Halloween Weekend

Ivin's City usually does a Trunk Or Treat every year, but this year they decided to just pass out candy to the little kids for an hour on Friday. I thought that it was at 6 pm.......I think I might have been wrong.
Right by the City offices is a city park so we thought that was where we were supposed to go. Games were set up, and everyone was dressed up so we went on over. At one of the games a lady asked us what ward we were in, and I thought it was odd that a city employee wanted to know our ward....... I told her the first ward, and she said, "Oh, ya that's what ward this is." Ummmm come to find out we totally walked in on another wards Halloween party. We were so embarrassed, and uncomfortable, but they insisted that we stay.

Then the next thing I know the kids are getting horse back rides! Brooklyn's Bee costume was at home getting washed so she looks like a Bahhh Humbugger!

London, and Hailey got a turn too! Jocelyn's picture got deleted on accident :( :( :(!

Rah-Rah-Rah Give me an I-N-T-R-U-D-E!



Here is London making herself at home playing the cupcake walk.

After the horseback rides and cupcake walk we eventually worked our way over to the swings, and were able to sneak out of the WARD PARTY! The kids had a great time though!

So this picture is from Saturday right before we set out to go eat chili with our ward, and go Trunk or Treat at the church. We  had a lot of fun!





We are on our way! Brooklyn and London went with Jon, and we sure did miss them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 


This is a picture with Hailey and her best friend, Zelda.





After the Trunk or Treat we went trick or treating to some houses, and we had a good time. Matt met us at the church and was able to go trick or treating to the houses.

My Wonderful Family

 Brooklyn:
She slipped on some water this morning, and during the fall knocked a full gallon of milk off of the counter. It broke open and we had a MILK LAKE in the kitchen!
She is learning to play the violin and we went to her Halloween Concert. She is also in Set Design, and she her class designed the background decorations.

Oh, look they love each other so much that Matt is actually smiling in a picture!

The background is what she has been working on in Set Design over the past two months.

We love each other so much she can't breathe in this picture!

Matt:

He has been doing CrossFit diligently, and has lost 15 pounds since he changed his diet 3 weeks ago. He was working out like crazy, with no weight loss! He quit drinking pop, and rock stars, and he has such great  self control when it comes to bad food! The zone diet is amazing!!! Good job, Matt!

Teala:
I went to CrossFit and really liked the workout. I lifted the weight behind me in the picture, did pull-ups, and air squats. My hips are feeling a bit better since I am stretching, icing, and rolling on the foam roller. I took a week off from CrossFit, and I think that helped! I also have a prescription for Aleve that I take two times a day that has helped. I also got some arch supports, and I put them in my other pair of  running shoes, and I think that did the trick.
I can do pull-ups on my own, but I think that I pulled a muscle in my shoulder a few days ago. It hurt me to do anything!!! It's feeling better, and the reason I know is I can finally breathe in all of the way! I did get the stomache flu, and I feel much better now that I'm not nauseated! I hope one day I'll feel good.



I did 150 air squats, some lifts on the bar behind me, and 50 pull-ups



See the two ropes. I was so proud because I've attempted to climb them in the past and couldn't even pull myself up.  After a workout the other day I climbed to the ceiling twice!! See how high the ceiling is? I was scared coming down!


 When I got home we rushed to get Hailey to Kindergarten by 10:40 since it's short days all week due to SEP conferences.
When we got home I found a cardboard box that the kids had cut some holes in for the cats to play in. I thought that they were very clever and creative! I think it was Braxton *my sister, Sarah's oldest boy*, and  Brooklyn that made it.




This looked better before Jocelyn demolished it, but I still wanted to post it for sentimental reasons. The cats were so cute playing in it, but my camera was no where to be found when they were!

 



The kids made a tunnel toy for London's albino hamster, Peaches and Cream aka Snowball

 Jocelyn:
I got on the computer, and Jocelyn came up to me flipping the bird, and innocently asked me, "What does this mean?". No one in the family uses that, and the older kids don't even know what that means........I think...
Then she came up to me and put Matt's slipper on the floor by me. She put Barbie and Ken in it and said, "Mom, my barbies are in the hot tub!"



Hailey:

She is so nice to all of the kids in her class, and she is doing so amazing with her reading!!! She is in Kindergarten, and on 2nd grade level with her Math, and she catches on to concepts really quick!

