{unwrapped}

{old friends reunited}

I've mentioned here on my blog just how awesome Facebook is. I'll say it again..it is AWESOME. I have been able to reconnect with so many dear friends...it is just CRAZY! Such a happy happy thing. And last night, I was able to get together with 2 of my very closest friends from high school that I recently reconnected with through Facebook. As I've mentioned before, I have never really had many girl friends until the past few years. When we moved back from Germany for my senior year, I was really nervous about it. I had decided to not go to Alta where all of my friends were, simply because I wanted a fresh start. However, that meant that I was going to a new school where I knew hardly anyone (instead of Alta where EVERYONE was that I grew up with), and where all of the "groups" were already formed. Little did I know, just how lucky I would be in the friends that I made that one final year of high school. Since European school are so much more advanced, the only class I needed to graduate was Utah History. LOL! So, my senior year was spent taking Ballroom, Seminary, Shakespeare, AP English, etc. And yes...I took AP English "for fun!" ;-) I LOVE ENGLISH!

Anyway...so it was basically just a fun year to play for me. And in addition to just playing in general, I was actually IN a bunch of school plays. I was active in Drama and that's where I made some seriously lasting friendships and where I became friends with Heather, Amanda & Dawn. The four of us were close friends throughout the entire year and I don't think they will ever know just how grateful I was for them after being so nervous about "fitting in" for the last year of high school. Many of these pictures of us are from plays, the big Shakespeare-esque banquet (I was Juliet and I believe the gals were princesses of some sort...Heath and Manda...do you remember exactly what you guys did?), etc. The banquet was so fun. Our drama teacher was the Queen and sat at the head of the banquet table and all through the large dinner, we would perform exerpts from Shakespeare plays...but that had been changed to be funnier versions. I performed the balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet, with a few changes for comic relief during dinner. Good times. I probably made more awesome memories with these girls and our close-knit "drama group" in one year than most kids made all 4 years of high school.  We-had-fun!! And I still pride myself on winning Best Supporting Actress for "Rally Round The Flag Boys" and a special award from our drama teacher for "Best Female Performance in a Male Role" for playing Antonio in Twelfth Night! LOL! Oh man..every single happy high school memory I have from that one incredible year includes these girls. I love them so much. Although the four of us were all friends, I always felt particularly close to Amanda & Heather. (The pics below are from when Heather & I surprised Dawn and kidnapped her on her birthday!) So I keep thinking over and over, why did we let ourselves lose track of each other?! No idea...but NOT AGAIN!

  

However, for some reason, as close as we were, as soon as high school was out, we drifted apart. Although Amanda and I e-mailed once or twice in the past 13 years, that was all the contact that we had with each other. Heather ended up coming to my wedding reception 9 years ago, so it had only been 9 years instead of 13 since I had seen her. Still...9 and 13 years.....so much time had gone by. After reconnecting on Facebook, we decided that it was DEFINITELY time to get back together. And my goodness....I AM SO GLAD!!!! I love these girls so much! After 4 hours at dinner last night at Ruby Tuesday, I kept thinking....WHAT WERE WE THINKING not staying in touch? We had such a great time talking about school memories, sharing what we had been up to the past FOREVER, having some seriously awesome conversations about life in general and laughing so hard that we literally were crying. Oh happy happy day! We had a BLAST!!!!!! We decided, then and there, that we were NOT going to let ourselves fall out of touch again and have already set a date to meet at Heather's house with our kiddies for a play date and dinner. We mentioned to our waiter that it had been 13 years (and 9 for me and Heather) since we had seen each other. But had you been sitting by us, you'd think that we hadn't been apart for a moment since high school. I just can't stop thinking about how much fun it was. The awesome thing is...here we are, 13 years later and all 3 of us have had so much happen and have had so many completely different life experiences that have changed us and molded us into who we are today. And still....13 years later, we fit together as friends like pieces of a puzzle. (And as a sidenote, cute Amanda is now my official claim to fame as she is 'Amazing Amanda' on 94.1 KODJ on The Morning Show from 6-10 AM every morning. Have LOVED being able to listen to her every morning on the way home from Jazzercise..and fun to think that I KNOW HER! Ha ha! Love ya Amanda!! Just had to do a little SHOUT OUT for ya!!)

 

Heather & Amanda...I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!! Thank you for being a part of my happiest memories from my Senior year of highschool, for the CRAZY AWESOME memories we made just last night (will never forget 27, socks, lemons, barn animals, Hera the pitbull lost in a fire, laughing so hard we had to be shushed (oops), having seriously meaningful conversations about life and love and friendships, and SO MUCH MORE!!!!), and memories we are absolutely going to be making in the near future..and hopefully throughout the rest of our lives.

{basics}

I am a little late posting this, but better late than never, right? Last year, I started a personal tradition of choosing a word to focus on throughout the year. Last year, my word was "Limits"...and I blew it. LOL! But it was actually at the end of last year, after severely exceeding my own personal limits, that I knew, without a doubt, what my word for 2009 needed to be. Basics.

During the last part of last year, life was crazy. And in the midst of the craziness and the stress, I seriously felt like I had lost who I was. The qualities that have always made me who I am, the things that I prided myself on (thoughtfulness, dependability, organization, etc.)....had disappeared and I was a mess. Things that have always come naturally to me (checking up on my friends, doing my visiting teaching, etc.) stopped happening because I was so overwhelmed and very literally could not focus on anything other than just keeping my head above water. I had completely lost who I was in the midst of it all...and I wanted myself back! ;-) And so, to help me focus on this, I made this plaque that will be displayed in my kitchen throughout this year that says, "BASICS: Rediscover the basic valued qualities that have always made me who I am and put them back into action." And so far, I am doing great. I spent a large majority of January getting myself caught up, cleaned up, organized and relaxed so that I can now focus on getting back to the basics as far as who I am and who I want to be. And things are great. I feel like I am back. If I can just keep perspective and stay on top of things and not get back to that terribly stressful state that I was in last year. I am also really focusing on my health and that has done HUGE things for me...physically, emotionally, mentally and even spiritually. I feel healthy,fit and strong and happy - truly happy. Things are good. It's so easy to get too many things going on and get buried in the mess.

