A Little Late....Weight Loss Goal #4 Down

Well, yesterday was my weigh in day.  After we got back from camping I weighed 209 lbs.  {feeling sheepish}  I ate way too much, but I did only have 1 1/2 pops/day.  The food was soo good. Although I can tell I've been eating a different diet because junk food just didn't set well with me at all. LOL 

But I weighed in yesterday at 205.2 lbs!  I am officially down 25 lbs.  I already celebrated with my reward.  A soak in Mom & Dad's hot tub.  Boy did it feel good. 

Now Goal #5:

200 lbs by August 15.  {I have not weighed 200 lbs since October 2008}. 

Reward:  

I figure it's about time I buy a new pair of jeans.  Not a very expensive pair since I've got a lot more to lose, but I only have 1 pair of long jeans and they're getting too loose and have a hole in the seam of the leg.  

How I'm gonna get there:

We're going to start walking again.  Tonight we're going to do one time around the lake at Jensen's Grove just to get back in the swing of things.  

I'm also back to watching calories.  1500-1600 calories/day.  

When I reach that goal. I'm going to take an updated pic.  Lots of people have noticed I've lost weight. Funny thing is I don't see it. LOL I guess that's the way it is.  It is very flattering though and it motivates me to keep going.  

I am making a difference in my life.  Not just in the way I look {that's just a nice bonus}, but in my health too.  I've doing lots better at taking my meds. Only missed a couple days last month.  I just keep telling myself I need to do this or I won't be around to watch my kids grow up to be adults. I let it get too far and that will not happen again.  

200 lbs....Here I come!!

A Camping We Will Go

We're packing up and heading out tomorrow to go to Island Park for a week! McKinnon Family Reunion time. I'm excited to spend some time with my brothers and sisters and mom and dad.  The kids are excited to spend time with cousins and aunts and uncles.  Even Grandma and Grandpa Wood are coming up for a time.

Sadly, my camera has given up. Hopefully it's just the battery, but I have to send it in to be repaired so I won't get to take it with us.  Everyone else will just have to extra pics so I can post some.

I have some weight loss goals.  My main goal right now is to be 205 on July 31.  With all the yummy food up camping I'm going to need to be really good and watch portion sizes.  I'm not going to not eat anything, but have just one of everything. :)  I'm also limiting myself to 1 pop per day.  This morning I weighed 203.4lbs so if I'm good I should only gain a little bit and come in at where I need to be for the 31st.  

We're going to have a great time!  I'll see you all when I get back.

Ironwood

Soon I will post some stuff from the 4th of July and that.  I've been so busy with everything, I'm lucky if I get my weightloss goal posts put up.  I feel those are important for me to keep accountable so I've been focusing on those.  

Right now I want to talk about Ironwood.  It was a great camp again this year!  I have to say this year's kids were the politest I've ever worked with.  Met up with old friends, made new ones, and had a freakin' good time!

Backstory:  Ironwood is a throwing development camp that was founded back in 1989 by some Idaho throwing coaches.  One of the coaches that's been there since the beginning is my coach from my senior year of high school.  At the state meet my junior year Coach Johnson gave me the info on Ironwood, but for some reason I didn't go.  However, I did go between my senior year of high school and freshmen year of college.  I learned how to throw the hammer there.  {I LOVE the hammer BTW}  My two brothers went 2 times each after that.  They learned so much and became the throwers they are today because of Ironwood.

Fast forward to my first year as a throws coach {2007}, I wanted to go to Ironwood to help coach.  I talked to Bart the camp director and volunteered my first year.  Took my sister Keeley and another girl from a local school with me.  I loved coaching up there and the reaction of the throwers when something clicked for them.  I was addicted.  Well, I went again the next year as an official staff coach.  I missed camp in 2009 because Bentley was born.  Back at it in 2010 and again this year.  I am completely in love with Ironwood.  I wouldn't miss it unless absolutely necessary.  I can't even describe the feeling I get while coaching up there.  Ironwood is my throwing family.  I love the people that I meet there and the incredible people I get to coach and associate with.  I look forward to seeing them every year even if it is only for a week.

Until next year Ironwood. I will miss you.

