Seriously SOOOO sappy

I was reading through some of my own posts, and lest you think I am sappy, I am going to add some reality from the past few days.
I have not recovered (nor has my house) from my kids being sick last weekend. I was going to use yesterday to catch up but then....
1. Remy puked during sacrament (right after the bread came by) as I'm racing in and out, Zoe is asking very loudly, "mommy what are you doing? mommy are we leaving? mommy are we staying? mommy why is Remy sick?"
2.. My bedroom stinketh....Rems came home only to continue blowing green stuff out both ends all over my bed. And his green stuff REEKS!
3. The puking continued this morning on the couch. (Thank heavens for leather couches)
4. My laundry piles are taller than I am and my kitchen looks like a bomb exploded.
5. I have a warrant out for my arrest (so not kidding) I forgot to pay a speeding ticket.

Simple things I Love week #7 / a Good Man

He's a hard worker

He teases

He plays

He builds snowmen He fishes
He's the business man (the scowl was for me)

He is my heart throb and babe!

The love of my life and my love for the eternities to come!

This week brought to my attention how completely awesome he is. I was quite involved with a conference this week and Brian handled the dinners, homework, laundry...you name it

Brian is completely perfect for me! He makes me laugh. He is my rock when I need it. He is an amazing Dad and wonderful husband. I could gush on and on about why is such a good man. I am grateful everyday that he is my partner, my best friend and my lover.

Sweet n' Sour Valentines

The SWEET - Friday evening we celebrated the February birthdays and Valentines at my mom house. As usual the decor rocked! I'm sure the grand kids have no clue how much time and effort she puts into thsese parties. I think she hit 6 stores to obtain all of the kid's valentines plates. It was perfect! Yes mother, presentation is everything!

The SOUR - Friday ind the middle of the craziness...getting ready for the princess party, valentines, and GKAS... the school called, and Cambridge was sick. He missed the party and by Saturday he was running a fever of 103. By Saturday night he was "barfing" (his term) and by Sunday morning Brian has joined the red hot puking crew. Definitely not our most romantic Valentines!

"Do good are care not to whom"

Give Kids a Smile 2009. February is children's dental health month. The ADA has partnered with Henry Schein to provide free dentistry for kids across the country. Utah conducted 4 clinics this year. The Weber Dental Society, the students from the WSU Hygiene school and Henry Schein conducted this clinic. We saw over 100 kids from 8-2 on Saturday. In my selfish mode of being a working mom, with three little kids, its hard to give up the time to plan, prepare and pull this off. The feeling after makes it worth it! BIG THANKS to the awesome Dentists in the area that donated the time, materials and skills to make this happen.

Simple things I love week #6 ZOE

Zophia Elizabeth Bingham - Happy 3rd Birthday! You are the princess pie! You are smart and funny. You are pure girl but not afraid to wrestle your brothers. You are the perfect combination of sugar, spice and everything nice! We LOVE you!

Princess Party

My Zoe is 3!!! She wanted a princess party and her wish was my command. We had 10 little princess (ages 3 and 4) join us. We had pink princess sandwiches with princess graham crackers pink princess strawberries and...you get the idea. We played princess and the pea on the pillows, painted fingers, cast magic spells, danced like princesses, and made magic pixie wands. They were darling but 3 is really little to do this with sooo many little girls! BIG HUGE thanks to Jenny and Liz for helping I would have DIED without you.

