Energy Clarity

First of all, before I get into this, can I just say that my little brother is coming home from his mission TOMORROW and I am SOOOO EXCITED!! I feel like a little kid at Christmastime, (and I miss that feeling)...counting down the days!!

Second, my wonderful friend Emily does something really incredible, and I have to share it. It has already really blessed my life. I won a session with her in a giveaway, and little did I know how much it would benefit me and my whole family. I wrote up a review for her to use, but I thought I'd post it here. Her website is HERE.

I was very fortunate to do a session of Energy Clarity with Emily about ten days ago. I know very little about it, but it didn't matter, it was still an awesome experience, and not only did I learn a lot, but I have felt so much better and a lot of really amazing things have happened since our session.

First off, the session was an hour long. It's done over the phone, which I kind of like, because I was able to be at home, in my pajamas and relaxing in bed. Emily can explain more of the details, but in a nutshell, she had me repeat certain statements, and then she was able to detect where my energy was not flowing properly. It was pretty fascinating to do this with her, because I would try my hardest to say things exactly the same, with the same amount of enthusiasm and voice inflection, and yet she was still able to determine where my energy wasn't flowing properly. Then she helps clear out those "blocks".

The skeptic might not think she is really able to do this, but I know for a fact she can. It happened over and over, but here's just one example: As she took me through the statements about "relationships" she told me she could tell there was some sort of energy block in that category. So she had me say the names of everyone in my family. Then she told me where the kink was (or with whom, I should say.) She was right. (And she didn't ask any questions or need to know any details.) I have been through a lot with this person in the last few years, and though we have made up and are close again, I know there are still feelings that are healing right now, on a very deep level. Emily had no prior knowledge about any of these things...and I (jokingly) told her that I felt like I was talking to a psychic. But it was pretty powerful. In addition, she helped me with specific things that I wanted to work on (like not being so negative and having more willpower; also, I had a food/weight issues that I needed help with.)

After an Energy Clarity session your life just.....gets better. I don't know how else to say it. I can't even explain how this all works, but please talk to Emily about it. Let me just share some of the good things that happened since our session.

1. I have lost 3 lbs. I am 6 months postpartum and still trying to lose the last of the baby weight. I had been stuck at a certain weight for over a month, but that's already started changing.

2. My husband is a Property Manager. I have been very negative about renters right now, because I thought the owners were not being very smart (keeping rent too high.) Previously, the last few months, he has only been able to rent out about ONE unit PER MONTH. In the last two weeks, he has RENTED OUT 5 (FIVE!!) UNITS. It's incredible to think about how my negativity was affecting our whole family and this whole property. He now gets an extra week of vacation, and we are probably going to be able to go to Hawaii next month. AND it looks like he will get to go free, and we just have to pay for me. (It's a long story...but still, just another good thing that popped into our life.)

3. I am getting on a better sleeping schedule, and I have FINALLY broken the habit of needing a nap every morning. I have more energy and feel happier. In fact, the morning after our session, I woke up with the strangest urge to clean my room. I don't like cleaning very much, and it's rare for me to WANT to do it. But I just felt so good, I wanted to get things DONE! And the day went on...cleaning, organizing, laundry...I got a lot done that day.

Now, I want to end by saying that this is not a "magic fix" for all your problems. HOWEVER...sine my session I have definitely had more ideas about how to solve problems, and WAY more discipline and willpower to do it. And if that wasn't enough, all kinds of random blessings keep pouring down on us.

I've also been thinking a lot about how this fits in with our Heavenly Father and the Gospel. I don't want to thank "The Universe" for sending me blessings, I know they came from Heavenly Father. I was wondering why these blessings didn't happen until now. I've been praying for them for awhile. I came to the conclusion that I was praying for these things, but without much faith. I was stuck in a negative cycle of thinking, and I was not able to receive these blessings with that mindset. I don't believe in coincidences, but even if you do, it's hard to discount how many good things have happened to us in the last 11 days.

I want to refer my friends and family to do this. It's not something you have to do regularly. Sometimes once is enough! Emily made me feel very comfortable, very at ease, she wasn't nosy or asking any questions about my business...but she was still able to make a very powerful impact on my life.
THANK YOU EMILY, AND I HOPE OTHERS WILL SHARE IN THIS INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE!!

You can read more and even schedule an appointment on her blog, again that's
Http://www.energyclarity.blogspot.com

Happy Happy Birthday Tara Dear!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SIS TARA! If you know Tara, then you know that she rocks! She is probably the most natural, gifted mother that I know. She has 2-year-old twin boys and the cutest little 9-month-old girl ever, and I can't believe how easy she makes it look to be a mom. I love that I get to see Tara so often (90 minutes away isn't too bad) and I love that Kalia has those twin boys to play with. They are her favorite friends.

