Shredded

I am not talking about cheese.  I am talking about a workout video I have been doing for a week and a half now.  It is from Jillian, you know the psycho trainer from Biggest Loser.  I shouldn't call her psycho, how about motivating.  It is called 30 day shred.  I think if you did it every day for 30 days you could become, as she says, shredded.  I am not sure exactly what that means, but I think she is implying that you will lose weight and be in better shape.  In the past 10 days I have done it 7 times and it is still killing me every time!  I just feel shredded after every workout.  It is a good one. It is compact and dense.  I actually feel like I can get a meaningful workout in 20 minutes.  It has 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute abs in three different circuits.  I love doing it, once I get started.  I can talk myself out of it and have done so three times!  I feel great after its over, except after the first day and I could sit down because my quads were so sore.  My goal is to just feel different in 30 days, I don't know if I will be shredded because I don't know what that means.

Many firsts for me today

• watched Conference on a Lap Top in the kitchen
• peeled peaches for two hours to make jam and cobbler
• peeled 18 cups of apples for freezer apple pie filling
• made cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning breakfast
• made sweet potato oven fries for dinner
• in the kitchen from 9:30 am to 9:30 pm

All about Maddy

As I have been thinking about the past twelve years with Maddy in our lives I have smiled, teared up, and laughed at the memories.  Maddy loves animals.  Everytime she sees a dog walking on the street she wants to assume it is lost and take it home.  One of my favorite examples of Maddy's love for animals is when she asked if she went blind could she get a seeing eye dog.  This girl was willing to do anything to get a dog.  We have a dog now and she is constantly out there petting, brushing, playing fetch, getting her fresh water, loving her and humanizing her.  We need to put her on a strict regimen of watching the Dog Whisperer... she is coddling Betty too much so she doesn't respect her.  Betty jumps on Maddy, she won't listen to Maddy and she basically runs the show when Maddy is with her.  We are working on that with her, but she just loves her so much she just can't discipline her!  Maddy is our neat freak.  Her room is usually spotless and organized.  She makes her bed almost every day before school.  She wanted to start doing her own laundry after we moved in here in July.  She keeps her drawers and her closet organized.  She comes home looks at her job list and gets it done. She doesn't mess around.  She wants to get done so she can go hang out with Betty or a friend or watch tv.  She loves watching Bewitched and I Dream of Genie. She loves listening to music, especially Carrie Underwood.  She started reading Twilight this month and is slowly making it through.  I wasn't quite ready for her to read it yet, but Maddy has not been our most avid reader so when she showed an interest I said go for it.  We will see if she makes it through before our renewal times expire at the library.  I may have to buy it for her so she can work on it for months.  I think she got her reading skills from her Grandma :)  Slow and Steady.  She likes to try new things... she did the violin and ran track last year.  She wanted to try the flute this year but it said with braces it would be hard so we decided to wait.  She is doing piano and is coming along beautifully.  She has really long fingers and long feet.  Dr. Ramsey suggested she become an OB/GYN with her long fingers.  She is our active child...she always wants to go rollerblading with Norm or ride her bike or go for a walk.  She memorized all her articles of faith and completed her Faith in God.  She is very determined when she sets her mind on something.  She has a great talent of knowing when to say when, when it comes to eating.  I am constantly amazed.  She will be in the middle of eating, anything, even a dessert and say, "I'm full" and just walk away and throw it away!  I need to learn that skill.  It is a good one to have.  She often gets these little "things" that she does incessently... like blinking her eyes, tapping her toes, making some weird face.  We often ask her "Is that your new thing?"  She is very uninhibited at home, around others she can be a little quieter, but when she warms up to you watch out.  I often say, she is our "Lauren" of the family.  She is very loving and kind, she often befriends kids and plays with the lonely ones.  Just the other day she said she and her friend Holly played with  a boy who looked sad.  She is very compassionate but she can give a mean stank face too.  We love all sides of Maddy and cannot imagine our family without her.  We love her to pieces.

