Birthday Boy

My son turned 6 this week!  He is SO big!  He REALLY wanted to have a Super Hero party, so while I was in Utah last week I started looking on pinterest and all over the web for ideas.  I found some good stuff on line.  I am telling you though that people spend an obscene amount on money on kids birthdays.  When I was little we were allowed to have a party every other birthday and we were allowed to invite close friends.  We had cake that my mom made and some simple games.  When we were older my parents would take us toilet papering.  haha  Anyone else do that?  I have been so many times I can't even count them.  My husband NEVER went.  I told him I would take him someday!  haha

Any ways.  We made some invitations and I wanted them to be really cute.  So I took a bunch of pictures of my son in a cape and made him look like he was flying.

I then added the border and the POW WHAM on picnik.com

I think it turned out cute!  We ended up having about 19 or 20 kids here and that is not included my kids.  It was LOUD and the kids seemed to have lots of fun running all over the place, hitting each other with balloons and pretending to be super heros.  Most kids wore costumes or capes and I also had some masks for those who didn't have anything.  We had hot dogs, mac and cheese, sandwiches and snack food for everyone to eat.  We also had cup cakes for the kids and cake for the adults.  We also had some super hero pages for them to color, a pin the emblem on the super hero ( which was a picture of Tyler blown up huge )  and then we also did face painting.  The face painting was a hit with everyone too.  Unfortunately it ended up smeared on the carpet and on the couch! We washed it out though so no big deal.  Tyler got a TON of presents.  He also got a lot of money.  He was lucky.  We handed out little Batman gift bags to everyone too.  It was fun and Kayla can't WAIT to have a princess party in January. Here are a few pictures.

I like Kayla peeking through behind Tyler in the last picture!  haha  It was a good time and after I was completely exhausted.  The funny thing is when I went to bed I couldn't sleep.  Maybe it was all the cake and frosting I ate.  I LOVE frosting!  ;)

BACK

We are back from Utah.  It was a fun, yet interesting trip!  I am hoping to post soon!  Stay tuned for more crochet things.  It has been my new addiction.  I am very much enjoying it.

How's everyone's Christmas decorating going?  We haven't started yet.  We are busting out the tree tomorrow.  It will be fun setting it up in our new house.

Until next time...

No Internet No Time

Between moving and having no internet I have not been able to write a post.  I am leaving in an hour or so ( If I can get packed that fast ) to drive to Utah to see my parents.  My husband has to stay home and work and so it's just me and the kids.  It will be our first time driving there since Kayla potty trained.  It should be interesting.  Here's hoping we make it okay and I don't have to kill anyone.  :)

The New Place

This week starts moving week.  It is going to be crazy, hectic and exciting.  I told y'all I would post some pictures so I thought I'd do so now while I am in between packing boxes ( oh which I only have like 10 to 15 packed and my house is a MESS!  YIKES!!! )


Here is the front of the house from a couple of angles

Here is the living room

The kitchen ( I love all of the cut out's so you can see to the other room )

Our kitchen from the other way so you could see the dinner room

This is the breakfast nook area.  See that door leading to the room in the back?  THAT is going to be my sewing room/photography studio!  WOO HOO I am SOOOOOO excited about that.  No more sewing on the kitchen table.

 Here is the dinner room up close and you can see the front door of the house.  Off to the side where my son is standing is going to be his room.  the door next to that is a coat closet and you can't see in this picture but my duaghters room is next to the front door off to the left from this picture and my husbands office will be to the right of the front door.

 Here is the back yard.  Our grass in need of some serious water but that's okay, at least we have some!  And notice the gorgeous double rainbow?!  I told my husband it was a sign

This picture was taken a few blocks away ( around the corner from where we live right now ).  I had to stop and get a picture of the rainbow over the water.  Isn't it gorgeous!?!

