I guess I'm an all or nothing gal

I'm back.  Listen, I was doing really well there for a couple of weeks.  But I will blame this little man for the blogging interruption.

I don't know what happened to him but he turned naughty.  The last two days have been completely opposite as the last month and he has been so pleasant again.  Don't worry, I just knocked on wood.  Seriously by the end of the day I was so exhausted from hearing him cry all day that I just wanted to stare at the wall.  He cried and cried and cried and then cried some more.  Still don't know what the problem was/is.  I started giving him more formula so I'm thinking maybe it was killing his stomach and now his belly is getting used to it????  I really have no idea but I'm just really hoping the last two days are an indication of the future.
In other news, Ellie turned 3 yesterday. We love this little girl and she is hilarious.

My parents took us to McDonalds for lunch and the kids loved it of course.  Then for dinner we hit up Spanky's.  Oh my goodness, this place is awesome and we got an incredible deal. 

4 six inch sandwiches

4 medium drinks

4 bags of chips

4 cups of ice cream for....

$12.49. Amazing right!  It was delicious. 

Ellie has a lot of imaginary friends right now.  Lula, Ooka, Luda and more.  She comes up with the craziest names.  She loves to sing and dance.  She hangs out in the front yard by herself a lot.  I feel kind of bad for her but she seems okay with it.  I ask her if she wants to go on a walk or come in and play something and she just says "no, I'm playing with Lula." Or something along those lines.  Her birthday was the last day with her binky.  We took her to the store today and she bought a doll with a stroller in exchange for her binky's.  She didn't take a nap today so she was exhausted and fell right asleep.  We'll see how the next few days go.  She talks a lot and is always making us laugh. She ads "ah" to the end of a lot of works when she is upset.  No-ah, Sam-ah, Ben-ah, it is pretty funny.  She likes to pretend cook us food all the time and she has the cutest little laugh ever.  That's a pretty good random list of things about Ellie at 3.

Oh and she loves to play with her daddy and can't wait for him to come home from work.  She is so much fun and we love her to bits and pieces!!

I was reading a blog the other day and the author has kids that are all in their teens now.  She said one thing she regrets is not getting enough pictures of her with her kids when they were little.  That made me realize that I rarely get pictures of me with my kids so I'm going to try to do it more often.  Hopefully I can get back in the habit and get back to blogging regularly again.  

Crazy day, I'm tired

Last night was a doozy.  I went to bed around 11:00.  Quickly awakened with Sam screaming at 11:30.  I run in there, I can't calm him down.  He was asleep the whole time and does not remember me in there trying to calm him down/find out what the problem was.
Because he wouldn't stop screaming, he woke Ben up.  KILL, KILL!!! Get Sam calmed down and back to sleep, nurse Ben and snuggle back in bed around 12:00.  Ben wakes around 1:30, can't get him back to bed until around 2:30.  Ellie wakes up around 3:00 and I ignore her and let Dan take care of that one. ;)  Ben back awake around 5:00, can't get him to go back to sleep until 6:00.  My patience has run out and I need to start my workout because Dan  has to leave to work early today.  Hand Ben over to Dan for everybody's safety and go down in the basement.  Ben falls asleep until about 8:30 and I get a decent workout in.  I was tired, it wasn't the best.  Quick 4 mile run and daily GPP workout.

This man though.  Seriously, I could not survive life without him, COULD NOT!!!  He is so patient with both me and the kids. Dang, that's a really cute picture.
The day didn't go much better.  Seriously, I'm tired and I have a pile of laundry to fold so I'm going to try to make this quick.
Ben is grumpier then all get out b/c of the shots I'm assuming.  Go to Costco, fill the cart with a ton of delicious food.  Get to the front to check out and realize my debit card has in fact fallen out of my pocket and I have no other way to pay for my $100+ worth of groceries.  I'm late to pick Sam up from school so I have to leave the cart full for some poor soul to put eveything away.  I was flipping out and feeling bad at the same time.  I go pick Sam up, stop at home for another form of payment and head back to Costco.  Luckily someone had turned the debit card in so the grocery shopping starts over.  Ugh, it was a nightmare and Ellie kept saying "Daddy's not going to be happy about this."  She couldn't have been more right.  Those kind of situtations don't go over well with the head of the household.  Too bad he married someone with half a brain.  And for the record I had my membership card and debit card in my pocket b/c I had just gotten gas and thought it would be easier to just leave them in my pocket then dig through and get them out of my wallet when it was time to go in the store.  I knew this was a bad idea when I did it but I did it anyway.  Phew!  And all of that before 12 o'clock.

