random

It's spring time out here, we had a few beautiful days, but since yesterday and for the rest of the week it is going to be rain, rain, rainy! I guess that's better than the blizzard that my mom gets. Here are a few random pictures of the past few days. Enjoy!

Aspen made some butterfly fairy wings. There were three of them playing and only 2 sets of wings so she had a ball making her own!

Olive and three of her little best friends from school. We met at the park for a picnic and our first sunburn of the season. I don't know how that always takes me by surprise. Time to pull out the sunscreen again!

Jonathon took Cedar up to the used book store to trade in a bunch of books. Cedar came back with a Jackie Chan chapter book that he found.

I couldn't believe it, but he was actually READING it! It's a really easy one, but Never in his life has Cedar carried a book around reading it at any chance he could. He's on page 12. That means he hasn't given up at the hard parts. I asked him to tell me about it and he could tell me parts of the story. We may have to head back up there to get more. I am all for (almost) anything that gets my kids WANTING to read!

July

It's official, we have tickets (well. almost all of us have tickets...) to come out to Utah in July.
We will be there Friday, July 3 around 5pm and we will leave Sat. July 18th bright and early at 7:45 am!This time out I have done a little bit of creative flying. I had an offer from American Express for 2 free flights if I signed up for their card, and they would wave the fee for the first year. So, I did that, got the tickets and then canceled the card before another yearly fee was due. Yes, 2 tickets down, three to go! Next I got a credit card offer in the mail for 1 free ticket if I signed up for the southwest credit card. This one costs $59.00 a year, and normally I am dead set against paying for a credit card, but $59.00 is not a bad price for a round trip ticket, especially since they usually only do enough for half a ticket. So, Yes! One more ticket down! (This is where we are at almost all of us have our ticket. I have to wait for this ticket to be deposited into my account before I can book it, but the lady said that she saw it on my account and it would take about 30 days. So, we are almost there!) Then, my mom called and let me know that flights are down about as low as they go for flights between Nashville and SLC, so today was the day to buy. We will get our entire family out for less than half of what we usually pay. Phew! I was afraid we might not make it this year. Now, barring any more major, unforeseen expenses....
So, we will see you all soon!

Tribute

Over the next couple of weeks I get the opportunity to pay tribute to 3 of the most influential women in my life. I guess that all of the best women are born in the spring!

Today though is for my favorite Mother-in-law Marie! I tried to find a picture of just her, but I couldn't find one. I guess that's because she's always doing something to help someone else. She is creative and artistic and uses her talents to bless others lives. I've learned so much from her about patience and tolerance and true charity. Not to mention the fact that she mothered and nurtured and taught Jonathon. There are times when Jonathon will just intuitively know how to reach out and help someone, or me and I find myself thinking, "He learned that from his mom. That's just what she would have done, and it was exactly what was needed."

Marie has recently started to tie dye, and has some amazing shirts. You can see some of her stuff here.

You can also head over to wish her a happy birthday on her blog here. Tell her that I sent you!

So, Marie, this day is for YOU! Happy birthday! We Love You!

Six

Happy Birthday Cedar!

Six years ago today Cedar joined our family.

Cedar is an energetic boy. He is a really good kid who is sweet and thoughtful and helpful. He loves to play. It doesn't really matter what, he just really loves to play. Cedar has really picked up on reading and loves to join in and read the scriptures with our family at night. He is good at school, especially math. Three Cheers for Cedar!

Thanks Grandpa Bob!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa English!

Thanks Grandma Coppola!

Cedar's party!
They went on a treasure hunt. One of the clues was in a balloon, they just needed to figure out which one!

And what party is complete with out cup cakes to decorate?

100

Happy 100th post to me!
I have hit the big blogging milestone and today, with this post I am officially a member of the 100 posts club! (Actually, I just made that up. There is no 100 posts club, though maybe I should make one...) I have been blogging for 10 1/2 months, so that would average out to about one posting ever about 3 days. Though most of you know that it's really like two or three days with lots of posts and then nothing for a week or so. Ah well. I decided when I started blogging that I was NOT going to make it another of the things that I have to do. This blog is just for me. For me to decide when and what to post. And I think that because of that, I have really liked blogging. It is a cross between journaling and scrapbooking. I haven't gone too deep into it being a real journal because that would be WAY too embarrassing! When I die, I hope that any journals that are left around are quickly burned! Anyway, I digress...

