My New Blog

I've decided to start another blog to track my fitness. I am slightly obsessive about working out - not that I have to workout but in the fact that I LOVE to track what I'm doing and I love to do programs for different goals. Just ask Heidi, I always have my "plan" and my "notebook". I just love the feeling of checking off what I've done and then looking back to see what I've accomplished. So, instead of doing it all on paper I'm going to blog it. I'm in desperate need of motivation these next few months and I'm hoping this will keep me moving and I'll need it to get all the baby weight off too! Hopefully when Heidi's life calms down she'll join in as the nutritional expert and give tips and help do plans if people want them.

I'd love to see what you all are doing for fitness and swap stories to keep us all motivated!

*this picture is from the turkey trot last year and was Claire's first race!

Kids and Crack

We have some issues with showing crack in our family...not all of us but most of us. Tayson and Claire are especially bad and sadly they get this from me. It's not our fault it's the way our bodies are built. We have plenty of fat around our waists just none on our hips and rears to hold up our pants. Luke has the same cute, round bum as his dad so they never show crack. Here are some of my favorite crack photos of the kids. I will save you all and not put any pictures of my own crack on this post!!! (honestly I don't even have any because Todd knows I would kill him if he took a picture of that)


It always amazes me that she can show this much crack while wearing a diaper.


Not a whole lot of crack peeking out here, but trust me it is usually worse than this.


Tayson's crack while digging for bones at the Dinosaur Museum.


Tayson at 18 months helping me with a little project. He didn't like wearing shirts (and still doesn't) and he too can show crack while wearing a diaper.

Todd showed me this video on youtube about crack spackle that is classic and that I think I should invest in.

Oreo Cookies

Oreo's are one of my many weaknesses. I LOVE them and try to avoid buying them at all costs or I will end up eating most of the package on my own (not in one sitting though). Yesterday after church I was enjoying Oreo's and milk as a mid-day snack (the baby was really craving them) and I was thinking about how good they are dipped in milk and how my favorite way to eat them is right at the in-between stage of crisp and soggy. It takes a lot of practice to make sure you dunk your cookie for the perfect amount of time. If you don't dunk long enough the cookie isn't soaked through, if you dunk too long you'll probably lose your cookie to the bottom of your glass of milk.

So here it is....
do you love oreos?
do you dunk them in milk?
can you eat them without milk?
have you figured out how to remove all traces of evidence that you recently ate them (aside from triple brushing your teeth)?
do you like regular, double stuff, mint or golden best?

Are you Addicted?

I saw this quiz on Alice's blog so I thought I'd give it a shot...not too bad considering I work in the web industry I do have to keep up with trends (at least that's how I keep from feeling guilty about it).

67%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Quick Update

Last night when I was looking for flashback pictures I found the pictures of me with Peter Vidmar and Steve Young from 1984 so i added them to my Celebrities I've Met post.

Flashback Friday

I was looking through old pictures last night for something to post today and there are so many great ones....I can't wait to just keep posting embarrassing pictures and stories about myself.


Kathy, Sherry, Amy

This picture is of me, my sister Sherry and my cousin Amy. When we lived in California we lived by Amy so we got to play with her a lot. Unfortunately, I was always the tag along with the "big girls" and could only play if they let me. This particular day they were playing dress up. Notice their sweet outfits and jewelry, I'm sure they had high heels on too. In order for me to play with them I had to wear my black leotard and a red bandanna and I was the slave to the princesses (Sherry and Amy of course). Obviously I didn't mind back then the fact that I didn't get to wear the "fancy" clothes as long as I had someone to play with. I'm guessing that I'm about 5 in this picture so it would have been around 1977.

All the Small Things

It's Thankful Thursday again, so here I go...

Dinner with the Girls: Talk about something to make me smile. We call it a "book group" but honestly I can't get any of them to read the books and we never talk about books we just eat and laugh and have fun. I LOVE our monthly (or every other month lately) outings.

E-Mails from Mark: I love the weekly letters my brother Mark sends from his mission. He is always upbeat and says the funniest things. Plus, his crazy spelling always makes me smile. The only thing better than his emails would be if he was home...only 14 months left!

Tayson Riding a Bike: You can see my other post for details...but this put a huge smile on my face. What a proud moment as a mom and a biker.

Cafe Rio: All I need to say is yummy. We ate there for lunch this week and I just love the food.

LDS/Polygamy Blog Post: This post made me smile.

