Forced Perspective

I just love these photos. Forced perspective is so much fun!

Some copied from thechive.com.

First project for the year....

Reupholstering my kitchen chairs!! I've been wanting to do this for a long time.  We've had the table/chair set for at least 6 years and the seats were terrible. So I woke up, went to the store, picked out material, and spent the next 8 hours fixing my chairs. All 8 of them.

the start of the process...soo many staples to remove.

The BEFORE (and this chair seat looks pretty good compared to the othes)

the AFTER! looks soo much better huh?

Now that they are done, I have put my table and chairs up for sale on ksl classified.  Our table is too big for our family, and needs to go to a good home.. But my chairs look soo good!! Maybe someone will want to buy them??

**other sad note:  I'm trying to get my little shitzu adopted, she needs a good home that can take care of her. So, if you know anyone that would like a mellow dog (more like a cat than a dog), here's the ad link.

facebook statuses 2011

The end of a year and the beginning of something new! I 've been doing these every year. I think it's fun to have some of your favorite statuses on one page, kind of like a journal page.  Here are mine.

Halloween Star: Latest craft project

Have I talked about Pinterest before??  Love this website. Finally have one of my sisters addicted to it as well.  Anyway. I was browsing the different "pins" and I found something I just had to try myself. (pictured below)

The directions were pretty simple. Find a Star (found mine at Hobby Lobby), Halloween paper, and ribbon.  Cut and place paper on the star (used both Elmer's adhesive spray and mod podge).  Add ribbon, and voila, your own Halloween star.  Honestly was surprised by the lack of paper options at the store for the Halloween holiday.

Above is my star finally hanging on my front door.  I'm actually very happy with my Halloween star. Love it so much I may make one for each holiday or season...as they come. Probably cost me around 30 dollars to make the star.  Now keep in mind this is a large star, not a small little star. It's about the size of a regular wreath.

Now if I could only finish the other projects I've started.....

weekend with old friends

    Not very often your friends come back into town.  Our old next door neighbors are visiting from Texas! We haven't seen them for a couple of years, so happy to see them again.  My twin sister was a gem and was willing to watch both of my girls for a night so that we could be kid free to see our friends.  Have you been to Tin Roof Grill?? Only my second time, and I loved it just as much as the first time.  We knew that our friends would appreciate the food.  Afterwards, we took them back to the house to share this bottle of wine.  Fat Bastard.  I've been wanting to try this out for over 9 months. Sadly disappointed....but didnt' want to waste it either.

     And what's a trip back home without trying our favorite place? WingNutz. 

Also important to mention from the weekend?? After our little snack at WingNutz, my husband sold his red honda shadow motorcycle.  Great motorcycle, but haven't used it very much the last few years.

the boys

     The next day before we picked up our kids from my sister, my husband and I made it up to Oktoberfest at Snowbird. Nice to walk around and try the food without chasing 2 little girls. After we picked up our girls, we met up with our old neighbors again for the Pi Pizza.

     The were so nice, they gave my daughter a belated bday present...the hello kitty skeleton backpack. AND  they didn't want my youngest to feel left out, so they gave her a giant gummy bear.

    The night ended with satisfying everyone sweet tooth at Marble Slab.  Definitely miss our old next door neighbors, always fun to see them. Loved the weekend!

Red Rock Relay

Red Rock Relay

    Over the weekend, my husband ran the Red Rock Relay near Zions.  The race starts in  starts in Brian Head Resort, through Dixi Nat'l Forest, Cedar Breaks, Snow Canyon, St George, and then ends at Zions National Park.  He was apart of a 12 man team, and each person on the team was assigned 3 different sections (aka. legs) of the course.  Overall they will run 187 miles in about 2 days.

this is one of two vans for team weezomg weasels. 

   Started early Friday morning when I dropped him off, and they were on their way to southern Utah to start their adventure.  My husbands first leg was #7, Navajo Ninja, which is about 6 miles up hill up to Navajo Lake.  From what I heard, he was also running in a rain/thunder/lightning/hail storm during this leg.
   Next was #19, Super Iron 8, a midnight run and his favorite of the 3 legs. This stretch was about 8.3 miles, scattered with cattle guards and an old Iron Town. 
  Last of all (yay the 3rd leg!!) #31, Telegraph Tease.  This heads up to Coral Canyon, this run is about 5.2 miles with some serious inclines.

For each leg in the race they finish they get a mark on their leg. The number represents which leg they finished.

  After everyone is finished, the van of Weezing Weasels went out to celebrate with dinner, (hoping a shower) and much needed rest.  Sunday morning they drove home.  The van my husband was in ran about 100 of the 180 miles between the 2 vans, and he also played "water sprayer" for one of the teammates. Guess her sweat glands don't work, so he ran next to her and would spray her with water to cool her off.