This year, it is my goal to stay on top of things, limit what I do, focus on my family and my health and get back to the basics that make me who I am so that I can feel peace and confidence and in addition, be able to serve others and make a difference. Because it is serving others that gives me the greatest happiness...and I have missed that. Here's to getting back to the BASICS!

{happy day, proud of you & love you so much}

 

First off, Mom, rest assured that this will very likely be the first and last time I ever share pictures of underwear on my blog. But I simply couldn't resist sharing this happy happy day from last week. As of last week, Seneca is completely potty trained. YAY!!!!! On this joyous day, Seneca and I took a little Mama-Baby trip to Target to pick out her underwear of choice and a toy for becoming a big girl. Both choices were EXTREMELY easy for her. She immediately grabbed at the Princess underwear and chose a pair of pretend Princess keys the minute we entered the toy area. The entire ride home, she would not let go of her Princess underwear and Princess keys. She kept say, "I love you so much Mama. I love you so much. I love my Princess underwear and my keys. Oh thank you Mama...I love you so much." "I love you so much.." - that's her new thing and I love it. I have said that to her since the day we brought her home and it does my heart good to have her turn around and say it to me. So cute. Seneca is a handfull, but she is likely one of the cutest little stinks I have ever seen. She says the cutest things. And lately, it seems like she has been picking up so much of what I say..and I love that.

   

When we got home from getting Seneca her new big girl underwear, she asked if she could have an apple. One thing about my kids that I love, is how much emotion and excitement they express about EVERYTHING. And to me, it's a small sign that I just might be doing a few things right. It's pretty much part of who I am to get excited about everything. But I make an extra effort to be even more excited about everything my kids say and do...which in turn has made THEM excited about everything. You'll never hear my kids say that dinner is good or they had a good day. It will be, 'This dinner is DELICIOUS!' or 'This was the VERY BEST DAY EVER!' I love that. So when she asked for an apple and I opened the fridge door to reveal a whole bag of apples that I had just bought the night before, her eyes lit up and she clasped her hands together and said, "You got mo apples at da sto?" LOL! Can't quite say "r" yet. So cute. And when I told her that I just bought a bag of apples the night before, she ran up and hugged me and said (prepare yourselves)..."OH HAPPY DAY!!! I am SO proud of you!!" I just about died. First of all, she said, 'OH HAPPY DAY!' That made my heart literally leap right out of my chest and dance around the kitchen. But then, even more meaningful to me, was that she said she was PROUD of me....which means that I have said it often enough for her to understand what it means enough to pass it along to me. Oh happy day! ;-) Chas couldn't believe she actually said "OH HAPPY DAY!" But I tell ya something...I may not be the best mother in every way, but if the things that my little ones are picking up from me are things like showing excitement for every little thing and saying things that I do, like "OH HAPPY DAY" and "I'm proud of you" and "I love you so much"....then maybe I am doing alright. :-)She may look a lot like her daddy...but she is definitely her Mama's girl. I love that.

Seneca is such a crazy smart little girl, but her verbal skills didn't kick in until a little later than Kaden's did. All last year, only Kaden and I were ever able to understand her. She had her own language and words for everything...just none that were recognizable to the general public..or her daddy. ;-) Since then, it has greatly improved and if she doesn't get talking to fast, she is pretty much 100% understandable now. LOL! However, there are a few words from 'Seneca Speak' that have lingered..and I absolutely love them. I decided that I needed to write them down right away so that I never forget them. And oddly enough, they are very similar in sound..and the funny thing is, that again, Kaden and I are the only ones that understand what they mean. Kaden doesn't even flinch when Seneca says them...he knows exactly what she's talking about. So funny. SO...without futher ado, my three favorite lingering words from "Seneca Speak"...

"MeedaVator" = Movie Theater
"LidaGator" (pronounced LIE-DUH-GATOR) = Escalator
"Alligator" = Elevator

LOL..isn't that hilarious? So funny. Seneca is quite the character. Such a spunky, sassy, dramatic little thing with the spirit and heart of an angel. OH HAPPY DAY, Seneca...Mama is SO proud of you and I love you SOOOO much!!!

{love day}

   

Chas and I have never been really bought in the commercialism of Valentine's Day. We celebrate our anniversary at the end of January, so that's kinda when we celebrate our love. LOL! That sounds corny. Anyway...and in addition to just not really being big on the holiday, we are absolutely not thrilled about fighting crowds to go out to eat. The past few years, we have celebrated Love Day at home with takeout. I love that tradition. Delicious food in the comfort of our own home. Happy day! And that's exactly what we did. We stayed home and enjoyed tasty Japanese food from Fortune Cookie (their Pad Thai Noodles with Chicken are TO DIE FOR!) and watched a movie. And it was a seriously nice and relaxing evening. Love that. Chas also brought me the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers. It was so huge that it didn't fit in any of my vases and I had to arrange them in one of my big glass pitchers. LOL! They are beautiful!!!! I love my Chasy.

 

In addition to my hot date at home that night, I also had a lunch date with my friend Richelle at Chili's on Valentine's Day. As is always the case, we had a great time together. I love my friends.

