Fiesty McGee

The dreaded day has finally arrived: Audra has braces.

 As you'll notice from the lovely picture above, Audra has a missing tooth. Her second main front tooth simply refuses to come in! We have nicknamed the tooth Feisty McGee. It has caused us a lot of problems.

First, she had to have surgery last year to try and make room for the tooth to come in. It didn't work. Then they put in an expander to make room. It obviously has also not worked. According to x-rays, the tooth has moved slightly and should come in. There is plenty of room now. The braces will attempt to make even more room. If it does not work, however, she will have to have another surgery where they will cut her gums, attach a bracket to the tooth, and force the tooth down. It sounds horrible. We are really hoping it doesn't come to that.

Aside from being the most expensive tooth on the planet, the real problem is that this missing tooth has really hurt her self esteem. She says she thinks she is ugly. She has had kids tell her they think she is a witch because she only has one tooth, so she gets super self-conscience about her tooth. Please don't ever mention the fact that her tooth is missing to her! She purposely tries to not smile with her teeth- especially in pictures. I know it is just part of growing pains, but I will be so glad when this tooth finally comes in and she doesn't worry about it anymore!

TOFW

And now to the meat and potatoes of the women's conference. Fair warning: You don't need to read this. It's basically just my notes about the talks that were given so I can look back if I ever need inspiration.

The conference started on Friday night with a couple of speakers and Jenny Oaks Baker- the daughter of Dallin H. Oaks (one of the 12 Apostles) and a professional violinist. Dang, she is amazing! Her 11 year old daughter accompanied her, and all I could think was, "If this is the competition for Julliard- that you have to be able to flawlessly perform in front of thousands at age 11- I am never encouraging my children to go to Julliard."

Anyway, here's my notes from Friday night:

Mary Cook:
When have I had a miracle in my life? Miracles are wrought by the power of God to move His work forward. How is He preparing me for the hastening of His work? As we become committed we become converted. Miracles often require courage, faith, strife (perhaps for years), preparation, obedience (to qualify us for the Holy Ghost). Trust in the Lord.

Jenny Oaks Baker (she played and talked):
Hard to consecrate myself to the Lord because I know what I want, and I know the Lord doesn't necessarily want for me what I want for me. But true faith is faith in the Lord- not faith that somebody will be healed, or that we'll get a certain job- but faith in the Lord.

Hank Smith
God's Plan of Happiness- What is happiness? This question led him to a discussion of depression- not a spiritual or attitude problem, but a health problem. He is addressing how to be happy, NOT how to stop being depressed (which requires medical help)

Things correlated to happiness:
1. Surround yourself with happy people (social circle the #1 source of happiness)
2. Happy people try to be happy- they think happy thoughts
3. Spend money on other people (did you see that, Ben?)
4. Have deep in-person conversations
5. Laugh- has similar results as exercise, lower cholesterol
6. Use the power of music
7. Exercise and have a healthy diet (I know, I just threw up a little bit in my mouth, too)
8. Unplug and go outside- 20 minutes increases happiness
9. Get enough sleep- set an alarm to go to bed!
10. Meditate. Focus o breathing for 5-10 minutes

"Be still and know that I am God."

In 1 Nephi 17:2-3, 20, 21 (in The Book of Mormon), Laman and Nephi explain the exact same situation in completely different ways. Laman said, "That we might have been happy." For Laman, happiness was always somewhere else. For Nephi, happiness is HERE. Are we like this? "IF I was married I'd be happy, IF I wasn't married, I'd be happy", etc. But guess what? Research shows that when circumstances change, our happiness does not.

President Hinckley said, "Accentuate the positive. Speak of one another's virtues rather than our faults."
Elder Holland: "Nephi would rather be hit with cords than listen to Laman and Lemuel murmur more."

Horrible things happen. Our plan of happiness might change, but we can still choose to be happy.

The conference continued again on Saturday. One awesome bonus was that my BFF came and I got to sit next to her and catch up a bit. It was really nice!!! We need to see each other more often!

Barbara Thompson
"Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words."-St. Francis Assissi

Teach, then testify- the Spirit will then testify it is true.

Calee Reed (the musical performer for the day)

"This too shall pass- like a kidney stone."

Help me to see and to feel and to know that I am your daughter.

President Uchtdorf: "We are creative beings. We feel good when we take unorganized matter and create something."

Lisa Valentine Smith (as a side note, her brother is the lead guitarist for Maroon 5- try to live up to that!)