Do you love the random pictures I'm throwing in here?  The house looked like a bomb exploded pretty much all day.  But I did get some delicious turkey meatballs made for dinner.  Seriously, they were good.  I had, like, 6.  They were small.  All right, not that small.  I'll share the recipe sometime soon.  I'm going to fold laundry and hopefully get a better night of sleep. 

Yep, he's a BIG BOY!!

Just as I suspected, Ben is huge.  We had his 4 month well check today.

He doesn't know what's coming.  Poor little nugget!

I could tell that he was longer then both Sam and Ellie and that was confirmed today.  He is 26.25 inches, 87% height and he weighs a whopping 16.82 pounds and is 82% for weight.  Yes, a big boy indeed.  The other two were always below 50% on height so he is definitely longer then they were as babies.  Everything looked great and he actually did really well with the shots.  Cried for a couple minutes and he was done.  Shots with babies are so much easier then 5 year olds.  Seriously, when we took Sam for his 5 year shots the nurse had to tell him that he needed to stop crying because he was scaring all the other kids.  Yeah, it was a little ridiculous.  And I had a heck of a time even getting him in the car to go to Ben's appointment b/c he didn't want to be there when Ben got his shots.  As a result he and Ellie both sat in the hall while the shots were taking place.  

They actually did really well at the doctor office.

What you don't bring your ipad to entertain your children?  Sorry for your lack of judgement.  Ha!  Don't worry he lost all ipad privileges for the rest of the week soon after this picture was taken b/c he took off at Kohl's when we ran into grab something after the appointment.  I had something on hold and the conversation went something like this.  

Me:  Okay you guys this is going to be super fast we just have to run to the back and pick something up.  You need to stay right by me.

Children:  Okay, mommy.

I turn around to put Ben in the stroller thing and start walking.  Said children are nowhere to be seen.  

Me:  Sam, Ellie

Children:  Nothing, no answer

Me:  Turning panicked, continue to holler their names, still no answer. 

I turn around and walk the complete opposite direction we were supposed to be walking and here they come running out screaming and laughing.  Um, no, I'm pretty sure that does not qualify as staying right by me and making this a fast trip.  I don't mess around.  No more ipad for this guy the rest of the week.  This is going to be a long week for him.  He loves the ipad.  Sorry pal. 

Anyhow, the rest of the day consisted of meal prepping my food for lunches for the week, going on a walk with the kids, eating dinner and doing a family night on honesty.  Update you on my workouts tomorrow. 

And the most awkward baby award goes to....

Normal Sunday around here today.  A really long morning with just me and the kids while Dan was at meetings.  Today was actually the first day I have gone to all three hours of church since Ben was born, so about 4 months.  I'm not going to lie, it felt long.  I made the mistake of not bringing snacks for myself so I don't think that helped.  I really wish I was joking when I typed that last sentence.

A few things about Ben.  He is the most awkward baby to hold, ever!  Okay, maybe not ever but out of our three kids he has been by far the worst.  No way in heck he will be held like a baby.  You know, cradled in your arms.  If you try to hold him with his face facing yours you will receive a headbutt within a couple minutes.  Trust me on this one.  It's happened about 5 times to me just today.  You would think I would learn.  He has to be facing out and even then it's like he's doing mini crunches in your arms.  I think his poor little belly hurts so he is either wiggling all over the place or stiff as a board.  It's just awkward.  Sometimes he's just chill but he is getting heavy.  Very curious to find out how much he weighs at his appointment tomorrow.  More shots, boo!!! Gosh he sure is cute though.

Went to my parents house for dinner and it was oh so delicious.  Beef stroganoff, I love you!  My mom whipped out the chimes and the kids were having a good old time playing some songs.  Sam was really trying but Ellie just kept saying "this is a hard game, this is a hard game."  Sam had lost interest at this point because Ellie wasn't trying hard enough and being serious about it.  Ha!  

He decided that practicing the piano was a better idea.  He was really liking it.  We've been saying we need to get a keyboard and start him playing and after seeing him tonight I think we need to get serious about it.  I would love it if our kids played a musical instrument.  So good for them. 