 

But for us, Valentine's Day has really been about our kiddies. Before I even had kids, I swore I would never buy into the whole "special $5 holiday shirts" thing at Old Navy. Oh, I SO totally buy them for every holiday now. Old Navy has gotten smarter now though and didn't have them just say "Valentine's Day" so that it's corny to wear them over again. These shirts are something they really can wear over and over again! Plus....it's just so much fun to have them all matchy and festive. It is SO worth the $10. And with them all cute and matching, we of course had to do a little photo shoot. They are so adorable. My little ones have their moments when they argue and can't get a long. But generally, they are so sweet to each other and I love that. Every single one of these pictures was taken without any coaching from me. I love how much they love each other.

   

These next two are two of my favorites....one of Seneca giving Kaden kisses and the other with Kaden wiping the kisses OFF his cheek. LOL! So cute! I know that I am probably partial because I am their mother.....but I think these two little ones are likely the most adorable  kids I have ever seen. I love my babies!!!

   

After a few quick shots of the little ones together, I snapped afew of Kaden by himself.
      

And after completely cooperation for his pictures, I let him so whatever he wanted for the last few. This was what he did...LOL...

What a little stud.  Sure love this little guy. He was excited all week long for his Valentine's Day party at school and was ESPECIALLY excited about his brand new Valentine's Day shirt..just for that special day (his excitement =another reason it was worth the $5 to get the shirt!). This year, he chose to give Transformer valentines to all  of his friends. I purchased an extra frame just like the ones I gave away for visiting teaching this month, and we wrapped it in a cellophane baggie and gave it to his teacher for Valentine's Day. Kaden is such a thoughtful guy and was so excited to share a gift with his teacher.

   

On Valentine's Day morning, I had to leave pretty early for the special Sweethearts Jazzercise class. I was the class manager for the class that morning and we had over 55 people there and over HALF were men (spouses, sons, etc.). It was an absolute blast. The entire workout was kick boxing (so the guys wouldn't feel all weird about the "dancey" moves. LOL!) It was a CRAZY awesome workout. I was so sore on Sunday that I could very literally hardly move.  We had a bunch of drawings and then a big breakfast afterwards. So since I wasn't here first thing in the morning, I left a little Valentine's Day prize for each of my little ones to find when they woke up. They loved their little animals and SENECA enjoyed both boxes of chocolates. LOL!

 

After school and rest time on Friday, we played with the kiddies. It just kinda happened that we ended up having a jam session in our bedroom. The kids are so funny...they like to completely strip our bed down and jump on it while they sing and play air guitar. And yes...I let my kids jump on our bed. Our bed broke years ago, so there's nothing they can do to it. LOL! They know not to jump on theirs, but they are more than welcome to have a good bounce on ours anytime. And BOY to they bounce. Ha ha! And not only do they bounce, but they stand up on the head board and fall backwards onto the bed. It makes them laugh so hard their stomaches ache. I love it. What harm can there be in a good bounce on the bed if it can't be broken, and it makes them that happy? Good times. Kaden is so funny...he likes to  look at himself in the mirror and sing and play air guitar. Funny that he does that...cuz his mama used to sing in front of the mirror all the time when she was little, and through high school, and through college and, well, YESTERDAY! LOL! And little Seneca..she is a hoot. She, like her Mama, always needs her microphone to sing in to. And it was the funniest thing to see her sitting on our bed, wearing my sunglasses and singing into her lipgloss microphone and watching herself in the mirror. LOL! Oh goodness..these are definitely my kids and we have so much fun together!!!! I love them so much!

    
    

All in all, we had SUCH a fun few days celebrating Valentine's Day. I'm not big on the commercial side of the holiday, but any day that celebrates sharing the love you have for those around you, will always be a great one. I love my hubby, I love my little ones, I love my family and I love my friends. So much to be grateful for. This definitely was an especially fun Love Day for our fam!!!  YAY! 

{surprise visitor & marzipan}

 

Look who showed up on our doorstep a few minutes ago!!! Our former mailman and GOOD FRIEND, Christian and his nephew Lukas...all the way from Germany!! (Click on links to read more about Christian and his family!) Christian and his family moved back to Germany in July and we have missed them so much. It's funny...ever since they left and I knew that Christian wasn't going to be our mailman, I haven't even really cared about getting the mail anymore. LOL! And the funny thing is, I never even really SAW Christian every day unless he had a package to bring to the door. It's just a mental thing I think...just knowing that since he's not there, there's no use going to the mailbox anymore. Ha ha! It's funny...I now check our mailbox probably once a week now. We really miss spending time with Christian and Jodi and their cute kiddies. They are planning on staying in Germany while Christian finishes school and then will hopefully come back so their kids can go to high school here in the States. And fortunately, if the rest of that 4-5 years goes by as quickly as the last 6 months have gone, they will be back before we know it!!! Who would have guessed that we would become such close friends with our mailman and his family (although I guess it's not that out of the ordinary for me. LOL!)??So fun!!!

Of course, Christian did not show up empty handed. He brought TONS of my absolute FAVORITE marzipan EVER!!!!! He never forgets!! ;-) So fun! I will have to save little bites for very very special occasions....to keep myself in line with my healthy eating program AND to make it last! ;-) We had such a great time visiting this morning and in between chatting with me and Chas, I also visited in German with Lukas who didn't speak any English. Such a cute kid and it really makes me miss Germany to sit and speak German with someone. *sigh* Homesick. Of course, we ABSOLUTELY had to take a picture, since Christian will probably not be back again until next February. Unfortunately, he dropped in right after my workout and running Kaden to school, so I am slightly a mess still..LOL! But how could we NOT take a picture, right? SO SO SO happy to visit with a great friend that we have missed so much. WHAT A HAPPY HAPPY DAY!

