Thank You, Mom

We've all heard of those moms that get frustrated and go on strike. Well, Brandon and I had to do that last week. Not only are our children ungrateful for what they have, they tend to be very rude whenever we prepare meals for them. I've taught them polite ways that they can decline to eat something, but instead they choose the "YUCK! THIS IS GROSS" route, without even trying it. So, after trying several other things, we went on strike. For one week we did not prepare them a single meal -- breakfast, lunch or dinner. They had to pack their own lunches for school. Without doing that or breakfast my mornings were so nice! For those who may be a little worried about our tactics, they did not starve. I'm not sure they got any nutrition at all, but I think they learned that it's not all that fun to prepare all the meals. And they had to do all their own dishes! That was a really good part of it too. The saddest part was that they were not allowed to eat anything that Brandon or I made, so we couldn't share with them no matter how bad they wanted it. And believe me, we heard about how we were only making the things they like during the strike. Somehow taco soup suddenly became Chloe's favorite meal. The point was to teach them a little appreciation for all the work we do for them, not necessarily to make them like what we make. Did it work? Thursday night during dinner this note was delivered to me:



Just for the record, the meal that was so yummy was just soup, but I made some bread bowls to eat out of which were the real hit.

Last Week

My blog has been kind of hit and miss lately. I'd apologize, but Brandon reminded me that it's MY blog, so I can write whenever I want about whatever I want. The sad thing is I wish I wrote more often, but life happens and then I forget. That being said, on to what I've been up to.

We've been in the mood for plays recently. I was going to take Chloe to see "Our Town" in March, but then found out how much those tickets were so we decided to go to "Singin' in the Rain" at our local theatre. I've also had an urge to go see "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" lately -- ahh the memories that brings back! I told myself if I ever saw a production I was going to get tickets. Well, I saw an ad in the paper the day after I got our "Singin' in the Rain" tickets. I couldn't justify two dates in one month, but Brandon suggested we all go and make it a family date. I wasn't going to turn that down! It was a high school theatre, so tickets were really cheap. That's how we spent our Saturday. And this week we have one more play. The girl's friends are in one that their school is doing.

My parents came to visit for a few days last week. They gave Brandon and I a night out, while they took the girls to dinner and bowling. I'm kind of weary of eating out these days, but my super smart husband just got on the internet (his favorite place to be) and searched for "healthy restaurants." Who knew there was such a thing? Well, I did, but I didn't know anything resided close to me. I thought you had to go to California or someplace. But he actually found some. I already knew Chipotle was an ok choice, but we've eaten there before. I opted to try one of the new places. We went to Jason's Deli, and let me say YUMMY! Plus, it felt so good looking at a menu that had organic symbols all over it, plus several vegetarian choices. And I didn't have to order a salad. Then they ruin it all by offering free ice cream, but my dinner was so good that I succumbed to the ice cream and splurged a bit.

Sunday we had an interesting Sacrament meeting. It was Jeff Packer's homecoming. His Uncle Alan (a member of the seventy) came, as well as his grandpa (Boyd K.). I've never attended a regular Sacrament where the whole Stake Presidency and two apostles were sitting on the stand. I also noticed another guy I didn't recognize sitting amongst the choir. I asked Brandon who he was -- security. The rest of the meeting was pretty ordinary, except Brandon got to join us for Primary to fill in for a teacher. That was fun having him around.