Back when Annaliese was having a hard time, I spent a lot of time in St. George,. Tara was especially helpful to me. Even with 3 little kids of her own, she would take Annaliese from me to give me a break. Hop on over to her blog and tell her that she's awesome. Love you sis!

More Q & A

1. What is the quickest meal that you whip up when short on time?



2. What little food substitutions do you make in an attempt to be more healthy?



3. Do you take any vitamins/supplements, and if you do, what are they, do they help, and do you take them all at once or throughout the day?

KIDS SHOE SALE- SAT ONLY

AMAZON.COM IS HAVING AN INCREDIBLE SHOE SALE TODAY ONLY ON KIDS SHOES!!
I just bought Kalia enough shoes to last for the next two years...I HOPE! I got 7 pairs for $56.43 (free shipping too.)
**THE KEY IS TO LOOK FOR THE SHOES THAT QUALIFY FOR A PROMO OF $10.00 OFF A $60.00 ORDER.
HURRY, CHECK IT OUT, CLICK HERE

My favorite one...

Kalia was trying to get my attention: "Mom! Mom! Mommy! Mommy!" (I think I was on the computer.) She got smart and tried another approach: "Hon! Hon! Honey!"
It worked.

Kalia-isms

Thanks for all the GREAT tips on parenting/discipline...I'm trying several things out and they really are working! I really appreciate the input.

Kalia has been pretty good about climbing out of her crib.

1. About an hour after I'd put her to bed I heard the doorknob turning. I went to the door and picked her up to put her back in, and she said, "wejifp jsf skjssj anwne POOPY."
Sure enough, she'd pooped, which was not on schedule. In this case I was very happy that she'd climbed out to tell me, because we all know what kind of rash she would have had if she'd slept in it.

2. The next morning at 7 a.m. I hear the little pitter patter of bare feet on tile, and then a very exuberant little voice saying, "Hi! Hi! Hi Mommy! Hi Daddy! Hi! Hi! Hi!" as she ran to both sides of the bed. She was thrilled to be coming in to us instead of waiting on us to get her out. We are not thrilled to be getting up an hour earlier than usual, so the special doorknob has been put on, however, she didn't try to climb out this morning, she just waited for us.

3. Today I told her it was time for a nap, and before I knew it she had run to her room and climbed IN her crib. I didn't know she could do that, but I guess I'm not surprised. She is not putting up any sort of fight for nap time. I think she actually likes to nap...a girl after my own heart.

What this post is really about, is the funny things she's started to say lately. I'm glad I can join the club of "kids say the darndest things". I LOVE reading other people's blogs of the cute things their kids say. Here's a few from Kalia:

1. Samuel was grating cheese with an electric food processor. It was really loud. She runs over to the kitchen, takes one look at what he's doing, and very enthusiastically said, "WOW! AWESOME!" (We'd never heard her say wow or awesome before, which made it even funnier to us.)
2. One day I heard her grunting trying to open the fridge. She finally got it open for the first time ever and said, "Ta-da!" Now we hear "ta-da" all day long. It's usually a bad sign.
3. Every time she does anything all by herself she tells us, "I did it!" but she says it like this, "I deed it!"
4. Any time anyone chases her, and catches her, she says, "I gotchu!"
5. She found a tampon in a plastic wrapper, and she was so excited- she brought it to me and said, "CANDY!!!!" and I said, No, it's a tampon." Unfazed, she says with glee, "TAMPON!!!"

Easter 2009

Haha, these pictures say it all...Our life is a little chaotic right now, and these pictures captured it perfectly. These were the best shots (of the few we managed.) Just take my word for it. They looked cute. :)

I'm Frustrated...Please Help!

This beautiful little punk is giving me a RUN FOR MY MONEY!!! It seemed like overnight she has developed quite the DEFIANT ATTITUDE. She is into EVERYTHING, a lot of it is innocent, I know, (see picture below....CURSE THE DAY SHE LEARNED TO UNSCREW THINGS!)

but I guess I must be handling it all wrong, because the behaviors are increasing instead of decreasing. How do you discipline a toddler? (She is almost 20 months old). That's the question of the day. PLEASE TELL ME if you have any experience dealing with the following:

1. She throws her food, dishes included, as soon as she's done eating. The worst was yesterday, when her barbecue sauce painted the walls and floors. In the past we've tried a timeout in her room. This is the only thing that makes her cry, and she's always very penitent after her 1 minute imprisonment, but it hasn't really stopped the problem. So, for the last few days I've used a very stern voice and told her NO, that makes a MESS, Mommy is MAD! I repeat this over and over, then I get her down and direct her to clean it up (Love & Logic Style). She is fascinated with this "tough" side of me, and she seems to enjoy taking orders from me. Since trying this approach, the food dropping/splattering is happening at EVERY meal. The only thing I can think of next is to try the exact opposite approach and completely ignore the mess and the behavior entirely and clean it up myself later. When is she old enough to start to take responsibility for what she's done though?? To make matters worse, when it's time for bed, she's hungry and has a hard time falling asleep. I don't know what to do about this.

