Spring Shape Up

One week down. I ate a little healthier and I worked out three times so I think I'm off to a good start. I would have tried to get in another workout but I picked up the bug Noah had all last week and didn't feel too great. I still had some treats because I'm trying to work on the moderation thing instead of getting all obsessive like I usually do. Week one results are: down 2 pounds! It's actually 4 pounds but I refuse to count 2 of them since I think it's a product of being sick and that will just depress me when they come back in a few days.

Spring Soccer Season

Soccer season is in full swing around here. The kids are playing hard and having fun. It's quite the juggling act getting to three games every Saturday morning. Fortunately they are all at parks within our small town (which incidentally we have about twelve of now, you gotta love that!)
Noah scored three goals last week, so this week Brent told him to ease up and give someone else a chance. So he just stood there and looked confused until we finally told him it was okay to go after the ball. His game was a little off yesterday as he was recovering from being sick all week. He's still on the Bubble Horses, the most uniquely named team in the league!
Zoe still has that amazing kicking leg. She's doing great and almost got a goal a few times yesterday. There are a couple of new aggressive players on the Lightning Girls this spring, keeping her on her toes!
Isabella's back on the Dolphins and guess what? She scored her first goal last week after three years of playing! Rockstar!!! She's really starting to come into her own as a player.
All the kids have the same reversable uniforms so they're blue one week and white the next. I guess it's cheaper and then they can hand them down to the younger siblings when they outgrow them.

to thine own self be true

There was a good talk today in sacrament meeting about how we're all unique and we don't have to be the same. It was sort of about how our neighbors who aren't LDS may not be comfortable around us because they feel different. This is a subject I've thought a lot about recently, but not for my neighbors so much as for myself (although the neighbor thing is certainly important too). I often feel like a freak around my peers at church and in the neighborhood because I feel like such an oddball in so many ways. It's easy to compare yourself to your peers when they try to live a lifestyle that strives for perfection. That usually ends with beating yourself up because you can't sew, can foods, teach the gospel to your children, etc. as well as your neighbor. Which is nonsense anyway because we all tend to try to put on our best faces when we think others are looking. I know that's true for me anyway when I try to make my house spotlessly clean too often when I have guests over, much to my children's and my husband's annoyance. There's a whole list of things that as women, mother's, mormon's, etc. we tend to think we must excel at. When we fall short in a certain area we tend to beat ourselves up about it. That's how I am anyway, and often I'll just give up because it's too hard or not worth the aggravation. Lately, however I've been thinking about how the world is full of millions of different personalities and characteristics and talents. God made us all so the truth is we all bring a unique set of ingredients to the table. For me there are the things that are no-brainers such as raising my kids to be moral people and teaching them about Christ and striving to be a decent human being myself. Then there are the specific things that hold meaning for me. Big things like the environment and social justice and smaller less important things like being at least a partial vegetarian or my slightly irreverent sense of humor or singing along with my music in the car. The point is we all have things that are part of the fabric of who we are. Some say oh those things are superficial and should be cast aside. I disagree. When you cast off the things that make you you, you can cast off your desire for doing the right things that you don't necessarily love to do. I think if you are being true to yourself it makes the other things that might not come naturally to you more appealing. If I'm happy with who I am, I'm more likely to desire to do things like service and scripture study. If I'm not happy because I'm going against my grain, trying to do what I believe everyone else thinks I'm supposed to do (even if it is all just a fabrication of my own mind), I get rebellious and don't want to do anything. Well that's my take on the whole thing. So tomorrow I think I'll study the New Testament, right after I do my workout with my favorite mildly loud and obnoxious music. =)

Ben Folds!

Last night Brent and I went to the Ben Folds concert at Salt Air. It was the first concert we've been to since we saw Tori Amos about twelve years ago. We had to stand outside in line for an hour and then stand two more hours through three boring local acts and Ben Lee (who I had only ever heard one song by, but he wasn't too bad.) Then finally Ben Folds came out and it was a great show. I love his music because he's such a great piano player and I've had this great love for good singers/pianists for years and I have this secret desire to be able to play the piano like that. His only problem is he has a bit of a foul mouth but Brent edits the profanity out when he burns CDs for me (yes, I've never bothered to learn to burn a CD and Brent enables my computer illiteracy.) Anyway it was so much fun despite my displeasure for crowds and the fact that I'm not used to standing for five hours straight. We decided we'll definitely have to go to another concert sometime in the next twelve years.

