Dressing up for School

Alex always has a hard time deciding what to be for Halloween. He always has so many ideas that he can never nail it down to one thing.

They had to dress up for school today because there is no school on Friday and Parent Teacher Conferences are Thursday. We went to Kmart to try and see if he could find something he liked. We came up with this and I think he makes a great "Homey the Clown."

Witch's Night Out

This activity was such a success last year that we decided to try it again.

We met at the church and split into 2 groups. One group went to one house for salad and the others went to another house for soup and rolls. I was in Alexa's group and we had salad first. Funny how Alexa is the only one in this photo that is dressed as a witch. Most the girls dressed up but some didn't have time!
After the salad and soup we all met back at the church to make caramel apples. The girls loved it and had a great time making and eating them!

Alex's NEW Desk

I found this gem at a garage sale in Logan in the summer. It has been at my parents house because we have never had enough room to get it home.
I spent most of the day on Saturday sanding and painting it. I was really sore the next day from all the bending and crouching.
On Monday I was putting the handles back on the drawers and Max came out with his tools and really wanted to help. He was so excited that he was able to help with the screws.
Here is the finished product. It is a little Halloween-ish but it looks really good in his room. Not bad for a $15 garage sale find!!

HCG Diet

I have been adding pounds on slowly but surely over the last year or so and I decided that I need to make a change. I was fortunate enough to get the HCG diet for free (it is pretty expensive) and I am starting today.
The diet consists of a daily injection of HCG (given to yourself in the thigh) and the first 3 days are for "loading" that means eating everything and anything your heart desires, I mean ANYTHING!! I tried to eat as much as possible because I had been told by others that have done the diet that you really need to take advantage of this!
On day 4 you continue the daily injection and you begin a 500 calorie diet. Here is what the next 20 days will consist of:

a gallon of water (or as close to a gallon as you can)
2 fruits per day (only strawberries, apples or a half of a grapefruit)
2 veggies per day (asparagus, lettuce, tomatoes, celery)
4 oz of chicken, beef or fish to be eaten at lunch and dinner and not the same thing twice so chicken for lunch and beef for dinner.
2 servings of crackers (low sodium saltines or Special K crackers)

So you weigh yourself every morning and if you go for more than 2 days without any weight loss you are supposed to drink a gallon of water and eat 6 green apples and that is it!!!

It is very hard and I don't have the best will power but I am going to try my hardest to loose 20 pounds, I will keep you posted!!!

Happy Birthday to: ALEXA!!!

This is what "14" looks like on Alexa...she is BEAUTIFUL!!!

 

My parents have this amazing tree in the backyard that turns the prettiest color in the fall, it is my favorite!!! We had a quick birthday photo shoot after church!!!

 

Alexa is a natural in front of the camera and I got some really great shots of her!!!

 

It is hard to believe that she is 14!!! I love her so much and she has made my life so much better than I ever thought possible!!

We made her this sign...it has been a while since we made a birthday sign, we used to do it on every birthday!!! She loved it...even though I mis-spelled some of the words, oops!!!
She got a TON of stuff and had a really great party!!

Amy made this "peace" cake for her, which she LOVED!!! I think she had a great day. It is hard to believe that she will be driving soon!!

Sunny San Diego

We left Logan about 7pm, I drove our new van home (I found a van on KSL that looked like a pretty sweet deal and it was in Smithfield so I had dad go test drive it to see what he thought about it. He said it would be a really good one. Only 49,000 miles and new brakes, also a really nice TV with a big screen and wireless headphones. It's a White, 2006 Chrysler Town and Country. We felt good about it and told him to go ahead and buy it ((with my money from Grandpa)) so this was our first time seeing it) and Rich drove his car. We were already pretty much packed so once we got home we just got everything loaded into Rich's car and headed south.
It was after 10pm when we left and Rich was pretty hesitant about driving through the night. He drove first and I told him that I would try to get some rest so that when he was tired I could take over. He made it to Cedar City and then it was my turn. I slept for about an hour but felt pretty awake. I am not good at driving stick so I rarely drive Rich's car but since it was so late and we were on the Freeway I felt pretty good about driving. I just cranked up the music and Rich went to sleep. We pulled into Las Vegas to get gas...we made it to Vegas on one tank of gas!! I wasn't too tired yet so I decided to keep going. We rolled into Primm, NV (not sure what time it was) and I just found a spot in the parking lot of Buffalo Bills and took out my contacts and went to sleep.
We woke up about 8am and Rich was pretty grumpy. He didn't really sleep that well (it seemed to me like he slept just fine). We grabbed some breakfast from McDonald's and then hit the road again.
We got to San Diego (after a little detouring, I fell asleep and we almost ended up in Mexico). We drove around a bit and decided to find a real place to sleep tonight.

