Bravo to the Children

Tonight Makenzie and Carson had a piano recital and graduated from Let's Play Music, a three year program.  The program really digs in and teaches music theory, so they songs that they performed were their own personal compositions.  I'm so proud of them; they did a great job.  McKay also started the program with them, but this year I have had so much trouble getting him to practice and participate, that I finally decided to just focus on getting the other two more self-sufficient on the piano.  At the same time, I wanted McKay to see that I was "taking him out of piano" rather than him "getting away with not doing it".  Then, hopefully, I'll have more credibility next year when I focus on him doing his piano.  The bonus of the kids doing this program is that it has made Keaton, while not excited about playing the piano, at least willing to start taking lessons again and have a better attitude about it.  It is too bad he didn't work at it all these years, because he really has a good ear for piano, and learns it quickly.

We went out to the club to celebrate afterwards, which was good for me, because I did a yard sale this morning, then the dentist for the kids, so I wasn't on the ball for dinner.  Okay, yard sales are two thumbs down!  I only made $80 for all that effort.  Not doing it anymore.  I had a ton of stuff, too, because one of my big goals is to cut down on our belongings.  A great thing about doing a yard sale on Friday is that my kids were in school.  Otherwise, they are crying about what I'm getting rid of, or trying to buy everyone else's stuff, and I come home with more than I left with.  As it was, we still bought 3 stuffed animals, waffle iron, 3 brooms, and a coffee table.

It has been a long day!

What I'm reading

I've just finished reading a great book, Born To Run.  It is a book about many things, including running form, ultra running (100 mile races), native populations that run as a lifestyle, the tarahumara indians of Mexico, the evolution of running shoes to the point where they are actually causing injury, barefoot running, interesting characters, veganism, proper running form to prevent injury, and having fun running vs viewing it as a chore.  It has definitely helped me be a better and happier runner.  I had the chance to meet the author at a book signing/lecture on Monday night, and really enjoyed that.

I bought some Vibram fivefinger shoes, and I really do not enjoy running in them, but maybe on grass?  and after I have built up the correct muscles for it?

I am also now reading Les Miserables.  In leu, I guess of spending $1350 to take the family to the musical :(.  It is a slow read, no getting around that, but interesting.  Whenever I read, I tend to branch it out, and research the topics I might come across that I am not as familiar with as I'd like to be.  So, I'm looking a bit into the French Revolution, and all the changes in government that followed.  It's a very interesting time in history.  My brother introduced me to the Khan Academy, which is a series of online lectures and games, free, to teach mainly math.  The math is from the very basics to calculus and statistics.  They have 2100 videos in all.  They have small history sections also, including a short series on the French Revolution.  So, I've been watching those.  It really isn't the same period as is covered in Les Miserables, as the French Revolution is 1789 and Les Miserables is 30-40 years later, but interesting anyway.  Question:  after all the blood of the Reign of Terror, when did France really become a stable democracy?  Answers differ, but not until sometime between 1870 and 1958, depending on how you define democracy!  So, how blessed is America to have enjoyed our freedom for as long as we have!

More To This Life

Today I went for a run, and this song, by Stephen Curtis Chapman, has stayed on my mind:


Today I watched in silence as people passed me by
And I strained to see if there was something hidden in their eyes
But they all looked at me as if to say
Life just goes on

The old familiar story told in different ways
Make the most of your own journey from the cradle to the grave
Dream your dreams tomorrow because today
Life must go on

But there's more to this life living than dying
More than just trying to make it through the day
More to this life, more than these eyes alone can see
And there's more than this life alone can be

Tonight he lies in silence staring into space
And looks for ways to make tomorrow better than today
But in the morning light it looks the same
Life just goes on

He takes care of his family, he takes care of his work
And every Sunday morning he takes his place at the church
Somehow he still feels a need to search
Life just goes on

But there's more to this life living than dying,
More than just trying to make it through the day
More to this life, more than these eyes alone can see
And there's more than this life alone can be.

So where do we start to find every part
Of what makes this life complete
If we turn our eyes to Jesus we?ll find
Life's true beginning is there at the cross where He died

He died to bring us more to this life living than dying
More than just trying to make it through the day
More to this life, more than these eyes alone can see

And there's more than this life living than dying
More than just trying to make it through the day
More to this life, more than these eyes alone can see


It's kind of a melancholy mood I'm in, thinking about how each day tends to be just a repeat of the same routine, the same issues and the same struggles.  I guess the challenge is to find joy in the struggles, and in each of the small pearls that come along as well.  


But, in addition, the question remains, "what can I do to make my life more meaningful?"  One of the classes that I went to down at Women's Conference was about serving in our communities.  It was inspiring to see all the things that people are doing and can do to make a difference in our communities.  Things that I could be doing, if I would just break out of my daily routine.  I'll let you know if I come up with anything great to get involved in.  


Oh, I've got to tell you this story.  At Christmas time, one of my friends told me that there was a humanitarian center at the local DI.  Not only can you go there to make hygiene kits and so on, but you can get fabric and other items there to make quilts to donate.  I was very excited about that, and decided to get some fabric and have my family tie a quilt at our Christmas party.  So, I told my mom what I was doing, then called the DI.  They said the humanitarian center was only open on certain days, and I couldn't get the fabric before the party.  So I called my mom back, and she said she had some extra fabric she'd bring.  I didn't have any batting, so she said she'd bring that, too.  I called to borrow our ward's quilt frame, only to find that it was a PVC type that I didn't know how to use.  So, I called my mom back, she said she'd bring her quilt frame, the yarn and the needles.  We set up the quilt, and since my brother Spencer is an amazing quilter, we tied that entire quilt in 10 minutes.  Then my mom said she'd take it and bind it and find somewhere to donate it.  Wow, what an amazing service project I did.  LOL.


