Yea, well

I am kind of feeling over blogging. I don't know if I will stop but I am finding life is calm and there is not much to report about. Other than Roger taking the older 3 for a week of fun with family of which I have no pictures, we have just been playing. School doesn't start for us until Sept 10 so the next 3 weeks will be more of the same. Here are the pics of what I have made from the last month.

Its reversible. And it is a cover for my sewing machine if that was not obvious:)

still in the works:

Feeling Different Part 2

I think I must have come off as having a harder time then I really was in my last post. My drowning wasn't the depressed there is no way life is going to get better than this kind. It was the I am sick, my baby is sick, my kids are fighting, I can't get to my house let alone my hobbies until who knows when kind. I am much better now. Levi is going through 2 bad nights of sleep for every good night of sleep so I am a bit on the sleepy side but good things are happening here none the less.

Most of you will recall my spinach smoothie from last year not because it was oh so memorable but because my drinking smoothies everyday for a year came up in conversations. Well, that blasted smoothie! I attribute it to too much weight gain during pregnancy and then the giant child that came forth from that. Not that it was unhealthy as much as it started me out on a sugar high every morning which kept high through out the day thinking "oh- I can eat this cookie because I had spinach smoothie today" and then I would eat the whole row of oreos- in one sitting- on top of all the other sugary things I was eating. I had the best intentions. Really I did. I thought I was eating healthy with a few bad things a day. I never got a cold from all the Vitamin C too and I felt good except for the weight gain.

So then I had Levi and stopped drinking the smoothie because of the orange juice and the other fruit's acid. Then I got an infection on my ta tas that thrive on yeast so I cut out sugar to help the pain. Pain is a GREAT motivator. Anytime anyone had ever said they were cutting out sugar I thought they were CrAzY!! But then I had a great reason to cut out all sugar including natural sugar. I felt better and I lost another 15lbs in 9 days (the first 20 were childbirth and water gain losses). Since I want another baby soon and was told by the doctor that I had to lose my pre prego weight first I decided to go off sugar until after the next baby!

It has been almost 3 months since I have had sugar including most natural sugar. I only eat 2 sevings of fruit and have a little dairy which has natural sugar. Here's what I have noticed

-although weight loss slowed down I did lose that 1st 15 pretty quick and am still losing
-being hungry is not as bad because I am not hitting a sugar low too
-Levi's fussiness went away- might have happened anyway though right?
-my belly fat is smaller than it has been in years
-its no where near as hard as I thought it would be
- I HAVE SELF CONTROL!! Who knew! Now I just need to transfer that to other things like spending money :)

This week I also switched to eating only whole grains instead of refined. We will see how that goes. I guess my diet is basically like the second phase of South Beach Diet.

I also came up with a new spinach smoothie recipe that has a lot less sugar and is hopefully healthier. If you know better than me, please tell me! I won't pretend to know what I am doing. Sometimes I regret not continuing with the Dietetics major I started on. Darn Microbiology! I tried taking a picture this morning but couldn't wait to drink this "Blueberry Milkshake". My kids love it

1 cup frozen blueberries
1 1/2 cups skim milk
2-3 cups spinach
snippings of wheat grass
1 frozen banana (I just invited this sugary fruit back in my diet for smoothies)
1-2 Tblsp Fage Greek No fat yogurt (from Costco)
1/4 cup protein powder (unless Rory and Simeon are sharing)

Feeling Different

I don't feel much different from this:



but I have felt different lately. There was some drama going on in different areas of my life that effected me. Growing up there was a lot of real and pretend drama and I did not know how to survive without it. Even in college I still created drama. When Roger and I married, I swore off drama and for the most part that has been successful. So when drama came from different angles, I wanted to run far far away. Instead I dealt with it the best I know and became a peacemaker as best I could even though I was standing ground on my convictions. Vague enough? I don't like drama. Roger says that makes me more mature. Imagine, me mature. You are laughing aren't you?

