The Barnum Family

Jonah Turned 8

2012-01-26T13:24:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday was Jonah's eighth birthday. The lucky boy got to have two parties that day! He had a party with his friends in the morning and then we had a family party that evening. Jonah had requested an ocean themed party. We decorated the living room with lots of blue and green streamers, fish pictures, and balloons. We played hide the shell, pin the tentacle on the squid, and a fishing game. The kids also got to decorate their own cupcakes with Swedish fish and gummy sharks. I never realized that the top of a cupcake could hold so much candy!

Jonah and his cupcake

Then, that evening, Jonah requested shrimp for dinner. The poor kid is our lone seafood eater in the family, so it was a really exciting thing for him to have shrimp at home. We had other food too, for the rest of us.

It was a very busy, very fun day. I think Jonah summed it up well that night when he said to me, "Mom, this day rocks!"

Jonah and his cake. He helped me decorate it. The sharks are circling the school of fish because they're getting ready to attack and eat them.

The girls were very helpful when it came to the presents. They're getting much better, though at waiting their turn and letting Jonah open his own gifts.

I love seeing my Jonah grow and become more independent. He loves school, reading non-fiction books, collecting rocks and pine cones, riding his bike, painting, drawing, building or making anything, and is a wonderful helper and big brother. Happy Birthday Jonah! We're so grateful that you are part of our family.

Henry

2012-01-07T13:26:00.000-08:00

Today was a momentous day in the history of the Barnum household, one that requires a little bit of back story to be fully appreciated. I have never considered myself a pet type of person. We had cats, dogs, cows, chickens, sheep, horses, and birds growing up and I never really felt any sort of real attachment to any of them. None of them were actually "mine" in the sense that I had sole responsibility for them or even that I wanted them in the first place. I'm just not an animal lover. I don't hate animals. I just never liked being licked by them or the smell of them or the idea of having one in my house. I prefer to enjoy animals from a distance.

So when I married someone who is very very very allergic to all types of animals, I thought I was pretty much off the hook. I'd dodged the bullet! I'd won the lottery! When my kids would someday ask for a puppy or a kitten I could put on my empathetic face and say, "I'm so sorry sweetie, but we can't have any pets because Daddy is allergic." Little did I know......it wouldn't just be the kids begging for a pet, but my husband too.
It was only a year or so after we were married when Nate started talking dogs. He likes dogs and apparently has always wanted to have one. When I bring up his allergies, my supposed golden ticket out of pet ownership, he simply says he'll have an outside dog and that will solve the problem. Well, like a good little wife, I totally resist and we manage to put off the discussion for a while.

Fast forward to about 5 years into our marriage. Jonah is 3, Lilly is just a baby, and Nate tells me he's bought two beagles that were posted in online classifieds from someone in Kanosh and do I want to go with him to pick them up? WHAT?!!! I was not a fan, but the beagles came home anyway. We had them for less than a year. They were always digging under fences and getting out of the yard. Nate was hardly ever home because of work and school and I was still very much anti-pets and didn't have the time or resources to take them on walks every day. I would have had to wrangle the two dogs and manage the double stroller and that just was not something I wanted to attempt. So we found the beagles a new home and the dog talk quieted for a while.

Then, in the last year or so, it slowly starts to sneak back into conversations. I catch Nate checking all of the dog adoption listings and classifieds and researching different breeds. Every time he brings it up, I reiterate my position, "I do not want a dog. Period. End of story." Then, a few months I go I finally faced the facts. Getting a dog was inevitable. It was going to happen and if I didn't do something soon, we would have a repeat of the beagle story with some bull mastiff coming home from work with Nate one day and me having absolutely no say in the matter. So I started to do some research on different breeds so we could find one that would be a good fit for our family, and since I knew that I would be the one taking care of the majority of the dog care responsibilities, one that would be a good fit for me.

The rest is history, as they say. This morning we picked up the newest member of our family.   He is a 3 month old miniature schnauzer. Nate gave me the honor of choosing his name. So, meet Henry.

Henry a little timid and very mellow for a puppy. We've had him for about 5 hours now and I have yet to hear him bark at all. He likes to follow the kids around the house and is exploring his new surroundings.
We're working on house training and crate training and all that good stuff, so if any of you more experienced dog owners have tips or suggestions, feel free to pass on your wisdom. This is an entirely new adventure for all of us!

Remembering 2011

2012-01-02T13:30:00.000-08:00

It's that time again when we look back over the past year and try to remember the good and the bad, the growth and the challenges, and then decide how to make the next year even better.
2011 was a good year for the Barnum family. Some of the highlights included:

Nate working his first full year for Verizon. We're so grateful for a job that's keeping him indoors. It has translated into fewer episodes of illness. I think in 2011 we only had one bout with bronchitis and no pneumonia!
Jonah starting 2nd grade and Lilly starting Kindergarten. They both love to learn and do so well in school. They sure know how to make their Mama proud.
Ashley (me) taking up running and running in the Las Vegas Ragnar Relay. Something I never in a million years thought I would do, but I really loved it. I'm not doing so well keeping up with it so far this winter, but we're working on remedying that.
Jayne turned 3 and became fully potty trained. Bye-bye diapers!
Our Oregon vacation in August. It was such a fun-filled, memory making adventure. We can't wait to plan another one!
Nate turned the big 3-0! He says he feels like an old man.
We visited Zion's National Park. It was the first time ever for me and the kids and it was breathtaking. We didn't get to see as much as we would have liked, so we'll just have to go back.
We also did a family camping trip with my mom, sister, and brother at Payson Lakes. It was beautiful and we had a great time.
Lilly and Jonah took swimming lessons
We visited Hogle Zoo and Tracy Aviary

I think that's about it for now. I'm sure many more magical and eventful things happened in 2011, but my poor brain just isn't what it used to be.
So now we look forward to 2012. It's going to be a fabulous year! I can feel it in my bones. I'll be graduating with my bachelor's degree in August. It will feel so good to finally get that done! Jonah will be turning 8 and getting baptized. We're working on another family vacation or two. And who knows what else?! We'll take whatever life chooses to dish out! Happy New Year!

Christmas

2011-12-30T13:09:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful, peaceful Christmas this year. Nate has been working a ridiculous amount of hours for the past couple of months and the few days leading up to Christmas were no exception. He worked all day on Christmas Eve and then we all drove up to Grandma Laurie's for the traditional Christmas Eve dinner and hoopla. All my brothers and sisters were there as well as our cousin Landon who recently moved to Salt Lake from California and wasn't able to go home for the holiday.
We had a delicious dinner complete with corn chowder, veggies, fruit, a cheese ball, summer sausage, li'l smokies, and several other yummy tidbits. Then we all gathered near the Christmas tree.
My mom read the account of Christ's birth from the scriptures while the kids held up posters they had made of the shepherds, wise men, and the manger scene. Then Jonah, Lilly, and Jayne each sang a Christmas song. After that, it was present time!

Lilly, Aunt Sarah, and Jonah waiting for present time to start.

A very blurry shot of Jonah with his poster of the Nativity

Jonah, Lilly, & Jayne in their new PJ's from Grandma Laurie

After the exchange of gifts, we all hung around just chatting or playing until it was most definitely time to be headed home. I was so grateful I'd done all my wrapping ahead of time, because we didn't get home until almost 10pm. The kids were in their pajamas, we set out cookies and milk for Santa along with some oats for the reindeer and then herded the kiddos off to bed.
Our Christmas morning was a bit different this year. Since Christmas fell on a Sunday, we had church services that morning at 9:00am. Rather than getting everyone up at the crack of dawn to do presents before church, we opted to save the presents until after we got home. We hung a curtain to block the view of the living room so the kids wouldn't be too tempted to just dive in. They had no problem waiting. They didn't even wake up until almost eight o'clock, so it was pretty easy to just get everyone dressed and ready and out the door without much fuss. The kids understood that we were celebrating the birth of Christ, and what better way to do that than to go to church and worship for an hour before delving into the gifts?
When we got home, we all changed into some comfortable clothes and then opened presents. The kids were very good this year and it showed. They love all their gifts and spent the better part of the day playing with new toys and reading new books.

Waiting to head into the living room where the presents are

Lilly is very happy about her Tinker Bell movie. I think we've watched three or four times this week already.

Jonah's T-Rex pillow pet put him right to sleep!=)

Jayne loves playing with the new Play-Doh cake making station. That's another one we've had out every day this week.

After gifts, we made a big breakfast, which actually turned out to be lunch by the time we got to it. We used Nate's new waffle-baker that he got from Santa. Nate has this thing about waffles. He only likes the big square kind with the tiny little squares. We had been using his mother's old waffle iron for years before it finally bit the dust and then we just never seemed to be able to find anything other than the Belgian waffle irons with the big squares in them. But this year we discovered the perfect waffle baker from Black and Decker. So we enjoyed delicious waffles, eggs, sausage and fruit for our Christmas breakfast.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing together. We all enjoyed a much needed afternoon nap and then took a drive to look at the Christmas lights around the neighborhood before bed.
All in all, it was a wonderful holiday! Now on to the New Year!

December Fun! (and the dentist)

2011-12-27T12:49:00.000-08:00

Since I haven't been very good at posting things as soon as they happen, we'll play a bit of catch-up and just lump most of December into one post. The first weekend in December, I decided to take the kids down to the Festival of Trees in Sandy. We'd never been before, but were looking for something fun to do that day. The gingerbread houses and trees and other decor were amazing! People can be so creative and must have a whole lot more patience than I do to accomplish some of these really detailed displays that we saw.

Jonah's cheesiest "cheese!" face

Around the middle of the month, we decided to take the kids to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to see the Christmas lights. We went on a Monday right when it got dark and were able to avoid the big crowds. As we were leaving, masses of people seemed to be descending on the square simultaneously. So glad we went early.
The kids always love looking at the lights and seeing the Nativity, but their favorite part is always the fountains. Even though it's freezing outside, the fountains on Temple Square are still running and the kids love to look at them and throw in pennies.

We ask her to smile for the camera and this is what we get. =)

Lilly's new favorite pose

Jonah showing us how tough he can be.

Another highlight of our month was the semi-annual trip to the dentist for the kids. Luckily, my kids love going to the dentist. Even Jonah, who had to endure a painful episode of having two teeth removed with one being literally dug out a few years ago still likes the to go to the dentist. They love the toys, the sunglasses, and getting new toothbrushes. Our dentist and his staff are wonderful! They know how to make kids comfortable and are so very patient with them. We came out with a clean bill of dental health with no cavities all the way around!

Lilly got her first set of x-rays done and was so brave!

Jonah and Jayne playing with Dad's tablet while they wait for their turn.

Jayne loves sitting in the chair.

The week before Christmas, we got to go watch Jonah and Lilly sing some Christmas songs with their classes at the elementary school. Nate's parents and sister were in town too so they came with us. Jonah and Lilly both did such a good job and knew the words to all of their songs. Jonah takes his performances very seriously and had to be reminded to smile and relax while Lilly was all smiles and waves and even a little bit of dancing. Nate got it on video on his tablet, but we haven't put it on the computer yet. So you'll all just have to picture a stage full of kindergarteners or second graders belting out tunes such as "I'm getting Nuttin' for Christmas", "Donde esta Santa Claus?", "It's a Marshmallow World in the Winter", and
"Holly Jolly Christmas" while smiling and waving at parents and teachers and yelling out the words that they know really really well.

And that was our December, aside from the Christmas festivities which I'll cover in my next post.

Giving Thanks

2011-12-02T14:42:00.000-08:00

Before you even ask, yes I am aware that it is now December and a post about Thanksgiving is about a week or so late. But when it comes to gratitude, late is always better than never, right? We enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving day and delicious dinner with my mom, siblings, grandmother, and cousins. Even though I didn't do a daily gratitude post on Facebook for the entire month of November or anything like that, I have had my blessings on my mind lately. Especially those that I tend to take for granted. For example, I am thankful for.....

Not getting that night job I applied for in October. At the time, I had no idea that my school schedule would be ramping up next year and I can't imagine trying to juggle a job along with everything else I'm going to have up in the air come January.
The roof over my head. If you know me, you know that I can be quick to complain about our little old house and the many problems it possesses. But at the end of the day, I'm so very grateful to have a place to call home.
A wonderful husband who works so hard at jobs he doesn't even like without complaint in order to put that roof over our heads and who is supportive of my ambitions and crazy notions.
My three amazing children. I really don't know how I got this lucky. All of my kids are healthy, bright, helpful, and so loving and concerned about everyone and everything around them.
The Internet. Without it, I wouldn't be able to finish school for a very long time.
My body. As a woman, I tend to focus on the negative when it comes to this wonderful creation we call a physical body. But I am grateful for all the wonderful things it does everyday and that I am blessed with good health.
Faith. I'm grateful for my testimony of my Savior and for the hope and joy that is found through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
All the wonderful people in my life who care about me and my family and who are always looking out for us in one way or another.
My Webelos Scouts. I've been a Webelos leader for 1 1/2 years now and I really enjoy it. The excitement that 10 year old boys naturally have for life is contagious and I love seeing them set and accomplish goals and gain confidence.
Music. I don't get to play piano and sing as often as I'd like, but it is still my favorite form of therapy.

This list could go on and on and on and on and on. If you haven't done it yet or lately, I encourage you to just sit and think for a few minutes about the beautiful things in your life that you're grateful for right now. It's a great way to gain perspective and lift your mood. =)

Snow fun

2011-11-05T09:59:00.000-07:00

This morning we woke up to a good 3 or 4 inches of snow! Nate and I immediately began moaning and groaning about it, but the kids were ecstatic. So it's no surprise that the first order of business for our Saturday was digging out the snow gear and playing around in the white stuff.

Lilly and Jayne made snow angels.

Jonah helped with the shoveling.

And played a little snow-shovel-guitar.


Then he made a snow angel too.

Then we came in, took off all of our wet gloves, hats, and boots, and enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate. It was nice to be reminded that snow can be fun. When I look at it, all I see is cold, wet, and miserable. Everything looks better through the eyes of children! =)

Our Excellent Elk

2011-11-05T09:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Jonah received the Excellent Elk Award at a school assembly. Each teacher chose one student from their class to receive this award for academic excellence. He received a medal, certificate, and a card for a free kid's meal from Applebee's. We're so proud of Jonah and his desire to always do his best and learn as much as he can. Way to go Jo!

Halloween Fun!

2011-11-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

Our Halloween fun started with a Friday night visit to Gardner Village to see the witches.

Jonah thought this mummy was the coolest.

Lilly wanted her picture taken by every witch that we found.


See what I mean? =)

Then on Sunday evening we carved our pumpkins.

Jonah loved cleaning out the pumpkin "guts" with his hands, but the girls wouldn't touch it.

Jayne with her jack-o-lantern. The kids chose the design of their pumpkins and mom and dad did all the cutting.

Lilly's pumpkin.


Jonah's pumpkin. He wanted a "great big smile" on his. All the black lines are from Jonah trying to draw his own design. He made it a bit too small.

Then on Halloween, we got all dressed up and went trick-or-treating. Nate had to work, so I took the kids out. We should have taken a shorter route. There was quite a bit of "I'm so tired" and "my feet hurt" by the time we got home. But they loved how much candy they got and after we got home there was a lot of "that was the best Halloween ever!" So I think our night was a success.

