Bye Bye Baby Weight

Each kid brings more pounds correct? Thats seems to sometimes be the way.
After having my first child, Brighton, I was able to quickly bounce back.  Although parts of my body would never be the same, (my ribs had expanded, I had a great looking csection scar, and of course: those boobs will never be the same) it was easy to get off the extra weight and feel pretty normal again.  Then I had my second child, Troy, and had to work much harder to get the pregnancy weight off; I never quite lost all of it.  I did a 90 day workout program.  I was so excited as I saw great results, Troy was about 8 months, but I still had extra pounds.  A year later I was still struggling with the extra weight.  I counted calories and worked out for an hour everyday. I was able to drop 5 more pounds but it was hard! and I felt like I was always hungry and wasn't allotted enough calories to fill me up while losing weight.  I was able to keep off 3 of those pounds until I got pregnant again.

I don't get very sick while being pregnant, but I am exhausted all day long, and hungry all day long! So by the end of my pregnancy I have more than just a few pounds to loose.  After Jake I wasn't happy with myself.  I know… it takes time, and it is perfectly normal to look like you just had a baby for at least 6 months after having the baby, but I was done with it! I didn't want to look in the mirror and see that double chin, flabby belly, or large thighs.  And I was so sick of the few items of clothing I was able to fit into. I wanted my old wardrobe back! And QUICK! I knew it was going to be hard hard hard to feel good again but I was ready to work. And guess what? It wasn't hard hard hard.  It was easy! and Fun! How you ask?  I'll tell you! There were 3 things that really helped me to loose my extra Jake weight in 8 weeks!

60 Day BMS Challenge
I joined a challenge.  I had a team of 4, My BFF Mary, a friend of my sister in law, and a friend of hers.  Together we earned points every week, for 8 weeks by working out, eating healthy, and doing other things great for our "soul".  That's where BMS comes from-Body, Mind, Soul.  There are many different variations of these challenges. Reasons why I joined this one: You only had to work out 30 minutes a day compared to the 45 I had seen in other challenges.  That seemed much more doable to me at this time in my life with 3 high maintenance boys to be taking care of.  There is a negative food list that you are not supposed to eat from; but you get 2 cheats each week without losing points.  That worked for me because I love love love sweets and baked goodies.  Knowing I could indulge sometimes was a plus! Things on the negative list were all things made with white flour, sugar, chips, fries, you know; all those yummy things that aren't so great for your body.  Then there is a neutral list that you can eat from but shouldn't eat to much of, like potatoes, dark chocolate, brown sugar.  You had to eat 10 positive foods each day including 5 fruits or veggies.  Other positives were anything made with 100 percent whole wheat, nuts, beans, protein.  There was also random acts of kindness, prayer, and scripture reading to get more points.  All great things I should be doing anyway!  We should be finding out any day what place we came in. There were 25 teams competing against each other.  The top three teams and top three individuals get $$ at the end for most points and highest percent lost.  It was so fun working as a team.  We texted everyday boosting each other up and cheering one another on.  You also worked harder and didn't want to loose points because your teammates are counting on you as well.  So much more effective then doing it on your own.

Turbo Fire
I used Chalene Johnson's workout program Turbo Fire for most of my workouts.  She is my most favorite workout instructor in the world!! I would love to meet her some day. Before I was married I loved to go to Turbo Kick at my local Gold's Gym.  Turns out Chalene was the inventor of this class! After Brighton I had fun doing her Turbo Jam program in my home while Brighton bopped around me.  After Troy I bought her program Chalean Extreme.  It is TONS of weight lifting with some cardio.  Turbo fire is a harder version of Turbo Jam with HIIT training incorporated.  I love it and i love the energy she has.  She makes it so fun! So everyday I do a workout from one of her programs.  The boys are usually running around me as I jump around the room.  They like to get thigh toners and resistance bands and join in on the fun sometimes too.



