Honesty!

So I got this award from beck and now I have to tell 10 honest things about myself. Here we go.

1. I am constantly worried that I am pregnant. Just look in my bathroom at any given time and I will have a box of pregnancy tests just ready to be taken. Now don't worry mom I do want more kids just not right now.

2. I love my job. I look forward to going and hanging out with my co-workers ,oh and working. Really my job is busy, I just work for LDS family services as a receptionist. That is just a title I have answered more weird phone calls than I care to remember, listened to mom's cry about their children attempting suicide, deal with somewhat crazy people-my co-workers that is, found ph #'s for out of state parents for their children who are addicts and they can no longer take care of them, its insane but once again I love it.

3. I read constantly. I think it drives matt a little crazy how much I love to read. Right now at the library I have 3 books on hold and I will probably read those in a weeks time.

4. I sing to my kids. Really, I am always singing anything that comes to mind. I want my kids to love music as much as I do. My mom was awesome about this, always exposing my and my siblings to all different kinds of music. Right now I am listening to Across the Universe soundtrack, love it!

5. My main hobby is working out. Some people are crafty or do all kinds of amazing things and if I can think of one of the main things that I love to do day in and day out is working out! ha I rhymed.

6. I am always hot at night. I think I developed this since I have had kids. But seriously I sweat at night. I have horrible circulation and am cold any other time. but I can't wear warm clothing at night or I wake up and have to change because its too uncomfortable.

7. My leg is asleep right now.

8. I love holistic medicine. Now don't think I am some hippy who thinks that modern medicine doesn't work. I would have to say I am right in the middle. I think there are amazing things from both sides and that both types of medicine's working together can make you the healthiest.

9. I am horrible at keeping in touch with people. Old neighbors, roomates, friends from high school, and family even. I try somewhat, I don't know what it is but it is just not a strong point of mine.

10. I am competitive. Play any game with me and you will see immediately that I want to win. I think I inherited this from my family. One time we were playing a game while one vacation and it was boys against girls and we got in so big of a fight that I didn't talk to my brothers for a couple of hours so I could cool down. Yikes! Oh and I was 18 at the time so I can't blame it on being a kid.

Hey that was fun. I nominate des, kim and kamilla do this. Oh and if nanon actually logs on sometime soon it would be cool to see hers too.

Is it a wake or awake?

As many of you know matt's dad passed away suddenly this summer. He was only 63, its crazy. I miss him.Well his birthday is tomorrow and so the whole bell clan is getting together on wed to celebrate his life and tell some stories. I am excited. It was hard to get to know him because he was such a private person, very private. In fact at his funeral I felt like I really learned more about him with the stories that were told than I did in the whole 6 1/2 years I have known him.

So we are all supposed to come up with a story to say about him and I am having the hardest time. I mean I can think of a few instances when we had family activities but nothing grounbreaking. This is actually something that plagues me, I have the worst memory. Matt can remember conversations, details, etc that I have no idea about. Is it bad that I don't remember a lot about him? I mean I was supposed to have 20-30 more years to get to know him so I didn't feel any kind of rush to find out about his childhood, job, etc. I feel like I took him for granted. With that being said I am just going to go with what I have and rely on others i.e. his actual children to get some good memories. Then I am going to write them down! I will inevitably forget them if I don't. So, I am looking forward to wednesday it will be sad, I know I will cry but it will be good to think about him again.

what are the odds?

Look at my amazing sister, and her cute little boy isaiah. She is beautiful inside and out. She has had so many health problems all relating to her digestive system. For years she tried so many different things but nothing worked. She could not go out to eat or rather just eat because everything made her sick. In turn she learned to cook with alternative foods. She is an amazing cook and so she has developed a cook book. You can buy it at the greensmoothiegirl.com, or rather her blog, there is a link on the website. Now I titled this "what are the odds" because this is the girl who when we were growing up thought that 2 3/4 cup of flour meant that you add 1 1/2 c you know like adding 3/4 c two times--true story. But it just goes to show that anyone can cook if you take the time to learn. She is all gluten free right now and will probably be writing a gluten free book as well. I am most looking forward to that one. She uses alternative to sugar, wheat, butter, etc. Now she is, obviously, a mother so her recipes aren't that intense and time consuming. I just wanted everyone to know how proud I am of her she takes risks and tries so many different things I never would have the guts to do. Good Job Des!

