I'm Starting Weight Watchers... AGAIN!

Well, I started weight watchers on Monday, October 13th. I weighed in at a luscious 150.5 pounds which is actually a half pound less than my heaviest. My first week went awesome. I lost 3 and a half pounds putting me at 147 even. I will continue to post my progress mostly to keep me accountable. Why else would I post my weight for the world to see. I will weigh in every Monday morning. Wish me luck!

This was a head shot of me at 112 pounds and a size 4. I don't know if I will get there again being that this was before I had any children but I will sure try!

The Attic is Done (Well Almost)!

It is official! The dry wall is up, the carpet has been laid, the movie room is put together and the train set is up! What more can a four-year old boy ask for? Actually the attic isn't totally finished but it is coming along. We still need to do some painting and then I want to decorate in the "movie room" but it is usable and boy has Vincent been using it! He has been up there every day and so have his friends.

This is the massive train set that Vincent has been collecting since he was one and a half. Each Christmas and birthday he gets more pieces. This train set is called "GeoTrax" and it is the coolest train set EVER! Everything is interactive. Poor Josh spent 5 hours one Saturday putting it together (remember this because it will be relevant later.)

This is a closeup of the airport. You pull the blue lever on the right and the helicopter flies around and around, It also makes the most realistic sounds. It is really fun and we can't wait for our friends and cousins to come up and play it with us!

Off on the other end of the attic is a little room. This room is dedicated to Vincents toys and movies. He LOVES it! This is Vincent and Lily chillin on the 6 foot bean bag we found on Craig's List. He loves to hang out with his sister.

For those of you wondering, the highest part of the cieling is about 5 feet three inches. I can stand straight up in the center but have to start bending down if you walk to either side.

Mom and Dad love to hang out too...

Ok, so here is where things get a little crazy. Ok, no... A lOT CRAZY! One evening I got the bright idea to invite Thomas and Eric over to spend the night since there was no school the next day. So why are there 4 boys you ask? That is because Thomas (all the way on the left) ran up to tell his brother Eric (second from the right) and before I could stop him he said it in front of Jayden (the one in the middle). Of course I felt bad but didn't say anything at first. I went in and told Josh the scenario and he said he didn't care if I had the other two over. BIG MISTAKE!! So I asked Jayden if he wanted to stay over and of course he did, but I couldn't very well ask him and not his brother Jacob (on the far right) so we walked over to his house and ask him and his mother if it would be OK if they could come over for a slumber party. Next thing you know, I have 5 boys in my house for dinner and a night of fun.

Within 5 minutes of being at my house, they had the train set torn apart (remember the 5 hours Josh spent putting it together) and the very heavy TV pulled out of the wall and completely turned around so that they could "hook up" the Nintendo that we already told them didn't work. By now Josh's blood pressure is out the roof and I am ready for him to have a heart attack at any minute! Let's just say we began counting the hours till morning. We knew we were in for a long night.

After the attic fiasco, it was time to eat. Try feeding 5 boys who all like different things...not easy. Dinner was done so I decided to take them outside so I could run all their energy out of them. They played tag, race, climbed trees, caught bugs and so on. That was fun and fine but now it was time to come inside to settle down.

I had them get in their PJ's wash their hands and then I laid out a huge bed on the floor in the movie room. Then I let them pick a movie and they all agreed on Arthur and the Invisibles. Thomas and Eric are the perfect boys. They listen and are not rowdy. The other two however, are rowdy enough for all 5 of them put together. They couldn't settle down for the movie, they were jumping all over the bean bag and crawling through the crawl space which we told them to stay out of. We had to go up there several times to tell them to chill out and at one point I threatened Jayden that I was going to send him home.

It took us 3 hours to get them to sleep. Thomas and Eric decided that they wanted to sleep in the guest room instead of the attic because of the other boys. They fell asleep by 8:30. Vincent stayed up stairs with Jacob and Jayden and they didn't fall asleep until 11. Josh and I were exhausted! We woke up the next morning and by 8:00, I gave Jacob and Jayden a muffin and walked them home. Thomas and Eric got to stay because I had to watch them for the day while their mom and dad went off to work. We went to the park and had a picnic. It was a very nice time.

Moral of the story... I feel very sorry for parents with all boys... Dani:)

It Snowed For The First Time!

