Seriously!

More than a year ago was the last time I posted-shameful! It's not that nothing was going on, it's that too much was going on for me to process. I also spent a good part of last year in a funk, having my own little pity party. Pretty sad. I didn't even realize that's what I was doing until I heard someone describe me so perfectly that the lights finally went on. (That person was actually referring to someone else). Basically I was so completely focused on my own trials and struggles that it prevented me from reaching out to anyone else around me. I wanted people to notice that I was struggling but at the same time, I was terrified that someone would notice that I was struggling. Complicated, huh. Thankfully, I pulled my head out and things are changing. I am excited for the holidays, I am excited to serve those around me and I feel like I am breathing fresh clean air instead of stale dingy air.
I'm not sure I'm feeling up to a recap of the last year, so for now I'm just moving ahead. Christmas is almost here-only 15 more days! While I'm not exactly ready for it, I am still excited for the time I will get to spend with my family-relaxing, eating and being together. Ashton is the only one who is unsure about Santa. He tried to convince me that Santa isn't real, but I wasn't having it. I even sent him a video "from" Santa to try and postpone the inevitable. I think it's working for now. It will be kind of sad when we get to that point where no one wants to wake up early on Christmas morning though.
In September Jason rode in Lotoja, which is a 206 mile cycling race form Logan Utah to Jackson Hole Wyoming. He is crazy enough to want to do it again this year, so he decided to do a winter cycling camp to help him stay in shape and get stronger. As part of the camp, he has a temporary membership at the Treehouse Athletic Club. It was cheap to add me on as well, so for the last month I have been going to the gym several times a week. The classes are awesome for me because I lack the self motivation required to make myself do things that are physically hard. When I go to a class, there is pressure to keep up with the other people as well as pressure to not look like a complete wimp. Perfect for me! My favorite class is a Zumba class on thursday nights. I go with my friend Merrilee and I look forward to it all week. It is the perfect combination of exercise and dance club. I'm pretty sure I look ridiculous-in fact I laugh everytime I look in the mirror, but I love it. I try to go to a class at least 3 times a week, so I have been able to try many different things. My other favorite is a class called Raising the Barre which is sort of a ballet/dance based workout. I definitely feel the effects of those exercise endorphins and I love the fact that I am in better shape; well working on being in better shape.
Now that I've broken the silence, I'm thinking it will be easier to start posting again. The hardest part is getting back on the horse, right? Let's hope.

Thankful

I'm not sure why it has been so difficult lately to post on here. I have lots of things to write about, many events to document, yet I just don't seem to do it. Sigh....
Many people I know have been doing a "thankful" post on Facebook for every day in November. I keep thinking that I should do it too, only now it is November 22! I have so much to be thankful for, so I am just gonna write them all down here, well 30 of them anyway. Here we go, in no particular order...
1. My family. All of them, immediate, extended and inlaws.
2. My kids.
3. Our good health.
4. A warm house.
5. Running water.
6. Abundant food.
7. Cars that work.
8. Friends, old, new and far away.
9. People that make me laugh.
10. People that make me think.
11. The Gospel.
12. Temples.
13. Changes that give me the opportunity to learn and grow.
14. Hand me downs.
15. Books.
16. An understanding of the Plan of Salvation.
17. An interesting job.
18. A most wonderful, incredible and good looking husband.
19. My bed and pillow.
20. A washer and dryer that work.
21. The internet.
22. My gray hairs.
23. A new start every day.
24. My bedroom.
25. Kisses, snuggles and hugs from my kids.
26. Children who are making good choices.
27. The new things I learn all the time.
28. That I am still in love with my husband.
29. Good memories.
30. That I live in a free country.

'Cause we are beautiful no matter what they say

Dear Dr Heidi,
Every time I drive on the freeway I see your billboards. Most often it is the one that features small lemons positioned so that they look like breasts, along with the tag line "Turning lemons into lemonade" Breast Augmentation by Dr Heidi. Today I saw another one with a picture of 2 small lemons next to 2 cantaloupes which were next to 2 watermelons. This was also labeled Breast Augmentation by Dr Heidi. As clever as the wordplays and images may be, I find the association of body parts with lemons to be quite disturbing. Could you be suggesting that if certain body parts do not measure up to someone's standard that there is something wrong with them? Though a lemon is a fruit, the dictionary also defines it as "something that is unsatisfactory or defective". How many young girls will see those billboards and wonder if something is wrong with them because they don't look like a swimsuit model. Will they feel like their bodies are defective and need to be fixed? As a woman and a doctor, I would hope that you would be more aware of the many physical and mental health issues that are caused by unhealthy body images. While I am not against plastic surgery in general, I am definitely against advertising that targets women and girls and insinuates that their bodies are not good enough unless they look a certain way. Shame on you for doing just that. I hope in the future, you will rethink your advertising slogans and send a more positive message.
(Lyrics from Beautiful by Christina Aguilera)

Tick Tock on the clock but the party don't stop...