The team from the sun van back from red rock relay.

  Good Job handsome! very proud of you.

Garden update

   Do you remember when I wanted to start a garden? What was I thinking! haha. Sadly that green thumb trait was not passed down in the genes.  What's left of my garden? The pumpkins have taken over, literally...I have a pumpkin patch, not a garden.  The birds ate my cantaloupe and watermelon seeds, my tomatillos fried, didn't give enough room for the onions, but the tomatoes and the jalapenos are still alive and kickin. Really hoping my pumpkins turn out.

my little pumpkin growing....I think I've found 2 total.

Dragonfly around my garden.

Button Flair

   On Facebook, there's an application called Pieces of Flair that I thought was very fun to show off your personality. Basically you browse, pick, or make your own buttons, then you place them on your own cork board to display for all friends to see on your profile.  At least friends were able to see them before the last upgrade.  Anyway, the application is still there! I thought I had lost it. SO, this post is more tor me than anything else to remember the buttons I once had on facebook for a few years...and haven't updated in a few years too... oh well. All about the memories!

the UP house pics

   My older sister shared a link to a news article in the Trib, here.  How could I not go find this house?! The neighborhood is close and we didn't have anything else going on today. So I packed up my girls, parked at the library, played at a park for a little bit, then walked across the street to find THE house.  Do you remember the Disney movie Up? where the house takes flight with hundreds of balloons? Loved the movie.

   How cute! LOVE the house. Bright colors, fun details, adorable.  They didn't have the cute mailbox out, but they are still working on all the details before the parade of homes at the end of the month. (the guy in the picture is wiring for the doorbell.)  From the article, it says they are hoping to have balloons on the top of the house on the weekends.

Loving the rainy weather

   Mixed with this heat we're getting some rain! Loving it. The other night, I took this picture of the passing storm and rainbow.  Just think it's really pretty view from our backyard. The storm was quick and the rainbow was big and bright (didn't get the camera out in time for the double full rainbow).

Phase One: Salsa Garden.

Only taken me a few years, but I finally started my little garden.  My husband has always kept a piece of our backyard for my garden, but it has been used as a dumping ground for the grass clippings for years. So instead of using the whole piece of land for my garden, I decided to use pots for the salsa veggies. 

Over the weekend, my girls and I picked out which vegetables we wanted to try...big boy tomatoes, tomatillos, red onion, 2 different kinds of peppers, cilantro, and basil for fun. Then when we were walking around the plants, my girls spotted pumpkins, watermelon, and cantalope--please mom? pleeeease. How could I say no.  After I finished planting the different plants in their pots, I went to moving aside the grass clippings and digging dirt on about 1/3 of the piece of garden.  I'm pretty sure the melons need more space than a simple pot provided. ;-)

I'm honestly crossing my fingers that the melons grow, the soil in this area is very rocky. At least I'm trying something new, and I hope the plants live! (never had much luck keeping plants alive...)

A quick story to remember..

This story might be funny just to me, but I wanted to remember it all the same..

After I took my daughter to school yesterday I vaguely remember what I did with my car key, I was sure I left it in my sweater jacket.  Anyway, then the phone rang, I ran to answer it (my sister on the phone), but as I was running there I kicked something and it slid under the oven.  My sister remembers this cause when I answered the phone I told her that I kicked something, just couldn't figure out what it was. Well it wasn't until I was rushing to get in the car to get my daughter from school that I realized that I could not find my car key. (I say key 'cause it's only one, no other keys, no key chain..just my key.) I looked everywhere with no luck.  At this point I'm getting close to being late to pick up my girl.  I almost had to wake up my bro-n-law to use his car--did not want to do that. Then it dawned on me, I kicked something under the oven on accident. seriously!!  I pulled out the bottom drawer, and there it was....found my car key, barely making it to the school to get my daughter on time. whew. I had a good laugh from this.

**correction:  should mention this is my husbands key to the car, the ones I lost back in September are still missing. You'd think I would have found them by now... yay. nope.

Movie Review: Rio and my update

 Rio
I could not wait to take my girls to see this movie! We have watched the trailers for months.  So after my oldest was finished with school, I scooped her up and we drove to the theatre!

The movie was cute.  The opening scene was seriously these exotic birds doing a musical number. Shows how a baby blue macaw is captured from the wild, and then taken to a small little town in Minnesota where he grows up domesticated.  The relationship between the Macaw (Blu) and his companion is adorable.   Sorry, to make a long story short, they go back to Rio to have him mate with the only other blue macaw (jewel) known to exist. Then the show gets interesting when both macaws are stolen and have a crazy adventure through Rio meeting friends along th way.  Did I mention that Blu, the domesticated macaw doesn't know how to fly?

