3 reasons I can smile even on the gloomiest days

One

Two

Three

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Monday Snapshots

Not a lot of time for blogging these days but here are some snapshots from last week:

My friend Kendall and I do a kid swap once a week, which means one week I get four glorious hours of freedom to run errands KID FREE!!  and the next week I get to sample what my life would be like if I had 5 kids, including 1 year old twins.

This week was my turn to wrangle the 5 children. It always gets a little wild when Teya comes home from school and the babies wake up from their naps and everyone wants a snack and their diaper changed (or help going potty) at the same time.  We have fun though, and it is SO awesome having a little break twice a month.

 In other news, look what Cam did when he hijacked Brinley's yogurt and slapped his yogurty little hands all over my couch.  If you want to know what I do all day, here's a nice little sample : ) Cleaning up after destruct-o boy keeps me quite busy.

Remember how I said Teya's front teeth were all loosey goosey? Well sure enough,  they both popped out last week on the same day! One in the morning before she went to school and one right before she went to bed. Taber got some pretty funny video of it so I'll have to do a separate post on that when I have more time.

 We're still enjoying an incredibly mild winter. I think it's only snowed once and that melted within 24 hours.  Last week they played outside every day, a couple times they didn't even need jackets. 

 Yay for outside walks in a mild winter!

And Yay for marathon training in a mild winter! 

Taber and I ran our 20 miler on Saturday which means all our big runs are done! Then next three weeks we just taper and then it's off to DC for 26.2! Woot!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Last week Teya's school had a Daddy Daughter dance and she was so excited about every detail you would've thought it was the Prom : )

She had to find just the right dress with the perfect neckless to match. She wanted her hair curled just right and she agonized over which bow to wear. (She finally went with green after going back and forth between that and a turquoise one.)  I think she looked like a doll.

Taber got all spiffed up in a suit and wore a blue tie to match his little girl 

(He's growing out his beard for the play btw, it's coming in pretty nicely!)

Meanwhile, Brinley was feeling a little neglected. She kept trying to jump in all the pictures with her raggity hair and jelly stained shirt. (I don't even think she was wearing any pants! hence the cropped picture.) I made sure we did some extra fun things together while they were gone to make it up to her. It's hard being the little sister sometimes. 

Teya was on cloud nine being daddy's date. According to her, "Daddy took me to the daddy daughter dance and I wore my new dress and looked so pretty and they took our picture and I got a flower and I danced with Daddy and Mommy was jealous!" (for the record, I was not jealous, but I think it's cute that she thought I would be since she took my place on Taber's arm for the night ; )

Taber said the dance was great, lots of Dad's in suits, taking pictures and dancing with their girls. He said Teya danced and danced, bouncing all over the place like a little jumping bean. There were conga lines and lots of twirling and of course, several visits to the dessert table. 

I'm glad they had a fun night together and hope that all her dates in the future are of the same high caliber as her Daddy. : )

Valentines Day 2012

For Valentines Day I wanted to get an updated picture of the kids for Taber since the one on his desk is a year old and Cam has changed a little since then. : )

It took several attempts and a fair amount of bribing but I managed to get some decent shots with all 3 of them looking. This is the one I framed for Taber.  I know I'm biased but man my kids are cute! : )

This one was my second favorite. Cam's smile isn't as cute but I love Brinley's little tongue sticking out.

The girls were great models. Teya still thinks the head tilt is the ultimate picture pose so now she's got Brinley doing it too.

Cuteness to the maximus 

Love this one of Brinley. She has the sweetest face.

Teya's just darling too.

And Cam... Well Cam didn't really care for the photoshoot ; )

The girls and I snuck out to the garage in the morning and decorated Taber's car for work. I traced their hands and they wrote their names. He loved it so much he kept it on there for a few days because he said people were nicer to him on his commute : )

Later in the afternoon we got a special delivery from the flower shop. Taber sent roses for me and spring bouquets for the girls.

They were so excited to get their own flowers.  

 A+ to my man for making all three of his girls feel special ; )

And we tried to make him feel special too with his favorite treat, chocolate dipped strawberries.

After work Taber picked up take out from Olive Garden and we just had a nice low key evening in with the family.  It was a sweet day with all my little sweethearts. : )

The #1 reason my kids love the weekends...