People at the gym: I get a kick out of the looks people give me in the gym these days since I have a big old belly. And it's not like there aren't lots of other pregos at the gym...they just look at us all funny I guess. Although my creepy stalker doesn't put a smile on my face....eeeek!

Ceiling Fan: I love sleeping with my ceiling fan on and Todd fixed it this week so that we don't have to unscrew the light bulbs anymore to have the fan on and the lights off. It's fabulous.

Tayson the Biker

Yesterday the kids were playing out back while I fixed dinner, a normal occurrence when there is good weather. So I was watching out the kitchen window and I see Tayson coming from Lucy's house on her bike. What in the world!?! We bought Tayson a bike 2 years ago for Christmas and he has refused to touch it and said he isn't old enough to ride even with training wheels. This has always been a hit to my pride since I LOVE biking. My kid being the only neighbor kid on a big wheel was just embarrassing. Especially since he's 2 years older than Lucy and she has been riding her bike for a year like a champ. So I went outside and asked him who taught him to ride a bike and when he started riding a bike and he says "I don't know I just did it". Well let me tell you I am so excited that he can ride a bike and can't wait to go to the store to get him one of his own. I asked him what kind of bike he wants and he said "One just like Lucy's, but without princesses on it".

The Dinosaur Museum

We had a fun filled weekend with Grandma Johnson this past weekend. The kids were so excited for her visit and Tayson and Luke even got to go to the airport to pick her up Friday night. They played lots of games (Sorry, Monopoly, Twister) and ate toast for breakfast (if you ask Tayson or Luke what grandma likes they will say "toast") and the big outing was going to the Dinosaur Museum.

Todd and the boys building a dinosaur


Grandma helping the kids do some dinosaur puzzles


Claire playing in the erosion room


Luke in the erosion room


Tayson digging for bones


Luke in his sweet 3D glasses getting ready for the IMax movie - he and Tayson didn't wear the glasses very much during the show because it was a little too scary

The Zoo

Last week for Spring Break Chelsea took the kids to the zoo. She is one tough girl to brave the zoo with all 3 kids by herself. They all had a good time and when I asked the kids what their favorite animal was Tayson said the Tiger, Luke said the Giraffe and Claire said the Elephant. The highlight of the trip was when they ran into Steve and Christine with their kids.

Organization

I got a beautiful jewelry drawer from my Grandma Schultz a few years ago - it was hers as long as I can remember and I absolutely love it. The problem is that it's just a big drawer so everything gets jumbled together so most days I end up spending way too much time looking for a specific ring or untangling my necklaces. I read somewhere a good way to organize your jewelry was using ice cube trays so when I was at the store I bought a couple to give it a try. I must say I'm very happy with the results.


Before


After

Flashback Friday

I really miss running (and it will be at least 4-5 months before I can run again) so I thought I would do a flashback on the good old high school running days. I ran cross country my freshman and sophmore year then stopped to pursue my dancing career my junior and senior year....ha ha. I never thought I was very good since I was only 5th runner on our team in 1 big meet (Sectionals my sophmore year...and yippee I took 10th place). We had an amazing team and even won state my sophmore year, but I was the 7th runner so my place didn't even count. Oh well I still got to bask in the glory with the awesome girls I ran with. The funny part looking back is that I ran around a 6:00 min/mile and even beat that on a few of the faster courses...what would I give for that now!!!


Freshman Year.
I painted my nails just for this picture and the wind was blowing very hard that's why my hair is extra crazy on top.


Sophmore Year.
A few funny things about this picture - why am I holding my earring? Notice I am still missing some of my permanent teeth - it took braces for the last 2 to come in.


My sister Sherry. My running inspiration then and now. She is one fast runner. I tried to race her after her last baby was born I thought I could beat her since Tayson was a year old and Audrey was only 2 weeks old...but I still couldn't beat her. Oh well I still love running with Sherry!

Opening My Heart

A few months ago in RS our new president talked about making our ward a family and building relationships with the other sisters in our ward. She talked about the book "A Heart Like His" by Virginia Pearce. I was so touched by her words. I finally read the book last night which has really made me stop to think about my life and my heart.

I've realized in my life it is so easy for me to have an open heart with those in my family and close friends, but my heart is closed and protected with everyone else. I'm not overly outgoing and am most comfortable sticking with what I know. It has taken me over 4 years to build friendships with neighbors and people in the ward. When we moved a year ago my biggest requirement was that we stayed in the area because I didn't want to have to make new friends.

