odds and ends

These pictures are SO random but I have to hold on to them somewhere :). Sorry guys. First of all, it was fun to get a chance to eat so healthy for while. Now that I'm not at home it's a bit harder, but i'm still trying :). I'm posting these pictures to remind me in the future to eat this way again when I get back! I love how it forces you to try out new veggies and fruits. Also, saying goodbye to our friends lately who have graduated are are moving on has not been fun. We are seriously going to miss them next year!

love salmon!!!

this picture is making my mouth water. simple goodness.

birthday flowers from my YW!

birthday flowers from friends and Nate. somehow they knew how much I love flowers!

celebrating 5 de mayo

love this book i just finished!

first watermelon of the season!

saying goodbye to some friends at chick-fil-a

observing a tiny caterpillar

these sweet flowers from my cute little student Joseph were so sweet and totally made my day!

Mason is becoming quite the builder. Love to watch his creativity and exactness at work. I also love when these boys play together well. Now that Stan is two, he gives a little kick back sometimes, but they are so sweet together most of the time :).

watching our RELLS softball nearly win the championship!

The Golden Birthday

Yesterday, April 30th was my golden birthday (30 on 30), and it was the best yet. It started with a beautiful run by Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's home) and up the mountain with my good friend Chrissy (her first race!!!). We got near the top where it was steepest, and it was misty and a little bagpipe Scottish band was playing. I felt like I was in Europe again, with the rolling green gorgeous hills. Talking with my friend too was as always so motivating and inspiring. I choose great friends you guys - (also, I know God puts inspiring people in my life so that I can learn from them)! After coming home, cleaning up, and taking a three hour nap (thank you sweetie!!) because I can never sleep the night before a race (what is wrong with my nerves!), I cleaned up my house a bit and got ready to have a few good friends and neighbors over to celebrate with me. There were a few who I was kicking myself for not remembering to invite - but I loved loved loved my time with these people. Some of the best you'd ever find!

I made some goals for my thirties:

1. Charity: I want to at least TRY to figure this thing out a little better

2. Discipline: I want to have more say over what I eat, how I exercise, and taking care of this body that has been so good to me these last 30 years - but I need to treat a little better going forward I think:). 

3. I want to enjoy every day more fully - go to bed early, and try to wake up before my boys so that I can be ready to greet them, rather than the other way around.

4.I want to be a better friend, daughter and wife - think of them and pray for them more often, do random acts of service more often, and stay in better contact

5. I want to learn more by reading more books - and by seeing the world, tasting new food, and enjoy new people.

So there you have it! Hold me to it, friends! Thanks for contributing to the great joy of my life!

Elizabeth is my close neighbor here (we can see each other through our windows). She is an inspiring person and friend and I look up to her in more than a few ways. We both turned 30 this year so we decided to celebrate together!!

my cute violin and piano students made cakes for me out of play dough while they waited for their sister to have their lesson. how sweet is that!?

I pierced my ears AGAIN! Last time (3 years ago) I took my earrings out for two days and the holes grew back in. Rookie mistake. Thanks, Chrissy Gavin for being there with me that night! fun girls night!!

although cutting cheesecake is not my forte, that cheesecake still tasted pretty good (if I do say so myself).

Happy Birthday to us!!! :) 

food!

Dear Friends - I have been doing a lot of thinking about food lately. I love food. As you know - since January I haven't been eating sugar, and in the last few weeks I also started cutting out carbs and dairy as well. As of late, I appreciate food flavors even more. I appreciate the natural taste of an apple, or an avocado with lemon or salmon. Lately I've noticed how flavors have been coming out more since taking sugar off the list (except birthdays, holidays, and travel). It's fun to have a whole new perspective on food. Honestly I haven't really gotten sick since I went off sugar, and energy and running speed have also improved. I also feel less moody and like generally a better Mom. All that to say that I still enjoy an occasional dessert, and of course I think it's important for me to let my family enjoy it as well. Part of my enjoyment is vicariously through them - so I still make them an occasional dessert, while trying to help my boys limit sugar more generally. I have noticed that overall our family eats better since I've been making efforts in that regard. Since going off of sugar I've noticed how much sugar is a part of American culture. I know I totally contribute to it - but that just requires me to make a little more effort to counter it a little :). That is until my birthday, last night when I enjoyed some delicious cheesecake, followed by a morning after sugar hangover (maybe my body is more sensitive to sugar than others). I'm off it again today though :). Enjoy!

