Happy Birthday to Me!

So today is my 35th Birthday!

It's been a fabulous day. I started by sleeping right through my alarm at 6:15 a.m. telling me that it's time to go swimming. Then, Ed awoke me with the heavenly aroma of a Betos breakfast burrito. (I ate half and only the filling.) He was kind enough to take the kids to swimming lessons while I continued to lounge around in bed.

The kids showered me with gifts from the dollar store as soon as they got home. They were so excited that they handed me their cards before they even signed them!

Amberlyn and I went out to lunch to celebrate my arrival into mid-life. We went to PF Changs and had the works! She gave me kitchen knives (which Denise will be thrilled to learn since she told Amberlyn about the sad nature of my kitchen). BTW- my kitchen utensil collection is just fine.....

While we were at lunch, Mary (a friend from work) and Tyler (*her "friend") surprised me at PF Changs with a beautiful collection of roses! The most perfect part? There are exactly 35 roses (12 in wrapping paper and 23 in the vase). I felt like a beauty queen!

Thanks Ed, Kids, Amberlyn, Mary and everyone else who wished me a Happy Birthday! I got like 35 texts too!

*You know how it is when you're single- you're always afraid to "define your relationship". But they are the cutest couple and I'm secretly hoping they get married. Guess it's not a secret anymore! Don't kill me Mary- no one really reads my blog anyway! :)

Good Job Girls!

Stadium of Fire

What a crazy Fourth of July week- all the practices, shuffling back and forth to and from the stadium.... it was fun!

So Betsy and I decided to meet at my house at 5 p.m. The girls had to be to the stadium at 7 p.m. I went to Sally's and bought 3 sets of fake eyelashes, the extra pair for Chalese. So about 4:30, Haylee came up with wet hair and since Ed was standing around, I put him to work blow drying Haylee's massive head of hair. I laid out the eyelashes on the table as I was attaching them to Hannah's eyes. I got one side glued on just as a gust from the hair dryer came sailing across the table. I looked down and her other eyelash was gone! Betsy and Chalese were walking in at that moment when I started to fa-reak out! I can never just let anything go so I continued to twirl around the kitchen while yelling and cursing. Finally, Betsy's reasoning overcame me (she had been telling me to let it go for minutes on end.) Chalese didn't really want fake eyelashes anyway despite my insistence that we stop at Sallys on the way to the Stadium.....

Once we got to the stadium, I was as calm as a cucumber. They make all these threats that if the girls aren't lined up on time that they could be replaced by an alternate dancer. This is very stressful to know that you spent all this money and time and if you're late at all- it's all over. So like I said, once we got there- stressball here was A-okay.

The girls performed fabulously. Thanks to my luck at getting great seats on craigs list, we could see the girls perfectly. I was so emotional when they were dancing- I can hardly sit through any performance of theirs without balling. I'm such a proud mama.

Miley Cyrus actually put on a great show. I'm sure that I like her music more than the girls.

After the show, I bought the girls official Miley Cyrus Stadium of Fire 2008 t-shirts. Haylee and Chalese put them on right away. Hannah decided she would wait- she was still trying to figure out if liking Miley was cool or not.... (ohhh to be young again)

On the way home, we drove with the van door open since it was soooo hot and since we were crawling through traffic anyway. This seemed to make the girls very nervous- they kept asking Betsy and I to close it. What rebels we moms are! A car full of BYU guys kept bugging us that our door was open... (I've forgotten how little effort it takes to entertain a zoobie). When this car full of boys heard that we had "Stadium Dancers" in the car, they erupted into cheers and congratulations. Haylee couldn't stop giggling.

It was a very fun night!

During Picture (since I'm not done)

August 4, 2008

186 pounds

Before Picture

July 2007

230 lbs.

My "Secret" Weight Loss

So most of you now that I have struggled with losing the baby fat. In my case, baby fat refers to the pounds I gain when I am thinking about getting pregnant, when I am pregnant, when I'm post par-tum, and during the two years that I'm trying to take care of a newborn.

Since in my case, the vicious cycle has repeated itself well before the previously mentioned two years has gone by, I have never really made it a priority to lose that weight.