  

Hair Decisions, Hair Decisions

Okay, so I'm thinking about cutting my hair, and maybe getting lighter highlights. So, give me your votes yes or no, and also if you've ever gone from long to shorter, did you regret it? My hair grows very slowly, so I don't want to mess up. What say you?

Women's Conference

Ouch. Instead of going to bed tonight, McKay came downstairs and raided the fridge. He broke a jar of syrup on the floor, and I wasn't too happy about having more mess to clean up. I was very surprised that he ran right away to get a towel and start cleaning it up. I started sweeping, and before you know it I had a big chunk of glass sticking out of the bottom of my foot. McKay ran and got a wet towel, dry towel and bandaid (complete with salve) and fixed me up. Before he got back, there was about a 3" puddle of blood on the floor, though. Then my friend called, and while I was sitting on the counter talking to her, the blood soaked through the bandaid and dripped all over the floor again. It was like I was bleeding to death or something. It's stopped now, finally. haha

Last week was a lot of fun. I took off Thursday and Friday to go to a Women's Conference down at BYU. Wow, I'd never done that before, and wow, a lot of women go. There were so many great topics that it was hard to choose which classes to go to. My favorite was one on how to prepare your children to go on a mission, and to handle the MTC, too. Wow, very discouraging to hear about all the problems and different reasons kids are going home now days. Anxiety, depression, not being able (willing??) to handle hard work, and so on. Well, I can say at least Keaton can cook and talk to adults, even if he can't handle being away from mom. :) At least we know what we need to work on, right?

I told Dave that my least favorite subject right now is Relief Society. Do you think every VT message for the whole year will be on Relief Society? They all seem the same to me. So, several of the classes at BYU were on Relief Society, which I carefully avoided. Then Julie Beck gave her address, and what do you think it was on? Yes, Relief Society! She talked for well over and hour, and it was actually a great talk. She implied that during Christ's famous visit to Mary and Martha, he could well have been setting up an ancient Relief Society! There you have the two roles of Relief Society: Service and Spiritual learning. Fun idea anyway.

I'm happy to say that I seem to have adapted to my new running style and shoes, and my sore calves are feeling great. I ran 6 miles on Saturday, and part of it was pretty fast (and part not). I'm very excited--and this is why I was bleeding to death on the phone with my friend tonight. I recently read this book called "Born to Run" which, among other things, promotes a new way of running with minimal "zero drop" shoes or barefoot. Anyway, the author is coming to a running store in Orem tomorrow to do a running clinic, shoe discussion, and talk about the book. I signed myself and my friend up to go, and we were just discussing the details, such as whether we were too much of running rookies to go run with the author. Anyway, it is going to be so much fun!!! Even if we do miss Family Home Evening!!!

Okay, Heidi, I got a clean eating book, and I was wondering if eating this way might help my kids to settle down. They have been so rowdy lately they are going to drive me to drink. Or something. But, eating clean is so difficult while living in the world. I was discussing this with my friend tonight. She is interested in looking into a very simple, vegan diet, because it was discussed in the book as something many long distance runners eventually assimilate. I just want to cut out the junk and eat nutritiously. But, then someone asks you to come over for lunch, or you go out to dinner with friends, or your kids are ALWAYS getting junk at school, from teachers and friends. It is very difficult to eat a healthy diet in today's America. As far as keeping the kids diet sugar free--well. We have some friends who are kind of pioneerish. There kids have never been to a movie, have no spending money, and they never have sugar at home. So, when they go to their friends homes, they literally empty the candy bowl into their pockets. My friend told me that she has seen the son actually loading donuts from Young Men's activities into his backpack. haha. No wonder my ice cream is always gone. haha. Yes, it is hard to control a diet enough to see if it makes a difference in behavior.

Like I said, I've been running a lot more, even though the weather hasn't been cooperating. I hate the treadmill, but I have even run on it a few times while watching a movie. Then I sit down and finish the movie. :) Remember Serendipity and You've Got Mail? Great movies. So, now I have to look at my race schedule and see what I really want to do. Goldie, guess what? My friend and I have decided to come up and do the TOU 1/2 with you. Yeah, that will be so fun. I decided to not do the Hobblecreek, because I won't have much time to run this summer, and I'd be mad if I got a slower time on it. So, we're going to do the Logan 1/2 and then full later on! :)

I have a bunch of pictures from Spring Break I want to post, but I can't find the cord so I'm still waiting....

Good, Better, Best??

We still had 6 ski tickets left, and no takers, so I decided to take the kids skiing one last time to Park City. It sounded like a good plan. I was concerned because the weather didn't look promising, but we went anyway. When we got to Park City, it was snowing pretty hard, but we went anyway. The good thing was, there was close to an inch of new snow. The bad thing was it was ice underneath. The other bad thing was the new snow was extremely sticky, so it was hard to keep up your momentum. Makenzie took off her skis and walk a few feet, and had about 3" of snow stuck to the bottom of her boot. The other bad thing was that the visibility was poor. The other bad thing was that it was really windy up on the top, and surprisingly cold for April 7th. After 3 runs, the 3 younger ones, not to mention mom, had had enough skiing for the day and year. Makenzie couldn't seem to stay on her feet, and fell down again and again. So we left.

