Happenings

To make a long story short,

We fixed our car. It's totally awesome to have a car that starts. Every. Time.

We took a trip to Salt Lake to see James's family. It was pretty fun. We left last Friday morning and got back Saturday night in time for Stake Conference. While there, we did lunch on Temple Square, rode the train to the mall, and went to the zoo. I made a Winco stop on the way home. It made me feel a little better that food prices are going up everywhere, but still I really wish I lived near one for the bulk section. I picked up some nutritional yeast, since it's a weird thing that I don't think I'll find in Vernal.

I have been feeling great. I can feel the effects of my splurging over the past few days, but it was my birthday! I enjoyed sushi, chocolate cake, and extreme moose tracks ice cream. I'm glad I don't eat those things on daily basis anymore. I feel a lot better without them! I've been losing about 2 lbs. a week as well, which is awesome. Usually the weight is super slow to leave. I am really close to my first goal of losing all the "Katie weight". Only 2 lbs. to go! After that, I'd like to lose 10 more, which will get me to my marriage weight. We'll see how far I can get while I'm still nursing.

My birthday was fun. The kids all graciously took naps at the same time, so I had time to finish a book. James gave me some books, a canner and canning jars, and nice knives. We watched my new movie, too: The Hobbit! (Part 2). Holy cow, those movies are long. And cliffhangers. :(

I've been researching about gardening, so I need to get a move on if I want to plant anything. I want to do a lasagna garden. If it works, then maybe I'll write about it later. It will involve lots of recycling stuff from our house, which I think is awesome. It takes us 2-3 weeks to fill up our big trash can, and this will cut down on trash even more, and it will put it to good use!

Now, pictures.

Joseph on Mars

Atlas

on the moon with Grandma

Atlas, female version

nursing party with Jesse

the boys in the eagle's nest at the zoo

Katie at 5 months!

The End

...of diapers for Joseph! Okay, he does wear one at night just in case. I'd say that after one week, though, that he is completely potty trained! I suppose waiting until a child is older than 3 1/2 does have its advantages. He learned really fast. Dumping out the little potty isn't my favorite thing ever, but I'm so happy to have fewer diapers to change (and buy). He filled up a potty chart, so he's going to pick out a "Super Why" toy (which hopefully Walmart has) as his reward. Bribery at its finest!

Our car has been having problems for a few months now, but now it's REALLY in trouble. We know the exact problem (an ignition switch) but have been too lazy to fix it before now. Now, it just won't start. Hopefully we can coax it to start one more time so we can get it to the shop and not have to get it towed. :( There are definitely lame things about having only one car. I wish the timing had been right to buy another one with the tax return, but oh well. The repair shop is right by James's work, and he has a friend who can take him to school. (The funny thing is that his friend's car also has problems starting, so James has given him rides in the past.)

I've made a few more lifestyle changes aside from giving up sugar, but I'm not quite ready to talk about all of them yet to people, because I feel like a weirdo. Perhaps I'll say it here since so few people read it. I've been studying nutrition-type stuff for a few years now, and though I've made many changes, I always felt that I could be doing better. I read a book called Discovering the Word of Wisdom that was the final nail in the coffin, so to speak. It really inspired me to adopt a completely plant-based way of eating. James thinks I'm a little crazy, but I honestly feel great so far. I can adapt many of our recipes, and there are only two things (two!) that I'll be buying that I've never bought before. I plan on starting a new blog as well to feature whole food, plant-based recipes, so look for that within a few months if you're interested.

Potty Time

Finally, potty training is in full swing. Despite all the things I've read and heard in the past, a parent doesn't really do the training. The child has to do that himself, but the parent provides the encouraging environment. For us, that means no more diaper-wearing during the day, a chart with stickers, and M&M's. So far, Joseph has had about a 50% success rate, which I'd say is pretty good. Cleaning up #1 off the floor or carpet is no big deal. There haven't been any #2 accidents, and that's what I was most worried about. There's no going back now! By the time he turns 4 (end of May), I'm hoping he's trained day and night. Considering how old he is, I think we'll be good. He also hates being messy, so that is motivation in itself.

I am quitting refined sugars for Lent again this year. Since I had to give up ice cream already, I don't think the transition will be too hard. I've been making an effort to drink more water, and I've realized that I don't actually need snacks during the day. Nursing a baby while living in a desert in a sure cause of dehydration, so I think I'm drinking about 14 cups of water a day now (instead of 10, which hey, is still a lot).

We took a day trip to Salt Lake on Saturday. It was a ton of fun. We had lunch with James's family and went to the Utah Natural History Museum. It was AWESOME. There was even a chocolate tasting, which I loved. The lady giving it remarked that real chocolate has 5 ingredients or less, as opposed to candy, which had a lot more. I love real chocolate! We tasted two samples of 70%, and they were really different from each other, but both amazing. Seriously, chocolate is the best. The white chocolate sample wasn't bad, but white chocolate just isn't the same (and isn't real chocolate either!)

Everything is good. I can't be happier about getting these baby pounds (and inches) off. I keep losing about a pound a week, so I could reach my goal by my anniversary! (That's July 3rd). That would be so exciting. We'll see, though.