Some of the voice talent? Jesse Eisenberg as Blu, Anne Hathaway as Jewel, Jamie Foxx, Will.i.am (am I supposed to know who that is?), George Lopez as the Toucan, Tracy Morgan as the slobbery dog, then Jane Lynch and Wanda Sykes have small roles.

Anyway, my girls and I thought the movie was cute, and loved seeing all the colorful exotic birds (even if they were cartoons).  7/10 stars.

Update:  As for the last week, the girls and I have been keeping busy.  My oldest loves the rec centers day care, so we've been going at nights. Some of the classes they offer are intense, but I miss my bootcamp workouts. Let's see...I've also made homemade applesauce--didn't want to run to the store just get one bottle of it, and I had apples on hand. that was fun and easy.  Needed the applesauce for a a cookie recipe! I went 8 weeks without a cookie and I caved today. They were my "healthier" oatmeal chip cookies, and soo good. But that's enough sugar for a while. I'll have to run longer this weekend to make up for the cookies. lol.  My oldest starts soccer this weekend. Tonight was her first practice.  Actually excited to see how the soccer game goes tomorrow. The coach was good with the kids and actually teaching them how to play the game.   that's all for now.....

New Recreation Center

  A new recreation center has finally opened up in our area -- about time! I've been there almost every day since it has opened...except for today. I took the day OFF today.  My girls absolutely love the in-door pool.  Sadly, I haven't taken any pictures, but I did take this off the recreation centers website...such a fun pool, huh?

  Oh. I have taken a couple of workout classes already.  There is this step/kickboxing class that is awesome, hard, but you feel great after. And they have a mommy/me water class that I took my with 3yrold....hoping she'll get more comfortable with the water. So far I'm loving it.  Since they are new, they have a few more kinks to work-out, but overall...good experience.  The gym equipment is top-notch, touch-screen features, own tv channels, running track--11 laps = 1 mile, aerobics room is huge, spin (bikes) room, rock wall, basketball and racquetball courts.  Missing a hot tub...oh well, can't have everything. lol.

  Quick fun story about my little one.  We were in the mommy and me water class, and I kid you not...my 3yr old looked at the cute teenager boy with her big blue eyes, dimple smile, and giggled. Totally made him blush. Then she continued to FLIRT with this kid. I could not stop laughing and it became a game to her (my bad).  She would try to catch his attention and laugh again.  I was purposely trying to HIDE behind my friend Ashlee so he wouldn't be in her line of sight. Seriously...she's three!...it was hilarious. She's too young to start this. lol.

  My girls and I are hoping to be there a few times a week just to go swimming, and I may try out a couple more classes, and run on the treadmills. Do you have a pass? want to go?! let me know!

Does anyone read my blog anymore??

Boot camp week1 (aka Hell week)

Hell Week is OVER! can I hear a Booyaaah!!

Not sure what that means? let me explain.

   Boot Camp with Jess is a 6 week commitment of military style training. So it's an hour a day, Monday-Friday. One of Jess's motto's is "Give me 6 weeks and I will change your life."  Not only are you committed to the style of training, you commit yourself to a new diet plan (no breads, pasta, dairy, or soda). seriously....finding a variety of food that doesn't fit in those 4 foods has been frustrating...only so much chicken and rice one person can eat! 

   For the 1st week, new PT's are required to wear these 30lbs vests during each training session.  You never really know how much 30lbs is until it's on your shoulders for an hour. lol. These are tough sessions, when you are not on the treadmills (learning different cadences), you are doing weights--they focus on different muscle groups each day of the week. Every night I left my body felt like jell-o, my legs had shine splints (but you still have to do it), and you just want to crawl into bed when it's all done. 

   Along with the vests, you are learning/memorizing different things to say to your instructor.  For example, if he asks you what are the 4 food groups we are not allowed to eat, you say "Bread, Pasta, Dairy, and Soda." In that order. or you have to do push ups.  Another example: What are the 3 things we live by?  Improvise, Adapt, Overcome. Also in that order, or you have to do push ups. IF you call him "Sir" you have to do push ups.  If you make any mistake...guaranteed push ups. hahaha. Oh and the Monday you start, you bring in a list of food you ate over the weekend, anything he doesn't like, 10 push ups EACH. *Luckily my husband warned me and I only had to do about 60...I've seen some that have done over a hundred.

