The Unlucky Luck of the Non-Irish

Even hours later I'm still so sad about this.  Earlier today we took our boys to the mall here in town for an Easter celebration.  It was just fine and dandy.  They had some free food, free crafts, and a free raffle for the adults.  A few minutes before the raffle started Clark left to go pick up our Bountiful Basket, it has to be picked up within 20 mins. of the appointed time or they give it away.  I stayed just to make sure we didn't win a great prize, and to let the boys continue to play.

They gave away a $20 Perkins gift card, a blanket, my friend Megan won a $50 gift card to Chuck E. Cheese, and then the big prize of the day $300 cash money!!!  And guess whose name they called?  Clark Johnson, come on down.  Of course Clark had just left, and you had to be present to win.  I ran up and said,  "he's my husband, he just went to the bathroom, let me find him."  I then proceeded to start walking towards the restrooms and quickly dialed Clark to see how far away he was.  Ethan was so excited he started running to the bathrooms yelling, "Daddy, Daddy, you won!"  The announcer gave him about a minute, and then the whole crowd started counting down from 30...when they got to one my face was bright red, everyone was staring at me and I said, "he still needs a couple minutes."  The announcer then said, "wow, if he needs that long in the bathroom he better see a doctor."  He then proceeded to pick a new winner...and it was not me.  Ethan cried a lot, I just got new contacts so I'm pretty sure people thought I was crying too.  It was quite the spectacle.

Why oh why didn't I go pick up the basket?  Why didn't we wait until after the raffle?  We could have bought 20 Bountiful Baskets with that money?  So sad over $300 lost that were never ours to begin with.

After the mall fiasco we went to the St. Patrick's Day parade/celebration downtown.  As we were leaving I commented to Clark that we didn't have the luck of the Irish today.  Right then Caden found a piece of candy on the road leftover from the parade.  He picked it up and in his excited, deep voice/grunt yelled, "I am so lucky, I found a piece of candy."  At least someone in this Johnson family had a little St. Patty's Day luck!

Caden with his lucky treat!

Right before we lost $300, Quinn wasn't amused.

Isn't life a "HOOT?"  Hope you"owl" have a great St. Patrick's Day!

Spring Slimdown Challenge Week 6

This week I earned 87/89 points.  I lost a point for not enough sleep one night, and also a point for going over my calorie goal one day...it was an accident (I forgot to log half of an avocado I ate and didn't remember until the next morning).
This week I lost 1.8 lbs. and 2 inches.  My total lbs. for the first 6 weeks is 11.2, and 27.25 inches.

Clark was out of town earlier in the week, he got home late Tuesday night and I still hadn't exercised.  I was so tired, it was the last thing I wanted to do...but with some encouragement from Clark I started my workout at 11:30 pm.  Once I finished I felt great, not because I think that one workout will change my life, but because I met my goal to never miss an exercise point during this 10 week challenge.

This week's group challenge is the toughest yet!  NO SUGAR!!!  And I mean none, no high fructose corn syrup, no honey, no agave nectar...nada.  I of course was nervous about going a whole week without chocolate!  But beyond treats, this challenge is tough because sugar is added into everything.  After doing a quick inventory of my cupboards and fridge I realized I'm eating sugar all the time it is in salad dressing, condiments, a can of beans, peanut butter, tortillas, the bottle of organic minced ginger I just bought, my healthy 9 grain bread even has organic honey!

Last night I  was hesitant to go to bed knowing the new day was my first without sugar, it was like saying good-bye to a good friend.

It will be tough...but I will do it!

Canned Heat in His Heels

Last night I took the boys to Burger King for ice cream cones (Caden earned his 40 stars on his potty chart, woot, woot!).  They had an 80's music radio station playing, I was loving the tunes...and so were the boys.  When "Mr. Roboto" came on Ethan couldn't contain his body anymore.  He was up and dancing.  This is a pretty common occurrence around here, so at first I didn't even really notice.  Then I realized what he was wearing.  The Walmart snow boots, tight jeans, and too small shirt made me laugh!

Then I realized he looked just like Napoleon Dynamite!!!

And then I realized his moves really resembled the moves from the movie (although he's never seen it).  And then the camera came out...it was too good to pass up!

He's got canned heat in his heels tonight!

Spring Slim Down Challenge Week 5

Week 5 went well, I earned 89/89 points.  I lost 2.4 lbs. and 3.5 inches.  I was surprised that it only took a day or two to get used to drinking a huge amount of water everyday...I'll probably continue to do so.  This week's group challenge is to do this little yoga stretching routine every morning.

It is weird that our week for this competition starts on Friday.  By Friday I am tired, and just want to play because its the weekend...but I do better the entire week if I have a good weekend.  So off to get my hour of exercise in (then maybe I won't feel as bad eating half-price appetizers and playing BINGO tonight at Applebee's).

The Magic Suitcase Returns

Grammy got to Greeley 2 weeks ago on Monday night.  We were out to dinner with Lucy's family so she beat us to our house by a few minutes.  We decided to not tell the boys that she was at our house for a big surprise!  As they walked up to the garage door to go inside, they heard a knock coming from the inside (it freaked Caden out).  They opened the door to see who it could possibly be...and discovered Grammy!  Oh the jumping and cheering and screaming that went on was awesome!  Caden didn't stop bouncing the rest of the night.

