New Year, New You?

Well It is New Years day as I write this post. Who knows if I will finish it today. There is laundry to start and 24 hours of 'kid mess' under the table and high chair to clean up (how in the world do they get SO much food on the floor...really? Did I even give them that much?). We have family coming by and I really ought to sweep and mop the floor...even though I just did it before dinner yesterday.

Moving on. New Years is a time of goal setting and usually I am all over that like a crazy rabid squirrel. I'd set my goals and check them off my list one by one as I doggedly worked to make myself over in a myriad of ways. This year feels a little different. Wanna know my new years resolution?

This year I will be healthy.

That's it. I know that is a pretty common one, but here is a slightly different (yet significant) take on it. I will be healthy. Mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically healthy.

The physical one is familiar. I've done that before. I found a great gym that has an all included membership that covers the weight area, cardio area, cardio theater, group classes, child care, and even tanning if that is your thing. I am super excited. Getting my workouts in is tough with the kids, but now I can drop them in the super fun nursery and have ME time without them being bored without me, or without pushing them off on Kevin as soon as dinner is over. I met with a personal trainer this morning and I think this is going to be a lot of fun. I love feeling strong, and full of energy, and that is really all I want out of this. Win!

I have discovered recently that wheat, and corn, and I are not terribly compatible. I've only had wheat 4 days out of the past 6 weeks and I am WAY less fatigued. I'm not swearing off completely since I want to have some sort of tolerance to those ingredients, but I think only eating them on special occasions, church activities, and maybe date night should be adequate to maintain a tolerance so they don't actually make me ill. Yay for healthy!

I will be healthy mentally and emotionally. I will cut myself some slack. I won't berate myself for not being the kind of mom/wife/person that I want to be. I will fix things and move on. If the kids have a high maintenance week I'll take a few days off from the gym. Being healthy all around is all about balance and I am sure there will be weeks when my physical training will need to take a back seat to other things. You know what? That is just fine!

I will be healthy spiritually. This one is big. I want to make sure I take my life to the Lord each day...not just my problems, but everything. The funny stuff too. What person wants a friend who only talks to them when upset or needy? Ugh. That has SO been me when talking with the Big Guy. I can do better.

I am learning a lot about balance and I love who I am becoming as I figure it out. Here is to a new year and building on all I have been learning. Battle cry? BALANCE!

The Mommy Scene We All Fear...just happened to me.

OK. Some days I wonder if anyone else has kiddos as totally insane as mine. They are hilarious...like, all the time, but they are totally nuts too. Then there are experiences that make me wonder if we are just a roaming hazard (that trip to preschool via stroller comes to mind). Then we have experiences like last night that just make me wonder if I am doing it wrong.

I LOVE family parties. I love seeing my family and socializing. I get a lot of energy from communicating and my family are some of the best communicators I know. Each year we gather and go to see the lights at temple square. We all meet up and have a great time. Last night we went and got dinner then headed to temple square. I was in a fantastic mood since the roads were WAY better than expected and we got to City Creek earlier than necessary. Yay for good roads on a miserably snowy day!

Once close to the temple my older brother suggested that we go touch the temple. what a great experience for the kids. Evelyn was SO excited! Rhett was just wide eyed at all the chaos. He was bundled into the stroller all warm and toasty. After that we headed past the nativity to the visitors center to see the Chrstus.

I was super excited to see it. I have tried to take Evelyn to see it several times, but something has always gotten in the way. While in line Rhett got out of the stroller and snagged his sippy of milk while roaming around our feet. After drinking most of the sippy he inhaled some milk and started coughing. That is when the crap hit the fan. Coughing led to gagging and I struggled to get his coat off since I know my gag reflex is more active when overly warm. I was too late. He puked all over the floor near the top of the escalator.

Am I the only one whose kiddos puke when they cough hard?

