Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

• Slip on shoes
• Breakfast drinks
• Dangling earings
• My jar of fireflies
• Velcro
• Giggling
• My favorite crochet blanket
• Bobby pins
• The guy in the blue SUV that let me go in front of him yesterday
• It feeling a little more like spring this week

Black Belt Leadership Program

Jackson has really taken to karate. He's doing great. He applied for and got approved to be in Black Belt Leadership. Which allows him to start training with weapons, wear a blue Gi, attend Leadership conferences, and help lead his class. 

To get into Black Belt Leadership, he had to fill out an application, put together a 'before karate' vs. 'after I'm a black belt' comparison board, and pass a one on one interview with his instructor. Most of the other comparison boards have a few pictures or things written on them so his instructor loved that he completely filled his board. She was also impressed with how well he executed  moves during the one on one interview.

Last Tuesday Jackson was presented with his Black Belt Leadership in front of his class. My brother and his girlfriend came with us that day. (Thanks to my brother I was finally able to get him in karate, since he's helping me pay for it) Jackson has gotten to help lead the class twice already. I love the look on his face, he is so proud of himself and he's working hard to prepare for the tournament in May.

Festival of Colors

 Today was so fun! We celebrated Holi, the festival of colors at the Sri Sri Radha Krsna Temple. It was great. People from all faiths, ethnicity and age came together to celebrate. It was a fun way to bring in the new spring season. I've always enjoyed learning about other people and cultures and think it's important for my kids to be able to experience new things too.

After a quick explanation of what Holi is, they had a wonderful message before the countdown (to throw the colors) saying, everyone has their own talents and you should find a way to use them for good and help others.

Everyone was happy. Smiling. Laughing. Even in a crowd that large I did not hear one foul word, a disagreement or even a baby cry.

Looking forward to going again next year.

 Dancing in front of the stage:

Since we were close to Springville, we stopped to visit Grandma Madsen & cousin Jessie's graves before heading home.

tired Jackson... and poor side of my car! haha

Earth Hour 2011 Official video

First day of Spring

This last Sunday was the first day of Spring. We have had some beautiful days lately so had high hopes of spending the day outdoors with some fun spring activities but, mother nature had a different plan all together. The inside of the house looks like spring but it was cold, rainy & gloomy outside.

We headed to the craft store instead of playing outside and I let the kids have free pick of the entire store. Any project they wanted...within $5. They both spent a long time carefully choosing their own projects. One large thing? A few small things? Paint? Markers? Something to play with? Or something to decorate with? I enjoyed watching them go back and forth across the store to compare their different options, only to find something new and start the comparison all over again. Jackson ended up with a few wooden animals; snake, scorpion, crocodile and  package of different colored paints. While Ashleigh chose a couple resin figures, markers, and package of googlie eyes.

After the craft store, we walked next door to the pet store. We are planning on getting a dog soon (which they have wanted for years) but the household battle remains: big dog or small dog. They had fun looking at all the animals (the snakes were Jackson's favorite and Ashleigh loved the puppies) and cool accessories (some of the pet outfits are just as fancy as people clothing now, it's crazy). The kids saw the cones to go around a pets neck and decided to try it out on Ashleigh. They crack me up.

After being out in the rain and gloom, hot chocolate was in order by the time we got home. I whipped up a few mugs of cocoa while the kids covered the table with some newspaper. They spent a couple hours just talking, laughing, painting and gluing. Definitely not the afternoon I had planned, but still fun. Hopefully it will start to feel like spring again soon!

Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

• Having a park in our neighborhood
• Both kid's schools are walking distance from our house
• Pink tulips
• Daffodils
• Growing sprouts
• Great teachers
• Spinach dip
• Veggies on the grill
• Love notes
• Food Network 

Biopsy

My biopsy was today. It was not fun. It's very scary when your doctor is standing over you with a needle in your neck and gasps. Apparently the mass they need a biopsy of is so close to my trachea that if I move the slightest bit due to swallowing or an involuntary muscle reaction, it can pierce my trachea and cause major complications. The doctor tried four times but due to the location was having trouble getting a good sample. It's not a simple, put the needle in and pull it out procedure. It's in there for a good few minutes each time poking, prodding, digging around. Not fun. Worse part is the doctor didn't think they got what they need so I will end up having to do the whole thing over again under heavy sedation next time.

I do have to say that the doctor and assistant were fantastic but I'm hoping they got enough to test because I really don't want to do that again.

Bieber Fever?

A huge windstorm kicked up yesterday while I was at work. Naturally, my car is covered in a layer of dust from the construction site across the street. Ashleigh decided to take FULL advantage of it. Across the entire hood of my car she wrote with her finger in the dust, "I (heart) Justin Bieber". Thanks a lot Ash! Guess  who's helping me wash the car now! haha

Parent Teacher

I'm a proud mama tonight. Jackson is doing so well in class. This teacher told me, "he's a teachers dream" He is at the top of his class in all areas, he's eager to help, so polite and everyone wants to be his friend. Also he is reading at a fourth grade level! Ashleigh is at a ninth grade level, so both of them are two grade levels ahead! Way to go guys.