Her Kitty loves her so much it fell asleep with her....but woke up from the camera flash!

She also thinks she is a model.

London:
She hasn't been on the ball in school, so I have dreaded her SEP conferences with her teachers in the past! This year is so different! She is on task, and even getting excellent grades. Her lowest grade was a B+ in Math.  She has the most amazing voice too! I love to listen to her sing!!!

She had her first concert yesterday, and she did an excellent job. I hope that she'll get up the courage to try out for a solo someday. Some of the girls did sing a solo at the concert. I asked her if she thought they sang good, and she said yes. I told her that she sings that good if not better, and that she needs to sing a solo sometime.

      I love my family so much! Life is good!

Hailey Turned 6

Hailey turned 6 yesterday! Happy Birthday my beautiful blue eyed blonde haired girlie!!! I love you!

Jocelyn, London, Hailey, Paul Cochran, and Brooklyn at Hailey's party!

Granny-itis

I had a health assessment done on June 24th because it's required by our health insurance company. I was looking at the results, and comparing them to the results from the other day......since we had to have another one.  The assessment in June showed my weight at 150, and the one the other day showed 137! I didn't realize that I had lost that much weight.

I think I look funny but it's because It's the starting position of the lift I'm about to do!



I'm the one in the brown shirt doing pull-ups!

I was feeling like a million bucks last week when I did the following workout:
-Run 1 mile
-Row 1000 meters
-Run 1 mile

Doesn't sound to hard, but my knee, and hip hate that workout..... at mile one to be exact! My hip has hurt ever since! A couple of weeks ago I was having the same pain so I went to Dr. Brock Kesterson, my chiro,  and the pain totally went away after that. I think I'm going to try to get into see him on Monday.

I just feel crappy about it because I'm only 31. It's very discouraging that my body can't do what I want it to do. I want to be able to do the WOD's *workout of the day* but when my hips are screaming at me to stop I get so annoyed. I know I could run faster, and run farther, and push myself harder, but my body won't let me. 

The WOD a couple days ago was 15 rounds of doing sprints. I'm glad I decided not to do that, and I just got on the row machine.

I am really enjoying the crossfit workouts, and it makes me want to cry to think that I might not be able to continue doing the workouts! That's how I have felt today. So wish me luck at the Chiro :).

Jocelyn

Jocelyn, I just want you to know that I love you so much, and think you are amazing! I'm definitely not complaining about you. I just know that one day you will read this, and it will help you understand you own children.


When Jocelyn was 2 she was diagnosed with a form of autism called aspergers. I knew that she needed some extra help, but didn't really care to label her that young.  She had a therapist come work with her at our home, and went to a special preschool that really helped. I was beginning to think that she had progressed so much that we had nothing to really worry about.


Well about a month and a half ago we got a couple of kittens. Jocelyn was hurting them, and couldn't really understand that she was. One day she was carrying one kitten with it's head first down in a quart size baggy. My reaction was a horrid scream, and I was histerical! Same with when she threw the kitten into our large bathtub that was full of water. We've had many episodes where the kittens are lucky to be alive.


With the help of Matt (who remembers feeling like Jocelyn when he was a boy) I realized that when I freaked out it made things a lot worse. Who wouldn't freak out over a kitten in a baggy? I had to explain to her that the kittens breathe just like her, and if we cover their noses they'll die. I had to tell her that we can't breathe in water, and the kittens can't either.


She has been having major anger tantrums, where she tells the whole family one by one that we aren't in her family anymore. She yells at everybody all the time, and she seems so angry lately. She'll say, "Don't look at me!", over and over and over. She wants a reaction. Matt realized that if he turns it into a game then she totally cheers up. He'll say, "Now can I look at you?" and she'll cheer up after a few times.


Also, a good friend of mine had some kids she had experienced the same kind of behavior issues. She taught me that in moments of anger to not get worked up, and to just reach over and tickle Jocelyn. It totally works!


Jocelyn is such a cutie, and I just want her to be happy! This week has been better since we figured out some new tricks!

Entering The Zone

 I've complained, and cried about this in past posts! Not this time! I started Crossfit about 6 weeks ago. I stuck with it, and love it now. I feel so much stronger, and more fit. Matt and I were seeing results along with feeling more strength and noticing more definition in our muscles. We just weren't losing any fat, or weight though which was discouraging. Infact, I we gained a few.....people said it was muscle. Mmmm...whatever.