McKay got into a big snit because he didn't get the candy he wanted, and poked a hole in the seat of the car with a stick. So, I told them we couldn't go out for lunch and we just ate leftover pizza when we got home. I think some of the kids (!!!!) might be a little spoiled.

My alternate plan for the day was to go to the temple and then to institute. Sounds like it might have been a better plan. Less stressful and certainly less expensive. The institute lesson was the first 1/2 of the Easter lesson, and I hated to miss it. And, I won't have time to go to the temple later this week, or next week either.

But, Keaton said it was fun just to spend the day together as a family, and it was memorable. (I wanted to take some pictures of us being blown around in the blizzard, but my hands were too frozen.) Besides, although we skied downhill 6 times and cross-country twice as a family (I cross-country skied 10 or 11 times total myself), we probably won't do much skiing anymore, because Dave simply can't do it. It really damaged his knees this year and he regrets going. So, maybe it was the best choice after all.

Welcome to Kansas

We are experiencing the worst wind I've seen in a long time tonight. Our greenhouse is totally destroyed. We'd have to start over from scratch with it. So sad. Also, our little wood playhouse (that we use for garden tools) blew right off the terrace and down by the pool. It is in pieces now. So, so sad.

Dave's back is out. With all the work our children require (and yes, I do think many of them are extra challenging, we are in parenting 505) it is so hard for me to have Dave sick or injured so much of the time. But, we still have to get it all done. I think we'll have to cut back to smaller yard/smaller house for me to deal with it all. We'll see. HOPEFULLY, all this will pay off eventually, but I'm sure not seeing it now. Of course it is not all drudgery, but I tell the kids we would have more time for fun if they would be more diligent and organized about getting their responsibilities done. :)

Bountiful Baskets

On Saturday, we tried out a new option for produce. It's a co-op called Bountiful Baskets. You pay $15 (I guess that can vary up to $25, but we paid $15 Saturday) and get a basket of produce. You get 6 fruits and 6 vegetables. With the way food prices are going, I thought I'd give it a try. I know we eat a lot of fresh produce, so I got 2 baskets, plus an add on of heirloom tomatoes. Umm, it is a ton of food. We got apples, oranges, bananas, watermelon, strawberries and mangos; lettuce, zucchini, asparagus, tomatoes, bell peppers and green beans. I'm very pleased with what we got, especially at the price. You can also add on tortillas, breads, stuff to make salsa, and so on. We got extra food in ours because Dave helped sort everything out. It is all volunteer, and they try to use smaller and more local farms, so that is what helps keep the costs down. Of course, it's not really local stuff this time of year! If it sounds interesting to you, look at Bountiful Baskets and see if they have a site near you!

It's a Miracle

Wow, I didn't realize that it had been so long since my last post! Well, here's the thing--I've got to figure out how to add pictures to make my blog more interesting. And then take the pictures, I suppose. What a great weekend. Of course, Friday we went up to the wedding. It was such a nice day. It was fun taking the kids too Aggie Ice Cream. My kids are so indoctrinated to USU, especially Keaton. Getting married in the Logan Temple is even more of a tradition, I wonder who will break it??? I was definitely very tired by the time we got home, though. Saturday was wonderful, and gorgeous weather again. I went jogging (7 miles) and met some friends while out, so that was fun. It was lucky, too. They told me about their pact to not eat any sugar, snacks, white flour, etc. in April, except on Easter, and convinced me to join them with one caveat: we would go out to lunch and maybe have a little treat for my birthday on the 17th. When I got home, Dave had gone out for doughnuts and a bunch of treats for conference. So, I couldn't share in the treat fest. Yeah!! Conference was great, it was one of my favorites recently, and not only for the talks. The kids are getting so they listen better, although they are still so talkative its sometimes hard to hear. But, we watched all the sessions together, and I not only didn't fall asleep, I didn't even feel tired! Usually I crash during a few talks on Sunday, but I heard them all. We decided that service was a big theme. What other themes do you think there were?

We are usually pretty good about not doing work on Sunday, and keeping the Sabbath day holy, but we did quite a bit of work yesterday. First, we had terrible winds on Saturday night, and much of Sunday, along with snow and cold temperatures. Our greenhouse got ripped up pretty bad, so Dave had to fix it yesterday afternoon or we would have lost all our little garden thats been growing out there for more than a month. Hopefully it will recover.

The other thing is that I've been working really hard on, I guess you'd call it spring cleaning, and I want to finish before we leave for spring break Friday, so I scheduled to have the carpets cleaned Monday morning. So, we had to get all the of the furniture moved and the carpets vacuumed yesterday. Along with all the cleaning and scrubbing, we've also been patching the walls and touching up the paint, so things should look a little better around here after we are done.

Shall we guess whose bedroom was the worst? Keaton's, of course. But the kitchen is the biggest job, and that is still ahead of me. Whew.

What goes down must go up

I forgot to mention in my previous blog that I also got a call from Makenzie's teacher that she had a really rough day on Thursday. I guess some girls did some things she didn't like, so she got really mad and said mean things, and even kicked one little girl on the shin. So, her teacher wasn't too happy, and said she often used cruel words, berated others, etc, and so she was struggling socially and so on. It was very disheartening. She kind of unloaded. I guess when you are upset with someone, you just see the negatives. I wrote back and addressed the issues, but also followed with the social aspects, because Makenzie talks as if she has a ton of friends at school. Her teacher responded that she does, because she is so fun, but they are mad at her a lot. Makenzie IS fun and she also can be very kind, especially to those in need. She did apologize, and I'm sure very sincerely. She does feel bad when she is unkind. She cried herself to sleep at 5:00 Thursday night after we talked to her about what her teacher had said. She is a good girl at heart.

