No more GUM?!!

I have been told to give up one of my favorite things.

GUM!

I have TMJ and chewing gum makes it worse.

My bite is all screwed up.

I was finally given confirmation that my sister Loni broke my nose when I was little.

I went to the ENT today to have my ears checked and he said that my ears are fine and diagnosed me with TMJ.

He looked in my nose only to find that my septum is deviated and said that it is from breaking my nose.

Yes, my nose is crooked!

I always wondered if I had broke my nose but never had it confirmed until now.

Loni and I were playing hands up stands up.......you know the game.

She kicked me in the nose.

I remember exactly where we were when it happened.

We were standing in the front yard on a warm afternoon after our ginormous (is that a word?) tree in the back yard had filled the front yard with shade.

Who knows if she did it on purpose.

You know how siblings are so who knows.....I could ask her now and she would probably deny doing it on purpose....I don't know,

however, I hold no malice.

She offered to pay for my nose job some day and I would now like to take her up on that!

So Loni.......pay up sista!

Just kidding, I wont make her pay, (and she didn't really offer) I will just rub noses with her every time I see her. ;)

Anywho.....

The doc gave me some exercises to do for my jaw.

Hopefully it helps!

This diagnosis explains the pain I keep getting in my teeth.

Kiera's having a birthday shout hurray!

My cute little niece turns 2 today!

My sister Loni made this amazing cake. Isn't it cute?

We had a fun party for her yesterday.

Happy Birthday Sweetie,

We LOVE you!

Kiss Kiss.

Date Night!

Russell's first time playing BINGO!

And guess who won?

Beginners luck.....of course beginners luck never happens to me.

But I am glad Russ won!

15 bucks!!

He took the money...instead of a prize.

Great Date!

Our Friday.....

Wake up
Get kids out of bed.

Sunrise.

Get to Loni's 2 hours later.

Allie and Keira are twinners today with their pigtails.

Oooo La La! My gorgeous sister.

We met my other sister at 'School Lunch'

Then we went to Roberts to shop.

Loni and Vera.

We hit the first day of 90% off christmas.

I saved over 250 dollars on all the stuff I bought for next year.

Me and my 'cat smile'

Can you tell we are excited for spring?

My beautiful neice Briea.

My other beautiful neice Kylie.

(I have no idea why it turned sideways. I am very curious about that.)

My other beautiful neice Keira.

At Loni's.

My brother Ben singing the alphabet with the kids.

He was saying....."V" when I snapped the picture.

I only put this picture on here to show you how mean I look when I am not smiling.

I am not mad, I just look like it.

So if you see me and I am not smiling, don't think I'm mad.

There, that's better.

Sunset.

We were all so tired, this is what time we went to bed.

Long day, but very fun nonetheless.

Ski Day!

Carter and his cousins, Tyler and Adam.

They went to Wolf Mountain.

Thanks for the pictures Debbie!

This was Emma's first time on the slopes!

She looks like a natural.

Oh, she had times where she didn't love it.

Russell said, for the most part, she did really well.

What fun!! For them anyway.

I was shopping with my sisters.

I'm too old to ski!

Feeling Good!!!

Week 3.

Weighing in at 164.

5 pounds lost.

How are you doing?

Ate a little too much yesterday.

On the right track now.

Made more soup today.

Yum!

Happy Monday.

my Bugs

Carter and Russ got to go.

Fun.

Carter looks so Happy!

I am glad they went.

Happy Monday!

I weighed myself this morning and was not expecting to see any weight loss so far and I was right! I didn't work out much last week because I got another cold! ARGH!!

Yesterday I walked 2 1/2 miles with a friend. And today we did Tae Bo together. I plan on getting on the treadmill while watching the Bachelor tonight. I don't feel like the Tae Bo gave me a good enough work out.

Anyway, I ate really healthy last week and didn't eat anything I was not supposed to until Saturday.
So this is my plan:
Monday through Friday...20-27 points on weight watchers. Only healthy eating.
Saturday....I can eat whatever I want.
Sunday.....No sweets, but I am not counting points on food. (I don't go over board)
And exercise Monday through Saturday.

