A Wonderful Weekend + some Fun Things!

I hope you all are doing well and enjoying this beautiful Holiday season!  This morning, we woke up to this…

A beautiful Winter Wonderland!  I really love the snow during the month of December.  It’s so magical!  However, come January….I wish it would all go away.  Ha.

We got dumped on today!  We got at least a foot of snow.  The commute to and from school/work was absolutely crazy.  When my kids got to school, many of their teachers weren’t even there yet.  It took Kev an hour and 45 minutes to get to work and it usually takes him about 45 minutes!

Ya, school probably should have been cancelled, but it doesn’t get cancelled too often here in Utah.  We may get a “snow day” once every several years.  When we lived in New Hampshire, it seemed like school was cancelled at least 5-6 times a year!

I can’t believe Christmas is in 10 days guys!  Gah!  It makes me nervous (because of all the Santa stuff I still need to do) and so excited just thinking about it.  I LOVE this time of year!

We had a fun, yet busy weekend.  On Friday night, Kev and I went out with some of Kev’s business associates to P.F. Chang’s (seriously thee best Chinese food ever!) and then to the Jazz vs. Thunder basketball game.

We had a great night and I enjoyed being obnoxiously loud with the Cheer Stix they gave us.  Ha ha!  Too bad the Jazz lost. 🙁  It was a great game though.

My kidlets were so happy that I brought the Cheer Stix home for them to play with too!

On Sunday, we went up to my mom’s house for the annual Candy House Making and Nativity Story telling night.  We’ve made Candy Houses every year for as long as I can remember.  It’s something I always looked forward to as a kid.

There was so much candy though!  Man!  I certainly enjoyed my fill and then some.

My mom’s kitchen is so tiny, so the kids had to make the houses in shifts.  First, the littler kids and then the teenagers….

Check out all of that candy!!!!

I had to laugh at my oldest son’s house because it was more of a fortress to hold a bunch of candy instead of a house!

The kids also enjoying dressing up and reenacting the Nativity story.  Sadly, our numbers get smaller and smaller every year.

I was especially sad that my baby was too big to be baby Jesus this year!!!  Auuughh!  I was proud of my cute little donkey and shepherd though.

My sweet niece also dressed up my baby as a sheep. He didn’t want to wear that costume for too long though.

Folks, this sweet baby of mine gets SO MUCH love and attention.  His siblings adore him and play with him constantly.  He also has several cousins who just want to love, coddle and hold him all the time.  It’s been so much fun!

Well, even though we had a very fun weekend, I ate WAY too much cruddy food!  It was pretty scary.  I really don’t like to be too strict during the holiday season, but WOAH, I think I still need to start exercising a bit of self control.  I’ve been eating very well during the week, but the weekends have been a whole ‘nother story!

When we got home from the Jazz game on Friday, my daughter had made a cake.  I, of course, had to snitch a bit of it!  Kev and I also decided to get donuts Saturday morning.  It was fun and so yummy, but they made me soooo sick!  On Saturday evening, I snitched some more donuts (I like to cut small pieces off of several different kinds!) and I felt so sick again!!  Seriously.

Then, on Sunday, we all pigged out on so much candy at my parent’s house.  It was fun, but again, my body felt terrible.

I really enjoyed all of the junk food, but by Sunday night I didn’t want to eat junk food ever again!  While Kev and I were driving home from my parent’s house, we had a good chat.  I decided that even though my life is absolutely insane these days, I need to start regaining control and making my life what a want it to be!

I’ve told you guys many times how crazy, overwhelming and exhausting my life has been lately.  I seriously feel like I wake up, check all of the boxes, get the minimum done in my life that absolutely has to get done, then go to bed and do it all again!  I have so many other things in my life that I want to do and get done, but they NEVER get done!  It is maddening.

So, I decided I’m getting kind of sick of the whole “out of control” thing.  I thrive on organization, order, goals, structure and productivity.  I am a do-er and a go-er and I like to accomplish stuff!

Soooo, while Kev and I were chatting I realized that although I feel quite out of control, there are several things I can DO and CHANGE right now to get more control over my life.  I just need to buck up, stop thinking of myself as a victim and reclaim my life!

Yay!!!!

So, here are some of things I’m going to do right now!

