Outdoor Expo, 3 Birthdays, Packing

I have been really stressed this week. I think my level of anxiety before travel is unbearable at times, so it's good we only travel to NC every year and a half or so. I haven't slept well and Samantha just got a tooth, so she has been waking up. Thankfully, I know the sleeplessness will be over soon.

We went to the outdoor expo on Saturday to look around. It was really fun and the kids got some free candy. We went to the park for a little while since it's finally turning into spring. In the evening, we went to a birthday party for the kids' third cousin. (Yes, third! We have gotten to know James's dad's first cousin, so it's her daughter's daughter.)

Monday was my birthday. We got sushi and Chinese food, and it was all delicious. I got some treats and dishes for taking pictures of recipes for my new blog. Soon we will have new drawers in the kitchen too. It sounds silly, but it's been a huge inconvenience, not to mention mess, since the last ones fell apart. I made devil's food cake too. By the end of the day, I felt kind of crummy from all the food.

Tuesday was the Blue and Gold banquet for the Scouts. It was really good except for not having a diaper for Lewis. James ran home and came back. Oops. I hate to admit how often I forget diapers.

Now it's packing time. I have all the clothes done and hope to get the rest done soon.

Food Storage, Blogging, One on One Time

James went to the cannery in Roosevelt last Thursday and bought the rest of our basic food storage! I'm so excited to have it all because I've been dreaming of it for about 8 years now. I pulled apart both kids' closets, rebuilt the shelves with boxes of food, and stored the rest of the food under the boys' bed. Not only was it a perfect fit, the boys helped me Konmari their whole closet. We got rid of a ton of stuff. Of course the room is a total mess right now, but that's life no matter how many toys they don't have. Legos are just messy, especially with a toddler sharing the room.

I've really been enjoying blogging. Though I'm still figuring out WordPress, it is coming along. I'm still not anywhere near being done with the blog posts I imported, but I'm really hoping by the end of June that I'll be ready to start adding new content and not just fixing up the old. One day, I hope to earn money with it so James can stay home in the summer instead of working another job.

Ever since Light the World in December, we've been trying to spend one-on-one time with each kid every two weeks. We have too many of them to do it every week with each kid. James took Joseph out for treats at Wendy's on Tuesday and Kenny to get a little treat yesterday. I cheated and took both Katie and Lewis to McDonald's after signing her up for Kindergarten on Tuesday. I can't believe she's already old enough for that or that she's my third child to go to school. It seems like I was just doing this with Joseph.

45, Normal Week

I've now lost 45 lbs! That leaves me another 30 to reach my easy(ish) goal and 38 to reach my super fit goal.

This week has been fairly routine with lots of work on the new blog. I really don't want to roll it out officially until I update everything (especially the pictures). I like Wordpress even though it's not nearly as simple as Blogger. I've really enjoyed putting all my thoughts in one place. It feels like my whole life is getting organized a lot better. Life is good.

Hopefully today I am going to buy the rest of our basic food storage. A trip to Roosevelt is a big thing. We have plenty of space and no more reasons to wait to buy it.

Salt Lake-ation, UCET Conference

We had a really good trip to Salt Lake. Friday, we went to Cabela's, J Dawg's for lunch, and the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point. We then got dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Greek place and swam in the hotel pool. Lewis had a hard time going to bed, but he eventually did.

After a terrible night of sleep, we were up early for breakfast. Mara joined us for the day's activities. We went to Temple Square and the Church History Museum. Too bad the kid section is being redone. We then got lunch at Costa Vida and went to the planetarium to look around and do a show.

I love having an ASTC pass! Between the museum and the planetarium, it saved us $105! It has already paid for itself a couple of times already. We still have one more museum we haven't used it for yet in Salt Lake. Maybe we will on our next trip.

The trip home was HORRIBLE. Katie had a meltdown the entire time, and nothing helped.

James was gone Monday through Wednesday at the UCET conference in Provo. We survived okay, but I really missed yoga. I am definitely going today! It helps so much with my stress level.

The blog is going to take a long time. I've redone my to-do list several times, but I think I have a plan that will work. Basically, I have my work cut out for me for the rest of the year. That's definitely not a bad thing! I do like big projects. I wish getting into shape could go faster, but it took a long time to get so out of shape, so it's going to take a long time to get back in. I wish it came more naturally to me.