Now I can't wait to be moved in!  Do you know that I call myself a photographer but have lived in this house here for almost a year and we NEVER put pictures up?  It drove me NUTS.  I can't WAIT to start decorating and hanging pictures.  EEEEEEEEEEEEE

So I will most likely not be on again this week, for obvious reasons.  I have crafted a little and if I have a moment to spare I might try and show you one or two.  Have a great week everyone and I can't wait to blog again from my new house

Happy

I am happy to report that after my little break down on Monday I tried really hard to re-evaluate things in my house.  I was in the middle of doing something and I just got this thought into my head out of no where and I knew what was wrong.  I would like to say it came out of no where but I know exactly where it came from.  I have been so busy doing all kinds of things like, packing, cleaning and cooking.  My poor son hasn't gotten enough attention from me and you know what they say, "even bad attention is attention".  As soon as I had this realization on Tuesday I decided to spend time with him right when he got home from school.  This is usually when I start dishes and start working on dinner.  I usually hear, "Mommy can you play with me?"  and what do I say, "No I'm busy right now making dinner."  IS that a valid thing I was doing?  YES!  My family needed dinner but sometimes a frozen meal is worth getting to spend some extra time with your kids.

Wednesday when I picked my boy up from school we went home and I said, "How about I come sit on the couch with you and cuddle" He was SO happy!  We sat on the couch, My boy, my girl and I, eating popcorn, cuddling and watching Kung Fu Panda.  It was so nice and I am telling you I only sat with him for like 20 to 30 minutes but it was EXACTLY what HE NEEDED!  The next day when I picked him up from school we came home and went on a walk.  We live in an area that is surrounded by water.  There are ponds all over and so we like to walk to one and "feed" the ducks.  The ducks have never once eaten our bread but that doesn't stop us from feeding them.  Then we went to Dinner and to Costco.  Tyler was REALLy good the whole night.  The next day mommy got her hair cut.  Can I just tell you my hair hadn't been cut in like 6 months.  It was full of slip ends and it was looking horrible.  I haven't had bangs since the 3rd grade and so I got bangs and got my hair fixed.  It looks so cute and I feel great! Thursday we picked him up from school and we cuddled again and worked on homework.  I am telling you guys it is amazing what just 20 minutes or so of Tyler and Mommy time has changed his attitude.  I don't know if it will continue to work but it has work wonders so far.

This next week is going to be stressful.  We are moving and I have started trying to make Christmas presents.  I decided that if I didn't do something creative this week then it would just make my mood even worse.  It has helped a lot to try and be creative in some way.  So for me this next week is going to be filled with packing boxes, cleaning a lot and TRYING to get some sewing in here and there when I can.  But we are all SO excited to get moved into our new house.  That is keeping me motivated.  I was going to post some pictures of our new house but I need to go jump in the shower.  I'll post pictures of my new hair soon too.  Now if only I could stop eating some much freaking Halloween candy I think I would be feeling really good.  We only had ONE trick or treater so the two bags of candy we bought are just sitting her calling me and my husband's name.  SERIOUSLY.  The kids go to bed and we sit her eating candy watching TV.  It's horrible.  Maybe the candy will get "lost" in the move.  :)

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  My husband has to work today and so I have two very whinny kids and we are heading to the new house in a little bit so I can clean some more.  The house was built in 2007 and is really nice inside but it has been empty since March so there is an inch of dust on everything.  While the house is empty I wanted to wipe everything down.  Last Saturday we vacuumed EVERYTHING and I started scrubbing the baseboards.  We were there forever it seems like that we didn't even get that done.  Here's hoping I can actually get something done with the two cranky kids bugging me every two seconds.  I'll post pictures later.

