He said...

I say it all the time, my kids make me laugh. They say the funniest things, at least I think so...;)

Today Max came up to me and I had a band-aid on my leg, he said, "Mom have owie?" I said yes. He said "Gracie break your heart?" Because if mom has a band aid on, what else could it be than a broken heart, even if it was on my shin.

Egggggggssss

After the Easter Egg hunt we all went to my moms and had a great breakfast and colored 6 dozen eggs.

My nieces Maggie & Nayvie and nephew Tytan-

My niece Emery had to have some egg fun too.

My sister Cassie and her um...friend Josh-

My niece Libby

We look forward to Easter weekend each year. I love that my mom doesn't worry about the kids ruining things and lets them be as messy as they can possibly be!

Hyrum Easter Egg Hunt

We went to the Easter Egg hunt up in Hyrum with our cousins. Last year we hunted in the snow and this year a jacket was perfect. Actually the weather all weekend long was so nice!

Grandma helping Grace~ & Max. The little turkey just doesn't get the whole goal of an Easter Egg hunt. He wants to pick up one egg, open it, eat it and then go after another egg. Doesn't he understand its about how many eggs you have in your basket?! ;)

Grandma Kate is always good on Easter Egg hunts! She's not afraid to push over other kids - kidding, a little bit ;)

Grace showing off her eggs~

Max eating his candy. Of course it was rock hard and he could hardly bite in to it.

Josh & Cassie, Patch & Ashley and some of the grand kids. I'm pretty sure Cassie has never done her hair for an Easter Egg hunt before....hehhe.

Grace & her BFF Ashley

Shaun and my niece Emery, could she be any cuter?

Well worth the hour drive ;)

Easter Family Home Evening

Mikes family did an Easter themed family home evening the week before Easter. We had dinner, an Easter Egg hunt and then his sister told the story of the resurection. Grace & Max and their cousin Daisy colored a picture of Jesus, the tomb and the stone.

Mikes sister also made each of the kids a picture of a temple and with the kids name on it and framed it. They turned out so nice!

Max didn't sit down at all through the lesson. The next morning he was playing with the cutouts and he said "I Jesus" then he put the cutout Jesus in the tomb and put the rock over the entrance. "AAHH! It's dark in here, monsters!" Then he said angels move the rock and he smiled. He must have picked up more than I thought he did.

Basket craze

Oh my goodness it was a yummy, caloric week! I think I thought I wasn't going to lose at all, so why not enjoy EVERYTHING. I gained, I know I did, but I took a free pass at Weight Watchers this week because I just didn't want to know the actual damage. We had one more really bad meal last night and vowed to do better this week.

My basket this week included bananas, strawberries, grapefruit, apples, honeydew, pineapple, cucumbers, yellow squash, sweet potato's, diakon radish, broccoli & asparagus. I also ordered an Italian pack and that came with mushrooms, zucchini, onions, eggplant and fresh herbs, thyme, basil, parsley, rosemary.

Sunday morning Mike made scrambled eggs with mushrooms,onions, herbs and tomato's. They were so good!
I also made a vegi pasta salad for one of the Easter Parties. It had Pasta, grilled shredded chicken, tomato, cucumber, red onion, peas, diakon radish, celery and carrots and then fat free Italian dressing.

Monday- as I said we had a very yummy, very not good for you dinner. With the basket this week you could add on Focasia bread. I don't think I've ever had it before so we tried it. I cut it in half and then put pizza sauce, sausage, pepperoni, ham, onions, mushrooms tons of fresh herbs and cheese and then baked it. It was possibly the best pizza I've ever had.

Tuesday- We are going to try this http://healthy.food.com/recipe/eggplant-paprikash-280063
with way less oil. Eggplant is one of my favorite dishes, so I hope it's good. I also may throw in one of the yellow squash which I hate but maybe if it's masked in the other stuff I'll be able to eat it.

Wednesday- Turkey Burgers (We never got around to eating this last week) and grilled asparagus & honey dew.

Thursday - I may feel adventurous and try this. Maybe. http://www.marthastewart.com/338468/daikon-fettucine-with-tomato-basil-sauce

Friday -I'm going to make tuna noodle casserole with broccoli. I've made this before and it tastes way better than it sounds. http://basket411.blogspot.com/2011/01/tuna-casserole-with-broccoli-other.html

Saturday - Boca Burgers with sweet potato chips and finish up what ever we have left.

What do you do with broccoli and sweet potato's?

Torm Trooper Birthday Party

Max wanted a storm trooper cake, and lets just say baking isn't my speciality. I would have happily bought a cake but everyone had Darth Vader or Jedi cakes, no storm trooper so what was a mom to do? Some of our family that celebrated Max's birthday~

Max opening his presents, he got Thomas the train stuff, the Batman fortress, a Cars racing set, some Toy Story cars, a soft gun and some dinosours. He was in heaven! He has stayed busy for 3 days now!

Grace & Max in their "Torm Trooper" masks!

Love my little dude!