I'm gearing up for another winter week at the Simmons' house.  I think it's actually supposed to be in the 40's this week which means we can totally bundle up and at least get out and go for a walk and get some fresh air.  Be back tomorrow with an update on Ben's doctor appointment. 

Lazy Saturday

I got up and got ready for my 8 miler on the treadmill.  I was really not feeling it this morning but I knew it had to get done so I just went through the motions until I felt like doing it.  Which for the record wasn't until about mile 4 or 5.  I felt like it was a struggle until about mile 5 and then the last 3 felt pretty good.  Weird, but I did it and I felt pretty good so I am happy about that.  It definitely wasn't very fast but I'm just focusing on building my endurance right now.  We'll start working on speed in the next couple months.
After my run I took a quick shower and Sam, Ellie and I started to draw.  Sam really likes to draw and he's pretty good at it.  He doesn't always want to do it so when he does I jump at the chance to help him practice his artistic skill.

Sam is a total goof head and I look just how I feel, tired!  And I just realized you can't even see Sam's pictures in this.  Lovely. My pig and dog look awesome though, no? 

Ellie had to have a picture of her with her beautiful art as well.  She got into my  makeup again and did a stellar job on her face this time.  I cleaned her face with a makeup wipe about three times today and I still couldn't get it all off.  This picture does not give her face the justice it deserves.

Very low key afternoon and I wrapped up my day with Chipotle where I got a delicious, DELICIOUS burrito bowl.  The kids had cereal and cinnamon bread for dinner, ha, ha, suckers!!  I asked them what they felt like and that's what they wanted so that's what they got.  Dan and I always get take out Saturday night usually after the kids go to bed. 

The only problem with this burrito bowl was that I was still a little hungry when it was all gone.  It may be hard to believe but it's true.  I was so, so hungry.  I didn't realize how hungry I was until I was out doing errands before I went to grab dinner and all the other shoppers at the stores started looking like crackers.  :) I inhaled the burrito bowl and then had to have a few crackers and pretzels dipped in almond butter to finally feel satisfied.  Okay, fine I had some yummy valentine candies for dessert as well.  You know the ones, gummy hearts and red, white and pink ball things?  I hope you know what I'm talking about because they are one of my all time favorite candy mixes.  I'll take a picture next time. Yep, operation lose the baby weight seems to be going good.  Ha!  I am forcing myself to go to bed early tonight.  My body needs the rest. 

An audience and a lock

Yikes!  I did not realize how blurry this picture was or I would have tried to take another one.  I was right in the middle of my workout so I was in a hurry during one of my 10 second rests to take this.  I should take a little bit more time next time.  I had to show how the kids set themselves up this morning though.

I was doing this workout and apparently they liked what they saw so they decided to grab a couple of chairs, a sleeve of crackers and enjoy the show.  It made me laugh but when they started talking and getting in my way it made me annoyed.  You see, this here is MY time.  I talk to the kids, answer questions, get them stuff all day long.  They are well aware that I don't like to be bothered during my workouts.  Very, very well aware.  Dan is home so it's not like I'm leaving them unattended.  Yeah, we have an extra doorknob with a lock and that will be installed tomorrow. 

www.gppfit.com

I really don't mind if they come and say hi and watch me for a second.  I like them to see me exercising, I think it sets a good example for them.  BUT when they get too chatty or needy, they're out of there.  I know, I sound like a horrible mom.  But I assure you I will be an even more horrible mom if I don't get some exercise time in each morning.  They are more then welcome to come in when I am done and "work out" for a little bit.  And lot's of times they do.  But this one hour in the morning is all mine.  I'm so selfish, go ahead, say it.  I know that's what you're thinking.  :)

As mentioned in yesterday's post I was super tired b/c I was not smart and stayed up too late.  So when my alarm went off it was snooze city.  As a result, I didn't have as much time to work out this morning. I got a three mile run in and then only one round of the Tabata's.  I love Tabata's and really wanted to be able to do a 2nd round but I ran out of time.  No biggie I still feel like I got a great workout in. It's amazing how 20 seconds can feel like forever.  I subbed sprints out for the row and dropped down to 10 pounds on the press jacks about half way through.  

We made a quick trip to the library and then the kids were in and out with friends all afternoon.  