Women

Why do we as women always seem to take on more then we can handle?  Do you notice that?  I know it isn't just ME.  I feel like for some reason women are just more willing to give themselves over to others to better them even if it means killing themselves.  Today a friend of mine called me who I hadn't talked to in YEARS.  She needed a favor and I just happened to live in the area she needed something from.  Did I mind her calling and asking?  NO!  Was I offended that she asked me to do something for her when I haven't heard from her in years?  NOPE!  In fact, I felt horrible that I just couldn't help her out today.   It really wasn't in the cards for me today to do anything much but yell at my kids apparently.  I am having an extremely hard time with my son.  Without getting too personal let's just say that he is SO good at school and at church but for some reason when he gets home he just doesn't want to be good any more.  I understand.  I really do.  But it has been driving mentally insane trying to deal with him all of the time.  The worse of it for me is that his sister is learning ALLLLL of this from watching him and now I am starting to have problems with her as well.  I am glad that he is so good for other people but I wish he understood that he should ESPECIALLY want to be good for his OWN MOTHER!  He totally does not understand that.  We have been trying EVERYTHING lately.  I try something for a week or two and it doesn't work so I try something else.  The latest thing I REALLY thought was going to help and so far it hasn't.  The thing that frustrates me more then anything is that a LOT of his problem is personality traits and not something behavioral.  For instance today I put him in time out.  I have a rule that you can not talk in time out or your time out starts over.  Lately this has become a thing of the past and I was trying to revive it.  I told him not to talk or even make a single sound.  The second I said that he made a whining noise.  Why should I get to tell him what to do, right?  I mean, I'm only his mother.  So I took a bean out of his jar ( when he fills up his jar we get to go do something fun! )  and then I say make another noise and I will take another one out.  Most kids would stop but not my stubborn little boy.  he makes another noise immediately.  I ended up taking out about 8 to 10 beans just because he wouldn't stop making noises.  Does anyone have any suggestions on kids with that stubborn attitude I am talking about?  REALLY, anything might help.  I am at my whits end with him.  This is only one of the several problems I am having with him.  I won't get into the others but any advice would be wonderful.  It has been a long day for me.  Every morning is a battle to get him ready for school.  Every morning I end up screaming at him because he simple won't do what I tell him to....I just don't know how much more I can take of it

My mother told me about a great article my church put out about fasting with a purpose.  I read it.  I am going to fast and pray that him and I can work through this together.  I know my son is a child of God.  I know he was given to me for a specific purpose and I love him more then life itself.  He is one of the sweetest kids you will ever meet, he just has that temper that I just don't know what to do with.  So for now I am trying my best to stay calm, not yell, and keep reminding him that I love him.  When I remember these 3 things, everything gets better but sometimes.....I forget!!!

Post Poned

I am post poning the announcement of the winners of the give away until tonight or tomorrow.  I had some confusion from a few people on where they were supposed to enter the giveaway and I want to make it fair.  I had people leaving comments on facebook and trying to leave me comments on etsy.  once I get it all straightened out I will put everyone's entries in a hat ( if you had 4 entries then I will put your name in the hat 4 times! ) and then pull a name.  Normally I go off of the order the comments appear on my blog but since that is wrong I gotta do it the old school way.  I promise to get it figured out as soon as possible!  I have things I gotta do this morning and afternoon and then I'll get this taken care of!  Thanks for all those who entered!  You guys rock.  I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far.  We took the kids and my friend Kevin to dinner and then we went bowling.  Kayla had never gone before and the last time Tyler went he was 2 so he didn't remember.  We had fun.

Okay I'll be back later with some results!!!

Chocolate Milk

My kids love chocolate milk.  Let me rephrase that.  My GIRL loves chocolate milk and my boy has kinda grown out of it.  Most of the time he wants regular milk now.  My girl on the other hand won't even drink regular milk any more.  First thing in the morning she has a sippy of chocolate milk for breakfast.  Can you blame her?!  I love having some nesquik milk for breakfast half of the time too.  Any ways.  If I had never of tried doing the South BEach diet I would have never thought to try less sugar.  I KNOW sugar is bad for you but I just had never really been concerned about stuff like that.  Do you know what?  I see the two of these in the store ALL of the time.