I think a big part of the problem is that for some reason I think that when I meet new people they won't like me so I just stick with people who I already know like me. What a silly thing to keep me from opening my heart. Really my insecurity is only hurting me.

So here it is...I'm posting for the world (ok I don't really think my blog is that popular but writing it down makes it more real) that I'm going to open my heart and try to leave my comfort zone more often.

All the Small Things

This weeks installment to remind me of all my blessings.

A day of warm weather: Yes we had about 1 1/2 days of beautiful spring weather this week before the freezing cold rain and snow came back. I'm sure we'll get a few more warm spring days and several more cold spring days before we get our hot summer days. It was so windy when the storm blew in our huge bar-b-que grill even blew over!

Spring Break: I have 1 kid in school and he's in kindergarten so spring break with a week off school shouldn't make a huge difference...but it did. Every morning we got to be lazy and not rush to get Tayson off to school which in turn made us late for work. Oh well. And everyone at work is gone this week so it's been quiet and slow all week. I love spring break!

Luke's Joke: Last night Luke told Todd a joke it went like this.

Luke: knock knock
Todd: who's there?
Luke: nobody
Todd: nobody who?
Luke: ORANGE! HA HA HA HA

Talk about something to make you smile. The kid has no idea what he's even saying but then laughs so hard at the end.

Claire: As I walked past Claire a few days ago on my way to work Claire was sitting on Chelsea's lap on the couch getting her hair fixed and she said as sweet as could be "Hi Mama!" It made my day!

Sarah Agnes Prine: I finished the second book of Sarah Agnes Prine "Sarah's Quilt" this week and I LOVE Sarah. What an inspiration. If you haven't read "These is my words" go get it today!

Todd's Bedhead: Todd has very long hair right now...he looks so hot! The funny part is when he wakes up in the morning he has the craziest, fluffiest hair I've ever seen. I love it and it makes me laugh every morning.

Twister: Luke pulled out the Twister game to play the other night. I of course cannot play in my state...twisting and turning with this belly would be impossible. So he played by himself and I called out colors and hands or feet. We didn't get specific with Right and Left and he can only reach 3 of the 4 colors. But he was hilarious. Then Timmy joined in for a round until Luke was just "too tired to keep going".

Cheez-It's: Yes that's right the yummy baked cheddar snack. I had an early meeting this morning so I forgot my granola bar on my way out of the house so right now I'm snacking on some cheez-it crackers I have in my office. YUMMY!!!

Pregnancy Advice

I have 12 weeks to go and I don't know how much more heartburn I can take. Every pregnancy my acid reflux has gotten worse and this time it wakes me up at night burning so bad. I started on Tums with Tayson and Luke then moved to Pepcid AC with Claire and it worked great her whole pregnancy. But it's not doing the trick this time ... once a day is almost never enough so I have to do one mid-morning and one before bed. Anyone have good advice on what I can do to last the next 12 weeks? If the wives tale is right and heartburn and hair are linked this baby is going to be one hairy beast!

Sleeping Kids

This week is spring break for the kids so we have been letting them stay up past 8:00. Last night Todd was playing Star Wars Lego's on the Wii with the boys (we don't let Claire stay up so she had been in bed since 7:00). I was back in bed reading my book when 9:00 rolled around we told the boys to go to bed so they both came in to give me goodnight kisses and Luke was so tired you could just see it in his eyes. He is really good about climbing in his bed and going to sleep and rarely complains. Last night for some reason after he gave me a kiss he pulled back the covers and got into my bed so I asked Todd if he told Luke he could fall asleep in our bed and he said no, but it was so cute I let him. Within 30 seconds he was sound asleep. As I sat there reading my book for a while I just kept looking over at him and thinking about how sweet he was right at that moment. No sassy words coming out of his mouth, no sly smile to make me wonder what he was up to, no dirty face or clingy hands needing my help, just the sweetest boy ever. I kept leaning over just to give him kisses and I just felt so much love for him. I guess I should watch my kids sleep more often.

Flashback Friday

This little video is the most laughed at event of my life (all by my family of course). It took place when I was about 8 years old. My sister Sherry (who was 10 at the time) and I were in baton together and we were in a parade with this little routine. The first person in the video is Sherry - she looks great and then follows it up with a back walkover and cartwheel....then I come on and just look at how uncoordinated I am. UGH! Another great thing is that my sleeve keeps coming off my shoulder. If only we could watch the part where my baton flies out of my hand backwards like we did on the old 8mm. Enjoy!