Well, I finished taking his coat off since it was all pukey. just in time for him to puke all over his sweat shirt. Perfect. In the craziness Kevin, Paul, Evelyn and I had become separated from the family group. Kevin grabbed the extra 3 blankets I had in the diaper bag, and the wet wipes and tried to clear things up. Paul went for a janitor with Evelyn. I cleaned Rhett up (yep, right there with hundreds of people walking by). Paul came back a moment later with a screaming Evelyn over his shoulder. He'd found someone to help clean up our mess, but for some reason (chaos+ missing bedtime does not mix) Evelyn had melted down and was having the worst fit I have seen in the better part of a year.

I thought we were past that. Tantrums have always been few and far between, but this one was ridiculous! Maybe all her tantrum-ey-ness was all coming out now?

With Paul keeping Evelyn from running off and Kevin still working on the floor puke. I set a now mostly clean Rhett on the floor so I could wipe the puke out of the ribbing on my cardigan and off my pants. Rhett is fast and before I knew it he was over by the Christmas tree, pulling on the ornaments. I grabbed him quick since at home that pulling usually brings the tree down. The last thing we needed was for Rhett to pull the tree down into the muck!

Having done our best to clear things up, and knowing the cleaning pros were on their way, we decided it was time to leave. Stroller...where is the stroller? Oh, right. It is with the family. Boo. Paul handed the still sobbing Evelyn to Kevin and went looking across the room, ahead in line, for the family. He came back a moment later with the stroller. A sweet lady who had been behind us followed him back. She had seen what happened (how could you miss it?), but wanted to invite us to butt in line in front of her so we could still see the Christus if we wanted to. Seriously, I was already super close to tears and her kindness almost did me in. I looked at my crew. We were moist, smelled like puke, and Evelyn was still whimpering. I told her we had better just get the kiddos home, but thanked her for being so kind. It seriously meant a lot when she said "I've been there!"

I put Rhett in his stroller and bundled him under the only clean blanket left and stopped to stuff the messy blankets into a bag.  Evelyn got down and tried to push the stroller away. I told her not to and she immediately dropped to the floor on her face crying again...really?!? We may have scared Paul out of ever having children.

Kevin is the ward mission leader in our ward so we know the Elders pretty well. We turned to leave and BAM there they were smiling at us. I think they had missed the puke part, but I was like oh great! Witnesses!

We booked it back to the SUV and buckled everyone in. I seriously wanted to cry. I felt like this was the one thing I wanted to do this Christmas for ME. I guess that is the life of a mom though. I realized that it was just too much. My kids are almost always asleep by 7 and this whole fiasco went down at 8. No wonder Evelyn threw a fit. She had soda with dinner and was probably coming off a sugar high, after bedtime, in the frigid winter cold.

I had my little pity party on the way home, but once the kids were home and in bed I realized I had somehow survived the mommy scene that we all live in fear of. Then I realized how ridiculous the whole thing was. Seriously? That really happened? Now I can't help but laugh... a lot.

Have I earned a medal yet? Or better yet, how about a vacation?

Fall Happenings...yup still adjusting.

Oh my goodness. What a fall! I feel like I am on a hamster wheel and just need to keep running. Not in a bad way mind you, but life gets going and doesn't slow down.

Evelyn is in preschool and she LOVES it! She is learning so much and making lots of friends. I can't believe that I am old enough to have a preschooler. Yes, I turned thirty...that is pretty grown up, right? I can believe that either.

Rhett is growing really well...like super well. He weighs 25lbs and is WAY off the charts for height. He has been walking for a month and a half now. These days he likes to run after his sister. Crazy kid! I can't believe that he will turn one in January! This year has flown by!

Early this fall Kevin and I took the kids to see the temple. It is so fun to see what Evelyn knows about the temple and teach her more about forever families.

Mom and I bottled raspberry and blackberry jam. I am a jam nut. Rhett wouldn't leave the bottles alone. He loved the way they sounded when they bumped into each other.

Evelyn seriously LOVES preschool. The thing she learns are awesome! I can't believe some of the topics they cover in school. I love that her preschool does a lot with music and skits. I think they are super fin and Evelyn comes home singing all the time. We went with them to the local farm for a field trip. It was fun to watch Evelyn learn more about farms and tie it in with what she already knows from our garden.

