So Hard

This is why dieting is so hard.  I have done really well this week.  I exercised for seven and a half hours this week.  I thought that was pretty good, about what I did last week.  I definitely ate less.  I was not expecting almost five pounds like last week, but ONE was a huge disappointment.  One pound, I couldn't believe it!  Oh well, I won't give up just yet.  I'll press on for another week and see how it goes.

A cute picture of the kids that we took yesterday.  We took them out for King Kong cones after the girl's play.

A Brave Tale

Daniela and Krista performed in the play A Brave Tale.  They have been practicing all school year.  They were pretty excited and did a great job!  Way to go girls!

Our Little Giraffe

Ma and Pa

Ali and I got called in to meet with a member of the Stake Presidency tonight.  My only guess of what it could be was that they were going to ask us to be a Ma and a Pa for the Stake Youth Conference this year. Sure enough, that's what they wanted.  So, we will be joining the youth this year for 3 days at the end of June.  It will be a new experience for both of us, but I'm sure it will be fun.  We are excited.  We have some amazing youth in our ward, so we hope we get some of them in our youth conference family.

Barbeque Chicken Pizza

I don't know if I can make homemade pizza anymore while I am on a diet.  I like it too much.  Tonight I had Becca tell me how she made barbeque chicken pizza.  It was so good!  Grant and Brandon really liked it also.   I cut up the chicken into bite size pieces.  I baked it in Sweet Baby Rays barbeque sauce.  I made that Almost Like Papa John's pizza dough, spread some Sweet Baby Rays bbq sauce on it, put on some mozzerella cheese, the chicken, and red onions on part of it.  I really liked it with the onions, but I knew Brandon and Grant wouldn't.  It was really good, you should try it.

Another Week

I guess I'll stick with the diet for another week.  I lost 4.8 pounds this week.  I have to keep going and hopefully do just as well this week.  I need to do as well at eating less and exercising.  I do not expect to lose as much weight this week.  At least it has been my experience that I lose that much maybe the first week, but then it goes slower the rest of the way.

$539.50

Over the past few days I have looked through $539.50 in quarters, that's 2,158 quarters!  My mom and dad are looking for a North Dakota and a South Dakota quarter from the Philadelphia mint.  I found some North Dakota ones. I did not find one from South Dakota.  I found plenty from South Dakota, just none from the Philadelphia mint.

Oh, I did go to Curves yesterday, but I did not do the treadmill. I did do it today.  I am excited to weigh myself tomorrow.  Hopefully I have lost some weight.  It would be pretty discouraging if I haven't. We'll see!

Watch D.O.G.S.

I got to go to the elementary school today as a Dad Of Great Students.  Each day dads can sign up to come and spend the whole day at the school.  My brother, John, and I signed up for today.  They had the schedule all ready for me as to where I would be throughout the day:

I got to spend some time in each of our kids' classes.  First was Alex's class.  Today was show and tell so I got to listen to all of the kindergarteners get up and talk about what they brought.  I then headed over to Daniela's class where the teacher asked me to use a staple remover and take down all of the posters that were hanging up outside of her classroom.  Daniela asked if I would play soccer with her and her class during recess.  She said that they always play boys against girls and the girls always lose.  Of course, I chose to be on the girls' team.  It was so much fun going out and playing soccer with them.  Almost towards the beginning of the game, I was playing defense.  I was just outside of our goalie box when one of the boys on the other team kicked it to try to score.  I stopped it with my foot then looked up.  There was no one around me, so I kicked it high and hard.  It sailed over everyone's heads, bounced a couple of times and went into the goal.  The girls cheered.  They were so amazed at the 'awesome kick' and were just so happy that they were finally winning. :)  We ended up beating the boys and I got high fives from all of the girls.

I then went to a different teacher's class where she had me do math flash cards with the students. (None of our kids were in this class).

At lunch John and I were outside playing with everyone again.  We both played on Daniela's girls team and together we helped them beat the boys again.  Daniela told me later that the boys were mad that they finally lost.

I forgot to say that at the beginning of the day, the principal had us go to the office and introduce ourselves to the school over the intercom.  I told them that I was excited to be there, that I loved soccer and nobody could score on me.  After Daniela's class went inside from lunch, other classes came out for their lunch recess.  There was this one hispanic sixth grader who saw me and told me that she would easily score on me.  The challenge was thrown down.  Teams were picked and of course I had to play goalie.  I stopped her first twenty shots.  Then John said something like, "Man, she really wants to score against you."  I told him, "Yeah, and I bet she will on the next shot."  I had to let her score.  So, I did.  She was very happy.

