Our summer trip

We decided to go to the Trout family reunion this year.

All the way up in Randle WA. In the sticks y'all. It was pretty fun!

Charly charmed everyone around her.

Got whatever she wanted.

There was a lot of sleeping.

Needed desperately by a little lady running around

trying to find someone to give her what she wanted.

Elles also found some girls to carry her around & to hold her all day.

We visited some great family members. We love Sam & Linda.

They gave Grant a great birthday bash!!!

Visiting Grant's great friend Lily. Glad to see you guys!

At the Trout's wonderful home.

So many great memories as a kid there.

A fun part was going to the Winston Safari Zoo.

There was a normal zoo, one that was so different than in Sac.

It was open & you were allowed to do things with the animals.

Our State stinks with it's crazy rules & overbearedness (is that a word?)

But then we drove through the actual safari & saw some awesome animals.

Camels in the background.

We were so close to the bears.

I made Jared roll up the window

b/c I didn't think the massive electrical fences would stop them.

The giraffes that were necking & held up the line of cars for a bit.

It was hilarious to watch them play around.

This lion did not like us.

He came down all angry like & stalked back & forth growling at us.

Feeding the fishes & ducks.

My family zoo.

We had a great adventure driving for days seeing things and new places.

Jared visited a place he saw on a foody show.

Downtown Portland was cuh-razy packed!

It took us 45 minutes to go 5 miles on I-5, w/o any accidents.

And I saw the largest fabric store EVER!!

Trees were the greatest. So beautiful, smelled so fresh.

I think we'll make this trip more often.

It was so great to see so much family.

Hasleton Quote

I was nursing Elles as we were walking through a store. Nathan asks why I put a blanket over me when I feed Ellie.

I reply: "To be modest. No one wants to see me without any clothes on."

Nate: "Why do you have to be modest?"

Me: "Heavenly Father wants us to take care of our bodies."

Nate: "Well, I don't ever have to be modest because I don't have any boobs."

I guess....

Shout out Friday

Shout out to the times the baby decides to have an extremely loud blow out in their diaper.

Usually in church during a prayer.

Although sometimes I think it's funnier to have a bunch of adults giggling during a prayer than the actual noise of the bum.

The way He works....

We currently have a fun missionary serving in our area.

His name is Elder Taratai from the island of Kiribati.

He has a lot of great stories, but this one is my favorite.

When Elder Taratai was 2 years old, his 5 month old baby brother was adopted to a family in the US.

All Elder Taratai knew, was his brother's birth name. That's it.

About a year ago, at a Zone conference

(a meeting where all the missionaries in the area get together),

Elder Taratai felt impressed to talk to an Elder from Arizona.

Elder Taratai asked this other missionary if he knew of anyone

that had been adopted from the Island of Kiribati.

The Arizona missionary said yes.

His best friend growing up had been adopted from that same island along with his brother.

The missionary gave Elder Taratai his best friend's info.

But it turned out that it wasn't his brother.

BUT, that family had adopted their 2 boys along with another LDS family

that had adopted a little boy that had moved to Washington.

So they passed on their information.

Elder Taratai writes to this family asking about the adoption

giving his little brother's birth name.

(please forgive me. I can't for the life of me remember what their island names are)

The family, last name of Allen, says YES!! that is their son's birth name.

His name is now Brock Allen. Getting ready to serve a mission back to Arizona.

Some plans are made, & Brock gets to come to Sac to meet one of his biological brothers.

It's a little confusing, but isn't that amazing??

Two brothers found each other in such a providential way.

We were blessed to share part of their day together

as we had them over for dinner.

Shout out Friday

A few years ago, before kids, Jared & I were watching our niece Samantha.

She came over to our place bringing with her a little girl's Barbie movie.

Aack! I can't stand those movies.

So we put the movie in (upside down), & it didn't work.

Oh no! we tell Samantha, it doesn't work. How bout Finding Nemo instead?

That was all good with the 4 year old.

Now, 5 years later, our sweet Charlotte likes those girly movies.

To my sad dismay, I've added some to our Netflix list. Sigh......

Shout out to what we do for our kids.

Graduations

Although Nate has another year of pre school, he got to participate in his class' graduation.

The awesome Ms. Roxann.

Ms. Kim. Nate wouldn't drop his mask they used for their performance.

At the water park to celebrate Nate's pre school.

Us waiting VERY patiently for Grant's kinder graduation to start.

Mrs. Bridgham. One of the greatest kinder teachers out there!!

Grant's good friend Joseph who called 3 times a day every day

till I gave him a limit of once a day.

Who knew 5 yr olds talked on the phone so much?

Grant had memorized several friend's phone numbers, but not mine.

Not sure how that works.

Can't believe my boys are getting so big.

Here's to the summer & all the wonderfully disturbing strawberries

my plants produce.

Daddy's little girls

Daddy hard at work taking care of his girls.

Also, thanks to President Fisher for asking us to update our 72 hour kits for FHE.

Our packs were so out of date, the food was not edible,

the jackets that were for Grant & Nathan now fit Charlotte & Elles.

Now we have enough food ready to keep us 6 peeps going for 72 hours in emergency!