Our ward is amazing. We love them. Their Halloween party was great and Evelyn loved meeting the woman who will be her sunbeam teacher in January. (Can you believe she is SO pretty? My girl is growing up!)

Evelyn takes ballet and jazz at the local arts academy. They had a parents day and Kevin took a few hours off from work to come and watch her class. Evelyn is by far the youngest in her class, but she loves it a lot. 

We have a fully mature oak tree in our backyard. It made for a lot of leaves. Like a lot, a lot of leaves.

I finally got the playroom put together. Below is the before and after. I feel so much more relaxed now that those boxes are unpacked. The kids use the toys so much more now that things are organized.

We have been getting sick a lot, but I have heard that it is probably because it is Evelyn's first year of school. Hopefully that is it! We have been sick every month since the school year started. Fingers crossed that sickness goes out with the new year!

I feel like I am finally starting to settle in as a SAHM.  Some days I have to talk myself out of feeling anxious. Why? Because I have nothing to be anxious about! There are no deadlines and really nothing to stress about. I have never had it be like that before! I have always head the end of a semester to worry about or a deadline for work, but now it is just...well...life! Is that normal? Is that what it is like to be out of school and settled in? Crazy!

Sorry for the barrage of photos. We have had a lot going on. I thought I would get an update out even though today is yet another crazy day. The house is coming together. There are still a couple of rooms to finish and furniture to find, but that will keep and is probably better spread over the next year for the sake of our savings plan :)

I don't get it.

So those of you who keep in touch know that I've been adjusting to being a stay-at-home mom. Up until this spring I worked (either on campus or out of an office just off my living room). The past two months in Clearfield have been a real eye opener on what it is like to be a SAHM. I love it. I know for now that is what is best for our family. NOTE: It might not be right for everyone, but for us it is.

The tough thing for me right now is that I feel so much pressure to do more. I don't get it. I care for the kiddos, we go to the park and museums, we play games at home, build forts, read together. I clean, meal plan, make (mostly) healthy meals, coupon for diapers and toiletries, and play board games with my spouse as soon as the kiddos are in bed. It is a full life, but there are constantly voices that inadvertently make that seem inadequate.

I say inadvertently because the voices I am referring to would never ever do that on purpose. "Join my team!" "Work from home!" "Be a leader." "Be inspiring" Sell wraps, books, makeup, jewelry, clothes, financial advice, fitness, anything under the sun. Even my favorite SAHM activists are bloggers that bring in ad credits and end up traveling the country and speaking at Women's Expos. This is NOTHING against momtrepreneurs! If that is what is right for you and your family then that is awesome!

I was having a crazy hard time with that. Maybe I should just pick up one of those so I don't seem lazy. Notice I say SEEM. I guess that is the trouble with being so connected. I don't want people who I haven't seen in six months to think I am lounging my days away :) I get that it is crazy, but that is still how I felt. Maybe I should pick up something like that so I can meet people and be glamorous. An entrepreneur. Maybe I could make my millions in makeup and retire by 35! Possible, but with my temperament just thinking about it stresses me out.

Kevin asked me last night what was wrong and we had a long talk about it. We don't need the extra income since we have a budget in place to meet our financial goals. He knows I would set unreal expectations and then it would just stress me out. My days are FULL as it is just based on my style of parenting. I need to quit looking for "the next big thing" and just enjoy my semi-peaceful, slow and steady life.

I told Kevin that sometimes I wish I were exciting, or that I was inspiring. Heck, I'd settle for appreciated! Who doesn't want that...right? He reminded me that my work was appreciated by my Father in Heaven and by him. Kevin thanks me often for the work I do at home and I realized that I just needed to listen to him more. He told me that if I wanted to be an inspiration that I should remember that I will inspire my children to be good and kind. That one struck a heart string. I will stick with that for now.

It is a good day to be grateful!

Settling in. It's been a long time coming.

What a summer! We were SO grateful for Kevin to find an awesome job.  We're glad that it is the sort of company he wants to stay with for the long run. He says everyone seems to switch from contractor to Air Force, but they often get to stay on the same team working in the same place.

