The Meaning of Life

I met an amazing man today. He is staying at the Spa and is here from the Dominican Republic. He mentioned that he had been married for 35 years. When he saw my surprise he told me what he believes is his secret. He said it was never easy, but they took life step by step. First with their small apartment, while saving all their money to buy a lot to build on. Then later they built their home. One step at a time they worked up their wealth. They didn't mind not being able to buy a boat, or a nice car right away because they knew that later in life they would reap the benefits. They both had the same goals, and the same plan. Now he is one of the wealthiest men in his country, as well as having an healthy happy marriage.
There were many instances where he would have to travel alone for work. He knew how hard this was on his wife, so from time to time he would tell her "Regardless of what you have going on, regardless of it we can afford it, I am flying you out to meet me and spend the last few days of my trip with me." He said she was a wife and mother before anything else, and his family was first priority in his life.
"When you are twenty and thirty years old, your mind is different than when you are older", he told me. Now, years later they have 3 children, two son-in-laws, and four grandchildren. He says that when there are four children in pajamas all jumping and climbing on his bed in their pajamas, he knows what the meaning of life is.

THEY are the ones that matter

Life has been crazy. And in all honesty, it sucks. Some days I am at my wits end. I love my kids more than anything, but some days all I want to do it lay in bed. All the crap that this divorce has brought on has really drawn me to the end of my rope. I am back to work full time, and preparing for school this fall. Between work, 3 kids, and attempting to keep a decent home, I am exhausted. So when I have a day like yesterday, when all I want to do is sleep, and Chloe finds a random marker and colors on her legs and any other hard surface she can find, or pours nail polish on my coffee table, Mattix is fussy and refuses to nap, and Bentley is needy and clingy - its enough to make me lose my cool. Then I read something like this. This family lost their youngest child and this blog is dedicated to the memory of her and marks the families grieving process. This post in particular struck me. She talks about how shortly after the death of their daughter Camille, two of her other daughters broke some treasured figurines. Her first instinct was to get mad, but then she stepped back and realized how lucky she was to have them in her life at all. It really put things into perspective. I was instantly humbled and suddenly grateful again. I can't imagine losing any one of my children, and need to be grateful for them every single day. The other things don't matter.

Bentley Boy

I had to post the funny thing Bentley said to me today. I was getting ready to head to the gym and I realized that the only work out pants I had clean were capris, so I needed to shave my legs. So I went into the bathroom and Bentley followed me in. The bathroom in my new house is kind of small, so I asked Bentley to go out so I could shave my legs. He then asked "well, can I shave my legs too?". I about died! Then a little while later I was putting his shoes on and my moms dog walked up and was standing next to us. I reached for his other foot and he pulled away and said "oh, I thought Indy was pooping on me". What?!?! Yeah, cause that happens so often.... weirdo!

Happy Half Birthday!

Mattix had his half birthday yesterday! He is getting to be such a big boy!Here are some fun facts about little Mattix Jett:
He will sit up on his own for a few minutes before slooooowly falling over.
He loves tummy time, and can turn himself in circles. He gets his little legs moving, so I don't think crawling is too far behind.
He loves his brother and sister and gets giggling so hard when they talk to him.
He only wakes up once or twice a night, and still naps 2-3 times a day.
Still no teeth.
His head circumfrence is on the 60th percentile.
He loves to pull on Belle's tail.
He has moved three times in his short little life.

I got a little mixed up on my doctors visits, so instead of going for his 4 month immunizations, we went when he was 5 months, and will go again next month. Here are his stats at 5 months

Playing Catch-up

I went to Salt Lake last weekend to watch my little sister swim at the State Competition. She did awesome! She is only a freshman, and is still swimming in the fastest heats. She also took 4th place in one of her events. We are so proud of her and all the Desert Hills Swim Team. It takes so much dedication to be a swimmer. She has early morning practice before school and often has afternoon practices on the same days. Almost every weekend is filled with meets. She says its a love/hate relationship.


I also got to see my best friend ever ever ever. Chelsey!

I am mad I didn't get any belly shots, but you can check her blog to see them We went to Ikea (my new favorite place) and the Quilted Bear (another new fav). I got so much stuff at Ikea I couldn't believe their prices! I can't wait to go back.

The other night my neice Daisy performed at the Snow Canyon/Pine View basketball game. It was so cute to go watch her dance. She get so shy sometimes- it is so cute!
Here is a video of the performance. Unfortunately I filmed up with the camera lengthwise, and can't figure out how to flip it. So just tilt your head to watch! :)


The other day Chloe was being silly while I was cleaning. I usually turn my music on shuffle and blast it while I clean, and this day was no exception. I was working on the kitchen when I looked over at Chloe. She was dancing to Britney's "Womanizer". She would do this move where she gets low to the ground and barely moves her hips. Its so cute. Then on the part when Britney says "you, you, you" she would point off into the distance. SOOOO funny!

