Bring a Friend to Boot Camp Day

This is the field were it all happens and skinny jean dreams come true!


Well, today is Saturday so boot camp didn't start until 6:30 this morning, not 5:15. I enjoyed the extra hour of sleep!!! I invited my friend Kaitlyn to join me this morning and she actually took me up on my offer. So fun! We got there when it was still dark and actually got to watch the sunrise as we worked out. That was a first for me! So we started out with stretching and then squats/run/frog jumps on the football field. We had to start with 10 squats then run 50 yards then do 10 frog jumps then run back. Then go to 9 squats, run, 9 frog jumps. All the way down to 8. By then we were all warmed up and little winded and we started right on our stations. There was a twist on our stations today, we had less stations, but we had to sprint in between each station. We had to do left stationary lunges, run, suicides, run, shoulder press, run, mountain climbers, run, squat/run/frog jump, run, medicine ball sit ups, break, right leg lunges, run, push ups/run/push ups, break, hammer press, run, tricep/push up combo, run, tire run, break, tricep with bands, run. I was beat by then!!! Next we did 25 throw downs and started Fartlek training. I know that sounds really weird, but it was named after some guy named Fartlek and I'd like to give him a piece of my mind!!! We walked/jogged for 30 seconds and then our coach would blow the whistle and then we would have to sprint as hard as we could for 30 seconds we did this for 3 minutes straight. I had never done anything like that before and my legs were en fuego! After that we did abs, stretched, and did our buddy info. I was so impressed at how well Kaitlyn did! My goodness! She kept right up with everyone the entire time. I so wish she could come with me in the mornings!!! So here are 2 pictures from today. They are both AFTER our entire workout (it is always dark out on weekdays) and we are hot, sweaty, and looking beautiful. I'm especially in love with my hot pink work out pants. They are the bomb! Don't we look super strong?!

You Won't Believe This

Okay, so I was making dinner for the sister missionaries last night and into the kitchen walks Ethan without pants or a diaper on. He came in and said "Potty" so I turned and ran him to the bathroom. Meanwhile, I had chicken about to burn on the stove and roasted pears ready to come out of the oven and my child was diaperless in the bathroom. What's a mother to do? So I sat him on the potty, ran to the kitchen to take out the pears, turn off the chicken, and grab a diaper from Ethan's room. By the time I got back Ethan had gone potty in the potty!!! I couldn't believe my eyes! He didn't even get it on the floor! So we did the celebration dance and he got lots of praise and I grabbed him his special "potty" treats (a few M&M's). Of course this had to happen 2 minutes before everyone came for dinner, but we somehow managed to get almost everything done before they got here. I was stunned that he could even hold it long enough to run to the bathroom! What am I going to do with this kid?

Exercise Boot Camp Week 1...continued

Yesterday I did all my homework and worked out for over 45 minutes. Go me! I am super sore everywhere and I can feel it when I sit, when I stand, when I lift Ethan, anytime. My 4:45 wake up call was kind of hard this morning. I got up, ate, and was out the door jamming to some great IPod tunes. They worked us out pretty good today. We warmed up around the track and stretched out and then it was down to business. We did frog jumps and ran the football field. Then they did our baseline of how many sit ups we could do in a full minute and that meant flat on the ground then coming up so your elbow touch your knees. I could only do 28, I was dying by 45 seconds. Then we did as many push ups as we could in 1 minutes. I did 30 modified (on my knees) push ups. Again, dying by 45 seconds. Then we did a quick lap around the track to get our time. After that we broke up into our stations and we had 12 stations for 2 minutes today: suicides, jump rope, squats, walking lunges, shoulder press, chest press, right arm jab, left arm jab, cone hops, medicine ball lifts, tricep dips, and tire run. After that we had to sprint the width of the football field and then come back to start abs. At this point I had drank my entire 30 oz water bottle, I was sweating profusely, and I felt like a big blob of Jell-o. We did our abs, finished our stretching, and were off for the day to begin. My arms were crazy sore and I could barely even shampoo my hair when I got home. The funny thing is that even though I hurt really bad and I worked really hard, I've got a lot more energy to do things. Don't get me wrong, I am tired, but I'm not lethargic. Does that make sense? My body feels tired, but I'm more alert. Ethan's friend came over to play for the morning so his mom could have some fun by herself and the boys had lots of fun. Now E's taking a nap and I'm getting things together for dinner. I have the sister missionaries coming over for dinner tonight. We're having grilled chicken with a roasted pear and blue cheese salad. Very yummy and nice and healthy (we're going light on the blue cheese). Oh and by the way, Saturday is "Bring a Friend to Boot camp" day so I'm extending an invitation to all that are interested in joining me for some boot camp fun.

My Book is Here!!!

The UPS man just dropped off my blog book today! That was fast! I finished up the book over Labor Day weekend and it's already here! I am really impressed by the quality of the book. It's pretty much like one of those nice "coffee table" books that you pick up at Barnes and Noble. The pictures turned out great and are very clear and the print/fonts look good too. I never thought that I would ever be able to have a hard copy of my whole blog. I used to print off the text each month and put it in sheet protectors and stash it away in a scrapbook. Just in case for some horrible reason my blogger would crash and my blog would be lost forever. Now I have all my pictures and text bound in a beautiful book for everyone to check it out. The book contains March 2006-August 2007 so it ended up being a little under 200 pages. Not too much, but just enough I think. I plan on slurping my blog every year now. I just have to say I'm very impressed and very excited! Here are some pictures of it, sorry they don't even do it justice.

First Day of Boot Camp

So it's 8:00 and I've already showered, had breakfast, got Ethan ready, and picked up my house. I don't think that has happened since I've had a baby! Wow! I owe it all to the fact that I woke up at 4:45 this morning to go to boot camp. I ate a banana with a little bit of peanut butter first thing and got ready. I left around 5:15 when it was still really dark outside (It took me back to those days that I worked night shift in L&D). It was really nice a cool outside due to all the rain we got yesterday so it was perfect weather to workout. I could see how it would be really really bad if it was hot and muggy. When I got there they had us walk a lap around the track and then jog a lap. Once everyone got there we all stretched out and then started our station workout. There were 10 stations that had different sorts of exercises like suicides, squats, lunges, shoulder press, triceps, quick step kick box jab right arm, quick step kick box jab left arm, tire run, mountain climbers/push ups, inclined squats. We broke up into groups of 3 and we all worked out at each station for a full 2 minutes. My workout partner made sure I was doing them properly and she said it best, "are there flames coming out of my triceps? Because they are en fuego!!!" Some of those stations were really hard to do for a full 2 minutes. I thought I was going to die. Then we did an Indian run where we broke up into 4 groups and formed 4 lines. Then we ran around the track in line and passed a ring from the front to the back. Then the person in the back had to sprint to the front and start it over again. We did this for a full lap. Next we worked on abs. We did it with a partner where you lay down and they throw your legs down and you have to lift them back up. After we did a medicine ball pass in a circle with the full group and it was super hard! To end it all we stretched and recovered and cleaned up our stations. We had a few people throw up, but luckily I was not one of them. I actually felt pretty good. By the time I drove out of the parking lot my arms felt like Jell-o and I had a hard time just turning the steering wheel. I know I will be sore tomorrow, but I'll just have to get back out there and do my own workout for homework. I think I'm going to take Ethan out in the jogger. I've got another I-tunes card so I'm thinking of downloading some good workout songs. Do you guys have any suggestions?

