Random Phone Pictures

I have some random pictures on my phone that I can't really make into their own posts, but I still wanted to include them in my blog. So this post is just a compilation of those pictures.

I made these Christmas gifts for the sisters that I visit teach. They're rice bags that you heat in the microwave or stick in the freezer. One is rectangular and the other is an eye mask.

Shasta and I made Christmas cards for the VA hospital in Salt Lake. A friend was going and asked if we would like to make some cards to send with her so we did.

Obviously I did some of them, but the ones Shasta did all on her own or helped with I didn't change anything she did. And I wrote little messages inside from her perspective.

I let her push a grocery cart with the understanding that if she started touching things with her hands instead of just looking with her eyes, then we would switch it for a big cart and she'd have to ride in it. She did AWESOME with not trying to put anything into the cart other than what I handed her or let her pick off the shelves. But eventually she got tired of pushing it and then I got stuck doing it. Good thing I'm short!

Shasta hates swinging. Every time we go to the park she asks to swing and as soon as I give her that first push she starts begging to get out.

One morning I woke up to this surprise. Nick randomly decided to give me the movie Pitch Perfect with a note that says "Happy Hump Day. Woot Woot!" I once saw a commercial about a camel walking through an office asking all the workers if they knew what day it was. Finally, one of them begrudgingly asked what day it was and the camel said "hump day, woot woot!" I thought it was hilarious and later looked it up on YouTube for Nick to see. I guess that's one (of the many) nice thing(s) about not having any tv channels is we don't see commercials repeatedly so they don't lose their appeal.

Have you ever seen a better view? One of the many reasons why I love Cache Valley.

Proof that I have a scrapbook called Fecal Matters.

Wedge fell asleep like this whining for a toy that went under the dresser.

I made this cute little Nativity at our ward Super Saturday.

And it worked so perfectly with this "Behold Him" block set that Kaleena made for me.

I smashed my pinky between my car door and Nick's car. Bizarre right? I swung my car door open and it flew open faster and harder than I was prepared for so I quickly grabbed it so it wouldn't hit Nick's car and caught my finger between the two. It hurt so bad I literally cried. And it bruised instantly, but the bruise was gone by the next day.

I decided to make a "Be A Better Mom" wall. All are quotes I came up with to help remind me to try harder to be a better mom. My favorite quote is "Be the mom you always dreamed of being". And then maybe a week or two later Nick decided to stick a tv right in front of it and blocked half the sayings. And as luck would have it, my favorite ones are at the bottom because that's where my eye is naturally drawn to since I'm short! Good times. This picture isn't the completed version. I added a few more to square it up a little better, but as I said, there's now a tv in the way so I can't take a picture of the finished product.

It's become a new tradition for me and my visiting teaching partner to 'heart attack' the doors of the sisters we visit and leave some treats for Valentine's Day.

This is my favorite typo text between my sister Lacey and me. She sent me a recipe with the most hilarious side note that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to play off of it!

Shasta asked if her baby could be buckled into Shelby's car seat since Shelby wasn't with us.

Shasta and I like to play a game called "What's Missing". We pick 5 small, random toys, line them up and then one person closes their eyes while the other takes a toy away and hides it behind their back. Then the person opens their eyes and guesses which toy is missing. One day she dumped a handful of hair ties on the table, told me to close my eyes, then asked me to guess which one was missing. Uh...!

I couldn't figure out where some of my socks disappeared to. Then I discovered Shasta had neatly stuffed two pairs inside one set.

The cake Nick made me for my birthday.

I had to give a presentation in Sign Language on whatever subject I wanted. I decided to teach my college peers about shapes. I made them sit on the floor and told them they were now three years olds and welcomed them to Preschool. It was the first presentation I felt comfortable doing because it was a topic I could relate to since my major focuses on age 0-3.