2. She has been capable of climbing out of her crib for over 8 months now. But it wasn't til tonight that she decided to do it. And she did it twice. And she opened the door (a new development as well, we are in the process of putting on the door-knob thingies) and came sauntering on out...but she was crying and wanted to eat. I was hoping to keep her in her crib as LONG AS POSSIBLE...and I plan to do handle this "getting out of bed" thing the Supernanny way again (I really like her style) and just keep putting her back in without talking, until she stays. However, I still have to decide when to actually transition to the toddler bed. Any thoughts on this particular problem?

3. Finally, I am SO tired of telling her NO. And that's me being pretty lax. I don't say no to her jumping on my bed. I don't say no to jumping off the coffee table (ANYTHING to get that energy out!) and I don't say no when she wants to draw on every paper in the house. Most the time I don't mind the general messes. But now they are turning into bigger problems, like trying to take off the toilet tank lid, opening the fridge, pulling out her food/drink of choice, and helping herself, and/or discovering the fingerpaints and painting herself while I am showering. It just seems like I spend the whole day saying, No, Stop, Don't do that, Give it to Me...yadda yadda yadda. Welcome to motherhood right? Please give me advice on surviving these terrible twos. I hope Crystal was right when she said the half-birthdays are a harder stage than the regular ones.

12:40 a.m.

What is wrong with my body? Or mind? Is this what they call INSOMNIA? Today I did everything you're supposed to- up early (8 a.m...but only 6 hours of sleep)...NO NAPPING (a new thing I'm trying) then I worked out hard for once, then I mopped my floors very INTENSELY and now it's almost 1 a.m. I still don't feel tired. I had a major tired "spell" at 5 p.m. but that's normal I'm sure....I do have a lot of excitement on my mind, but this has to stop. Eventually it's going to catch up to me, I know it. Tylenol PM works, but I can't keep using it as a last resort. Any advice is welcome. I'm pretty sure it's about getting my mind to slow down.

Sooooo...here's a pointless silly post. These are my latest CELEBRITY CRUSHES. Don't laugh...I know you have some too! Why don't you just confess them, eh? Most of you know Ryan Seacrest

And Carrie Underwood used to date this hottie, Chase Crawford from Gossip Girl

And THIS one is FRENCH (woohoo!) and I only found him when I stumbled upon Dancing with the Stars one night and HELLO. This man can DANCE!! He's soooooo good. And so cute. His name is Gilles Marini.

And this is Simon Baker from the Mentalist. We love this show, it's funny and clever and his character as Patrick Jane is fabulous. He sounds like he's American, but he's actually Australian (and he's got our accent down!)

Samuel just marched out of our bedroom to ask what I'm doing up...and he thinks this is a very stupid post. Hahaha.

Stay tuned for my next insomniac post...I may just tell you everyone I love from American Idol.

I wonder what would happen if our TV blew up or something. Maybe I could quit watching it.

5 Months Old

Today Annaliese is 5 months old. Sometimes it's hard for me to believe she's that old, Kalia was pulling to a stand at this age. Annaliese is a very content little thing, and is happy to just lay on her back (and roll over occasionally). I'm grateful for a baby who is much slower paced. She is just what I needed. Here's a few things to remember- 5 months old means:

She's found her toes

She grabs everything in sight, usually that's my hair

She's usually pretty quiet, but when she babbles, she really speaks up

Her hair is thinning out (and so is mine!) and she has a lovely mullet

She is fascinated with her big sister, and smiles at her often

She is the squishiest, cuddliest little thing and I can't stop kissing her

She is taking 3 long naps a day, and still sleeping 13 hours at night (and this one took a lot of work to achieve, so we don't take it for granted.)

She gets so excited when I go in after she's been asleep, she starts kicking her legs like crazy and it sure makes me feel loved

Sometimes I can't believe this is the same baby that cried all the time, that never let me put her down, and that wouldn't sleep anywhere but my arms. That seems like a million years ago! She is the complete opposite of Kalia in every way- I can't think of a single way that they are the same, except for their hair color and eye color will probably be the same...anyway, it's just so interesting to me that two little girls could be so different. I think it means they will be even more compatible later on, at least that's how it was with me and my older sis.