Dave and Keaton got in a big fight on Friday night, and he went to sleep on the couch at 8:00 and even slept through a movie while I sat by him. I don't know why my kids are so tired and grumpy lately. I hope they get over it.

Saturday we went skiing at Park City. They are having the best deal. It is called startnow, and it is ski lessons for $25 (normally $215). But what makes it really great is it includes a free all-day ski pass and the ski rentals. AND, you can get the deal even without taking the lesson. You can have up to 4 total. We couldn't get into a lesson today, so we just used one of our days and skied. We were worried about how the little kids would do, but we skied all the runs together, and they did great. They struggled on the steepest black diamonds, but were awesome on the double blue, so it was a good day. It was sunny and about 44˚ at the base. Lunch was $84. I didn't think the meals were too overpriced, but when you have 5 drinks at almost $4 each it adds up fast. We forgot to take a camera or even a phone, so we have no pictures yet again.

Tonight Dave and I went to a Valentine's day dinner dance at the club. It was an elegant and delicious buffet. They had caviar, oysters, Kobe beef, Filet, tons of dessert options, and bananas Foster. We danced one (1) dance. haha. Then we went to the store and ran into tons of friends, caught up on their lives, and I came home to start (!) preparing my sharing time for tomorrow. Which is why I am on the computer at 11:30 pm, so Good-night!

Fighting with Discouragement

Monday was a fun day, I guess. Carson, Makenzie and McKay had the day off school, so I took them skiing at Park City. Dave was supposed to, when he scheduled the lesson, but he decided to go to work, so I had to take them myself. It was a 9-3 lesson, so I went skiing myself, too. The Park City ski resort is one of my favorites, but I have to admit, I did not have a fun day. First, I was by myself; second, it was really windy up on top; third, I was feeling nauseated all day for some reason. So, I skied a few runs, sat in the lodge, skied a few, had lunch. Lunch was good, though. The Café had a really nice salad bar, and a good bison chili. I still felt sick, though. When I went to pick up the kids, they begged me to keep skiing with them, and take them up Payday. I wouldn't, because I was tired and it was really starting to blow and snow. By the time I got Makenzie's boots off, her eyes were glazed over. Walking out to the car, I noticed that she was literally walking asleep. So I took her hand and led her to the car. She slept from 4:00 until after 8:00 the next morning.

On Tuesday, we had piano class. Everyone seemed like they were doing so much better than my kids. They sure knew the CD songs better, because we never have time to listen to it. I left feeling like we really needed to spend a lot more time on piano every day. Then, I got a letter from Makenzie's reading teacher, saying how behind she was on her reading, and outlining all the reading activities I needed to start doing with her everyday. Altogether, it was very discouraging.

A Busy Week

What a week! It just flew by so quickly. Keaton started karate on Tuesday. It's kind of funny, because he is just a beginner, so he is in a class with kids mostly 7-9. No one even close to his size. He was going to quit, but I told him if he wanted to do karate, he was starting so late there was no way to get around starting with little kids. So, he decided to do it. Carson and McKay might also. Makenzie tried it, but she was so disruptive I was mortified. I can't imagine her in a ballet class. Yikes. The biggest problem is, we just don't have the time to fit karate in. Hmmm. Between math tutoring, math homework, reading, chores and piano, we're already so busy. Of course, if the kids were more efficient with their time, they'd have more free time.

Today Dave took the kids up to Park City for ski lessons. Normally we wouldn't go there because it is too expensive, but they are having a special of $25 lessons, which includes rental and passes, so we decided to do it. Since the lessons were only 3 hours, we decided not to ski ourselves, so Dave took them up himself. He says it was a zoo. There was a race going on, and it was packed. He ended up having to park at the high school and take the bus in. No one could tell him where the ski school was. It took him 2 1/2 hours to park, get rentals, find the school and check them in to the class. However, they can have 4 more lessons at the $25 price, and on those days they can ski all day. So it will be good.

I went to Sundance to cross-country ski. It was so fun, of course! It was a different experience than the first 2 times I went, because, first, I can ski better and knew the terrain better, so I was able to go on a lot more trails in the 2 hours I skied. The other thing, though, was that the quality of the snow was so different. It was much more sticky; in fact, in some places it would stick to the bottom of my skis and I'd have to keep knocking it off. It was snowman snow, not powder. The good thing was I could go straight up the hills, rather than having to herringbone. And the downhills were slower, too. So, I learned to deal with some new conditions. Awesome. I do need to learn to dress for cross country, though. I alway wear way to warm of clothes, then just sweat.

The kids have Monday off, so I'll have to downhill with them. Bummer.

Tomorrow we have Great to be Eight. I'm the one presenting all the kids. We have 11 getting turning 8 this year, and 2 of them are mine. It's kind of bittersweet, they are getting so big. Who made the decision to have Great to be Eight and Priesthood Preview during the middle of the SuperBowl?? Obviously the Bishop doesn't follow football. Neither do I, but I bet some people are going to be irked!

FHE: Carl Bloch Exhibit at BYU

Yesterday started off less than great. I've had a cold for a few days, but thought I was getting better. Yesterday, though, I was just so tired and kind of dizzy, so I ended up going back to bed and sleeping until about 1:00. Then I just had time to do a quick clean (usually I clean for hours on Mondays) before picking up the kids from school.

