Saturday, August 28, 2010

Just a little different

I have survived one week of the workout Insanity. I can honestly say that I don't believe that I have ever been so sweaty after a workout. The eating has gone well. I still plan on eatting like doing "Body for Life" I need to be able to have at least one day a week that I can eat whatever I want. I am a lot more aware of what I am eating even on my off days. One thing I did finally try was to make scrambbled eggs with just the egg whites. They look a little different, but once I got past the look of the eggs they tasted the same. I have been surprised that it has been easier at times to not eat sweets, but the one thing I really want is ice cream. I guess that must be my Muir blood running through my body.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Back to school

It is hard to believe that summer is over and the kids are back to school. I will be honest. I am one of those Mom's that loves to have my kids around, but is very pleased to send them off to school. The house stays cleaner and I don't have to play the role of referee. Bonnie has struggled a little. The first day the kids were gone she told me, "Mom I want to play with my brother or my sister or a friend. I can not play with my Brother or Sister, so I will have to play with a friend. I guess I will be setting up some play dates so one little girl isn't so lonely.

Hannah LOVES school. She would have been happy to go back a few weeks before she had. too. She likes her teacher and is discovering that she knows more of the kids in her class than she thought she did. Hannah's example has rubbed off on Connor. He was really excited to go to school this year. However, I was not surprised that he was done after day one. He thougth is was pretty cool to get to pack a lunch for school and then was excited for a chance to eat schoool lunch. I only let them eat on pizza day because I think they will actually eat the food. The idea of my money being thrown in the trash is very hard for me.
Bonnie has one more year at home with MOM. I hope we can find some fun activities to do together and strengthen our Mother Daughter bond. More than anything I hope we don't drive each other CRAZY!


I love my kids. It is fun to watch them growing up, and I look forward to hearing about their many adventures they have ahead of them this year.

Sometimes Dreams Do Come True

There are some things in life that you dream about doing. Ever since I was probably about twelve I have wanted to do some kind of video. That may sound silly to a lot of people, but for some reason it is something I have always wanted to do. As I have gotten older this dream or goal whatever you want to call it has not gone away. A couple of years ago I decided to get brave and go audition for a musical with the Lehi Art Center. I was very lucky to have a couple of friends to join me on this fun little outing. Singing is not one of my strongest talents, so this was very much out of my elemint, but I was more than happy to dance. I felt very lucky to part of the cast for the production of "Oklahoma". I had a lot of fun getting to know more people in the Lehi area and had the opportunity to be involved in a couple of different productions. With each production I hoped that some new experience would open up to me. Just a couple of months ago I had a chance to direct the Cinderella play. I was thrilled to again have been given a new opportunity to develop my talents. I recently auditioned for the play "Arsenic and Old Lace" I did not get the part. However, was very pleased that I had been considered out of three girls. I could not have been more happy to simply know that I did a really good audition.

Last week a friend of mine sent me an email regarding a company that was putting together a video. They needed a lady between the ages of 25-35 with dark hair with a daughter between the ages of 3-5 with dark hair. I was thrilled that my friend took the time to let me know about it. I figured nothing may come of it, but it was worth a try. I got the pictures together that I needed, with the help of my fabulous husband, and sent off my pictures and resume. They had said that they would reply back to everyone that responded and I was delighted that they followed through. They told me that they had received my email and would forward everything onto the director. I was more excited when they called me and said that they were considering me for the part. They came to our home. They also needed someone with a modern looking home that they could do the shoot at. They were pleased with the house and with us and I got the job!

Yesterday they came to do the shoot. I was very nervous. I have had a little experience in front of cameras, but this was a little different. Bonnie did very well. She is a fun little girl with a beautiful smile, but for this film there were some shots that she was supposed to be sad are upset. That was a little more tricky for her. Our family all got to participate in one or another. Paul was good sport. This is really more of my thing, but it means so much to me that he was willing to help out when needed. I was most worried about a scene that I needed to basically have a melt down. In the end it looked good. The crew seamed very pleased with everything, and I am so excited to have hopefully opened the door to more opportunity in the future.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Preschool gymnastics

I am starting up gymnastics again for kids 3-5. I have two classes available. Wednesday 10:00 am and Wednesdays 11:00 am. Classes are 45 min long. Classes are $5.00 a class paid monthly. Let me know if you are interested I have very limited space.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Insanity

It is hard to believe that summer is really coming to an end. My kids are delighted to be going back to school. It makes it a lot easier on me if they are happy about going. I think we have all been looking forward to getting back to a schedule. Paul was able to take three weeks of work this summer. We did lots of camping, family get together and a couple trips to Lagoon. We did well to schedule in a few days for house cleaning and laundry. I must say it made me a little nervous about Paul ever retiring. I kind of like my time. He told me that he can go golfing whenever I need some time of my own.

