Losing the Pregnancy Weight . . . I can do it!

My baby is 6 months old and I am reclaiming myself!
I am not too old.
I am not too busy.
I am not too lazy.
I will make enough time.
I will call sweat beautiful.
I will glory in sore muscles.
I will tell my children to be patient while I sweat it out to my favorite work out videos.
I will put a star on my calendar for every day I work out.

January has been a good month for me. Exercise clears my head and somehow makes me a more patient person. I think it is because I feel like I am doing something good for my body.

I worked out 4 times a week in September and October and then quit somewhere in October and December, but I am back.
I have a plethora of videos since I can't leave my house for the gym and I am certainly not paying for a babysitter.

So far I have worked out 3-5 times a week and I glisten quite beautifully. Good bodies come with hard work. I have to keep telling myself that story:) I am going to Hawaii soon and I want to feel comfortable in a swim suit.

My videos of choice at the moment:
The Biggest Loser Cardio Max followed by Zumba Flat Abs
The Biggest Loser Power Sculpt followed by Zumba Flat Abs

I also walk to school to pick up my kids a few times a week.
I think I will start posting some of the work out moves so you can do them too.

Word to the wise . . .

Spray your perfume onto your hairbrush before you brush your hair . . . it will leave you with just the right amount of smell:)

Try not to love this face . . .

Check this out . . .

My Cousin in Law, Heidi has this cute new blog called, "The Mom Uniform" In it she discusses finding your style, or reclaiming your style, in a life filled with fishy crackers and diaper changes. It is really cute and worth checking out!

Baby It's Cold Outside

Not here, in Mesquite, but on our trip to Lehi . . . Brrrr, it was so cold outside. We thought this would be better than our annual trip to Cedar City for sledding because we would get to do it everyday. Boy was I wrong. It was way to cold for sledding everyday. The wind would chill us to the bone. It took longer to put snow gear on than we would spend in the snow. Luckily, we had a small wind break created by the side yard of the houses.

Cambria had one goal . . . to make a snow fort. She wanted one wall to be as tall as her shoulder. Lucky for her, I was ready to tackle that goal.

This is in between Libbie and John's house and their next door neighbor's house. It was a perfect little hillside for little kid sledding, and it blocked the wind just enough.

Cambria post wipe out.

My mom the snow monster. She is wearing my parka that was issued by my high school swim team. She says I can't have it back now.

Malachi had to hide his face because snow flakes were falling in his eyes.

Kiera's cheeks were so rosy, I didn't think they would ever go back to normal!

She braved the cold for a long time. Well, at least 15 minutes longer than the other kids.

I think this is a great way to travel.

I forgot to add this picture of my little sleeping beauty taken at the dinosaur museum. I jut love this little baby.

Malachi made a new bosom buddy on this trip. Will belongs to my cousin Aaron and his wife Heidi. They are almost the same age and had such a wonderful time together. At one pint I saw Malachi at the bottom of the stair case with his arms stretched out trying to convince Will to jump to him. "I will catch you!" Will: "I don't want to!" Malachi: "But, I will catch you!"

I also heard Malachi pointing to snow outside of the window after the first snowfall. Speaking to Will, "Look at the chair, snow id on the chair did you even notice that?! giggle, giggle" It was so fun to watch them follow each other around the house speaking a somewhat different language than English.

This week Malachi has been begging me to call Will so that her could come have a play date. He just won't take now for an answer . . . So . . . Heidi . . . Aaron . . . feel like taking a trip to Mesquite for a play date?!

We just love having Sarah as a part of our family.

Being naive to the ways of snow, I thought all of Utah would be covered in a soft velvety blanket of white. To my surprise, only some parts of Utah were found in such a condition. The first stop we made was to the home of the Petersen's for dinner with my side of the family plus Aunt Libbie and Uncle John. There house was a wintry wonderland. Snow was to be found in abundance and from their back porch lay a vista of Christmas lights akin to how the North Pole must be decorated on Christmas Eve. My family stayed at Libbie and Johns house in Lehi. There was no snow. How could that be when our sole purpose was to sled? Well, luckily my Aunt and Uncle are such good hosts that while we were enjoying our time at the dinosaur museum, they ordered a blizzard.
Before we went to the museum, a light snow had started to fall and we were excited. Bubba was so amazed. He insisted on touching the snow with his feet. He came to the conclusion that his mother was indeed correct, snow is cold.

