I am in love...

Today, I am in love. I am in love with CJane's January 5th Guest Post. (I am in love with Matt too. But you all already knew that.) You must read it. This woman put all my feelings into words. It's am amazing post. It must be read!

Bear with me while I put my "economic" two-cents worth of lecturing on this subject. Diet/worktout programs that are often known as "fad" programs run business models. These business models mimick the exact models that ALL businesses use. They want you to use the product and KEEP USING the product. How do they get you to keep using the program? By making you keep thinking that you NEED TO BE BETTER, THAT YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO LOOK/BE GOOD ENOUGH.

This is part of my New Year's Resolution this year. Respect your body. If you are involved in a program that acknowledges that you are HUMAN, that you will never LOOK THE WAY SOCIETY WANTS YOU TO, but encourages living a healthier lifestyle-GOOD FOR YOU! If you are involved in a program that keeps telling you that you don't look the way you should, that you should loose more, exercise more, eat even less, WALK AWAY! You're more likely to make good healthy decision when you're NOT constantly being told that you're inadequate. Be healthy, don't be beaten down. Our nutritional decisions shouldn't be weighed with guilt. Make conscious decisions! Ex: Will I feel energized and satisifed after I eat that, not, How will I be judged if I eat this?

Everyone should love their bodies.

When I was in high school, I loved the way I looked. But unfortunately, that body couldn't sustain a pregnancy, couldn't nurse a baby, couldn't survive on a mommy's inconsistent diet, didn't have hips wide enough to carry a child for hours on end... That's why it changed. I'm happy with the changes.

Happy Birl-h-day!

Note to self: Never let Matt take the pictures of Christmas on his phone. You will never be able to post them on the blog.

We had a great New Years! This was the first New Years, since Matt and I have been married, where I actually made it to midnight! We were so excited to find out that Matt was only going to work three days last week and stay home with us for a long holiday. We went to breakfast, shopped, planned birthday parties and took naps. It was great!

New Years Day, Holynd had her official "unofficial" birthday party. She requested a Buzz Lightyear party with ice cream cake. We had originally ordered the cake from Maggie Moo's, but after a few hiccups, we ended up at Cold Stone (which turned out to be the most delicious hiccup). I was so excited when Cold Stone was willing to personalize Holynd's cake at the last minute. So excited, in fact, that I didn't notice that the girl forgot to cross the "t" in "birthday". In the end, Holynd ended up celebrating her Birl-h-day!



We decided that Holynd needed a few things for this birthday. Number 1: A potty and Number 2: a big girl bed. The big girl bed has not arrived at my door yet, but the potty was unwrapped on her birthday. This potty is THE POTTY for 2 year old girls. It has princesses and a bejeweled-flusher that plays "magic wand sounds" when "flushed". By Sunday night, Holynd was sitting in our living room on the potty, stark naked, eating leftover ice cream cake. (Oh parenting, you get weirder everyday!)


Holynd's friend Kadee, Kadee's mom, her kunkles, G-Ma & G-Pa and Aunt Twitch were all in attendance. Holynd was lucky enough to get to celebrate her birthday all month long- The Petersons celebrate their "monthly" birthdays on second Sundays. We had quite the on-going celebration. I'm fairly certain that my little diva thinks that Christmas is a huge celebration just for her.



We also found out this weekend that Matt is awesome. Well, we knew he was AWESOME. But he go even more awesome. He started a new job, worked constantly and somehow still ended up on the Dean's List. (I love you, husband. Are you blushing? Check! I bet you are! If you weren't, you probably are by now because of this on-going blushing side note. And, maybe because of the overflowing awesome-usage).

Life seems so wonderful right now. 2011 has started out very differently then 2010 did, but I'm sure a lot of people feel that way. We made a few New Year's Resolutions... even though I'm really skeptical about them. But for the sake of tradition, here are my blog-worthy resolutions.

1. Return Netflix DVD's in a more timely manner.
2. Keep on boycotting facebook. Not because I'm against it, just because it seems like a lot of work!
3. Stop watching the news (except for stock market updates, of course!). It's depressing and who need that?!
4. Let Matt take me on a few trips even though I hate travelling and can't figure out why people want to do it. But, for my husband, I will set aside my confusion and travel with him.
5. Learn to love my post-baby body. It's not ever going back to what it was. It's been through two wars. It deserves some respect.
6. Roll my eyes more. Instead of thinking that I immediately need to join the crowd with it's new workout plans, diets, parenting strategies, schedule habits etc, etc ETC, ETC, ETC! I will just roll my eyes. Just because it worked for some people, doesn't mean it has to work for me. And, no, I'm not wrong just because I don't do things that way you do. You're wrong for thinking I need to.

WOW! Did that get a little angry at the end?

:)

How old are you!?

Today is a very special day at our house. Very special. Today is the day Holl-e-wood decided to make her appearance into the world. The world hasn't been the same since. In honor of her birthday, Holynd got to eat her toast on the couch, while playing with her sticker book. She also got to stick stickers in her hair and all over the furniture (and Sloanie). Later on today, Holynd will get to lunch with her dad and then she'll shop for her first big-girl bed.

Holynd is now two. She turned the world upside-down the minute she was born. Her outgoing personality can be seen and heard from miles away.