Anyway, we heard people at Crossfit talking about the Zone Diet. I hate Diets, and I don't even like to call it that. I would call it a meal plan. So I looked into it, and it's amazing. It's equal amounts of protein, carbs, and fat.....and NO sugar. They do measurements in blocks, so I'm a 3 block girl. That means I triple their measurements......yay for tripling!


It's a miracle because I have gone 3 days without sugar, and never even craving it! That right there should be broadcasted on the news! It's crazy! We are doing the Zone meal plan 5 days a week.I am going to make some peanut butter cups on one of the days off  of the meal plan though! 

 I've noticed that I have been eating similar to the plan except I am not a big meat eater. I'm not a vegetarian, I just don't like a lot of meat. I usually eat two peices toast with cheese melted on it with a whole avocado, and less tomato. The difference in my lunch today was that I had to minus one peice of bread, add a bit more tomato than usual, and eat 3 oz. of lunch meat....ewww! Not good when it's that much, but I just chased it down with a glass of water!

1 Slice of bread, 3 oz. of lunch meat, 3 TBS of Avocado, and 3/4 cup of tomatoes.

I'm excited because I can tell that Matt is serious about it too! He hasn't had any of his lame Rock Stars, or pop for 3 days. If any of you know Matt, that is a MIRACLE! He was motivated when he saw some before and after pictures of kid named Kyle. Kyle started Crossfit at the same time as us,  but he did the zone meal plan. Kyles Before/After Pics after just 6 weeks!


I think it's cool because it's large portions so it doesn't feel like you are starving yourself. There are also 2 snacks, and I didn't even need mine yesterday!  It doesn't leave me anytime to crave sugar, and sweets. In the past I would eat sugar cookies for breakfast and lunch. I know, I know it was really bad!


This is 12 pages long, but it tells about the Zone, and explains measurements for each body type, as well as all the foods in the Zone, and some meal plans:
Zone Meal Plans/Foods


I am the most excited for Matt because he has felt so hopeless for a lot of years. Remember if we end up looking better you get to see before and afters :).

Right Now

Right now.....
My house is spotless! I love the feeling of a clean house, and with 4 kids it feels like it's impossible to keep it completely clean.

Right now......
The a/c is turned off because it is so wonderfully cool outside.....which must mean that Fall is in the air! I love everything about Fall! Decorating my doorway, and the house.

I just love the way it feels outside. I also love the colors of fall, and watching the leaves change colors!

 When we lived in SLC there was a beautiful tree right behind our apartment. Our friend, Jon Johnson, an awesome photographer took pictures of our family by it.

Right now.........
I'm content! I just ate a delicious Halloween eyeball cupcake that the kids and I made! I love Sundays....only thing missing is Matt! He had to work today :(.

A Night Out With The Whip-It's

Loved The Whip-Its

  We went to Las Vegas last weekend while my sister, Sarah watched my girls. Matt and I have a friend Cynthia who lives there so we stayed at her house. It was fun to hang out with her. We decided to go out dancing. We thought she would know some really fun places since she has lived in Las Vegas for a lot of years. She is 51, so I don't know why I was surprised she took us to "The Revolver" which was totally a country western dance club. I decided, ah what the heck and got on out there in the middle of the country westerners and did my own versions of the line dance they were doing.  A little later we all decided to go find somewhere else. The country ho-down just wasn't doing it for me..hahaha! So off we went to another dance club. We drove to another casino, and that's where I came to know "The Whip-It's"!! It was free to get in, and there was a dance floor with the Whip-It's playing all the 80's songs that I loved. I only wish they could have been at 80's night at the Village. Oh well. They were hilarious though! The lead male singer had on black tights that were a little too revealing. The woman singers name ins Ivana Humpalot which I found very funny, hahaha. Cynthia and I danced the night away while Matt was a party pooper for 75% of the time. At times we were the only ones on the dance floor. It was a lot of fun.

About a year ago my friend, Becky threw an 80's party. This post just reminded me of that party. I really did love the 80's.  Just to prove it I posted some pics from the party.

Me with Bryanna Johnson. I made our skirts out of sweaters......and the leg warmers too!




This pic is from a 1980's Party in SLC.  I wish that the Whip-It's could have been at this party!

The Village peeps!