Physical Health

This past Saturday I attended a Stake Relief Society meeting on Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Health and I'm so glad I did. I want to record some of the things I learned about physical health because I'm sure as time goes on I will forget these things and I want to be able to refer back to them when I need to. This is all how I interpreted what was taught during this class and may not be exactly what he said. And I certainly can't explain the reasoning behind everything because I don't have the knowledge to make sense of everything and articulate it the same way he did during class. All I know is what he said really spoke to me and I feel really encouraged and motivated because of it.

• Divorce the idea that if we eat right and exercise we will lose weight.
• After a hard workout, replace the calories burned by eating the same amount of calories.
• If you eat crap all day long and feel sick, you're not feeling sick from all the crap you ate, you're feeling sick from all the good things you didn't eat. It's okay to eat crap as long as you eat good things too.
• The idea that you can't eat after a certain time at night because those foods turn straight to fat is incorrect. The body breaks down food the same way it does all day long regardless of what time of day it is because it knows what nutrients it still needs. Once all those nutrients have been met for the day, then whatever you eat becomes fat regardless of if you consume ice cream or broccoli.
• God made food just as perfectly as He made each of His children. It's crazy that there are diets out there that cut out specific nutrient sources and claim that by doing so you will lose weight. If God created everything perfectly then it's safe to say our bodies need all of those nutrients to be healthy. It's pretty bold to say God created everything perfectly, except something like carbs so don't eat those.
• We should exercise to change our DNA, not to lose weight. Exercise is something our bodies need to fight off diseases and ultimately be healthier. It's something we should do regularly and consistently, not for a season to lose weight and then stop until we need to lose weight again.
• Exercise daily for at least 20 minutes (an hour is best) at a moderate pace.
• The harder you push yourself while exercising the more important it is to replace those calories you're burning because your body is borrowing calories from your muscles in order to keep up with the vigorous pace.
• Use the "3+ rule". 3 servings a day each of fruits, veggies, whole grains, and natural plant oils. A single serving is half a cup, except the serving size of natural plant oil is one teaspoon. The way to measure is to cup your hands together and visualize if what you're eating will fill your hands, if yes then you have one full serving. An example would be if you're eating a bowl of salad for lunch. If it looks like two handfuls of salad then you have two servings of vegetables for the day. 
• Before dinner cup your hands together and think about what you ate for the day. If you had more servings of veggies and whole grains, but less of fruit then add fruit to your dinner spread. By better balancing your intake of fruit, veggies, whole grains, and natural plant oils, it will naturally make your body healthier even if you're not getting a full three servings of each of them per day.
• Weigh yourself once a week rather than once a day. The body naturally fluctuates 6-8lbs during the day. You get a better idea of what your actual weight is by weighing yourself once a week. Monday morning wake up, use the bathroom, then weigh yourself. The following Monday morning do the same.
• Quantity is more important than quality when it comes to food. Don't worry about WHAT you're eating, worry about HOW MUCH you're eating. If you're trying to lose weight and weigh yourself a week later and still weigh the same, cut back on the amount you consume the next week. Portion control makes all the difference.
• Frozen veggies are best, but fresh and canned veggies are just as good for you. The reason frozen are best is because they are picked when they're ripe and then immediately stored in the freezer. Fresh fruits and veggies are picked when they're under ripe so they can last longer.
• Make exercise part of your lifestyle, not just something you do when you want to lose weight.

I loved everything he had to say about physical health. I love that he said we should divorce the idea that eating right and exercise means we'll lose weight. I've really been struggling with my physical appearance after having Shelby and I've felt really discouraged that I'm not losing any weight regardless of my efforts. This Stake Relief Society meeting was exactly what I needed. Everything that we learned in this physical health class seemed so backwards to what society teaches about weight loss and nutrition, but he tied it all back to the gospel and it all made so much sense. I wish I could articulate it the same way he did, but this is my understanding of what he talked about and I never want to forget it!

It's The Little Things

Motherhood is made up of a bunch of little things. And it's those little things that help keep a smile on my face. There are plenty of moments when being a mom is hard and terribly frustrating, and then I come across these little moments that remind me just how great my life really is when I take the time to notice. I may not cherish every single moment of being a mom, but I wouldn't want my life to be anywhere other than where it is right now.

