Putting Things On Hold For...Well...Life!

I know it has been a REALLY LONG time since I last blogged. I don't even know if anyone is still checking up on me through my blog. I don't know if anyone cares anymore. No big deal. Not really a concern of mine. Anyway, I thought I would finally put something up to explain what's been going on with me. I mean, I finally have a free moment.

I so wanted to complete my summer reading list of books and movies. As you can tell from my blogs, I didn't exactly accomplish that. I am still trying to get through it. It just may take a whole year to do it instead the 3 months I wanted. That's how busy I've been. Not that being busy is bad, it just means that in my life I can only take so much of "busy".

I have always been the type of person to make "to do" lists. I like to have things set-up, so I can follow an idea of what to get done and how to do it. But lately MY "to do" lists keep getting pushed aside. Maybe it's the fact that I'm getting older and I don't feel like following a plan anymore. Or maybe the age that my kids are at, is taking up my life. I don't know how many times I've said this, but I'll say it again. Being a Mom is tough. Being a stay-at-home Mom is the hardest! Now that school is back in session, so are all the activities that go along with that. Dance still for Ashley, and flag football and swimming for Anthony. At least now during the day, I can have some time to devote to me. Lately it's been doing house chores (yuk!) and catching up on movies I've wanted to see. So the blog has been put aside. I think maybe because it seemed like a chore to me.

I like blogging, but I think I put too much pressure on myself with it. So, I've decided to take that monkey off my back. I will continue to blog, but maybe just not as much as when I first started out. When I have time to blog, I will. If I really have something to say, I'll post it.

In the meantime, I have joined the PTO at Anthony's school, became president of the Booster Club at Ashley's dance studio and I'm still trying to be the Supermom at home. Not much going on with me at all...

Winding Down

There are only a few weeks left of our summer vacation. It has been good, but extremely busy for us especially this past month. I am looking forward to school starting, as I will get a little bit of a break while the kids are in school. I know they are not looking forward to it as much as I am. Oh well! (Life is so hard when you're young, right?) I'm mainly just looking forward to having my own time so I can get back in to my rhythm of blogging. I can't believe how little time I have to myself these days! It's been exhausting, but rewarding at the same time.

We have seen most of the summer movies from our list, but I still need to blog about them. I have read a few of the books from my list and watched a couple of the movies, (boy that was a large project I put on my plate this summer) but I'm waiting for some of those movies to come out on DVD. I still need to blog about one of the book and movie combos. I'll get to it eventually. I feel bad that I haven't blogged as much as I've liked to during the summer. It's partly because I've given myself too many challenges, but mainly because I've just been living and enjoying time with my family. So, sorry to all my followers. I'll get back to it eventually.

This last week, we had our final family camping trip of the year and it was the best one of the whole summer! (It helps when there are no problems too.) We went up to Gould, Colorado at Ranger Lakes. If you've never been up there, it's pretty cool. We always see some great moose. It was beautiful and peaceful and a perfect end to our summer! The fishing was actually decent on this trip, even though it was a little hot, and Ashley finally did get her fish fry! :) We got to have a campfire everynight which was great because it's just not camping unless you have a campfire! It did rain on us pretty hard one night, but I guess that's the interesting part of camping. Mother nature always has the last say. But it didn't ruin our trip. It was absolutely fun and of course we'll go up there again. It was so much fun spending time with friends and family. That's always the best part!

So now we are beginning to wind down the summer. We are completing the actvities we wanting to do, but haven't yet. And then we will be preparing for yet another school year. But first...a little relaxation is in order. The calm before the next storm...

A True Hoyt

As many of you know, Ashley has a different father than Anthony. I left him when Ashley was just over a year old. We not together very long when I got pregnant and we never got married. It was not a good relationship at all due to the constant arguing and control issues that he had with me. I knew that if I stayed with him, I would be a horrible Mom because I would be miserable being with him. When I had Ashley, I gave her his last name because...well I guess I thought we would get married at that time, for her sake. Thank goodness that never happened because then I would have been stuck in that relationship (I don't believe in divorce), and who knows how Ashley herself would have turned out being raised in that kind of environment.

When Ashley turned 2, Jason and I started dating. We had known each other 4 years prior, but never had a serious relationship with each other. When Ashley was 3, Jason and I got married. From the moment we were together, Jason accepted Ashley and treated her like his own. He knew she was the most important thing in my life, and was okay with being 2nd in my life. He was sad when she wasn't with us, as I agreed to a cordial arrangement with her father for joint custody. Jason was excited to have her with us, as we both wanted to share our lives with her completely! Jason absolutely loves Ashley. As an only child himself, he only wanted one child and was completely okay with Ashley being that child for him. It never mattered to him that she was not his biological daughter. Of course, we now have Anthony too. But Jason has never treated Ashley any different than before. He has always been loving and supportive to her.
Over the years, Ashley has chosen to live with us more and more. Ashley is now 13 and has been living with us permanently for over 9 months. There were some very serious and major issues that were happening at her father's house that needed immediate removal of her there. In the spring, Ashley asked me if she could have her last name changed. Not only did she want to have the same last name of me, Jason and Anthony (as she considers us her true family), but she finally wanted the name of where she belonged. She wanted the name of her Dad, Jason, because he has been her DAD. (Anyone can father a child, not everyone can be a Dad.)

We submitted all the paperwork to have her last name changed a couple of months ago, and even her biological father gave his consent. We got a call from our lawyer yesterday and it is official! Ashley is now a HOYT! The judge didn't even need us to be at a hearing. There was enough evidence for him to make a decision without us being there.

We are more than thrilled that legally Ashley is a Hoyt now! In our eyes, she always has been. In Jason's eyes, she's always been his daughter. Next up...Ashley has to do the thing that a true Hoyt does...hunting!

Fair Game

Reading this book was a real challenge for me. I know my summer reading list was all about challenges, but I was real serious about this one! I have never read someones memoir that was about politics before. Let's just say...I am not a fan of politics. I try to be informed about what is happening in our government, but sometimes it gets to a point that I get so angry, I just don't want to know anymore. However, when voting time comes around, I make it a point to educate myself on the elections. I will take part in that right as much as possible! So, it took a lot for me to read this book.

Another reason this book was challenging to read was because a large part of it had been censored by the CIA themselves. There were pages completed blacked out because they decided that information should not be public knowledge. Actually, it was at times very frustrating to start reading a sentence, see blacked out portions for several lines, and then see a new sentence start. What happened? I guess we can never really find out in her case. If you can get through the first six chapters, which are about her personal experiences while in the CIA, you can get through the whole book.