Exercise Bootcamp Begins!

So there's a girl in my ward that teaches at an exercise bootcamp and her sister heads up the whole bootcamp organization. Well, I found out they were starting a new session in September so I decided to sign up. It's at 5:15 am - 6:15 am every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday for 5 weeks (early, I know!!!). It's perfect timing since Ry's jobs aren't out of town right now so he'll be home in the mornings in case Ethan needs him. E usually doesn't wake up until 7 so it shouldn't be a big deal and I may even be able to get ready by myself in the morning before Ethan wakes up!

Anyway...Saturday we had our inital bootcamp meeting. We started out getting weighed, measured, and then hooked up to electrodes for body fat and I have to say I was worse than I thought. Yikes! I definitely have my work cut out for me. After we all got measured we met our coaches and went over some info. They want us to eat 200 calories 1/2-1 hour before camp so that means that I need to wake up around 4:15-4:45 just so I can eat for bootcamp!!! We need to workout 2-3 times per week for at least 30-45 minutes in addition to our bootcamp workouts. Since nutrition goes hand in hand with exercise, we have a registered dietician that works with us during the camp. We have a speical calorie counter website that we document all our meals and turn in our food and exercise journal every Monday. We also have "bootcamp buddies" that we help each other stay motivated and be sure we're both doing the program. Well, if either of us don't turn in our homework then we both have to run laps after camp. Our coaches basically told us that it's pretty normal to throw up after workouts the first week since our bodies aren't used to working out that hard. Just about that time I was thinking, "What have I signed up for?!" I'm hoping I won't die and that I'll at least be able to function during the day. We'll see. At least there are a few other girls in my ward that will be suffering with me. Our first workout starts on Tuesday so I'm going to enjoy my last two days of lazy, unsore moments. Wish me luck!

Baby Swim Lessons to the Extreme!

My Aunt Leslie sent me an e-mail with this link last night. It's about teaching your infant or toddler to survive if they ever fell into a pool or any other "aquatic environment." At first I was totally anxious watching the baby in the pool, but what if that ever happened to Ethan? Oh my goodness! I wish he knew how to do that. Go check out the opening video and tell me what you think.

New Blog on the Sidebar

Here's a new website that is fun to visit. Check it out, it's called Mod Mom.

Recipe Box Tip

Here is my cooking tip for the day. Do you have a recipe box? Is it jammed with random papers and recipe cards, disorganized, and just annoying to look through? My recipe box was like that and so was my mom's. My mom had over 25 years of recipes that she collected. Her box was bursting at the seams with recipes and it took forever to find what you were looking for. Her recipe box was so full that it spilled over into her main cookbook. She had random recipe cards and newspaper clippings stuck inside her book. One day I decided to do something about it and came up with this great idea. I started going through our boxes with my mom and we organized them by category and then we threw out anything that wasn't good or something we wouldn't even make. Then I went through and typed up every card, paper, napkin, or clipping that had a recipe on it. So after about a month of typing everyday I organized everything into sections and then printed off 2 copies, one for me and one for my mom. I used the clear sheet protectors to put the pages in so we could easily add more pages and change around the order. Plus, it makes it more conducive for cooking since you can wipe your pages off.
I put everything in a 3 ring binder with pockets and wrapped it up for her birthday last year. My mom still has her box with all the original recipes in her cookbook cupboard, but I made a more user friendly version of all our favorite recipes which ended up being a little over 100 pages!!! Of course I benefited from all this since I got a copy too and I use it all the time. I also love the fact that my cookbook is also on my computer so when a friend needs a recipe I can just copy and paste it into an e-mail and send it out. I also get a lot of recipes from the Internet so I can just print it off and add it to my book or just paste it to a new document and add any other new recipes that I have. Anyway...I hope this tip helps and go out there and get that box organized!!!

Skillet Lasagna Recipe

This recipe is for Lori since she's been wanting good recipes with cheap and simple ingredients so here it is. Of course it is from America's Test Kitchen website so you know it's good. I especially love to use fresh basil from my garden! I made it one night with Kaitlyn when our husbands weren't home and I think she'll vouch for me that it's a good recipe.

Skillet Lasagna
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
Water enough to make four cups combined with tomatoes
1 TBLS olive oil
1 medium onion minced
Table salt
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 pound ground beef (I like Italian sausage)
10 curly edged lasagna noodles, broken into 2 inch lengths
1 can tomato sauce
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus 2 additional TBLS
Ground black pepper
1 c. ricotta cheese
3 TBL chopped fresh basil

1. Pour tomatoes with their juices into 1 quart liquid measuring cup. Add water until mixture measures 1 quart
2. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and 1/2 tsp salt and cook until onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add ground meat and cook, breaking apart meat, until no longer pink, about 4 minutes
3. Scatter pasta over meat but do not stir. Pour diced tomatoes with juices and tomato sauce over pasta. Cover and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until past is tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Remove skillet from heat and stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Dot with heaping TBLS ricotta, cover and let stand off heat for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with basil and remaining 2 TBLS Parmesan. Serve.

The first time you make this it may take you a little over 45 minutes to do it all, but I've got it down to a science now and I can make it in about 30. This is also a great meal for leftovers.

Look What I Can Do!!!

Here is a video clip of Ethan doing his morning flashcards. Right now we're learning to identify all sorts of things. Whenever he sees something he always wants to know what it is, what noise it makes, and what you call it. Then whenever he sees that thing again he'll repeat what he learns. It's so funny. I'll be in the store and not even notice something and then all of a sudden he'll start naming things and pointing or making noises. It is so cute! I picked up some flashcards that teach kids their letters since they have great pictures of simple things that Ethan can learn.

