Easter

For Easter we went up to Venice and Glenwood to spend time with the family. Brax had the Friday before and Monday after off from school so we took a long weekend. We headed up Thursday night before and stayed through Sunday. We had a lot of fun while we were there. Friday we went to the Venice Easter Egg Hunt put on by my sister-in-law, Katie. The kids had a great time. They hunted eggs at my parents and went to the school house for cupcakes and muffins. Katie graciously fed me lunch since I'd forgotten to bring mine. Two of my other sister-in-laws from the Anderson side also came and brought their kids. That night the Anderson clan went bowling. Errol and MaeBeth had given us a bowling party for Christmas last year and it was the first time we were all together. After bowling we had a pizza party. Everyone had fun. I learned how to bowl left handed due to the broken finger and played horribly, but okay for someone who normally bowls right handed. On Saturday it was cold and kind of rainy. I took Brax to the Glenwood Town Easter Egg Hunt. Not a lot of people went due to the weather. He ended up with a Wal-Mart bag full of candy. I left his Easter basket at home. We then went to Branden's grandma's house and had the Oldroyd family egg hunt and dinner. We were able to get an Anderson family photo with everyone except our one brother-in-law. That afternoon we went over to my parent's house and had lunch. We then went out shooting. Family members brought different pistols and Jeremy brought a 22. They shot at some of our eggs since we didn't make it to go roll them. My finger hurt really bad due to the cold weather so I pretty much sat in the truck and took pictures. It was a great weekend to spend with family and we had a lot of fun!

Busy Braxten

Brax had his field trip to Zion National Park this past week. I was able to drive up and bring some other parents with me. They didn't have enough room on the bus. It worked out pretty well though because the home lunches were left at the school so we were able to go and pick them up. Otherwise, they would've had some hungry kids. It was a short hike, but Brax was sure glad I went.

Braxten has now started baseball and had his first game this last week. He did really well at hitting. He struggles still with catching the ball, but he is working on it. We did get him a new mitt and cleats this year which he is excited about. For his first game, he played left field. I am so proud of how hard he works. He wants to make us proud, which he does.

Today was the kite festival in St. George. He did enough reading and was able to get a kite. He got a 3-D shark and can't wait to take it outside and let it fly. They had a bunch of other things to do there too. It was fun, but now we're both sunburned.

Branden has been busy too with scouting. He's had something almost every weekend. He just got back from North Star Training. He has Easter off and then the spring camporee. He has fun though.

Broken Finger

I started softball last Wednesday. I'd been so excited to play. I was playing 3rd base and had a good hit when I was up to bat. Things were going well. In the 2nd inning a lady hit the ball pretty hard and it was coming on the ground right at me. I was ready and had my mitt down. The next thing I knew it hit a rock and got me in the right hand because I had it there ready to cup the ball in my mitt and throw it. I bobbled it for a minute and threw it to 2nd base. I realized it really hurt so I took my mitt off and put my right hand into my left. I pulled my left hand up to put my mitt back on when I noticed my hand had blood all over it. I got off the field and noticed my fingernail was sitting at an angle and much lower than it should. Our friend, Brandon Buell was there watching his son on one field and wife on my team. He had an emergency kit and took care of me. He got it cleaned up the best he could and hauled me to Instacare. Abbie, his wife, got a hold of my Branden and asked him to meet me at Instacare. The doctor pulled the nail out of my cuticle and stitched up my fingernail bed. The nurse put gauze on it and sent me to go get Hydrocodone for the pain. They also gave me a Tetanus shot. I went back on Friday to get it checked and it was determined that the finger was broken (just fractured) in the tip. I have a splint to wear and just have to try to let it heal. I have attached the pictures I have. I didn't take any when we first went to the Instacare. It's been fun and a hard adjustment.

So Little Time

I feel like the past few weeks have flown by. It's been crazy around here with Spring Break, the Pinewood Derby, and me having Sharing Time for the month of March. It seems like forever ago that I posted anything. Anyway, I did reach my first 20 lbs. last Wednesday and also found out I dropped my cholesterol 48 points. It is the first time in 7 years I have had good cholesterol and not borderline. I am keeping myself busy with working out, watching what I eat, and trying to take care of everything I need to do.

Two weekends ago my mom, sisters, and 2 nieces came for a visit. My cousin was having a bridal shower in Mesquite so they all came down a day early. We traveled to Zion National Park and went hiking. We also had to go through the tunnel. Katie says the only way to do that is to scream, honk, and holler. It was pretty entertaining. We were able to get two hikes in that day - Riverside Walk and Canyon Overlook. The kids did really well and we all had a great time. That night we went for frozen yogurt at Krave because I'd been telling them all about it. Cara and Kincade weren't down here for the hiking and missed the yogurt, but we had fun with them down here anyway. The bridal shower was Saturday morning. We got in some shopping before and after heading to Mesquite. They left Saturday night.

