Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Pictures
Michael and I went shopping at "Michael's" for some frames and last night he stopped by to help me hang them. Turned out really good. This is the crown jewel. I will have to bring the CD and download the other pictures.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Dieting - Lost 9 pounds
My boss at work did the HCG diet and came in every day and told me about it and how excited he was. I told my mom about it and both she and Michael wanted to do it so naturally I did it too. We started on the 21st. The first two days you eat as much as you can of fats and sugar. I went and had a Big Mac, fries, and chocolate shake. I haven't had that in probably 20 years. Not my favorite but I figured if I was looking for fat, it was a good choice. That evening we went to Red Lobster to celebrate Tyler passing the state written exam of his EMT class. I was so full and was putting the coconut shrimp in my mouth, chewing, and swalling with water. So unenjoyable that I finally just stopped eating. Now of course I wish I could go back and stuff myself. I'm eating apples, chicken, been, and salad mostly. It is only 500 calories a day and I'm adjusting.
Of course imagine my surprise we I got on a scale and realized I had gained 15 pounds over the last couple of years. My big problem - snacking on anything with sugar. We always have meetings or lunches at work. And then there is the snack cabinet filled with sodas (which I didn't drink - no temptation) but candy bars, breakfast bars, cookies, candy, etc. which I devoured on a daily basis. My goal is to get off the sugar and this has really helped. I have not had any sugar for a week, which is a new record for me. The last time I did something like this I lasted four days and the gorged myself on sugar. Then there is the junk drawer at home and in my car (although I rarely eat that). I keep it there for Tyler. I walk in the house and there is a candy bowl full of peanut M&M's.
One of Michael's goals was to stop drinking Diet Coke. He stopped cold and has not had a soda in eight days. We are all doing well and helping to encourage one another. I have to say not always easy but getting easier as time goes by. Yesterday, I made roasted chicken with vegetables and potates, so we could eat the chicken breast and David, Tyler and my father could eat the rest along with a Key Lime Pie from Marie Callendars. We just had our chicken and salad.
As already mentioned I have lost 9 pounds since we started and that is the motivation to keep going. Two more weeks and I can start adding other things. If nothing else it has really helped me to resist my sugar intake and realize I do not need it. Plus, all of my clothes are fitting better.
Of course imagine my surprise we I got on a scale and realized I had gained 15 pounds over the last couple of years. My big problem - snacking on anything with sugar. We always have meetings or lunches at work. And then there is the snack cabinet filled with sodas (which I didn't drink - no temptation) but candy bars, breakfast bars, cookies, candy, etc. which I devoured on a daily basis. My goal is to get off the sugar and this has really helped. I have not had any sugar for a week, which is a new record for me. The last time I did something like this I lasted four days and the gorged myself on sugar. Then there is the junk drawer at home and in my car (although I rarely eat that). I keep it there for Tyler. I walk in the house and there is a candy bowl full of peanut M&M's.
One of Michael's goals was to stop drinking Diet Coke. He stopped cold and has not had a soda in eight days. We are all doing well and helping to encourage one another. I have to say not always easy but getting easier as time goes by. Yesterday, I made roasted chicken with vegetables and potates, so we could eat the chicken breast and David, Tyler and my father could eat the rest along with a Key Lime Pie from Marie Callendars. We just had our chicken and salad.
As already mentioned I have lost 9 pounds since we started and that is the motivation to keep going. Two more weeks and I can start adding other things. If nothing else it has really helped me to resist my sugar intake and realize I do not need it. Plus, all of my clothes are fitting better.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Onkel Michael
helps take care of everyone. While I was out of town he purchased Tyler a new suit for his mission and also got him a Disney light plaque for his bathroom. Thanks!!
St. George Cont.
We also went to the Temple Saturday morning and to a couple of Farmer's Markets. It was extremely hot and dry. We had thought about going for a walk when planning the trip but there is no way in that heat. Had some yummy sticky rice with Mango.
St. George
I went with a friend down to St. George over the weekend to just get away. It was so wonderful that I didn't want to come back and definately not get up for work today. Of course it didn't help that I had to finish reading "Catching Fire," which is the sequel to the "Hunger Games." The next book does not come out until August - rats! If you haven't read them you should. Totally great. So I was up until 1:00 a.m. reading.