My apologies to my mother

Sometimes I forget this is the Internet and yes my mom is reading my blog. As mentioned by my friend Stephanie, in a comment to the post below...without realizing it, I made my mom feel bad. I could edit the post, but I would rather clarify because it's something that has been on my mind a lot lately. Where and when do we develop our self image? What is the difference between self-esteem and self-confidence? How do we accept and love the bodies God has blessed us with? We are taught our bodies are a temple. When we don't exercise our bodies, deprive them of sleep, over stress them, neglect to give them fresh nutrient rich foods, and fuel them with fried foods and processed sugars, is that treating them like a temple? As for self-esteem and self-confidence, I believe they are completely different things. Self-esteem to me is not about my 'self' at all. It's about my understanding and acceptance that I am a daughter of God. I believe this begins in primary and is an evolving process. Self-confidence for me, comes from the ability to reach a goal, or complete a task and it certainly helps to have your family and friends on the sidelines cheering you on. I would define my self -image as a blend of these two. I have been very blessed to have been surrounded by a loving family and good friends that I know believe in me. The one in this area that gets the most credit would be my mom. She has always been my biggest cheerleader. She has always lavished me in her love and praise. My mom has always sacrificed her personal wants and needs for the success of her children. From very early dance recitals, to speech and debate tournaments, or whatever the situation was, in my mom's eyes I always new I was the best. Second place would have to go to my sister. I remember one specific time I was sobbing on my way to Primary Children's Hospital. Remy was sick...REALLY sick, and possibly not going to make it. I was crying that I just couldn't take anymore. My sister helped me reach into that almost empty well of confidence to get through it. Come to think of it, I think we've had that conversation several times. As for my physical body and how I view it. I thank God for it everyday. I have been given a great body. It is a strong, good body. There are things I absolutely love (I've got great lips for putting on lip-stick) and things I need to work on. With the gift of a body also came the choice and accountability as to how I treat that body, what I feed it, and how much exercise and sleep it gets. I want to do a better job in this area. I haven't gotten it all figured out yet, luckily it's a journey that daily I try to enjoy. Thanks for the comments! Love Mel

I think Satan was sittting on my shoulder today.

So much for being positive....I don't use 'Hate' a whole lot. In fact we try not to use it at all at our house. Today started off great. The blessed psycho scale is down 5lbs from yesterday. New low by a pound. I did great until dinner. I 'hate' it when I'm not prepared, thus we ended up at Training Table and I have no resistance when it comes to their cheese fries. Second stop Walmart to buy valentines and candy. The Dove dark chocolates were calling my name, I 'hate' it when I give into temptation. Next stop Katie's cousins jean party...I hate all girls that have a size 2 maybe a size4 bum that looks WAy cute in trendy pocket jeans. I couldn't find a single pair I liked on my bum. Last stop my house. I happened to be wearing a short sleeve shirt as I carried in groceries. I caught a side glimpse of cottage cheese on my upper arms I HATE COTTAGE CHEESE on my arms. Seriously want to give up. I HATE it when I feel this way.

p.s. (I don't really 'hate' those girls.... just jealous of their bums and genetics. At 5'11 it's just not going to happen for me.)

p.s.s. Don't anyone DARE lie and comment "oh Mel you look great" I'll smack ya! I'm not fishing for kudos, but maybe looking for comments as to what you do when you feel this way...Or maybe it's just me?

Simple Things I love/ week #5

This was a hard week from a work perspective, potty perspective, you name it. However the weekend made up for the week. Simple things I love this week:
1. Birthdays
2. Friends that call or txt just when you need it
3. Skiing on bright sunny days

Potty progress and the kidneys of a camel

Have you ever wanted to just give up!!! By Thursday of last week I was ready to bag the potty training. My darling little princess has the kidneys of a camel. She can hold it longer than any other kid I know. She didn't like the potty so she was refusing to go. NOT just refusing but any time we were waiting in the bathroom for her to go she would start crying and screaming her head off. Friday morning we went to the doctor because I thought she might have a u.t.i. mmm NO just a stubborn streak. I was ready to throw in the towel, even the Dr. suggested giving up and trying in a few more weeks. Brian said to give it one more day.. and see. Zoe wanted to go shopping after returning from the doctor's office. I took her over to Toys R US. At this point we've already tried prizes, pretty panties, potty trophies, you name it. I let her walk through the store and pick out whatever she wanted as a potty prize. She picked a princess scooter and I told her she could have it BUT There is no more crying in potty training!!!! It worked! We have not reached perfection but we are on our way!