It's not very easy to capture pictures of the little moments with Shelby so these are all about Shasta. It's also possible that some of these pictures have been on Facebook or even previous posts on my blog, but the purpose of this post is to remind me of those moments that make my life so great and therefore they will appear here too.

The time she put panties on her head. This picture makes me giggle. A friend and I used to do this in High School when we went swimming to keep our scalps from getting sunburned. Okay, we did it just because too.

All the crazy hair styles because each day is a clean slate so why not have fun with it

All the times she puts on my shoes

"Look mom, he's signing dad"

Every time she's nursed her stuffed animals and dolls

All the time we spend playing in the sensory table

The time she put her doll, Lucy, in timeout. Then she sat next to her and kept asking Lucy if she understood why she had to sit in timeout and if she was still listening.

The time she called this her "Jesus toy". That's when I knew it was time to start being more consistent in teaching her about Jesus!

The time she put my sports bra on while I was putting away laundry

The time we shared apples, grapes, and trail mix for a snack and she picked out all the chocolate and ate it first. There's no doubt she's my daughter!

The time Nick took her shopping and came back with these pictures

Every time I find one of her babies using one of Shelby's toys

The time she fell asleep on Nick during story time. Also, any time she wears those slippers because they're so dang cute!

The time I didn't make her change her clothes because we were only going to sit outside and have dinner with daddy at his work. She picked out her whole outfit, even her shoes!

Every time I find her dolls tucked in a blanket

The time she put on Shelby's size 0-3 months pants. Why yes, she is 2 years old here!

The countless hours we spend playing with babies. Dressing and undressing them, feeding them, changing their diapers, wrapping them in blankets, comforting them when they're crying... I love how motherly she is!

The time she got into my makeup not once...

not twice...

not even three times...

But four times. FOUR! In my defense, I started occasionally putting blush on her while she watched me get ready so it was a hard habit to break trying to teach her it wasn't okay to play in my makeup without permission.

The time I was doing dishes and looked up to see this. She loves Shelby and wants to be just like her.

The time I put Shelby in Shasta's bed and Shasta thought they could take a nap together.

The countless times we played tea party before we actually had a tea set. I love her imagination!

The time she helped me decorate the Christmas tree and put all the bells in one cluster.

The time I found her stuffed elephant, Bubblegum, sleeping in my bathroom. Not the most sanitary place for her to sleep, but she fit so perfectly in her little "bed" and her dryer sheet "blanket" was the perfect size.

All the times she wears my boots around

The few times she's prayed like this at the dinner table. Also, she's not wearing clothes because she was helping me with the dishes... those are moments I love too

The times she lays on the couch like this to watch a movie or read stories

The time I looked down and saw she put a napkin in her lap while we were out to dinner.

The time she fell asleep in the middle of the day at Grammy's and Papa's house. She must have been having too much fun with her cousins

The time she played on the teeter totter with Carter, but neither one of them weighed enough to make it work so Papa had to help them

All the times we play with blocks

The way she wears her princess crowns

The countless times she's played with my hair

The time she was invited to a princess tea party and I did her hair like this. She was so excited that it looked like a crown!

How stinkin' cute the princess tea party was and how excited she was about it

The time I took her with me to the church so I could work on the bulletin board and she sat and read books to Daisy the entire time.

All the times she holds hands with her cousins. Cousins really do make the best of friends.

All the times she "reads" books to Shelby.

And in the spirit of things I'll include a few things about Shelby even though there are no pictures.

• All the things she does when she's nursing, the way she plays with my hair, smiles, caresses my side, sometimes she hums
• The way she gets so excited to see me
• The way she laughs at Shasta
• Her contagious laughter
• Her sweet cuddles 

It's all the little things that make being a mom so fun. And entertaining. And crazy. But mostly fun.