Love Affair with Food

With Craig out of town this week, I find myself eating constantly. I think with him around I just didn't eat as much and tried to watch my sweets intake. That now has completely gone out the window and all I crave is sweets. Ice Cream and candy have become my secret love affair while Craig is away. Just this morning after the kids played at the park, we stopped at Albertsons because I needed milk. Of course I walk by the ice cream aisle and I see that Dreyer's Ice Cream is only $2.88. You can't even get a DQ blizzard for that price (my justification). I grab a gallon and the milk and get out before I head down the candy aisle. Then I see a Taco Time and decided to get some take-out for me and the kids. I'd never had Taco Time before and thought it was time to try it. I order 2 pinto bean burritos (looks more like a taquito with a crunch shell) for the kids and I get a 1/2 lb. soft taco. The total came to $6.20 for only 3 items. I thought that was kinda pricey but too late now since I was at the drive-thru window to pay. We get home and I'm getting lunch ready. The burritos were bigger than I thought and could have only ordered 1 for both kids. We sit down to eat and I take a bite of my taco and that was the last bite for me. I didn't care for it at all!! I ended up eating the rest of the burritos once the kids were done and will save the taco for Craig. Oh well. I tried some place new and know that I have no need to go back. At least I know that Taco Bell will never let me down.

Finally it is naptime and time for my date with a big bowl of Dreyer's cookie dough ice cream!!

Big Smiles

Last week Briana got into my closet and pulled out a hat to wear. Even though it was way too big, she was so cute so I had to snap a few pictures.

Then today Brandon has been bugging me to death so I pulled out the camera and snapped a few of him trying to grab the camera out of my hands and laughing the whole time.

Whooping Cough Scare

I get a phone call last night from our primary president at church telling me that a child from another ward that meets in our same building has whooping cough and was at church on Sunday. This means that the sick child was probably hacking on everything in the nursery room an hour before my children went in there. They were calling all the nursery children's parents and letting them know of the situation. I guess all the children from the other ward that were in the nursery room with the sick child are all going to get antibiotics to make sure it doesn't spread. I didn't know anything about whooping cough so I spend last night on the internet looking it up. From what I found, it is pretty contagious especially with children and hard to diagnose since most doctors pass it off as a cold or respiratory infection. I don't think I'll have to worry too much about Briana since she has the immune system of a giant but I'm going to watch Brandon since he is always the child to get sick first with stuff.

2nd Round with Briana

Okay...so this whole potty training thing is freaking me out. I really don't want to deal with it, honestly, that is what my problem is with it. Of all the milestones kids go through, this is the one I've been dreading the most. I tried with Briana back in February and she was trained for a week and then completely regressed back to diapers and stopped telling me when she pooped and everything. Well the last couple weeks when I get her out of bed in the morning, I'll ask her if she wants to sit on the potty. Every time she would say NO and I'm thinking, "Am I ever going to be done with this?" Brandon has shown some interest but all he wants to do is sit there, grab toliet paper, and open his legs up to watch it drop into the toliet. I guess I should be happy that at least he'll sit on the thing, naked even. Well this morning she said YES when I asked her the potty question and then right after she was done, she went to her dresser to grab her My Little Pony panties that I've had in there since the last time I tried potty training. She put on the panties herself and was so excited to wear them. At least I planned on being home the next couple days without much to do so we can try this again. Wish me luck - hopefully this time around it will stick!!

Stripping at Night

Brandon has to be the easiest kid to put to sleep at night. After we say our family prayers, he walks into his room, turns off his light and then stands on the railing of his crib waiting to be put into bed. Once he lays down, we walk out and call it done. This last week though when I go to get him in the morning, he is naked except his diaper (thank goodness he isn't taking that off too) with his pajamas discarded in the corner of his crib. I don't know if he is taking them off when he wakes up in the morning or during the night so Tuesday night Craig checked on him before we went to bed. Sure enough, he is laying there naked with his pajamas stuffed underneath him. So last night I put him in a different pair of pajamas and checked on him before I headed to bed since Craig wasn't home yet from a work meeting. His pajamas were on but I think I'll continue to check on him the next couple nights just to make sure he doesn't start stripping at night again.