Boyd K. Packer: "Each member of the church is individually critical to the body of Christ."
We need to know what we like and what we don't like and make conscience decisions about what we want out of life.
We have somehow equated being busy with being important.
Somebody else's success is not my failure!
What is my unique offering? We need to celebrate our differences with questions like "What have you learned? What do you enjoy in life?" Don't trap people into stereotypes, see people as individuals.
Sometimes we think, "How can we be a good mom unless we are better than someone else?" That is so wrong!
Motherhood is enough! Lower the bar and be awesome. Resist the urge to be perfect (I mean, really, now we have to pose an elf on a shelf every single day?) Be the kind of mom I need to be for THEM, not for what will show others I'm cool on Facebook.
Every one of us is on a different path. Am I doing the best for my kids? It's good to reevaluate over time, but have confidence in what you are doing.
OWN your choices! We can't choose everything. Respect your own path, and you will respect others path, too.
Encourage each other in whatever our own paths may be. Give each other the benefit of the doubt. The stakes are high when raising kids, wouldn't it be nice to know we are in each other's corners?
Moms do what needs to be done- even if it is under circumstances they didn't want.
What's one thing I legitimately need help with and who could I turn to for help.

Richard Holzapfel

Christ will always provide- 48 times a year for as long as we live (this is the amount of times we take the sacrament). He is the "Perpetual sacrament"- it gives us hope, shows His love, forever. He who knows me best, loves me the most- that's powerful!

When sacrament prayer is given, mentally I can kneel with the priest- as if I am doing the kneeling and praying.
Philippians 2 is a hymn that used to be sung at sacrament in ancient times.

Tamu Smith and Zandra Vranes

Proverbs 31:10- a prophecy giving her son advice about what to look for in a woman.
The longest conversation recorded in the scriptures is Jesus talking to the woman at the well.
-Women are willing to cross cultural and religious boundaries to be good Samaritans.
Proverbs 31:8-9: Open thy mouth, judge righteously, help the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:20- As a sisterhood, are we striving to be there for the need of our sisters?

When a sister comes to find me (for help, etc), what type of woman will they find?

Emily Freeman

How can I see the fingerprints of the Lord in my life? Brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon saw the hand of God. When I can't see God's literal hand, I can trust His heart and then look for His fingerprints.
Brother of Jared climbed the mountain of exceeding height- what mountain am I willing to climb? Pres. Uchtdorf says luckily for us our mountain starts right where we are right now.
Sometimes we can be the lighted rock that the Brother of Jared had- "touch my life, dear Lord, and let me be the light."
David wasn't being forgotten with the lion and the bear when he was a young boy, he was being prepared.
Sometimes He refines us in ways we may not have wanted because He is preparing us for what we might not have thought.- Sara Allen
Where is my ministry right now? What is it?
The Lord touched Ether's rocks one by one. He touches our lives one by one, individually, based on our needs.

See why this weekend is such a great one? It always very spiritually uplifting, and helps me to recommit to being a better wife and mother. Thanks, ladies, for making it all so wonderful! And, a special thank you to my mom for getting us the hotel rooms and the conference tickets- you are the best! I love you!

Enjoying the Sunshine

Today was our first real warm day- it was so lovely! We knew we needed to go out and enjoy the weather, so we went on a bike ride that Ben used to go on all the time as a kid. It was really nice. We brought a picnic, played at a park, and just enjoyed being together as a family.

Life is good.

Women's Conference, Part 1

Last weekend I had the opportunity to fly to Seattle- by myself!- to spend the weekend with my mom and sisters.

Audra was upset that I went. She kept saying, "but why do you want to go?" My simple reply, "Don't you think it would be nice for me to be with my mom and sisters? Won't you want to get together with me and your sisters when you are married and have kids?" She couldn't argue with that.

It really was a wonderful time- even though I lost my camera- grrr! I'm still hoping it will pop up.

Anyway, the reason for the trip was to go to a women's conference for our church. My mom rented us a hotel room downtown (for the all important blog record, we stayed at the Warwick).

The conference started Friday night, but we went up earlier so we could enjoy downtown Seattle. I'll post more about the inspiring conference later, but here are some pictures from our time downtown (photos courtesy of Stephanie- thank you, sis!):

 You can see the beautiful view from the rooms- not bad, huh?

 Melissa, Ilea, Mom, Me, Steph, Michelle

Melissa checking out Pike Place Market:

 Melissa has had it on her bucket list to go and see the infamous "Gum Wall." I asked her if she also had on her bucket list seeing a mile high pile of dog poo. This was so incredibly disgusting! Seriously, so gross! I think it started because years ago a poor unassuming janitor didn't want to scrape off a few pieces of gum and thought, "Let's turn this into the world's grossest tourist attraction!" And, here we go.

