As I learn

Today I am going to work a little harder on letting things roll off my back. I will not be easily offended. I will hear people out before becoming defensive. I will not "read into" typed messages that do not convey tone of voice being unsure of the seriousness or silliness behind the message. I will do my best to love my children and my husband. I will not drive myself crazy trying to do everything all at once and all the time. I will do what I can today and leave the rest for tomorrow knowing that it is okay. I will ask myself "In the eternal realm of things does this really matter?" I will do more to cherish friends and family. I will do my best to look beyond myself and see how my actions will affect those around me. I will see if there are things I can do to lighten the burden on those around me. I will look for more ways to serve. And most importantly I will look for ways in which the Lord can help me make my weaknesses into strengths.

Bear Lake over the 4th

This year we went up to Bear Lake over the 4th. We had a blast. The kids love getting in the water. It was a little cold for me but we still had fun.

Bridger and I sitting on the beach waiting for our turn on the Jet Ski's
Ryan was such a good dad to get into the cold water with his kids. This was Saturday and I was quite content to sit on the beach.
So we forgot Emi's suitcase at home. In it was her swim suit so, the first day out she got to wear her underwear and PFD. What a good sport she was.

Ali loves the water. She often pretends she is a mermaid! Silly girl.

From Oregon to St. George and back Part 2

So we were scheduled to get back from Oregon Wed. late afternoon, early evening. Well various things happened to keep us in Oregon longer so we didn't get to Idaho until late. We had trouble with getting our certificate to pull the trailer, we broke the connector that keeps the light on the trailer so people can see our brake lights etc. So needless to say it was about 8 when we got to Boise. We were trying to make it back by midnight but that plan was delayed when we found ourselves on the way to Pocatello! I know. If I could ever get it right and just make it from Boise to Ogden and back without so many detours! Well it was dark and rainy and there was construction, those are my reasons and I am sticking to it. We ended up spending one more night in the motor home at a rest area. We woke up the next morning and made it back to Ogden where we quickly unloaded and packed up for St. George. We went from chilly and humid to hot and dry! We finally got the motorhome dropped off by about 6pm then we headed to Saratoga Springs to pick up my favorite Tayler and Bailee. We picked them up and then stopped at Costco and grabbed some pizza. We tried to order domino's but it would take them 40 minutes! We ate on the road and made it to St. George by midnight. We got settled in and to bed just before 1am. The next morning everyone slept in. Ryan and I got up around 9-9:30. Some of the girls got up around 10 but Ali slept until 11! We all had yummy pancakes and then everyone got ready to go to the pool. I needed a swim suit so Tayler and I headed first to TJ Maxx. This was Tayler's favorite discovery! We had lots of fun trying stuff on. I found a swim suit and we were back to the townhome. We fried ourselves good that first day! I think Tayler easily reached her goal to come back tan or at least with color.

That night was a shower for Audrey. It was fun to meet a couple of her Aunts, see her Grandma Hansen and meet 2 of her friends she knew from Illinois. We had fun just chatting and eating yummy Strawberry pie from Village Inn. After they left Ryan and the kids came back and we had a party. Don't tell dad but we blew bubbles with a little bubble machine.

Sprayed Silly String.

And Danced to Tayler Swift

Then we watched the spy next door

What an eventful Friday we had!

Saturday Ryan and I went with Mom and Dad (Wachter) to the St. George Temple where we were able to be apart of Audrey Hansens special day as she went through the temple for her first time. It was awesome! What a beautiful temple and what a wonderful place to be with family and friends. Afterwards we went to Sills for some delicious lunch. It was great. Then Ryan and Dad went golfing with Eric and John Hansen, Mom and Yvonne Hansen went and ate ice cream and talked while the rest of us were suppose to go shopping but the keys to the van were in Ryan's pocket out at the golf course. We did get in some last minute shopping though! Then we ate at this fun little yogurt shop called Yogurt Unique. You pay $0.38 per ounce and you can get as many flavors and toppings as you want. It was yummy. Ali provided evening entertainment to 3 couples there on a date. They got to here Al tell stories and play eye spy. I am sure it was quite funny for them.

Sunday we went to church where I saw a girl who use to be in our ward in South Ogden. Her name is Elyse Bernier and she lives in the same townhomes as my dad! What a small world!

From Oregon to St. George and back Part 1

Last week was lots of fun. We had quite the driving adventure. First we headed up to the Boise ID area where we stayed with some of our dear friends, Mary and Eric Jensen and their 2 wonderful kids. We had a sleepover! The kids had so much fun and they can't wait to go back. Then it was off to Oregon. Here are some highlights:

First we got to ride in a rental car. This Ford Flex was pretty cool. The big down side was it hummed when you hit 75mph.

