Multiple topics!

Work!
This week has been incredibly productive! I have blogged so much for my Kandylane Photography Blog! I still have quite a bit to totally be caught up, but it is really coming along!

Cleaning & Kids

Yesterday I had a thought come into my head about cleaning. We have been doing pretty good, but we just cant seem to stay on top of some things. My kiddos are great and they do help out a lot, but I don't feel like anyone is ever offering to help out without being asked. I want them to learn how to willingly contribute as they grow up. I want to make sure that when they are married, they know that asking if their wife needs any help or even just to start to help without asking could make her a very happy women. We decided to switch things up a bit yesterday. I cleaned their (NASTY) bathroom from top to bottom and they cleaned the entire kitchen, living room and entryway......I promise it was a fair trade and took about the same amount of time. Even though we were all working, they were SO grateful that I did that for them and I was SO happy not to have to do down stairs. They both gave me big hugs and told me how amazing their bathroom looked and I did the same for them.

Changing things up a bit really helped us all see and appreciate the work each one of us does normally for each other. I am a big believer in teaching kids how to be active members of their family rather than just observers. Sometimes its easier to do it ourselves and get it done right the first time, but that's not doing them any good. It normally takes a lot of motivation and reminding....over and over and over and over again, but it'll be well worth it when we watch them grow into helpful, sustained, service oriented, hard working members of society and of their families!

Nutrition!

Some of you may know that over the past few years, I have become very interested in health and nutrition. Having many chronic issues like post nasal drip, aching bones, hyperactive nerves, irritated bladder (sorry, I know, TMI!), and a few more things, I have made it a goal to to figure out why I'm having these issues and kick them out the door!  I am definitely not perfect and I often fall back into bad habits, but overall I think I have been much better off. Those issues have significantly reduced since I have been more cautious of what I put into my body. I don't go totally crazy on organic stuff, although I know there are many benefits, but that can get very expensive....so I figure until I'm makin bank or have a large fruitful organic garden....I'll be sticking to the usual.

Back in September, after we moved into our new home, Andrew and I built a garden! I used the points I earned from using my Chase debit/credit card and was able to get $125 worth of Lowe's gift certificates! Boo-ya!! That was able to help with a the majority of my cost! Although its been 5 months and still have nothing large enough to harvest besides herbs, I have learned a ton and think I will be much better off this coming season. Unfortunately I bought treated wood (bad advise lumber guy!) and one day I will trade it all out. Composting has been on my mind for a while now I just haven't done anything about it. This week I have started to throw food away separately, and I'm determined to get that going soon. I think my garden might just be malnourished. Please don't send me to GPS (Garden Protective Services)! Haha....I'm a dork.

Las Vegas Garden
September 16th 2011

Las Vegas Garden
September 28 2011

Las Vegas Garden
November 23rd 2011

February 8, 2012- The Latest

Las Vegas Garden

Las Vegas Garden

Las Vegas Garden

Las Vegas Garden
Giant Peas

Las Vegas Garden
Nappa Cabbage Flowers

Las Vegas Garden
Romaine Lettuce

Las Vegas Garden
Marigold

Las Vegas Garden
Parsley

Las Vegas Garden
Cilantro

Las Vegas Garden
Mint

Las Vegas Garden

Las Vegas Garden
Broccoli

I have really become a fan of juicing!! I drink all kinds of weird juice! Right now I'm drinking, romaine, cucumber, celery, carrot, apple juice. Its really good, I promise. I cant wait til I'm using my own garden for it! but for now, I buy most everything in bulk from Sams Club. I did some of my own research today to help figure out the cost and amount of a couple good-juicing fruits and veggies. I'll throw it in here just cause.....

Pricing based on Sam's Club prices Feb. 8, 2012. (Not held responsible for prices changing)

I added the amount of pulp in there so that you can see that quite a bit can be wasted. BUT you can save a lot of it in freezer safe bags and use them in breads, muffins, cakes, lasagnas, sauces, salsas, etc! OR if you don't want to get all fancy with it, you can always put it towards your composting. I have found that spinach does NOT juice well. It spits almost everything back out. I will be updating this chart as I to more of my experiments :-).

OK I'm sure I could go on forever about this stuff, but I will save it for later :-)


Thank you so much for reading! Be back later!

Bringing in the new year!

So here it is, 2012, and I am really ready to make some new big changes in my life. So far we are doing great! We've hardly missed a night this month of family scripture study, family prayer and we haven't missed doing one Family Home Evening! The reading is tremendously helping our kids learn how to be faster readers and even Jordan (age 3) wants to get in on it every night. They are comprehending so much and that makes me so happy! Since the beginning of the year, I have prayed and read a chapter in the scriptures each morning and wrote in my journal each night. For 2 weeks now, I have done a vigorous 10 minute workout each day of the week along with an extra 10 minutes of warm up, cool down and stretching.

