The Reason for the Season

I have had a little drama with my recent Church calling as primary chorister, but I feel like I have finally gotten into the swing of things and won the trust of the primary kids (as well as the adults :) There is nothing quite as beautiful as feeling the Spirit guide you in sharing the gospel with others. And it was fairly awesome today! The songs we sang this week (chosen a month ago) and the brief message I shared coincided perfectly with both the Bishopric's message for the primary kids and the sharing time lesson. How amazing is that? Heavenly Father wants these young children (and their wonderful teachers) to learn about and come to know their Savior, and I am pleased to be a part of that. I KNOW He loves me. I know He lives. I know He knows what I need and want, and according to my own righteousness, He will provided all of it. I am happy to know He has a specific plan for my life and He cares about me and is pleased with what I am doing.In the last few years I have had a difficult time feeling excited about this special season, but this year I am feeling the joy and love of Christmas! I wish you all the best of love, peace, and joy at this special year, and hope that you may carry that love, which comes from our Father above, with you throughout the year.

Holiday Facelift

I have not only given my Blog a holiday facelift....I have given myself a holiday face lift....and butt lift and whatever else that can be lifted in 9 weeks! I am sure some of you are tired about hearing about my food/weight drama, but since I have dealt with it for years and thought there was no way out of my situation and have been proven wrong...well, perhaps the rest of you who are not already bored can relate. It is like anything in life, you can always do something, until, you know, you're dead! And even then, I'm sure there are things you can do :)

Anyway, after losing about 50 pounds with Weight Watchers in one year, I kind of got stuck. I tried things, but the scale didn't move. Over the following year and a half, I lost between 5 and 10 more pounds, but wasn't able to keep moving forward. I joined the gym this summer and developed a really good workout routine, but still the scale would not move. Then I got brave and joined a diet class at the gym. Now I HATE the word "diet". People always think of it as a temporary measure that is supposed to have permanent effect. Seriously, where's the logic in that? But I felt like I needed to try it. And as there were only 3 or 4 of us who signed up for the class, we were basically treated to weekly personal sessions with a professonal trainer. And let me tell you, Becky is awesome! She not only knows what she is talking about, she does it herself, she listens to any issues you might have, explains things well and backs it up with appropriate literature, is very encouraging of all your efforts, and designed a personal weight routine for each of us.

Most of what I learned was fairly familiar, but 2 things were new and helped me to get back on my losing streak: 1) the evils of sugar (how it hinders weight loss by burning off before anything else...so fat never gets burned off if all you eat mostly carbohydrates; you just burn what you are eating), and 2) the importance of strength training in weight loss (I thought you needed to SWEAT and SWEAT to burn calories, so all I ever did was aerobic exercise....but as soon as I introduced weights to my workout, everything started to tighten up and I started losing weight).

The result of my 8 week (really 9 since Becky added a week because of being unable to meet Thanksgiving week) diet class is:

1) about a 10 week weight loss

2) development of muscles EVERYWHERE....oh yeah, I am getting buff!

3) fitting my body into a smaller size! Yahoo! I am finally fitting into a size I wore sometime between 5th and 6th grade. How awesome is that?

What is maybe the most important part is that I am proud of the way I look! I still have a little bit to go, but I am very thankful for having the resources and support system to be able to do this!

Death of the Pie

As mom builds a fire in the hearth to heat my ever-cold feet, I ponder the joys of leftover pie. There is so little pie left, about 1/2 piece of peach and 1/4 of apple left, that it is practically a travesty. But having been the genius behind "lunch dessert" today, and thus having first dibs on the leftovers, I cannot really complain. Because yes, it was pretty darn good, even on Saturday. (Hey, shouldn't this empty pie plate say, "If you can read this you've eaten all the pie, you selfish pig!")
As many of you may be aware, the Bouchers were all invited to Joe and Jen's for Thanksgiving this year. I will leave it to those more eloquent than I to chronical the beautiful table linens and settings, and the delectible culinary delights consumed on the occasion. Instead, I will do what I do best, and discuss the various oddities of the day.

Item 1: Pre-turkey naps. Only dad could have pulled this off! Apparently he fell asleep BEFORE and at least once AFTER dinner.

