Black Eyes, Dresses, and Conference

So the first item of business is to mention that Merilee has had a black eye for over a week. It is still bruised but lightening some now. It looked like she had different colored eye shadow on everyday as the coloring changed. We don't know how she got it!I have mentioned before that the girls and I go to the youth center to exercise everyday (except Sunday). We have tried to do this since last June and it has been really hard to not slack off. So, this is the gym where we play ball after the girls have sat and watched me on the treadmill. There is another big room that we call the "big ball room" because it has big exercise balls. I do step aerobics in there for an hour and then walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes or so. Needless to say, we are all DONE by the time we leave.This particular day we walked to the youth center. We had planned to walk to the park, but it was windy and cold so Merilee begged to go to the youth center instead.We recently had a semi-formal/formal youth dance. I went to chaperon for our young women and it was really fun. I don't have a picture of this occasion, but I wish I did because I wore my prom dress from my junior year of high school. I didn't think it would fit but tried it on anyway and it was even a little roomy. I guess I looked quite young because I was asked to dance a few times and had to politely turn the boys down and stand against the wall. This dance had like 10 chairs for all the adults, so I just wandered around or stood by my young women. I guess that is why the boys assumed I was one of the younguns. Well, after this dress boost, I attempted another dress. This dress was my "get away" dress from my wedding reception. My mom made it for me and it is the first non-formal dress that I loved. I always had poor body image and so I thought all the dresses she made for me made me look fat. But this dress fit me really well. It was also during the "smallest" part of my life. I had lost a lot of weight my first year of collage. I did the opposite of the "freshman 15". So, for my wedding, I was thrilled with my figure. That was a really good feeling until I could not get my figure back after Merilee was born. I had just started to inch back down when I got pregnant with Cara and started to inch back up, obviously. Anyway, needless to say, I have not worn this dress since before Merilee was born!! I guess the exercising is working SLOWLY, but the scale is not the best indicator. Yeah for me! I don't know why my arms look like the Hulk. It's just how they hang I guess?I wore the dress to stake conference, which is a church meeting where all the smaller wards come together in one place. We went out to eat at Applebees beforehand. We have not eaten out as a family in at least six months. I can't even remember the last place we went, so this was a treat. And to document the rare occasion, I took pictures!!

The End

What Merilee Learned at Church

Today during lunch, I asked Merilee what she learned in her class at church today. She started telling me about her "O-nippo-tit" hands and how she was going to help Cara. It took me awhile to repeat what she was saying. She kept saying, "No mommy...nippo"! Honestly, I thought she kept saying "nipple". Anyway, after I was repeating her correctly, she went on to tell me that Jesus had "o-nippo-tit" hands and that made Him strong. And He had to be strong because He had to hold the children. Finally I realized she was saying Omnipotent hands!! Then she started to tell me that when we put little bitty holes in our faces, we bleed just like Jesus did. But she is not going to have bad dreams about that because Jesus was resurrected! She was so excited and her hands and feet were shaking (as some of you can probably picture Merilee when she is excited). I had to document this simple gospel principle as Merilee was learning it!! Maybe every Sunday I will blog about how Merilee describes what she learns in her primary class.

Let's Jump on the Couch!

We had an uninteresting day today, as usual. We went to McDonald's for their $1.59 hamburger happy meals and then to the grocery store. I came home to realize I only have 3 diapers left for Cara and I didn't get any more at the store. OOPS!! Have you seen the new sitcom preview for Motherhood where the lady says she ran out of diapers 2 weeks previous and had been using paper towels and tape? We may be going there tomorrow! After getting home and seeing nothing worthy on TV, Merilee wanted to pull the cushions off the couch and do somersaults. So, I let her and then noticed how many crumbs there were in the couch. So the evening turned into and all out, "vacuum the entire couch", night. I found several hair bands and combs, lots of Kleenex, toy utensils, magnets, puzzle pieces, and a chip clip....no money, darn! Anyway, took some pictures for everyone.

And here is a quick "Bideo" as Merilee would say. If you can get this to work great! I am tired of messing with it right now. I will return to try and fix it later. My appologies.


Sorry it is dark...it's night-time!

What to Blog About

I am having a very difficult time thinking of things that would be blog-worthy to post. Nothing exciting has happened since Christmas. So, here is the boring list of the things we have been up to lately.

We took a day trip to Keystone lake and walked around. Then we cooked outdoors. Oh, here is a scary story. We found a sorta remote spot on the lake that is usually used for swimming, but since it is winter...there was only one other car there to do some boating. We set up camp and put Merilee in a tent to take a nap. Cara had fallen asleep in the van, so we left her in there with the windows down slightly. Justin and I walked down to a beach area, not far, but still out of site from the tent and van. We were only gone about 10-15 minutes when we see Merilee standing with a woman up on the hill-thing. (We were on out way back when we noticed this). I yelled for Merilee to stay where she was and the lady left as soon as she saw we were coming back. I got really nervous and ran up to Merilee to have a talk about staying where you belong and "strangers". Merilee said she couldn't find us and crossed the parking lot, walked down the parking lot a distance and found these people. She told them she did not know where her mommy and daddy were. She said the lady told her she would help Merilee find us. Cara was safe and sound and so was our stuff. I will never leave like that again. It was really stupid to think that they would be okay for even a few minutes. Kids are kidnapped every day like that.

We played at a park there for lunch. It was SO windy that day.

What else? My only niece had her 4th birthday. Maren is Merilee's bestest friend. They are so cute together and Merilee really misses Maren when we have to leave.

I finally put all my snowmen/winter things away, since it is getting a little too warm for them to be out. Does anyone have ideas for decoration a small bedroom. I am really tired of ours, but have no ideas on how to change it. Maybe I will post some pictures later and you can give me some makeover ideas.

And finally, I have been working on/worrying about New Beginnings. New Beginnings is a program with my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) that introduces the Girls (12-18 years) into our Young Women's program. We practiced a skit that I wrote for them tonight and it was really fun. Hopefully I can pull everything off the way it is in my head and give the girls a really good experience.
This picture is just for fun. Justin was very proud of Cara eating the biscuits and gravy he made. She took about 2 bites and then had a fit. He was so glad he could substitute the milk for soymilk. I gave him a hard time because that is the easiest substitution to make. Anyway, he called and told his mom all about it and that made him feel better.

Merilee's First Haircut

Well, I have actually cut her bangs many times, but never the overall length of her hair. I wanted it to be long and grow until it caused problems. Well, the other day...we had a problem. Merilee twirls her hair while she sucks her thumb (very annoying and frustrating). She frequently ties knots in her hair while doing so, but usually they can be undone. However, Merilee gets rid of 90% of the knots herself by simply ripping them out. I find wads of hair in her bed and on the floor. I know, gross!! A few days ago, she had one of her biggest knots yet and I had to take the scissors to her hair for the first time. I thought since I was already cutting the knot out, I might as well trip all the straggly ends off too. I was so mad at her "bad habit" and the idea of cutting the hair that she has had since she was a baby was very sad for me. She cried because she said she wouldn't be beautiful anymore like Rapunzel. I told her that it was HER fault we were cutting it! Anyway, after all was said and done...it is still pretty long, Merilee loves it, and it looks healthier and thicker than it did before. Now, we will see if Cara can hold out for 5 years;)

Yes, I kept all this hair!! I worked hard to keep it this long!

Now it is my turn to cry...sniff, sniff!