The kids played so nicely, but didn't get any work done, which wasn't good because we had plans that evening: going to the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU. We rented and iPad for everyone, which not only gave us a lot of insight to the exhibit, but also kept the kids very well entertained during the hour we were there. The paintings were very beautiful, and some of them familiar from the church's gospel art pack, church magazines, etc.

Afterward, we went to Red Lobster because we had a gift card (thanks for returning that to us Heidi, it came in handy). The kids wanted so much to go to the BYU Creamery, but I guess Dave thought someone might see him there (at BYU gasp), so he said no. The kids all cried and cried, but you know how Dave is. Actually it was really packed there. The kids were so well behaved; no one crawling under the table or walking around. (Well, Carson went to the bathroom twice, does that count?) McKay even ordered for himself. Wow, that's twice in a row that they haven't humiliated us. Maybe we can start taking them out more often. Actually kind of three times, Makenzie and McKay were very good when I took them to McCool's during Carson's Cotillion last week. That was good food, and interesting menu. I got a roasted beet salad with walnuts, yum.

In regard to Cotillion, they told him last week that he could bring a guest next time, so he's been trying to decide between Lily and Jennifer. We told him he can't take either girl, he's not old enough to date since he's only 9!

We have Great to be Eight next Sunday. Our two youngest will both turn 8 this year, isn't that crazy to think about? Wow, we are so lucky and blessed in all our children.

We got report cards recently. Some of the grades were not the best, but we are happy to see Carson and Makenzie finally at grade level in their reading! That has been a lot of work. Now we need to get the math up there. Keaton came soooo close to a 4.0, just 1% off in one class, but did make high honor roll. Yeah. McKay is doing so awesome in all his classes, too. Hooray for all the Pierce kids this term!

We've been trying really hard to eat healthy, for McKay's sake mainly, and it is starting to pay off. We've really seen McKay start to eat better, not so much the vegetables, but the main dishes. He really likes sour cream, that is for sure. I tried the Boeuf Bourgignone again, and it turned out really nice. However, Makenzie was just gagging into her plate because she saw me putting the grape juice in, and just didn't think that grape juice and roast would be good together.

Today I did the Get Ripped 1000 with Jenny again. It is so much more fun doing it with a friend, but not so fun lugging all the weights over there in 10˚ weather. Yesterday, by the way, I slept in my bed!!

Best Day Ever, Best Day Ever

Today was such an awesome day, and 4 out of 6 of us agree. Today, after beating down much objection from everyone else, I took the family out cross-country skiing at Sundance. Of course, Dave thinks anything other than downhill is for hippies or baggie-pant-wearers. And Keaton (having tried cross-country himself last week) had convinced the others that it was hard and boring. I had some reservations myself, as it does require some coordination and EFFORT. I envisioned a 20 minute circus of flailing arms and legs, falling, shrieks, tears, and a hasty exit as the reward of our effort and money. However, we were delighted, first off, to find that all of us could ski, passes and rentals included for a mere $65! The gear was in excellent condition and fit well. Wow, what a deal! Next, it was a gorgeous, glorious day. Then, all the kids took to the sport like they'd been doing it all their lives. They could do the flats, the ups and the downhills like old pros! And did they work hard. Everyone was shedding coats, gloves and hats as fast as they could. No one complained when they tumbled; they were enjoying it so much, they just jumped up and continued. We found an open meadow area with several loops, and spent the afternoon skiing and playing. The kids are much braver (=Faster) on the downhills than I am. Dave took some pictures, which I will add when I get them downloaded. They want to join a cross-country kids club! Yeah, loving it.

Miso soup for supper tonight, from the fine Cooking "Fresh" cookbook. The kids kept calling the Tofu "cheese"! Haha, at least they were eating it!

Exercise yesterday: Run 4.5 miles. Bummer part: My friend Stacy told me she ran 13.1 miles on Tuesday and that she's lost 7 lbs. Rats, I've got some work to do.

Exercise today: Cross-country skiing, my new favorite sport!

What I'm Reading

When it comes to books, it seems like things kind of go in cycles with me. I either have nothing interesting to read (in which case I fall back on Jane Austin or Sharon Shinn, my two favorites, or perhads Miss Read), or I have so many things I go back and forth between them. Right now, though, I have only two books I am reading. One is the Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Resolutions that I already told you about. The other is called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, by Donald Miller, the one who wrote the blog about writing a story, not making resolutions. I really love this book. He talks about how he slowly comes to realize that, although he writes interesting books in which things happen, his life is just a series of boring, disconnected events: go the the store, type, watch fake lives on TV. Finally, his roommate tells him his life is a blank page, just start writing. So, he slowly and deliberately begins to write a story about serving other through various charities he starts/gets involved with. He introduces other people he meets, who have written exciting, meaningful stories with their lives. Its very thought provoking.

It is interesting, too, that Dave just happened to have a meeting with a client, whose company is called In Our Quiet Way, that helps orphans in Kenya. Is it coincidence that these too things (the book and the service opportunity) came at the same time? Maybe it is time we started to write a more meaningful story. Two great books about people writing stories of service are Three Cup of Tea, and Little Princes. Clearly, however, Dave and I cannot go to Afghanistan or Katmandu with our children. It is just to dangerous. But, I'm sure we can find ways to get involved that our children can safely do. It would make them less self-centered, I hope.

