Joyful baby Lydia

Return to Health - Challenge 1

In effort to achieve more energy and health I've decided I need "progress" (my goal for this year) points of small things I can add to my daily routine.

For this week and maybe the next few week my challenge is:

Eat whole grains for breakfast

I am a cereal lover and could eat it every meal let alone every morning for breakfast. Now, potentially, there is nothing wrong with cereal, but as the start to the day and as a mainstay food it falls short in the nutrition category. I'm sure there are healthy, wonderful cereals that categorize as whole grain (like All-Fiber, but seriously, who could really eat that every day - gag).
What I mean by whole grains is "whole" as in not processed - which even rolled oats are stretching it because they are processed - they are rolled. The more whole version of rolled oats are steel cut oats, which, by the way, are 10 times better than rolled oats - I felt so jipped when I found out about steel cut oats. All this time I thought I hated oatmeal, but really I just don't prefer rolled oats that are cooked.

So far one of my favorite whole grains that I've found is actually a medley of grains - corn, wheat, oats, nuts, dried fruit - it's called "Dee's Cereal" and I buy it at Harmons. Because all the grains are cut small (not processed, just cut) it cooks quickly. My kids love oatmeal and whole wheat pancakes, so that is what I usually feed them.

So here's to my first challenge - if you like, join with me on my adventure and we'll do this together. Let me know what other great breakfast options there are - what are your favorites.

Hair and kids

Lydia in her new bouncer - she loves it for about 5 minutes at a time - then she wants to be held again.
Look at that sweet face - she is so adorable!





















Jeremy currently has a beard. I love it, but he continuously is threatening to shave it off. He has such a baby boy face that the beard makes him look more like a man. Either way - he is a handsome man and I love him.






I got my hair cut last week - I wasn't going for that short of a cut - but I'm glad it ended up that short - I love it! It is super easy to do and stays looking nice the whole day. When I had long hair it always ended up pulled back in a pony tail sooner or later.






My children are ever adventurous and last week decided to rearrange their room. Charlie took his mattress off the top of the bunkbed and put his shelves and some chairs on the platform. His mattress is on the floor, where it has stayed since last week and so far they still like the arrangement. With his mattress on the floor there isn't much floor space left. This arrangement might end sooner than later because it is starting to bug me - I don't like stepping on the mattress to get to the window and to get to the dresser.

Friend magazine online

Have you seen the new options for the online Friend magazine
It now has interactive online things for kids to do - color, listen to stories, games, etc. I had a fun time using the online coloring - try it out.
The Friend is the greatest resource - I am just starting to realize the possibilities. The other day Charlie and I did the mystery word hunt at the back of the January 2009 Friend. It was great, not only as an activity to do together, but it gave him great practice with the alphabet and putting words together - what a fun way for him to learn.

Our open house trip

We had a wonderful time last week going to the Draper Temple open house. To read the details of the event click on the scrapbook page picture and it will come up big in a new page and you can read what I journaled there.


Besides that, there isn't much new to write about. We've been keeping it pretty low key here. I've been so tired lately and we haven't done much of anything - no park days, no library time, not really much of anything.

Wacky Hair

This picture page was really fun to put together. It's fun to explore photoshop elements and try new things. I'm also excited that this layout is all my own design - the layout I was using as inspiration looks nothing like what I came up with, but I couldn't get my pictures to work for the other layout and instead of starting over I just moved around the pictures and added borders and shadows until I created something that looked good to me.

The pictures are from a couple weeks ago when Jeremy was washing the kids. Usually the kids scream and hate when he washes their hair (I would too, he pours the water over the top of their head while they are still sitting up and it runs all down their face. I always have them lay back so the water doesn't get in their face). Well, in effort to prompt more fun and cooperation of the ordeal he gave them mohawks - which they loved. Tom still asks if I will do a mohawk for him with the hair gel so that he can wear his hair for the day like that - I tell him that is just for tubby time fun.

Winter Days

Yesterday was a gorgeous day and today is too - I LOVE sunny, warm days that are reminiscent of summer days. Now that Jeremy is working nights (and sleeping days) he is home in the afternoon. Yesterday afternoon we took the kids to the park and played for 3 hours. It was almost 60 degrees and the kids didn't even wear jackets. This is why I love living in St. George - not for the summers that are 115, but for the winters that are a sunny 60.