Side note:  I gain about 5 pounds every year at Ironwood.  Since I'm working on my weight loss goals, I set another small one in addition to my other ones.  My goal was to not gain weight this year.  I didn't expect to lose, but I wasn't going to gain. {Little bit hard to do BTW since it is a 10 drive up and a 10 hour drive back.  The traveling itself usually makes me gain weight.}  So Monday morning before I left I weighed 211.4lbs.  Weighed this morning now that I'm back.  I weighed.......

208.4!!!  

I'm stoked!! I can't believe I lost weight, much less 3 lbs, while I was at Ironwood!  Big accomplishment for me!

Weight Loss Goal #3 Down

Another goal down!  I was really worried that I wouldn't make it because it doesn't feel like I'm losing weight, but when I stepped on the scale today I came in at a nice 212.8!!

Woooooot!

I'm going to adjust my goals a little bit since I'm so close to what I had originally planned for my next one.  I was going to give myself the whole month of July to get down to 210lbs.  I gave myself that much time because there's the 4th of July celebration, Ironwood, and a family reunion where we camp for a week.  I thought I'd be smart and not make it impossible to eat a few fun things during those times.  But since I'm only 2.8 lbs away from that, my new goal is to weigh 205 by the end of July.

7.8lbs.  And when I reach that goal I will be down 25lbs since starting in May.

Reward:  A good long soak in the hot tub at Mom's house.

I'm going to need it with the amount of work I'll need to put in to reaching my goal.

Plan:  Keep eating right, walking, core exercises, and adding in some weight training (just with dumbbells.  It's all I've got for the summer.)

Now to go choose a yummy lotion to open.  I'm thinking...Coconut! Oh yeah!

My Own Worst Enemy

There's 2 reasons I'm writing this post.  First, I want to be totally honest in what I'm doing for my health.  Second, I have a friend that's been struggling and I want her to see that she's not alone. :) We all struggle.

I love food. I love to cook/bake food.  I love to eat what I make.  Let's be honest, I'm my biggest fan and come on, I am a pretty darn good cook if I do say so myself. :)

The other day I made Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies.  Delicious!  They are one of my favorite cookies.  However, they have 236 calories per cookie!  And I ate 4 of them.  That was the day I told you I went over my calorie intake by 1000 calories.  All because of 4 cookies.  

Since I've started my weight loss journey I've done quite a bit of baking actually.  Banana bread, cinnamon rolls, brownies, cookies.  I want to have a snack around the house for the kids and money is really tight right now, so I bake.  

I also work at a restaurant.  Delicious food!  Last Friday I ate 3 cups of Clam Chowder.  The week before that my friend from work brought in Oreo Balls.  If you have not had Oreo Balls, you have not lived!  These things are so freaking good!  They have 150 calories per ball though and I ate 6 of them that night.  

I've been dying to go out to eat and have a big fat juicy steak.  I LOVE steak!  It's a good thing money is tight because otherwise we'd go out at least every other week.

So what do I do when I overeat like this?  Well.  I just try to move more.  Walking or Kinect Fitness.  But mostly, I just move on.  Tomorrow is a new day.  Heck the next meal is a new meal.  I try to eat as healthy as I can to make up for it and just keep pushing.  We all have our moments we need to splurge or we don't have the best self control.  It's good for us.  Sometimes it gives us a treat, other times it motivates us to do better.

A friend of mine that is a dietitian told me that she tells her clients, "Anyone that tells you they never splurge and never eat junk food is lying to your face."  LOL  I just keep that in mind.  Everything in moderation, right?

Weight Loss Goal #2 Down

Today was weigh in day....and I did it!!  I weighed exactly 220lbs this morning.  It was close actually.  Yesterday I ate waaaayy to much (that's another post in itself) and was 1000 calories over my intake.  So last night I worked out and burned 450 calories.  So worth it.  Now that I've made my goal I feel a renewed sense of purpose.  I will be making sure I really watch my eating.  I kind of slacked the past few days.

Anyway, I'm excited to spend an afternoon reading.  I just have to find a day to do it. LOL

Weight Loss Goal #3:

June 30th - 215lbs.

Reward:

Open a new Bath & Body Works Lotion.

Here we go!

Feeling Tired

I have not been able to go to sleep until 1:30am the past few nights and now I feel so tired.  I don't feel like I have the energy to workout, but I know I need to so I think I'll do some walking and then a short Kinect workout.  Hopefully that will get me energized again.

