My toxic friend

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a love/hate relationship with sugar. I love to eat it, and I hate what it does to me physically. Not only does it add unwanted mass, it also causes me fatigue and pain. That should be reason enough to stay away from the stuff, right? Wrong. I have gone without sugar many times for short spurts (my longest was 6 weeks), but I always cave and make it a part of my life again. I have also tried making rules for myself, such as eating a treat once a week. That hasn't worked well for me, either.

When I made it to the halfway mark of my pregnancy (last week) I decided that for the health of my baby, my mental wellness, and to give my booty a fighting chance at continuing to fit into my pants the rest of my pregnancy, that it was time once again to fine tune my eating. I felt so great after just a couple of days of eating more healthy choices, and then I remembered my ongoing battle with sugar, and decided I needed to change how I think about it. I think of sugar as the enemy, and so far that mentality has failed me time and time again. As I was washing my hands yesterday I had the thought, 'you should think of sugar as your friend'. Then a light bulb went off and I had an AHA moment. My thought continued...'but not as a good friend that you can spend lots of time with, more like a toxic friend that you can only handle in small doses because they don't bring out the best in you.' So, that's my newest attempt at keeping this sugar addiction under control. I have let go of the anxiety, and will not shame myself if I eat a treat. Rather, I will enjoy its company when I choose to spend time with it, and be ready to say goodbye after a brief visit.

The Dentist

Yesterday was the day.

On the dentist menu: Cleanings for the oldest three, sealants for Sean, and a dreaded cavity filling for Olivia.

As the kids came home from school Olivia announced that she had lost a tooth during reading time. She excitedly wondered, "What if that's the tooth that needed the filling?" (yeah right, I thought). "Maybe", I responded (doubtfully), and we headed out the door.

They were placed in their respective rooms, and I spent my time traveling the office between three exam rooms and the kid area (to check on David) to make sure all children were settled. As I was in Liv's room with her I joked with the hygienist, "Liv lost a tooth today, and she's hopeful it's the very one that needed the filling." She checked the computer and started laughing. Her reply? "You know what? It is!" Liv couldn't keep from smiling. (Neither could I). I couldn't believe her good fortune. The kids all got A's for brushing, and slightly less great marks for flossing. Sean is the unlucky one this time. There was a little bit of decay in between the teeth that will need to be taken care of. Because of that the sealants were postponed until next week when the cavity can be filled. We headed to the store to stock up on all the goods that will hopefully motivate us to take excellent care of our teeth.

I heart our dentist's office. It is less like a dreadful experience and more like visiting friends every time we go.

Grown up girl bonding time

Monday we were able to attend the NieNie benefit concert (Mindy Gledhill and the Thrillionaires). AnneMarie and Eva found out about the concert, and thought it would be fun to have a girls' night! They were right! We had a blast. We ate dinner, then had plenty of time to browse at the silent auction before the concert started. We bid on a few things, and came home with one (Olivia still suspects foul play on the part of the grandma who snatched the pink daisy necklace at the last minute--both of the girls said the auction ended with our bid, but when we went to claim it, it was gone. I sure hope her granddaughter loves it!). Anyway, there was no way that could have dampened our spirits! The concert was so much fun! The Thrillionaires were hilarious (and I found an old college friend on the stage with them!!!), Mindy Gledhill was amazing, and there were some great surprise visitors--Ryan Shupe and David Osmond (not together). We laughed, we cried, we danced, we sang, we went home happy. Thanks for the fun!

The grown up girls

and their moms

all of us in the lobby checking out the goods from the silent auction

The girls with Mindy Gledhill

The rules of the game

I woke up yesterday morning to the sound of a made up game. I still don't quite understand the object of the game, but it involved throwing a ball at each other and giving points. Here's just a sampling of the dialouge:

Warren: (Throws the ball at Sean) Yes! Two points for me.

Sean: Nuh-uh. It doesn't count. You hit my pants. (Proceeds to throw the ball at Warren) Yes! Two points for me.

Warren: Nuh-uh. You hit my pants.

Sean: That doesn't count. They're not even real pants. They're pajama pants.

Oh. I see how it works.

Double Digits

Where did the time go? When I became a mother, I was told continually how fast time goes. I now believe it, because I blinked and my oldest child turned 10! Holy cow. If the next ten years goes by this quickly (which I have a sneaking suspicion it will) I will be a mother of an adult before I know it! I am so proud of my girl. I expect too much of her, don't tell her how much I appreciate her, and get frustrated about silly things far too often. But honestly, I don't know what I would do without her. She is such a big helper with her little brothers, makes us all laugh, and has lots of talents. She recently made a really big decision about school. She handled it so well, and as I watched her struggle to come to a conclusion, I grew more and more confident that she will be a responsible adult and a contributing member of society--which is my main goal as a parent.

