What are you doing New Year's Eve??

I'm planning a big party...assuming I can stop coughing long enough to invite anyone. :)

It doesn't matter how sick I am. This song will always make me smile. And this version of this song makes me super duper happy!!

I'm guessing my neighbors hate me right now.

I can't sleep. I'm up hacking my freaking brains out. I can't stop coughing for the life of me. Pretty sure the neighbors can hear me. Somehow my kids are sleeping through it, which is sort of a miracle.

I got sick the week before Christmas. I was plastered to the couch for a few days. It was pretty bad. Congestion, chest pain, coughing, sore and swollen throat. Miserable. I finally got up and took myself to the doctor. Who told me that I had a cold and there was nothing he could do. Grrrrr.

And I'm breastfeeding. Which means there's not much I can take. And what I've taken isn't working. So I'm up at almost one in the morning typing a whiney blog post about it.

Now I'm going to go back to watching crap tv (because there's nothing good on at one in the morning) and coughing because there's nothing more to say or do about it. :(

See Mother, Funny Funny Mother

We have a book of Christmas stories to count down to Christmas. I made it one year at a Relief Society activity. On December 1st we replace our usual bedtime stories with the stories from this Christmas book. Some stories explain Christmas traditions and symbols, some speak of the true meaning of Christmas, and others are simple, silly anecdotes.

I forget the stories every year until I'm reading them again. It's fun to feel like you're reading a new story every year. The following is one of my very favorites in the book. Mostly because of it's accuracy. This is exactly how I feel just before Christmas. :)

See Mother, Funny Funny Mother

Author Unknown

See Mother laugh. Mother is happy.

Mother is happy about Christmas.

Mother has many plans. Mother has many plans for Christmas.

Mother is organized. Mother smiles all the time.

Funny, funny Mother.

See Mother. See Mother smile. Mother is happy.

The shopping is all done. See the children watch TV.

Watch, children, watch.

See the children change their minds.

See them ask for different toys.

Look, look. Mother is not smiling.

Funny, funny Mother.

See Mother. See Mother sew.

Mother will make dresses.

Mother will make robes.

Mother will make shirts.

See Mother put the zipper in wrong.

See mother sew the dress on the wrong side.

See Mother cut the skirt too short.

See Mother put the material away until January.

Loo, look. See Mother take a tranquilizer.

Funny, funny Mother.

See Mother. See Mother buy raisins and nuts.

See Mother buy candied pineapple and powdered sugar.

See Mother buy flour and dates and spices,

And pecans and brown sugar and bananas.

Look, look. Mother is mixing everything together,

See the children press out cookies.

See the flour on their elbows.

See the cookies burn. See the cake fall.

See the children pull taffy. See Mother pull her hair.

See Mother clean the kitchen with the garden hose.

Funny, funny Mother.

See Mother. See Mother wrap presents.

See Mother look for the end of the scotch tape roll.

See Mother bite her fingernails. See Mother go.

See Mother go to the store 12 times in one hour.

Go Mother go. See Mother go faster. Run Mother run.

See Mother trim the tree.

See Mother have a party.

See Mother make popcorn.

See Mother wash the walls.

See Mother scrub the rug.

See Mother tear up the organized plan.

See Mother forget gift for Uncle Harold.

See Mother get hives.

Go Mother go.

See the faraway look in Mother's eyes.

Mother has become disorganized.

Mother has become disoriented.

Funny, funny Mother.

It is finally Christmas morning.

See the happy family.

See Father smile. Father is happy.

Smile Father smile.

Father loves fruit cake.

Father loves Christmas pudding.

Father loves all the new neckties.

Look, look. See the happy children.

See the children's toys.

Santa was very good to the children.

The children will remember this Christmas.

See Mother. Mother is slumped in a chair.

Mother is crying uncontrollably.

Mother does not look well.

Mother has ugly dark circles under her bloodshot eyes.

Everyone helps Mother to her bed.

See Mother sleep quietly under heavy sedation.

See Mother smile.

Funny, funny Mother.

Grrrrr.

I woke up this morning and realized I my favorite water bottle out in the car. I sip on water from my bottle all day long. So I asked Jason to run out and grab it for me. Because he's the nicest husband in the world.

When he brought my water bottle back in he also let me know that someone had stolen some things from out car. Rude! But kind of our fault. We got home from running errands last night and parked the car in our uncovered spot (we usually park in the covered spot) and left the car unlocked because I planned on running back out for some things without children after I'd fed the baby. And then I got tired and decided those things could wait until morning. We forgot about the car and left it unlocked. Oops!

