It's all good.

I know that when you decide to have a huge change in your life it gets really hard at some points. Specially when it is a good thing that you are trying to do.
It has been 4 weeks since Dan and me started to do the healthy eating thing and at first I was feeling great. My clothes are feeling a little bit looser and I thought I probably lost lots of weight. But when my scale didn't show any change at all my frustration started to grow.
Dan is doing great and I can actually see the difference (he wont believe me :). But for me it is totally different. I was so frustrated and depressed on Wednesday that I ended up crying when Dan asked what was wrong with me. I mean, I am the one that is exercising and trying to stay more active and run all over the place with the kids. I don't exercise every day because lets face it, it is hard and there are tons of things and people that require my time. So I was about to give up and then Dan happened to mention that the scale was acting really weird. I went to the store yesterday and bought a new scale, and guess what? Old scale.... really broken, you get on it and it gives you a result, get on it again 5 minutes later and you have gain 5 pounds, then you get on it again and you lost 8 lbs. Crazy I know. I am much happier and can actually see my weight loss as it is. Loosing 7 or 8 lbs might not seem like a great accomplishment but it feels great. I guess the reason why I don't see a bigger change is because sometimes you start to build muscle, which is not a bad thing but I want to loose inches also. So we'll see.
To keep myself busy and not think too much about food I have been working on a bunch of little projects, it helps a lot. I am not killing myself I promise, when I get hungry I eat even if it's some fruit or some crackers and that also helps.

The newest addition to my kitchen.

I finally cave in and decided to let my lovely husband buy me a dishwasher, the old one was having lots of issues like not washing the dishes and leaking every once in a while. Plus it was white and it didn't not go with my fridge... so we got a great deal last Saturday and got a new Frigidaire (floor model) at half the price. I absolutely love it, it has all these cool features that I was looking for, but my favorite one is that I can do the top load only and that is a plus for me during the day it is very low too so big items can go in there easily, the upper basket comes off and you can fold the little things in the middle to adjust them if you need to put big or small items in the upper basket. Also it is very quiet. I love love love it!!! My kitchen will soon be complete :)

Experiment night.

Dan bought a little kit for Victor a while ago and we were supposed to try and do a bunch of experiments with him but time is always the issue. So last night we did one of them and the kids loved it. They made their own candles, they didn't turn out very good but it was fun anyways. Shayna made the comment that they look like Shrek's ear wax in the movie.

People always pick a fight with me.

I promise that I am not out looking for people to fight with but every time I go to the store I always encounter some cashiers that are not very nice and many times I have come home complaining to Dan about how they should not be working if they don't want to. I mean I have been there and done that and I always try to be as nice as I can so I can keep my job. So last night I went to the movies by myself to watch My Sister's Keeper (really good movie by the way), and it was late but I needed to stop for milk and stuff. To make a long story short the cashier was not a happy camper and I think she took all her frustration out on me and called me a stupid lady and told me never to come back to the store. I honestly don't know why she was so upset, I didn't offend her at all and was trying to calm her down the whole time trying to let her know that she was going to get in trouble if she didn't stop. In the end I asked for her name and it turns out that it is in the receipt so I told her she would be hearing for me very soon. I didn't want to call the manager but after talking to Dan and my mom I finally made the call and now she will get in trouble. There was this other employee there that saw the whole thing and he told me that she has been in trouble for the same reason before and almost lost her job. The manager told me on the phone that it really surprises her that with the way things are right now that she would act that way knowing that her job could be in trouble. I hope she doesn't get fired, but I hope she realizes that she needs to be nicer to people. On top of thing I was not having a good day and this experience just left me shaking the entire way home and I kept asking myself "why in the world do I get in arguments with people?" Oh well, I'll just keep turning my cheeks until they turn red I guess, what else can I do?

No more diapers.

Hoops and Aaron

We are so happy to announce that our littlest one is diaper free now. It was such a pain the butt to get him to this point but it was so worth it. I think it took 2 weeks to get here, we had tried all the same methods that we did with the other three kids, but he just wasn't into it. I finally decided to try an idea a friend gave me, stickers, candy and a timer. I thought it would be kind of annoying to time the potty trips to every 15 minutes and it was, specially since he didn't have to go that often, after a few adjustments he got the idea and little by little understood the process. Going to the store was a piece of cake, he was just too scared to go so he never had an accident, at church the same thing. We stopped doing the timer after a week since he got pretty good at recognizing the need to go potty, in the mornings he now wakes up to go potty all by himself and tells me all about it when I wake up. On Saturday after eating lunch at the mall we decided to take him to the Build a Bear Store, since he was the only on who didn't get a stuffed animal last year, Dan helped him pick out a Panda Bear (really cute by the way) and then he chose his basketball outfit and we threw in there a pair of undies, he was so excited about it. We consider that his potty graduations present.
He is getting so big and as much as we hate seeing him grow up so fast, it was about time, we are now officially diaper free after 9 years and 7 months.
On a side note we got a couple of turtle room mates for Franklin, the poor turtle is so freaked out about it, specially since the two little ones climb on him all the time, it is kind of funny to see him all big now, he used to be so small. We also got them a bigger house so they can share the space, the little ones love it but Franklin is still not sure about the whole thing. Turtles are just the best pets to have around, they don't make a lot of noise, eat a little bit and they are fun to watch.Frankling not very happy and the new guy climbing all over him.

