It's beginning to look alot like Christmas??

Did you see the date up there?? Oct 12? This is what we woke up to this morning!!

Luckily I knew where the box of snow clothes was because Jack insisted he needed his snow boots to even look at the snow.

Jack with his pumpkins of the porch

This is jack's first snowman- It's just no fun making snowmen in negative degree weather aka Minnesota. Adam laughed at us but Jack and I gave our snowman hair and a face...

These are the only pictures we will have of our snowman because he only lasted about
a half hour. (Being a top-heavy snowman and 40 degree weather don't mix well)
But we had fun and that's the whole point right??This picture was taken 3 days later and looks totally staged, but we didn't touch it, it just fell and slowly melted away...small....small...small

Confessions of a sugarholic- a failed experiment

My name is Becky, and I'm a sugar-holic. I just love the sticky stuff. When I was younger, it was tough to find a dealer (my parents gave us non-sugared cereals and treats were just for special occasions). Since I became legal and started buying my own cereal, I exhilarated in the freedom to purchase the frosted sugar coated confections. Now I have settled for just buying "lightly sweetened" multi-grain cheerios (but occasionally the marshmallow matees do sneak into my cart). For my birthday this year, the only thing I asked for was a HUGE bucket of jellybellies from Costco ( I claimed I would use some for toilet training treats which I did... "good job using the potty, one for you and a few for me since I helped.." I have noticed, that I am especially susceptible to sugar cravings in the mid-afternoon. It's as if my body cannot rest until it gets a fix. (This all started, as near as I can tell, on my mission when we would always stop and buy a 25 cent ice cream after our huge almuerzo around 4:00. I claimed it was to cool us off, but since then ice cream has become my sixth food group.

It is because of this need for sugar, that I decided to challenge myself and see if I could go a month without sugar. It wasn't really for weight loss, it was mostly to challenge myself and see if it were possible. I have friends who are very strong and have gone off all sugar including carbs and fruit, but I knew I couldn't do that, so I just decided to go off processed sugar and sweets. My friends told me that the first few weeks were hard as they de-toxed, but then their body adjusted and they didn't crave it or even like it anymore. I thought that might be nice, and I even talked my sister Laura into doing it with me. We wrote ourselves 2 cheat days: the 14th which is her birthday and Halloween, but I figured that this would keep me from snacking on Halloween candy all month (Sept 30 I hid all our candy and sweets that we had in the house which is not all that effective because you can't hide something from yourself). The first 2 days were very hard, but then my mom gave me "no sugar added" ice cream which is not the same as no sugar at all, so I felt a little guilty. I survived a few afternoon cravings forcing myself to eat some fruit or string cheese instead. But, on the 9th, I had to make some Halloween cupcakes for our neighbors, and sure enough, before I knew it, I had licked the spoon. I fell off the wagon, and since I was off, I didn't see harm in tasting the finished product and then I had to give jack a bathroom, treat... one for you, one for me...
There are several things I've learned from this experiment:
1. It's a good thing I'm not tempted to fudge on commandments, because once I fell off the wagon (after a lousy 9 days!) I figured I might as well enjoy my guilty pleasures.
2. I did notice that I've had increased headaches with sugar
3. the worst cravings come when I'm stressed out and need something fast, and
4. I have amazing friends Charlotte, Alison, Stacey who have much more will -power than I have and my respect for them has increased dramatically.

Laura says I should re-commit and try again, but I'm not sure. Maybe the idea that sweets are off-limits makes me think about them more.

Goodbye Summer and Welcome Fall

Goodbye Summer, we have enjoyed you. When you arrived, I was hot, miserable, and about 35 pounds larger. We had some fun adventures getting to know this corner of the world and making new friends. Summer, you have been filled with potty-training experiments (many which have failed, but we push on...) The most important thing you gave us was a six pound bundle of joy that has filled a hole in our lives that we didn't know was there. Although you were filled with sleepless nights, stressful jobs and too many diapers to count, you will be missed. Thank you Summer 2008 for giving us Charlie and teaching us how important and supportive our family is and how much we love and need each other.

Welcome Fall. I know that officially the first day of Fall is around my birthday (like Sept. 21) but I feel like with the change in weather and the beginning of October, that NOW Fall has officially arrived. I now officially have permission to decorate my house with orange spooky spider-web lights and let Jack try on all the Halloween costumes that I've been collecting since before he was born (including princess dresses but don't tell Adam). :) We have already enjoyed your beauty, taking family photos in the mountains with the changing leaves. We have been enjoying the spoils of your harvest as my Mom's canning projects had taken over every spare inch of her kitchen and dining area. We look forward to picking Jack's special pumpkin "Max" and participating in the Great Pumpkin contest. Welcome Fall, make yourself comfortable and I'm sure we'll share even more great memories together.

Thank you for a Wonderful General Conference

I love General Conference. Today I explained to Jack that we can watch the Prophet of God who talks to Heavenly Father and then tells us what we need to know to be happy. Jack said he wanted to look like a prophet so we combed his hair (he rarely has his hair combed and he looked kind of like a REALLY young Joseph Smith). My favorite talk was President Monsons on Sunday morning. It is something that I have to keep learning over and over and over and over.... To find joy in the journey. I find that I tend to always look to the future and I am always wondering what will come next and even when I am trying to live life to it's fullest, I think about what fun thing we can go and do or see and explore. Sometimes I get frustrated that Jack's not moving fast enough and I feel like getting both Jack and his shoes in the car and getting Charlie fed and in the car are an incredible superhuman feat. Thank you for the reminder to slow down and enjoy the little moments, to not stress over the messy rooms full of toys and dirty fingerprints and to enjoy life for what it is now and not what it will be.