Luckily, the car is old and we don't keep anything terribly valuable in it. They took an adapter cord thingamajiger and our GPS. The GPS was the most expensive thing, but really, we rarely use it anymore. Our stereo is so old it's been going out randomly lately, so had they tried to take it (which they did, but apparently left it behind) we would have laughed that they stole our broken stereo.

We're not too upset over the lost goods. More annoyed that someone felt the need to steal. But hopefully someone is going to have a lovely Christmas with a new to them old GPS and an adapter cord!

Twinners!!

I have never had two children who I could dress the same. Until today!

Lucas's 3-6 month clothes were getting snug and while I was putting some laundry away this morning I found his 6-9 month clothes. I decided to try them on now, assuming they'd be too big still, but they aren't. I immediately put him in the outfit that Jack had put on that morning. SO CUTE!!

I just love my boys. They are so different and so fun! Jack is my wild, energetic, crazy boy. Lucas is calm and peaceful and quiet...most of the time. :) But they are such good brothers already. Jack can make Lucas laugh at almost anything he does. I can see how much Lucas loves his big brother every time he looks at him.

ACK! I just can't get over how much I love my boys!!!!!

Cute Baby, Cute Toes

Lucas fell asleep like this playing on the floor earlier today. Holding his toes. Man, I love that sweet boy!!!

A New Blog

I started another blog. I think this is like the fifth one I've started. Yep. I just went and counted. Fifth blog.

First I had the family blog. Which is really just my space.

Then I added a blog for Payson. I had plans for it that never panned out. I imagined starting a blog for each kid, blogging every great moment in their lives, and then turning it into a book for them every year. Ha! In theory, it was a fun idea. But it's just never going to happen.

Then I started a recipe blog. Which I actually love. I loved sharing recipes. But I just got busy and haven't been posting on for, well, years.

Fourth, I started a blog to document trying to get healthy. But it just stopped working after a while. I got pregnant and miscarried and pregnant and miscarried...well, you know the story. And my health just took a back seat for about 2 years. Sad.

So now I'm doing that again. Another healthy blog. This time for real. I've been posting on it for a little while and am really enjoying having a place to share what I'm doing and what's working for me. That way I can leave this blog for family stuff and no one who doesn't want to hear about all the stuff I'm doing to lose weight has to read about it.

Join me over there! It's my place to be accountable. It's my place to (hopefully) help others in my shoes do what I'm doing. And maybe when others start reading it it will be a great place for me to find encouragement and motivation as well. Hope to see you there!!

Rewards

To keep myself motivated to lose all this weight I am giving myself "rewards" for every ten pounds I lose. The first reward for the first ten pounds was a new workout wardrobe. For hitting twenty pounds down I treated myself to a manicure and a pedicure today.

And it was wonderful!! The last time I had a manicure was....couldn't tell ya. I have no idea when the last time my fingernails were even painted was. And my last pedicure was before Lucas was born. So these were both very much needed!! And they're all sparkly and festive and I feel so pretty!!

A Little Random

Lucas has been rolling from tummy to back for two months, but he has just started rolling from back to tummy in the last week! It doesn't happen too often and I haven't caught it on video quite yet, but it's so fun! And it's super fun to watch how excited the other kids get when they see him on his side ready to roll. :)

Here he is all snuggled up in his cute sock monkey hat. He fell asleep in his seat while we were out running errands so we just left him to sleep in his seat when we got home. He was just too cute sleeping there when we checked on him! Oh I could just eat him!!

I just wasn't feeling Christmas after Thanksgiving. It was weird. I'm usually super anxious to get everything out and start celebrating. But I just wasn't for whatever reason this year. And then I went shopping and got my tree up and decorated. Now Christmas is in full swing!

And I'm loving my tree this year! It makes me smile every time I look at it. We've been listening to lots of the Grinch, Chipmunks Mickey's Twelve Days of Christmas, and Polar Express soundtracks with the tree lit up. The kids love it! And for mom, a little A Very She and Him Christmas, Harry Connick, Jr., the Carpenters, and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. My faves. :)

In other random news, I've lost over 20 pounds recently! I'm actually down almost 50 pounds from my highest weight while pregnant with Lucas. I'm super close to my pre-pregnancy weight, although I have a LOOOOONG ways to go to reach my goal. I'll have to post soon about everything I'm doing. Because it seems to be working really well!! :)

And for now, that is all. I'm going to go play a game with Jack while I snuggle my baby boy. I love playing with my boys. :) Makes me miss my girl and wish she was here to play with us!

