Go Hop On Pop

Well, we took our annual sledding trip at Lake Tahoe. As you can see everyone had loads of fun, and thankfully no one was hurt. Tanner hit a tree with his leg, and Aubrey and her little friend Kendra took off through the trees and Kendra’s father had to jump in front of the sleigh to stop them, but overall it was a success. Alyssa is feeling under the weather again. I can’t help but have a little guilt she has been sick free since she was born and since I stopped nursing her she’s been sick twice back to back. Parenting comes with so much guilt. Alyssa did hop on the sled with Danny and Aubrey a few times and had a little fun. The picture of her with her double barrel snot pretty much summed up her thoughts on sledding. Maybe next year she’ll enjoy it a little more.

OK, I was feeling bad that I was ragging on Valentines Day, so I copied this from someone I know and thought it would be a perfect post on my blog.

What is his name? Honey, Dad, Danny to me, but most people Dan

Alright I feel like I have redeemed myself from my bad feelings about Valentines Day.

Yesterday was Valentines Day. I told Danny not to do anything for me for Valentines Day, I think I have finally outgrown the holiday, but I didn’t think he’d actually do nothing… I’m not upset though, I don’t need a holiday to feel loved by Danny, I know he loves me all the time. Aubrey was really cute there is a boy in our ward who plays a lot with Aubrey and he brought her over a Valentine yesterday, and she said, “He must really love me”. Today at preschool she told him when she grows up big big like her mommy (easy on the big kid) and he grows up big big like his Daddy that they can get married. It’s all innocent so I’m not worried, and I don’t promote it, I just thought it was a sweet gesture. Anyway, it wasn’t all a bah humbug day, I do have children after all, and they haven’t outgrown the holiday so I got busy and made up a double batch of sugar cookie hearts for FHE (after I went to the gym of course). The kids spent a lot of time decorating them and not nearly as much time eating them. We had loads of fun. I hope everyone had a great Valentines Day, I know I did just watching my kids enjoy the day.

Last weekend we were all ill, and the weather was well less than desirable. This weekend we had temperatures in the high 50’s and just knew we needed to get out and play. We made plans to drive to a hiking area in Reno called Galena. When we got there, it was completely covered in snow, elevation wise it isn’t very high, so we thought we’d be safe, but the snow was easily 4 feet deep. The kids wanted to play in it, but we were dressed for sun not snow so we had to find somewhere else. We remembered that Reno has a river walk, and so off we went. Danny and I haven’t been to down town Reno since we had Tanner so it’s been a while. We parked at a park called Idlewild and we set off to down town which was about 1.5 miles away. There were the occasional homeless person, but overall it was lots of fun.
We ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant in down town Reno. After that we headed back to the car. We let the kids play a lot along the way, and there were many bridges we had to cross. At one crossing channel 4 news was there talking to people about playing in the sun after all of the snow that we had. They talked with the kids, surprisingly the kids were really shy, even Aubrey who I think will tell anyone just about anything, she even told one person where Alyssa came from, that was a little awkward, but she wouldn’t even look at the T.V. people. I guess kids can be unpredictable. We’ll have to check the news tonight and see if we are on it. The rest of the day was spent playing at a local park, and then shopping at Costco, Trader Joe’s and watching a movie. I think we all got some much needed sunshine.

Last night I was still not feeling well when Danny got home from work. He suggested that we go out for dinner. We went to a local casino, the food was… ok, nothing to get too excited about, but the kids were at their best. We talked, joked, and just enjoyed each others company. The mood continued when we got home. Tanner read stories to Aubrey and Alyssa and Emma has been working on playing “Because I Have Been Given Much” on the piano and has just about mastered it. That is two hymns she can play now, I just burst with pride when I hear Emma play the piano. That is something I have always wanted to do, and I will when I’m not occupied with other important thing like Alyssa and Aubrey. Tanner is doing well on the piano also, but Emma has had a year and a half of lessons now and Tanner has only had 6 months of lessons, so he has a ways to go. I’m proud of him though, because he wants to play so badly and tries with all his heart. Anyway, I wish I’d gotten a picture of it, but Tanner read Aubrey to sleep last night, he loves to do that. He’ll come in and tell us that we need to move her because she’s fallen asleep in his bed. I love seeing my children love each other.
Well I made it to the gym again today. I really do love going, I just want instant gratification. I’m that way with lots of things, hopefully this time I’ll learn some that things that are worth it take a lot of time. I’m still staying away from the scale, although the one at the gym today was calling my name. Good thing it is out in public, wouldn’t want anyone to see what I weigh. We live in too small of an area, there are at least 5 people from my ward working out at the same time that I am. That scale can call as loud as it wants, I wont be getting on in front of all those people, and I don’t know where Danny hid my scale… sigh, I just need to be patient.
I caught a few pictures last night of Tanner reading books to Aubrey, but once I brought the camera out my little model had to pose, so I had to put it away.