Spider Man Jonah and his muscle pose. He didn't like to wear the mask that came with the costume.

Lilly, the little devil. She looks way too sweet to be a devil.

Jayne the witch. She didn't want to wear the hat, but loves the dress. She wore it around the house almost every day for a week before Halloween.


The whole gang ready to go get some treats!

I should mention that we were lucky enough to get all of our costumes from some kind neighbors who have kids just a bit older than ours. The one Jayne is wearing is one that we bought for Lilly when she was 2. Jayne had another Halloween fairy costume that we got from the neighbors, but she changed her mind at the last minute. I sure do love it when people think of us.
After we got home and into pajamas, Nate got home and we did hallway trick-or-treating. This is a tradition that Nate's family has. Each child takes a turn going down the dark hallway and knocking on the doors looking for Nate. When they find him, he gives them some special surprises. He also tries to spook them a bit on the way. The kids love it.
So that was our Halloween. Now on to Thanksgiving and Christmas! They sure are approaching fast!

Running Ragnar!

2011-10-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

The much anticipated Ragnar Relay in Las Vegas was this past weekend. I'll do my best to give you the play by play of all the fabulous Ragnar madness.
First off, a little background about what Ragnar is for those who have no idea (like I didn't 4 months ago). Ragnar is a team relay. Each team consists of 12 runners split up into 2 vans of 6. Each runner does 3 legs of the race. Ragnar Las Vegas covered 188 miles from Lake Mead to Las Vegas. When you're not running, you're in your van supporting your runner with cheering or water or whatever they need. Sounds simple enough, right? Yeah, that's what I thought. =)
The relay started on Friday. We got down to Las Vegas on Thursday night around 8:00. Nate dropped me off at the team dinner while he took the kids over to his parents house to get them all settled in. It was a long drive down there with a couple of hours worth of construction delays so they were all pretty worn out.
I didn't sleep well at all on Thursday night. We got to bed late because after the dinner I still needed to pick up some last minute race essentials. Nate and I got up bright and early (5AM) so he could take me to meet up with my team. We loaded up the vans and headed to the starting line.
The race started in the Valley of Fire area at Lake Mead. Our start time was 9:00AM. For those that don't know, your team name, costumes, and van decorations are apparently a vital part of the Ragnar experience. Our team name was "Horns & Halos". One van was the "Horns" and one was the "Halos". I was in the Halo van.

Yes, our van actually had a halo on top of it. Miraculously, it even survived the entire relay!

Do you just love the wings on the back? We did lose one of those. Our other van tried to save it, but it got run over by a truck before they could get to it.

The Horns van. I never did get an up close picture of the horns van. This is the best I've got. But they had actual devil horns attached to the top of it and a curly tail on the rear window.

The start line.

I was in runner #9 and was in Van #2, which means that we had a while to wait before our turn to run. We met up with Van 1 at the start line to see them off and then the waiting began. My van consisted of me, Erika (who actually used to live in our ward a couple years ago and served in the primary presidency with me), Mark (also in my ward and our team captain), Michelle (Mark's sister-in-law), Cassidy (Michelle's 16 year old daughter), and Nate (a Boston Marathon runner). While we were waiting, Erika and I got an early lunch from the restaurant at the marina. The poor place was swamped with all the Ragnar runners. They only had 2 waitresses and 1 cash register. We didn't mind waiting. We definitely had some time to kill. We didn't get our food for about an hour and a half. It was nice to just sit and visit with Erika and catch up on each others lives.After we got our food, we headed back to the van and got ready to go to our exchange point to start our 1st leg of the relay.

Every runner gets this temporary tattoo before the race. I managed to apply mine with a wet napkin in the backseat of the van. These things are durable! After 3 runs, lots of sweat, and probably 4 or 5 showers, it's still on the back of my calf.

Cassidy, Michelle, and Erika hanging out at the starting point.

By the time we started running, the Nevada heat was in full swing. The temperature quickly got up to about 90 and stayed there. The first leg was brutal for all of us. We quickly learned that the ratings given for each of the legs by the Ragnar organizers are worthless. My first leg was 3.1 miles and was labeled easy. Well, unless running uphill for 3.1 miles in 90 degree heat is your idea of a picnic......I'm just saying. Pretty much everyone's legs were like this. I think it was around 2:30 or 3:00 when I did my 1st leg. I was dripping with sweat after about 30 seconds. I don't usually like to carry a water bottle when I run, but I was really grateful when my van handed me one about a mile into my leg. I was determined to run my entire leg even though nearly everyone was walking at least part of their first leg. I managed to only walk for about one minute, then ran the rest. Even some of the die-hard runners did some walking, which made me feel better. Our van finished our first legs around 6:30-ish. All these times are going to be very vague because everything really just ran all together and it's pretty much a blur.

Erika decided to try running in her halo and wings that we had for our costumes. A lot of the teams were running in crazy stuff. We saw everything from tu-tus to bridal veils, aprons, and speedos. Anyway, she lasted about a half mile or so. The wings were really floppy, so we had her drop them at the side of the road and we crossed over and picked them up.

Nate, the super runner, handing off to Erika. Ragnar uses a slap bracelet as the "baton" for the relay.

Mark, Cassidy, and Erika. Cassidy was runner 12, the last runner. We were waiting for Michelle, runner 11, to come in for the exchange. Since Cassidy was starting around 5:30, she had to put on her full reflective gear and headlamp.

Our van exchange was at the Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort. The place was a madhouse! When you have 400+ teams of 12 runners each, things get a bit crowded. Finding parking was always a problem at every exchange point. Ragnar had tents set up with gear, water, massages, food, etc. Our teammates in Van 1 had been hanging out there for quite a while. They even played in the pool and napped while we were running in the heat of the day. My van decided to forgo all the "hype" at the exchange. We were all starving and tired. So we decided to head towards the next major exchange and find some food on the way. We stopped at Rubio's Mexican Grill for dinner. It was so nice and quiet and relaxed. I scarfed down my delicious grilled chicken tacos, gave myself a baby-wipe bath, changed into clean clothes and then we were off.
We headed to the Henderson Pavillion for our next van exchange. The plan was to try to get a little sleep before our next leg. Most of my van decided to sleep inside the van, but I ended up with my sleeping bag on the sidewalk. I didn't get any sleep, but it was great to just stretch out and close my eyes for a while.
Leg 2 was our night run. I'd never run at night before, so I was a little nervous about it but it proved to be my favorite leg of the relay.
I started my leg somewhere between 11:30 and midnight. My leg was 4.2 uphill on a slow steady incline along the freeway frontage road. It was nice and cool out, which was a welcome change from that afternoon. I ran my entire leg. I even had 4 kills. A "kill" is when you pass another runner. I wasn't expecting to get any at all because I'm a beginner and my pace isn't exactly fast. But it felt really good to pass these guys, especially since every single one of them passed me first. They all ran right by me within the first mile. I just kept my pace nice and steady and eventually caught them all walking or barely running. Then, at about the last 100 yards, one girl that had passed me and then I had passed her came up and passed me again. I thought "Heck no!" and had a sudden burst of energy. I managed to sprint to the exchange and pass her up once again. I don't think she was too happy with me. =)

I sure was happy though! Here I am right after leg #2 in my vest and my headlamp.

After we all finished our second legs, all we wanted to do was sleep. The next major van exchange was #30, but we decided to stop at #27 where they had indoor sleeping and showers. It was a small high school in the middle of nowhere Nevada. Most of my van were already asleep when we got there, so they just stayed in the van. I got out and took my sleeping bag and my clothes with me to find a place to sleep and maybe get a shower. It was almost 4:00AM. The wait for the showers was about 25 minutes and I was ready to collapse, so I opted for sleep first, shower later. They had us sleeping in the gym. It was nice and quiet in there and dark. I found myself a little corner and laid out my sleeping bag. I think I managed to get a little sleep, but not much. Mostly I just laid there with my eyes closed. Sadly, I'm cursed with only being able to sleep well in my own bed. And a gym floor is definitely not my own bed. At 7:00 I got up and headed to the restroom. No time for a shower and I'd left my baby wipes in the van. So I did my best to clean up with paper towels and water. I was none too happy to see that I had some lovely chaffing from my sports bra that had become really sore while I was resting. Soon after that, we loaded up and headed to exchange 30 to meet van 1.
This exchange was at a dirt pit. We had to drive quite a ways on a dirt road to get there and I felt so bad for the runners who had to run this leg. They had vans passing them constantly and kicking up the dirt in their faces.
We started my van's 3rd leg sometime between 8:30 and 9:00, I think. Nate was our first runner. He had to do 10 miles. It was already getting hot out. Most of his run was uphill and I was so impressed to see him run the entire thing and even pass something like 32 runners. Well, most of the runners were walking a lot of this one. Then Erika did her 3rd leg, which was all down hill. After running mostly uphill so far, we thought that sounded nice. But she soon found out that running 5.7 miles downhill is anything but easy.
While Erika was running and we were headed to the next exchange, I got a phone call from Nate, my Nate. He and the kids were at the next exchange waiting to cheer me on. It was so great to see them. As soon as I opened the door to the Jeep, Jayne said, "Mommy! We're here to scream at you for your race!"

Me and Jayne before my last leg.

My last leg was 5.6 miles uphill yet again. By the time I started, the temperature was already up to 90 degrees again. There were no water stations along this leg, so my van planned to stop every mile or two and give me some water. Nate and the kids decided to help out. They took over cheering me on and giving me water so that my van could go ahead to the exchange and get parking. It was so great to hear my kids cheering me on every mile or so and the ice water that Nate brought me was a life saver. I managed to run the first 2.5 miles of my leg. Then I was getting really light headed and sick to my stomach. So I decided that it would be better to walk than to pass out along the side of the road. I would walk a while, then run a while. Then I ran the last mile into the exchange. I don't feel bad at all about walking. For most of this leg, everyone I could see ahead of me was walking at some point. It was brutal!

This is what my last leg looked like. This part was relatively flat, just slightly inclined. The biggest hill was right at the beginning.

My darling kids in the Jeep to cheer on Mommy.

Nate took this less than flattering picture of me running my last quarter mile to the exchange.

After I handed off the bracelet to Mark, my van drove me to Nate and the kids and gave me permission to go hang out with them and meet them at the finish line.
Nate had a big, ice cold diet coke waiting for me and a sweet card that the and the kids had gotten for me. Since the finish line was only about 3 miles from Nate's parents house, we headed there for a shower and some clean clothes. Then Nate and I headed over to the finish line at Desert Breeze Park.
There, I met up with my team. We all put on our wings, halos, and horns and crossed the finish line together.

Horns & Halos headed to the finish line. You can't see me in this picture, but I promise I'm there.

My medal. I didn't even know I got one, but I totally earned it!=)

Miss Cassidy. I have to tell you, this girl was amazing! She was so sick for this relay. She was congested and coughing and exhausted. But she ran every single one of her legs like a pro!


The whole Horns & Halos team.

So there you have it. My Ragnar experience. It was exhausting and hard. I'm so glad that I did it! When I started running in April of this year, I could barely go one mile. And now, just 6 months later, I ran in a Ragnar Relay. I've gotta say....It feels pretty darn good!

My Baby is 3!

2011-10-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

Today is Jayne's 3rd birthday! My baby girl is growing fast. We held a little family party last Saturday night to celebrate. She is so spunky and strong-willed. I think that's why we're having trouble with the potty training. =) Today we're going to take her to use her Build-A-Bear gift card she received from her uncles Jake and Chad and then maybe get some dinner or ice cream or something like that. We also made cupcakes this morning and she can't wait to frost them and blow out candles again.
Happy Birthday Sweet Jayne!

Jayne chose a Little Mermaid cake. It took her a while to blow out all 3 candles. The first attempt was taken over by Jonah. He blew them all out before she even had a chance. So we re-lit the candles so she could do it on her own.

Loving the purple frosting!

Giving kisses to her new Minnie Mouse doll.

Ta-Da! Jayne and Rapunzel are BFFs.


My darling 3 year old.

The Tooth, the Whole Tooth, and Nothing But the Tooth!

2011-10-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

Lilly lost her first tooth this week! Well, she didn't exactly "lose" it as much as Nate finally got fed up with it and pulled that sucker out. It had been loose for quite a while and she was always messing with it. Finally it was barely hanging on, so Nate decided it was time for it to go. Lilly was a little upset about it bleeding, but after a few minutes she was only concerned about the Tooth Fairy's upcoming visit that night. She put her tooth in a plastic baggie and placed it under her pillow that night.

Lilly woke up to one dollar in her baggie and no more tooth. She was delighted! She informed me that the Tooth Fairy is going to use her tooth to help build her castle. I can't believe my Lilly is losing teeth already! Before I know it she'll be wearing lip gloss and talking about boys. Yikes!

My first group run

2011-10-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

This morning I went on my first official group run. I have always run by myself, with the exception of the one 5K run I did this summer. So when our Ragnar team captain invited me to go with him down to the Salt Lake Running Company's group run this morning I figured it would be a good idea.
The run started at the SLRC store on 700 East and went to Liberty park, then a lap or two around the park and back to the store. There were probably about 10 of us there to run. They split us up into pace groups and had one staff member assigned to each group to run with them. I was, of course, in the slowest group. Ours was the 10,11, or 12 minute mile group. It was me, a girl from the staff, a woman in her 50's and a 76 year old lady.
It was nice to have someone to talk to for part of the run. I say 'part' because they all turned around after about 1.5 miles. My total mileage was somewhere between 6.5 and 7 miles. I didn't take my phone with me and I didn't have a watch, so I don't really know my time. I did 2 laps around Liberty Park and then headed back to the store. Even most of the faster group only did one lap around the park, so my ride had to wait a while for me. It was nice to have some new scenery on my run and the weather was nice and cool, but not rainy.
Maybe eventually I'll get to a pace where my group run will actually be with a group. But I'm giving myself props for even going at all. Being around all those "serious" runners who are super skinny and wearing all their special running gear is a bit intimidating. I think they were all surprised when I actually went the distance with no walking and without turning around early with my group. I may be slow, but at least I go.

It's all a bit fuzzy

2011-10-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

I keep meaning to blog, but it just never happens. I don't have any fabulously cute pictures to post or any grand adventures to report. It's just been life as usual in the Barnum household. Well, mostly normal.
Nate got sick a couple of weeks ago. He kind of has this fabulous history of getting sick and when he gets sick, he goes all out. No minor colds for this guy. This time it started with extreme exhaustion, mild fevers, and massive cold sweats. He was soaking through his clothes in an hour and I had to wash so many sheets and blankets that I lost count. He didn't have much of an appetite and he was either freezing cold or burning hot all the time and then a lovely cough joined the ensemble. Being the man that he is, he tried really hard not to miss work. I made him call in for two days and then on the third day he went in and they sent him home after about 20 minutes. It took about a week before I was able to drag him to the doctor's office. The culprit? Bronchitis. So he took a round of antibiotics and he's doing much better. The cough is still hanging on a bit, but that's nothing compared to how it was.
I've been keeping busy with the kids, my school work, cub scouts, and running. The Ragnar relay is two weeks from today. I'm not gonna lie. I'm a little bit freaked out about it. Especially since Nate couldn't get the time off work to go down with us. Now I get to drive down to Las Vegas with the kids all by myself. I'm also a bit worried about the running part. I've been doing my training and I'm sure I'll be fine. I even did two runs within 6 hours of each other the other day, one was 3 miles and one was 4.7. My Ragnar legs are 3.1, 4.2, and 5.6 miles. I can do each of those distances individually pretty easy. It's the putting them all within 24-36 hours of each other that I'm a bit worried about.
Anyhoo....I just dropped in for a little blog therapy. Maybe soon I'll have something wonderfully interesting to share. =)

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-09-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

Today is my 29th birthday! Since this blog is for posterity and such, I thought it might be fun to take a little photographic trip down memory lane. I do it on the kids' birthdays, so why not for mine? So, ready or not, here we go back to September 13, 1982......Just a warning, since I'm getting old, this could take a while. 29 years is a lot of ground to cover.