If you don't know about this story, I will give you a brief synopsis about it. Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA officer in the Counterproliferation Department, which was devoted to obtaining intelligence on nuclear acquisition efforts of rogue nations. Her identity was leaked to the media (which, by-the-way, is a federal crime) in 2003 after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph C Wilson IV, wrote an article criticizing the Bush Administration for their reason for the Iraq War. This was a huge political scandal that not only jeopardized her family, her career and the lives of people who worked undercover with her. But it also rocked the integrity of politics as a whole, if there ever was such a thing. This story involves a lot of finger pointing, as most politics does, but it really makes you think and talk about what really goes on in our government.

As I was scanning this book and saw all the blacked out pages, my first thought was why would anyone even publish it? But as I kept reading I realized that she had to get her side of the story out. I mean, how many times do you hear something in the news and begin to take the side of the people telling the story? And if you watch CNN or FOX? Well, they are usually one way. This was her way of getting her story out, so we could hear the other side. Plus, since she was forced to retire early she had to make money somehow, and I'm sure a book and movie deal helped along the way. (Just so you know, I am not completely for or against Mrs. Wilson. I'm neutral.) There are other people that did contribute to this book as well, so you get other perspectives. There is an Afterword by Laura Rozen, a reporter on national security for Washington D.C., who can fill in some of the blanks and provides another context of the story. The book also includes exerps from congressional records.

Once I got to chapter 7, I really wanted to finish the book. I wanted to know what had happened and what the outcome was going to be. And I'll say it really was worth reading. So what were the words that started all this mess? During President George W. Bush's state of the union address in January 2003, he said "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." This was a false statement because it was not verified. There were plenty of people that thought this, but it had not been verified. President Bush went ahead with this statement anyway because he wanted to sell the war to the American public. Were weapons of mass destruction ever found in Iraq? I'll let you have your own opinions.

In 2007, Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was found guilty of obstruction of justice, perjury, and making false statements. For what you may ask? He may have been the "fall guy", but the Bush Administration went to great lengths to discredit Mr. Wilson on the claim that they were wrong about Saddam Hussein trying to buy materials to make WMDs. Not only did this show great desperation, but it was a smear campaign to take attention off of the reason we were even going to war. Was Saddam Hussein a threat? Absolutely! But we, the American public, had a right to know the truth of why we were sending our loved ones across the world. As an American, I am outraged that our leader at the time had to lie to us to finish his Dad's war. And he did it the wrong way.

It is so scary to know the "power" of the President. Why does one person have so much power? I'm not saying our government is the worst.  But it's not the best either. Reading this book did make me angry that we having people running our country that are so manipulative and deceitful, and it's become the "norm" for us. Why are we not surprised when we hear about politicians making headline news for inappropriate behavior?

I will say that watching the movie did give more insight into what Mrs. Wilson "might" have done during her covert operations in other countries. But the movie pretty much followed the book (starting with chapter 7). Even with all the blacked out pages, I enjoyed the book more. I do like Naomi Watts, but Sean Penn is a little out there too much for me. This was probably the perfect role for him where he could step up on his soapbox and preach. If you ever saw Flags of Our Fathers or Lions for Lambs and you were upset by those movies because of the actions of (or lack of) our government, you might be just as upset with this movie. However, it was still worth watching because of the real-life issue.

And, for all of you who are oh-so-curious, my political affiliation is                                               

Family Camping...Take 2

Another camping trip, another adventure. It wasn't exactly the ideal trip for us, but then again when is it? We decided to take an extended weekend trip for the 4th of July up to Eleven Mile Campground, which is in Lake George, Colorado. We've never camped there before, and now we have and we probably won't ever camp there again.

The worst thing about camping in Colorado...having to plan 6 months in advance! We've done the tent camping. We've done the pop-up trailer camping. Now I only want to do the RV/trailer camping. I don't care if other people say, "That's not really camping!" It is to me. I just like to have certain amenities that go along with it.

Sure, you can go camping where there's no campground, no reservations needed, but I would rather be in a campground with the kids. I would rather have electric hook-ups so I can run my microwave! Of course, that's also nice to charge electronics too. I would rather have peace-of-mind that wherever we drive to has a spot waiting for us, with no one else in it. But the downside is you will rarely find a spot with all that on short notice.

We tried to be spontaneous and plan this trip to Eleven Mile. We reserved our spots online 2 weeks prior. We had to settle for spots with no electricity. Okay fine. We can survive 3 days without that, right? But once we got up there, we questioned that.

How spoiled are we? How many luxuries do we really need to "rough it"? I tell you, sometimes life is difficult without all the goods.

It pretty much is desert land there. Not much else but dirt. No trees, no grass, not very pretty. We were right by the reservoir there, which actually was the best part. But fishing still sucked. The boys were able to go to Spinney Reservoir, which is really close to Eleven Mile and has much better fishing. We still haven't had a fish fry though and Ashley's patience is running out on that! But the kids had a great time playing by the water, looking for all sorts of treasures throughout the campground. It wasn't all bad! There was a fire ban in effect there, so we couldn't even have a campfire. Not that we really wanted to because it was so dang hot there in the 80's. I could have stayed home for that! And the bugs were a bit of a nuisance. You couldn't stand in one place for too long either before the fire ants attacked you. All of a sudden you would have 20 ants crawling up your legs and biting. Not much fun! This really would have been the ideal place to have electricity. Turn on the A/C and plug in the DVD player for the kids.

So...what do we do now? We've had 2 camping trips that fizzled a bit. Well, the only thing we can do is plan another one. We did find a new campground to go to. It's in the trees, with electricity, next to lakes that will hopefully have good fishing. Let's hope for the best!

Note to self...next year plan ALL camping trips well in advance.

Kung Fu All The Way

Well if you haven't seen this movie yet, you need to. As a parent, I have always dreaded having to take my kids to see movies that I really don't want to see myself. This was one of the movies that I actually wanted to take Ashley and Anthony to. I loved the first one, and so did they. And this movie doesn't disappoint with humor, action, a great story line, and all those phrases we can live by. I just love the morals in these stories!

All the "Furious Five" Kung Fu characters and Master Shifu are back from the first film, and of course there are some new characters to challenge the Dragon Warrior. The best word to describe this movie comes from Po (Jack Black) himself..."Awesomeness"!

I truly love Master Shifu...so wise yet so sarcastic. In this second movie he is trying to help Po find inner peace, something we all struggle with from time to time.  Yet the story here is that when we have inner peace, anything is possible. I guess that could be true because we've always been told "Anything you put your mind to, you can achieve." I have been proof this last year that the power of positive thinking is...well...POWERFUL.

Po is probably everyone's favorite, right? Who doesn't love a giant panda, who is the most unlikely to be chosen for greatness? But my favorite thing that he says in this movie is that "Scars fade, wounds heal." Such powerful words for a kid-friendly movie. But oh, so true. I just felt this movie speaking directly to me! And really, these are things we should be teaching our kids. They can learn a thing or two.