We went up to Mom and Dad S house for dinner and to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics. No pictures.  I need to get out of lazy picture mode if I'm going to make these posts interesting.  I've said it once and I'll say it again.  Blogs posts with no pictures=BORING. 

I have my longest run post baby in the morning, 8 miles.  Wish me luck!

Play Date and an Attempted Temple Trip

Let me just start by telling you that I would strongly advise against staying up until 12:30 am reading when your alarm is set for 6:00 am and you have to get up twice to feed your baby.  Bad, BAD idea.  I was dragging this afternoon.  But before I started feeling like my head was dragging on the floor next to my feet we had a fun play date at our place.  I didn't take any pictures but I can assure you that it was fun.  It's always nice to talk to other adults even if our children were in our faces asking for things the entire time.  Life of a mom right?  It was really nice to tell Dan I talked to somebody today though.  Lot's of times he will come home and ask "so did you talk to anybody today?"  Um, no, no I didn't.  Unless Sam, Ellie, Ben and myself count then, no, I didn't talk to anybody today.
Ben took a super long nap this morning which was good because when he woke up boy howdy was he grumpy.  He  had been asleep for a couple hours and I knew he would be waking up soon so before he did and while I was trying to kill time me and Ellie took some awesome selfies.

I also wanted to document that my hair is down, shocking I know.  It is Thursday after all which is one of my two hair washing days of the week.  What?  You wash your hair more then twice a week?  Well pin a rose on your nose.  

The rest of the afternoon consisted of dealing with a VERY grumpy baby, doing laundry and convincing Ellie that taking a nap was indeed a wonderful idea.  She did eventually lay down around 3:45 which is super late but I was desperate for a break from hearing her talk.  I love her to death but she does not stop talking.  Dan and I were laughing about it tonight saying that it really is some sort of special skill she has.  It's amazing and exhausting all at the same time.  

This boy had me at my wits end by the time Dan got home.  He sure is cute but it is so frustrating to me when I have tried everything I know to make him stop crying and nothing works.  So hard.  Parents of colicky children, you are incredible. 

Dan and I have been trying to be better at going to the temple but it's hard to go together with three small kids so we decided we should just switch off and go separately. It was my turn tonight and I was excited to get out of the house and sit in peace and quite.  

Unfortunately when I got there it was packed.  I got there at 6:45 and they sent me to an overflow waiting room.  At 7:10 they told us all the sessions were full until 8:30 and that all of the other things you could do were also an hour to an hour and a half wait.  I decided I wasn't going to wait so I headed home.  I was disappointed but I'm going to try again Saturday.  You know, because Saturdays are a really slow time at the temple too.  Ha! I'm exhausted and going to bed. 

Organic Costco, Veggie Mash and a Shark

I was really looking forward to watching the Biggest Loser on my run this morning but for some reason Hulu didn't have it up yet.  Huge controversy over the winner, huh?!  I haven't watched it yet but lot's of folks think the winner was way too thin and I have to agree.  But I don't judge so moving on.  Workout was an easy 3 miles and  this GPP workout.

All GPP workouts can be found here at www.gppfit.com.  I loved this one.  

Should I be embarrassed to admit that I get excited on the days that I am going to Costco?  Well, I"m not, I love that place.  Today when we went they had all these new green signs up.  Can you guess what it means?  Everything with a green sign is organic.  I should probably care more about eating everything organic but I don't.  I'm not anti-organic but I don't search it out.  Well, now Costco doesn't make you search it out.  Just look for the green sign.  Interesting marketing going on here.

It was a protein kind of haul today.  One of the advantages of living so close to Costco is you can go every few days for just a few things.  :) Do you enjoy looking to see what other people are buying while you are shopping?  I quite enjoy looking to see what other people have in their carts.  Mostly because I feel like other people find awesome stuff that I never see. Those oranges are incredible in case you were wondering. 

Once we got home from picking up Sam we did a quick learning time, I'm not going to lie, I was not feeling it today.  We got a little bit in as well as reading time and scriptures and then it was finally lunch time.  I am loving this lunch lately.  I know the picture is not appetizing but I assure you that it is really good.  I really need to work on my food photography skills so you actually believe me when I say that my food is, in fact delicious.