May I mention that when the Bouchers are together we are not exactly calm and silent? His impressive ability to snooze through gaffawing laughter and pleasant little jabs flung from one of his offspring to another is truly something to be envied. And something cultivated after years of practice.

Item 2: Crazy kids. Where children are, something bizarre is bound to occur. Here are some of the highlights:

Our dear sweet Lizzie can always be found posing for the camera. I'm pretty sure I saw her flip her hair Valley-Girl style and plop her hands on her hips with some saucy retort at least once.

Wow. I simply have no comment here. Only that it's important to keep your camera handy in case your nephew decided to make good use of the table decor. Oh, and if you're the nephew, sorry dude, you choose to goof off in front of the aunt who thinks it's funny to show these pictures to your mother, who yes, did look a little embarrassed :)

Item 3: Crazy Brothers. Where my brothers are there is bound to be some sort of mischief afoot. Here is Jake trying to look "innocent," but only successfully achieving "unstable".

I know, they look sweet enough in their own right, but really they are talking about something evil. I'm not exactly certain what they were talking about, but it was evil I assure you. And don't you love Michael here? He's quite the little mischief-maker-in-training himself!

And here is beloved Leaf Beard. Doesn't he have the most beautiful hair? Well Jake, I warn you, when it gets past your shoulders it forms really weird waves in the back. Just look back at old pictures of me to see what is coming your way, pumpkin. And maybe you should try some bangs you beautiful, beautiful man!

*Note: Did you notice that all the weird brother pictures feature Jake? Seriously, I do not have one NORMAL picture of that kid from Thanksgiving. But I guess that's typical, eh?

And last but not least:

Item 4: Happy faces! I know, it shouldn't be an oddity of Thankgiving, except that it really should. I mean, think about it: people slave away all day cooking and stewing and baking, then travel to wherever they are going (sometimes a fair distance) with or without a car full of frolicking youngsters, all the time trying to keep the jello salad from flopping out onto the seat. I mean, hey! That's not the recipe for a great day! But everyone was happy. No one was grouchy. Everyone was sleepy and eventually uncomfortably stuffed full of food, but everyone was good-natured to the end. Here are some of my favorite happy faces:

Not only did she provide some really good jello salad (transported without mishap all the way from Orem) but also a cheery face. A little snap-happy, but adorable, that's our Cody!

Amy and Brittney: I know they don't always get along (what woment do?), but I must admit I always wanted a sister, and these two are such good friends (most of the time :)

Sleepy and Dopey. Wait! I did not say that! I meant "Dearest Mummsy and Popsicle"...who though they may look sleepy and dopey, still look pleased to be in the thick of things with their beloved offspring. And hey, they drove the car, so I'm not complaining!

Mom and Daughter. No matter how many in-laws, we are the original Boucher women. The proud makers of pies, decorative vegetable trays, and candied yams. Regardless of this sacrifice of love in the name of Thanksgiving and Family, we still look pretty darn chipper. And cute. And okay, backlit, but what do you want?

This little fellow stole the day! Somehow I did not end up with an adorable smiley picture of baby Jace, but undoutedly someone else did (so shop around the family blogs and you will see plenty!). And hey, I snapped this cute one of him with his super-happy daddy. I'm pretty sure that kid couldn't be more loved!

So, as I mourn the death of the various pies, I will still recall them with fondness as I go back to reality in a couple of days. Thank you again, Joe, Jen, and Jace for a lovely Thanksgiving! And a good reason to eat pie for breakfast!

The Joy of Good Food

I grew up in a home where good food was abundantly available....not the expensive, overly processed, high sugar and fat kind, but good comforting home meals. Possibly that's the reason I love food so much. But occasionally I fall off the wagon and eat things that are not so healthy or delicious. And for years and years I have had what I call "food drama." I get caught up in day-to-day life and tend to shove anything into my mouth that sounds halfway decent. I'm pretty sure this happens to everyone, but when you finally realize that you are eating whatever is at hand, often in very large amounts, it's a big problem.

However, I find that when I become motivated again and begin to watch the fats, sugars, carbs and calories I'm consuming, food starts to taste better. Isn't that weird? When I use quality ingredients, things prepared by myself, along with fresh veggies and fruit, food suddenly becomes wonderful and I want to cook more. The inspiration in the kitchen just starts flowing. I love that! Not only does it taste better to make healthy food, it feels better too.