The best message that I think this story sends is when the Soothsayer, the elder, is talking to Po and she says, "Your story may not have such a happy beginning but that doesn't make you who you are, it is the rest of your story, who you choose to be." And then Po tries to help Lord Shen, the villian in this movie, and says, "You got to let go of the stuff from past, because it just doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is what you choose to be now." Isn't that the truth for all of us. There may be times in our lives that we have to take control of our own destiny. It's not about what happens to us, it's about what we make of what happens to us. Words to live by!

Profound messages, but nonetheless, meaningful!

Never Let Me Go

I have finally finished the first book and movie off my summer list. I chose this book at my library mainly because it was one of the few available at that time. I have requested several from my list that our library needs to get. We have a pretty small library, but I love that I can request a book, and they usually get it for me. I've done that with many books for Anthony.

I really am not sure how I want to approach blogging about this "project" of mine. I don't want to ruin anything for anyone who want to either read these books or watch the movies. But if I'm writing a "review" of them, I suppose there will have to be some sort of spoiler alert. So, here's your only warning.

When I saw previews for this movie, I knew it was about 3 friends who reminisce their childhood of being in a boarding school, but I didn't know much else about the story. After reading the first half of the book, I was still a little confused about what the real story was. That's how long it took in the book to finally get answers about what was going on with these 3 people. I'm not sure if I like books like that. I like suspense, mystery and thriller books but I wouldn't really categorize this book that way. It is categorized as a sci-fi book, but that didn't seem appropriate to me either. It just didn't have that sci-fi feeling to me. It was more just fictional.

Basically, the book skipped around way to much for my likes, even though it is divided in three parts. There seemed to be a lot of back-tracking of memories, when all I want to read was what happened going forward. And it did so in a way that never explained much until the latter part of the book. It is also told in a reminiscing way, with the memories of one person. For me, I would rather it be in a story-type mode. Instead, there are parts of the book that read like the story teller isn't really sure of some of her memories. And so you're kind of confused on what is true or not to her.
Anyway, in the end I did like the story that the author was trying to convey. It is about a type of boarding school where children are brought up with one goal in mind. As they grow up they find out they are meant to exist for one thing...to become organ donors. They basically are clones of others. I just wished the story had a little more conflict it in. It's about friendship and love, but where's the part when the people make a run for it? If I found out that's what I was in existence for, I don't think I'd be a-okay with it. I'm pretty sure I'd fight it. But that's me.
The movie followed the story of the book very well. But I think this is one of a few times I will say I liked the movie better than the book. It flowed so much better. The movie didn't keep jumping back in memories. It started when they were young and moved up until they were adults. You understood what the story was about within 20 minutes of the movie, and so your focus was on the characters the rest of the movie, not trying to figure out what the plot was until the movie was almost over.
I thought the actors did a great job. I absolutely love Carey Mulligan. She received praise for her role in An Education and was also in Wall Street:Money Never Sleeps. I'm glad she had the lead role over Keira Knightley (even though I enjoy her acting as well) who of course has been in two of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Atonement and she also received praise for her role in Pride and Prejudice. And Andrew Garfield seems to be one of the next up-and-coming actors, and I thought he also did a great job in this film. He had a part in Lions for Lambs and received praise for his role in the Social Network.

Carey Mulligan always seems so easy-going, so playing this part seemed perfect for her as Cathy, the main character, just seems to accept things and moves on. Tommy, played by Andrew Garfield, is more of a fighter and tries to figure out ways to "defer" his ultimate destiny. And Ruth, played by Keira Knightley, is the outgoing character. She definitely adds some drama to the story.

The author is Kazuo Ishiguro, who also wrote The Remains of the Day which received the Booker Prize. I will read another one of his books at some point to compare his writing styles and see if he's an author I will continue to read.

No Matter How Much You Plan

Another adventerous trip this year up to Steamboat Lake! Yes, it was our annual camping trip with family and it did not disappoint with memories that will not be forgotten. It seems that every year we take this trip, there is always something that happens that makes the trip ever so interesting. Why should this year be any different? No matter how much we prepare for this vacation, there is always that little snag we hit.

As we began our drive climbing up Genesse Hill (right out of Denver into the mountains) our truck started acting strangely. The turbo kept shutting off, so we basically were going up the mountain at a speed of about 30 mph. Fabulous with pulling the trailer behind us! We had to keep pulling over, shutting off the truck, restarting it to "reset" the turbo function and get going again. I think we could only go about 5 miles each time before it would shut off again. We were eventually able to get up to Eisenhower Tunnel, but we just hoped that going downhill on the other side of the tunnel would be enough to reset the turbo on its own, which it did. We still had to climb Rabbit Ears pass to get to Steamboat. So we knew that if the truck kept acting up, we would just have to deal with it until we got to the campground and unhook the trailer. 5 hours after leaving our home, we finally arrived at Steamboat Lake.

Once we got everything set up, the muffler started blowing out white smoke. We knew then something was seriously wrong. Instead of beginning our "relaxing" vacation, we began stressing about how we can fix the truck. There wasn't much we could do at that point. It was a Sunday. Even though Steamboat Springs has a Ford dealership, they weren't open. We had to wait until the next day to call them and see if we could get the truck in to be serviced.

We mainly do this trip for the fishing. In the past years, Steamboat has been known to have great fishing. I felt so bad for Jason because he spent half the week dealing with the truck instead of being out on the lake doing what he so loves to do. We were able to get the truck in on Tuesday morning. We were so thankful they had the parts and were able to fix it by Wednesday. But it was one hell of an expensive trip for us this year! Almost 3k later, we had our truck back in working order. We still had to drive back home on Friday, with the trailer in tow, but I'm happy to report that went well.

Because of all the rain and snow we've been getting in Colorado this year, the fishing was not quite what we wanted it to be. Hard to have a fish fry when no fish are brought back to camp! There is still a lot of snow in the mountains, and it rained on us really hard the last 2 nights we were there. The wind was a bitch the whole week, but the first day we were there was beautiful and everyone got sunburned. So we'll just say the weather did not cooperate with us very well.

And to top off fantastic things that happen when you camp...Ashley broke her big toe the third day we were there. Nothing like adding more drama to the pot! I really felt so bad for her because there was nothing we could do about it. We go see the foot doctor this week and I'm sure there is not much they will do for it either. Unfortunately for Ashley, her feet are her life with dancing. (I just wish she would realize she needs to be more careful!) But a 13-year old girl will do what she wants. And if she wants to wear flip-flops while camping, well I guess that's what's going to happen. She was supposed to audition for the dance team last night and start summer dance this week, but instead she will be laying around at home for the next month or so. I'm sure she will be getting lots of reading done instead!

Even with all the problems we had this year, we still tried to make the best of it. It's always great to see and spend time with Jon and Sue, J and Erin (and now JT), the Buschy's and the other Hoyts. We always have good food, great drinks, and good family fun. Whether we are playing games or being around the campfire making s'mores, we always have fun camping. I just wish some year it would be problem-free.

Captain Jack Sparrow for President, Please!