My first picture at the hospital. I weighed in at 7lbs 2.5oz and was 21 inches long. I was born in Tarzana, CA. I had 2 older brothers and the story goes that my dad thought the little bows that they stick on babies' heads looked stupid, so he wouldn't let the nurses put one on me.

My beautiful mother holding me in my blessing dress. My dress and bonnet were made for me by my Grandma Beth.


My mom entered me in the 1983 North Ogden Cherry Days baby contest. I won a prize for the blondest hair.

I think I was 2 or 3 in this picture. I'm not sure.

Playing guitar with my dad. He used to play cowboy songs for us all the time. "Ghost Riders in the Sky" was always my favorite.

9 years old, in the 3rd grade. Gotta love the big teeth and ears. =)


I loved to play soccer growing up. This picture is from 1993. Don't you just love the stonewashed denim shorts? I was so on trend!

We're going to just skip right over junior high, because let's face it, that was my really really awkward period and those pictures just need to be burned. Besides, it's my birthday, so I get to decide what you do and do not see. =)

I sang in choir all through junior high and high school. This picture is from my senior year, I was 17 in this one.

I was the president of our high school chamber choir. This is a picture of our zany bunch!

Then I went off to college at SUU.

I still sang in choir (it's kind of mandatory for a music major) and we got to wear these stellar red robes for all of our performances. This picture is me and my roommate Julieann.

Me and some of my roommates and neighbors. These girls made college more fun than should be allowed!

Then I met Nate, got married, and started having babies.


June 29, 2002


Spring 2004--After I got married and then got pregnant, I totally bought into the "eat whatever you want because you're pregnant" thing and it was not a good idea. This was me at my heaviest, around 230lbs. Yikes!

By the time we had our sweet Lilly, I'd gotten my act together. =)

Jayne came along in October 2008

I love my darling family!

So now I'm 29. I have a wonderful husband, three beautiful children, I'm a stay at home mom doing school online and I love my life!

Mister Comb

2011-09-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

Jayne has naturally curly hair which tends to acquire many tangles. You can imagine that getting a 2 year old to sit or stand still while I comb out her tangles could be a challenge. Well, one day about a month ago, I was trying to get her to sit still so I could comb out her hair and she was not cooperating. Then Mister Comb appeared. I simply started talking to her in a ridiculously bad southern accent using the comb sort of like a puppet. It worked like magic! Mr. Comb asked her about her day and she just stood perfectly still while she told him everything she had done that day. We got the tangles out and everyone was happy and I thought that was the end of it. I thought wrong.
Jayne now requests to talk to Mr. Comb every single day, and not just while we're combing her hair either. She'll randomly come up to me holding the comb and say, "Mom, I need to talk to Mr. Comb." She's also started personifying other objects, like her clothes.
I had no idea it would be such a big deal. Nate is not a big fan of Mr. Comb. He hates the voice I use and so Mr. Comb rarely makes an appearance when Daddy is around. I have no idea how long Mr. Comb will be with us, but I have a feeling this is going to become a long term relationship.

Back to School!

2011-08-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

School is now officially in full swing at the Barnum house. Jonah started 2nd grade last Monday, Lilly started kindergarten today, and I started fall semester today as well.

This year the kids are going to a brand new elementary school. It is so new in fact, that it technically isn't even finished yet. On the first day of school there was still no library, no playground equipment, no gym, no working kitchen, and even no electricity in a couple of the classrooms. Can you say "behind schedule"?! But the kids haven't seemed to care. They play hopscotch and basketball and tag at recess and Jonah didn't really mind at all the his entire first week of lunches were bag lunches like what they have on field trips and such.
Lilly did great with her first day of kindergarten today. She had absolutely no problem going to class. Jayne was a bit put out that she didn't get to go to school. She didn't seem to really miss Lilly though until about 15 minutes before we picked her up. Then she had a massive breakdown! I think it was 1 part tired, 1 part hungry, and 2 parts "I miss my big sister!"
I started fall semester today. I'm taking two classes, family finance and research writing in a persuasive mode. I logged into my classes today to find that they've changed the entire online classes system. I'm not too happy about that. I was a pro at the old one. So I'm still kind of figuring everything out. I'm excited about the classes though. I think they'll both be really interesting and a bit challenging. I'm glad I took my own advice and only registered for two classes instead of three. These two are promising to be quite time consuming.
We're celebrating everyone being back in school with pizza tonight. That's my excuse anyway. =)

Oregon Part 3

2011-08-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

The kids had been asking to play in the sand, so on Wednesday morning we headed down to Lake Marie. The lake was much warmer than the ocean and we had the beach all to ourselves. The first order of business was to build a sandcastle. Then Nate informed us that once you build a sandcastle, you have to destroy it. Apparently that's the whole reason for building it in the first place. Jonah loved wading in the water and looking for seashells. He actually found some too. He also had a lot of fun chasing water skeeters. The girls preferred to stay on the beach and play in the sand.

Beautiful Lake Marie

Lilly & Jonah working on the sand castle.

The proud castle-builders and their finished product. I know it's not fancy, but we don't exactly have a lot of experience with sand castles. :)

The inevitable destruction of the castle.

Jonah tried unsuccessfully to defend his beloved creation.

We went back to camp to get everyone cleaned up. It's a good thing they had showers or we would have never gotten all of the sand off everyone! We made lunch and had a nice afternoon nap. (I have to admit that taking a nap every afternoon was one of my favorite things about this trip!)

After our nap we headed over to the lighthouse museum. We were going to do the tour so that the kids could climb up into the lighthouse, but you have to pay for the tour and they only accept cash. We'd just used up the last of our cash the day before. So we were content to simply walk through the museum. It was neat to learn about the lighthouse. They had some of the rooms done up like they were when the coast guard used the house and we got to see some of their uniforms and gear.

After the lighthouse museum we decided to drive to Florence. We walked around and looked in the shops, picked up a few more fun souvenirs, and had some delicious ice cream.

The kids each got to pick out a stuffed animal from the Funky Monkey toy shop. Jonah chose a shark, Lilly chose an octopus, and Jayne chose a sea turtle. Lilly named her octopus Oregonia so that she could remember where she got her from.

Lilly wanted her picture taken in this chair inside one of the shops.


And of course Jayne had to sit in the chair too!

By the time we got back to camp it was starting to get late. We had some dinner and got everyone in their pajamas. Then we decided to head down to the lighthouse one last time and watch the sunset over the ocean.

I didn't tell them to salute. I think they wanted to pretend to be members of the coast guard.

The Umpqua River Lighthouse

After much begging and pleading, we finally managed to scrounge up a couple of quarters so the kids could look through the binoculars.

On Thursday we woke up, packed up, and headed out. We split the drive home into two days because 15 hours in the car was just too much. We spent Thursday night at a hotel in Boise, Idaho. About halfway across Oregon our A/C in the car decided not to work for us anymore. So we had a long, hot, windy (because we had to have the windows down), drive home. The highlight for the kids was when we stopped at a park right outside of Burns, OR. It had two enormous slides! Even Jayne went straight for them and I had to follow her. Not because she was scared, but because the ladders going up to these slides were the really skinny kind and I was worried she might fall. But she did great. Me....not so much. I didn't fall or anything, but I was not too happy to be up that high on what felt like a rickety structure.

We didn't get to the hotel until around 8pm. Nate kept saying, "We should just keep going. It's only 5 more hours!" But to me and the kids, 5 more hours was out of the question. I think all four of us were done for the day. We arrived home around 2:00 on Friday afternoon.

Well, that about wraps up our trip. We had such a great time and made so many fun memories! We're already trying to decide what adventure we should go on next!

Oregon Part 2

2011-08-19T16:37:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was spent exploring. We started by driving to Shore Acres Gardens. These beautiful gardens are on the top of rocky cliffs by the ocean. They have so many beautiful flowers and plants. The kids loved the roses! They had to smell every single kind of rose that they had.

The rocky shores below the gardens.

Nate and the girls checking out the view.

Jonah was so excited to look out over the ocean!

We had a lot of fun climbing on this old tree and taking pictures.

Nate and Jayne

Jonah & Lilly in the gardens

Checking out some of the flowers

I can't remember the name of these flowers. It was something like 'starfire'.

I thought these swirling leaves were magnificent!

Lilly, Jonah, & Jayne beneath the monkey puzzle tree.

Jayne smelling the roses. I love her face!

Lilly had to smell every single type of rose too.

Taking a circus peanut break.

More of the gardens.

After the gardens, we went to Coos Bay. Nate wanted to take us to the Myrtlewood Factory. It was neat to see how they turn a giant tree into such beautiful things!

Then we headed down to Bandon, another coastal town. We went to their "Old Town" and checked out the shops. I remember going there with Nate the summer we were married. It was fun to look in all the shops. I got some divine smelling bath salts and we sampled the sweets at the candy factory. My favorite was the licorice flavored dark chocolate. I would never have thought of putting those two together, but they were perfect! We bought some fudge, an absolute must! Nate picked out 6 different flavors. We had cookies and cream, peanut butter, rocky road, white chocolate with walnuts, mint chocolate, and walnut pinoche. My favorite was the white chocolate. Nate and the kids loved the peanut butter. We let the kids pick out some seashells for souvenirs. Jonah and Lilly chose sea stars and Jayne chose a tiger conch.

By the time we got back to camp, we were all ready for bed. We had some dinner, relaxed by the fire, and turned in early.

Hanging out around the fire.

Oregon Part 1

2011-08-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

While Nate was growing up, he spent quite a few summers in Oregon with his family. He took me there once, right after we got married and we've always wanted to go again and take the kids. So this year we decided to do it. We spent 5 days camping at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park near Winchester Bay and Reedsport.

I'm going to have to split up the trip into a few different posts simply because there is so much to tell and there are so many pictures to share. So here goes.....

If you know me but at all, you know that camping is not my favorite. I don't like being dirty. I don't like sleeping in a tent. I don't like the campfire smell that permeates your clothes and hair. And I definitely don't like outhouses. So when Nate said he wanted to go camping in Oregon, I told him I had a few conditions. We had to have a campground with showers and flushing toilets and the cooking had to be kept simple. He knew right where to go. I have to admit that I enjoyed this camping trip more than any other that I've done before. Being able to take a hot shower every day, not have the stink of an outhouse, getting to eat out occasionally, and Nate taking over the rest of the cooking definitely made it enjoyable. =) The nice, cool weather helped too. In my experience, camping has always been hot and sweaty during the day and a little bit miserable. In Oregon, the highs were in the upper 60's. It was pure bliss!

I'm still not sure what possessed us to schedule the trip like we did. We planned it back in March or April. Somehow it ended up that we would be leaving for Oregon the same day that Nate would be getting back from Scout Camp and we would be in Oregon during finals week of my summer semester. Not our best bit of planning, but we pulled it off.

So I spent the week before our trip being a crazy woman. I had lots of school assignments to do plus taking my finals early and getting ready for the trip. Nate was gone to Scout Camp from Thursday until Saturday. Thanks to a lot of help from family, (Nate's parents were in town and watched the kids while I did some of my finals and my mom took them Friday night and all day Saturday so I could finish up assignments and get the packing done) we managed to get everything done and were ready to leave late Saturday night.

We decided to take our car, a Chevy Impala, rather than our Jeep Commander. The Commander has more room and is much more comfortable for long drives, but the Impala gets 10 to 15 miles per gallon more than the Jeep and on a long drive that translates into a couple of hundred dollars worth of difference.

Much to my amazement, Nate managed to pack everything we would need into the trunk of our Chevy Impala. In order to save space, we didn't take up all of our food for the trip. We just packed what we would need for the first day or two and then planned to get groceries in Oregon.

It's a 15 hour drive to where we were staying. Nate prefers to do long drives through the night so that the kids can sleep and there's a lot less traffic. The drive was pretty uneventful. The kids slept pretty well most of the way. We arrived at our campsite at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park in the mid-afternoon on Sunday.

The campground was nice and peaceful. There was a lake, Lake Marie, near the campground and it's just a short drive down to the lighthouse and the ocean. The first thing we did after getting the tent set up was to take a nice long nap. That night we roasted hot dogs and s'mores for dinner. We walked down to check out the lake. There's a 1 mile trail that goes around the lake and there is a small sandy beach area for playing or swimming. The rest of the evening we just relaxed in camp. Then we slept to the sound of the ocean waves crashing on the rocks and the foghorn of the lighthouse in the distance.

On Monday the first order of business was to get a few groceries. So we went to the Safeway in Reedsport. That store is tiny! You can barely get your cart through the aisles. The clerk informed us that we had great timing. We had just missed the annual Dune Fest that had been that weekend. Apparently the town is pretty much overrun by people and their dune buggies and the store had lots of problems with overcrowding and stealing. She said she was so glad to see them all go.

After a healthy breakfast at McDonald's, (yes, that's how I cook when I camp) we headed back to camp. Then we decided to go check out the pier where people were doing some crabbing. First we had to walk on the beach. This was the first time any of our kids had been to the ocean and they were so excited to walk in the sand in their bare feet and look for seashells.

After getting sufficiently wet and sandy, we walked down the pier to watch the crabbing. Two gentlemen were kind enough to explain everything to the kids and let them watch as they pulled in their crabs and sorted out the ones that had to be thrown back.

We spent the rest of Monday at our campsite. The kids loved playing in the dirt and Jonah even found a little "camouflage" spot in the bushes where he and Lilly liked to set up their chairs and hang out. I took this picture right after Jonah said, "Mom! I bet you can't see me. I blend right in!"

That night, after everyone was in their pajamas and it had gotten dark, we decided to drive over to the lighthouse so that the kids could see it lit up. The kids loved seeing how the lights danced on the trees and out into the ocean.


Daddy & Jayne at the lighthouse.

Well, that's about it for part one of our adventure. Be sure to read part two about our adventures at the Shore Acre Gardens, Coos Bay, Bandon, and Florence.

Zoorassic Park

2011-08-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

We absolutely love going to the Hogle Zoo! This summer they have what they are calling "Zoorassic Park". There are huge dinosaur replicas placed all around the zoo. Jonah has been asking to go ever since he first saw an advertisement for it. We finally made it out there a couple of weeks ago. The kids loved finding all of the dinosaurs and seeing the animals as well.

Jayne just had to check out the inside of this T-Rex's mouth

We had to ride the carousel! Twice!

Lilly on her turkey.


They had this T-Rex set up for photos. The kids loved climbing up on his back!

