SO CUTE

We had combined FHE with my brothers and sisters this last Monday. Maren loved drinking water, and then homemade root beer (who doesn't?), from a cup. Alicia was our photographer.Maren trying to eat my face.And check out these cute photos - Nick and I do a good thing for the gene pool.

Conference Sunday

We had a most wonderful time today. My family all just ends up at my mom and dad's for the between-session lunch and the afternoon session of General Conference. Today was no different, and in fact, we had two of my sisters there from 'out of town'. It was a full house, crazy and noisy, but oh-so-nice to be with family. Here's the evidence:

I am binding a quilt that my mom made for Maren, lucky girl. It is beautiful. My sister did the quilting. Since I was a little girl, my mom would put something productive in my hands during conference (I particularly remember doing fabric paint on dishcloths), and that tradition has continued. And it's not just me - here are my neices cross-stitching. And the men have traditions of their own... My dad, Jonathan, and below, Nick - all sleeping.Ellie LOVED playing with her cousin Aspen, and especially enjoyed playing on the swingset and trampoline. Here's some cool shots from below the trampoline:

The girls had to check out the cows (who did not want to check out the girls...go figure).

The most fun, for me, was playing Ultimate Frisbee with my neices and nephews. The boys pretty much clobbered the girls, but who was keeping score? (Okay, the boys were...I think the final score was 30-something to about 10-something)
My cute parents, looking mighty proud of their posterity (as they watched Ultimate, no less):
And Maren, taking a nap on Uncle Jeremy.

What a fun day! Oh, and it was somewhat spiritually uplifting, too.

Right Now

Right now Maren is: (well, actually, it's a lie...right now she's sitting by me and whining, but 5 minutes ago she was eating puzzles, until she hit herself in the face with one). Right now, Ellie is sleeping in the middle of our living room floor. Looks comfy, eh? Right now my house looks like this. Please tell me some of you have similar messes.

Cooped Up

Because the Spring weather is not cooperating...we have been trying to stay entertained inside. This afternoon, we made a tent out of chairs and blankets and a good time was had by all.

Some random pics of the girls:

Aren't Maren's eyes just beautiful?

Stuck

Maren is getting around these days - she rolls and scoots until she gets what she wants. Here she is, all kinds of stuck. And some cute photos of my Ellie.

Spring?

Our tulips and daffodils are blooming and making our hearts glad:Unfortunately, this is what they looked like this morning:I guess that's pretty normal for Spring here in Utah!

We have very much been enjoying the warmer weather (last week...we'll be lucky if we can go outside this week). This is what we did last Friday afternoon:A good photo of Nick's 'work face'. He started this fence a year ago...someday, we may actually finish it. And a random photo of Nick and Maren snuggling on the couch. I think Maren did an awesome job of putting her daddy to sleep.

Weighty Matters

As I was running this morning, I was thinking about doing a post such as this... and at the expense of sounding vain, I decided to just go ahead and do it. So, I went to buy new jeans a week or so ago (my old ones were practically falling off of me) and I have gone down two whole pant sizes! That's three pant sizes since my real fatty days. And, in fact, I should've tried on a smaller pair as I can pull these ones off without undoing the button after wearing them a day after they've been washed. I don't wear my wedding ring much as it's so big on my finger I'm afraid I'll lose it, and the smaller, cheaper ring I wear is getting pretty loose too. I've lost a total of 40 pounds in the last 2 years, and I'm pretty darn proud of myself. I can hardly recognize myself in photos.

A before shot (hiding behind my beautiful baby Ellie): And an after shot:

My goal is to lose another 10 pounds - I can do it! I should also say that Nick is looking mighty fine as well... he's lost some 50 pounds himself. So, what's my secret? Well, it's not much of a secret: eat less, move more!