We are taking our kids to the Draper Utah Temple open house on Friday. The open house starts this Thursday and goes through the middle of March. I was sad that I missed the Rexburg Temple open house last year, so although Draper isn't near and dear to my heart the same way Rexburg is, it will still be wonderful to have the opportunity to take the kids through the Temple so that they can experience the Spirit of the Temple. Last night when I asked Charlie if he would like to go to the open house his eyes got really big, and he nodded his head up and down and finally he said, "yeah, that would be so cool". I'm hoping that the weather will be sunny and warm on Friday -our ticket time is in the morning, and we southerners aren't used to the cold.

Word of the Year

I found my word of the year! My goals summed up into one word. This year I'm not looking to achieve anything or check things off my list (things never leave the "list" they just get put back to the bottom or where ever - nothing is ever done). Last fall Charlie had gymnastic classes and the teacher would always say "Practice makes progress". That makes so much more sense than "practice makes perfect", which feels so unattainable, but to know that we can improve and become better - that is a worthy goal.

So my goal this year is to make progress - to improve and become a little better than I was last year.

2009 FHE lessons for the whole year

I've already sent an email to many of you with this file of family home evenings for the year. For the rest of you here is the link to the website that posted this great resource.
I'm using it in conjunction with my idea of having a scripture hero of the month. I'm not using the FHE lessons in the order presented, rather I am rearranging them to fit with the Hero of the month. I'm not finished planning out the whole year but so far I have my "hero" of the month and their "power" outlined, I just have to finish detailing which lessons go with each one.
Jan - Nephi - power of Obedience
Feb - Alma the younger - power of Repentance
Mar - King Benjamin - power of Service and Gratitude
Apr - Abinidai, power of Faith in Christ
May - Alma, power of Baptism
Jun - Ammon, power of Missionary Work
Jul - Captain Moroni, power of Example
Aug - Enos, power of Prayer
Sept - Mormon - power of Hope and Charity
Oct - Moroni, power of Testimony
Nov - Brother of Jared - power of Family
Dec - Jesus Christ - power of Doing the Father's Will

The plan is to each week of that particular month focus on learning more about each of these Book of Mormon people, specifically focusing on their "power" and how we can implement these in our own lives.

P.S. the download from that website it formatted funny. I've already gone through and made changes so it downloads better. If you don't want to have to reformat it all send me a message with your email and I will email you my copy.

Pictures of the Moon

I took these pictures of the moon this morning at 8:30 am. It was a beautiful morning and I almost didn't take the time away from making breakfast to stop and take a few pictures. I'm glad I did, because it wasn't much longer after I took the shots that it was too light and the moon could no longer be seen. Interesting that the difference between able to take a picture like this or missing it is only a few minutes. That is one thing I have noticed with taking pictures in general - photo moments are just that, moments or less and if you miss it you miss it and can't recreate it. The moral of this story is, take the shot while you can.

Today

Tom, aka. Max
The first picture is Tom, who is endlessly changing his name. A few weeks ago his recent "new" name was "Max" as shown by the letters on his forehead. He found some letter stickers and put them on his forehead - "so people know my name" he declared. Of course, why not, maybe we should all paste our names on our foreheads. I know it would help me out very much - I am so bad with names. Even with people who I know, I still will blank on people's names time to time.
The stickers from Tom's forehead were transferred to his Christmas stocking so that Santa would know his new name and be able to give "Max" Tom's gifts.




Today was the first day since in a while that I got out my camera. I wanted to take a picture of our new fish tank that we bought at the DI last night. We got two goldfish months ago and they lived just fine in a small fish bowl. Last night when we were at the DI Jeremy found this fish tank, with all the "trimmings" for $20 and decided that since he was the one who loved and cared for our fish, by weekly cleaning their tank, then he could be the one to decide that not only were the fish worthy of a larger tank, but they should also get some friends. We didn't buy any new fish last night, but I'm sure that will happen soon.

Our Fish
It's true, that if it weren't for Jeremy cleaning out the fish bowl they would either be swimming in the dirtiest water ever, or they would be dead. I figure I have enough to do without having to clean a fish bowl.
Our fish are strange fish. When they lived in their small bowl I noticed that when I would feed them they would swim to the bottom of the bowl and then wait until I was out of sight until they would come up and eat. They did not like to be watched when they were eating. Now that they have lots of room to roam and places to hide it is even more evident that they do not like to be watched. When anyone comes near by they dart back and forth very quickly and then "hide" by the plant. I say "hide" because it isn't really hiding at all. They turn their face toward the plant, but it's not like they go behind it or in the middle of it, they just face it and then just sit there until we walk away. I never knew that fish could be so entertaining. It really is interesting to observe them.

