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!