell you what it is, though, and you can try it if you want. It's the Visalus shakes. But I'm not trying to get anyone to sign up under me or anything like that. I went through ebay to get mine.

Okay, okay. So how much did I lose in three days you are wondering. THREE pounds!! I am SO excited about this. I can't wait to see what next week brings. It feels like the weight is just melting off. It has never felt like that! Well, besides when I first start nursing. And no, I am no longer nursing. I stopped around the two month mark -- so a few weeks ago. The weight I gained during pregnancy all came off in that two months. Then I was still left with my previous overweight self.

I have just felt really good the past couple days. I feel healthy -- which I haven't felt for a long time. I have energy -- even though I haven't been getting tons of sleep or anything yet. I have been getting more than I was, though. I finally feel like weight-loss is doable for me, and I'm actually going to do it. I feel like maintaining a healthy weight is key for me and my immediate and long-term happiness. If I can't control what I'm eating, then I have a hard time controlling anything else in my life.

I hope I don't hit any walls or anything, but so far so good! :)

Camping -- A Hundred Miles from Nowhere

Over Labor Day weekend our family and my brother Mark's family went camping at Great Basin National Park in Nevada. For those who have not been there, it is really in the middle of nowhere!! It's just a wasteland with NOTHING until you get to the mountains. It's a high peak, 11,000+ feet surrounded by desert (hence the name the Great Basin). It was really pretty, though, once you get up into the mountains. I realize now I should have gotten a picture of the wasteland, but I could never move when we were actually in the car.

I didn't really know what to expect with a two-month old, but I was pleasantly surprised! He slept almost the whole way there (just 3 hours to get there), and when he was awake, he was smiling and happy. Great! We had him sleep in his car seat, and the first night he slept NINE hours STRAIGHT!! He has never slept more than 5 or 6 at home. My sister-in-law, Melyssa, said that her mom went camping a lot with babies, and that was her experience. The fresh air seems to agree with them. Of course, that doesn't mean I slept well. I was constantly waking wondering why he wasn't awake. But I was still happy for the accomplishment. The second night he woke up after four hours and slept til morning. The third night the temperature really dropped and so he kind of cried off and on all night without fully waking. Poor guy!
Kate had the time of her life playing with her three cousins. And they were all so cute with her and worked hard on including her in everything they did. The youngest is two years older than Kate. The first full day there we went on a couple of short hikes. We borrowed a Snuggly from Melyssa's sister, and Andrew carried Christian like that. We tried our best to keep him covered, but the poor guy got a little burn on his nose (which, yes, made me feel like a horrible parent...) :( In this picture the girls are standing by their accomplishment -- building a bridge!
Here we are at the Bristlecone Pine Grove with trees that are or were thousands of years old. Kate liked the one that acted as a slide. :) These are Andrew's favorite trees. Kate was pooped by the time we had to hike back, but I wasn't too interested in carrying her. I would carry her for a little ways when she asked me to, then I would put her down. To distract her from the hiking, I told her story after story which captivated her, and she walked almost all the way back! An older man stopped us on the way down and said that he was happy to see little ones getting such an early start on the trail. Me too!

Enjoying a lazy game of cards on Sunday.

Sunday afternoon nap.

Since we were so far from anywhere, we got permission from our bishops to bless and pass the Sacrament. Because it was fast and testimony Sunday, we had one of those, too. It was a neat experience to be out in nature bearing our testimonies. Reminded me of girls camp.

Cute girls loving Christian. He's a lucky boy to have so many adorers.

The girls by their "Welcome" mat of their tree house, where they spent many hours playing.
I was worried about Kate going potty in an outhouse, since she is deathly afraid of flies. And screamed bloody murder when she saw a fly in the gas station bathroom on the way there...But she did great! She never cried about it at all. I think she was too fascinated about seeing all the poo/pee in the ground to worry about a few (LOTS) of flies. No accidents! Yay! And nobody fell in -- double YAY!!

I really don't know what Kate was thinking in this one. Celeste was just bending over looking at Christian, and Kate ran over when she saw I was taking another picture and hugs her bum! Uh...anyway, it makes me laugh whenever I look at it. :)

I really enjoyed camping with Mark's family. Kate had so much fun she cried when we took the tent down. It made camping with a baby so much less stressful to have so many people willing to hold him. It was so neat to see SO many stars in the sky at night and even some bats flying overhead! I'm glad we went!

Kate and Christian photo shoot pics!!

A friend from my ward offered to take newborn and sibling pics of my kids as her baby shower gift to me. I love good pictures of my kids -- so this is one of the best things anyone could offer me! She has a preview of the shoot up on her blog right now -- you can go check the other pics out by clicking here. She got great shots -- the one above is one of my favorites! Christian had just barely started smiling (this was two weeks ago) and to have them looking at each other and smiling -- you can't get cuter than that. Kate cuddles him all the time lately, and squishes her cheek against his. He smiles every time! He sure loves his big sister, I can tell.

I'm so grateful Alicia shared her talent with us, and now we have these priceless photos! Thank you!

First Weigh-In

Normally I will be posting my results on a Friday, since that is when I started. But tomorrow we will be leaving for Great Basin National Park in Nevada, and I know I'll forget.

So...are you ready for it?? I don't know how, but I managed to lose FOUR pounds!! I don't think I've ever lost that much in a week. I just exercised three times and ate less, and that's what I got! Amazing! I am very happy since that keeps me on track to achieve my 16 pound weight loss by the end of the month.

However, I always tend to gain weight while camping. You'd think it'd be the opposite, but not for me. I feel like each meal will be my last when I'm in the outdoors, and I eat way too much. So I need to be careful about that and make sure I get some good hiking in.

I also ordered some weight loss shakes that should be coming next week. I've never tried anything like that before, so who knows if I'll like it or if it even works -- or if I can handle not eating anything for breakfast and lunch besides a shake. We shall see. I ordered enough for two weeks.

So there ya go --for anyone out there really wanting to know about my weekly weight loss! :)