5 kids, 20 extra un-lost pounds from each pregnancy = 100 pounds!

I decided that since my child-bearing ability changed last fall that it was now or never. So I began working on losing the weight.

I came across a Fabulous program and am happy to say that after 4 months, I have lost 43 pounds! For details on this program and my experience see http://www.confessof2fatgirls.blogspot.com

Now- why the secret? Well- 2 of my BFF's (Denise & Robin) have recently lost a lot of weight. In March, we began planning a girls weekend in Las Vegas and I knew I was going to be the only "fat one" there. I wanted to surprise them so badly that I decided not to mention my efforts on the phone, on my blog, etc.

Truth be told, I also didn't want to mention my efforts in case I failed. Other than my family, Robin and Denise are the 2 most people that I want to be proud of me.

This was highly motivating for me. I had a goal to lost 40 pounds by July 17th. And knowing that they would see me and "freak out" made me push myself harder than I ever have.

So I met my first goal. Now I'm working towards losing 7-10 pounds per month for however long it takes me to get to 130 pounds. I'll probably even out about 150 eventually but I would like to be 130 just once more in my lifetime (and not when 95 yrs. old taking my last breath).

Sidenote: Some of you may read Amberlyn's Pounding the Pavement blog which can be found by clicking on the link at the beginning of this post. When Amberlyn started the blog, she invited me to post on it as well (I am the other fat girl). I told her that I would be happy to... but I was trying to keep my weight loss efforts a secret from Denise and Robin. So we, I mean I, decided to create an alias to post under so that I could remain in secret. I just have to say that after this experience, I understand why Batman and Superman have such a conflicted existence. It's a full time job to keep up an alias and your real life at the same time. Anyway- if you follow the pounding the pavement blog at all you know that there are a couple of posts from "Mandy"- this is a nickname for Amanda Covington, my alias. Sorry to deceive you. If it's any consolation, I have more of a conscience than Batman and Superman so I couldn't keep up the charade.... this is why there are only a few posts from her.

Coming Soon....

I have one more week of craziness and then I will catch up my blog. I have so many fun things to write about. Stay tuned for the exciting details of:

- My "secret" 43-pound weight-loss
- Hannah & Haylee's awesome performance in Stadium of Fire
- The end of Softball season
- My "Girls Gone Crazy" Fabulous weekend with Robin & Denise
- The "Party Every Day" week of the Beatty girls' visit to our home
- Family picture event
- Heritage Ward Girls Camp

I'll make sure to attach lots of pictures too.

Although you'll have to go to Denise's blog to see the one of me in the bathroom!

Who Needs a Green Thumb?

Turns out that even though I haven't got a green thumb- I can still keep an orchid alive. I've had this one a whole year! Ed gave it to me Mothers Day in 07. Everyone I've talked to says these are hard to keep alive and very finicky. Which is funny because I've killed every plant I've ever owned- usually within 4 or 5 months. This is the first time it's bloomed 5 different flowers! I think it's absolutely beautiful.

4 Down and 1 To Go

Kindergarten Graduation!

I can't believe it! This is him and his teacher, Mrs. Olson. She has taught all of the kids- 4 Huhtalas in 5 years! I asked her if she was tired and ready for a break from our family. :)

I'm proud of Logan and happy that he finally caught on to school. He didn't start reading until about January so I was a little nervous. Turns out it just took him awhile to "warm up" to learning.

Congratulations Logan!

Any Ideas?

Next month, my RS lesson is "Gifts of the Spirit" from the Joseph Smith manual. This is a fabulous lesson and I'm really excited to teach it. It happens to fall on Mother's Day. And as a favor for all the moms, the men in the ward are covering Primay and YW so that every single woman in our ward can attend Relief Society that day.

All the women in our ward can be a pretty intimidating bunch. Now, I'm not one to intimidate easily and I wouldn't say that's what I'm feeling. I actually feel more honored that this happened to fall on my Sunday. I feel a great responsibility to uplift and inspire these women. They're leaving their stewards in the hands of the men to become my stewards so I want to make it special.

So if you haven't read the lesson, could you? And please pass on any ideas you have on how to present the lesson. Thanks for your help!