Something else seems different too. I am feeling less able to express myself through words, spoken and written. I am less willing to say much for fear of sounding like a big dork. I wonder if I have always sounded like a dork and did not know it and am just now realizing it or if I have digressed with time. Its not that I am not talking as much as usual. Its more in writing, speaking to large groups, or when there is something really important to say.

Also, I reached a point of feeling like I was drowning this last week. Hero Camp took everything I had two weeks ago, then I came down with a cold and Levi came down with roseola this last week. There were days where I held him all day and he woke up every 2 hours at night. The big kids still needed to do things active and engaging and the house was out of order for me. I did not know how I was going to do anything. One night in the middle of it, the Bishop knocked on the door. I am so relieved to say no kids were fighting, the house was descent(except for the dinner dishes and the little piles I had not been able to clean up yet) and we were reading scriptures. Yep! What better thing to be doing when the Bishop comes in. It made me think about how the important things were happening in our home. Unfortunatly, it did not help wth the drowning feeling. Some of you know what is helpomg. The rest of you will find out later.

Thanks for listening- I needed it.

She's Mine!

We are so glad this beautiful girl is in our family. She turned 7 this week. She is definitely a tough girl who can hold her own in this house of boys or even out on the field at park day. She is developing a romantic side so keep your boys hidden! She is a daddy and mommy's girl. WE love this one!


For her birthday we went to the Seal Life Aquarium with friends. One of her presents was not being made to brush her hair before leaving the house.




Then we went swimming with Roger. It was Levi's 1st time and he loved the pool and a little dip in the hot tub.

WE LOVE YOU RORY!!!

He's Mine!

All this 5 month. . .er 4?. . .3 month old is mine. Mine all mine. This tongue. . .

is mine. Sure Roger and the kids borrow him

just about anyone can hold him

most people can even get a good laugh out of him

but I claim him. I love him. All of him.

Other Fun Activities

We've been swimming, Free movieing, parking, lagooning, and

observing at Griffith Park Observatory

climbing at La Brea Tar Pits

and beaching.

Good Fun!

Our 4th

This is the 1st year in a LONG time we have been home for the 4th. While I was making outfits for my kids. . .(Pop, Bang, Boom and skirt)



. . .my kids were decorating their bikes for a neighborhood parade. I sent them out with materials and did not see the finished product until the morning of.




Not much to them huh? Well, I got the time wrong on the parade and Josh ended up leaving before he could be in it. Was he sad? NO WAY!! He flew to his cousins house all by himself. I barely got a hug out of him. I have been impressed that he is calling on his own from there. I did not even expect that.
This was their first parade. They had fun but I have been really impressed by city parades that I have been seeing in blog land. Oh well.

That night our church had a Celebration with steaks and bands playing. My kids loved dancing to the music.



We watched the fireworks close the church building. They were not so close to freak out Levi but close enough to enjoy. He has been having loud noise issues the last week or so so that was great!

Project Central

Oh what do you do in the summer time? Lots of fun things!! There has been a lot of crafting going on here too. I am super proud of Rory for finishing projects even when they get hard. Here she is making her own skirt. Are you surprised??

If you know her well enough, you will also not be surprised that she wouldn't let me do her hair or put on a matching shirt for the pictures.

This next project is what I started taking pictures for in the 1st place then they turned into Father's Day gifts. My mom's birthday was last week and I made her another picture bag. Her 1st picture bag was 4 years ago and was the second bag I ever made. It fell apart at the seems.





Simmy wanted a bag too and he "helped" make it.
Complete with outside buttons on the outside pocket that he decided needed to be there.


Rory destroyed her room to decorate it again- I don't think I knew JT was in the picture when I took it.

Complete with a fort that has multiplied into 3 forts since I took the picture. I borrowed some craft books from the library that they have been reading and making things out of. One is a girl's book on sprucing up your room.
Button fever for me. Most are magnets. Some are clips, necklaces and earrings. We have been using the magnets on our non schedule summer schedule board and having been giving some as gifts.


There has also been a lot of musical instruments made using another library book as a source. Here they are showing off one instrument.

We are having a blast!