WoW! It's Been Way too long!

So, I haven't written in the LONGEST time! Not really sure why. Mostly I'm a terrible writer and would rather read, but I figured I should get back on here and write a few things. Maybe someone someday will read my rambling thoughts, maybe not, but either way.
Anyway, my beautiful little angel baby is now 5 years old and getting ready to graduate preschool, the same one that Mr. Man went to. My amazingly intelligent handsome boy is headed to 3rd grade next year and was baptized last October. I can't believe how fast they are growing! They are much too big. I love watching them learn and grow and figure things out, but at the same time, I miss the silly little things that they used to do when they were littler. Love to just listen to them play (until they start fighting!) and to watch them run around like crazy! They are so energetic! WHY can't I have that energy?! It's not fair! So, Angel-girl is getting ready for a ballet recital at the end of this month, she is doing so well and she is so cute in her little ballet clothes! Mr. Man has done soccer the past few years, but this coming year he says he wants to try basket ball, so, that makes summers easy! No juggling sports!
We just had Angel-baby's 5th birthday party. It was so beautiful! My sis helps so much with all of the decorating, and mom does a beautiful job with the cakes and cupcakes! I couldn't do it with out them. I've done a bunch of parties of the last few years, birthdays, baby showers, bridal showers. It's so much fun! I kinda want to do party planning for people, but I don't think it would be very lucrative around this neck 'o the woods, so for now, I'll just stick with family. I think I'll start blogging all of my past parties here slowly, so that I have a record of them.
We just bought our first van this week. Pretty exciting. It's huge. I feel like I'm driving a truck! WHY did we get a van with only two kids, you ask? Well, because you can fit more stuff in a van, silly! Of course! The kids LOVE it! They think it's the coolest thing ever to be able to push a button and have the doors open automatically for them.
Well, it's getting late, and I have to my boy up for school in the morning, so I'll sign off for now, and we'll see if I end up getting back on here to start blogging parties! Until next time!

Eden's 1st Birthday

Ok, so, I know, Eden's birthday was CLEAR back in May, but I really wanted to post some of the pictures that we took. The party was adorable!!! We did a "modern Barbie" theme. She wore a cute little tutu, an OTT bow, and a onsie that I freezer paper stenciled a Barbie silhouette onto. She was such a little Princess!!! She was afraid of her cake that Gramma Sue and Auntie Lindsay made though, so she didn't get messy.

April Showers and Holidays

Wow!!! Can you BELIVE all this rain we've had!!! Totally nuts. I've been so excited for it to get warm so we can start hiking, but you can't hike in the MUD!!!! Sad! New boots, new clothes, new sleeping bags (not needed for hiking, but for the backpacking which I am practicing for!!) Despite the rain, it has been a good April. We had a good Easter, and were able to visit with Gramma Lorain from Alaska.

Eden is walking, waving, and jabbering like a little girl. She is such a little cutie and so much fun. We sure think that's just about the cutest little baby girl we've ever seen. Dawson can count to 100 with a little bit of coaching. He is learning so much. He seems so ready for school in the fall. He's figuring out how to write his letters and is even sounding out some words. Unfortunately he misses the cut off and won't be going to kindergarten until next year. So, preschool next year is what we will do. It will still be good for him to get those social skills, and they will teach him more than I have been teaching him at home. We just haven't decided if we should do a co-op preschool or pay to put him in a pre-school. Choices, choices... We should hurry and make our choice though so we can get the ball rolling.

Went to an eye appointment today and got fitted for new glasses. We used to get a free pair every year, this time.... not so much free!!! Dang stuff is expensive. We will be looking for a new place next time. Can't wait to get them, though, they are pretty cute. Purple with pink paisley on the sides!!! And best of all, they aren't being held together by a paperclip!!!! YEA!!!!

