Resolutions. . . .

Well, it seems to be the time. Everyone else is doin' it so I guess I will too. . . Drumroll please, here are my resolutions for the next year.

1- lose 40 lbs. There is a contest at my gym, it would be wicked cool if I won. I'm already in the process of really getting serious about doing body for life again and I am back at the gym. Take into account that I don't plan on having three surgeries this next year and I'm feeling pretty confident about the whole thing.

2- Become a Pampered Chef director. I know, this sounds the same as last year. Life just hit us upside the head pretty hard this year and so, this was not my best year with Pampered Chef. I have however gained some AWESOME team members who will be such a great asset to my team. I just need to keep it up and keep doing 8 shows a month and I will be there in no time. Hopefully in time for National Conference in July so I can have my "moment" when I get to walk accross the stage as a new director!

3- Pay off debt. I'm not going to say I will pay off all, but a big chunk would be great. This last year added a large amount to our debt and I would really like to see it mostly gone within the next year to a year and a half. We'll see what I can do. I can only run so fast and far.

So, there you are, it's not quite 8 like the super awesome Jodi but it'll have to do! Wish me luck I feel a lot better about this next year, 2010 is going to be my year!!!

What does three doctors visits in a day get you?????

three prescriptions and $73.00 poorer. sigh. . . I hope the kids finally get better

Twas the night before Christmas. . .

And all through the house, the kids are asleep and it is so very nice! I hope you all have a fantastic and safe Christmas day. I'll be running for the next three days! Family for the next two and Church stuff on Sunday. But, it'll be fun. I think the Christmas spirit finally made an appearance tonight. So, as the Night before Christmas says. . . "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"

A bad case of the BLAHs.

warning, if you're looking for a happy, life is great post, this isn't it.


Oh, I know, life isn't that bad. I just have a horrible case of the holiday blahs. I think this last year has worn me out. Sushi has had one hard yucky semester after another, none of my resolutions from last year were met, in fact I'm further behind than last year, well, let me start at the beginning.

I think the root of my blahs begin with my resolution list from last year. I made some really big goals, they consisted of. . . 1- lose the baby weight plus 20, 2- become a Pampered Chef director, 3- pay off most if not all of my credit card debt. I know, huge goals but I truly thought I would accomplish some of these goals at least in part. Yep, not a one. We kept our head above water this year, that is about it. In regards to number one, yeah, three surgery's within one year kind of stops this from happening, however, I am pulling myself up by the bootstraps this year and will hopefully accomplish this (that is unless another baby is in the picture, but that's an entirely separate post-no, I'm not pregnant). Number two and three were kind of supposed to act in concert together. I become a Pampered Chef director and I make more money thus enabeling me to pay off our debt and get ahead. However, this has not been a banner year for me. I had a hard time getting shows and then getting people to keep their dates and put forth enough effort. I'm fairly sure this is all due to the economy. Which is slowing improving. About the debt, well, due to a very large amount of medical bills lets just say it's worse.

Top this off with Sushi always being gone at work or school or worn out from work and school and well, I'm ready to wave happily goodbye to this last year and bring on the new.

I know, I know, there have been some great things this year too. My kids being the bright shining star. I am SOOO lucky to have them. They bring me so much joy. They are the reason I get up every day and slog through another day. They bring a smile to my face when no one else can. Cookie is so smart and such a fantastic older brother. He just started karate and is loving it. I'm glad we could find an activity for him. Cakes is still our beautiful, chirping sweet little girl. She has such a talent with anything artistic. She is also learning well in school and getting smarter every day. Tank is such a blessing, he was so hard to get here. I treasure every moment with this boy. I have enjoyed watching him grow this last year more than I can say. The other day I got the sweetest alarm clock in the world, he was standing in his crib saying ma ma mawm mawm ma, until I went to get him, he has also started to wave hello to people and is starting to creep along everything he can reach. Sushi is great too. He works very hard for us but I miss him quite often because he is so busy trying to make all our lives better. He is almost done with his Bachelor degree, we're beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Only a year and a half left.

I know things could be worse, heavens knows so many of our family have had a worse year and mabey I'm carrying some of their emotional burdens too. I also know things will get better. Already my schedule for Pampered Chef is almost filled for January and I'm considering looking into doing some daycare to earn some extra money in addition to Pampered Chef. If our financial burden was less I would feel so much better. SOOO, looking into next year my resolutions will remain the same. I just got an extra year of practice!

Oh, are you still reading? What great friends I have, thanks to all my great blogging buddies, I feel better now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a safe, happy Thanksgiving day. We'll be hosting, we'll have 15 adults, and 8 children here tomorrow, 3 of which are crawling babies. Yep, it ought to be fun. J/K. Actually we're looking forward to it. Sushi is going to be smoking a 23 lb turkey and most of the food has been assigned out to the guests. So, tomorrow shouldn't be too hard on us, stovetop takes all of 5 minutes, green bean casserole takes about 15 minutes to whip up and 30 minutes to cook, pumpkin pies are already made and Sushi made the cranberry sauce tonight. I hope all goes well tomorrow. What are some of your thanksgiving traditions? We always have to say something we're thankful for before dinner can start. It's getting really fun with the kids getting a little older. Well, toodles, I need some sleep before tomorrow. And HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Am I the only one?????

Am I the only one who thinks,"meh, whatever" about the new Twilight movie? I'm beginning to wonder if I'm the only one on the planet.

Anybody want a kitten? . . . Please?

