26 lbs lost so far

I have a looong way to go but I am so happy to say that I have lost 26 lbs! I can feel it in my clothes, but not much else. I just need to keep my motivation going It can be so hard sometimes. I know this is a shocker, but I LOVE food. My illpower can diminish when I see a piece of pizza or anything and everything that is chocolate..well except dark chocolate disgusting!). I am hitting that point now and although I have been losing I know that I don't have my whole heart in it like I did last time. I realized that last time I made posts about all my goals and updates. I know I need to do that again. So I decided to make a few goals nd post why I am losing the weight.

Goals

1. To lose 5 lbs by August 5th

2 to find some kind of exercise that I can comfortably do with my heal spurs. I guess I haven't wrote about that. Well over the last year I have had foot ain that started tolerable, but annoying and ha become excrutiating. Getting out of bed,exercise or walking for long periods of time just kill them and tehy can hurt for days from it. It got so bad that they hurt all the time now, bu getting up from sitting kills. Well one morning my sweet Peyton ( who has been having toruble sleeping through the night lately) woke up for the 5th time at 6 am. My feet hurt so bad I yelp. I tried to walk to his crib. I pretty much was planning on crawling to his crib. Mike woke up and made me get back in bed and he tended to Peyton (I love him!). Then told me that I better make a Dr appt tomorrow. He had been begging me to for so long. I figured it as my weight and as I lost weight it would get better. WRONG! It ahs gottenworse since I have been losing weight. I finally went to the Dr. and she was 95% sure it was heel spurs. A hel spur is when a calcium build-up attaches to the arcand heel. and it hurts like a son of a gun! Well I had X-rays, blood work. The DR never called back. I called once and she was out (day off) another Dr called and said she would call me on monday. She didn't. She gave me a strong NSAID for the pain and it helps, but doesn't take all the pain away. I don't want to take pain killers all my life, I want to get rid of the problem. So I will be calling her again tomorrow. Anyways so exercising has been difficult.

3. To write down all my points and not just track them in my head.
4. More fruits and vegges and less diet coke
5 way more water

Those are simple goals for now.


My reasons for losing weight are

1. For me. I do no feel like me right now. I used to love hiking and biking and all. I love clothes an dlooking nice.

2. To lower my risk of diabetes

3. For my family. I miss playing on the playground with my kid and being teh fun active mom I was 2 years ago. To look good for Mike too.

Those are the most important goals right now.

I hope in a few months I can have nother 25 lbs lost!!

here is a pic in Dec and one from last week. Now you can't completely compare because one is a head shot, but you can atleast tell in my face.

Jan 2008

June 2008

Bankrupt!

That is what we will be because of this boy!





He lost his first tooth last Saturday and a second on Tuesday! Dawson is almost 7. All of his friends had lost their first tooth at 5 or barely 6, so he was gettin extremely anty about losing a tooth. He was showing Mike how lose itwas saturday and Mike felt it and it just came out! He happily put his tooth in a glass of water (the tooth fairy is afraid of waking kids if the tooth is under a pillow at our house). The next day he got a gold dollar coin. Yesterday I was thinking how cute he looked with 2 gaps in his mouth and I noticed that the teeth ar already coming thru! My boy is getting so big!

Okay I am a picture slacker!

I have a million pictures that I have been meaning to post, but I kept putting it off. I just have been so busy with swimming lessons, playdates, etc.

The kids have been taking swimming lessons with Elizabeth Hutzler, my friend Rebecca Squire's lil sis. The first week was awful. My kids were terrified of the water and the mean Mommy I was, I pushed them in. There are some things that I won't make my kids do, but learning to swim is something that they have to do. By the next week, they were going in on their own and no screaming. Yipee!

The last week they had made so much progress that I signed them up for another session. Dawson can actually get some distance when he swims and is getting some good form for swimming and diving. Emmalee can float, lol. She knows what to do but for some reason when she jumps in she panics and freezes. There are times that she will show us what she's got and does wonderful. I can't wait to see how much progress they make by the end of this session. Elizabeth is a great teacher and she is great about not giving in when they don't want to try something. That is so important for learning to swim.

Peyton enjoys playing in the pool while they learn. He is my little fish. I really need to get him out in the water more so next year lesson's won't be freaky with him.