After lunch I went into Krista's class.  Her teacher had to go to a funeral, so Krista's class joined with another one where we watched Bill Nye the Science Guy.  I was Krista's chair for the movie.

Last was Brandon's class.  They were working on math, so I was excited.  I walked around and helped some of the students, which was fun.  Then the teacher split the students into groups to talk about a book they'd started to read.  The teacher gave me a heads up beforehand, so I was also prepared having read the first 13 chapters like everyone else.  It's called Between Shades of Grey.  It's really a good book so far.

And that was the day.  It was really pretty fun.  I enjoyed it the whole time and I'm so glad that I took the day off work to spend it with my kids at their school.  It's something none of us will ever forget.

Unfortunately, this picture was taken after Alex had already gone home for the day.

The Rent Collector

If anyone is looking for a good book to read, here it is.  I really liked it.

Also, I have been doing well exercising each day.  The last two days I have walked on the treadmill for 60 minutes.  I walk with an incline of six and I walk at a speed of 3.7.  I have noticed that even in these four days it has gotten easier, as far as my stamina.  After the first two days, my feet hurt really bad.  I didn't think that I was going to be able to do it yesterday, but I didn't want to quit already.  I took some ibuprofen and that did the trick.  I usually finish my walk by about 9:30, but tomorrow I have to be at the school at that time.  I hope that I am not too tired in the evening to get on the treadmill.  That is the only time that I have to do it tomorrow.  It is much easier for me to exercise in the morning.  We'll see how it goes!

Gotta Do It

I just gotta do it this time.  I have been wanting to lose some weight, but I can't seem to stay motivated.  I'm hoping that by posting a little about it on my blog that it will help me stick to it.  I started yesterday, I'm hoping to lose fifteen pounds by my birthday.  That gives me a month and ten days.  Maybe ten pounds would be better, I really don't know if this is realistically reachable.  I'll just say 10-15 pounds.

My plan is to eat less, drink at least 64 oz. of water each day, and to exercise more.  I have gone to Curves pretty regularly, but I know that I need to do more than that to really lose weight.  My plan is to walk on the treadmill each day.

I've done pretty good for two days now.  I do good eating all day until I get to dinner.  I usually am so hungry by dinner time that I eat too much.  I'll have to try to have a small snack between lunch and dinner, maybe that will help.

I know that some days I'll have longer to walk/run on the treadmill than others.  I will only weigh myself on Sundays, so I'll leave updates of how much I lost.

DAY 1

DAY 2

Home Safely

Grant and Daniela just walked in, home safely from Idaho.  This is a good ending to a good day.  Church was really good today.  I really felt the spirit as people bore their testimonies.  Primary was great.  I love being in there with the kids.  I love working with all of the other leaders in Primary.  I really like our ward.  Everyone is so friendly and so supportive of one another.  It was a fun day home with the kids as well.  A fun, relaxing family day.  Now it's off to bed because the kids have to go to school tomorrow.  Just 33 more school days!  I really can't wait!

Cool Quote

I want to read the whole article, but I haven't yet.  Here it is...For Times of Trouble

Ward Service Auction

Tonight we had our ward service auction.  People donate services or goods and they are auctioned off.  All of the money earned goes to the Young Men, Young Women, and Cub Scouts for their camps.  Last year our ward raised about $2400.  Tonight they raised over $3000.  We do not know the final tally yet.  We bought...

-- A basketball instructor, for skills, shooting, etc.  for 2 hours, by a guy in our ward who used to be a coach
-- 1-2 dozen sugar cookies, delivered, by a lady in the ward, Sis. Sorenson
-- baseboard cleaning, by a cub scout
-- an evening of babysitting, by one of the young women
-- Dinner (with dessert) delivered to your door, by Sis. Sorenson
-- 6 hours of babysitting at once or broken up, by one of the young women

We bought all of that, plus...

It was a fun night.  We bid on a lot of these treats just because no one else had bid on them yet.  We assumed that others would come along and out bid us, but they didn't.  Oh well, it was all for a good cause and the kids loved it.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

He turned 9 today!

Chess, Chess, and more Chess

Ever since Ethan got chess for his birthday, the kids have been playing it every chance they get.  They actually got up early for school this morning.  I got home from Curves and found some of them dressed already and playing.  Ethan is pretty happy because he is on a seven game winning streak.  It is his birthday tomorrow, we'll have to see if he is lucky and can extend his streak to eight, nine, ten....  Daniela says to add that she is on a five game losing streak, but she is still happy.

