What's the Big Hair Deal?

         I just cut my hair last week. Not a trim, a 15 inch cut. It's funny, because there have been 3 other times in my life that I've done a dramatic cut like this (this one might have been the biggest though) and every time I get the same reaction from people. I have a few friends that say, "It looks cute!" or "It looks good." Which of course are nice things to say. I don't necessarily try to look cute though, not since I was 13 years old. And then there are the 'other' comments: "You had the most beautiful hair ever, why did you do that?" or "What made you want to do that?" or "You cut it! Do you like it?" Each of those comments could probably be argued as 'innocent', but in all honesty, they aren't positive or cute banter.
          First of all, why didn't you tell me I had gorgeous hair when it was long? Why tell me now, when I've already surgically removed that part of my body making that, would-be compliment irrelevant? I can honestly say that the last 5 years (that's the last time I cut my hair) I've probably had a handful of people tell me I had pretty hair. Usually it's even just a, "You're lucky your hair grows so fast", or "I hate you for having such pretty hair" (is that even a compliment?) It's like I'm Jo on Little Women, "Jo! Your one beauty!"
          My hair has been long 85% of my life. I like it long; it's feminine, sexy, creative and well..... feminine. I mean, there's a reason 95% of Victoria's Secret models have longish hair. I have had so much fun with different braids and twists. I also LOVE full, wavy hair. Even more, I love messy, wavy hair.
           But there is something kind of freeing to chopping off those locks. I don't feel like I fit a mold anymore. It's like breaking 'girl code'. For one, I have three young children which require a lot of attention. My long hair didn't get 'fixed' everyday. I workout for an hour every morning, which leaves the kids begging for attention and food by the time I get home. My showers/get ready time are usually 10-15 minutes. On a good day, maybe Sunday, I'll milk the hubby being home and spend a good hour- hour and a half getting ready. Now with it being short, it's been fixed everyday in an easy 3-5 minutes! So okay, it's efficient. But to answer the , "Do You like it?" question, I think so. I'm usually pretty critical on my appearances and rarely give myself a thumbs up. But  it's been fun, easy and freeing so far, so I guess that will have to do.
            It does make me realize that girls don't compliment each other very well, or often. Myself included, women need to speak out and give other women more compliments! I think for some reason we feel that magnifying another's positive traits takes away from ours, but the actual opposite is true! The women in my life that have been the most complimentary and sweetest to me, are the ones that I admire and feel most comfortable around.

Good Excuse: Zuchinni Bread

    

      It has been too long since I have updated, it's ridiculous. But, I have an awesome friend who asked for a recipe, I told her I'd blog it, and now I HAVE to. I hate not following through, so I like to make promises to others on things I'm not good at keeping :) . Win-win.
     So I have been a very healthy eater for the most part, for about 5 years, but more recently, I have tried to eat clean. As in, no preservatives, fresh made, raw food: grains, fish/chicken, fruit/veggies, and some low fat dairy. I made the best zuchinni bread ever yesterday, my kids didn't even care that there were pieces of green in their bread, it was that good. It does have about 3/4 a cup of cane sugar in a loaf (or you could use NuNaturals Presweet Tagatose if you have that on hand) because I don't believe in completely depriving myself....but next time I might lower it to 1/2 a cup :)

Zuchinni Bread

1    c Greek Yogurt
1/2 c apple sauce, unsweetened
3/4 c cane sugar or 1 c NuNaturals Presweet Tagatose
3 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 c Zuchinni, grated
1 1/2 c Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c slivered almonds

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease 1 large loaf pan or 3 mini loaf pans with coconut oil, set aside
3. In medium bowl, add yogurt, applesauce, sugar, egg whites and vanilla extract: mix until blended
4. Fold in Zuchinni
5. In a separated bowl add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; mix
6. Pour flour mixture over zuchinni mixture and mix until combined
7. Fold in almonds
8. Spoon batter into loaf pan
9. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour for 1 large loaf or 30-35 min for the 3 mini loafs. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Everett Lyle King

Meet my nephew, Everett. Isn't he handsome? He was born February 11, 2013 in Plantaion, Fl. , weighing 5 lb. 4 oz. and a sweet 17.5 inches tall. His momma, Brenna, delivered him via c-section because of his heart rate dropping too quickly.