   Also on the first week of hell week, all new PT's are required to attend Friday mornings training session at Murray Park (6am-7am).  This is our LAST time wearing the 30lbs vest.  So the newbies are required to be there, and then any of the current PT's can join if they want too. We had a really good sized crowd this morning (including my hubby--he's on week 8). We started with a warm up, in our lines, singing cadences around the park, then we moved it up double time (still in my vest). I was soo close to the end running in my vest...but I couldn't breathe.  After that we had to do jump/push ups up the frozen hill---literally, frozen grass. Then they broke us up in newbies, and intermediate groups.  We got the boss, Instructor Thomas. nice guy, but he can be intimidating. After running up cement steps a few times, jumping jacks, push-ups, running on the ground (not sure what they are called), and then 75 sit ups later (ok I did crunches..you try sit ups in a 30lb vest!), we were done! and the vests were taken off. yay!

5 more weeks....5 more weeks. The sessions are tough, they push you to your limit and then some.  Even when your muscles are screaming, you feel great.

About to take our vests off, we survived hellweek! oh...and we have war paint on. 
This is me and 2 ladies (sisters) that are in the night class with me.

Random Going-Ons

Last week was my husbands birthday!  His younger brother (who also shares same birthday..just 6yrs apart) flew in for a week to go snowboarding--tradition. Anyway, birthdays have never been very important to my husband, so I only did what I could get away with....decorations and a giant cookie!  did I mention he's not a big fan of desserts either? I wanted to do something, so he asked for a white chocolate macadamian nut.  Here is a picture of the giant cookie. (the stars are hiding his name). 

Other ramblings...
Pole Dancing (not trashy.)
 Sadly this is no more.  My last dance class was last Wednesday.  10 classes total.  Definitely for fun, had a great time, and would do it again in a heart beat. Love to swing, do not have the upper arm strength--yet--for inverting moves (that's ok, didn't want to fall on my head), but the core workout classes were my favorite. Someday may go back to this.....

Boot Camp
  My husband is more excited about this. :-) He has been doing a boot camp style workout for the last 7-8 weeks, and he signed me up....I start tonight. This Boot Camp is a 6 week commitment, 1 hour a night Monday-Friday.  Not only am I on a food specific diet (next section for more), but if I say anything wrong, then I get to do pushups--more to come.  Anyway, I may post about this weekly..more as an update/comparision for myself. 1st week is known as hell-week. They put a 30 pound vest on you for every workout just for the one week. Can you tell I'm excited? ya. 
  The diet? Just all my favorite foods gone for 6 weeks.  In order (or I have to do pushups) Bread, Pasta, Dairy, and Soda.  Goodbye my favorite cereals, pasta dishes, milk, toast, sandwiches, cherry coke zero, and other favorite drinks...sniff sniff.. only 6 weeks. I can do this. Maybe this will help get rid of those stubborn 20 pounds that my body has not let go of for over 7 years.  We'll see...at least I'll feel better, be healthier, and *hopefully* stronger.
more to come....

Skiing
  Did you see the video of my 6yr old skiing?! (previous post) So glad she loves it, and my husband can take her up skiing with him once a week.  Me? I haven't been skiing since high school...wouldn't mind going up again, but I most likely would not be able to keep up with my husband. :-)

Fun on the dance pole

Promise I did not write that wrong. lol. Tonight my friend and I went to our first pole dancing class! before I go into detail, the class was a blast!

Now for the history:  A few years ago I went to visit my sister for the weekend on her birthday, and she decided to throw herself her own party--smart woman. The party started with a bang...a pole dancing class. We had so much fun! since then I have always wanted to find a class near home. Fast forward to last month, christmas time. In my stocking I found a groupon coupon for 5 pole dancing classes at a place near our home! sooooo excited! and even more fun? my friends husband got her the same gift. :)

Tonight:  This was really just an intro to the pole class. Learned a few basics, different moves, and even got to swing a few times at the end. I could get used to this. ;)  Uses a lot of upper body strength, obliques, wrists....wow they hurt. Don't forget movin those hips! I'm not going to start filling out apps for any 'gentlemans clubs.' Just something fun and different. Looking forward to next weeks class.

Maybe I'll throw my own birthday party this year?? 30 needs to start out fun. :)

1-1-11

Another one of those days that I wanted to write something.... It is New Years 2011! 

Most may be writing their goals for the next year...but other than the usual, eat healthier, try to lose weight, save more money...haven't really thought of it. :)  So here are a few of my statuses from facebook in a neat collage to remember the fun from 2010. Looking forward to new experiences, second chances, and fun memories with family and friends!

Snow Sculptures

This post is for the inches of snow that I woke up to this morning (still snowing). 

Some amazing snow sculptures that I found on the web.

 Enjoy the pictures!



  

wow...

my favorite one. love the Nike statue.

had to find one of santa!

neat chinese dragon

this one actually won an award, the detail is amazing.

micky and minnie!