April Fools

This is a pregnancy test (a little strip that I got off ebay. They're cheap, only 50 cents each.) It has a single purple line down it. So it is NEGATIVE of course, but I showed it to Samuel and told him it meant POSITIVE and that we were having another baby. He totally believed me! I used my best acting skills to pretend I was really nervous to be having another one so soon.
Samuel and I have never played pranks on each other for April Fools, so maybe this is kinda mean (I haven't told him yet that it's a joke. I'll tell him before he goes to bed. I thought it would be more fun if he spent the day freaking out.) Anyway, I've enjoyed seeing what some of you guys have been doing for April Fools. It was my friend Emma's idea to tell her hubby that she was pregnant- thanks for the idea. :)

Here's two video clips from today- Kalia doing her favorite song and dance on the coffee table and Annaliese doing her water aerobics:

More Faves

These are a few (more) of my favorite things:

1. Crayola Floating Art Desk:
Kalia has been bored with bathtime lately, and in an effort to make it more fun, I bought her this for 9 bucks at Wal-Mart. She LOVES it, and it's amazing how the crayons will draw on the desk when wet, but then it washes right off when you rub it with water. And the big purple and red crayons on the sides are storage compartments. She almost has more fun putting stuff in them than anything else. 2. The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage:
Thank you Emma, for recommending this book. I have never listened to Dr. Laura or read any of her books, but this one has made a HUGE impact on our marriage and I just love this book. Remember my post about complaining? It has really helped me change my ways. BIG TIME. She's so blunt and straightforward, but really quite accurate. It surprised me how often the women she described...sounded just like me. I recommend it to everyone.

3. Olay Moisture Replenishing Mousse Cleanser:

This is a mousse cleanser from Olay. I got the moisturizing one (it is NOT oil-free, just so you know) but I need some moisture in this desert. I have to say, washing my face with a mousse is FUN! And it makes my face soft. If you use this, just use a tiny bit, it goes a long way.

4. L'oreal Infallible Never Fail Lip Gloss.

Website says: "Longwearing lipgloss in only one step! No touch-ups. No top coats. No Feathering. No Fading. Hydrating formula keeps lips soft, smooth, colorful and glossy for six shining hours." They aren't kidding. This stuff is great! It didn't get sticky until about the 6th hour. Stayed on amazingly. This is not kiss-proof though. They have another Infallible product that is, and it works really well too. Watch for the Buy One Get One Free sales to try them!

5. KY Warming Jelly:

This stuff is the greatest on the planet. Thanks to Amy J. for sending it to me right after I got married.

6. Dreyers (or Edy's if you live in the South/East) Slow Churned Ice Cream: Take the Cake:

Thanks to my cousin Holly for reminding me about Slow Churned Ice Cream! We tried out Take The Cake this week and OH MY WORD, I think it is challenging Cold Stone's Cake Batter for BEST EVER! The best part is that it has 1/2 the fat and 1/3 the calories of regular ice cream, and I cannot even tell one tiny bit. So I ate twice as much. Oops.

7. Best new addition to Google Reader: http://365daysofcrockpot.blogspot.com/

Thanks Mel, for letting me know about this one! A girl is posting a crockpot recipe EVERY day for a year! Crockpotting (is that a word?) is so easy, it's about the only way I'm cooking these days. And these recipes are really easy, most of the stuff I have on hand, and she gives the recipes a review (1-5 stars) after she makes them. Seeing the recipes on google reader every days just makes it that much eaiser to think about starting dinner earlier.

Money Money Money

I know absolutely nothing about the stock market. I don't really know what the NASDAQ or Dow Jones is...and I just found out that I can only buy stock between 6 and 1 p.m. Vegas time, since that's 9-4 on Wall Street. Did you know that? Well, I am learning a few little things because we are investing in the stock market for the first time in our lives. I know a lot of people (some members of my family included) have lost a TON of money on the stock market right now. I feel terrible for them, but rumor has it that if you leave your money alone, eventually it will go back up and your money will be back.

Well, we just bought 600 shares of this certain stock, and as soon as the rest of our money transfers over, we're buying about 1500 more. I found a website that only charges $4.50 per trade to do it (zecco.com). The company is called Lifevantage, and their stock is only 45 cents a share right now. (update: It climbed to .60/share today). However, we happen to have some information that leads us to believe that this stock is going to TAKE OFF in the next few months!!

I've heard of Insider Trading, and I know Martha Stewart went to jail for it. I'm pretty sure that what I'm doing is not that, but I better go googling and find out (just googled...looks like we're okay here.) Now, I am about to explain WHY we are buying it, and I am telling you this because I would want someone to tell me this if they knew it. Maybe you can make some money off the stock market too! (And to me...that just feels like free money.) If you are not interested in that, then don't waste your time reading any more (cause this is going to be a little long), but I will seriously kick myself if this stock takes off, we make a lot of money, and I didn't tell anybody about it before it happened.

This company, Lifevantage, has a product out on the market called PROTANDIM. It's been on the shelves of GNC and other stores (as well as online, like at vitasprings.com). Protandim, in a nutshell, is breakthrough in anti-aging. It's an herbal supplement (there are five herbs: Tumeric, Milk Thistle, Green Tea, Ashwagandha, and Bacopa) and apparently a doctor has been working for 40 years to get JUST the right balance of each herb. When you have the perfect ratio, supposedly this supplement causes your body to produce a ton of natural antioxidants, like, way more than you could ever get from eating anti-oxidant rich foods. Now, without going into a huge science course, your body has to deal with something called Free Radicals. They are BAD. They make us age and as they break down they cause something called Oxidative Stress. Oxidative Stress is the cause of over 200 diseases. Antioxidants fight free radicals, and lower oxidative stress. That's why you hear all about the importance of eating blueberries, pomegranate juice, etc. As we age, our body produces less and less antioxidants, thus, our bodies deteriorate and disease often sets in.