Spring Shape Up

Do I need to drop a few pounds? Of Course.
Do I need to eat healthier? You Bet.
Do I need to get in shape? Definitely.
Okay then, let’s do it. I’ll check in each Monday on
how it’s progressing. Enough said.

Looking Back and Going Forward

A couple of weeks ago on a Friday night I was hanging out at home. It was a quiet evening, Isabella was at a sleepover, Zoe and Noah were downstairs watching a movie and Brent was doing freelance on his computer. I went on the other computer and was just messing around and started watching old '80's music videos and such. It was a fun trip down memory lane. I saw my teenage crush Howard Jones in videos and performing at the Live Aid concert, which then took me to watching U2 at the Live Aid concert. I was struck at just how many variations of the mullet there were back then. It wasn't just the Billy Rae Cyrus types. I went on to watch old Erasure videos, another modern music group I devoted many hours of my life to back then. I never saw any Erasure videos back then because I didn't have cable for the most part of my teenage years and Erasure was a bit off the beaten path for the popular late night '80's show "Friday Night Videos". I thought it was funny how the way they danced in the video "Sometimes" was the same way I danced back then. I was really into going out dancing back then and people used to comment on my "unique style". That all ended of course when I met Brent and he held firm on his strong anti-dancing position. Anyway I ended my Youtube viewing with Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" video. I noticed in the video the car going past a gas station, where gas was a mere $1.40 a gallon. Oh the good old days! And I was remembering when that video came out I was a junior high student in Pocatello, Idaho. Which strangely, or not, I remember as having much "cooler" teenagers than the teens I knew in high school in Sandy, Utah. So I was talking to Brent about the "good old days". Brent didn't seem to think they were "the good old days". He said he wouldn't go back and I said I would. Of course only if I was transported back in time and I could do it all over again retaining all the knowledge I have now. This always leads to the conversation about what we would do if we could go back in time. How we would be rich because we would invest in Microsoft and sell at just the right time and we would meet up at the appropriate time, get married, have our kids and all that with extra money and knowledge to boot. Discounting the Microsoft investments that would make us rich I told him I would go to college for a very long time and get extensive degrees. I wouldn't worry so much about the stupid things like going into debt because of student loans. If I knew then what I know now I'd know it would have been worth it to go into debt and I would be able to pay for it and I wouldn't live in fear of the unknown because of some crazy rationale that the world was going to end. I'd have the confidence to know I am capable of more than I thought I was back then. So Brent says to me "Why don't you just live that way now". Saying to me basically I don't have to take a trip back in time to accomplish my goals. That was sort of one of those "aha moments". I hate that expression but for lack of a better way to describe it, that's sort of what it was. I do live my life in fear of the unknown too much, with too much self doubt. So I am working on that. I'm going to try to make the most of this time on earth. I don't get to go back, this is my one shot and I've got to try to make the most of it.