He has loved all the praise and "choo choo" stickers that he gets when he's finished. Check out the video of "flashcard time." He was making a cheesy face in front of the camera since he thought I was taking his picture. My favorite thing he does is when we get to the frog picture and he does his "ribbet" sound. So funny! Anyway...I am so proud of Ethan these days. He has really been learning a lot and you can tell that he truly pays attention to everything around him even if I don't know it. He's so smart and so sweet. I love my little Ethan! I can't even believe he will be 2 soon!

Labor Day Weekend

Sorry that this post is a little late. With all the blog slurping, it's been hard to do other stuff on the computer. So here's what we did this weekend... Ry's parents invited the whole family over to have a "Night of Alaska" since they just got back from there last week. All the kids swam and the guys had swim contests. Ethan has been loving his floaties lately. He can totally swim around the whole pool without anyone holding him (he has someone with him in the pool at all times though). He does so well and has even started putting his face in the water to blow bubbles. Way to go Ethan!


After all the swimming festivities, we all got to eat Alaskan Halibut with all the fixings. Yummy! And Grandma made salmon shaped sugar cookies for all the kids to decorate. Papa helped Ethan decorate his all fancy and then he shoved it all in his mouth and asked for more.
While the kids watched a movie about Alaska, I got to check out Suzy's digital scrap booking stuff. Oh my gosh how cute!!! Maybe someday, maybe someday.

Monday we all went down to my parents for the holiday. My mom and I hit the Labor Day sales with Ethan while the guys watched football. I found some super cute shoes for the Fall and I am so excited to wear them! We all met up later at Toys-r-us to let Ethan wander the store. I wanted to see what kinds of things interested him so I could get some birthday ideas. I loved to see what he picked. First he hung around the trains and made all the train noises. Then he just wandered around a few of the shelves randomly pushing buttons to see what stuff did. Then when he headed down the boy aisles he immediately fell in love with all the Home Depot pretend play stuff. There was a whole workbench that he really liked, a chain saw, and a drill. Help us all! Last of all and his most favorite was a trike. He sort of understood the pedals, but it had an attachment that let you push AND steer him. Some of the trikes there only let you push, not steer. I can just picture him cruising around the neighborhood on a little red trike. How cute would that be! Anyway...after the toy store we had a big cookout and then Ethan donned the floaties once again to swim in the pool. I am so surprised how much the little guy gets around the pool. He seriously swam the whole pool length by himself and then propelled his little body back to me. It's incredible. Good thing it tires him out for a great nap, right?! Yeah, in the car...booo. He did got to bed early. Thank goodness.

And Baby Makes 3 is on the Press!

I finished everything up on my blog book and sent it to the printers to finish it up. I am so excited! I ended up with a little over 200 pages and it cost me $50! Wow! I never thought I could scrapbook for that cheap! I have no idea how long it actually takes to print the whole thing and be sent to me, but I will be anxiously waiting for it. I'll let you guys how it all turns out.

Slurping and Photography

Okay so I have basically finished my book now! It's taken up some of my weekend, but nothing too overwhelming. It is so amazing to me that I could basically scrapbook Ethan's first 2 years in 2 days. Yeah!!! My Aunt Suzy was showing me some pretty sweet digital scrap booking stuff yesterday so maybe I'll dabble in that too sometime. What too fun! I think I'm going to order my book tomorrow once I finish my final little touches.

By the way...I can't believe I haven't posted this yet, but I'm adding a new link to my sidebar. It's my cousin Toni's photography website. She is way awesome at what she does and if you're in the area she'd love some business. I think we're going to try to do some head shots for my profile picture sometime soon so I don't continue to look like a geek on my blog. So check out Toni's site! You'll love it!

A Short Break

I'm just taking a quick break from my "slurping" to let you guys know how much I love it! I already have 150 pages done. Only 50 more to go!!! After that I need to do my cover, spell check, and do any little final touches that I want. I'm expecting that I'll be done by the time Labor Day weekend is over. I hope! I am so excited to see how this will all turn out.

SLURP!

Can anyone hear some slurping going on? I can! Just so you know I'm going to be taking a slight break from blogging so I can slurp my blog i.e. get it ready to be published. Right now I'm looking at 300 pages of major editing to do so it's going to take me quite awhile, but it's so worth it. Now I don't have to feel guilty about not being the "scrapbooker" type. I can have my own piece of pride and joy to make up and print out. Yeah! Anyway...if you'd like to do some slurping of your own go to Blurb and download some free software and start today! This is seriously going to take me forever! let me know what you think.

Done!

I just finished New Moon last night so now I'm waiting for Eclipse from the library. I'm second on the list for it so meanwhile I think I may start The Secret Life of Bees while I wait. We'll see if I can even get started since I'm going nuts around here with YW stuff and a child that will not take his nap. Guess what I figured out...Ethan never slept in his crib yesterday for his nap. He climbed out of his crib and then slept on the floor. And you know he's done it again today. I think it's time to say good bye to the crib. It's pointless to keep putting him back in when he just wants out. I don't know how this bed thing will work, but we'll just have to see. He may be wandering aimlessly in his room for awhile, but he'll eventually figure out that the nice soft cushiony thing in the corner is where he needs to sleep.

Ethan Goes To School...not really, but we'll pretend

With all the kids going to school, I got the "school bug" and decided to start working with Ethan on some "school" type things. Thanks to some great tips from my friend Hilary, she suggested some great things to do with Ethan at his age. So I headed out to Target and Mardel to pick up some educational things. I picked up a coloring book and fat crayons, play doh with cookie cutters, fingerpaints, different types of flashcards, yarn and cereal, and all sorts of other fun things. So each morning I set aside some time to have "school time" with Ethan. We started on Monday and so far it has gone really well. He loves the activities and all the praise and attention. Monday we did flashcards, coloring, and reading time.


Tuesday was flashcards, fingerpaints, and fun snacks.


Today was a playday with lots of our friends. He tried to work on his sharing skills, but it's still a work in progress. Tomorrow I think we're going to go to the library and pick up some new books and go to storytime and then maybe we'll try a craft of some sort. If you have any great craft ideas for 2 year olds pass them my way.