All the Small Things

I almost didn't have time to get this post in this week....work has been a little crazy this week. But here are a few of the things that made me smile this week.

Conference: What a great weekend listening to our new Prophet and other leaders of the church. It's fun to get together with my family and eat and listen and play games.

Cedar Salmon: Todd bar-b-qued on Sunday after second session of conference and he decided to do steaks and salmon. For the salmon he wanted to try a cedar smoked recipe. So I had to shop at Lowe's for dinner and get some special cedar boards then he soaked the board in water for an hour before cooking the fish. The board totally caught on fire and we had to throw more water on it...but the fish turned out DELICIOUS.

Favors: Last night Tayson didn't want to go to bed yet so he came in and asked me if I needed anything done. So I said "will you do me a favor and put Shadow out for a few minutes". He did it without complaining at all then came into the laundry room and said "do you have any other favors you need done? I can do the laundry". If only. But he did carry two full baskets of clean clothes back into the room for me while I changed the wash. Then he tucked Luke into bed for me and I asked him why he was doing so many things and he said "I'm trying to be like Jesus". Talk about sweet.

Volleyball: Last night Todd's city league men's v-ball team had a few tournament games and they beat the #2 ranked team 2 out of 3. Talk about exciting. They played so great and the smiles on their faces couldn't have been bigger.


Finishing a good book: I finished "Cold Sassy Tree" this week. I loved the book and I especially love finishing a book.

Roman LeRoy

I wanted to post a picture of my newest little nephew. Isn't he a doll!

Congrats to Jeannie and Trent and of course to big brother Talon.

It's all about balance

I was thinking about my life as a mom this past week then after listening to General Conference this weekend so many of the things I had been thinking were reconfirmed. So I thought I would put some of my thoughts down. I look at my life some days and just wonder why I have been blessed with such an "easy" life. I have an amazing husband who I adore and 3 1/2 kids (under the age of 5) and I couldn't ask for better kids or a better life. My kids eat good, they sleep good, they play good, they are healthy, happy, smart kids.

So I was thinking about why I have such great kids and such a great life and I decided it's all about balance. I've always considered myself a bit selfish in the fact that I absolutely HAVE to have "Kathy Time". I spend time doing what I want almost everyday - lucky for Todd what I love to do most is exercise so I meet friends either at the gym or outside and we workout. When I don't get this time to myself I start to get grouchy and I'm not as good of a wife or mother. Todd and I go on a date pretty much every single week (we are lucky that we have a live in babysitter so dates are more affordable and can even be spur of the moment). This has been such a great balance to being mom and dad. Even with working full-time outside the home, taking time for myself and spending time with just Todd I feel like Todd and I spend plenty of quality time with our kids. I love coming home after work and spending time fixing dinner, eating dinner as a family, and hanging out with the kids until bedtime. We have so much fun together as a family. Every night my kids ask if it's time for "Family Home Evening" because they love to play games and eat treat and spend time together. I'm sure all of this will end as my kids get older but I sure do love it right now.

I realize it sounds like I think my life is all roses...don't get me wrong, we have our days when the kids are crazy (this morning Tayson was a devil before school and got a few time outs and several flicks) but all in all I really am blessed and have a great balance in my life.

Flashback Friday

It's here again! I look forward to Friday's all week - last day of work and I get to find something crazy for my blog. I decided to do a post on a few of my hair styles. I'm sure I could put up a picture starting at birth and going every 3-5 years and have some great shots...but that would be a lot of pictures so I'm only doing a few. I'm sure there will be more in the future.


This is when I was between 12 and 18 months old and I was completely bald. Notice how much hair Sherry had when she was 3. Talk about a complex!


Now at 4 years old my mom could finally put my hair in pig tails...barely.


In Kindergarten I'm guessing my mom gave up on fighting with my lack of hair so she cut it short and I looked like a boy for several years of my life. Honestly I was asked if I was a boy at least once that I can remember around this age.


My senior year picture (1990)...what in the world!!! I had quite the perm and I knew how to use Aquanet and a blow dryer like a professional.

I'm a Loafer?

I saw this test on my friend Alice's site so I thought I'd give it a shot since I LOVE shoes. I'm not happy about the loafers (I don't own any) but the description is fun.