Fitness Pal App
Halfway through the challenge I downloaded this app. It's the same one I used when trying to calorie count after having Troy.  Back then I was always hungry and really struggled staying at the calorie intake it gave me.  This time it was so easy to stay at my calorie goal!  At the end of everyday I was completely full and usually under my calories!!  Happy Dance! Also, the app gives you more calories when you enter your workout and Turbo Fire burns TONS of calories.  The days I went over my calorie goal were usually the days I consumed my cheat food.  This app is so easy to use.  It has a bar scanner so you can just scan in what you eat and it puts all the nutrient information in for you. You can also put in your recipes and it will calculate the calories for you.  It shows you at the end of the day a graph with your carb, protein, and fat intake, and tells you what you will weigh in 5 weeks if you continue to eat that way.  You can also connect with your friends that use it and cheer each other on.
Have the app? Add me! my name is: highshy

At the beginning of the 8 weeks my teammates and I told each other what we wanted to loose during the challenge.  Mine was 10 pounds for sure, but 15 would be awesome! I lost 14.5 pounds in those 8 weeks.  It was so fun to get on the scale and see it drop and drop and drop.  I am completely back to the weight I was before having Troy.  After the 5th week I was able to put on all my old jeans and was in Heaven! We took measurements at the beginning and end.  All together I lost a total of 9.5 inches.  3.5 off my waist, 3 off my hips, and 2 off each thigh!  I get compliments all the time about how I don't look like I just had a baby and how quickly I was able to loose the baby weight.  It feels great to hear those words.  My baby is just barely 4 months and I am at the weight I was before I had him.  And Although it took work it was by no means hard.  I still had cookies, cake, at least 8 doughnuts, and delicious food the entire time, and still lost tons of weight! I know people that didn't cheat at all during the challenge, that's great! But I can't always pass up the goodies!

My mom called after the challenge and asked what was the thing I learned from the challenge that I thought was the most important.  It was that I could eat to be full, and still loose weight.  If I was eating things that were in a more natural state, fruits and veggies, I would continue to loose weight. YAY!  I've learned great eating habits.  During the challenge my family ate more healthy as well.  We always had fruits and veggies around the house to munch on and our meals were better too.  My boys love fruit! They also eat salad, carrots, zucchini, asparagus, beans, edamame…I feel like a great mom when I see them eating this way!

Although I am so happy with my results and feel great, I would love to loose a few more pounds and be pre Troy weight!! So I am jumping on the next challenge that starts April 5th.  By the end of May I will be completely ready for summer! Wanna join me? Wanna know more? Go to this website and read a little bit more of the particulars.  www.60daybms.com Then let me know so we can participate together! I'm in the process of putting together an awesome team, or two if we can get enough people to loose weight and feel great before summer time!

Big Changes Coming Our Way!

I've been waiting to write this post for quite some time now.  Waiting for the perfect moment.  and Waiting some more.  I think its finally the time.  We have finally started our NEW HOUSE!!

We love our home right now, and love our neighborhood, but Chris' dealership is all the way in Draper, and we hate the commute! When he opened this new lot in March Chris was working long hours and the drive just made it even longer! So we decided to start looking at a place to move.  We searched for hours on the internet looking at homes for sale.  We started in Lehi and looked up through the Draper/South Jordan area.  We walk through many homes and searched and searched.  Chris and I each had a list of things we wanted to have in this house and wanted one that our family could expand in and we could stay for a LONG time.

Chris' list:
   3 car Garage for his toys
   A very Large Lot! (remember he grew up with tons of acres!)
   Vaulted Family Room

Shani's List:
   4 bedrooms on the 2nd floor-including master bedroom
   Double ovens
   Kids Playroom on main floor

We found lots of houses that almost fit our standards.  Many homes that we almost put in an offer on, one we did.  We even looked at many builders comparing their prices, homes, and neighborhoods. There was an Ivory model home for sale in Lehi and I loved the layout! but we didn't love the price.  This brought us looking at Ivory homes a little bit.  We saw they had a neighborhood in Draper so we drove up there and met an ivory realtor, Ty.  He showed us the neighborhood and sent us information on models that fit our "house criteria".  The next week we went to see "The Hanover" model in South Jordan.  The house was PERFECT.  It had all of our list and tons more.  It was beautiful.  We also fell in love with Ivory's gorgeous communities.