Update on the Binky

Last night Ry got home around 6:45 so he took over while I did some much needed grocery shopping...alone. Yeah! I love going to the grocery store and I love going alone since I can take my time and really think about what I'm going to get. This time it was a pretty big trip since I was stocking up on things like potatoes, rice, water, milk, and freezer items. My cart was almost overflowing by the time I left and of course I ended up with one of those carts that automatically drives sideways when it's weighed down by anything. Geez! By the time I got home Ry had Ethan in bed and Ethan was kind of whining, but once the groceries were all put away, he was totally asleep. Now it's nap time and he cried a little bit in the beginning, but it's 1:30 and I don't hear a peep. Could it be true?! Yesterday, after I let him out of his room, he immediately asked for juice and I told him, "little boys that don't take their naps, don't get juice." He didn't ask for it again until Ryan got home and I told Ryan to tell him the same thing. He also asked to go out in our inflatable pool(that's a whole other blog entry) and I told him, "little boys that don't take their naps, don't go out in the pool." He seemed to understand. So the poor boy got water in his sippy cup and Legos to play with for the rest of the night. If he sleeps really well then we're going to have a pool party in the backyard. Yeah!

What's On My Menu?

I'd like to thank Amandafor her request about my weekly menu plan. I never knew if anyone would really want to hear me blog about what I cook for my family so now I think I'll blog about it every week. Thanks Amanda! Okay, so I'm big on making meals for my family, but there is a huge misconception that you have to cook every night in order to do that. Not the case my friends! I basically cook 3 times a week. That's it. I have gotten my family used to the idea that left overs can be good or I disguise the left overs...evil laugh. Basically since I have a family of 2 adults and a small child, I make a recipe that is enough for 4-5 adults. That way I have enough for left overs the next day and I'm not wondering what we're having. I cook on Sundays (big Sunday meal), Tuesdays, and Thursdays. That way I don't have to cook on Monday which is my big cleaning day, Wednesday which is Young Women's, or Friday/Saturday (my nights off). It works out great. Here's an example of what I like to do. I'll make a big roast on Sunday with all the trimmings. Then for leftovers I'll shred the meat and do tacos, BBQ sandwiches, or just plain roast again. Depends on what people want. Another quick tip is to buy a bunch of fresh rotisserie chickens, pick all the meat off, put it in freezer bags and put it in the freezer for all sorts of meals like enchiladas, tacos, any soups that call for cooked chicken, chicken salad, etc. It makes things really quick and easy. Anyway...for this week we are having:
Tuesday: Pork tenderloin with roasted red potatoes and green beans
Wednesday: shredded pork tacos with Spanish rice
Thursday: Oven BBQ Chicken with twice baked potatoes and corn
Friday: shredded BBQ chicken sandwiches
Saturday: night off
Sunday: Pasta Bolognese (fancy word for a nice meat sauce) with garlic bread and salad
Well, I hope this helps with some ideas of things to make. If you'd like any of my recipes feel free to request any.

I do have to recommend my favorite cookbook of all time. !America's Test Kitchen!!! It is the best ever! You can seriously never go wrong when you make ANYTHING out of there. So go buy it! Your husband and children will thank you. This is the exact one that I have right now and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! If I tell Ry that I made something out of it then he automatically drools. My Chicken with Bacon, Rosemary, and Lemon recipe came out of there. The best!

P.S.

It is now 4:00 and he never went to sleep.

What Have I Done?

So Ethan has been off his binkies during the day for a long time, but he's always had it at nap time and bedtime. I've always justified not taking it away...oh, I can't because we're about to go Florida, he's sick, he's teething, we're leaving him to go to Mexico, he's sick, he's teething...etc. Well, I've justified enough and I decided today would be the end of binkies for good. Plus, it's more about whether or not I can handle it than it is with him. I know eventually he'll be fine it just takes a lot of patience on my part in the beginning. Well, I took his 2 binkies and cut of the ends so I wouldn't be tempted to give in. I handed him his binky and all he did was walk around saying, "Uh oh, broken." It didn't really bother him, but now it's nap time and he hasn't gone to sleep yet. I usually put him down around 1 and now it's 2:40 and he's still in his room awake. He has been climbing out of his crib for about 2 1/2 weeks now so I've got that going on too. He's mad since he doesn't have his binky so he'll throw out all his blankets and his pillow, climb out, and then knock on the door and whine to let him out. I just keep scooping him up and putting him back in his crib and telling him in my authoritative voice to stay in bed and go to sleep. Mondays are always my cleaning day so I've been cleaning away and going to his room to put in back in his crib for the past hour and a half. Oh the joy! I have prepared for the worst, but it really doesn't help much. He is super stubborn and won't give it up. What have I done?

Daddio 100

My dad partcipated in the Witchita Falls Hotter N' Hell Hundred (HHH) mile bike race this weekend. HHH is one of the oldest and largest cycling events in the nation. Over 11,000 cyclists from around the globe partcipated this year and one of those lucky ones was my dad. He's always loved biking and being fit, but a few months back he invested in a nice bike with all the trimmings like clip in shoes and such. One of the guys in his ward introduced him to the idea of trying out HHH so he figured he'd try. The race started at 7:00 am, but his particular race block started a little later, but he completed the entire race in about 8 hours. The main goal that he had was to make it to Hell's gate by 12:30 (the 60 mile mark)because if you didn't then they'd close off the route. Well, he didn't call my mom until he got to the 85 mile mark and told her to come meet him at the finish line at around 3:15. He made it! The entire race! After many shots of pickle juice (ewww!), gatorade and fruit. He started cramping up pretty bad around the 80 mile mark so the last half of the race was pretty brutal, but he's feeling pretty good today so no harm done. He even said he'd love to do it again sometime. He's hoping to do it with my brother when he gets home from his mission. I guess Randall should do a few extra laps on his bike while he's out tracting. Anyway...here are some pictures of my dad's big day! I sent my mom with a mission to being my blog correspondant and get some good bloggable material. Maybe I'll have her as a guest blogger sometime.

Here's my dad at the starting line.

Riding along on the race route


After the race, Way to go!!!

Lucha Libre!!!

While Ryan and I were in Cancun we picked up a Luchador mask for our little cousins since they love Nacho Libre so much. I guess it ended up being a huge hit with the boys. They love to put on the mask and then jump off the stairs doing Nacho moves like "Eagle powers" and such. Last weekend we had Lucha Libre going on in the Elmer home. Well, Ethan put on the mask and started jumping off the stairs, it looked like so much fun that Daddy did it too. I swear the whole time this was going on I was laughing so hard that I started crying. Classic fun! I told Toni that I will be putting these pictures on Ethan's wedding video someday

Baby-sitting 101

Thursday night I had my little cousin and 2 of her friends (they're all 11 years old, so cute!) come over to my house for a little baby-sitting course. I got a little video from the library and prepared a folder of information all about baby-sitting. We went over safety, baby-sitting manners, basic care, first aid & CPR, caring through the ages, and age appropriate activities. I think overall the girls enjoyed it, although they were a little freaked out by the first aid stuff. The thought of children choking kind of scared them. They had lots of great questions and you could tell the wheels were just turning in their heads. We went over how to properly diaper a young child, but unfortunately Ethan wasn't around so I used the only baby doll we had. The baby was super small and the diapers were huge so we basically diapered the entire baby. The girls did a great job! FYI the picture was taken after Ethan had taken the baby's diaper off and then tried to put it back on again. That's why it looks so weird. So to all you Elmers out there...you will greatly benefit from this superb baby-sitting course. We only train the best!