Also, I have felt more hungry the past few days which has made it really hard to not eat more and stay under my calories.  I did not eat well yesterday. Well last night mostly.  Pizza and enchiladas.  2 cups of milk.  Mostly I just ate too much.  My stomach really felt overfull.  

So back to eating great today.  Breakfast was scrambled eggs, a banana, and 1% milk.  I need to go drink a couple glasses of water though and maybe chew some gum so I don't keep trying to eat.

Healthy Sunday Dinner

Pretty fantastic dinner today.  We grilled Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs! YUM!

These were pretty healthy.  I'm not quite sure how it works nutrition wise when you marinate the meat, but I don't think it's all that much more.  Here's the recipe:

Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs

Marinade: 

1 can of citrus soda (usually 7up, but I only had Squirt)

1 cup of soy sauce

1/2 cup oil

1/2 tsp ginger

Cut up 2 chicken breasts into 1in cubes.  Put in a tupperware container (I use those Ziploc or Gladware tossable ones) with the marinade.  Marinade in the fridge for at least an hour.

When you're ready to grill alternate the chicken cubes with pineapple on a bamboo skewer.  Grill for 10 min.

Weight Loss Goal #1 Down

I told you it wouldn't take me very long to get back down to 225 after the family reunion.  I weighed this morning and came in at 222.2 lbs.  Oh yeah!

So I enjoyed a nice long hot shower as my reward.

Weight Loss Goal #2

This one should be pretty easy also.  Especially since I'm under 225 already.  My goal is to weigh 220 lbs by June 15.  That's 2.2 lbs in just over a week.  So if I eat right and keep my calories down and burn 200 calories per workout per day, I should be good to go.

This goal's reward:

Spend an afternoon reading.  :)

Here we go!

New Furniture - This one's for Rachel H.

We got new furniture back in March and I've been meaning to post pics of them, but I hadn't had a chance.  So here they are:

Couch

Loveseat

Together in the Living Room

I have a chair that matches also, but right now it's in Myelle's room covered in stuffed animals.  Erick needed a recliner to sleep in after his surgery so his parents gave us their old one and it's in the living room right now.

Here's the table, chairs, and bench that we got.

We love, love, love our new furniture!  And we got it all for just over $1000.

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On the weight loss side of things, I did not reach my goal today.  I was so close.  I did good through Saturday (225.2), but I ate too much at the family reunion and Dad's birthday party Sunday and Monday.  Today I weighed 229.2, but I think it will come off quickly.  I felt sick to be honest and I didn't even eat that much.  I did drink a lot of Pina Colada that my Aunt Margie made though.

So once I get down to 225 I will post my next goal.  Today, I worked out hard and ate really well and I feel much better.  My goal this week is to drink more water & burn at least 200 calories in my workouts.  As usual, my caloric intake will be 1650.

Checking In

So we're halfway to my first Weight Loss Deadline.  May 31 is only 5 days away.  This morning I weighed 227.8 only 2.8lbs to go.  In 5 days, I think that's totally mine.  

I'm on day 2 of no pop.  I told you, pop is a hard thing for me to give up, but I've been drinking water every time I want something to drink.

Yesterday, I walked around the green belt at Jensen's Grove.  I think it's a mile.  Today's workout will just be some Kinect Fitness, Yoga & stretching, and an ab workout.  The Physical Therapist says I need to really work on stabilizing my core.  So I'll be hitting those exercises hard.

Oh and my reward for hitting 225lbs....?  

A long hot shower. LOL

Maybe silly to you, but I can't even remember the last time I got a long hot shower.  

Weight Loss Goals

I've been watching The Biggest Loser faithfully this season and I've come to the decision that it is time for me to make solid goals and lose weight.  For real this time.  I've written down weight loss goals from now until I reach my goal weight and they seem reasonable and very doable.

So starting today I weight 231lbs.  My goal weight is 150lbs.  That's 81 lbs and it may seem like a lot. Actually let's get real.  It is a lot of weight to lose, but I know I can do it.  I'm putting in place a good support system and I know I'll be able to make my goals and change my life.

So my first weight loss goal is to weigh 225 lbs by May 31.  That's 6 lbs and very doable.

I'm going to lose that 6 lbs by cutting down on my calories.  Paying attention to not drink as much pop. (I'm really bad at that and it's hard to cut it out completely for me, but I'm working on it.) Also I'm going to work out at least 30 min 2x a week.

