Cha cha cha cha changes!

So, I have decided to share an embarassing picture with the world, but I need to explain it first.

Chloe has been absolutely insane ever since I brought her back from Colorado. Actually it was just until Tuesday. She is wonderful now.

Chloe was so upset all the time from the 18th (my worst birthday ever) until the 25th (Tuesday). Every time I would put her down for even a second, she would freak out. She would just start bawling and screaming. The worst was her behavior at night. She would go down at about 9 PM and wake up at 2 AM screaming. Then she would want to nurse all night long. I thought she was teething at first, so for the first several nights I gave her Tylanol at night and Orajel. This helped a little, but she still freaked out all night unless she was laying right next to me in bed, and with Zach and I only in a full size bed, it's just very dangerous to try to let her sleep with us.

I was at my wits end after about a week of this.

At the end of her bad behavior streak, I was so tired. I had been up all night every night. Chloe woke up for the day at 7 AM, and I was too tired. I put her on the floor in the living room with a stuffed animal and a couple toys around her. I turned on the TV and let her watch a cartoon, and I layed down on my bed. I made sure that there were no choking hazards on the floor before I did this.

WELL, to my horror, the next thing that I remember was that Zach came home from school an hour later to this:

I felt like the worst mommy in the world. I feel a little better now, because I realize that with her strength, there is just no way she would allow herself to be smothered by that bear. Still, it just looks awful!

I guess this just shows that mommy wasn't the only exhausted one for this phase. Chloe's back to normal now and PHEW! I am so glad it's over.

Easter

Easter was fun. We went to Minden to see Zach's family. We had a great time on the drive over. I had felt inspired to read in the scriptures starting in 3rd Nephi when Christ was resurrected and came to the Nephites. It was so nice to have time to read the scriptures and feel the spirit on Easter Sunday. Zach and I haven't had as much time for long scripture readings since Chloe was born. I loved it that we had 3 hrs there and 3 hrs back to talk and read scriptures (Chloe just slept the whole way there and back!). When we got to Minden, we had fun spending time with Chloe's Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Gary. I took a nice nap for a while (some of you know about how Chloe has been going through a weird phase that has made me very sleep deprived- so the nap was AMAZING!) and Zach watched the baby for a while. All in all it was a lovely Easter Sunday.

An Pork Loin Dinner

My apartment complex has the most illiterate office staff.
It adds insult to injury that they are offering "an PORK LOIN." How exquisite!
[sigh]
I wish I had a picture of the last ridiculous notice they posted. I can't remember exactly, but that one went something like this:
PLEASE PICK UP AFTER YOURE DOGS FECUS. THEIR HAVE BEEN MANY COMPLAINTS ABOUT PEOPLE NOT PICKING UP THERE DOGS FECUS. IF YOU DO NOT REMOVE YOURE DOGS FECUS YOU WILL BE FINED.
-MANAGEMENT

Fecus? Honestly. Also, it was on purpose that I spelled all the theirs, theres, and yours wrong. We all make some typos, but these were inexcusable.

I think they must make their fliers on notepad. I didn't think modern computers allowed you to make such errors! One time I teased our apartment manager about the "fecus." She turned up her nose and said "well, I was not the one who made THAT flier." She was trying to imply that the derelict that was recently fired made that flier. I didn't point out her "An Pork Loin" flier.

I guess this is what you get when you look for the cheapest housing you can find.

Some Friends Are Forever

Chloe and I just took a fun little vacation to Thornton, CO. My best friend from Ricks College, Eldeen (Hymas) Pickett has an older sister that works for United Airlines. She was able to get me a buddy pass to come out and see her. It was so cool, because it was only $60 round trip! Here is Chloe with a seat belt on flying first class.

Eldeen and I had so much fun together. It was really amazing to see that, though we had not seen each other in about 5 years, we fell right back into step. There are some things about our friendship that astound me. In some ways, no-one has ever understood me as well as Eldeen. We decided that we really must have been best friends in heaven. There was no other logical explanation. We had both wondered if things would be weird between us- because we have both changed so much over the years. We have both become more reserved and serious. We had both stopped laughing as much. But it was literally in the first hour that I got there that we were already back in the habit of seeing humor everywhere and analyzing interesting behaviors (because we both LOVE analyzing people). We had a lot of fun and a lot of good laughing.

We played Frisbee and Wii, and had a fancy Italian lunch in Boulder (which is a hilarious place- so trendy and everyone's so rich). We also made a fabulous chocolate cake for my birthday! Eldeen taught me how to make Royal Icing daisies and flowers, and we were really happy with the end product.

Eldeen has a baby Chloe's age named Summer. We were delighted to find that I had brought an outfit that Summer also had! Friday, the girls were dressed identical and looked like two little twins. I really loved that!! It kind of felt like we were two young girls playing with dolls! "Time to feed our babies! Time to change our babies! Let’s dress up our babies."

It was one of the best visits we have had. I am so glad to know that the way we were is not dead! I really love my friend Eldeen.

