Thank Goodness for BFF's...

OK... so I had a really long and tiring day today, and my last thing to do was to go to Fawn's house and watch American Idol. I was tired, but decided to go anyway. I took all the boxtops with me that I still needed to trim and bag. Fawn had a boysenberry/Old Fashioned Vanilla fro yo with Granola topping waiting for me and then she helped me get all the boxtops done and then I took her to the store... and boy did we laugh a lot there!!! I really needed that laugh time to cope with life right now. So thanks Fawn for being there for me and making life fun when I was too tired to care! I appreciate your friendship!

(my BFF...)

Kids say the darndest things...

Today for FHE we decided to walk to a park and let the kids play for awhile, and on our way home we passed a house that had an ambulance out front... and as we passed, Maddy said, (rather loudly) "Did someone die?" There was someone in the ambulance, so I said, "No, they might've hurt themself or they are sick"... Kids sure say exactly what is on their minds. Like last night at a baptism I went to for a Young Woman in my ward. There was a little girl sitting right in front of me, (I think she is 4)... and during the closing prayer she said to the little boy sitting next to her, "I think about Jesus during the prayer." It was so funny that she said it during the prayer, and kinda loud too... just made me giggle! Kids are so stinkin' funny! We gotta love them!

Happy Birthday My Sweet Macee!!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet little girl Macee! I can't believe she is already 3. It doesn't seem like that long ago I had her. Her personality keeps our family laughing. Her temperment is funny... she goes from giggly to cranky in a blink of an eye. One of her nicknames we have given her is "Jackie and Heidi"... (Jekel/Hyde). Her favorite foods are popcorn, cottage cheese and bananas. She loves the color pink. She would watch Dora all day long if I let her. She loves to dress up and do "ballet". She wants to do all the things that Maddy & Tyler do. She thinks she is just as big as they are. She loves the princesses. When we took her to Disneyland last month, she had to see the princesses. She is definately my princess. We had a small party for her last night and she is the best gift receiver ever. She opened the gift and looked at it and exclaimed, "I love it!" and hugged it and really looked at each thing. It was fun to watch her reaction. She loves to have her picture taken. (She is definately my daughter!) When a camera comes out, she starts to pose. It's really fun! What a delight she is and I'm so happy that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with her. She is such a joy to have in our lives! We love you Macee Addison!

My Special Valentines!

This year we decided to have a family dinner on Valentine's Day... spending time with the ones we love. We invited my mom over for a candlelight dinner and I made lasagna, garlic bread & a salad and we drank sparkling grape juice in champagne glasses. My kids absolutely loved it! Their reaction was priceless. I'm so grateful for my family and I have the BEST kids ever! Who would've thought it would be so fun to spend Valentine's dinner with your kids... but as my sister says, "Why do you need one day to show someone you love them... you should do it everyday. You should take the day and spend it with people (not just one person) you love." So that's what we did. Maybe we just started a tradition in our family.

and dessert was GIANT cupcakes! YUMMY!!!

It's Quiet...

and you have to ask yourself where your 3 yr old is... well... out comes Macee with a cute look at me grin on her face and marker all over! What a crazy girl. I was tired of getting upset, so I laughed to myself, told Macee not to write on herself and went to take a pic. Found my camera battery dead, so I had to charge it enough to get a pic. So, with marker still on her face, we went to pick kids up at school. (This all happened within 5 minutes of having to leave to get them.) So when we got home the battery was charged and she posed for me and here she is, I sure do love her!

Change...

I've been thinking a lot lately about change and then something that came to my mind is the change in me in the past 2 years. In 2006 my only New Years Resolution was to love myself... no matter what. So along with that I also lost about 25 lbs during 2006. Then in 2007 I continued my weight loss journey off and on and lost another 25 lbs by July 2007. I made it to my Weight Watchers goal weight and felt great! (And I still do!)... BUT after making my WW goal, I slacked off and didn't follow the program so well. I didn't gain any of the weight back, but started to feel "icky"... not healthy like when I'm conscious of what I'm doing. My life was crazy from about Nov-Jan and then just recently I got to thinking about my weight and my body and what I want for ME. Sound selfish? No, it's not because if you don't take care of yourself, what good will you be to others? You need to make sure that you are happy so that you can focus on the things that are going on around you and that you have the emotional stability to carry you through whatever life throws at you. Life has thrown a lot at me lately and I've been depressed again, so this past week I re-evaluated my life and asked myself... Why have I lost weight? Who am I doing this for? Is it really important to me, or am I only doing it for someone else? Then I thought about how busy my life seems to be and came up with excuses as why I shouldn't go to the gym or eat good... Well... after much thought and fighting myself, I have decided to go to the gym and eat good and finish up my weight loss... and it's only for me. I know the change I have made in myself will only last if it's for me and me alone. So, my friends and family, if I dog out on something because I need to go to the gym, please don't make me feel bad. Cheer me on... and I will try to find the balance between everything that I have to do, but for now I'm focusing on me and my health. Both physical and emotional. I don't know how many of you know this, but I suffer from depression pretty bad. I use to be medicated for it, but when I got pregnant with Macee I didn't want to take meds, so I took myself off and tried new things to make me "happy". The one thing that I found was that saying no when I really didn't want to do something and trying to slow down my life and not have such a full schedule really helped. I started to hang out more with Fawn (thanks my friend) and that gave me an out and it was something that I enjoyed doing. So... my point to all this rambling (I think there is one...) is that change is good if you are in the right mind set to do so, but don't change for someone, only do it for YOU and when YOU are ready to do it. Change doesn't stick if you really don't want to change. So... I'm ready to keep myself the way I am and be the person I've found over the past couple years. My family is important to me as well as my friends... I love each and every one of you. Thanks for your love and support through my journey of finding ME. I couldn't have done it without the support (especially my hubby CHUCK... love you!!!) of each of you. Here's a couple of pics I wanted to share with you of my before and now pics... The before was Oct 2005 and the other one was today (Feb 13 2008). I don't have many before pics because I hated my pic to be taken, so this is one I found... and now I love to have my pic taken... crazy, huh? And a quote to end... (special thanks to my WW leader for all her support thanks Terri!!!)

"Everything is in the mind. That's where it all starts.

Knowing what you want is the first step towards getting it!"

Mae West

Oh- and one more...

"Persistence is far more important than perfection!"

unknown

NEW HAIR!!!

OK... so I was going to grow my hair out...

but we all know how that ends...

I chop it all off. I'm so glad I did!

I feel so spunky and sassy!

Just wanted to share my new do &

color with you all!

Have a great day!

It's my BFFF's B-day!!!

Just wanted to wish FAWN a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Hope your day is wonderful! You are a very special friend to me! ((chirp,chirp)) Remember to keep smiling and have a GREAT day! :)

Happy Birthday Chuck!!!

Just wanted to wish Chuck a very happy birthday! I'm so glad to have him as my hubby. He is definately very patient with me and is my best friend... He has accomplished so much in his life... He is such a hard worker and puts his mind to whatever he wants to accomplish. So... wish him a happy b-day and Chuck... I love you so much! I hope your day is a great one!

Broken Toe...

Well... we all know that Chuck is a very active person, so when Maddy was invited to a birthday party at Desert Devils Gymnastics Chuck volunteered to take her. I was cool with that... so when they were there... they had been there for about 2 hours and Chuck's legs gave out and he landed on his toe weird and this is the result. So poor Chuck... no ski trip in 2 weeks and no 5k run this weekend... Hopefully he heals good and quick before the March Disney Trip!!!