Here is Emi enjoying her new ride

Ali was great mostly when she was holding the dvd player Grandma let us borrow!

Bridger stayed awake most of the time! What a good sport.

Ryan opted out of driving the Flex since he knew he was going to be driving the motor home back without any relief. What an amazing guy!

Look at those tree's fly by! No wonder we got pulled over twice!

(the first time was for lights, not speed though!)

This is a beautiful Rainbow we saw on our way to Idaho. It was super bright when we first saw it. It faded quickly as we pulled over to take the picture.

This is a shot of us by one of the many scenic areas on our way to Corvalis OR. What a beautiful drive!

I guess Oregon is known for its many beautiful scenic bridges. This is one of them that we passed. It was very pretty.

Next we picked up the motor home in Eugene. We then spent the night in a church parking lot in Corvalis. In the morning some wonderful people at the family history center there helped us find the DMV and get directions to find our way to Dallas OR to pick up a trailer to tow.

So next we went to Dallas. Picked up the trailer. Had our first fun 100 point turn because we went the wrong direction. We quickly learned to really map out your route because you don't want to have to turn around in a motorhome pulling a trailer! Ryan did great though.

Probably our most favorite scenic stop was Multnomah Falls. This is just off I-84 and worth the slight detour. We got to see worms and everything!

The girls were troopers the hiked to the bridge a whole .2 miles and wanted to keep going, even though it was sprinkling and wet.

This is one of those classic set the timers and run. As you can see my set up job wasn't very good and neither was my timing! Oh well. You can still see how beautiful the falls are.

An eventful week

On Wednesday Ali had Kindergarden round-up. She had lots of fun going and meeting her 2 possible teachers. Thanks to Melissa and Lucy for letting Bridger and Emi come hang out with them!

Then Thursday out of no where Ali says "I need to go and count the houses" so she went outside and counted the houses on our little street. She came back in and declared there were 10. A dew minutes later she said I need the make some newspapers. So she pulled out 10 white sheets of papr and our bag of elastics. At this point I still had no idea what she was doing. She starts drawing pictures on the papers and then rolling them up like telescopes, which she often does so again I thought nothing about it.

Then she came in with her helmet on, grabbed her papers and started to load them in her scooter. She then delivered them to each of our neighbors!


Bridger had surgery on Friday the 16th. He had what we are lovingly calling "boy surgery" He handled it like a trooper. The girls spent the night with Grandma Wachter and had so much fun.

Ryan Graduates from institute! Way to go Ryan!!!

My Week

What we did this week:

Family- This week we had some good times. The events that stand out most to me are Grandma Forsey's 80th birthday party and helping fill the eggs for the South Ogden Easter egg hunt. I wasn't sure how well the girls would do but they did awesome! Ali was right on it. We folded up free kid meal coupons to Zucca and Warren's then placed it in a plastic egg with two pieces of taffy. Ali could do it all herself! Emi and I worked as a team I would fold then she would put it all in the egg then tape it while I held it shut. Bridger even did well smiling at everyone and eating cheerios. They even fed us pizza! What a fun way to spend a Friday night. I would love to do more family service like this. Grandma's birthday was great. We had quite a few people there. She didn't want a meet and greet so her kids sent out letters asking for people to write her a letter with memories of her. They got a great response. We then shared some of them that night. She is looking good after all these years!

Church- We had our Relief Society birthday party this week. What we did was encouraged people to read scriptures that had been previously picked out and answer questions. Then Thursday we had 2 different sessions that people could come to and share there experiences. We also had some FHE kits for people to put together. We also served brownies ice cream and hot fudge. For our ward I wouldn't do two sessions again. The girls also had a primary activity this week called the spiritual olympics. I didn't see all the fun but I know they made the title of Liberty and sugar cookie gold medals.

Workouts- This week my personal workouts stunk. I did get a good 50 min, cycling ride in but that as about it.
Teaching -I taught 3 yoga classes this week. 2 60 min classes and 1 40 min. kid yoga class. My kids yoga class has been a growing experience for me. Trying to find ways to keep the kids interested and to attempt to make it fun yet yoga like. This past week I really tried to walk around and give positive feedback. It seemed to go over well.
Training- I had 3 training sessions 2 of which are my regular Wellness group sessions.

Thoughts- At Grandma's birthday I got talking to our cousins Chris and Nicole the cute newlyweds in the fam. I told them they are just like the couples in our ward that I worry about . The nice RM husband and the cute young wife, just excited about life but a little lazy in their church devotion. I of course said this as a generalization not meaning anything about them personally. But as it turns out they are even more like the couples in our ward then I thought. But as they analyzed the situation I found out that they thought "Why invest the time and effort we are only here for a short time" Which I can see many of our renters saying and even town home owners. Then they also said that this past week their Elders Quorum president came out to visit them. This was the first visit they have had. They visited for an hour and a half. they enjoyed it and now feel like they have some friends. They also couldn't see why they would be important to a ward. This has given me greater insight into what I need to be doing for my calling.