Here's the breakdown of my Vegetable Mash:

1 c. cooked butternut squash

1 c. roasted vegetables

1/2 c. ground turkey

1/4 of an avocado

Mustard

Low Sugar ketchup

The nice thing about this is I prep everything in bulk so when lunch time hits I just throw it all in a bowl, warm it up and I'm ready to go.  I got to enjoy eating this about 30 minutes after putting it all together.  Ben was being stinker and Ellie needed a million different things.  I was so hungry so it tasted that much better.  Sometimes I do 1/2 c. of brown rice instead of the butternut squash but the squash is just so delicious I can't stop having it.  Try it, and let me know if you do! 

Sam was at a friends house again and I finally got the two little ones down for their naps and I got to clean, yippee!!  

Have you guys seen this shark cleaner?

This was our Christmas gift from Mom and Dad S and I love it!  It seriously makes cleaning the floors so fast.  It works great, leaves no film and I don't have to get on my knees.  Win, win!!

Before I go have my delicious nighttime snack of greek yogurt with blueberries I wanted to wish my niece Khiana a very happy 3rd birthday.  We called and wished her a happy birthday today and got to hear her singing happy birthday to herself, it was awesome.  This is a way old picture but it's the most recent I could find.  Happy Birthday Khiana!

Protein Shakes and Roasted Vegetables!

Started my day with a great 4 mile run and an awesome GPP workout.  I felt good and strong this morning.  Love it when that happens.  I am such a creature of habit it's scary.  This is what I have for breakfast every morning.  Protein shake and a piece of toast.  I kid you not, I have been having this for year, YEARS!!  Occasionally I'll have oatmeal or pancakes or something out of the norm but on a normal day to day basis, this is it and I seriously LOVE it! Craving one right now as I type actually.

I switch it up sometimes but this is the recipe for it:

1/2 c. almond milk

1 1/2 c. water

half of a FROZEN banana- makes it extra creamy

3-4 frozen strawberries

1-2 Tbsp. cocoa powder

scoop of chocolate or cookies and cream protein powder

3/4 tsp. xanthan gum- LOVE this stuff

1-2 handfuls of spinach

ice

I'm kind of a snob when it comes to consistency.  Can't be too runny or too icy.  The kids hate it in the morning when I'm making my shake b/c the blender is loud and I have to keep adding ice, water or xanthan gum until the consistency is just right.  

I put a lot of liquid in because I want this bad boy to fill me up.  It makes a ton and makes my belly so happy.  And yes, I eat it all!

I get this bread from Bountiful Baskets and it is so yummy.  It's organic multigrain or something like that.  It has nuts and seeds on top and I think that's why I love it so much.  I have a slight obsessions with nuts.

Moving on. Sam's preschool teacher lives next door to us so on the days that I don't feel like packing the kids up to take him to school I'll just text her and see if she can pick him up on her way.  It snowed and it was icy out this morning so I sent him with Miss Amy.  It is so, so nice. 

Ben kind of had a rough morning so once I got him to sleep I didn't want to wake him up so I didn't get all the errands done I wanted to before we had to pick Sam up.  Ellie managed to get in my makeup drawer so that was awesome.  I was actually right there by the bathroom the whole time but she was entertained and I was working on something so I let the shenanigans continue.  The damage wasn't too bad. 

We picked Sam up from school, ran a couple errands, came home and did learning time, reading time and scriptures.  I feel like I have to get it all in when my motivation is high or it doesn't happen.  They actually did pretty good.  Sam took off to a friends house and me and Ellie got down to business. She is such a great helper. Ha! I roast this many vegetables probably every other day.  It's kind of ridiculous but I have found that I really love roasted vegetables.  I pretty much roast whatever vegetables is starting to go bad in our fridge and it still tastes delicious.  My recent favorites are zuchinni, summer squash, carrots and peppers.  Chop up whatever veggies you want, sprinkle with desired seasonings and cook at 400 for around 30-40 min.  I actually don't even time, I just keep checking on them and stirring them.  

And this beauty below is my absolute favorite right now.  I will share my delicious lunch bowl recipe tomorrow but just know that it contains roasted vegetables and delicious butternut squash.  I'm slightly obsessed with it right now.  In fact, one of the errands was just to go to wal-mart to get butternut squash b/c I was too close to being out.  Sad, really but it is so, so good.  

We had delicious chicken fajitas for dinner that I was going to take a picture of but turns out I ate them in about .5 seconds.  It wasn't my best batch of fajitas but they were good enough for me to eat in about two bites.  Gosh, I love mexican food.  