We're really looking forward to seeing the new arctic section of the zoo that they're working on. They had lots of pictures and diagrams of what it's going to be like. Our kids love the zoo so much that they went again with Grandma Laurie a week later and still had a wonderful time. Plus, it's a great way to tire them out and ensure a nice, long family afternoon nap. ;)

24th of July Float Preview Party

2011-08-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

The 24th of July is a holiday here in Utah known as Pioneer Day. It's when we celebrate the arrival of the pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley. As part of the festivities, there is a huge parade in downtown Salt Lake. The week before the parade, all of the floats are on display at an expo center in Sandy. I decided to take the kids down and see what it was all about. That place was crazy! There was a high school marching band performing (which echoed like mad in that place), balloon artists and clowns making balloon animals for the kids, face painting, a couple of games, and of course the floats. I didn't get too many pictures since I did this outing as the sole adult and pretty much had my hands full just keeping all three kids close by and making sure they weren't run over by some of the over-eager float viewers. Yes, that really was happening.
The floats were amazing! It's so cool to see them up close and really notice the details and see how much work is put into them. Many of them had moving parts and played music. We walked around to see all of the floats, got the kids' faces painted (or arm in Jonah's case), and got balloon animals for each of them.

Jonah got a spider on his wrist, Lilly got a tiger eye, and Jayne got a ladybug on her forehead (she didn't want it on her cheek).

Tiger Lilly with her butterfly.

Jonah got a snake balloon.


Jayne showing off her ladybug. It had glitter and everything.

Tracy Aviary

2011-08-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

While Nate's parents and sister were in town back in July, we decided to visit the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City. I've lived in Utah all my life and had never been to the aviary before but I'd heard it was pretty neat. We went on a weekday and were happy to find that it wasn't crowded at all. The kids really loved seeing all the exotic species of birds there and I must admit, I thought it was pretty cool too. We even took in the "Eat or be Eaten" bird show. They talked about the difference between birds of prey and birds that usually are prey to other animals. They brought out all kinds of birds and even got Grandma Barnum to volunteer to have one of the birds hop on her arm like a branch!

Lilly was very good at consulting her map.

My crazy birds!

Golden Eagle

Jonah and Daddy hamming it up!

Yes, I really was there!

Daddy & Jayne coming down from the tree house in Owl Village

The kids really liked Owl Village. It was full of fun facts about owls as well as plenty of things to climb on and explore.
If you've never been to the Aviary, I highly recommend it. Our family loved it and will definitely be going back.

Camping with the Culbertsons

2011-08-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

You can all breathe a sigh of relief and rejoice! I found the camera cord! That means we have some catching up to do. We're going all the way back to July 7th! We went camping with my mom, one of my sisters, and one of my brothers. We went to Payson Lakes Campground. Nate and I had never been there before. It was very pretty and our campsite was nice and secluded. Jake brought his fabulous trailer, Mom and Sarah had their tent, and we, of course, brought our lovely tent that we acquired last summer.

Got the tent set up and we are ready to camp!

As the name of the campground implies, there was a lake nearby. Jake had brought all of his fishing gear and was so kind to let the kids fish with him. I don't know much of anything about fishing except that I don't like to do it. Jake was so patient and good with the kids. He helped them each bait their hooks and cast their lines more times than I can count. Sadly, no one caught anything. But it wasn't for lack of trying, that's for sure.

The Beautiful Lake

Jonah casting his line all by himself

Lilly loved holding her fishing pole!

Even Jayne gave it a try

Being silly by the lake!

Jayne is ready with the net!

Time for a Cheeto break. Every time Jayne pulled a Cheeto out of the bag she had to say the line from the movie "Despicabe Me"....."Aw, my caterpillar never turned into a butterfly" then she'd get you to tell her that it's not a caterpillar and she'd say "Oh, well." and pop it into her mouth. She seriously went through this routine with every single Cheeto that day.

Grandma Laurie trying to stay warm and dry.

We got rained on quite a bit. But what fun is camping if you don't get a little muddy, right?
My mom and Sarah kept the kids entertained with fun activities, crafts, and even a treasure hunt.

Jayne, Jonah, & Lilly sporting the visors that they decorated.

Hunting for treasure

Chilling around the campfire waiting for the foil dinners to cook.

Getting crafty with Aunt Sarah

Uncle Jake, Aunt Sarah, Grandma Laurie, Jonah, & Lilly roasting hot dogs.

After the rain, came the rainbow. This picture doesn't do it justice.

And then of course, there was a beautiful sunset that just lit the sky with gold!

It was a short camping trip, just two nights, but it was a lot of fun. Thanks Jake for bringing you trailer and for helping the kids with their fishing. Thanks Mom and Sarah for keeping the kids happy. We had a wonderful time!

"The Lost Camera Cord" and/or "My Endless List of Excuses"

2011-07-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you how many times I have thought about updating this blog in the last few weeks. Seriously, it's got to be in the thousands at least! And then when I finally sat down to do it I couldn't find the cord that connects my camera to my computer. So I figured I'd just wait until I found the cord because a blog post about our camping adventure or swimming lessons just isn't the same without pictures to go with it. So, yeah, that was a week ago. Other excuses for my recent lack of blogging include, but are not limited to:

Trying to finish up the last few weeks of my semester one week early because we're going on vacation during finals week
Reading and listening to way too much environmental chemistry
Finishing all my statistics assignments for the entire semester(which I did on Monday, thank you very much!)
Shuttling the kiddos to swim lessons
Trying to have some fun outings with the kids while they're all on summer break
Writing observation papers for middle childhood development
Various cub scout activities
Running
Family get-togethers with the in-laws
Losing that ridiculous cord that I only have one of!

Anyhoo, I just wanted to pop by and let the world (by that I mean my mother and the very few who like to read about our crazy life so that they can feel better about their own) know that we are still here and exciting adventures are occurring and as soon as I turn my house upside down and find that blasted tiny cord that I KNOW I put in a "special place"(which is code for a never ending abyss of blackness) I WILL post about them!

4th of July!

2011-07-06T16:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day! I started mine by running in the local 5K race. There weren't very many runners, but it was fun and I was planning to do a run that morning anyway. I finished in 32 minutes, which isn't fast, but it's not super slow either. I really liked having a finish line at the end of my run. =)
Nate had to work all day. My mom and sisters came down and brought the kids to the park where the race ended and we had breakfast there. Then we went home and got all cleaned up for the parade.
The kids loved the parade! All three of them were cheering and clapping and dancing throughout the entire thing.


We got rained on this year. It's a good thing Grandma Laurie brought her umbrella!

After the parade, Grandma Laurie(my mom) treated us to pizza at our house. We checked out the booths and carnival at the park. I have to say I was a bit disappointed. The carnival prices were ridiculous and the booths were sparse and mostly just things for sale, no fun little games for the kids or anything. But we did get a cute picture from West Bench Photography's photo booth and the kids played a couple of overpriced carnival games and then we hit the playground before deciding to come home and play in the kids' pool.

The kids' cute photo booth pic. They got their faces, well arms in the girls' case, painted.

We did a few fireworks of our own before bed.

It's the little things in life, right? =)

The girls were exhausted and went right to sleep. Jonah stayed awake and watched all the aerial fireworks going off around the neighborhood and then watched the Magna fireworks from the front porch with Mom and Dad.
It was a fun and busy day. And we all paid for it on the 5th. =)

Our 9th Wedding Anniversary

2011-06-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, June 29th, was our 9th wedding anniversary. I usually do a post for our anniversary about how much we've learned or how we met or what we've done in the past however many years. But this year is special. This year I have a working scanner! That means we get to take a trip down memory lane and write about the actual wedding! So brace yourself for lots of pictures and perhaps some mushy details.

The first thing you have to know about our wedding is that it was planned in 8 weeks, mostly by my mom. The first two weeks after we got engaged I was going to school full time. The entire 8 weeks that we were engaged, I was performing the lead in a local production of 'The Pirates of Penzance' on Mondays, Fridays, & Saturdays with a few rehearsals in between. And when I wasn't at school or in the play I was usually in Las Vegas visiting Nate because, let's be honest, I just couldn't stay away! So the bulk of the wedding planning fell to my amazing mother. I picked out the colors and my dress and the pattern for the bridesmaids' dresses and the invitations, but that was about it. Oh, and I did pick out the flowers as well. But picking things out is the easy part. My mom had to do the rest and she did a great job.
Another thing you should know is that our wedding was definitely on a budget. I didn't really care about having some big fancy affair. I just wanted something simple and beautiful.
So, let's start with the night before because that's a really good story. Friday, June 28th, was my final performance in Pirates. Some of the family came to the performance and then we went to my aunt and uncle's for ice cream sundaes. It was around 1:00am when Nate drove me home. He got pulled over for bunny hopping a stop sign on a road with absolutely no other traffic. Well, except the cop who was lurking in the shadows. I think I finally got to bed around 2 or 3 in the morning. Then I had to be at the salon at 7:00am to have my hair done.
After I got all beautified, we headed to the Bountiful Temple for the wedding. My mom insisted on driving me rather than letting me ride with Nate. Before the sealing, our sealer took us aside to educate us on what types of kisses were and were not appropriate in the temple. I thought that was odd. Even better, he thought that Nate was only 19 and gave him a brief "Are you sure you want to do this? You should serve a mission first." speech. You'll understand when you see the pictures in a minute. He definitely looks young.
I don't remember a lot about the actual sealing. I was too love struck and just remember seeing Nate across the alter and thinking "Here is my eternity." We didn't do a ring ceremony because Nate didn't realize he was supposed to bring the wedding ring to the wedding. Yeah, I know. I don't get it either.
Anyway, we got all dressed up and had pictures taken at the temple. Then we had a small lunch at a local chapel. Nate's mom took care of feeding everyone and it was fun to just relax and visit. After lunch we had about an hour and a half before the reception. I was so exhausted that I took a short nap.
Our reception was held on the property of the grandparents of my friend Erin. They own a nursery in Farr West and had this beautiful little garden space right next to it. It was right off the freeway making it easy to find, had plenty of parking, was a beautiful little setting, and best of all they let us use it for free.    Like I said, we just had a simple reception. Some of the highlights included me getting a fabulous sunburn on my neckline from standing in the reception line all evening, accidentally grabbing the best man's behind because I thought it was Nate, lots and lots of family and friends, Nate being paranoid that someone would "decorate" his Hyundai Santa Fe (which they started to and then he caught them and gave them one of his looks and they didn't dare do any more to it), cake, cake, and more cake, pictures, and throwing the bouquet and the garter.
After the reception we got changed and ready to head to the Little America in Salt Lake for the night. But first, Nate insisted on washing the Santa Fe. Yes, it was that important to him. I'm not going to share what happened the rest of the evening*wink,wink*.    Although I will give a shout out to the Pizza Hut delivery guy who had the worst timing in the world.
So that's the story of our wedding. Now for some pictures of the blessed event.

The Happy Couple outside of the Bountiful Temple

My bridesmaids and my little cousin Natalie. From left to right: Julieann Stark, Erin Barnett, Sarah Culbertson, Amanda Barnum, Rachel Culbertson. Amanda's dress was sewn by my mother-in-law, Wendy, and the others were sewn by my mom. Wendy also made the pretty garlands for their hair and I didn't even ask her to. They add the perfect touch!

The Bride


The Groom (see how young he looks?!)

See what I mean about the great setting?

Happily Ever After! That's how you do it!

RAGNAR? Yikes!

2011-06-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

I mentioned a while back that I've taken up running a little bit. Well, I don't know if you could really call it running. It's more like jogging at slightly more than a snail's pace compared to people who are real, true blue "runners". I usually run 2 to 3 times a week and average between 2 and 4 miles per run.
Well, a guy in our ward does quite a bit of running and put together a team for the Las Vegas RAGNAR relay race in October. I think I must be crazy, because I decided to be on it! This is where the "Yikes!" from the title comes in.
So, what is a RAGNAR relay? It's a very long relay race, 188 miles. This one is from Lake Mead to Las Vegas. Each team has 12 runners and each runner does 3 legs of the race. When you're not running, you're in a van with your teammates. I've been assured that there are legs of the race that are easy/moderate and between 5 to 8 miles that I can do. If you want to learn more about the RAGNAR, you can go to the Las Vegas RAGNAR website.
They have a suggested training schedule that I'm following and I'm excited about this adventure, but I have to admit that I'm a little freaked out. I've never done anything like this before and I'm a bit surprised at myself for agreeing to it. But there's no backing out now and I don't want to anyway. So wish me luck!

Our weekend "camping" trip

2011-06-16T19:05:00.000-07:00

Nate had last Friday, Saturday, & Sunday off, which is an extremely rare thing. We decided kind of at the last minute that we wanted to head down to the St. George area and go camping. We wanted to go to Zion's National Park. So I checked online and all the campsites that you can reserve were full. There are about 150 walk up campsites that are first come, first served. After calling down to the park information people, we were reassured that if we got there first thing in the morning, we'd likely get a place to camp.
So we loaded up the car and headed down the road at about 4:30 Friday morning. Yes, we took the car. It gets twice the mileage that our Jeep Commander gets. And yes, Nate fit everything in that trunk including our tent, four sleeping bags, our cooler, two backpacks, one suitcase, one box of firewood, one big box of camping cooking gear, and a port-a-potty. Impressed? You totally should be. That man is a packing genius!
Anyway, the drive down went smoothly enough until we got to Zion's and lo and behold every single camping space was taken. It was 9:30 in the morning for crying out loud! I guess that's what we get for not calling ahead. We decided to drive through the park since we were there. The scenery was absolutely beautiful! We drove through the long tunnel. The kids loved that part. They yelled things out the windows to hear their own echo.
After the drive we decided we'd better get going if we were going to find a camping spot anywhere else. Well, after driving to 4 or 5 different campgrounds and being turned away at all of them, we threw in the towel. It was now about 4:00 in the afternoon and we were all hot and tired and hungry. It's a good thing that Nate has relatives in St. George. His aunt and uncle were out of town for the weekend and let us sleep at their house. They live next door to Nate's Grandpa Barnum and take care of him. Nate's sister had been staying there while they were away, but she had to go back to Las Vegas to take an exam and decided that since we were there, she didn't need to come back. It was good to spend time with Grandpa. We took him with us to get shakes at Iceberg and took him to lunch at Chuck-A-Rama. We spent our weekend playing in the yard and at the park, seeing a movie, visiting the St. George temple, and napping.
While it definitely wasn't the relaxing, nature-filled weekend that we had envisioned, it turned out nice. I especially enjoyed reading some of Nate's grandparents' personal histories. His grandmother was an excellent record keeper. She kept journals and wrote down hers and her husband's life histories. We didn't get to read them all the way through, but it was fascinating to read about Grandpa's experiences in WWII and Grandma's life and challenges and both of their faith.

Loading up bright and early.

Lilly was just so happy to finally be out of the car!

This is what Jayne was doing by the time we finished driving through Zion's.

Lilly thought Grandpa's flowers were so pretty that she just had to have her picture taken by them.

Jonah showed off his Frisbee skills at the park.

Swinging the day away.

St. George Temple

We're planning another camping trip in a few weeks. This time we've got reservations. =) Wish us luck with that one!

Lilly's new haircut and Jonah's latest creative project

2011-05-31T16:17:00.000-07:00

We finally gave in. We've been growing Lilly's hair out for quite a while now. I really wanted it long enough to put in ponytails and cute braids for the summer, but Lilly disagreed. She hates ponytails and whines and fusses anytime you try to put one in her hair and on the off chance that you're successful in this daring endeavor, you can't expect the results to last long. She'll pull those elastics out as soon as you turn your back. That means her hair is always down and usually a bit scraggly looking.
She's been asking to get it cut short for a long time and I finally agreed. We both love the results! All we have to do in the morning is comb down the back and put in a clip to hold her bangs out of her face. Luckily, she loves clips. Here are a couple of before and after shots.