{february birthdays & memories for mom}

 

This past week, we celebrated two February birthdays in our fam...my mom and my little niece Charly. As always, it was so great to get together and see everyone. Mom's birthday meal is always lasagna, so we actually had a variety of delicious lasagnas to choose from. It was SO delish! Our family parties are always so much fun. It's great to get together and visit and watch the little cousins play. Seneca was especially cute this time around, as she enjoyed "reading" books to Charly. So cute.

    

A few years ago, Mom started a new tradition for her birthday. She decided that from that point on, she only wanted MEMORIES for her birthday. She started a Memory Binder and every year, every member of the family writes down a favorite family memory to add to her binder. It's such a fun tradition...my mom has the greatest ideas! ;-) Below is a picture of the page that I made this year for Mom's Memory Binder.

This year, I decided to focus on a memory that is just between me and my mom. And without repeating myself to explain it and THEN share the journaling on my MEMORY PAGE that I made for my mom (which also explains some of the story behind it), I will just go ahead and share the journaling first.....

"Growing up in our home, I never wondered for a moment if I was loved. One of my greatest memories of our family is how open and affectionate we were...and still are. I remember you and Dad smooching in the kitchen and dancing and holding hands. I could see that you loved each other so much!! And because of that, I decided that I wanted to be the same way - to have my kids see and know how much their parents loved each other. And I wanted EVERYONE I loved to know just how much I loved them. I wanted them to PHYSICALLY FEEL how much I love them. And with that, my "Heather Hugs" & "SQUATCHES" were born! Happy Birthday Mom! I LOVE YOU! 2/09"

I think I have always been a hugger. I love it...everything about it. Hugs are AWESOME!! But I remember being especially "huggy" most when near the end of high school, through college...and even now (although I think I have always kinda been that way!). As I mentioned in my journaling, I don't just give love pats. If I love someone, I want them to very literally FEEL just how much...through my hug. And so they are REEEEEALLY tight. ;-) My cute Mom is 5' 3", so when her 5' 10" daughter gives her a hug, she is completely skwooshed into me. I love it! (The pic on this page was from Christmas morning, 1999. It was my last Christmas at home before I got married...thus the red eyes for both of us!) It's my absolute fave to hug people shorter than me for that reason. LOL! Love it! But short or tall, my hugs are as strong as the love I feel for the person I am hugging. And this may sound funny, but sometimes I feel like the love I have in my heart LITERALLY transfers to them in the process. Sometimes I get all emotional after a good SQUATCH...just because it's not "just" a hug to me....it's very literally a powerful expression of how much I love them.

 

Anyway.... I'm not sure exactly when (do you remember, Mom?), but a LONG time ago, we were watching "HOOK" together as a family. And at some point in the movie, Granny Wendy motions to Peter to give her a hug, but instead says "Give us a Squatch!" At least it SOUNDED like Squatch. LOL! Anyway....from that time on, Mom started calling my hugs "SQUATCHES," since "hug" just didn't seem to adequately describe the way that I hug people. LOL! Many of my close friends have heard about this and will even now write "SQUATCH!" at the end of e-mails or texts....instead of "HUGS." So funny. But even those friends who don't know about "Squatch" or the story behind it, recognize there is just something different about the way I hug people. And so, instead of "SQUATCH," many of just resorted to calling my hugs, "Heather Hugs." :-) I love that. *sigh* Happy day! Anyway...originally Mom said that the memories are the ONLY gifts she wants. Well those of you that know me even just slightly know that there's no way I could manage that (and the funny thing is, NONE of us have really been able to keep to the "NO GIFT" thing. LOL!). I at least need to give her a little something... :-) So, since my mom is Queen Thank You Writer of America (a wonderful thing that she passed down to me), I found a few packages of DARLING Thank You Notes at Target to give her along with my memory. Fun fun! Here are a few pictures of Mom reading her Memory Gifts...

   
  
  

My cute little sister Kristin, along with her fun memory, also gave all of us a jumbo bookmark with a poem on it that she had written about us....."Charlie's Angels." Her poem was so sweet that I asked her if I could share it here. And along with the poem is a PICTURE of 'Charlie's Angels" from that night...

  

Charlie’s Lil Angels

Tricycles and training wheels
And family trees to climb
Mom and Dad began their walk
One angel at a time.

Up the road and ‘round the bend
They welcomed one and two;
Three was on her way
While four and five came shining through.

Who’d have known that dancing shoes,
Pigtails, pink, and pearls,
Would captivate the tender hearts
Of Charlie’s little girls.

Music ‘round the ivories,
Stories by the fire;
A batch of homemade cookies
Would become their hearts’ desire.

Now further down this pathway,
Gentle mothers they will be
And more tiny little angels will
Climb up their family tree.

While autumn winds and winter storms
May blow upon their path,
The Lord provides the sunshine
In the blissful aftermath.

One by one they’ve planted seeds
To help their tree to grow;
Today with branches full of leaves
They’ve so much love to show.

Little did they really know
What treasures they would find
When Mom and Dad began their walk
One angel at a time.

By Kristin Dahlquist Nelson

Isn't that such a sweet poem? Kristin is such a sweetheart and writes the greatest poems. She is always surprising us with little treats with a poem to go along with it. So thoughtful!! Thank you so much, Kristin, for such a great gift for all of us. And now a few more pics of "Charlie's Angels" from the party.....