We didn't want to spend a lot of money on a room so we went to a few different places. We saw a Motel 6 but our last experience at one of those was horrible so I told Rich he would have to go and look at the room first to make sure it was OK. He got a key from the front desk and went into the room (I stayed in the car). He thought he heard something so he opened the bathroom door and the maid was sitting on the toilet!!! He came back to the car and I could tell something had happened just by the way he was acting. I said "was it that bad?" Then he told me what had happened and needless to say, we moved on!!

We ended up spending a little more money than we wanted to but the room was nice and clean and of course the time we don't have kids with us we get bunk beds in our room!!!

It was still afternoon so we ate lunch/dinner at Baja Fresh and then headed to the beach.
It was a great day, the sun was out and it was perfect. We had a photo shoot and then we walked along the pier and then we just stood on the beach and watched the waves. I love the ocean, it is so beautiful.

We stopped at Target for some last minute things for the cruise and then headed back to our room to watch a movie.
We slept really well and took these photos in the morning before we left. We stopped at a few stores since we don't get on the boat until this afternoon!!

Sherwood Hills

It's time again for the annual girls trip to Sherwood Hills. Rich dropped me off at Maddox and he and the kids headed into Logan to hang out with dad.
We ordered and ate and took pictures and had pie!! The food was great and the company was even better!!
I am not sure what Amy and Melissa were laughing about but it was obviously really funny!!
After dinner we headed to Wal Mart promising to make it quick...well a few hours later we were checked out and on our way to check in at Sherwood Hills.
Amy booked the room online and so she went inside to get our keys. For some reason they asked her how many people and she said 7. They ended up charging us an extra $10 per person (I guess the rate was for 2 people...but it was a 2 room suite with 3 beds...big enough to sleep 6 people)...needless to say that made us very angry and Melanie went in to give the lady a piece of her mind...that didn't go too well, she ended up getting all red faced and the lady wouldn't even listen and said that we had to pay the extra money!!!
We ended up just checking in because we really had no other choice. It was a nice room and we had a great time in spite of the rocky start. We wandered around the hotel a bit and snuck into the resaurant...it was totally haunted and we freaked ourselves out really bad!!

 

We all got into our pj's and went into the conference room to play "apples to apples." It was a great game and we even got Mel to participate!! We were being really loud and obnoxious and we thought for sure the girl at the front desk was going to come and kick us out...but we figured that she didn't want to deal with "red-face" again...that was the joke of the night. When Mel gets mad her face and neck turn all red!!! Pretty FUNNY!!!!
We watched TV and went to bed pretty late but it ended up being a great night!!!

 

In the morning we went to the lobby and gave mom her gifts. Melanie kept "gazing" at Amberly and wanted to take pictures of everyone "gazing" at her...not sure what that was about!!!
Here is the traditional photo in front of the fireplace that we take every year!!!

 

We were in the lobby forever trying to decide what to do next. The sun was out, which was weird because it usually snows or at least rains every time we come!!!
We headed back into Logan and went to a few stores and then to Quiznos for lunch! We had a great time and this is one tradition that I hope never dies!!!




***It is actually February 2010 and I am just now narrating this post so I have forgotten alot of funny details from the weekend...I stole this off Melissa's blog because she posted about it after if actually happened!!! Thanks sis!!!!

Some highlights of the weekend:
-Amy "outing" an innocent man for farting in Wal Mart
-Amberly at the gas station, picking up a Red Bull and quoting Baby Mama, "Red Bull Angie" and then laughing hysterically at herself
-Amy walking into the gas station with a sad look on her face after being left alone in the van
-Monica obsessing over the fact that she could have bought a hot chocolate for the price of her refill
-Angela spilling our movie theater popcorn in the van
-Booking a room that sleeps six, but having to pay $10 for each person after two
-Crazy Eye at the front desk
-Red Face (Melanie) trying to reason with Crazy Eye
-Trying to get told we have to pay $10 for a roll-away bed after we just paid and extra $50
-Angela threatening to draw a "ding dong" on the bear statue outside
-Amy doing the Physco theme song when referring to the front desk clerk
-Walking to the door and hearing the Physco theme song, screaming and running to the other end of the room and hiding behind the bed with Amy, Melanie, and Monica
-Peering over the bed at Crazy Eye as she delivers the roll-away bed
-Exploring the hotel and restaurant and seeing a ghost in the restaurant
-Running as fast as we can to our room
-Playing Apples to Apples in the conference room
-Laughing way too hard
-Melanie wanting to gaze at "the special needs" in a photo shoot
-Amy admitting that her breath smelled like butt
-The front desk clerk laughing at us trying to have our photo shoot in front of the fireplace in the lobby
- Krispy Kreme Pumpkin Spice doughnuts that Angela brought