I've always had a hard time finding out how to live a balanced life, as with all of us. I always make up excuses that there isn't enough time in the day. But I have really begun to grasp the idea that there are 24 hours in a day for a reason. I can honestly say that I highly doubt we'd do any better at accomplishing more if there were 34 hours in a day instead. We'd just have another 10 hours to goof off and procrastinate. My goal is to accomplish my life long goals every day before anything else and since I have began to practice this goal, life just seems easier.

"Give us this day our daily bread......" Matthew 6:11. As I read in January's issue of the Ensign my eyes were really open to the simplicity of life. It doesn't say...."Give us this month our monthly bread" or "yearly" or even "weekly", it says "daily". ONE STEP AT A TIME! Editing pictures, facebooking, mopping the floors, doing laundry, scrubbing toilets, grocery shopping, paying bills, etc are NOT daily tasks! They may be frequent tasks, but they aren't something I want to do everyday for the rest of my life. BUT there are a few things that I can say I'd like to do almost everyday if not everyday for the the rest of my life. Those things for me would be: Morning prayer, morning scriptures, making my bed, quick exercise, being of service to someone, nightly family scripture study, nightly family prayers, nightly journal writing & nightly personal prayers. For some reason when I focus on just completing these morning and nightly routines, everything else falls into place. My house stays cleaner, my work gets done, my errands get done, my social life is still active, my brain is more clear, I'm happier, I feel better all together, my marriage is stronger than ever and my kids are behaving better. Its pretty miraculous! My morning prayers are focused more on the day I have in front of me and my nightly prayer is focused more on giving thanks for the day I got through and asking for guidance on how to do things better tomorrow. Stress seems to be almost entirely alleviated because all I have to do is get through today.

The moral of my story today is that yes, we can and should plan for the future. Get those goals and tasks down on a paper. Know where you want to be in the future and have that in your head, but today, live as if you were being tested on today and today only. Past issues will begin to be resolved and the future will begin to smoothly unfold with the grace intended. I cant say that I will always be able to take this advise myself, but I CAN say with a surety from past experiences, that this is the best way to live.

Tony- 10, AJ- 7, Jordan- 3
Taken December 26th 2011

The day of much productivity!

Today has been a great day. I woke up around 7:30 with the baby and Andrew. I immediately started laundry…hasn’t been done in a while (like a week). I made myself a note of everything I wanted to get done before turning on the computer and I achieved it! I even added a couple of things on and got those things done too. I called this guy James from tourguy.com. He will not return my phone call…boooooooo! Hopefully he will call back someday soon. I finished getting my book The Ducks from the Block together and I sent everything to the publisher! Woo-hoo!! I’ll be talking more about that in the future for sure!

My visiting teachers Lori Jayme and Amber Cooper came over to see me around 2. We talked and they gave a quick lesson on sacrament and why it is so important to really remember why we are taking it each week and to not just take it without thinking. We also talked about making our ward [ES2] a little more united. Planning dinners, game nights, girl’s nights, etc. We decided that we are going to try to start a ward blog. A blog that we could update and keep events posted on a calendar. I think that would really help everyone come together. We’ll see how it goes.

I worked on pictures. I finished 4 loads of laundry. I played with my little cutie Jordan. I talked to Tony and AJ on the phone (they are in California with Grandma) and I freaking miss them. I sold our old mattress, box spring and frame on craigslist for $20! I was planning on dumping it or donating it so $20 was awesome! I made yummy chicken parmesan with spaghetti and bell peppers. I dyed my hair again. My blonde roots were coming in WAY too much…I needed to tame that. While my hair was cooking, I vented Andrews ear off about a bridezilla that I had recently and he expressed that he wanted to doo-doo on her pictures and mail them to her. I thought that was rather funny. I will try not to let him get a hold of her address.

Jordan climbed out of his crib 4 or 5 times, but finally gave up. So, after a long productive day, Andrew and I snuggled up on the couch with a big bowl of ice cream and watched a movie called “Taken”. It started off kinda slow, but once it got going, we were on the edge of our seats….or the couch. It was PG13 and pretty clean. I would highly recommend it!

Now I’m sitting down and writing a little journal entry. I will keep this one going daily. I will be getting off the computer and making a list of “to-do’s” for tomorrow cause it sure worked out for me today!

xoxo