 

LOL! Pictures with our "family face" never get old to me. Love it. The best part is, when Mom and Dad got married, she told my Dad, "Charles....don't you DARE teach our kids that!!!" And the funny thing is...we can ALL DO IT...EXCEPT for MOM! LOL! It's totally genetic. But it's funny that we all do it different directions, etc. OMGOSH...look at my little sister Kristin's EYES. LOL!!! Hilarious! After Mom read all of her memories, we were going to take a picture of all of us girls (Kim wasn't there yet..she arrived soon after this pic)around her...and Pulse (Julie) told us to all give her a kiss. Apparently, only Pulse and I got the memo. LOL! So funny. Good times.

  

Another fun family birthday at the Dahlquist house. Always so fun to get together. Birthdays have always been, and will always be, a big deal in our family. I love that. Since you are celebrating someone's LIFE, I kinda think it SHOULD be big. So we definitely celebrate big and that's my favorite.

 

Love this picture of me and my mom next to the Smiley Faces (obviously, I am doing a serious squat to stand next to her to make up for the 7" height difference. LOL!). Mom and little Charly....we love you so much and are so grateful for the opportunity we had to celebrate BOTH OF YOU this week. We are so happy that you are part of our family!!!!

{betcha didn't know: 5 things about u}

Happy day! Time for another circle journal entry!! This crazy awesome journal belongs to my outrageously talented friend Leesa. The theme that she chose for her journal is "Betcha Didn't Know: 5 Things About U." Every single thing that Leesa designs is very literally a work of art. Her talent is ridiculous! I just about squealed when I saw her journal and couldn't wait to add my entry to it!

 
  

This journal is made up of approx. (since I have already passed this journal on and don't have the exact measurements) 7" chipboard circles and held together with a book ring. Leesa's SIGN IN page turned out absolutely adorable and her instruction sheet, on a piece of round acrylic is TO DIE FOR! LOOK AT ALL THAT RIBBON! My gosh....AWESOME!!! Fun thing is, she used the exact same products that I had chosen for my circle journal. Great minds think alike!  

   

The instructions in Leesa's journal asked us to take a 2-page spread and answer the basic question...What are 5 things that most people do not know about you? In addition to our pages, she asked that we also decorate the 2.5" x 3.5" acrylic tag in between our pages. SO FUN! I decided to put one of my fave pics of me and Chasy on my acrylic tag with the word SMILE...since I thought that that was one word that I feel pretty much describes me the majority of the time (some may beg to differ, but I like to think that I am generally happy folk! LOL!). :-) For my 2-page spread, I started out with a little "research," if you will. LOL! I decided to talk to Chas and a few of my closest friends that I feel know me better than anyone to see what THEY think are things that THEY know about me that most others do not know. I was surprised how quickly they spit out 5 things and they absolutely were things that not just anyone would know. I love that. :-) So, thanks to Chas and a few close friends, I was able to come up with my 5 things that most people are not aware of about me. So (drum roll please)....here is my two page spread for Leesa's journal:

 
    

I used the left hand page for my title, "5 Little Known Facts About Me" and the right hand side for my 5 things that I listed in my own handwriting (I used to HATE seeing my handwriting on my scrapbook pages, simply because I liked the clean look of computer fonts. But now, I am seriously learning to love my handwriting and actually prefer it to fonts. I think it makes it so much more personal. LOVE THAT!!) ........#1) I have a secret love for rap music; #2) I speak fluent German! Ja Wohl! :-); #3) I have a serious obsession with cleaning my ears. LOVE LOVE Q-Tips!!; #4) I used to sing and entertain with my sisters as "Charlie's Angels" and #5) A smile on my face doesn't always mean that things are perfect. One of my closest friends told me #5 and I was actually touched that they knew me well enough to know that. I AM generally just a happy person....and although the majority of the time I truly am completely happy, there ARE times when I CHOOSE to happy in the midst of difficult times. So yes, as my good friend so thoughtfully observed, there may be times when I have a smile on my face and many will just see that smile and assume that all is well, when on that rare occasion, I may be smiling while I am hurting on the inside. However, I've learned that trials will come and go and you can either smile through them and serve others through them and come out on top, having grown and blessed others THROUGH it all.....or you can sit and complain and wallow in self-pity - and then no one wins and there is no growth. I choose the happy alternative. And besides, through it all...good times AND bad...there is just simply TOO MUCH to be grateful for to sit and sulk. Even on the hard days.....there are happy little bits in it!

Oh HAPPY HAPPY DAY...I love my circle journal group! I love the girls that are in the group, I love the creative release that these pages are for me...and I love the themes that truly make me look inside of myself every now and again to see who I am and what I am made of! This is such a great thing!

{february vt}

There were a few major "red flags" that popped up the last part of last year that were signs to me that I was doing far more than what my own personal limits allowed. Visiting Teaching has always been something that I absolutely love. I am not perfect at other areas that I should be better at, but for some reason, visiting teaching has always come easy to me and has been something that I look forward to all month long. But for the first time in a long time, I had missed a few months last year. It wasn't until one night in December that I really realized that had been happening. Chas made the observation that he had just noticed that I hadn't gone visiting teaching and that that was so odd, since it has always been a HUGE thing for me and something that I feel is so extremely important. It's sad that my life had gotten so overwhelming that I had failed to do things that had come so naturally and had been so important for so long. I decided then, that things were going to turn around. Another reminder that I had been slacking in this area were COUNTLESS e-mails from many of you that read my blog. For those of you that haven't been reading for a long time, I like to bring a little gift to my ladies every month...whether it's store-bought or homemade (absolutely not required...just something I like to do!). I call it my Visiting Teaching "Happy Thing" for the month. And of all of my blog entries, those posts are probably the most popular...and the most missed when they are not there. And SO....I am happy to say that I am BACK ON TRACK after a slight derailing last fall and am excited to share with you my Visiting Teaching Happy Thing for the month of February.