President's Day snuck up on me. I wasn't expecting it until next Monday, but luckily someone pointed out to me that it was this week. That would have been really sad if we had gotten ready and gone to school, to find out that it was a holiday! Instead, we slept in a little bit. Then I made German pancakes for breakfast. I was planning to take Chloe shopping for some shirts (she's out of long-sleeve school shirts), but as I got to thinking about where we should go I decided it would be fun to go to Park City so we just went. It was really fun. We got a lot more than shirts for Chloe. They both picked out their Easter dresses, we got a birthday present for my nephew, Sophie got a couple pair of pants (Yes! she is growing!), and I got Chloe one outfit for Spring, because I know that will be here before we know it. Oh, Sophie also got a pair of sneakers. So, after all of that, we still hadn't had any luck finding shirts for Chloe that met the dress code. Can you believe that Ralph Lauren doesn't sell polos for girls size 8-20? Boys yes, but girls no. They have infant-6x, and then jump right to women's. I tried to get someone to explain it to me, but no one could. Well, Chloe keeps telling me about her friends who wear really cute clothes, and she wonders where they get them. I have no clue! Then finally we walk into a store and she yells, "This is the shirt Cassidy has!" Turns out she finds like 4 shirts Cassidy has. I guess we now know where Cassidy shops. She picked out this cute shirt, and I noticed they went up to size 20 (girls). I thought I could fit into it, so I showed it to Chloe. Of course she loved the idea -- she LOVES matching. So, we found one in Sophie's size as well. Now we all match. We wore our new shirts today. I'm sure we'll have to have a photo shoot sometime. I seriously need to get taking some pictures! Sorry for the lack in this post :(

Food, Inc.

Our legislative session has been going on for the last two weeks, but there aren't a whole lot of topics that interest me this year. I have my kids in a great school. All of my Utah congressmen are on board with me in my fight for a parental rights amendment. So, what's left? My new battle is my health.

I think of myself as having always strived to live a healthy lifestyle, although I'm learning more and more that most of the "good" choices I've made aren't really that good. And I've always followed the rule that if you eat your veggies than you can have your dessert, but that's changing too. About a year ago I started down a whole different path. The health provider through Brandon's work offers an incentive program where they pay you to meet certain challenges. Last year they opened this plan up to spouses, and I was eager to jump on board. Like I said, I already loved trying to be healthy, but to get paid for it too? Just what I needed to make me stretch a little bit. What I wasn't ready for was the very first challenge -- to give up sugar! I thought that was a little excessive, but I gave it a go, and you know what? It wasn't that bad (for me).

As the year progressed I took part in all the challenges (although I didn't complete them all). At this same time, a fellow blogging friend I have was documenting her eating habits. Everything she said resonated with me, and I tried to incorporate some of her ideas. I have yet to sprout my wheat or do sourdough, but she's the one who introduced me to green smoothies. Then in June another friend I have (I'm really not that popular) invited me to go hear Jim Simmons speak. I had no clue who this man was, but the things she told me about him made me feel like I needed to be there. When I got there, guess who I ran in to? My blogging inspiration! I knew I was meant to be there, and everything this guy said resonated with me. I went home excited to drastically change my eating habits, but it wasn't until my birthday that Brandon got me Jim's book, The Original Fast Foods, that I had a guide to help me (with recipes!). I haven't been perfect at following it, but we're making progress.

Also, sometime this past summer (or maybe even earlier) Brandon told me about a documentary being made he wanted to see. He didn't want to go to the theatre to see it, but thought maybe we could rent it sometime. It came and went from the theatre. I had thought about maybe getting it for him for Christmas, but it slipped my mind and didn't happen. A few weeks ago he asked me about maybe renting it for a date night, so I looked it up. Redbox didn't have it, but Blockbuster did. We ended up having a couple other movies we needed to watch first, and put it off. Then a week and 1/2 ago I sat down to for a minute and turned on the tv. Oprah was on, and it didn't take me long to figure out what she was talking about. Brandon called in the middle, and I said, "Guess what Oprah's doing her show on? FOOD, INC.!!" Even though it was Brandon's idea to watch this movie, the show really made me want to go out and get it. And the end of Oprah she announced a special deal they were offering through Amazon, so I bought it that night. It came with a special downloadable edition, so we were able to watch it right away, and then the DVD came a couple days ago. Brandon's now watching it with the girls. This movie has not changed my life, but I hope it's helping me think more about the changes I do make and make conscious choices. I think it's important enough to share with everyone. Please watch the trailer below, and anyone who wants to watch the movie is more than welcome to borrow our copy.

Go Grizzlies!

