Chupango Mango

We got a couple mangos in our bountiful basket last week, they were perfectly ripe. Chris was reminiscing about the days in the mission field and the little boys who would suck on the mango core - chupango mango. We let Jake go at it.



Doesn't he look like a little Brasileiro!





Chris has been playing basketball on Saturdays and Thursdays with the ward and I finally made it to a game this week.



Chris getting a rebound.

The Cleanse

So I didn't get all my cleanse days food written down, but I'm done and it was good!!! I highly recommend this to everyone. After day 3 my skin was so smooth! After day 4 my stomach was the flattest its been since I had children. I learned a lot of new healthy alternatives to eat and I want to do the cleanse again. As soon as I started eating regular foods again, I immediately broke out. Next time I want to slowly go back on dairy and gluten so I can see exactly what the culprit is. I did lose a few pounds which was nice.

52 things to do in 2011

I saw this on a friends blog and I wanted to put together my own list because for some strange reason l Love writing lists, so here goes....

1. Do another Kathy Freston Cleanse
2. Plant a rediculously awesome garden
3. Market my photography business more
4. Help Claire learn to read
5. Appreciate my family more
6. Do more service-service projects
7. Talk to my family more
8. Pay off student loan
9. Pay cash for a new car
10. Play lots of games with my kids
11. Research what I need to know about school for Claire
12. Get pregnant
13. Start working on finishing my studio in the basement
14. Live with more confidence
15. Learn to slim down my budget even more
16. Play lots of volleyball
17. Understand the world of camera RAW
18. Eat like healthy people do
19. Make a composting bin
20. Recycle more paper
21. Figure out how to get shiny hair
22. Put more into my calling
23. Write down things I'm grateful for everyday in my journal
24. Write more lists
25. Read lots more books on healthy eating, gardening, politics, emergency prep
26. Floss every night
27. Set up Jake's twin bed and REALLY decorate his room
28. Tame the paper mess
29. Perfect my pizza dough recipe
30. Buy some real snow boots
31. Make a rain barrel
32. Get wheat for food storage
33. Make home ground wheat bread
34. Find some great healthy dessert recipes and actually make them
35. Continue with the Daily Docket
36. Speak more kindly to my kids
37. Rediscover my creativity/crafty side
38. Find some awesome photog props
39. Make curtains for kitchen
40. Stop what I'm doing and look at my children when they are talking to me
41. Put together all of Claire's drawings into a collection
42. Take more baths
43. Be nicer to people I don't know
44. Make homemade pasta
45. Learn to like Yoga
46. Spend less time on the computer
47. Get rid of the VOLES
48. Flirt with my husband more
49. Prepare myself for the end of Oprah
50. Work on genealogy
51. Go to the department store and get a makeover
52. Have fun spending time with family

5 years

I got a new flash set last week and I have had a lot of fun trying them out. Claire needed her 5 year pics, so here they are! I haven't touched these up, and I'm not sure I even will.



I had to throw in these of Jake I made him get in his easter outfit.

Be mine..

Despite having a NASTY cold, we still got a bunch of hugs and kisses in on 2-14. The kids painted blocks for Chris for their valentine. We surprised him at work, and then I made the kids big heart cookies. Every year my mom would make each child a giant heart shaped cookie, with our own little valentine note on each of them. I appreciate that even more realizing she did it for 6 people! I only had 3 to do and I was a bit exhausted-although that might have had something to do with the awesome nasty cold...
Chris brought me home chocolates and a sweet little card :) We were able to go out on Friday to celebrate. Good times.

Well Check and Immunizations

Yesterday Claire had her 5 year well check. I was getting nervous about getting it done in time to register her for kindergarten in March. Luckily they did end up changing the school boundaries so we don't have to worry about a "lottery" system and Claire will be going to school with all the kids from her primary class. Claire was 40 pounds and 43 inches. That puts her about 50th percentile for weight and 60-something for height, just perfect!

She was very brave with her shots, I told her she needed them for school and so she was totally willing! When she got done she said "Now I can go to school!" She is so excited for school, but says she'll miss me during the day when she's gone. Me and Jake are going to miss her too!

This also reminded me of how friendly Jake has gotten. I told him we were going to go see the doctor, so when the nurse took us to the room, he was saying "hi doctor", then when the actual doctor came in he went right up to him, said hi and just started chatting up a storm. He kept calling him doctor, "what's that doctor?" "Here you go doctor" when he dropped something. "look at that doctor" It was just kind of funny.

Another thing I wanted to post really quick. The other day I over heard Jake and Claire playing, Jake was making fighting sounds like usual, then Claire got this deep voice "don't kill my people, I'm Heavenly Father and I made them" then a few seconds later she made some heavenly angel music like he was going back up to heaven. Where do they get this stuff from?!

Update on potty training - it's still going great, Jake hasn't even been using pull-ups even at night, he did have a couple accidents in the morning when he first wakes up, so we put a pull-up on him last night and he kept it dry, he also likes the real toilet, which is SO nice, only problem is getting him to pull his pants down all the way and aiming so he doesn't end up getting his pants all wet. We are very proud of him.

Cleanse: Day 2

Breakfast: banana slices with peanut butter, vitamins, glass of water

Lunch: black bean tacos

Snack: Hummus and carrots, 5 almonds, water

Dinner: rice, green beans, and corn, water

Dessert: peach slices

How I'm feeling today: Definitely more cravings today, but I'm feeling lighter.