In a Bluish kinda mood...

No, I'm not feeling down. I just really like the color blue (and brown) right now- hence the new background. I'm taping up around the dining room (which by the way is totally empty- no furniture or decor) and getting ready to paint it Languid blue (lightish,cloudy blue). I've been obsessed with blue and brown as of late and keep telling myself I'm going to paint that empty room blue. So why exactly am I painting an empty room with nothing to decorate it with.... well...

1. I LOVE to paint- it's fun
2. When I get something in my head- I'm irritable and impossible until I do that thing.
3. I'm hoping that the color will be soothing and cause a calming effect on my kids while I cook or just any time.
4. I'm also hoping it will suppress my appetite making it easier to lose this baby fat.
5. It will never be easier to paint once furniture goes in.
6. Excuse to GET some furniture to make the room match something
7. It's labor day weekend and we're having friends over on Mon. (not really a good one seeing how we won't even spend any time IN the dining room- but oh well)
8. And lastly did I mention I LOVE to paint!

We'll see how it turns out!

Happy Birthday to me!! Can you guess how old?.....

Yesterday marked yet another aging year for me! I stopped counting at 25... so you'll just have to use your imagination and guess how old I REALLY am. For a while I thought that birthdays weren't as fun as when I was a kid. But this year was pretty dang fun and I actually felt like a kid again. Birthday celebration started Friday night -Mike and I had our monthly YMCA date night= no kids for 4 hours free babysitting (sort of - it's included in our membership fee). We hit the outlet malls up the street for some shopping! Living 5 mins from them I used to think I would always be able to go bargain shopping- not the case with 4 small kids. So this was a real treat for me. I used some b-day money (thanks to mom!) I got to buy a new church outfit and some awesome priced jewelry! And it was tax free weekend. Sweet savings= Happy me!
Then we headed to Mimi's cafe, but ran out of time and had to go get the kiddos at the Y, so we took it to go. Sat morning, I was greeted by 4 of the cutest kids ever with breakfast in bed and was told to get up and go exercise by myself! Do you realize what this means???? Just me, just plain ole me. That means NO getting 4 kids ready, load 4 kids into the car, 4 kids out of the car, check 3 kids into the kids gym, 1 into the toddler area, FINALLY exercise for 45 mins, check out 4 kids, load 4 kids into the car, get home and feed 4 hungry and cranky kids (unfortunately my kids don't LOVE the Ymca, but are willing to go in hopes that mommy won't be grumpy that day). Seriously I think I get a work out (a mental one) preparing for my work out! SO exercise alone= HAPPY ME!!
When I got home I found Mike and the kids cleaning the house and our mini van out.
I love a clean house- especially a surprise clean house.

Next, San Marcus to the Pottery Barn outlet to get a reading chair for my room that I've had my eye on for quite sometime (I also got this nice wall piece on canvas at PB for $4.99!! the chair was a little more expensive)

While we were in the store there was a sweet TEXAS SIZED thunderstorm going on outside.Nice surprise. After the chair buying we went next door to Johnny Rockets! YUMMMMM! Once again, I cheated on my non-diet- a weekend occurrence.

Home to rest.
Sunday - birthday day- Mike had won an auction item for a Scout fundraiser a while back and had it delivered that morning... fresh hot out of the oven Cinnamon Crumb Cake made by one of the youth - thanks Josh D. then we got ready for church to hear THE ANNOUNCEMENT that our stake had created 2 new wards!! We knew this day was coming soon, but on my b-day! :( So later that night we found out that we would be in one of the new wards. Good news- we are with tons of the people in our former ward (basically those that live near us), sad news is we did lose some good friends. We're gonna miss them!

So there's my aging birthday in a nut shell. When Josh asked me what I liked best, I surprised him (he thought I would say the chair) by answering that the best part was how nice everyone was to me and to have them to share it with- they were just as excited if not more than I was that it was MY birthday. Excited kids are contagious and make you feel like an excited KID again too! Thanks for such a fun day!!!

Princess Party!

