21 days to make a habit

So they say it takes 21 days to make a habit. If that's true, I've made a habit, baby! I am officially someone who works out. I know, none of you ever thought I'd say that, heck, I never thought it either, but I really enjoy it. I even went running the other day when it was a cold, damp 35 degrees. Okay, I won't admit to liking that. But on the whole, this is going well for me, 5 days a week. Go me!

By the way, my body already looks like this girl's! Not! (sorry, getting in the mood for upcoming 80's party)

Bad news via email

Do you know what really stinks? Getting bad news by email. I never knew how bad this was until I received this email heading in my bulk mail
"President Hinckly Dies at 97"

In my bulk mail, none the less.

But I would like to say a little about President Hinckley, the prophet of our church. What a great man! I will miss President Hinckley. I think back on the talk he gave at conference not very long ago highlighting some of his life, the things he's done, the people he's served with. He will be missed.

By the way...

I'm missing out on a great concert right now. I should be there, but instead I'm here blogging about not being there. So, I've been hearing that Foo Fighters were coming in January for a couple months now. I thought it would be a really fun concert to go to, but when you're talking 50 bucks for mediocre seats times two, it gets to be really pricey. BUT THEN, Reed called yesterday to say "guess who I heard is coming to town?" Yeah, you got it, Jimmy Eat World. Pretty much my favorite band. He was at work and asked me to look it up. So I did and found out that they were coming the next day (today). It just so happens that J.Paul has a huge test Monday, Reed couldn't come, Carolyn couldn't (wouldn't) come, and I don't know any other 30 year olds with such a yearning. I would go in a box or with a fox, here or there or anywhere, except by myself. Besides, it wasn't in the budget, and I guess grown-ups stick to their budgets, right? Anyways, wah, wah, wah.

Conversations with Amzie

Tonight we met J.Paul for dinner down by his school. It's about a 20 min. drive each way. And each way was full of Amzie talking. On the way -
Amzie: Mommy, some people don't know the truth.
me: About what?
Amzie: About stopping at red lights.
Then she went on and on about stopping at red lights and going at green ones.
On the way home the conversation turned to scissors.
Amzie: Nanna has kid scissors at her house. I was very careful with them and didn't cut my hands... If you cut your hands your brains come out.
me: No, if you cut your hands blood comes out. Brains are only in your head.
Amzie: Why are brains only in your head?....
after 10 min. of talking anatomy, she turned to small talk.
Amzie: So, tell me about your day. (she even said it very small-talkish, with a "soooo")
After dying with laughter I proceeded to tell her about my day and then asked her, sooo, how was your day?
Amzie: ....then I took Evan to the hokey pokey...then I tooted, real hard...
(those are just the highlights)

In other car conversations recently she told me she needed another baby and that Jesus sends people babies and he was going to send us one because we're "real nice".
She also, out of the blue, told me that Nanna used to hold her and let her sleep on her and feed her bottles. The strange thing is that my mom (Nanna) used to keep her when I worked. Does she remember that? Strange.

Happy Birthday J.Paul

I have always loved J.Paul. At first it wasn't romantic "I'm in love with you" love, but he is a very lovable person. After knowing him for a little over a year and getting over the fact that he is 3 years younger than me, I realized it started being the romantic kind. One night we were hanging out at his house and he kissed me. The rest, as they say, is history.

Not long after we were married we went to a couples halloween party. We played a game kind of like the newlywed game. We didn't know many people there since we had recently moved into the ward. In the newlywed game, a question is asked and both husband and wife have to write down the answer. The question was asked "How many dates did you go on before you had your first kiss?" Well, of course, the answer was zero, so that's what I wrote without a second thought. After all the BYU blind date/singles ward/FHE group stories, when it came to my turn and I revealed my answer, you should have seen the looks we got. I lamely tried to explain, but to no avail. But we did it the right way, being friends first.

J.Paul is my best friend and I love him.

Happy Birthday, J.Paul!

Amzie helps

Amzie is really into helping lately. She loves to help with anything - put dishes away, fold laundry, fix dinner. It's really cute and even if I have to go back behind her and do it again I like that she's trying to help. The other day she wanted to help me clean out my drawers. She took a liking to the pantyhose and almost immediately put them on her head. Then she helped Evan to do the same. This entertained them for a good 15 min. I hope their affinity for pantyhose on their head doesn't lead them to the bank-robbing business.