And I can't end this post without wishing baby Ben a happy 4 months old!!!  I both can and cannot believe he is 4 months old.  The days are long but the years are short.  He is such a great baby.

Well, I'm off to enjoy my night time snack of plain greek yogurt with protein and blueberries.  Another delicious concoction that I will show you in a post sometime.  Wonder how long I can keep up this blogging thing?  I don't know but I'm really liking it.  

Training and Cooking!

My day started out like any other with my morning workout.  I'm in the middle of writing up my half marathon training plan and I'm really excited about it.  I'm combining a few different training plans that I've found but one had an example week of runs you should be able to complete before you start an advanced training program.  It looks a  little like this

Mon: 3 M/ Tues: 6M/ Wed: 4M/ Thurs: 6M/ Fri: 4M/ Sat: 8 M
 Mon.Tue.Wed.Thu.Fri.Sat.Mon  

I switched up the mileage for certain days but this is more then I have been running so we'll see how this week goes.  I usually only make it 3 or 4 miles and then do the GPP workout of the day.  I would LOVE to break 1:30 in the half.  I don't know if it will happen for this half but one day it will happen.  This is my beautiful view every morning.

Netflix and Hulu Plus are my lifesavers during winter running.  I am actually kind of getting sick of the treadmill.  I never thought I would say it but it's true.  I'm looking forward to warmer weather in a few months so I can hit the road at least a couple times a week.  The poster in the back is the St. George marathon poster that I'm on.  It's old and hilarious that I'm even on it.  I don't put 3:30 Boston Qualifier part on there to gloat, I simply put it on there to remind myself that I can in fact run fast.  This may not be fast for some people but it is for me. I still have no idea how I did it.  Of course the thought of maybe getting 3:20 does kind of hang in the back of my mind but I mean, way, way back of my mind.  No marathons for me for a while.  The training is just so much more intense and I'm not feeling it. The half is perfect though b/c I feel like you can do minimal training and still survive. 

Got my six miles in much slower then I would have liked but I did it.  I also did the GPP workout of the day which was tough.  Picture running on the treadmill doing bicep curls, OH shoulder presses and more.  It's a good thing I ate like a linebacker yesterday or I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have had enough energy to complete this workout.  I really do love to workout.  It is my sanity before the crazy day begins.  For those of you who can wake up with your kids in your face, I am truly impressed.  The few weeks I couldn't workout after I had Ben I wanted to die.  I really hate waking up to my children asking for things.  I need some "me" time before it begins.  

I do love coming upstairs to this cute little face though. The kids are still obsessed with watching home videos so they were occupied for a while this morning which was nice. 

We got out learning time in.  I usually try to do this with Sam everyday but I haven't been super consistent lately.  I'm trying to get back into being more consistent.  It makes it a little bit trickier now that Ellie wants to participate but we make it work.  I just get the books they have at Costco and we do a couple pages from each section each day.  Their attention span isn't super long but I take whatever I get.  And they wanted to sit on the floor b/c it was by the heater vent and they were cold.  Who doesn't remember doing that as a kid?  I was cold too so I didn't argue the point.

I HAVE to get out of the house each day.  It's good for the soul.  We packed up and headed to NPS.  Don't know what NPS is?  It's okay, you aren't missing much.  It sadly fuels my diet soda addiction.  It's cheap, cheap soda folks.  They have yummy Aspen Mills or Great Harvest bread there too so sometimes they have the kind we like but sometimes not.  It's out by the airport so it's a good drive to get us out of the house and look for planes as we drive.  

We got home and I got the younger two down for naps and paid a few bills, looked for preschools for Ellie and then decided to make some muffins.  It was not good timing on the muffins.  I started making them and Ellie woke up with diarrhea, Ben woke up and had a blowout for the second time today and dinner time was approaching so people were getting hungry.  The muffins didn't turn out great so I won't share the recipe quite yet.  I had some bananas getting brown so I wanted to experiment with some banana protein muffins.  I'll eat them but my kids didn't love them.  They are a little eggy so I'll have to play around with it a little bit more. 

