Tree of Wind Chimes

At the Ogden Cemetery near my dad's grave is a huge old tree with a dozen or so wind chimes. It's one of the first things we noticed when we went there for the first time. Every year we try to find the perfect wind chime to hang in the tree. I love the sound they make. I found one today to hang in the tree for his birthday next month.

 You always hear that time eases the pain of losing someone but I don't find that true. As the years go by, all that changes is more time lost. Birthdays, holidays, graduations. My dad didn't get to meet my girls, not on this Earth anyway. But I guess time does soften the edge of the pain you feel. Some days are harder than others still. I could use his advice today. I miss him but I know he is always here.

Independence Day 2013

This year for the 4th we went to the Kaysville parade & then to a BBQ at my sister's house. The parade was fun but HOT! Bella loved it this year and did really good catching candy. Kate was more interested in trying to find rocks to eat and batting her eyelashes at people for sips of their drinks.

The kids & guys swam at the BBQ and then we lit fireworks afterwards. Kate liked the fireworks as long as I held her the whole time and Bella ended up spending the night with her cousins. We love the holidays and spending time with family!



Dirty Dash

I'm attempting to catch up on blogging! Sadly I've fallen way behind and it makes me sad.

Last month me & half of my family participated in the Dirty Dash. I've never laughed so hard in my life! We named ourselves the Piggy Posse, made matching t-shirts and truly embraced the mud. It took us several hours to waddle our way through the mud and the showers were freezing at the end!

The entire Piggy Posse

Top Row: Tia, Jaden, me, Skye, AJ, Gretchen, Siara, Carolyn

 Bottom Row: Bella, Tayzhia, Aspen & Emma

We all got separated during the dash and this was our little group at the end.

Seriously the most fun I've had in a long time! I loved every second of this event and I can't wait until the next one!

Katelynn's 1st Birthday!

 My little princess had her 1st birthday!

Kate at one year:
-Everyone who meets Kate comments on her sweet personality and notices how happy she is
-She walks more now than she crawls
-LOVES her dad. She has since the second she was born and hasn't grown out of it.
-She plays peekaboo, claps and plays pat-a-cake
-Says mama, dada, ny ny (night night), hi, na na (banana)
-She loves trying new foods. Bananas are her favorite.
-She is very friendly and smiles at everyone that she can. She gets a lot of attention when we go shopping.
-She loves to snuggle.
-She likes climbing and can get up onto the couch, stepstools and little chairs.
-She is very ticklish 

 Kate's party was held at our house with all of the family and cousins. Kate loved all the attention!

 I had little crowns and wands for the girls.

Kate's cake was so cute but the shimmery frosting was so hard to photograph!

We love you Katelynn!

Going Plant Strong - Part I

If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw that I've decided to go vegan..forever. I've been thinking a lot today about what led me in this direction and I can't really pinpoint one thing. Part of it is health reasons and the other part is ethical reasons. 

I've always been an animal welfare kind of girl. Plus I've never really liked the taste of meat but I've always considered it healthy and necessary. I was always afraid of becoming a "junk food vegetarian". I didn't ever think I'd go completely vegetarian but last September I had a moment when I just decided that I couldn't do it anymore. For over 6 months I've been completely vegetarian. It has not been hard at all for me BUT I realized I had become the exact kind of vegetarian that I was afraid of. Plenty of fruits, vegetables and junk. It's easy to do. It's easy to make excuses and not have the time to make a good dinner or plan out healthy meals. I had really good days.. and I had really bad days.

Source: http://engine2diet.com/

A couple of weeks ago I decided that I needed to do something drastic. In the past year or two I've seen tons of food documentaries (Food Inc, Fork vs. Knives, Hungry for Change, Fat Sick & Nearly Dead) and I've read quite a few books (The China Study, Eat to Live, The Unhealthy Truth, The Engine 2 Diet). and it's been really eye opening. There is some scary stuff in our food supply, people..

Almost 4 weeks ago I decided that I could commit to a vegan diet for 28 days. I really thought about it and decided that after the 4 weeks, I'd add back in dairy but not as much as I had been eating. Right after Easter I decided to add back in some dairy and it made me so sick! I've always thought I was a little bit lactose intolerant so it could definitely be that or it could have been from not having it for so long. Whichever it was, it made me decide that plant strong was the life for me. The comparison between how I've felt the last couple of weeks (lots of energy, weight loss, glowy skin, not feeling sick) to how I normally feel (tired, sick, bloated, not losing weight no matter what) was the biggest factor for me.

If your on the fence at all, you really need to watch this and you'll change your mind in a heartbeat ;)
Justin Timberlake - Bring It On Down 2 Veganville (VeganShake) - SNL 3-9-13 - Video Dailymotion

Bella's Rainbow Birthday Party!

