I'm BAAAAAACCKKKK

I KNOW.. It's been FOREVER!  

So my first post back is going to be a copy of a FB status that I want to immortalize.  I LOVE it.  Many of these will work their way into our FHE lessons I'm sure.  :)

GIRLS .... Listen up!!!

TEN THINGS TO SAY TO YOUR TEENAGE DAUGHTER/NIECE/GIRL:

1. If you choose to wear shirts that show off your boobs, you will attract boys. To be more specific, you will attract the kind of boys 

that like to look down girls’ shirts. If you want to date a guy who likes to look at other girls’ boobs and chase skirts, then great job; keep it up. If you don’t want to date a guy who ogles at the breasts of other women, then maybe you should stop offering your own breasts up for the ogling. All attention is not equal. You think you want attention, but you don’t. You want respect. All attention is not equal.

2. Don’t go to the tanning bed. You’ll thank me when you go to your high school reunion and you look like you’ve been airbrushed and then photoshopped compared to the tanning bed train wrecks formerly known as classmates – well, at least next to the ones that haven’t died from skin cancer.

3. When you talk about your friends “anonymously” on Facebook, we know exactly who you’re talking about. People are smarter than you think they are. Stop posting passive-aggressive statuses about the myriad of ways your friends disappoint you.

4. Newsflash: the number of times you say “I hate drama” is a pretty good indicator of how much you love drama. Non-dramatic people don’t feel the need to discuss all the drama they didn’t start and aren’t involved in.

5. “Follow your heart” is probably the worst advice ever.

6. Never let a man make you feel weak or inferior because you are an emotional being. Emotion is good; it is nothing to be ashamed of. Emotion makes us better – so long as it remains in it’s proper place: subject to truth and reason.

7. Smoking is not cool.

8. Stop saying things like, “I don’t care what anyone thinks about me.” First of all, that’s not true. And second of all, if it is true, you need a perspective shift. Your reputation matters – greatly. You should care what people think of you.

9. Don’t play coy or stupid or helpless to get attention. Don’t pretend something is too heavy so that a boy will carry it for you. Don’t play dumb to stroke someone’s ego. Don’t bat your eyelashes in exchange for attention and expect to be taken seriously, ever. You can’t have it both ways. Either you show the world that you have a brain and passions and skills, or you don’t. There are no damsels in distress managing corporations, running countries, or managing households. The minute you start batting eyelashes, eyelashes is all you’ve got.

10. You are beautiful. You are enough. The world we live in is twisted and broken and for your entire life you will be subjected to all kinds of lies that tell you that you are not enough. You are not thin enough. You are not tan enough. You are not smooth, soft, shiny, firm, tight, fit, silky, blonde, hairless enough. Your teeth are not white enough. Your legs are not long enough. Your clothes are not stylish enough. You are not educated enough. You don’t have enough experience. You are not creative enough.

There is a beauty industry, a fashion industry, a television industry, (and most unfortunately) a pornography industry: and all of these have unique ways of communicating to bright young women: you are not beautiful, sexy, smart or valuable enough.

You must have the clarity and common sense to know that none of that is true. None of it.

You were created for a purpose, exactly so. You have innate value. You are loved more than you could ever comprehend; it is mind-boggling how much you are adored. There has never been, and there will never be another you. Therefore, you have unique thoughts to offer the world. They are only yours, and we all lose out if you are too fearful to share them.

You are beautiful. You are valuable. You are enough.

My new adventure

So here we go.  I have started a new adventure in my life.  Enter Body By ViSalus.  I have to say.  I have worked hard to stay fit.  I have accomplished this many times (because I get lazy or pregnant).  I have done HCG and loved it.  But.. these shakes are the easiest and best tasting way to go.  They nutrition in them is great, the taste is outstanding, there are over 300 recipes to try.  Just pick your favorite treat, dessert, candy etc and it will be posted somewhere. 
The company does a 90 day challenge.  For 90 days you drink 2 shakes a day, weather your goals are weight loss related, fitness related or overall health related.  There are vitamins, appetite suppressant, metabolism booster, neuro energy drinks, cookie snacks.. etc.  So many great ways to make your life and reaching your goals easier.   I want to invite all of you to try, to join me in making yourself healthier, in reaching your goals.