But, we still thought maybe we didn't want to build again, so we searched a little bit more; NOTHING compared, and the prices were close to the same as a brand new house.  So we talked to Ty again and started looking at lots available in the Draper, Riverton, and South Jordan communities.  All of them are super nice.  We loved the Draper community but it was tons more money than the other 2, and the lots were smaller.  We found a large lot in Riverton but it wasn't wide enough to fit our house, finally we found a .35 acre lot in South Jordan.  We thought, and talked, and prayed, and talked and decided that was our lot and the Hanover was our house.  YEAH!

After the decision was made we put in an offer to Ivory Homes.  It came back saying that the person who bought the lot next to ours was putting a Hanover on that lot so we couldn't.  WHAT? Our realtor said they could "resurrect" an older design of our house called Huntington and we could make the changes to the plan to look just like the Hanover.  We had a huge list of changes that would need to be made.  We wanted the exact Hanover on the inside and wouldn't budge.  Finally we met with an architect of Ivory.  We talked to him about what we wanted.  To our luck he decided to draw a new outside called the "Hanover Grand" instead of redoing the inside of a house we didn't want.  A week later he send us the plans and we LOVED it! I'm pretty sure our neighbor with the regular Hanover will be pretty jealous when he sees our Grand!

A porch out front was removed and they added the long stone work up the middle of the house.  Also added are the large pillars in the front.  We squared off the garage and the vents.

With that taken care of we started picking out all our options.  This was fun.  We knew things that we would change after building our first house.  Ivory had tons of options to choose from and we spent many hours in their design center.  This was during the parade of homes so we went to many of those to get ideas.  The tile we loved was every where!  We were told that they really wanted to get moving on our phase of homes in this neighborhood and could be looking at moving around the end of the year! Awesome we thought.  So worked hard and fast to have all our stuff picked out and had it completed the middle of August.

Next steps were to wait for our street and sidewalks to be put in, and our permit to be excepted by South Jordan.  I'm not sure what happened during these last few months, mostly nothing! We waited and waited.  Finally we had a street.  Then we waited more, and finally our permit to build came back.  Then we had a predig meeting last week and were told that they would dig after our meeting.  When we got to the meeting (our house was all staked out) but they told us they wouldn't dig for another week. What?  I'm pretty sure our realtor just tells us whatever he thinks we want to hear-this has not been a positive thing as I have been disappointed so many times because what he usually says is not right! Chris drove to our lot today to see if they did infact dig our hole today.  Guess what he found?

A HOLE!

HOORAY!! After months and months of waiting our house has been started! The whole thing is already decorated in my mind, I've bought a few things here and there for the house as well.  I've been so tempted to start packing but really glad that I waited, and waited...

A little bit of Summer

We have been busy busy busy, but having lots of fun.  The boys are getting so big and getting crazier and louder every day!  Here is a few pictures out of the thousands we took this summer!

Brighton pulled the fire alarm at Amy and Woody's apartment and got to meet the firemen!  I think he learned his lesson.

Troy learned how to go down the slide by himself.  We are so proud!

We had the Bird Family reunion.  Brighton loved playing with his cousins!

We got to visit Kim and Alan in Washington.  We went to the Moses Lake Rodeo one night!

Of course, we had our summer Beach Trip! It was soOOOOO much fun this year.  Both boys loved playing on the beach, and no one got sick!

Brighton had "summer school" which was really a play group; but by me calling it school he actually went by himself!!

We did LOTS and LOTS of water balloons.  The boys were pretty much obsessed!

Took the Razor out a few times and always had a blast.

We've gotten a little craftier around here and made Homemade bubbles.  They were awesome!

Brighton had soccer camp for a week.  He may look excited here but he would not go on the field with out his mommy holding his hand!