 We also enjoyed a wonderful lunch at The Cheesecake Factory.

It was so fabulous to spend time with my mom and sisters. We don't get to do this very often. In fact, I am pretty sure the last time I saw all of them was two years ago when we went to the Women's Conference in Tacoma. But it's a wonderful tradition that my mom started, and I'm grateful we were able to all get together. Oh, yeah, and having no kids in tow: PRICELESS!

Ben's Birthday

I had a fantastic weekend in Seattle with my mom, sisters, and BFF for Time Out For Women (a women's conference for our church). I will eventually post about it, but since I lost  my camera, I am waiting for some pictures to be sent to me (hint, hint).

I flew out to Seattle on Thursday afternoon, and came back home Sunday morning- for Ben's Birthday. Yes, I totally win the "Wife of the Year Award." I was gone for half of Ben's Birthday. Thankfully, he is very forgiving and very kind to me, and he only complained for about 3 hours. The remaining few minutes of the day, we enjoyed celebrating his Birthday with his family. Beth made us a delicious dinner, I brought a DQ cake I had bought before I left on the trip, and we celebrated the big day. We also celebrated Ben's Dads Birthday, who had his Birthday on Saturday. It was a busy Birthday weekend! But a good one.

He got a new phone for his Birthday and Christmas gifts for the next 6 years, and then the girls got him a Wii game that they can play together- WipeOut. That should be fun.

This picture we liked because it makes it looks like everything is moving except Camille. Rest assured, that has never happened in real life.

A GREAT FHE!

Every Monday night, our church leaders have counseled us to hold "Family Home Evenings." Basically, this is a night to devote 100% to the family- to teach a lesson about Christ or the Gospel of Christ, to play games, to enjoy a fun snack, and really- to just shut out the rest of the world and put the focus on the family.

Ben and I have tried really hard to implement this counsel. Normally, it goes OK, but not great. Often we have one kid or another jumping on the couch, standing on their head, or otherwise being mischievous. But we persevere.

Tonight, however, was a great success. We had a great lesson about "The Parable of the Popcorn." It talks about how some popcorn kernels pop into beautiful white popcorn for others to enjoy, while other kernels just lie in the heat and do nothing. The basic idea is that some people share their talents and reach the potential God has given them, while others do not.

Then, the fun part: Popcorn Olympics.

We played several games with popcorn, and the girls LOVED every minute of it. There was lots of laughing and it was a lot of fun. Audra said, "This was the best family home evening ever!"

So I thought I would share. You can get the FHE plan HERE.

 Check out the concentration Camille is using to balance a cup of popcorn on her head:

The video is sideways- oops. But it is cute nevertheless.

Good Night!

Food Bank

Today we had an awesome opportunity to go and help out at a local food bank. It is a small food bank- they don't need hardly any volunteers because they only hand out food twice a month, but we sneaked our way in..

This food bank started out as a couple of kids at an elementary school who noticed some kids went hungry. They started a food bank at their school. Eventually, they outgrew the school. One of the fathers at the school owns an office complex and he gave the school one of the units to use. Now it has expanded to help not just kids at the school, but people in the entire county who are struggling.

The best part about this food bank is that they let kids come help!!!! The women who run the food bank encourage you to bring kids- they want kids to learn service, and their own small children are there all the time.

They don't really have enough work for large groups to go, and it is actually really hard to get a spot to serve because space is limited. People sign up months in advance as that's the only way you can get a spot.

Nevertheless, we were able to go this morning and it was awesome. Ben stayed home with Camille, so it was just Audra, Claire, and me. I was a little worried about Claire, and there were a couple of times that she almost freaked out, but she held herself together and did great on the whole. It is really good that she has Audra- she really relies on her to help calm her.

 They were in charge of moving these wagons, which held the bagged produce that each family received, from one end of the room to the other. It was an assembly line where the families came through and picked up their produce, then received a previously filled bag of canned items to take home. The girls took this task very seriously, and they did great with it.

 Because it is so hard to come to this food bank, I don't know how often we will be able to go. But, we will try to come when we can. It was a fantastic opportunity and both girls said they enjoyed themselves. We want to try to do one service project a month. I don't know if it will happen, but it's worth aiming for. I have a couple of other ideas in the works, so we will see how it all pans out.

One Year Recap

It has been a year since I hit my goal weight, so it seems like a good time to do a quick check-up on my maintenance progress.

So far, maintenance has been going well. I am still at my goal weight. In November I gained 2 pounds, but in December I just did a better job of watching what I ate and I lost the 2 pounds.

