Healthy

 I have been going to the gym like crazy!  I got a membership at planet fitness and have been logging all my food in My Fitness Pal again.  I kind of fell off the wagon for the winter but am back at it.  It's definitely fun when I have buddies at the gym with me, but it's hard to get everyone's schedule to match up!

Everyone's always working so hard, it's just getting there that's sometimes the battle!

This is me on the treadmill.  I am always terrified I will make one wrong step and go flying off it...

I have been logging my food into my calorie counter.  I also like to focus on protein and try to have lots of it.  Here is a picture of my fridge after picking up my bountiful basket...  

I signed up to run a 10K with my sister in July, that's my goal now.  I am running for that.

Nature Center

We went to a class at the Nature Center with our friends, Emery and Kaden.  It was a lot of fun!  We did a craft, sang songs, and learned about how things grow.

We did a nature walk and Sophie got a little grumpy at the end.

Thanks friends!

Scooter

Here is a little clip of Sophie learning to ride her scooter.  She's getting better but doesn't get the lean-to-steer concept.  Gosh, she is so cute...  

Easter

Saturday I was working but my cousin took Sophie to Home Depot to do the craft and an Easter Egg hunt.  They also played with bubbles in the yard.  I loved seeing all the cute pictures of their day!

Sophie took a little pit stop to say a prayer!  :)

We had a great Easter.  I had to work but was glad to come home and look at our Easter Baskets.  Sophie had a fun day at church and looked so pretty in her new Easter Dress!

The Easter bunny brought some books, a dream light, juice, coloring supplies, playdough, candy, and a scooter!

Sophie was so excited, it was so much fun!

We went right out and tried her scooter.  Her Grandma brought her some Yo Gabba Gabba stuffed animals too.  She liked the scooter but can't quite figure out how to steer it (which is also a problem with the bike).

FHE: The Story of Easter

FHE tonight is all about Easter.  There are some really great video clips.  Here is our lesson:

Song: When He Comes Again
Scripture: John 20:11-17
Lesson:  We are going to tell a story and use the pictures on pg 58-59 in the Gospel Art Book

Point out details in the picture as you tell the story of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection very simply.  The following is an example:

When Jesus died, His friends were very sad (have the children make sad faces). They put Jesus’s body in a tomb, which is like a cave (point to the tomb in the picture). A big stone was rolled in front of the door (have the children pretend to roll a big, heavy stone). After three days (have the children hold up three fingers), two angels rolled the stone away. Jesus had come back to life! (Point to Jesus in the picture.) He was resurrected (help the children say “resurrected”). Jesus’s friends were very happy! He was alive, and He would never die again!

Mary was one of Jesus’s friends (point to Mary in the picture). She was sad when He died. When Jesus was resurrected, Mary was the first person who saw Him. She was very happy because Jesus was alive (have the children make happy faces).

Tell the children that because of Jesus, everyone will be resurrected and live forever. Have the children make happy faces again.

Also a little talk from President Hinckley


Activity: He Sent His Son

Treat: Decorating Easter Eggs

Ballet

I found a dance program at a local rec center.  It's just 9 weeks long and they practice once a week so I thought that would be perfect to see if Sophie likes ballet.  It's a lot of fun to watch her.  I {of course} think she is so cute and all the little gals make me laugh!  Sophie loves it and sometimes dances to the beat of her own drum.  She is so cute and really looks forward to it.

Most days go really good.  Sometimes the teacher gives too many instructions for Sophie to follow, but for the most part she tries to imitate what she sees and I think it's adorable.  I think we will definitely look for a more permanent dance class in the Fall.  

Some classes don't go so well, and she does get a little bored with the bar:

The many {cute} faces of Sophie!

She is getting so big!  This girl loves to take pictures of herself and make funny faces.  I love it.

Goodbye Grandpa George

My Grandpa passed away late Monday night.  He had fallen at home in the middle of the night early Monday morning.  He called my mom for help and when she went over, he was laying with his legs in the shape of a 4.  He was in so much pain, my mom called the Hospice nurse and they thought it was best to call 911.  He went to McKay and was evaluated and had a fracture in his pelvic bone.  It's a very painful fracture and he was admitted.  It took several different medications to get him comfortable. He was very sleepy and sedated.  I went to visit him Monday morning after a staff meeting and he wouldn't wake up.  My mom asked to hold on giving the morphine to see if he would wake up at all, but when we went to visit as a family that evening he wasn't responsive.  He was breathing very labored and although he wasn't restless, you could tell he was ready to go.  We stayed for several hours at his bedside.  Sophie had treats and was watching some shows.

