Golden Star

You know how excited you would get as a kid when you did well in school and your teacher gave you a little star sticker marking your excellence? I guess that same motivation works as adults too, and even though we know it's just a silly little sticker, we want it BAD. At least I do. Last week I earned my first little gold star at Weight Watchers for losing my first 5 pounds, then at yesterday's meeting I got my first big star for losing 5% of my body weight. While I still have a ways to go, it feels so good to get those little stars! Now that I've met my first two little goals, my focus is shifted to the bigger goal, 10%. When I first saw that number, I felt so overwhelmed and incapable to reach it, but now that I've been at this for a month now, I feel like it is a very reachable goal. In fact, I want to reach that number for my birthday in 5 1/2 weeks from now. That will be my present to myself.

On this weight loss journey of mine, I find myself going through all kinds of emotions that I hadn't anticipated. I feel stronger and more able to resist certain food temptations. I feel like I'm taking better care of this earthly body that God has entrusted to me. I hope that I'm setting a good example to my children of healthy living. I also feel guilty for how I had treated my body before and for letting myself get to the point I was at. And now I'm doing something about it, and that feels really good.

Glory Days

Betcha didn't know that Jarom has some pretty mad air guitar skillz, huh? Yeah, I didn't know either. Until last weekend, that is! Our ward had a fun adults-only dinner party with each couple in themed groups (ours was the camping group). Each group had to present some kind of entertainment for everyone, and one group had an air guitar competition and Jarom was the selected representative from our group to go up. Not wanting to be out done, he really put on a show! He made it to the final two, and decided to pull out all the stops! For his finale, he slid down to his knees in a blaze of glory (and torn skin!) to win the prize! Way to go, honey!
On Saturday morning, I was able to see my dear friend Nesha who is in town from New York for her sister's wedding. I only get to see Nesha every few years, so it was a huge treat to spend a few hours with her!

Exploring Downtown

Last week I had been planning with some friends to go up to Ogden and visit the Dinosaur park, but impending rain and thunder threatened to spoil that plan, and having the Treehouse Museum closed last week too made Ogden a bad choice, so instead we decided to go downtown to play. And what was supposed to be a gloomy, wet, and stormy day turned out to be beautiful, warm, and perfect outside!! Wouldn't you know it?!? So even though I didn't get to visit my friend who I haven't seen in years, we still had a blast and I will just have to find another day of unpredictable weather to trek up north!

Our first stop on our downtown adventure was Temple Square. We let the kids run around for a little bit, and Isaac had to sprint up the ramp in the visitors center to see the Christus Statue. He sat nice and quiet for about 17 seconds, then dashed away to find more things to look at. (We had a few obedience issues that day...)

Then we headed over to the Church History Museum where they have a darling exhibit for kids called the "I Am a Child of God" exhibit. I didn't know it was there, and it's been years since I've been to the museum, so we had a very nice time there! We didn't walk through the whole museum though, the kids would never have survived it! But I'd like to go back some time and see all the other neat exhibits.

Emilie's favorite part were the crayons. Emilie is my little artist and loves to color! (She also loves to eat crayons, but that's another problem for another day.) They have stations set up for kids to just color or make rubbings of the CTR symbol in different language. I didn't see Romanian though, I think they need to fix that one FAST!Here is Isaac playing bean bag toss into the different degrees of glory. At the time, it seemed so cute, but writing it out, it seems a bit sacrilegious!They have a little nursery area set up for kids to take care of little babies, and Isaac spent most of his time there mommying the babies, swaddling them, feeding them, listening to their hearts, and putting them to bed. Isaac and Mason had fun building temples with wooden blocks. Isaac would get his nice and high then laugh hysterically as he knocked them down. When we finished up at the museum, we went next door to the Family History Library and stole my favorite church worker (my mom) and walked over to the Church Office Building and had lunch in the cafeteria. It was on my list of one of the most stressful lunch situations ever (again, back to the obedience issues), but it was nice to see my mom and have lunch together. When we finished eating, we went up to the top of the building and looked around on the terraces. I'm so glad the weather was nice because it was so beautiful up there!

Here's Chelsea walking by Logan, and if you know Logan, you know how exciting is it that he's finally WALKING!!! I just had to take a picture, I'm so proud of him! Logan, Isaac, Mason, Katie, and Emilie looking out over Temple Square. This is my favorite picture of the day! Isaac and Mason were just mesmerized looking at the temple!
The whole crew: Sara with Mason and Katie, me with Isaac and Emilie, and Chelsea with Logan.And of course a picture with Mom before she had to dash back to work.What a fun day!