• It may sound strange, but I’ve decided I’m going to start waking up earlier!  I’ve been sleeping in as long as I can these days (usually about 7:20ish) and I get up just in time to get all the kids ready for school.  Well, I’ve decided I’m going to wake up at 6:45 so I can start the morning off right.
• We’re going to start reading scriptures as a family again at 7:00 every week day.  We used to be very good at doing this and it really made such a difference in all of our lives.  Ever since our sweet, darling baby was born….we have struggled with regular scripture study.
• We’re going to do a better job of having family prayer together.  It’s such a simple thing, but too often we forget!  It really makes a big difference in all of our lives, so we’re going to do a better job of having prayer together as a family in the morning and at night!
  • Side note:  I’ve noticed time and time again that when my life gets crazy and out of control, if I can just stop and get my spiritual life in order, everything else seems to somehow fall into place.  So, we’re going to do just that!
• I’m going to get my workout in as early as possible each day (or most days!)  I’ve been working out at home a lot lately, so I’m a little more flexible.  BUT, because I’ve been so flexible, I seem to put it off all day long and too often, it just doesn’t happen!  Sooo, I’m going to get it done as soon as the kiddos leave for school.  Except for the days I go to classes at the gym…then I’ll just get it done whenever my class is.
• I’m not going to eat any more junk until Christmas Eve.  It’s only 9 days, I think I can hack it.  Ha ha.  However, I know if I don’t make this a goal, I’m just going to “Eat, Drink and be Merry” until Christmas!  Ha.

That’s it, for now.  I’m hoping if I can just get these things in order (sleep, spiritual stuff, regular exercise, decent eating), I’ll find some semblance of order in my life once again and then I can slowly start to chip away at all of the other to-do’s I’ve been wanting to do!

I’m sorry if I sound like a big Debbie Downer, but I just can’t live my life stagnant for very long!  I know that no matter how busy or crazy we think our lives are, there is always things we can change or improve, AND I’m bound and determined to do it!!!

With that being said, I’ve decided I’m not going to host a big Healthy Challenge for the New Year. 🙁

I was really really hoping to set up a big Health Challenge and invite you all to do it with me, but the other day I thought, “Who am I Kidding!???”  I can barely keep up with my own healthy regimen, let alone head up a whole health thing for a bunch of other people.

Dang it.

It makes me sad.  I really wish I could do it, but I know I just don’t have the time and capacity to do a good job with it.  Dang it, dang it.  I WILL do one as soon as I get a grip though.  I promise.  I just want to make sure that whenever I do it, I can do a good job and make it worth everyone’s while.

I AM planning on making some big goals for myself though and I will share everything I’m doing with all you guys!  I’m planning on sticking to a killer workout plan and counting MACROs religiously.  I’m really looking forward to it!

I’m sure no one wants to talk or think about huge healthy goals right now though, so I’ll stop talking about it…for now.

******************

Well, I just wanted to share a few fun things with you guys that I’ve been enjoying lately.

I went to a Christmas “Favorite Things” party with a bunch of my High School friends last weekend.  I inherited a lovely lemon tree from one of my friends.

I’m planning on getting a pretty pot for it and finding a better place in my house for it, but for now…this works.  I’m so excited about it!  Who’d have thunk I could grow a lemon tree in Utah???  My friend assured all of us that got one of the trees that they are hardy and not easy to kill.  I sure hope so!  She taught us how to use a paint brush to pollinate it and told us we can slowly take it outside as the weather gets warmer.  I can’t wait to see if it actually grows real live lemons.  It will seem like a miracle!

In case y’all are wondering, I brought the dang cutest scarves that I LOVE so much to the party!  In fact, I loved them so much that I bought two for me.  Hee hee.  I got this one and this one at Nordstrom Rack and I LOVE them both!  They make a boring outfit look so fancy and put together in 2 seconds.  Love it.  In fact, I’m wearing one of the scarves in that Jazz game pic I shared at the beginning of this post.  You can’t see it too well though.

I also wanted to share a fun package that I got from Kohl’s the other day.  I’ve told you guys that I’m part of a Kohl’s Health and Wellness Preview Group.  It’s such a motivational group and I’m so happy to be a part of it!  Kohl’s sends us little surprises throughout the year and it was awesome to come home to this package last week…

It was full of so many fun, girly, festive things!

There were a couple pair of earrings; those Lauren Conrad ones are gorgeous and so sparkly!  My daughter has snagged them from me and worn them twice already.  Those cute Christmas bow earrings are actually made of metal, although they look like they are made of actual ribbon.  I LOVE the EOS lip balm and Essie Nail polish so much!  AND, that hand cream is the bomb.  These are all great gift ideas if you’re looking for a fun gift for someone..  Love them all!

I also thought I’d share another exciting thing…I learned how to do a legit top knot!

I wear my hair in top knots all the time when I’m kickin’ around the house, however, my top knots are not the kind I would sport in public.  Ha ha!  They are quite scary.  Soooo, I decided to figure out how to do one that I could actually wear outside of my house.

There are about 700 zillion tutorials on You Tube, but I found this one to be particularly helpful.  It’s a little complicated to figure out, but the girl in the video demonstrated it as best as I think it can be done.  Sooo, after trying about 10 times, I finally figured it out.  Yeehaw.

Well, I think that’s all I will share with y’all today!  I have so many other things to share, so I’m hoping that since I’m getting my life under control a bit, I can hop on here again soon and share some more!  Until then, I hope you are all soaking up every last second of the holiday season! xoxo

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