My posts are out of order... we had Savannah's 1st Birthday party ever right before the Dickinsons got here, I just got so excited to post the fun weekend visit first. Any whoo- Savannah's been begging for a b-day party since Josh's and Zach's parties in April/May. But her b-day is on Dec 27th... which means she will probably never get a party out of me during that time of year. So we have decided on half b-days for her. I have to say (I hope my boys don't hear this) but it was the funnest party ever! I had so much fun preparing for it and then doing crafts with the girls! My boys like crafts, but girls get so into it and well they're just so girly! Savannah insisted on girls only party (with the exception on Josh as a helper and Zach was only allowed to be there for the cake, ice cream and help with the pinata:( - she's a picky princess.
So here's how it went...

Once upon a time...they had a royal lunch with pigs in a blanket, star and heart shaped sandwiches, princess chips (sun chips:), and fruit with pink lemonade in fancy glasses (made of plastic of course!). Food fit for a princess! While the Queen got the crafts ready the girls danced in the party room (our empty but decorated dining room) to disney princesses cd. They decorated and decked out their crowns, wands and painted their treasure boxes in their favorite shade of pink. They were all so meticulous with their decorating and took it very seriously! Next, more playing outside this time (for about 5 minutes it was 100 degrees- too hot for princesses) while we cleaned up and got ready for the princess pinata. To hit the jackpot on this pinata, you don't swing at it with a bat, instead you pull one of the many dangling strings till someone pulls the magic one- and out it comes. We also did a little game of pin the crown on the princess. And last but not least, we sang the song, ate choc. Belle cake, and opened presents. It was a truly magical day for our little princess! And she lived happily ever after...
Josh volunteered to be the party assistant and took his job VERY seriously. He helped me make and assemble tiny coloring books, filled the pinata and the goody bags, set up crafts with me, made chocolate covered pretzels with me, helped the girls with their crafts, and kept all my lists together and checked off, and probably the hardest job of all- kept Zach and Sav entertained for me while for the decorating of the cake. I payed him $2 for his hard work and effort. Thanks Josh! Thank you to Emily, Miah and Jenna for coming and making it so fun for Sav!!

Fun with the Dickinsons

This weekend we had a good ole time with some good ole friends of ours- the Dickinsons!!!

We were so happy to see them and are so grateful that they made the trip out to visit us! Our kids (atleast on our end) have totally bonded - and kept asking us today when Chan and Cannady (it's really Kennedy but Sav can't say it) are coming back! We got to eat at Rudy's, and Fuddruckers (yes I totally cheated on my non diet and I LOVED it!), go to the innerspace caverns, watch movies, play and just catch up! We hope they will come visit us again soon! Thanks for an awesome and fun weekend guys!!!

Random Summer pics... lots of them

*If you double click on the slide show you'll be able to see some video clips*

more clips...

double click on video clips

Non-diet update

I got Mike to join in on my little weight loss competition. I'm happy to report that after 2 weeks I have lost 9 lbs! Mike has lost 7lbs. I'm no where near the lead in the contest, but I'm just excited it's coming off. I've had more energy than I've ever had this past year and I'm not starving myself or killing myself exercising (though I wish I had more time to do this - I've just been doing 3 days a week, 30 min -1hr each time). Zach keeps saying "wow mommy is so skinny now" even though I don't really look all that different yet. I don't how much Mike paid him off to say that. I hope I can keep this up and keep it off.

Summer Update

Yay! All the activities are over! They were fun and we're so glad we had stuff to do, but hurray for sleeping in and do nothing at home! Everything ended last week and today we don't know what to do with ourselves- such a good feeling. Zach and Sav loved taking their classes together and had some really cute projects to show for it. Swimming lessons probably left the biggest impact- Zach started the summer terrified of being in the water unless he had a choke hold on one of us (even with floaties) and Sav just followed suit. Now all Sav wants to do is swim from me to Mike or from me to the wall with no floaties and completely under the water! (sometimes she's a little too fearless- it makes us nervous) Zach is still cautious with out floaties but will totally go on his own with a kickboard or with floaties on. So Mike and I have free hands in the water for the most part to be able to go from kid to kid instead of being tied down by those two cuties. Bella just enjoys hanging out in her floatie boat and Josh who used to love swimming and is quite good at it now prefers to read by the pool. Josh's favorite this summer has probably been his computer programming class where he got to create a game. We get to see it this week and he's so excited to show it to us. Only 3 weeks left of summer vacation and then Zach will be off to Kindergarten :( I think Sav will miss him just as much if not more than I will. They are buddies and partners in crime. They do everything together good and bad. We'll just have to make the most of what time is left.