Who Loves a Good Book and a Good Contest?

I do! Just go to Welcome to My World of Dreams and check out her contest. You'll win a big tote full of books! Yeah!

Personal Progress Pep Rally

Wednesday night I was in charge of a Personal Progress Pep Rally to get the girls "pumped up" for Personal Progress. It turned out to be a great success and I think the girls know that Sister Elmer will do just about anything to get them excited for Personal Progress. So this is what went on. I had all the leaders dress up in some sort of sports attire since this was a pep rally. All the leaders were my cheerleaders and we turned on some jock jams and had them come running out being all crazy and funny. Last but not least they announced "Coach Elmer" and I came running in doing the "running man." My husband just rolled his eyes when he heard that part. So I did a little schpiel about being their coach for Personal Progress. It's my job to motivate, give them "plays," cheer them on, etc. Here is a picture to represent my wonderful coaching skills. I have no idea who she is, but she looked like she had good coaching abilities.


They are their own individual teams and their parents are their teammates. So we kind of went on that kind of theme for awhile. Then I taught them about how Personal Progress helped me with the "game of life." I took a few of my projects that I did as a young woman and then told them how it helped me later in life. I gave some "plays" on how to accomplish personal progress. Afterwards I had them each talk about a project/experience that they accomplished and how it helped them in their life. I threw out little foam balls as a handout so they could "catch the vision" of Personal Progress. Well, the girls really liked the pep rally and all the leaders helped ham it up so it was really fun. I actually really like working on Personal Progress with the girls since the program is way different than when I went through Young Women's. Plus all the goals help me be better. You just can't lose! And the leaders don't have to do all the goals to get their recognition so it's a little bit easier to accomplish.

Guess Who Went Pee Pee in the Potty???!!!!

ETHAN!!!! I can't even believe it! Ethan has been pulling at his diaper a lot lately and he'll undress himself all the time. Whenever he does that I always stick him on the potty to see if he's doing it for a reason. And you know what? He went potty!!! I am so proud! Afterward he got a few M&M's in a cup and lots and lots of praise. It might not happen again for awhile, but as long as he's interested...I'll take it!

Eventful!

First off I have to say that I read all the blogs that I subscribe to in the mornings. It's kind of like reading the morning paper, but better since it's all about my friends or my interests interests. I love it! Anyway...on to my post about yesterday...

Yesterday was a packed day filled with lots of fun! My husband is a project manager for the construction of On the Border Mexican Restaurants right now. Along with PM position comes a few fun benefits like free food. One of the restaurants had their opening day yesterday and we got a few tickets to come in and let their workers practice on us. I invited one of my lovely friends and she even drove the 50 minute drive with her 2 kids to go with me, thank you! So everyone at the table got a different menu and you have to order off the menu you get, that way they can practice every dish back in the kitchen. I ended up with the Soup and Salad menu so I got the steak ensalada. Pretty yummy! The kids got kids meals and free sundaes and we got chocolate empanadas...soooooo good! The service was great since they're learning, it felt like we had 50 million people serving us, but that's alright with me. Plus, everything is free so you can't go wrong.

After lunch we drove over to my parent's house since it was sort of on the way home and we went swimming. The kids totally missed their naps, but they had fun doing it. We swam, ate popsicles, played with Nanny, and watched a movie. All of us didn't end up getting home until 5:30. Needless to say I was pooped. But the day wasn't over yet...

I headed over to the church for one of those small group enrichment nights. They had one of the girls in our ward that teaches cake decorating at Hobby Lobby come teach us how to decorate cupcakes. It was very informative since I brought all the tips that I had and she taught me how to actually use them properly. I think some of my cupcakes turned out pretty cute. I just wished her classes weren't on Wednesday nights so I could go!!!

Tonight is my big personal progress motivational pep rally so I'm getting ready for that today. Wish me luck!

I'm a Winner!

I just won a gift basket from Stella Maternity on the website. Go check out their websites for great ideas and giveaway! Thank you Stella Maternity and Opionated Parent!!! P.S. I'm not pregnant

Chicken with Bacon, Roseomary, and Lemon

Here is the recipe to drool over!

Ingredients:

5 slices of bacon chopped
4 Chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
1 TBL butter
salt and pepper
4 cloves of garlic thinnly sliced
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 TBL fresh rosemary chopped (for my Texas girls if you need any, come get some from my garden)
2 TBL fresh lemon juice
1 cup low sodium chicken broth

Okay, simply ingredients not simply directions.
-Place the bacon in a skillet and cook over medium heat until crispy. Place bacon on a paper towel lined pan. Pour off excess fat, but reserve 2 TBL of bacon fat in the pan.
-Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, salt and pepper both sides. Dredge chicken in the flour and shake off the excess.
-Add the butter to the pan with the bacon fat, when the fomaing subsides place chicken in the pan. The chicken will cook 3-4 minutes per side. When the chicken is done place it on a plate covered with foil.
-Add the garlic, rosemary, and red pepper flakes to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes or until the garlic is brown and a little crispy.
-Add the lemon juice and chicken broth to the pan and boil for about 4 minutes, until it's glossy.
-Return the chicken and bacon to pan and cook for another 2 minutes

This chicken is so flavorful and so yummy. I got this recipe from the America's Test Kitchen, best of 2007 cookbook so g out and get it if you enjoy this recipe. I swear every recipe in there is delicious.

New Book

The library notified me I had a little surprise waiting for me on the hold shelf...New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. It's the second book in her 3 book series and I'm already on page 130. It should be a good one! I have a lot going on this week so it may take me awhile to read it, but I'll try. Tomorrow I have my Monday house cleaning rituals and then I have to chain myself to a copy machine for the rest of the day. I'm trying to make these cute little personal progress folders for all the girls and it requires A LOT of copies. Wish me luck!

