Well guys, life has been hectic, hectic, hectic! It’s also been fun, fun, FUN too!
This is also going to be a LONG post!
My little sister and her kids arrived from Connecticut last week and my brother and his family arrived from Georgia on Saturday, so it’s been a big ol’ party! We’ve had so much fun, but MAN I’m SO DANG tired!
My healthy lifestyle has seriously been struggling, but I know it will be short-lived. Mentally I’m still 100% dedicated to health and fitness, but physically…that’s another story. I seriously feel like my body has just decided it’s incapable of doing anything these days.
It’s quite sad. It’s seriously amazing what the body goes through during pregnancy….AH-Mazing! I feel like my belly has grown a TON the past few weeks and I can no longer bend, breathe or sit (unless I’m reclined.) I love feeling the baby kick, but it feels like he’s going to kick right through my belly!! I’m sure his living quarters are quite cramped in there!
Sooooo, my “exercise” has pretty much consisted of walking and cleaning my house. It’s quite pathetic, but I work up quite a sweat cleaning my house these days. I’ve also done a lot of walking. I’m still trying to do some weight lifting, but the busy schedule and mega fatigue has kept me from doing it lately.
I was doing pretty well with the healthy diet until this weekend. We decided to spend the weekend up at my parent’s house so we could spend more time with my siblings. We had so much fun, but there was SO MUCH junk food up there!!!!
I just have to say that my family is the biggest chocolatey, sugary, rich, decadent, sweet tooth family I know. It’s scary! For example….
Those Scotcheroos (far left) are one of my favorite treats ever! We also had Brownies and Cutler’s Cookies (that box is TWO layers deep!
Kev also decided to buy a bunch of candy!
Hello!!??? Thankfully, candy doesn’t tempt me too much. I did enjoy the Red Vines though!
My mom also bought my family’s favorite cake, Mrs. Backer’s Mint Chocolate cake!
Auuughhh! Thankfully, I don’t LOVE this cake. It’s very good, but VERY rich. I’m usually satisfied with just a small taste.
We also had a mint chocolate chip Oreo ice cream dessert thing, but I didn’t take any pictures. 🙁
I didn’t pig out on anything, but I took “small tastes” of everything way too many times! AND it made me so sick!
I’m actually GLAD it made me sick though! Back in the day, I could POUND a bunch of sugar and it wouldn’t even phase me. Nowadays, I can only handle a little bit before I want to hurl.
Oh, and I’ve told you guys I’m pretty much incapacitated and severely challenged these days. Well, here’s proof….
Check out all of those stains on my WHITE shirt! I see at least 4…..and they were all separate incidents. Yes, I can’t sit up straight, or move, or breathe AND a have a huge belly in the way, SO I have issues. LOL. It’s quite funny.
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We had a fun weekend spending time together and playing games. Last night, we took a picture of all the grandkids that were up at my parent’s house.
What a cute group! We were only missing 5 of the grandkids.
We also went to church with my parent’s and some of my siblings on Sunday morning. My parents live two doors down from the church, so I took a pic of us walking over there.
Yes, I’m a sentimental sap. This is the church I went to while I was growing up. Oh, and check out that MEGA huge satellite dish! I remember when they put that satellite in (in the 1980’s) and it was quite the big deal back then! Too funny!
I also snapped this pic of my 6 year old DURING church…
Ya, I know I probably shouldn’t take pictures during church, but I DID! This picture perfectly illustrates how hard we’ve been playing.
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I went to a wonderful Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert at the Conference Center with my sister and parents Friday night.
It was a fabulous concert and Santino Fontano was the featured soloist. He has an amazing voice and played Prince Hans (the bad guy) in the movie, Frozen. He was such a nice, funny guy too. I loved him.
The choir and Santino Fontano sang a lot of Broadway songs from West Side Story, Cinderella and other classics. You can actually watch the whole concert online here if you like. I LOVED IT!
Oh, and my sister and I took a selfie with my dad too…
Love him.
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I told you guys we were heading to Lagoon Amusement Park last Thursday, right?
Well, we had SUCH a great time! I worried that my poor body wouldn’t last all day in the hot sun walking around the park, but it DID! I actually felt great. We showed up to Lagoon around noon and left around 10:20 PM. I would love to know how many miles I walked, but I didn’t bring anything to track it with, dang it.
I’m sure I walked several miles, at least!
I didn’t go on any rides though and it was so sad. 🙁 I loved watching my kids have fun though.
I was the official “keeper of the strollers” and the official “sit with the kids who can’t/don’t want to ride lady” and the official “hat/sunglasses/purse holder.”
Yes, I felt so special.
Oh, the excitement of my day also consisted of hanging out with the peacocks…
Ya, they were just wandering around the park (that’s a mom and baby) and it was cute.
Everyone had such a great time. Here are a few pics I snapped throughout the day….
Kev and some of my boys and nephews on Rattlesnake Rapids (I love that ride!)
Some of the soaking wet group AFTER Rattlesnake Rapids…
Kev went on the Log Flume with my 4 year old and he LOVED it! He was all smiles and bouncing up and down after the “big hill!”