Update- Apparently my kittens look like a purebred cat called ragdoll kittens. So, they are going quickly, I put up the ad around 3 in the afternoon yesterday and by 8 pm, 4 of the 6 had been spoken for, now, here's to hoping all the people will come today who said they would. . . .


Hee hee, just kidding, I'm not quite to begging. . . yet. I am putting six of the kittens up for sale today. I'm putting them up for $10.00 a piece on our local free classifieds, but quite frankly, I don't really care about the $10. I'm pretty much putting the dollar amount in to get rid of the people who won't take good care of the kittens. Let me know if you're interested. They really are adorable. We just don't want eight cats. go figure.

Here are some pictures.

Crying

Oh! My heart aches. I just found out that one of my best friends had a stroke! She is in the hospital today and is getting ready for surgery on a hole in her heart. This is one of my friends who I have known for almost 20 years. I feel so helpless, due to my surgery I can't do anything for her for another two weeks or I would be there right now. I'm sure she will still need help in another two weeks but I just want her to be alright right now. I don't normally cry but the thought of one of my friends not being alright is breaking my heart. Her husband says she's doing well and she'll call me when she gets a chance, now all I can do is wait. And pray.

Oink

well, like the rest of the country, our family has H1N1, we've all been home at each other's throats, ahem, I mean resting since monday. We're all on tamiflu and the doc has us quarantined until Friday, however, due to Annalee staring tamiflu a day later than the rest of us, I think we'll make that Monday. I don't think it would be very nice of us to go to church on Sunday on the slim chance we'll pass this around more. So, almost done with our boring week, I've gotten to know my netflix account very well and I've decided to do a Pampered Chef booking blitz this week because I can't leave the house! In other news, my herniated bellybutton has been hurting (still) I had surgery for it in May and it's not better so, guess what! I get to have surgery again! Ok, so I'm not real thrilled at the prospect but at least it'll be fixed this time, right?

Glad it's Monday

Do you ever have a weekend where you're glad it's Monday? I did. How was your weekend?

Finally the promised pictures of the deck

Well, I have a minute today so you lucky people get TWO posts from me! Here are some pictures of the deck, before and after.

These first few are the deck before, you can see why we needed to sand it down, it was in bad shape. The previous owners put laytex paint over the old stain so the only way to fix it was to sand it down completely, and restain. The sanding took about a month, the staining? A day.

Here are some before pictures



This is just a view of the general deck



This shows how bad the paint was peeling



again, how bad the paint was peeling.



The view from the back yard



We were relieved to see that once we sanded down a little bit the wood was still good, we couldn't afford to replace the whole deck.



There were some parts that were particularly difficult, inbetween these railings was one, the other was the beams underneath which follow this picture.



yep, these were hard.



The back after it's all sanded and ready for stain



The deck all sanded and ready for stain.



The back all stained



The beams all stained



The deck all stained, isn't it beautiful!



And lastly, me all stained! I was so happy to be done! I am still recovering, I'm starting to feel like I can function again but this was sooo hard, I hope to never had to do this again! Now that it's been done right, I should just have to restain every three to four years and that only takes one day, not a month.

Time to put up those gates

Well, it's official, as of Monday, October 12th, I have a crawler. It's about time! My kids are always late on their "physical" development. They're late crawlers, walkers, rollers, etc. But I'm really OK with that! But, at 10 months old, Tank was getting a little sick of being stuck in one place. So he's a much happier camper now and I need to vacuum better! I also put a gate around our fireplace and I need to put the gate at the top of our stairs in today. He just gets faster and faster everyday. Here he is in his nine month pictures.

10 years ago today. . . .

Sooo, in a show of how wonderful I am as a wife, here we go. Sushi called me last night ( I was up at my mothers house making homemade butter mints for my little brother's upcoming wedding), and asked me if I had plans for tonight. I told him I didn't think so, why? He said "we should go on a date". "oh, great, that would be fun." I say. My little sister volunteers to babysit the kids and when I get home later I say "tomorrow will be fun, what brought this on?". SUSHI reminds me that 10 years ago tonight we went on our first date. What a great husband to remember all the fantastic details and stuff! What a crappy wife I am that he had to remind me. Seriously, I am so glad to have Sushiboy for a husband, he is so fantastic. He works so hard for us and loves us all so much. Who would have thought at our college homecoming dance that ten years later this is where we would be! Three kids, a house, a minivan, I think we've fallen pretty nicely into the whole "american dream". I am able to be a SAHM, we're able to have a great full time job for Sushiboy, he is able to get an education. We always have enough food on our table, most of our wants and pretty much all of our needs are met. What a great start ten years ago was. I'm so glad he asked me out! This is an old picture from when we blessed Tank in May but it shows how happy we are.

woot.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, it is done! And it looks oh, so fabulous.

Pictures to come later.

The very small light at the end of the tunnell

There is a very small glimmer. Every day I get a little closer. Perhaps within the week I'll be able to finally say. . .








I'm done sanding, but not yet, the light is still a very small one, but I get closer every day! I'll post pictures of the fantastic job once it is finished. Of that you can be sure because people, this is big, probably the biggest job I have EVER done on our house. Wish me luck!

I'm gonna need more kitty chow

Meet princess. This is the cat who adopted us.









Meet Princess' EIGHT kittens





She had them on Saturday. Yep, eight, she was getting rather large. Sooo, does anybody want a kitten?

Sigh. . . .

A week later I'm. . . . . . .
















Still sanding. Perhaps I can be done within the next few days.