Happy Birthday to Us!

(we look goofy but it's law in the Bingham house to wear a helmet)

February 7th 1968 and February 7th 1975.....voila they get married...When we were dating and Brian told me we had the same birthday, I didn't believe him I made him get his drivers license out to prove it. Sharing the same birthday is kind of like having two anniversaries. You never get your own day but you do get to share it with someone you love. We had a fabulous day skiing, and finished the day with a yummy dinner at Tempanyaki with the kids.
BIG THANKS to my friends that took me to breakfast, my mom for watching the kids while we skied, and the rest of you that txt, called, sent ecards, presents, and commented on my new facebook wall. It was a GREAT Birthday!!!

Death by Potty Training

It's all about options. She is sitting on one training seat and is using the other (never used) one as a crown or new age visor. I AM EXHAUSTED!!!!!! Day one of potty training was killer. 6 misses and 2 on target. I have a pile of wet laundry waiting for me and have been running around with the spot shot for the carpet. First thing this morning I flooded her with every beverage I could find. We sat in the bathroom for 2 FREAKING hours, we sang songs, we told stories, we had snacks.....and NOTHING! I let her take a break set the timer for ten minuets and tried again..Nothing set the timer for 10 minutes and at 6 minutes while I wasn't looking she went. And thus was our day... I tried taking her every 10, every 15, every 30 minutes...NO NO and NO. We had prizes, I did a royal happy dance when she did go, and she cried and cried. Every time I didn't pay attention for two seconds she tinkled in her pants. She said tonight, "Mommy I want to be done potty training." Me to sister, me too!

Ben and Holmes...Ballet or Football?

Look at those pointed toes!!!!! They would make any dance teacher proud! Those pointed toes just won the Super Bowl XLIII What an amazing game! Tense game! I asked Brian on the way to church this morning if he was nervous. He said, "I do have butterflies in my stomach." There is no question the Bingham house is part of the Steeler Nation. Thanks Greers for sharing the Victory and all the yummy party food. Crazy Party Crowd!

Running Group and Gym Envy

Meet Shmuffy my new 'running group'

I am really trying to kick it into gear. I would love to run with Brian or the girls in the neighborhood etc. but because of my schedule, Brian's schedule and my kidos it just wasn't happening. I felt bad for a bit but decided I had a solution..Shmuffy!!!! About two weeks ago I experienced gym envy or jealousy. My friend was saying that now her youngest child is in school all day she can; get the kids off to school, hit a class at the gym, sometimes even two. I was so envious!!!! How crazy to be jealous of someone else's schedule. I was whining to friend I work with and she said get up at 5:00am and go to the gym. Schedule wise this would work unless Brian is traveling. I love to work-out and I would love to start going back to the gym (usually I just hit our basement) BUT YUCK I hate 5:am and if I wait until my kids are in bed at night I AM WAY TOO TIRED. Deciding the gym envy wasn't getting me anywhere and whining certainly wasn't reducing he number on the scale I am getting up at 4:59 to make the 5:30 class. I am not sure I am in love with it yet but it feels good!

London Bridges Falling Down

Do you remember the second verse to London Bridges... "Take the key and lock her up, lock her up...." This is the hutch in the entry. These are Zoe's baby dolls locked inside. Should I be worried? She has two baby doll beds but for some reason the hutch is a better place to sleep. Makes me wonder why I bought the doll beds.

