I can't believe it's been a week since Christmas already! We've been spending that week here in Las Vegas with Nate's family. We left Magna in wee hours of the morning last Saturday and we'll be headed home in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow. Once I get home and semi-organized, I'll do some fabulously long posts about Christmas and our trip and all that holly jolly stuff. I know you'll all be counting the minutes. But for now I just wanted to say that I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and has a Happy New Year!

What do you do in the Winter Time?

We're not really winter people. Nate was raised in Las Vegas and hates the cold and I think that after 7 winters of listening to him complain about it, I might be starting to share his sentiments. We don't ski or snowboard or go sledding or tubing, mostly because it's just too cold! But we do get out a little bit in the winter time. Here are a few of our latest adventures....


After the first big snowstorm, the fun-filled task of shoveling the driveway fell to me. The kids were begging to play in the snow, so I bundled them up and they had a grand old time while I schlepped snow. Here's Jonah throwing snow at his face and trying to catch it in his mouth.
Jayne wanted to come out too, so I put her in our backpack carrier and she helped me shovel. Well, actually she just prompted a debate in my head about which was worse, shovelling while I was 8 months pregnant with Jonah or shovelling with a one year old on my back. I still haven't decided. But she looked super cute!

A week or so ago we drove down to Thanksgiving Point to see their light display. The kids really enjoyed it and I liked that I didn't have to get out of the Jeep. I tried to take pictures, but they all turned out blurry, so you'll just have to imagine the sparkling splendor.

We also hit temple square this past weekend with Grandma Laurie and Aunt Sarah. Again, Jayne got to ride in the backpack, this time with Daddy.



Aunt Sarah, Lilly, Jonah, and Grandma

My fabulous blurry photography skills gave me many useless photos, but I did manage to get this one of the temple nice and clear.

Aunt Sarah and Lilly. Lilly and Jonah wanted their pictures taken by everything. Don't worry, I won't post all of them.

Nate took this pretty shot. It was very foggy that night. The shot is a little crooked and I'm sure there's some magical editing way to fix that, but I really don't know what it is so you'll just have to live with it.

Jonah and Lilly all bundled up and ready for some light seeing.

My mom took this picture of us. I guess we know where I got my blurry picture taking skills from, huh? Love you Mom!
So, that is the extent of our winter adventures thus far. We're very excited for Christmas this week! We're even more excited for our plans to protest the cold of winter by spending a few days in Las Vegas visiting Nate's family. I can't wait to walk around with a light jacket in the 60-something degree weather and chuckle at all the native Nevadans bundled up in their parkas and scarves!
In case I don't post again before Friday.....MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Laundry Squats

There are always days when a formal workout is just impossible. Well, I had one of those days this week. I love my workouts! They keep me sane and make me feel strong and active, so I hate days when I don't get to do them.
Well, one of the things on my to-do list that day was laundry, lots and lots of laundry! So, I made an exercise out of folding my laundry and I'm going to call them my 'laundry squats'.

I usually fold my laundry on the kitchen table. So, I placed my basket on the floor and did a squat to pick up the next piece of clothing that I was going to fold. My rule was that I was only allowed to pick up one item at a time, no handfuls of socks or anything like that.

Anyhoo...I definitely felt a bit sore in my legs and derriere the next day. I read somewhere that doing small intervals of exercises throughout the day can be just as effective as doing an hour long workout all at once. So next time you're doing some laundry, try some laundry squats! Your hips and buns and thighs will thank you!

Weight Loss or the Lack Thereof

I haven't really posted anything on my weight loss for a long time, mostly because I haven't been losing any!
I went through a plateau period where I was working out and watching my diet, but was not losing any weight. Then I got lazy and started eating a bit of junk, then a bit more, and then I was having chocolate for breakfast, but amazingly......I didn't gain any weight. I didn't lose any, obviously, but I didn't gain either and I got really comfortable with that. But, I'm back to feeling uncomfortable with it and I really want to get rid of these last 10 or 15 pounds!

So I've been upping my water consumption, doing my workouts more frequently(at least 4 times a week), and I'm trying to get back into my better eating habits. For a woman who L-O-V-E-S food, that is by far the biggest challenge. I picked a great time to do it too, Christmas....when all I want to do is bake treats and eat them!
So here are a few things I'm planning to do to get through the holidays without gaining, and while hopefully losing, some poundage:

• When baking, I've found that if I chew on some minty sugar-free gum I don't taste the treats as I'm making them.
  
• I plan to give away any goodies I make before I eat them all
  
• Keep exercising
• Drink my 64 oz mug of water before I allow myself any diet soda during the day
• Practice moderation at all parties that include yummy goodies by using a small plate or just a napkin and by filling up on veggie trays if they're available
  

I hope everyone else is having a great holiday season! May your days be Merry & "Lite"!

The Ward Christmas Party

We had our ward Christmas party last night. Nate is the activities committee chairman in our ward and, as he has told me many times, I am his committee.