Negligent

I started sanding down the deck to restain it wednesday. Yesterday in all my craziness, cakes told me she didn't feel good and I gave her some ibuprofen and didn't think anything more of it. Today, I sanded and sanded, and cakes was grumpy all day, she was crying when she woke up, and said her throat hurt. But Cakes has a bad habit of being a bit of a hypocondriac so I don't leap everytime she says she doesn't feel well. Today when she got back from school she was crying and told me she wanted to go to bed. So I let her. Then I went and sanded some more. Sushi came home and she said she wanted a drink of juice, he gave her some and she promptly threw up. At this point I figured, ok, I guess she's really sick and felt her head and she was running a fever. So sushi gave her a bath and I took her to the instacare, (yep, in all my sanding all day glory, it was very nice ;)). When we got there, they did a strep test, it was negative, and the doctor noticed her tummy was very tender when he checked it. So we did a urine test. The poor girl has a kidney infection! I feel so bad! Here I am ignoring her and she has a kidney infection! Add to this her many medication allergies and there are about two very had to find medications she can take. I had to call a whole bunch of pharmacies to find one that carried her medication. The doctor told me that this is VERY serious and if she is not improving within 24 hours I am to take her to the ER and the Hospital needs to put her on an IV with the stronger meds. Sooo, our plans tonight of going to the wind festival? canceled. My guilt factor, not at all canceled. If fact I think it doubled.

Strange things are afoot at the Facebook

Weird. Facebook has been a weird experience for me. Specifically lately. I've had a few people who I would have been fine with never seeing again look me up and request to be my friend. Me being the person I am and not wanting to be a brat, I accepted their requests. I'm so grateful that they haven't sent me long emails wanting to "catch up on my life". The most recent experience was an old boyfriend who broke up with me and I moved on, I got engaged, I got un-engaged and then he looked me up again and then after dating for about two weeks he started talking marriage. Keep in mind I had just broken off a horrible engagent with a real putz. Plus he was very needy. If he didn't talk to me that day he would just "have the most horrible day". blech. I really don't like needy. Needless to say, I broke up with him and within about a year met sushi and we were married. Sushi is not needy :) and I am so happy to have him for my husband. The other experience is one of my old young women leaders who used to sit with another leader and make fun of us and drink their diet coke who recently wanted to become my "friend". I seriously considered not accepting. I was at a vulnerable point in my teenage years and she was part of my small rebellion against everything that I now hold dear. Why should I care about a church who puts women who don't care about me and make fun of me and my friends (who really were good kids) to our faces? However, I did get over that angst due to some fantastic leaders who put up with a lot of crap from my friends and I and loved us despite how we treated them. Ah well, now that I've put my emotional thoughts on the page, how about you? Any strange things afoot in your corner of facebook?

Perhaps it's run it's course

I think I might be done with blogging, it seems I'm writing only for myself and I just dont have the energy lately to post well anything. Hmm, we'll see.

Hiking

The kids and I hiked seven miles today. My mom wants to hike the back of Timp, but seeing as that hike is fourteen miles round trip and we're all exhausted after seven I think we may have to pass on that. I'm going to bed now, goodnight.

The Eye Appointment Update

Well, looks like sometime in the next few weeks Tank will be having surgery on his tear duct. The doctor told me they will put in under for about one minute, put something that looks like a long paper clip into his tear duct, poke a hole through to his nose, clean him up, and he's done. He said there would be a few bloody tears but he probably wouldn't even know anything had happened. I'm glad to hear this. I really didn't want my sweetie in pain. Especially since he isn't able to understand or cope very well. So, we have an exciting few weeks with school starting and Tank having surgery all within the next few weeks. Yippee.

Tank and the eye appointment

Tank has had a clogged tear duct since he was born. SOOO, tomorrow he has a doctors appointment with the pediatric opthomologist and we'll see what they recommend.


I feel excited and anxious.


Excited because finally mabey he can have the darn thing fixed, he constantly has an infection in it, I put drops in it and it gets better for a day or so and then it's infected again. That can't be good for the little guy. Besides he hates the drops, he just crys and crys when I put them in and the little smartie is getting pretty good at squinting and turning so the drops don't end up in his eye. It's delightful.


Anxious because this will probably entail surgery (they put a tube in the duct to help it drain) and my poor baby will probably end up with a black eye and in a lot of pain. That is really hard for me to handle.


However, our deductable has been met twice this year so now is better than waiting until next year. I know all will turn out fine and as it should but, oh, my heart aches at what my poor sweet baby will have to go through. I'll try to update tomorrow after the doctors appointment.

Okie dokie, and we're back

Well, the month of craziness has ended, we were officially gone for 16 days in July.

Not even home


yep, not at all.


I'm SOOOOO glad to be home now. I had a fantastic friend who we owe big time who looked out for our yard and garden and made sure we had something besides burned up plants to come home to. We owe her a really nice dinner or something. Probably with vegetables from our garden ;). I went to two family reunions, Lagoon, Arizona and Las Vegas all in the car. That's right folks, no plane tickets here, just a lot of hours in the car. So many in fact that the old portable DVD player died in the middle of the mess. Have no fear though a new one was purchased. That is why our children are still breathing :). I rediscovered that I really don't like hot weather and that I hate what a dirty, horrible town Las Vegas is. (Sorry to all you readers who love it, I just can't believe, and I say this at the risk of sounding horribly prudish, how much women are preyed upon in that town) But, all is well, we are home and school starts in three weeks, I need to do school shopping, get ready to have a busy month with Pampered Chef and just enjoy the remainder of my summer. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow but it's school registration and swimming lessons and the gym tomorrow as well as clean the mess my kids made of the house today while we all relaxed.