I feel so different than when I started. I have more energy and I don't feel so sluggish. Those holidays really through me for a loop. Too much yummy food. And we know.... if it is super tasty, we know it's not that good for you. Except the cabbage soup that I made. It was so yummy and zero points. Of course you have to love vegetables....which I do!
Here is the recipe:

Garden Vegetable Soup
2/3 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup diced onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups broth (beef, chicken, or vegetable)
1 1/2 cups diced green cabbage
1/2 cup green beans
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup diced zucchini

1. In Large saucepan, sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, saute carrot, onion, and garlic over low heat until softened, about 5 minutes.

2. Add broth, cabbage, beans, tomato paste, basil, oregano, and salt; bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, covered, about 15 minutes or until beans are tender.

3. Stir in zucchini and heat 3-4 minutes. Serve hot.

That's it! I doubled the recipe and got about 6 servings. Today when I make it I am going to triple it. I simmered mine for about 35 minutes. It was perfect. YuM! enjoy!!

Here we GO!!

So the first day is finally here, and guess what, I have actually been looking forward to it.

I start the day out weighing in at 169 pounds.
It is okay to post your weight...it is like your age....people can figure it out!
So why not say it out loud?
My goal weight is 140.
29 pounds should take me......oh, I don't know, 10 years!! Just kidding, I should be at my goal weight in at least 5 months. It sounds like a long time but we have already been in Utah for 5 months...which flew by!

I am looking forward to losing weight off my arms! They are like two sausages.
I am also looking forward to losing my baby belly! I never had to worry about my tummy before I had kids, it was always my rear that was the problem. Now it is spread out all over.

I am doing weight watchers. It is so easy. Really, it is just watching your portions. I am not logged into anything, or going to any meetings. I am just doing it on my own. Which is good enough! I write down what I ate in my journal. I am about to make my menu for the week so I can run to the store and get what I need.

Yesterday, I took all the sugary foods and hid them. No one knows where they are except me. I am telling you...it is easy to not eat what is not there!

I am planning to do different sorts of exercises everyday.

Every Monday I will post my progress.

Happy Monday...and remember...you are what you eat!

Good luck with your progress!

Happy Birthday Loni....a.k.a. Elf

Happy Birthday my Darling Sister!!

I love how you are so organized and crafty! You are so creative!

I am glad that we grew up so close. We had a lot of good times and a lot of hard 'sibling' times.

But all in all, it was such a great experience having a sister just 22 months older than me.

Thanks for all you have done for me over the years.

I love you so much!

Lets do Lunch!!

Happy 29th Birthday!

what are Holidays for?

StRETchhhhhhhh!
Yawn!
4 hour naps of course.

Happy New Year!

Day 31 ~December Thirty First~ New word and Last day

Wow!

I am not going to lie, this has been a very long month. And, a very stressful one too!

Posting on my blog everyday has been a challenge.

But I did it!

All but one day that is.

And that is because I got home after midnight on Christmas Eve and did not make the post before the stoke of 12.

It feels good to be done with it.

And it feels good to have accomplished what I did.

But now I am in the habit of posting everyday, so I just might be posting more than I did before I started all of this.

My goal for this, really was to show things that I have created, but life got in the way and I didn't do one creation all month.

So what got posted was.....my life.

At least the better parts of it.

I don't know why but every time I move and get settled in...my anxiety flares up and I end up trying to deal with that, which I will, it just takes me a while to acclimate. 8)

That, along with other things in my life have taken over my month of December.

But we have a new year coming...thank heavens!!

Every New Year, I ponder my goals and try to find a word to help me work on and accomplish them.

This year, I chose the word

FOCUS!!

I feel like more than anything,

I need to focus on the positive things in my life, I mean REALLY focus.

I have a list of goals a mile long but some of the most important ones are:

*patience

*spending more QUALITY time with my kids

*strengthening my relationship with my husband

*doing the things that I am supposed to as a member of the church

*eating right for life

*exercising habitually

*service, service and more service

*accepting myself for who I am

*laughing a LOT!!

Pick your word for the year and share it with us.

Happy New Year!!

2009 will be a great year!

Day 30 ~December thirtieth~ Playing outside

Santa brought Bikes this year!

The kids have been riding them in the house because it has been too dang cold and wet to go outside.

That is until yesterday.

So we went out for about an hour.

Then it sarted to get too chilli!

Ahhh!

Hours of fun to have outside when the weather is good!
Carter got new roller blades but he wasn't out there with us.

Day 29 ~December Twenty Ninth~ My Mom!