Quiz

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:10 a.m.
2. Diamonds or pearls? Neither, I don't care much about jewelry
3. What was the last movie you saw? Sweeney Todd-Great music, entertaining, but Gross, Gross, Gross!
4. Where is the most beautiful place you've ever been? The Oregon Coast
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal, I love cereal
6. What is your middle name? Kay
7. What food do you dislike? Ground Beef (cow's are a part of the problem)
8. What is your favorite CD? Any Ben Folds CD
9. What kind of car do you drive? Mazda MPV
10. Favorite Sandwich? PB&J- peanut butter is one of the world's most perfect foods
11. What characteristics do you despise? Snobbiness
12. Favorite item of clothing? Comfortable T-shirts and jeans
13. If you could go anywhere in the world for a vacation, where would you go? Europe
14. What color is your bathroom? The paint is called bamboo stalk but it's really kind of beige
15. Favorite brand of clothing? Huh?
16. Where will you retire? In an unfinished room in my kids basement! Ha ha!
17. What was your most memorable birthday? My 24th, it was five days before my wedding. I was busy planning and it was raining like crazy and I was praying it wouldn't rain on my wedding day. (It did)
18. Favorite sport to watch? My kids playing soccer
19. Favorite saying? Serenity Now
20. When is your birthday? May 22
21. Are you a morning person or a night person? Definitely night
22. What is your shoe size? 9
23. Pets? No way!
24. What did you want to be when you were little? I can't remember but I was afraid at one point as a child that when I grew up I would go to jail where I would eat nothing but bread and water
25. What are you today? A mom
26. What is your favorite candy? Chocolate
27. What is your favorite flower? Pink Tulips
28. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? June 1, school's out, freedom for a while
29. What are you listening to right now? The dryer and the dishwasher
30. What was the last thing you ate? Ice Cream (that's a silly question)
31. Do you wish on stars? No
32. Do you believe in Angels? I haven't take a position on angels
33. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Lime green
34. Pet peeves? The term "pet peeve"
35. Favorite Television show(s)? Grey's Anatomy, Gilmore Girls reruns, The Office, The Colbert Report, The Situation Room
36. Last person you spoke to on the phone? The pediatician's office
37. Favorite soft drink? Water
38. Favorite restaurant? Carino's, mmm... rosemary lemon chicken
39. Hair Color? Blond
40. Siblings? Kimberly, Lynn, Brent, half sister Julie, a few steps
41. What was your favorite toy as a child? Little people
42. Summer or Winter? Summer
43. Hugs or kisses? Both
44. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate
45. When was the last time you cried? I teared up a little today when Noah was getting shots
46. What is under your bed? Bows, ribbon, wrapping paper, a speaker, a cassette player, various junk and garbage (don't like it? don't look)
47. What did you have for supper last night? Pasta with brocolli and alfredo sauce, spinach salad
48. Favorite smell? Flowers
49. What are you most afraid of? Don't give me an excuse to worry about something
50. How many keys on your key ring? 4
51. How many years at your current job? 10 doing the mom thing
52. Favorite day of the week? Saturday after I've done my primary lesson for Sunday
53. How many towns have you lived in? West Valley (UT),Taylorsville (UT), Arvada (CO), Tempe (AZ), Pocatello (ID), Sandy (UT), Mesa (AZ), Provo (UT), West Jordan (UT), Magna (UT), and here= 11
54. Are you happy? Quite Often

Bad Habit

It's not news to many people who know me that I get into politics a little. I'm an Obama supporter. Not news to many there either. I have a bad habit of reading the Deseret News online and going to the comments, reading and occasionally posting things. I usually do it there because you don't have to make an account like you do on the Salt Lake Tribune or other places. I should stop but like I said, it's a bad habit. Since it's anonymous people don't hold back. They are very rude if you don't share their opinion. I just wish it could be more of a grown up experience where people could have an intelligent debate about the issues. Instead I am stuck with people who call me names like "starry eyed zealot". I guess if I don't enjoy the game of insulting people who don't agree with me I'd better break my bad habit.

My baby's growing up!

Today I took Noah to his kindergarten checkup. He turned five in January so it was only three months late. He passed with flying colors so I guess it's off to kindergarten in the Fall. He was almost 4 feet tall which put him in about the 125th percentile on height. According to the chart that will make him about 6'4" as an adult. He's a little giant. I swear he's about a head taller than all the kids in his preschool. And, because he's the baby of the family he's the only kid I've carried around at this age (just downstairs to bed at night and up the stairs in the morning.) That's how I get my strength training in. He had to get four shots at the doctor's. I felt so bad for him, I always start to tear up when they get shots. I HATE shots so I know how they feel. But he was a brave little man and only whimpered a little bit. Then they gave him a book and a sucker and two stickers and I took him to McDonald's. Lucky boy! When I was a kid and I got shots all I got was to be reinstated in school from my suspension. Okay, I got to go out for pancakes once, and they had all those disgusting fruity syrups and I got to put them on my pancakes all at once.

So Here I Am, Finally!

Uggg! I've been working figuring out this new blog for a while. I'm starting to get some of it down. It's been minorly frustrating but I'm catching on I think. Maybe tomorrow I'll catch on more to the fun stuff. I think it's going to be interesting, though. To me anyway....