Oh, the most important news of the day is that Cakes is 5 years old!!!! Our sweet beautiful girl entered the world five years ago. We got her a littlest pet shop house and she is in heaven. Happy Birthday my sweet beautiful girl, I am so glad to have you for a daughter!

Back for a minute

Hello all, I'm home for a day or so and I just wanted to tell you all Tank got his first tooth during my family reunion, it makes nursing a whole new experience but he looks cute with one little chomper sticking up! That is all, I'll post again when I get a second.

Good morning, and in case I don't see ya. . . .

In the immortal words of Jim Carrey in Truman show, Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night!


The rest of this month is going to be hit and miss, have a fantastic July!

Where have I been?

Well. . . . . my cherry tree exploded. Well, not literally, but with cherries. So, I was picking them last week and begging people to come pick them and take them. And, between yesterday and today I made 120 jars of bing cherry jam. Plus I dried some and made cherry raisins. I'll bet you can't guess what our neighbor and work gifts will be this year?! It is nice to know that this is done for December, I may or may not make zucchini bread like I normally do but we'll see come December. Right now I'm done, everyone is getting a jar of jam and that is it. My whole house is sticky and it was so hot today. But it's done. Now I just need to get the house clean before Saturday for our annual Fourth of July party. We have people come and we provide the meat, buns and drinks. Everyone else brings a salad or dessert and fireworks if they want to and we light them off. It's a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to it! My birthday is on the sixth and this is kind of my unoffical birthday party every year. The kids can't wait and tell me "Mom, we light fireworks on your birthday every year right!" They have it mostly right I guess. Well, that is all, I'm going to go take a shower and go to bed. Good night!

Just call me a lemming. . . .

Well, I'm jumping off the cliff. I ordered a cell phone today. I guess it's reaching a time in my business that I really do need one and there have been more and more instances that it would come in handy lately so, I'm jumping.

To be honest I have mixed feelings about the whole deal. It will be nice when I am running late or I'm lost to just pick up the phone and take care of things. However, I really like not being able to be found sometimes. Sigh, I guess I can just turn it off when I want to disappear.

On another note, Cookie is in swim lessons, cakes will be in them in a week and a half. Tank STILL has an ear infection, this is going on week three and let me tell ya, he is "such" a "delightful" baby when he is sick. It just makes me want to rush out and have a few more. lol, just kidding, I truly am greatful to have my beautiful kids but when he just sits and screams at me all day it's not so fun. I hope the newest round of antibiotics helps, plus the doctor sent home numbing ear drops, that should help. I have lost four pounds and I am continuing to work hard at losing more. I had to buy another swimming suit the other day because the old one was too small. :< It is getting better and it has only been six months, I will have my old body back. . . one day. Sushi is busy as always with work and school and can't wait for his break in the summer. We can't either! Oh, if any of you want to be a part of my anniversary sale for Pampered Chef let me know. Three lucky guest will win free or half price products. Just email me if you want more info. Well, that pretty much sums things up here. I'm glad to be joining the ranks of cell phone people. . . I suppose!

Tank's 6 month pictures

Well, it's that time again, picture time! I can't believe Tank is already 6 months old. We went to the doctors today for his six month checkup and he has got an infection in his eye and an ear infection in both ears. Poor baby, he's already acting much better. So, he didn't get his immunizations today but I have great pictures to share!

Also, my mother is in Syria for the next three weeks helping my older sister with her baby while she is on a dig. Sooo, seeing as she is in such a "safe" part of the world prayers and good karma directed her way would be great.

Our family went through the Oquirrh Mountain Temple the other day, it was such a pretty temple. For those of you who don't know, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints allows anyone to go through their temples before they are dedicated. After they are dedicated only members of the church who hold a temple recommend are allowed to go through. So we thought it would be a great opportunity to show our children what the inside of the temple is like. They liked it, if you would like to see pictres, here is a link.

10 things. . . .

I just saw this on a friends blog and I'm going to modify it a little and steal it!


10 things I love about Sushiboy

1- He works soooo hard for us. Everything he is doing is with me and the kids in mind. The part time school and full time work, yep, not for him. I'm fairly sure if it wasn't for us he would be content renting a little house, working just enough and doing whatever he wanted to do. He is willing to do things he doesn't "want" to do right now and stick things out even when he would rather be doing something else.


2- He loves me!

3- He thinks I'm hot. Three kids later. . . . it's amazing to me. I'm glad he does!

4- He is a wonderful father to our kids.

5- He understands our kids. When I am at the point that I want to pull my hair out and tell the kids to buck up and stop being babies, he is able to be a kid with them and help me be more patient and loving. This also makes it so he is the perfect person to send to buy presents. He knows just what they will love. I always pick something not "fun" enough.

6- He supports me in whatever choices I make.

7- He is so fun and energetic! One of the things that made me fall in love with him was how he could make me laugh. (We were NOT a love at first sight couple)

8- He has broadened my horizons. I have learned that I like a lot of things I never would have dreamed I would like because he introduced them to me. (sushi, fantasy/sci-fi books, to name a few)

9- He loves to dance. I love that!

10- We are equals. Some people look at our relationship and think I do everything and admittedly I do a lot. But so does he. He doesn't control me, I don't control him. We have different roles and responsibilites but it works for us and I never feel controlled or forced into my role.

What do you love about your significant other?

Woot

I just paid sushi's summer tuition with money I earned doing Pampered Chef. That's pretty cool. That is all.

It may be time.