          The doctors noticed quite a few things weren't working that well with his little body, so they took him away immediately for testing. When my mom told me the news I was crushed. I could picture it all too well. Brenna coming out of the anesthisia, wondering where her little one was. Hearing the news in disbelief and confusion.The one thing that makes the physical pain better was missing from her arms. Our family bonded through the hundreds of prayers we said for this little angel. I just knew that he had the best parents possible, and that God only sends these sweet spirits to such righteous couples. His big sister Cordelia June King (such a princess of a 3 year old) would be such a good friend to him, I could picture it. I'm quite the visual person, so I automatically picture their life with this big change. What a challenge, but a spiritual one at that, so that I would call it more a privillege. This is the picture (the one above) that made me fall in love with him. He definately has his sweet sisters doll mouth, and I just couldn't get over how perfect he looked. It was like his face was carved by the master of all doll makers (which I'm sure it was). I wanted to hold him so badly.

We were told that a geneticist was coming to further test Everett and determine a diagnosis. After much testing and long hours of worry he was diagnosed with Edwards syndrome (also known as Trisomy 18) which is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 18th chromosome. One in every 6,000 children that are born have it, 80 percent being females. Why my little nephew?

When my sister called me to tell me this news I just fell down. This couldn't be right, I was sure that everybody was wrong. Brenna and Aaron are a healthy couple in their mid 20's.... they are married in the temple and take great care of their little girl. How can this even make sense or be fair both spiritually and physically? They were supposed to find a cure, or a surgery that would help him...not this. He was given days, maybe a few weeks to live.

My oldest, Elise who is 7, has quite the tender heart. She had been praying for her cousin constantly, making him cards and writing him a letter. One day when we were at my inlaws I couldn't find her and I was shocked that she wasn't playing with all of her other cousins and sister. I found her in the dinning room, alone. The room was dark, but there was a little light coming in behind her through the window. I asked her what she was doing, and she said, "I am writing Everett a letter, and drawing a picture of him so Brenna will remember what he looks like....mom, I think they named him Everett because we will remember him forever and ever".

On Sunday, February 3rd, precious baby boy went back to heaven. I won't lie, I felt jipped. I didn't get to meet my nephew. I wanted to see him and hold him. I could feel his spirit just looking at his pictures, it was amazing. I just knew it would be better in person. A huge part of me didn't want to believe what was said to be inevitable. I wish I could have been there to hold my little sister too. Through all this, I have realized how much I didn't know I loved her.

This other picture is a blanket I bought for him when Everett was a few days old. I wanted to send a fun package for him. I fell in love with it! It was perfect for him. It was so soft and just the right amount of cute with out overdoing it. Today I went to the store to return it....and  I just couldn't. It felt wrong. Like I was giving up. For some reason it still doesn't feel real to me at times. My mind still wants to fight for him, and my heart aches for his wonderful parents, Aaron and Brenna.

Just some Positive thinking....

I give myself a hard time about alot of things. This is one of them, of course. Recently I told Brian," It's so rediculous that people look at stretch marks as 'ugly' or 'flaws', they should be an awesome thing! They tell a story, they show that this body has had a (mine 2) baby grow inside of it for 9 months and then painfully delivered her afterwords! My body was the home of children! That's quite an amazing thing!" So Tara, you rock, forget about the rest of them.

This Summer

So yeah it's been awhile since I updated this thing. So many things have happened! We went to Hawaii for Brian's brothers' wedding which was alot of fun and flew by so fast! Elise had her 6th birthday which I still can't believe. We had 2 family reunions which was so much fun! Here are some little updates on the kids:

Elise

She is now six and just loves to talk. (The talk part isn't new though) She's an old soul in alot of ways. She even talks like me sometimes and it's so weird. She wants an answer for everything, saying, "because" does not work anymore:0) She loves to hum as she's walking around the house. She completely loves her little sister as well as telling her what to do. She is so helpful around the house and with Jovi. She has gotten into My Little Ponys which is fun. She really enjoys books and is getting better at reading. She LOVES swimming, she's our little fishy that we're hoping to eventually get into lessons. She loves to get her nails painted, go to Petco Park, the beach, the Park, the Library. Her favorite places to eat would be: El Torito, Chucky Cheese (duh), and Chick Fil A. She just started 1st grade today and she acted like, eh not a big deal :) The pic is of her first day!