Lilly's hair about a week before we got it cut. Yeah, she's excited about that big bag of chocolate in her hands. =)

The new haircut

A nice little side view. On a side note, that tag is driving me crazy. I really wish I could just reach into the picture and tuck it in.

Jonah's been keeping busy lately. He loves to create things. He's always telling me he wants to do a "craft project". That usually means I'll be out of tape and paper in about 5 minutes and I'll be finding scraps of things all over my house for days. His latest endeavor is a dragon made out of cardboard boxes. He made the whole thing himself one afternoon and now the dragon is standing guard by his bed as he works on his next big project, turning his room into a library. Yes, we will have the Jonah Barnum library in our house in just 4 days. That's his projection for when it will be finished. He says there will be contests and prizes at the grand opening and lots and lots of books to check out. He's even writing one for it himself. I love my creative little guy!

And of course Jayne's been busy too. Busy keeping Mom busy. She doesn't want to wear anything but dresses and swimsuits lately no matter how chilly it is that day. She's been singing me lots of songs and wanting to read lots of books. Today, she even threw me a "Queen Birthday Party!" where we had cake, presents, and I was ordered to fall asleep on the couch while she read me a Scooby-Doo book.

(Pre) School's Out for Summer!

2011-05-31T15:50:00.000-07:00

Thursday, May 26th was Lilly's last day of preschool. She now officially calls herself a kindergartener and is constantly telling me that she wants kindergarten to start tomorrow. We're so proud of our Lilly and how well she's done in school. She can write every letter of the alphabet and her numbers and she's started to read. She loves the social aspect of school and made lots of friends this year. On their last day of school, her class did a short program for the parents. They did some songs and nursery rhymes and read a story together. Each child got a turn leading the class in one of the numbers.

Lilly with her teachers, Miss Amy and Miss Sara

WW Update

2011-05-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

If anyone is actually reading this blog, you've probably noticed that I haven't really posted much about weight watchers lately. Why, you ask? Mostly because nothing is really happening with it. I'm uber frustrated with my lack of progress and blogging about it just makes it worse. Let me explain the situation.

As most of you know, I've done Weight Watchers before with tremendous success, losing an average of 1 to 2 pounds per week. Last fall, Weight Watchers changed their program. It's still a points program, but now the points are calculated differently. They used to be based on calories, fat, and fiber. Now they are calculated using fat, fiber, protein, and carbohydrates. Fresh fruit is 0 points and so are most vegetables. For some reason, my body doesn't seem to be responding to this new plan. I sort of yo-yo back and forth between losing and gaining, even when I'm tracking everything and staying within my limits and getting in my exercise. I've now been doing the plan for 4 months and have lost a whopping total of 4 pounds! Not exactly great results.

So, I've decided to terminate my membership, mostly because I can't justify paying $40/month for something that's not working for me. I'm trying to round up all the old points lists and tools so that I can follow the old plan on my own. I'm hoping that combining the old points system with my current workouts will give me some better results.

I'll keep doing my favorite Denise Austin DVD (which I've totally slacked on lately, but I did do it tonight) and I've been dabbling in running lately. Yes, you read that right. Any of you who've known me a long time will know that I don't run. I've never really enjoyed it. But I was doing a lot of walking and I'd find myself feeling the urge to run. It was like my body was telling me to just let it go, so I did. I started with short intervals of running and walking and last Friday I actually ran 2 miles with no walking involved whatsoever. I know 2 miles really isn't much for a seasoned runner, but for me it's monumental! I've never in my whole life run that far. It felt pretty good. So I figure I'll run 3 to 4 times per week and do my DVD at least 3 times per week and hopefully that combined with the old eating plan will kick things into gear.

P.S. If anyone has good suggestions for running music, I'd love to hear them! Right now I mostly use the Pandora radio on my phone, which sometimes is great and sometimes I'm skipping songs left and right. I want to get an i-pod or something to download some music on specifically for my running workouts.

Lilly Turned 5!

2011-05-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday was Lilly's 5th birthday. We celebrated that night by going out bowling as a family. It was fun to watch the kids rolling the ball down the lane and see their excitement when the pins fell. We all had a great time!
Then on Saturday we had the extended family over for a pizza party as per Lilly's request.

Lilly in her Happy Birthday crown that she got from her preschool class.

Lilly got a mermaid Barbie. Her hair changes color and her fins transform into a hoodie for when she's a human. She also came with a sparkly pink dolphin.

Can you tell that my girl loves chocolate? She could not believe the size of this bag of m&m's that she got.

Lilly couldn't wait to wear this new summer outfit.

Lilly picked out a Tangled cake.


She was so eager to blow out her candles that we weren't even close to finished singing 'Happy Birthday' when she took a big breath and blew them all out. I think she was worried about Jonah blowing them out. He was inching closer and closer as the song went on.

So Happy Birthday Lilly! We're so lucky to have you as part of our family!

Easter Fun!

2011-05-05T12:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm well aware that it's been almost 2 weeks since Easter. Better late than never, right? We had a wonderful Easter full of coloring eggs, yummy food and an Easter egg hunt at Grandma Laurie's house, and of course, Easter baskets that the Bunny left at our house.
We also enjoyed a visit with Nate's parents and sisters the weekend before Easter. The kids loved playing with the girls and Grandma even prepared a little Easter hunt for the kids with fun goodies to find.

The kids colored Easter eggs and even did some with glitter.

Jayne with some of her Easter goodies that the Bunny left her.

Aunt Rachel showed Jayne how much fun it is to eat olives off your fingers.

Jonah examining some of the loot he found at Grandma's house.

The kids love their pinwheels. They like to run around the backyard with them and make them spin as fast as they can.

Jayne found so many eggs that she needed both her aunts and two buckets to hold them all!

More pinwheel action.

Lilly's Kindergarten Checkup

2011-04-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Lilly went to the doctor for her kindergarten checkup complete with eye exam, hearing exam, and four lovely immunizations. Lilly doesn't turn 5 for another month, but I didn't want her birthday associated with pain, so we did the checkup a month early.
I was planning on being the clever mother and sparing Lilly any anxiety by simply not telling her that the appointment was coming up. That plan failed miserably.
About a week ago, Lilly noticed her name on the calendar next to the words Dr. Sandvig. She put two and two together and all I heard since that fateful day was "I am NOT going to the doctor's office! I hate needle shots!" Yeah, I guess next time I want to keep something from my kids, I shouldn't write it on the calendar that hangs in the kitchen for all to see. Lesson learned.
Nate was working during her appointment and I really didn't want to be wrangling all three kids if I didn't absolutely have to. I'm not sure if all kids do this or if mine are just extra empathetic, but whenever one of my children is crying or fussing about something, the other two quickly join in for no observable reason other than to show some solidarity as siblings and fry mom's sanity. I think they secretly get together and laugh about it later.
So I arranged to have Jonah and Jayne play at a friend's house while I took Lilly to her ill fated doom. When we arrived at the friend's house, Jonah changed his mind. He insisted on coming to the appointment with us. He said he wanted to help Lilly be brave and he'd even worn his knight armor for the occasion. So, we dropped off Jayne, who had somehow convinced herself that we were going to the dentist and wanted absolutely no part of it, and the three of us headed over to the doctor's office.
I really like our doctor's office. We've never had a long wait time, and the staff is always very patient with my kids. Lilly was fairly cooperative for most of the appointment. She informed the nurse that she was being silly when asked to cover one eye and tell her what shapes she saw on the chart. She had a hard time sitting still for the blood pressure arm cuff. She was giggling too much. Yes, everything went extremely well. That is, until the very end of the appointment when the doctor leaves the room and says "the nurse will be right in to do the immunizations." You can't trick Lilly with big words. She knows that immunizations mean shots which means needles which means pain which means she is not going to cooperate. I can't say that I blame her. I have vivid memories of kicking a nurse in the gut while being held by my mom for an injection when I was a kid. Those nurses should really get hazard pay when they give kids immunizations.

Lilly needed 4 shots. So we laid her on the table and I held her arms and tried to keep her calm (yeah, that wasn't happening)while the nurse pinned down her legs and gave her the injections. My sweet Lilly was screaming from start to finish. She just kept yelling "No needle shots!" over and over. Then the nurse said, "just one more" and Lilly screamed out with such a defiant air a single word....."NEVER!!!"

She calmed down fairly quickly but was sure to inform the nurse that she was not getting any more "needle shots" ever again.
Her legs were a bit sore yesterday, but now she's right back to her old self. I'm just glad it's over. Taking my kids to the doctor is on my list of my least favorite things, right up there with root canals and outhouses.

Hello Sun. Feel free to stay a while.

2011-04-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

We have had a lot of dreary weather here in northern Utah lately. Winter has just been wanting to hang on as long as possible. It was so nice to have the sun come out this morning! I went on a walk/jog in the fresh air and it felt oh so good. The kids played outside for most of the afternoon. I opened all our windows and just let the spring air flow through the house. It's been lovely!
For any of you wondering about my weigh in this week, I skipped it. Well, sort of. I didn't go to WW on Saturday morning because I had the very rare opportunity to sleep in with my husband. The kids were sleeping over at Grandma Laurie's house. So we stayed up nice and late on Friday night watching movies and then I slept in and missed my meeting. I did weigh myself and was at the same weight as last week.
Anyway, just wanted to say how wonderful this spring day has been. Hopefully many more are on their way!

The Words of the Prophet

2011-04-03T17:24:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been General Conference. Somehow, my schedule was free enough that I got to listen to all four sessions.
Lately I've been in need of a spiritual renewal. I've felt tired and down and just frustrated with life in general. It's amazing how the speakers are inspired to deliver messages that we all need, but that can seem so personal and specific.

This Conference, nearly every talk felt directed toward me. As I'm sure it did for so many others. I strongly felt the Lord telling me that He is aware of me and my needs and that He believes in me and is there to comfort and uplift and guide me.
These are a few of the highlights for me and what I got from a few of the talks.

"Enormous blessings come on the heels of great trials." ~ Paul V. Johnson of the Seventy

Elder David A. Bednar's talk on revelation helped me realize that I don't need to know everything right now. I just need to take one step at a time with faith in the path that the Lord has for me.

President Thomas S. Monson, our wonderful prophet, spoke about the importance of temples. I was touched at the sacrifices that some latter day saints have to make in order to attend the temple. And I was ashamed that I live so close to several temples and don't attend nearly as often as I should. President Monson remarked that sacrifice is always associated with temple building and temple attendance. For me, the sacrifice is making the time and getting the babysitter so that we can attend the temple regularly.
I was reminded of something my in-laws recently told me. They said that couples should "make going to the temple together a weekly habit, not a weak habit."

Elder Richard G. Scott's talk was so very touching. I could feel the love he has for his wife and his reverence for the institution of marriage. He said that "Righteous love is the foundation of a successful marriage." I loved hearing about the creative ways that he and his wife would show their love for each other.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson helped me learn that the Lord knows what He wants me to be and He knows what I need to get there. I'm inspired to be more humble and accepting of divine chastening.

Lately, I've struggled a bit with tithing. We've always paid it, but my attitude about it has not been the best. I often find myself thinking of other things that money could have been used for. Carl B. Pratt of the Quorum of the Seventy must have read my mind and heart. He taught that tithing is not to be paid from abundance or leftovers. It should always come first. Tithing is not a financial principle. It is a principle of faith. I need to have faith that the Lord will fulfill His promises that He has made to those who pay their tithing.

I truly felt the Spirit throughout conference, even when my kids were being less than reverent or climbing all over me. I'm so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for all that I have been blessed with. I'm grateful for our living prophet and apostles and for the spirit of revelation that is so alive and well today.

Thank You Denise Austin!

2011-04-02T16:51:00.000-07:00

I lost 2.4 lbs. this week. Hooray!
So, remember how I told you that I was bringing out my secret weapon Denise Austin workout? Well, I did.....and it shows. I was so frustrated with last week's weigh in that I didn't track a darn thing this week. I had an " I just don't care" attitude, which led to some fabulous eating choices such as.....

Making a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip brownies and eating 2/3 of the batch myself within 24 hours of making them.
Cafe Rio--which isn't bad in and of itself, it's just that I ate the entire salad. We're talking, beans, rice, cheese,guacamole, tortilla, chicken, sour cream, and all. That's like an entire day's worth of points!
A chicken salad sandwich, waffle fries, and a peppermint shake at Chick-fil-A (although I did only eat half my sandwich and saved the rest for lunch the next day)
Four pieces of pizza for dinner one night
Ice cream from Coldstone Creamery
Two more pieces of pizza for lunch the next day
A hot fudge sundae
And lots and lots of snacking

I'm telling you, this weight loss journey is turning out to be a bit confusing and not like any I've had before. I did balance out my wonderful eating habits with workouts. I did the magical DVD 3 times and did 2 half hour cardio workouts at the gym.
Even though I lost weight without tracking last week, I'm going to work on tracking better this week.
If you're wondering about this DVD, it's Denise Austin's Shrink Your Female Fat Zones and I LOVE IT!!! Yeah, she's a bit on the cheesy side sometimes with what she says and the way they all smile while they do the workout makes it look deceptively easy, but I love it all the same. She does sculpting and toning using hand weights and an exercise ball.

I bought it after Jonah was born and it helped me lose the baby weight after him and after Lilly. I haven't done it in a while because the kids would always climb on me and interrupt me and I was just finding it frustrating to try to work out at home. But now Jayne likes to watch it with me and even try some exercises.
I have tried a LOT of workout videos. I've done everything from old-school Buns of Steel and Tae-Bo to Jillian Micheals and Bob Harper to other Denise Austin DVD's, The Firm, and more. But this one is the one I always come back to because it gives me the results that I want.
When my mom and I were doing WW after Lilly was born, I remember telling her that it seemed like no matter what kind of week I had with my eating, as long as I did the Denise Austin DVD at least 3 times, I'd lose weight. So, we're going to try that formula again.
My goals for this week are....

Track, track, track!
Don't be too hard on myself. When I'm too strict with myself or beat myself up about eating that pizza or that third brownie, I do worse. I know those things are okay, as long as I track and work them into my plan.
3 Denise Austin workouts and 2 cardio workouts
Recognize and celebrate my NSV's, which are non-scale victories, like when I only ate half my sandwich or when I chose an apple over ice cream one night for a snack. The behaviors are what will make me successful in the long run.

Late Weekly Weigh-in

2011-03-30T17:28:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit late posting my WW progress this last week, mostly because I'm so darn frustrated with it! But, I'm not sure anyone but me and maybe my mom read this blog, so I figured no one would care if I waited a bit.
I weighed in last Saturday at 180, which is a gain of 0.4. I was not a happy camper! Last week I did everything by the book. I tracked and stayed in my points allowance. I worked out for 5 days, 3 cardio and 2 weight training. I drank my water. I was totally expecting a loss of at least one pound.
During my previous WW stints, I steadily lost 1 or more pounds a week. I've been at it for 7 weeks now and have lost only 4.4lbs. And I fought tooth and nail for those!