adding a little variety to my boy's smoothie popsicles. This one - I just threw in a bag of mixed strawberries, mangos, bananas and orange-mango juice. Has sugar, but I feel like it's still healthier than regular popsicles, right? :) ok, maybe not.

so fun to watch this boy grow up and figure out puzzles on his own

he had me make a movie of him 'making a rocket' out of play dough. so cute! i will try to post it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi7a_Txowjo

Here is Nate's favorite cookie - salted caramel snickerdoodles. Nate has finals this week - so I decided to make them for him to help him with his studies. He was pretty excited when he walked home and smelled these :). Mason was at his cute little friends house and Stanley was asleep, so I didn't have to worry about protecting the caramels. They are pretty good. I always get rave reviews:
http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/brown-butter-salted-caramel-snickerdoodles/#comment-234141

This little cutie loves helping me shuck the corn. YAY!!! Corn season is back!

This Cheesecake recipe is also amazing. I made it for my birthday dessert. Yum!

And here is what I eat :). Simple and delicious.

Happy May Everyone!

Thomas Jefferson's 273rd Birthday Party

We feel so lucky to live so close to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. We couldn't pass up a day to celebrate his birth on April 13th. They said he never wanted to celebrate his own birthday, only the birthday of our Country, July 4th, but they celebrate it anyway. What a perfectly beautiful day! I happened to run into my friend Jeni on my way home from a run, and told her about it. Fortunate for us they decided to join in the fun. She was kind enough to take these pictures for us and pass them along - since we realized once we got there that our camera battery was dead. She also brought her daughter, Claire, as well as her sister. What a wonderful day. They had Marin Wright Edelman (graduate of Yale and advocate of children's rights) speak. It was inspiring.

my sunglasses are a little crooked here - i guess i need to be more careful when letting my boys wear them :)

These musicians are actually a special part of the military which performs for special occasions at the White House etc.

Happy Birthday, TJ!

Mt Vernon

After dropping Ramona off at the airport, we drove to Mt Vernon to show our boys the home of George Washington. It was such a nice 70 degree day, and even though our boys were tired at the end (we woke them up early to drive to DC), I think they enjoyed it! They recently built an amazing museum that I think everyone needs to go see. Fun to be where George Washington lived.

Our boys got a little tired by the end - but I think they enjoyed it.

Observing a little lizard that Mason discovered. We also saw a wild eagle on his property

Mason took this picture.

"Cool!" He says as he puts on Daddy's sunglasses

Mason of course loved the little lambs. It took me back to my childhood - feeding little lambs with a bottle. I kept thinking how much Mason would have liked that.

a morning with my sister!

We had a beautiful morning in DC with my sister Ramona. She was here for a sister's retreat with the McConkie side of her family. It was so great to see her, and her in-laws as well. We visited the Renwick Museum where they had quite the exhibit. It was a lot of fun to see how creative artists really are. Mason and Stan enjoyed it as well. It's only on for a couple of more weeks, so if you have the chance to go see it before it ends, it's totally worth it! 

Mason couldn't contain his excitement

these mountains are made of cards

Somewhere over the rainbow

These two!

Mason took this picture and I was pretty impressed. Love this sister of mine! So fun to see her for a few hours.

Happy 400 years Shakespeare!

We had a great time on Saturday visiting Staunton, Virginia for Shakespeare's 400th anniversary of his death. It was fun to be there with Nate's cousin Jenny and her family. They were kind enough to watch our kids for us while we attended Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'.  Lines such as "the fault is not in our stars", or "it's all greek to me" were fun to hear. Shakespeare was a genius - with his pros, metaphors, alliteration, and similes. We enjoyed it.

Our boys enjoyed hearing musical instruments from that time period

Birthday card for Shakespeare

time-period clothing