Is This Guy

He loves being a Dad, and the girls think he's awesome at it. 

Last Sunday he woke up early and made them pancakes.

bonus points for cool shapes

and for letting the girls help too.

After church I laid down to take a nap and when I woke up I found this:

Maybe if I set up tents in the living room the girls would think I was cool too... : )

They were all inside, cuddled up, watching a movie.

And getting hyper.

No wonder they're always asking when Daddy will be home. He's a pretty cool guy. : )

Skinny Recipes from my new favorite site

So I recently stumbled across Skinnykitchen.com and I'm LOVING all the healthy and delicious recipes on there!  Thought I'd share a few of my favorites because they are just so awesome : )

CPK's original BBQ chopped chicken Salad Make Skinny

Click HERE for recipe

In Taber's world, you can NEVER have too much BBQ sauce, so this salad has quickly become his all time favorite.  For dressing I used Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce and Nancy's skinny Ranch Dressing (found HERE)  SOOOOO GOOOD!!

We've also tried it with tortilla chips (she recommends using reduced fat chips but I couldn't find any so we just used a few to keep it lower calorie. Anyway, this salad is AMAZING. You should seriously make it for dinner, tonight. : )

Skinnyfied Chicken Pad Thai

for Recipe click HERE

Sorry my picture didn't come out as pretty for this one but it is another huge winner and I love how simple the recipe is. You don't need any crazy ingredients and it just tastes so light and zingy!

Cheeseburger in Paradise Skinny Soup

For Recipe click HERE

I know the title sounds kind of weird, and I'll admit, I thought the concept was strange at first, (putting ketchup and pickles on your soup?) But it was actually super delish and I made some for my friend's family and they loved it too! So yeah, this one is easy to make and a fun way to eat a "cheeseburger" : )

Low Carb Chicken Lettuce Wraps

For recipe click HERE   

                                                                  

Okay so this one has been by far the biggest hit at our house. Some of the ingredients are things I don't usually have around (like sesame oil and hoisin sauce) but now that I have them in my cupboards these are so easy to whip up and my whole family is CRAZY about them!

The kids have a hard time wrapping them in lettuce so I just combine the chicken mixture with brown rice and they chow it down.

Even Cam scarfs this stuff!

 (at one point his food was on a plate, I promise, he just likes to dump it all on his tray and chuck the plate across the room before he really can dig in. : )

Anyway, just wanted to share this awesome site for anyone who is looking for healthy recipes that don't compromise on flavor : )

Three Things Thursday

1) I busted my knee today

It happened so quick, I was getting out of my car and I slipped and fell and my knee slammed hard into a metal rod. It hurt so bad my eyes welled up with tears and I couldn't stand up for a minute. I rolled up my pants to look at it and right away it was bruised and swollen and throbbing with pain. If I wasn't at the peak of marathon training, this would just be one of those annoying things that make you feel clumsy. However, with a 19 miler on deck tomorrow I'm kind of freaking out and hoping it doesn't end up being a huge set back. The swelling has gone down but it's still super sore and hurts when I bend it all the way or go up and down the stairs. I've been icing it all day so I'm going to try to run on it tomorrow and see how it goes. So so frustrating : (

2) Dance parties = best workout ever

Tonight the Draschils came up and the boys went to the Celitcs game while the girls stayed home and had a dance party. We blasted music and the kids went nutso while Melinda and I busted out our raddest moves. My knee definitely held me back but I still broke a sweat and burned me some calories. Here's a sweet sampling of our dance workout from last time they came up before Christmas. I think we're going to make dance parties a mandatory tradition every time we get together : ) (also, even though I look like a spaz in the video, in my mind I was totally rockin' it! )



 3) Teya Discovered Fatbooth on my phone. Good times : )

Four

I know blog surveys are like so 5 years ago but I don't even care. I'm in the mood for an old school blog survey and you better believe I'm going to be tagging some people at the end! So here we go, all the answers come in 4's.