I want to thank my friend Emily that has helped inspire me to get going on this because of her dedication towards her own weight loss.

Conference Weekend

I love General Conference.  I'm so sad that it's over, but I'm so grateful for technology!  I missed the Saturday afternoon session because of work and I didn't get all of Sunday afternoon either, but because of the internet I can watch it all online again. 

We had a very enjoyable Sunday.  Erick's parents and Grandma Marie came over for dinner and to visit and watch conference.  Myelle just loves her Grandma Marie.  I think Grandma was all worn out from playing with Myelle.  It was so fun to have them come over though.  I am so thankful for family.

Not Ready & Too Cute!

Sadly Spring Break is over and I'm so not ready to go back to school.  The rest of the semester I'm booked with group projects in every class.  I'll be totally honest, I'm not a big fan of group projects.  I feel like I always have to be the leader and I get stuck with someone who won't do the work. 

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Ben has been too cute lately.  Tonight he was singing "I love me, I love me, we a happy family!"  I love when they're learning new songs. LOL

Also I just posted a video on FB with Ben's thoughts on Jimmer.

ARIZONA

Erick and I had a wonderful time on our vacation to Arizona!  Brandon and Rachel showed us around and had a lot of fun stuff for us. It was so so so good to see them!  And the sunshine made it even better!

SUNS GAME!

Mesa Temple

An airplane just like ours.

At the Brazillian Bull.  So Yummy.

Awww. Aren't they cute.

Lovin' It!

Yep, we were really there.

Our IN-N-OUT Experience 

 

Saturday Night

We wished we had the kids with us when we saw stuff like this.

Avocado Egg Rolls from BJs. SOOO Good.

Ok so my pics got all messed up and I can't figure out how to fix them without redoing the whole thing....Which I don't really feel like doing.  You get the gist of it though.

Just Kidding

So I have some extra time before class to blog real fast.  I really wanted to blog about this.

I love my Riccar vacuum.  Sadly, it broke the other night.  Of course we have inspections this week.  But I have to RAVE about 

JONES SEW AND VAC

in Pocatello!  When I took my vacuum in they said they were a bit backed up, but they'd get to it as soon as possible.  I told them we had inspections and asked if they had a demo that I could borrow.

Turns out they did have a loaner that I could sign out while mine was in being repaired and serviced!!  It's even the exact same model!!

AWESOME!

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Also my new furniture is in!  I just need to set up a delivery date!  Which will probably be next Tuesday!!

{If you can't tell, I'm really excited!}

Busy

Lot of stuff has been going on the last couple weeks and it's getting busier this next. I'll be out of commission in the blogging world until I get back from my AZ vacation!! 

Only 4 days...17 hours....20 min!

See you when I get back!!

Classics

Last night I watched Meet Me In St. Louis and part of Send Me No Flowers.  I {heart} those type of movies.  Old classics.  Why don't they make movies like that anymore? 

 I love that in MMISL they sing and dance at their parties.  I wish people still did that.  You know I might throw a "Classics" party one of these days where we dance and sing the whole night. 

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I have made a commitment to be healthy.  

I need to lose weight.  

I need to exercise more.

I need to choose healthier foods and less food overall.

The Current Gameplan: 

 Eat 1920 calories/day. 

Exercise a minimum of 30min/2x a week.

Eat a fruit or vegetable each meal.

Only have one serving no matter how good it tastes.

Too Old For This

 I've been playing volleyball at the stake center every Wednesday night.  We play one game and we're done.  Last night was the tournament and because we won 2 games we played 4 games back to back.  Oh man am I sore today.  But I was an animal on the court..  I even dived for the ball. I don't think I've ever played so scrappy. Even in high school. LOL  I have to say though that I'm proud of myself.  3 hours of straight volleyball!  And I showed myself that I can do it.  I'm not afraid to go for it anymore. And I lost .4 pounds from yesterday.  

Time to go ice my back and shoulder.  Like I said. I'm getting too old for this.


P.S.  You should see my knees. They're pretty beat up. LOL Pics to come soon.

It's Not Giving Up

Tonight I decided to withdraw from my Stats class this semester.  It was too late to drop it so I'll receive a "W" in it, but I feel that it's for the best.  I've never considered myself a quitter and I still don't actually. 

