Life without a camera...

I'm going crazy!!!

My camera wouldn't turn off so it kept draining the battery.  I took it in to get looked at by the camera doctor and they said 4-6 weeks!!! Yikes!

So much going on that I want to take pics of:

• Finishing up the painting in the kitchen- just finished the island in cheery blue.
• Just finished an adorable scarf with bobbles
• Two baby hats- finished one yesterday and gave it to some friends with a baby on the way, the other is in the works and will probably be finished and gone before I get my camera back.
• Started a new book "Wild Swans" by Jung Chang- so far it is beautifully written and very enlightening about communist China and the government control on the individuals there before the death of Mao in the late '70's.  It talks about three generations of women and their struggles and triumphs- I'm excited to read it.
• Simeon wore the tie I knitted him to church on Sunday- sooooo adorable!

I will see if blogging is even possible without my camera- It seems funny to talk about all this stuff but not be able to show it as well.

Goop

I read an article in Good Houskeeping the other day about Gwyneth Paltrow, who I think is great.  In the article it mentioned that she has a website about food, travel, good deals, things to do etc.  I looked at the website and really liked it- there are many interesting newsletters about things that interest me.  So I thought I'd jot down the info in case anyone wants to check it out.  The only category that I thought wasn't very relevant was the one about "good deals"- she talks about clothes and shoes and things and how a pair of boots for like $600 is a good deal- anyway, it's not a great deal on my planet, but they were cute ;)
For access to her website, click here.

New Workout Plan!

So, I'm an exercise nut. I love getting outside, running inside, lifting weights, doing pushups, yoga, pilates, whatever it is, I love exercise.  December was a bad exercise month- at the beginning of the month I had a horrible head cold and then when I was feeling better, I hurt my wrist (my hubby says it was from over-knitting). Now that I'm feeling good, and my wrist feels better, I'm back on the exercise train, or wagon, or whatever.  My fitness goals are basically to fit into my clothes better (December made everything a bit tight) and to feel comfortable in a bathing suit.
Here is what my new plan looks like:

Monday: a.m- Circuit training with weights (great program Danny at 1-800-contacts put together for me)
               p.m.-Yoga (teaching at 1-800-contacts)
Tuesday: a.m- Run (I'm doing a marathon training program)
                       Pilates Reformer- 40 minutes or so working on intermediate and advanced stuff
                p.m- Yoga (teaching at 1-800-contacts)
Wednesday: a.m- Circuit training with weights
 Thursday:  a.m- Run
                           Pilates Reformer
Friday: a.m.- Circuit training with weights
Saturday: a.m. Run (usually a longer run)
                       Yoga (teaching at ballet studio)

A goal I set for myself this year is also to "play" more, so the kids and I do other various active activities throughout the week (snowshoeing, swimming, walking etc.)  and we play on the wii a lot especially our new game Just Dance 2.  So I think 2011 will be a great year of exercise.  I'm focusing on eating proper portions and more protein/fewer carbs at the end of the day.  Good luck to me!

Knitting, cooking and kitchen...

I just finished Jayda's new ballet bag.  I made a little bag for my niece for Christmas and decided that since it was so cute and easy, I'd make a larger version for my Jayda to stuff her ballet shoes and clothes into.  I used much larger needles (size 13 instead of 9) and made everything just a bit bigger to accommodate all her stuff.  I love the way the garter stitch stretches, and the bag can be worn as a backpack with both straps or over one shoulder.

It would make a great grocery/produce bag as well.  

Another project we've been working on is the kitchen.  It had light maple cupboards and I was wanting something a bit more cheery so we went white.  Since I lived in my in-laws basement with white cabinets, I have missed them.  They look great, easy to clean and brighten up the room.  The project isn't quite finished: I am saving my pennies for pendant lights over the island, a new cheery backsplash (I'm thinking sea-glass or something), and this week we are putting bead board around the island and painting it a cheery (once again) light turqoisey blue (similar to the mirror I painted but a bit lighter).  I'm so excited to get my house exactly how I want it one room at a time.  Eventually when the other white appliances break, we will replace everything with stainless steel to match the microwave we just put in.

Busy Day Recipe:

Tuesday is our busy day as a family.  Aside from the usual, already busy day, we add Jayda's ballet and Olivia's gymnastics- both taking place at the same time, in different places.  So it's a bit of a race to get them where they need to go and then I pick one up and Petter picks up the other and we meet up at home for dinner before Petter has scouts, and I later have yoga.  With that kind of an evening, it doesn't leave a lot of time for the making of dinner, so it's the day I usually throw some stuff in a crockpot and let it do it's magic.  I absolutely love inventing new recipes- if I could live out one of my dreams, it would be to make up and test recipes- since I really don't have time for that, I just try things out on my family.  Yesterdays meal was one of the best and I will definitely be making it again, and again, and again.  I'm calling it "Chicken Tortilla Soup". In the summer my mom and I froze salsa in ziploc bags and it worked out great- so that's the salsa I used, it's got lots of cilantro and is way yummy.  If you don't have frozen salsa (I know it's kinda weird) you could just use a bottle of your favorite or whip up some fresh.

Here's the recipe:

5 frozen chicken breasts

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 quart (or so) frozen salsa

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup quinoa

In the morning, put chicken, soup, quinoa and salsa in the crock pot on high. Let it cook all day and when ready for dinner, add the beans till heated.

Serve with tortilla chips, cheese and whatever other fixings you like.

New Years Outdoors

The New Year is here! We had a fun time ringing it in with family and friends. My dad brought over an old TV/VCR that isn't getting used anymore so we pulled out some old movies and the kids camped out on the floor.

Petter had one more day off of work so we decided to go up AF canyon again and go sledding and snowshoeing. It was amazingly beautiful and nobody was up there (most kids went back to school) so we enjoyed some peace and quiet.

All that space between the boys and the trees is frozen lake.

The girls mostly just rode the sleds down a great hill.

Livi got her braces last week- her smile looks cute!

We had a bit of excitement up there. Simeon couldn't get up a steep hill so Petter had to pull him up.

And a boot came completely off. We actually thought we'd lost it in the snow- it was completely buried- but we found it.

Here's the snow covered sock.

We had a great time and got a bit worn out so we headed down the mountain and went to a movie. What a great day! Now we are back to the old routine: exercise, homeschool, lessons, practicing, yoga, ballet, gymnastics, scouts and young women's. The break was great- we'll have to do it again soon.