It's been awhile ;) I was out of town last week and forgot to post before I left. But I am happy to report that I am down 2.3 lbs. Wahoo!! The Hubby and I have joined forced with my brother and sister-in-law for a couple Biggest Loser. I am so excited and it was just what I needed to give me that little extra motivation. The rules are you can't do anything drastic and the first person to lose 15 lbs. wins the cash. We added another prize to help us maintain. You see, we are headed to Yellowstone in July. So we figured to encourage us to maintain, the couple who has the lowest weight loss be then, wins! The losing couple has to treat the winning couple to dinner. Fun huh!!

I have really pushed my running to a new level in hopes to run another 5k by May. I'm alternating between 2 miles MWF and 1 mile TTh. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will start to increase those numbers. I don't want to push myself too hard, just slow and steady. The weather has been so nice the last couple of days and it has me itching to take the kids to Zion's. This time of year is so nice up there and I love the off season...less people!!! Plus hiking is great exercise ;)

The creative process

I don't know how many times I have mentioned the fact that it is so so hard for me to come up with colors. I blog hop all the time and find myself in awe of all the creative minds out there. I wish I was born with that as a natural talent, but it was not meant to be. So I must to do it the hard way...research! I visit many of my favorite clothing shops to see whats in and I ask my friends input as well. Spring is swiftly on its way and I really want to get some more pictures with my Ava Beanies so I asked a friend if her daughter would model. After she said yes, I headed over to her house to rummage through the closets. I was super excited with what she had. And with what I bought my daughter at Target the other day, I can not wait for this photo shoot.

It took me a couple of hours (and a whole lot of space) to lay everything out and decide which direction I wanted to go. Luckily it all came together in the end and here is a little sneak peek of what is coming...

Now to find the time to whip them all up! This isn't even a third of what I will be making so I definitely have a lot to do. But luckily my excitement is pushing me forward!!!

Toa

So at 5 days old my little nephew became my newest hat model. Luckily I had one of my hometowns premier photographers to do the job. Christina is one amazing lady and has such an eye for detail. If you have a chance you should head over to Christina P Photography and check out her work...amazing!!!

Anyway this is little Toa and I got the meaning of his name wrong (in an earlier post) it means warrior, not chief. Whoops!! He has been such a good little boy and he is the sweetest/cutest little baby. I just can't enough of him!!!

I am absolutely in love with all of these pics and can't wait to get them up on my site!!

Update: Teeth Brushing Policy

I was getting sick of reminding the kids to brush their teeth all the time so for the new school year I instated a policy to make my life a little easier. This is what I came up with...

Here's the skinny...every time they brush their teeth they get to place a fuzzy in their bucket. When their bucket is full they get to pick a prize from a box full of goodies. Let me tell you this has been the most amazing thing I have ever come up with!! The kids love it and all these many months later are still going strong!! Of course, we have had to have many talks about staying honest, but for the most part there haven't been any other problems. The biggest motivator for them is each other. As soon as someone gets to pick a prize the others get super motivated to get there's full. I must say I am actually looking forward to the dentist next week ;)

Please help me!!!

I desperately need your help!!! One of the most amazingly talented photographers in my area is giving away a free Photoshoot to the person that has the most likes on their comment. Please, please go and “like” my comment (you will also need to ‘like’ her page first) and help me win. It ends midnight on Friday and I need all the help I can get!!!

Go to http://www.facebook.com/Christina.P.Photography
And here is the comment to search for: Holly Jacobson Pitcher - Oh my goodness I would love to win this!! I have been wanting you to do our pictures since last fall, but could never find the right outfits for the kids. And just last week I finally did so this is meant to be! You are an amazing photographer and I already have the empty frames on my wall waiting for your fantastic pictures!!

The Desert Tortoise

It's always a fun day when we get a call from Papa J saying he's got some fun animals to see. The BLM brought a few Desert Tortoise's in for testing and another one that had been run over. Noah was quite fascinated with them and Bryce was so excited he could hardly stand it. Especially when he was able to hold one.

This little guy was hit by a car and when  they brought him in he was missing a few important pieces to his shell. Luckily when the workers went back to the scene of the crime they were still there. My Dad was able to piece him back together and once healed he will be released back into the wild.

Before we left he showed the kids how Turtles tuck into their shells for protection. They sure got a kick out of that one and I don't think the Turtle minded hiding ;)