Training to be a Yogi!

Okay so I am not really a yogi, nor do I profess to be really good at it. But I will say that since my back has been really bugging as of late I have picked it up once again. Just a good 20-30 min a day has made all the difference. After I had ez my back was really bothering me, like I am sitting there nursing him and it was like searing pain in my back. I finally went and had acupunture and chiropratic services done but they would only alleviate the problem. I finally had an MRI done and I have a bulging disc in my vertebrae that is pinching 2 nerves. Now it really sounds worse than it is. I don't have to take any pain medication or really do anything except for stay in shape. But sometimes, like 2 months ago, I overdid it with something-I don't really know what it was-but the pain came back. Well after doing yoga and going back to the chiroprator I can say now that I am in the clear. I am so grateful that this really is my only health problem compare to so many who have so many worse things to deal with. So if you really want to know my opinion on yoga it works miracles!

*****Side note****I found this picture when I googled yoga and all I can say is what the crap?

I'm sorry mommy

Okay so anyone ever feel inadequate as a mom? and no this is not me fishing for compliments, I know that I don't totally suck all the time its just one of those days you know? Brighton came home from school all ornery or maybe it was just me vacumning the house as soon as he got home-he gets all crazy when the vacumn is on I think it overstimulates his senses just another lovely byproduct of sensory integration- so he is teasing ezra constantly. Then he gets on the spiderman costume and becomes the crime fighting superheroe that is only kicking or hitting me or ez. AAAHH!! Okay so now would be a good time to insert where I really need to work on-PATIENCE. I guess we all need a little more patience but after he hit ez for the last time I literally wrestled the costume off of him and took him upstairs for a timeout only too see what took him so long to go to the bathroom. A full toilet of toilet paper with pee on top of it. So yea I don't get the logic with toilet paper before the pee, but whatever like I was really so concerned with that. So I totally spanked him. Wow, do I feel guilty or what. Not that I am totally against spanking but I am against it when you are out of control and I know I was at that point. But I didn't stop there I make him clean out the toilet the whole time I am yelling at him about not touching the toilet paper unless it is needed. Then I tell him I don't want to see him right then and make him go in his room because this is where reasoning finally came into play and I knew I needed to calm down. We ended this whole episode with me holding bri while he is still bawling saying "I'm sorry mommy" over and over. I know I handled this situation inappropriately and I think now if I only would have just played with him it probably would have turned out a lot better. But once again its just one of those days.

I hate it when...

Okay so at the mall today buying some much needed hair products--poor matt no hair paste makes for some very poofy hair for him. Then I am asking about the on sale products for me, of course, then comes over another way too pushy sales lady that is not even listening to me for what I am asking for. Case in point

me- hey out of these on sale products what will give me definition to my almost always frizzy curls?

saleslady-Oh well here is the best-some obvious gushing-product its not on sale but it is outright the best!

me-okay-pick up product-but keep looking-meanwhile ask a few more questions. She is still recommending items that are not on sale. How can I make this more clear to her? Oh right blatantly do not get the products she recommended.

sl-oh well these products almost never go on sale

me-thanks for the tip but all I really need is some stuff for my husband

sl-oh well you can sign up for are preferred customers program that right now is only 9.95 instead of 19.95 a month-blah blah blah(my kids are going crazy at this point)

me-cut her off, thanks but this is not something I really need. Can I just get the things that I have right now?

sl-of course(all sweet and syrupy that makes me want pull her too perfect hair) but if you got the preferred customer right now blah blah blah. while ringing me up of course because she can tell at this point I am losing my patience.

me-well I don't ever shop here so this is not something I really need. HA! Take that I will never go there again! Unless of course they have what I need on sale.

On the bright side here is a way cute pic of bri on his first day of preschool.

I kinda broke the sink..but fixed it at the same time!

Okay so along with all of the million things my husband has to do, I have been pestering to fix our upstairs bathroom sink for I swear a year. Of course its on the bottom of the list and him being the super busy manly man that he is never got around to it. So in cleaning the bathroom a few days ago I could not get the stupid thing clean, because it takes forever to drain so it gets super dirty really fast. AAHHH!!! I wanted to scream, seriously this house makes me want to scream sometimes. So in my mindless rage(cleaning rage that is) I grabbed matts tools and grabbed one them (do not ask me what it was, maybe it was some kind of wrench) and broke the stopper off and proceeded to clean and gag while cleaning out all the gunk stopping it from draining. Yuck! I then calmly put back the stopper(it still kind of works). Wow it got a little heated there. So there is my story of breaking the sink but really I fixed it.

gotta love diets and movies...