All through high school I played basketball for the school.  As a senior I was told when I was put on the team that if I worked hard I could see more playing time.  Well as the season progressed no matter how hard I worked I saw less and less playing time.  I was almost always the first one on the court and the last one off the court.  I dedicated my life to working as hard as I could not to let my coach or teammates down and to improve as much as I could.  I missed out on dances, mutual occasionally, and other social activities with my friends.  I spent every minute I could in a gym working to be better.  None of it helped and by the end of the season I was sitting the bench the entire game each time except for Senior Night when I started and played a whole 30 seconds.  I felt insulted.  I paid a fee to play, my parents were paying to get the family in to each home game, my incredible dad traveled the 3 hours to Challis to watch me sit the bench.  The week before district tournament my parents came to watch practice so they could see me play since I would not get any playing time during the game.  My coach blew up.  He yelled at me, he yelled at my parents, he said some really nasty things in front of all my teammates and coaches.  All I could do was cry and leave the gym.  Later that night the coach, my parents, and I all had a meeting with the school principal.  I cried the entire time as I expressed my feelings of anger, hurt, and sadness.  I felt abused, but no matter what I couldn't bring myself not to finish out the season.  I never quit.

Even now I struggle with this experience.  I cried as I wrote this, same as I do anytime I talk about it.  I still struggle with forgiving not only the coach, but many of my teammates who never did or said anything about the situation, who never noticed me.  But as painful as this experience was/is, I learned and am still learning many lessons from it.

1.  I was/am reminded of what an awesome dad I have.  He never gave up on me.  He supported me in everything I did even though at times it was hard for him to see how bad I was hurting.  Being able to ride home with my dad instead of riding the bus on the 3 hour ride home from Challis was one of the best gifts my dad ever gave me.  And how can I forget my dad sending a balloon bouquet with my favorite candy on the first day of district tournament.  He is amazing and I love him beyond belief.

2.  I am still learning forgiveness.  It may take a while, but I'm working on it.

3.  This one isn't really a lesson, but more of a lifestyle.  I know that as a coach I will treat my athletes with respect and as human beings.  I will not focus on only the "star" athletes, but the ones that might not be the best, but have potential if someone will just give them a chance.  My whole coaching style is opposite of the way I was coached on that team all in spite of my coach.

4.  Last I'm going to mention and most important to this post, I learned that there are times when you need to cut your losses and fold.  It's not "quitting" in the way that we think of "quitting" as a bad thing.  There are times it is appropriate.  There are times it is necessary for our well being.  Withdrawing from my Stats class is one of those times.  I have not been able to make very many classes because of illness of the kids or myself.  I'm taking 12 other credits (4 classes) besides this one, all with just as much or more homework in it.  Between everything I have to do and being behind enough I wasn't going to get caught up (not on homework, but on understanding the concepts) no matter how hard I worked, it was time to cut my losses and fold.

So even though I'm no longer taking stats this semester I don't consider myself a quitter because a quitter is someone who gives up quickly when it gets hard without trying to make it work.  I worked hard as long as I could and now it's time to fold.

Finally

Finally! Another Blog post from me!  This semester is kicking my behind so I haven't really been on the blogging scene lately.  Which is totally uncool especially since I have soooo much to blog about now.  So here they come randomly, sporadically, etc.-ally. :P

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In attempt to make our lives healthier and teach my kids to eat healthier I've done these sneaky little things to help us change.  It's not like we're super unhealthy, but we could be better and definitely be more active at home.  At school we're really active, but by the time we get home I think we're all just pooped so we sit and veg.

1.  Bedtime snack/Afternoon snack choices are:  a piece of fruit, graham crackers and milk, yogurt, string cheese, or a piece of whole wheat bread.  Occasionally they can have strawberry or chocolate milk.

2.  My kids live for Ramen Noodles.  So I put chicken, peas, and carrots in the last time I fixed it.  Ben wasn't feeling very good, but he ate a bit. Mostly he ate all of the veggies and left the noodles. Go figure.

3.  I've been trying to make sure we have a veggie or fruit every meal.  I'm really bad at this especially because sometimes I'd rather just have meat/protein.

4.  I've started serving juice and milk only at meals/snacks.  In between they can have water.  Myelle has even asked for water occasionally now!

5.  I put music on and tell them to show me their best dance moves. :D

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I'm sick of the cold weather.  I'm counting down the days until we get to go to Arizona to see these lovely people:

Brandon & Rachel. ( I stole this pic from her blog. I would link to it, but I forgot it's private.)