On the menu: Chicken and Snow Peas. We had a spinach salad last night. I should have got a video of Makenzie gagging or McKay washing the dressing off his sopressata. haha.

My workout yesterday consisted of: shoveling the snow off the sideway and drive way. You laugh, but it burns a lot of calories, plus counts as weights as well.

Today I did the Timesaver by Cathe again, along with the Pilates section of Brand New Butt plus Pilates by Janis Saffel. I just love her, she is so cheery. Just squeeked that in, and have to run get the kids from school. Let the fun begin.

Wild afternoon

I really, really don't like days when I have tons of running around, and that seems everyday now. Here's what is on the schedule for Carson tonight: Piano performance class, math tutoring, music class, pack meeting, basketball practice and Cotillion, which is in downtown SLC. The times overlap, and he can't do all of it. I really want him to do Cotillion, though, because it is on table manners, which he needs. It also makes him feel good because the girls all love him, he's so sweet. But, I'd be gone from 4:30-8:00, and no one else would get anything done (remember those 200 math facts, that won't happen without mom home!) Hopefully as the day goes on I can see more clearly what needs to be done.

On the exercise schedule: Get Ripped 1000 by Jari Love. I love it, but it is hard, so I planned to do it with a friend so I won't just sit around, typing on the computer, avoiding it. Oh yeah....

How it all turned out....

My kids are adjusting to having such a loooong morning to wait before church, so today wasn't bad at all. It was fun actually. But, about the pot roast. Well, I decided to try a modified Boeuf Bourguignon. Makenzie told be she HATES boeuf Bourguignon. So do I, because I can't remember how to spell it. Nevertheless, I made it and put it in the oven. I couldn't do it full on because it takes several steps, and I would be at church, then at a friend home for her son's mission farewell. He is going to the Everett Washington Mission. I couldn't think of anything to say other than it would be really green. So, anyway, what the kids ended up having for dinner was plate after plate of desserts. I'm sure McKay had nearly 20 things. I'm surprised he is still alive. We stayed until six, by which time the Pot Roast was pretty hard. Dave ate some anyway. He said the parts that still had some squish were very tasty.

We are still a bunch of sugar addicts, while the veggies rot in the fridge.

Then Keaton insisted that I make him the bruschetta with the slices of French bread I had hidden away. I told him I was making bruschetta with prosciutto and oranges. He still wanted it. I made it. He ate 4 slices. I asked him if he would have tried it if I told him it was toast with ham and oranges. He said no. The names were what made it sound interesting. He loved it.

I'll make some more tomorrow with a tomato capresé topping.

I have some cucumbers I need to use, so I thought I would make some marinated cucumbers for my kids lunches. I found a recipe. It had these ingredient: ACV, EVOO, Agave, pink Himalayan salt, and hemp seeds. Wow, after thinking it over, I decided I have ACV, EVOO, and I've seen agave at Smith's, but the pink Himalayan salt and hemp seeds are not going to be found at the corner store, I'm thinking. The next recipe down called for tofu cream cheese. I think I need a new website.

I'm very excited about tomorrow. All my kids will finally be back in regular school, regular hours. We'll just pretend that the New Year actually starts tomorrow, what?

The exercise plan: A cycle class, then yoga fusion. Very fun!

Cindy

Cooking Without Ingredients

Arrrgh! Has anyone every tried cooking without ingredients? Its a situation that happens everyday at our house, and it is pretty challenging. It is not that I don't buy ingredients. It is just that they are gone before I have a chance to use them in a recipe. Frequent past situations include the chocolate chips being gobbled before I can put them in muffins, and limes gone before I can make a Thai coconut or Mexican chicken soup. Last night's crime occurred within minutes after I arrived home from the store with a particularly nice loaf of french-type bread, nice and wide, and dusted with Italian spices. I told the kids they could have a piece, but emphasized that I had bought it for a special recipe, so not to ruin it. The next thing I know, they had stripped ALL the soft insides out of the loaf, leaving only the crusty outside. I looked into the gaping cavity of the loaf, wondering how to make a delicious bruschetta, when there was nothing to hold up the topping. So, I sliced and broke up the crust, planning to serve it with a nice olive oil/balsamic vinegar dipping sauce for lunch the next day. After pouring out the oil/vinegar, I reached for the bread. Umm, kids, where are the bread chunks. Oh, we ate them all, they were soooo good. McKay also threw one of the lemons that I bought to have on hand if I needed it in a recipe, into the blender with blueberry Kefir and apricots, for a very sour smoothie. Luckily he peeled it first. C'est la vie, I guess. Tonight we will have pot roast with roasted carrots and parsnips. The kids are really going to regret their picky eating and junk food addiction over the past few weeks (months more like.) We're going to start having a lot more veggies going on here!

Still waiting for church to start. I hate 1:00 church, it seems like the day is twice as long.

Ode to Winterim

In many respects, today was yet another wasted day. I was gone from 8:00 until now, 5:00, with the exception of a shower at 10:00. So, where did the day go? Basketball game, Winterim presentations, and grocery shopping. Even though it was rough, with all the kids (-) Dave, at Maeser for Winterim for the bulk of the day, I have to tell you what an absolute fan I am of the Winterim concept. What a great opportunity for kids to have 3 weeks each year to devote to a special interest, career training, or trying something they wouldn't normally do. Here are some of the projects:

Humanitarian service in Peru/ or Mexico

Learning about Navajo language and culture

Learning to be a Vet

Learning to be a Piano technician

Learning about the holocaust and other atrocities

Ballroom dance

Comedy

"School of Rock"

Death March--Computer programming on a deadline

Scuba diving

Set design and other aspects of drama

Debate

College life

Independent Science Projects

Japanese Language and culture

Kenpo Karate

Digital Photography

Vocal training

Cake decorating

Fashion design

and of course, the BEST: Winter Sports, Survivial, and Service!!