I would have assumed before trying the South BEach diet that 25 % less sugar would be LESS sugar.  Hmmmm  If you are a South Beach dieter you know that things that say NO SUGAR ADDED are usually allowed.  Like no sugar added fudgesicles are a yes when doing South Beach.  I always buy the no sugar added nesquik because it is also allowed.  Before that I always bought the 25% less sugar.  Well, the other day we were OUT OF CHOCOLATE MIX! Seriously OUT!  I knew that was an emergency for my daughter because she wouldn't drink plain milk.  I ran to the little market where we live and they only had the 25% less sugar and since it was an emergency I bought it.  A couple of days later I found the NO SUGAR ADDED.  When I got home I compared the two and was shocked!

25 %  less sugar has
60 calories
0.5 g Total fat
30 g sodium
14 g total carbs
13 g sugar

Sheesh

NO sugar added
35 calories
1 g total fat
70 g sodium
7 g total carb
3 g sugar

Man!   What a difference huh?!  I was shocked it was that much and I HONESTLY think the no sugar added taste much better, it however doesn't mix as well but that's okay.  Obviously the sodium is higher but I don't take in much sodium and neither do my kids so I'm okay with that.
So is this news to anyone else or am I the only dummy who didn't realize this?!   I mean really when you see "no sugar added" verses "25% less sugar"  I just thought LESS SUGAR meant it would have LESS sugar.  That's what I get for assuming right?

Hope this helped even one person.  :)

Lunch Box Swap

Here are the tips I got from my South Beach Diet email today on ways to healthy up your lunches!  They are good ideas so read up and get healthy y'all.

Swap…high-fat lunch meats like bologna and salami
For…lean reduced-sodium deli meats like roast turkey, lean ham, and grilled chicken breast

Swap…white bread and white pasta
For…100% whole-grain bread and whole-wheat pasta

Swap…fried chips and other high-fat, low-nutrition snacks
For…reduced-fat cheese sticks, a handful of nuts, veggie dippers (like carrots) with hummus, or a fiber-rich snack like plain air-popped popcorn

Swap…fruit canned in syrup
For…fresh fruit or fruit packed in its natural juice

Swap…cookies and cakes
For…fresh fruit or sugar-free gelatin

Swap…sugary fruit drinks and sodas
For…vegetable juice blend, water, or low-fat or fat-free milk

Butter or Margarine?

I have been gaining weight back.  It is not fun.  I go through ups and downs as far as my weight and the way I eat.  I have also been going through weeks of working off and then I get wrapped up in other things and don't work out for weeks.  This has got to end.  Monday my kid starts kindergarten.  My life is going to change.  I have decided that through that forced changed I will make many more.  One being eating better and working out.  So come Monday I am starting up my South Beach diet phase one.  It's tough but it gets your body rid of all the processed sugar.  After two weeks of no carbs you start adding it back but in the form of wheat flour in stead of white.  It's a great diet and the first two weeks are tough but you usually lose between 8 and 12 pounds.  I am hoping to lose at least 8!  We shall see what happens.

I get emails from the south beach diet web site and sometimes they are super informative.  The one they sent today I liked and thought I would repost for everyone.  I am not a fan of margarine and I LOVE butter.  So switching is hard for me.  Especially since I didn't think it was actually better for me.  This email helped.  hope it helps you too.

Which Is Better: Butter or Margarine?

In supermarkets across the country, butter and margarine battle over prime space on dairy shelves in an effort to win over consumers. But which is considered South Beach Diet-friendly?

The answer is trans-fat-free margarine (often labeled as vegetable-oil spread these days). The reason lies in the different types of fats that are contained in butter and margarine. Butter, made from animal fats, is high in artery-clogging saturated fats. Margarine, on the other hand, is made with vegetable oil, so it contains mainly polyunsaturated fat. But don't be deceived! While margarine contains less saturated fat than butter, the hard varieties (like stick margarine) are high in trans fats.

What Are Trans Fats?
Trans fats are manufactured in a process called hydrogenation, in which liquid vegetable oils are transformed into solid fats. They are used in foods like crackers, cookies, and pastries to improve their flavor and texture and to extend their shelf life. Like saturated fats, trans fats can raise LDL ("bad") cholesterol, but trans fats have also been shown to lower levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol. Studies have also shown that trans fats can increase the risk for obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and cancer. Not surprisingly, trans fats should be considered the worst fats of all and avoided.