She loves: her grandparents, her sister, her kuncles, her aunts, coke (which is really sprite that we just tell her is coke), stickers, Yo Gabba Gabba, counting, singing, dancing, coloring on everything, saying prayers, going to nursery, talking A LOT, being the center of attention, showing off, going shopping, wearing shoes, getting dressed up, going to lunch, visiting her dad at work, rice, fries, apple juice, hair bows, throwing tantrums while grocery shopping, Buzz Lightyear, princesses, purses, tomatoes, grapes and much more. She's sweet, loud, a little obnoxious, smart and very loving.

She is my little college-baby. She went to college through my entire pregnancy and then watched me do homework everyday until her first birthday. She still gets upset every time I get my laptop out.

She also needs a haircut.

Just a Few....

WOW! Can you believe how fast the Christmas season is going by?! I'm loving every minute of it, especially since Holynd and Sloane are so much fun. Here are just a few things we've been up to.


Holynd loves "BUCKS!" she calls them. Money. She likes to dance around yelling, "Mine bucks!" I can't tell you how happy I am to just listen to her and her growing vocabulary. Another few of her favorite phrases, "Going to Walmart!", "Santa's home?", "Ugly bum!", "Ew! Nasty!", "Com'on in Kadee!", "Come in and eat Daddy!", "Go Jazz!", etc. etc. She can also count to 8... sort of-it usually goes something like this, "1,2,1,2,1,2,3,3,3,3,4,5,5,6,5,6,5,6,7,8,7,8,7,8.....so on and so on. She also loves to tell you, "Ready? Ready? Ready? Set! Go!!!!!" and then races you until she decides it's time to start the race over, "Ready? Ready? Set! Go!!!" She always wins too.


Matt and I were also lucky enough to go here and watch the Utes win against BYU. :)



Holynd has always loved Sloane, but recently, Sloane has really started to love Holynd back. Sloane is always constantly looking for her sister. She wants to be able to follow Holynd around so bad! It's only a matter of time before Holynd will have a constant companion. I'm not sure how long Holynd will enjoy it, but we'll see.


One of the things Sloanie has been up to is discovering her love for the University of Utah.

Oh! We did decorate our tree. This was before it was finished. We decided to add purple to our tree this year. Matt says that purple isn't a Christmas color, but that didn't stop us! Out with tradition we say! Out!

Hello again little Sloanie! You are so cute in your little walker. This is Sloane's only way of being able to follow her sister around.

I'm getting sad to think that, in a few days, I'll have to introduce Sloane to "solid" food. :( We will begin to cut away at the nursing ties. I think Sloane will put up a fight, but secretly, I don't really care too much. She's my little balonie and I want her to stay small forever. It will be kinda nice to be able to get back to the temple, since Sloanie can't go more then a couple of hours without her mommy. It'll also be nice to go out with Matt and not have to watch the clock. I'll probably secretly cry when she does start to like food. I'll bawl when she's ready to ween.

We're almost done Christmas shopping. My girls are actually pretty decent shoppers. They like to ride in "The Snot" and go to the mall, especially when we're shopping for them! I can't wait for Christmas morning!

Sloane vs. Shopping Cart

(Caution: You heart may melt while looking at photo.)

I've gotten pretty used to getting two kids in and out of the car. It's no longer a huge ordeal like it was when Sloane first came home. Even though we don't have a garage or anything and we have to walk up and down two flights of stairs to get to and from our door, I hardly think about it anymore. However, yesterday, one of my worst nightmares came true.

The girls and I ventured to Target for a small shopping trip. Just something to get us out of the house and break-up the day a little. We found some fun deals and had a good time. When we walked out of the store, the weather had turned kind of yucky. It was really cold and the wind had kicked up. I walked quickly to the Scion and took Holynd out of the cart, leaving little Sloanie snuggled up in her carseat, riding on the "passenger" part of the cart. Holynd was content playing with her new fake food she got at Target while I was buckling her in her carseat.

All the sudden, Holynd's face turned grey... Her eyes got really wide and she looked at me and said, "Mommy! Uh-oh! Sloanie gone!". I looked over at the spot where I had left my cart. It was vacant.

My eyes immediately lept over to the image of my 5 month old baby riding on a run away cart. The wind had caught the cart perfectly sending my baby across the parking lot at a steady 45 miles per hour. (Ok, maybe not that fast. But to me it seemed that way!) I took off running as fast as my boots could carry me. (Saying many swear words as I ran. Like, that would help anything!) I caught her right after she slammed into another car.

I expected tears and terrified sobbing, but my stone-faced, even-tempered Sloanie looked up at me with the same content face she has 90% of the time.... She gave me a small grin as if to say, "I knew you'd come for me mom. I wasn't worried". I took a deep-breath, tripled checked for any damage to the car (None, thank goodness!) and carefully put my baby into the car. Holynd, who watched the whole thing from her carseat was more upset then Sloanie!

I got into the car and sat there... What do I do now? Do I wait for this car owner to tell them what happened?! They don't teach you this stuff in driver's ed! So, I did the best thing I could think of at that moment. I called my husband, who proceeded to laugh hysterically at the entire story and told me to calm down and go home.

This experience may completely change the way I put kids in the car for the rest of my life.