I can't tell you how pleased I was with this course for Keaton. It was so much more than skiing. He learned to be more independent. He learned to service those with disabilities. He learned to SNOWBOARD! and cross country ski. And, he learned to crop and enhance digital photographs to put together a great slideshow, which he got and A on. Yes, I'm very pleased. We're hoping to do a humanitarian trip to an Indian Leper Colony next year. Any one else want to go? Either that or Surfing, Service and Protecting our Oceans!

Obviously, I did not get in any exercise today :( but I haven't had time to eat much, and I "just said no" to the bake sale. Mainly because all McKay ate yesterday was 3 donuts, 3 cups of hot chocolate and a bag of yogurt pretzels. All while turning his nose up at the creamy potato/sweet potato soup. Go figure.

Learning something new!

I've read a lot of articles from the Eat This, Not That authors, and I've actually learned a lot. I really enjoyed this article:

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/eatthis/15-worst-health-diet-myths

It was informative, and surprising in some instances. For example, I learned that increasing your potassium intake was more effective in lowering blood pressure than decreasing your sodium!

I also like their articles comparing restaurant items. It can be astonishing to see just how many calories are in a meal--often over 2000! Wow!

So, why are the French thinner than Americans, but eat richer food? It's largely because they eat smaller portions. In addition, they also use fewer processed/fake foods and more fresh, real ingredients. Eat real butter, sour cream and cream, rather than margarine, and fat free products. Read the back of Daisy Sour Cream compared to any other brand. It is just cream, that is it. Any other sour cream has 15-20 ingredients, with reduced fat/ fat free having even more. It is the same with cottage cheese. Yuck, what is that stuff in there? I need Mike's recipe!

Eat real!

A Lovely Day

Today was one of my FAVORITE days EVER! I had told Keaton I would take him up to Sundance for his last skiing day of Winterim, and let him leave a little early. I didn't want to down hill ski, and I've really been wanting to take up cross-country, so after I dropped Keaton off, I went to the Sundance Nordic Skiing Center. I was worried it would be too cold, but the temperature was so nice I just wore my inner jacket and some light ski pants. Since I didn't know how to cross-country, I got a 1 1/2 hour lesson for only an extra $4! Wow! I really learned a lot of techniques during the lesson, and really enjoyed it. After about 45 minutes, we came to a sunny meadow. Although the trail was crisply groomed, a very light snow of 3/8 to 1/2" crystals had fallen over the track and everywhere. It glittered like diamonds everywhere. I finally said, "This is so beautiful", and my instructor said he had been thinking it was unusually beautiful as well. I ended up cross-country skiing for about 2 1/2 hours through some beautiful aspen groves and valley overlooks. Cross-Country skiing is excellent exercise. My instructor said that Cross-country skiers have the more efficient oxygen exchange rate of any group of people. I wish I had had my camara! I was exhausted when I was done, and got home just in time to shower and pick up the kids from school.

I was so pleased that McKay cooperated with his MATH better. I've been trying to teach him to add nines by "sucking" one from the addend to make 10, then adding the remaining addend. He acts like he doesn't understand, then (on 6+9) says, "Oh, I just need to suck four from the 9 and add it to the 6 to make ten, and there's 5 left, so 15. ARRRGHH.

Oh, then I had to go play basketball for 1 hour. I made a basket, though. I hope I sleep well!! tonight.

My Projects

One of the things I started to do last year, and want to continue this year, is sewing/knitting/home organization, and other type of projects. I am in the middle of an apron project right now, which I wanted to show you today, but I just couldn't get to it. I've been doing a lot of running in the past 36 hours. First, I cleaned and organized MOST of the house, but I kind of got bogged down in Keaton's room. I didn't get around to my exercise until about 1:45. Then I had to quickly shower, run carpool, take Carson to scouts, take kids to piano, do homework, go to Relief Society, try to get McKay to do math, go to bed. Get up, run kids to school, try to get McKay to do his math, run him to school and check him in tardy, drop Keaton off at carpool, go back and get him because his carpool was sick, take him 25 minutes to Maeser, run to the gym, get home, shower, go pick Keaton up from Maeser, pick up McKay from Sorensen's (nice fireplace, Jenny, I saw it before you!!), take him to Louis', run fliers over to Keaton and come home to help kids with homework/piano/reading. whew! Since Keaton obviously thinks I have nothing to do all day but run him around or pick him up when he is bored of skiing, so he wants me to just take the day to ski with him. Hmmm. Well, I guess that my kids ARE my main projects right now, and they are definitely works in progress. But, Makenzie did awesome on the piano today, and also reading Boxcar Children, and Keaton made high honor roll, so thumbs up keep on soldiering on!!

So, since this is partly a fitness blog, mainly to motivate me to get exercising again and maybe motivate someone else as well, here's how I did yesterday and today:

Yesterday, I didn't have enough time to do the awesome DVD I had planned, but since I had committed to doing something, I did a workout from Cathe's Timesaver DVD. 22 minutes of step cardio and 16 minutes of weights, for about 320 calories burned. Often, I think that if we find we don't have a lot of time to exercise, we just don't do anything (I know I fall into that category). I'm trying to be more flexible, and if the scheduled workout doesn't work, find another way to fit something in, even if you just walk around the sofa 6 times and do shavasana on the floor for 3 minutes. I really recommend Cathe's Timesaver DVD. It has 5 workouts, all under 50 minutes.