Okay, back to Protandim. This stuff has clinical studies that have been published in scientific journals (very important) showing that it reduces oxidative stress by 40% in everyone, old and young. It brings your oxidative stress level to that of a 20-year old, or younger. They call it "patent-pending", and I looked into it, it's true, there are two patents on this product.

Well, Lifevantage has been around for years, but they have not been able to market the product very well. Nobody knows what it is or what it does. So they decided to adopt a multi-level-marketing platform to increase sales and get the word out on what it does. Samuel's cousin approached us about it, even though we NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER join multi-marketing things. We hate sales and don't have the personality to do them. But because of Samuel's cousin's success in another company, he was approached to help found this new marketing campaign, so he was one of the first to know what was going to be happening...and he shared the news with us. The news has rocked our world and kept us awake at night.

Samuel's cousin is very successful at network marketing. He knows a hot opportunity when he sees it. (And by the way, I just barely found out that he invested 12k in this stock!) And according to him, this is the hottest he's ever seen. If you know anything about network marketing, if you "get in" at the very beginning (or on the "ground floor") then after a few months of work and recruiting others, the money starts POURING in. Again, we've never experienced this because we hate MLM's, but we've heard all about how much money his cousin was making. So much it was obscene. And yes we were jealous. Still didn't want to join. Well, he then told us about this Protandim, and we were both like, Hmmm....we want to buy that and take it. Then he tells us that quite a few people are going to want to buy it/take it--there is a HUGE market for anti-aging products, especially if they REALLY WORK...and this one just might!! It's worked in their studies at least.) Lifevantage is recruiting people now, and you don't have to pay any money (for the next few months) if you want to get in to selling it.

We are pretty excited about this. And what I'm getting at is....we did the unthinkable and agreed to try to become distributors. It goes against the grain in every way, but the truth is, we need to get out of debt, and we would probably be complete idiots to pass up an opportunity to get in so early without having to "buy in". When I say early, I mean they haven't even done the "pre-launch yet." This just started about 3 weeks ago, so getting in now means you're at the tip-top of the pyramid. That kind of opportunity is very rare, even without a great product. Plus, like I said, you don't have to put any money down right now. So we're going to give it a try.

Now before you think I'm recruiting you, THINK AGAIN. I did a lame little effort and e-mailed a small group of people asking if they were interested in extra income. It was probably hard for them to believe, but I truly have their best interest at heart- I want everyone I know to get money from this, if they want to. A few people replied, a few of those even talked to Samuel's cousin, but the bottom line is, it was very uncomfortable, and most of those people didn't even want to hear what I had to say, as soon as I mentioned the dreaded MultiLevelMarketing cuss word. I HATE ASKING PEOPLE (FRIENDS) TO DO THIS, AND THEY HATE ME FOR ASKING! It's true! One girl, who is not even really my friend, more of an acquaintence, was SO RUDE to be about it, and it hurt my feelings. Like I said, I was never meant to be a salesperson. Men are better about saying, "It's just business."

So...we are not giving up, but because of that reaction, and the reactions of others that I consider my friends, I am NO LONGER RECRUITING and friends or family, SO REST ASSURED! YOU ARE SAFE! If we make a lot of money doing this, I know you will be happy for us to get out of debt and stuff. If we fail, you can feel glad you didn't join in! Either way, I am going to take more of a "missionary approach" and just work with people I don't know that well. Rejection, at least on my mission, was not quite as bad because they were strangers.

All right, if you're still reading this, I'm coming full circle. The stock is only .60 a share as I write this...It has tripled in the last three weeks. It doubled after Montel Williams (who was on Oprah, but didn't talk about the product) made it known that he is taking AND distributing Protandim. He is supposedly recruiting other celebritites. The stock doubles. A few years ago, ABC Primetime did a special on Protandim, it was 5 minutes long. (You can watch it here, click on the first video.) The stock shot up to OVER 15 DOLLARS A SHARE!) On May 15th (roughly) they are officially going to do the pre-launch. All the distributors also become customers. The company's sales are going to start climbing REAL FAST and so, logically, the stock will too. Do you get where I'm going with this?

I'm saying that I believe this stock is going to go up, FAST, and make people some money. If you want to buy some, GO FOR IT. The "ticker code" is LFVN. I'm making NO guarantees. You have to know when to sell it, or you won't make any money off it it. If you lose money in this, please don't hold it against me. I don't get any benefits from telling you to do this. But it would make me really happy if we all made a load of money off of this!! You are taking on all the risks of the stock market if you want to. We are definitely taking on that risk. We know that realistically we could lose our entire investment, so we are making a very small one. If we do lose it, we won't die over it. That's our take on it. I really REALLY hope it works out for us. I hope it works out for you.