Once he'd made sure he loved his job we started the house hunt. We found a fantastic realtor who helped us find the perfect mortgage company that worked miracles to find us a great loan. The whole situation makes me grateful that Kevin and I have great credit. It would have taken us probably 2 or 3 additional months to top off the down payment if we didn't qualify for this neat program.

I was eager to find a place closer to Kevin's work so he could be home more. I know a lot of people have LONG commutes, but for us 45 minutes each way was too much. I was also excited to be in my own space. We have awesome family that let us crash when we needed it most, but we were excited to be independent again :) (See previous post about our rough year if you missed it.)

We came up with a list of what we wanted in a home. It was like Christmas! I mostly came up with the list and Kevin signed off on everything, adding a couple of his own preferences. He is laid back enough that he just wanted somewhere comfortable and left the technicalities up to me.

Our realtor sent us several homes in the area we were looking for. When I saw picture of this home I knew pretty much right off the bat that it would be ours. Part of me was bummed that I didn't get to spend days touring homes and looking at pictures of rooms, but the other part was grateful that it was SO obvious where we needed to be.

It fit everything we were looking for. After reading "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up"  and falling in love with the konmari method, we decided that we would rather have a really nice house than a really large house. Thanks to konmari we rid ourselves of probably half of our stuff and found a gorgeous home that might have felt too small with all of the junk I've been carting around for years. LOVE!

The neighborhood is quiet and it is less than 3 miles to Kevin's building on base. We are close to everything. All my favorite Provo stores are within 10 minutes and the Layton Hills Mall is less than 15 minutes away. There are several parks within minutes drive and one is only 5 blocks away! After worrying that we'd been "forgotten" for so long and left to struggle along it feels surreal for things to fall into place like this!

For those of you who have asked, here are some photos now that we are settled in! 

So glad to have a place for my chair that is AWAY from daily kid wear and tear!

 Family Room. We only keep one ottoman of toys in here so it is actually staying pretty clean! YAY!

 There are a few things on the "to get" list. Here we want one of those nest chairs since this is our reading nook.

 This is the playroom and the only reason the rest of the house is staying decently clean. There is a bathroom just off this room so it is a perfect area for Evelyn to play! It will be evern better when we figure out a storage system and can get the toys out of their moving boxes for good.

 Look at those closets! Pre-konmari they would have been to die for. I don't need nearly as much space for my clothes now, but I do still love having the room!

I love my kitchen :)

The yard is small, but we LOVE it! 

 Thanks heavens it is fully fenced. Evelyn LOVES to go out back and play and I am so glad she can!

It is wonderful to have a place to call our own after so long. I'll be turning thirty in a couple of months and this is a great way to start the next decade. I've spent the last 10 years living the college life and I am ready to live this life now. The kiddos keep me on my toes, but it is nice to have fewer stressors than I have had with school/work/job hunt. Bring it on :)

It is a good day to be grateful!

A Real Live Actually Healthy Muffin!

OK. So I have been on a crusade to make my family healthy, whole foods (at least the majority of the time). That being said, muffins should be a no brainer...nope. Most are filled with sugar (often more than half as much as base product ex.flour in most cases). In my mind that is a cupcake. I don't want to fly off the deep end though, because I have a toddler who needs to eat. She loves Indian food, Oriental food, Mexican food, and Italian food, but I DO think she would balk at a bran muffin.

About a week ago my wonderful mother in law gave me a few large zucchinis out of her garden. They were about 18 inches long and as thick as my bicep. I know from experience that slicing and roasting those babies is out. Anything big enough to de-seed is probably too big to serve that way. 

I found loads of zucchini recipes from white bean and zucchini farfalle, to zucchini tex mex dip and Kevin was a gem and ate them all. 

I finally came across this recipe.

 http://news.health.com/2011/06/29/zucchini-muffins/

It had a lot of promise. It was already pretty light, but I thought I could tweak it and make it even more so without loosing the flavor and texture.

