Thrift Store Finds!

I treasure other's people junk. :)

                                                                    Oscar posing. $2

                                                 Oscar posing with soccer ball. Big hands.

                                                       Theo wanted a turn. A little tight.

My hot new swim suit. $3

                                                   Best of all, a full-body snow suit!!! $10

Come back soon to see more of my adventures in discount shopping!

2 Month Review

A lot has happened in the past two months that I've been absent from the blog. Here's a quick list:

We put a 10-foot trampoline in the basement and an Ikea swing in the play room. It's awesome for these cold winter months.
I had a birthday. Oscar had a birthday; he got a scooter. Theo had a birthday; he got a barn.
I got bangs.
We had family visiting for a total of 3+ weeks.
My brother and his wife and two kids moved from California to just 4 miles away from us!
I attended a 3-day birth doula workshop, where Peter (bless his heart) took off work to watch the boys.
We hosted Thanksgiving and two days later Peter had everyone help spread cow manure over our land.
We took a 12 hour trip to Rexburg for my other brother and his wife's college graduation. (8 hours of it was driving.) Congratulations, guys!
With the help of my friend and expert seamstress, I finally started sewing my cushion for the bench seat on the landing of the stairs. I'm halfway done.
I made blankets for the boys' Christmas presents.
We bought a station wagon, the kind with the rear-facing third row. :)
I got a surprise calling yesterday as the stake YW sports director. That's in addition to primary music leader.
And tomorrow is our 4-year anniversary!

I'll likely post pictures next time.

We're WINNERS!!!!!!!

So that last post I did was for a contest to win a scooter from Kickboard USA (http://www.kickboardusa.com/), and we WON! Wuhoo!!!! I just got the congratulatory email an hour ago. Theo and I jumped up and down, we screamed, we ran around the house and just had the funnest time celebrating! What a high!!!

As I was running past the front door, I saw two ladies standing outside. Uhh... woops. I apparently hadn't heard them knock - wonder why. :P Then I had that awkward moment where I lost all memory.

I asked, "Do I know you?"
She responded, "I'm Theo's speech therapist."
"Of course, come in! Um could you hear us screaming?"
"Yes."
Oh boy... Oh well!



So we had a fabulous weekend. My child-hood best friend and her husband, Tina and Dave, took a road trip on their bike to visit me! We had a good time catching up, talking about our cute, wacky kids, and trying to figure out what type of beauty we are, lol! (from Carol Tuttle's Dressing Your Truth book). Sunday morning before they left Dave took me for a ride on his motorcycle. What a thrill! I could be a bike girl... maybe. Anyway, it was a lovely visit. I'm grateful to have good friends like Tina and Dave.

On Saturday we drove into Salt Lake for Peter's work party... AT THE ZOO! They had a designated parking lot for employees where a train picked us up and took us to the zoo. It was shear joy to see Theo and Oscar's excitement.

We'd actually never been to the Hogle Zoo yet. Theo, I swear, was the most excited kid there. It almost took pliers to pull him away from each exhibit, but once we told him what we were going to see next, he would RUN to it he was so enthused! Walking takes too long, obviously. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera. But if I had brought it, you would be seeing pictures of giraffes, monkeys, seals, otters, leopards, tigers, rhinos, and elephants. The elephants were everyone's favorite. They did a show for us, which was very impressive. We learned that elephant moms are pregnant for almost 2 tears, and at birth their babies weigh 250 pounds. And that just by eliminating, they can loose 200 pounds.


And on that note... I'm signing off.

Kickboard USA Scooter Contest

Hi, I'm Theo! I  don’t go to school yet, but when I do, I might ride the bus like Dad. We like to go with him sometimes. 

 But if I had it my way...

I would take a hot air balloon to school!

 Although, Mom will probably take me in the bucket bike…

                                    
                                     ...unless I have a scooter! 

 

A Healthier Lifestyle

5 days ago Peter and I started something new. We decided to cut out most yeast- foods and desserts, and just extra sugar in general, out of our diet for a week and see how we felt. Yesterday, hump day, was the hardest. I wanted cookies and milk so badly. I almost caved. Almost. But I didn't.

Some things I have observed in the past few days:

I haven't gotten any headaches. 

I have more energy, which I used to clean out and vacuum the car and weed in the front yard! 

I miss sweets, but have realized how much we over-sugar things - like oatmeal.  

I haven't been as stressed mid-day. 

It is just as easy to turn to healthy foods for snacks, as long as you shop for and prepare them. 

Eating healthy doesn't have to be bland. 

I can be more creative than I am when it comes to food. 

I have a serious sweet tooth, and I know I can't live sugar or yeast-free permanently. But I can cut down significantly and replace sugary snacks with healthful ones. 

It's a lot easier to change food habits with your spouse on board. Thank you, Peter, for supporting me! 

It's also a lot easier when you have a specific goal in mind. 

And when you notice improvements in health immediately. 

But life is still funner with sweets.

In a future post I'll try to explain why I am gradually changing my diet. I'll also post about what healthy meals and snacks I've come up with to replace the sugar. Stay tuned... dun, dun, dun! 

Hurrah for Quinoa!

I have discovered Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah). I first tried it, not knowing what it was, at a LLL gathering almost 2 years ago. I thought, "I've never had this type of rice before. Yum." DH first tried it, and actually ate it regularly for breakfast, in Peru while on his mission. Makes sense, quinoa originates from South America.   

But it's not rice; it's a SEED! And whenever I think of seeds (I only think of them because I almost never eat them), I think of the Word of Wisdom and how we are encouraged to "eat seeds of every kind". I always thought that was interesting. 

So apparently The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has officially declared that the year 2013 be recognized as "The International Year of the Quinoa." 

Here are a few reasons why: 

-It's a complete protein source! Rice is not. You can use quinoa practically any place you'd normally use rice. 

-It has healthy fats (like omega-3s), anti-inflammatory phytonutrients, and antioxidants!

-It is a good source of folate, fiber AND magnesium. (Lately, I've been especially interested in magnesium, which I'll post about later. I'm developing a theory on how it relates to my morning sickness.) 

This is curried quinoa from allrecipes.com with some added vegetables. Results: It exceeded my expectations. It was so nummy! And we couldn't feed it to Oscar fast enough. We've also done a chicken and quinoa stir-fry as well as quinoa pudding (just add milk, cinnamon and sugar). 

What ways have you found you like to make quinoa? I'd love to hear your ideas. 

Happy Birthday, Omi!

Omi, you are beautiful and we love you! Happy 91st Birthday, Elisabeth Sobott!!!

One of the things I love most about you is that 

you always smile at, sing to and laugh with my boys.

They love you so much.

P.S. I created this before Omi's birthday and was going to post in ON her birthday, and all of the sudden I'm 4 days late. I'm sorry!