Finally, since I don't really know who I am going to recruit for this, if anyone has ever tried to get you to do network marketing, will you send me their contact info? I am going to go after those people, since they already want to do it, know what I mean?? I'll repay them the favor of "bugging" people. :)

PHEW!! That was long. Now lets just watch that stock and wait...

Answer me this...

I don't know why I was wondering, but...I am!


1. What time do your kids go to bed?


2. What time to YOU go to bed?


3. How long does it take you to fall asleep?


4. When do you fit in time for a shower?


5. How many kids do you think you'll have?


6. How often do you eat ice cream?

Clothes (Follow up)

Thank you for your nice comments about the clothes. I finally made Samuel sit down and tell me what he really thought as I tried on every single thing. The verdict: I am not very good at picking out clothes for myself. DANGIT! The green shirt goes back ("it washes you out") and the yellow cardigan too ("it's not a flattering fit") and my favorite Gap pants are going back too, he said they were just too loose. The smaller size was a smidge too small, but I guess I'll be motivated to lose the last few pounds to get into them, they were so cute and comfortable. It's just sad to me that I don't know what looks good on me. I used to watch "What Not to Wear" all the time. Have I learned nothing? I guess I'll have to take Samuel along from here on out. He's gonna be thrilled.

Fun Times

Warning!! You're about to see pictures that I took of myself in the bathroom mirror!!!! I'm a nerd!!! But let me explain. I had 2 gift cards to the Gap and Banana Republic from Christmas and our American Express points....and then Jaesi sent me a 30% off coupon for this weekend only, AND we have outlet stores for both BR and Gap just 15 minutes away, so I was forced to go buy clothes JUST FOR ME (because all of that is just too good of a deal to let slip away) but you mamas out there know this is a very rare occurence to shop for yourselves, but at times must be done. (Hello run-on sentence!) I was just so excited to get so much "bang for my buck" if you know what I mean. At BR I got 7 things and the most expensive one was only $16!!

Well...I came home to three sleeping beauties, so I was hoping YOU could be excited with me (and tell me if I should keep the following:) Navy blue sweater from Gap (I just loved the cute buttons on the neckline)

Simple green t-shirt: This is way plain, but could be cute with the right accessories. I've just never been a green-wearing kinda girl, but with this new hair color, I'm trying to branch out.
BRIGHT YELLOW. My beautiful friend Kat always pulled this color off so well with her dark hair. I got this cardigan from the Gap and I'm hoping I can pull it off too...however...looking at the picture, I'm not sure. NOW GO AHEAD AND BE HONEST, I don't want to pay money (or, correction, use my Christmas gift cards and 30% off coupon) for things that don't flatter my coloring!! I got 2 pairs of pants, a belt, a necklace, a cute pair of wedges, and 6 shirts and I am feeling so spoiled. I love Banana Republic shirts too, they are the softest ever. So...yes or no on the yellow?

Okay, onto another quick family update. This week we celebrated our Anniversary. I should say our anniversary rolled around, but we didn't really celebrate it yet. In a few weeks we're trying out a new 4-star hotel (only $50 for a Sunday night stay!). I'll let you know. Some of you remember our fabulous stay at the Venetian (click here to see the pictures if you missed them.)

Anyway, my MIL blew up this picture and put it in this beautiful frame for us, and I love it. (Now...where to hang it?)

(Picture by Deb at Funny Face Photography )

Kalia seems to be better from whatever made her so sick...at least there's no more fever or throwing up. I still can't get her to eat hardly anything though, and if she's not outdoors, she is still extremely whiny and quite the cranky monster. (Could it be another tooth? Are the terrible twos hitting early? She just turned 18 months a few weeks ago, so I HOPE NOT!) She is having another "language explosion" and she makes me laugh all the time with her interpretation of words. Sometimes she just surprises me with words I've never heard her say, like the other day she pointed at her food and said (for the first time that I know of) "red, orange, green, blue". She didn't get any of the colors right. But it was still enough to make me smile. She also likes to come find me when I'm cooking or doing laundry and says, "Hep you" and she likes to pour in the detergent or stir the food...if only I could get her to FOLD LAUNDRY!! That's the "hep" I really need. So anyway, most of these pictures are from outside, since that's where she's most likely to smile. Annaliese....oh this little thing is SUCH A HAPPY BABY!! You know, during those 2 months of miserable crying I thought "I WILL NEVER GET THROUGH THIS!" but once we got the allergies taken care of, she turned into the sweetest little thing. When she hit 4 months old (last week) I decided it was time to sleep train her, using a mix of all the books I've read on the subject. I admit, we are not 100% consistent (more like 95%) so we're probably shooting ourselves in the foot (feet?) but she is doing really well, and is probably about 90% consistent in return. She cries for about 30 seconds before naps, then sleeps for 2, sometimes 3 hours. If she gets 3 naps, she will usually sleep through the night until 6 or 7 a.m., but with 1 or 2 dream feeds in there. Every now and then she will just fight it and resist and cry for an hour or two til it's time to eat, so I have to get her up. I hope I can figure that one out. She's in her own little pack and play right now (in the walk in closet. Hey, come on, it's all we've got for now! Nice and dark!) but anyway, I AM HAVING THE HARDEST TIME FALLING ASLEEP AT NIGHT. I love co-sleeping with my babies, and I miss having a warm little head in the crook of my arm.