In St. George we spent both afternoon out at the pool reading and taking it easy. Simply the best. Friday night we saw "Tarzan" at the Tuacahn. They did a fantastic job. It was sold out and we were on the front row so not only had a great view but nobody bugging us. The second night we saw "Cats." We were on the second row, again great seats, but there were some people behind us who were so loud and just complaining about the show. I don't know why they didn't just leave. Plus I had bugs flying in front of my face and they would not leave. During intermission we moved to the front row. I have to say that I enjoyed the second half much better than the first as I could concentrate on the dancing and singing.
Thanks Linda for planning it all. We have to do it again some time!
Garden
We have managed to get a few things to grow, especially radishes. Things are still coming up. It is simply hard to be patient and wait for everything to grow. Yesterday we used some of the fresh chives from the garden in our yogurt and sour cream mix for the potatoes (yummy) and mixed some of the lettuce in with the salad.
French Bread
I got a French bread recipe from a co-worker and finally gave it a try. It was all looking and smelling good until I tried to bake it and it would not brown. I thought maybe it was my oven and the temperature was not correct but Tracy recalled that they had had that problem the first time as well. I will have to see what his wife did and try again.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
Tyler's Mission Call
There was a chance that Tyler would receive his call while we were on vacation and we checked the mail first thing when we got back. On Saturday the Bishop sent Tyler a text telling him it was in the mail and he should have it on Wednesday. That didn't prevent Tyler from checking the mail every day. Now he can go back to never checking the mail. He and grandma went to a motivation seminar in SLC on Wednesday so I told Tyler I would try to stop by and check the mail during the day but had a really busy day at work and just no time. He sent me a text @ 4:30 asking me about it and when I got home after 5:00 I checked the mail and there it was. I sent him a text. My mom said that he was so excited that he started shaking and luckily it was towards the end of the seminar as he ceased listening to Sarah Palin and was on his phone texting. He got home and b-lined it for his call and said he was going over to grandma's. So we went over and decided to open it at 8:00 p.m. as some friends were coming. Michael was not home yet and his cell had died so I had Tyler wait a little longer but he was really anxious to open it.
He has been called to serve in the New Jersey Morristown Mission and enters the MTC on August 25th. We are so excited for him and think it will be a great place to go. We are already looking forward to picking him up and going to New York. We of course got out our road atlases and looked at every city in New Jersey. He already has everything he needs.
He has been called to serve in the New Jersey Morristown Mission and enters the MTC on August 25th. We are so excited for him and think it will be a great place to go. We are already looking forward to picking him up and going to New York. We of course got out our road atlases and looked at every city in New Jersey. He already has everything he needs.
Carnival Paradise Baja Cruise
I use my blog as a journal of the activities and things that we do and print it out and store it in a binder so I may get a little wordy and usually ignore grammar rules.
Me, Tyler, Michael, David, Mutti, Kristina & Scott went on our first cruise May 31-June 4. I had told Tyler a couple of years ago that when he graduated from high school we would go on a cruise. Although not everything turned out how we planned we made the best of things and had a good time.
We chose the Baja cruise that leaves from Long Beach, CA and stops at Catalina and Ensenada, Mexico which was perfect for our first time. We had an 8:30 a.m. flight so left @ 6:00 a.m. My neighbors decided that night to play music all night long with the base up so my bed rattled all night and I didn't get much sleep. We made it to the airport in good time and met up with Kristina and Scott in the parking lot. After checking in we made our usual stop at Burger King for some breakfast. Tyler wandered around the shops and Scott & Kristina recommended the book "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins, which he purchased. I had a chance to read it on our final day during a four hour layover at the airport. It is fantastic. I highly recommend it, even if it is a teen book. There is a second book in the series and when we got back I went to the library to see if they had it. They did but we were 103 in line for the hold so I just went ahead and purchased it at Wal-Mart. I haven't started it yet because I am saving it for next weekend when I go down to St. George with a friend.
We were on a really small plane but luckily it is a short trip to Long Beach. I was kicking myself later for not adding on a weekend at Disneyland. By the time I had thought about it we already had our flights and couldn't change the tickets.We got to Long Beach and found a van willing to take us to the port for only $7/person. We had a couple of hours before we could board the ship so we walked around, looked at the Queen Mary, a submarine, sat by the water, watched a stupid boat with some fishermen come in too close to fish and the police shouting at them to move on. They did, right in front of the cruise ship. Did I mention they were idiots?
