I haven't been on here in forever..

I have been so busy with Zumba (and going to the Zumba Instructor Convention in FL, which I need to blog about) I haven't even looked at a blog in weeks!

I just wanted to post a quick funny story.

I asked Kaius to tickle my back, he stopped after a few seconds and touched my stretch marks on my sides and said "What happened Mommy?"

I said "It's from havin' babies."

He gasped and said, "Roe Roe scratched you?!!??"

It was funny.

The end.

Memories

Jotting all this down for the memories:

Monroe is really smart. She is much more advanced verbally than Kaius was at her age. They are about the same physically, except Kaius was really good with handling balls. She's more into dolls *heart melting*

The last couple times I've finished dinner and come sit at the table, she automatically folds her arms. We die over the cuteness. She will even stop crying (usually crying from hunger) for the prayer, and continue crying after we say amen.
When we tell her to say things, she can come really close! She can say Mommy and Daddy. Pizza (Dee-dah). she can make kiss noises. She can imitate me when I hum tunes. She loves to growl. She loves to turn off the cable box & TV. She loves to eat yogurt and graham crackers. She is a tad bit pickier than Kaius in terms of food, but she knows that I will NOT give her something else. She gets what she gets.... it might sound strict but I think if she is really hungry she will eat anything. However, Josh and my Mom are a little more lenient with her :D
1st birthday, at the park


Kaius is still pretty mean to Monroe. He hits/punches her a lot. It is very frustrating as parents to witness. We are staying consistent with time outs. But he does have his sweet moments.
The other day I was putting him into his car seat, he likes to buckle the chest buckle, but I was in a hurry. I said "No we gotta go bud" and he said very enthusiastically "Oh, next time! Next time!"

Josh came home from work and I gave him a hug and kiss, Kaius came to us, hugged each of our legs together and said "I love you guys" (pronounced "I wub you duys")
He frequently says to me "Mom, I a lil' boy." And it is a great reminder. He is a little boy. I need to remember that.

He also likes to remind me I'm the mommy. Sometimes I imitate his whining (hey, it works every time) because he realizes how silly he sounds...and one time he was saying "I'm a baby!" in a whiny voice so I repeated in the same tone "I'm a baby!"
He sat up calmly and said "No, you're a Mommy!" I explained to him I was making fun of him and he was calm after that. *shrug*

Rough Housing

This is the conversation Kaius and I just had:

Me: "Kaius what just happened to Monroe?" (She started crying as if she got hurt)
K: "I Punch her."
Me: "You do not punch your sister, what happens when you punch sister? Go to time out?"
K: "Daddy likes punch"
Me: "Yes, Daddy loves to play fight with you, and you can punch Daddy, but not Monroe, or Mommy, or anyone else. ONLY DADDY."
K: "I LOVE DADDY!" (Pronounced I WUB DADDY!)

Apartment Fire in Roy, UT

I heard about this massive fire briefly on the news, and hoped none of my Roy friends were involved.

Meet Tara, on the right.


Zumba enthusiast from the beginning. We were the only ones left for a while who didn't become instructors yet. :)

Single mom of cute Beckum. She has worked so hard for all they had.



They are OK (which is most important) but She literally lost everything but the clothes on her back. Her phone is toast. Beckum's toys. Everything. Underwear. She is still in shock right now.
UPDATE!!!! SEE BELOW

So we are doing what we do best and doing a ZUMBA fire fundraiser!! It is in Roy, UT (Northern UT) This Saturday from 9:30AM-11AM. They will be accepting donations, Clothes, toys & household items. The address is 5385 S 1950 W Roy UT, 84067.

If you can't make the fundraiser, but would like to donate some items, You can contact me and I can get them to her.

******UPDATE******

Tara and Randi were able to go into the wreckage and find that some of Tara and Beckum's belongings were salvageable!!



The proceeds from this Saturday's fundraiser will go towards other families who have lost. Thank you all!

Body by Zumba

I never thought I'd post on my blog pictures of myself in a swimsuit, but I am. Yesterday I "ran in to wal mart to grab a couple things" and stumbled upon the cutest swimsuit I have ever ever seen.

It pretty much describes my personal style to a "T". The hot pinks, the "one shoulder" I love, the animal prints, the palm trees, houndstooth, stars, stripes..just everything that is cute on one canvas. It is so pleasing to my eye. I don't know how else to describe it, but I love it so much, I wanna marry it. And it was the last one left in my size, it was meant to be. I am going to try to find another one at another wal mart so I can have it when this one wears out (it was only $20).