Moving in the right direction

I think the scale at Weight Watchers was wrong wrong wrong this week. It said I lost 3 pounds, so now I've lost 12. But when I weighed myself in the morning I'd only lost 1, and I doubt I lost 2 during the day....I'm sure it will all even out in the end, but I won't be surprised if I don't lose very much next week!

I've been tracking what I eat really well, until Max's birthday party, and I don't want to know how many points were in his birthday cake!

This week we got carrots, radishes, lettuce, onions, broccoli, celery, cucumbers honey dew, apples, tangelos, mango's, strawberries and bananas in the regular pack and I ordered a tropical pack and it came with mint leaves, pineapple,coconut, mango's, limes, lemons and vanilla beans. I probably won't order the tropical pack again. Not that I don't like it, it just doesn't aid in dinners like the Mexican or Italian pack do so it's hard to justify the extra $.
Sunday - Salad w/ carrots, cucumbers, green peppers, lettuce, celery & ham
Monday - Chicken noodle soup (once again, thanks Jenn D. for the recipe, we make it all the time.) I used Ronzoni egg noodles, they are really good and lower point value.
Tuesday -Easter dinner with Mikes family (lasagna)
Wednesday - Grilled Pineapple, Teriaki chicken served over rice
Thursday - Stir fry made with the broccoli, carrots, celery, green peppers (last week) & onions served over rice (Rice 2 days in a row!)
Friday -Spending the night at Grandma Kates in Hyrum
Saturday- Grilled Turkey Burgers, Honey dew melon, grilled cabbage (from 2 weeks ago)
Sunday - Easter Lunch with my moms family and Easter dinner with Mikes extended family.

3 Family dinners...this could be rough!

I struggled with exercising this past week, and I have to be much better about it this week!

Happy Birthday Max (4-15)

Happy 3rd birthday to my little man! Where have three years gone?

Max has so much personality it amazes me he doesn't burst, instead he runs around 100 miles an hour, and has no quiet voice.

Right now Max's loves Toy Story, Star Wars and Thomas the Train. His favorite toy is a Storm Trooper and no matter how much I've tried to convince him otherwise, he insists he wants a "Torm trooper cake".

Max's vocabulary has increased 100% since having his tonsils out and new tubes in. He still is really hard to understand some times, but being his mommy I can usually figure out what he's saying.

Some of my favorite things right now - Everything is blue. No matter what.

Anytime I tell him something he says "Oh." Its the cutest thing and it always comes out more like "Oooooh."

Whenever I put Max in time out he says sorry the whole time. He hates it! I use the timer on the microwave and after its done it beeps once every minute for 3-4 minutes. Every time it beeps Max says Sorry Mom.

Max's newest thing that makes me smile is when he does something naughty he looks and me and says "Sorry mom. It's my fault."

Max is a tease! He constantly teases Grace, Mike and me. He thinks he's quite funny. He's rough and tough and has a huge tender heart.

Happy Birthday my little tax day baby. I love you!

Week 2 Results & a plan

Another great week! Officially I've now lost 9.6lbs. Honestly, it feels great. It's so much easier to continue dieting and exercising when I see positive results on the scale. I know me very well, two bad weeks and I quit- I have got to get out of that mind set!

This is my fifth time doing Weight Watchers. I believe the plan works, every time I've been successful while following the plan, but after a few months I stop writing down what I'm eating, start making bad food choices, gain for a couple of weeks and then am embarrassed to go back and get on the scale. In the following months I usually gain back most of what I lost and end up right back where I started. But does it make me happy? No. Its not fun being fat. It's not fun seeing tummy rolls in almost every shirt. So this time I have to stick with it! I have to stay motivated. That's part of why I've decided to blog this time. If I write it down, good or bad every week, hopefully it will help me stay on track!

I am really loving that all fruits are zero points on the plan this time around. It's helping me reach for healthy foods when I want to snack, which is my biggest problem!

This week I didn't snap a picture of my basket, but it had bananas, blueberries, strawberries, apples, oranges, cantaloupe, lettuce, cabbage, green peppers, tomato's, celery & chayote squash.

My meal plan this week looks like this-

Saturday- Turkey flat wraps & baked zucchini sticks (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/01/baked-zucchini-sticks-13-pts.html)

Sunday- Spaghetti with a green salad (we sauteed green pepper, onion and garlic and threw that in with the sauce.)

Monday - Turkey Sandwiches with fat free turkey, 2 point Bountiful Basket Bread, veggies and Sunchips (I work until 5 and weigh in Monday night afterwards, so Mondays will probably have to be a quick dinner for a while.)

Tuesday-Mini pizzas on Oro wheat sandwich thins. (Have you tried these? They are great for pizza's, sandwiches, buns and toast, versatile and only 3 points!) We'll use peppers, onions, and low fat ham & cheese. I'm also going to try the chayote squash, but I'm not positive how just yet. We'll also have a green salad.

Wednesday-Grilled turkey burger (97% fat free burgers, 5 points each+ 3 points for the bun), Grilled cabbage and cantaloupe

Thursday & Friday - Mike will be at Woodbadge so it's just me and the kids. We'll do hot dogs and pasta and finish up the rest of the veggies.