We all know who the sports fan is in our family -- at least she picks her favorite teams because that's what everyone she knows at school does. I've talked about taking her to a BYU game sometime, but Brandon suggested I take her to a Jazz game. I wasn't too keen on the idea of fighting that many people and finding parking, etc. Then about two months ago my OTHER daughter (Sophie) picked up a Jazz schedule from a restaurant we were at. She came home and circled the game she wanted to go to. Wanna know how she picked the game? The mascot. She found this "cute" grizzly bear that the Jazz would be playing and decided we would go to that game. I told her that would probably be a good date idea, and tucked it away in the back of my mind. But Sophie didn't forget. Two days before the game she reminded me. I wasn't worried about getting tickets, because this was a Wednesday night game and not a real popular team. Not to mention my kids have this crazy affection for getting back row seats, so I didn't even have to worry about getting good seats. So Wednesday morning I got on KSL and found someone selling tickets. She emailed them over to me and Sophie and I had a date! That afternoon Sophie made a sign to cheer on her Grizzlies (Memphis). I have to admit, I was a little bit embarrassed to cheer for the Grizzlies at a Jazz game, but earlier that day Brandon had pointed out that the Jazz's mascot is also a bear! I had to point that out to Soph. She still wasn't sold on it, but she now said that she didn't care who won. However, at the game she was so happy when her Grizzlies were winning, and she frowned a lot when the Jazz scored. She even caught me cheering for the Jazz a few times, and I don't think that went over too well. The Jazz won by twenty-some points. Sophie came home and asked Brandon if we could move to Memphis. I don't know about Memphis, but Tennessee is definitely in my top 10. Thanks for the fun date, Sophie.

New Mexico for the New Year

We left last Monday (Dec 28th) for a little vacation. We drove through some terrible fog all through Utah, stopped in Kanab for lunch, and made our first tourist stop at Navajo Bridge near Marble Canyon in Arizona. It was so cold we really didn't want to get out of the car, but that's not why we went on the trip. So, we ventured out and got a few pictures. We then continued our drive to Cameron where we were going to spend the night. We made really good time and got there at 3:25, but couldn't check into our hotel until 4:00 so we ate a very early dinner in our car.

Tuesday morning we woke up to snow. Not exactly what we were expecting from Arizona. We ate breakfast at the restaurant adjoining our hotel (Cameron Trading Post Inn). They had a nice big wood burning stove in the dining room, and sat us right in front of it. That was nice. I watched one of the employees put a log on it that I'm pretty sure wouldn't even fit inside our fireplace. Brandon and I celebrated our 11th anniversary driving to The Grand Canyon. There was snow everywhere, the roads had some ice, but we were able to get to all the viewing spots and have nice views of the canyon. The hardest part was wanting to be out of the car for very long, but we managed. There was a visitor's center, museum, and a watch tower that were all indoor and heated. They say this is a good time of year to visit The Grand Canyon to avoid all the tourists, but there were still quite a few people out. The parking lot at the visitor's center was packed. We found a really nice lady who offered us her spot as she was leaving, and the girls loved her because she shooed away other people who were trying to squeeze in and steal it from us. I don't know why she picked us, but we were happy to have run across her when we did. After leaving The Grand Canyon we hit a snow storm in Flagstaff. The traffic was really bad, but I'm not sure if it was due to the storm or rush hour or both. We finally made it to our hotel in Tucson late that evening.

Since it was so dark when we arrived in Tucson we were excited the next morning to get outside and see some palm trees and cacti. We got some pictures and then drove to Las Cruces. We went straight to Grams & Grandpa Fry's, then went and checked into our hotel before going back to have dinner with them.

On Thursday we spent the morning doing some touristy things. I wanted to take the girls to Stahmann's pecan farm and see old town Mesilla. Stahmann's had just opened a new store in Mesilla, so we just stopped there and loaded up on some goodies. We walked through some of the shops, but the girls were pretty bored and Brandon and I aren't very good shoppers. When we left we just drove down through some of the pecan orchards so the girls could see them. We spent the afternoon with Grams & Grandpa again, and Brandon's Uncle Mike, Aunt Susan and cousin Michael came over and joined us for a New Year's Eve dinner. The cafeteria had a special meal for the occasion. The kids were a little crazy, and perhaps a little rough with each other. I pulled out my camera phone and hopefully got some good video of it, but I haven't looked at it yet.

