The Great Weight Loss Race and the Garden

I was so inspired by Holly's pics of their garden that I ambitiously went out and took beautiful pictures of our garden to post. Then I promptly lost our camera. It's somewhere around here... So when I find it, I'll show you some great pics of our gsrden.

After four kids, I am slightly overweight. I've been trying to lose it, but I go up and down and we all know I really like my treats. So I decided I need some motivation. I thought maybe those of us who could stand to lose a little weight could get together and have a contest. My purpose is not to exclude or embarrass anyone, it's just to have a little fun and give each other some support and encouragement. I figured we could use the percent of total weight lost as a basis for who wins (for example if you are 200lbs and you lose 20lbs - you've lost 10 percent of your total body weight.) That way it could be fair for those who only have a little to lose and those who have more to lose and no one has to reveal their actual weight. We could run this a number of ways. 1. We all put in a set amount of money and at the end of the month whoever has lost the highest percent gets all the money. 2. We could take turns buying a prize for the winner each month. or 3. We just give each other encouragement and support and the honor of winning (instead of a prize). Another way we could run this is for everyone to set a one month goal and whoever reaches their goal wins (it could be everyone) and buys themselves a prize. Anyway, anyone is welcome to join us. Please let me know by July 31st if you want to join in and which way you want to run it. We'll start on August 1st and go for one month. The way with the highest number of votes will win. For you lucky folks who don't need to lose any weight or even luckier folks who need to gain weight, we could still use your encouragement and support. (and if you gained a hundred pounds and looked terrible it would help too.) See you on the scales.

Slackers

Sorry it's been so long since we've blogged. I'd like to say we've been busy, but the truth is I've just been enjoying the summer. It's been an adjustment having Josef home again instead of in school. In fact, I've never had all four of them home all day until now. Josef has been a great help, he'll always play with Quincey and sometimes he even makes lunch for all of us. He's also been a great tease and can get all three kids screaming at once. We've been having a lot of fun this summer. The last week of June the kids and I went to Utah while Karl went on his high adventure. We went to Chuck E. Cheeses and the zoo. Zoey was terrified of Chuck E. Cheese. She took one look and ran screaming, "Mom I want to go home to my yellow house." It took awhile to calm her down. The zoo was really fun also and the kids loved seeing all their cousins. Quincey also got a haircut right before we left for Utah. Karl took one cut and I started bawling, "It's too much." He is much more comfortable though. This week we're heading to Camp New Fork to go camping. We'll let you know how it goes.

Blood, Haircuts, and Tears

Yesterday, I decided I needed to get my haircut and I just couldn't wait. So I decided to save time and money and ask Karl to do it. He did and he did a pretty good job. It's a little shorter than I wanted, but its even and it will grow back (I hope). This morning, Zoey (who has been asking me to cut her hair for about a week)

took one look at my hair and would not give up pestering me for a haircut. Finally, I agreed. Here are the results. Amalie liked Zoey's hair so much that she wanted her hair cut too. Karl would have jumped at this chance, but I wasn't sure I could do it. I didn't really want to cut her hair. I'm not exactly sure why that is because I'm the one who has to comb it and fix it and I didn't have any worries about cutting Zoey's hair. I called Karl to tell him about Zoey's hair and that Amalie wanted a hair cut. While he was trying to convince me that i should cut Amalie's hair, Amalie made the decision for me. She took a big chunk of hair and cut it off. I started crying, but calmed down enough to start cutting. I told her I would make all of her hair even with her cut (up tp her chin), then she started crying because she didn't want it that short. We finally settled for about shoulder length with one spot up to her chin (there was nothing I could do about that). It looks pretty cute, but I cut off all her curls so she's either going to be really curl when she has a bath or really straight. I'll keep you posted.

Jump, Jump, Shake Your Tail!