After a couple of weeks taking my gym's diet class, I am finally feeling it! Not only do my pants fit better, but real food is tasty again, and I am creating masterpiece meals that are both delicious and beautiful. For example, here's today's breakfast:

Garden omelet with grilled mushrooms, onions, and topped with spicy salsa and melty mozzarella. How delicious is that? As fantastic on the eyes as it is on the waistline and tastebuds.

Halloween...a bit late :(

So...my roommate has a curse. (I know, soooo Halloweeny!) All electronic devices at her fingertips turn to crap. I'm not joking. First, it was her computer, which crashed, was fixed, and then crashed again. Then it was our wireless router, which died completely, and a replacement was sent to our old address (a place we haven't lived since about February, weird since they've known where to send the BILLS this whole time!), and finally arrived 6 phone calls and 2 weeks later at our current address. Did I mention that in the meantime, after her computer was fixed her power cord died? So we played tag-team with my power cord, until another came in the mail, then kept playing tag-team because that one didn't work either. As I said, everything electronic turned to crap at Alison's hand. Needless to say, I haven't blogged for weeks and people on Facebook started to think I was dead or something. Whatever! Everything, or at least most things, are fixed now, so here I am, reporting on Halloween a week late. So for all of you sick of looking at Halloween costumes and that old crusty candy corn still sitting in the bowl, maybe you should just skip this one. And I'm sorry.

Anyway, I was inspired this Halloween. On one of my favorite shows, NCIS, one of the characters dressed up as Marilyn Monroe for Halloween, and was stunning. And after a bit I thought, "Wouldn't THAT be fun?" I discovered last year that I can pull off platinum blonde at least passably well, so I figured I could do it. And let's be honest, we know I have enough sass for the job! So, here's what it takes to become Marilyn:

1. Fake lashes. Preferably quite long.
2. Blood red lipstick and lots of it.
3. Copious amounts of black eyeliner.
4. Delicious strappy shiny heels.
5. THE dress.
6. Curly platinum blonde wig.
7. Enough "bling" to sink a battleship.
8. And last of all, a sufficient amount of attitude to pull it all off.

And of course, I had all of that:

The shoes.
The bling...and the lovely red nails.

So, this is what came out of it...the Halloween diva.

And yes, blondes do have have more fun! (Until it starts to itch!)

Any Guesses?

So...Alison and I went shopping for Halloween costumes. Of course she was drawn to the flapper girl fringey dresses (she has an unnatural affinity for fringe)...but I was headed toward another section. Here's part of what I bought:What do you think? Oh yeah, gonna be a DIVA!

Fairytale Princess

Every once in a while a girl has to be a girl. And two of my favorite things since girlhood have been fairytales and dressing up. So, when I heard that Beauty and the Beast was playing at our local playhouse, I knew we had to go...and I knew that it would be much more fun with little girls along with us. The plan was to go for Emma's (Misty's oldest) birthday. We planned for the girls to dress up in princess dresses...but at the last minute I could not help myself...and bought tiaras for all 4 of us :) The little girls had fluffy feathery plastic affairs that looked adorable on their curly heads. But Misty and I had some lovely sparkly tiny tiaras that we wore the whole time. And hey, I don't care what they say about wearing tiaras on the red carpet...it makes you FEEL like a princess when you wear a tiara!

And I don't care how old I get, fairytales are still magical. Perhaps it's their simplicity. The fact that yes, bad things happen; an underappreciated girl has to do way more chores than she ought to, another is forced to spend her life with a "horrible hideous beast," a wicked witch locks another in a tower and climbs up her HAIR! Oh, and another who has a witch determined to do her in by any means available (poison apples and whatnot) and must serve 7 little men. Talk about attrocities! But good things also happen; fairy godmothers come along to give you a fabulous makeover, your Beast becomes something different and wonderful, and you meet a nice prince...who really doesn't care when your hair gets cut, and you get to swap out the 7 little men for 1 tall dark handsome one. I like that! Life is tougher than that I know, but if we just remember the formula, that bad things happen, but so do good things, I think we can learn something important.

In other words, this Beauty is still looking for her Beast (or am I the Beast looking for my Beauty? Sometimes I can relate more with him that her :) And when I do, I am totally getting an awesome dress like that...and some sassy shoes. But at least I already have my tiara!