A year ago...

Yes it has been that long. A year ago we packed our things and started a new life in Texas, I just can't believe that time has gone by that quick. We are still happy to be living here in Houston and love our house and like our neighborhood. The kids have friends and we also have a couple of friends to hang out with. I have discovered tons of stores that I can shop at and I have become more adventurous than ever driving all over the place (mostly to find those cool stores). I feel like I still need to get to know more people and get more involved in the ward, with my new calling I am sure that will happen soon.
I think we moved at the right time because if we had done it a little bit later it would have affected us even more with the way the economy started to affect everybody. Dan had a hard time finding a job but he eventually did and we were still able to get our house. I am very grateful for that and know that our Heavenly Father was looking after us.
So here we are, enjoying our home and even after all this time we still miss our friends from Utah. I hope we can go back and visit them again.
Also we still have our little turtle Franklin, he is been with us for almost a year now and we are glad we got him, who knows maybe we'll get a roommate for him.

Home made movies

Dan gave us the idea of making movies with the kids, we started with a simple one. The kids have been playing nonstop with their playmobile guys and so they made up a story. This is what we ended up with, it is so fun to make them.

My struggle with my weight.

Some people are just lucky to be skinny, hey I used to be one of those, when I was younger I could it a whole pizza by myself and not gain any weight. I also used to be very active and loved running and playing basket ball at the church. I used to walk everywhere because we didn't have a car and I usually walked like 10 miles to and from work. I know that having kids changed all that but also turning 30 made a huge difference in my life. I hate the fact that it has become an obsession to try an loose weight, I have tried so many things in the past and nothing works, I always end up back in the same place.
Poor Dan is also in the same place as me, so we decided to make a drastic change in our lives, little by little of course but we hope it works.
We are not really on a diet, but we are trying to eat healthier and smaller portions, Dan is getting about 1,500 calories a day and I am doing now 1,300 calories or less. I have done this before when I am pregnant so the calorie counting for me is not a big deal. We do feel like we are starving sometimes but thank goodness for snacks, so we have like 5 or 6 meals during the day.
I am also trying to exercise during the day at least for half an hour. We are not dropping the weight like crazy but at least we are not gaining any more either. I can see the difference in my clothes which is great.
I have a couple of people that are a great example to me, my sister in law Lisa (who is doing awesome and is a big inspiration) and our friend Erik from Virginia who lost like 36 pounds in two months.
We are not planning on loosing weight and then go back to our normal eating habits, we actually like what we are doing and plan to stick with eat, I mean we are over thirty now and I guess the fun is all gone right? No but seriously we hope to stay on track except when we have out birthday celebrations and big holidays. We still enjoy the cooking in the grill but instead of two hamburgers and 2 hot dogs, we are now down to 2 veggie burgers for Dan and 1 for me, they are not that bad really.
I know that I will never go back to look the way I did 10 years ago, but if I can go back to being size 7 (which was my size after I had Tristan) it will make so happy.
By the way, here is a picture of a product that I happened to find a a dollar store, you can cook your vegetables in the microwave and it works really well.

FHE and Aaron

Some of you might know that we recently started to do the potty training thing with Aaron again (for like the 5th time) and it seems like this time it might work, no it HAS to work. I have been struggling with him all last week and then today finally a hope for me... as we were having Family Home Evening and talking about obedience he suddenly gets off his chair and walks away, since I wanted the older kids to pay attention more than him I let him go and didn't ask Dan to bring him back, then all of the sudden we hear this cute song that his potty makes when he goes potty, usually he spills some milk or water in it to hear the music play so we were all thinking that he did that again, it was really funny because I asked everybody if they thought that he might be going potty and they all said "NO" he has never done that before, so we get up and go look at his potty and there it was full of "pipi" (Spanish for #1), I was so happy and we all started doing the 'POTTY DANCE". I think we all scared the poor kid, he didn't know what was going on. I just feel so proud of him for finally recognizing the need to go and to actually sit in the potty instead of wetting his undies. There is hope my friends, there is hope.
Here are some pictures of our Family Home Evening activity. We had a busy day today, shopping, baking a cake, going swimming with friends which was so much fun, Shayna decorating a cake, FHE and a craft. I am so tired but felt the need to record the important little things in my life.