I think my computer may be starting to bite the dust. It now takes about 10 minutes to start up and it runs so slow. And now it won't find our wireless internet. It may be time to start looking for a new laptop. I really really really hope this one lasts a while longer. We don't have the cash for a new one. I really do need one for my business though. sigh, I hope it lasts. . . .

It's done. . .

Well, the bellybutton is no longer herniated. It's amazing how much better it already looks and that's even though I know I'm swollen. Tank has not loved the fact that I am not to pick him up very much and he is quite ticked off that I haven't been snuggling him as much as usual. Cookie is loving that he gets to carry tank everywhere. He thinks it's cool he gets to step up to the plate. He has been great. Even Cakes has been good. They have picked up after themselves (thusfar) pretty well and have been great about letting me rest. Today was the worst day so far and I think that's because all the anestheia (sp?) is worn off and I just feel sore. I also was on my own completely today. I'm greatful for good friends and family who have helped me out so much and brought us dinner for the last three nights. I am the mother helper for Cakes' recital next week and that ought to be an adventure. The other mother helper is pregnant and due next month (but will be induced by the end of this month for sure) and I can't lift anything. lol, it ought to be exciting how well we handle a class of 4-6 year old little girls. I plan on bringing the portable dvd player and lots of little girl dvd's . I will survive. Yes I will. Have a great night!

Keep 'em comin'

I went to the surgeon the other day to check on my herniated bellybutton (all thanks to my huge babies) and I'll be having surgery on wednesday. So, keep the prayers comin'. Wednesday is Sushi and my nine year anniversary, I guess I get to make sure he spends time with me on our anniversary. I also have a Pampered Chef show on thursday and saturday. I'll be needing a little help with both those shows. My friend Karen is going to be in the town just north of us on Friday and we were going to go to dinner and have some girl time. We may not be able to do that now. Thankfully, my mother plans on coming from wednesday to friday to help out. I'm not supposed to do any weight lifting or core exercises for a month and I'm not supposed to lift tank very much for about three days. The doctor says I'll be feeling pretty much back to normal by the next day. I hope so. I still "get" to take three days easy and a month off of working out. I guess I'll have to be extra vigilant about my body for life diet and btw, I've lost seven lbs in three weeks. WOOT. That is all.

Slept in

I slept in today until 10am when I had to take sushi to the doctors. It was fantastic. I really love sleep. Sushi is feeling a little better, he thinks he still has one more stone to pass and then hopefully he can resume with his life. (and I can resume with mine ;) )

Life throws you a loop

The last few days have been. . . . . . long.


Thursday night around 11:30pm as I was heading to bed Sushi called out to me. I found him in the kitchen in excruciating pain. He said he had thrown his back out and he was hurting. Um, . . . . it wasn't his back. I told him I was taking him to the emergency room. I called big sister who came right over with big grizz to watch the kids while I took sushi to the emergency room. About midnight we headed over, they got us right in and finally, after pain meds and ultrasounds and such, sushi has kidney stones, we got sent home about three am with pain meds and a strainer. We were asleep by around four am. Big sis and big grizz were kind enough to stay all day friday at our house and help me out. Friday, after about four hours of sleep I was on the phone canceling appointments, calling sushi's work, getting prescriptions, getting stuff from the grocery store, taking cookie to school, etc, etc, etc. It was a very long day. I was able to get an hour nap in about the time I was starting to sway when I stood still. Big sis and big grizz were such a great help. I'm not sure they understand how much I appreciate them. Sushi passed one big stone and many small stones that day and I think he may have some more small stones to pass because he is in pain still. Yesterday I had a pampered chef show and my nephew was baptized and so I didn't get much rest yesterday either. Today I told my friend that I would bring her dinner because she had gall bladder surgery friday. I think I may skip most of church except the parts I really have to be at (singing time with the kids) and rest. I'm exhausted. I'm glad I got the lawn mowed thursday because I think it may take a few days to recover from this weekend.

Ugh. . . . .

I need to go mow the lawn but instead, I'm procrastinating and blogging. . . . . . .





Alright, I'm going already.

April showers

Of Busyness!!!! Well, I'm finally ready to post some pics and talk about our crazy month. Humm, lets start at the very beginning. This first pic just cracks me up, it's a pic of Tank, he was a little tired, check out the cheeks on that kid! I love that little round face so much!




Next I think I'll just do a slideshow of the pictures of Capital Reef. We go down there every year and love it. It's so nice to get some warm sun on our faces after the long winter. We had a great time this year. It was nice, instead of having every minute planned we took things pretty easy. We got down there early on Thursday morning and set up the tent trailer and rode bikes around the campground. Before we left on Thursday when Cakes woke up her face was swollen and I figured she was just having an allergic reaction to her antibiotic so I immediately stopped the antibiotic and gave her some antihistimine. Little did I know this would affect our whole trip. Once we got down there and got set up we went down to the river, Cakes was still being whinny but I figured she would be alright. Cookie had a great time throwing leaves in the river and Tank discovered he LOVED the baby backpacker. Cakes started complaining about her joints hurting. We carried her back to camp and started getting ready for dinner. Grandma taught Cookie about olives on his fingers and he thought that was great! The next day my sister and brother in law got to camp and we went on an Easter egg hunt up Kohab Canyon. Although she was still puffy, Cakes was all over this. The kids had such a great time, however, by the time the egg hunt was over, so was cakes. She was crying and saying she hurt, her legs were starting to turn blue and she wasn't acting like she normally does. My fantastic Dad (Cake's Grandpa) carried Cakes all the way back to camp and my brother in law and Daddy gave Cakes a priesthood blessing of healing. We witnessed a miracle. I had been giving her antihistimine for the last two days and she was just getting worse. When we asked about where the nearest doctors office was we got told it would be a huge hassle. First the ranger had to check to see if she was really sick, then they had to call into the nearest town (an hour away) and call in a doctor to go to the offices. After the blessing Cakes fell asleep and within an hour or two was almost completely back to normal, other than being a little tired still. Saturday afternoon we headed home and got ready for Tank's baby blessing.