So here are a few pictures of Josef in his costume. He was a raccoon in the play Little Red Riding Hood. The video is Josef showing us his dance after the play was over. The dance goes a little something like this, Jump, Jump, Shake your tail, Shake your tail, Shake your tail. The sound isn't that great because there were a lot of people around being noisy. Josef also sang a song called Raccoons Rule, "If your gonna eat then you better better wash your hands." The pictures are of Josef and his little raccoon friends. I am absolutely amazed at what these kids could do in a week. A round of applause to Missoula Children's Theater.

Videos as Promised

The Niagra Falls video is too big to post.

This Is Going to be a Long One

First, I should tell you all about our vacation to New York. We were so grateful that we could go with Grandma and Grandpa Scherbel and Hannah and Matthew and Ben. There is no way we would have been able to take that trip by ourselves. For example, at every potty stop, I fed Quincey while Grandma and Hannah took the girls to the bathroom and Matthew took Josef to the bathroom and then I would run to the bathroom while Karl changed Quincey's diaper. Also, we switched cars to keep it interesting. It would have taken us all week to get there if we hadn't had them to help. We were really glad to see Grandma and Grandpa Zollweg. For some reason, when we told Zoey Grandma Dorothy's name, all she heard was Dora, so at our house they are now Grandma and Grandpa Dora. We had a good time. Quincey got a fever the day before we left and had it until the day we got there. Then, the day after we got there he developed a horrible rash. By Tuesday, when we went to visit the Church History sights, it was really bad. I loved seeing the sights, but my heart wasn't really in it, I was too worried about Quincey. At the Hill Cumorah Visitor Center we listened to a spiel by the couple missionaries in front of a huge Christus. After they were done, they asked if anyone would like to bear their testimony. Amalie raised her hand, walked to the front of the room, grabbed the Sister missionary's hand and bore a beautiful testimony. She testified of Joseph Smith and of Jesus and Heavenly Father's love for us. Josef followed with his own testimony. The missionaries asked if any adults wanted to bear their testimonies, but of course those two little spirits were too hard an act to follow. We found out later that the missionaries had only been out about ten days. By the time we got to the Grandin's print shop, Quincey was really having a hard time (thanks to Scott for staying in the car with him so I could try to enjoy the tour). I decided to ask the missionaries if there was a medical clinic nearby. It turned out there was a doctor's office right next door and she was LDS and she had a slot to fit me in. Quincey just had a virus, but it was a testimony to me that Heavenly Father loved me and cared about my concerns and put me in the right place at the right time to ease my mind about Quincey.

It was also great meeting Elsa's family. We had dinner with quite a few of them on Tuesday night. It was fun to get to know Patty and Kathy especially. They were very thoughtful and the food was delicious.

On the way home, we stopped at Niagra Falls. It was beautiful, I'm posting a video.

We also stopped at Council Bluffs. That was really fun for me because there is a statue of one of my ancestors there. His name is Henry William Miller. I am also posting some pictures of him.

Life since then has seemed dull, staying at home all day, no swimming pools, no long car rides. Luckily, Josef made the cast of Little Red Riding Hood with the Missoula Children's Theatre, now i get to pick him up off the bus and drive him right back to school. Thank goodness for school. By the way, if anyone wants to come to his performance, it is on Saturday May 9, at 2:00 p.m. at Thayne Elementary. He is a racoon. He says they are the funny guys and he is really excited.

I'm also posting a video of Zoey. We have this crazy toy feather sword from Captain Feathersword on The Wiggles. It has all these weird laughs and sayings - Zoey has it down pat. Josef does too.

Also, Quincey got his first haircut. here are the pics. The poor kid couldn't even see. Karl did the haircutting (obviously).

Sorry I don't know how to turn those other pictures around. I hope we find you all well and enjoying life.

Just for Fun

I'm in a hurry tonight, but I wanted to post a few fun pictures from Amalie's birthday party. There's one of her cake, one of her beautiful multi-hued lipstick and a video of Zoey, her Grandpa Thomas and some balloons.