For my 100th post I am making public my little goal. I have been inspired by my friend Cristy who lost something like 80 pounds before her last baby, by Julie who went public with her goal of getting in shape and mostly by my back which quite painfully lets me know when I have crossed the line. I started about a month and a half ago with the goal of loosing about 17 pounds. Every week I weigh myself and so far I have lost 4 pounds and then gained back 1. I want to loose the weight in a healthy way and one that I can sustain. Because really, life with out dessert really isn't much of a life. So, to do this and still be able to eat with my family I am trying to be more conscious of what and how I eat. No more late night eating, a snack is okay, but constant snacking isn't. I don't keep as much junk around and my most recent lesson learned is if I make a treat, that's great, I just have to give most of it away. (That one pound gain is from keeping a texas sheet cake on my counter for 4 days. I have pretty good will power for 1, maybe two days, but by day four it's all used up...) I am trying to cook smarter too. Using whole wheat flour and substituting applesauce for half the oil or butter in baking. Tuesday I made a really yummy turkey chili. It's everything I usually do, except I used ground turkey instead of ground beef. I have been getting turkey meatballs for spaghetti and they are really good also. As most of you know, I don't drink coffee, but I usually had a big glass of instant breakfast or ovaltine in the morning. Alas, I have broken the habit and am now trying not to drink my calories. It's milk or water (Though I do like those flavor mixes you can add to water. I figure I can spare the 5 calories, especially when I am better at getting enough water that way.) My other big goal to go along with the weight loss goal is that I am going to run a 5k in either the end of April or the beginning of May. There are ones almost every weekend with in an hour of me and I just need to figure out which one isn't on Sunday and doesn't interfere with everyone's schedule. I figure as long as I finish in under an hour I will feel good. I can walk it in an hour and have been doing a routine of running / walking on the treadmill and finish 3 miles in under 45 minutes. Now, I just need to actually run outside. That's a bit scarier than in the cardio theatre in the gym where it's dark and everyone is paying attention to the movie...

So, happy 100th to me! Here's to 100 more and 17 less!

Japan

Oh boy! I am on a roll! Two posts in a row is pretty good, especially for one day.

At Olive's preschool this week they are doing "international week." It's cute, and really simple (tomorrow we are going to Pizza Hut for "Italy.") Jonathon came in today to talk about Japan. He read them a story and showed them a picture, some money and let them try on a hopi. It was way too small, but we couldn't find the other one. Olive has been looking forward to today for over a week. She kept asking me when the 10th was. When he finaly got there Olive was all smiles.

Hope that you enjoy some of the day's pictures!

Chocolate Strawberries!

I (heart) Almond bark! Today at the store the strawberries were $1.50 and they were perfect for making a little treat. Almond bark, although not in the same class as real chocolate, it is a fun and yummy thing to dip strawberries in. (or pretzels, or bananas or....)

Look Mom!

"Look Mom! I wrote my name!"

glorious spring!

If I were the type of girl to sit and write sonnets, today I'm sure would have inspired a few. I love seasons. I'm not sure I could live in a place that had the same weather, month after month. Actually, I did, come to think of it, I don't think I would like to do it permanently. I love that just as I am about to get really sick of one type of weather, it changes! That's how I feel today. I'm pretty done with the cold. So, when Mother Nature decided to give us a sneak peek of spring today I am singing her praise!

Here's how we spent the time after church...

Aspen and Cedar getting the ball that rolled into the thorns.

Jonathon throwing the ball to Cedar.

"Did you see that?! That was so cool!"

Swinging high!

I love to swing!

Shocking!

This is a favorite came that my kids play with each other and Jonathon. I am happy to be inside and hear the fun, but "No thanks" to joining in. The game is played on cold, dry evenings on the trampoline. To play you jump and roll around trying to gather as much static on your body as you can and then touching someone else, or touching the metal pole and watching the electricity arc. If you enlarge the pictures (I know I should really learn to lighten them) you can see their hair sticking straight up. It is really rather impressive, though I still don't want to play.