BYU Who?

My friend Misty is a Ute fan.

Actually, let me rephrase. My friend Misty is a University of Utah fanatic. There are only 3 things, that I've found that she loves more than the Utes.... her husband, her boys, and her dog. Other than those things, she lives for Ute football and basically anything waving the crimson flag.

She invited me to an Utah vs. BYU gymnastics meet. I thought it would be fun for the girls to go too. So the 3 of us, escorted by the Utes #1 fan, Misty went to the meet. It was so fun! Actually watching a meet live instead of on TV was great! The Utah team was in a totally different league. It was exciting to watch the routines, especially when someone "stuck it". It happened to be the last meet for 3 of their seniors so the stadium was packed and the crowd was great.

We had a great time- it was fun hanging out with my girls and Misty. And I even let Misty think she converted us...... until football season. :)

Damn that Hannah Montana!

So the girls decided yesterday that they wanted to perform again in the Stadium of Fire. Since they have performed before, the dance studio's, owner Tresa was happy to make room for my girls without an audition. We dropped off a check and we're good to go.

Until..... I got online and tried to purchase a Stadium of Fire ticket! They are sold out! Rumor has it, they sold out in half an hour. What? This is crazy? In previous years, I didn't even buy my tickets until May or June. Well, guess who is performing? You got it- Mylie Cyrus! Now for those of you who aren't from around here you may not know that she performed in SLC about 6 months ago. That concert sold out in 6 minutes. So they added another concert night which sold out in about 1/2 day. A lot of these tickets ended up on Craigs List and Ebay for double or triple the cost.

So... Number 1: A lot of these people who bought SOF tickets don't even care about the event. They are not going to go. They are going to try to make a killing on the tickets that they bought. Number 2: I am not willing to allow my 10 and 9 year old girls go to the SOF without me in the stands. I'm not willing to pay $150 per child so that I can sit outside in the parking lot and wonder what they look like on the field.

Had we been prepared or decided to perform sooner we wouldn't have had this problem because the dancers of each studio had a chance to pre-purchase up to 5 tickets. The only reason my girls decided to do it was because the next door neighbor girl decided to and they, being veterans of the event, wanted to support her (the neighbor girl passed the audition but with a few conditions so she needs a little help) I'm proud of them for wanting to support her and do it with her. But now I've got a find way to get into the Stadium of Fire without paying another $300 for a ticket!

Here are my ideas so far:

1. E-mail all the radio stations and Good Things Utah to see if they'll take pity on me.

2. Talk to everyone I know to see if they have any connections whatsoever that can help me.

3. Let the Studio owner know that I need a ticket in case one of the other dancers' mom's has an extra ticket to sell. (I have already done this)

If you have any other suggestions, that would be great!

You know me, I will not stop without a ticket in hand.

Solemn Assembly

I don't typically wax spiritual on my blog (not intentionally really- just don't do it often) but I wanted to mention what an awesome experience this morning's session of General Conference was for me and my family. Usually on Saturday's we half-heartedly listen because we are taking care of Saturday chores, shopping, etc., but this weekend I wanted to make sure we sat down as a family for the sustaining of our new prophet, Pres. Monson.

I felt the spirit so strong when I was asked as a member of the Relief Society to stand up and sustain him. It also gave me a chance to bear that testimony to my children as Hannah and Haylee were asked to stand and sustain him as well. What a wonderful gift we are given to have the Holy Ghost to testify of truth and what a wonderful blessing to have a living Prophet! I'm grateful for my Savior and for the restored Gospel.

And on a lighter note, I'm grateful to have a break from church twice a year!

Water Logged

This was so adorable! I hollered to Haylee to bring me the camera- quick! He loves his baths- in fact I haven't had a kid that didn't love bath time. Anway- thought this was cute so I wanted to share.

April Fools!

So I thought I would do something fun for April Fool's Day. The boys actually thought it was dirt! They should make gummy worms brown- it would be more convincing.