I made it once as recommended, but then made it several more times (there really was a LOT of zucchini) tweaking it as I went. The end result is pretty darn healthy for a sweet muffin. It is soft, moist, and really tasty. Evelyn has been eating them...a lot, and Kevin loved the idea of freezing a few batches for on the go breakfasts when he needs to get out the door to work.

Makes 18ish muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour + 1tsp vital wheat gluten

2/3 cup white sugar (I used splenda and added less
1 cup packed brown sugar
3.5-4 cups grated zucchini
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1.5 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2-3 tsp. vanilla extract (or vanilla paste)
1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 cup applesauce                                                                                                                                       2 tsp. baking powder (I just realized I should have doubled this, but it worked fine with 2tsp)

Cinnamon and sugar for topping

The prep steps are exactly the same for the original recipe at health.com, but I sprayed muffin tins rather than lining them.

1. Preheat oven to 375. In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

2. In medium bowl, combine grated zucchini, eggs, vanilla,applesauce and oil. Stir well to combine, then gently stir into flour mixture. Be careful not to overwork this—it will lead to dense muffins!

3. Fill lined muffin tins about 3/4 of the way up with the batter and then sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on each. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden.

Summer send off!

I have lots of friends who have done amazing things to send off summer (trips, boating, huge parties, concerts, etc.). Around here we've been a little more chill in kissing summer goodbye since I have had all the excitement I can handle this past month. Between house shopping, car shopping, moving, unpacking, and having two kiddos adjust to a new place I've had no time to even realize that summer was heading out! It finally sank in when I turned the AC off for a full 24 hours this weekend. It struck me even more this morning when I dropped Evelyn off for her first day of preschool (yay!).

What an amazing summer! Kevin found an awesome job which he loves, we relocated to a beautiful home (pictures will come once things settle down), we were able to spend a lot of time with family, and now I have the chance to make a bunch of new friends in our new ward!

We went to the Treehouse Museum with cousins last weekend. Next time I go I am totally buying an annual pass. They have SO much to do for the littles! Evelyn LOVED the instruments they had there. She spent loads of time playing with the castle playset. She found 2 princesses (maleficent and aurora), a knight, and a dragon and acted out sleeping beauty :) I think we'll go back every week or two since it is only 15 minutes away.

Rhett is still growing like crazy still. At 8 months he is a crazy fast crawler and yesterday he made it up 2 flights of stairs before we realized where he went. We really need those baby gates up!

Evelyn started dance class. She is in a ballet and jazz class right now. She is so excited to show me how she can walk on her tip toes. She also loves to show me how she can 'leap' over things that she sets on the floor :)

I learn more and more every day that kids are sponges. They are learning all the time...even when you think they aren't. How do I know this? Mostly because the past month Evelyn has started singing ALL. THE. TIME. What does she sing? Songs we only hear on the radio in the car! Ones that she has only heard 3 or 4 times. It is nuts! The other day she started singing 'Boom Clap' by Charli XCX. She thought it was "boom crap" though...bahaha! It did make us rethink what we listen to on the radio though. You sort of have to when you hear your toddler sing "come onto me, come onto me now". Looks like we'll be sticking to CDs from here on out. Apparently she likes Taylor Swift and Maroon 5. She has been singing 'Shake it off' and  'Moves like Jagger' for the past 24 hours.


Now for the picture flood!

 Afternoon movie time always ends like this. Thank heavens since in-her-room naps are apparently 'for babies'

 

 This girl LOVES to dress up in her princess dresses. When dressed like Sofia, she sings her theme song over and over again

 

 

 Those EYES!

 

 

 Fire fighter digs at the museum

 

 Climbing to the top of the Tree House

 

 Building a ball track with daddy at the museum

 

 Suiting up for wizards chess

 

 Castle playset

 

 He totally wanted to eat those armor puzzle pieces

 

 Drums!

 

 Sometimes activities are just too much for Rhett.

 

 The kiddos love to play this new game. Evelyn gets into the cupboard and Rhett opens and shuts the door. Yes, Evelyn is in the cupboard.

 

 First day of preschool and all she wants is to show me how she can stand on her toes

 

Nope she is not excited at all!

 

 

 

Life is good. I have a lot to be grateful for.