If you ever asked me who my favorite male actor was, I always had a hard time narrowing it down to just one person...until recent years. If you ask me now, my answer would be of course Johnny Depp. He is absolutely superb as Captain Jack Sparrow, always has been! And seeing the 4th installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies has solidified it for me.

When I first heard that they were making the movie without Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, I have to admit I was a little disappointed at first. I wondered if the movie would even be good without them. But then I realized that you could only make so many movies with the same cast for only so long, because then they just become ridiculous. But when you watch the first three movies, the one character who never fails is none other than Jack Sparrow. He is sensible, yet witty, and in his own unique way...charming. Only he could pull off the things he does with such flair. And there are many more of his adventures I wouldn't mind being taken on! :)

The introduction of other new characters, such as Blackbeard, Angelica and the mermaids also made this movie fantastic. But the return of Capatin Barbossa sealed the deal. Who doesn't love Geoffrey Rush? However, I have a new perspective on mermaids. (I guess that's no different than vampires or werewolves.)

Okay. I'm not going to spoil the movie if you haven't seen it. But I will just say, that if you liked the first 3 movies of this franchise, you'll probably like this one. I don't care what the critics say about the plot or the acting. It is a great family film that is very entertaining. If my kids like it, that's good enough for me. We are hoping for another one. I mean, who doesn't want to see more of Captain Jack Sparrow? It's one of those movies that have sequels that will keep generating money for the film industry. That's for sure.

These are just my opinions, which don't always amount to much. But if I had anything to say about it, I think this country could use a little Captain Jack Sparrow at the helm.

The Summer Movie Lineup

As you can probably tell from all my posts, I am a big movie fan. I'm not sure why I like movies so much. Is it the art-imitating-life aspect? Is it the escape from real life? Is it the fantasy plots I so love? I for sure know it's not about the celebrities, because I really don't envy their lives. I mean they seem to be more messed than me! I think what draws me to the movies is that it's something we do as a family. I think it goes back to when I was little. We didn't go to the movie theater often, but when we did it was to see a major blockbuster like E.T. or Star Wars together. And when we watched movies on VHS at home, it was together as a family watching movies like Superman or some fabulous comedy like The Naked Gun. Good times, great memories!

I do not consider myself a "critic" because I won't go see just any movie. I do have my favorites and I can be pretty particular with what I spend my money on in the movie theaters. But there are some movies that you just have to see on the big screen. The rest, I will wait for them on DVD. And lately, there are movies that I want the whole family to see together. I just love the summer movie lineup!

Now that Anthony is getting older (and can, for the most part, behave himself in public) we seem to be frequenting the movie theaters a little bit more. Of course, he is also becoming more vocal about the things he likes and doesn't like. So if he sees a preview for an upcoming movie that he likes, we might just go see it. Any superhero, animated or computer generated movies seem to top his list. As for Ashley, she has been wanting to see more grown-up movies and her favorites are romantic and horror flicks (definitely not my favorite!) But that is what her and her group of friends are all into. Whenever there is a sleepover, we know horror movies will be watched. I find that so interesting because she used to get so scared, of just about anything. Now, she loves to be scared...as long as she is with a group of people. Funny how things change as we get older! :)

For this summer, we are developing the list of movies we will be seeing at the theater together. There are some movies that we may see at the theater, but will be more likely to end up on our netflix list. I won't even talk about the "absolutely not" movies. There are quite a few of those as well.

* Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
* Kung Fu Panda 2
* Cars 2
* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

* X-Men: First Class
* Green Lantern
* Captain America: The First Avenger
* Transformers: Dark of the Moon

These are just the movies we want to see at this point through Labor Day. Then, we will be making our list of movies to see during the holiday season. Looking forward to those as well!

Life Taking Over

As expected, the beginning of our summer has been packed with doing lots of things. It's all those things that have kept me from blogging as much as I can. Yes, life has taken over! I've been running around like crazy this past week and not doing the things I've really want to do. Of course, there are those things that I've been needing to do as well that have been put aside too. Not that laundry and cleaning bathrooms is what I want to spend my summer doing, but there comes a time that it becomes necessity. We've been trying to throw in some fun activites too, but that seems to be a bit of a struggle when we already have so many things on our plates already.

As I've said many times in my blogs, writing for me has become theraputic, even if I'm not really writing much, saying much, or even writing about such obscure things. It still helps me in my own silly way. This past week has been the week I've been dreading since this same time last year. It was the week that Ashley had ALL her dance photos for the upcoming recital. She just had to be in 8 performances this year! It's a stressful week to say the least. Costumes, hair, make-up...it's no picnic. Even though the end result is beautiful, I am the one to say it's not always worth it to go through all that. And to not be able to blog the whole week...well, I felt like I was insane by the end of the week. But, it's over now and I'm grateful for that. Ashley and I actually got through the week with very little arguing, and that is a miracle in itself.

With Ashley's dance season for 2010-2011 coming to an end, we really have not fallen into our summer schedule yet. She is still having dance classes at night M-Th, while Anthony has begun his swim lessons during the day, and he will start baseball this week, which will take place at night. So, it's been A LOT of running around all day long. (not that it will ever go away) Never a dull moment for us I suppose, but it's times like these I am looking forward to when Ashley turns 16 and can drive herself. I'm sure when that time actually comes, I may feel differently.

I am such a stickler for schedules, mainly because it keeps us all on track for whatever needs to be done. I can't stand when a wrench gets thrown into my life and throws off that schedule, but it happens quite often in our lives, doesn't it? We started the summer school program, but it has been like pulling teeth with the kids. They have been more resistant to it this year than last. I believe that is because we have so much going on, I have not been able to stick to the morning routine like I planned. However, we still have been doing it. I think when Ashley starts her summer dance schedule, that will help more because she will switch to daytime class times. But that won't start until later this month.

I keep telling myself to persevere and keep pushing forward. I'm trying not to let the little things in life take over too much. However, I wouldn't mind life sweeping me away to some place peaceful. But then I would probably complain that there isn't enough to do there...nah, probably not!

Summer School In Session

It may be the first day of our summer break, but (unfortunately for Ashley and Anthony) it is the beginning of Mrs. Hoyt's summer school program. This is a program I started last summer, mainly to help Anthony get up-to-speed with where he should have been with reading and writing, because his school sure couldn't do it. But I had Ashley do the program as well, mainly to give her something to do. I know there have been studies done on children that do some sort of school work during the summer, and they tend to retain their classroom skills. This is definitely something I kept in mind when I started this too. Not only did I see big improvements with both Ashley and Anthony, but Anthony actually became advanced in reading.

We do the summer bridge activity books daily, which is working on 2 pages each day, and I also have Ashley and Anthony spend some time writing in their own notebook (whatever they want to write about). They also spend a certain amount of time reading. It is at least 20-30 minutes a day, but I know Ashley reads about an hour each night before bed as well. Anthony and I also work on his spelling words, focusing mainly on the sight words required for him.