SuperBowl Sunday

We had a little get together Sunday in honor of the SuperBowl. We aren't football fans by any means, but we do love to have people over and eat nummy food. My SIL made "tinga". Its a delicious mexican dish that is shredded chicken, onions, tomatoes, and chipotle peppers on a tostada with sour cream. I made these...
Yummy wings. Got the recipe from Pioneer Woman. If you haven't read her blog DO IT! She is hilarious and all of her recipes are delicious!!!

I also made my world famous meatballs.
Ok, so they aren't world famous, but people like 'em.
Here's how you do it. Its so easy you will want to run out make them right now. Well, maybe....





Chili Sauce (simply spiced up ketchup... found right by the cocktail sauce), grape jelly, and frozen meatballs. Toss 'em in the crock pot. Leave them there. Stir occasionally. See, easy! Trust me, if I can do it - you can!

Before the big game, we played some Guitar Hero, World Tour.

Even Chloe wanted in on it.
Here is some of the crew.


While the game was on, my neice Ava found lots of things to keep herself busy. Including locking herself in the kids bathroom and emptying every drawer, cupboard and linen closet. Then later we found her in my bathroom, rubbing on shampoo like it was lotion. It was a great day, and we loved spending it with friends and family.

Slacking On my Blogging

I know, I know. I suck. Get over it! :)
This week was a good one. Chelsey came down and I got to have some "girl time". I got a babysitter and we went to lunch and did some shopping. It was so nice, and very much needed.
Then, Courtney, my little sister, had regions for her swim team. She is only a freshman, and was competing against kids from her age up to seniors, and still managed to get first place in 4 of her events. I am so proud of her. State is the first weekend in Feb. at BYU so I am going up to support her (plus it gives me a dang good excuse to see Chelsey and her gestating belly!).
I also finally found some new bedding for my bed. I have been looking for months and just haven't seen anything that jumped out at me, let alone something that Jesus liked also. Then on Sunday we found it. We also found the picture above the bed. It really filled up and empty space I was pretty clueless about what do with it. I still need to get new big fluffy pillows. Anybody have suggestions about good brands or places to get nice pillows?


This is a little craft that I did on Sunday as well. I found these letters at the fabric store for 50 cents each. Then all I had to do was string a ribbon through the holes and VOILA! Quick cheap and easy.

HCG Update, The Park, and Rice Cereal

Well, I haven't done a diet update for a while, so I thought it was time. The reason I haven't mentioned it lately was because I got a little off track. I gained back a few of the pounds, so I had to work extra hard to get them off again. As of this morning, however, I have lost around 9 pounds! Only 6 more till my target weight, and if I lose more on top of that, even better!! Jesus and I are finding what we can and can't get away with on this diet such as, we can eat a little more than the suggested portions and be fine, but we can't get away with throwing a "carne asada" and eating like pigs. We saw the results the next morning at weigh in! I can have an occasional diet coke, but I am limiting myself. We have around a week and half left, so we are going to try to hit it hard until the end of the month!

Have you guys all been to the new park off Tonaquint? Oh my goodness! Whoever engineered that park was a genius! It is set down off the road so you don't have to worry about your child making a break for it and running into the road, and the toys are like nothing I have ever seen before! I can't even explain how cool this place is, you just have to go! But here are some pictures so you get a little of a taste.....

Also, I tried some solids with Mattix the other night. Just a little rice cereal mixed with his formula, nothing too exciting. He wasn't so sure, but he ate quite a bit. I have tried it a few times since, but I haven't been too consistant.What the heck is that mom?

Hmmmm, not bad!