Of course we had to visit the book fair. It was buy one get one free this year. I also had a $2 off coupon for giving money to the school for their fundraiser a couple weeks ago.  I bought a New York Times best seller series; Guardians of Ga'hoole by Kathryn Lasky. It was a set with the first three of the series, which has been made into a movie. Perfect timing since we have finished our last 'bed time' book. After a long day, it's so nice to snuggle up in bed and read a chapter together every night. I'm looking forward to watching the movie after we read all three books. We also bought a  book called, Flawed Dogs by Berkeley Breathed which looks hilarious. Jackson also picked a bookmark (with a shark on it) and an eraser (which looks like a $100 bill). We got everything for about 9 bucks. What a steal.

Pray for Japan

I've always had a hard time with massive devastation. Not that it's easy for anyone but my heart just aches for the people of Japan. The pictures and videos that have been coming out of Japan are hard to comprehend. I was in an 7.1 magnitude earthquake and it was terrifying; no power, clasped buildings, buckled roads, collapsed bridges, aftershocks, and wondering when they were going to stop. Maybe that makes it hit a little closer to home. Also, having family on that side of the world; makes it personal. It makes me realize how vulnerable we all are.

How does a country even begin to recover from this? New Orleans is still recovering from Katrina; five years ago. Haiti is still destroyed, now a year after the earthquake there. This will take a massive effort. A solid wall of debris; as far as the eye can see. Boats in the middle of town, cars at the bottom of the ocean, homes and the entire contents of family's lives shattered into a million pieces and scattered as the tsunami traveled with the speed of a jet engine. Unfathomable.

My maternal instinct and the need to provide for my family make pictures like these frightening. Family emergency kits are burried under crushed houses. Gardens smothered with debris ten feet high. Grocery store shelves empty. There is no preparation for this type of catastrophe. The kids and I have decided to donate the money we have been saving for our Operations Christmas Child boxes to the American Red Cross to help with disaster relief. We have saved about $50 but every bit helps and I'm going to donate though my work so they will match dollar for dollar. While we were talking about it, Jackson went into his room and got the money he was saving for a new toy he wanted, and added it to the jar. He told me, "helping people is more important".

I'm sitting in cozy pj's with my kids safely tucked into bed down the hall. While halfway across the world lives have been lost or forever changed. Japan braved; earthquakes, the tsunami, and now nuclear radiation. I feel privileged. My biggest worry is what's for dinner, finishing up the laundry, or waiting on some test results. It just doesn't seem right. These people are in my thoughts and prayers, please keep them in yours as well.

If you are ever having a bad day; if you are stressed out or things just aren't going your way: write down your problems and put them in a pile with the rest of the world's, I guarantee you will want yours back. I can't stress enough; live your life to the fullest. Enjoy everyday with your family. Eat together, use your 'fancy' plates more often and light candles at the dinner table. Play & laugh together everyday. Never let a day go by where you don't tell the people you love most exactly how important they are to you.

"Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery."

Thank you but really, lets be original people.

Watch out for the spikes

Our family night was fun this week. We made homemade coconut milk.  We tasted the coconut water right out of the coconut but decided it wasn't too good that way. The coconut milk was much better though.









For a few months, the kids have wanted to try this yellow fruit covered in spikes, every time they saw it at the grocery store. So we finally gave it a try.  It is a Kiwano horned melon. We had no idea what to expect. It was all slimy and full of seeds. We didn't think it had much flavor. Ashleigh kind of liked it since she kept picking at it all night. Jackson just liked the skin of the fruit and kept making jokes about not needing a knife or scissors because we could just use the horns on the fruit. haha

Lets play a game

Ahh. The weekend. Time to catch up on blogs. Busy week; all I made time for was my Thankful Thursday. I've been trying to get to bed around 10 PM which cuts my time by 2-3 hours every night. The sleep has been nice though.

Ashleigh doesn't usually play xbox but she wanted to try a  new game a few days ago and wanted some help passing a level. I was cooking dinner and Jackson was doing a project for Karate at the time. So she asked Rusty if he would get on the game and help her. She is so funny to listen to! haha. I told her to be careful not to scream in Rusty's ear through the microphone while they were playing...she gets very into it apparently.

As soon as Jackson was done, he got on the game too. They were both so focused. I'm pretty sure they didn't even notice me taking a picture.

Enjoy it.

Enjoy life. Make the most of it. No one else can make you happy; it comes from within.

Build people up, don't break them down

Put other's before yourself...often

Show/tell the people you love that you love them everyday. Because everyday is precious and we only have one chance to live this life.

Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

• Tucking my daughter into bed and her talking to me about everything on her mind.
• Shadow hand puppets
• Nightly family prayers and the thoughtful things my kids say
• My kids having good manners (I watched Jackson hold the door open for all the kids in his class when I dropped him off at school last week)
• Large memory cards & my new camera
• Finding a killer deal on new clothes and feeling great in them
• Random text messages that brighten my day while I'm at work
• Getting off work early
• Ashleigh offering to make dinner last night (French bread pizza & orange julius)

Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

• Birds chirping
• New cookbooks/recipes
• First flowers of spring
• Fresh mint
• Seeing green grass again
• Wreaths on the front door to welcome you home
• Movie night
• Flavored popcorn
• Trains
• Love

Bump in the road

Last year, during a routine check up, my doctor noticed that my glands were swollen on the left side of my neck. She had me schedule an appointment for 6 weeks later so she could follow up if they were still swollen and then refer me to a specialist. On the day of that appointment, they weren't swollen anymore, so I canceled my appointment.