My 90 day Challenge is to increase my lean muscle mass.   I have taken before pictures and at the end of Sept I will post them along with my after pictures.  I have already, in the last 27 days, dropped a size and lost 4 lbs.  Now I don't tout this as a perfect cure.. you still have to put some effort in.. making the shakes will take 2 min out of your day. :)

There are different kits for whatever your goals are.  Let me help you figure out which kit is best for you and how to get these shakes in your belly. 

Call me, email me, comment on this post, contact me anyway you need to.  Ask me questions (my Master's is after all in nutrition).  Join me.  See the results for yourself.  There is a 30 day money back guarantee.. there is nothing to lose (but fat and pounds).
Oh... did I mention that the producer of the Biggest Loser is on board and is starting a new show (starting on the inet) and says it will be BIGGER than the Biggest Loser???

Go to my website here
If you want the nutritional information.. contact me and I'll send it to you.

PS.  Butterfinger, snickers, cinnamon roll, pina colada... those are my favorite meals that I get to eat. 
PPS.. Lets also get your shakes for FREE.

Inadequacy

Feelings of inadequacy, that's what I'm full of.  Inadequate to convey all of the feelings, the emotions, the love I felt this past weekend.  My family drove down to Haleyville, AL to participate in the Mark A Forester, Price of Freedom Race.  I was able to walk the 31 mile ruck in honor of Mark's 31st birthday on May 15th.  I was one of the hardest, yet most rewarding experiences of my life. We met up with Chris and Caroline Sprayberry, some friends from Tuscaloosa, and after a late dinner, and (trying to sleep with Isabel waking up at 4 am telling me she was ready for her pancake breakfast.... ) I met up with Chris and his brother Chad to drive over to the High School.  We registered and met up with Thad, it was so great to see him, and waited the last few minutes for the walk to begin at 6am.  The first stop was at Mark's grave.  His commander Lt Col. Parkes Hughes said a few inspiring words and led us in memorial pushups.  I was right next to Thad for them and I about lost it.  I miss Mark, I cherish the times I spent with the boys in Tuscaloosa my last two years there.  I still feel full of un-shed tears, unshared grief for his loss.  I am so proud of him, so honored to have known him and I am better for it. 

Welcome sign as we drove in on Friday night.

One hero honoring another.

There are 12 of these sign, I wanted to cry every time I saw one.

Mark's best friend, Rob, and his father Tony.  Rob went back after her finished the walk and walked the last 2 miles with his dad.

Oh a happy funny note.. The three of us (Chris, Chad and myself) were in the front of the group for the first 2 sections (Chris stayed up longer) and we were busting out sub 15 min miles... it was CRAZY fast especially when you take in to account the hills.  If you have never been. North Alabama is much hillier then you would initially think.  By the time we hit mile 16 ish.. my feet hurt.  But after awhile I realized they would hurt whether I walked or ran so I (along with most all the 65+ walkers) ran down the hills. 

I would come to realize later that maybe that wasn't' the best idea I have ever had.  The bruising and swelling was fantastic in me feet. 

Chris and Chad, my walking buddies (we were missing Aubrey in this picture)

This sign made me laugh.  I will always remember Mark saying "Giddy Up"

The fourth leg of the ruck, I had a second wind, probably because I knew my kids and husband were going to be there waiting for me.  It was so fun to see family and get re-energized for the last leg.  I ran into a lot of wonderful people I knew from way back when and I finally had a chance to meet Thad and Mark's parents.  Such special people they are.  I was introduced to Pat Forester by her friend who also taught Thad in primary and Mark in seminary.  We walked the last 2 miles or so of the fourth leg.  It was wonderful to visit with her.

We had an extra walker try and come with us.  I love the face of the girl next to me.

Thad getting the baton, with Mark's name and dates of the walks, from his dad.

Walking up to the Forester home at the last stop

My littlest supporter at stop 4.

Isabel (and John Even, one of my walking buddies' child) cheering on everyone who reached stop 4.

To finish this ruck was awesome.  I had some great comic relief with my walking buddies, especially the last mile or so, we were getting slap happy, Aubrey was also with us most of the way but he thought we were crazy to run as often as we did. :)  Once I heard we were ending the ruck with one lap around the track my goal was to run that lap, and I did.  As soon as I entered the track I heard Isabel yelling "Good Job Mom! Run faster! Run as fast as you can!"  I really wanted to yell back, 'what do you think I'm doing'.
When I look at all of the pictures from that day (go here) I am overcome with gratitude not only for Mark, but for his family, the volunteers and for all of the military men there.  I was able to talk with a few, I did have a hard time striking up some conversations ( I know hard to believe) but talking with Rob Bonnello was awesome.  Rob was Mark's best friend who was charged, by Mark to take care of his body and return it home, among other great experiences they shared.  Rob is a wonderful man.

