I wish I were an Oscar Meyer weiner . . .

I love running into random things. So when we went grocery shopping at HEB and happened upon the Oscar Meyer weinermobile, it was like hitting a goldmine! The kids were super excited and we got to go inside (very pimped out), and they got little whistles and Sevy got a little backpack. Sevy naturally announced that she wanted to ride in it, which we sadly didn't get to do, but it made for a fun shopping trip!

The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden

We've been very crafty Mormony-Mormons this week! This is just a recap: Saturday, I decided it was time to finish a big project I started Monday, and Jon decided it was time to fix our slightly crooked fence.
Yes, the project I started Monday was a garden! Here are my little tomato plants I had started indoors a couple of weeks ago and put in the ground Saturday.
Here is our little garden. See that pile of sod? That's one of two. My family is skilled in a few random things--sodding is one of them. Tearing up sod, on the other hand, was probably the worse experience of my life! It took me 3 hours to do and 2 days to get over my aching muscles! Then, because the ground is so awesomely claylike, I (with the help of Jon this time) made a little wall to do it slightly above ground. Then we filled it up with soil and voila! We planted corn, onions, red potatoes, carrots, peas, artichokes, radishes, grape tomatoes, and strawberries! The galvenized tubs on the side were my previous garden. They did a good job with tomatoes and peas, but we wanted to go bigger. I planted awesome flowers in them, so I hope they turn out!
I also made a quilt this week for my Mom's birthday! (It's on Wednesday!) This is my favorite part of the quilt. I know, a little bit kiddish, but I loved the colors and the fabrics!

Here is a picture of basically the whole thing. My mom gave me an awesome sewing machine for my birthday and it comes with a quilting foot that I've been aching to try out. Very fun, but I may be sticking to baby quilts after this one! (This one was just a little bit smaller than a twin size.)

And that's our crafty crafty week! I'm excited to see if our garden turns out! I planted some peas in December that I get to snack on now, so I'm hoping we hit it early enough before the heat comes!

2010: Why do you hate us?

Needless to say, this year has been pretty crappy. Well, maybe just January, and we are still getting the reprocussions from it. So, we just ordered Vonage. For the first time in our married lives, we are going to have a home phone. Why? you ask. Well, because our last cell phone bill was $250. What the?!? Why so high? you ask. Funnily enough, it was because we were constantly on the phone dealing with the rest of the crap happening to us (doctors, insurance, afaa, kmart--don't even get me started). We'll let ya'll know when we get our Vonage stuff and set it up. It should be interesting, but it's so we can use our home phone instead of our cell phones for all the church stuff, and random 1800 numbers we have to call to get our life back in working order.

My First Real Ride!

I finished my first real bikeride today! I went 48 miles!!! Read about it HERE! (It's my bike riding blog). And remember, if you want to help me raise money to find the cure for MS, go HERE! (It's my website for the MS 150)!

If you asked me . . .

Recently, I've had a lot of conversations dealing with people wanting to lose weight. I love my job as a fitness instructor and always want to give people game plans of success (or what I think would lead to success), but no one really ever asked me, so I'm telling you what I would do anyway. Maybe I should become a personal trainer so I could really do this more. Oh well. Here's what I would suggest as a weightloss game plan:

*First-you know your body. You know how hard you can go. If you are starting from ground zero, ease into it (30 minutes a day--3 days a week). Don't go freaky. Two hours of exercise a day is the most I would suggest. If you do more than that, it comes across as an addiction/problem.*

Before you start. Take measurements! We like to see improvement! I would suggest: Weight, waist (the skinniest area or from the naval), chest, ribcage, arms (center point from elbow to armpit), hips, butt, thighs (just under the curve of the bottom), and calves-if you really want. Don't weight yourself daily-rather do it once a week at the same time (Monday morning for example).

Diet: You don't really need to overhaul your diet unless you eat like crap and a lot of it. The key is moderation. If you want chocolate-eat it! But stick to a serving size! If you crave McDonalds-fine-but go for a Happymeal instead of super-sized fries. Don't restrict yourself--you'll just end up craving it. Have lots of veggies available to munch on--just hold the fatty ranch and go for fat-free. Calorie wise, most people need to stick between 1500-2000 calories. Try to keep fat lowish, saturated fat even lower, and trans fat non-existant. If you are going to exercise, you need to eat to keep up energy. Just watch what you eat and you'll be fine.

Exercise: This is where I am passionate! If you really want to lose weight, shoot for burning at least 500 calories a day (and don't replace these lost calories!). Stick with cardio every day you workout (at least 3-5 days a week), and lift weights at least twice a week.

