Twinkle Twinkle He's a Star

Here's a bunch of pictures from Kael's birthday party. It was themed "Twinkle Twinkle He's a Star!" Kael has been so obsessed with stars lately.

Here is the star cake that I made him. I ended up making 2 cakes to make sure we had enough for everyone.

The decorations. It was the only picture I took of the party table and it wasn't a good picture.

Kael blowing out candles. He blew them out before we sang and then after as well. He practiced a lot for this day.

 

Party people. Grammy and Gemma. Then one of Eden.

 Dad doing the star pinata. Kael was first up.

 Even Eden had a go at it.

 I should probaby not have used packing tape to make the pinata. That thing was indestructible. Derek had to take a knife to it to get the candy out. Next time I will use masking tape maybe...

 The candy! Kids were walking around with suckers in their mouths and trading them.

 Kael's loot.

 The water balloons! Derek and I spent 2 nights filling up around 400 water balloons. I have to say it was 100% worth every minute. The kids loved them. 

Don't mind Kael's ribs poking out in all the pictures. I really do feed the kid.

 Eden loved the water balloons too. She was soaked at the beginning of the party by jumping in the pool first thing. The girl loves water.

 Kael's cousin Garek was too funny. I caught him popping a balloon on the camera. Here is the before picture.

 And BAM!

 Presents Time!

 All of Kael's friends wanted to help him unwrap his presents. Kael didn't mind and thought it was fun.

 And last, as I was cleaning everything up the cake was last to go, and I hadn't been watching the kids very well. I ended up losing Eden to a stairwell and freaking both Derek and myself out and letting Kael have had it  with his left over cake.

He looked at me and just showed me his hands, so I snapped a picture. He was quite proud of himself.

Some thoughts on health and fitness.

So, lately I have been thinking a lot about weight. Not necessarily mine, but yes a little. Over my lifetime I have been told by many people that, "You are so lucky that you never have to worry about your weight". "You are so skinny, I'd give anything to have your body". "I'm so jealous that you can eat whatever you want and never have to worry about it". And most recently, "I hate you because you are so skinny". This person was joking of course, but were they really?

Honestly, thank you people, I know I am lucky to have such an amazing body from Heavenly Father. I'm grateful for my metabolism. I need to be happy when I am reminded these things so that I remember to thank my Heavenly Father more often.

And, honestly, I am grateful I don't have to be on the other end of the spectrum of comments such as I can't believe you haven't lost any weight...

Sometimes it is hard to listen to so many comments about my weight though.

The stupid world is so obsessed with weight. What the world needs to be worried about is our healthiness.

So... Here are my thoughts recently

MY BODY IS A TEMPLE.


I need to be concerned about what I put into my body.
It isn't just the normal Mormon thoughts of "coffee, tea, tobacco, drugs, alcohol, etc".
What food am I putting into this body of mine? Am I making good choices? Would eating this certain food be healthy if I was pregnant and trying to make a growing baby?

So, no I am not concerned about my weight. I am grateful for that. I am concerned about eating healthy and having a healthy lifestyle.

What people don't know about me is that I love to exercise and yet I hate it as well. I know it is good for me and my body, but it is a struggle. I love to eat yummy food. I love candy, cake, cookies, ice cream, and all the sugary things. We all know that sugar normally makes people gain weight. What is this doing inside our bodies. I know that I physically I don't look like anything is happening to me when I eat these things, but the same kinds of things must be happening in my body to some extent.

So, I am eating healthy. I am keeping my body clean. It is a temple and I would keep the temple clean and pure. I am watching what I put into my body. I am changing my life. This is important to me. So, when people make these comments to me they don't know that I am trying to eat healthy like them. They think that I don't "need" to eat healthy or watch what I eat, but I do! And I am! And, it is hard. I'm not losing weight, but I am doing hard things. I am eliminating sugar and carbs. I am eating healthy things like fruits, vegetables, meats, and nuts. I know I can do this. I know I feel better when I eat this way. I have more energy. I sleep better. I feel better. Taking care of my body is important to me, and it is what needs to be done.

Just try to be a little nicer the next time you think about someone's weight. You never know what they are going through. I'm not upset at the people who have made these comments to me. I understand that people are going through difficult situations and feel the need to comment and for the most part I truly believe people are thinking they are complimenting me on how I look, and for that I am grateful.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
This is the link to the lifestyle that I am going for. It has the exercising that I will be doing and how I am eating.

Wish me luck because I am going to need it.