New House Pics

I know it has been forever since I posted pictures of the new house, and since I just got Chloe's new bedding I knew it was time to post her room. When she went to a toddler bed we just used the same bedding that was in her crib. When we moved we wanted to put her in a "big girl" bed, so she needed new bedding. I have been looking ever since, but haven't really found anything that struck me as "it". Then the other day I was browsing Target and found this bedding set. SO cute, and so perfect. I bought it last night and Chloe couldn't stop talking about her "pitty bwankets".
So here is her room, completed!The blankets that are hanging from the shelf over her bed all have special meaning. The one furthest to the left was crocheted by my Great Grandma Slack. She was still working on finishing it when she passed away. It means the world to me, and I actually refused to let anyone use it for fear of something happening to it. The middle blanket was given to Chloe when she was born by my mom's amazing co-worker. She ordered it online and had it personalized. It is embroidered with Chloe Jocelyn and her birthdate. The blanket on the right was actually my dad's baby blanket that some how my mom had saved all these years. On top of the shelf are blocks that spell "inspire", one of the porcelin dolls I collected as a child, and a glass block with vinyl lettering spelling out "sweet baby".
This is her armoire, and some pictures. The top right hand picture is my favorite. It says "My Prince has already come. His name is Daddy".
Here is her window. The sign above the window says "always kiss me goodnight"and in the shadow boxes on each side are her first tennis shoes, her onsie from the hospital, and her pink nike onsie, beanie and booties. The tennis shoes and Nike outfit were given to her by her uncle McLain before he left on his mission. Chloe was just 3 weeks old when he left.
Here is another shelf. The Love letters were made by my mom.Here is a close up of the pattern on the comforter.
I want to get her a headboard but i cant decide if i want a basic one, or something more shabby chic style. Opinions?

HCG Day 5, Miss Chloe, and Bentleys special day

I know you guys might be getting sick of hearing about this, but I am really trying to keep track of my progress. If you are sick of it, just skip to the next paragraph! :) As of this morning, I had lost right around 5 pounds. So far, averaging a pound a day. I have managed to get past the whole "feeling" hungry when I knew I really wasn't. It used to be that I would eat whatever was on my plate, simply because it was there. I was overeating- not because I was hungry, but because I thought I needed more. I realized that by giving myself smaller portions I eat less (duh!). Jesus, however, has really had a hard time, and still felt hungry after a meal. So we talked to the nurse, and she suggested giving him a slightly larger portion, or a hard boiled egg in the morning. This has helped him a lot. I also wanted to mention that the only reason people succeed on this diet is because of the HCG hormone. It provides the body with the rest of the nutrients is needs by feeding off the fat in your body. If someone were to try to do a 500 calorie diet without the HCG, they would likely fail.

Anyway, onto bigger and better things! Today I saw Chloe pushing around her stroller, but her baby doll wasn't in it. I looked closer and realized that if this doesn't describe Chloe - I don't know what does!



In case you can't tell, thats Bentley's hammer strapped into the seat. This girl is a perfect mix of tom boy, and girly girl. Yesterday she was riding her pink Barbie four-wheeler around, and hit a curb which sent her toppling off the back. Instead of crying, she just hopped up and jumped right back on.

Today Bentley went to Preschool and came home with this.



All the kids get a chance to do this once during the school year. The teacher traces his body onto a peice of paper, then she asks all the kids in the class what they like about that child. My favorite was the little girl who said that "Bentley shares with me", and "I like to play cars with Bentley".

Also, I found two more pictures of Jesus from our trip to California that MUST post.
The first one is when we were shopping in L.A. If you don't catch the joke right away, I don't think we can be friends anymore. (Hint: look above his head@)


The other one was in Costco while we were shopping for the food for our New Years feast. The first thing that got me was that Costco sells alcohol - in bulk!, and the second was that they have Cristal! Jesus was half tempted to buy it just he could think he was a baller, but I wasn't about to shell out $250 on a bottle of champagne that I for sure wasn't drinking!

HCG Day 3, and scrapbooking

Wow, can I just tell you guys that this diet is MUCH harder than I thought it would be? I made it through yesterday, but Jesus and I wondering if we will be able to do it. We are gonna stick it out , but we were not expecting it to be this hard. I feel better today than I did yesterday, but I am avoiding the kitchen as much as possible. I am trying to get over then mental part of it. In my head, I am hungry and could eat. But really, I know that I won't die if I don't. All my life I have eaten whenever and whatever I wanted, and this is the first time I have really said, No, I don't need that.

Also, I am really wanting to start scrapbooking again. Does anyone know of any organized groups? I want to go like once a month for a few hours. If not, would anyone want to join me at my house every so often? I know my mom and grandma, and possibly a few aunts would like to, but any one else that wants to join us, let me know!

HCG Day 1

Jesus and I started our diet yesterday. This diet consists of daily injections of the HCG hormone, and a limited calorie intake. However, the first two days are "gorge" days. You eat extremely fatty food to reset your metabolism. This allows your body to burn at a higher metabolic rate even after you have completed the 23 days of diet, making it easier to keep the weight off. Yesterday, after our first shot we went to Ihop and had all you can eat pancakes, for lunch we had In'n'Out, and for dinner we went to Texas Roadhouse. Then we laid in bed and ate ice cream. Today we get to gorge again, but tomorrow we go to the strict 500 calorie diet. We can have two apples or oranges a day, half a chicken breast, fish or lean beef, and a small amount of vegetables. We do the veggie and entree for lunch and dinner. Most people can lose up to a pound a day on this diet, which is exactly where I want to be. I will be blogging about this quite a bit to monitor my progress. After we finish the diet then I will post the before and after pictures. Wish me luck!