I am so excited because it snowed for the first time on October 11th and 12th. It was cold and beautiful with a high of 51 degrees. This picture is taken from my back yard. The mountain looks a lot farther away then it actually is. The mountains got the most at about 6 in.

Vincent loved to watch the flakes float down even though they melted when they hit the ground. Vincent and I played "Star Wars" with his light sabers in the snow and that was really fun.

My neighbors laugh at me and tell me to shut up when I get excited for the snow. They don't appreciate my enthusiasm for wanting the snow to come.


I say... BRING IT ON!!!

I LOVE THE MARTIN GIRLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of you probably already know this but... I LOVE THE MARTIN GIRLS!!! Thanks to Thayne and Joy, they were willing to sacrifice time with their girls on their October break so that I could have them for a week (which I might add was not long enough). For those of you who are wondering "Who are the Martin girls?", they are students of mine from Arizona. The whole family has become friends of ours over the years. Heck, they are almost family. Thayne Martin is a good friend of mine who writes music and his wife Joy is a school teacher. These are their girls...Chanelle (middle right),Savana (middle left) and Chloe (cute little blonde on the right).

*DAY 1* (Sept 29th)

They arrived at the airport at around 2:30. I was so excited all day that I did everything to keep myself busy. Josh saw that I was cooking dinner a lot earlier that I normally do. He said "What are you doing?" I said, "Cooking dinner... I had to do something to make the time go faster!" I know, pretty pathetic. I cooked a homemade chicken pot pie. Yummy!

After I picked the girls up from the airport, we went straight home but wasted no time. It was around 4:00 so we got settled in, ate dinner, and went off on our first adventure...

We went to Thanksgiving point. It is a really cool place and the particular section we went to was Cornbelly's. There was a corn maze and lots of fun things to do.
First, we jumped on the humongous air pillow. I never felt old until this moment. The girls convinced me to jump with them and when I got on the air pillow, they came running towards me and started jumping. My legs buckled and I fell down instantly! I felt really stupid.
Next it was off to the big scary creature. This was a huge maze and inside, you could hear very scary sounds like a heartbeat etc. Vincent went half way through and then bailed out. He decided to go again and made it through the whole thing. He was very proud of himself and ended up liking it, so he went through a few more times.
This gives perspective on how big it was.
Lily and I waited outside and met the pumpkin princesses. They were very nice:)
We had to take time to take silly pictures!

Then for some sliding fun...
Mooooooooo
The fun didn't stop there, we raced some rubber duckies...
Go Vinny, Go!!!
Got caught by a ghost...

Leave it to the teenager to make out with the ghost:)
Swung on some horses...
And threw Chanelle off a train.
Of course we must take time to play dress up.
Vinny was a wonderful chauffeur... But liked racing the pedal cars better.
We also went through a corn maze cut out in the form of David Archulleta. It was pitch black outside and we couldn't see a thing. It took us an hour to get through the maze and we were miserable by the end of it. On top of that, I had to hold Lily the whole time.

All in all, it was a great first day!



*Day2*(Sept. 30th)



I took the girls to Vivian Park that is in the Provo canyon. It is so beautiful there and the girls loved it! The leaves were changing and the weather was beautiful.

Martin girls monkeying around...
Lily had fun too!
Funny story:

We were eating on the grass when two older ladies passed by. They looked at us, smiled and said, "Beautiful kids. Beautiful mommies." (Note, the "-ies" at the end of mom) We were cracking up. They thought Chanelle, Savana and I were moms.

This is a pictures of Savana's spider bite that self exploded just when we happened to be eating. It was oozing out all kinds of yuckiness. Gross! I think I lost my appetite.

Posing on the picnic table...


This was the view we had for our picnic. Lunch was over and it was off to the Sunrise Ski Resort where we would ride the ski lift.

As we were riding the lift, we were singing "The Sound of Music". These older couples were ahead of us and heard us singing. They loved it and started singing along.
The view was amazing and lucky for us we got to see it twice because the worker let is ride again free of charge. It pays to be with really cute girls:)

After the resort it was off to the Nickelcade. I can't believe they still have a nickel arcade. We had lots of fun and it is amazing how long nickels will last.

Air hockey is one of Vincent's favorite games.