Young Women In Excellence Night

The last couple of weeks have been very busy because my Mia Maid class at church was in charge of YWIE on Wednesday night. This is a once a year event so it was a pretty big deal. We (me and the other leader, Kathy) had meetings with the girls 2 to 3 times a week planning this event and I'm so glad that it is over. The program started at 7pm so we got to the church at 5:30 thinking we'd have plenty of time. By 6:45pm we are running around the church trying to everything done and I'm feeling like a wet rag. My hair was flat, I had to wipe off all my makeup (what little I had on) because of all the sweat, and I had pit stains under my arms. Ugh! I just felt gross!! Then I had to sit on the stand in the chapel because I was part of the program giving the closing comments. Okay...so here I am typing away whining about this activity but I'm actually really glad for these opportunities to grow personally and spiritually through these experiences and I'm eternally grateful to be in the Young Women's program. I work with some great women who I have grown to love and have developed great relationships with. The girls in my class are so fun and willing to take on huge projects like this to put in the time and effort to make them great. Overall, it turned out so good and we got a ton of compliments about what a great job we did. I'm so proud of all the hard work that the girls put into it - especially the refreshments which turned out awesome!!

K.C., Ashleigh, and Alexis

(The Mia Maid class - Janice not pictured)

We frosted and decorated all the cookies the night before the activity (all 100 of them!!)

We had two tables at each end for cookies. They were a huge hit and tasted so good!!

My Special Day

Today is my birthday - 35 freaking years old!! At least I don't feel like a 35 year old woman and hopefully don't look like one either. I guess I'm at that age now that when asked my age, my reply will be "29". Today has been great though so far. Took the kids to the zoo this morning and then meet Craig at his office downtown to go to lunch at Chuck-A-Rama. Okay, I know what you're thinking...Craig is being a cheap bastard again, but no, actually I chose that place. It just sounded good to me. I don't have to worry too much if the kids get alittle rowdy and I couldn't decide what type of food I was in the mood for so it was nice to have a huge variety to choose from. The only bad thing is that I ate way too much and will be hurting for a good couple hours. Maybe i'll just skip dinner tonight and eat dessert but only for today...because today is my birthday!!

Funny and not so funny things kids say

Today I was babysitting my neighbor's kids and her son Dylan and my two kids were at the kitchen table having a snack. The boys decided to start drumming on the table with their hands and it was getting pretty loud. The next thing I hear is Briana saying in a demanding voice "Quiet boys". I started to laugh and then added, "You tell 'em Briana." This is just one of many funny things that come out of my daughter's mouth these days. She is learning so much and everyday she surprises me with something new. They really are so fun at this age if only I could take away the tantrums...hmmm.

Another thing that both my kids are saying these days is "I don't want to" but when it comes out of their mouths it sounds like "I don't wanted to". With both of them saying this, I hear it about 50 times a day. I welcome the day when they stop using this statement and it can't happen soon enough.

Hair Bows

My cousin Alicia was in town from Louisiana and brought me a bunch of hair bows for Briana. She started making these for her 2 year old daughter and the ribbon is shaped to make a butterfly - so cute. I had this skirt for Briana that matched one of the hair bows perfectly so I had to take some pictures before we headed out the door to church yesterday.

Being a Mormon in Utah

I have been a member of the LDS church my whole life but have never lived in Utah until now. Since moving here a year ago I have noticed differences of being Mormon in Utah and being Mormon in other parts of the country. I love the fact that most of my ward lives on my street which makes it easy for getting babysitters, doing visiting teaching, and catching rides from others to YW activities, church meetings, etc. Because there are so many members that live in the state of Utah, there are things pertaining to the church that you wouldn't see or hear anywhere else. Craig and I got talking about this subject a couple months ago and since then I've been writing down these differences that make us say, "Only in Utah". Look to the right to check out my list.

Snow in May

On Monday we had like 80 degree, t-shirt and sandal wearing weather and I look out into my backyard today and see snow. From day to day I don't know what clothes to put on the kids because the weather lately has been crazy. We keep getting teased with warm weather for a day or two and then it gets cold again that you can't even take the kids to the park or anything. I'm getting to the point that I'd welcome 100 degree temps right now and just be done with winter weather.

Mother and Daughter

I was heading to a church meeting Thursday night and the kids were bathed and dressed for bed. I had the camera out for some reason and told Craig to take a picture of Briana and me. I think it turned out pretty good so here it is.

Silly Girl

Briana is all about eating everything on her plate (most of the time) and taking forever to do it. Usually Craig, Brandon, and myself will be done eating while she is still in her highchair taking her time. One night we gave her a pudding cup and spoon and then busied ourselves with other things not paying much attention to her. Then we hear "I'm done" coming from her direction so we head over to get her and we see this. She loves her pudding so much that she scraps the sides with her spoon and then stick her face in the cup to get every last bit of pudding which leaves a mess on her face.

Hogle Zoo and Temple Square

We went to the Hogle Zoo again now that we have an annual membership so daddy could go with us one more time before he starts his new job. We could always go on Saturdays with daddy but we heard it is so crowded that I'll just take the kids by myself on the weekdays. We were only there a couple hours since I wanted to go to Temple Square and get some pictures of the kids with all the blooming tulips. This time at the zoo I got better pictures than last time so here are some of them.