Christmas this year was crazy! It was hectic, busy, stressful, and wonderful all at the same time. I started out this holiday as a bit of a scrooge, because due to some changing of plans by my in-laws, Christmas wasn't going to be as I had hoped. See, usually we spend Christmas Eve with my in-laws, since their tradition is to open presents on Christmas Eve. Then we make the trek up to the cabin and spend the day with my family. This year was going to be different because my in-laws weren't going to come to Utah until Christmas Day. So we were planning on spending Christmas Eve at the cabin and spending the Christmas Day with my in-laws. Then, a few days before Christmas, some of Jesus's aunts decided to come to Utah from California for the holiday. I was excited to see them, but disappointed that my time with my family would be cut short. However, I decided to put on a happy face and make the best of it. Boy am I glad I did. I realized that it wasn't worth potentially ruining the holiday because it wasn't going the way I wanted. We did resolve that next year we will make our plans based on what is best for us and our kids, and whatever else happens, will just have to happen! All in all, Christmas turned out to be great. It was very chaotic however, so my pictures are very limited.

Here are Bentley and Chloe getting ready to go to their aunts house to have Christmas Dinner and open presents on Christmas Eve.

Here are the children waiting to be able to open their presents. They were getting antsy staring at the huge pile under the tree.

This is Eric. He is Jesus' cousin. He is the sweetest little boy you will ever meet.

We gave Chloe this super cute baby set. It came with twins babies, a double stroller, and a seat that converts from a double high chair to a swing. She has not left this thing out of her sight since she got it! She spends hours putting them in the stroller and walking around, then moving them to the swing, and then does it all over again.



The next morning the kids woke up to these....

Bentley has one too but I forgot to take a picture of his. He actually started to cry because he told Santa he wanted the Monster Tractor - which I guess is a four wheeler that turns into a dinosaur or something. But Santa couldn't find one anywhere. He actually loves his four wheeler now.
Mattix got a bumbo chair, which he loves. What else do you get a 3 month old? Well, he got some books, and a movie, and not much else! haha

Then we loaded up and headed to Pine Valley. It was snowing like crazy. We were very relieved that they paved the road that leads to the cabin this year. Speaking of, can I just ask a favor of anyone who has ever been sledding on the big hill as you come into Pine Valley? When you notice people trying to make it up the hill to their cabin, please move out of the way! I can not tell you how scary it is for the drivers to try to drive up that hill in the snow, all the while trying to dodge sledders. Anyway, tangent over... back to the festivites!


Chloe found the cool whip. There are several more shots over her eating it. She started out gingerly dipping her fingers in, then she becomes more adventerous and eventually resorts to licking the entire container clean. I will spare you the other pictures because I am too lazy to upload that many pictures on this already overloaded post.
Chloe wearing one of the tu-tu's Aunt Courtney made for her.My Grandma gave her this monkey and even made her and Chloe matching pajamas. She loves this thing!

She is trying to take after her mommy "wearing" her monkey. (I have a wrap and sometimes "wear mattix" when I am going places that aren't stroller or cart friendly)
By the end of the day, she crashed hard!

After the company left, we had a few days of quiet before we headed to California for New Years. Jesus' family always has a huge party, and this year was no different. They put up boards to close off their back porch to keep the cold out, making this cute little set up. After a delicious dinner, we moved the tables to make the dance floor. The spray painting was done by my wonderful hubby and says "Feliz Ano Nuevo" which in spanish means Happy New Year.

We make a pretty cute couple if I say so myself.

Me and Lexy. She's a punk. Hahaha
Self portraits are great.
While in California I wanted to do something we hadn't done ever done. We decided to go to the peir at Santa Monica Beach. It was exactly as I had expected it. I loved it. We got kettle corn, churros, and cotton candy, and just walked along seeing the little shops and rides. It was too cold to stay very long, and definately too cold to ride any rides. I do look forward to going to back next time we go to California - when it isn't so cold!

Chloe was looking up in awe at this....

The kids were a little disappointed that they couldn't do any rides, so we made do by taking them to Chuck E. Cheese. They got over it pretty quick. Here's Mattix with his Grandpa (or papi). Oh yeah, and just to prove that Jesus is still capable of physical labor.... here ya go!
His dad was very busy working one day and we wanted to go to L.A. to shop at the Alley and Figeroa Street, so he dusted off his detailing skills and helped his dad out.

All in all, it was another great trip. Despite being stuck on traffic on the way home for two 1/2 hours between Barstow and Stateline, I really can't complain at all!