The healthiest choice is a trans-fat-free liquid or tub margarine. It’s easy to make an informed decision about buying trans-fat-free products because in January 2006 the Food and Drug Administration required that the trans-fat content of packaged foods be included on the Nutrition Facts panel. The trans-fat number is listed after Total Fat and Saturated Fat, but only if the product contains 0.5 grams or more per serving. So be sure to check for hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil in the ingredients list to avoid trans fats altogether.

If you've been diagnosed with high cholesterol, you may elect to use one of the cholesterol-lowering vegetable-oil spreads made with phytosterols, also known as plant stanols and sterols. These compounds, found in sources like soybean oils, can help in reducing blood-cholesterol levels when used regularly.

Happy eating everyone! 

A Loss

Last Saturday our family suffered a loss.  It has been tough.  We had a GREAT day!  We drove out to where I used to live and met up with friends we hadn't seen in forever.  The kids played together on the playground while the grown ups talked and laughed.  We were there for hours.  It was wonderful.  We also ate at 2 of our favorite places.  You can't beat great food.  As we were driving home from our most excellent Saturday, as we got closer to home we noticed there had been a storm.  There was flooding on the streets and you could tell that had been some strong wind.  It was drizzling on us a bit.  We got home and noticed the power had gone out.  A couple of hours later the power went out again.

The next day we woke up and I looked out in the back yard and saw something horrible!

Do you see it?  

We were missing something.

I looked to the left......nothing.

I looked all the way to the right.......nothing.

CRAP.

Cody got up a little while later and I said, "Go look outside"

He looked.  "Where is it?"

I said, "No clue"

Cody went outside and looked around.  He looked left....nothing.

He looked right.....nothing.

He looked UP!  BINGO

FOUND IT!  My kids are devastated.  They loved their trampoline.  Do you noticed how not only is it on the roof but that the frame was completely destroyed?!  YUP!  No fixing this puppy.  What was worse is that after Tyler cried for a minute he said, "Now I'll have to wait until I go to grandma and grandpa's  to jump on the trampoline."   My parents JUST moved and no longer have a back yard.  DOH!  We explained that to him and he cried for a second again.  Bummer.

So after some tears ( from both Tyler and Daddy )  Okay Daddy didn't really cry but he wanted to because he had the task of climbing on the roof and trying to get the dumb thing down.  Everything on it was ruined.  We loved you trampoline.  May you now rest in pieces...literately.

Busy

Sorry folks!  I have been busy.  It seems like I have been getting nothing done too which is frustrating.  Partly because I spent time this weekend to make a baby sling for a friend and then work on my etsy shop. I listed 12 new things and with the listing everything comes taking pictures and taking the time to list it.  I would say on average it takes 10 to 20 minutes for me to list one thing.  So needless to say sometimes when I have things to list, nothing else gets done.  My poor husband has been SOOOOO sun burnt too so I have spent lots of time rubbing him down with coconut oil ( which he says helps tremendously by the way! )  He laughs at all of my, "Well maybe you should rub "insert essential oil here" on it."  Whenever something is wrong with him.  THIS time however, he listened because he was in so much pain he was willing to try anything and what do you know IT WORKED!  Little stinker.  We used some avocado oil the last couple of days with the super dry, itchy, peeling skin and that seems to help a lot as well.  