One day in January, I got a headache. It didn't go away. Some days were worse than others, but for weeks on end my head hurt from the second I woke up in the morning to the second I fell asleep. Quite often it felt as if my head was literally going to explode. I have gained a whole new appreciation for people with chronic pain. I called my doctor to get the name of the specialist she was originally going to refer me to.

I saw an E.N.T. (Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist) a couple weeks later and told him that my ears and sinus felt a large amount of pressure, in addition to the headaches.  He looked in my ears; no infection. He held a little machine up to my ears to test the pressure and told me something was "off".  Ear drums, normally,  wiggle/shift with changing pressure however mine didn't move which was essentially creating a mini pressure chamber inside my head; thus the headache and feeling of my head about to explode. He put me on an anti-biotic for two weeks to see if an infection in my sinus was causing a blockage, causing a build up of fluid behind my ear drums and not allowing them to move correctly.

The headaches got better. Most days gone completely, however I could still feel the pressure in my sinuses and ears and once again my glands were swollen. I had a C.A.T. scan done to make sure there weren't any abnormal tissue/growth in my sinuses. It came back fine. A week later I had an ultrasound and blood work done to test my swollen glands and thyroid (which could be causing the swelling). I heard back today. I have a nodule/mass over a centimeter in size in my thyroid which shouldn't be there. Now I am scheduled to have a biopsy done. I'm scared.

I have this horrible picture in my head of the doctor coming at me with a HUGE needle and plunging it into my neck for this biopsy. I know that's not the case but the visual is certainly there.  I can hear music in the background too, you know the one... in scary movies as the killer sneaks up behind their unsuspecting victim. I did some research and the procedure is fairly simple. Most likely it is nothing to worry about.

Anyway, just having lost someone to cancer this last year makes my mind go crazy with thoughts and emotions when I myself am now being tested for cancer. The chance of it actually being cancerous is low. My doctor said, even if it is cancer, it would be very treatable. Good to know, but still scary. The biopsy is scheduled for later this month.

Grandma's little visit

My Mom stopped by this afternoon to visit. I was nice. Snacked on a new recipe I made. Looked at my brother & girlfriend's pictures from their trip to Hawaii. Then Jackson asked if she wanted to play xbox with her. They played Halo and it was hilarious.

My mom:

Ahhh!

Where are you?

Where am I? Oh, there I am.

Am I a robot?

Who is that, is that me?

What are all those blue things? Are they bombs, can I run over them?

What does this do? These are robot buttons.

Good times. I'm sure Jackson will have fond memories of playing and giggling with grandma.

Juice/Detox

I just finished an all juice diet for the week to flush my system of all the nasty chemicals and unhealthy food I pump into it on a daily basis. I usually eat healthy but almost nothing is organic anymore. I caved in once and had a tiny but healthy snack on day 4. The first day was only water. Everyday after was juice, made at home, from fresh organic veggies and fruits. It was hard.

Avoiding the temptation to eat was hard. I was still cooking meals everyday for the kids. I had two luncheons at work to attend for awards I won last month (I ordered what the kids would like and took it home to them). But even harder was dealing with the detox feeling while still being a nice and pleasant mommy. I was tired...constantly and cranky/very irritable. I had to make a conscience effort to act my normal self even though virtually everything was getting on my nerves. I usually don't get to bed until midnight but every night this week, after tucking the kids into bed at 9, I promptly tucked myself in as well. I was so tired; felt like I hadn't slept in days. The body defiantly goes though a withdrawal and I could feel it all week.

I'm going to slowly start incorporating food back into my diet tomorrow. Next week, I am going to try juice for breakfast, a raw vegan lunch, then normal dinner with the kids at night. I love that Ashleigh makes juice on a daily basis.. Jackson is still working on it. He loves orange juice so I can juice a leaf or two of spinach and he can't even taste it. I just want my kids to live healthy lives and grow up with good eating habits.

Jackson was taking full advantage of the situation and trying to break my self control. "Mmmmm,  this looks so good", "This tastes delicious mom, you should try some", what a little punk! haha

Fresh air & food

It's warm outside. We drove to the store and back with the windows open. Jackson tried sticking his head out the window like a dog. It was comical. We bought all fresh organic fruits, veggies & nuts. Yum. The windows are open in the house and the sunshine is pouring in. Ahhhh, fresh air. I'm enjoying the simple things in life and life is good. Oh and I've been feeling this song lately. Enjoy.

The Cave, Mumford & Sons

Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

• Skype
• Rain
• A nice breeze blowing the curtains
• Paint rollers
• Ziplock bags
• Straws
• My kids hugs & kisses
• Solar lights
• Warm socks
• Homemade popsicles