I have discovered that it is very important to track what I eat, and while that is a little annoying, it isn't difficult. If I don't track, I gain, but when I track I stay right on target.

I continue to work out 5 days a week with Fitness Blender. I don't love working out, but I have accepted it as part of my routine and it feels good to fit in a quick work-out each day.

My cooking has changed quite a bit, but in a good away. Thank goodness for Pinterest! There are so many great Weight Watchers recipes, which really just means healthy meals made with veggies as the main dish instead of carbs. For example, last night I made a delicious dinner of stuffed sweet potatoes and homemade bread. It's not something I would have made before, but it was a great dinner and super healthy. Lots of wins there.

I have discovered that I can splurge on sweets once in awhile, too. If I eat well during the week, then on the weekends I can eat desserts and eat out at restaurants without any problems. It's all just a balancing act of learning moderation- treats on the weekend, not so much during the week. I'm fine with that because I don't feel deprived and I can still enjoy eating with friends and family and on our date nights, without worrying about gaining the weight back.

I just finished a book that I HIGHLY recommend for everyone, not just people trying to lose weight- though it is incredibly powerful for anybody trying to lose weight, too.

It's called, "It Was Me All Along" by Andie Mitchell. She also has a blog Can You Stay For Dinner with a ton of delicious, healthy recipes. I plan to use this book for book club- it was a great read.

I am really grateful that I am teaching my kids healthy habits and making them healthy meals. Growing up, we din't eat healthy at all.  I'm glad that my kids eat spinach and sweet potatoes and oatmeal and such, and that it's just normal for them. Cooking isn't my favorite thing in the world, but sitting down at the dinner table and enjoying a fresh, homemade meal is- so the ends justify the means.

Anyway, so far so good.

I have heard a lot of people say that they could keep the weight off for one year, but by year two they had gained all their weight back. I wonder if it is because they stop tracking and stop worrying about their portions. I imagine after awhile one starts to think, "I know how to do this. I don't need to count points," or, "I've been good for over a year, I can have that second helping of pie," and so it just comes back because one stops thinking about how to keep the weight off. I think that is why tracking is so important, which I plan to continue.

I have also heard from many people that once you hit 40 it is really, really hard to maintain weight. I only have a few years to go before that milestone, so I need to prepare myself.

But, for now, I'm at a good place. And I'll take that.

Going To China

We aren't actually going to China. But, we all really want to. The Great Wall of China is so cool! Someday we will go as a family.

Anyway...

This week has been an interesting week. I have felt a little off. It's hard being the homeschooling mom- there's all this pressure to provide everything for your kids- because you are the only one providing them with "it." I have felt a little down- even with the PARCC tests coming up for the month of March, meaning the school kids will be stuck taking tests while my kids won't. But still. It's a lot of pressure.

In school, kids take tests constantly so you know exactly where they are and what they have learned and haven't learned. I could test my kids constantly, but part of the reason I'm homeschooling is to not have all the anxiety of testing instilled in my 7 and 5 year-olds.

They definitely are learning. In fact, they amaze me with some of the stuff they come up with.

I am still glad we are homeschooling. The pros definitely outweigh the cons, it's just that there are always going to be good and bad weeks.

And, even though this week started not so great (only because of me not feeling adequate, not for any other reason), it ended up pretty awesome.

We have been studying China (hence the longing for The Great Wall), Yesterday they got to try out some chop sticks by playing a couple of games and trying to figure out how to use them correctly. Tonight they helped me make a Chinese dinner and then we ate dinner with chopsticks. Yes, I know we don't need a curriculum to be able to do that. But it is pretty neat to incorporate the history of China with what they are learning about Geography and everything else- it makes what we are learning more real and more memorable.

I love that we can make learning come alive and be fun- the learning doesn't always look like a textbook with homeschooling. Instead, it's just a part of life. Yes, we have workbooks and we have a curriculum. But we can also learn just by living- and I think that is way better than learning via tests.

So, in the end, it turned out to be quite a successful week in my opinion.

Winter In CO

The first two weeks of February were the driest on record.

Then the last half of February hit and made up for it. We ended the month the wettest February of all time.

Only in Colorado!

Anyway, it has therefore been cold. And wet. We have been cooped up quite a bit inside, with a couple of sledding outings. But even Audra admitted yesterday that she was sick of sledding. You don't hear that every day!

The sun came out today, and it is supposed to get warmer and warmer which is nice. I really, really hate the cold. It's time for Ben and me to look into a winter house in AZ.

But if you are cold, you might as well also be stylish, right?