I wish I could say that this recent frustration with the scale led me to eat better this week, but so far it's been the opposite. I've pulled out my secret weapon though.....my Denise Austin DVD, Shrink Your Female Fat Zones. Sounds corny, I know. But I bought it after Jonah was born and doing it at least 3 times per week helped me shed around 60 lbs after that and then lose 30 after Lilly. So, I've done the DVD twice this week and done cardio at the gym twice. It probably won't offset the pizza, ice cream, chocolate, chicken salad sandwich, and chili cheese potato that I've consumed this week. Guess I'd better hop back on the fruit and veggie wagon.

I've really been trying to figure out what is different this time around and why I'm having such a hard time shedding these pounds. I'm at a loss. The WW plan is a little different than it used to be, but I'm following it so I don't think that could be the problem. The only significant difference I can think of is my stress level. Taking 9 credits, doing my church callings, and being a full time mother and wife can really take it out of you. I'm finding that I don't have as much time to really focus on tracking, trying new recipes, checking out the website for new ideas, etc. I'm not sure if it's that much of a factor. I'm also not getting a whole lot of sleep. I get about 6 hours a night...maybe. Anyway....now I'm just rambling.
So.........yeah. That's where I'm at. Who knows where I'm going.

The Clippie Queen!

2011-03-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

We're trying to grow out Lilly's hair. She doesn't like ponytails, so we've kept it short for a long time. But, frankly, I'm sick of having to get it trimmed so much and she looked so pretty with long hair. Anyway, Nate has started doing ponytails in her hair (she won't let me do it, only Daddy). Nate's version of a ponytail or pigtails is a bit messier than what I prefer, but hey, she's letting him put elastics in her hair which is a huge step forward!
Since her short haircut had a lot of layers and she has her bangs growing out, we use a lot of hair clips, or "clippies" as we like to call them. Nate lets Lilly pick out which ones she wants and then puts them in. Here's her 'do' from yesterday.

She's definitely the Clippie Queen! Sadly, it only stays in for maybe three quarters of the day.

Weekly Weigh In

2011-03-20T15:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I weighed in at 179.6 which is a loss of 0.2. A tiny number, I know. But a loss is a loss is a loss and after the week I had, I'll take it.
I didn't track at all last week, I had cupcakes, pizza, birthday cakes, mexican food, coldstone ice cream, and Easter candy. I blame stress(school, RS party that I helped with, cub scouts, and a lovely little lawsuit we're dealing with), or maybe too many social functions, or maybe I just need to tell the truth and blame myself and my choices. After all, no matter what else is going on in my life, what I put in my mouth is ultimately my decision. So.....this week my goal is to track everything! So far, so good.

Nate Turned 30!

2011-03-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

Actually, he's been 30 for a whole week now. I'm just ridiculously slow in acknowledging it here on the blog. Nate's birthday was last Monday. Nate likes his birthdays to be very understated. The Saturday before, I wanted to take him on a birthday date and let him decide what we would do. We went to Best Buy and picked up a new CD by Cage the Elephant. Then we had some lunch at Bajio Mexican Grill. It was the first time we'd been there and I'm sorry to say we were a bit disappointed. Not bad, just not great.
After lunch we headed to Coldstone Creamery to share some ice cream. Then, on the way home, we did some serious "mudding" in the Wrangler. My knuckles were beyond white.
After we got home, we loaded up the kids and took the little outing to Grantsville that I posted about.
On Monday, Nate's actual birthday, we didn't really do too much. He got some gifts. His mom made him a new quilt complete with John Deere and chili peppers on it. The kids and I got him some tee shirts and a movie. His sister, Amanda, dropped off some fun DVD's and yummy chocolates.

Nate with some of his birthday swag

Nate's not big on cake, but the kids are. So we picked up some cupcakes and sang to him and blew out a candle. Yes, just one. That was my fault. I forgot to buy candles at the store and I only had a couple. So the kids enjoyed the cupcakes and I got Nate some Ben & Jerry's Pistachio Pistachio ice cream (his favorite).
Anyway, the point of all this is that this beautiful Earth has been blessed with the presence of Nate for 30 whole years now and I, for one, am so incredibly grateful for it. Happy Birthday Love!

Our Saturday Adventure or Yes. My children are still alive.

2011-03-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

It seems like all I ever put on this blog anymore is stuff about weight watchers or school. This semester is keeping me busy and I've been a bit lazy about taking pictures of the kids and posting about the fun stuff we do. So, I assure you that my husband and children are all alive and well. Here's some proof.
Last Saturday, we decided to load up the family and have a little adventure. We headed out to a place outside of Grantsville to do a little shooting with the .22 and climb some rocks. The kids loved watching Nate and I show off our "mad shooting skills", as Jonah puts it. Then they stacked some rocks and had a great time climbing on the rocks. It was so nice to get outside in the fresh air and just do something relaxing together as a family. As you look at the pictures, you'll notice that there really aren't any of Jayne. That's because she fell asleep on the drive and slept in the Jeep through the whole thing. She woke up just as we were ready to leave, so we got her out and let her walk around a bit and climb, but I didn't get any pictures.

Weekly Weigh In

2011-03-17T13:49:00.000-07:00

So I know I'm a bit late reporting this week. Sorry about that. Anyhoo, I weighed in last Saturday at 179.8, which is exactly the same as the week before. I'm telling you, this isn't going to be an easy journey. I've decided that no matter what the scale may say from week to week, I've just got to focus on the behaviors. If I'm drinking my water, getting my workouts in, tracking my food and staying within my points, then I consider it a good week. Even if the scale says nothing happened. I'm feeling better, my clothes are fitting better, and people are starting to notice.
So, last week was a good week. As for this week.....that may be a different story entirely thanks to my husband's birthday, a relief society birthday party, Easter candy, babysitting, and stress of a million different kinds which I won't go into right now. But, as of this morning, according to my home scale, I'm still exactly the same.

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

2011-03-09T16:17:00.000-08:00

For an assignment in my economics class, I had to watch this movie about Wal-Mart and write a response paper. I had heard here and there that Wal-Mart wasn't the greatest company, but I still shop there because we're trying to raise a family on one not so high salary. After watching this movie, I think I'll do my best to avoid it as much as possible. The way they treat their employees and even their customers is appalling. If you haven't seen this movie before (it is a few years old), then you should. Click on this link and check it out. It will open your eyes.

Weekly Weigh In

2011-03-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

This morning I weighed in at 179.8, that's a LOSS of 2.8lbs. Finally! So, what was different this week? Not much. I only got in 3 workouts, all cardio. I was good about getting my waters in, and I tracked my eating almost every day. When you stick to the plan, it works.

Weekly Weigh In---Getting Frustrated

2011-02-28T13:36:00.000-08:00

I weighed in this week at 182.6, which is a gain of 0.4. So, I've been at this for 4 weeks now and my total weight loss is just 1.8lbs. I really was expecting a loss this last week. I did five days of workouts, two of which were the semi-excruciating Bob Harper Pure Burn Serious Strength DVD, one Denise Austin workout and two sessions of cardio on the elliptical at the gym. I tracked fairly well and stayed within my points range. I'm wondering if this free fruits and veggies thing is actually backfiring. Our leader mentioned at our meeting that even though fruits and veggies are zero points, we still need to remember that they are calories and if we're consuming too many calories overall, it can affect our weight loss. I'm not sure if that's my problem. I eat more fruits and veggies that I used to, but I don't think I'm consuming enough of them to make a really big difference.
My other theory for this week is that, since most of my workouts were strength training, I built muscle which contributed to my slight gain this week. I've had this happen in the past where I start a weight training program and gain a little bit the first couple of weeks and then start to lose again.
I've also been under a lot of stress lately and not getting enough sleep. I've heard that both of those can affect weight loss.
Only time will tell, I guess. I'm missing the old WW system. My body responded well to it. No matter what the cause, I've really got to get into the swing of things and figure it out. I guess I'll just stick to the plan and keep moving forward.
My plan for this week? Who knows! I'll be doing at least 5 workouts again, drinking my water, and tracking my points. I'm not going to consume my activity points that I earn for working out and we'll see if that helps.
Check in next week to see if I can finally get out of this rut!

Weekend Bliss

2011-02-21T12:19:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, Nate and I got to have a sort of weekend getaway the past couple of days. My mom and sister, Sarah came and stayed at our house with the kids Friday and Saturday nights and we took an exotic weekend vacation to........Salt Lake City! We decided on more of a stay-cation because we really didn't want to spend any of our time driving anywhere. So we stayed at the Little America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City and spent the weekend shopping, eating out, going to a couple of movies, staying up late, sleeping in and just hanging out. It was fabulous! I'll spare you the details, because they're probably blissfully boring. But it was exactly what we needed. Thanks Mom and Sarah for watching the kids and making sure they had a really fun weekend as well. They had a great time!

Now it's back to the daily grind, but with a more relaxed and rejuvenated Mommy and Daddy.

Weekly Weigh In

2011-02-18T14:18:00.000-08:00

I weighed in a day early this week. Nate and I are having a little getaway this weekend and I'm not about to interrupt it to go weigh in. So, I weighed in at 182.2lbs which is a loss of 0.6lbs. I know that doesn't sound like much, but I'm very happy with it. My week included dinner at Marie Callendar's(complete with delicious pie!), See's Chocolates for Valentine's Day, and a cookie exchange for Relief Society. After all that, I'm just grateful to have a loss at all.
I did do better with my waters this week and I tracked almost everything I ate. I got five good workouts in this week as well. My problem is the food. I've known that I'm a bit out of control in that area for a long time. I'll catch myself purposely distracting my brain when I'm reaching for something unhealthy so that I'm not thinking about what is going in my mouth or I'll try to convince myself that I don't care or that I really need that chocolate to stay sane that day.
I didn't get to stay for the meeting today, but the handout was about making your kitchen your ally. You do this by getting rid of processed, high points value foods that tempt you and filling your kitchen with fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, healthy snacks, fat free dairy, etc. This is something I'm not so good at. I like to blame it on my husband and kids. They've got their cookies, and granola bars, and treats all over the place. But then I have to stop and remind myself that I'm the one who does all the grocery shopping, hence I'm the one who put those things in our home. My goal this week will be to eliminate as many of these unhealthy foods in our home as possible. It's okay to have a few things around as long as they're not huge temptations for me and we don't eat them regularly. I'm thinking we'll need to do away with the Oreos and M&M's, but the fruit snacks can probably stay.
So, I'll check back in next week and let you know how it all goes. Even though my loss was small this week, a loss is a loss and I'll take it with a smile. At least I'm headed in the right direction.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-17T13:12:00.000-08:00

Jewelry, chocolates, and pie...talk about a great Valentine's Day! Well, it actually wasn't on Valentine's Day. Nate and I wouldn't see each other much on the actual day, so we went out on a nice casual date last Saturday night. We did a little shopping and went out to dinner.
We got Nate a new wedding ring. When we got married, Nate told me that he wanted a plain white gold wedding band. So that's exactly what I got him. Apparently when he says plain, he really means fancy, but without diamonds. His original ring has also been beaten up a bit over the years with the various jobs he's had and it's too small for him right now. So, last Saturday, after almost 9 years of marriage, Nate finally got the ring that he wanted.

Nice, huh?
We also stopped by See's and picked up a box of oh so delicious chocolates. They didn't last long, but before you judge me, know that I did share them with my kids. =)
Jonah and Lilly really enjoyed their little Valentine's Day celebrations in their classes on Monday. They spent the weekend writing their names on the cards for their classmates. We didn't really do anything special on Monday, aside from picking up a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's for dinner. I'm thinking maybe next year we'll start a tradition of going for ice cream together or something.

Hope you all enjoyed sharing the love this Valentine's Day.

Weekly Weigh In

2011-02-12T12:25:00.000-08:00

So, remember how I said that some weeks you gain weight? Well, this was one of those weeks for me. I didn't go up by much, just 0.2, and I actually thought it would be worse. So, what did I do wrong this week? Pretty much everything. I didn't track every day, I hardly drank any water, I binged on cookies and m&m's and whatever else I wanted. I think the only thing I did right was to get in at least five workouts. That's probably the one thing that stopped me from gaining two or three pounds. I'm such an emotional eater and that is my biggest challenge. I'm working on learning to step away from the situation and ask myself "Why exactly are you putting this umpteenth cookie in your mouth?"
Like I said, this is a journey and it doesn't come easy. So this week I'm ready to track everything I put in my mouth as well as my activity points, make sure I get my waters in every day, do my workouts,and cut back on the junk.
I planned out our dinner menu for the entire week and pre-calculated the points for each meal. Dinner is always my biggest meal of the day and I find that if I know how many points it will use up, I can plan the rest of my food around that. I've got my kitchen stocked with fresh fruits and veggies for snacks and I'll be chewing sugar free mint gum while I bake these sugar cookies for Valentine's day to deter myself from eating fifty of them in the process.
There you have it. I fell off that blasted wagon already, but I've jumped back on, fastened my seat belt, and committed anew.

Year Round School vs. Traditional: Which do you prefer?

2011-02-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

Our elementary school is on a year round track schedule. With Jonah being in 1st grade, this is our second year with this type of schedule and it seems that with every track break, I despise it even more. I've heard people claim that year round school is supposed to increase retention and that the more frequent breaks are supposed to be beneficial, but I'm not seeing it. I feel like the three week breaks interrupt their learning a bit too much. For example, Jonah's track only went to school for two weeks after Christmas break before having a three week track break. It felt like those two weeks were pointless. His teacher didn't send home the usual homework sheets or mark in their planners or anything.
I don't know about other people's children, but Jonah really hates changes in his schedule. It feels like as soon as we get into the swing of things with school, he goes on another break and then we have to kind of start over again. He went back on track today and when he got home, I could tell he was exhausted and emotional. It's usually like that for the first few days that he's back in school.
They're building a new elementary school in our neighborhood which I hear is going to be on a traditional schedule. Alas, we're about six houses north of the border for the new school. I've heard rumors that they might switch our school to traditional since the number of students should be down, but nothing is for certain. So, I guess I'm wondering how others feel about it. Year round or traditional? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Weekly Weigh-in

2011-02-05T12:41:00.000-08:00

Today I weighed in at Weight Watchers at 182.6lbs. That's a loss of 1.8lbs this week, which is great! For sustainable weight loss, you want to shoot for around 1 to 2 pounds per week. Some weeks you'll lose less, some weeks you'll lose more, and some weeks you may even gain a little bit.

What makes the 1.8 pounds really great is what I ate this week. I had birthday cake, ice cream, pizza, dark chocolate, Wendy's, Arctic Circle, and Applebee's. This is why I LOVE Weight Watchers! I can eat these things and still lose weight. And it's not like I just had one piece of pizza or a salad at all the restaurants (although I probably should have). I had three pieces of pizza for dinner one night(which I admit is not exactly a good idea and I've committed to do better with that one next time I'm confronted with pizza), had an ultimate grilled chicken sandwich and regular fries from Wendy's, a ranch burger and regular fries with fry sauce from Arctic Circle,and chipotle lime chicken, one wanton taco, two buffalo wings, and half a butter nut blondie at Applebee's. I wrote them all down, along with their points values and stayed within my little budget that they give us and voila! I still lost almost 2 pounds.

Even though I ate all those things that aren't particularly healthy, I still found myself eating more fruits and vegetables than I usually do. On WW new plan, all fresh fruit and most vegetables are 0 points, so I would have them quite a bit. Just this morning I had an entire banana and one whole apple cut up mixed with a light yogurt and a tablespoon of fat free whipped cream for just 3 points and it was so yummy.