Never Again...

...will I attempt a Twilight midnight movie. Or any midnight movie to be honest.

I read all the books. I enjoyed all the books. Okay, that's not entirely true. I really liked book one, loved book two, book three was fine, and I HATED book four. Like loathed it. It ruined the whole thing for me. But whatever.

When the movies started to come out I wanted to see them, but I just wasn't that excited. Movies are ridiculously overpriced in my opinion, and these were just not worth paying for. I think they got most of the casting wrong. Anyway, I decided to just wait and rent the movies later for $1 or less. (Yay free redbox codes!)

The first time I watched them I was annoyed. I was busy scrutinizing what they did differently from the books and why I didn't like that actor as that character. When I watched them the second time I relaxed a bit and enjoyed them about as much as possible for me. I wouldn't go out of my way to watch them again, but they were fine. (Twi-hards, please don't kill me. I'm sorry these movies just weren't my thing.)

So when my cousin texted me about going with a big group to the midnight premier of Breaking Dawn Part 1, I thought twice before agreeing. Ultimately I decided that the experience of a midnight movie and acting 15 again with a bunch of girls would be fun and worth it, even if the movie was awful.

Turns out it was just a bad idea. I knew I would need to take Lucas because he could wake up to eat, and he's still nursing, so Jason just wasn't going to be able to handle that on his own. ;) When we got to the theater Lucas was out. He's such a good baby. He didn't make a peep at all. And we've been to movies before. He's so good. He actually has just sat on my lap and watched the screen. He loves it!

And then the lights dimmed. And the freaking Twi-Hards started screaming. And I was stupid and joined in the fun, mocking the idiots. And then my baby started screaming. :( He was so scared! I tried as fast as I could to calm him down before the Twi-Hards attacked me for disturbing their precious shirtless-Jacob moment. And he just wasn't having it. So I picked up my diaper bag, my mom's car keys (we carpooled) and my baby and climbed over the row of crazy fans and left.

I got Lucas calmed down and fed him and then tried to figure out what to do. Should I just go back in and enjoy the rest of the movie? But that required climbing back over all those people on our row (why were we in the middle?!) and then if the screaming started again (which I'm sure would have happened the second that pasty white vampire showed up) and Lucas flipped again I would have to shuffle with all my gear past those people again. I just didn't want to ruin anyone else's experience.

But who wants to sit outside a movie theater for two hours with a baby? I couldn't just take the car and drive home. How would my mom and aunt get home? And I had left Lucas's carseat in the theater. Dang it! I wasn't going to climb over everyone to get the seat and then climb back over them with it, all the while carrying a diaper bag and baby. Ugh.

Solution? Get comfy in Mom's Mercedes (with those yummy heated seats) and fall asleep with the babe. Sigh. Around two I woke up to tapping on the window. We drove home, I got in my car and drove home, making it before 3 am. Finally home in my comfy bed where I should have just been sleeping the last 5 hours.

Grrrr. I lost precious sleep for nothing. My own fault and no one else's. Lesson learned. Never take a 4 month old (how is he that big already?!) to a midnight movie with screaming hoards of crazies. And don't join in. Curse you, mob mentality! Next time, I will savor the gift of each and every minute of sleep instead.

So what if it means I'm kind of old now and can't hack the late night? It also means that I am blessed to be a mommy to three beautiful blessings. And today is definitely one of those every-time-I-look-at-you-all-I-can-think-about-is-how-much-I-love-you-and-it-makes-me-want-to-cry kind of days. :) So much better than a Twilight movie!

Trick-or-Treat!!

I figured that since it's nearly Thanksgiving I'd better hurry up and blog Halloween! First up, on Halloween we headed to Payson's school for the costume parade. Jason was in charge of the camera. And this is what we get:

Ha ha ha! There's her backside. :) Wondering what she is? We'll get to that in a minute.

Next is the world's CUTEST white rabbit! I'm sure everyone looks at this picture and sees "bunny". But a) bunny just seems too feminine for a little guy, and b) we have a theme here. You'll see.

So here's the theme. My adorable Mad Hatter and Alice, from the "real" Alice in Wonderland. (You know, the one with Johnny Depp.)

Jack's costume was so fun! We had the outfit, the wig, the eyebrows, the make up! And he loved it...but ripped the wig and eyebrows off the second I put the camera down. :) They were too itchy. He still looked great without them though!