Simple Things I love / funny forwards

FWD:WORST FIRST DATE STORY EVER
If you didn't see this on the Tonight show, I hope you're sitting down when you read it.
This is probably the funniest date story ever, first date or not!!! We have all had bad dates but this takes the cake. Jay Leno went into the audience to find the most embarrassing first date that a woman ever had. The winner described her worst first dateexperience. There was absolutely no question as to why her tale took the prize! She said it was midwinter...Snowing and quite cold... and the guy hadtakenher skiing in the mountains outside Salt Lake City , Utah . It was a day trip (no overnight). They were strangers, after all, andhadnever met before. The outing was fun but relatively uneventful until theywere headed home late that afternoon. They were driving back down the mountain, when she gradually began to realize that she should not have had that extra latte. They were about an hour away from anywhere with a rest room and in the middle of nowhere!Her companion suggested she try to hold it, which she did for a while. Unfortunately, because of the heavy snow and slow going, there came a pointwhere she told him that he had better stop and let her go beside theroad, or it would be the front seat of his car . They stopped and she quickly crawled out beside the car, yanked her pants down and started. In the deep snow she didn't have good footing, so she let her butt rest against the rear
fender to steady herself. Her companion stood on the side of the car watching for traffic and indeed was a real gentleman and refrained from peeking. All she could think about was the relief she felt despite the rather embarrassing nature of the situation. Upon finishing however, she soon became aware of another sensation. As she bent to pull up her pants, the young lady discovered her buttocks were firmly glued against the car's fender. Thoughts of tongues frozen to poles immediately came to mind as she attempted to disengage her flesh from the icy metal. It was quickly apparent that she had a brand new problem, due to the extreme cold. Horrified by her plight and yet aware of the humor of the moment, she answered her date's concerns about' what is taking so long' with a reply that indeed, she was 'freezing her butt off' and in need of some assistance! He came around the car as she tried to cover herself with her sweater and then, as she looked imploringly into his eyes, he burst outlaughing. She too, got the giggles and when they finally managed to compose themselves, they assessed her dilemma. Obviously, as hysterical as the situation was, they also were faced with a real problem. Both agreed it would take something hot to free her chilly cheeks from the grip of the icy metal! Thinking about what had gotten her into thepredicament in the first place, both quickly realized that there was only one way to get her free. So, as she looked the other way, her first time date proceeded to unzip his pants and pee her butt off the fender. As the audience screamed in laughter, she took the Tonight Show prize hands down. Or perhaps that should be 'pants down. 'And you thought your first date was embarrassing. Jay Leno's comment...'This gives a whole new meaning to being pissed off.' Oh and how did the first date turn out? He became her husband and was sitting next to her on the Leno show.

Can January PLEASE be OVER?

I've started getting up at 4:59 to get to the gym by 5:30. At the same time I thought I would take a challenge from my brother and give up Diet Coke for the month of January...... Bad combination.........
SERIOUSLY WHAT WAS I THINKING?
By 10:00am my body is craving caffeine and or a nap.
I have caved on the Diet Coke twice (ok to be honest a few times). Twice because I was about to drive off the road. Once because I was eating Mexican, I can NOT eat Mexican without a coke and this last time because I was sitting down to lunch with my co-travel rep and I just plain WANTED ONE! Those of you who are serious about your soda know that not all diet coke is created equal. McDonalds typically has good Diet Coke but even from one Micky D's to another it will taste different. Marketplace grill in SLC by the Old MILL has DIVINE Diet coke. Be sure and ask for the lime. Lunch and the Diet Coke were courtesy of 3M - Thanks Kristen!

ps January only has 3 more DAYS!!!!!!!!! HALLELUJAH

The Homeless Man and My Chicken.

This post is basically a random re-cap of the events of this week, and random it was....most likely significant to no one but me*The homeless man and my chicken - Cam and I did a quick Costco run on Monday. I should never go to Costco hungry. I LOVE their rotisserie chicken. I've got everything but the chicken loaded in the back of the car and this homeless man comes up to us and says, "Mam do you have six dollars. I'm trying to get enough money to stay at this hotel here in town tonight." Me, "I don't have any cash on me." At this point he is eyeing the chicken I have in my hand and says, "That sure is a nice chicken you have there." The chicken is in my hand and not in the back of the car because I know I have a plastic fork in my glove-box and I have every intention of sampling the chicken before I even get out of the parking lot. I said to the man, "Would you like my chicken?" Thinking he would say no because sometimes they are only after money. He says, "If it won't put you out to much that would be nice." I give him the chicken and Cam and I get in the car and buckle up. I am kinda bummed at this point because I was REALLY craving that chicken. I looked out my window and the man had sat down immediately on a rock and was diving into the chicken. He was indeed more hungry than I. Cam then proceeded to ask. Why did you give him our chicken? Why doesn't he have a house? Why doesn't he have an apartment? Why doesn't he have a job? In my mind before I answer I am thinking, TEACHING MOMENT - DON'T MESS THIS UP!!!! It was good. We had a good talk about what would Jesus do.