Doggie Periods

OK- I know this is the last thing you guys want to read about but Sadie is on her period again. We have never gotten her fixed because we really wanted her to have puppies at least once. Well, I threw away her "panties" because she had outgrown them and never went to Petsmart to get a new pair. So, Ed and I being inventive, put her in a Pull-up. Well, actually, it's a Good Night-but same concept.

Oh! The things I do for this dog - we love our Sadie Lou!

Reasons for Allowance

I never used to pay my kids allowance. There is a lot of work to be done to keep a home running and part of being a member of a family is doing your fair share around the house. That was my philosophy. So the only way they got paid for chores was if they asked for, were assigned, and completed an extra job.

Surprisingly, no one really asked for these extra jobs on a consistent basis.

I realized that by not giving them an allowance, that I wasn't creating a situation to teach them about tithing, money management and financial obligations.

So we started paying them a weekly allowance that is equal to the amount of daily and weekly chores that they are assigned. I pay them the last Saturday of the month (I can remember it better like this- kind of like a bill).

Well, the boys have been getting invited to a lot of b-day parties- much more than the girls. They each got invited to a friend's party Friday night. All of these parties were getting old. So I put a new rule into place.

If you get invited to a birthday party and would like to attend, you are responsible for buying the gift. I thought this might deter the boys from wanting to go on Friday. Nope. They ponied right up! They each gave me $10 (all the money in their bank) to get a present for their friend.

At first, I felt a little guilty since I don't know any parent who makes their five year old pay for their friend's present. But then I realized that this helps them learn exactly what I wanted them to learn in the first place by paying them an allowance.

So tough or not- this is way we're going to roll when it comes to friend's birthday parties.

(Side note: Isn't it funny to watch how each child saves or spends their money? It's like an inherit trait or something. Haylee is our saver (she has over $50), Alex is our spender, too soon to tell about Logan, and Hannah has figured out that quality matters so while she doesn't save just to save like Haylee- she will save for a specific item rather than buy the first junky thing she sees at Wal Mart.)

Here? Already?

Hannah had her first babysitting job today.

So I was sitting around the house in the early afternoon just watching the first 4 episodes of Dancing with the Stars that I had missed in the last couple of weeks when a woman from the ward called and asked, "Does your daughter babysit?"

I said, "Well, she's 10."

Miranda: "Right. But she seems so much older."

Me: "She is very mature and very responsible and I do leave her home alone with her brothers and sister occasionally and she does a great job but she hasn't really had any official babysitting jobs."

This didn't matter to Miranda. She had called all of the YW and there was absolutely no one available. So I asked Hannah if she wanted to and she said yes. She ended up babysitting about 3 hours for Miranda's 4 year old and almost 2 year old.

She called me 3 times to ask for guidance.

How did I get here? When did I get here? Obviously I know the answers but for the love..... we're here already? It just seems like yesterday that the was walking around in her dress-up high heels and her underwear fully accessorized with a beaded necklace and tiara.

I'm old. My kids are old. And I want time to slow down.

I do feel proud and consider it a compliment however, that others think my daughter is responsible and mature. And I think it's to her credit as much as it is mine.

And now more than ever, I'm trying to "Enjoy the Journey" and not wish it away- because this is it..... I'm trying to enjoy each day I have with Hannah and my other children because it won't be long before they're gone.

Oh... and her and I are going to make a babysitting bucket this next week so she'll be prepared for her next job. At least she is still young enough to think that having her mom help her with this project is a good idea!

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was great! Ed's sister, Melissa, asked him to bless her baby so we went down to Santaquin at 1 p.m. for a luncheon and the blessing was at 3 p.m. We did an Egg Hunt in between. We had several people taking our picture so half of us are looking at the wrong camera but this is as good at is gets.

The girls and I had kind of a black and white theme going on and the boys were supposed to be blue and green. But Ed wore a white shirt since he was doing the blessing. My color scheme obviously looks better when the boys and girls are pictured separately.

We finished off the day with a family walk around the neighborhood (it was beautiful here) and then while the kids played, Ed and I jumped on the tramp together. It was a very fabulous day!

I Fight Dirty!

27

This was on Dawn's blog and I thought it was funny. You have to think of the worst neighbor kid ever on your worst day ever. Then you'll get a high score!