Out of all the prizes, Vincent picks the nerd glasses. We saw him take the glasses off, lick them and start to wipe them off with his shirt. I said "Vincent!What are you doing?" He said "I am just trying to be like daddy."
What a lot to do in one day! After that we were pooped and it was time for a story. Vincent read to the girls and they were impressed.

*Day 3*(Oct.1st)

Vincent came up with the idea to go bowling at BYU and so off we went.

It is actually pretty cool there. BYU has a family fun center where you can go and it was video games, bowling and food. It was very decently priced and we had a lot of fun.
Vincent is a pro.
And so is Chloe.
Savana and Chanelle were pooped after one game. They just want to look cute and take pictures of themselves. That''s ok too.
Check out those scores. Better than I could have done!

That night, Josh and I went out on a date. How nice for us. We haven't been out since before Lily was born. The girls did well with the kids except that Lily peed on Savana and pretty much spit up on her every time she held her through the whole trip. I was convinced she sensed Savana's anamosity toward her for being a pill every time we were in the car.

*Day 4*(Oct.2nd)

All of that and we were just warming up. Now for the real fun...

PARK CITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the car and ready to go. All we had to do was make a pit stop at the local DRIVE THRU CONVIENCE STORE. I love it. That is my salvation...a place where I can just get a drink and I don't have to get the kids out of the car. That alone is worth moving to Utah.

OK, OK I know this video is stupid but the girls would have killed me if I didn't post myself looking like a total idiot. We were cruising and listening to 80's music and of course I was totally pumped and into it. So, I started singing and Savana pulled out the dreded cell phone. I had to be a good sport:)

The first place we went to was the Olympic Park.

This is where they practice their ski jumps. We got lucky because that day, there were actually jumpers practicing. It was really neat to watch. Unfortunately, I couldn't flip the video right side up but I had to post it anyway, If you look real close you can see the jumper.

This is the olympic museum. We got to sit in a real bobsled!

Vinny, kicking up some fresh powder.
Chanelle sporting a nice hairdo.
Savana looking a little surprised she can actually ski.
Chloe is scared out of her mind.
How many people can say they have held the olympic torch?
After Olympic Park, we went to find food in the center of town. I love Park City and for those of you who have never been, you must go!
Pizza and Noodles was the consensious.


We took a walk and came across... We also happened to find...
and...
We never found Savana's name but we found her a theatre and that was just as good if not better. She's the drama queen if you haven't guessed by now. Love you Vana!
Leave it to the teenager to make out with the moose. I am sensing a theme here.

What in the world is in Vincent's hand???????????? I assure you it is not bear poop. It is the left over hamburger that I told him he had to finish if he wanted to go on the Alpine Slide. He held on to it forever and that is how he held it the whole time!
Once again on a ski lift to get to the top of the mountain to ride the Alpine Slide.



Yahoooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
Vincent was exhausted and slept the whole way home.
On the way home, we passed through a town called Midway. It is a cute little town that was developed by Swiss poeple. There are a lot of Swiss style homes. Every year they have Swiss Days. It is really fun.
That evening, we spent time out front. We climbed trees, did head stands and cartwheels. Yes I did it and no I won't do it again:)
Later that night, we ha movie night with Josh. Finally he got to spend time with us. The whole week we were watching movies and introducing them to 8o's movies. I think they liked them. Josh picked "Willow" on our last night and they liked it.
The Martin girls slammed down 3 bags of Pace popsiscles in 4 1/2 days. Pace popcicles are the best popsicles in the whole world! They are big and very juicy. I always have a stash in my freezer for guests and they always seem to eat every last one of them. This is a reason in and of itself to come to Utah!

*Day 5* (Oct. 3rd. A very sad day)

This was the last day I got to spend with the girls. I had to drop them off to their Aunt's who they were going to spend a couple of days with and then go home. Since she lives near Salt Lake, I thought I would take them on a picnic to Temple Square.

This is where we ate our lunch. I love the flowers at the temple.
Vincent and Chloe were enjoying themselves and practicing their cartwheels from the night before.






Best Friends:)
Chanelle, Savana and Chloe... I had a wonderful time and can't wait for you to come back and see us soon.

As for the rest of my friends and family... I hope this made you see all the fun you can have if you come up to see us:)