A few weeks ago some friends in my ward and I took the kids to the new San Tan Mall, to play at the water park. Thank you Amy for the suggestion. It is great. It is an outside mall, I know what you're thinking..'an outside mall in AZ are you crazy??'. but it will be nice to shop at in the winter. They have a splach park in the middle courtyard area. The kids had so much fun. We have t go back again. It takes a tank of gas to get there, but atleast there is no admission, right?? lol




























These pics are from when we went to St John's. This is all the cousin's at the time, except the oldest cousin Brandon. He was out with friends. Now however there are 2 new boy cousins. Travis and Kevin just had babies. They are adorable. In October Amber will be having a bay boy. All these baby cousin's is so exciting. My Brother Billy and his wife Teanne will be having a baby girl any day now too. Keep them coming, so I can enjoy your babies. I am in no way ready for #4!! lol

here they are having a slumber part at Nana and Pap Price's house!






Last weekend we went to a dback game. Someone at Mike's office gave the seats to us. They were on the bottom level in the bleachers. I am not sure why but we always get lucky and get lower level seats for free. I love it! The kids had fun. Right around the bottom of the 5th inning I was sitting there enjoying the game and suddenly I was drench with BEER! Yes you heard right beer. Someone from the upper level spilt beer and it happened to land on our aisle! Mike the kids and my neighbor Betsy got a tiny bit wet so did a few on the other side of us. Peyton and I got the worst of it. It was pretty nasty. There was areally nice, huge group of people from Payson that sat by us and they were giving us napkins to clean and one of them went to complain and kept reitterating that it landed on a family with young kids. They went and took care of the people who did it and apologized. I had been talking to the lady sitting next to us and she asked if we were LDS. I told her yes. So when the Beer incident happened, she turned and said "ofcourse the beer would have to land on the sweet little LDS family", lol. We got over it and had a good time.























Here is a picture of my primate wannababy as Haley calls it. He climbs on everything! He thinks he is too cool, but it scares me to death. Oh and the clincher...he is 16 mos, and can climb on everything, but he will not walk. He has started taking about 4 steps at a time and standing on his own. He so could walk if he would just do it but he isstubborn Price, lol. He also loves to make anything such as a stool or basket, a car! He also loves talking on the phone! I love my little guy!



















Well i think that is it for now. I will definetly have more soon, lol.

Okay here is a bit on all my friends in my list!

#3 Nicole is also one of Mike’s cousin (amy, tiff and Megan’s sister!). She is a lot of fun and so strong. She can always make people laugh. I know she has had some hard times because her daughter Savahnna has juevenile diabetes, but she has done such an amazing job caring for her. She is also so strong! She has adorable twin girls who are beautiful and hilarious..they definetly have the Price blood! She is so beautiful too.

#7 Anna: we were roommates 10 years ago. She is sweet and smart and a hard worker. We had a lot of fun in our single days!

#8 Collette: Collette was also one of my roommates w/ Anna. When I first met her I thought she would be tough to get to know because she seemed quiet. Was I ever wrong. I still remember watching Tommy Boy together and that was when we clicked. She is so happy and can put you in a good mood! I had so much fun having her as a roomate!

#9 Heidi (roommate w/ anna and collette): Heidi and I shared a room in our apartment. I noticed right away that she was very responsible in all she did. I feel bad for her because I wasn’t always when it came to our closet (sorry Heidi!). She is also really funny and very real and genuine. She is always working to better herself as a person and a mom.

#10 Tiffany Larsen: Boy I could go on forever about Tiff. She has been one of my very best friends for 12 years now! We have been thru so much together, being roommates in Utah, breakups, marriages, kids, etc. She is one person that no matter how long it has been since we have seen each other, it doesn’t ever feel like we have been apart. One of the only people that I can have a long phone conversation with. I am not much of a phone person. She is a kindred spirit. I love her like a Sister. She is so fun and spunky!

#12. I have not known Amy Winward long, but I have been lucky enough to be her visiting teacher. She is so sweet and soft spoken and always has a smile. She is someone who is beautiful on the inside and out. She is someone I would like to be more like.

#13 Andrea is just so sweet and encouraging. She has helped me with activity days and just such a thoughtful person

#14 Ashby is so sweet and creative and very smart. She has a personality that anyone could get a long with. You never feel judged by her.