Chocolate

I don't know about you, but I am an emotional eater. Doesn't matter the emotion. I can eat when I'm happy, bored, upset, depressed. The bad thing is that it always ends the same, me feeling fat and regretting it!!! I know that there are literally MILLIONS of other people who do that same thing. WHY do we do it to ourselves?! REALLY? Where is our self control and our motivation? Now, my "drug" of choice is chocolate. Yeah, I know, pretty common. What IS it about chocolate that we think will make us feel good? It never works. If you don't eat enough you feel like you need more, then you eat too much and you are 5 lbs heavier the next day, not to mention so sick that you can't sleep that night.

Nights are def. the worst for me. I started out with a salad at about 10:00. I had an early dinner, no lunch and a late breakfast. I know that I should go to bed before I start craving chocolate, but I never do. I always promise myself that I will be better and that next time it won't happen, then here we go again. Anybody want some Utah Truffles from Deseret Book? I need to get rid of these things before I eat them all!!! I have a goal weight for a certain purpose, and I will never reach it if I keep this up. Some one tell me something that helps keep them motivated to eat healthy and loose weight. I need a good motivator besides my goal because that is obviously not enough!!! So, what are your ideas PEOPLE!!! What motivates you?

Number 1!!!

Hey!!! So, I thought I'd try out the craze they call blogging. It's like journaling, but on-line? Well maybe not. I guarantee you'd learn WAY more about me if you read my journal! But, since I don't write in it as often as I should, I thought I'd try this out since I am on the computer a lot in the evenings after the kids are in bed anyway. So, we having been debating on if we should get a dog or not. Dawson has been pretty scared of them, but is getting better. Yesterday, we were on our way to Costco and had decided that we weren't going to the Humane Society that day, when a Humane Society truck drove by us TWICE!!! So, we were like, "Um, I think it's a sign!!!" and off we go to the HS. We walked through the dogs (not as much barking as last time). There were a lot of Pitbulls, and quite a few Chihuahua mixes. A couple of Lab and Golden Retriever mixes. None of the dogs we saw really felt right. Until we got to this sweet little 18 month old named Lucy. A German Shepherd/Boarder collie mix. So, we took her out for a little walk around and played with her for a bit. It was the first time that Dawson wasn't climbing on the benches to get away from a dog! But she was shedding like CRAZY!!!! My BIGGEST stipulation on getting a dog was NO SHEDDING!!!! (like I said I HATE cleaning, including vacuuming!!!) So, we decided to take her home. We stopped at Zamzows on the way to pick up a few things, and 200 some-odd $$$ later, we had ourselves a new pet. (Oh, and at the shelter Dawson told the ladies "She is finally going home!!! She is going to be ours FOREVER!!!!" I have the most ADORABLE kids EVER!!!!) Then the "fun" began. Now, I'm not saying she wasn't a good dog, she was, but, well, you'll see... All the way home from the store she whined (I think my husband and son are EXTRA sensitive to noise, not good...) We got her home and Dustin's parents came over to meet her. The whole time she just ignored Dawson, and only seemed to like Dustin (we wanted a dog who Dawson could have playing with). She acted like the kids weren't even there. To make a longer story a little bit shorter, she woke Dustin up because she was barking, and the kids and I were gone (Dustin sleeps during the day). He took her for a walk, tried many different things and they just couldn't bond. I never bonded with her either. We tried, we really did.(She also puked on my carpet, which Dustin had to clean up, because just the smell almost made me loose it!!!) So, Dustin took her back to the Shelter today, before work, so she can be adopted by a family who can love her and give her all of the attention that she needs. She was a great dog and highly adoptable, but I just don't think she was very into kids, not mean to them, but not friendly either. So, as Dustin was driving away with her, Dawson had a total melt down. He said as he sobbed "But I wanted to keep Lacy forever!!!" It was so sad! So, Gramma Sue and I took him out for ice cream and he felt a little bit better. We also brought him over to see he Double doodle, Trixie and told him that we could dog sit her at our house this weekend. So, he is happier now knowing that he can see Gramma's dog and play with her too. Now we just need to teach her not to JUMP!!!!