Maddy is a real Young Woman

On September 15th, Maddy entered the realm of young womanhood.  She turned 12 and officially can now attend all Young Women and Mutual activities.  The day before her birthday the Beehive leaders came to meet her and tell her all about YW, Personal Progress, and For The Strength of Youth, etc...  She sat there on the couch between them with a big ol' grin on her face.  As I sat across the room and watched, I couldn't help smiling and reminiscing about my days in YW.  I am so excited for her and the fun years she has ahead of her.  The leaders, Sister Barnhurst and Sister Budge, started asking Maddy what she had planned for her birthday and if she wanted to, but she didn't have to, they were having YW that night.  Before they could even finish their sentence, Maddy burst out with "I want to come".  Her birthday fell on Wednesday this year, which happens to be mutual night.  It also happens to be Cole's swim team night.  So, needless to say, we were running like crazy to get all of our activities in for the night.  Since Norm is working for the man, which we love, but we miss his flexibility, the kids and I got to Taco Bell (as per Maddy's request) at 5:00 ordered our food and began eating.  We waited for Norm and the plan was for him to get his food, go out to the van and open Maddy's presents there.  He didn't want to eat so we hustled out to the van and Maddy opened her presents there.

On the request list this year was the number one item of "fancy" scriptures.  Maddy has been begging for scriptures with tabs and her name on them for a couple of years.  We decided that when they were twelve they would be able to take care of and appreciate a nice set of scriptures.  In all honesty, Maddy could have done it at eight but we waited until she was twelve.  I Looovvveed that my little girl, turning 12, had scriptures as her #1 top of the list birthday request.  She also wanted jewelry and make up.  We surprised her with her own flat iron too.  She put a little make up on in the car and we sped away to the church to meet everyone there for YW at 5:45.  Tenley went with Norm and I took Cole to swimming.  Maddy wanted a birthday cake shake from Arctic Circle for her birthday dessert.  I was loving her requested food items... no cooking for me!  After swimming, Cole and I zipped through the drive up at Arctic Circle and they don't do the birthday cake shake anymore!  I was so sad for Maddy.  But she was still ecstatic for the Cookie Dough shake.  She was beaming after she got home from YW.  They went to temple square, took pictures and had treats.  Cole heard from another beehive that is in his french class that Maddy didn't stop talking the whole time!  I think she had a really fun birthday.

All about Tenley

Since Tenley had her birthday last week and she just turned 9 I thought I would share a few thoughts and memories of our little Tenley.

Otherwise known as Jujy Fruit, Fruitie Patootie and my new favorite  Patootie Pants, our little Tenley Jo, is not so little anymore.  She is growing up so much against all my efforts to keep her little.  This past year she has endured much with her braces and our latest implement is two sets of rubberbands to try to straighten out her jaw.  The last visit to the orthodontist was slightly unsettling. Despite all our trying, her jaw is still growing crooked.  Thankfully, for the palate expander, she has enough room, but the problem now is the alignment of her jaw.  He says that we will continue to "chase" the jawline and hopefully she won't need surgery later.  We can only hope for the best on that one.  She has been very brave through all this.  There have been lots of tears, arguing, coercing, and bribing, but in the end she has been a trooper.  She has also been going through a "patching" phase with her eyes.  We have ben patching her left eye for one hour a day since February.  We are now down to one hour twice a week, which is harder than everyday.  It is easier to forget.  Thanks to my calendar alarms on my phone we are doing pretty good.  She has increased her ability to use her eyes together.  When we started she could only identify 3 picture out of 10 that were 3-D. At our last visit she was up to 8 out of 10.  She has made great progress and has been very cooperative while wearing her patch. Hopefully she has learned that through hard work and sometimes unpleasantness we can achieve things that really matter (like a wider roof of your mouth and hopefully a straighter jaw).
Tenley loves the funnies.  She loves that Grandma saves them for her and brings her a new stack every week or so.  She reads them and rereads them.  She never laughs, at least out loud, but she finds enjoyment.  She often says funny things and we have named them Funleys.  I try to remember to write them down but I just haven't remembered all of them.. I hope they continue for a while and I will be a better documenter.  I love passing Tenley's room and hearing her playing and talking to herself, her babies, or her stuffed animals.  I know these are sounds that will pass with age and I savor the moments and am very quiet in the hall when I hear her.  She loves to collect anything little... rocks, thimbles, littlest pet shop, etc...  She loves the Russian nesting dolls and was ecstatic when Lauren's sister in law, Rikelle, brought her an authentic one from Russia.  She started 3rd grade this year and loves school.  She loves reading and I will often catch her snuggled up with a book on the couch or in the car or the bathroom :)  She called Maddy a neat freak the other day, since Maddy keeps her room pretty much immaculate, Maddy turned around and called her a mess freak.  Now Tenley is not dirty, she just tends to be on the cluttery side.  I guess this goes along with her collecting little things, and big things, and stuffed things, and paper things.  She is like me in that way, or at least when I was a kid.  My room was not the cleanest, I was a pack rat and I had a hard time parting with things.  In my old age, I have learned to hate clutter and I at least organize my clutter, I enjoy throwing things away and I don't have a hard time parting with things anymore.  Tenley loves Chicken Noodle Soup for breakfast(not the generic kind, it has to be Campbells... if you go cheap on her and buy the Western Family brand you have to doctor it up with some onion & garlic powder).  She is a carbaholic (again like her mother). She loves a good roll.  She hates melted cheese but will eat pizza and grilled cheese.  She loves oatmeal and a banana and a glass of milk.  She loves herb roasted turkey on a brat bun (the hot dog buns from Costco or Sams).  She loves watching Bewitched and I Dream of Genie. She has a beautiful smile that can cheer me up. She gives the best hugs and kisses, especially on my forehead.  She will still snuggle with me.  She needs her sleep and her food.  If she is tired or hungry, watch out! We love our little Tenley, Patootie Pants!