We didn't stay up till midnight or partake in any New Year's Eve festivities. Just went to bed as usual. But we didn't wake up as usual. No, at 4:30 in the morning somebody tried breaking into our hotel room through our window. Brandon played his protective role -- ran to the window and scared the guy off. I watched him take off through the field behind our hotel, then went down to the front desk and alerted them. She called security over, and they called the police. They came and got a report and checked everything out. We were all a little shaken up (even though it happened so fast and never felt like we were in any real danger), but we spent the next 24 hours + talking about bad guys and robbers. Those kids can come up with a lot of questions.

The cafeteria had another special meal for lunch on New Year's Day, so we all went to that again. The girl's spent the afternoon playing with Michael. Grandpa took me down to the exercise room for a little workout, and Brandon and I took the kids out for a walk around their property. We just ordered pizza in for dinner that night. Grandpa was even thoughtful enough to get a vegetarian one for me. Sophie fell asleep on me right after eating. We were all so exhausted after being up since 4:30, so we went to bed a little earlier that night.

We headed home the next morning. I was really hoping to make it to Four Corners, but the monument closed at 5:00 and we didn't get there till about 5:30. We stopped in Cortez, Colorado for the night. Our hotel had the best hot tub around. No indoor pool, just the hot tub. But that's all I need. This thing was big enough to swim in, was only 3' 10" deep so even Sophie felt comfortable in it, and the water was so warm! It was even decorated nice with fountains and plants all over. I think I need one of those at home. I'll tell Brandon to add it in to the design of our next home.

Sunday we continued our journey. Chloe had fun with the camera in the car. It may even inspire her own blog post! But don't hold your breath. We got home Sunday afternoon, with enough time to unpack and rest a little bit. Brandon had to get back to work today, but the girls still have a full week left of their vacation. I took the car in today to get the rock chips repaired, tires rotated, and we washed it. Now I just need to clean out the inside and it will be good as new. It was a long trip, but hopefully we've created some wonderful memories that will stay with us forever. Chloe even sent Brandon and I emails thanking us for taking her. I will definitely cherish that!

Merry Christmas

Thinking back, Christmas seems so long ago. We had a really quiet Christmas Eve this year. Just hung out at home, read our last Christmas story (we read one each day of the week), made hot cocoa and sat by the fire. The girls opened their one allotted present -- and they're finally catching on that it's probably going to be a new pair of pajamas each year. They set out treats for Santa, watched the Santa tracker for a while, and then went to bed. I didn't take a lot of photos Christmas morning because I got out my video camera! I don't do that as much as I'd like, but I'm glad I captured a little Christmas excitement. Christmas morning we opened gifts, ate a yummy breakfast (waffles with apples and cinnamon) and eggnog, then played for a while. We went over to Jason's for dinner. The girl's had fun with Eli while Brandon worked on their computer. Thanks to everyone for the gifts and warm wishes!

The next day Sophie and I went and got much needed haircuts, and then we had visitors come a little later. Sheri brought her kids down to meet Elsie and Mom, Grandma, Ross and Lark tagged along.

Crimped Hair

We've really struggled with Chloe for the last couple of years. Brandon's pretty sure she is following in his footsteps and just hitting puberty a little early. Let's hope so! I'm ready to be done with any tough stages. But on Sunday a miracle of some sorts occurred. She came and asked me to put a little braid on the side of her hair. I have not been allowed to touch her hair for a very long time so I was happy to oblige. Right after church she came home and took out her braid, and what do you think she discovered? Yup, she had a little piece of crimped hair. She thought it was so cute she wanted her whole head done. I told her we should do it right before going to bed and then it would be crimped for the next day. She sat so patiently and let me braid the whole thing. The next morning she woke up and got dressed, took the braids out and came down to surprise me. She was so cute! She looked so different; it was a little shorter so it looked like she had cut it. But it wasn't just the hair. She had been a completely different person. So happy. She still has lots of arguments with Sophie, but she's been so much more respectful to Brandon and I. She started dancing a lot as well. She seems so grown up. I want to catch that on video, but so far she's not willing to go there. I may have to bribe her, because I'm sure you'd love to see her moves.