Any ways.  Hopefully I'll get some stuff up here soon.  I have been asked by a local vintage style shop in a town near me to start carrying some of my hair clips in their store.  I was excited about this adventure but it means making a tons of stuff to put in there and I need to get it done ASAP.  I also told the lady I would come take pictures of her shop for her to put on her facebook page and we are going to trade services!  Trading is such a great way for two people to get what they want and to get their business out there.  The shop opens up in a week or two so I have been going a little crazy the last day or two.  Also, I am doing a photo shoot Wednesday for someone from my church.  She has the CUTEST little girl and boy so I am SO excited to do those for her.  I think they will turn out great.  Here's hoping any ways.  So I have LOTS of things going on and I just hope that over the next week or so I will have some time to blog about this and that!  I have a Thankful Thursday post written in my head already so here's hoping that gets typed up sometime too!  haha

Happy Tuesday everyone.  I hope you are not as tired and crazy as I am.  :)

Oh and my mom is a quilter.  She does excellent work.  She is going to start listing things on my etsy shop.  I have listed the first of many quilts she is going to have me sell for her.  Take a look if you are a quilter.  The next one is going to be an adorable baby quilt and I can't wait for her to finish it up so I can list it because it REALLY is so darling!

Seriously?

I have MORE flowers to post on here tonight.  I know what you are thinking.  SERIOUSLY?  Yes.  Sorry it isn't something more exciting but I have NOT had much time this week to craft.  My husband has been home on vacation so I didn't really have time to myself to do things like that.  I did however, get to go to the town thrift store by myself for like 45 minutes during nap time on Wednesday.  I SCORED!  I got a couple of vintage ( or at least REALLY old ) pillow cases and I have started to turn them into some pillow case dresses for my daughter.  The one I bought to actually turn into the pillow case dress I am having second thoughts on it now.  I am thinking instead of maybe making me a skirt.  We shall see.  I also found a SUPER cute skirt for me in a size 18.  I am not a size 18 however so I must take it in before I can wear it.  Hopefully that doesn't take me TOO long to do.   It's SO cute that I am hoping it helps motivate me enough tot get it done so I can wear it.  I never seem to want to wear any of my dresses or skirts to church.  I also bought a flat sheet and some other pillow cases, some AWESOME stretchy knit I am planning on making a skirt for me with ( it was 1 1/2 yards for only 1.50! )  a wallet, a leather ( well fake leather most likely ), 4 books for my kids and a basket to do new born pictures with and I got it ALL for 11 dollars.  YYYYYYYESSSSSSS! ( said just like Napoleon Dynamite )

Any ways.  Here are the flowers I made the other day using some tutorials I found in blog land.

The first one is kinda plain but I think I will add a leaf or two too it to add just a little something else.  I tutorial I saw put some leaves off of the side and I didn't think it needed them until I tried it without.

I LOVE how this one turned out and it looks so hard but it really wasn't complicated at all.  It didn't take that long either which is a plus for me.  You do have to sew and some people don't like that but it was worth it in my opinion.

This one was EXTREMELY easy and yet looks so elegant if you use the right ribbon.  I think I am going to be adding some tule, russian veiling and/or some feathers to it.  It's super cute now as it is but some other stuff added might make it pretty darn cute too.  And since my girl refuses to use clips or put anything at all in her hair I will most likely be putting these in the etsy shop.  I have been thinking about doing another giveaway too so maybe I'll use some for that!

I hope everyone had a great Friday.  I got to see two friends I haven't seen in forever and have lunch while the kids played.  It was nice.  That's twice in one week I got to hang out with old friends.  Life doesn't get much better than that!!!

PS We also put in an offer on a house.  Keep your fingers crossed for us.  It is a short sale and they were asking more then what we offered.  We are hoping they counter offer and don't just flat out tell us know. We'll see what happens.  I'll keep y'all posted.  EEEEEEE

SCORE

So did anyone else venture to JoAnn's on Memorial day for their sale?  Actually it was the whole weekend.  I begged my husband to drive me since I still hadn't gotten my license in the mail yet.  He was nice and drove me and dropped me off and then took the kids to Target.  I got there at 9:05 and they opened at 9.  I was expecting a crowd and the store was actually pretty empty.  It was AWESOME.  They were having a sale on Simplicity patterns.  5 patterns for 5 dollars.  I grabbed 5 of those and then some interfacing, some very pretty buttons, some elastic, a bow, some parchment paper and a couple of fat quarters.  My receipt said I paid 29.70 ( with taxes ) and I saved 93.50!  SCORE!!!!!  Mainly because the cheapest pattern was 14 dollars and the most expensive one was 16.  The buttons I bought were all expensive too and they were on sale for 50 % off so I got a really good price on those too.  Then I had a 15 or 20% off off my whole order plus a 50% off coupon for any regular priced item.  I was giddy all day long!  :)  Here is a picture of my loot