We had so much fun that week!  The boys of course loved getting little treats each day from the magic suitcase.  These pictures are from the last day as she was packing up to leave.  This was the "big" surprise!  I love their faces in these pictures.
Closing their eyes...waiting, waiting: 

What?  A Jake sword?:

This is the best day ever (Ethan was in shock):

Everyday we had a fun adventure with Grammy.  Here are a few highlights.  One day we took the boys to the Children's Museum in Denver.  We stayed pretty much all day and they loved it.  My favorite laugh of the day was when they put on the worm costumes to crawl through the worm holes.

Cute little firefighters:

My little pizza chef:

I loved that my mom caught Ethan wiping his nose on his shirt...this habit of his drives me crazy!

We got some crazy snow storms while my mom was in town so we got a few little sledding outings.

Cute red cheeks.

Tired little boy throwing a fit with his face in the snow.

Every morning when Ethan woke up he would jump in bed with Grammy to snuggle.

Oh look, fast asleep.

Quinn loved having Grammy visit!  He smiled and giggled for her all the time.

We all have so much fun with my mom...wish she could come every week!  When she left Ethan cried, and Caden walked around muttering, "goo-bye magic suitcase, goo-bye."  We love Grammy Tammy!

Cousin Buddies

Some of my best childhood memories are from times that I spent with my cousins.  Cousins make the best friends.  Ethan refers to his cousin Henry as his best buddy cousin, they got to be pretty good little friends when we lived in Durango for a few months last year.  So he was thrilled when Henry, along with Seth, Sam, Daniel and Lucy got to come visit us for a few days last weekend.

Cute cousins at the Denver Children's Museum.  

We all had a great time!  Caden loves his cousin Sam.  He was so excited to get included in the big boys' sleepover on the floor of the basement.  

Clark and I had so much fun playing Last Chance with Lucy and the older boys.  Somehow Seth beat us all quite handily one round, it's probably a good thing they don't live in Vegas!

I loved getting to go on a kid-free walk with Lucy one morning.  I wish we lived close enough to be daily walking buddies!  

And just like the good old days of playing so hard with my cousins, my little guys were completely worn out.  Little Caden even feel asleep at the swimming pool.  

Thanks for making the effort and the drive to Greeley Lucy!  It was a great weekend.

Spring Slim Down Challenge Week 4

This week I earned 89 points, that is 100%.  To get the full exercise points for the day I have to do 60 mins. 6 days a week...last week my personal goal was to have a good gospel study at least 20 mins. every day.  On Wednesday night at about 11:00 pm Quinn was having a rough time and I still needed 10 more mins. of exercise and my gospel study.  I laid down by Quinn and read scriptures, as soon as he was asleep I jumped out of bed and quietly started lifting weights in my dark bedroom.  I made it 5 mins. before he woke up crying.  I jumped back into bed so we wouldn't wake Clark up, got him calmed down and then jumped out of bed to finish my crunches and weights...at this point it was midnight.  I kept giggling to myself about how insane and funny this was...but I got my full points!

Today's weigh in I was down 1.2 lbs. and lost 2 inches.  My total loss for the first 4 weeks is 7 lbs. and 21.75 inches.

Right now I feel really motivated, I feel like I am working hard, I feel like I want to just try an insane crash diet and lose 10 lbs. a week.  Then I remember I am nursing a baby and I can't, I need to do this slow and steady and be healthy about it.  I keep reminding myself he is only 3 months old, I didn't really start losing pregnancy weight with my other boys until they were much bigger babies.  This is a journey, not a sprint.  And I am feeling stronger and more energetic than I was 4 weeks ago, so it's all good.

The group challenge this week is to take your weight, divide it in 2 and then drink that many ounces of water everyday.  Ummm, that's a lot of water for me...here's hoping I don't drown.

If you are curious about what this challenge is here is a quick summary.  Basically I'm in a group with 12 other women, we all paid $25 to join the group and the top 3 point earners will win cash prizes.  We have a blog we have to update at least once a week to encourage and support each other.  At the end all of our points we earn each week will be added to 10 points given for each % of weight and inches lost.  This is how we earn points:

• Log your food and/or calorie intake at least 5 days a week. 25 points. (This one is an all or nothing weekly goal.)
• Drink at least 64 oz. of water a day. One point a day if accomplished. 1-7 points per week.
• Daily Exercise. Up to 5 points a day, 6x a week. 1-30 points per week. (20 min=1 pt., 25 min=1.5 pt., 30 min=2 pts., 35 min=2.5 pts., 40 min=3 pts., 45 min=3.5 pts., 50 min=4 pts., 55 min=4.5 pts., 60 min=5 pts.)
• Sleep at least 7 hours a night. 1 point a night if accomplished.  Not necessarily consecutive. 1-7 points per week.
• Group Weekly goal. 10 points.  
• Personal Weekly goal. 5 points. (1 point a day for five days out of the week.)
•  Weekly Weigh In. 5 points. Weigh & Measure every Friday morning. Track your numbers on the Personal Record Sheet.