Kael Turns 3 Today: August 6, 2011

Dearest Kael,

Today was a big day for me. I kept you alive until you reached 3 years old. What an accomplishment for us both bud! I have to tell you that these have been the best 3 years of my life and by far the hardest at the same time. You have brought Dad and I so much joy every single day. Your smile is infectious. You really have grown up so much in the last couple of months. You are speaking so much better. You ask me questions and you demand things. One thing just to embarrass you when you are a teenager when you look back and read this; you like to classify your poop. Yes, it is true. Every time you go you have to tell me or Dad if it is either a big one or a little one. I'm just grateful you can go in the toilet. You have made so many strides and it is really impressive. You love to ride your bike that has training wheels now. You are getting pretty good too. You can almost keep up with the big kids, but you don't mind just taking your time and having fun. You still love love people. Just today you kissed a little girl Sidnie on the cheek out on the playground. It was super cute. You and Eden and Sidnie were all giving each other hugs so you thought she deserved a kiss. You love airplanes, trucks, tractors, cars, helicopters, basically anything that goes. You love animals to pieces. You get sooo excited when you see an animal that you have to love it. You help me clean up when you feel like it. You love watching "shows" aka movies on the TV. Right now you are obsessed with the cars movie. Can you tell you like cars? You also love stars right now. The shape. Obsessed again. I have a book called "You are Special" by Max Lucado and it is a sweet book, and you have had me read it to you every night for over a week just so you can see the stars on the people. You faithfully find wherever it is hiding before bed and we read. I love it. We just snuggle on your bed together and it is our time. You are so so full of energy and love life. You wear me out every single day. You love on Eden every day. You have started trying to help her up when she falls down (or when you push her down...). You eat hot dogs like no one I have ever seen. Some days I think I should enter you into a contest. You have a lot of Heaton in you because you love ketchup. You must have Bradley in you too because you love ranch dressing just as much. You have to have those two things on your plate every meal almost except breakfast though. Just the other night we took you to Red Robin for your birthday because you got a free meal. We asked you what you wanted and you picked a pizza. I was so excited! You knew what you wanted. Well they brought you your favorite things, pizza, french fries, and carrots. You basically drank two cups full of ranch dressing and didn't touch anything else. It was quite gross actually, but it was your birthday meal... You are simply a joy Kael. Dad and I love you so much! Every day is an adventure that is waiting to begin when your eyes open each morning. Keep being who you are because you are special!

I love you buddy!

Love,

Mom

                                        Kael newborn                                            Kael at 1 year

Kael at 2 years old

3 year old Kael today! Opening his birthday present from Mom and Dad.

What? A remote control car? Yes, he's spoiled.

 

 So so excited!

July 31 Primary Activity

I was recently called as 2nd Councilor in the Primary Presidency in our ward. I am so far loving this calling. It is a lot of work, but I really enjoy being with the kids. It will get a little easier once Eden moves to nursery in September which will be a very happy day in our house. We planned a super fun activity for all of the primary and nursery kids. It was kind of like a carnival with water activities. There was face painting, fishing in a pond for toys, water balloon toss, throw water balloons at a target (my activity), make oceans out of water bottles, and cookie decorating. Kael loved all of the activities, but especially loved throwing water balloons. My target unfortunately wouldn't pop the balloons and the adults and bigger kids had a fun time trying to make them pop on the target. I filled balloons with food coloring and it turned out to be a lot of  fun. Eden even got to participate and loved taking a dip in the fishing pond pool at the end. She was soaked head to toe. She sure loves water. Both of our kids had such a blast! It was a really good turnout too. Let's just say I'm excited to see what other fun activities we plan. Crazy to think that Kael will be in primary in January. Time sure flies.

PS: We gave Kael a haircut. Can you find him in the pictures?

McDonald's

 My family would be great advertisers for McDonald's. We took the kids to play at McDonald's and we sure had a blast. I didn't really want to climb through the tunnels, but Kael was a little scared to go down the big slide by himself, and then after he went one time he decided that he LOVED it and had to do the whole thing by himself a million times. This made me grateful but then I was able to climb through the whole thing with Eden several times. Kael loved it when I would chase him through the tunnels and he was so fast and by the time I would get to the top he would be almost to the top a second time. The kids are definitely at an age where McDonald's is fun! It was the perfect little get out of the house activity that our family needed.

 By this time she was basically telling me to stop taking pictures and was getting frustrated at me.

 He was so serious and then he got a big grin. I wish I could have made him smile like this for family pictures. Next time we will have to have a huge slide for family pictures to get the kids to smile big.

Great Grandma and Great Grandad Sapp July 14, 2011

Before heading to the family reunion we made a quick stop to Phoenix to visit my Mom's side of the family. We were able to visit with my Grandma and Grandad for about 2 hours. It was so good to visit. My grandma recently had her 4th shoulder surgery, this one finally being a partial shoulder replacement. They are both such troopers through it all and are such good examples for me. I love them both so much and we were all so grateful for our visit even though it was so short. The picture is quite silly but all things considered the kids had just driven for 12 hours in a car and then were trying to play. It was a long day.

After visiting with my Grandparents we took a nap at the hotel and then headed to my Aunt Cindy's house to visit with the rest of the extended family. It was a really quick trip because Derek wasn't feeling well and our kids were plane exhausted. We are so grateful again we were able to just see people though. 

I'm so grateful for my family and I love them so much! Derek and I are both so blessed with wonderful extended families. We love you all so much!