Ward Easter Party

Best church Easter Egg Hunt ever - short and sweet with a cameo from the bunny himself. The kids had a great time with a playground near by, plus the weather was overcast and not too warm. Great way to start off our Saturday! 

MeMa's Birthday Fiesta

We had a gluten-free Mexican fiesta for Betty's birthday earlier this week and it was dee-licious, if I do say so myself. Betty makes us dinner just about every Sunday, so it's only fair that for her birthday everything on the menu is safe for her to eat. I just consider it practice for when one of my kids ends up with Celiac Disease and we have to go gluten free too (it's hereditary).

Claire was very concerned that we make sure MeMa could eat everything, asking - Is that gluten free, Mom? Are you sure? We went to Brighton for some jewelry and Claire asked if that was gluten free too. I think we were safe with the earrings. :)

The kids were in sport court heaven in Jonelle's backyard - almost an acre lot in Vegas? Unheard of. But their house was built in the 80s so they actually have some room to play. Jen said that Miles would shoot the basketball and get about half way up to the basket, and each time he would say, "Oh, so close!" Someday you will be dunking the ball, buddy.

I Am a Child of God

The other night, Claire wrote out the words to one of our most popular church songs for children - just because. I love that she enjoys trying to sound out words and copying out words from her books. She is a night owl and stays up much later than Miles, reading and writing (and consequently, sleeping in).

The words to the song are:

I am a child of God,
And he has sent me here,
Has given me an earthly home,
With parents kind and dear,
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,
Help me find the way,
Teach me all that I must do,
To live with him someday.

Tiger Lillies, Back in Action!

Claire scored a goal in her first game of the new season - she started to get excited, and then turned to Coach/Dad and said, "That was the goal I was supposed to kick it to, right?" Of course I missed the photo because of this munchkin, but got a few other action shots of the game.

It's amazing the difference in skill level in one year - the games are actually pretty fun to watch now, though we still really need to work on not taking the ball away from our own players. they still have that pack of girls following the ball all across the field. But I'm guessing that won't change for a few more years.

Here is Claire at the very last game of her first season, around the end of May 2012. She looks so little!

Penelope - 10 Months

A recent photo shoot of Penelope Jane at 10 months to the day - she is so fun and sassy! I love these photos with girly colors and fabrics and of course, hair accessories. P was such a good sport - these were taken near the end of her "happy time" before an afternoon nap and she was a trooper. You could tell by the end, she was like "Mom, I just can't patty-cake for you one more time."

Month 2 Results and Small Victories

The goal to rediscover my old/better self is still going strong - I have resisted all treats/desserts for another four weeks (that's 56 days total!) despite having to buy desserts for an office lunch, following a pickup truck for miles with its bed packed to the brim with boxes of Girl Scout cookies, and having a well-meaning business contact deliver a St. Patrick's Day cake to me at work, just to name a few of my temptations. I have to say the cravings are just about gone, but when someone puts a treat right in my face that I didn't have to pay for or make myself, it is harder to say no. I just ask myself if the treat will be better than my own amazingly delicious chocolate chip cookies with a tall glass of milk, and the answer so far is always no.  And in the meantime, I crave sugar less and less. Plus I do have sugar free jello from time to time to get me through the tough days.

I have slowed down a bit on the weight loss, but have still seen the scale drop a bit each week. I have also had a few small non-scale victories that have made it a rewarding journey so far. The first one being that I can now wear my wedding ring again. I could always get it on, but it was so tight that I was very aware of it being on my finger - like it was cutting off the blood supply or something. Now I can wear my engagement ring just fine (though the combined thickness with my wedding band is still too tight for me - a goal for next month maybe?). It feels good to wear it again - I really don't like when I am wearing another ring in it's place, like I have had to do for a portion of each pregnancy.

Victory number 2 was when I had a work event coming up where suits were required - I had been mixing dress pants with different jackets to try to find something that fit for previous events, but I could never button up the jacket. So when I had this mixer to attend a week or two ago, I decided to dust off a suit in the closet and try it on. And guess what? The pants fit AND I could button up the jacket. I was so excited! I proudly buttoned my jacket and did a big TA-DA! for Matt. Now the suit is not of course in a size that I am happy with, but to have a suit in my closet that fits is a blessing and a relief. No more scrounging in the closet and feeling less than professional. For someone who is coaching others on networking and making a good first impression, it's important that I can do what I'm asking of others.

So, without further ado, here are my Month 2 results:

Week 5: -3.1
Week 6: -0.9
Week 7: -2.6
Week 8: -2.4

4 week total: -9.0 lbs
Total lost overall (8 weeks): -25.6 lbs

Bonnie Springs Photography

I took Claire and Miles out to Bonnie Springs to practice my photography, under the guise of letting them play in the desert and look for cool rocks. They knew I'd be snapping away and bugging them and they obliged me for most of the hour we were exploring. There are some really cool photo spots out there - if we weren't so chilly, along with a deadline to get back before Penelope's nap was over, we would have stayed longer. But with Matt home studying, I couldn't be gone too long.