Also, I feel okay posting it because I HAVEN'T always looked and felt so good about my body. I like my body! I work hard on it (in disguise, partying at Zumba class) and I'm more fit than I was in high school.

It is not perfect by any means...no way I'm giving up a klondike bar on the weekends. Or two. And there are some stretch marks that show on the sides of my tummy. And I have zero makeup on and the last thing to touch my hair was my pillow... But I like myself. And that's a huge deal for me.

Meeting Michelle Money

For some reason Facebook isn't letting me upload any pictures, and I'm gunna cut its face off.

*snicker snicker*

(Remember when Monica said that about crazy Jenna the first night?)

This post is "The Bachelor" related, just so you know.

I was a fan of Michelle's after the "women tell all" episode of her season with Brad.

So I found her fan page on Facebook, and found out about her Youtube channel.

She does it with her BFF Laura, and OH my gosh they are so freakin hilarious.
Recently I have had some people tell me, "Yeah you look good since you lost weight and all, but its not just that, you're glowing. What are you doing different?"

Well, folks, its the MMandLShow. They have a video for eyebrows, a video on how to apply mascara, blush/bronzer, spray tan, etc etc etc. I never realized it, but my eyebrows always disappeared in pictures, cuz they are so light. I got a brow pencil that matches my hair and its made a big difference. They are "big on brows" :)

Anyway, a couple days ago Michelle posted about meeting and answering some questions with Laura, and Monica from the most recent Bachelor.



So last night my girl Briel and I went, it was at a nail salon in Holladay. It was so fun. I went to meet them with no expectations, but they were SO down to Earth and normal. Besides how freakin' pretty they are.

They said its very different from real life dating. They don't let you talk to anyone (outside of the house, like no talking on the phone unless you have children), read books, nothing. They said they want you to go a little bit insane. They said its pretty much "dating on crack".
Rose ceremonies last hours. They want you to be uncomfortable standing there, so they can get every facial expression and all that on camera. They hear no music, totally silent.

They are given tons of beauty products, and they get whatever food they want. The staff either goes to the store for them and gets the girls whatever they want, or they just order room service. They cannot go walk around the city or anything.

Monica was not attracted to Ben at all, but thought he was a cool guy. I think he's cool too, but a horrible actor, quite boring. Michelle was very attracted to Brad.

They said they expected tons of cattiness, but it was totally cool like meeting the other girls who were just normal like them and travel a bunch with them.

The night Monica was sent home, she actually broke her foot in 5 places running and sliding into the shower with all the girls. She drank a bottle of wine and slept til the doctor got there. She said she was crying and drunk and Ben was really sweet. She said that's when she changed her mind about him. But none of that made the show!! She said there was lots of stuff that didn't make it on that she was surprised about. We were all bored sitting at home watching, HELLO!!

They said everything is very manipulated, but that was pretty apparent. I asked if they paid money to people to acted crazy or incentivised craziness with money...nope! I was surprised with that.


If you have any questions, put them in the comments and I'll do another post. We asked a LOT of questions.

Pictures!











BFFs! I'm making an appointment with Laura soon (far left) to do my eyebrows. She is so pretty and so nice. She asked me how many kids I had and what their names were. She is so dang funny in the youtube videos. Watch her.

Diva Cup??

How have I gotten through the last 10 years without a DIVA CUP?? (if you're a dude, you won't appreciate this post. You should really stop reading)

Why has no one told me about these?!

You save money & time.

(Seriously, males, stop reading now!)

If you don't know what a Diva Cup is, it's a menstrual cup.

That's right, instead of a tampon that you have to change every 4 hours, you use a silicon cup. It can be there for up to 12 hours. So, its like putting your period on hold and then controlling when it comes out.
Someone I worked with like 5 years ago casually mentioned she heard about it, and we all thought it was a crazy idea. After having 2 kids and going without a period for 3 years (since I was breastfeeding) buying a box of tampons once a month was bugging me. So I thought there has to be a better way. Turns out lots of women love them. After using it for a couple months, it pays for itself! And no more waste in the landfills (I say, as I have paper/plastic plates/utensils in my cupboard).

I wish I'd known about these earlier. (I doubt any boys stopped reading)