After we left they realized his IV had infiltrated and he was becoming very restless and my mom said he was miserable.  He still wouldn't wake up but he was having an increase in his labored breathing and was grimacing.  They finally got an IV and gave him a big dose of morphine.  That helped to get him comfortable.  They turned down the oxygen at my mom's request and he started to breath shallow and less and less.  He passed away that night shortly after.  He is in a much better place and he is with my Grandma and all the other relatives.  I know that Heavenly Father has him out on a big Massey Ferguson Tractor in the fields farming.  I know that I can be with him again someday.  We have been telling Sophie that Grandpa is in Heaven with Jesus.  I think she has a limited understanding of what that means.  She was so special to him.  We were over there so often and they just had a unique, special relationship.  He loved her and she would brighten up his entire day.  We will miss Grandpa so much but are trying to realize and understand that he is in a much better place, has his mobility back and is so much happier.

Despite a few dramatic speed-bumps in the family, we were able to clean out his home and prepare for the funeral.  The viewing and graveside services went really well.  What an honor to have the Military there and to have such a spiritual flag ceremony.  We will miss you Grandpa!

Sophie looked so cute for the funeral.  Afterwards our close family got together to hang out and it was fun to spend time together and think about Grandpa and all the great things he taught us and the example he was to us.

Dino Park

Today our friends came to the dino park with us.  It was awesome weather, I even wore shorts!  What a fun time!  Sophie loved having Emery there today and it was fun to talk with my friend, Whit!

What cute girls!

FHE

We had a fun family night tonight!  We watched a Mormon Message video called I am a Child of God and then had a lesson about how Heavenly Father knows us and loves us.  Sophie has done so much better with family night, I was so surprised!!  We did the quick activity at the end for toddlers but it was short lived and she lost interest quickly.  We read a comic and then headed out for some more fun!

For our "activity" we went to Classic Skating afterwards.  First we went skating for a while.  Then they had a few 'races' between boys and girls: with skates, with scooters, and then a sock-race.  Sophie did the sock race and it was hilarious!  Look at this cute video.  It's hard to tell but she is the littlest one third from the Left with a navy outfit and pink socks.  (She's the last one).  We both thought it was so dang cute!

Here are some more pictures.  Sophie loved to skate but they didn't make real skates small enough so she used the little toddler ones that fit over shoes.  We had pizza and pop, then she spent the rest of the time in the bounce-house area and the "Pirate Cove" playground.  It was so much fun and after a few hours it was time to go and she was SO SAD!

On the way home we got a McDonald's Ice cream cone and a gas-station treat.  Lots of fun!

Matching

My talented, thoughtful mom made us these matching outfits.  Aren't they fun!?  It's a little tight on my gut, but I finally got the courage to wear it and didn't pass out from sucking-in the whole three hours  :)
  Everyone thought they were so cute (notice even her baby has one).  Thanks Mom, you are so great!

Date Day

It's not very often I have the weekends off!  We actually had a massage schedule today but they called just a few hours before to say they realized they had double booked the massage room and asked us to reschedule (we had a groupon, so I'm sure we were a lower priority).  So instead of the massage part of the date, we decided to go to RC Willey's and pick out a new couch.  Ours is really small, from our starter home, and we have been planning to use our little tax return for it.  It was fun to try them all out and see what cool features they had.  It was hard to choose but we found one we really liked.  We are going to think about it and decide next week.  

After our couch trails, we went to Five Guys and had dinner.  We also got a shake at Kirk's Drive in.  This was the activity: "Get the Scoop" with truth and 'would you rather' questions we talked about while we were eating.  It was a fun date!

Dinosaur Park

We went to Sophie's favorite place today!  I was bummed there was still so much snow, especially on the playground, but we still had a blast!  She LOVED it.

Treehouse

Our Treehouse Membership expired today so we thought we better take advantage one last time.  Good thing I got the membership at a discounted rate because we didn't go as often as I hoped.  Sophie had the most fun today though, and I definitely think it's aimed at preschool and kindergarden-aged kids.  She loved playing with the legos and making tall towers.  She liked to dress up and get behind the stage and pop her head out too.  We didn't do the craft today but she has had fun doing that before.  She loves the farm and the kitchen area too.  

We spent most of our time with the baby dolls in the pretend hospital.  She just loved it there.  I'm talking - we were there a solid hour!  She loved to wrap them up, weigh them, feed them, and hold them.  It was hard to talk her into going somewhere else.  

We checked out the music room and played in the big tree.  She also loves to dress up like a fire-man and sit on the pretend firetruck they have there.  It was a good way to spend a day off together!

Cousin Sleepover

We had Lex up for a sleepover.  It was spur of the moment but we had a lot of fun.  Sophie loved having her over and we did lots of fun things.  Friday Kale went to Salt Lake to pick her up and we hung out and played.  

Saturday we went to the trampoline place in Roy.  It was snowing like crazy, but we were so glad to do something active!  Sophie has never been and loved it. 

Lex loved doing tricks in the foam pit.  It was a lot of fun!

The next day we didn't have church so we did a whole morning of crafts, games, and even did a treasure hunt!  

We made necklaces, colored and painted, and made a dinosaur habitat!  Ha, this was Sophies.  Lex's was awesome.