:( Anyway, it's worth it in the end. Oh yeah, and I was wrong about the eyes. They are turning brown after all. I guess that's one little piece of me that she got, since everyone says she looks like Samuel!! Whatever!! Here's a few recent pics of her:

Bows by Alisha (she can make anything...check her out.)

Here's our stupid van. It's back. You know we aren't driving it anymore, just trying to get it fixed so we can sell it. We found it at a tow place across town. When it got stolen it was at somebody's house getting "repairs" (this guy was/is a total scammer and we got screwed there too but...you live, you learn) and we don't know if he had anything to do with the theft, but it came back with the rear bumper crunched up. Makes me so dang mad. If only we'd had the comprehensive coverage on it, we would have jumped for joy that it was stolen and we were rid of it! But on the brighter side, at least I never have to drive it again.

Well, that's all for now...INFORMATION OVERLOAD! And if you missed the last post, add me to your google reader with biglerfamilyupdates.blogspot.com

The End

Blogging Woes...

Well, I love reading blogs. I love commenting on them, and I love getting comments. My sister-in-law just started reading my blog, (she's pregnant for the first time) and she said it reminded her of the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child"...but then she said, "more like a blog to raise a child." I thought that was clever. I really feel like blogging has enriched my life. However, I've really struggled to find time to do it lately- or at least to read other people's blogs, much less comment. I think I am going to try to limit myself to an hour a day. That should be more than enough to read, comment, and write the occasional post, right? If I don't limit myself, I know I'll spend way too long, and my cleaning schedule will go to pot. So that's a new goal. I've been setting some goals and I'm trying to change bad habits (I just spent that whole weekend cleaning up my bad habits and I'm traumatized. Not really. But motivated to change.)

I think I've turned over a new leaf...the days of total chaos and craziness are mostly over (for now.) Things have really started to calm down around here and I'm really grateful for it. So, that means I finally got my google reader down to zero, but now I have to tackle private blogs next.

I was part of a "group blog update" for private blogs- basically you just tell people that you've updated your private blog, and it shows up on google reader. A lot of you have done this, and I think it's a great idea. I thought I might as well just start my own update google reader thing, since I realize a lot of you don't know the other girls in that group, and wouldn't be able to read the other blogs...is this even making sense? No, oh well.

Either way, add this link to your google reader:
biglerfamilyupdates.blogspot.com
And then you won't have to check in on my blog randomly. Google reader will let you know.

I'll do a better post later...maybe I'll tell you about how our van has been stolen, and we don't know where it is, and didn't have comprehensive coverage on it, so kiss that money goodbye (I can't think about it, it makes me sick.) And then I'll tell you how Annaliese's sleep training is going. And how Kalia got a fever of 104 and threw up all night...our first time dealing with that. But for now my hour is up and laundry is waiting.

Ahhhhhhh....

Wow, it has been a long hard weekend and can I just say it was some dang hard work and I am going to hopefully get a massage TOMORROW! My back is killing me! But it feels soooooooo daaaaaaaaaaang good to have this apartment clean. Samuel will be home any minute, but I thought you might like to see....I got a few new decorations (we are SO bad at cluttering this counter, so I hope this deters us...)And this for a wall...which I will have to have Samuel re-hang, but I wanted it lit when he walked in the door.

Here's the before picture of the clothes from the girls' closet that I had to sort:
Here's the before picture of the laundry. (I was stunned. I had NO IDEA I had accumulated so many dang girl clothes! These are not the same clothes as the ones in the bedroom, mind you.)
Here's the after picture of the closet...
And the girls' bedroom... (don't knock the decorating skills, I admittedly have none and although I do look forward to having a cutesie "girl room" one day, today is NOT the day. Not until I have a house of my own.)
And then instead of using this hutch for CLUTTER, CLUTTER, AND MORE CLUTTER, my friend Marylin helped me display my dishes that have been stuck boxes in a closet.
Now can I just give a huge shout out to Marylin, she spent SEVEN hours with me on Saturday, and I would NEVER have been able to finish if I hadn't had her help. She is the same one who took our family pictures in December, and she was so happy and willing to help me, it just amazes me. People in Vegas are so dang awesome!!

