Rundown of the Week

What a fun week we've had! The kids were out for spring break and other than the weather not cooperating very well, they had a great time. We let them stay up late, they got to watch American Idol with us, and they spent lots of time playing with their friends. We took the boat out on Mon. for a quick ride on the lake. It made us excited for warm weather and warmer water so we can actually get in. I have a feeling it will be harder to keep Sophie content. She'll want to tube like the older kids. Maybe I'll be able to ride with her for some slow rides.

I started a cheer/dance/tumbling class for Kali and some girls her age. Kali sure has picked up the cheers great and I enjoy getting back into something I love. I've been brushing up on my toe touches and Kali was impressed with what her mom can still break out! I ordered pom poms for them and I'll post some pictures when we have our performance.

We've been dejunking and the basement looks terrible now but by next weekend I hope to be done. I've took two huge loads to the DI and I've gotten bags of clothes & shoes together for our ward clothing swap this week. It feels so good to get rid of stuff we no longer need and know that it will go to someone who can use it now.

Sophie is learning so much, she knows many of her colors, shapes and counting. She loves me read to her at nap time and bedtime. She will say to me "bath" and then pull my fingers. She thinks that once she tells me something she wants to do, it's time to do it. She loves to go outside and I am looking forward to getting a fence put in next month! She doesn't understand the concept of staying in our yard when she can see two other trampolines in the neighbors yards. Conner said something last Sunday that was so cute. We had grilled some steak and chicken on the grill and put on some yummy marinade. Conner was really enjoying the steak and said, "this steak is my favorite kind of chicken!" I enjoy hearing him tell us the things he learned at church. I can tell he really is listening and is soaking in what is taught. His scout leader, Aimee, told me the other day that Conner is a great example to the other boys in his troup. He listens and is respectful. As a mom, those things are great to hear!

On Friday, I went to my sister-in-law, Ashley's, dental hygiene graduation. She has been working and studying so had these last two years for it and I am so happy for her to be almost done. (she is going a couple extra months so she will have her bachelors degree when she is finished) It was a great ceremony and my brother Ryan flew in from Texas to be here for her. She will be moving there when she finishes. My parents and grandpa drove here for it too. My parents were here last weekend too but I haven't seen my grandpa since Thanksgiving. I love to spend time with him. He is still so young at heart. He goes on walks all the time and has been lifting weights too. We went for a walk while he was here and enjoyed the good weather that soon was replaced by high winds and rolling tumble weeds. (I forgot my camera, so hopefully, Ashley will post some soon.)

We went wedding dress shopping for Steph again. I think I've seen her in about 50 different dresses. And they all look great on her. I'd have a hard time too if I had that problem. Plans are coming along for the reception. My sister, Camile, and I are going to be doing the flowers. I love the smell of hundreds of flowers in the same room. It takes me back to the days of Staker Floral and all the fun friends and great memories from there! I miss working with fresh flowers and the fun things I used to make. I still enjoy making wreaths and flower arrangments for our house(they aren't fresh though.) My newest hobby is making cute bows for the girls. So fun!

Well, Jimmy is speaking in our ward today and the ward before us too. I need to make some extra preparations to keep the kids (Sophie mainly) manageable during sacrament.

An Extra Member of the Family and Toliet Paper Snack

This week we have been watching my friend, Kara's, little girl, Anna. She is a year younger than Sophie but about the same size. Sophie wasn't sure how she liked someone else calling her mommy, mommy or having me hold her. The first day she pushed her over a couple times- poor Anna. They also had some fun moments too. Anna is still a very good shopper- she doesn't try and crawl out of the cart like Sophie does. We had a good time watching her but I think Sophie is ready to have me all to herself again.

Sophie decided she liked something new this week. On Wed. I went shopping and when I came home Jimmy told me Sophie had gone into the bathroom and was dipping toilet paper in the toilet and then sucking the water out. She would then re-wet it and suck some more. After she did that a few times she would put the toilet paper in her mouth and chew it. While Jimmy was telling me this he was getting huge goose bumps. Side note- Jimmy gets the willies when someone chews on a napkin or paper. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard for him. So Sophie sucking on toilet paper was hair raising. Needless to say, that's one of the reasons I went shopping with both Anna and Sophie. I got some child locks to put on the toilets. Since then, we've had no other instances of the toilet paper drink and snack.

Wedding Bells!

Girls Just Want to Have Fun!!