Well, my goal to make it to the gym met it’s first obstacle. It always seems to work that way, and I’m not sure why. I was really ready to do this, but then caught a sinus infection that is trying to work its way into my chest. I missed going to the gym on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We didn’t go to church yesterday because the yucks going through the family. Emma and Tanner faired well without a single sniffle, but the two little ones and me were laid up most of the weekend. Danny has had a sore throat for a number of days, lets hope he doesn’t get it also. The gym today was so hard. Really hard. I was trying hard not to cough so that I didn’t scare everyone off. I don’t feel all that bad, but I feel like I’m starting all over. I worked out next to a lady in my ward that I don’t know very well, it was nice to talk with her, when I could talk through taking large gulps of air to keep from falling over. We have daughters the same age, and they are very similar in personality and get along well. I learned some new things about her. I thing both of us keep to ourselves so it’s been hard getting to know her, but we have a lot in common, yeah for that. I love meeting new people, and finding things in common with them. Anyway, I’m back on my fitness goal, and I might even go back to the gym today for a toning class although I’m a long ways from toning. We’ll see how it goes.

I thought my legs were going to give out on me today, thank goodness I brought a book for a good distraction. I refuse to look down at the time or any of that until I’m finished or I get distracted. It’s good though that my legs feel tired, I just need to keep going. I know it’s only been 3 days, but I feel better already.

Saturday was a beautiful day here. It’s been so cold and snowy that we couldn’t let this day escape us. We drove down to Ft. Churchill, about a 15 minute drive and let the kids find a geocache there. We then let the kids romp and stomp which is what they so love to do. Everyone got a little muddy, but everyone had a good time. Here are some pictures that I took.

I’m loving the gym. I’m not loving the cute little trainers with their 22 inch waists, I’ll get over it. I did the elipticall again pretty much same results as yesterday 30 minutes 2.6 miles 285 calories. It’s only day two, but I already feel like I need to step it up, but I don’t want to get burned out, so maybe 35 minutes next week and see how it goes. I was a little disappointed this morning to wake up and not be sore, I was thinking I would have been, am I doing enough? I’ll post my fat picture now, although I really don’t want to. I’m wearing a mans XXL t shirt, I say that just for reference so I can tell a difference if I ever get down to another size.

No more Sunday morning “I have nothing to wear” tantrums. All along it has never been about the clothes, but the thing I’m putting the clothes on. So this is it, and I’m going to write about it daily, in hopes of having some sort of responsibility for it. I have 4 children, and I want to play with them. I was thinking about our hike to the top of Vernal Falls in Yosemite National Park the other day, and really want to do that again. We set it as a family goal, and did hikes every weekend through the late winter and spring, and everyone made it up even me. It is the most amazing hike, so I have set the goal again. I’m trying hard not to set a weight loss goal for myself, in fact I refuse to get on the scale. I did take a picture of myself this morning which I will post later on and I will judge my progress from that photo, but my ultimate goal is to get to the top of Vernal Falls again. When I was in college, I hiked to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite, how I’d love to get there again… maybe next summer, but for now little goals. My little goal being right now is getting to the gym daily. Today was my first day, and I only did 30 minutes on the elliptical but went 2.6 miles and burned 285 calories, I also included hills because Vernal Falls is straight up. Baby steps though, I’m so completely out of shape. I really want to be back to the point in my life where I get a high from exercise and not dread it. So I have made it public, hold me responsible, give me advice, whatever you want, but today is the day.