Of boats and birthdays

With summer wrapping up and fall well on its way, time seems to be zipping along. Although my blog has been a bit neglected, we've kept plenty busy having a good time.

I just had to snap this pic of Emilie the other day, she was just being so cute and so cheeky, I could hardly stand it. When did she get so big and grown up? This is one of my favorite outfits on her, I think she looks too cute for words.
Last week we were able to get together for one last play group before Isaac and his friends start school this week, so we celebrated Ben's birthday! Charlotte made the cutest Diego and Dora (and I have no idea what their cheetah's name is, but him too) cupcakes!Lincoln and his cupcake.Emmie enjoyed demolishing her cupcake. Can't say I blame her. This was day 2 of WW, so I was very careful not to even look at the cupcake too long to avoid too much temptation!On Labor Day, Jarom's best friend Mike was in town, so Jarom, Mike, and Adam and our kids and Adam's family had a fun day out on Utah Lake. Isaac and Emilie didn't care for the boat too much, especially at first, but the rest of us sure had a good time! Here's Jarom getting ready for his first plunge into the water to take a turn on the tube.I took Isaac out for a ride on the tube, but he hated it and only lasted for a few minutes. He only wanted to go slow, but going too slow made water come inside the tube. After he got out, I took a turn too and had fun, even though the choppy water made my bum sore. :) All in all, it was a great way to spend a holiday!

Preschooler

Isaac started preschool this week, so for two hours a day, three times a week, I get some peace and quiet and Isaac gets to get out of the house and have fun with other kids and learn stuff! He likes his teacher Ms. Wendy and is making friends with the other kids in his class. On Friday, he made a little flag out of construction paper and did a great job!

Here are some pics from Wednesday, his first day. Here's his big pose wearing his back pack. He wanted to play outside while we were waiting, but I didn't want him to get all muddy, especially for his first day, so instead I took a bunch of pictures.While we were waiting, Isaac kept talking to his "watch" and asking, is it time yet? Can we go yet? Dancing with his shadow.Inside the door and ready for his first day of school! (I didn't warn his teacher I was taking a picture, hope she doesn't mind!)

Feeling the love

Thanks for all the kinds words and encouragement this week, I really needed it! Tuesday was by far the hardest day as far as hunger, but I've been keeping with the program and am getting used to this new way of eating and new way of looking at food! And the best part? I've already lost 3 lbs! I know that's not much, but it's a good start! I made the soup (thanks for the suggestion Jana!) and have found some yummy treats to reward myself at the end of a good day, so it's not feeling like a "diet." I'm not depriving myself of anything, just making better choices.

We've had a pretty quiet weekend so far because Isaac has been at Grandma's house since Friday. We picked him up today and, let me tell you, I missed my big boy! No matter how loud and obnoxious he can be at times, I am just crazy about him and am so grateful to be his mommy! Maybe it's good to get rid of him from time to time to remind me how much I love him! :) He starts preschool this week, so it was fun for him to have one last hurrah before he starts his new schedule.

The goal

Just to warn you, this post will probably be pretty boring to read, so I'm not offended if you choose to just ignore it. I just have a few things to get off my chest.

So I know that my weight has been creeping up over the years, and having my babies hasn't helped much, so this week I finally decided to do something about and joined Weight Watchers. I have some friends who have been following their program for a while now and have lost so much weight and are healthier and happier for doing so, and I want that in my life too.

Yesterday I attended my first meeting, and even though I was half distracted trying to keep Emilie from eating some kid's crayons and Isaac from running around the room making his truck engine sounds, I was excited to learn about the new eating rules I'm going to start following. When I got home, I made what I thought was a sensible lunch, noticing the calories and portion sizes. After eating, though, I was still a little hungry. I tried a mid-afternoon snack when Emilie got up from her nap, and that helped a little, but I still didn't feel satisfied, and I got really scared seeing my points wasting away. For dinner, we went to a BBQ with Jarom's ham radio group and I had to be so careful what I ate, and once the food that I put on my plate was gone, I had to really refrain from going back for seconds! Then all night, I just kept stewing about how hungry I was. I kept having to say out loud, "I am full and satisfied! I am full and satisfied!"

So we'll see how day 2 goes. I'm sure that 90% of my hunger pains are psychosomatic and I'm not really as hungry as I think I am. I'm hoping that after a week or two of eating this way, I'll get more acclimated to it. I'm starting to see already how much I over eat, so if anything, it's helping me see some of the mistakes I have been making.

My first goal is to lose about 11 lbs and I'm hoping to lose that by the end of the month. I'll update my progress on my blog. Wish me luck!