Okay so I am not good at diets, never have been. When I try to limit the food thats all I can think about and it consumes way too much of my time. But, this diet is not for me, it is for my little guy Bri. Our DAN(defeat autism now) doctor said he was 50/50 on for bri to be on a gluten/casein/soy free diet. Now what is gluten, anything made with wheat, casein is any dairy or whey product. So now I think what can we eat? Fruits, veggies, meat, corn, rice, nuts and oatmeal--just make sure that its not processed with wheat which most are. Well I have been going back and forth on this limiting what foods a kid can eat can be tricky, especially ones that are good for you such as 100% whole wheat are super important in a normal kid they provide essential b vitamins that are hard to get from anything else. Although, bri is on a ton of supplements to cover all the things that he would be missing. But I have come to the conclusion if I don't do this I am not doing everything in my power to help brighton. So here I am putting a deadline, we are going totally GFCF and soy free as of october. I can do this, I know I can. Okay maybe I am little nervous here. But this might make the difference between him being able to be pulled off the spectrum or it might not but either way I am going to try. So wish me luck!

On another note, kind of related to food but not at all related to what I was talking about before I got to go see a great movie with my mother-in law beth yesterday. I loved it, thanks beth for going with me! Since I love to cook, this movie made me want to start cooking some amazing french recipe but back to life and reality I do not have the time or the money to do so. But watching this movie was almost as good. I definetely recommend it.

a day in the life of the bells

Okay so I don't feel like anyone should be super interested in what my family and I do all day but I thought it might be kind of fun to do a pic diary of a normal day for us so....



I try to get up in the morning to workout, but no such luck today. I was way tired I stayed up until 1 in the morning to finish reading a dang good book The Shape of Mercy. way good. Breakfast. yum. ez loves fruit with cereal and soymilk. I have to have scrambled eggs with toast and fruit or cereal. Bri is cereal all the way!

After rushing to get ready, strapping the kiddos in the car we are off to ogden. Only to get stuck in traffic, yuck! Can you see the semi's behind me. Oh I forgot to get ez's pic in the car lately he loves to hold a baby while we are driving.

Yay! Clothes that I bought off of some lady in ogden for dirt cheap from an ad off of KSL. LOVE KSL!

Got too visit a dang good friend Jill! She has the cutest baby but of course she was asleep. They have chickens, horses and mules. Well at least their landlord does. So the bri got to pick an egg. He was so excited. Of course he broke it before we left, oh well.

Finish writing the primary program. No that is not my handwriting I had some of the kids write down what they might say, cute huh.


SLEEP!!!

Wake up!Act like a lion for awhile in the crib.
Then onto dinner. Anyone else do this? I stirfry a bunch of veggies on hand throw some yoshida's on there. Have with some jasmine rice. Yummy.
Water the garden and the yard. Yes that is basil right there. I will forever grown basil in my garden now its so easy and I love basil.

Eat half of a choclate dunford donut. I am addicted to those right now. Oh and bathtime.
Matt got home somewhere around here.

Snack before bed. Love peaches and strawberries.
Supplements as always

Reading books.

Phew, kids are in bed. Some time to myself. Decide to read a great book recommended by a friend. Sleep, finally.

Flowerama--ha ha I really used to work there

Okay so awhile back I did a floral design class given by the rose shop(they have amazing flowers). I never posted the pics and just barely got them downloaded so here we go. Seriously if I have one hobby that I can think of it would be working with flowers, I love it. I love the different colors, shapes, textures, etc.

When I think of flowers it makes me happy, it reminds of this beautiful earth we live on and how there is so much to enjoy. It makes me want to travel and see all there is too see. As that will have to wait for right now as we have lots of other things going on in our lives flowers will suffice for right now. Hmmm... and who said that I couldn't relate flowers to traveling?

Oh and my sister, des inspired this one. This is what I gave to brighton's preschool teachers for a thank you at the end of the year. Seriously, it was sooo easy. I think if I have to make a gift again for someone I will do this.