I sit here reading over this still unsure how to adequately express all I want to.  My heart still aches for the loss the Forester's must endure, for the friend that I lost touch with, for the sacrifice he so willingly gave.

"Baby" girl is 6!

Man, I can't believe that not only is Isabel 6, but that we are finishing up her 1st year of school!!  We tried to make her birthday extra special for her this year.  She woke up to a breakfast she has been wanting forever, sausage and biscuits, yes they were awesome.  She got to pick out her favorite food for lunch (although I suddenly have no idea what she picked).  Daddy went and delivered flowers to her after he dropped her off at school and then Mike and I went back up there for afternoon snack time to take ice cream to her class.   Then we brought her home early and she was able to take pictures with Daddy and her flowers.  

I love these two!

my big girl

For dinner that night we headed over to our friends house.  The husband is a chef.  Yep, we are that lucky.  :)  Isabel wanted pizza for dinner, so the kids had that and the adults enjoyed yummy chicken, pork and salmon along with rice and asparagus.  Then my awesome big girl.. she wanted crepes for dessert, no birthday cake, but Nick's awesome crepes...with nutella...and ice cream... and whipped cream.  The her and her friend played for a while AND.....  we got Stella in pig tails!  I'd say a successful birthday.  

seriously.. how good do these look?

opps, not the best picture but she just wanted to eat and was tired of me taking pictures.

yes.. super cute. (and looks a tad like Shrek we decided)

pigtails!

Kansas City Temple

These posts are a tad out of order.  We actually went to the open house the week before March of Dimes.. but at least it's getting posted!  

So I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take Isabel to the Temple.  During the open house is the only time the Temple is open to anyone, regardless of The Church membership or age.  Isabel was pretty excited.  Some friends of ours met us up there as well so we had a group of 10.  Let me tell you, I have been in a handful of Temples... this one is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL!  Now to be fair, they are all beautiful and most of them are at least 15 years old.  But, oh goodness, the details (here is where all of my friends who love remodeling old historic homes *Sara Archibald*, would have loved it.) The doors, and handles, amazing.. I want them in my house.  The continuity of finishes, textures.  The foot high maybe 16 in high marble baseboards... the gradient almost ombre color of the blue tiles in the baptismal font.  I was in love.  I would move to K.C just to have that Temple. 

The kids had a great time and loved walking around.  The fountain provided a few moments of fun play for them, before they started to get a bit irreverent with the water.  :)  It was a fast trip for us, we left at 5:30 in the morning and had to be back by 5pm.  I wouldn't have traded that experience with Isabel for anything.  And just because I don't want to wait for blogger on these photos... they are all at the end.  Oh! and how I wish I had a picture of Kyle and Stella, after we had said goodbye in the parking lot, Stella was running after Kyle with her hands outstretched, Kourtney put him down and they hugged and Kyle licked Stella's cheek.  It was one of the cutest things!

Stella not cooperating, but Izzy's cute.

all of us.

helpful big sister trying to get Stella.

Running around, but it's too bright to keep our eyes open.

notice Stella, not wanting Izzy's help.

Someone was done.

but if you give her a cookie....

Me and my babe.

March of Dimes

(I am struggling to learn this whole picture placement with blogger... so sorry if it's hard to read)

 First of all, I want to say thank you to all who donated to our March of Dimes team this year.  We not only reached but surpassed our goal!  We were one excited family this year.  We had some of the same people with our team as we did last year.  Although we did miss the Lenahan's.  This year we had amazing weather.  I think it was around 80-85.   Unlike last year, we arrived early enough to partake in the festivities like the moon bounce, and tunnels (Isabel and I also hit up the tunnels afterwards, who would have thought the hot humid outside air would have felt so good.  It was HOT in those tunnels! Face painting was up on our list of things to do, Isabel decided she wanted to be a cat.. it's the only time in his life Mike has love and accepted a cat into our family.  But then again who can blame him, it was a cute lil' kitty.  She even showed us how kitties run.

 

My sweet kitty

This is how cats run.