Planning activities always requires a bit of work, but the Christmas party is definitely the hardest one of the year. I was very proud of Nate this year. He actually had a meeting with his committee members (Nate hates having meetings--he'd much rather just do it all himself) and made some assignments. There were a couple of people who didn't carry out their assignments, but I guess that's just going to happen we took care of it. But we also had a lot of help this year, much more than last year anyway.

Anyway, so back to the party. Nate wanted to do breakfast for dinner this year. We hired a caterer and had biscuits with country sausage gravy, fresh fruit, and scrambled eggs with ham and cheese. We also asked everyone to bring their favorite dessert to share. We love doing dessert this way because we always get a big variety of treats and there's always plenty for everyone.

The food turned out great. I had several people asking me for the recipe for the gravy. Our only problem was that we ran out of biscuits. Apparently Nate's activities draw quite the crowd. Last year we had around 200 people at the Christmas party. So that's what we planned for this year. Nate did a head count while people were coming through the dinner line and he counted a little over 300. I guess we learned our lesson. If we still have this calling next year, we'll be planning for at least 300 people.

We had a short little program. A family read and acted out a little Christmas poem and the primary sang a song. We also had Santa and Mrs. Claus pay us a visit and bring goody bags for the kids(we almost ran out of those too!). Then we had a room set up where the kids could make their own Christmas cards to take home. This was very popular, but very messy. I don't think we'll be doing that one again next year.

For decorations, Nate brought home a bunch of huge boxes from work and we had some women in the ward wrap them. We stacked them in the corners. At the end of the night all the kids were asking if they could take the giant boxes home with them. I just sent them to ask their parents. At the end of the night, we only had one big one left to throw away, so I guess some of the parents said yes.

Overall, the party was a success. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and we got lots of compliments.

I do just have to get one thing off my chest. It really bothers me that the kids just run wild at these things. I understand that the parents want to sit and visit and enjoy their evening, but when your kids(mostly teenagers) are throwing food around the church, playing in the primary room, or giving Santa a hard time and asking for extra treats and destroying decorations, please take a minute to be a parent and remind them how to behave. Thank you.
Oh, and also, FYI...it is not polite to take entire plates full of treats before everyone has had a chance to get their dinner. And this one was adults too.

Phew! I feel much better now.

It's NOT winter yet Mom!

Jonah and I had the following conversation while looking out the window a few minutes ago.

Me: Look! It's snowing outside.
Jonah(sounding really annoyed): Why is it doing that Mom?
Me: That's what happens in the winter Jonah, it snows.
Jonah(looking at me like I'm stupid or something): It's NOT winter yet Mom!
Me: It sure looks like winter out there right now.
Jonah: Winter is not until December 21st, Mom. It really shouldn't be snowing yet because it's still Fall.

He's right. The first day of winter is not until December 21st. Someone needs to inform Mother Nature right away.

Parent Teacher Conference #2

Today I went to another parent teacher conference, this time for Lilly. Lilly goes to preschool twice a week. And yes, you guessed it! She is doing great! So now I get to brag about another of my wonderful children.

• Lilly can recognize all the letters of the alphabet and tell you the sound they make(apparently not all 3 year olds can do that yet)
• She's very well behaved in class
• She likes to sing songs with her friends
• Since she can already recognize her name, they're going to help her learn to write it starting next month. I was happy to hear this one, because she's really been wanting to learn to write her name. We've been practicing a bit at home and she loves it.
• Basically, Lilly is very bright and is doing fabulous in preschool!

So I'm going to say it one more time..... MY KID ROCKS! Love you Lilly!

The Top Secret Parent Teacher Conference

When I was a kid, parent teacher conferences were very intriguing. You knew your mom and your teacher were going to talk about you. I always wanted to know what was being said. Was my teacher going to tattle on me for talking too much? Would my mom tattle on me for putting off my homework until the last minute? Seriously....it stressed me out.

Well, today I got to go to my very first parent teacher conference as a parent and it was still stressful. Even though I know Jonah is an awesome kid, smart, and well behaved. I was sure his teacher was going to chastise me or tell me he had some problem. I'm just paranoid that way.

Not to worry, she had only good things to say. So now I get to say them to all of you in my role as the proud mama of a super kid! Here is the report...

• Jonah got perfect scores on all of his Fall assessment tests
• He's reading and writing at a level way beyond his classmates
• He's always very well behaved
• His teacher loves the very few times when he tells her something is 'hard' because then she feels like she's finally found something to challenge him with
• Jonah loves math
• Jonah is going to be tested next week to see if he is "gifted". The teacher explained that in the higher grades they have special classes for "gifted" students, but in kindergarten you really just get the status and if he tests high enough he may be offered the opportunity to go to a school specifically for "gifted" students.
  

Yeah...my kid rocks. You mothers know how it is. Sometimes, you've just gotta shout it from the rooftops!

MY KID ROCKS!