This only takes about 1 hour each day and we do it right after breakfast, so it is done and out-of-the-way and the kids have the rest of the day to do whatever. After every 20 days (M-F), the kids will get a prize for completing the school work. We will also be planning some field trips throughout the summer for fun and education. I do want the kids to enjoy their summer, but I don't want them just sitting in front of the t.v. during their down times either. I plan on doing a whole lot more with the kids this summer than last year, as I was still recovering from my surgery last summer. I want us all to enjoy our summer!

Today was a bit tasking for me however, as it took a little longer to get the program going. Anthony was a little resistent to starting, but once we got into it, he realized how quickly it could go. I don't give them much option to doing it. They pretty much have to do it. Once we get into the rhythm of the program, it will get easier. It's not much different than having a schedule during the school year. We all have to adapt to it and eventually just deal with it. I saw the success this program had already, so it only makes sense to continue it. It's pretty basic, but it can make a big difference. I don't claim to be a school educator in any way. I'm just a Mother who is trying to get through the summer with some sort of plan! :)

Finally...

After a fun-filled week, the waiting is finally over. The kids are finally out of school! It is official. Our summer has begun! Ashley has completed 7th grade and Anthony has completed 1st grade! I am so proud of them both. This year has had many challenges with both of them, but we have come through it all. And looking back on it all, I realized how much Ashley and Anthony have grown and learned from this school year...and so have we. Ashley has had the best academic year of her life. She was on the honor roll all year long. We are so excited to see what she will accomplish in 8th grade! Anthony has improved so much with academics, athletics and especially his social skills. We know things can only keep improving.

The last 2 weeks of school were fairly hectic, but I was able to participate in several activities with the kids. I went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with Anthony and his class. I helped with his school's field day as well. And I went to the Denver Zoo with Ashley and her class. It rained all day when we were there, but it still was fun and all the middle-schoolers were very well behaved. (surprisingly!) Last night, Ashley had a sleep-over with most of her friends here and we had 7 teenage girls celebrating the end of the school year. It was so much fun with them staying up until 4 in the morning! (Not really) So we are all pretty tired today because they kept us up too! However, they are a good group of girls, so more than anything they are just silly together.

Now begins our summer outdoor projects including rebuilding the fence and deck and maybe re-doing our landscaping. We will see how quickly the money runs out with those projects. Also, we will begin our summer school again, led by Mrs Hoyt (that would be me). Ashley is not really looking forward to that but we will be incorporating more fields trips this summer, with the help of Mrs Buschy (that would be my sister, Gerianne) who is also beginning a summer school project in her home as well. And of course, we will be embarking on the annual family camping trip up to Steamboat Springs. All-in-all, it will be a fabulous summer with many things to do. Looking forward to it! 

If My Life Was A Book, I'd Want It Turned Into A Movie

I love watching movies. I always have. I can be picky about what I watch because I don't like wasting money at the movie theater, or my time at home watching a DVD. There's nothing worse than watching a movie and being disappointed afterward because you spent 2 hours watching a dumb movie. My favorite would be probably any kind of drama or sci-fi movie followed by mystery and suspense movies. I will watch action and adventure movies, but they aren't always my favorites. There are very few comedies, romance and western movies I really like as well.  So I wouldn't consider myself a movie critic because I won't watch just any movie.

I haven't always been big on reading books though. A few years ago, I didn't have time to read books, except maybe when we would go camping. I would read any book written by John Grisham because he was my favorite author. But other than that I wouldn't frequent Barnes & Noble or even our local library. Now, I have expanded my author selection to J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer as my favorites as well.

Last year during the summer, I registered Ashley and Anthony for the summer reading program through the Loveland Library. It was a way I could help Anthony increase his reading skills and have Ashley expand her interest in all sorts of books. She has always loved reading. We would read books together when she was young everyday, and now I continue that tradition with Anthony. Ashley is always looking for the next book she wants to read now.

The way this reading program works is: the younger kids have a reading log that they keep track of how many days they read in the month. They can base it off number of pages read, a certain amount of time read, or even how many books they want to read on any particular day. Anthony always chose to read between 20-30 minutes a day. But the minimum goal is to have read at least 20 days each month. At the end of June and at the end of July they get to pick out a book they can keep. The teens have a reading log that keeps track of how many books they read. Ashley's goal is to read 10 books in the summer. She can enter her name in a drawing 5 times during the summer, so after every 2 books she reads. They can win gift cards or Elitch's tickets. And they can also join teen programs at the library that will count towards reading books. It's pretty neat for the kids.

So this summer I decided to join the adult reading program. It runs the same time as the kids reading program, June 1- July 29th. For every week you read a book, you put your name in a drawing for gift certificates to buy books.

I read the most during the summer. I read throughout the year now, but because we are at the library every week in the summertime, I am more motivated to read as many books as possible. My goal is to read 15 books. I was thinking about what I wanted to read. And because I'm me, I have to plan it out. But also because our library is pretty small, and if there's a certain book you want to read, it's not always available.

I put a lot of thought into this and I've compiled my list. I've decided to break away from reading just fiction books like I always do. I mainly enjoy the mystery or suspense books, just like my movies. So, I will be reading books that have been turned into movies. Some of these, the movies have just been released and some I am waiting for the movie to be released. I have not seen any of these movies, which is unusual for me. I normally see the movie first. It's not planned that way. Some movies I didn't realize were based on a book. And in previous years, I never had time to read the books first. I have never read any of these books either, and they are not in any particular order. I will read them as they become available at the library.

Here is my summer reading list:

Fair Game: How A Top CIA Agent Was Betrayed By Her Own Government- Valerie Plame Wilson

The Tempest- William Shakespeare

The Romantics- Galt Neiderhoffer

Water For Elephants- Sara Gruen

The Lincoln Lawyer- Michael Connelly

The Help- Kathryn Stockett

Something Borrowed- Emily Giffin

Mildred Pierce- James Cain

Never Let Me Go- Kazuo Ishiguro

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo- Stieg Larsson

Dark Fields (Limitless)- Alan Glynn

Beastly- Alex Flinn

Jane Eyre- Charlotte Brontë

Mao’s Last Dancer- Li Cunxin

The Road- Cormac Mccarthy

I will keep everyone up-to-date as I make it through my list, and blog about the books and the movies. I hope I can accomplish this crazy goal! But I mainly hope I can add to my favorite authors list as well! :)

Stadium Stew and Springtime Salad

Wow! It really has been awhile since I have done a food challenge. I know I said I was taking a two week hiatus, but I think it turned into a month. Well, it was needed. I have decided to only do food challenges every other week instead of weekly. It was getting to be a bit much. But, in my off-weeks I may revisit my food challenges for a re-do.

This week's ingredients: bratwurst, cucumbers, french bread and cream cheese.