For this month, I decided to give each of my ladies these cute silver frames that I found at Walmart! They have hearts on them, but I thought that they could easily be used for February as well as throughout the rest of the year. I packaged each frame in a cellophane bag with lots of pink and red metallic heart confetti. I love confetti. It is so fabulously messy and fun. I'm not so sure the people OPENING it love it as much, since it seems you constantly find pieces of confetti here and there for MONTHS afterwards. But even with that, I think it's a fun and happy thing to find a little heart here and there on a random day to remind you that someone was thinking about you! So yay for confetti!

I tied the cellophane bags with this cute red ribbon with white polka dots. Love it! Then, I added a personalized tag to each one that said  "Hope your month is "PICTURE PERFECT!" LOL..get it? Anyway...they turned out really fun! YAY! The reason why they are just from me this month, is because I'm not really sure who my partner is for Visiting Teaching. Sad...it's been a while. So I need to find out who I am paired up with so that we can go together in March. Anyway....I have already been to visit a few of my ladies and they loved their little Happy Things. So happy to be back on track!

{taislim teaser & 5 day weigh in}

 

In January,FreeLife launched TAIslim, a Goji-based weight loss drink that focuses on fighting abdominal fat, enhancing metabolism, controlling appetite, cleansing and replenishig and increasing energy. Ever since then, there has been a crazy response to the new product and I have to admit, that reading all of the success stories made me more than just a little curious about it. Being the skeptic that I am, however, NO results, benefits, stats, testimonials, etc. are as convincing to me as my own personal ones.....so I decided to give TAIslim a try. I have had such a crazy awesome benefits from GoChi, that trying another Goji-based product was actually very exciting to me! However, in addition to TAIslim, I decided to start back on my strict healthy diet plan (that I did with Total, Health & Fitness...which, btw, is a CRAZY AWESOME health program and I highly recommend it!!!!!!), continue my 5 workouts a week and drink 120-160 oz. of water a day. In short,if TAIslim was working for people who WEREN'T even changing their eating or exercise habits, I wanted to see just how much it would help someone who was very conscious about diet, exercise and water consumption. And so, last Thursday, February 5th, I started my own trial of TAIslim. Throughout the entire trial, I am documenting everything....my weight, measurements, body fat, a daily food log, water consumption, etc. And I will be posting updates here on a regular basis as well, just to track my own progress and share my excitement. To give you an example of my daily diet, here are two days from last week:

DAY 3 – 2/6/09

EXERCISE – 6:30 AM (1 hour)
8 oz. water

MEALS –

6:00 AM
2 oz. GoChi
6 oz. water
½ scoop Whey Protein
1 ½ scoops Meal Replacement

8:30 AM
2 oz. THAIslim
16. oz. Crystal Light Lemonade
1 100% Whole Wheat English Muffin
1 Whole Egg
2 Egg Whites
1 tsp. Mozzarella Cheese

11:30 AM
2 oz. THAIslim
20 oz. of water (before meal)
30 oz. of water (during meal)
3 oz. oven roasted turkey breast
1 C. steamed broccoli

3:15 PM
2 oz. GoChi
APEX Double Chocolate Protein Cookie
1 Small Gala Apple
16 oz. Crystal Light Lemonade

6:00 PM
32 oz. Crystal Light Lemonade
(16 oz. before & 16 oz. during)
1 Grilled Turkey Burger
1 100% Whole Wheat Bun
Tomato
Lettuce
1 C. Sliced Cucumbers

9:00 PM
1 oz. Beef Jerky
32 oz. water

TOTAL WATER/C.L. INTAKE:  160 oz.
TOTAL THAIslim INTAKE: 4 oz.
TOTAL GoChi INTAKE: 4 oz.

DAY 4 – 2/7/09

MEALS –

11:00 AM
2 oz. THAIslim
2 oz. GoChi
¾ C. Kashi GoLean Crunch
¾ 1% Milk
16 oz. Crystal Light Lemonade

1:45 PM
2 oz. THAIslim
32 oz. Crystal Light Lemonade
Oven Roasted Chicken Breast
6” Whole Wheat Bun
Lettuce
Tomato
Cucumber

4:15 PM
2 oz. GoChi
32 oz. Crystal Light Lemonade
APEX Double Chocolate Protein Cookie
Small Gala Apple

6:15 PM
2 oz. THAIslim
32 oz. Crystal Light Lemonade
1 Whole Wheat Tortilla
3 oz. Ground Turkey Breast
Taco Seasoning
Lettuce
Tomato
Cucumber
1 tsp. Light Ranch Dressing

9:15 PM
1 oz. Beef Jerky
16 oz. Crystal Light Lemonade

TOTAL WATER/C.L. INTAKE: 128 oz.
**TOTAL THAIslim INTAKE: 6 oz.
TOTAL GoChi INTAKE: 4 oz.

In addition, I am also participating in Jazzercise's JAZZ IT OFF program, to help keep myself pumped up to get in shape. So, for JAZZ IT OFF, we have weekly weigh ins, measurements, body fat percentage calculations, etc. And yesterday, Monday, was my first weigh in since starting my TAIslim Trial 5 days before. And I am OVER THE MOON EXCITED to announce that from Thursday to Monday, I lost 8 POUNDS and 5 INCHES!!!! 3 1/2 of those inches were from my waist! I am so excited! And the best part is, I have felt SO SO GREAT! I forget how great I feel when I am eating right....it makes such a difference. And then that, paired with GoChi and TAIslim, I feel like I am almost Superhuman! LOL! That sounds so funny, but it's true. I feel CRAZY AWESOME! SO MUCH ENERGY and just generally HAPPY HAPPY! LOVE IT! The water consumption (and Crystal Light Lemonade) was a struggle at first, but now it's getting easier and easier....and is almost a habit already. It's funny...I can literally FEEL all of the water sloshing around. A friend of mine told me that I am making my stomach an aquarium. LOL! That's pretty much true. But it's WORKING!!!