Becca

Becca is a joy! She is two years old, so she also can be a handful - always getting into things and always wanting to do things herself - "I do it" and "I did it" are two of the most common things she says.
Becca is so cute with baby Lydia. She can't quite say Lydia, it sounds more like "I deea" and Becca loves to say "I deea, no, no, no" and gibber at her and try to get her to laugh. Becca talks a mile a minute and has lots of stories to tell, we just can't understand her, as grandpa Scott says, who knows what language she is speaking.
Becca loves to sing. At church she will hold the hymnbook (sometimes upside down) and sing "la, la" during the songs. Her favorite song is "I love to see the Temple" and she sings along and knows almost all of the words. At bedtime she has us sing that song to her over and over and over again.
When she says "no" she has the cutest and funniest inflection in her voice - like when we are looking at a book and I ask her a question she loves to answer "no", but it's the way that she says it is so cute and funny - and the face that she makes when she says it.

Happy New Year

After I posted this the first time I was playing around in photoshop and trying new things and completely changed the scrapbook page from the original - first one (which is the one I played around with) is more dramatic than what I usually do, but I like it.

Using a tutorial that my neighbor Allison gave me I made the "slide" template and then put my photos in the slide to make this scrapbook page. Making the slide template was easy and just took a couple minutes. It's fun to learn new things and be able to create my own things to use on my scrapbook pages.

Happy New Year to all. I never did do any Christmas cards to anyone - so don't feel bad if you didn't get one - no one did.

I'm excited for the newness of the new year. I like to take time thinking about what I want to have happen in this next year.

One goal I have for this next year is to work on gaining the skill of storytelling - in order to not only tell existing stories, but also to make up stories. Currently I don't have a skill for telling stories and I've decided it is a skill I would like to develop, so thus my goal to work on it in this new year.

I find that I have an easier time planning FHE if I have an outline of what to focus and then just fill in the blanks of what to do each Monday. This year I'm borrowing an idea I read somewhere to have Book of Mormon Hero's for each month and then break it off in subtopics. For instance, January the hero is Nephi and some of the subtopics are - Nephi followed the prophet (so the lesson would be about prophets), Nephi kept a record (ie, journal), Nephi kept the commandments. One reason this idea of Heros works for me is because of my boys and they are at the superhero age, so it seems nice to help them have heros that are definitely worth looking up to.

Baptism

Last month my niece and nephew, Kayla and William Smyth were baptised. It was the week before Thanksgiving and all my family was able to be there - it's been three years since the last time we were all together.
So even though, at this Christmas time we are not able to be all together, we were recently all together and it was wonderful!

Tomorrow night we will be with Jeremy's family at his parents in Pine Valley (where all the snow is).

Snow Bunnies

We went to Pine Valley (45 minutes north) Wednesday night and stayed all day Thursday. We were out on a drive Wednesday afternoon looking at the little bit of snow that dusted the mountains in Ivins, just west of St George, when we decided to go to Pine Valley to stay the night. We called Jeremy's mom to see if it was okay to come for the night, she said yes, just come as soon as possible because the snow was really coming down and it would be dark soon. Because it would have added 45 minutes (or more) to go home, grab supplies (like coats and pajamas) we decided to just stop at the grocery store and get some diapers and then head to Pine Valley. That is one reason for the lack of warm clothes on my children (as pictured) when they went out to play in the abundant snow on Thursday. Even if we had gone home we wouldn't have had too much more proper snow clothes, but the kids do have warm winter coats, we just didn't have them on when we went for a "car ride" that turned into staying the night at grandma's house. The snow boots are ours, but the hats and scarves are courtesy of grandma (she even made them).