#15 Brianna: wow I have a lot of memories of Brianna. Let’s see. Sound Celebration, our summer day camp for kids in the ward, her mom’s tomato sandwhiches..I still love making them because of her, Havasupai (and a very embarrassing moment there), young women’s, the youth dances. Brianna is so energetic and athletic and always had the perfect physique I wish I had. She still looks perfect!


#16 Charissa is a good listener (or reader, lol) she always gives great advice and is so strong, she works as a nurse and a stay at home mom..more than I could do for sure!

#17 Eliza is so very sweet and thoughtful. She seems to always be in a good mood and I have never heard her complain, ever, I don’t think..

#18 Emily is very real and not afraid to speak her mind. I wish I had some of that in me. She is also very intellectual

#19 Haley, is so much fun to be around. She is easy to talk to and I wish she didn’t move so far away. Emmalee has a huge crush on her son too!

#20 Jessica has such a great work ethic and is so funny and is so tactful when she speaks her mind. another thing I would like. The reason I don’t speak my mind is because I am not tactful

#21 Johanna was my neighbor when Mike and I first got married. We were both shy at first but became great friends. We had a lot of fun being neighbors and learning to be wives and moms together. I miss her a lot! I still remember us staying together on 9/11 because we were both so freaked out and our hubbies were working.

#24 Lucia is my old roommate Anna’s sister. She is really fun and sweet. She is always dressed cute and has cute hair!

#25 Megan: we have never met (but will on Tues!) but have been on a forum together for years. I always felt like we had a lot in common. But she is way funnier and seems so cool! I am so excited that she lives in AZ now!

#26 Melanie: Melanie and I have a lot in common and she understands some trials I have been through because of her own experiences. She is so strong and really cool!

#27 Melissa Hale: Energetic and friendly are the word I think of to describe her. She is so sweet too!

#28 Nellie Johnston is Tiffany Larsen’s sister she is sweet and fun and let me live in her apartment for a whole week while Tiff and I were waiting to move into our condo in Provo. She is so funny! And so talented with sewing!

#29 Tara is in my ward. She is so sweet. I am sad she is moving before I got to know her better. I ma gonna miss sitting behind your family and seeing cute Mikey!

#30 Tiffany Dansie: She is in my ward and I was her visiting teacher for a short time. I have never told her this, but she really helped me. I felt like I got a lot more out of visiting teaching her than she got from me in the 2 months I did. I had a hard time for a long time feeling comfortable in my ward. Because of her and my friend Shanna always being so friendly and making me feel welcome I broke out of my shell. I love my ward now! She is a very inspiring person. She is a lot of fun, she is very honest and very spiritual. I look up to her with how healthy she is and how committed she is to excersing. Emmalee and her son Cameron are great friends too!

#31 Trisha..not sure if she reads my blog but she is Tiffany Larsen’s other sister. She is funny and spunky. I only met her a few times, but feel I know her well because of all the stories Tiffany told me about her. She is spunky and so cute. I remember how much fun it was to stand next to her in Tiff’s wedding line.

The friend's list!

I saw this on someone elses blog:

When did you first meet the 1st person on your list? I met Amy ten years ago when we were in MCC 2nd ward (I think??). I was roommates with some girls some St John’s and Amy obviously knew them being from St John’s too. She is cousin’s with my husband and I knew her before I met Mike. When we were starting to date seriously I went with him to a family event and was so excited to find out Amy was his cousin!! I love her and her sisters and since I never had cousin’s my age I feel like they are the fun cousin’s I never had!

What do you like about the third person on your list's blog?
Megan (Amy’s sister!), is always so sweet. She has such an awesome and patient attitude. She is also so funny!

What do you like best about the 5th and 6th people on your list?

Okay Tiffany (Amy and Megan’s sister) is one of the funnest and funniest people I know. I never really knew her well until we both started blogging. I feel like we have so much in common and wish that she still lived in Mesa or atleast AZ!)

Tiffanye Duthie is also Mike’s cousin on his mom’s side of the family. I have known Tiffanye since she was probably 13 or 14. She has always been such a sweet and helpful person. All the little cousin’s (my kids included) LOVE her. She plays with them and takes them on 4 wheeler rides, etc. Now she is all grown up and married. It has been so neat to see her grow up! I know she will be a phenomenal mom!