Now this program...my strict diet plan, workouts and water consumption...WOULD be enough to help me lose weight. I lost quite a bit of weight this past year JUST doing this. But I am pretty confident that there is no way that I would have lost 8 POUNDS in 5 days...that's just CRAZY!!! TAIslim is AWESOME..and this is only my sixth day with it!!! SUCH an awesome supplement to my own personal health program!!! I have to say, I can't WAIT until NEXT Monday for my second weigh in!!! And that's just weird to look forward to standing on a scale!!! HAPPY WEIRD! YAY! Stay tuned....this absolutely will not be the last time you hear about TAIslim from me. ;-)

{mamma mia...what a gift!}

When I went to Quilted Bear for our girls day after Thanksgiving this year, I saw a sign that said, "I am so far behind, I thought I was in first!" LOL! It made me laugh so hard because that is seriously how I felt the last 4 months of last year. And here I am into February and I am still trying to get caught up. But the good news is...I am actually getting there. I haven't taken on any new projects and slowly but surely, I am getting there. Happy day! One of the things that I have slacked on, has been keeping my blog up to date. There are so many crazy awesome things that are just waiting to be blogged. But again, as with everything else, I am slowly getting there. And today, with this entry, I am one step closer to being caught up. YAY!

This Christmas, Chas and I did not exchange gifts. We decided that instead of gifts, it was time to get away with just the two of us. I think the last time we did that was 7 years ago when we went to Gilmer, Texas to visit Chas' Grandma and Granddaddy. It had definitely been a long time. So, Chas thought it would be fun for him to take me to see MAMMA MIA in Vegas! Goooood man!! ;-) Funny thing is, he really kinda had to talk me into the entire trip. I have a really hard time spending money on myself and it seemed like so much money to give out and come back empty handed. But I finally realized that we wouldn't come back empty handed at all. Spending time together was something that we really needed...and that was priceless. We bought our tickets for MAMMA MIA first. We bought tix on row A, FRONT and CENTER! And let me tell you...it. was. INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh. What a rush. Being on the front row made us feel like we were PART OF THE CAST! I had the hardest time not jumping right up on the stage and dancing and singing along with the cast! The minute the music started at the beginning of the production, my heart started to race...in a good way. There is just *something* about that show that makes my heart happy. It never gets old. I had a really hard time sitting still. LOVED IT! After watching the broadway production, I realized that the movie was seriously well done. But there IS a major difference between the two....vocal talent. My goodness. I was impressed, when I watched the movie, to see actors of our generation singing and doing a pretty great job at it. But these people in Vegas....WOW. Their voices are CRAZY AWESOME!!!!! It was fantastic. I thought that Chas was a pretty good sport for sitting through it with me...but soon saw that he actually SERIOUSLY enjoyed it. He laughed all the way through...it was awesome!

But that's not the part that is the most impressive about my Chasy. When we booked our trip and our tickets, we weren't aware that BYU would be playing in a bowl game THAT WEEKEND, DURING MAMMA MIA and IN VEGAS!! When I found out about the game, I felt so terrible. I called Chas and cried on the phone because I felt so bad. Without skipping a beat, he said, "Babe...don't worry about it. This is going to be OUR weekend. I am not worried about the game at all. It's our time." If you knew Chas and knew what a serious Cougar fan he is, you would know the magnitude of that statement. And we've been married long enough, and I understand and have accepted his love of Cougar sports to the point that I would have be genuinely okay with me going to Mamma Mia while he went to the game and then meeting up afterwards. I am not clingy and am fine going places by myself and would have been okay if he had decided to go (and not the type of "okay" where the wife SAYS she's okay and then is mad at him the rest of the weekend. LOL!). Even his Dad, his sister, his brother-in-law, his aunt and uncle and his cousin came down to Vegas for the game. But he kept reassuring me that he didn't care about it and that it was our time together. And the night of the game, I didn't even see him check the score. He didn't even think to bring any Cougar gear to wear around (which he ALWAYS ALWAYS does). Crazy. And awesome. Again, I can't even express what that meant to me. And then the Cougars lost...so all was well anyway. LOL! Chasy..I will never forget that. Thank you for making me feel important and for putting us above everything.

Funny story about MAMMA MIA. At intermission, Chas looked over at the row right next to us and pointed for me to look in that direction. And sitting there right next to us was our pediatrician. LOL! After the show, I walked up to him and said, "We are in trouble if there's an emergency at our house while we are here in Vegas. I have your name and number on my emergency contacts list and you are not there!" LOL! How crazy is that?! Small world. ;-)

Chas and I have never been big on the whole "luxurious hotel" thing. We both kinda agree that it's a waste of money. We'd MUCH rather stay in a "decent" place and save our money for shows and awesome food. So that's what we did. We found a seriously AWESOME AWESOME deal at a hotel on the old strip. And since I don't know Vegas very well, I wasn't sure where it was or what it was like. But as soon as we would tell anyone where we were staying, they would giggle. Apparently, it is "GHE-TTO." We ended up staying at The Golden Nugget. And you know what? Although I have to admit that the AREA it's in IS, in fact, a little ghetto, I thought the hotel was beautiful. Our hotel room was great with a huge screen TV (which we watched a bunch of "24" episodes on here and there throughout our trip) and for us, it was perfect. I can't imagine spending any more money to stay anywhere else when you aren't really even IN your hotel for very long in Vegas. Just seems kinda foolish to me. Anyway...so we seriously LOVED "The Nugget." LOL! Now it kinda makes me laugh too..just cuz it's a funny name. There was a HUGE beautiful indoor shark tank by the pool....SO AWESOME. And we both couldn't help thinking how much KADEN would have loved it.