Today, I ran into trouble again because of my last minute trip to Maeser, so I was running late, but I made it to yoga (15 minutes late) then did a spin class. I don't usually do doubles, but I really need more yoga now that I'm getting older. Whew!

To gain an education

Wow, rough morning. I had two of my children who were stressed about going to school, worried about what the day would bring. McKay actually got out of the car and headed off, then ran back and climbed in crying, saying that his stomach hurt too much to go. I knew he wasn't sick, so I parked and talked to him. It turns out that he has a new math teacher that he thinks is really mean. It is interesting how maybe one sharp word or negative comment from a teacher can make a child fearful of their class for the whole year. Anyway, I walked him in and convinced him to go to class, then went in to see if I could find out more from the front office. It turns out they have a lot of kids having the same issue, which they think is mainly from the change in teacher, not so much the teacher herself. So, they are going to keep an eye on him.

It reminds me of when Keaton was in 2nd grade. He loved his teacher SOOO much. But, if he ever had a substitute, he'd freak out! He couldn't handle the change. I think a lot of us have trouble with change, even as adults. That is why so many new year's resolutions fail. One part of our brain wants to change, the other part fears it. I did manage to read that article last night, Living a Good Story, and Alternative to New Year's Resolutions. In this article, Donald Miller suggests that we set out to tell life stories, rather than set goals. He says that a story involves a person that wants something and is willing to overcome conflict to get it. He sets the following steps for writing a story:

1) Want something. If we don't want something, we feel unmotivated. As Alberta Jones once said, "I hate not having a hair goal." That is one great thing about being young--you have all these built in goals, or deadlines: mission, finishing school, getting married, etc. As adults we could have pay down our debts, get into shape, improve our relationships. So, the first step is to decide what we want.

2) Envision a climactic scene. How do you want the story to end? Did you know that JK Rowling mapped out the entire story of Harry Potter from the beginning. She didn't know what all the details would be, but she planned the climactic events from the start, and wrote towards them. Steven Covey's 2nd habit is Begin With The End in Mind. What do you want the end point of whatever you are trying to achieve to look like? If you have that clear, each step along the way becomes clearer too. Donald Miller recommends that half your goals or stories be relational, because they are the most fulfilling. So, instead of just saying lose weight, make a plan to run a race with friends, or have a contest with a fun ending.

3) Create an inciting incident. This is something that creates upheaval in the person's life. So, in order to return to stability, you have to solve the problem, ie reach your goal. When you invite someone to join you at the climactic scene, or let everyone know about it, you really need to do the work to get there, or you will be embarrassed. One man commented that he didn't have the courage to tell his girlfriend that he loved her. So, he made her a jewelry box with I Love You painted on the lid. Then, he couldn't give her the gift without the message.

I have some stories that I want to write this year. Some of them are fitness stories. You can see my list of races I am planning to do. Now, you are all invited to join me! I did all of those races last year, except St. George. I wanted to do the Top of Utah, but I was a little reluctant, so I recruited Jenny to do it with me. It was a lot more fun that way, and I knew I couldn't back out at the last minute. I also knew that Dave would be comparing my time to my previous St. George time, so I needed to try to beat it, and I did. So, now I am going to work on my fitness by doing an awesome weight DVD.

Finally, starting the New Year!

Well, it may be January 17 already, but I feel like I am finally ready to start the new year. Not only did Keaton not go back to regular school on January 4th because of Winterim, but my other kids didn't go back because their school flooded over the break, and they were still repairing the damage. So, although I did manage to exercise 4 times last week, I spent most of the week reorganizing the house, and doing some projects in the kids rooms. Then, of course, today was a holiday, when we were supposed to go skiing at Park City, but didn't because it was so warm and had been raining so much we figured the snow would be a mess. So, tomorrow, we'll start the diet, exercise, and generally get back on track for the new year. I've been reading a book for the last few days, a Chicken Soup for the Soul book called My Resolutions. I've never read a Chicken Soup book before because I've always considered them fluff for the American masses, and I wouldn't call it life changing, but it is interesting. Now I'm going to go to bed and read an article I printed out by Christian author Donald Miller, called Living a Good Story, an Alternative to New Year's Resolutions. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'll have to get up early tomorrow. We've decided to move scripture reading to 6:15 am. This is about the 10th time we've made that decision, and we just can't get ourselves up, let alone the kids. Have you ever heard beginning readers read the scriptures? Now try that when they are half asleep. But, night time is just too inconsistent, so to the mornings it goes. I also have to make lunches. I was so tired of the junk they got at school for lunch, literally candy from the snack shack, that I finally bought an assortment of lunch boxes, mostly bento style like laptop lunch boxes, a cute little stacked box by yoo'ee, and a couple of lunch bots. So, tried them out last week, and they were very excited about. Makenzie says all her friends raved about the yoo'ee box, but of course McKay only ate the "treats" out of his lunch. One day he didn't even open the container with the pepperoni and cheese in it because the pictures of vegetables on the lid scared him off. As he said, "I didn't want the veggies". He always wants me to pack a popcorn/pretzel mixture, because that was what the picture on the package showed. Think like a kid, I guess. I'll try to post photos of the lunch boxes (or anything else for that matter) after I figure out how to do it.