P.S. My parents came over today for dinner since they didn't have their usual 12:30 church time because of stake conference. Well, Ethan's usual nap time is at 1, but we let him stay up to see "Nanny" and "Papa." Well, around 2:30 we tried to get him in bed, but that didn't really go well. He crawled out of his crib every time and I swear each of us put him back in at least 5 times. I just let him stay in his room until 4 and then we let him out. Eventually he fell asleep on me at 6:30 which hasn't happened since he was a very little baby. How crazy! Anyway...he went to bed at 6:30 so hopefully I won't be getting a 5:00 wake up call. AHHHH! But at least we had some very very scrumptious food. I swear this chicken recipe that I have is the absolute bomb! No joke! It's called Chicken with Bacon, Rosemary, and Lemon. Can you get any better than that? Oh and Ethan had way too much fun with Nanny and Papa. I'm sure that's exactly why he didn't want to go to sleep.

Validation Empowerment

In my opinion there is just something empowering about feeling validated. I don't know what it is. But I have felt that a lot lately. I was talking with my good friend and we found out that we have very similar feelings about all sorts of things. And you know what?! It feels so nice! Sometimes I feel like only I feel a certain way about things or that I notice a certain thing about life, but I feel like I'm the only one that thinks that way. I feel like maybe I'm crazy for thinking about it that way, but when you find out that someone has that same exact opinion...it's almost liberating. It's great to find someone that shares the same outlook on life, but can also be themselves and share their other opinions. Maybe I'm not making any sense, but I'm sure someone out there understands. So anyway...I know she'll read this anyway, but I want to tell her thanks for being such a great friend.

A Blog-abration!

This looked like fun and she has some cute stuff on her website so check this out.

Lack of Updates

I haven't really had any blog "material" this week. We haven't been doing too much since Ethan has been under the weather with his "poopy day" and then he had a fever of 101 and now he's got a head cold and pretty bad cough. Where the heck did all this come from? My guess is nursery, but who knows. I've just been treating his symptoms since a doctor would just tell me..."it's just a virus, let it pass." He seems to be a little better, but every day is different.

We've also been pet sitting for my parents so Ethan and I have been driving down to my parents' house and spending the day down there so we can take care of the cat. That's about all that we've been doing.

I've been working really hard on all the things that are coming up in Young Womens. Man, it feels like once you get done with one thing on Wednesday, you have to turn around and plan your next thing for Sunday. This is what's on the docket for what I'm in charge of so let me know if you guys have any ideas:
Wednesday Aug 22- Personal Progress Motivational "pep rally"
Wednesday Aug 29-Personal Progress activity- has to be planned around the value "Knowledge"
Sunday Sept 2- Chastity Lesson
Sunday Sept 9-Personal Progress spotlight devotional on Faith
Wednesday Sept 26- get ready for Young Women in Excellence
****Wednesday Oct 3- YWIE*** (this is the big one!!!)
I'm also trying to get all the girls' Personal Progress records updated and get them focused on accomplishing some goals. And I'm trying to get my "secretarial" stuff all organized as well. It's been quite busy upfront since they have been without a secretary for months so it's hard playing catch up.

My parents just got back into town last night so I think my mom will be coming up to see us soon and give Mr. Ethan a much needed haircut. His hair is like a big poof on his head. His hair isn't curly, but it definitely doesn't stay down...ever. It doesn't matter how much gel or mousse I put on it, it's got a mind of it's own. Ethan has also learned how to take pictures with his own little camera so he walks around the house with it and says "cheese" all the time. Here's a picture that I took of him while I was teaching him how to take a picture. He's so cute.

Oh and I have been caught up in the best book ever...Twilight...you have to read it. I just started yesterday and I'm already on pg 350. Go check it out!

Great Lip Gloss

I got an e-mail from a friend that told me about E.L.F. cosmetics and that everything is a dollar! I guess Oprah did a little something on her show about it too so I went over to check it out. I ended up purchasing a few things. I got 2 eye shadows, 1 eyeliner, 1 tinted moisturizer, and 2 lipglosses. Everything ended up being $11 with shipping (about 2 bucks a piece). Well, my little package came yesterday and I tried out one of the lipglosses. Oh my goodness! I am in love! It's the plumping lip glaze and it's "sugar peppermint" flavor. I don't know what it is, but I love tingly, minty lipglosses. So go check it out and get some good deals. I'll let you know how I feel about the other stuff I got.

One Shirt Wonder

I have gotten really tired of wearing a million shirts all at once these days. Don't you hate how you buy a shirt, but you have to put a "Shades" shirt underneath it because it's either too low, too short, doesn't cover your arms, or it's see through. I swear just about every shirt has to have a "Shades" shirt with it. I am fed up! It is way too hot here in Texas for me to be wearing 3 layers! I have now been on the lookout for what I call "One Shirt Wonders." These shirts are hard to come by, but it helps with at least shedding one layer. Check out some of my finds Now I know the pictures don't do them justice, but it will have to do. All of them came from Macy's. The red and white polka dot and the peachy printed were under under $10 and the blue one was $17. Try that out! I love wearing them since it's just one shirt and it makes it really comfortable and not so hot. Let me know if you find any cute one shirt wonders.

New Skills

Ry took this picture of Ethan after I put one of my long shirts on him. It looked so much like a dress and Ry wasn't too pleased about it, but he took a picture anyway. He's so cute! Anyway...On top of learning how to undress himself and de-diaper, Ethan has accumulated a few other new skills to top the charts. First off he has conquered our door knobs. E has been able to open the easy handle kind since he could walk, but now he's able to open the round knobs. He can get into any room he wants now so I've invested in a few knob covers and we'll see how long those will last. Maybe a few months...I hope. The big skill Ethan now can do is climb out of his crib! I have to admit I'm surprised it wasn't sooner, but now that it's happened a few times I can't believe it. Ry and I will have to start looking for a big boy bed now and get him all switched over. I think it will be nice to be able to put the crib away for awhile and get him all transitioned into a big boy bed. We'll see how it goes. E has also cut 2 new teeth. Now we just have to get through the 2 year molars and then we're in the clear. I'm scared to know what's next on the list of firsts. As long as it's not stitches, broken bones, or a trip to the E.R. then I think it'll be okay.

Poopy Day

For those of you who do not like to read about poopy entries then please stop reading now. But for all you moms out there...you'll understand. So Ethan has been pulling down his pants and taking off his diaper and then he'll poop. I was talking to my mom about this and she suggested just investing in a potty chair since I'll eventually have to get one anyway and see how he does. Well, I bought the potty chair and now Ethan has super bad diarrhea. I swear I have changed him at least 10 times yesterday and and just about that much today and it's only 1:30. His poor little bum is red and I keep putting a ton of diaper cream on it. For now the potty chair is hanging out in our bathroom and we'll give it a shot once he feels better. I was really expecting to start potty training in about 8 months, but if he's doing stuff like taking off his diaper and pooping on my floor then something has to change. Either he goes on the potty or I'm duct taping his diapers.

