Easter

We had a fun Easter all in all. The weekend was good, very relaxing. And quiet without the boys. But good all the same. Although I was rather excited to have them home on Sunday.
The Easter Bunny went a little more all out than normal, it's no good going to different stores to get stuff because you lose track of how much you spend. Not good. But it was worth it. This is kind of a backwards in time....but it works.

The cousins after finding eggs

Tyler

Ryder

Nate

The Easter Bunny had to find a way to drop stuff to the boys without a Ryder messing with them...so on the beds they went. And the Easter Bunny was kinda messy with the candy. The boys loved it.

Ry eating his goods after he found his Easter Bunny treats

It was a fun Sunday. I really enjoyed myself and I will tell you what....it is SOO nice to have the boys home. Even with their crazyness, I missed them a bunch. Time to get back to the norm.

No hair challenge today either....I tried but some days are just off hair days. I really did attempt to make it pretty but it wasn't happening. So in a ponytail it went. Tomorrow is a new day however...so we'll see how it goes.

Hair Challenge day!

With it being Easter, I decided to try something fancier than normal for church. Granted I try to do fancier than normal for church on any given day....but today I tried a fancier-fancier. Anyway.....
I got the idea from The Small Things blog that is full of hair and makeup tutorials. I WILL be trying out some of her other hairstyles too.

back right side

closeup back left side

Ry getting in on the action

I wasn't happy how the front of this one came out...but I think the back was pretty so the back is what you get. Only took me about 20 minutes to do, even with all the primping and perfecting. The girls in the tutorial was much better looking, but I think it's because I need to practice my hair teasing. I'll work on that.

Anyway....Easter post to come later on today!!

Happy Easter everyone!

Tired of being sick

I've felt it coming on for the last week...but this morning the cold finally hit me full force. I hate that. Ry and I stayed in bed (for the most part) all morning watching Netflix on my laptop. It was nice, but not very productive. So I decided we better get our butts moving and do something. We were doing our Saturday cleaning and started laundry....when we found out that our cousin Jack wanted to play. After we ate lunch, we went and helped My bro and SIL unload boxes (they are moving) and Ry played with Jackers. As for the rest of the day....here it be in pictures. Oh and it wasn't a hair challenge day....I was totally not up to the hair thing this morning as I was hacking up a lung and sniffling.

Got the stuff to make laundry soap....forgot something to put the finished product in....

Wierd wierd truck/diesel thing. What makes someone think "mmm I'm gonna put a diesel sleeper smack in the middle of my truck today?"

Painted toes and fingers....they were in need.

These pictures weren't today, but yesterday. Ryders cousin Jackers LOVES to feed the horses and Ryder LOVES to go with. He's a little scared of the horses, but still gets up there and pets them when I do.

Feeding apples

Staring the horse down.

Super Hair!

I am sooo very excited to be linking up with my bloggy friend Mutant Supermodel for April's hair challenge! Challenges are always fun when you do them as a group and she has had the ingenius idea to challenge lots of people to join in and share their pretty 'dos. Yay!
So for today...I went with a pony but tried to dress it up a little with headbands. I've decided that even though it's not fancy....it's different from the norm so it counts. And I plan on counting anything different from the norm as a success.

Seriously...what is up with that shnoze? I truly never realized I had a big nose until now.

I have a whole lot of hair tutorials and stuff that I find ideas for hairstyles on, so I will be sure to share when I use them as well.

On to other things, I have to admit I'm rather lonely tonight. I spent the morning at work and the afternoon with family, but wasn't looking forward to coming home. Do you ever have those days? Ry is out like a light, so I don't really have anyone to play with and I'm stuck at home so I can't even go get supplies to be crafty or go see a movie or whatever. That loneliness extends to wishing I had someone here to spend time with (like a guy....). I've been doing better with that guy thing...but tonight it's pretty bad. Someday...hopefully.
So off I go to do some homework, probably clean the house, maybe look up and practice lovely hair ideas...

Challenge day {kinda}

I kinda did the challenge day today.....I didn't do anything special with my hair as I was in a hurry this morning, however I took the time to blowdry and curl it a little so I think it should count as a "hair doing" day. Especially where on my rush days I usually just throw it up in a messy bun while it's wet and run out the door.