I think I lost Raia's headband in Utah:(

My children all fall in love with Aunt Libbie. Every time Bubba says a prayer it starts out: "Please bless Aunt Wibbie." But now he has also added "and Uncle John." He also has added a new phrase to his vocabulary thanks to Uncle John, "Oh, my heavens!"

The erosion table is always a big hit. We spend most of our time here. It was even more amazing because this time Uncle Chris and Ryan got into the action.

Cambria wanted me to take a picture of these dinos before they got into a fight.

Kiera is no longer afraid of this big Shark located near the exit of the museum. This time when she walked passed it she kept her eyes open the whole time! ( At first I wrote that she was still afraid of the shark and she was very upset that I had not noticed her growth in this issue)

Bubba told us a story once about Uncle Ryan getting eaten by a shark.

When we left the museum the snow was blowing sideways straight into our eyes. It was quite a storm. We could hardly see in front of us. Our cars were buried and we understood why Rudolf would come in handy for Santa.

Our car even got stuck. We tried to exit the museum parking lot up a hill. We began to slide backwards into Chris and Sarah's car behind us. I was more than a little nervous. Okay, I was freaking out on the inside, but trying to pretend like nothing was wrong so my kids wouldn't freak out too. When Kai got out of the car to check on things my kids asked what was wrong, I told them we were having a little snow trouble and that it wouldn't hurt to say a little prayer.

Little did I know, Chirs and Sarah were having the same problem with there car. Ryan was with them, too. I thought they weren't moving because we were in front of them and Sarah thought we weren't moving because we somehow knew they were stuck.

Sarah was not containing her emotions at all. She said, she said: "Why aren't Kai and Amy moving are they stuck? Do they know that we are stuck? What are we going to do?! Ahhhhhhh! (loud scream) and Chris said, "Stop Screaming" and Sarah said, "I have to scream, it is more fun that way! Ahhh!"

So I don't really know what happened after that. I think we both carefully took turns sliding down backwards, all I know is that Libbie's house was only 5 minutes away and it seemed like we were never going to get home. Snow is cold.

Photos By The Professional . . .

Notice Malachi shooting his spider web. You can tell what super hero he is really into right now.

This is Kai's big side of the family . . . 2 Parents, 10 sons, 8 daughter's in law, 18 Grandchildren in ever size, shape and color.

No Gift Under the Tree

There are so many moments that I am forgetting to write about that I really want to remember! Like our Davis Christmas party. We all draw names as most families do and since Kai has nine brothers with multiple children, things get a little chaotic. As presents were being passed out, Cambria kept coming to me worried that she hadn't gotten one yet. I told her not to worry there were still more under the tree. Soon enough the tree was empty and Cambria had still not received a gift. She was heartbroken. She hugged my belly tight enough to obscure her face and she cried and cried. (side note: next year I am bringing back up gifts to ensure this never happens again.)

The person who had her name was horrified that they had forgotten and ended up giving Cambria $100 in cold hard cash that very same night. Cambria thought it was great but didn't really understand how much money it was. I certainly didn't spend that much on her gifts for Christmas.

I took her to Walmart (because that is all we have) when we got home from the family party. Cambria bought a dog that walks and decided to save the rest of her cash.
You know what she wanted to save it for . . . Kai and I had told them that we were going to have to quit dance classes in December. That after Christmas Cambria and Kiera wouldn't be able to take them anymore in an effort to save money. Well, little miss Cambria decided that she wanted to pay for her dance classes to continue with her left over money. Not only that but she wanted to pay for her sisters class to continue as well. So she did. I just think she has the sweetest heart. So, the night that Cambria didn't find a gift under the tree ended up being a night that gave her a gift that would last well into the New Year.

Temple View

There were only two things of "must-do's" on my list of activities for our Utah trip. The first was a visit to the Temple. The Salt Lake Temple is beautiful any time the of the Year, but add a few Christmas lights and a bit of sprinkled snow and it is simply majestic.



President Hinkley, our last prophet said something to the effect of "Take your children to the temple, let them touch the temple walls and the temple will touch them." I wanted my children to see this temple and walk the vast grounds of Temple Square and feel of the spirit that dwells in this sacred location.