More Funnies

One night when we were in Disneyland waiting in line for a ride I called to talk to Max. He was pretty busy playing and didn't have much time for me. I was talking to my mom and she told me this funny story. Max and Owen were playing and Owen got hurt so my mom told Max to kiss it better. Max said, "I can't." My mom said, "sure you can, just kiss it better so Owen will be happy." Max then said, "I can't, all my kisses are for my mom." My mom chuckled a little and thought that was cute. Then when my parents were putting him to bed that night my dad asked for a good night kiss. Max said, "I have a kiss in my mouth but it is for my mom." Then my mom asked for a kiss and he said the same thing. Then my mom asked, "Do you have any kisses for your dad?" Max replied, "all the kisses in my mouth are for my mom!"
I was laughing SO HARD when she was telling me this story and it made me what to squeeze his little guts out!!! He still says this to me every now and again, "mom, I have a kiss for you."

We were in line for the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland, Alex says: "We're shi**ing in..." and then his eyes went huge and his hand clapped over his mouth as he realized what he had just said, (he meant to say sitting in ships). Alexa busted out laughing and I joined in and we had to repeat the story for Rich who was standing right there but somehow never seems to hear what's being said!!!

Max came up with this new trick that he usually pulls at bedtime but it is starting to happen ALL THE TIME. One night he didn't want to fold his arms for the prayer. Rich kept asking him to fold his arms and finally he just said, "I can't, my arms are broken." So Rich replied, "well if your arms are broken then you won't be able to drink your milk I guess." He quickly folded his arms and we said the prayer. Then it was time to put pj's on and he said, "but dad, my legs are broken." There wasn't really a response that worked very well to this one so Rich just said, "I guess you will have to roll into your room then." So of course Max rolled into his room and we got him ready for bed. This was pretty funny the first few times but now it is out of control. Any time he is asked to do something that he doesn't want to do he says either his arms or legs are broken. I had to threaten him last night because I can't take it anymore. I told him next time he says that I will break his legs...just kidding!!! I did tell him I was going to spank him though because he really needs to stop!!

Max has to have milk in his cup to go to bed. He is getting way too big to be dependent on a sippy cup so Rich and I told him that after Christmas we had to throw away his cup. He has to wear a pull up to bed and often times he is still wet in the morning. I don't want this to become a huge problem in the future so I told him a few days ago that he can't take his cup to bed anymore. He had a fit the first night and cried himself to sleep. The next night he asked again and I said "you can have a little bit of milk in a big boy cup." He said he wanted some so we went to the kitchen and I poured him some. He took a small drink and then hopped off the stool and started to head back to his room. I said "Max, aren't you going to finish your milk?" He walked back in the kitchen with a sad face and said, "milk doesn't taste good in a big boy cup." It was pretty sad and I almost caved but he just went right to bed. He has had milk in a big boy cup before bed a few times now and I guess he has gotten used to the "new taste."

St George Marathon

It was a beautiful day for a run...I was just really glad it was Rich running and not me!!



I got these pictures off the marathon website. Me and the boys waited at the finish line for Rich so I was glad that they had these great pictures of him during the race!




I wasn't sure what he was wearing so when he passed us I didn't really get any good photos of him and then I had to run to the finish line and couldn't get very close but he did SO AWESOME!!! He did let 1 girl beat him and I gave him a hard time about it...he said he really tried to catch her but just couldn't do it!
He was walking like a 90 year old man when he was done but luckily there wasn't a very long line for massages and that helped.
He finished in 2 hours and 49 minutes!!! He was hoping for 2:45 but he was really happy with his time. He said the course wasn't as easy as everyone had told him but he liked it. He was 9th in his age division and 46th overall!! There were 5600 finishers...and he was 46th, AMAZING!!!

I drove home so that Rich could get some rest. We had a fun little trip and the boys were really good, even when I was torturing Alex with some "oldies" tunes, everyone else was asleep and I was belting them out!!! Good times!!


Here are Rich's thoughts about his experience:

Angela wanted me to put some of my thoughts about the race for history sake since I don't keep a journal I guess. Anyhow, I was looking forward to this race all year. My friend (Tyler Shepherd) and I trained pretty hard all summer, and our goal was to finish in 2 hrs and 45 minutes. We got close to that, and I was really happy with my time. It is a PR for me, and I was glad that I had someone to train with. It was probably one of the hardest marathons that I've run. There were a lot of hills, and a couple of them were pretty steep. The other hills were just slight inclines, but it's still hard when you're tired and really pushing yourself to stay at a certain pace. Anyhow, next year I want to finish a marathon in 2 hrs and 40 minutes. I figure if I train a little harder, and run a little more often I should be able to do that. Anyone interested in training with me, just let me know!