Our little vacation close to home...

Actually at home, Dan had reserved a couple of days off because a couple of his brothers were going to come during the 4th of July weekend and stay with us for a while, but things didn't work out and nobody came. Dan decided to keep the days off and we did a couple of fun things. On Tuesday I had a play date set up with my sister in law Amber, we worked on some super hero capes for my boys. She is such a great seamstress and she came up with her own pattern. She was able to finish the cape for Aaron and I finished the other two by myself. My sewing machine was acting out so they don't look that great but the boys love it. Thanks again Amber.
After my play date we went to the Houston Natural Museum of Science, since it is free on Tuesdays after 2 pm we decided it was a great idea. The museum wasn't that amazing, I mean I have been to the museums in Washington DC and they are amazing and plus they don't charge an entrance fee and they are huge, you can spend hours there, a whole day and still wont get to see all of it. I shouldn't complain since it was free, but I can't imagine paying all that money to go in. We couldn't go and see the butterflies which was something Shayna really wanted to do, so I am thinking we can try that some other time with just her and me. The kids loved it, they were amazed at the size of the dinosaurs and all the stuff they had set up. My favorite thing as always was the gem vault, those things are precious. After the museum Dan took us all over downtown looking for pawn shops, he has been working on expanding his DVD collection and since the movies are only $1.99 I can't complain. We also went to a couple of book stores and found some good deals too, Shayna got the book Little Women for $1.00.
We stopped at Denny's on the way home since it was Tuesday and you know we need to take advantage of the free meals for the kids, they were so hungry, not a piece of food was left on the table, now that was a first.
At home we ended the day by watching the rest of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, we started watching the first one on Monday. The kids really love the storyline and we stayed up past midnight. We don't usually do that, but it was fun.
Yesterday we went to the ZOO and it was so cool to go and not spend any money at all, since we already have the pass. This is the first time we ever get a season pass for anything and I have to say that I love it. We discovered a cool bird building that we didn't see before and we were able to go see the entire monkey area, the lions were sleeping and then went to the petting zoo. The weather was nice most of the time, specially because we went there really early, but when it got too hot we decided to leave and it was nice to tell the kids, we will come back next week if you want :)
We stopped at Pizza Hut and came home to watch some more movies, yeah we love movies.
So that's how we spent the last couple of days and now we are back to normal, Dan is at work, the kids playing, I am on the computer and my time is up, we need to do some shopping to get ready for a crazy day of baking and decorating (I have 4 cake orders for the weekend).

Saying good bye and 4th of July

After three months time finally came for my mom to go back home to Guatemala. The kids were really sad and wanted he to stay at least one more day and as Aaron put it "she is gong to come back and get him in the airplane". I tried to be strong and not cry since I know that we will see her again but watching my kids cry and her as well is kind of tough. There is a special relationship between them and my mom even if that don't speak the same language, it is a very interesting thing to watch them talk to each other :)
After dropping her off at the airport we went home to have lunch and were planning on going downtown for the fireworks, I was very excited since Dan also wanted to go to the ZOO, but after talking to his brother Steven decided to go somewhere closer to our house. It was good since we didn't have to walk a whole lot and look for parking. It was SOOOO hot and we were all melting but we got free water and some other things for the kids for free. We found a spot and waited for a while listening to some band that was playing at this park. The music wasn't the greatest, but it made the time go faster. Fireworks were fun, there were some trees in the way but we are planning on sitting somewhere else next year so we can enjoy them more. The kids had fun and we took lots of pictures. Hope everyone else had a fun time too.

The latest

I haven't been able to post on my blog lately, the last couple of weeks have been kind of blah and we have been doing stuff but I just didn't feel like writing anything. So this is what we have been up to. Dan's work had a "Bring your child to work day" and he took Shayna with him, we went out and found a cute outfit for her to wear that day and both were very excited about the whole thing. They had some activities for the kids to do, they had a tour and she got a certificate for going and a little present. On the way home they stopped at Denny's to have lunch since they let Dan come home early and Shayna had a great time.
The kids have been enjoying the weather and they play in their pool and trampoline and love to have the sprinklers one. One day Aaron was so tired and I was going to get him dressed, I got too busy and forgot he was laying down on the carpet waiting for his diaper... he fell asleep naked and I could not resist to take a picture but I covered him up so it is not an inappropriate picture.
We went swimming to the neighborhood pool yesterday as a family activity and had lots of fun, I didn't get to go underwater because of my ears, but it was so much fun to see the kids play and Shayna enjoy the pool and learning how to swim, she is so good at everything I can't believe it sometimes. She hasn't had swimming lessons and sometimes I think she wont need them. Aaron was having a blast jumping in the water and swimming all over the place with his floaties and life jacket. It is so much easier to be in the pool with everybody that way.
We have done more stuff but I don't want to write to much so that's it.