It might seem funny to some that a building, architecturally beautiful as it may be, should seem so sacred or important. Well, for me as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, it represents one of my most favorite principles of the gospel that I enjoy, the ability to be sealed to my family for time and all eternity by one who has the same power and authority to do so as Christ himself, the power of the Holy Priesthood. It is the place where we bind on earth that which we shall have in heaven. It is the place where we make our family forever and are comforted that while death may separate us in this life, it will be only temporary. I lost my father at the young age of nine and the promise of eternal families has given me comfort since that time. Now that I have a family of my own, it means even more. To me this beautiful temple represents the promise of forever. In fact the day we visited this temple site marked me and Kai's 11TH wedding anniversary.

Fun Facts (from this site):
*Surveyors were instructed to lay out city blocks on a grid pattern with the temple literally at the heart of the city. Streets were named, and continue to be known, for their distance and direction from Temple Square.



*The long and laborious process of building the 170-room Salt Lake Temple began in 1853 and continued for 40 years until its completion in 1893.



*Brigham Young never lived to see the completion of the Salt Lake Temple. It was dedicated by President Wilford Woodruff in 1853.





*At one point, construction was halted and the entire foundation was buried to hide the site from a U.S. Army contingent sent to occupy the territory.

*The walls of the temple are 9 feet (2.7 meters) thick at the base and 6 feet (1.8 meters) thick at the top. Each granite block of the walls weighs between 2,500 and 5,600 pounds (1,134 to 2,540 kilograms) and was hauled by oxen, and later by railroad, from a granite quarry in Little Cottonwood Canyon, some 20 miles

The Petersen kids are so good to my kids. Amanda spent a great deal of time with each one of them. The love her!

The same is true for Aunt Geeka, of course. The day they learned that GEeka would actually become their aunt was truly a time for celebration. I haven't seen those babylegs that Raia is wearing since we have returned home. I wonder if I left them in Utah.

A replica of the Golden plates:

Thin sheets of gold on which an ancient record was written and then burried in a hill called Cumorah in New York.

We stopped to view the Nativity and listen to the Christmas story.

We were trying to take a picture of Kiera's breath. It was so cold!

At one time this was the largest organ in the world. It resided in the Tabernacle on Temple Square. This unique building was designed with exccelent acoustics. You can hear a pin drop. It echos through out th elarge room.

Kiera had to get a view of the ceiling.

4 months of marriage and they still like each other.

Malachi loves his uncles . . . and I think one day he will be very sad to learn that Geeka aka Sarah is already married. He adores her. Uncle Caca aka Chris was giving him one heck of a piggy back ride that included jumping up the stairs.

The Petersen's and Hendrickson's

The Hendrickson's and Davis'

11 years of marriage were celebrated on this very day. What a ride it has been.

These were actually the last two pictures of the night.

When Kai asked me what I wanted for Christmas I told him this: I want to go on a carriage ride around temple square to see the Christmas lights and I don't want you to complain about how much it costs. He lived up to his end of the bargain, not only did he let us take a carriage ride, but he stopped mid sentence when he was about to complain about the cost. I thin it was well worth it.

The kids felt like they were in a parade. They all three of them started out waving and saying hi to people. Cambria and Malachi tired out (Malachi even fell asleep) but Kiera waved the ENTIRE time. She was really living in the moment.

The Joseph Smith Memorial Building lies near the temple. I had never been inside before. I knew people had had wedding receptions in it, but I didn't know that it had a restaurant in it and the upper lever functions as a Church meeting place. Talk about beautiful! The people who attend ward meetings in that building are so very lucky!

Kiera was still living in a fairy tale from the carriage ride. I think when we entered this building she went into full on princess mode. There was a pianist playing hte most beautiful melodies and Kiera stood in the middle of the "ballroom" floor and began turning cicles in an unrehearsed waltz. Do you remember what is was like to be young and to live in the moment regardless of who else was around. I felt jealous of her freedom. Kiera felt like she was the only one in this beautiful hall and danced and danced like no one was watching. It was really very cute.
Cambria liked the chandeliers. She says she looks like an old lady in this picture:)

We had such a wonderful time Visiting the Salt Lake Temple and walking around the temple grounds and we were so happy to share the experience with our family. The day was cold but we all left with warm hearts:)