Goings On

There are lots of excuses I could give you for why I haven't given ya'll a really interesting blog to read lately... We've been sick, I've been distracted, etc. So here's some other semi-intersting things going on here:

1. The 10 lbs. in 6 weeks blog has really taken off. We're at the end of our second week and I am thrilled with the response & everybody's progress. I wasn't sure when I started it if it was going to be worth trying, but I'm thankful for everybody's participation. Everybody's keeping me motivated as well. I've now lost 26 lbs. and weigh 5 lbs less than I did when I got pregnant was Sariah (only 7 more lbs. to get down to my pre-wedding weight). Unfairly, I still can't get into those pre-pregnancy pants, but we're getting there.

2. I don't like to talk politics on my blog, but I will say there are things going on here locally that make me angry. (I'm looking at you Kathleen Falk & your awful rail project, among other things.) Some of you know that I'm addicted to conservitave talk radio, and I love the local lady, Vicki McKenna, who's planning a rally on April 15th at the capital against the wasteful spending going on right under our noes. I think I'm actually going to go.

3. I'm hesitant to post this, lest it all implodes under me (which usually happens to things after I write about them) but here I go. My house has been clean for 2 weeks. This is a huge accomplishment for me. My mom would know, I'm a messy gal. But I think I've finally got a simple system that will keep the house clean, but let us keep our weekends free for family fun. Mondays: Laundry
Tuesdays: Bathrooms
Wednesday: Dust/Vacuum
Thursday: Kitchen
Of course things like the dishes & picking up toys/books, gets done daily, but I'm finding the houe stays clean & I have more time to spend with Sariah and doing my crafts. Speaking of Sariah, she likes to help me clean. She's a great duster, she cleans mirrors, and she even tried to scrub the tub. I hope she will always like to help Mommy, but I doubt it! Now that I've written this, lets hope I don't drop the ball next week...

4. Fun things Sariah Says:

Hi Mommy!
Mommy hug.
I walking round.
Daddy work/shower/shovel snow?
I milk/chicken nugget/Banane?
George all done.
Big girl sad/happy.
I watch george.
I not big girl, I baby.
One, two, three, nine, ten.

She knows lots more words, but these are the common phrases. She likes to count, she knows lots of her colors. She has started repeating the words we read to her at bedtime. She LOVES Curious George on tv & in books. We always have to read a George book after scriptures at nap time. She's quite the picky eater now. I have a hard time getting her to eat veggies. If she had her way she'd live on cheerios & milk, eggs, cheese, applesauce, & cookies. She still throws tantrums, but she a lot of fun now that she can communicate better. She's really getting into storytime. Today we painted with chocolate pudding (they were paintings spots on giraffes) and she loved it.

5. Here are some recent pictures we've taken. I've got some good videos that I should probably try and post, but for now here are the pics...

Sariah on Valentine's Day
The cookies we made for neighbors & friends
I made all these tags, just another example how I made easy things complicated.
We used heart cookie cutters & I got these cute X & O cutters from Target.
Last Sat. Mom & Big Girl hanging out in bed. If you look closely, you can see my grey hair...
Daddy made her this "space helmet."
Daddy wearing the "space helmet."
Sariah decides she rather not see Daddy in the "space helmet."

A blog giveaway!

Jen over at Skinny Habits is giving away a Swissmar Borner V-slicer Plus. You should check it out, it looks pretty snazzy!

(and yes, a real blog post is coming as soon as I figure out what to post about...)

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from us to you! We're now off to eat carmel rolls, followed by sugar cookie baking & decorating, & tonight is the stake adult fireside & dance w/ free babysitting! Yay!!

Doing it 10lbs at a Time...

I was going to post about this on Friday, but I've started a new blog that goes along with this, so join me for a little bit of tooting my own horn.

So back in Nov. my doctor recommended that I lose some weight, and I was like, well duh. So I threw myself a pity party for 2 months, then got over it. And on Jan. 2nd I joined a group of ladies to try and lose 10lbs in 6 weeks. I got serious about exercise & eating. Started using myfitnessplan.com (thanks Jenny!) to manage what I was eating. I've started eating better & drinking loads of water (even though I hate water.)