What impresses you about the 11th and 22nd people on your list?
Amanda is so neat. I met her in H.S. but really got to know her within the last 4 years or so. She has such an amazing spirit and testimony It shows in EVERYTHING she does. She is always improving herself and gives awesome advice!

Julianna is awesome. I met her back in college. She is a hard worker and I have never heard her complain about things. I wish I could be like that.

What is a memory you have with the 23rd person on your list?
Kristina is so funny and someone I would love to get to know better! Her and her family seem like so much fun!

You know what? I feel like others are left out and I would like to say something nice about everyone on my list.

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day was great! The kids and I made Mike his favorite breakfast, bacon sandwhich (bacon, runny yolk eggs(barf to me) jelly on toast. Emmalee got him a cool brown hat with an orange superman symbol, Dawson got him (and my step dad ) a steering wheel cover, it is cute because that is what he got me for mom's day too. He says he doesn't want us burning our hands on the steering wheels this summer.
I got him the Indiana Jones trilogy ( he LOVES Indiana Jones). Then we went to church and Mike wanted to grill steaks for dinner (I wanted to make him dinner, but he loves grilling so he made dinner, lol). Then we all watched Indian Jones and the raiders of the lost ark together. Good Day.

I love Mike and I am so happy to have him as a husband and father of my kiddos. He has always been a great playmate for them whether it be racing them at the park or to the car at the store, wresteling, playing video games and just being plain old goofy with them!

He has always been a hands-on dad. When our kids were babies he would take his turn with the baby on the weekends or looong nights when they woke up. He would always let me sleep in on saturday or sunday too (before he had sunday meetings ofcourse). He has never been afraid to change a diaper and we take turns when he is home. He cooks dinner a few times a week without me even asking him and never complains about it. He helps around the house (I have friends who are shocked about this fact and spread the word to all my friends about it!).

He has always been a such a good provider. We decided before we had kids that I would stay home with them. For a while that meant me babysitting and him working 2 jobs. I think he worked 2 jobs for about 4 years or so. He rarely ever complained about it. He always told me that it was just something he had to do.

He has excelled so much in his career and contnues to do so. He always gives nothing more than excellence into his job. He is so smart and has such a strong work ethic.

I love watching him with Emmalee. His overall demeanor softens when he is with her. It melts my heart. She is such a classic "Daddy's little girl". I love how patient he is when helping Dawson with his homework. He is so cute with Peyton!! Our kids adore their Daddy!

I love his strong testimony. I love his desire to do the best he can in his calling as scoutmaster and to honor his priesthood. He is always ready to help out or give a blessing.

He has a lot of attributes that I would like to have or improve upon. He has taught me so much and he makes me want to be a better person. When I am having a hard time he can always make me forget my problems and get me laughing again.

He is an amazing mechanic! I tell ya he is my own personal McGeyver. He can fix anything! In the almost 9 years we have been together we have only needed a mechanic once. He has fixed every car problem that comes along, and even changes the oil himself. He has saved us thousands of dollars!

He is so much fun! I always have a good time even just doing nothing with him.

Happy Father's Day Mike, we love you!



I also want to take a minute to write about my Daddy. He passed away 12 years ago. My dad was very special to me. I always felt like we were kindred spirits. We were so much a like that at times we would butt heads. Still, he was almost always the first to apologize. He was so funny and told the best stories. I wish I remembered more of them.

I could spend a long time talking about his cooking. I miss his cooking. I cook well, but I did not get his creative talent when it comes to cooking. He always made everything from scratch. I remember as a kid getting so excited when he would make his bread or cinnamon rolls or pies oh or his peach cobbler!! Yum!

He could always make me laugh when I was upset. I was his little girl and he always made sure I knew that. I still remember how good I felt when he gave me a blessing or even just a hug.

I think about him everyday, but I rarely delve into my memories like I am now, because although I know I will see him again someday, I miss him very much and it hurts that he is not here anymore.

I love nad miss my Daddy!!

I have to Thank Heidi Cosseboom for this Behavior System for my kids!

Heidi thank you. Heidi is a dear friend and former college roomate. I was reading her blog the other day and was so impressed with the system she set up for her kids. She got it from someone else, and it turns out to be a girl I knew in highschool. Anyways it is a system that encourages children to help out and have a good attitude.