Cardio Options: (gym class goers)
With kickboxing, bootcamp, spin, and step aerobics you will easily burn at least 500 calories in a 60 min class. Zumba, hip hop, and other dance classes should be pretty close also.

Cardio: (on your own)
Treadmills, elipticals, and stationary bikes are great and usually have monitors to gage calorie burn. Walking is good-better with light hand weights, and running is stellar (I average about 100 calories per 10 min/1 mile-I am not really a runner!). If you workout on your own, play with speed, inclines, and intensity. Don't be afraid to push yourself. Your body needs a shock every now and then to make it work! You can also do your own bootcamp with jump ups, stair runs, jumping jacks, sprints, track drills, pushups, etc, to give yourself a rockin' workout!

Strength Training: (gym)
Most clubs have some sort of group lifting class. This are fantastic for a total body workout. Most focus on light weight, lots of reps, sort of training. This is a great way to get definition without the bulk (which us girls normally shoot for). They also keep ya moving. I average about 400 calories in an hour class, which is high for lifting. Other great options are pilates and yoga. If you've never tried one of those classes, you will feel muscles the next day you didn't know existed!

Strength Training: (on your own)
If you have your own weights, do a circuit training hitting all your major muscles (shoulders, biceps, triceps, back, chest, quads, hams, calves, and abs). You can do upper body one day, and lower the next, or just hit the whole body twice a week. I like to listen to upbeat music with a heavy beat and lift with that to keep a tempo and keep me going. No weights? No problem! Grab some cans, your kids, water bottles, (or anything else) and use that! Pushups, situps, dips, squats, and lunges can be done with just your own weight. There's lots of workout videos with the same ideas (Jillian Michaels has great ones, and of course all the pilates and yoga videos available at the library, ondemand, and probably at any friends house!).

Get yourself on a schedule so you know what to expect. For a gym goer example:

Monday: Cardio-kickboxing 60 min
Tuesday: Cardio-run 30 min, Strength training-circuit train 30 min
Wednesday: Cardio-spin 60 min
Thursday: Cardio-run 30 min, Strength train-class 60 min
Friday: Cardio-kickboxing 60 min
Saturday: Cario-step aerobic 60 min, Abs

On your own:

Monday: Cardio-treadmill or run 45 min
Tuesday: Strength-pilates video, Cardio-walk 30 min (find a hill!)
Wednesday: Cardio-kickboxing video or do your own bootcamp 60 min
Thursday: Strength-lift weights-total body-60 min, Cardio-walk 30 min
Friday: Cardio-treadmill or run 45 min
Saturday: Cardio-bike ride 60 min

Realistically, you should only lose 1-2 lbs a week if you really need to lose weight, or about 1-3 lbs a month if you just think you need to lose weight (you skinny folk that are never happy with your skinnyness). Don't expect miracles! You will probably gain a little weight at first with the muscle you are building.

If you want your own personalized game plan-let me know! I thrive on this crap. I know what worked for me, and what I've seen work for others! And basically, this is what I would have you do, if you asked me!

Cleaning the Temple

Jon and I have not had the greatest year so far. Frankly, 2010 has been horrible to us. So when our Branch was told that we needed to send some people to go and clean the temple, Jon and I quickly agreed to go. We have lived here for 18 months and had yet set foot in the temple here. Our good friend watched the kids for us, and we were off! Cleaning the temple is not glamorous at all--cleaning rarely is--but there's something peaceful about being there dusting floorboards, and glossening trashcans. You wouldn't believe the detail they take to make that building so beautiful. It was actually really fun to be vaccuuming up the hall and pass a room where Jon was dusting. There really is something amazing about seeing your eternal companion vaccuuming the Celestial room! If you ever get a chance to clean the temple . . . do it! You will not regret the time spent on your hands and knees cleaning the house of the Lord!

Christmas Break (in no particular order)

I realized after I uploaded my pictures that I hadn't downloaded my New Year's pictures. Those will have to wait. And now for our Christmas break in no particular order: After Christmas we went up to Amarillo and celebrated Christmas and my birthday and I got to wear the party hat. (It's tradition!)

Sevy momentarily played Santa and passed around the gifts.
Sevy and her cousin Avery. This picture is to show off my mad sewing skills! I promised my Mom a picture of the dress that I made for Sevy with the material we picked out while she was in town and my first major project on my NEW sewing machine that she gave me for my birthday! I think it turned out rather cute!

