My Other Daughter

Yup. Take one look at this photo and tell me this sweet girl shouldn't be my own flesh and blood?

It's sad when you have to rely on your brother and his wife to create a child that actually looks like me.

I just love my niece Briana. She's one of the spunkiest, funniest, happiest 15 year old girls on the planet. There isn't a family function that goes by that she's not there to give Grandpa Dahl a huge hug and to just make everyone happy with her presence.

I'm glad I'm your aunty Briana! And my "other" daughter! :0)

Project 365 Upload #1

I figure while I am waiting for the CK Project 365 kits to come back into stock, I'd better start storing my information somewhere so I don't forget the reasoning behind why I took the photos. I love taking photos, and am excited about the idea of taking a differnt photo every day during the year of 2009.

So far I've done well! I just hope I can keep it up, because I am sure that this will be an album that I will cherish forever.

I love photography, and I generally strive to take pretty good photos for scrapbook purposes, but this album is going to feature a lot of "real life" and that means not having perfect lighting conditions or perfect subject matter. But real life....isn't that what it's all about?

Welcome to Project 365

Jan 1st: Moments after midnight, someone in my in-laws neighborhood bringing in the new year with some "illegals".




Jan 2nd: Aaron, starting the year out with a bang...or a bump anyway. He found a jar of my leave in hair conditioner and was laying on the ground. He held it up above his head and accidentally dropped it prompting an instant goosegg that just about made Tracey pass out.




Jan 3rd: Our first completed puzzle of the holiday season. What is it with puzzles? I can go an entire year without thinking about them but once Christmas hits a puzzle is a must!




Jan 4th: 11:00 church. After years of being stuck with the 1-4 church block we finally graduated to 9:00 church in October of 2008. While we were hoping to stay at 9:00 this year, we did move to 11:00. In all actuality it was nice not having to be so hurried in the morning.



Jan 5th: School is back in session! After 2 weeks of a Christmas break, school started up again. I really love having the kids around, so it was hard to see them walking out the door to the beginning of the rest of the school year.



Jan 6th: We're starting the year off with a bang! After a nearly $4,500 dental year last year we thought we'd jump right into 2009 with another dental expense. Aaron had extensive dental work done in Aug. of 2008 and was in question for a pulpotomy (baby root canal) for one of his front upper teeth. It finally came time to get it done. Nothing a little sedation and $300 can fix!



Jan 7th: 2009 is the year that I strive to get my body back to where I want it to be. While I've made great progress after having peaked at 215 pounds with my pregnancy with JM, I still want to lose more weight. I'm pleased with my hard work and determination that has brought me to my current size 10 and weight of 172 pounds, but I know with a little more effort and dilligence I will look better than I ever have!



Jan 8th: The long awaited arrival of Traceys new DSLR finally occured! Today the Canon 5D came to reside in our home. Tracey is SUCH a spoiled stinker, yet if he can continue to make money for our family with his gadgets then I truly can't complain!




Jan 9th: 2 years. TWO YEARS of living with a horrid blue bathroom and I had finally had enough. While showering I stood looking out of the shower stall envisioning my perfect bathroom. That's all it took (in addition to being incredibly bored!). I finally took the plunge and began the facelift of our master bathroom!




Jan 10th: Who can say no to a little Rock Band? Jana and Bryan and their boys came over to play Rock Band with us. I can't believe that we've been "neighbors" since the beginning of October and we've had such few opportunities to hang out with each other. I really love having them close, and love that they are a part of our family.

My Maestro

Last night as we were trying to say our family prayers, JM kept interrupting. I had no idea that we have such a little composer on our hands! (Let alone I had no idea he figured out how to turn on our keyboard!)

I was laughing so hard that I made Tracey use his new 5D to film it. Sure didn't have to twist his arm too hard.

And yup. Missing lense life has begun. I think my 50mm got swiped and taken to work with him today.

Let it snow...let it snow...let it snow.

Wow. Snow. Not my favorite thing for sure. Yet we do seem to have an abundance of it. I guess that sort of comes with the territory of living in a city that doesn't care about plowing itty bitty culdesacs until SO much snow has fallen that they have to pull out the bobcats to do something with all of it.

And how did we rate? Getting all of the snow dumped right in front of our house!

Actually the kids have been having a ball with it and I'm sure if I was a kid again, I'd be out there non-stop, climbing, digging, sliding on the massive mound of snow.

So for the next few days at least (or months with my luck) we've got recreation, right out of our front door!