I can't wait to get started on something.  I already used the interfacing for my new purse.  I will post pictures of that later on this afternoon.  In the meantime, I am going to get some cleaning done and a few hair things for my etsy shop.  I also need to run some errands and I am so happy to report my license came in the mail Tuesday!  WOO HOO  It was kinda funny actually because I almost cut off a cop car on my way to the post office.  I was a little freaked out.  I got to the post office, opened up our PO BOX and there it was.  THANK GOODNESS!  haha

TV Show's

I need some help!  I have been doing really good working out as much as I can.  The problem is we do not have a TV in our bedroom and that is where our elliptical is.  What I have been doing is dragging my lap top into the bedroom and then watching a season I got from Netflix on there.  I was watching The Good Wife season one and I just finished it!  I love that show.  But I already watched season 2 on TV.  I am looking for some good ones to work out too.  I like the one hour shows better but if it's a 30 minute show that's okay too.  Have any suggestions?  It can be old or new, I don't care.  I just need to keep up with my working out and when I have nothing to watch I get lazy and don't do it.  Any ideas would be great!  THANKS!  Have a happy weekend Y'all!!

Green Smoothie

I have been making smoothies lately to help me in the working out and TRYING to lose a little more weight.  I make a thing of them every other day and break it up into two smoothies.  I either drink it right after I work out or right after the kids go to bed ( the two times of the day it is the hardest for me NOT to eat junk. )  Mine is a berry smoothie.  It's pretty good.  Milk, yogurt, blue berries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and flax seed.  Sometimes I get crazy and throw a spoonful of whip cream in there.  We had bought a little thing of it and I was trying to use it before it went bad.  Honestly, it doesn't make much taste difference so why put it in.  Sometimes I throw a banana in there.  I was reading through my blog list updates this morning and saw THIS on Elle Apparel and I am SO gonna have to try this when I get back to Cali.  At the moment we are still in Utah.  Today we are heading to Cedar City to see my in laws and hang out with them.  It works out good because my mom and dad usually work on weekends and the weekends are the only days my in laws have off.

Yesterday I took my girl to get her first hair cut.  She did AWESOME.  I don't have my pictures on my lap top yet.  HOPEFULLY sometime in the next week I will be getting my hair cut too because it is driving me insane.  After we got Kayla's hair cut when we to the park and ate pizza and then my sister and I went thrift store shopping and then to Walmart to buy stuff to make dinner.  We made chicken enchiladas.  They were super yummy.  Then I made some home made brownies.  They turned out okay but I was hoping they would be awesome.  My mom and dad's cocoa was old and you could taste that in the brownie.  I was disappointed but everyone else thought they were good.  They were nice and moist though which I LOVED!  If you want to try the recipe check it out over at HERE over at Sugar Bananas.  I went to her blpog and clicked on dessert.  BIG mistake!  haha  I wanted to make everything I saw.  My next ( If I have the time ) is here Lemon Berry cake.  It looks amazing.

OKay enough babbling for today.  I have some crafty stuff happening soon but until then have a fabulous weekend!

I Can See!