Brax was out for Spring Break after from that Friday until last Monday. It was fun, but very busy. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday my grandpa Cowley came down for water meetings and stayed with us. After dropping him off on Tuesday we headed out shopping. We also went swimming with some friends at the Washington City Rec Center. It was a lot of fun and the pool had quite a few things to do. Brax even went down the hydrotube about 7 times. It was shocking! We were able to get a few other things done that day before picking Grandpa up. We dropped him off Wednesday morning and then headed to Zion with Branden's brother Bryant and his little family. We got four hikes in that day and I could definitely feel it the next day. That night I had the Relief Society Birthday Party. Our friend Rhett also came to visit and spend the night. Thursday was the Pinewood Derby and nothing much else got done besides get ready for that. Brax raced a car for a friend who was out of town and had a great time. Friday morning Brax and I got up and headed for Venice and Glenwood. We had a fun visiting family and we both had a hard time leaving Sunday morning. While there we spent time chatting and I went to a Pampered Chef party. We had a little family party on Saturday night at my parents. We got up Sunday morning at 7 and headed home so I could give my sharing time. On Monday Brax and I just hung out and got laundry done. It was relaxing. On Tuesday of this week I helped in his classroom and went Visiting Teaching. Wednesday was Primary Presidency Meeting. Thursday I had Futsol, but I was sick and stayed home. Last night I went and played competitive volleyball. It was a lot of fun, but man am I sore. Today we had a futsol game. Branden went with the Scouts to pick up food. We did a little rearranging of the house and got my sharing time ready for tomorrow. Needless to say, we've been very busy and I look forward to a mostly calm week next week.

Dr. Seuss Week at School

Last week was Dr. Seuss week at school and I can't go without posting pics of my little man. He is so funny and we had so much fun! Last year I made him 2 hats and bought him one. He wore each one this past week. We had a lot of fun coloring his hair for crazy day and I hope you all like the pictures of it.

Braxten's new found love is taking a blanket out on the back lawn and lying down. We've gone out there a few times over the past week. I have a picture I will include.

Weight loss is not going so hot for me, but great for Branden. I am down a total of 14.2 pounds in 7 weeks. Branden is down 7 lbs. in 2 weeks. It's amazing the change I have seen in both of us. We started using a program called Lose It which is on loseit.com. You type in your weight and goals. It has places to record your food intake and exercise. It also tells you how many calories you can eat a day to reach your goal. I did go for a bra fitting yesterday and found out I am down three cup sizes. I need to find a new bra ASAP. It is the smallest size I've worn since Braxten was born. It is an awesome feeling and I'll keep working at it.

Proud Parents

Yesterday I went to Braxten's SEP conference with his teacher. I'd been considering getting him tested for a reading disability. After yesterday though, I'm no longer going to do that. Braxten is currently reading at a 1st grade level and we couldn't be more proud of him. He still needs to work on his fluency and speed, but lately he has gotten to be a lot better reader. Talking to Mrs. Barton really helped calm me down a lot about Brax. She said that part of the reason she believes he was behind in his reading is because the time when most kids are starting to learn to read a little bit, he was in speech therapy learning how to speak. He still has trouble with a few sounds, but he's come a long way with that too. He is doing really well with math and spelling. He is also the only child in his class to return his take home books 100% of the time. GO BRAX! That is his responsibility.

I didn't know you could learn so much about your child at SEPs, but I learned more than just what is written above. Braxten's writing is very pointy and good at math. Those two things lean more towards a logical personality most commonly found in engineers. He is very sensitive and gets his feelings hurt quite easily which leans towards me as well as the being good at spelling. After learning all of that I decided that Brax is a good combination of his parents.

Anyway, after all of the learning and talking to the teacher. We went to the Book Fair. It was buy one book, get one free so we did. After that, I took Brax to Krave for frozen yogurt. It's a pretty cool place. They have about 10 different kinds of frozen yogurt and probably 50 different toppings. I wouldn't have found it myself. My friend Crystal told us about it while we were at the book fair. It was fun and look forward to going there again.

A Great Day

This is going to be a short and sweet post. I weighed myself today and I'm down another 2.4 lbs. in a week. It makes my grand total 13.2 lbs. Branden has also joined me in the quest to lose weight. It is nice having a partner and someone to help motivate you. I guess it also helps because we're both competitive, especially with each other. I'm hoping to lose another 20 lbs. by June. It'll be great! Anyway, I'll post something else next week as well as weight loss reports.