Hidden Talent

I know I've mentioned numerous times that J.Paul is a man of many talents. But yesterday I found one I never knew he had. I was telling him how Amzie is on a kick of watching the Little People video. This video is very annoying. If you've ever seen any of them, you'll know what I'm talking about. By far the most annoying part is the music done by Aaron Neville. His voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me. (although I have to admit liking the 80's duet with Linda Ronstadt "Don't Know Much" - can't believe I admitted that - don't hold it against me.)

Anyways, as I was telling J.Paul this story, he busted out in a true Aaron Neville-like voice. Uncanny. He said he got his practice from the cotton commercial. Who knew? I'm sure he'd be happy to give a demonstration if asked. :)

Balance

I know it's probably not that impressive, but I've been working out for 2 days now. And today both of the kids were up and part of the time I had to try to keep Evan from climbing on my head. I'm working out with a ball and I really like it but I'm not too impressed with the DVD I have. Any suggestions anyone? I think when I get really used to working out with the ball my balance will be a lot better. I should have been doing this back in college when I seemed to have lost my sense of balance. Speaking of college and balance, of course there are numerous stories I could share about myself but what's really coming to mind is a story about my roommate Jenn in our first semester of school. Jenn, you don't mind if I share this story for all the world to see do you? (Don't worry, no one really reads this blog.) We went to school in Cedar City, Utah and shortly after we started having snow my pregnant roommate came home and told us she slipped and fell on the icy stoop walking into our building. Did Jenn have compassion on our pregnant roommate? No. She started talking about how she was from upstate NY and was a "professional ice-walker". Yes, those were her exact words. She was laughing about all the amateurs around because she would never slip and fall. A few days later we went grocery shopping. When we got home we all grabbed a few bags of groceries and started to traverse the icy parking lot when a great moment in history happened. Suddenly, Jenn slipped and as she fell in slow motion her arms flew up in the air along with the plastic bags full of groceries and she landed squarely on her butt with groceries scattered all around on the ice. Thanks for the great memory, "Professional Ice-Walker"!
Maybe someday I'll share one of my many falls.

Motivation

I finally felt motivated to work out. I had this great plan devised to start working out on J.Paul's first Monday back at school. I got a ball and DVD to workout with. Sunday night J.Paul pumped up my ball so I was good to go. Monday morning my ball was deflated. So obviously I didn't work out. I went out and got a new ball and got myself set up for Tuesday morning. But I happen to have a sick baby so he and subsequently I didn't sleep. I thought maybe I would still work out but then both kids woke up when I did. That wasn't happenin. There's always tomorrow...

This is my motivation

We booked our vacation to St. John. We will be going for a whole week by ourselves after J.Paul takes boards. Can't wait!

You mean Christopher Robin, right?

Last night my dad asked Amzie if she wanted to be a mommy when she grows up. She said yes. Then he asked how many kids she was going to have. She said four. Then he asked what their names will be. Her answer - Lucifer Robin.

Girls Night Out & my girl Shauna

When Amanda and Michelle were here over Christmas a group of us old girlfriends got together for a night out. We went to eat Tapas at a place called Dish in midtown. It was a great thing to do with a group. Then we went a couple doors down and got dessert at a place called Sweets. We had a great time!

back L to R: Amanda, Michelle, Dee front L to R: Shauna, me, and Hallie

Oh, and speaking of Shauna. She's the one on the front left with the hot haircut. Shauna and I go way back to 1990 when I moved here. At first she thought I was a snob because she invited me to her birthday party and I didn't go. I later explained I was just shy and we became friends (right, Shauna?) Well, we've been friends ever since. And old Shauna, I say old because she's turning 30 this month :), she's the best. I want to throw her a birthday party, 80's style. Shauna, are you still up for this? If anyone has any good ideas on things to do at an 80's party, let me know.

Family Pics

J.Paul's cousin Kris takes really gret pictures and she recently took some of our family. Here's a couple of my favs.

To see more of our pics or to look at more of Kris's work - www.kristenhooper.com