Look Who's 2

Today was my baby's birthday. I can hardly believe that he is already 2. Jax has actually been pretty excited about his "Happy Cake" day. On my Calendar on the fridge. Little bday cakes mark a persons birthday. I showed Jax his birthday the beginning of January and ever since then he had been talking about his Happy cake. It has been pretty cute. So today I took him to Wendy's for chicken and bought him a "happy cookie" and then we went to Pizza tonight and then had a party for him. He had picked out a train bday cake and so I made that up for him. That was fun for me and he loved it! It was a great day for him. He got lots of loot and attention.

Bodie got him a weird little squishy ball and he hated it. He was scared of it and wouldn't hardly touch it. Thus the pic on the bottom left.

New Years Resolutions......

So I am inspired by my friend (thanks Lace) to post some new years resolutions. I hear the more people we tell the more likely we are to keep them. So here goes. This actually started with our Christmas tradition of gifts to Jesus. On Christmas eve we give a gift to Jesus. Something that we promise to do for him. I don't remember what all was said by everyone that night, but I do know what my goals are. First off, the superficial one, I made the goal to lose 20 lbs and keep it off this year. A year from this February Trav and I are going on a cruise and I would like to have all my extra weight off by then. I also want to read the Book of Mormon AT LEAST twice this year. Attend the temple every month, and attend all my meetings at church. This last one will actually be easier to do now that I teach in Primary every other week. That will keep me on track. So there ya have it. I am really taking these serious too. I really feel that time has gotten away from me and continues to do so the older I get. Harlee will be baptized next month, Bodie starts kindergarten in the fall and my little baby will be 2 the end of this month. It just all flies by so fast and I feel that I haven't made the time for the important things. So I guess I will end with that......I will make more time for the important things!! I hope all of you do too.

Bringin it Back!

No, I am not bringing sexy back, I am bringing RAD back! So, for the past year I have been on a solo mission to bring rad back from the archives of lost words. I have recently recruited a few others to my cause. Thanks to those who have supported me in changing their vocab in order to help bring back a word that had no business becoming extinct. Please note, that "radical" is not a word that is coming back. Just RAD! For those of you who would like to join the cause, it is easy, just start sayin Rad whenever you would normally say Cool. That's it.

So, please, join the Cause, Bring it Back!

All I want for Christmas is.......

Ahhh...the joys of Christmas. I get so excited for my kids for Christmas. It is a different excitement than when I was a kid, but excited enough that I can't wait for them to wake up and therefore, Christmas eve is just as long a night as it was when I was a kid.

We do the usual tradition of Christmas pajamas. Here are the three in their new jammies.

Christmas Morning Harlee was so surprised to find a new (new to her,anyway) desk. And (what you don't see) a walkie talkie so that she can converse with her best Friend across the street, a pillow pet (if you don't know what one is, consider yourself lucky).

Bodie was elated to find a Lightning Mcqueen race track and a barn with all the cowboys, cattle and ranch equipment to play ranch with.

Jax opened his noisy tractor and played with that until Bodie got all his stuff opened and spent the rest of the morning taking Bodie's loot and playing with it. He was happy to get a 4-wheeler in his stocking, a motorcycle and a couple of tractors to push around. It's just always more appealing to see what the other kid has.

Travis gave me this beautiful painting by Clark Kelly Price. I have wanted it ever since I first saw it 8 years ago or so. The caption at the bottom says, "It's true sir, all present and accounted for." I love it! It brings tears to my eyes each time I look at it. Just thinking of what a blessing it was to have all these boys protected from harm. As a mom, I can only imagine how hard it would have been to see my son go into battle and what joy I would have felt to see him safe and sound.

I didn't get pics of Travis opening his stuff, I was too busy filming him on the camcorder. But he got some tools and a portable air tank, some Mt.Dew and donuts. Since he claims he starved himself after that diet he put himself on, he asked for junk food. All the things he missed. I did get a couple of pics holding Tayah, his sister, TIffany's baby. She is so adorable! And so is he holding her.

So that was our Christmas. We were able to spend time with both families. I think it is such a blessing that we live close to both sides of the family. I love that our kids are so close to their grandparents. I didn't have that growing up and so I am glad that my kids have that opportunity. I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and that your new year is especially HAPPY!

