A nice day at the park

Saturday we were having a beautiful day with very light winds (this will change very soon!) so we decided to walk down to our park and enjoy the day. Lexie has not been to a park since she was very small and I'm pretty sure she thought she was in heaven. We did the seesaw and she loved it, she got to swing and loved it and she got to play with a dog, could life get any better?

She loved this! So did she! Pure joy! This may be a miracle, Kalli never gets close to Lexie unless she's going to torture her. Aww, there might be hope for these two yet. Closing shot of this crazy, amazing little girl. Have we mentioned how much we love her?

I also promise that Blake was there but he was too busy riding his bike and making friends to take any pictures. He didn't even come near us until we told him it was time to leave.

11 pounds down!

So in January the St. George Deseret Book store challenged all the other stores to a biggest loser competition. Because my boss and I had recently had babies, we decided to take the challenge. Each Monday we have to report our new weight and this aspect I think has really helped me to lose weight, being accountable each week really helps. There were so many times I felt like just quitting but because I have to report my weight, I just couldn't.

This week I hit my first goal of 10 pounds lost. I've actually now lost over 10 pounds and can't wait to hit my next goal of another 10 pounds. My hope and work is going towards losing at least 35 pounds by the end of the year, which is quite doable.

The competition ends at the end of March and my goal is to have lost 15 pounds. Our team has been in third place for quite some time, so I'm hoping slow and steady can win the race in the end!

Our sofa story...

Joe and I had decided to buy new couches with part of our tax return. We were sick of our old couches which were saggy and getting quite uncomfortable in our opinion. We had been shopping a couple times and picked out what we wanted but decided to wait until we actually received our return before we bought. Joe had decided to just give our couches away because he didn't think we could get any money for them. I thought we should put them on craigslist for $40, just to get some money for them. In our experience with craigslist, we expected the couches to take a week or two to sell. Seeing as our new furniture would take a week to come in once we ordered them, we thought it would be wise to get the ball rolling on selling our old couch set. Well, apparently we priced them TOO low. Within the first 10 minutes of being posted, I had over 10 calls. We were to have people over that Sunday for the Superbowl, so I kept telling people that I wouldn't get rid of them until at least Monday. One guy was so adamant about wanting the couch set that he paid us $100 to take them that night. I couldn't resist the extra money so I consented and we started our week and a half of sitting on the floor. The first couple days weren't bad but as time wore on, we were getting very sick of sitting on the floor. Our Superbowl guests were very gracious about sitting on blankets on the floor. We were originally told it would take one week to get the new furniture in, but it actually took a week and a half. When they called last night I begged and pleaded to have them drop them off that night. I think the man had pity on me because they dropped our furniture off at 7:45 last night. I have never been so happy to sit on furniture! I love the way it all goes together. I especially love my accent chair!

The fabric is a very soft microfiber (which is awesome with children!) that is made to look like corduroy. My accent chair. This chair was discontinued the day before we went to order the furniture but fortunately they still had some in stock. Luck! Also, even though it's an accent chair, it is quite comfortable to sit in. Can you tell the baby is excited about the furniture?

Our little Kalli Bug

I've been meaning to write a post about Kalli for so long but other things just keep coming up. I feel like that is what Kalli's life is like. It's probably very hard to be the middle child, I was never one but I feel pain for her all the time.

We were sitting in our tithing settlement in December and the bishop said I know Blake and I know Lexie but who are you. I felt so bad for Kalli because she lives this everyday. People always know Blake, he's outgoing, social and a friend to all. People all know Lexie because she's the baby and was born here so people feel a connection to her since they were present while I was pregnant. But poor Kalli is not as recognized. I feel that people don't get to know her very well because her brother and sister outshine her most days.

But if you do know Kalli you know that she's incredibly sweet and very kind hearted. She's the girliest girl I've ever met and I think it's so adorable. She loves having the foam curlers put in her hair at night and loves it even more when I take them out and her hair is so curly. Kalli is usually in a dress up princess dress all day long unless we need to go somewhere or she's eating. In fact, she has one fairy dress she loves that has little crystals on it and in the morning when the sun is really shining she likes to do the crystal dance, which is when the crystals catch the light and put little rainbows all over the room. I often find Kalli playing with her doll houses and having the best time with her imagination.