BTW:  20 Days, 11 Hours, 55ish minutes.

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I never thought I would say this, but I L.O.V.E my Kindle App on my new phone!!  Oh and I love my new phone!!

htc Droid Incredible

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Last....IT"S TRACK SEASON!!!

Love It

I thought it would be fun to let you know things that I like/love and things I'm not such a big fan of.  So here's the second (Sunflower seeds were the first)

I absolutely love my Neti Pot.  I get really bad sinus headaches and when I do I just rinse with this baby and BAM! I can function again.  They're like $15 at Walgreens and the extra packs are lik $10, but if your sinuses give you problems it's sooo worth it.



Sleep? What's That?

Getting to bed is hard to do,

Hard to do, to do, to do.

Getting to bed is hard to do,

To do, to do, to do.

(Sung in my most primary children like voice)

Ok, not kidding though, I've had a hard time making it to bed very early or rather at all.  I'm definitely not getting my "In Bed at 11pm" points for the "Great in Eight" challenge I'm doing. (more to come on that)  There is just so much to do and not nearly enough time to do it.  Granted I didn't feel well the past couple days so I didn't do much other than sleep during the day, but I need to be sleeping at night.

Like I said there's just too much to do. I'm not sure how to do it all.  

I have homework in pretty much every class.  Tons of it in my Stats, Movement Theory, and Foundations classes.  All of which I'm behind in.  Even more so now since I didn't make it to class the past 2 days.  I've been pretty much neglecting my housework and feels like I've been neglecting the kids as far as playtime goes.  "Sorry kiddos it's movies again today since Mommy doesn't feel good." :(

I'm so tired during the day and I know it's because I don't get to bed before midnight...Ever.  

(Note that I'm writing this at 2am)

Problem:  I do my housework and homework at night usually lasting until midnight, but by then I've caught my second wind and I can't go to sleep no matter how hard I try.  

Solutions:  None at the moment.  If you have any...PLEASE HELP!!

Wednesday's Child

 

You know how I told you how drained I was the other day?  Well, it's wreaking havoc on my emotions.  I watched last night's biggest loser and any time they even showed the yellow team or grey team I started crying. Not just tearing up.  Actual tears rolling down the cheeks.  Well, it's Wednesday and I was watching the news when they featured Wednesday's Child.

This is Ariona(3), Nicole(6), and Maggie(2).  They are just adorable!! Tonight they featured Ariona and I more than cried...I bawled.  My heart just broke for these 3 sisters.  I wish I was in a position to adopt them all.  Now's just not the right time though.  One day though our family will grow bigger one way or another.

Here's the link to the article on Local News 8.

Drained

I meant to post sooner than this.  In fact I even started a couple posts and then got distracted by the kids before I could finish.  School pretty much drained me last week.  Add on top of that cranky kids and hormones I feel like I could go hibernate for the rest of the winter.  

When I get drained I get cranky.  I've been trying to be more positive lately. So in light of the crankiness going on in my head instead of complaining like I would normally do, I'm going to write a list of things I was thankful for. One for each day.

1. I'm thankful that the kids go to bed at 8pm so I can have some down time.

2. I'm thankful for the Early Learning Center daycare on campus that do such a good job with my kids while I'm at school.

3. I'm thankful for Stake Volleyball on Wednesdays and for the friendships I've gained through it and the physical exercise I get from it.

4.  I'm thankful that Erick has a good job even though he has to work a lot of nights and we don't see each other very often.

5.  I'm thankful for my job and for Heavenly Father blessing me with good tips.

6.  I'm thankful for Visiting Teaching even though it's really hard to fit it into a busy schedule.  Part 2 of that is that I'm thankful for my awesome VT partner who understands my busy schedule and often does more than her share of the work.

7.  I'm thankful for family both my own little one with my husband and kids (even though my two little ones drive me crazy) and for my parents and brothers and sisters.  You guys are my best friends and I love hanging out with you all.  And I'm especially thankful for chats with my mom. :)

Now that I've got to 7 I feel a lot better and I feel like I could go on and on with the things that I'm thankful for.  Sometimes I think we all need a reminder to be more grateful.  I know I do and I'm going to try harder to write them down and also thank Heavenly Father in my prayers.