Jovi

She is 19 months (almost 20). She is 35 inches tall and in the 99th percentile for height. My dad calls our girls Amazon women :0). She loves her Kitty of course, but now she gets excited to see Elise's stuffed animals too. When she sees Woody or Jessie she gets super excited and says, "Yeeeeehaw, Yeehaw!" Her other favorites are Tenkle (Tangled) and Doa (Dora). She now goes to the bathroom to grab the stepping stool, puts it on the floor by the movie cabinet and stands on her toes and digs through the movies till she finds a 'Yeeeeehaw or Tenkle'. She can count to 7 and can say half of her ABC's, the other half is mumbled or hummed. She also can sing twinkle little star :0) . She is growing so fast! She was our super eater, but now she developed some pickiness. She loves bread, cheese, raisins, strawberries, milk, goldfish and bananas. She adores her big sister and doing what she does. She is the first to run to her dad when he gets home to give him big hugs. When we're at the grocery store I am slumped forward quite a bit because she says "Iwahuk" with her arms out, which means I want hug. So I hug her while pushing the cart :0)

Yay for good deals!

So I honestly have a ton of things I should be writing about...which I will...eventually. But this one was quick and easy. :0)

My latest shopping trip was awesome! I have been using coupons for 3-4 years now, but it's been over the last year that I have been doing some serious saving, and not on junk food (which is SO much easier to save on (like Lucky Charms, un-natural margarines & PB, cookies, soda blah blah blah) but on natural, more healthy food! This shopping trip at Ralphs I got:

8 boxes of Mom's Best Natural cereal

4 Boxes of Ronzoni Wheat Pasta

1 tub Land O Lakes Butter w/Olive Oil

4 Protein Bars

2 Bags Quaker Rice cakes

2 Silk Almond Milk Cartons

2 Gallons Arrowhead Water

3 Voskos Greek Yogurt

2 Bottles of R.W. Knudsen Organic Black Cherry Juice

1 Boulder Organic Kettle Chips

And I spend a grand total of: $13.86 !!!

I have 2 more super awesome trips for this next week :0)

Easter!

Easter was alot of fun. Brian had a 3 day weekend, which started with a bang (literally). Brian started his break with an intense leg workout using dumbells during squats. He pulled his muscle pretty bad and needless to say he had an old man sore back the last four days. I've loved watching him grab the table or chair to bend over and awkwardly pick something up... it's a sneak peek to our distant future :0) .

We drove down to Brian's parents' on Saturday. After lunch, Elise and I left with Grandma and Lorin to Granny's Attic. It's a gem in Temecula filled with random treasures. It is used and new antiques and collectibles in a decorated warehouse with 50,60, and 70's music playing. They have everything from old records, girdles, Wash sinks, sofas and jewelry to toys. I felt like I was walking through the past and couldn't help but tap my feet to the music, smile and let my mind roam to some magical era. So many items reminded me of my Grandma Geitz's house and her many trinkets. So many fun memories of growing up and playing in her house. I also found a McDonald's toy that I had when I was 8. It was a plastic 80's barbie with crimped hair that I had LOVED. And well I had to pay the .80 cents to get it! For some odd reason it made me so happy to find it and brought back a pool of memories I had forgotten. When I got home Elise wanted to play with it, but I just said, "this is Mommy's toy".

That night Brian's dad treated us all to heavely fresh mex at Wahoo's. I am in love with Fresh mex... Baja Fresh is the best and has an awesome salsa bar, yes it is a party in my mouth! Later that night we rented the most confusing and badly written movie ever, don't see 'Fair Game' such a waste of time!

Sunday morning the girls woke up nice and early at 6:30. They were very excited to look through their Easter baskets; Elise got a Tangled book, doll and the movie, and Jovi got a movie and book as well... the stuffed animal she got was shoved aside when we showed it to her, as she moved over to grab her kitty, oh well :0).

We all got ready for church and the girls' dresses turned out all right I think, I learned quite a bit from making them, things I would or wouldn't do again. But I made them without a pattern and only using old T-shirts, so considering my resources they weren't too bad. We went to Bethanie and Jareds' ward because Jared was singing in sacrament meeting. He sang "The Greatest Gift" by Afterglow which was just beautiful, it was perfect for Easter.

After a little bit of lazying around, since I had lovely intense allergies, we had a very nice dinner and TONS of candy. The kids did their Easter egg hunt which was fun, then we all played games. I like hanging out with family, especially for holidays because it reminds me of growing up and my uncles hiding the Easter eggs in their front shirt pockets and the cousins parading off to play while the adults visited. I love that my kids have that. On the way back home we stopped at a friends' house to visit for about an hour which was so nice, our kids got to all talk about their Easter baskets, the Brians talked about cars and what not and Amy and I got to talk about girly/ mother things, good times.