Easter

Easter was really hard for me. I missed my family a lot and was not feeling particularly motivated to cook a big dinner just for my family on that day either. But I couldn't let myself not do it either. I ended up inviting a friend and her family over who are in a similar situation as us. It was so enjoyable! And anyone who really knows me knows I like to cook for other people. I made the works: glazed ham, homemade rolls, salad, carrot cake, and my friend brought the potatoes (which were awesome!). It was really nice to just eat and chat while the kids all ran around.

The day before Easter we went to a ward member's house and the kids had a blast! The eggs had some candy, but most of them were filled with tickets which the kids could "buy" various things with. Maddy was sooo excited to get dangly earrings that she said she thought Grandma Stephens would think were pretty. She even wore them to church on Easter. She is getting to seem so grown up!

The kids love going to the park. The one that is by the library has a merry-go-round. I couldn't resist this picture of them laying on each other on it.

Homeschooling is going well. The kids and I love the parts where we can go do things out of the house. Library day is something we look forward to. This scene of all my kids sitting quietly and reading books sure made this Mom proud! I love that they all just devour books. :)

Flexitarian

So, I have been trying to lose weight the past month or so. I joined weight watchers and it has been a great starting point for me and has opened my eyes to realize that I have been eating about twice as much as I actually need to. I sort of hit a plateau after losing 3.5 pounds. I wasn't gaining weight, but I wasn't losing more either. I was getting really frustrated! After admitting to myself that I was kind of finding ways around weight watchers to still get to eat whatever I wanted, I have upped my ante and decided to make at least half (4 or more) dinners vegetarian. I really don't eat enough veggies... even with a salad for lunch every day. So, I am getting creative and the kids haven't even missed the meat. I've already noticed a difference in my energy level and how much my back hurts (it's been giving me grief every morning for about a month). Jay likes to call this kind of eating flexitarian... which makes me chuckle... I like it! I don't really have any desire to give up meat entirely, but I'm really enjoying feeling better. It also helps my motivation to have joined a contest with my brother-in-law and my parents to lose 6.1 percent of our body weight this month. And whoever doesn't make it, has to pay those who did $20. I don't want to pay out $60 because I didn't control myself enough to lose the weight! I'm also trying to get in as many walks/jogs as I can. Eat less, move more, drink more water! That's my mantra lately. I'm also considering doing a contest with a prize... to see who can lose the most body weight percentage... would anyone be interested in doing that with me?

Road Trips and Rest Stops

So, Jay has been out of town this week on a business trip to Kansas City (and Wichita) and he is driving back tonight. He was talking about a stop he was making to use the rest room and stretch his legs and how he remembered we stopped at the same place and he parked in the same spot as when we were driving back from Utah over Christmas. He was asking if I remember stops on trips like that and I admitted that I usually don't pay that much detail to stops like that, but I know that Jay does. He remembers the most random gas stations and tries to make the same stops on trips. It makes it kind of fun! I do remember when I was a kid and we would make the road trip from Texas to Utah we would stop at the same gas station every time... and of course I remember it because it had a big green "Little Foot" dinosaur outside of it that we could climb on. You know the one I'm talking about?

I'm sure my parents have pictures of the kids all climbing on it and thinking we were at the best gas station in the U.S.

So, Jay and I were talking about a rest stop that we really liked when we drove out to Utah for Christmas and he couldn't remember where it was. I thought it was in Kansas, and I was right! (Holy cow! Someone be amazed that I remembered where something was that I have been to a single time.) It was near Manhattan, Kansas. And it had this pretty cool sunflower statue and a walking trail that we walked on for a little while and let everyone stretch their legs at.

I think we will try to make this a regular stop on our road trips to Utah. I would love to have a packed lunch there (if I'm remembering right, it had shaded picnic tables).

Are there any rest stops or frequent stops you make when you go on trips that you have special memories of?

Six months already!?

So, I know I've been terrible about blogging still, but I have a ton of pictures to share with you all. It will give you a glimpse of what we've been up to since we've moved to Missouri. And in no particular order. I'll give a brief description of the picture underneath them. :)

Outside of the History Museum with the group of kids we were there with. A fun time, for sure!

Miles did this himself, with no promptings from me. Gangster!

Hyrum has really really gotten into origami. He loves folding and folding and folding.

This is a view of Creve Couer Lake on a date that Jay and I went on. This picture doesn't do the breath-taking view justice!

If you didn't know yet, I've started homeschooling. This is the first project we did (making rock candy) and my cute youngest son. :)

Spring has sprung! My favorite season! The kids loved the big beautiful flowers on this tree.

Hyrum turned 9 years old! How did that happen?! (Maddy also had a birthday, but I guess I was too busy to take a picture on that day. She is now 7!)

Halloween! This was shortly after we moved into our house. The kids had a blast trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.

Parks, parks, and more parks! St. Louis has so many wonderful parks and we love going to them... especially since the weather has warmed up.

Graham plays with his (or someone else's) ear when he falls asleep. His ear got stuck when he fell asleep... couldn't pass up the silly picture!

Miles suffered a concussion. He got a frog and a dino (which you can't see) for being so still during the CAT scan.

Miles is getting better at drawing actually pictures. When did my little boy get so grown up!?

We love Trader Joe's! I love it for the produce and cheese and the kids love it for the stickers they get!

I though merry-go-rounds were a thing of the past. My kids had a blast on this one after getting books at the library.