Kale's fam came up to get Lex and we had dinner.

I had to work at 4pm and was glad I survived my shift since it was such a busy day!

FHE

For February I have been working on doing more of the things I know I should be doing... specifically with Church.  We have tried having family home evenings on a more regular basis.  We have gotten two done so far.  We did them at the end of last year a time or two, and they went terrible, so I gave up.  I had a break and recharged and have prepared them at a different angle: a 3-year old angle.  Something short, sweet, and fun!  Our attention span here averages about 10-15 minutes.

I have the FHE resource book but find myself wanting something more 'modern'.  You can access it online though and it can give you a great start for topic ideas.  I also can't believe how much I use the iPad or my phone for things.  I have the Mormon Channel App, LDS hymns, and the Gospel Library on there.  They all come in handy!

I will share the two FHE's we have done. 

FHE #1: Nature - Evidence of Heavenly Father's Love

I read from the FHE manual a highlighted a few things about the lesson that I liked for our family FHE.  We talked about things around us that are nature related, especially our favorite things in nature.  Then we got a big poster board and magazines and cut out examples of nature.  We also watched THIS short video clip on how the earth was made.  Quite honestly it was a complete disaster.  Sophie was being so grumpy.  She doesn't like to say prayers, so that was a bad start.  Then, not that we could even sing, but the thought of music she hasn't asked for is enough to put her over the edge.  By the time I finished reading... (we had to physically keep her sitting with us as she cried and yelled almost the entire time) she was in such a horrible mood she didn't want to do the fun part.  Kale and I went about it though, and by the end she thought it was pretty cool to use glue and actually participated...

FHE #2 Prayer

Well since, last time had gone SO WELL... (yeah right) I was fearful of putting in a lot of work and having high expectations.  I searched pinterest high and low and didn't find much that seemed like it was ready-made for a 3 year old.  So I took some ideas and information from a few sites and made my own lesson about Prayer.  I found THIS cute printable and send it to Kinkos to be laminated so we can use it to plan our lessons.

I also found some really great stuff for the lesson from HERE.  We went through the lesson (I adapted it more towards us and added things I had found on LDS.org ect).  It was going ok, Sophie was protesting by putting her hands on her hips, crying, or trying to leave.  After the lesson, we read this fun story.  I had printed it out and Sophie was mesmerized by the picture of the boy in the elevator.  Things were looking up!  Then watched an awesome video about Prayer.  This was the part that Sophie finally stopped protesting and loved the music and the birds in the video.  After the video, we listened to "Sweet Hour of Prayer" as we colored and cut out/glued THIS fun craft!  Sophie loves using scissors (a little too much sometimes) and glue!  

What a relief FHE went a LITTLE better!  

#3 Our Next Lesson is on Love One Another - Love at Home

We listened to "Love One Another" and read a scripture about that.  The lesson is about Love at Home.  I kind of combined THIS lesson with this TALK and some other ideas I ran across while searching.  We're going to read a poem by Shel Silverstein about Hugs, cause those poems are always fun.  Our activity is going to be a LEGO one.  I used THIS but added a lot more adjectives to put on the side of the legos for our tower (just a few examples that are more specific: keep journals, obedience, be good influences, invite priesthood into our home, fasting, carrying out family traditions, sharing our testimony, ect).  

My daughter loves puzzles so I printed THIS on cardstock, cut it out, and stuck some magnets on the back so we can use it all year long on the fridge.

Then we made cookies (and ate them too!)   

Romantic Bowling Date Night

Kale and I spent Friday-to-Saturday on an overnighter in Salt Lake City.  We stayed at Little America Hotel and had a great time.  It was a snowy day so besides leaving once for treats at the little souvenir shop, we stayed in and utilized our Netflix to have a TV marathon.  It was so nice to spend the night out and not be tempted by the dishes/laundry.  Sophie stayed with her Grandma (or should I say Grandma stayed with Sophie) and they had a blast too while we were gone.  We had a couple's massage Saturday after we checked out, and ate at one of our favorite's, Olive Garden!  It was great!

 Kale and I had an early Valentine's date tonight.  It was a lot of fun!  Kale opened the surprise date envelope last week so we had over a week to look forward to it.  I got the date idea from Love, Actually's website and knew it was one Kale would love!  It was a Romantic Bowling Date.

We had a pack of skittles and each color we would draw would indicate a 'type' of bowling (ie. Granny bowling - using both hands).  It was a BLAST!  Kale got lots of purples but never got any better at backwards bowling :)

I, on the other hand, had my best score when we were bowling silly!  Hmm... I don't know what that says about my bowling talent.

We pigged out at The Pizza Factory after and came home to Sophie and one of the BEST BABYSITTERS EVER having a 'tea party' (which by the way, Sophie hasn't been able to stop talking about how fun the tea party was).  It's always nice when you can leave and not worry about your little one being taken care of.  Thank you to E for being such an awesome babysitter.