We only do birthday parties with friends every other year, so this year was a family party. She opened one present before school (a new outfit), I packed one present in her lunch (jewelry), and the rest (more clothes, perler beads, and lip gloss from her brothers) were saved for after school. (David was still napping)

Darin adopted an idea from my friend, Christa, and takes flowers to Liv's school for her birthday. I think she felt pretty special! (How old is she again? Oh yeah, 10--thanks Darin)

After presents (I know we did it a little backwards, but we had a packed evening, and I wanted her to be able to enjoy her presents) Darin and I took the boys to Renae's house, then took Liv to Olive Garden for dinner.

(Here she is doing a move that her good friend, Brooklyn, does)After a yummy dinner we went back to Renae's to collect the boys and have cupcakes and ice cream.

Here is Darin attempting Brooklyn's move:

(She was holding her breath because she blew out a candle while she was laughing)

I hope she wished for time to slow down!
After cupcakes and ice cream we loaded the fam in the car and went to see "Bedtime Stories". We really liked it! On her way up to bed she got one more present...a new bike (which she will have to enjoy in a month or two).
Happy Birthday, Liv!

Back to Reality

Our Christmas break was filled with "nothing days". Nothing days are the days that the calendar is empty and you get to choose how to spend them. We loved staying up late, sleeping in, playing games, playing with friends and cousins, and celebrating the most wonderful time of the year. We are now attempting to get back on a schedule...a task that is made more difficult by the bone chilling weather that begs us to stay in bed on the early mornings. We are slowly getting back into the swing of things, and starting to appreciate a schedule again. Here are some highlights of our break:


A visit from Santa

Watching Livvy's presentation at school. Warren and David saw the snowmen and knew it was a perfect photo op (gotta love David's boots):

The candy windows in downtown Provo:





Seeing these guys (still loving the pj's, Megan)


LOTS and LOTS of sledding... (David didn't make it to this particular sledding trip. He was nice and warm at Grandma's house down the street. It is still unclear whether he likes it or hates it. Every time the kids got their snow clothes on he said, "and we're not going sledding, o.k?" A few times when he went down he said, "Let's do it again" but mostly he went down covering his eyes and saying "and now we're done". We'll see what next year brings.)




Capacity: 2 (or as many as you can squeeze on)





The record for distance had been set and remained in tact until this group went:

Gingerbread house fun. The artists and the finished product:

Christmas Eve brought dinner at Uncle Gordon's house,

new jammies:

Watching Elf and sleeping in the family room:


Anticipation of what would fill these:


A tree that finally had presents underneath:


Reading the Nativity story from the Bible, cookies for Santa, and very little sleep. Sean had heard that Santa comes at midnight no matter what, so he was determined to stay up. At about 1:30, and after many reminders that Santa certainly doesn't come while you're awake (I sang that line of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" several times), sleep finally overcame his determination, and he fell asleep long enough for the big man to make his deliveries.
Christmas morning (at 5:14am) brought scooters from Santa (David also got a little potty. He's still un-enthused), board games, a few small things to open, then the big surprise...A Wii!!! To say that the kids were excited would be an understatement. We spent all day in our pj's, playing the Wii and board games, napping, snacking, and enjoying family togetherness. It was an amazing Christmas.

My family always has our family Christmas parties after Christmas, so we still had that to look forward to. My parents host a fun bowling party, followed by pizza and gift exchange. Our family is big enough now that we need larger facilities, so we have the party at a church. We played speed, did a relay race, played "Do you love your neighbor", and opened our gifts. This year the theme was "hats" (in years past we've done pajamas, socks, and sunglasses). Here is our little family with our new hats:


With almost everyone here (Rich's family was sorely missed), we spent lots of time with siblings and cousins. There is always a little bit of a let down when all the get-togethers are over, but all good things must come to an end, right? It was time for a schedule for our family. We sure enjoyed it while it lasted, though!

A Sneak Peek

Darin's nephew is an ultrasound tech, and said we could stop by sometime for a peek at our baby. We went last night, and the baby definitely cooperated....looks like Livvy will remain the lone princess at our house! She is handling it like a champ. It was so fun to see him wiggling all over the place, to see a strong heart, and an overall healthy baby. We are very grateful. We are now on the search for another boy name. Any suggestions?