Friday, December 31, 2010

Catching up...

Yikes, I knew I was behind in my blogging but didn't realize I was this behind! Time to catch up!

AUGUST-
August began with Elizabeth getting her vaccinations for high school which she wasn't looking forward to at all (don't blame her). However she was pleasantly surprised that they weren't as bad as she had imagined.

August 7th I went off sugar and started my 90 day weight loss challenge with Lifetime Fitness (more on that later).

August 9th was the first day of high school for Elizabeth- yikes! And then Skyler joined her the next day for the first day back to school.

Then on the 28th we celebrated Elizabeth's 14th birthday! Hard to believe! My youngest is in High School now!

SEPTEMBER-
Elizabeth and Skyler went to their first convention, Laughing Moon. It was held at the high school and put on my their English teacher who is a published author of Laughing Moon, a fantasy book.

September ended with Super Saturday where I traditionally take advantage and make Christmas gifts for my family.

OCTOBER-
October was a fun filled month that deserves it's own post. We went to Disneyworld! I will be posting on that next!

On Halloween morning the Primary had their Primary program. I am the primary chorister and received this calling a year ago just missing the last program, so this was my first program to prepare. I decided from the beginning I wasn't going to stress about it. That regardless the kids will do great in the end so there really is no need to. And that's exactly what happened. The kids sounded like angels and did a great job on their program. Now I just have to remember to tell myself not to stress about things more often!

As you know, Halloween was on a Sunday this year so we went to Trunk or Treat the night before. Elizabeth dressed up like a glow stick man, it was soooo awesome! Skyler was a scary dude. Even though Halloween was on Sunday, our yard is always decked out with Halloween decorations (for my yearly Halloween piano festival) so we get quite a few trick or treaters. Well, I couldn't risk getting "tricked" this year so Elizabeth, Skyler and I took turns to pass out some candy.

November-
November 4th was my weigh in day for the 90 day weight loss challenge of which I met my goal dead on losing 20lbs. I did this by going of sugar (except breads), doing lots of Zumba classes each week and just most recently started boxing. (more below) Since then I have lost an additional 5lbs. I also started a new blog: www.meandsugarfree.blogspot.com to journal my no sugar progress. Now onto my next 25lbs...

In November I also joined another gym, LA Fitness in addition to being a member at Lifetime. Yes, you may say why on earth would any sane person do this? Well, my answer is simple. I wanted to box, not just kickbox where it's all cardio, but join a boxing class where I can actually hit something. And while Lifetime did have something I could sign up for that would satisfy my desire, it would have cost triple+ the amount extra then to just join a gym that already had that class included. So there you go, perfectly sane after all.

This month Skyler and Elizabeth had a youth conference the stake put on. They seemed to enjoy it.

Thanksgiving was at my parent's house this year. Rick's parents went to Ethan's family for Thanksgiving. We gathered together with all my siblings and their spouses and kids.

DECEMBER-
December started off with Elizabeth's dance concert. This year for one of her HS electives, Elizabeth took dance. She did a wonderful job of course!

The rest of this month was the stake nativity, temple lights with the YM/YW, Skyler volunteering for 8 years at Desert Industries, Music at the Mall with my students, breakfasts and lunch with friends, helping and supporting friends, making Swedish nuts for friends, and celebrating the most important time of year with family, Christmas. This also deserves a separate post.

Well, I think I got everything caught up now. So on to some posts that deserve their own spotlight. 2010 has been a blessing for our family, we are looking forward to what 2011 will bring. Happy New Year!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Skyler's Awesome Video Game Cake


Okay, so I said on my last post on Skyler's party that I would post more pictures of Skyler's cake. It deserves to have it's own post. By the way everything but the PS2box is edible!

My good friend, Vanessa made this cake, she asked me what video game systems he had and designed it based on that. Skyler shared he would like a chocolate and peanut butter cake for his birthday. Yum! For details on how she did everything and pictures from the ground up, go to her blog. Here is a direct link:
http://sewcakemake.blogspot.com/2010/07/wii-love-cake.html









Surprise Skyler!

Skyler turned the big 16 on July 22nd. We threw him a Surprise Party the next night with a Mobile Game party, a video game trailer that comes to your house. The kids go inside and play video games for 2 hours. Perfect for a bunch of teenagers who love video games! We had some late stragglers so the "Surprise" was with the few that were on time...











Time to leave the trailer...




Cake and Ice Cream time... I knew when we were planning on having Skyler's party that I would have my good friend Vanessa making his cake. I asked Skyler if he wanted a cake for his birthday casually (remember the party was a surprise) and he said sure so I asked him what flavor and he said how about chocolate and peanut butter. Luckily we ended up going to Swensen's for dessert on his b-day night so I didn't have to worry about making a cake. I told Vanessa I would like a video game themed cake and beyond that was up to her. I am going to do a complete separate blog post on this cake because it turned out unbelievably good! She has such a magic touch, if you ever need a cake for any occasion she's the one to call! I know you are just dying to see it so here's one picture (I'll share close ups of everything on the seperate blog post).



Isn't that amazing? I couldn't have dreamed up anything better!

The last hour was cake and ice cream, socializing and more video games..










Sunday, July 4, 2010

"Be Strong, Be Courageous, Be All That You Can Be"


Elizabeth just returned from Girl's Camp at Camp Mokui. She was there from June
28th-July 2nd. The theme of this years camp is the title of this post. They each got a camp "army" t-shirt with dog tags and everyday had it's own theme as well.

Day 1- "Basic Training: Growing stronger through the basics of The Gospel"
The morning started at 7:00am bright and early to check in and receive their camp shirts, dog tag and a sack of "rations". When arriving at camp, they saw that none of their tents were set up. So the awesome Sarival ward girls bucked up and helped all the other girls from different wards set up their huge army tent before they set theirs up. Now these were not regular camping tents, they were big, heavy army tents so it was quite the workout. When it was finally their turn to set up their tent, they found out that they were left with a funny red circus type canopy tent. Without any outside help from the others, they set it up. Easier to set up, but oh the RED! It gave them quite a headache you can imagine. Way to go Sarival girls to grow stronger in the basics of the Gospel through service!






Day 2- "Battle Strategies: When the going gets tough..."
Rappelling day! Elizabeth had the opportunity to rappell last year but her fear took over and didn't do it. This year however, she was strong and courageous and decided to try it out and she survived! Yeah! This was a great experience for the girls to teach them to trust in others and in your safety. Jesus Christ is our ultimate "safety" who will always be there for us when we need him. So even though Elizabeth was a little scared she trusted that she would be alright. If you ask her would she do it again, she would say "YES!"







Day 3- "Combat Gear: Putting on your Armor of God"
The morning started off with some archery. Elizabeth even hit the target on one of her shots. Go Elizabeth!





That afternoon the girls had a service project, re-painting the picnic tables in the area...



Day 4- "Fulfilling our potential: Be All You Can Be"
Camp is more than halfway through. Today was hiking day! Nature, horny toads ("Jub Jub") and more to enjoy. Skits and Testimony meeting to end the day...











Day 5- "Fall Out, Go Home, Be All You Can Be"