This last weekend, Gina, Steph and I headed out from Utah to meet my parents, and my two sisters that live in Idaho. It's the first time we've ever had a weekend together without kids- since we were kids. My sister's best friend, April, flew in from Arizona to see her and it was fun getting to know her too. We stayed up late every night, got up early (around 8), worked-out, hot tubbed, ate and did TONZ of shopping. We were going to do a do it ourselves spa night but ran out of time. We'll definitely need to fit that in next time! We ended the weekend going to a random ward for Sacrament Meeting and it ended up being one of the very best fast and testimony meetings I've ever been to.

Gross, what's on the floor??

O.K. I thought I had better write this down before I forget about it. When asked about a most embarrassing moment, I usually have trouble remembering something that is recent.

Yesterday while in sacrament meeting I found a Zone Bar (protein bar) in my church bag. It had been about 5 hours since I had eaten and I've been trying to eat small meals about ever three hours. (this helps so I'm not ravenous and have no self control when I go to eat) Anyway, I decided the best thing to do would be to eat it in a bathroom stall after sacrament meeting. So I am in the stall eating and a couple ladies from the ward are right outside the stall talking. All of the sudden a chunk of my zone bar fell and rolled right under the stall. It looked just like a piece of poo. I didn't know if I should hurry and reach my hand underneath the door and grab it- they would for sure see my hand and think it was gross that I would pick up poo with my bare hand but if I used toilet paper then it for sure would seem like it was poo. Anyway, I waited there until they finally left and hoped they weren't waiting outside the door to see who the poop lady was.

Here's a picture of what the zone bar looked like. Tell me if you would think it was poo if it came rolling towards you in the bathroom.

Flashback to the 80's

Last night our ward activities committee put on MORP from the 80's. I was in 7th grade when the 80's ended. I had no trouble remembering the 80's though. The stirrup pants, pegged pants, silk shirts, WHAM (my favorite singing group), the claw bangs with big hair, silk shirts, high top shoes, short- shorts on guys, legwarmers, side pony tails. We had a great time last night. The kids couldn't stop starring at me as we were leaving. There was great 80's music, a slide show of old dance pictures, karaoke, (Jimmy and I won the trophy for couples Karaoke, we sang, Summer Nights from Grease), and a dance off. It was fun remembering the old dance moves- the Roger Rabbit, Running Man, Moon Walk, I did some dance moves from Girls Just Want to Have Fun. When we got home, I was still in a dancing move so I turned on some Footloose and showed the kids some of my moves. They were so shocked- they had no idea their Mom had such impressive moves. They both wanted to learn. So we are going to start doing more dancing around the house. It's lots of fun! (plus a great workout) It makes me feel like I'm back in Jr. High again!

Here are some of the fun pictures from the night!

Past, Present, Future Tag

When I read my sister, Camile's, tag, I thought this would be such a fun one to do. So here goes.... (whoever reads this and wants to go down memory lane is tagged)

30 years ago I- (1978)

-was 17 months old

-a few months away from my first hair cut (I got that at 20 months)

- I loved the songs 5 Little Monkey's, Rock-a-Bye and I loved to do Ring Around The Rosie

- I loved any kitty or dog around and when I was 22 months we got a little kitten named Tigger

-my mom was teaching me how to clean, what a big helper I was

25 years ago I- (March 1983)

-was 6 years old

-lived in Saudi Arabia

-I was in in kindergarten (Miss Wells) at Dharhan Hills Elementary school

-I was already boy crazy, I especially liked my older brother, Ken's, friends (6 years older)

-I loved to go swimming, playing soccer and BMX bike racing

20 years ago I- (March 1988)

-was 11 years old (5th grade)

-I was finally starting to like living in Idaho Falls after moving back from Saudi Arabia in 86

-my body was starting to change before all the other girls in my class, I refused to wear a bra though because Deanna would do bra checks (she'd run her finger down your back to see if there was a strap) My mom finally got me to start wearing a sports bra- those would pass the bra check undetected.

-My mom would do my hair every day and my favorite hairstyle was a side pony tail with three braids, I would do my own bangs and rat them with a tooth brush and spray them with Rave hairspray

-I quit playing soccer and didn't really have a hobby, except for piano which I rarely practiced

-I started babysitting and loved it

-I went over to Deanna's house every day after school (both her parents worked) and we watched Days of our Lives. We would each eat a peanut butter Twix (from her freezer) and Ramon noodles every day. Not the best diet, especially while my body was going through weird charges of puberty.