AAHHH!!!

I hate insurance companies, I hate medical bills. I hate insurance companies for fighting me every step of the way for paying for those medical bills. I hate the fact that I have to fight them every step of the way when they are legitimate things that are keeping us healthy. I hate that our insurance company will pay for only emergency visits and prescriptions rather than preventative methods. I hate insurance companies oh and did I mention I hate medical bills. Do I sound a little bitter?

A LITTLE BIT OF VANITY

So last week I did this

Well, obviously this is not me and normally I would not post pics of half naked men but all the pics I googled were of women and yikes! So back to it. I love it -spray tanning that is-, my sister in law did it and it looked great on her. Now it costs $15 to do and only lasts about 10 days. I really would only do it before a vaca in the summer or something. So if you can get past the fact that it feels like you are breathing in toxic fumes for about 2 minutes, oh and also feel ridiculous for walking into a tanning salon it is a nice alternative to tanning.

This pic of this guy actually makes me laugh out loud!

D. Craig Bell
November 24, 1945 ~ June 13, 2009Husband, Father, Grandpa, Brother, and Son passed away suddenly in his home from natural causes. He will be greatly missed by his family and those who were associated with him. A man of integrity, faith, obedience, and charity, his willingness to listen and his compassion for others will have a lasting impact for us in this life and will be valuable to others in the next life.Craig Bell was born in Malad, ID, but his family resided in California, where he spent his early years “in a warm climate, playing handball with friends”. They later moved to Midvale, Utah where he attended Jordan High and then the newly constructed Hillcrest High. He served a mission in Germany and loved the people and experiences he had. He later attended BYU where he met his wife and eternal companion, Beth Allred, and they were married in 1970. He graduated from BYU in 1970 with a BS in Political Science and a Minor in German. He then went on to attend law school at the University of Utah and graduated Order of the Coif. He was admitted to the Utah Bar in October, 1973. He spent 35 years working for the Western States Water Council, and loved the work, friendships, and close associations at the council.He loved his family and served faithfully in the Church, always willing to listen, give advice, encourage and counsel his family. Craig always liked to plan, make goals, create mission statements, and other family plans. Dad, we will miss your written FHE agendas, chore contracts, and the annual family calendar.He loved playing with his children and grandchildren, and was often found in the home office showing off the latest computer game. He ensured that the grandkids were always having fun even if that meant trying to fly kites in windless conditions (a Bell tradition).Craig is survived by his Mother, Elaine Godfrey, his eternal companion Beth, his siblings Sharlene (Randy) Goff, Ron (Jeri) Bell, Steve (Anna) Bell, his children Aaron (Kim) Bell, Carleen (Cory) Card, Ryan Bell, Nick (Kamilla) Bell, Matt (Shawnee) Bell, Scott Bell, and 10 grandchildren.A viewing will be held Wednesday evening, June 17th, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, at Larkin Sunset Gardens, 1950 East 10600 South, Sandy, Utah. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, June 18th at the LDS Sandy Crescent South Stake Center, 275 E. 10600 S. at 11:00 am with an additional viewing one hour before the service. Online condolences at www.larkincares.com
sorry no pic, just copied from my sister in laws blog real quick

reality check

As a lot of you know but I just thought I would post really quick, matts dad passed away suddenly on saturday morning because of heart complications. I am sad, sad for matt, sad that our kids will not get to have such a great grandpa, just sad. Thanks for everyones love in support through this hard time.

R.I.P almond blossom

I knew it was love at first sight, the first time I brushed your beautiful particles on my face instantly I looked tanned, and younger. You were the perfect blend of shine and bronzer. I could even use you as eyeshadow, it was the best. It was not meant to be, obviously, the horrible mean evil villians that go by the names of brighton and ezra--if that is even their real names broke you until you were no longer useful. It was devastating, I wanted to cry. Instead I just uttered a few choice words that I regret now because the evil villian named brighton has tried to repeat them. Oh I will miss you, too expensive to buy again for at least another month almond blossom, hopefully our reunion will be a sweet one!

unorganized=tons of extra money spent

Has this ever happened to anyone? I went through my pantry and had double of a ton of things because either I was to lazy to look through everything and make sure I didn't have it before I went to the grocery store to get it or I couldn't see it because I was so unorganized.