At noon they let us start boarding and we went to the Lido deck and had some Mongolian BBQ, which was so yummy because we were starving. We walked around and familiarized ourselves with the ship. After a couple of hours we were able to go to our rooms.
This was the only negative as the rooms were not how they were described to us and it was really tight. Instead of a balcony we had a window. Instead of bunk beds we had a queen bed. At night they brought in a mattress and put it on the floor. Like I said, we made do and now we know. Of course you do not spend a lot of time in your room anyway. They also didn't have hair dryers and Kristina and I assumed that the other would bring one or there would be one on the ship. For Kristina it was fine as her hair will curl and is long. My hair just gets frizzy and I didn't take anything to put it up with.
We loved Catalina. Tyler did a scuba diving class for non certified divers and loved it and wants to get certified. He is so good with new experiences, does almost everything well, and is willing to try anything. We walked around the shops and later met up with Tyler in the afternoon, had some yummy fish & chips,and rented a golf cart to drive around the island. We were going to let Tyler drive but you have to be 25 or older to drive 5 miles per hour. Whatever!
Ensenada was okay. It was amazing the difference in a community only 70 miles across the border. Everything was run down, people were just standing around and of course there appeared to be only shops willing to barter with anyone. We decided to take a bus out to a blow hole. The driver was really nice and spoke really good English. We stopped a couple of times to buy drinks and use the restroom. My tip is to just remember to always carry Kleenex with you when you travel and so glad I did. Drinks were only $1 but at one place they gave me peso's back. Not sure what to do with those. We spent two hours out at the blow hole which was lined with shops. Everybody had a great lunch at one place. Michael & Tyler had taco's for two which was cooked on cactus and had steak, shrimp, and chicken and looked fantastic. I didn't want any of that but bought a large bread from a baker that was sweet and filled with cream cheese. It was so delicious. I could eat that every day. Mutti bought some too and we both brought it back with us and finished it off. Tyler purchased a necklace for Michelle and of course got shot glasses everywhere we went but other than that we didn't make any purchases. We didn't really see anything we wanted. Kristina and I tried to barter for a Gucci bag but they wouldn't go down in price and as we didn't need it that badly we just passed.
The food on the ship was not anything fantastic, in my opinion, just an abundance of it. The formal dinner had lobster tail which was really good and they had some great appetizers and desserts.
We had purchased some wrist bands but didn't really care for them and used Dramamine instead. It really wasn't too bad. Most of the time you couldn't even feel the ship moving. David got sick the first night after the ship started and was not able to eat dinner but then went after taking some medication was fine. He just made sure he took something and was sure to remind everyone hours in advance that he needed it.
We saw two shows. The first was a ventriloquist and a comedian and both were hysterical. The second show was some singers and dancers and was okay. I enjoyed the steam room and sushi. The last day we just lounged in the sun. It was a warm sunny day and the ship was just crawling so we got a nice burn. Tyler and David played miniature golf and Tyler one each time.
Me, Tyler, Michael, David, Mutti, Kristina & Scott went on our first cruise May 31-June 4. I had told Tyler a couple of years ago that when he graduated from high school we would go on a cruise. Although not everything turned out how we planned we made the best of things and had a good time.
We chose the Baja cruise that leaves from Long Beach, CA and stops at Catalina and Ensenada, Mexico which was perfect for our first time. We had an 8:30 a.m. flight so left @ 6:00 a.m. My neighbors decided that night to play music all night long with the base up so my bed rattled all night and I didn't get much sleep. We made it to the airport in good time and met up with Kristina and Scott in the parking lot. After checking in we made our usual stop at Burger King for some breakfast. Tyler wandered around the shops and Scott & Kristina recommended the book "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins, which he purchased. I had a chance to read it on our final day during a four hour layover at the airport. It is fantastic. I highly recommend it, even if it is a teen book. There is a second book in the series and when we got back I went to the library to see if they had it. They did but we were 103 in line for the hold so I just went ahead and purchased it at Wal-Mart. I haven't started it yet because I am saving it for next weekend when I go down to St. George with a friend.