Before heading to Temple Square, we ate lunch at Chuck-A-Rama so the kids would have a full tummy in hopes they would cooperate in sitting still for pictures. Once we get there, I got both kids together in front of a bed of tulips and flowers and snapped some pictures. Even though they never really looked at me, I figured to just get what I could and not expect too much. Then I took Briana over to another location for pictures and left Brandon in the care of daddy. Briana was really cute and would grab a tulip bulb and smell it and say, "pretty". She did really good for me sitting still and looking at all the flowers. I turn around to look for Craig and Brandon and I see Brandon leaning over a water fountain splashing away. I'm thinking, "okay, whatever keeps him entertained as long as he doesn't get too wet". The closer I get though I can tell that he is soaked. The front of his shirt looked like it just came out of the washer. Oh well, I guess we are done with pictures and that ended our Temple Square experience which lasted about 15 minutes total.

Computer Failure

Don't we all love technology but hate it when it fails us? Well, Craig's old work computer died, something to do with the motherboard and we were told that it isn't worth fixing from the nerd techs that we took the computer to. So we had to take our home computer in so they could download all the data from the dead computer hard drive to our home computer. A week later we finally have our computer back and Craig and I realized how much we use it. It really is sad how much we depend on this thing but it is so resourceful and really helps you feel connected to family and friends through blogging or email. Thank goodness for technology - just pray that it never fails us again!!

Craig's New Job and our TO DO list

After many months of Craig working on his own with his business, he has taken up a new job. Things with his business were really slow and it took Craig awhile to even apply for outside positions because he really wanted to continue his business but financially couldn't justify it. This whole process has happened so quickly and his first day on the job is today even though he accepted the job last week. He told them that he needed a couple days to wrap things up at home so we've been out playing with the kids to take advantage of his last free days with us. Craig will be the V.P. of Marketing for a company that deals with residential properties in 5 states and his office will be in downtown SLC. The great thing about this job is that he'll be able to continue his business on the side and search for potential clients. He'll also be doing some traveling a few days 1 or 2 times a month to places like Denver, Seattle, Phoenix, San Diego, and the Bay area. Hopefully in the future we can take advantage of his travel opportunities so that me and the kids can come along sometimes too.

Since the day Craig accepted this new job, we have been so busy getting out with the kids and checking stuff off our long TO DO LIST because we didn't want to spend the money. Now that we'll have a steady paycheck coming in , we figured there were some things on the list that we couldn't put off anymore.

NEW CAR WINDSHIELD:
Craig's car windshield had a crack from one end to the other for a year now and we finally got it fixed along with an oil change and maintenance check. We have to keep this car in good condition since he'll have to keep it for at least another 5 years!!

UTAH LISENCE PLATES:
While Craig's car was at the dealership, we had them do the safety and emissions test too so we can finally get Utah plates since our Indiana plate registration has been expired for almost a year now. The same day, I took my car to our local safety and emission testing place to do the same thing. Both our cars failed!! The cars are in great condition and that had nothing to do with it. They both failed because the tint on the driver and passenger windows were too dark!! Utah must have really strict laws regarding tint since my jeep has passed in both Texas and Indiana. They basicaly told us that we have to peel the tint off to pass our cars. Uhhh....excuse me?!?! So that afternoon, Craig is in the garage with a razor blade peeling off the tint cursing the state of Utah at the same time. What a mess!! My car was especially bad since the tint has been on there for 9 years and 5 of those years baking in the Texas heat. We had to buy this solution to get all the left over sticky crap off the window so that it wouldn't get stick in the door if we ever rolled them down. That is what the safety inspection people warned us about at least and whether it is true or not, who wants to take the chance, right? We took both cars back to get passed, get our Utah plates, and remove the last piece of evidence that claims we once lived in the state of Indiana.

TINT FOR WALL OF WINDOWS:
In our family room, we have 6 large windows above our fireplace that let in the afternoon sun everyday. Not only does it warm up the house which we don't want during the summer but you can't sit in two spots on our couch during 5-7pm because the sun shines right in your face!! The sun has already damaged some wall decorations with vinyl lettering because day in and day out they get baked for hours. I'm really worried about some family photos that get hit with the sun too and wonder if they are discolored at all.

CEMENT WORK:
We still don't have a backyard and it has been hard watching all of our neighbors putting in yards and landscaping. At least our front yard is done and looking great!! I told Craig that all I want to do in the backyard for now is to extend our back patio so the kids could go back there and ride their bikes around. We've been asking neighbors who they got for their cement work and it has been a headache trying to get these cement guys to call us back. I have a feeling that this is going to take some time but hopefully once we decide on a guy, it can go quickly from there.