CPR

This semester I'm taking a CPR, First Aid, and Sport Safety class.  Today I learned how to do compressions on both adults and children (on practice dummies).  Because it was hard for a lot of us to get the rhythm of doing 100 compressions/minute our professor gave us a way to time it right.  You just compress to the beat of "Stayin Alive" by the BeeGees which is 103beats/min. Awesome right?  Then he told us that there was a song that had 100beats/min, but it wasn't very appropriate in that setting. Any guesses as to what it is?  No?  Well, I think people would think you were trying to kill the person instead of helping them if you were doing compressions while singing:

"Bada bump bump bump....Another one bites the dust!"

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Awesome professor! And I will soon be CPR/First Aid Certified!

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Check out what I made for dinner tonight over on Joy in the Kitchen!

Addicted

I am completely and totally addicted to these:

I could literally eat a bag a day if I would let myself and if they were ever in stock at the store! Apparently I'm not the only one who loves these.  My solution....I just put a case of 12 in my cart on Amazon.  When I get my allowance I'm buying them and rationing them out. Haha!

My Kiddos

These are my crazy kiddos.  I love them to death, but sometimes they drive me out of my mind. LOL

Myelle:  She's one of the biggest drama queens I've ever met!  Everything is a tragedy.  The other day the snow was melting because it was 40F outside and she cried "Now I'll never get to play in the snow AGAIN!"  LOL She's my Princess loving girl and the ultimate mommy. She's always bossing Ben around and tattling on him.  Now if I can only get her to stop having accidents.  She's just "too busy" to bother going potty and I'm getting tired of it.

Bentley:  He's my soccer/volley/foot/basket ball loving boy!  If it has anything to do with a ball or throwing something, he's fascinated!  The other night he fell asleep holding his football. He's always amazing me with how much he talks and understands.  Sometimes I forget he's not even 2 yet.  Then he reminds me by throwing a fit or coloring on the wall or some other mischievous toddler thing.  

They're my lovable, huggable, kissable tots and even though they do naughty things it's hard not to laugh because it's so funny and they're so innocent.
I sure love them!

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BTW  Check out my mom's cooking blog: Joy in the Kitchen.  Occasionally I help contribute to it and I posted tonight's recipe for Clam Chowder on there.

Without a Home

Tonight I'm feeling a bit off kilter.  Can't explain it really, but I feel lost in a way.  

Could be partly that I worked the day shift at work today and normally I work the night, but more than that it's that I know it will be a regular occurrence now.  Shouldn't be that big of a deal right?  You see I've been working Friday nights for months.  That crew stays pretty much the same and I feel like I have a niche in that shift that I don't feel any other time.  Now I'll be rotating every other week between the Friday night shift and the day shift.  Tonight, I miss my crew!  And now I feel like a waitress without a home.

It could also be that I'm helping coach a girl for shotput that's from a town an hour away from me.  She's being awesome and coming over here, but because I dropped the ball and didn't get the keys to Firth's practice gym in time we might not have a place to practice.  I'll know more in the morning, but I'm feeling tired of not having my own practice facilities or at least more public ones that are easier to access.  I feel like a coach without a home.

I guess what it all comes down to is I'm way out of my comfort zone in just about every aspect of my life and I don't function the best when I'm off my game like that.

Wednesday Nights

It's that time of year again and I'll be spending my Wednesday nights doing this:

Am I crazy for not wearing my knee pads and knee and ankle braces?
Probably. 

Oh yeah! It's stake volleyball season!!  We've got more ladies out this year and we're just getting used to playing with each other.  We didn't even lose by as much as we did the first game! Haha!

Harry's Law

I love Kathy Bates!  And her new show Harry's Law premiered last night.  I think it might become my new favorite show. 

New Me...New Blog

Well, I guess it's more like Old Me with fresh new look thus the new blog.

I was told by my best friend that I needed to start blogging again.  I kept making excuses like "I'm too busy" and "I'm not creative" and such.  My biggest one was that I didn't have time.  I mean come on...I'm a mom to 2 kiddos, a wife ('nuf said), going to school FT with 15 credits this semester, and working 1-2 shifts a week at The Homestead.  Throw in keeping up a household, church, and being in charge for our ward's volleyball team I'm feeling kind of overwhelmed, but I figured that if Rachel could do it while she went to school/worked/had a hubby, then I could too. 

Plus I felt motivated because this:

came UPS today and I'm super excited to be able to take pictures with a working camera again!!