I've Been Tagged...Finally!

I swear everyone and Joe's dog has been tagged except me, for whatever reason. Finally my friend Kaitlyn did the honors so here we go:

Jobs I've had:

-Nanny-every summer for all 4 years of high school

-LPN (license practical nurse) at a nursing home while I finished school

-RN- Labor and Delivery

-Mom




Movies I never get sick of:

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

10 Things I Hate About You

Napoleon Dynamite

-Meet the Parents


Places I've called home:

West Lafayette, Indiana

Newark, Ohio

Toledo, Ohio

Hazelton, Pennsylvania

Jackson, Tennessee

Anderson, South Carolina

Toledo, Ohio...again

Provo, UT

Santa Clara, California

Dallas, TX

...that was a lot

Favorite TV shows:

Top Chef

So You Think You Can Dance

Birth Day

Most Food Network Shows


Vacation Spots:

-Cancun

-Bahamas

Australia


Fav food:

-Thai Food

-P.F. Chang's Mongolian Beef

-really tasty soups



Favorite Websites:

-Facebook

-Google

-Bloglines

-All my blogs that I read


Places I'd rather be:

-In bed sleeping
-Utah eating some Cafe Rio and shopping
-Exploring a new country
-Visiting my old stomping ground in P-burg, Ohio


Now I get to pick a few other friends to "tag". Have fun, and I can't wait to read everyone's answers. Sorry if you've already been tagged.

-Hilary
-Carly
-Liz D.
-Barbie
-Molly
-Amanda

Wedding Day

I got back from the wedding late last night so I didn't have time to post. As I said before, I went with my dad since my mom is out of town. The wedding was for his analystMelissa and you can read all about it on their site. It was held at Perkins chapel at SMU campus in Dallas. The picture above is not the chapel, but a really pretty building on campus. The chapel was very beautiful, but I have to say my favorite part was the organist guy. He was decked out in these white friar type robes and he really got into his playing. He could just go on and on playing all this prelude and not even look at his music, he was just looking around the chapel at all the people coming in. I swear he was sneaking in modern music here and there. I swear. I so wanted a picture with him, but I couldn't get enough guts to ask him, it would have been hilarious. Anyway...after the ceremony they had the reception at the Belo mansion in downtown Dallas. It was beautiful! As we were waiting to be seated for dinner they had all these appetizers going around and I tried the most awesome thing ever, it was an artichoke wrapped in some sort of cheese and then it was breaded and fried. So bad for you, but it was heavenly! I totally have to figure out how to make those, a great party treat! The dinner was buffet style and they did the coolest thing. They had a potato bar where they would scoop mashed potatoes in a big martini glass and then put this great chicken on top and then you could choose the other toppings that you wanted. It was really cool. They also had a big salad buffet and then chefs cooking all sort of meat right in front of you and doing all sorts of flambe. The grooms cake was my favorite! It had a chocolate/peanut butter filling!!! Can you tell I was loving the food here?!

After cake the band started up and the band was great. I could have just stayed and listened to them all night. Quite a fun night, especially with my dad. It's always fun to be able to just spend time with him and let Ryan have "Dad" time too with Ethan

A Wedding

I don't know how I get to land all these fun excursions with my dad, but I'm not complaining. Some of you remember at Christmas time when my mom was recovering from her surgery and my dad has his big company Christmas party and I got to go as his date. Well, I ended up meeting one of his analysts and her fiancee at the party and got to know them. Well, now mom is out in Utah visiting family and his analyst is getting married today. So guess who gets to go as his date? ME! My dad was going to just go by himself, but his analyst was nice enough to tell him that I could come with him. I checked out the invitation and it was incredible! I'll take plenty of pictures of the event.

Crazy Giveaway

So I found this giveaway at 5 Minutes for Mom and decided it was worth a shot. I've been lucky already, maybe a little more luck could come my way. They are giving away a huge TV from Best Buy so check it out and give it a try. If you win then I get permission to come watch it sometime!

It Is Finished!

After 3 days of non stop Harry Potter reading, I am finished! My house has suffered greatly because of it, but I loved the book! I have always loved the Harry Potter series and each time I finish one, I want another one. I am so sad that the whole Harry Potter series is over, but at least I have the rest of the movies to look forward to. Today I am trying to put my house back together and finish up some things that I'm working on for Young Women's. And then tonight we're having a little Girl's Night get together so I made some famous "Saltine Cookies" that my friendCarissa always made for me all the time back in high school! Love them!

I'm a Winner!

While I was away on vacation I found out that I won two contests on some of my favorite blogs that I visit regularly. The first prize I won was an awesome t-shirt. It just came in the mail yesterday and I LOVE it! It's from Pro Mom Couture and they have tons of cute t-shrits to choose from. I e-mailed them a thank you note and they said that you can type in "vicki" in the promo box and get 20 or 25% off. So if you would like to order one there's a little incentive. The one that I got is the black one the Eagle on the front that says "All American Mom". The other thing that I won was some sunscreen gift set from Super Goop. It's great sunscreen for kids, especially those with sensitive skin. I'm usually the last one to win things, but I guess I had a lucky streak last week. FUN FUN FUN!

A Little YW Help

Ok so here is the beginning of me racking all of your brains for good ideas. I know you all have great ideas so please please send them my way. Basiclly here is what I need 2 things:
1. I'm giving a little 15-20 minute motivational spotlight for Personal Progress on the 3rd Wednesday this month. Basically they haven't had anyone in there keeping track of what was going on with PP and the girls haven't really had anyone getting them excited to do it. So my purpose on Wednesday is to let them know that we are getting refocused and starting the school year off with getting into PP. I need to get them excited and motivated but also get them to catch the vision of what PP is all about and why it's important. Plus if you have any ideas on some cute handouts to go along with the presentation...send those ideas my way too.
2. I'm in charge of the activity every 5th Wednesday which comes to about once a quarter. This month is Knowledge and I think we're going to focus on accomplishing something within that value. Some of the things "experiences" they can do is
-learn to conduct 2 of their favorite hymns and do it in class, FHE, church, or seminary
-look a gospel topic that interests them and write a 5 minute talk and give it in church, class, or FHE
-look for talents they possess and talents they would like to achieve and learn to do one of those talents
-learn a home arts skill
-find out about a career that interests them and then find someone that does that specific career and talk to them about what they do, schooling, service to society, etc.
-anything else that has to do with learning something new and implementing it in their life

So that's the kind of things that they're geared up for so what kind of fun and fufilling acitivity would be a good idea to do for about hour or 1 1/2 hours. Send me some really really good ideas, no pressure.