Tank had discovered on the ride home from Capital Reef that he really liked to eat yogurt so I thought it was probably time to start rice cereal. He wasn't so sure at the begining but by the end he was hooked.

The next day was Tanks baby blessing, we had friends and family over afterwards and because 7 of the 9 brothers and sisters and 8 of the 10 grandchildren were there we got some family pictures.

Here is an adorable picture of Tank in his blessing outfit



The next week, my younger sister got her Young Women in Excellence award, that is an award the Young Women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints can earn. It takes at least 70 hours to complete it with part of that being a final project that should take at least 40 hours. So, it's somewhat equivalent to earning an Eagle Scout award, we're proud of my sister for working so hard to earn this great award! It was also my sister in law's baby shower that night but I don't have any pictures of that.

My sister and my parents



Tank trying to stand afterwards




The last slideshow I have is just a fun one, Tank now no longer fits into the sink and so he gets to take baths in the tub. Cookie and Cakes always fight over who gets to take a bath with him. This time it was Cookie's turn. Cookie was particularly proud of the bubble mustaches and beards he was able to get for the pictures.

Whew! Now you know why I have been a diliquent blogger. To get you caught up it took 33 pictures! Well, enjoy, my life has been a very busy journey lately but I am so greatful that I am able to take care of my life and do the things that need to be done. Try to remember Sushiboy in your prayers, he is at the end of his rope and needs a little encouragement. He has one more final this week and can't wait to be done. Oh, and wish him a happy birthday, his birthday is wednesday the 29th and big sister's is thursday the 30th.

Hiding. . . .

Do you ever try to hide from your kids but they find you anyway????? Yeah, it's been a day. . .

My body for life

Well, I met with my trainer again and I haven't lost a single lb and hardly any inches in the last month. Huh, I guess the missing link is nutrition. So, I've thought about weight watchers but thought it was too stupid to pay $40 a month for someone to weigh me (I know, it's also accountability, and cheerleading). I figured since I've done body for life once for a little while (I didn't stick with it for very long) and I have the book I would try it again. I'm finding it is SOOO much easier this time. I need to take a before picture but I'm afraid I'll break the camera so I haven't. But I love it, I'm not hungry and already seeing results. I'm sure the results are mostly water weight but I'll take even that at this point. I was getting a little tired of working out for an hour and a half a day and not seeing results.

Adorable Hair bows

My good friends have been making hair bows for a couple of years now and have gotten a web page up for it, http://k-and-lcreations.blogspot.com/. Go look, they're really cute!!!

What do starfishes eat???

That was the question Cookie just asked me before I took him to school. Guess I better look it up. Southern Utah was fun, the blessing was good and I will post more about them later as well as pictures. Well, I'm off to search about starfishes. . . .

I'm off. . .

Well, bright and early tomorrow morning we're off to our annual camping trip in Southern Utah. It should be fun, if a little cold this year. But let not your heart be troubled, we'll be in a tent trailer with a heater and just in case that doesn't work, we will also have a tent heater as a backup. I got most of my things done that needed to be done before we left. (Remember we are blessing Tank at church on Sunday and we won't be back until Saturday night. So everything needs to be clean and ready for the big family gathering that will follow church.) What I got done will just have to be enough. I'm going to go have some fun (I hope) and make some memories with my kids. Toodles, have a great few days!

Wow, who would have thought

Huh, it appears that if you don't take care of yourself you can't take care of your baby. Wow, what a concept! lol. I was having some issues of my milk drying up this weekend. I have been working myself into the ground getting ready to go camping in Southern Utah Thursday and then having Tank's baby blessing on Sunday. So, everything needs to be done by Wednesday for the big family gathering that will take place here at our house following the blessing at church. I have been cleaning and cooking like a crazy lady and getting to bed by around one in the morning most nights followed by being up at 7:30 after getting up with Tank in the middle of the night. On top of this, I haven't been drinking enough water. Sooo, last night I went to bed earlier and drank tons of water and I have been drinking tons of water today and TA Da, I can feed my baby again. Amazing how that works.

Sticker shock and Tanks "owie"

Our furnace in our house is original to the house which is 32 years old. When we bought the house the inspector told us the first thing we should replace should be our furnace. Instead we replaced the floors! lol. Well, I kept hearing about the rebates available on the radio so I thought I would check into it. H O L Y C R A P. They are a bit pricey, we also still just have a swamp cooler so we thought while we're at it we may as well put in central air as well. The amount we keep hearing pretty consistently is anywhere from about $6000 for an 80% efficient furnace and a 13 sir ac unit which wouldn't qualify for the rebates and tax incentives and wouldn't save us a terrible amount to about $8000-$10,000 for a 95% efficient and a 13-18 sir ac unit. We would probably see about $100 a month in savings on our gas bill in the winter with one of those and our power bill would probably go up about $15-$20/mo with the ac over the swamp cooler. WOW, just pocket change, no big deal. *** cough *** That is almost a down payment on a house! So, since our goal is to get out of debt and not add more I think we will stick with our current system and hope it last a few more years so we can save up some money and pay cash later on down the road. The tax credits (read, not guaranteed money in your pocket) of $1500 we wouldn't see (if at all) until next year on our taxes. There is also a $300 rebate from Questar Gas and some of the furnace brands are offering up to $1100 rebates. Still, we're into this a lot of money. To change over the furnace now and put in AC would be like spending a dollar to save a nickle. It just doesn't made sense for us right now.