New Years Eve! We decided to break from tradition and go somewhere this year. Our friend Nicole had a date and they were going to go to a masquerade ball. Sounds awesome right? Two words-Single Adult.

Now I don't have anything against single adults, I was just worried that it would be weird to go to a single adult dance as a married couple. In the end, I decided that the fun of dressing up and doing something different outweighed the weirdness.

The dance was up in Layton, so we planned on stopping for dinner before we went. Well, one thing led to another and we actually ended up picking up Olive Garden and then eating it in the car. It was mostly my fault-I haven't really had to "get ready" for much in a while, so it took longer than I thought.

We got to the dance about the same time as Nicole and her date. When we walked in I had an immediate flashback to the stake dances of my youth. Some people were dancing, but many were just standing on the sides of the room. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I saw. I'm not going to go into detail for fear of completely putting my foot in my mouth, but let's just say-anyone who is thinking about getting divorced because they think they are missing out on "the single life" needs to come to one of these dances. Now I am looking at it from an LDS perspective, so maybe being over 30 and single is much more fabulous if you're not LDS. Who knows!

Overall, we did have a great time dancing. We stayed until about 1am and then drove back home and had Nicole and her date over for ice cream. Jason and I both had a fun night and would definitely do it again next year. (Lyrics from "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha)

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

Yes, I do know that it's April. I'm just trying to create a mood! See, I have been holding off from sharing my awesome thoughts because I felt like I needed to finish up last year before I started anything new. Sooo, pretend it is the end of December, it's snowing lightly and you are warm and cozy and snuggled up to your computer. Aaahhh.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was great-lot's of tradition and not too much stress. Some years I have felt overwhelmed by all of the things I felt like I had to do but this year seemed to go much smoother. I wish I knew why! We had our annual Christmas Eve party with Jason's family. Now that I have been attending for the last 16 years, I guess I could call it my family party also. It's always fun to see all of the cousins every year and see the new babies and how everyone has grown. Santa Claus is the main event of the night and everybody gets a chance to sit on his lap. Aren't we cute!

After the Price party, we usually go to either Jason's parent's house or one of his brother or sister's homes to exchange gifts with the immediate family. The cousins all draw names and have a fun time getting gifts for each other. I could describe it best as contained chaos. I mean, what else would you expect with a stack of presents, 18 kids, their parents, their grandparents and their great grandma? I look forward to it every year. After we left Jen and Drew's house, we went home and got the kids in bed, waited until they fell asleep and then wrapped presents. Note to self, "please be kind to yourself and wrap the presents ahead of time!" I think we rolled into bed somewhere after 2am.

Christmas morning we managed to sleep until about 7:30. Everyone was delighted with their presents and we enjoyed a yummy breakfast together. Our usual tradition is to take a picture of each of the kids with their presents. Unfortunately, Jason and I opted for a nap and then forgot about the pictures. Oh well. Nicole and Brynna came over around 4 for dinner. We had our usual mexican feast and then played games until we were too tired to sit up. The kids watched their new movies and played with their toys. It was a wonderful day!

With a dreamy, far-off look and her nose stuck in a book

I have always loved to read. I remember often getting trouble at school because I would hide the book I was reading behind the text book I was supposed to be reading. The teacher would either figure it out, or they would ask me a question and I would be totally oblivious. That was a little embarassing. While I don't read as much as I used to, I still thought I read quite a bit. Since I tracked all of my books from last year, I was able to count how many I had actually read. It was an eye opener. I only read 53 books. Now that may sound like a lot, but that's only roughly 1 a week. That doesn't seem like alot to me. I was actually really disappointed when I counted them up. My husband pointed out that I do have 5 kids, work 24 hours a week and spend another 5 hours a week running another business. Frankly, I don't think those are valid excuses.

I started thinking of a goal I could set this year-100 books? Although I seamlessly fit in 53 books, I actually think it might disrupt my life a little if I doubled that number. I also think it might put a little bit of strain on my marriage. Why is it that husbands feel like a good book is competition to them? Aah, but I digress....maybe 60 is a reasonable goal? That would still only be like 1.15 books a week. I think I will do 75. That will be a better challenge. I am also going to try and read some more "intelligent" books. Sometimes I feel like the books I read are like fast food, quick, easy and disposable. I am going to try and be more selective and not just read something because it is there. There you go-a new goal for a new year. Help me out and send me recommendations, please!

(Lyrics in title are from "Belle" in Beauty and the Beast)

Just another manic monday

Here we go. It's early monday morning before the kids head back to school. While the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas were packed with preparations, parties and performances, we did manage to create some wonderful memories with friends and family. We got in many hours of game playing, enjoyed relaxing and watching the christmas lights and laughed together about silly things. Even though it drove me crazy that my house was in a constant state of mess, I loved being able to stay up late with the kids and then sleep in. I loved not sticking to a schedule and not having to worry about homework and practices and projects. It all starts again tomorrow. I'm not sure I am ready.

(featured lyrics from Manic Monday by the Bangles)