Once Jason gave them to me I immediately thought of my ballpark favorites...brats and beer. We have already begun our grilling season here at the Hoyt house. But grilling the brats would have been too easy. So I decided to make the brats, with beer and bread...stew-style. I also added some spicy brown mustard because that's what I love to put on my brats. I would have used sauerkrat instead of the greens, but Jason doesn't like sauerkrat, so we had to suffer without it for this recipe. And next time, I will toast the bread, place in on the plate and pour the stew over it. It was too much in the stew and made it kind of "heavy". Also, I used turkey bacon because it added a smokier flavor than regular bacon, plus it's better for us. However, I will not make turkey bacon for breakfast with our pancakes. It's better in dishes like this, not by itself. And the beer I used was 1554, straight from our kegerator. Highly recommended beer. Nothing but the best!

And the sprintime salad is probably one of the easiest salads you will ever make. Simple ingredients, but enough flavor for a light, spring side dish. i thought of making it a little sweeter, but decided simple was better. Enjoy!


Stadium Stew

1 pkg beer brats
12 oz dark beer
6 slices turkey bacon, chopped
1 onion, sliced
1/2 loaf french bread, toasted and cut into bite-sized cubes
2 tbsp spicy brown mustard
2 cups greens
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 oz cream cheese

Place brats and beer into medium sized pot and bring to a low boil, letting cook for 10 minutes. Beer should just cover brats, so add more if necessary. Remove brats and slice into 1-inch pieces. Reserve beer.

In a dutch oven, cook bacon until browned and crispy, about 6 minutes. Add sliced onions and sliced brats. Cook until browned, about 8 minutes. Add spicy brown mustard, beer, chicken broth and greens, letting them cook down. Add cream cheese and mix well. Add toasted bread and stir gently. Add salt and pepper to taste.


Springtime Salad

2 cucumbers, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
2 mangoes, peeled, cored and chopped
2 pears, cored and chopped
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp dill
1 tsp salt

Combine cucumbers, mangoes and pears in medium bowl. Add white wine vinegar, dill and salt and toss lightly.

Just Another Day

Yesterday was Mothers' Day, and to me it was just another day. It's not that I don't celebrate being a Mother, because I do. There's several days out of the year I celebrate being a Mom...Ashley's and Anthony's birthdays are the main ones. I know that's their day mostly, but I celebrate how I became a Mother on those days too. I just don't want my family to go all crazy on Mothers' Day for me. I would prefer to have more than just one day to be recognized. As Mothers, don't we all want that? And by that I mean recognize the little things I do more often during the year. There are 365 days we work as Mothers. Why is there only 1 day set aside for us? Like 1 day will make the difference! Recognize me out of the blue some day during the year. Am I asking for too much?

The only thing I asked for was to have dinner made for me by Jason and Ashley. That's it. I didn't want to go out anywhere because isn't that what everyone else wants to do? The restaurants are crazy busy on days like that. No thank you! I just wanted a peaceful and relaxing day. They insisted on getting me something though. I understand that is a way my family shows appreciation for me, but for me I would rather have something DONE for me not a gift bought for me. However, I did appreciate it even though I may not have shown it. I think I was a little angry they didn't listen to me...but what's new with that! They got me a smoker, which is something I've been asking for the last 2 years at Christmas time. I'm glad they got something we all can enjoy. I so love my kitchen appliances! :) I love anything that will make cooking easier for me! And I'm excited about all the things I can make with it. Instead of a fried turkey this year, we may be haved a smoked one for Thanksgiving! Yum!

Anyway, I did have a nice day yesterday. I did some laundry...well...because I needed to, but I did have some relaxing moments throughout the day. That's all I can ask for. Dinner was delicious and we had some fun family time playing games. But even though I asked them not to make a fuss over me for Mothers' Day, they still did. I guess I feel pretty special about that. Can I be queen for a day again this year?

A Reason For A Fiesta?

Happy Cinco de Mayo to anyone who needs a reason to party. Don't you just love these "holidays" that have been invented by America just so people have a reason to celebrate something, anything? Don't get me wrong though. I am not bashing what this day is about. It is a significant day to observe Mexican culture, heritage and ancestry. It's not about Mexican Independence, which most people think it is. (That day is September 16) It's celebrating a battle that was won against the French, even though that victory didn't last long. Anyway...enough about that. I'm not trying to be the History Channel.

I will embrace my heritage. I am not 100% Hispanic, but that's okay. I'm Irish and German too. I like celebrating St Patrick's Day and Oktoberfest as well. Whatever day we need to make a "holiday" so we can have a reason to down some alcoholic drinks! (Not that I really need a day set aside for that.)

However, I am thinking about things we did growing up that reflected our heritage...making chile rellenos, tamales, empanadas, menudo (not my favorite). I loved that we always made them as a family to. With a big family like ours, having the assembly line to make tamales was the best! And we always made our empanadas with fruit inside. Delicioso! Nowadays, you find so many different varieties of mexican cuisine. I don't mind the gourmet mexican food, but I'll always choose the authentic kind over that any day.

I didn't plan on making mexican food tonight, or even going out for mexican food. But I will have a margarita (or two) to celebrate.

The Countdown Begins

15 school days left. 15 days remain of SOME free time during the day. 15 days until I go completely insane! Welcome to my May.

This is a real busy month for us. I thought April was busy, but May will be twice the craziness! Both Ashley and Anthony have 2 field trips each to go on for school, and I will be attending 1 for each of them. Those are trips to Denver, at the zoo and museum. I'm looking forward to those actually. Hopefully they will be more fun than stressful. I don't know...surrounded by a bunch of elementary kids and middle schoolers? I may need a serious drink after those experiences.

There's Mother's Day, which really is not a big deal for me. Jason and Ashley want to get something for me, but all I can come up with is something for the house. This makes them so mad. Pretty much I just don't buy into the commercialism of it all. Again, I don't like flowers (they just die), I don't wear much jewelry (I am a plain jane when it comes to that), I make my own wine. Seriously...what is someone supposed to get me these days for a gift? I told them they can make dinner for me. That's all I want. I never get a full "free day", what difference would one day make? There's nothing I really want to go do either. Okay, maybe I'm plain, boring jane all the way.

We will be starting our landscaping project this month, so that will be a fun-filled adventure for our family to do together. (I'm being a little sarcastic on that one) I will keep track of how many arguments arise from that. The one thing we can agree one is we have different tastes when it comes to home improvement projects.

Anthony will be starting summer activities towards the end of the month. He will be still be in swim lessons, but we'll add on baseball too just for fun! Ashley will still be in her normal dance classes, getting ready for her dance recital in June, but this month is when dance pictures are taken. It is the week I dread the most of this whole year. That's right, I said week. A week long of photos for her 8 performances she will be in for the recital. It's just too stressful. I can't wait...

