Easter

Well, I'm a little late...but wanted to share some pictures of the kids on Easter! We had a very good day. They got up to see what the Easter bunny brought, and shortly after we got ready for church! I must say this was one lesson I was glad I was teaching in Primary. It really forced me to study the scriptures regarding the Resurrection and surrounding events. It's amazing how much I can learn from these Primary lessons.

Taylor and Hollie each got a new bike and Kambri got some doll stuff and a cute little Panda broom. (She LOVES helping Mommy sweep!!)

Then we went to my parents house and had dinner and an Easter egg hunt! Everyone had a great time!

Kell's Journey- Biggest Loser Contest

Ok! Well, I found a Biggest Loser Contest Blog thing that some people are doing and it inspired me to create a Biggest Loser Contest at work. Today was the official starting day and weigh-in. I'm really excited for this and having positive support around me at work...plus, Shaun signed up to do it as well. We are going to run it for 12 weeks, it actually ends on my b-day June 6th! Fancy that, huh?!

I am ready to get this weight off, I've had it and I'm miserable. As much as I'd love to win the jackpot at the end (which is somewhere around $400'ish) I ultimately want to instill some healthy habits for myself and my family. I've done Weight Watchers before and although I'm not actively attending meetings, that's basically the background behind what I'm doing. I want to be and FEEL in control of my body, that is such a powerful feeling! I plan to take pictures tomorrow, so I have my starting pictures...and then I think every 1-2 weeks along the way I'll do pictures as well...pictures don't lie!

So a quick recap for the day...for breakfast I had a bowl of cereal, for lunch a Slim Fast shake, and for dinner...pizza and breadsticks. And although the dinner part sounds terrible, because of my choices earlier on in the day, I believe I still kept to my daily points allowance. That's going to be something I'm going to work very hard on, is tracking my points! Wish me luck! :)

Little Ones

I confess...this blogging isn't going as I'd planned! I'd really hoped to keep things up to date better. Life has been insane. I know, excuses excuses, but total truth!

These are pictures my sister and I took about a month or so ago when she came to play! It is so stinkin' fun being an aunt! I have so much fun with my niece Haddie when we can finally get together. My sister only lives 2 blocks away, but it may as well be 2 hours because we still have a hard time finding the time to get together like we'd like to!

I thought I'd try catching you up to date on what the kids are up to these days as well!

I truly enjoy being an aunt and having a LITTLE baby around again, but it sure is nice to know I'm done with that little stage! :) I'd much rather play when I want to and then let mommy...aka Lindsay...have the responsibility of being up all night with her!! Haha!!

Hollie and Kambri love playing with baby Haddie. Taylor of course is no where to be found in these pictures. He likes to stay to himself in his downstairs "apartment"...or so we call it jokingly! :) (I think he just likes the quietness down there, versus the zoo upstairs!!) He is so grown up. He has such a caring heart and is SOOO incredibly smart! He ceases to amaze me with the things he comes up with for his age. When I can get him alone, we have such grown-up conversations about lots of things! I'm so grateful for him and the big help he is to me!

Kambri tries to be such a big help with Haddie! She just adores her. It's amazing how young their nurturing instincts kick in! I have a picture of Haddie on my fridge and I'll say to Kami "where's Haddie?" And she goes and points to the fridge. It's so darn cute! She's getting so big and I'm so enjoying every little thing that she does! She isn't really talking yet. She does say "mama" which is so cute and then of course her jibberish that SHE knows what she's saying, if only the rest of us could understand! She is smart though and understands most of what is said around her. It's hard to believe she's getting so big. I still remember the day I had her like it was yesterday. I am holding on to every stage she goes through, and each little thing she does as we truly feel she will be our last!

My Hollie! She's quite the character. She definitely keeps me on my toes and does try my patience as much as she thinks she can possibly get away with. I'm pretty certain she'll have middle-child-syndrome! Haha! We do have a great time together and just like with Tay, when I get her one-on-one, we have some pretty grown-up conversations. She LOVES to shop! We went to Wal-Mart the other day and she wanted to look at the clothes. Well, if she'd have had her way that day, she'd have had hundreds of dollars worth of clothes. She is 110% girl, which makes it a lot of fun!

