I Can't Believe It's Been So Long!

I really can't believe it's been so long. Christmas is over and New Year's has passed. My! How time flies!

I really wanted to post a bunch of pictures so everyone can see what's been happening with our lives in the passed few weeks (months??!), but I can't download any photos due to a memory problem on my computer. So I'm working on getting an external hard drive so this won't happen again. But that's boring stuff. So I'll try to recap just a little:

November
Robert was the Big Bad Wolf in his school Thanksgiving Play. He did great and was so cute with his Big Bad Wolf mask.

Thanksgiving in Oregon
We hiked and played and laughed. It was a great time! (All except for the tooth incident) We ended up staying an extra day because our flight was canceled due to fog up and down the west coast.

December
We spent the first week back from Oregon just trying to get back to normal after a long trip and then we pulled out the Christmas decorations and spent the 2nd week of Dec just getting ready for Santa to come. As Robert put it we weren't ready until the lights were up on the house. It was a lot of work but very much worth it. The kids made it so.

Let's see....hmm..... Oh Yes! The Parties! It seemed like every week was filled with one or two parties. Oh yeah! And eating!! We ate like there was no tomorrow: cookies and fudge. Pecan Squares and Candy Canes. And the chocolate!! I never thought I'd say this, but I think I'm sick of chocolate ...... well, maybe for awhile anyway. Unless it's fudge. I could totally do fudge again.

Robert lost his first tooth! However, I didn't get to pull it out. He came in to my bedroom one morning and said, "Guess what I have in my hand."
"What?" I ask
"My tooth!" he says as he pulls his hand out from behind his back and shows me his teeny tiny tooth.
So, that night the tooth fairy came for the first time to our house and left a buck under his pillow. I was shocked! After all, I only got a quarter and my teeth were much bigger!

Santa came and treated us all good. The kids were thrilled, yet not so surprised. I guess they just knew he would come. After all, why wouldn't he? Right? The rest of the day we just relaxed and enjoyed the day. After all the Santa hubbub I was able to take a 3 hour much needed nap. It was absolute heaven! After I woke up we had lunch and went to the movies and saw "The Tale of Despereaux" and it was really good! It was the perfect end to a perfect day. I can honestly say that it was the best Christmas ever!

January
New Year's Eve was fun. For the past 2 years we've celebrated an East Coast New Year's on account of the kids. We figured it would be torture for all of us if we tried to keep the kids up (not to mention me. I tend to be not so pleasant when I'm tired). So we ate yummy snacks, played charades and counted down the New Year at 9pm. We donned our party hats and popped our poppers. We screamed out "Happy New Year" to each other and gave each other a New Year's kiss. We then toasted in the New Year with a glass of "Mormon Bubbly" and called it a night. It was the perfect ending to a very a fantastic year. Here's to my hubby and kids!!!!

The following weekend after New Year's we headed up to Utah to celebrate my Dad's birthday. We caravaned up with the Walden's and took our time getting up there. It was actually a lot of fun. Once we got up there we hung out with my parents and ate yummy Mexican food. My mom is the best cook! She taught me some of her secrets and I can't wait to try them out. My dad turned 81 this year. (Wow!! Way To Go Dad!) He's doing great as if he never had a heart attack and plans to be around for awhile.

The Present Day
So as usual at the beginning of every year, I reassess my life and try to figure out which area needs the most work. I've come to the conclusion that there isn't just one area, but many so little by little and line by line, I'm chipping away at being a better person. However, right now my focus is on my physical health.

My husband and I have under gone a complete body cleansing. And let me tell you, this has not been easy!!! In fact, on some days it has been down right torture. For one week, my diet has consisted of nothing but smoothies. Albeit, yummy smoothies, but that's it. Smoothies. And water. Lots and lots of water. We have to drink a cleansing drink before each morning and evening smoothie which consists of psyllium hulls and aloe vera mixed with apple juice with some veggie pill thingies. It's not so bad. We also get snacks between each smoothie which is either juice or a piece of fruit. Needless to say, by the 3rd day I was DYING for some real food. By the 4th day I began salivating at yummy smells. Today is the 5th day and I'm doing much better. Of course, I've stayed in all day so that has helped. Tomorrow I get to introduce meat back into my diet. I can't hardly wait! And in case you're wondering, the cleansing totally works. I won't go into detail, but I'll say this: So far I've lost 5 pounds and that's not fat. That's just whats been in my gut. Amazing! Right now I can't say that I feel better because I'm just hungry. But the booklet says that you don't usually feel a difference until after the cleansing. So I look forward to that.

So there you have. I know - Not too exciting, but I thought I had to fill in all the gaps.