Vacation Day 7

Our very last day in paradise was a great one. We decided to just take it easy, sleep in, have a late breakfast, and spend the rest of the day doing whatever we wanted at the resort. I found a comfy chair and a sunny spot to lay out all day. Ryan went out on the catamaran for awhile, snorkeled, and swam. We went out for the buffet for dinner and then took some time in the evening to just sit on the beach and start gearing up for our return home. So as you can tell, we had a wonderful time on our trip, but I was so glad to be home. I have to be honest and say that I was really worried that I wouldn't miss Ethan at all and never want to come back. I had been having a hard time right before we left. I was feeling really burnt out, overtired, my attitude stunk, my patience was at an all time low, and I really wasn't loving motherhood. Plus, to think that I would eventually have another kid just scared me to death because if I felt this bad with just one, what would be like with 2?! So this trip really helped me realize that I am a good mom, I love Ethan to pieces and can't live without him, life is ever changing and I just need to enjoy the stage I'm in, and I need to not feel guilty about taking time for myself. This trip was a great movtivator and it changed my perspective for the better. I just hope this perspective change can help get me through the hard times of motherhood.

Vacation Day 6

Wednesday was shopping day! It was kind of an overcast day so it was perfect to be out and about in the markets and in the malls shopping. Martin's partner picked us up and drove us over to the flea market in down town Cancun. Martin has a contract to bring tourist to this specific store so they have great prices and they even gave us an extra discount since we were friends of Martin. They have great pieces of real silver jewelry which I picked up for myself, sombreros, maracas, and other typical Mexican souvenirs. Here is a picture of one of our friends that we found at the market.
After we did a lot of shopping there we dared to face the real market. You definitely have to barter and walk away at times, but it was really fun. My Spanish really came in handy and I was quite surprised how much I could speak and understand. I took 4 years of Spanish in high school and then I used it when I worked in L&D sometimes but it had been awhile. I picked up 2 really cute ceramic bowls, one big one for chips and one small one for salsa and we got some other fun stuff for our families. After we finished up at the market we headed to the Americanized mall over by our hotel. The prices were way too expensive and we could have found the same exact stuff so much cheaper in the states so we just had fun looking. I tried the whole trip to find Harry Potter since we left the day before it came out, but there was not a bookstore in all of Cancun. I had to wait a whole week! The other sad thing was that I finished all my beach reading that I brought within 3 days! I never thought I could read that fast, but I was basing my judgments on "mommy time" not "vacation time." But at last, I have Harry Potter and started on a few chapters. Anyway...back to vacation, after we went shopping we spent some time on the beach and had a great dinner. A fun day!

New Calling

Sorry to interrupt the great vacation journaling, but I just got a new calling today. It was quite a surprise since we've only been in the ward for 5 months and 3 of those months I have been the Relief Society pianist so I wasn't expecting a change quite yet. Well, they called me to be the new Young Womens secretary and personal progress leader. I have to say I am very excited to work in Young Womens. I've always loved it and the girls are so fun to be with. If you guys have any motivational ways to get girls to do personal progress then pass them my way. I can use all the help I can get.

Cancun Day 5

On Tuesday we went on a snorkeling tour at Porto Morelos called "Reef Exploration." They took us out on a boat and then a guide swam us around the corral reefs and showed us all sorts of underwater wildlife. We saw sea turtles, sting rays, all sorts of fish, lobters, eels, sea cucmbers, and lots of coral reefs. The guide would even pick up a few of the lobters or sea cucmbers and let us touch them. We did 2 dives and it took about 2 hours and then they brought us in our a traditional Mexican lunch. Unfortunately my camera was still not working while we were there so I couldn't get any good pictures, but once we got back it started working. We went out to the Japanese restaurant at our resort and had all sorts of sushi and teriakyi dishes. Yummy. Here are some pictures of the awesome sunset that we watched during dinner.

Cancun Day 4

Day 4 was Monday and it started really early. Martin picked us up around 7 and drove us 2 hours to Chichun Itza, the ruins of a great Mayan civilization. Martin arranged for us to have a tour in English by one of his favorite tour guides, Fernando. Chichun Itza was incredible!
Since we got there early it wasn't too hot and it wasn't too crowded. By the time we left the place was completely packed. Fernando was actually of Mayan decent and spoke their language. He was very knowledgeable about all the archeology facts and even thing that aren't even in the history books. He had all sorts of additional pictures for us to see of skeletal remains and artifacts that were found at Chichun Itza. This picture is a picture of Choc Mool and our tour guide, Fernando. This may be really gross, so if you get squeamish, don't read on. The Mayan people did human sacrifice and when they did, they would lay them on an alter and break their back. By breaking their back it would paralyze them, a so called form of anesthesia I guess. Then while the person was still alive, they would cut out the persons heart and place it on a plate on Choc Mool and offer it to the gods. Gross, I know. Back in high school my Spanish teacher had a little Choc Mool statue that she used to pass out treats on his special plate. Very funny, Senora Lyons!
This is a picture of a warrior with another man's head in his hand. It's after a game of Pok ta Pok, their ancient game of war. They have a huge arena that warriors would play with a 7 pound ball made from the sap of a rubber type tree. Then they'd try to heave it through a small hole up on a wall by only using their feet, elbows, chest, etc. Once someone makes a goal then someone is beheaded. They're not sure if it's the winning or losing captain, but one of them dies.

Well, after we got through the Pok ta Pok arena we were 3/4 of the way done and that is when the jungle rains came through. We were completely soaked and decided to finish up the tour in the rain since we were already wet. There is nothing I hate more than squishy wet tennis shoes and that's what I had the rest of the day. Unfortunately my camera got wet even though it was buried in my bag and it wasn't working for 2 days so I don't have any pictures for the next few days.

After Chichun Itza, Martin took us to a town that was founded by the Spanish Conquistadors. It looks like a typical Spanish Colonial town. We ate at an awesome Mexican restaurant there, oh my goodness! If only people could make meat like that in the states! I so wish I could have had a little cooking lesson.

We got home from our adventures around 5 in the evening and I totally wanted a nice warm shower and some clean clothes and a small nap. I ended up having to wake Ryan up at 7 so he could sleep through the night so we tried a new restaurant at the resort and called it a night.