Kev and my little sis even went on the “kiddie swings” with some of the kids…
I think it was a little too intense for them, lol.
Oh, and my LITTLE, TEENY, TINY, BABY 6 year old decided he wanted to go on ALL the big rides!!!!! What!!??? He wasn’t quite tall enough to go on some of them, but he did make it on the two BIGGEST roller coasters in the park!
He went on The Colossus (the loopty loops in the background) and Wicked (the twisty roller coaster in the far back) and LOVED both of them!
I was sure I would see him fall off the ride at any minute. I was a nervous wreck, but he wasn’t scared at all. Freak.
Lagoon lets people bring in their own food and I’m so glad! We brought big coolers and things so we could have lunch and dinner there. It was so nice.
We actually filled a big Thermos/cooler full of hot dogs (in boiling water) and it was so nice to have a HOT meal while we were there. My mom used to bring hot dogs to Lagoon when we were little, so we decided to keep up the tradition!
It was fun.
I also took a selfie with my sisters…
Oh, and the park closed at 10:00 and we were one of the last people to leave! Yes, we’re hardcore.
That’s our van and the other car is my sister’s, lol.
It was SUCH a fun day!
I’m actually getting ready to head up to my mom’s again in just a bit so I need to wrap this up! I also want to mention that I’ve been trying to eat EXTRA healthy today in an effort to detox my body from all the sugar I’ve been consuming!
I made myself a Chocolate Banana Spinach Protein Shake this morning and it was great. I drank it on the way to swimming lessons.
When I got home, I made a big veggie/egg scramble and it tasted so good to me!
I think I’m going to make myself a big ol’ salad now and eat it on the drive up to my parent’s house. Real food tastes SO DANG good to me after eating so much crap!
Well, I’m sorry this post is so long and NOT so healthy! I’m going to be busy this next week running around with my fam, but I will do my best to keep up a sorta kinda healthy lifestyle. I might not be the best blogger this week, but I’ll do my best!
I hope you all enjoy your Monday!
My family calls Scotcheroos Peanutbutter Chocolate Delights and I could eat an entire tray of them… so dangerous.
I love them SO much! My family actually calls them O’Henry Bars, but I’ve yet to meet anyone else who calls them that, lol! Soooo, I call them Scotcheroos on the blog, because I think most people call them that. 😉
One time my family and I closed down Disneyland. I kid you not!! We were THE last ones out, it was amazing. One of the many things I love about eating a plant based diet is that when I go places that have a ton of tempting treats like this they are automatically off the table for me. Put me in a room full of vegan treats though and all morals go out the window.
LOL! I love Disneyland so much too and could easily see myself as the last one leaving. I really love amusement parks, especially Disney! That is a really good perk about eating a plant based diet. I could really see how it keeps the overindulgences to a minimum. I’m sure I would constantly make vegan treats too though!
Oh my gosh you have so many kids in your family! I think my entire family wouldn’t be as big as all the grandkids! That’s so great though! They probably LOVE hanging with their cousins.
When I went to visit my mom this weekend, she made us about 2 dozen cookies to take home. There are only two of us!!
I know, our family has multiplied over the years and it’s crazy! I think my new baby will be the last grandchild though. 🙁 Pretty soon, my nieces and nephews could start having kids though! I hope you enjoyed all the cookies from your mom! That’s awesome!!
You have such a beautiful family! One of my favorites things about reading your posts is how your love for all your family comes through. It depresses me when women are negative and complaining about their families or view their children as inconvenient. It’s so uplifting that you obviously have good relationships with all your family members.
Water rides are my number one, favorite thing to do in summer! The water rides look fabulous!
I enjoyed all the pictures, but my favorite was your selfie with the white tee shirt and stains. That was hilarious! I’m still laughing.
Thanks so much Deborah! I really feel so thankful for my kiddos and entire family. They really are my best friends. 😉 My sister made fun of me for posting my “stained t-shirt pic”, but I just told her, “Hey, I’m keepin’ it real!” LOL!
You weren’t joking about the sweets – yikes – I’d have no control!! That water ride looks so freaking fun!!!
I know, the sweets have been kind of unbelievable! Thankfully there are a lot of people around to help eat them! I love that water ride so much and was sad I couldn’t go this time. Sniff.
Omg, that’s a lot of sweets, lol! Ok, seriously, you really are supermom…how in the world did you last a whole day at the park??!!! You already have multiple children. Seriously, when I was pregnant, I was so hot and tired and miserable the last month! You are amazing. It looks like you all had so much fun though!
I know, the sweets are killing me! I was worried that I would fall apart at the park, but surprisingly I did okay! It was a fun day!
What awesome family time! I love all your pictures. It’s so hard to stay on track during these trips and family gatherings. I love my sweets so I can totally relate. Good for you for only have small tastes of things. Everyone must be so excited about the wee baby coming soon.
We’ve had such a fun time with my family and it’s DEFINITELY been WAY hard to stay on track. I have a mega sweet tooth!