This picture was actually taken around Christmas time. My dad is a photographer (let me know if you need hookups) and we were trying to get one of all the grandkids together. That was fun! It's quite the ordeal trying to get 4 kids all looking in the right direction at the same time...and then keeping Kambri and Haddie happy at the same time!

We do have fun getting together most of the time. It's funny how adding another kid to the picture can create that much more noise. We just got together on Sunday at my parents house and at one point we had all the girls sqwauking in one form or another! Wouldn't trade any of my kids for the world though! I can't imagine my life without them. My family is truly my reason for living.

A little twist- Kell's Journey

I decided I'm going to make an attempt at making a little twist with my blogging. In addition to posting about my family, I'm going to include you along on my journey to weight loss. So, my weight loss journey will be labeled with "Kells Journey" and the others will be family posts.

Yes, I am throwing myself out there, almost as bad as being thrown in a cage with lions. Haha. I am doing a lot of self-analyzing and really trying to figure things out with emotional eating. I'd love to hear any of your comments and ideas. I'm hoping to lose a pound a week....with a long way to go! So I will tell you whats working, whats not...and my weaknesses.

A friend of mine and I are going to start focusing on 3 areas of healthy lifestyle changes a week (but we complete each daily). With this we're going to get $1 a day for each day that we complete 3 of our specific areas. It's things like: eating 3-5 fruits/veggies, drinking 6-8 glasses of water, exercise for 30 mins+, binge free, etc. Hopefully this will help the focus to be with making healthy changes, versus "going on a diet", or the such...none of which seem to last any significant amount of time.

So once I get a get a hang of this, my posts won't be near as lengthy. I saw someones blog before that was dedicated to her weight loss journey. She was dedicated and took pictures each week in the same outfit and it was amazing to see the noticeable changes along the way. I am not brave enough to do that...but I hope this will help me to be more accountable. I was grateful that she shared her story...with the ups and downs. It makes you feel more human and dare I say, normal?! :)

So for today...nothing real noteworthy...other than the fact that I remained binge free for the day and really limited unnecessary eating. The next 2 days I work and those days seem to be easier on me, why is that?! Tomorrow I'm going to be binge free, drink my water, and exercise for 30 minutes.

Please leave me comments of any sort. Ideas, inspiration, even to let me know if in any small way I help you want to do better. Makes it all worth the while.

My crazy kiddies

My kids are so much fun! This was a funny moment. I called on my way home from work and asked Shaun to have the "kids" empty the dishwasher. Well, all the kids WERE helping empty the dishwasher, even little Kambri! They just do the cutest things sometimes.

It's amazing to me how the cute things never cease though, even as they get older. I can honestly say with every stage they are in there is something that just brings a smile or a laugh!

Taylor is so grown-up and so incredibly smart. He says things to me that just blow my mind that a 10 year old knows. I enjoy the grown-up conversations that we are able to have together and the thoughtful boy that he is.

Hollie is my glamour girl. She's very spontaneous, and keeps me guessing about her! I thoroughly enjoy my one-on-one time with her. She definitely likes to do girly things like shopping, making jewelry, helping me cook, etc. And we both value our game time together at night after Kambri goes to bed.

Kambri is such an energetic little girl! She does the cutest things though, and I find every little thing that she does so funny. She loves to play in her room and make all kinds of messes, climbs in the cupboards that HAVEN'T been child-proofed yet, plays with her babies, and even walks around telling everyone to "sshhh" with her finger up to her mouth as she says it! I find myself relishing in all the little things she does...I'm not sure if it's because she's my last and I'm just holding on to every moment, or what...but she is such a joy in our family!

Ok, so I realize blogs are meant to be shorter, not a novel...but now I'll do better! Please leave me comments, I'd love to hear back from you.