Payson was so annoyed when she came home from school. Everyone thought she was Cinderella. The blue dress, I guess. But Cinderella didn't have those gloves! Geez, people! Pay attention! ;)

And here is my whole Alice in Wonderland cast. Mad Hatter, Alice, and the White Rabbit. Get it? We considered a vest and a pocket watch to make Lucas's costume a little more obvious, but I just got lazy and didn't look for one.

And this picture cracks me up! My sister, Madie, helped out by holding Lucas in the photos. She kept doing this and I couldn't figure out why. She said she was trying to stay out of the pictures. When I showed her how ridiculous she looked we had a pretty good laugh.

We did all our traditional Halloween stuff. Peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies, taco soup at my mom's (she even made it meat-free this year!), trick-or-treating in my parents' neighborhood pulled on the trailer behind my dad's four wheeler. Lucas and I hung out on the trailer while the kiddos ran from house to house collecting candy. How cute is this snugly bunny?? I could just eat him up!!

And last, a shot of the kids collecting their sugary loot. I was too lazy to get any closer. It was so comfy on that trailer!

Happy Halloween! Now the Halloween decorations are all put away and the Fall/Thanksgiving decor is up and ready. Pretty soon it will be time to bust out the Christmas decor. Crazy!! I love this time of year!

P.S. Since we've added Lucas to the family I no longer have enough stockings. Of course they all have to match, so I ordered new ones today. And they're beautiful!! I can't wait for them to come so I can hang them up!!!!

This is what my cell phone wallpaper looks like:

Those bright blue eyes with the deep creases and that big gummy smile always melt my heart! There are about a million reasons that I love that face (and the faces of his older brother and sister), but there is one main reason. This:

The fact that my baby boy looks just like his daddy. The fact that my babies are his babies. The fact that I am his. The fact that I get to spend eternity with that face. :)

I am so in love with my husband. I still ache for him when he's gone and get butterflies in my stomach when he comes home. I was so in love with him when we started dating almost 8 years ago. I remember thinking there was no way I could love him any more. But I do. I love him so, so much more!

When we were dating I remember "heart attack"-ing his Rodeo while he was at work one day. I had cut out a whole bunch of little hearts and written something I loved about him on each one. There were a LOT of hearts. :) But I was thinking about those hearts last night and about how many more I could add now! Maybe one of these days I'll add those new hearts to his journal (because that's where he taped all the hearts from when we were dating). :)

During our life together over the last several years he has given me countless reasons to love him. He is not a perfect man. He is not a perfect husband or father. But he spends every day trying to be better. He puts my and the kids' needs above his own way more often than not. He lives to make me happy.

Even with all of his imperfections, I feel like he gives me plenty to live up to as a spouse and partner. I hope I make him as happy as he makes me. Because he deserves it!

I'm so glad my Father in Heaven allowed my life to follow a path that led me to him. I love Jason more than I ever thought it was possible to love. He's such an incredible man and I'm so lucky to be his!!

Planking Makes Me Laugh. Hard.

I probably learned about planking late in the game, but found it stupid...and terribly amusing. My kids learned about planking even later in the game (last night). They found it hilarious.

I think I watched them for nearly two hours last night trying to find every place possible to plank. They thought they were pretty funny. And I have to admit, they really were. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt!

Jack planking on the couch.

Jack planking on my desk. Payson planking on Jack.

Both kids planking on the stairs outside our place.

I sent a few of these photos from my phone to some family and friends last night and we all got a seriously good laugh. And then I got a few photos back. Like my sisters secretly planking in the bathroom at someone else's house. Or a friend's hubby planking on the school floor while waiting for parent teacher conferences. Ha ha ha ha!! I about died.

So if you're bored or sad and need a good laugh, consider planking. It's excellent for the stomach muscles!!

Date Night

We haven't been on a date in MONTHS. Seriously. First, because I was just so huge and miserable. I really would not have been any fun on a date. And then because I was recovering and everyone was adjusting. And then life was just busy there for a little bit. But we finally made the time tonight. Our first sitter in sooooooo long. It's probably been over four months. WAY too long! I love my hubby. So glad we got to be boyfriend and girlfriend again for a night! :)

Fall Festivities!!

So far October has been such a fun month! We kicked it off with a fabulous Conference Weekend spent with good food, great talks, and the best company in the world! LOVE my family!! :)

We've been taking lots of walks lately. I love the cooler weather! And we've attempted to document the pretty colors we've been enjoying. Unfortunately we just haven't splurged for a nice camera yet, so these pictures don't do any of those leaves justice.