Bella is 4! This year we decided to host her birthday party at our house. She loves rainbows right now so a rainbow party is what we had!

On the menu: Lil smokies in BBQ sauce, potato salad, chicken salad, meat & cheese trays, rolls, pistachio salad, chips, orea balls, and of course Bella's favorite.. mac & cheese!

My mom also brought her chocolate fountain & for dipping there were rice krispie treats, vanilla waffers, brownies, peeps, bananas, strawberries, & Bella's pick.. chocolate licorice.

The birthday girl!

The guests..

Bella and her cousin Emma

Aunt Skye was a customer in Bella's beauty boutique :)

Unicorn pinata!

Hello Kitty cake miss Bella picked out herself and it just happened to have a rainbow!

 Katelynn decided parties are a blast and found her fair share of treats from the kids table.

 Grandma gave her a bath in the sink after she spilled a couple of drinks and decided to play in them :)

Bella is at the perfect age to really enjoy her birthday parties! And we will be having a birthday for Kate in 2 months!

20 Questions with 4 year old Isabella

Last year I started asking Bella 20 questions for her birthday each year. Each year on her birthday I'll ask her the same questions. It's fun to see how she answered the questions.. and how many stayed the same.

20 questions at 4:

1. What is your favorite color? Pink & blue

2. What is your favorite toy? I like rainbow toys

3. What is your favorite fruit? Grapes!
Grapes!
4. What is your favorite tv show? Doc McStuffins & Spongebob

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Mac & Cheese

6. What is your favorite outfit? Oh, I'll go get it! My new ice cream shirt!

7. What is your favorite game? A rainbow game

8. What is your favorite snack? Doc McStuffins fruit snacks

9. What is your favorite animal? Elephants because they have water in their trunks!

10. What is your favorite song? Shakira Dora (it's a song on a Dora special featuring Shakira)

11. What is your favorite book? Blue's Clues - Blue's Big Pajama Party

12. Who is your best friend? Tayzhia

13. What is your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms

14. What is your favorite thing to do? Go to the park & play and in the winter I like to make snow angels but my snow angels aren't good because I step in them.

15. What is your favorite drink? Oh! That's coke (much to moms dismay!)

16. What is your favorite holiday? Easter!

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? I'll go get it! Sully stuffed animal from Monster's Inc

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Mac & cheese
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Cake

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Doc McStuffins

Life around here

Me & the girls have been battling the worst cold ever. If it's going around, we seem to catch it lately! This one has really taken me out. I'm just barely staring to get my energy back and ready to take on the world. Well.. not yet but I'm getting there ;)

Early morning sicky snuggles with my princess

The girls have still had plenty of energy, even with being sick and Bella loves that Kate is getting big enough to play. BFFs in the making! I have had enough of this winter and I'm so ready for the sunshine!

Basketball season has started back up so we go & watch my not so little brother Ty play each week. He is amazingly talented! ALL of the athletic ability for the family was distributed to him and none of the other siblings. :) Not really that fair, if you ask me.

I started a new workout program that I know that I'm going to love! I was only 2 days into the first week before getting sick so I'm just going to start over in a few days. It's basically only a 3 day a week program so I'm planning on doing some TurboFire workouts or go to Zumba (my favorite!) on my off days.

Les Mills Pump is all about building muscle which honestly kind of scares me because I need to drop some poundage. I don't want to add bulk to not so muscle-y bulk, ya know? The hulk is NOT what I'm going for. But I've really looked into strength training and adding muscle is the best way to burn excess calories and that equals weight loss. Ta da!

I've been really busy with custom design jobs lately. After Kate was born I didn't take on as much custom work and while it was really nice to have extra time with the family, I missed working with customers and having to step outside of my comfort zone. I've also been adding lots of new designs to my shop and it's been fun!

Well, that's about it! We are still here.. I've just been a slacker in the blogging department!

Kate at 9 months

 Lately Kate is a big ball of trouble and cuteness, all wrapped up in one. She started crawling when she was around 8 months old and she insists on being on the go ever since then. She is a fast & early learner. And she is just plain adorable!

Kate's recent milestones-
Cruises along furniture and is really close to taking her first step.
Has 7 teeth with number 8 coming in too. Makes for a fun time!
She loves trying new food and loves vegetables. She would much prefer solid foods over formula. She loves crackers too!
She jabbers and talks all day long. Her first official work was "yum!" because she knows what it means and uses it appropriately. :)
She still loves bathtime and Bella is her favorite person ever.
She loves a catchy tune and shows it by doing her best baby dance. 

She recently went to the dr. and she weighs 19 lb 4 oz and she is in the 50th percentile for height, weight and head circumference.

Kate is sassy, smart & such a doll! She is growing way too fast and this momma is trying to soak up every sweet moment with her.