Today is my Mom's Birthday!

I wish I could take her out to dinner.

I owe you one Mom!

We live 300 miles away from each other.

But at least we are in the same state now. ;)

My Mom is the greatest.

She loves her family so much!

I loved how she would wait up for us to get home from wherever we were.

Then she would be genuinely curious about listening to how our day went.

She was always doing service for other people.

In fact we always had to ask if we could eat things out of the fridge because we never knew if the food was for us or a less fortunate family that she was taking care of.

My favorite memories with my Mom are when I was a young teenager.

We would have so much fun together.

My sisters and I would start water fights and my Mom would get right in the middle of it.

And when we wanted to go toilet papering....she would ask if she could go with us!

She never told us to go away and be quiet.

She would let us ramble on and on about nonsense and she wouldn't mind.

She is a great Mom!!

I hope you have a very Happy Birthday Mom.
I love you with all my heart.

HUGS and KISSES!!

Day 28 ~December twenty eighth~ Deacon

Carter got the priesthood today. He is a Deacon.
Funny thing is....the power was out at the church so they only had sacrament meeting with a few lights powered by a generator.
So we went back with Russell's parents at 1:00 and met in the lightest room in the building where Carter was ordained. It was a fun day. I still cant believe I have a 12 year old. How many times have I said that?

Day 27 ~December twenty seventh~ Winter White Stuff

Day 26 ~December twenty sixth~ ScraP PageS

So, it has taken me forever to post these. I just forgot about them.

These are a few pages that I had in my album that I sent in for Scrapbooker of the Year, 2008.

I will post more later, I couldn't get them to post the right direction.

This page is a combination of mod podge, cardstock, rub-ons and the LIFE is cut out of the patterned paper with an exacto knife. I really had a lot of fun creating this one.

The letters on this page are actually pictures that I took of illuminated signs at night. Then I cut them out. But when I put them on the page, they didn't look like photos, so I guess it was more work than it was worth.
The funny thing is, I let my subscription to CK magazine expire. I feel like I can see everything that I need to online, however, I do miss looking at them while lounging around or sitting on the throne!

Day 25 ~December twenty fifth~ Merry Christmas

Well, I made it 23 days without missing a day blogging.

Yesterday we were in Ogden all day at my In-Laws, and we didn't get home until 12:00 a.m. just in time to miss my post.

We drove home in a snow storm in the canyon so we had to drive slow. Oh well, I am not giving up.

"Fall down and get back up and wipe off the dust and keep chugging along." That is going to be my new motto for 2009!

The kids slept in until 8:30 this morning but that is because they didn't go to bed until after midnight.

Russ and I didn't go to bed until after 2:30 am.

So after we unwrapped the presents at 10:30, I was so exhausted.

You know...the build up of it all and then the crash!

I took a 4 hour nap.

And I had to force myself to get up, I could have definitely slept a lot longer.

So needless to say, my Christmas is going to be a lazy one.

But after the month I have had and with everything going on, I could sleep 24 hours straight.

I planned on making a very nice Ham and potatoes Christmas dinner, but I think I will do that tomorrow.

I hope you all get to have a lazy Christmas and stay in your P.J's like me.

Be thinking of your new years goals.

I have a ton!

But one very specific one.....Can you guess what it is?

Did you guess 30 pounds weight loss?

I know it is a pretty common one.

But you are right.

I WILL take it off!!

Moving here to Utah has been a 10 pound gain.

But I will make it!

I am actually really excited about it.

So if anyone wants to join me in my efforts to feel good and Change your look, we can be a support group!

I have this little wrist band that says...."Choose to win your race."

I wore it until it broke.

But I love that saying.

This is my life and I will choose to win my race.

Merry Christmas!

Day 23 ~December twenty third~ Carter's Birthday

Happy Birthday to the most amazing 12 year old!!

Twelve years ago today, I was introduced to my first born child.

I was so excited to be a MOM!

We were such proud parents of that little baby and have been ever since.

Carter truly is an awesome kid!

He is so smart and very responsible.

He is almost as tall as me now and his feet and hands are already bigger than mine.

He is growing so fast.

I can't believe He is 12 already.

Carter was the only child for 6 years so we have a very special bond.

I love you so much Carter and appreciate all the work you do for your family and I am so proud of how hard you work in school!

Happy Happy Birthday!