The other thing I quickly realized was that eating fun food for three weeks is NOT good for the waist line. After three weeks I was very ready to get back to working out. I have taken a few months off and my pants are just not fitting the same. I started back into Body for life, and decided that I had better get serious about what I am eating and working out if I really want to have the body I see in my head by the time I turn thirty. I have been told for years that getting the wait off only gets more difficult after turning thirty. I had decided a long time ago that I would not be having any more children after thirty and if I worked hard I could look good at thirty. In hopes that this will allow me to more easily stay in shape as I get older. I have been doing well for the last 2 1/2 weeks, and then my little sister told me about Insanity. I am not one who watches much TV, so I had not heard of this new workout program. It sounded difficult. However, I also know that if you want quick results in a short amount of time the program has to be a bit crazy. After much thinking and debate on getting money involved in my efforts of getting in shape I decided that this was something I really wanted to do. Being a money savy individual I was able to get the program off KSL. Allowing me to save money and have the program sooner.

Day 1- The fitness test. I thought I was going to throw up! I pushed myself hard. I feel like I did well, and I did not die. I am off to a good start. I am very happy that I have had these last two and half weeks to get myself into a bit better shape before starting this program. I worry a little about my knee, but I figure as long as I don't push myself too far the results will be worth it.

Day 2- Plyometric Cardio Circuit Honestly I could not keep up with the entire workout. I took A LOT of breaks, but again I survived. My body is very sore. This tells me that my muscles will be getting stronger as long as I can keep it up. I was a bit worried about the length of the workouts 45 to 60 minutes long. I typically do a 20 minute workout. After doing the workout I realize why they are so long. He takes you through a great warm up (Feels like a workout), stretching, workout, stretch. It is so much more like taking a class at the gym than a DVD workout. This is a sixty day program. I don't plan on blogging every day, but I think it will be good for me to be able to look back and see my results.

My goal is Thirty and Fit. Well, you know like a ROCK! A girl can dream.

Friday, August 20, 2010

One Big Fish

As our children are getting older we have come to realize how important it is for to do some little family vacations with just us. It is fun to build memories that are special for us to share with one another in year so to come. Last year we took our kids on our very first camping to just with our family. We had a great time, so we decided to back to Yuba Lake. It is a great place to fish if you don't care too much about what kind of fish you catch. We catch and release, so any old fish is good enough for us. We simply enjoy how it feels to bring a fish in. We probably caught close to 30 fish, but we got ONE BIG FISH!
I was so excited to see this fish out of the water. I was a little unsure about holding it, but I figured it may be a long time before I ever get a big fish again.




Hannah had a small barbie fishing pole that she got when we first started fishing when Hannah was four. Well Hannah had caught a couple of fish with her pole on this trip. Paul helped her get everything set up with the pole leaning on a small rock. Hannah was playing close by when all of a sudden there was a tug on her line. Paul told Hannah to hurry to her pole before the fish swam away with it. She reached out to grab the pole and sure enough the pole splashed into the water. Paul was right behind Hannah and ran into the lake in hopes to reach the pole, but the fish was too fast and the water was not very clear. Hannah cried that the fish will forever have to swim around dragging her fishing pole behind. Paul tried to comfort her and explained that lots of times fish are able to wiggle off the hook. Who knows what came of the fish, but Hannah was still not too happy to have lost her fishing pole to a fish at Yuba lake.

Hannah had a wonderful time. One of her favorite parts was putting the fish back in the lake. She would hold on to the fish and slowly loosen her grip until it was a enough that the fish quickly swam away.

Connor did very little fishing, but he sure had a fun time being a little fish. After pulling that big fish out of the water I sure had a difficult time swimming. I am much more comfortable with swimming pools. You can see what is in the water and they check the chemicals every few hours.
The girls had a good time turning themselves into statues.




We really enjoy roasting marshmallows.


We had a beautiful view from our campsite and we had a fabulous time together.

I don't think a mother finds any greater joy than seeing her children smiling and playing together. I am sure that she finds no greater frustration than seeing her kids fight and yell at each other, but such is the balance of life. Opposition in all things allows us to better understand happiness and joy.

Friday, August 13, 2010

The Big house

Paul's parents decided to try something a little different than camping this year. We rented a house they found on the Internet in Midway. It was kind of funny when they told us about it. Paul and I had actually been there before. A couple of years ago as Relief Society President in my ward I put together a retreat. A lady in my ward's family had a big house in Midway that we could all enjoy. It was fun to go back with our family and have fun together.




Our family got to stay in the blue room. At least that is what we named it.I had to take a little trip to "The Store" What store "The Store" The kids and I had a great time with this fun little game. Hannah and Bonnie were great they went back and forth for a while.
Hannah: I am going to the store.
Bonnie:What store?
Hannah: The store
Bonnie: Oh, Walmart
Hannah: No The Store
Bonnie: Oh, Costco?
Hannah: No! The Store!
Bonnie: Oh! THE STORE! So, we all got a chance to go to THE STORE!Hannah had a wonderful time learning a new craft from her Aunt Jenny.
We had fun out hiking around.



Back at the house we spent some time outside playing in the water. Bonnie LOVED the slip n slide.Connor really enjoyed getting people with the spunges.
Paul had a good time with his water gun.Bonnie was happy to get a turn too.
We spent some time out sitting on the porch talking with each other.And cooking over the fire pit.Connor was happy to still have some time inside playing the Wii.
We went out to see a natural hot spring that is in the area.
It is fun to find out about different activities that it might be fun to take our family back to another time.
Last of all we went and got hamburgers and ice cream Who could pass up a place that was voted the best Burgers in Utah. I don't recall ever voting, but the food was good.

Not every moment was a happy one. Such is life, but we had a really good time spending time together .