On a lighter note, Tank scratched his forehead the other day and Cookie decided he needed a band aid to fix it, he looked so cute we had to get a pic of it,enjoy!

Battlestar Galactica

I watched the last episode of Battlestar Galactica last night, it has been a show that I have been addicted to since I saw the first episode. For those of you who haven't seen it I wouldn't say it's a kid friendly show. It has a lot of adult issues it deals with and there are lots of their swear word "frak" an obvious homage to our swear word f---. However, it is very intriging, I have loved it from the first show. I liked the ending, it was sad and happy and it tied up most of the loose ends, but not all, and it left me thinking. Thinking about our society and the nature of people. Anyhow, I think it might be fun to rent the episodes one day and watch them over again. Which for me is a pretty high recommendation, I don't usually watch things more than once.

It's 1 am

And I'm not sleeping, why? Do you ask? Because laundry needs to be done before church tomorrow or we have nothing to wear. And, it won't do itself and neither will anyone else do it. I'm tired, I think I'll go to sleep and change over a load when tank wakes up to eat in the middle of the night.

A Meme

I stole this from Hoosiergirl, because, well, I'm tired and can't seem to come up with something on my own. And meme's are great filler!

The ABC meme.



A - Age: 31
B - Bed size: Queen
C - Chore You Hate: Cleaning the bathrooms, laundry, and dishes, they never seem to end.
D – Dad’s Name: Stephen (it's a great name, right hoosiergirl!)
E - Essential Start Your Day Item: A large glass of water, usually followed by a bowl of cereal if I have time before I have to be at the gym.
F - Favorite Actor: Um, I like a lot of actors, I don't particularly have a favorite because they usually open their mouths and that ruins it for me.
G - Gold or Silver: Gold, it looks better on my skin tone.
H - Height: 5′5"
I - Instrument (s) you play: My mother made me take piano lessons for 10 years, I can pick out notes but I can't play up to tempo. I usually play my voice.
J - Job Title: Mom, wife, Pampered Chef lady, nurse, yardworker, accountant, taxi service, chef, maid, wetnurse, oh, you get the idea.
K - Kid(s): 3 kids for which I feel lucky to have, it took a while to get the last one here, Cookie-6, Cakes-4, and Tank-4 months plus the big kid who is their Daddy, Sushiboy-31
L - Likes: flowers, jewelry, cooking, eating, crafts, a beautful yard, an organized, clean house, being in shape (preferably a thin one ;0).
M - Mom’s Name: Faye
N - Nickname: Superwoman, Mom, Sexy (I'm glad sushiboy thinks so!), Honey, Rambo.
O - Overnight Hospital Stay Other Than Birth: I've only had to stay at the hospital when my three kids were born via c-section because I NEVER dialate, it really sucks, I go into labor, experience labor but never progress, I promise, I've endured it for many days and NOTHING happens, I love scheduled c-sections.
P - Pet Peeve: Tailgaters. Tailgating me will only make me drive slower. Every. Single. Time. Lights left on- it's such a waste. Toilet Seat left up- the toilet is ugly, why do we want to see it???
Q - Quote that you like: "If you don't want tempation to follow you, don't act as if you are interested.” and "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and He shall direct thy path."
R - Righty or Lefty: right.
S - Siblings: 4 sisters, 4 brothers, I often tease my mom that she won, we won't be breaking her record.
T - Time You Wake Up: usually around 7:30 or 8:00, hopefully as late as possible most days.
U - Useful tool: My computer.
V - Vegetable that you dislike: I pretty much like all vegetables I've tried, I'm almost a vegetarian unless I'm pregnant or nursing, then I really, really like meat.
W - Ways you run late: Waking up late, trying to make the house just right before I leave, talking to people,
X - X-rays You’ve Had: Teeth, back, neck, foot.
Y - Yummy Foods You Make: I make a really good roast, I'm also great at cooking vegetables and breads and cookies/cakes
Z - Zodiac: Cancer. The crab. Big surprise, right?

Enjoy! Happy wednesday.

Lots of happenin's at the Sushiboy household

Whew! It has been a whirlwind week. First lets start with a picture of my mother's cake.



I still can't believe I made that! I feel pretty proud of myself. I also can't wait to try it again. I am also very proud of myself because I have been trying to stretch out of my comfort zone with Pampered Chef and I have been trying to meet new customers when I'm out and about. I have been doing this. This is a very hard thing for me to do because even though people think I'm very outgoing and stuff, I'm actually very shy when I first meet people. I also signed a new recruit the other day so I am really, really close to becoming a director! Yippee! Oh, and I'm down 3 lbs within the last two weeks, not much, but it is progress, in the right direction.

Sushiboy is slugging his way through school and starting to feel better from his sinus infection. I'm proud of how well he is doing and I appreciate how hard he works for us.

Cookie lost his first tooth the other day, he was so excited! The tooth fairy left him a dollar and he told me "mom, the tooth fairy ONLY left me a dollar" to which I told him the tooth fairy only used to leave me a quarter, then he was happy. Here is a pic of the missing tooth in the mouth and that little tiny white spot in his hand is his tooth, he has really small teeth. He is also doing so well in school, he is reading, he knows all his sounds, letters, numbers and is doing well with math. He is a smart kid, I'm a little concerned that he is bored because his teacher is starting to see some small behavior issues, like not cooperating and he had a meltdown in class the other day. The year is almost over and then he will be in first grade and I'm sure things will be better.