I am looking forward to this school year being over, but I'm kind of dreading not having any free time during the day. However, we will be implementing the Hoyt summer school activity again this summer...lucky kids! It's a program I started last summer where the kids complete activities in the summer bridge books, so they can keep up with reading, writing, and math. It helped Anthony tremendously getting up to speed with where he should have been in school. And it helped Ashley not just sit around and watch t.v. in her down times. And this summer, it means less facebook and texting time! Ha Ha! And we will also be doing some field trips with Gerianne and her kids, so we can have some sister time and they can have some cousin time! Okay...maybe it won't be so bad...

A Decade In The Making

10 years down, 40 to go! Jason and I have been married for ten years now! What a milestone for us! As I reflect on those years I realize how different our life together is now from where we started. But I'm okay with that because I truly believe our life, our marriage is much stronger now than it ever has been. We, of course, have had our ups and downs just like everyone else. But we always come out of difficult times together. We definitely have more ups than downs, but we sure have had some challenging times!

I never had any doubts about Jason. I still don't. I never will. He really is the one for me. He is my everything. He is my light that leads me to where I need to be. He has stuck by me through everything I've been going through in my life. And I know that hasn't been easy for him. When we said our vows, I knew from that moment on, we would be forever. I am a person who doesn't believe in divorce. I knew that if I got married, that was it. Divorce would never be an option. And I stick by that today. I would never get married thinking, "If it doesn't work out, I'll just get a divorce." That's a little too convenient and doesn't seem like a happy life to me. For sure marriage has difficult times, but so does life. I would rather think, "It's all worth working through those tough times, because there are so many great times ahead."

We never really do much for our anniversaries. I know that may sound strange, but we decided a long time ago that we wouldn't get each other presents. Instead, we do something for the house. We do some kind of home improvement project. I would rather add value to my house than add something sparkly to my jewerly collection (which I don't wear anymore). I am happy with just my gold wedding band (which I replaced after losing it).

So this year, we are going to start on improving our landscaping. Jason will be putting up a new fence and hopefully build a new deck. Maybe next year we will have the money for the actual landscaping, but that will probably be something we hire someone for. We also need to repaint the outside of the house. So, it's a lot to do but that's our gift to ourselves. Okay, well maybe that's Jason's gift to me because he'll be doing most of the work. I do have to supervise the whole project, and I'm sure that will be a tough job! :)

Happy 10 year anniversary Jason! Let's make sure we make it to the next milestone!

Dance Baby Girl, Dance!

Ashley had a dance performance on Saturday, which was a show that had dancers from Loveland, Greeley, Fort Collins and Longmont to raise money for breast cancer. Ashley's dance studio participates every year, and this was the second time she did a solo.

She did a beautiful job! Of course, I will always see her as my baby girl. But it is amazing how she has grown and matured. She is a fabulous dancer. I don't think I could ever get on stage in front of hundreds of people, and she does this several times a year with various dance performances. In this show, she did 4 different dances. All of her dances were wonderful, but my favorite was her solo on pointe. She also did 2 lyrical dances and a tap dance. We loved her tap also. It's always one of her best dances.

I am so proud of her! She choreographed the dance herself, which she spent 4 months preparing for it. Just being able to do that amazes me! This is the second time she choreographed a dance. Her first solo she did, she was about 11 years old. She is now 13 years old. What talent she has!

Here she is...dancing her heart out!

Is This Week Over Yet?

This has been one of the longest weeks of my life! Jason has been out of town on a business trip...well actually he's been in Las Vegas. He is there for work, but I'm sure he is doing a little playing during some of his free time. He is staying with Mom and Dad, which is great he was able to do that and not have to be put in a hotel. But thinking back to our time in Vegas...I guess I'm a little jealous!

This has been a crazy week for us though. Anthony started his new swim lessons session and he has moved up to level 4, which means he swims at a later time. Ashley has been getting ready for her dance performance on Saturday, so there is an extra level of stress around the house. She also has been having her regular dance classes, which are normally late because she is also in upper level classes. It's getting close to the end of the school year, and she seems to have a bunch of projects coming due as well.

Also, the in-laws are coming into town this weekend (I'm not complaining on that one!) and I've been cleaning up the house preparing for their visit. Really, I'm not complaining. I absolutely love my in-laws. They are the coolest in-laws you could ask for. They are so down-to-earth and easy going. And it's great to have some help with the kids when they are around. We don't get to see them very often because they live on the western slope, 6 hours away. Actually, they retired this past year, and they have been living in Arizona as snow-birds for the last 4 months. Anyway, I'm sure they wouldn't care if I didn't get the house cleaned up...but I care.

I have done EVERYTHING this week...and it's been a bitch! Surprisingly I haven't drank a lot of wine this week, but that's because I haven't had time to drink, and I've been so exhausted I really haven't felt like drinking. That's for sure a downside to this week!

I am missing my husband. The bed is lonely at night. It's too big for just one person. I am missing him helping me out. I can't do all of this on my own. I am just missing him altogether! I am ready for this week to end! Come on Friday!!! Get here already!!!

What A Year!

I have been reflecting a lot lately on this past year. It has been exactly one year ago today when I had my second surgery to remove my tumor in my spinal cord. WOW! One year ago. It's hard to believe it. How promising that surgery seemed once I came out of it. Yet how quickly that changed when test results revealed more tumors, just a few months after that surgery. A what a year it has been. A complete roller coaster of a ride. (And I don't like roller coasters! They make me sick to my stomach due to my vertigo. Another fabulous ailment I suffer from.)

My life has become a 180 from where I was a year ago. I have gone through many changes physically, mentally, emotionally. Of course many of those changes were not by choice, rather forced on me by my new life. Something I had to get used to, and eventually just deal with. But hey...I have survived all of that. I wouldn't say I am more stable, but I'm working my way back to that. And I'm sure I'll reach that point again someday. In the meantime, I guess I just take everything one day at a time.

I have been having more good days than bad recently, so that is definitely promising. The sun has been shining a lot brighter in my life lately. I suppose I have just embraced what has been put in front of me. Most people who know me know that whatever challenge I have to face, I do it with enormous determination. And I will succeed. There is no failing for me. It's a word I don't associate with. So, this past year I have had determination to not let this disease beat me. So far, so good.

I have also been thinking a lot about what this summer will bring for me. The kids have exactly one month left of school. One month! Unbelievable! Last summer I had a lot of help from my parents and in-laws to help me with the kids while they were out of school. This summer? I'm on my own for most of it. I mean, of course Jason is here, but he works during the day. He is very helpful at night when he gets home, but summertime switches so most of kids' activities are during the day. In other words, I will become the perma-taxi driver...ALL DAY LONG! I am hopeful that I will have enough energy to get me through those three months. What am I saying!? I'm actually praying that I have enough energy to survive those three long months!

On the other hand, I am excited about summertime with my kids. I am looking into more activities we can do together. We really didn't get to do too much last year, as I spent most of it recovering from my surgery and then radiation treatments. This summer I am free from all that! So I have vowed to make the best of it.