The first night we got there, we actually ended up seeing another show. While we were making our travel plans, we thought that since we were going to make the effort and pay the money to go down, that we should take advantage of it and see another show in addition to MAMMA MIA. Since MAMMA MIA was kind of "my thing," I told Chas that he should choose the other show. He decided on "KA" a Cirque de Soleil production. We ended up sitting pretty close (about 12 rows back) for this one and it was CRAZY to be so close and see facial expressions. It made you feel like you were a part of it. And WOW....no, WOW doesn't even do it. I don't think there is even a word that adequately describes KA. MY GOSH......IN-CREDIBLE. OUTRAGEOUSLY CRAZY AWESOME! I have never in my life seen ANYTHING...ANYTHING like it! I felt like my mouth hung open the entire show. There was one complete war scene that was done on the stage that had moved straight up and down, so that they were running up and down the wall parallel to the ground. It was nuts. I can't even do it justice, so I won't try. If you are EVER in Vegas, you HAVE to check it out. Crazy....OUT OF THIS WORLD! Their intro to the show on their website describes it best, "You can see it. You can experience it. But, you won't believe it!"

I never thought I would say this, but I LOVE VEGAS!!! The first time I went was while we were married and I was bored out of my mind. It probably would have been crazy fun as a single adult, but then, it was probably a GOOD THING that I DIDN'T go then. ;-) I thought it was just a shame that all of the buildings were so gorgeous on the outside and then all just filled with the same smokey casinos on the inside. BO-RING. We didn't have a lot of money so we only hit the "Knights of the Round Table" show at Excaliber and that was mediocre. Other than being with really good friends of ours and having fun with them, I was FINE never going back to Vegas again. This time was so different. Maybe it's because I am older. My eyes were more open to what an absolutely INCREDIBLE city it is. The architecture is MIND BOGGLING!!!!! I think I took a million pictures just of the hotels on the strip. CRAZY stuff. Bellagio is, by far, one of the most beautiful, in my opinion. But there was also something so intriguing to me about New York New York! I took over 100 pics LITERALLY just of New New York New York (love how I got the rollercoaster right behind the Statue of Liberty on the picture below!). LOL! Not sure what I'm going to do with all of those. Delete, delete, delete, delete....LOL! Thank heavens for digital! ;-)

   

But it's not just the architecture. It is so crazy how much TALENT is in that city. There are shows after shows after shows and after shows with some of the greatest talent in the WORLD! As someone who has always appreciated the arts, it's a RUSH to be in a city with that much talent. And along with the talent, there is some seriously seriously ridiculously delicious food. Chas and I BOTH have always had a love of food...and not just any food...we LOVE LOVE LOVE "fine cuisine!" We love to try new things...no matter what it is. Generally, whenever we eat anywhere really nice, we usually ask what the chef recommends for appetizers and dishes...and no matter what, one of us usually ends up getting whatever they recommend. And we have YET to try anything we didn't love. Chas always laughs at me because I do seriously have a passion for GOOD food and awesome flavors...and therefore, am not a very quiet eater. LOL! It's kinda funny...I can't help it though. And Vegas is the GOLD MINE for delicious food. The first night, we ate at MGM GRAND at a Japanese Restaurant called Shibuya. Oh my heart....it might be safe to say that I have never tasted anything like it. If it was possible for tastebuds to be in shear ecstasy, THEY WERE THERE!!!!! I had salmon and black cod with a pineapple sauce that was OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!!! And Chas had these Edamame (sea salt pea pods) that were crazy delish and we shared this shrimp dish (Florida Rock Shrimp Tempura) that gave me goosebumps....OH seriously.......WOW!!! WOW, WOW, WOW!!! So yeah...to say the very least, I would highly recommend it if you are there at MGM!

 

After Mamma Mia on Saturday night, we ate in the Venetian at Canaletto. First of all, I think the Venetian has to be one of my favorite hotels on the inside. It was beautiful and made me miss Europe SO much. Chas and I have always really liked Italian food and were excited to try Canaletto...and were glad we did. It was heavenly. For some reason, I can't remember exactly what I had (was it trout Chasy? Can't remember)....just remember that it was delish and that our waiter was the nicest, happiest and most accomodating Italian gentleman. LOVED IT!

  

Overall, we had an absolutely incredible weekend. It was over a little too soon for us.All the way to the airport I leaned out the window and snapped pics of the strip. Hard to believe that I was actually sad to be leaving Vegas. LOL! Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed myself taking pics in the mirror....so I hurried and snapped a shot of me taking pics. LOL! So dumb...good times. 

    

I can't imagine a better Christmas gift than spending time with Chas. And we definitely made the most of our time there, seeing two of the best shows I have ever seen, eating some of the most delicious food I have ever had and simply spending time together without any other distractions. And a HUGE HUGE thank you to my sister Kim who spent the weekend with our kiddies. They love her so much..she is seriously a SUPER AUNT! We could not have done this without her. WE LOVE YOU KIM ZIM!

Thanks Chasy, for coming up with the idea for this awesome trip and for giving us both a Christmas gift that I'm sure will not soon be forgotten!  I love you! (Like that HUGE pic of you here at the end Chasy? What a hottie! I thought you would dig that. LOL! HIT IT!)