Ry got in on the fun with this one. You can't really see my hair, but trust that it's straight and curled under.

The boys are getting ready to go camping with their grandparents and Ry is not having fun with that. He doesn't understand why he isn't going and I can't lie, I'm a little sad they are going too. I will miss them like crazy. But I hope they have fun and feel like they need to spend the time with that side of the family as well, so it will all work out. Doesn't change that Ry and I will be kind of sad tonight. Maybe we will have an impromptu movie night to take our minds off it. Or something.

Awesome RS Activity and Challenge day

I kinda did my hair again today...it is a ponytail but it's an interesting pony. I think it counts.

More braids yay! :) and a side pony.

Have I mentioned I'm not a fan of taking pictures of myself? I never realized I had a big nose until recently. No bueno.

Tonight I barely made it to our Relief Society activity. I say barely because we were eating dinner at 6:30 and I remembered it was tonight and started at 7:00. But I made it! And I'm happy I did.
We learned first about gardening. I really want to be able to have a green thumb. I tend to kill plants instead of grow them sadly. But this guy gave me hope.
The most important keys to gardening are Soil, soil, more soil and protection. Obviously soil is important. The guy telling us about it said that he uses 6 parts Juniper/Pine soil, 3 parts old horse manuere, peat moss and black compost. You mix them all up and till them into your normal dirt....and you will have success. He also taught us about when to plant, the grow season, everything. Even how to garden in the winter months.
Then a girl talked about making your own laundry soap. I always thought it would be too hard to do or something, so I never tried it. Well....I'm a believer now. Its not hard at all, it took her all of two minutes to make from start to finish. I'll post the recipe when I get it via email....it truly is easy. If I remember right the only things you need are borax, baking soda stuff, fals thepsa (dunno if thats how its spelled, but its soap stuff) and one other thing that I can't remember. There is no cooking involved for the dry powder either like I've seen in other recipes. You just dump the powdered ingredients in a garbage bag, grate the fals thepsa stuff with a cheese grater and add it in then mix it all together in the garbage bag. It makes enough to last about 3-4 months (well, it lasted the girl that long but it would probably last us closer to 6 months. We don't do as much laundry as her).
So...its worth a try. I'm going to try it out when we run out of detergent.

*as a side note, I initially wrote this post yesterday but fell asleep while writing. The finished product from last night (that I'm grateful I didn't post) was kinda humorous as it was all over the place and didn't make sense.

Challenge day and DoTERRA

I accomplished my goal today of doing my hair. Its nothing huge, but at least I did it. And I do got to say I felt a little uplifted and not so much like an ugly duckling today....so its having a positive effect I think.

The braid with big curls duo

After work I got to Grandpa and Grandma's house to pick up the older boys and Nate was climbing the tree out front. It took me back to all of the days as a kid that my best friend and I would sit up in that tree for hours and watch people walk under, see who could spit the biggest and race "rhinos" down (those seed pod things that have gooey white stuff in them and you can stick them on your nose hehe). We had a lot of fun. It also made me aware that I'm getting older and older as the days goes on. Yay.

That fork in the tree was my favorite sitting spot

Then tonight we went to a DoTERRA Essential Oils class at my SIL Betsy's house. Her and my mom have been using oils for quite awhile now and they seem to help them. I think I'm still more skeptical. I hate medication though and pretty much refuse to take it unless I absolutely need to, so this is a good way to help ease challenges naturally. The teacher, Ashley, put some "boy oil" on my boys and it seemed to calm them right down. And tonight I put lavender on their feet before bedtime and they were out like a light....and it worked a little too well on me as I almost didn't have the energy to do my homework (it relaxed me too much). So...there may be something to this oil thing.
I also had a Compass report thing done that tests biofeedback and found out my baseline markers are on the high end of normal reading at 37 (markers that are out of whack)....and gave suggestions to help me get my bio-marker things in order with some oils specifically for that purpose.