-I loved playing Super Mario brothers on the Nintendo

15 years ago I- (March 1993)

-was 16 years old (Sophomore)

-was getting ready for our High School Regional Cheerleading Competition at Ricks College (that's where I decided I wanted to be a Ricks Cheerleader) I also did a solo competition there and I forgot my routine (I don't think I actually had one finished) and so I went down slowly into the splits for about 24 counts doing sparkle fingers, I still got 2nd place though (out of 3 girls, ha, ha!!)

-was trying to find a dress to wear to Senior Ball with my Senior boyfriend, Jared Jepson (yeah, I felt cool)

-loved my Young Women leader Sister Storer

-I was an aunt (I can't believe Chelsea is going to be 16 soon!!)

-started working at Staker Floral (I loved working there!! I worked there through high school and sometimes on the weekends during college and always during the summer)

-I would sometimes sleep in my two younger sisters, Camile & Stephanie's, queen bed and my little brother Ryan would join us. We got scared sleeping in the basement with my parents on the top floor. Plus my room was always such a mess that there were huge (I mean HUGE) wolf spiders hiding all over under my clothes and in the closet.

-My best friends and I would sometimes skip class and go to Smitty's Pancake and Steak House and I'd get the best blueberry pancakes there (that's about the most rebellious thing we would do (no drinking or drugs- remember that when you read this mom and dad)

10 years ago I- (March 1998)

-had been married almost 5 months and we were living in Ogden in a dark, spider filled apartment under a dentist office

-I worked at CL Martineau Construction as an office manager, I was usually there all by myself

-I had no friends besides Jimmy and he was busy with school and spring football

-I had just found out I was pregnant, I was super tired constantly and throwing up daily

-I wrote in my journal how I wished my visiting teachers would come over- isn't that so sad??

(OK, I know this sounds depressing but we soon moved to some student housing and we made some great friends that we still are in contact with and things got better from there. Once we moved, I only have great memories of Ogden)

5 years ago I- (March 2003)

-I had two kids, Conner 4 1/2, Kali 2 1/2

-Jimmy had gotten laid off a job and had skipped from job to job for awhile trying to find something to pay the bills

-It was a tough year for us and to be honest I don't even like to think back to that time

-The kids are fun to think about though- Conner went through some phases of wearing Spider Man and Power Ranger costumes for weeks at a time

- Kali was starting to love to color and once she drew pretty little circles on my sheets while she was supposed to be taking a nap. She was very proud of herself. I couldn't be mad at her.

-I learned how to sell things on Ebay and got pretty good at it

3 years ago - (March 2005)

- We lived in an apartment Town Home in West Jordan and were waiting for our West Jordan house to be finished (we were really excited to get out of apartment living again)

-Conner was in Kindergarten and Kali had preschool two times a week. (free time without kids!!)

-I was finally ready to have another baby and I hoped it would be a girl

1 year ago- (2007)

-I was getting settled in our new house in Saratoga Springs and enjoying meeting our new neighbors

-Grandma Johnson passed away and we went to her funeral in Wyoming, I'm so thankful to her for raising my Dad, being a wonderful, loving grandma and for the knowledge that I will see her again.

-Jimmy and I went to Mexico with his parents, siblings & in-laws

So far this year.....

-Jimmy and I went on a cruise to the Caribbean with his parents, siblings & in-laws

-I've been reading some fun books and also listening to them on CD while I workout and clean

-I've lost 15 lbs.

Yesterday I.....

-was recovering after our Enrichment night that I was in charge of on Tues night

-worked out

-caught up on reading blogs

-went to Stamp Club

Today I......

-will work out with my trainer, Jenn (I go to her once a week)

-go to Walmart

-Drop off the donations of diapers, sheets, pillows, paper towels and Walmart gift cards to the Women's shelter that were collected at our Enrichment night

-Get my teeth cleaned with Kali

-go to book club at my neighbors house (The Proper Feeding and Care of Husbands by Dr Laura)

-watch Lost with Jimmy and go to bed before 11

Tomorrow I will.....

-be sore from working out with Jenn & I'll workout again (at home)

-help out in Conner and Kali's class at school

-find some clothes at DI to wear to the couples 80's dance on Saturday at the church

-have Cafe Rio for Dinner (our Friday night tradition usually)

-have a movie night with the kids and then watch Dan In Real Life with Jimmy (we've heard it's a great movie)

This year......

-Jimmy and I are going to go on an Alaskan Cruise with some of my family, my Grandpa Johnson worked in Alaska when my dad was little and is going with us

-Hopefully go to Lake Powell for Spring Break next month

-Go on a girls trip to Boise with my sisters and mom (and dad too)

-Have a girls weekend with my High School friends

-I'll keep on getting more healthy and fit