Cakes and I were running to school the other day and she "took a tumble" in her words. The poor thing tripped over her feet and landed on her nose on the sidewalk. Thankfuly, the scab is gone now and there is just cute smooth pink skin and no scar. She wanted me to take a picture of it. Cakes is struggling a little in school, she is very creative and I'm glad for that but she is not at all ready for kindergarten this next fall. We had already come to this conclusion and so had her preschool teachers. She will be in a transitional kindergarten this fall and I think it will be very helpful for her. The transitional kindergarten follows the same curiculum as regular kindergarten but at a slower place and with a smaller teacher/child ratio. They also will have a speech therapist who will work with her, she has a slight lisp. I love how creative she is but I also realize she needs to fit into the normal parameters of school to be successful in life. I think the TK will be great and get her caught up so we can be done with special ed by regular kindergarten.



Tank has graduated to the sitting in the sink for a bath stage, mostly because he is too big to fit in the infant bath anymore. And he got his first ear infection Sunday night. The poor kid didn't know what to do with himself when he wasn't feeling good. I'm grateful for antibiotics. He seems to be feeling better now.



Well, that pretty much sums things up for the sushiboy family. How are things at your home?

It worked. . .

I made some of the cupcakes in the Hello cupcake book for my mother's birthday party tomorrow. And they turned out. . . AWESOME! I'll post pictures tomorrow evening. Have a lovely sunday.

At least Jon Stewart gets it.

The incredibly frightening thing about this is that it takes someone who we usually can't take very seriously to point out the truth to Cramer. Eesh, what a mess, at least it seems to be getting better, the stock market was actually up today.

Fantastic new blog

I found a fantastic new blog. It's called $5 dinners. It has links to a grocery store in your area. I'm totally diggin this. My local blog page In the moment, is telling me that all the ingredients for corned beef and cabbage are on sale. I'll be making this for dinner tomorrow. It is also over on my blog list if you want to check on it there. Go look, you know you want cheap, nutritious meals. . . .

Hello Cupcake!

I have been eyeing this cupcake cookbook for a while now and the other day while I was at Cookie's book fair I saw it again and decided to get it.



It says and I quote " Irrisitably playful creations anyone can make " . Cool, sounds like my kind of book, I can make adorable cupcakes like this. . .



and this. . .




and this. . .



this. . .



and mabey even this. . .



I am so excited to give this a try, because, after all, if anyone can do this than mabey even I can do this! I am not some amazing cake decorating diva like Bon, or Groovy old lady, or even Meritt. So, I am thrilled to think I can make cute stuff like this! I will have to give it a whirl and let you know how it goes. Of course I realize the cookbook authors probably made fifty cupcakes to get the perfect three for the shot but if I can get close I'll be thrilled!

Fat. . . .

Well, it's official, I'm fat, no, not phat, FAT. :< Ok, all kidding aside, today at the gym my trainer decided to measure me since I mentioned that I'm not losing any weight even though I am seeing that I'm getting smaller. And, I'm fat. Of course, she didn't say that, it's just the facts. Fact number one, the scale at the gym says I weigh about 10 more lbs than the scale at home. Fact number two, we did the nonscientific body fat thing you hold in your hands and it says that 65 lbs of my body is fat. The trainer says 15 of those will never be lost, your body needs them but I have the potential to lose about 50 lbs of fat. Ugh, what a depressing thought. Here I thought 30 lbs would be plenty and it looks like it's almost double that. I'm also slightly depressed because one of the women at my church had a baby two weeks ago and she was back at church on sunday looking as if she has never had a baby in her life, this is her third, just like me, she looks better than I currenly do, two weeks after she has her baby, it's been three months for me. Sometimes I really, really, really hate genetics. Here I am working my butt off at the gym (figuratively, not literally apparently) for an hour and a half four days a week and she looks a thousand times better than me. Oh well, I suppose I should be grateful that my body is able to make healthy, strong babies and I am able to have kids at all and that it's not worse. I just wish it was better today. Mabey I need to look up weight watchers. . . .

lol, enjoy!

proposal gone wrong.

still here

I have been so busy and tired, but I am still alive and breathing, if only just. . .

A sad day for the state of Utah

One of the great men in our community passed away today. Most people outside of Utah would know him as the owner of the Utah Jazz. He contributed greatly to the state of Utah and will be missed. Here is the link to the story.

Yeah! They came today!

Here they are, tanks two month pictures, enjoy! He is such a fun, cute baby!

Waiting.

I had tank's two month pictures taken last monday, I am supposed to get the pictures emailed to me. They turned out really cute. I wish they would come. That is all.

Happy Self Love Day

I stole this from hoosiergirl5.



I love how I follow through on things. If I make a goal I will do all in my power to accomplish that goal but I also realize that sometimes my best is all I can do even if I didn't accomplish all I wanted to. Let me know something that you love about me!

If YOU want to participate, here’s how the whole thing works:

1.) You’re gonna grab yourself a banner. If you don’t like the one I’ve used in this post, you can find another one here.

2.) You’re gonna post that banner and then tell us all something that you really like LOVE about yourself (thus, the “self-love” portion of our program).

3.) Ask or beg your readers to post one thing that they too love about you!!! If your blog friends are nice, you shouldn’t have to beg…much.

4.) Enjoy yourself and spread the love by doing this on your blog! If you want to, drop me a line or a trackback so that I know you participated too!

Hope your valentines day is great!