Weight Loss Frustrations

So I have just about completed week 3 on my way to reach 133 by the time I am 33. So far the only progress I have made is finding out what doesn't work. I have yet to loose a pound. Since I had Bridger I have gained about 15 pounds. That averages about 2 pounds a month. Getting the weight off has not be so easy. My fat intake still seems to be hight and I am not quite sure where that is all coming from so I am going to analyze my food in a nutrition program that breaks the nutrients down by the food. I am also going to create a chart of some sort to make sure I am getting between 60-80 oz of water a day. The other thing I want to do is hit the weights hard! I know that if I can increase my lean muscle mass I can burn calories more efficiently. So we will see how this works for week 4.

LDS.org - Ensign Article - Preparing Our Children for General Conference

This is an awesome article filled with ideas on how to prepare for General Conference. It also has great ideas to keep us actively involved during conference no matter our age!
LDS.org - Ensign Article - Preparing Our Children for General Conference
I would love to hear any other ideas that people have tried or heard of!

How to get your baby to sleep

So they say you shouldn't let your baby fall asleep with a bottle in their mouth, but what about a lollipop?



Training Update:
I had an awesome superset workout yesterday and I am feeling the effects today! My diet I have done to stick with my calories but I can do better with my fat %. However it is funny to me that my fat content is high because I rarely add extra fat to my food except salad dressing which is usually vinegar and olive oil. I guess I need to watch the fat content in my other foods. Today I didn't get in a workout but I did good sticking to my calories. I also went shopping for some clothes. Good news there is that I only had to by 14's I was really worried I was going to be a 16. I am hoping to one day soon be at least an 8!

First post of my Training success

All of these will be success posts because even if I gain weight I have learned something about myself. So...
I have been really frustrated that after 2 weeks of tracking my workouts and my food. I have actually lost nothing! I know facebook says I gained 2 pounds but truth be told I thought I weighed less than I did when I started. So yesterday I did some contemplation on what I can do to remedy this. I asked myself if I have truly been recording my food and the intensity of my workouts correctly and I really feel that I have. I did go back and look at where my calories are coming from, fat, carbs or protein. I am definitely consuming more fat than I should be. I also feel I need to make a few other changes so this is my game plan for the next 2 weeks to see what happens:
1. Reduce fat intake. No more than 30% of my calories should be coming from fat
2. Do 3 strength training workouts this week in a super set fashion using a strength training app to accurately record what I do.
3. Make sure I drink 64oz of water

So this on top of what I have been doing. We will see how it goes.

Safety Fair

This past weekend we went to the Safe Kids Fair at the South Town Expo Center. It was a great time. We went first on Friday early afternoon with Ali's preschool. Then we did go back on Saturday towards the end and it was a mad house. I would like to do it again but it will be early on Friday. I just wanted to share some of the pictures.

They had a few people painting faces. They were amazing. I'm not going to lie, I wish I had gotten mine painted.


The Firefighters were doing a cool house demo where they taught the kids what to do in case of a fire. Then they let them climb down a chain ladder.


ADN we always have to find the princess. Girls just love them.

But I don't like my bed!

Many nights we hear this all too familiar statement from Ali, "But I don't like my bed." or "I can't sleep, my bed is too hard." So one night she came downstairs and told Ryan she didn't want to sleep in her room. So he said alright, let's find you somewhere else you can sleep. So they decided the kitchen would be a good spot. So Ali grabbed a pillow off the couch and one of Bridger's small blankets and went and laid down in the kitchen. Ryan later came and asked her if she wanted a bigger blanket. So he put one of our large quilts on her. I can't imagine how this could be better than a nice soft bed in a nice warm room.

Before Ryan went to bed he did move her up to her room. Now when asked if she wants to sleep in the kitchen her reply is no.

Aaron comes home

So how many missionaries can say they helped paint their welcome home sign? Well that is what you get when you come home a day early and only tell your sister Natalie!

It took all of us to get the sign out and to lift it up. I said I would be in charge of the sign. I was told we didn't want to hang it on the garage because the last time we did that the paint came off. So I decided to make it plenty long so we could hang it across the garage. I guess 12 yards was more than enough! Maybe next time I will just go the full length of the house!



After helping re-finish the roof this summer Ryan had no hesitation to help hang up the sign on the roof.

Kids say the silliest things!

The other morning Ali is saying the morning prayer. During her prayer she asked that her name be changed to ...and Emi's name be ... we couldn't understand what she said. So after the prayer we asked. Ali what do you want your name to be? "I want my name to be Right" said Ali. And what do you want Emi's name to be? "I want Emi's name to be wrong. So I can always be right and she will always be wrong."