Temple Square and Christmas Party

The first weekend in December, we went down to SLC to my annual family Christmas party. We have also made the tradition of always going to see the lights at temple square the same weekend. We make a weekend of it and the kids have a fun time walking around AND staying in a hotel. It was fun to have Jax walking and talking. All he could say was "witty wights!!" It was cute! The pic isn't great, I took it with my phone, but it is better than nothing. Y'all know my track record with bringing my camera to stuff :)

weight loss deals and Thanksgiving....

Well, some and of you know that about 2 1/2 months ago I made a deal with Travis about losing weight. He has wanted to lose weight for about the last year or so. It has always been about 20 lbs that he has wanted gone. But, he just never had the motivation to lose it. Ya see, he is devoted to his sweet nectar, Mt. Dew. I have tried to tell him over and over that he could easily lose the weight if he would quit the "sauce," as he calls it. Being the faithful man that he is, he just couldn't/wouldn't do it.

Now, I know my Travis. I have been with him for 13 years now, 9 of which we have been married. And if there is one thing that motivates all with Travis, it is cold hard cash. So, I devised a plan. I proposed to my sweet lover, that if he would lose 20lbs, I would give him $1,000. I knew that it was a sweet deal for him. He probably would have done it for $500 or maybe even $200. BUT I wanted him to be so motivated that he would work EXTRA hard to get the weight off. I knew he could do it, but there was a part of me that wondered if he WOULD do it.

Some of you may wonder where I would get $1,000 and if I was just giving him back his own money. I happen to do a small home job that pays a little every week. I knew it would take over a month to save the money, but I also knew it would take over a month for him to lose the weight. So this is why he agreed to the deal. He was going to get money that wasn't already his. Money that wasn't part of our budget and he could do whatever he wanted with it. About a week after I proposed the idea and Trav had accepted, I asked how is journey was going and he said he wasn't going to even start to lose the weight until I had saved the money because I was so bad at saving (this is true, I am awful with $$). So 5 weeks later, I laid 10 100 dollar bills before him and told him that if he didn't lose the weight by Thanksgiving, I got to take that money and spend it on Christmas. By this time he had 6 weeks to lose the weight. The pressure was on!!

I believe it was 2 weeks in he lost 6 lbs right off. He was encouraged. He had stopped eating a lot of sweets and had cut himself off his sweet nectar. Things were going good for him. He even started watching his portions and being conscious of the things he put in his mouth. He said it was hard, but compared to how hard it is for me to lose weight, He hardly had to work at all. :) It got down to the last 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, and Travis still had 6lbs to lose. He was getting concerned. As much as I wanted to keep the $$ for myself, I really did want him to meet his goal. So I told him that he had to start exercising if he wanted the last bit to come off. He HATES exercising in any form. So, this was going to be a challenge for him. He started doing the treadmill every night for about 30-45 minutes. He would walk/jog and carry weights. The Monday before Thanksgiving, He weighed in exactly 20lbs lighter than he was 6 weeks earlier.

He actually learned a few things too. He said he feels so much better now, and eating healthier helped him feel less sick too. He said his heartburn went away, and he is more comfortable in his clothes. I am happy for him! He did great and worked hard. I was glad to pay up. He deserved it. I have a couple of pics below. A sort of before and after. The before was taken this last July. and the After was taken on Thanksgiving. I know the one pic, he has his eyes closed, but that is all I could find. I don't know if ya can even tell. But I notice a difference.

And then there is Harlee Sue.....

The difference between Harlee and Bodie is this: I told Bodie, when we took pics of him, that we could do whatever he wanted. We went down into the pasture by the trees and he wondered around, I took a bunch of pics, he had one or two spots he especially wanted to try and that was it. Harlee, on the other hand, had several spots, several poses and several ideas of what she wanted. It was pretty cute, and fun to take pics of her. Keep in mind, these were HER poses. I told her to put her chin down a couple of times and relax her shoulders, but other than that I didn't tell her how to stand, sit or pose. I took 20 pics of the boys, and 49 of Harlee. That's the difference.