4 things I'm obsessed with lately:
1) The Biggest Loser. Holy cow! I watch it on hulu every time I run. I finished season 12 and all the episodes so far from season 13 so now I'm going back and watching season 10. It's so inspiring!
2) Twitter: My sister Rachel has THE BEST twitter feed (if you're into politics and Mitt Romney ; ) I love getting on there during the debates or election nights and seeing all the awesome stuff she tweets and retweets. It is so entertaining and actually quite informative! (if you want to follow her btw her twitter name is hwinfojunkie)
3) Panera fat free poppy seed dressing. Only 15 calories per 2 Tbs serving! I love it!
4) Skinnykitchen.com-I will have to do a separate post about the recipes I've been making from this site because it is amazing. Everything is so delish and all low fat and low-cal!

4 things I'm good at: (this one is kind of hard because no one likes to be all braggy about themselves but it's good to recognize our strengths so here goes :)

1) Making my husband and kids laugh and feel loved and special.

2) Seeing the good in other people and helping them see it in themselves

3) Speaking in public 

4) Pushing myself out of my comfort zone to try new things or reach new heights in things I already do.

4 things I'm looking forward to this year:
1) Cam going into nursery at church! Right now we spend all of church chasing that wiggly worm around the halls since he's too disruptive to bring to class. 5 more months and we'll finally be able to hear the lessons again!
2) Performing in the Savior of the World. It's really starting to come together and I just can't wait for people to see it!
3) The Uda family reunion this summer! I miss my family so so much and I can't wait to hang out with them in July.
4) GIRLS CAMP!!! I recently got called as one of the Stake assistant camp directors so I get to go to girls camp all week in August! I'm going to be in charge of the 1st years and I can't wait! Camp RULES!

4 foods I eat the most:
1) Oatmeal. I eat it for breakfast every morning. I like to add almonds and bananas and a tiny bit of brown sugar. so good.
2) Greek yogurt. Strawberry banana is my favorite
3) Emerald breakfast on the Go S'mores nut blend. It's pretty much a treat but I like to tell myself it's a healthy snack.
4) Chicken. I always keep a giant bag of frozen chicken breasts from Costco on hand and that's pretty much what I use all month to make dinner with.

4 things I want to teach my kids:
1) That beauty really and truly does come from within.
2) To have a good work ethic and a love and appreciate for hard work.
3) To be compassionate to others.
4) To know that they are children of God, to follow His teachings and to live their lives in a way that would please Him.


4 things I'd do if I was a billionaire:
1) Buy a culdesac of houses for all my family so my udaville dream can come true!
2) Build my house with an indoor jungle gym for the kids, a training gym with treadmills and spin bikes for me and Taber, an outdoor racing track so we can do speed work, a laundry mat so I can get all my laundry done at once, and a computer room with an iMac for every person in the family, including Cam. (Hey if we're gonna dream, let's dream big!)
3) Hire Curtis Stone to be my personal chef and cook my family dinner every night.
4) Hire a a live in maid. : )

4 People I tag to do this survey:
1) Wendy C
2) Tara M
3) Becky P
4) Naomi H- And anyone else who wants to do it!

Three Things Thursday

1) Sometimes I just really miss my family...

99.9% of the time I'm a "bloom where you're planted" kind of girl. I have loved living all over the country and feel like my life has been blessed and enriched by the people I've met and the experiences I've had living far away. But then there's that .01% of the time, like last night, when I just really miss my family and wish more than anything that I lived closer to them. Growing up, my brothers and sisters were my best friends. I talked to my parents about everything. I just always thought my kids would grow up close to their grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. It's hard being far away.

That being said, most of the time I am super happy with where we're at and have the best network of friends and adopted family you could ask for, but I still have days where my dream is for me and my parents and brothers and sisters to all live in the same culdesac on Udaville lane. : )

2) Milk and ice cream every night, because I can : )

So I am on a 30 day + streak of eating a bowl of ice cream every night before I go to bed. Hey, there are perks to training for a marathon! Lots of extra calories to eat : ) Anyway, the Draschils taught us this yummy trick to pour a little milk on top. The milk freezes on the cold ice cream and creates an icy crusty shell that is DEE-LICOUS! Highly recommend : )

3) Cam thinks I'm hilarious

This kid is so good for my ego because he thinks everything I do is hilarious. The other day I started blowing cheerios at him and he was busting up. Here are 28 seconds of Cam giggles (and sorry if this video drives you crazy because you can't wipe the stray piece of oatmeal off his lip, haha! should've thought of that before I started filming : )