Weigh In Wednesday #1

Well it's a brand new year so I figure what better way that starting it off by a visual documentation of where I am at with a scale that is actually accurate! As much as I wish my former scale was accurate, since it weighed me in a few pounds lighter, I am loving my new scale that weighs me dead on with the one at the gym, AND tracks whether I've lost or gained in between weigh ins.

Let's just say winter hasn't been too favorable to me. I really miss running outdoors as I swear with all of my being that it the best way to lose weight and keep it off. I've read that it is from many different sources, and from personal experience I will vouch that everything I've read about running is true.

So, here I sit. Middle o' winter and not being able to run outdoors as much as I'd like, which is sad, but at least I haven't gained wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much over the holidays. I've managed to pack about 4 pounds on my hiney in the month of December, but I've already lost a little bit of it, thanks to being very diligent at going to the gym in this new year. In fact, at one point on this very scale, which I got for Christmas, I weighed in at 178.5. Granted it WAS in the evening and I'm pretty sure I had my jammies on. Nevertheless, I do feel like I'm in the groove, and will hopefully see some good results this year. I hope anyway. I swear though, being this old makes it tough for losing anything except my mind! However, I do feel pretty dang good at how I look for being a mom to 5 children. My hips and abdomen may never be the same, but I've got 5 beautiful creations to remind me every day that my body is not what it once was and that is OKAY! The benefit of having each one of them far outweighs the body I once had.

So here's to a new year of Weigh in Wednesdays, and no you aren't going to get a visual documentation every Wed. For some reason I just don't feel like being so public about it since it's been a struggle the past little while. Maybe when I reach 165 I'll throw you a photo. THen again....maybe not!

Good luck to all of you dear friends and your quest to be healthy!

ROCKS

Rocks I tell ya...ROCKS. They MUST have been the secret ingredient in all of the food that I've eaten over the past few weeks, cause I really can't think of any other explanation for having gained 4 pounds over the past week and a half. I mean seriously? It couldn't have anything to do with eating out WAY too much, eating junk food like it's going outta style OR polishing off the last of a box of nasty chocolates could it? No. I'm telling ya, it must be rocks.

Here's hoping it warms up soon, cause running is my best tool for losing weight and keeping it off. For some reason the treadmill just isn't quite the same.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wow. I can't believe that it is 2009! Honestly. Where DOES the time go? I remember as a child thinking that there was no way the world would still be around by the year 2000. Now I am thinking, do I even REMEMBER the year 2000?

We had a great evening last night. I spent most of the day in my kitchen yesterday creating a little of this and a little of that and thoroughly enjoying my new kitchen knives that are beyond sharp! In fact I think I enjoyed them a little too much, because I kept creating and kept creating and pretty much ended up with enough appetizers to cater a small party!

I have to say that my very favorite creation was my Southwest Egg Rolls & Cool Avocado Dip. Granted I decided to bypass the avocado dip and shoot straight for the knock off of the Cafe Rio house dressing.




We went to G&G Lee's for the night along with Tracey's sisters and their families. It was fun. Chaos with 8 small children, but fun.




We ate until we were sick. We played games and then more games. We ran outside at midnight like crazies making as much noise as we could, which in turn scared the bejeebies outta Tess, and then went to bed.

Today I started the new year off to a bang by waking up at 5:30 (thanks JM), then going to the gym with Tracey. We then took the kids to go and see Bedtime Stories which made me laugh out loud far more in a movie than I have in a very long time. (Even though it was quite cheesy!)

Anyhow, what better way than to say goodbye to what was an incredible year and to say hello to a new year surrounded by the people I love.

Happy New Year!



Southwest Egg Rolls & Cool Avocado Dip

2.5 C shredded cooked chicken.
1.5 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
2/3 cup frozen corn, thawed
2/3 cup canned black beans, rinsed & drained
5 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. grated lime peel
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 pgk. (16 oz.) egg roll wrappers
Oil for deep-fat frying

Dip:
1 cup ranch salad dressing
1 medium ripe avocado, peeled and mashed
1 Tbs. minced fresh cilantro
1 tsp. grated lime peel.

In a large bowl, combine the first 10 ingredients. Place 1/4 cup of chicken mixture in center of one egg rol wrapper. Fold bottom corner over filling. Fold sides toward center over filling. Moisten remaining corner with water; roll up tightly to seal. Repeat.

In an electric skillet or deep fat fryer, heat oil to 375 degrees. Fry egg rolls, a few at a time, for 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Drain on towels.

Meanwhile, combine the dip ingredients. Serve with egg rolls.