After bathing two out of the three kids Dan was finally on his way home.  I love it when he calls to say he's on his way home.  We had delicious homemade Cafe Rio for dinner.  I know, I know, I need to work on my food photography skills.  I will, or not.  There's only so much time in a day.  I use these recipes for our Rio and it turns out really good every time. 

http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/2007/11/jared-and-i-love-cafe-rio.html

 This meal is A LOT of work but I actually made it Friday but then Mom and Dad S invited us out to dinner so we didn't end up using it.  I'm always glad when I make it and my kids love it but it really is a lot of work.  Especially when you have to add everything into My FitnessPal b/c your husband is tracking all of his calories.  That is an entirely different post.  I made the dressing with mostly greek yogurt and it was still really good and saved us a lot of calories over making it with mayo.  

We had FHE, the kids played with Dan for a while and then bedtime.  Time to go plan out my running for the next 4 months.  Have a great night!

And I'm back!

4 months, really, really?!! Pathetic!  I'm really going to try to get better and so today I am starting just with today and then when I get the time I will try to go back and update.  I get so overwhelmed by all the stuff I haven't blogged about that I just never do it.  No more!

Winter is really hard for me, REALLY hard!  I hate the cold in the first place but add three kids and being stuck inside all day, it makes me hate it even more.  I really like to be busy and we just aren't right now so I find myself getting really bored.  It's not that I don't have anything to do but it's so hard to start and finish things with three little ones to take care of that I just don't start.  It's really hard for me to explain but this has to be one of the best descriptions of a stay at home mom I have ever read.  Pretty much sums up my feelings every single day.  I printed it out for Dan to read b/c I have a hard time explaining my day to him and this does it.  Read it when you get a minute.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glennon-melton/the-questions-that-will-save-your-relationships_b_4618254.html
Since I've been feeling like my life is really boring lately I decided that maybe if I try to document it, it wouldn't seem so boring so we are starting with today.  If my computer will cooperate it really shouldn't take me too long each night.  Remember how I tried this a while ago? Ha! Well, I'm trying it again.

Sundays can be pretty long days.  Dan is Executive Secretary so he has to be at the church for meetings and while the bishop is doing interviews.  He leaves a little before 8:00 and then gets home around 12:00 or 12:15ish and then we go to church at 1:00.  It kind of stinks just b/c it's just like another day with dad gone to work but I support him so whatev.  I do love Sundays because it is my rest days from working out so I get to sleep in.  The kids have been obsessed with watching home videos on the computer so when they woke up they went downstairs and starting watching videos which was great because I got to stay in bed for a little while longer then usual.  Ben woke up so I went and grabbed him and he hung out in bed with me for a while.  When Dan left I decided to get my lazy fanny out of bed and start our ever exciting day.

There were some deer in the backyard so we watched a couple of the buck fight for a while and then watched them cross the street and head out of our yard, good riddance!  See, this is exciting stuff.

We read books for a while after the deer took off and then ate breakfast.  Well, I ate breakfast.  If I ate as little as my kids did I would seriously be emaciated.  I really don't understand how they rarely get hungry.  Blows my mind. 

I went with the kids to Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School then came home to switch Dan out so he could go to some of church.  We still don't take Ben to church.  I know, I know, I'm paranoid but I think we'll start all going together again in March.  When I got home I was starving.  This is never a good place for me to be, never.  So I helped myself to snack before we headed to my parents house for dinner. 

I may have had like six handful of pretzels dipped in this almond butter.  Seriously, I should never sit with an open jar of Almond Butter.  I love this stuff and it is dangerous.  

I made a salad to take to my parents.  I have been obsessed with spinach salads lately.  This was spinach, green leaf lettuce, pears, strawberries, feta cheese, craisins and candied almonds.  Yum!  Dinner was awesome.  I love Sunday dinners. They are always way better then any weekday meal I prepare.  I had to capture a picture of Ellie's great outfit. 

This girl is something else.  She is starting to go potty in the big girl potty and I could not be more excited.  We'll see if it sticks.  She did great with it today. 

Looking forward to another really exciting week of being stuck inside.  :)  Not really, I am going to convince myself that my life is not boring and that me and the kids do in fact have fun together. 

 I really am trying to enjoy this stage of life.  I know there will be a day that I wish I could just stay home all day, which is what we practically do every day.  I do enjoy not having a ton of places to be but some days I just need to get out.  I do plan small errands every day but it's a lot of work getting all four of us out the door and to a destination so some days I'm just lazy.  

I would like to document my running and my cooking on the blog too.  I seriously LOVE to cook.  I also LOVE to workout so I'll try to document some of that in the bloggy blog too.  Good night friends!