Saturday - Crock pot Mexican dinner that my friend Mindy sent me. It has corn, chicken, salsa, black beans and we'll throw in some green peppers.

All about Grace

I know I've posted this outfit before, but not with curly hair and the headband ;) This is Grace's dance recital outfit. I'm suppose to pull her hair back in a ponytail for the performance. Um...about that. Grace has learned most of her letters now, she can identify most of them by sight and tell what sound they make. (The Letter Factory did more in 2 weeks than I've taught her in preschool in 6 months (as far as letters go). What a little pill! ) She has also started telling me what words start with. I'm very proud of her! She can't write her name, and won't even try. I know you shouldn't compare kids, but the other kids in her preschool class can all write their names, but literally I sit down with her and she won't even try, not even to trace over letters I write. She can identify her name-but I'm not sure how to get her to even try to write it.

Grace loves to read books, wake board on the Wii and play with her cousins Daisy & Adi. Her and Max tease each other like crazy and fight like brother and sister all the time.

Grace is a little show boat and never sits still. Some times she is so frustrating. Some days I think she spends more time in time out than otherwise. I swear sometimes she sets out to push my buttons.

On-the-other hand Grace makes me laugh, she is always saying funny things. In her baby book it says at 4 the child should be saying 5 word sentences and use words like above and under. I was like Grace said 5 word sentences at 1 and uses words like manipulative, similar, understand and important, typically in their correct context.

The other day I called to check on the kids from work and when I asked Grace if she was minding and being good she said "Mom, I started too, but then Grandma told me not to do something and..." the silence break made the whole phone call worth it. "...I'll mind her now."

I told her a fib about finishing something on her plate the other day. She has a really hard time throwing things away and wanted either Mike or I to finish the last two bites on her plate. When she left I threw it down the disposal. She came back in and said "Did you eat it?" I said "Yep, I sure did." She gave me this calculating look and said "I don't really believe you." I got caught!

Love my little pill ;)

lbs down & Bountiful Baskets

This post was suppose to go up Tuesday, but well, I've been lazy. I have almost 500 pictures on my camera from last month and I just haven't got around to burning them to a disc, flash drive or something that might last... what on earth does that have to do with blogging about my first week back on Weight Watchers?

So, about the goals. I did really good with a menu plan, and didn't eat out for dinner once. I did go to lunch with my good friend and I ordered a salad. Which took care of the eat at least one salad during the week. And I exercised three times.

I had a really good week- according to Weight Watcher scales I lost 6.2lbs, according to my scale at home it was more like 5, but we'll go with theirs!

One thing that has made eating better more fun is Bountiful Baskets. My friend Jenn D. first posted about BB a year ago and I gave it a shot. Last week we got a watermelon, bananas, strawberries, apples, oranges, mango's, 2 things of lettuce, 3 things of asparagus, green peppers, zucihni, and green beans in the regular basket. The regular basket costs $16.50. I also ordered a Mexican pack which came with 2 yellow onions, green onions, cilantro,7 limes, 4 ploblano peppers, 4 Hungarian chili peppers, 4 jalapenos, garlic and 2 gray squash. The Mexican pack is $7.50.

In the past I've ordered their bread, and tortillas too, both are excellent! Our favorite part is trying new recipes. I've learned that I really like Swiss Chard & eggplant, I found a way to eat asparagus that is actually tasty while still being good for you.

(I like reading what other people eat, it gives me ideas -so if you don't like it feel free to skip this part, no hard feelings...)
Sunday - stuffed ploblano peepers with chicken, white beans & various peppers. Monday- chicken tacos with BB tortillas, peppers & onions
Tuesday - Roasted chicken, balsamic green beans & sweet potato chips
Wednesday-Pork loin, grilled asparagus & watermelon
Thursday- Low point hot dogs & cauliflower poppers
Friday- Baked zucchini sticks & turkey wraps

The cauliflower and the sweet potato's were left over from previous weeks.

My favorite websites are basket411.blogspot.com and Gina's weight watcher. I use the food network a lot too.

Mostly, we are not afraid to try new things. I still hate squash and Brussels sprouts, no matter how many times I've tried them.

So, just in case you are curious Bountiful Baskets is a volunteer group that started with a couple ladies wanting to feed their families better for less money. Their website is bountifulbaskets.org. You have to order on Monday morning for the following Saturday. They ask everyone to pitch in and help fill baskets by showing up a hour before pick up time every 6 times or so.

My very favorite part is how excited my kids get over picking up our basket every Saturday morning. Grace loves broccoli and celery and is seriously tickled pink every time they are in the basket. My least favorite part is not getting to volunteer as often as I would like, Mike works almost every Saturday morning. The time for our site is 6am to help and I can't find a baby sitter that early and you can't bring little kids (not that I would ever think that I could bring my two and get anything productive done). I actually really enjoyed helping when I got to.

So there's my little plug on a great, inexpensive way to eat better. And here is the reason this post took so long, I knew I'd have to go through all last months pictures to download this new one. Lazy! So, this week I'm still eating, salad, exercising and writing down what I eat. I haven't seen so much come off in the last couple of days, but hopefully by Monday I'll be down a couple more pounds!