You Are Loafers

You are confident, powerful, and successful. Hard working and business like, you always dress and act appropriately. You are consistent and a bit conservative. You aren't really susceptible to trends, although you always dress well. While you tend to be formal, you know how to adapt to your surroundings. So are professional at work... but more laid back when your with your friends. You should live: In a huge city You should work: In a competitive field where you can rise to the top

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

All the Small Things

It's "Thankful Thursday" again so here is my list of things that made me smile.

Roman LeRoy Colarusso: Jeannie and Trent had their baby last Friday at 12:11 p.m. he was 7 lbs 9 oz and 18.5 inches and as cute as could be. It was so great to be at his birth and to have another nephew.

Todd Getting Home: I was so excited to have Todd get home Saturday evening. And listening to how much fun he had in NYC made me happy. Plus he bought me something at Tiffany's so there is no way I could complain.

Our New Minivan: What a great family purchase. I don't know who likes it more the kids or Chelsea (our nanny). Everyday Luke tells me his new car is awesome! It is so cute.

Soccer: I love watching Tayson play soccer. He has so much fun no matter how the team does (last Saturday they lost 10-0 I think, good thing they don't keep score). The best part is that Tayson's coach got a new job out of state and I volunteered Todd to be his coach. Todd will be a great coach even if he doesn't know anything about soccer drills and the official rules. Good thing it's the 4-5 year olds and none of that really matters.

Tayson' Reading: Every night it is a fight to get Tayson to read to us. He gets frustrated very easily which sends him into a fit if he doesn't know one word. This week his teacher sent home a book for him to read and I read it to him once then he read the whole thing by himself to me and then again to Todd and Luke while Luke was sitting on the potty (still no potty though....we just keep trying). It was so cute and it made us so happy.

April Fool's Day: What a funny day. I didn't pull any pranks and none were pulled on me, but there were some hilarious ones online. Tayson loved it - he asked me at bedtime that night if everyday in April could be April fool's day. He said he pulled a funny joke on Chelsea when he told her he could only wear girl clothes. We aren't sure where that came from, but he thought it was hilarious.

Oreos: Not only do they make me smile when I eat them but the other night I snacked on 2 mini ones before dinner and Todd saw the little black remnants around my mouth during dinner and totally called me on it. For some reason it was so funny the way he "caught" me eating cookies before dinner.

Another Tayson Joke: Last night at dinner Tayson said "hey look there is a chicken on the light" and rather than look up we all looked at him first then a minute later looked up to see what he was talking about and about 10 seconds later Tayson said "Made ya look" and just cracked up. The delivery was horrible, but the joke made us all laugh pretty hard. Tayson is such a goof ball and I know where he got it from.

Blueberry Muffins: I ran out of cereal for the boys this morning so for some reason after the gym we decided to make blueberry muffins for breakfast. Tayson and Luke both jumped on the stools and helped me make the muffins and were so excited for them to finish cooking. Usually the mornings are so rushed that we don't do anything fun together it's just about getting Tayson to school and getting ready for work. Who cares if I was a little late for work since I didn't even shower until after Tayson left it was so much fun.

Claire's Hair: Chelsea always fixes Claire's hair so cute and earlier this week she did two little braids on the top then crossed them over and put little bows on them (not a good description but it was so cute) that night there wasn't time for a bath so we just un-braided her hair and put her to bed. The next morning she looked like the bride of Frankenstein and since they didn't go anywhere that day she had that hair all day until her bath that night.

Who is the Meanest Mom?

Me. Yep that's right I am officially the meanest mom according to Tayson. Yesterday morning I made him turn off star wars legos on the wii in order to get ready for school. This threw him into a huge fit and he started yelling at me (yes yelling, he has quite a temper which sadly he gets from me) that I was the meanest mom EVER! He continued to yell this from time out in his room and I went to take a shower and let him cool down. Apparently he kept yelling it for a while and Todd had to go in and "talk" to him. By the time I got out of the shower he was calm and dressed for school.

Then last night I made the family's favorite treat for family home evening (requested by Tayson) strawberry shortcake. The boys kept saying how yummy it was and "thank you mom, you're the best". This changed fast. After Tayson finished his third plate of shortcake I told him to go put on his pj's so we could read and do his homework. He started to whine and said he wanted to play star wars legos and I told him not tonight, it's late and we still have to do homework. Well this threw him into another yelling fit of me being the "meanest mom ever". So next time you feel bad for something you could have done better as a mom, just remember that I am the meanest mom ever!