I'm sure the exercise helped too. I make it a goal to get in at least 30 minutes of exercise five days a week. I've found that the key to working out is finding something that you actually like to do. For me, that's going to the gym. I love to get on the elliptical machine or treadmill, turn on my music, and just escape from the world for 30 or 40 minutes. On days that I can't get to the gym, I do a workout dvd at home. This week, I worked out at the gym three times, doing 40 minutes on the elliptical machine each time. I also did Bob Harper's "Pure Burn, Serious Strength" workout twice.

On WW, when you exercise, you earn activity points. You can add these activity points to your weekly points and eat more food. That's what I did last week. This week, my goal is to not eat any of my activity points and just use my daily allowance and my 49 weekly extra points. I'm hoping this will translate into a little bit bigger loss this week.
Oh, and I also plan on not eating quite so much fast food. =)

Weight Watchers: Take 4

2011-02-01T12:22:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I joined Weight Watchers....for the 4th time. Now before you go thinking that the program must not work or I must be such a quitter if I'm having to go back for the 4th time, let me explain my previous WW experiences.

Take 1---I joined with my mom halfway through my second year of college. I started at 180lbs and I lost 20 pounds before getting married that summer and moving away. After I got married, I gained a lot of weight and then I got pregnant.

Take 2---I joined, again with my mom, when Jonah was about 8 months old. My starting weight? 221lbs. Yes, you read that right. This time I lost 60lbs before once again getting pregnant. Are you sensing a pattern here?

Take 3---I rejoined WW two months after Lilly was born. My starting weight this time was somewhere in the 180's again and I lost about 20lbs before we moved and I stopped going to meetings. I maintained this weight until I got pregnant with Jayne.

Take 4---I managed to lose most of the "Jayne-weight" on my own, but over the last year I've gained back about 15 pounds. My mom rejoined WW last year and recently reached her lifetime goal. Watching her has helped give me the kick in the pants that I needed to re-up. My starting weight is 184.4.

Why Weight Watchers? What I love about WW is that it's not restrictive as far as what foods you can and cannot eat. Foods are assigned a "points" value that is calculated using fat, fiber, carbs, and protein. You have a daily points allowance and you simply track what you eat and don't eat more than your daily allowance. You also have extra points to use weekly when you need them. I've never been one who could just cut out sweets, or chocolate, or carbs, or anything from my diet. I love that I can still eat ice cream or a chocolate bar once in a while, I just have to plan for it. Also, all fruits and most vegetables are zero points. So if I'm hungry, but I don't want to use points, I just grab a banana or apple or some carrots and I'm good to go.

I also love the weekly meetings. It's so great to meet with a bunch of people you can really relate to and who understand what you're trying to do and the challenges you're facing. Plus, seeing other peoples' progress always inspires me.

So, be prepared to read about my progress. I'll be posting about it at least once a week as a way to sort of take even more accountability.

So far this week, I'm feeling pretty good. I've been to the gym twice, doing 40 minutes on the elliptical machine each time, and I'm planning to do my workout DVD tonight after the kids are in bed. I've been pretty good with my points, but I definitely need to hit the store and stock up on some more bananas and apples for those "munchie" moments.

Well, wish me luck and stay tuned for a new and improved, healthier and smaller version of Ashley.

Jonah's 7th

2011-01-24T19:39:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, January 21st, was Jonah's 7th birthday. To celebrate, we decided that he could invite a few friends to go bowling with us on Friday and then we would have the family party on Saturday. Jonah only wanted to take one friend with him. Her name is Adelle. Adelle is in his primary class and they are such kindred spirits. They both love to read and are a bit on the sensitive/emotional side of Sears. I asked Jonah several times if he'd like to invite one or two more friends, but he only wanted Adelle to come. So on Friday, Jonah, Adelle, Lilly, Jayne, Aunt Sarah, and I set out for the bowling alley. We went to Fat Cats Fun Center in Salt Lake. This was my kids' first time bowling.
Our biggest challenge was finding a semi-light ball. The lightest we could find in the whole place were a couple of 8 pounders.

It was really fun watching the kids bowl. They all had their own style. Jonah wanted to be precise, Adelle had to get a running start, and Lilly would set the ball down in front of her and push it and then lie down on the floor to watch it until it got to the pins (which was usually a very long time).

After bowling we headed to McDonald's for some happy meals and play time. Then Jonah got to open his present from Adelle. It was a book, but not just any book. It was a big book of facts. Jonah loves non-fiction. He was so excited about this book and has been reading it all weekend. He's been regaling me with tidbits about Venus fly traps.
Then on Saturday we had the customary birthday dinner with my family. At Jonah's request, the menu was pasta, vegetables, and fruit. After dinner we had a pinata, also per Jonah's request. Uncle Jake was brave enough to hold the pinata up for us while my three sluggers gave it their best swings. Then it was time for presents. Among Jonah's birthday swag this year were a Walmart gift card which he used today to purchase a toy manta ray and dragon, some very handsome school shirts, Star Wars Legos, a Beach Boys CD, calculator, and Nerf dart tag set. I'd say he did pretty well. He loves it all.

Jonah's birthday cake was in the shape of an octopus. My mom had bought an octopus mold and gave it to us to use. It turned out really cute. My sister, Rachel, did the embellishments. Jonah wanted the number candle and mint chocolate chip ice cream (he takes after his mother).

Jonah said it was the best birthday ever, which makes it all worth it. I'm so proud of the way he's growing and what a great big brother he is for Lilly and Jayne. Happy Birthday Jonah!

The Smaller Picture

2011-01-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

Lately I have found myself in a funk. It's a familiar one where I keep getting hung up on the "if only" and the "what if" and the "why". I feel stuck as though no matter how hard I try, my life will never become what I once thought it would be or even what I now feel it should be. I keep comparing myself to others and seeing how green the grass looks on the other side.
You know how people tell you to look at the "big picture"? Well, I discovered that the only way to give myself the proverbial kick in the pants and get out of my funk was to do the opposite. I decided to look at the "smaller picture".
The smaller picture is more individual. It's different for everyone. For me, it is three beautiful children who are intelligent, kind, and funny as all get out. It's a hard working, loving husband who supports me everyday and believes in me even when I'm in my aforementioned funk. My smaller picture is a roof over our heads, clothing on our backs, and food on our table. It's me progressing in my education. It's cuddling up on the couch at the end of the day with my favorite person in the world and dozing off to some action movie that I've already seen fifty times. It's a healthy family.
No matter what is going on in the rest of the world or what outside influences are getting me down, I can look at my smaller picture and be reminded of what really matters.

So long funk. I'm in my happy place.

Let the madness begin!

2011-01-10T12:34:00.000-08:00

Today marks the beginning of spring semester. I'm not sure why they call it that because most of the semester is still during the freezing cold winter, but I'll go with it. Anyhoo....this semester I'm taking three classes. They are intro to statistics, economic issues for individuals and families, and adult development and aging. I'm not really excited about any of them, but hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised and enjoy at least one. I'm a little anxious about taking three classes since I've only been doing two at a time for the last two semesters. But, if I take three every semester, I can graduate two semesters earlier.
So I plan on being busy, stressed, and possibly a bit insane for the next few months especially since, on top of school, I'm still doing babysitting, preschool volunteering, cub scouts, 3 piano/voice students, and all the fabulous duties of a full time wife and mother.

I must be crazy.

Farewell 2010

2010-12-31T19:42:00.000-08:00

In just a few short hours the year 2010 will fade into the past. I've found myself reflecting on this past year a lot lately. I'm not sure why. New Year's usually isn't a big deal for me. It's just another day. But this year, I've been trying to recognize my blessings and focus on the positive and what I have rather than the negative and everything that I wish I had.
In my pondering I realized something. We had a very good year. Yes, it had its challenges, but it was also filled with blessings.

Nate got his tonsils and adenoids removed this year. He used to get very sick all the time and he'd always just work through it without complaint. He'd go to work with walking pneumonia because he knew we needed the paycheck. Finally being able to get his huge, infected tonsils taken out has resulted in hardly any illness this year. Even his allergies are less severe.
I went back to school. In May I enrolled at Utah State University in their online family studies program. Completing my bachelor's degree has always been a goal of mine, one that was put on the back burner when we got married and started our family. It feels amazing to be on that path again and making it happen. I love learning and progressing toward achieving one of my life's goals.
Nate completed his bachelor's degree in August. What a feat that is! It's a very long story, one I'm sure I've blogged about before. This achievement has been years in the making, with plenty of challenges and biased professors standing in the way. I'm so proud of Nate for seeing it through.
Nate started a new job with Verizon Wireless at the end of September. On days like today, when the snow is pouring down and the wind is relentless, I'm so grateful that he's not spending the day changing tires. Also, my bathtub is no longer black and our house doesn't smell like rubber. Always a plus.
The kids have been healthy and injury free. We've had the odd cold or ear infection, but nothing major. All three kids are thriving. They love to explore their world, learn, and make new friends.

There are plenty of other blessings and wonderful things that we experienced in this year of 2010, but those are the major ones. As we say good bye to a year full of personal and family growth, we can only be optimistic about what lies in store for us in 2011.

Happy New Year! May it bring with it peace, hope, love, and adventure!

Let's Play Christmas Catch-up

2010-12-30T10:24:00.000-08:00

Thanks to our busy December, I've been pretty M.I.A. as far as the blog is concerned. Now that the hustle and bustle is dying down, I figured I'd better get things posted before I get too busy again. So this post will cover three or four different outings/events.

Temple Square Lights

A couple weeks ago, before all this crazy snow, my mom, sisters, the kids and I visited Temple Square in Salt Lake City to see the Christmas lights. We started with some dinner and then enjoyed walking around. The kids loved the fountains the best, as usual. They each brought a couple of pennies so they could throw them in a fountain.

Aunt Sarah, Grandma Laurie, Aunt Rachel and the kids

One of the many fountains that we had to stop at, and stop the kids from jumping into.

Lilly insisted on having her picture taken in this spot. I tried to get her to move so that we wouldn't have the fabulous view of the donkey's rear end, but she wouldn't cooperate.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir with David Archuleta and Micheal York

A friend of ours who moved out of state had received four tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas concert featuring David Archuleta and Micheal York. At the last minute, she and her husband weren't able to make the trip, so she called us and asked if we'd like to have her tickets. We went with a couple of our friends. It was a wonderful concert! We were sure to get there early, over an hour early actually. It was a good thing though, apparently there were hundreds of people with tickets who couldn't get in because they weren't there early enough.
The choir was amazing, as always. I'm not a huge David Archuleta fan, but he's very likable and has an amazing voice. He did a wonderful job. I really enjoyed the telling of the story of the tabernacle choir by Micheal York. I'd never known the history of the choir and he made it feel like an enchanting tale. Another highlight of the concert were the bell ringers. During my senior year of high school, our choir director managed to acquire a set of hand bells for us to learn to use for Christmas. They are so fun to play, but they definitely require a lot of practice and the way these bell ringers at the concert were playing them was wonderful!
It was a great night. Thank you Erika for thinking of us. This concert was the highlight of my Christmas season this year!

Christmas with the Barnums

Nate's parents and sisters were in town the weekend before Christmas. We enjoyed having dinner together and opening presents. And the kids had a blast playing with Aunt Emily, Aunt Amanda, and Grandma. As one of our Christmas presents, we got a port-a-potty. It's meant to inspire us to camp more, since Lilly is deathly afraid of outhouses. Each of the kids had to sit on it and smile for the camera.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house with all my brothers and sisters and my Grandma Bennett. It was a fun night, albeit short, full of delicious food and laughter. My mom asked if my family would do the nativity this year. Lilly was Mary, Jayne was the Angel, Nate was Joseph, Jonah was a wise man and I was the narrator. We had to recruit my sister, Sarah, to be a shepherd. It was a less than perfect telling of the Christmas story, but it was fun to watch.

Lilly aka Mary


Our Angel Jayne

Nate helped our Angel take flight to make the scene more realistic. =)

Jonah, the wise man

All the kids got new "softies" or blankets from Grandma Great.

Lilly giving the camera some "Chubby Bunny" love.

About a week ago, Jonah asked me if we could do something special on Christmas morning. He said that before we open any presents, he wanted us to kneel down together as a family and say a prayer to thank Heavenly Father for sending us the gift of His son, Jesus Christ. Isn't it amazing how a 6 year old can put things in perspective for you? So on Christmas morning, we did just that. Before any gifts were opened, we had a family prayer to give thanks to the Lord for sending His son to Earth.
The kids loved all their goodies from Santa.

Jayne the pirate with her pillow pet. I think she was still a bit groggy.

Lilly and her unicorn pillow pet.

Jonah's jellyfish lamp.

All the kids got books from Cathy and Loron.

A few years ago we started our strict "stay-at-home-on-Christmas-day" policy. It's been our favorite tradition. We don't go anywhere. If family wants to, they can come see us, but we spend our day at home. The kids get to play with all of their new toys and Nate and I get to just relax. Then in the evening, we take a drive to find Christmas lights together. This year, we decided to make a turkey dinner for Christmas. Nate took over the turkey and it turned out so delicious! I've informed him that it will have to be a new tradition, Daddy's Turkey on Christmas Day. He says he's up for it and wants to try new recipes every year.

Well, I think that's about it. We had a wonderful Christmas and we hope all of you did too!

Our December Family Letter

2010-12-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

Dear Family & Friends,

It's that time of year again. You know, the time for snow, wish lists, Christmas lights, baking, caroling, partying, and stressing out. But, most importantly, it's time for our yearly recap of life as a Barnum. Don't worry, I'll keep it short and sweet!

Jonah is in 1^st grade this year. He loves school. He's reading way above his grade level and excelling in everything else as well. Jonah loves to read the Zoo Books magazines about crocodiles, sharks, snakes, etc. Jonah played soccer this last spring. It was his first experience with organized sports. He wasn't a big fan of it. He would get easily frustrated when he didn't kick the ball just right(that's the perfectionist in him). But since he got a trophy at the end of the season, he keeps talking about playing again next year.

Jonah favorite thing to do is to make a “project”. He'll get out paper, scissors, glue, staples, crayons, string, straws, pencils, paper cups, plates, napkins, utensils, and pretty much anything else he can find and spread them all across the table and begin creating. He comes up with some pretty interesting stuff. It can get frustrating when he uses up all of my scotch tape on his catapult or duct tapes all the pencils in the house together, but I just keep reminding myself that one day he may be creating new inventions, or building beautiful bridges or buildings or something like that.

Lilly turned 4 this year and is going to preschool four days a week. Lilly is learning to read. She knows all her letters and sounds and is working on sight words. Lilly loves to watch Scooby-Doo and she really enjoys playing with her friends. Lilly's quite the social butterfly at school. Her teachers tell me that she is a friend to everyone and it's easy to see. Whenever I pick her up she has to say goodbye to and hug all of her friends. Lilly's not too happy about winter time. She's more of a summertime girl. Several times in the last month, she's come out of her room all dressed up in her swimsuit and wanting to play in the water. I finally had to hide that thing until next summer.