Homemade Pizza

I made homemade pizza for dinner tonight.  According to Alex it is the best pizza in the universe!  If you google "almost like papa johns pizza dough" that is the dough we use.  It is really easy to make and really yummy.  Next time I want to try to make a bbq chicken pizza.  Becca makes it and says that it is really good. I had an extra batch of dough, so I tried to make bread out of it.  I saw this article on the Daily Herald's website, Flavel Bread.  You'll have to check out his Man Bread.  I tried to make my bread with brown sugar, cinnamon, and chocolate chips.  It didn't turn out too well, it was doughy.  If I try again I'll have to use my regular bread recipe because I know how long I usually cook it.  Maybe it would have come out better.  Who knows!

Putting together the Tetherball!  They had a lot of fun with it!

Birthday Party

Tonight we had a little birthday party for Ethan.  His birthday isn't until Thursday, but Grant will be gone on his work retreat, so we celebrated tonight.  I just love this boy.  He is always so happy and fun.  I made him spaghetti for dinner because that is what he wanted.  Then he opened a few presents.  We got him some of his favorite treats and a chess set.  Krista and Alex wrote some clues and took Ethan on a scavenger hunt to find his last present.  It is a tetherball set that they have at Costco right now.  He plays a lot at recess and really wanted to be able to play at home.  He was so excited!

He wanted either a chocolate chip cookie cake or a crumb cake for his birthday.  We made him a cookie crumb cake...

Just kidding, he knew we were kidding.  Here is his real cake, of course I should have taken a picture before we had eaten some of it...

General Conference

We had a good weekend and enjoyed general conference.  I like to listen to conference, but I really like getting the ensign and reading all of the talks.  I definitely learn more when I read the talks and I can find things to apply to my life, things that I can work on to be a better person.  I have been a little slow finishing up reading all of the talks from last conference.  I looked today, I just have the Sunday afternoon session to finish up and then the Relief Society meeting.  I still have about a month to get it done, since we won't get the new one until May.

We had a good week with the kids on Spring Break.  I am sad to see it come to an end.  Only 38 more days of school though!  I'm sure that it will fly by!

What a Cutie!

Today we got a special treat.  We got to go to the hospital and see Addi!  She is so cute and so small.  I can't even imagine how small she must have been 2 months ago when she was born.  We didn't get to see Jordyn.  She is still hooked up to too many machines I guess.  We'll keep praying that she will improve and hopefully we'll get to see her next time!

April 5, 2013

I got up this morning and made pancakes and tried a new recipe for Cinnamon Syrup.  We all really liked it. You'll have to try it and let me know what you think.

Grant took the day off today.  We didn't think that we would get to do too much because we woke up and it was raining.  Luckily it did not rain too long.  We went on a bike ride to a park and let the kids play for a while.  We spent a little time at another park closer to home and the kids flew these Air Hog glider planes.

They were pretty fun to fly.  Hopefully they will last.  We did have to do some repairs, but they help up with packaging tape.  We watched the Apple Dumpling Gang with the kids.  Grant and I picked the movie to watch and of course the kids complained.  They didn't want to watch it and if it was in black and white they definitely weren't going to watch it.  But guess what?!!  They all really liked it!

Four Goals

I had four goals when I started off the day.

1. I wanted to get all of the clothes washed, folded, and put away.  I did get them put away.

2.  I wanted to help Daniela and Krista get their room switched around.  We bunked the beds and moved them and a dresser.

3.  I wanted to get the peas planted.  It is supposed to rain for the next 3-4 days, so I really wanted to get it done today.

4.  I wanted to make some strawberry jam.  We used the last of ours last week.  I needed to make more this week, so that the kids could take jelly sandwiches in their lunches.  I think that I will make twenty batches this year and see how long it lasts us.  I can't remember how much I made last year.  I bought three containers of strawberries from Costco today.  It made eleven batches.  I will try to make the rest this Saturday while I listen to conference.

It feels good having accomplished all of my goals!

April 3, 2013

We took the kids to the zoo.  They enjoyed it.

Tonight we slept out in the tent in the backyard.  We also had an Easter egg hunt.  We did it in the dark.  We filled the eggs with candy, but also put a glow stick inside.  It was pretty fun.  

April 2, 2013

Today we had a fun and relaxing day.  Look at this cute girl flying a kite!

April 1, 2013

Spring Break!

We are excited to have a week off of school.  It was nice to sleep in this morning.  The kids had a fun day playing with friends and cousins.  Tonight we took Brandon to the Hale Center Theater to see the current play, the Civil War.  It was a good show, we enjoyed it.

March 31, 2013

Happy Birthday Grant!

We didn't know what to get him for his birthday.  We went and roamed around Walmart to find some things.  We ended up getting him some of his favorite candy.

We also got him a BB gun.  Don't shoot your eye out!