Fun In The Sun

The last few weeks have been a blast but have flown by so quickly. I love summer, because all of our family who we don't see much during the year, comes out and we get to PLAY! David's sister, Elizabeth (and her three boys) was here for the last two weeks from Colorado. WE swam, played at the beach, shopped, hung out, and just enjoyed the time with her. Here are some highlights of her time here:

Liz and I at the Moonlight Amphitheater in Vista watching 42nd Street.

David's Sister, Colleen, his mother, Liz and Me.

Victoria and Jocelyn with their cousin Nathan at the Vista Pioneer Day Celebration.

Tyler running around at the beach. He has finally left my lap and started playing. He loves SAND

Tyler....What else can I say....He is the sweetest boy I know. I just love him

Victoria finally lost her tooth. It was a long 7 days of crying and whining before it came out

Victoria loved playing with her cousins at the beach. She misses them already

Jocelyn loving the beach!

Tyler and his cousin Blake at a family party! These are the two youngest Hunt grandkids!

David and his sister, Liz and all our kids. What a fun few weeks we had with them here!

Crazy Summer Life, but feeling GREAT!

So, here I am again. I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted anything. I really don't even have any pictures to share. David was out of town last week for a conference and will be leaving again on Thursday for another work weekend. The kids and I have been swimming, going to the beach, trying to keep the house from looking utterly chaotic, and just trying to enjoy summer.

I have enjoyed not having to get Victoria ready for school every day and just having lazy mornings.

Last week, I actually did a 6 day cleanse. I followed a schedule with organic fruits and unsweetened juices, carrot soup, liquid cholophyl (its basically plant juice), aloe vera juice, and a few other things. It really was a great experience, hard, but really good. I learned a lot about myself and how my life has seemed to revolve around food. During the week, I actually lost all cravings for anything and feel really alert. I don't remember a time never EVER having a craving for chocolate or sugar...this must be a first!

Yesterday was my first day actually chewing something again. It is nice to have so much energy and feel so good.

And now I am really trying to eat natural foods (whole wheat flour, agave necatar instead of syrup and sugar and whole grains) and make snacks for my kids that are not junk and processed. I found this really great website with really good snack ideas. http://www.hungry-girl.com/. What a great idea! I love her slogan: Tips and Tricks for Hungry Chicks! Enjoy.

Also, if any of you are like me and LOVE peanut butter, but wish it wasn't filled with junk and didn't have so many calories, this one is for you. I think I will go to Trader Joes and try it tomorrow. They even sell a chocolate one!: www.betternpeanutbutter.com

Hope you are having a wonderful day!

Day Thirty

Taste of Tuesday:

Tonight I had all the young women over from church to my house and we had a going away party for my friend, Julie who is moving to Utah. She is a teacher for a group of the girls. It was a surprise, and she really was surprised. I had all the girls bring a treat to share that started with the letter "J". We had 18 different things: J cupcakes, jam cookies, juicy lemon bars, junior mints, juice, jam and bread, jicima and jicima dip. I made this Jello Pudding Chocolate Cake! It was amazing and you didn't even need to eat it with ice cream! It was fun to have a party with a letter themed food table. I was proud of the girls for being so creative!
You can find the recipe HERE:

Day Twenty Nine

Monday's Miracle:

So, I missed yesterdays post. I was totally going to write about Jocelyn's adorable talk in Primary and our nice dinner at my parent's house celebrating Father's Day with them, and then I didn't. This time I have a great excuse. I actually slipped and fell at my parent's house on the hardwood floors, while holding Tyler, and banged up my elbow and sliced my big toe open. It is really painful and I can't put any pressure on it. It really sucks, but at least I fell on my elbows and protected my baby. It could have been really bad if I landed on him, or he fell and hit is head. So, I am grateful for that, but it still is a bummer to be in this much pain for just one toe. I cut through the whole calloused part of my toe. David had to clean it out last night. It was horrible. Guess no gym for me this week.....

So for today, I just wanted to post a sweet picture that Jocelyn drew for me. It says I love you Mom. She did her "M's" upside down and the "O" at the end instead of the middle. She knows how to write "MOM" but she likes to do her letters in her own way....you just have to get her to decode it for you. BUT it proves that even our most challenging child really does love us. I found this picture today while going through stacks of papers all over my house. It almost made me cry, just because we have been going through a pretty rough patch with her and both David and I have really been struggling on how to help her. She doesn't like that she is not the oldest, and that she doesn't get all the attention that Tyler gets. I realized, after I saw this picture today, that Jocelyn does love her Mommy, even if I am mean and not fair. I love her too, and know that we can get through this! Hope your Monday was wonderful!

I just opened her dance pictures. She really does look sweet. I will look at this picture every day to remind me.

Days Twenty Six and Twenty Seven

Friday and Saturday:
The last two days have been CRAZY! The girls had their big dress rehersal and recital for their dance show. Last fall they started dancing at Katharine's Academy of Dance here in Vista. It is a great studio full of wonderful girls and fun moms. Both Victoria and Jocelyn have learned so much this year and are turning into wonderful little dancers. I was not prepared though for the extent of detail Miss Kathie wanted for the recital. Here is an example of all the extras: recital earings, hair piece for Victoria's tap dance, different tights for each dance, new ballet shoes for each girl, nex jazz shoes for Tori, the right shades of eye makeup and lipstick, hairnets, hair pins vs. bobby pins, two different types of buns for different dances, gloves, socks, headbands, attending a seminar to learn how to do the hair and makeup, and paying for extra dance classes for the DADDY/DAUGHTER dance. The dance with Victoria's class and all the Dad's was amazing and made me cry! The two months of rehersals paid off and their Hercules dance was a hit! WE ALL made it through and it turned out to be an AMAZING show!

Jocelyn ready to do her tap number to: The Little Duece Coupe

Victoria with her FAKE curls (which she loves) for her tap dance.

David and Victoria waiting to go on stage for their Daddy Daughter Hercules Dance.

Day Twenty Five

Thoughts on Thursday:

So my friend Tracy is in town and it has been fun to hang out with her and her kids this week. She told me about this crockpot blog and so this morning, I finally checked it out! This woman is amazing. Last year she cooked a new recipe in her crockpot every day...that's 365 meals...no BBQ, no stove, no oven, just that thing that collects dust in the back of your bottom cabinet! I went through some of her recipes today and I am totally impressed. She is going to be on Rachel Ray in a few weeks and is just finishing her first cook book. Why can't I think of something like that? I can't even blog consecutively for 30 days, let alone think of a new crock pot dinner, or dessert, or appetizer, for every day of the year!
Now she is famous...and making money on her blog. Go figure...
Check IT out and try something. She has inspired me to start using my crockpot more. This is what I want to try first: BROWNIES.

Day Twenty Four

What we're doing on Wednesday:

Today with both Tyler and my darling niece Ela asleep at the same time this afternoon, I decided to make homeade bread to go with our dinner. Jocelyn loves to help me cook. Since she was little, she would always want to sit on the counter and be right next to the mixing bowl. When she was 2 1/2 she knocked my old Bosch on the floor and cracked it. It was a sad day. You think I would have learned my lesson, but here she is right next to me all the time. She loves to help me make bread because she gets to let her own little loaf rise. I love making bread. It is rewarding and really satisfying to see the end result of what you have made. And, it makes a lot of people really happy.

So, today I am thank ful for a few things: nap time, my new (two years old) RED Bosch mixer, whole wheat flour, and little hands to help me make it....it tastes better that way.

Next week, I'll post my bread recipe

This is really one of my babies

Jocelyn loves to cook

The finish product! Yum!