Tenley is 9 in 2010

Tenley had a very grown up birthday day if you ask me. Picked up at 11:30 by Grandma for a trip to a sit-down restaurant... not one with a drive thru, and shopping. She was pleasantly surprised when Grandpa and Adrienne met them at California Pizza Kitchen. After pizza, they made a trip into Build-a-Bear. Tenley chose a fluffy yorkie and a gold outfit with sparkly high heels. After Grandma and Grandpa headed home, Auntie Adrienne took her to get a Mrs. Fields cookie. I don't think any trip to the mall is complete without a Mrs. Field's cookie. Adrienne returned Tenley home to a crepe paper infested house. Cole and Maddy decorated the front room and Tenley's door with streamers. We had Italian Chicken, Ceasar Salad, Grandma's homemade rolls, jam, and cherry chip cake for the birthday girl's meal. We ate out back and thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine. After dinner, we headed downstairs to open presents. She, of course, added to her wiggle head collection, new baby clothes, a fancy kitchen pots and pans set and a new baby stroller. We then enjoyed the cherry chip cake with pink cherry frosting. We were originally going to just do our little family, since we were doing a combined extended family party of both of the girls on the 12th, but the Deatons were passing through and Tenley wanted Grandma's rolls and Adrienne was in town too, Lindsay was out shopping and dropped in with Ruby so we had quite a group. It is always great to get everyone together, it made Tenley feel great that everyone came to celebrate her special day with her.

Labor Day, Sheepdog Festival and wind

We decided to take on a new adventure for our family this Labor Day. We had heard great things about the Sheepdog Festival in Heber and after some internet searching decided that should be our activity of the day. We left home about 10am and got there just in time for lunch... everyone was starving after the hour long drive! We took our camp chairs and set up a spot to watch the sheep herding.  The sun was baking us and the wind was drying us out.  I thought that we'd be in for a nice cool day up in the mountains.  We decided to drag our shade tarp out.  The shade was nice but someone (mainly Grandma and Grandpa) were stuck holding on to it so it didn't blow away.  It was fascinating watching the dogs herd the sheep through gates, down the mountain, and into a pen all with just whistle and hand commands from their handler.  It as amazing.  Some of the splash dogs were fantastic, others would not jump into the water (go figure).  There was the always favorite of face painting and other booths and vendors.  We took our own picnic so we didn't eat but most of the booths featured lamb entrees.  I found that a little disturbing but apparently it is delicious.  I don't think I would enjoy it, especially after seeing them herded down the mountain five minutes ago!  After enduring the heat and the wind for about four hours we decided to head back home.  We were crispy and crackley.  Definitely in need of hydration both internally and externally.  It was a fun day and we would go again if it wasn't so hot and windy.