Hogle Zoo

Okay...so now that we have some extra money coming in (see post below), I convinced Craig that we need to take the kids to the zoo. The last time we went to the zoo was a year ago in Indianapolis and I figure by now the kids would get more out of it since they are older. We got there right when they opened and it was great - no crowds!! Briana did awesome sitting in the stroller almost the whole time we were there. She also loves to wear her sunglasses and wanted to hold the zoo map for us. Brandon lasted about 10minutes in the stroller once we walked into the zoo and would take off on his own. I thought the "Terrible Twos" was going to skip Brandon since he hasn't been that bad temperment wise but it is just kicking in. He fights you if he doesn't get his way and is starting the screaming thing again. I swear it is the loudest scream you'll hear come out of a child. He hasn't learned yet that he needs to stay near us so we basically have to chase him down. Hmmm...maybe next time we'll pretend to lose him and see how he reacts if he can't find us. Anyway, the Hogle Zoo isn't the best zoo I've been too but it was good enough that Craig even bought us a family membership. Hooray!! I'm so excited that I have somewhere (other than just the park) to take the kids to now. The best thing about the zoo though is they have a good sized playground for all ages of kids. We spent almost the last hour there just at the playground and of course Brandon fought us when it was time to go. To finish off a great morning, we headed to Costa Vida for some mexican food with our 'buy one get one free' coupon. Thanks to our friend Amy for the heads up about this place - we love it!! Overall, it's been a great day to get outside, see some animals, and eat some good food.












I realized after adding the photos that the kids have three different shirts on. The morning started out cold so I had on them long sleeve shirts with a sweatshirt over it. Then as it got warmer, they lost the sweatshirt, then eventually lost the long sleeve shirt to a short sleeve shirt that I brought with us. Even Craig and I started with jackets, then long sleeve, then down to short sleeve because the temperture went from 45 to 68 within 3 hours.

My New Job

My neighbor across the street and who is also in the YW organization with me at church (I live in Utah okay - things like this are the norm around here) called me the other day to ask if I'd be interested in doing some babysitting for her. She knows that things with Craig's company isn't going too well (Craig is their home teacher too) and wondered if we could use some extra money. She and her husband both run companies out of their house and she is drowning in work. I don't know how they do it with 4 children but since his work takes priority, she ends up not getting half of what she needs done because of kid distractions. We worked out a schedule that I'll watch her two youngest (Dylan age 3 and Annalisa age 7 months) on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8:30-12:30 at my house. Her baby girl is the easiest baby EVER and Dylan can just play with my kids. I figure it is no sweat off my back and I'm getting paid to watch kids at home which is what I do everyday anyway!!

Family fun with dogs and horses

Craig's sister Kathy, her husband Tyler, and their 6 month old baby Brooke were in town from Colorado last week. They stayed with Tyler's family who live only 45 minutes north of us so they came down to visit for the day. Then the next day, we headed up there to hang out and let the kids play with their 3 dogs and 3 horses. This was a new experience for the kids since we don't have a dog and they've never been up close to horses before. I knew Brandon would probably be okay since he is curious about everything but it would take some time for Briana to warm up to the animals. Brandon loved to watch the dogs run around the yard but when they got close to him, he'd scream and curl up into a ball on the ground bringing his arms to his face for protection. Funny that we'd never taught him how to protect himself (he is only 2 years old)but I guess when your body suspects danger, it is a natural reaction to do that. Then he'd pop back up and get all excited again like nothing happened. Briana was clinging to life to whoever would hold her while the dogs ran around. She would rap her legs around your waist like a monkey and would get nervous when the dogs came close. She did better with the horses but as you can see from her face while on the horse with her cousin Brooke, she wasn't such what to think about it all. After awhile though, both kids relaxed some and had fun picking up hay and feeding the horses. Brandon even got used to the dogs and started chasing them around the yard by the end of the day.

The Flying Brandon

I love this picture my sister-in-law Kathy took. Just look at my son's face - he is loving it!! Craig tossed Brandon in the air so high that you can see the corner of the ceiling fan - and we have a 20 foot ceiling!! The picture is a little fuzzy but Kathy did a great job getting this picture of him while "in-flight". I know my mom is going to freak out when she sees this picture. When she visited us in October, she banned Craig from tossing the kids in the air because she couldn't handle it - it made her too nervous. Brandon can't get enough of if though and always asks for more when Craig tosses him into the air. I swear he'd be on the trampoline all day long if we had one. I'd love to have one too just so he could get out all his energy - he is such a busy boy!!