Jon got the box set of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that came with the original 3 movies, TMNT, AND as an added bonus, the masks! Teik enjoyed being Michaelangelo.
The family as turtles. (Obviously, Teik like being Mikie better than Leonardo!)

Jon's big gift from me. It was a miracle it even got to me after it never arrived for weeks and then showed back up at the seller's house, but we got it in time! (It's a signed photo of Mike Modano--Jon's favorite Dallas Star--and Marrow).
The traditional staircase picture take before we can see what Santa brought.

We went to Nasa--one of our favorite places--while Jon had off. These were my boyfriends for the day. Jon was jealous, and Teik did not like them.

Jon and I ready for take-off. Sevy was our photographer. She didn't want to get in with us.

Sevy and her preschool! They did the cutest Nativity play! Sevy was the inn-keeper and they all had lines and sang, and it was the funniest thing ever!

This was the scene before the kids saw what Santa brought. The after picture is quite scary and I think we are still missing pieces of the train. We need to figure out a way to bolt that sucker down!

We had the kids paint hand wreaths for Christmas Eve! They got a little dirty and our house is slightly tinted green, but they loved it!

Teik in the painting aftermath! At least his binkie matches!

And that was our Christmas break in a nutshell. We dolled up for New Years, so I'll add those pictures later! Good times had by all!

Christmas Card 2009

Ormson family times

Jon: the man of the house has been missing for the past year and a half. The dental school who kidnapped him claims we’ll get him home in 2012 as long as we keep paying them the big bucks.

Kat: finally bought her dream bike. Thanks to the missing jon, she’s only managed to put one mile on the thing.

Sevy: started preschool this year. Unfortunately, she is now convinced she is smarter than the rest of the family and is trying to teach them all a thing or two.

Teik: finally started walking and almost talking. He is now the smallest most destructive being of his kind!

Merry Christmas!

What Made Me Smile.

My kids are typical, pull-your-hair-out children, and today was no different with Teik screaming in the car for 30 minutes straight, and Sevy . . . well, she was actually good today. Anyhoo, as I was going through pictures in my computer, I stumbled across these two, and I just had to smile! Sevy the crab. (and in a diaper! So don't miss those!)

Teik and Mutt. We miss you Mutt. It's been awhile. (How can you not want to kiss those cheeks?!)

I love my kids. They make me smile even when they drive me nuts! I love being a mom!

I'm finally on Etsy!

So, I'm finally on Etsy, a super cute website where you can find all sorts of crafty things. Please, check out my stuff!http://www.etsy.com/shop/booksbykat

(Tell your friends!)

Fun Times

We had fun with Candice and Sarah in town, so here are some of the high lights. Okay, this actually from today. Teik likes his chocolate chip cookies!

We went to the zoo where Sevy showed us her amazing climing skills on the elephant.
Here is Sarah on the bike. The kids LOVED playing outside!Sevy and her awesome car/hat/glasses.We went to the beach and played. I loved Teik's profile here!We went to Nasa which was awesome! We took a tram tour and saw Mission Control, the room where they practice fixing things, and even a space ship! All the people there are super nice and have actually worked there so they really know what they are talking about. I'm a fan!Candice, Sarah, and Teik on the tram tour. I just thought it was a great picture of Candice!

Having them here was way fun! It's always great to hang out with family, let cousin's play, and playing tourist in the city you are living!

Halloween!

In no particular order. Halloween: Ormson style. This is to show off Teik's awesome belt. He was an American Gladiator circa 1989.

Our friend Jill threw an excellent Halloween party so this is her in her Cleopatra glory!
Teik, showing some shoulder and looking for victims.Fuzzy, but here are the kids before trick-or-treating. Sarah (pumpkin) came from Utah to hang out for awhile! She just flew in that morning.

Here is my sublte 80's look. I went more extreme for my spin class Saturday morning, but decided to calm it down for church parties.

We carved pumpkins at our friends the Talbot's house. This was our creation! (Thanks to a pattern!)My little American Gladiator. He enjoyed smacking all of us with his weapon!Sevy's too cute preschool. They had a party Thursday and LOVED it! Super heroes and fairies. Is there anything better?!

Sevy and her long lost sister Tinker Bell.

Teiker's bringing Sexy back!

Jon won't let me cut his hair. Honestly.
A boy and his fish.
Um, I ignored him too long after lunch.
Sevy at the pumpkin patch. Teik was not happy to be there, so I didn't include his picture. (It was sad).

My Family

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