Sunday pic

Father's Day 2011

Shout out Friday

When I have a really bad craving for sugar,

but don't want to stray from my diet, I eat a bunch of Gummi-Vites.

Is that so wrong?

Can't believe they just said that...

I go to pick up Nate from school. A very kind, loving mommy asks me if I'm pregnant.

"What!? Me? No. Why? Do I look like I'm pregnant?"

"Yes" she says,"you're looking a little poochy today"

"Hey, I have 4 kids, I'm allowed a little pooch."

In no way was I offended by this conversation, but really?

Asking people if they're expecting is a tricky business.

Be careful, you never know what kind of mood a woman can be in.

Elles' 6 months

14 lbs 2.8 oz

2'3"

Down to 12% in weight.

Looks like I have another lightweight girl on my hands.

She drools sooooo much. Refuses to eat food.

No matter how tasty it is.

I need to catch a picture with her pursing her lips

to not let the spoon in her mouth.

Hilarious.

Does not sleep through the night. Does not enjoy tummy time.

She laughs & screams happy screams (like a girl), & is such a happy baby.

She will smile for anyone & can always be consoled.

Shout out Friday

Has anyone invented a kids washing machine yet?

And not the shower. That requires some work from myself.

A real machine I can put dirty kids in, get washed, rinsed, & come out dry & fluffy. That's what I want.

Blurry, but oh so cute

Happy Sabbath!!

Bacon & fresh strawberries from the garden. Delicious!

Featuring my new countertops!!

I have been suffering with the grossest kitchen these last 5 years.

Nasty grout I've tried re-coloring, chipped tile, missing tile.

No matter how hard I scrubbed, it never looked clean.

The sink, well it was so bad I can't really describe it.

And the growth on the faucet had become permanent.

But now I have a gorgeous sink & faucet!

And pretty countertops that look clean even when I don't wipe them down!!

I love cleaning the kitchen now. We'll see how long that lasts......

My attempt at Easter pictures

Basic fun on Easter.

Dress up, find eggs filled with candy.

Delicious dinner.

Good family times.

Do you like my compost bin in the background??

My first week on Paleo

So Jared started a Paleo Challenge at his gym.

The freaking day after Easter.

The challenge is to eat Paleo for 7 weeks, who ever loses the most

weight & inches receives gift cards to Oz Korean BBQ & free months to the gym.

I told him I would try it.

Although I've been ragging on the (diet) lifestyle the last couple years.

Paleo is the eating style that CrossFitters like to follow.

It allows you to lose the fat, but gives you the protein

you need to be fit & build some muscle.

Not bulking up ladies, just some pretty muscles.

Which I have if you ever want to check me out;)

So last Monday, I started. And I immediately felt good.

I now understood what Jared means by "eating clean." I felt clean.

The water weight fell right off. Water weight isn't that great for you.

I've always had hereditary bad blood circulation.

Water weight puts pressure on my vessels & organs.

Get rid of it for better circulation.

Retaining water has never been fun right ladies?

I've had more energy, slept better, skin looked better,

I've been happier, less cranky, etc. But even more importantly,

I've lost 7 pounds in 8 days. And can fit into all my skinny jeans.

Cuh-razy & totally worth it.

Has it been hard? Heck yes.

All I've wanted this week was to eat a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerio's.

But no grains for me.

It's been easy to say no to treats, for the first time ever.

I've tried to cut out all sugar before, with no luck.

I just get withdrawals & feel like crud.

The no sugar/candy goal would only last 1 or 2 days.

But when I'm eating "clean" I don't feel this way.

Jared also told me a secret. I could stuff my self with eggs, sausage,

& veggies for breakfast, but I wouldn't feel satisfied.

I would still be hungry, or so I thought.

My insulin level is used to being at a certain level,

& now I'm not "feeding" that level.

So when I'm feeling hungry although I've just eaten, eat some fruit.

The sugar from the fruit helps your insulin boost

to tell your body you're done.

Voila, you're satisfied.

Have I cheated at all? Yup, then felt like crap right away.

I had a Henry Weinhard's root beer one night,

a piece of licorice another day.

I immediately felt like poop b/c my insulin would spike

when I'm not used to it doing that.

Your energy level goes "down down down, in history of course."

So that's another way it's easier to follow this diet

b/c you know if you cheat, you won't feel good.

After 2 weeks of eating this way,

I can start eating more grains & such w/o the poopy feeling after wards.

I'm hooked. I haven't eaten any Easter candy, breads, pasta,

or my absolute favorite-potatoes. Don't get me wrong.

I know grains are essential, that too much red meat isn't healthy, etc.

But this is really good for you. If you can starve yourself on the HCG diet,

you can do this. The hardest part is trying to find things to eat.

But my favorite has been getting yummy lunch meat, slicing pickle,

red onion, bell peppers, with some mustard, then rolling it up.

Like a sandwich but no bread. It's delicious.

Another great find are Blue Diamond flavored almonds.

Pricey at WalMart, but so good. Helps my snacking phases during the day.

Keep lots of veggies around. Eat small meals all day.

If you decide to do this, don't get all nit picky.

Just do your best. Email Jared if you have questions.

I highly recommend trying it.

Even if it takes you 2 years of insulting the idea first.