Friday is the end of the challenge, and if you scroll down to the bottom of my blog, not only have I already lost 10lbs, I've actually lost 18lbs! Yay me! I've still got a ways to go though...

Which is why I've started a new blog 10in6.blogspot.com. My last group has kind of fizzled and nobody really participates anymore. While I'm going to try and continue over there, I'm looking for a new group to help motivate one another to live a healthier life style. Would you like to join me? I'd love to have you! We're starting Monday. Even if you're not looking to lose 10 lbs or more, but you just want to maintain, we could use your support. So come on over!

Photo Tag

This is the 6th photo in the 6th folder in My Pictures. Ironically, its a picture of Susan (and Sariah) who tagged me.

If you subtract the files with photos from others, then you get this picture which was taken almost a year ago (2/16/2008) of Sariah helping do the dishes. Something she still likes to do, when she's not on an eatting strike like she is now.

*ahem* TAG!!!! *runs away madly...*

Snow Day

Yesterday was the warmest day its been here in a long time (45, mmm warm...) and since the snow started melting, it was the perfect consitancy for snowman snow... I tried to get a picture of Sariah next to our snowman, but she kept running away. She wanted to play in the snow herself.

BTW, Sariah did have gloves on at the beginning, but she took them off when they got really wet. I'm a good parent, I promise!

I pulled out the snow shovels for a bit to clear off some melting ice, but Sariah's idea of helping is to put the snow from the lawn back on the driveway. Its not really that helpful.

Okay, I did get this picture, but I had to hold Sariah and the camera. Actually I think this was suppose to be a pic of all 3 of us...

After all the playing in the snow, we took a walk around the block, which turned out to be a mistake since snow melts into water & water collects at the bottom of sidewalks & driveways. Needless to say, our shoes & socks were quite wet, but we had fun (I only wore a sweatshirt & a long sleeved shirt, it was heavenly.) I'd like more of this please!

My Mom & Me in NYC: Monday

Sorry for the delay, Doug and I came down with the stomach flu on Wed night, and we're just getting back on our feet. And now, our final installment...

Monday morning was basically just a get up and get to the airport kind of day. We were blessed with good weather, which was nice because they were getting a snow storm that night, and we were missing it. I had a direct flight back to Madison (awesome.) We flew right over Manhattan and even though it was kinda hazy I tried to take some pictures of where we had been. I think they came out okay.

It was a non-eventful flight, but it was a wonderful trip. I'm so glad we went, and I feel so much better now after a little break from home!

Finally, here are some pics of the souvenirs I picked up for my family...

First, I got Doug this hat because he likes a warm head.

I got Sariah these awesome wooden puzzles at FAO Schwarz.

These are my souvenirs, a blank book and pencil/marker case I got at the Disney store & a I heart NY key chain.

Just some postcards I sent Sariah and Doug while I was away.

All the different cards and things I got from the places we visited/restaurants we ate at.

Once again I just want to say how lucky I was to go on this trip with my mom. I'm blessed with a wonderful husband that allowed me some spontaneity to take a random trip, to take my mom with me, and to stay home from work for 2 days and watch Sariah. Doug rocks. So if you ever get the urge to "get away" and head to NY, let me know, I've got some great recommendations!

My Mom & Me in NYC: Sunday

Sunday morning we slept in, which was much needed after the many miles we had walked the day before. After a relaxing morning we took the subway down to the financial district. (side note: the U-bahn in Munich never really bothered me, but the subways in NYC make me claustrophobic, go figure.) We walked over to ground zero, which honestly if you were naive about what had happened on 9/11, you'd think it was just a giant construction site. There's a visitor's center across the street that does guided tours around the site, so we decided to do that.

This is a plane window they found at ground zero, I think its really chilling... There's a firehouse directly across from ground zero, this is the memorial to the 6 firefighters that died from that house.