If you know Kalli you also know that she's not too fond of her little sister. In fact, she ignores her all day long and gets really upset if Lexie comes near her when she's playing. The other morning she was whining about Lexie and I told Kalli that she needs to be nice to Lexie because she is her sister. Kalli proceeds to tell me "no, she's my brother's sister". I couldn't help but laugh. I hope one day she will grow to love Lexie.

I am so happy that Kalli is part of our family. She's very unlike me or Joe, so that has been a challenge of sorts but we love her no matter what.

Midnight in Austenland

If you've never read a Shannon Hale book you are seriously missing out. I like to joke with a good friend that all we want to do in this life is play miniature golf with her, she just seems like such a fun person to be around. I got the chance to read an advanced copy of her newest book Midnight in Austenland. I wasn't the biggest fan of the previous book, Austenland, but I was very excited for this one nonetheless.

This book didn't disappoint, it was sweet take on Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen). Never having read Northanger Abbey I had a few ideas of what to expect but this surpassed all expectations. Charlotte leaves behind her cheating ex-husband and kids to escape to the land of Austen to be transported to a different time of courting gentlemen and corsets. What Charlotte finds instead is a terrifying (in her mind) ghost story and what she thinks is a real life murder. While everyone is pretending to go along with the story, Charlotte is trying to figure out if there really was a murder or if it was just part of the story they're acting out. Amidst all of this, Charlotte finds herself falling in love and becoming a stronger woman than she ever thought she could be.

The story moves well and leaves you not only wanting more but rooting for Charlotte. If you're a Jane Austen fan, you will most certainly enjoy this read!

The little terror we call Lexie

Meet Lexie. She's cute right? Well, she also has a habit of tearing our house apart. But sometimes it's hard to care when she's this cute.

Here is her recent destructions: Clean laundry all over my floor. Pulled out all of her diapers from the package. Pulled all of my pants out of my drawer. This one keeps happening and it's driving me nuts. Getting into the trash in the bathroom and tearing apart diapers and toilet paper. Oh lovely.

Kindle Help

Ok, we know that I love books and I try anyway I can to get as many books into my life as possible. I discovered that while talking to people with digital devices for reading (kindle, nook, ipad) that they didn't know you can get books from your local library right on your reading device. I uploaded the Kindle app on Joe's Ipad (the app is free by the way). I figured since quite a few people didn't know you can borrow books on the kindle, I'd do a quick walk through to help you out. This also works for the kindle app on the ipod touch, iphone or ipad.

This is what my library page looks like. You can see a box that says "download" and has a picture of different reading devices. You would click on that link. From what I've seen, most of the libraries go through overdrive. So I'm hoping this will be helpful to as many people as possible. Once you've clicked on the link you'll be taken to a page with all the books offered through overdrive through your library. Some libraries carry a huge amount, others like mine are more modest. But I have the great luxury to get books from the Albuquerque library and the Rio Rancho library. You'll also notice there is an audiobook section. I will do another tutorial on how to get audiobooks to your ipod. So go on the site and find a book you want to read. Once you've found a book, make sure it's available. This one is, but there is a big audience out there so sometimes you have to wait. This book also has the option to be an epub book (this is the book I need for the nook). If you're downloading this to your kindle/kindle app, click on the "add to my cart" in the kindle section. You will then be led to this window. You can see that you have the book for 14 days, some libraries give you 3 weeks, mine does 2 weeks. All you need to do at this point is click "confirm check out". It will then take you to your amazon account. Your kindle/kindle app is connected to your amazon account. On the right side you will see that you can choose which kindle you want the book sent to. I have highlighted Joe's ipad, but I also have the option to send it to my ipod touch or my mom's kindle. Just make sure you register all your kindle/kindle apps to the same account. To finish, click the yellow button "Get library book".

At this point it will be automatically sent to your kindle/kindle app. That's it, it is now in your kindle library. It will automatically disappear after the allotted check out time.

I did this all on my computer which I find easier, but those with a kindle fire can do it on their system.

I want to do a post about getting library books on your nook/nook app and how to get audiobooks on your ipod.

I hope this was helpful. I found that the more uses for your kindle the better you feel about your reading device. If you have questions, I hope I can answer them!