We were on a really small plane but luckily it is a short trip to Long Beach. I was kicking myself later for not adding on a weekend at Disneyland. By the time I had thought about it we already had our flights and couldn't change the tickets.We got to Long Beach and found a van willing to take us to the port for only $7/person. We had a couple of hours before we could board the ship so we walked around, looked at the Queen Mary, a submarine, sat by the water, watched a stupid boat with some fishermen come in too close to fish and the police shouting at them to move on. They did, right in front of the cruise ship. Did I mention they were idiots?
At noon they let us start boarding and we went to the Lido deck and had some Mongolian BBQ, which was so yummy because we were starving. We walked around and familiarized ourselves with the ship. After a couple of hours we were able to go to our rooms.
This was the only negative as the rooms were not how they were described to us and it was really tight. Instead of a balcony we had a window. Instead of bunk beds we had a queen bed. At night they brought in a mattress and put it on the floor. Like I said, we made do and now we know. Of course you do not spend a lot of time in your room anyway. They also didn't have hair dryers and Kristina and I assumed that the other would bring one or there would be one on the ship. For Kristina it was fine as her hair will curl and is long. My hair just gets frizzy and I didn't take anything to put it up with.
We loved Catalina. Tyler did a scuba diving class for non certified divers and loved it and wants to get certified. He is so good with new experiences, does almost everything well, and is willing to try anything. We walked around the shops and later met up with Tyler in the afternoon, had some yummy fish & chips,and rented a golf cart to drive around the island. We were going to let Tyler drive but you have to be 25 or older to drive 5 miles per hour. Whatever!
Ensenada was okay. It was amazing the difference in a community only 70 miles across the border. Everything was run down, people were just standing around and of course there appeared to be only shops willing to barter with anyone. We decided to take a bus out to a blow hole. The driver was really nice and spoke really good English. We stopped a couple of times to buy drinks and use the restroom. My tip is to just remember to always carry Kleenex with you when you travel and so glad I did. Drinks were only $1 but at one place they gave me peso's back. Not sure what to do with those. We spent two hours out at the blow hole which was lined with shops. Everybody had a great lunch at one place. Michael & Tyler had taco's for two which was cooked on cactus and had steak, shrimp, and chicken and looked fantastic. I didn't want any of that but bought a large bread from a baker that was sweet and filled with cream cheese. It was so delicious. I could eat that every day. Mutti bought some too and we both brought it back with us and finished it off. Tyler purchased a necklace for Michelle and of course got shot glasses everywhere we went but other than that we didn't make any purchases. We didn't really see anything we wanted. Kristina and I tried to barter for a Gucci bag but they wouldn't go down in price and as we didn't need it that badly we just passed.
The food on the ship was not anything fantastic, in my opinion, just an abundance of it. The formal dinner had lobster tail which was really good and they had some great appetizers and desserts.
We had purchased some wrist bands but didn't really care for them and used Dramamine instead. It really wasn't too bad. Most of the time you couldn't even feel the ship moving. David got sick the first night after the ship started and was not able to eat dinner but then went after taking some medication was fine. He just made sure he took something and was sure to remind everyone hours in advance that he needed it.
We saw two shows. The first was a ventriloquist and a comedian and both were hysterical. The second show was some singers and dancers and was okay. I enjoyed the steam room and sushi. The last day we just lounged in the sun. It was a warm sunny day and the ship was just crawling so we got a nice burn. Tyler and David played miniature golf and Tyler one each time.
High School Graduation
Tyler graduated from Mountain View High School in Orem on May 29th. He did really well this last semester and worked hard to get all of his work completed. We need to have him take his EMT state final now. We had lunch together as a family at one of our favorite restaurant La Caterreta and Tyler tried a Peruvian drink made from corn that was really good. Graduation was held at the Marriott Center.
Seminary Graduation
Tyler had seminary graduation on May 23, 2010. It was held at the Stake Center. We are really proud of him for completing four years of gospel study in preparation for serving a mission. Afterwards the family came over for ice-cream and cookies.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Pictures
We had some pictures taken from JC Penney photo studio and they sent me a link so we can view them online for a limited time. Here is the link:
Click here and enter your Customer Name (HEIDI SANDERS):
https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0722116552JCP
I will post about our trip and the latest news after I get caught up this week.
Click here and enter your Customer Name (HEIDI SANDERS):
https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0722116552JCP
I will post about our trip and the latest news after I get caught up this week.
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