Cat in motion

Jamo, Sheri and James

Dan, Britty and Phoebe

Walking with us this year we had Mike's bro Jameson and his wife Sheri (and lil' James)And we had Dan, Britty and lil' Phoebe from our ward.  It was great to be able to visit with everyone and see the huge sea of people walking thru Forest Park.   They had the Baby BLVD again, it has to be my favorite part of the walk, yet amazingly this year I didn't cry!  Well not until later, but it was fantastic ( they day, not the crying).

The reason we walk.

2012 Team Brooklyn

After the walk we decided to go to try a restaurant I've been wanting to go to for a while... it's call cheese-ology.  Yes... CHEESE-ology.  It's a mac-n-cheese restaurant.  I was in heaven, especially after I saw they had lactate at the registers.  Darn this lactose intolerance thing.  Can I just say... delicious.  We had a strawberry and blue cheese salad followed by black and bleu mac in cheese.  Steak and bleu cheese.  YUM  

I think next year I'm going to run in the 5k before the walk.  I wanted to this year but not getting home from work until 11:30 and Isabel not getting home from her friends until 10p.... it was  a good decision to skip it this time. Can't wait for next year.

Easter... finally

So I know I am a few weeks behind, but I thought I would finally post about Easter. Easter weekend we had a good time. I had to work on Saturday morning so Mike and the girls went down to Mike's parents and waited for me to get off work. We ran a few errands and then went on a walk. I was proud of Isabel, minus 1/4 of a mile or so she walked all 4 miles of it. I did get to burn some bonus calories when I gave her the piggy back ride for that 1/4 mile. We came home so we could dye eggs, finish dresses and make our bunny cake. Unfortunately I don't have any pics to show for the dyeing party, Mike and Isabel decided coloring should be (just shy of a ) nudist activity. The bunny cake turned out fairly cute. Mike's mom had made a cake and sent us home with it. She used sweet potatoes instead of applesauce and then used Stevia. Now I am not a huge fan of Stevia, I think it tastes really chemically and leaves a numbing sensation on my tongue, but once I made the cream cheese frosting to go with it and added the coconut it was really good. The cake wasn't overly sweet which was really nice and it was moist enough. All in all a successful cake. Especially once Isabel made a crown of toothpicks for bunny.


The only pic I can show of egg dyeing.

Sunday morning we woke up and Isabel found the items that the Easter bunny left for her and Stella. The bunny didn't get a chance to hide the eggs, so we did that after breakfast. And oh, breakfast! We had crepes with nutella, boysenberries and homemade buttermilk syrup. A.MA.ZING. My crepes were finally thin enough too.. usually they are just slightly thinner pancakes, not paper thin like they should be.


 Breakfast was that good.

We headed to church to be filled with the knowledge of Easter and we were not disappointed. I, as usual when I wear my 5 in platform heels, was asked to help out in nursery. Shockingly, the kids were really calm. My friend Becca, who was in there with me, and I decided all the kids were on their crash after the sugar they all ate that morning. When we came home we made dinner and Izzy's favorite, resurrection rolls. I had never made them before and I wanted to do the cookies but there just wasn't enough time in the day on Saturday. So we did crescent rolls with giant marshmallows inside. I have to say.. they were SO YUMMY! Oh and yes we did talk about what the rolls and marshellows, before and after cooking, stood for.


 The bunny cake.. I guess we took off the crown by this point.

All in all it was a successful day. The girls dresses turned out really cute. Isabel's was shredding more than Stella's and in hind sight I should have looked harder for yellow knit (there are no good shades at JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby) or a soft pink.. (again no good shades at either store). So I might be remaking her dress. She did really like it. Mike did get a couple of cute pics with the girls, of course they both were not looking at the same time.. but what else is new.



 I love this picture of Isabel trying to turn Stella to face the camera

I hope everyone else had a great Easter also. I am grateful for the knowledge I have of my resurrected Lord and Savior.  Knowing that I too, with my family, will return to see our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  We get to be reunited with our Brooklyn because of Jesus, we can live again.  He Lives.   I am so grateful for Kate and Michele for being awesome friends and examples and for sharing the Gospel with me so I could learn the true reason we celebrate Easter. Also I am so grateful for a couple of awesome Sista' missionaries with Sis. Baker (Bullock) and Sis. Spendlove (Lemos) who taught and explained the Gospel to me. Love all of you wonderful ladies!!