We really missed Zach and were also very glad to come home. Zach missed us a lot too. Here we are looking very tired!

Chloe was so happy when we got home that everything made her giggle! She bounced in her bouncer just laughing for a half hour! It's good to have friends and family. It makes me realize how blessed we are.

Bathtime Song

Zach recorded me singing our bath time song to Chloe. Zach and I made it up together around Thanksgiving, and I have sung it to her every night, just before her bath, ever since. She gets so excited when I start singing it! It's so funny, because to me this song means the beginning of bedtime. To her, it means "YAY! Bath time!" I feel like I am tricking her every time.



When I was little, I had a speech impediment, and couldn't say my R and S sounds. Unfortunately my name was Christen Evans... (kwihstuhn ehvunth). I had always told the story of how I conquered this. My dad made me a deal: if I could say "Swensens" by the end of the week, he would take me there and let me get anything off the menu. I remember sitting in a quiet room practicing every day for a week. I really like ice cream. When, at the end of the week, I thought I had conquered my problem, my dad took me to Swensens. I was then allowed to order anything I wanted.... under a dollar. Thanks dad.



Well, upon watching this clip, I realize that I still have a lisp! I wonder if this is something that has gotten worse as I have gotten lazier, or if this is something that I have never gotten over. Either way, I present to you Chloe's bath song!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO

Here are the words:



Momma- "Said the momma duck to the baby duck.

Would you like your bath now?

Baby-- Yes, I'd like my bath now!

Momma-- The tub, the tub, is filling as we speak.

Baby-- Let the water splash on my beak!

Momma-- YES! Let the water splash on your beak!



For now I sing both parts!

Zachary Last 20's Birthday

On March 6th, Zachary turned 29 years old! I reminded him that this is his last year of not being in his thirties!

I bought Zach some new sneakers and some good workout clothes so now he can regain his youth at the gym. He was excited. They are all black, white, and silver, so he likes that he has a sort of work out uniform!

I also cleaned the house (especially his closet and our bedroom).

BUT, the most wonderful thing (in my opinion) that I did for Zach's birthday was bake him FROM SCRATCH the best German chocolate cake! I was so proud of myself!! This recipe called for some tricky maneuvers, and I think I could have easily ruined it, but it was delicious. I am so glad I didn't just buy the boxed cake mix! Or worse, the canned frosting! This was a delicacy.

Zachary absolutely LOVED his birthday! I aim to please!!

My cousin Ammon is SO FUNNY!

Check out my cousin Ammon. He is so dang funny. What a character!
Click here to see Ammon go green.
You won't be dissappointed!!

A Good Story

I found this story on the internet. I really like it and just had to share:

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a Cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel.She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?""Yes," was his incredulous reply.She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."

The Ultra Metabolism Diet

I made a chocolate cake on Saturday night and had a big piece. I felt like it was Ms. Trunchbull's chocolate cake in my kitchen. It was one of those boxed chocolate cakes and I used chocolate frosting from a tub. It was delicious.

Well I am happy to announce that after Zach and I ate our one big piece, I scooped the whole chocolate cake into a dingy Wal*Mart bag, and double knotted it like a load of poopy diapers, and threw it into the trash! I know that I have never done anything like that in my life, and it felt really good.

We are sort of rethinking the way we have been eating lately. I have been listening to this book on tape called "Ultra Metabolism" by Paul Hyman." I have not gotten very far, but I am learning why it is important to eliminate any foods containing "super fats" or "super sugars." We are currently ridding our cupboard of anything with high fructose corn syrup, or hydrogenated soybean oil (for example).

Also, I have stopped consuming fake sweeteners. According to Dr. Hyman, these fake sugars make your body think something caloric is coming along, and so you create insuline. When no calories are found, (because the Coke Zero you just drank had none), you feel hungry (because of the insuline you created when you tasted something sweet), and your body starts to crave sugar! (or simple carbs- ie white bread/pasta). You make too much insuline and can become prediabetic! It makes so much sense!

Dr. Hyman says that the part of your brain that tells you that you need food is in the same area as the "fight or flight response." He says that if you let yourself get to the panic point (fight or flight) between you and a bagel- the bagel always wins. It's a survival mechinism.

This diet is a really strict one, and I will not be following it cold turkey (my excuse is that I am nursing). For now, I have just eliminated high fructose corn syrup (btw this is a main ingrediant in Light Yoplait Yogurt)! We have also stopped eating anything 3 hrs before bedtime. Dr. Hyman says that eating and then sleeping is the way Sumo wrestlers get to be 300-400 lbs!

In addition, we have purchased annual Zoo passes! We went for a while on Saturday, and I felt like I got a great workout just walking around for a couple hours. There are a lot of pretty steep hills, and the animals are all spread out, so I think this will be a really good way to lose weight. When I go to the mall to walk, I just don't get much exercise ("oooo look at this Chloe" or "Free samples at Cinnabon! Hot darn!"). When I weighed myself the day after the zoo, I had lost 1.5 lbs!

Hopefully this works for us.