Troy is such an adventurous little kid.  He loves riding on all things and playing all day. I love his big bright smile.

We love the lake!

We took some cute family photos on the beach.

Our summers are so crazy.

Hungry Caterpillar Party

I've been meaning to post about Troy's super cute 1st birthday.  I had a blast with his Hungry Caterpillar theme and went all out.  

 This is a caterpillar made up of pictures of how Troy grew each month

 This is our party decor when you walk in.  He had a Hungry Caterpillar book for the guests to sign, and some cute caterpillars that hung around.

 The treat table was full of food from the book.

 Caterpillar Cupcake Cake!

I had heard of kids really Digging into their first birthday cake, but never actually witnessed it until Troy's birthday.  He loved it!!

 The kids had a Caterpillar Hunt in the backyard.  Here is a picture of Troy's shirt I ordered on Etsy.  I love it!

Then all the kids did some fingerpainting.  Thanks Madison for doing it the way I envisioned!!

Look at these cute kids!

Every time I look at my kids I can't believe how dang cute they are.  Did they really come from me? 

Thanks Aunt Amy for taking our pictures.  We love them!!

Madison's Baptism

Doesn't she just look adorable!?!  I can't believe I met this pretty lady when she was only 2 months old. Her baptism was a great day.  I am proud of Miss Madison's decision to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  She is the perfect person to be the leader of all the Bird grandchildren.  She is so sweet and helpful; and just like her aunt Shani (wink, wink) She loves all things sparkley, high heels, and just look at that dress.  Definitely something I would pick out.  I am lucky to be a part of her life and enjoy watching her grow!  Love you Madison!

Here is the whole Bird Clan, and Mike and Julie-so fun to see them

Love these kids!
Below is a picture of Madison and me 4 years ago a little before I finally Officially became her aunt.  She spend the night and we did fun girly stuff all the next day.  I love this little girl so much!

We also got to go on an Easter Egg hunt that day in Madison's neighborhood.  The boys' loved all their loot!

 Troy is very excited about his eggs.  He loved shaking them!

Life as a Stay at Home Mommy

     So, it's been about a year now since I quit teaching and became a full time mom.  I just love it, but it did get some getting used to!  The first few months we watched a little too much tv, the house was a wreck, and there was little organization in my life.  This was hard on me.  When Troy reached about 5 months I was able to pick myself up a little bit.  I started working out again, scrapbooking, and a new hobby: couponing.  This was good to start getting my life back in order.  Troy still wasn't sleeping, and there wasn't much cleaning going on; but my kids were being played with and loved.  That is always number one on my list. 

    I had a few friends try to talk me into Pinterest.  I held off for quite a while.  I was still a bit over-whelmed with life and felt like it would just add "things to do" on my "things to do" list.  I gave in, and it has been in inspiration.  I have found some great recipes, which has upped my cooking, useful cleaning and organization tips, and fun things to do with the kids.  I have promised myself that I would not just "pin" but also do the pins.  

   What a change has come over our house.  My mom has always teased me because I like to be organized, plan, and follow through with my plans.  See why I became a teacher?  That was one of the hardest things I've dealt with since being a stay at home mommy.  I really don't have deadlines and just let myself go.  I have now created a weekly planning paper that helps me plan meals, cleaning, workouts, and activities.  I have made a 2-week cleaning list and kept with it for 6 weeks! I have started working out everyday; even if its just 20 minutes.  All these things make me feel better about myself and I feel like I am doing what I am supposed to do.  I still spend most of my time on the floor or outside playing with the little cuties of mine!  Its amazing how quickly I can clean and I meal plan mostly on Sundays when Chris is home.  I love being organized and having certain things that I know I need to do everyday.  

     I loved teaching and will never forget those year.  I feel that teaching has made me a better mommy and I learned so much by doing it.  I am glad to have the opportunity to be home with my boys everyday.  

*Amy took these pictures of me during my boys/family photo shoot.  Sometimes these kids can drive me nuts, but we have the most fun together.  They are so loving and bring me happiness everyday!!