This is my favorite mountain anywhere. I love seeing it's snow dusted peaks. I can't describe the nostalgia I feel in words. My family lives right there in those colorful foothills. I have memories of high school, dates, family reunions, girls camps, and all sorts of things in those mountains. And now I'm getting to create more wonderful memories there with my little family. Love it!!

Here are my happy boys on one of our recent walks. Poor Payson is always in school and rarely gets to join us. :(

Some of the pretty fall colors down the street from our home.

We've also enjoyed the indoors this month! Cuddling up in mom's bed every morning or snuggling on the couch for family movie nights. So far we've watched Nightmare Before Christmas, Scared Shrekless, and Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outerspace! Up next, my personal favorite, Hocus Pocus!!

We've baked yummy treats! (I may have eaten 3 on Monday night after Family Home Evening. Oops!)

We've shopped for warmer clothes!! Including cute matching church clothes for my boys. I love having twinners now. :)

We carved pumpkins the other night for Family Home Evening! We always let the kiddos choose what they want to carve and then Jason and I end up doing all the work. :) But that's okay! We have fun!

Payson chose Rapunzel from Tangled and Jack chose Phinaes from Phinaes and Ferb (which he is obsessed with lately!)

Here they are all lit up!!

Lucas was there too. I promise. He just chilled in his bouncer and stared at us while we carved. :)

Here are Jason and I, posing with our works of art. Please pardon all the cleavage. I'm already a busty lady, but add nursing to the mix and there are always runaway boobies!! Very scary! Completely appropriate for Halloween, no?

And just for fun, that dining room doesn't look the same at all anymore!! We've had that crappy little less-than-$100-Walmart dining set for way too long! The cheap upholstered seats were stained and disgusting and the table was falling apart. Jason frequently had to drill new holes in the bottom of the table to keep the top on! Sad. And super embarrassing when we had company. And SMALL! This family of 5 was starting to feel cramped! So we got a lovely new set that was delivered this morning.

Ahh! Much better! Plenty of room to sit four, even 6 comfortably. And a leaf to add two more. And prettier, don't you think?

And last, we headed to Hee Haw Farms for some family fun! The kids have been dying to go for a while. We even had plans to go with friends one evening and we ended up not being able to make it. They've been begging to go ever since. So we finally made the trip last night.

First we made friends with a cute floppy eared bunny.

Then we posed with some ginormous pumpkins. The older two were definitely in the mood to ham it up for the camera yesterday.

Jack made friends with a chicken. Rooster? I don't know. Either way, they had some pretty intense conversations. :)

The admission cost of Hee Haws is totally worth their petting zoo alone. They just let you go right in with the animals and hang out for as long as you want. There were goats, pigs, sheep, cows, chickens and roosters, ducks, and bunnies. There were horses too, but they were in a much muckier coral. Lots of poop. We decided not to venture there.

This little goat was SUPER friendly! First, he escaped when we were entering the pen. Jason had to chase him down. He was finally cornered in a corn box (like a sand box, but with corn). He followed us around the pen while we pet the animals. He even jumped up on Payson at one point! Harmless as could be, but it startled Payson and she screamed and then laughed. :)

This chicken/rooster/hen/bird dude would follow us around as well. But wouldn't let us catch him! I tried but I was too chicken (get it?) of getting pecked. Ha ha! Jason made fun of me, but then he couldn't grab it either.

Jack had a good stare down with this big, old ram.

Then Jack crashed Payson's photo to continue his stare down.

They had grain sack slides. I know I cut the kids off at the bottom, but their faces coming down cracked me up!

Lucas was great for the first little bit. Then he got fussy and cold. So I fed him and he went right to sleep. He enjoyed the rest of the afternoon/evening tucked cosily into his stroller. :)

There were too many of these for the kids to pose in. I have so many pictures of them making ridiculous faces behind some big painted board.

We found the giant pigs later. They were pretty big! There were too large mamas who were very friendly...and noisy!

And back behind them were the sweetest little piglets! They were sleeping in a pile, trying to stay warm. It was the cutest!!

We also checked out the tractors.

And took a ride on Lacy the pony.

We finished up the night buying some Indian corn and tiny gourds to bring home. The kids are so proud of their little bitty pumpkins in their rooms. Or as Jack calls them, "punkins". :)

Fall has been fun so far for us! We can't wait to finish it up with Halloween parties, costume parades, chili cook offs, and of course, trick-or-treating! I'm sure there will be plenty more photos to come! I love this time of year!!!!