How cute is that!

Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?

Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?

Growing up

So this last week I wanted to take pictures of some of the things the kids are doing. Bridger is scaring me! He is the most mobile child I have had. He has already fallen off my bed twice! He rolls and moves all over. The scary thing is he is getting up on his hands and knees like he wants to crawl! I predict that by the end of Feb. he will be crawling!


He also is my one kid that likes the baby oatmeal. He is not too fond of rice cereal but likes the oatmeal. Right now he eats oatmeal and peaches.

Ali is our artist. She is always drawing family pictures. She keeps telling us that there is one more baby brother so one day we will see. Hopefully later than sooner.

Emi loves to pretend. One of her favorites are tea parties. Are struggle there is trying to get her to pretend without using water! But at least it is only water.

Amazing Lesson

Today we had an awesome lesson in Relief Society. We discussed Elder D. Todd Christofferson's Nov. conference talk about Moral Decision. It made me think a lot about laws of society vs. God's law and the way I teach my children. A couple of things that stood out to me are the following:
1st: Choose the right because it is the right, even when it is hard
2nd: "As the Lord describes it, 'Every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god'" So I asked myself if I were to draw my God based on my decisions what would he look like? Crazy thing to sit and ponder!
3rd: Because of what has happened in our current society we have seen the following: "Reactions have focused on enacting more and stronger regulation. Perhaps that may dissuade some from unprincipled conduct, but others will simply get more creative in their circumvention. -This made me think of how stricter laws often just hurt those of us who are currently trying to live by them. Those that break them continue to break laws. This also made me think about how When God gives us a commandment he doesn't outline every aspect of that law. Like with our garments he doesn't say exactly when to wear them or not, but we are to follow the spirit in these things.
4th "'We would not accept the yoke of Chisit; so now we must tremble at the yoke of Caesar.'"
5th "Moral discipline is learned at home...Our teaching should draw upon our own faith and focus first and foremost on instilling faith in God in the rising generation. " "Each must be persuaded that service and sacrifice for the well-being and happiness of others are far superior to making one's own comfort and possessions the highest priority." -Imagine what would happen if the CEO's of these large banks were to have really thought about all of us little people before they made and make their bonus checks out. They are making 5 million in bonus' or whatever it is when I know 3 men in my ward, my own husband included in this that is under employed and many others that own their own business' are just keep praying things get better.
6th We need to be constantly teaching, mostly by example - So how can I serve and show faith to my kids. Angela Hunter in my ward shared how she recently took the time to write in her journal of a time her prayer was answered about something small. She later found out that her oldest daughter, 14 likes to read her journals from time to time. Ang thought how great it will be for her to read of these small faith building experiences as she continues to write them.
7th: parents sometimes say they "don't want to impose the gospel on their children but wan them to make up their own minds about what they will believe and follow. They think that in this way they are allowing children to exercise their agency. What they forget is the the intelligent use of agency requires knowledge of the ruth, of things as they really are." Think about how Satan recruits the young or old he is not passive. He doesn't sit back and say I will let them choose he is actively seeking them especially through media. A point was made in church of how we are constantly surrounded by noise, text, ipods, mp3s, cell phones etc. We never have quiet time and as we know the spirit comes in a still small voice so if we are always in noise how can we hear him? I wonder if this is why their was such a great desire for religious freedom before radios, phones etc. People were out working the land and thinking. They had time to listen to God and to talk to him.
Finally: To help teach our children we need to show them that God is a part of all things. We need to acknowledge God in all things.

Most of these are just my thoughts that I wanted to capture before this day was over. I hope all of you are having a wonderful Sunday.

Apples for dinner

Tonight when we hadn't had dinner by 6pm Ali and Emi decided it was up to them to get it ready. They came up to get me and when I came down they had 3 plates set on the table each with an already washed apple on it! They are so cute. They were so proud of themselves.

Mom and Dad's new place

Mom and Dad closed on their new home in Saratoga Springs this last week. Most of us went out to see it Sunday night. It will be a great new place for our family gatherings. During the week who knows what they will do with all that space. But when we all get together it will be awesome!

This will be the room the kids love the most. This is the great room above the garage. Bailee, Parker, Ali, Emi, Andrew and Elle had fun playing all over the house.


Their new garage hear was a racing spot for the kids. I am pretty sure my whole town home would fit in the garage with room to spare our town home is 1250 square feet).


In the living room their are these alcoves that Emi thought were the perfect hiding spaces!

Congratulations Mom and Dad! We can't wait to help with moving and painting and such!

The Pictures

So here are the aftershots of the haircut massacre.


Ali just wanted her hair out of her face. So she mostly cut the side hair.



This picture doesn't do it justice just how many choppy layers Ali cut for Emi!