Sleeping like a baby

Only a 2 yr old would consider this to be an acceptable place to spend the night.

Date Night

After enslaving ourselves for a month and a half to P90X, Jake and I decided to treat ourselves to a night out. We started by seeing the new, politically provocative and clearly consertive movie "An American Carol." The reviews had me so curious. They were so biased by liberally critics who couldn't see past their offense. I was apalled that they weren't capable of doing their jobs and actually review the movie as a movie. Now, I believe I can do what they could not and give it an unbiased review. I was not offended by it, but it was not good. It was basically "The Naked Gun," but even less funny. There were a few laughs, like when they made fun of country music and ineffective terrorists, but some jokes were right out of "Naked Gun." I'm happy to support them because I am a conservative and I am opposed to monopolies in general like the hold liberals have over the entertainment industry. But I could have mailed them the amount of the tickets and saved my time. I think they spent about two hours coming up with the plot and made up the script as they filmed it. The Christmas Carol was done pretty well in the movie "Scrooged" but barely recognizable in this.

Next we put our names on the hour long waiting list at Toucanos and decided to spend the time shopping at Riverwoods. This was quite a distubing shopping experience. Being plus sized for almost a decade, I haven't really gone shopping. It's not as fun and who wants to spend much on clothes that you really don't want to own in the first place. Now that I am getting fit, I decided to give the latest fashions a try. We went into Ambercrombie and Fitch and The Buckle. Here's the news. I am still too fat to shop in those places. But I'm very close, I almost had the jeans buttoned. The girl said they had bigger sizes somewhere, but I told her I wouldn't want those sizes (because that's not my goal)and she quickly understood. So I began to shop for Jake. I was surprised to discover that the lastest look at the buckle for men is gay and homeless. To be more specific, tight in the behind with flair legs, very decorated pockets with buttons, and lots of holes and shredding. The look at Ambercrombie and Fitch is homeless pornstar. Not a pair of jeans without holes in the place and enormous posters of shirtless guys with their pants pulled down so far that it doesn't seem anatomically possible that I wasn't viewing full frontal nudity. I had only two choices to stare searchingly or avert my eyes. Of course you know my choice. Now the price is amazing and sad at the same time. Who is paying $150for a pair of jeans that are full of holes. Is this proof that we may be over due for a financial depression? Can we just not throw our money away fast enough? I know to some of you I simply sound old and out of touch, but if you've ever stepped away from a situation and then were surprised when you returned to it, like maybe an ongoing t.v. show or something. I feel like this is what is happening.

As for Toucano's, it turns out that we may have caught the flu from our children, so even that part of the night was difficult to fully enjoy. We were a little worried about straying from our diet but it's okay because the binge was quickly followed by the purging. So, we dieted the old fashioned way.

Daddy Daycare

I asked Jake to feed the baby some spaghetti and meatballs the other day as I headed out the door. He just put it on her tray and let her have at it. Then he took these pictures. Why am I surprised? At least it was all cleaned up by the time I came back and these pictures are the only proof of it.

Spirit Week at Lydia's School

This week was spirit week at Lydia's school. The first day was nerd day. I walked around the house looking for mismatched clothing and anything else that looked goofy. It was fun. Then, after I sent her off, I started to worry that maybe she would be the only one in the first grade to dress up. I remember as a kid, having the "what if no one else dresses up?" concern in the back of my mind. She let me dress her, putting her full trust in me. Quickly I came up with the excuse that maybe she needs a jacket and I decided to drive to her school and take a picture of her so that she wouldn't be alone that day. Maybe if I supported her by making a big deal of how much fun it is, it would be fun. I got there and half her school was dressed up including, of course, her teacher. My worry was for nothing.
The next day was rock star day. I had made a trip to the store for a few things for this day and the next, which was pirate day. She loved her rock star stuff and didn't want to wash her hair until the very end of the day even though the paint was burning her scalp. If she decides she wants pink hair when she becomes a teenager, I have no one to blame but myself.
Today, at the end of pirate day she said to me, "I think my friend Lewis' mom loves him more, because he had way cooler outfits." That made me laugh out loud, which she didn't understand.

30 days later

Many of you know that my husband and I have begun a new excercise and diet program called P90X. We have converted our garage into our P90X room. All you need is dumbbells and pull up bars. When you take on this 90 day challenge it becomes a big part of your life. It's a whole program. The word diet usually implies cutting down on eating. That is not the case with this program. One thing I've learned is that you cannot do the excercise without the diet. I skipped dinner one night because I was so busy being in charge of a ward activity. The next day I could not get through a single set of 25 of anything. I felt so dizzy, I had to stop in order to not fall over. In this program you start to view food as fuel rather than as something that your mind wants but isn't good for your body. When you fill your gas tank nobody ever thinks, "Maybe it would be better for my car if I only put in half a tank."

The results are mostly in strength, muscle tone and energy level. I have lost only 4 pounds. We measure 8 different places. I have lost one half inch everywhere, except one whole inch in my hips. My husband has lost 4 inches in his hips. I considered including before and after pictures and I may still after 90 days, but even though I see a big difference in the pictures, I am still not ready to post bikini shots of myself on this blog. The best results are that my body fat percent has gone down 5 percent, from average range to athletic range. My goal is to go down at least 8 more.

My Brilliant Scheme

Lydia was having difficulty adjusting to a new school. She began to act out in class, hoping that the result would be that she return to her old school. I told her she needed to try harder to like this school. I promised her that if she behaved well in class and recieved a sticker from her teacher every day of the week, she could give me a makeover on the weekend. She chose that out of many offers to take her out for a special day with me. As you can see, the plan worked beautifully.

Home On The Range

For those of you who have not visited us, these are some pictures of our home and yard. We have plenty of yard for large gathering, so reunions are welcome. These pictures were taken in the spring when our flowers were in bloom. Since these pictures were taken, we have purchased and planted 23 trees on our property. We often spend vacation time working in the yard rather than actually going on vacation, because we still have several large projects that are now only drawings and ideas, including a playground and a large barn. I don't think any animals are in view in these pictures, but there are about 30 cows and about a dozen horses roaming around behind that barbed wire fence. They belong to various people in our extended family.