Jayne just turned 2 in October. She is such a fun little girl! She talks like a pro and loves to sing songs and “ballerina”. That's what she calls dancing. Her favorite thing to do is put on her sparkly shoes and her little tutu that her Grandma Barnum made her and run around the house dancing and playing. Lately she's really into watching the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and reading “Pinkalicious.” She's definitely girl through and through.

Nate had a big year this year. He finished his bachelor's degree in Spanish and criminal justice through Weber State University. I'm so proud of him for sticking with it and seeing it through to the end. Nate also recently started a new job. He's a sales representative for Verizon Wireless in West Valley. He's only been there for a couple of months and he's already ranking among their top sales reps in his area. It's been such a blessing to not have him doing such hard labor out in the elements, especially now that it's winter. Nate just got called to serve as assistant scout master in our church ward. He's excited to go on the camp outs with the boys. They'll be doing a winter camp in January.

Nate got his tonsils taken out this year, which has made a huge difference in his health. Usually he's had some walking pneumonia or tonsillitis by this time of year, but so far.....nothing. When they took them out, the doctor was surprised by how large and infected they were. He couldn't believe we hadn't had it done sooner. I'm so glad we finally got those monsters taken out!

As for me, Ashley, I guess my biggest news this year is that I'm back in school. I started in the summer working on my bachelor's degree in family studies through Utah State University's online program. I'm really loving it so far. I've been taking two classes per semester, but I'm going to bump it up to three in the spring. I'm also serving as a Webelos den leader in our cub scout program, which is fun. It definitely helps keep me busy. I've also been doing a bit of babysitting, which is totally uncharacteristic of me. I've never been big on babysitting, but I'm enjoying it and the extra money is always helpful. We watch a friend of Lilly's after preschool twice a week and we just started watching a little two month old baby girl this week while her mom works part time.

And there you have it. That's our 2010 in a nutshell. We hope you all have had a happy, healthy, and prosperous year! Have a wonderful holiday season!

Love,

Nate, Ashley, Jonah, Lilly, & Jayne

My Favorite Holiday Treat

2010-12-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

To me, Christmas is synonymous with delicious treats! Every year while I was growing up, my mom would make cookies, divinity, fudge, and my favorite...caramels at Christmastime.
I have such fond memories of sitting in front of a Christmas TV special or listening to Christmas music while sitting at the kitchen table cutting and wrapping caramels to give as gifts to neighbors and friends. It always seemed to take quite a few batches to have enough to go around. That probably had something to do with us having more than our share of "tastes" during the wrapping process.
I remember one Christmas when my mom had made her caramels early and put them in large popcorn tins out in the storage room that was in the garage. I thought I was so sneaky going out there when no one was around and having one or two caramels. I figured that she had made so many, she'd never notice just a few missing. Little did I know that my dad and older brother had both been doing the same thing. My mother was none too happy when she went to pull out the caramels and there were only a few remaining. Now that I've made them myself, I can totally understand her frustration.
I never fully appreciated the effort that this particularly delicious little morsel of joy requires until I was all grown up and decided to make them myself. Ever since Nate and I got married, I've made caramels for Christmas. I make other treats, sure, but caramels are by far my favorite.

So what's your favorite holiday treat?

Winter Fun

2010-12-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

Well, not fun for me, but the kids had a pretty good time. We recently got a couple of big snowstorms at our house. We're talking a foot of snow falling in about 24 hours.

Nate's Jeep had been parked on the front lawn as he often does. (sigh) He had a great time getting it out though. He was excited about the big rooster tails of snow coming up off his back tires.

The morning after one of our big storms.

I sure am glad Nate was home to help shovel us out. Even with both of us working on it, it took us an hour to get the driveway and front sidewalk cleared. I'm seriously considering investing in a snowblower. It would definitely save us from all future chiropractor expenses we're going to have if we have to shovel this stuff every year.

The first thing Jonah said to me the next day was, "Can we go play in it mom?" After putting it off as long as possible, mostly because it was insanely cold outside with highs in the 20's, we dug out the boots and snow pants and gloves and took some time to play in the snow.

Jonah just had to build a snowman first thing. About half an hour later, he pulled the carrot nose out and ate it for a snack. Funny kid.

The kids thought it would be fun to climb on top of the mountain of snow.

Lilly likes to make snow angels.....on her tummy. She says the wings look better this way.

There's something about holding a baby....

2010-12-01T14:10:00.000-08:00

...that just makes everything feel right in the world. A friend of mine just dropped by with her two month old baby girl. I could have held her forever! Don't start getting any ideas(Mom). I'm done having babies. As wonderful as it would be to have a sweet little baby to cuddle and feed and rock to sleep, I have to remind myself that they don't stay babies for very long. Soon, they turn into toddlers. Precocious, adventurous, can't-keep-up-with-them-for-anything toddlers. And those beautiful little creatures require a whole lot of time and care and money. Plus, I already have three to keep up with, throwing another one in the mix wouldn't bode well for my sanity.
It was great to just sit and reminisce with my friend about being a new mother and remember all my sweet little babies. I'm grateful that now that mine are growing, I still get to hold other mothers' babies and feel that amazing warmth and spirit of a new child.
Motherhood definitely is the greatest and most challenging adventure I've ever undertaken, but it offers such amazing rewards!

Giving Thanks

2010-11-24T13:27:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day and I don't intend to spend any of it on my computer, so I'm posting this today. I love Thanksgiving. I love enjoying good food with family and reflecting on what I am blessed with. Here are a few, well maybe more than a few, of the things that I am thankful for this year...

My children---they bring me joy on a daily basis
Nate---of course. He's my best friend and my world
That Nate won't be spending this winter changing tires all day everyday in the cold and the snow.
Flannel sheets
Our Jeeps
Good friends
Extended family
Chocolate, as always
Being able to continue my education
Temples
My calling with the cub scouts---I think I'm learning more than they are
Good health
Pumpkin pie
A place to call home, shelter from the cold
Modern conveniences---I never would have survived before electricity, indoor plumbing, modern medicines, and diet coke
Wonderful neighbors
Books---even though all I get to read right now is textbooks. Hopefully soon I'll pick up a good novel.
Denise Austin---Yes, I know she's a bit cheesy, but her workouts get the job done and I don't have to leave my house to do it.
Being able to stay home with my children everyday to share in their joys, triumphs, and challenges
Bubble baths
My testimony, especially of the plan of salvation---we lost two grandmothers this year and the knowledge that we will see them again one day is a blessing we cherish
That Nate finally finished his bachelors degree
Sweaters
Hot chocolate
Christmas lights
Music

I could literally go on and on and on and on. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday surrounded by those you love!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Winter has arrived and I am less than thrilled.

2010-11-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning we awoke to 12 inches of snow outside and no power. What a way for winter to make it's debut. "Hey everybody! I'm here to make you cold and miserable and NO! you can't even use your microwave or stove this morning to make some hot chocolate so that you feel better about all the snow I brought with me!"

The power went off sometime in the night, I think around 2 or 3am. Since my kids are such tossers and turners, we had to get up a few times to make sure they had their blankets over them to stay warm. One look out my window in the morning had me burrowing back under the covers. We all kind of slept in a bit.
At 10:00am, when the power still wasn't on, we decided we'd better get dressed for church so we could be on time. When we arrived at the chapel, we noticed no power there either. Luckily there were enough of us in the chapel to generate a bit of heat and enough light coming in through the windows for the pianist to see her music. Despite the lack of power, the meeting was wonderful. I left feeling so grateful for my blessings and looking forward to spending the day with the ones I love the most.
The power did come back on about fifteen minutes before the meeting ended, but we were all told to go home rather than continue the block. It probably had something to do with the fact that the rest of the church was still freezing cold and it takes a while to get that heater going.

They say that when you live with a person you begin to take on some of their characteristics. Nate and I have been living together for over seven years now and for the past seven winters I've listened to him tell me just how much he hates the snow and the cold. I regret to announce that he has finally brought me over to the dark side. I don't like snow. Sure, it's pretty.....for about a minute. Then you have to shovel it and drive in it and try to keep from freezing your nethers off. Winter? No, thank you. Give me sunshine and balmy breezes any day.

I miss my body

2010-11-19T19:48:00.000-08:00

I am nowhere near old. I'm not exactly a young filly anymore either. In my last post I mentioned a few things that no one ever tells you about growing up and becoming a parent. Today, thanks to my adventure in running this morning(yes, running), I am reminded of one thing that nobody ever tells you about pregnancy and childbirth: During pregnancy your body changes in ways you never thought imaginable and some of those ways NEVER GO BACK TO NORMAL!!! So young women beware!
A few of the doozies include, but are not limited to...

wider hips---I knew they'd spread a bit to make room for the babies, but I honestly didn't realize that they would spread more each time and then stay that way. We're talking the bones people, not just fat.
forgetfulness---when you're pregnant some hormone or something causes the neurons in your brain to be a little farther apart which causes the whole absentmindedness thing and no, they don't go back either.
loose joints---over the course of three pregnancies, I became so good at dropping things that I am now not to be trusted with anything of value that may break upon impact with the ground. Also, my hip joints are much more loose and are aching like crazy right now. Yes, they were my inspiration for this enlightening post.
saggy breasts---I had to say this one. Sure, they get all full and nice while you're pregnant and during breastfeeding. But beware the deflation! It will happen as soon as that milk dries up. Oh, and the deflation times 3?! Yeah, my ladies look a bit tired. Thank goodness for the miracles they can work with bras nowadays.
skin---skin changes in weird ways when you have kids. I have three times as many freckles now as I did before venturing into motherhood and a lovely(feel the sarcasm?) mole on my chin that appeared while pregnant with Jonah and only increased in size with Lilly and Jayne. I'm saving some pennies to get the sucker lopped off one of these days when I don't have more important things to spend the money on.
You grow hair in places you never thought it possible---Yes, I'll admit it. I never had to pluck ANYTHING before having babies. Now I get these annoying black hairs on the sides of my face and sometimes my chin that I have to yank out on a very regular basis.
Battle Scars----Thanks to the lack of elasticity of my skin and the wonderful weight gain of pregnancy, no amount of lotions or creams could prevent the gigantic stretch marks that now decorate my body. They may fade, but those puppies don't go away.....ever.

I could probably go on some more, but you get the idea. I miss my pre-baby body. But I must admit, those three cute little creatures that are now my world were worth the sacrifice.

So I will take my achy hips, stretch marks, and saggy breasts and slip into a hot bath....if I can remember where I put the bubbles.

Changing Your Dreams

2010-11-15T16:20:00.000-08:00

It's funny how the things you want most can change over time. Growing up, we may have had dreams of being professional athletes or musicians or changing the world. When you're young, everyone encourages you to choose a "dream" that you want to work to achieve. The sad reality is that most of those aspirations are exactly what they are named, dreams. They almost never come to fruition in the ways we imagine.
When I was a girl, my friends and I would play that M.A.S.H. game. Don't pretend you didn't play it too. You would write down your top four choices for things like who you would marry, how many children you'd have, what job you would have, where you would live, what kind of car you would drive,....the list could be endless. Then through random counting and crossing out and circling, you would arrive at your destiny---Married to a movie star, driving a brand new convertible, working as a professional singer, living on the beach, and raising eight beautiful children.
No one tells you about the realities of life. No one tells you that your chances of being rich and famous and never having to have a "real" job are slim to none. No one tells you how hard it is to raise one child, let alone the numbers on your little M.A.S.H paper. No one tells you that once you have those children, you're going to have to rearrange every priority in your life and more than likely, your "dreams" will change in the blink of an eye.
Before I got married and had my first child, I was a music major, vocal performance to be exact. I don't mind saying that I was pretty good, and getting better thanks to amazing professors. I had my little dreams about auditioning for opera companies, even if I was just in the chorus, and eventually having my own studio. I loved to perform.
Enter marriage. I still was going to school. I was a bit distracted, but still focused on my dream.
Enter baby. Jonah was born in January. I attended full time at college the semester before he was born. Even performing in several concerts, recitals, and juries in December. My pregnant belly would bounce with my breathing and I had a very hard time with the long phrases. I looked pretty silly, but sounded pretty good.
After Jonah was born, reality sunk in. Going to school full time and taking care of a new baby while your husband also goes to school full time and works full time is no easy task. So I "took a break". This is where the dreams begin to change.
All of a sudden I'm thinking more about financial aspects of my chosen path. Music isn't exactly a sure thing business to get into and I want to be able to contribute to our family if I need to. We'd decided that I would be a stay at home mom, but I wanted to be prepared should the situation change. We found that both of us going to school full time and Nate working full time wasn't working out, so I stopped going to school. Not before I'd taken some family studies courses and gotten interested.
It took five years before I was able to continue my education. I'm so grateful for online degree programs. But now, my dream has changed from being a performer to being a good mom. I love my major, family life studies, because it applies directly to my life. When I'm finished, depending on our situation at the time, I'd like to pursue a masters degree, possibly in marriage and family therapy.
It's funny how my dreams have changed to much simpler things...healthy, happy kids, a good marriage, a career helping others. These are my new dreams. My wonderful, attainable, fulfilling dreams.
I know this post is incredibly long, and I didn't initially mean for it to be. It was inspired my recent events in our home. Nate has changed his dreams. He always dreamed of working in law enforcement. He loved the idea of chasing down the bad guy, driving the police car, and carrying his gun everyday. He's worked toward this for a long time. He finally finished his B.A. and recently he applied for border patrol. It was his "dream". He could use his Spanish, carry his firearm, and have exciting work days. He passed his test and was given a tentative offer of employment. We filled out all the paperwork and he passed the next hiring phase. Then he got his job with Verizon, which has been going really well. When the cards came for us to get his fingerprints done and mailed in and to schedule his interview, he made the hard decision. He said, "Border patrol may be perfect for me, but it's not perfect for our family." I'm so proud of him for putting our family first. He recognized that it would mean a lot more time apart, dangerous work, and a drastic lifestyle change for our family. While we mourn the loss of Nate's dream, we rejoice in the blessings we have. His new job is working out wonderfully so far and shows lots of promise.

I love you Nate. Thank you for being such an amazing husband, father, friend, and example.

Church Volleyball

2010-11-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

I've always enjoyed playing sports. Among my favorites are soccer, volleyball, softball, and basketball. I've never really excelled at any of them. I played softball and soccer growing up, but never on the school teams or anything like that. I've never quite developed the skill level for it. That's why I love church sports! No one really cares about how good you are as long as you show up.
This year I played volleyball with the women in our ward. I really enjoyed it. The games were always kind of late, around 9pm, but that worked for me because Nate was actually home to watch the kids so that I could go play.
We did pretty good this year. We were first in our stake, only losing one game and that was because we were one player short and had to forfeit.
So last Saturday, we got to play in the region tournament. Wow! That was an eye-opener. Our ward basically comes to have fun and we do have some talent, but we never had time to have real practices or anything like that. The other teams that we played were very, very, very serious about volleyball. We played three teams, two games each in three hours and lost every single one of them. We did pretty good though, we didn't get totally clobbered, and we got better with every game. I'll tell you one thing though, I was feeling muscles that I didn't know I had when I woke up the next day.
And most important of all....we had a lot of fun! So if your ward participates in sports, go for it. Don't worry that you aren't a superstar. Half the battle is getting enough people for a full team and you never know, you might learn something knew, make new friends, get some good exercise, and enjoy yourself.
Thanks to all the wonderful women of the Parkside Ward who came out to play this year! I really enjoyed hanging out and playing and getting to know you all a little better.