Yesterday was interesting.  I got my lasik done.  After they are done with the procedure they tape plastic things over your eyes and tell you that you must leave them on until you come in for your appointment the next day.  I cap remove them to put drops in my eyes which I have to do ever 30 minutes.  I have 4 different things I am putting in my eyes.  I was worried Kayla was not going to like the stuff on my face and want to touch it constantly.  Not so.  She looked at me and said, "Momma, you hurt your eyes?"  I said, "Yeah mommy hurt her eyes but it's okay."  That was pretty much it.  She was weirded out when I tried to kiss her goodnight though.  haha

Check out how attractive they are on my face

Trust me when I say the hat HELPS! haha  YOu should see me without the hat.  My mom was at work when I got home yesterday.  Everyone else was used to it when she got home in the evening.  For the first 30 minutes or so every time she would look at me she would laugh.  Real mature Mom!  :)  ( That's where I get it from! )

It was hard to tell yesterday that my eye sight was any better.  Today I can TOTALLY tell and as soon as I get the cups off of my eyes it will be amazing.  EEEEEEEEEEEE  Can't wait.

Todays the Day

Today is the day I have been WAITING for!  At 3:30 I go in for my lassik!  WOO HOO  I am SO excited!  I did a photo shoot on Saturday before we left to come to Utah and it was so weird doing it with my glasses.  I don't think my pictures came out that great either.  BOOOOOOOOO  After this ( assuming everything goes well ) I won't have to worry about my dumb glasses!  I had an appointment yesterday where they had to dilate my eyes and it looked SO weird!  Check it out.

My sister was making fun of me for taking a picture but seriously, doesn't it look weird?!  I couldn't even open my eyes out side for a while it was SOOOOO bright.

We are having fun here in Utah.  We got here at around 3:30 on Sunday and they kids had an egg hunt and had lots of fun.  We got a new picture of the grandkids since our last one didn't come out!  haha  This one is MUCH better!  What do you guys think

OLD PICTURE

THE NEW ONE

A million times better right?  I LOVE it!  Hope you guys enjoyed your Easter.  I finished my girls skull dress and it's so adorable.  I can't wait to put it on her and take some pictures.

Preventing Cancer

I get emails from The South Beach diet web sit every day with advice, health info, recipes and much more. Today's email was all about simple ways to help prevent cancer.  I was reading the list and it is ALL things we can easily do and should be doing any ways.  One or two surprised me because I had never heard it before so I thought I'd share it with y'all.

8 Tips to Help Lower Your Cancer Risk

In addition to benefiting your heart health, the South Beach Diet may also help lower your risk of developing cancer. The American Cancer Society recommends a diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein — exactly what the South Beach Diet encourages. In addition, many of their other recommendations match up with South Beach Diet guidelines. Here are small lifestyle changes you can make today that may help lower your risk of developing cancer in the future:

• Limit or avoid fried foods.
• Choose whole grains over refined-flour products.
• Cut down on sweets.
• Avoid fatty meats and poultry with the skin on.
• Eat a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids from such foods as salmon and other-cold water fish and olive oil.
• Limit consumption of alcoholic beverages to no more than one drink a day if you’re a woman or two if you’re a man.
• Quit smoking.
• Exercise regularly to maintain a healthy weight.

Taking control of your health by following these tips will help lower your risk of developing many kinds of cancer. Some people are genetically predisposed to cancer because of family history or environmental influences. If you think you may be at high risk for cancer, consult your physician.

5 Pounds

That is how much weight I gained over the last week and a half!  Booooooo  We were in Utah and ate at a bunch of places we don't have here in Cali and then it was my birthday and I made this delicious cake with some YUMMY frosting.  I ate almost all of it myself....hmmmmmm

Last week I was even disciplined enough to work out three times before we left to go to Utah.  I KNEW I had gained some weight because my pants were fitting tight.  I finally forced myself to get on the scale.  This week it's South Beach all over again and some self discipline!  I just bought some cadbury eggs too!  DOH!

And because I have been posting a lot with no pictures ( which I HATE ) here is a quick one from our trip

Enjoy

The top picture was taken inCedar City.  It snowed the day we left.  The other picture was taken in the car with the window rolled up while we were still driving.  Yeah...that's how I roll! haha  When you have kids and are in a hurry there's no point in stopping, getting out of the car or rolling the window down.  In fact, when I do roll the window down I either get yelled at, or my boy barks like a dog.  He's a weirdo  haha