The lady in the white scarf & the gentleman in the baseball cap were the couple that did our tour. Tours are guided by survivors from 9/11 or people that lost love ones that day. This wonderful couple lost their son, Christopher, who was a firefighter at the house on 8th & 47th streets. At first it must seem like a really hard thing for these two to do, to re-live this tragedy, but I think they really just wanted to tell their son's story & to honor his life and what a great man he was. I know it was an honor to hear about their experiences.

This is the memorial for all the fallen firefighters on the side of the firehouse. It was donated because there was a man in one of the towers who was in one of the law offices & when it happened he rushed down to the fire house & told them he was a fire fighter from another town & offered his services. He later died that day. This memorial depicts what the firefighters saw that day & has all the names of the firefighters that died.

A picture of ground zero.

The staircase you see is called "the survivor staircase." The tower plaza was on a platform raised above street level, & the only way one could get down to the street and away from the buildings was to go down this staircase. Its now to be part of the memorial they're building there.

This is the memorial for the 11 people that worked for American Express in tower 1. When they rebuilt this building for AE, they added this memorial to remember these people. Its called the 11 tear drops because water drips from the ceiling like tears on each of the 11 sides of the pool of water.

I really appreciated the tour, it was one of the best things we did all weekend.

We had lunch at a place in the World Financial Buildings, then we walked outside and down Battery Park to the Statten Island Ferry. If you're in NYC and want to get on the water to see the Statue of Liberty, I highly recommend the Statten Island Ferry. First off, its free, which is a bonus. Then its a 25 min. ride across the water and it takes you right by Ellis Island & the Statue of Liberty. I took a ton of pictures off the ferry, here are just a couple.

Mom & I on the trip there.

The Statue of Liberty

Me on the way back. When the ferry docks, you have to get off, but its pretty easy to walk around and get right back on. On the way back we went one level up and sat outside. It was only 43 degrees outside, but it still felt nice & warm (compared to here, its practically hot!)

I turned around and got this shot as the sun set, pretty sweet, huh?

After the ferry we took the subway back up to Broadway, picked up some last minute souvenirs, and took these pictures in front of the Ed Sullivan Theater. If we had been there on a weekday, we probably would've tried to get tickets to Letterman or Good Morning America...

At this point it was really only 6:30pm, but I was hobbling around like an old lady with broken ankles, so we got some take out Chinese (really good take out Chinese!) and went back to the hotel to watch the Super Bowl & get ready to leave the next day. :)

One more little post & that's all folks!

My Mom & Me in NYC: Saturday

When your hotel is only 14 blocks away from the Manhattan Temple, it is only logical that part of an awesome NYC trip should include a temple session. So Saturday morning we woke up and walked to catch the 10:15am session. The Temple is in a really neat place. Its a crazy intersection where Broadway meets Columbus meets 64th & 65th streets. Its diagonal from the Lincoln center. Then when you go in, you can't even tell you're in the middle of the city, its so quiet. Seriously Awesome.
After the session, we walked up and ate lunch at Il Violino, a little Italian Restaurant. They had these large windows around the outside that we sat next to and watch the city pass by. The food was amazing! It was seriously the best meal we had all weekend. We highly recommend this restaurant if you're hungry after a session.
After lunch we walked back to the hotel to change clothes. There was a lady selling cookies & breads that we stopped at on the way back, and I bought a really tasty black & white cookies.

In the afternoon we took a stroll through Central Park on our way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Central park was really cool. Sure it was January and there was snow & ice all round, but it was a really neat walk.
Here's mom outside the museum.
The Met is huge!!! We spent several hours and really only saw half of the upstairs exhibits. We didn't even see what was downstairs. We saw the Love in the Renaissance, impressionist painting (including the Van Gogh's which I was really excited about) and most of the Chinese, Korean & Japanese arts. After all that, we had done a whole lot of walking, and we were pretty sore & tired, so we went down to the cafateria and ate a not really great dinner.
After dinner we decided to head back and stop at the 3 story M&M store on broadway. The best thing there was a T-shirt that had the red M&M dressed as the Phantom "The Candy of the Opera", very cute! Then we hobbled back to the hotel.

Saturday was a great day... :) Stay tuned for our next installment!