Result I have two bottles of apple cider vinegar-sidenote does anyone know if you can use this past the expiration date?- Tons of half opened sacks of shredded coconut, nuts, anything you can think of. Yikes, while trying to cut back and save money on other things I just could have gone through my pantry and saved some on my grocery bill.

the one and the only BRIGHTON!!

It was bri's b-day yesterday. Wow he is 4 years old. I am amazed he is growing up so fast. Brighton is so smart, bright, energetic, and teaches me daily about what it means to be happy. When he got home from school I had some balloons for him and it was so cute. He said "Oh surprise balloons they are so beautiful. I am so excited!" How easily he is pleased. He probably repeated himself about 10 times. That means he is really excited because normally he only does it about 5 times.

But now as I have been debating whether or not to actually post this about brighton. I have felt this inner turmoil about announcing this as if it makes a difference but I really do feel that I should. About a year ago we had some tests ran on brighton. To me he was this bubbly, loveable 3 year old but he had some major problems as well. His speech was well behind the average and was not getting any better. If he got overstimulated he would just lose it, and when I mean lose it screaming and crying and nothing is going to make it better. He would also get so fixated on things that he could not let it go. He just wasn't progressing as a healthy child should. Well a therapist diagnosed him with PDD-NOS. I was so sad and heartbroken but at the same time I was relieved. For so long I had felt like I was doing something wrong. For those who don't know PDD-NOS is along the same lines as autism, it is a spectrum disorder meaning that every case is different but there are a lot of common symptoms similar to autism.

Looking back there have been a series of events that have been such blessings to our family. Such as when I was calling to see if he could get into some tests any sooner the secretary gave me a number of the special-ed program for preschools to get him on the waiting list. He was able to get into one really soon and it has made the biggest difference. My mom got started in teaching music together, and that has really helped him with transitioning and keeping calm in a highly stimulating enviorment. We are now going to take him to a DAN (defeat autism now) doctor-thanks to my wonderful sister in law- and I feel that this will really help him. Even though this has definetely been a struggle for our family the lord has blessed us and given me the strength to keep going. The only reason I am posting this is because I just didn't want it to be this big secret, but in no way does this make brighton any different. Wow this is a long post! I am normally not like this at all but I had a lot that needed to be said.

Goodbyes and floral design...

Goodbye jesse! He actually is already in australia I have just taken forever in posting this. I am going to miss this kid. He is so fun to hang out with and definetely keeps things interesting all the time. Brighton was very sad to see him go. Even if I am sad, I am happy for him as well.

Oh and did anyone notice anything about this picture? Yea matt is soo tan! I guess the weekly tanning really helps, just kidding. He is a tennis coach for the high school so he is out in the sun so much I always look so white next to him.

Milestones and setbacks.

So yesterday for the first day ever brighton ate oatmeal for breakfast!!!! Yay, seriously this kid only eats cereal or yogurt. I mean he will not eat eggs, pancakes, waffles, nothing. Not that it has been that bad, obviously because then I do not have to cook anything but cereal can get pretty expensive. Now he just ate the instant oatmeal which has a ton of added sugars but we are on our way to the rolled oats. Now it might not seem like that big of deal because hey its just oatmeal right? Well to me it means he willing to go outside of his normal which he has the hardest time with. Now with that good news here is another setback. Just when I think we are making headway brighton has another meltdown. I mean we had changed his normal routine all day then it came to lunch and I normally let him play outside but it was kind of cold and windy and so I said no. He lost it, yea I mean crying, screaming and loosing all sense of any ability to form a word. Oh its so frustrating, how do I make him understand? Well I didn't, I just caved. In this case I picked my battle and this was one I was willing to lose. The hardest part is it took at least another 45 minutes to get over it. Sometimes you just can't win.

The mall.

It was so fun on monday. We went to the mall and rode the carousel. Brighton LOVED it. He kept saying YEE-HAW, and up and down.

This is right before we started it, can you see that cheesy grin. He is getting to be so funny! I love when he is like this.

So nice playing outside!

Oh I have been missing this! seriously, it was so nice outside the kiddos were just lovin it.
Ez of course was eating everything in site. whether it was chalk or dirt he just has to put it in his mouth, yuck!

Of course I am always saying NO! Yes that is exactly what I look like.

Hopefully this good weather will last a few more days because man we are sick of cold weather around here!