DO-Breathe would take care of 14 of those out of whack markers. This oil is a respiratory blend that helps when you have a could or seomthing of that sort. Makes sense, since I've had a runny nose/cough thing for about a week.
DO-White Fir would take care of 8 marker things. It helps relieve and soothe muscle aches and pains.
DO-Coriandor would take care of 6 marker things. It has various uses that range from digestive support to supporting a healthy insulin response.
DO-Alpha CRS+ is suggested to help with cellular polification and lifespan and is used  as a dietary supplement.
DO-Fennel-suggested to help with digestive issues, relieve indigestion, and support healthy functions of the stomach.
DO-AromaTouch is suggested to help calm down, increase circulation, and just be able to relax.
DO-Oregano is a cleansing agent that helps get rid of bad toxins in the body and is the "big gun" for relief when your sick.
DO-DigestZen- helps balance the digestive system.

All of them also have (positive) effects on emotional stuff or the feel good stuff as well. I really think I'm going to start baby steps and try a couple to help relieve some of my aches and pains. And I'm definitely going to invest in the lavender and the boy oil, they worked wonders.

So thats the day. And now I'm going to give in to the lavender and go to bed. G'nte ya'll

April!

Holy crap it's already April. This is going to be an ultra busy month. We have...

*Easter of course, of which it will be just me and Ry. Sad days...but we will try to have fun without brothers.
*Last month of school WOOHOO!
      *But...that means ultra busy homework schedule and finals. Booooo!
*Currently working two jobs. The one I was hired for and also training for the processing/assistant job I will be transitioning into. Oh and training a new guy. It's proving to be quite a bit of work. But I still LOVE it!
*The legal crap with the ex will {hopefully!} be over soon...more on what is prompting that later but will most likely {hopefully!} all come to pass this month.

It doesn't sound like much....but homework alone takes about 3 hours of my night every night. add that with 9 hrs at work/school plus my parenting duties and that doesn't leave much free time.

I'm going to work on my de-frumping again this month too. In an effort to better my "package"....I'm going to make sure I wake up early enough to actually do my hair at least 4 times per week. I'd say every day, but that would just be a joke..

I also think I have all of the emotional crap that was bogging me down sorted out for the most part, so I'm going to try to get my butt moving on the de-chub project as well.

So....as a goal summary.....

1. Get all homework and tests done before their due dates this month
2. Work out legal crap
3. Hair De-Frump challenge...do hair at least 4 x week.
4. Fat De-Chub challenge....stay under cals every day and exercise at least 30 minutes 6 x week.


Yeeehaw April...You are going to be a busy month. Bring it on!

My ham!

It turned out great! The boys eat it right up...but it was a huge ham. I have plenty for sandwiches this week. Yay!

I used an orange cranberry glaze you can find here and it was sooo super easy. I love easy. Happy Sunday ya'll!

Mormon Messages

General Conference today was great. I didn't get to listen to a whole lot of it thanks to noisy and bored children, but I look forward to reading them when they come to print. The part of it all that had the biggest impression were the programs that run between sessions. Specifically, the one about Mormon Messages. I also took away that we need to be bold. I don't shout from the rooftops that I'm LDS because I have several non-member friends and I don't want them to feel that I am trying to push the religion on them. And I have to admit, a little bit of me is worried that I will be judged. Then I realized today that I need to stop worrying about that. My true friends will be my friends regardless.
And so...with all of that in mind, I've decided to dedicate one day per week to the Mormon Messages. I have seen a couple in our lessons at church but never really sat down and watched them on my own. Its a shame, because they really bring forth amazing messages that are not only for mormons, but provide a good standard for anyone out there regardless of their beliefs or religion.

Today's is going to be Parenting: Touching The Hearts of Our Youth. Too many times I am in the room but not really. Life passes by as technology, homework, phone calls, or just pure tiredness/laziness takes me away from my kids, even though they are right in front of me. I wonder why they don't pay attention when I talk to them. Well, there is my answer. How can I expect them to pay attention to me when I'm not paying attention to them? What kind of example am I leading if I'm passing my time on the computer or phone? Not a good one, I can tell you that. So I hope you get as much out of this message as I have.