Bean and Pepperoni Stuffed Steak with Orange Salad

I have never done a stuffed steak before, so I thought what better time to do it when Jason has a food challenge for me! If it didn't turn out right, I could always blame it on the ingredients chosen. But surprisingly, it was pretty delicious. I keep surprising myself with putting these ingredients together and somehow making it work. The pictures, however didn't turn out very clear and I probably should have taken one of the steak cut, so you could see it in the spiral form. Anyway...this is what we got.

This food challenge was last week's and the challenge ingredients were: refried beans, pepperoni, oranges and green leaf lettuce.

Bean and Pepperoni Stuffed Steak

1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 lb beef top round
15 oz canned refried beans
1/2 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
1/2 cup pepperoni slices


Heat oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat.

Tenderize steak and flatten so steak is 1/4-inch thick. Season with salt and pepper. Layer refried beans, cheese and pepperoni slices evenly on steak. Roll steak into a cylinder shape. Place seam side down in skillet, cooking until just browned. Turn carefully to brown other side of meat, about 3 minutes each side.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place steak roll on baking sheet and finish cooking in oven, for about another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for about 5 mintues. Cut steak to form spiral servings.

Orange Salad

1 head green leaf lettuce, cut into bite-size pieces
2 oranges, peeled and cut into wedges
1/2 cup sliced roasted red bell pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tsp basil
salt and pepper to taste

Place lettuce, oranges and red bell pepper in large salad bowl. Mix oil, vinegar, basil and salt and pepper in a small bowl. Pour over salad and toss to mix.

Enjoy!

Weighing In

My son's "schools on the move" challenge finished at the end of March. We focused on eating more fruits and vegetables, having less screen time and doing more physical activity. Since he was doing this for school, I decided to really have all of us participate to help him. It was pretty easy to get it going. And once we did, it was even easier to keep it going for the two months.

Ashley and Anthony both do a lot of physical activity already, with Ashley in dance and Anthony in swim lessons. There wasn't much to change with that part, but we did do more of playing "just dance 1 & 2" on the wii as a family. We had a blast doing that, and it was fun to beat everyone at it! Ashley didn't like that too much, but I just told her that I have dance moves she never even knew.

We didn't have much difficulty with eating more fruits and vegetables. It's just something we always eat. But making sure we got 5 servings a day was a little more than I thought it would be. We did it though, for almost everyday in those two months. Since our vacation though, we've cut back on so much of the fruits and vegetables, but I'm getting it going again. I find it pretty easy to get back on track with better eating habits.

The hardest part of this challenge was the screen time. We did limit his t.v. time, but we allowed him to play his video games more on the weekends. He did really good during the week though. He stuck to his 2 hours those days and what I thought was awesome was he did that on his own. He set his timer and followed it. When the buzzer went off, he turned off the t.v. and found something else to do. But on the weekends, we gave him reward time for doing good in school, so we didn't follow the 2 hour limit on those days. But he definitely had less screen time than usual.

MY biggest focus during this time was better eating habits. I wouldn't say that I had bad eating habits, but I just wanted to have better choices with food. I really tried to follow the food pyramid completely, and I did...for about 1 week. I just found that it was SO MUCH FOOD. I seriously got sick of eating. So, instead, I just cut back on portion sizes. I ate smaller meals more often during the day. (As Mom and Dad would call it "grazing".) I probably had 4-5 meals a day, but really it felt more like snacks. I started eating breakfast again...regularly. (I had a bad habit of just having coffee before.) I still stuck to the proper food groups...whole grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy and proteins. But I limited my amount of meats and eggs. I ate more from the bean, nuts and seeds catagories. I also had more dairy than I ever have. I don't like milk so I ate more from the cheese and yogurt catagories. And, of course, I had already switched almost everything to the whole grains. I think by doing this I just increased my metabolism, so I was able to burn off calories just by following this. I didn't focus too much on exercise. Even going for a 15-minute walk wears me out like you wouldn't believe. I did, however, try to do more things around the house just so I wouldn't be sitting around.

Now, my goal was not to lose a lot of weight. It was just so I could feel better about myself. And it worked! I really do feel better. I hardly ever weigh myself. I don't like focusing on a number. I don't care what size I wear in clothes. Again, it's just a number. But, when I had my doctor appointments in January and April they weighed me. So I know from that I have lost 15 lbs. According to the charts for BMI (body mass index) I still need to lose 10 more lbs to not be considered overweight. Whatever. If I do, I do. If not, I'm not going to feel bad about myself. As long as I continue to feel good about how I eat, I'm completely happy.

So, I will continue to follow the food pyramid. It seems to be working for me. We'll see what the next 3 months do for me! :)

Wild Game Bacon Cheeseburgers and Berry Parfait

This is what you get when you have a bunch of antelope meat still in the freezer from hunting season. What can I say? My husband is a redneck. However, I have made this more of a gourmet version of a bacon cheeseburger. And the parfait thing? Well, it isn't the traditional parfait, but I couldn't think of anything else to call it.

This was a food challenge Jason gave me the week before spring break vacation. And I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. I have another one I did last week, and I'm sure I'll blog about that one later this week.

We had initially decided to do a food challenge every week. They have become quite interesting and fun for me, but I'm having a hard time keeping up with the actually blogging about it. I don't write anything down when I do the food challenges. I probably couldn't even read it anyway due to my disability. So, I basically just go off memory once I blog. This has led to me having more simplified meals...just so I can remember all the ingredients! I could have Jason write it down for me, but that would be too easy. Gosh...I just love any kind of challenge I guess! :)

I have decided to take the next 2 weeks off of food challenges. My blog seems to be turning into a food blog, and that was not my intention. I don't mind it, but I would like the opportunity to blog about other things for awhile.

This food challenge: ground italian antelope meat, oats, honey, blackberries

Wild Game Bacon Cheeseburgers

1 lb ground italian antelope meat
1 lb ground chuck (80/20)
1 pkg cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup oats
1 tbsp dried italian seasoning
1 pkg crumbled gorgonzola cheese
12 slices precooked bacon
6 whole wheat hamburger buns


Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread cherry tomatoes on baking sheet. Top with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Cook for 15 minutes, until tomatoes are soft and just starting to burst open. Cool for 5 minutes.

Heat grill to medium-high heat.

Mix ground antelope and chuck meats in medium bowl. Add oats and italian seasoning. Season with salt and pepper. Add tomatoes and mix well. Form into palm-size patties. Cook for 15 minutes. Lightly toast hamburger buns. Top burgers with gorgonzola cheese and bacon.


Berry Parfaits

1/2 pkg strawberries, sliced
1/2 pkg blackberries
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp nutmeg
6 shortcake rounds


Mix berries, lemon juice and sugar in a medium bowl.

Mix yogurt, honey and nutmeg in a small bowl.

Top each shortcake round with berry mixture then yogurt mixture. Top with raspberry candies if desired.

Enjoy!