*The Scale and the Chocolate Doughnut - For two straight weeks I have worked out hard and eaten really well (not perfect but really good) I got on the scale Friday morning to discover I had gained a pound in those two weeks. Muscle weighs more than fat...WHATEVER! I need the fat to take a hike. FREAKING SCALE!!! I am pondering this while I am at work. I passed a 7 11 and I thought, BAG IT!! I'm going in for a double chocolate doughnut, my fave!!!! I pick up the doughnut and I look at the top, it's extra shiny, kind of odd, but ohwell. I walk to the register, and take a bite as I am paying for it. The cashier took one look at my face and knew something was WRONG. It was disgusting! I don't know if it was old or what the problem was, but she didn't make me pay for it. If you're going to jump off the wagon it better taste good! I did find a sugar cookie at Hug Hes cafe later in the day and it was DIVINE

*The Jesus Song - I have a resolution to pull out my very RUSTY piano skills. At random points in the day sit down and play a hymn or primary song. I have no intentions of being a pianist. I just want to be able to play a hymn or song in primary in a pinch. I was playing 'I am a child of God and Zoe came running in from the office to say, "Mom you're doing the Jesus song." I have no idea where she got that, so I am assuming it was nursery....gotta love nursery.

Simple Things I love week #3 - Sisters

I grew up with one Sister and she is the BEST! I could go on and on about how much I love Mindy. Since then I've acquired two more. First was Lynette (Matt's wife) I love Lynette because she is always so willing to help out...with ANYTHING. She is the greatest with my kids, and I think the dishes at the cabin would never get done without her. Jana is my newest sister. She is like a little ray of sunshine. She is sporty and fun and I love to be around her.

When I started this project the rule was; the simple love or the joy I was blogging about had to actually occur the week of the post. I was having an issue this week, and I simply didn't know what to do. I called Mindy, and in the middle of her hundreds of meetings this week, and the mountains of stress she is dealing with, she imparted some lovely advice. The minute she told me what to do, and what to say, I felt instant peace. Mindy is the best at advice on almost anything ...Seriously I should give out her number and you should call her! Just don't tell her where you got the number. And I did mention to her she needed to start charging for her advice, so there might be a small fee involved.

What to wear? What to wear? What to wear?

Is it blog etiquette to talk politics, or at the very least fashion in politics? Talk about serious pressure!!!! Can you imagine the stress of trying to pick out what to wear knowing you will be photographed from every possible angle? My personal opinion is that post election night the fashion police or fashion-aid from the White House (do they have one of those?) Got their hands on her and went to work. I can't imagine the price tag on the dresses worn today. I'm all for the First Lady looking good, but the dollar amount would probably feed a small US family for a year. As for myself I was sorely tempted to wear black (for mourning) today. I looked at all the media coverage of the cheering crowds and the happy people and I thought," That is not me today, this is what it feels like to NOT have your guy win." I opted for all brown instead of black, because I have to have a ray of hope. I actually do pray that, my gut is wrong and all those thousands of people (including the very liberal media) are right; that he will go down as the best President Ever. Heaven knows this country needs it. You may not have my vote President Obama but my prayers are with you.

Even her beloved media called this a disaster dress. "she had a temporary lapse in judgement" I liked her dress..love the glovesThis was my 'fave' of the day

front of the dressback of the dress

Dress in motion..