Giving to those who need this Christmas

There is a story "The Secret Giver" in this month's Friend magazine about a family who secretly gives gifts to a family in need. My boys really liked this story and are planning who they want to give to and what they want to give. A few weeks ago I told my kids that we wouldn't be buying any extras any more (like the occasional happy meal, or toy from the dollar store) I told them that Christmas would be coming soon and we need to save our money to buy gifts. Yesterday they asked if we could have happy meals for lunch (which it isn't really the "meal" that they want, just the toy that comes with the meal. Someone once said, "It isn't the toy that comes free, it's the meal that comes free with the toy you paid for"). I asked them if they remembered what I had told them a few weeks ago. Tom got all excited and said, "Oh yeah, we have to save money to buy our secret gifts to give".
To help with keeping the true spirit of Christmas we have been doing an activity in this months Friend, Stories of Jesus, Tell Them to Me, which lists a scripture story and picture from the GAK, one to do each day of this month. We are also learning the song "Picture a Christmas". I am recently called as the primary song leader so I figure I need to practice with my kids to learn how to best teach the song to the other primary kids - it gives me a chance to have a live audience to work with, rather than having to practice in the mirror or something.

Lydia's baby blessing

I never did get a picture of Lydia in her blessing dress. She wore the same dress that I wore for my blessing and the same dress that Becca wore. I never got a picture of Becca in it either. The dress is still draped over her bassinet waiting for my good intentions of putting her back in it to take a picture. Both girls got rashes on their face the day of their blessing and the commonality is the dress. I think Lydia is too big to wear it anymore - she is only 3 months old but moving into size 6 months. I guess I should at least try.

Temples

I found these photos online and thought they were beautiful and needed to be shared.

What is your favorite season

Yesterday I bought a Circle Journal and the idea is to share the journal back and forth between two (or more) people. I bought it to share with my husband. I find it easier to write what I'm thinking than to share it outloud sometimes, so I thought this would great for sharing things with my husband that I might not otherwise share.

That is what I love about blogs - a place to share our thoughts that we might not otherwise vocalize and we can see into others and come to know them and their hearts. I'm glad for those that let me in on their thoughts and their lives - I'm glad to be a part of yours and to let you be a part of mine.

I thought I would share my journal entry today "What is your favorite season of the year". If you like either respond back in the comment section or put a post on your own blog.

"My favorite season of the year is this season - whatever time of year it is, the current season is my favorite. When fall begins I think, "Oh, I love fall." I love it getting colder, I love the pretty color changes of the trees, I love the wrm days and cold nights, I love the smell in the air.
When winter comes I think, "Oh, I love winter". I love the beauty of snow blanketing the ground, I love the winter holidays - the energy of the season, the smells of baking, the tastes of hot chocolate, the sights of decorations, the sounds of music and the feeling of love. Winter means time indoors, together as a family, playing games, eating together, celebrating together, and warm, cozy fires.
Then comes spring and I thing, "Oh, I love Spring". I am so happy to see the snow melt and the buds on the trees - new life is on its way. Spring is refreshing and invigorating. I love spring flowers - the colors, the smells. Growing up lilacs were my favorites, I would gather armloads and bring them to my bedroom and let the scent fill the air.
Summer comes quickly after spring (at least in St. George) and I think "Oh, I love summer". Summer is for fun and outdoor play, for baseball games and water fights, swimming and hotdogs, for staying up late and gazing at the stars.
I think the best part about life it that things change - there is always something new to look forward to.

I invite you to be part of my circle journal and to share your favorite season with me. It doesn't have to be long like my response was - I just tend to be verbose - even a sentence would be great.

Recent photos

I have been going through my pictures and realized I have a lot of pictures I've taken recently. I thought I should put some of these on my blog for family to see.Grandma Smyth stayed with us for a few weeks after baby Lydia was born. Here she is with Charlie and Tom.

Grandma Smyth with Becca and Lydia.

One night Jeremy was putting Becca to bed and he laid Lydia down by Becca - it was too cute to not take a photo of them together.

Every once in a while I try to do Becca's hair. I tried hair rollers, but all they did was make her hair extremely poofy. This was worse than her normal hair, so I wet the poof down and let the natural look be the look of the day.
One day a few weeks ago I heard the kids all laughing together and found them on the front lawn enjoying ice cream. They had carried the baby and her chair outside and luckily didn't try feeding her any of the ice cream.

Sweet sleeping baby Lydia.

Charlie loves his baby sister. He is always carrying her around and playing with her.

What a sweet face. Lydia is an angel baby. She is just happy to be - but don't leave her alone, she loves interacting with everyone.