I know I have talked with Heidi and others about how I used to think that I was a patient person..until I had kids. I love my kids and I am so grateful for them, but I have always had cycles where I feel that no matter what I have no control over them. I also didn't know how strong free agency was until I had kids!

I have felt like the kids take for granted all that Mike and I do for them. They demanded things and argued if we said no. When it comes time for them to help with things they whine, or complain, etc. Then ofcourse our patience grows super thin. I have been so sick about this.

Plus I have always (as all of you know!) been one to stress over a dirty house. I cannot think straight if my hosue is super messy. I don't mean a little clutter, I mean a tornado zone (which my hosue becomes alot).

I was never caught up on any job in the house and I felt over worked, etc. I was usually cranky by the end of the day and I hate to admit it but I have yelled at my kids when they resist doing what I would like them to. Not something I am proud of at all. I actually have felt so guilty about it. I also felt guilty because the house was always a mess, I was always cleaning and didn't always have time or energy to have 1 on 1 time with my kids everyday. I was tired of it. The kids would help but it was like pulling teeth. So when I saw this I felt like it could put peace in our home.

The first thing I did was make a chore chart that included:

6 chores that they will alternate each week (they each will be responsible for 3 each week)


Floors: help with the sweeping, mopping and vacuuming.

Dishes: help me load/unload dishwasher and rinse the handwashables.

Chef's Helper: help me cook dinner, set table, and help tidy up after dinner

Bathroom: Help me clean the bathroom and keep it tidy

Dust: obvious, lol

Feeding the Cats: enough said

Then there are responsibilities of their own that they will always have:


Laundry: they each are expected to help out with all the laundry and fold and put away their own clothes, plsu help me with Peyton's clothes. They LOVED sorting the clothes and putting the soap in and turning the machine on.

Make Bed

Clean Room

Pick up Toys

Brush Teeth

Bathe

Wash face

Pray

Homework (for Dawson during the school year and I will find somehting for Emm so she can have "homework" too).

Read: For every 15 minutes Dawson reads he gets 1 token. Emmalee can get one if she can stay and listen to a whole story.

Then if Mike or I see them do something nice for someone or do something witout asking we can reward them with an extra token.

Each chore will have tokens according to the difficulty of the job. Examples are, dishes or laundry will be 5 tokens, while brushing teeth or bathing will be 1 token and so forth.

I am also starting with Peyton now so it will be normal when he is old enough to understand. He will get a token for picking his toys up, and as he gets older we will add more.

Then they can turn in the tokens for a reward. Dawson can pay 3 tokens for 1/2 hour on the PC or to play the wii or playstation2. Emmalee can pay 3 tokens to play on the PC or play dress up.

They can pay 3 tokens for 1/2 hour of TV or 5 tokens each for a movie.

or they can use them to get ice cream or a happy meal, or redeem them for a prize from the treasure box. I have candy, nail polish, cars, water guns, those $1 looney toons dvd's from walmart, gum, stickers, bubbles, water balloons and $1 bills. I thought they could choose money and save it for a bigger toy at the store. and so on. Each prize is price between 1 to 50 tokens. Chuck e cheese is 50 tokens each, 3 tootsie rolls is 1 token, etc. So they can learn to save and wait.

Okay we are on day one but I did not hear one complaint about doing chores. (That was the other thing, if they complain about doing something then no tokens. I will never take tokens away, they will just lose the privilidge of earning more for complaining and possibly do an extra chore for "draining my energy" if the are extra naughty over something like tantrum or being mean to a sibling). The kids have been so helpful and behaved better. I like ti to because I have extra time with them since I am doing some of the chores with them.

This morning they got up had breakfast did their morning chores, got their tokens and then we went to a splash park with some other moms and kids from my church. They came home, rested and then helped with the laundry, played and then helped with dinner and picking up toys, etc, then played till bed time. I know if Mike and I are consistent thsi is really gonna help us!

Here is the chore chart I made. I used velcro so the chores can be switched around and they can take them off and put them in their envelope when they are done!











Here is the token jar and the kid's jars. Peyton's isn't there because the shelf is weak. I need to buy a new shelf soon!



We are going to make a posterboard of the family rules tomorrow too.

Anyways thanks again Heidi. It is an awesome idea!