Now I just have to maintain this place, and I am DETERMINED to do it. I have a weekly housecleaning schedule so this doesn't happen again.

I think I hear Samuel pulling up now!!! My babies are home too! Yipee!!!!!!! Just in time.

I'm on Vacation...Me, myself, and I

As I write this, I am sitting in the rent office downstairs, "working." Samuel, Kalia, and Annaliese just drove away (and my heart sunk.) This was actually my idea, I am trying to remind myself. This was to give me a badly needed "break" from my current responsibilities.

I guess I am taking a vacation from being a mom and a wife. How often do you get to do that? Samuel is making the drive to Phoenix with the girls to go visit his parents. They are going to help him take care of them for the weekend while I....well...what am I going to do?

Actually, my schedule is packed. But I am REALLY excited to just ATTACK my apartment and clean it out and organize it from top to bottom. It's needed it for about the last 8 months. But since Samuel is gone, I have to work 9-5 in the office, trying to rent apartments and make phone calls, and I'm even going to go stand on the street with a sign that says "free rent." I am dreading this part, but it's part of what Samuel is doing right now, and we're basically swapping roles.

I'm nervous about being the Property Manager for the weekend. I'm also a little scared that (worst case scenerio) my whole little family will get in a car wreck...or that someone is going to break in on me while I'm alone, but whew, deep breath, I'm sure it's going to be okay. (And I have my little .22 in the drawer next to me, and I know how to use it. Don't be fooled though, I'm still new at shooting guns. But it makes me feel better to have it.)

So, I gave in to the temptation to blog (hey, this computer is right in front of me!) and now I'm going to make a list of everything I need to accomplish this weekend. Then I really do need to get to work. Yuck....I don't really like this kind of work. Oops. No more complaining!! Working on it! (Thank you everyone for the fantastic book suggestions...I am going to read all of the, I already have 3 books in the office with me now!)

1. Sleep 9 straight hours, three days in a row (YIPEE!! CAN'T WAIT!)
2. Fold and put away 12 loads of laundry (as of now....they are at least washed/dried)
3. Clean out both walk-in closets, organize and store all baby clothes (long project)
4. Go through all my clothes that I haven't worn and donate them
5. Clean, scrub, vacuum, etc. etc. every inch of this place.
6. Clean out and declutter all cupboards and drawers
7. Get a massage...if I have time (I got a gift card for Christmas)...I don't think I'll have time.

I'm worried I'm not going to have enough time to get it done- I also have to be in the office Saturday from 9-1. People are inviting me to do all these fun things and I'm afraid I'm going to have to turn them down because this precious "alone time" is going to go very fast.....
WISH ME LUCK!!

Some thoughts about Complaining

I know it's not good to complain. But...it's still something I struggle with. I remember having this conversation with Samuel about a year into our marriage--he was letting me know in the nicest way he knew how that I complain too much. It was kind of eye-opening, I didn't realize how much I was doing it, and I vowed to stop complaining (at least to him). Now, two years later, that same conversation has come up again. It turns out...I'm still complaining, and I didn't even realize it.

I feel bad about it-- what man is going to look forward to coming home to a complaining wife? What do I complain about, you may wonder? Well, lately it's been about how many hours he's had to work. And it makes me mad that the owners, his bosses, don't even appreciate it. All they care about is getting more units rented. They don't give a dang that he stayed up til 1 a.m. trying to get an air conditioning unit fixed, or a leak fixed, or yadda yadda yadda. If they at least APPRECIATED his long hours, I wouldn't feel like complaining about them as much. So I also complain about the ungrateful bosses (Samuel tells me this is very female/emotional, and business is business, he's not bothered by it, but whatever.) On top of that, he has SOOO many meetings for church, you'd think he was in the Bishopric or something. I feel like I hardly ever get to see him. I try really hard not to complain about church obligations, because I'd definitely be more unhappy if he wasn't going to his meetings and doing his home teaching...but I just want to feel like THE FAMILY COMES FIRST. Sometimes it feels like we're last, but honestly, I know he's doing the best he can.

Well, I know I got a little defensive. "Hey, even Sariah complained in the Book of Mormon" I shot back...but I know I need to be better. But I realized that when I complain, or should I say, VENT, I feel so much better afterwards!! Then I had another realization...that's what girlfriends are for! They (usually) know just what to say, such as, "That's hard!" "That sucks!" "It's okay to feel that way!"

Mom's are great listeners too, but I think we have to be careful with that one, I learned in a class once that if you complain about your spouse to your parents, they'll get overly concerned that you don't have a good marriage, since they don't get to see all the great things your spouse does that we all probably take for granted.

I wish there was a really good, helpful book entitled, "How to Not Complain to Your Spouse." I am going to go search for one now. But if any of you have any thoughts on how I can be better at this, I'd love to know.

**Added Later**
THIS book has good reviews on Amazon, and my library has it, so maybe I'll start there.