Secrets

I came across a blog who had started a blogging secrets game. He had 80 participants who each posted an anonymous person's secret on their blog. Once I put Ava to be last night I read through some of them. You can see it here.

http://newsomi.blogspot.com/2008/11/blogsecretparticipants.html

It got me thinking about secrets. We all have them, and it's so intriguing to read others secrets. I don't know if it's because it makes us feel better about ourselves (even though I could relate to some of them on the blog!) or if it fills some sort of empty void, knowing a secret about someone else. I mean, come on, how many of you out there don't love a good secret? I have millions of secrets, many of which are buried in the past. I love that my husband and I are honest with each other, but neither of us like to talk about our past relationships (the blogging secrets game mainly talked about relationship/encounter secrets). I know some couples who love talking about their ex's and past relationships.....not me. They have shaped me into who I am today, and I've learned alot through past relationships, but I like to consider it in the past. Why is it that we absolutely love hearing other peoples secrets? We all like to talk about ourselves, but secrets are something we would like to hear, rather than tell.

"Never speak of yourself to others; make themtalk about themselves instead; therein lies thewhole art of pleasing. Everybody knows it, and everyone forgets it."
Edmond and Jules de Goncourt

Update

It's been a little while since I've last updated....here are a few points from the past week or so...

We had a wonderful Halloween, here are some photos from the evening. Ava decided to go as a ballerina. She had 3 costumes to choose from....all hand-me-downs though! At first, she was not excited about wearing her costume (can you tell?) but she warmed up to it after I told her she got to eat candy all day long. The picture of the little ones dressed as a cow and ladybug are from her daycare. Aren't they adorable?

It's so hard for me to discipline sometimes. The other night, Ava cracked an egg all over my white lamb skin rug. I found her in our living room with a measuring cup, egg, and bowl. Apparently she was trying to make cookies. She missed the bowl and cracked it all over the rug though. Geesh, it was so hard for Josh and I not to crack up during that conversation! See picture up above.

Friday night, my sister and her husband graciously watched Ava for the evening so Josh and I could go out on a date! He surprised me the day before and arranged for a sitter so we could do some shopping and have dinner at a new Restaurant. It was alot of fun! We also made it through the first season of Heroes that night. Now we have 2 more seasons to go before we're finally caught up!

This week I'll be staying with my friends Kids for a couple of nights. Ava is so excited to have sleepovers 2 nights in a row! We are all going to see Madagascar too. Have any of you seen it yet? It looks hilarious! This will be Ava's first movie. Should be alot of fun.

I've been keeping up with my personal trainer. She is teaching me some awesome things and it's finally paying off! I'm down 18 pounds so far. Unfortunately the Epstein Barr Virus that I have makes it extremely difficult for me to loose weight, but I've been taking some pretty drastic measures and it's been helping alot. If you are interested in hiring a wonderful trainer who COMES TO YOUR HOME for an excellent price, let me know!

That's about it for now, I don't know when I will get to posting next. These next couple of days should be pretty busy, and we have my cousins wedding this weekend (Ava is the flower girl....see previous post back in September for photos). It is a Navy wedding, Ava and her cousin are Sailor Flower Girls! So Adorable! Happy Veterans Day!

Halloween Party

Our good friends had a Halloween party for all of the little ones last weekend. Here are a few photos from the day! In 2006 about 6 of us girls were all pregnant at the same time! Most of the kids are just a month apart. Ava and her cousin Kendal (in the Snow White costume) are only 4 days apart!

On the left is Paige, Ava, Brayden, Kendal and Reese (who was not happy at the time of the photo).

Up above is Ava and Auntie Colleen, my sister. Colleen is a real life ballerina, so I thought this picture was pretty cute of the both of them.

The next picture is Ava as a little ballerina. She will also be wearing this costume during the day on Friday (Halloween) and trick-or-treating as a Care Bear at night (her and cousin Kendal always dress up in the same costumes every year). Their first Halloween they were little lambs, last year they were ladybugs, and this year they will be going as Care Bears! What are all of your kiddos dressing up as on Halloween?

Have fun and be safe!

7 Random Things About Me

Okay, here are 7 Random things about me. I dare you to list 7 Random things about yourself that most people probably don't know!

I hate talking on the phone. Period. Please don’t hate me for this. It is proven if you look at my husband and I’s cell phone bill (he uses all of our minutes) that I hate to talk on the phone. See previous post. I would much rather text message, email, or chat over facebook. There, I said it. No matter how awful that is.

I love/hate my hair. Usually hate it. It takes forever to blow dry/straighten….and if I don’t, it is really wavey and sometimes frizzy.

I loose my keys ALL of the time. It is a big problem with me. I’ve tried everything, but I loose them about once a week. I am usually running behind because of this. And it doesn't help when your two year old hides them all of the time. Yesterday I found them in the pantry.

I cannot let the little things go, but I hold a lot of stuff in (until it breaks me). This is an awful combination.

I am addicted to Target

When I was like 3 or 4, my parents left me in the car all night on Christmas Eve (at my grandmas house). They didn't realize where I was until it was time to open gifts. Sorry mom, you know I had to post this! Don't get me wrong, they are the best parents in the whole world. I have 32 first cousins, can you blame them?!?

I sing at church, but very quietly. I don't know why. There are a few songs that I can belt out, but I was not blessed with a great voice. I do love to worship, but I usually sing very quietly. I WISH I had been given awesome vocal chords, but the good lord has blessed me in several other ways. Not that he cares what I sound like anyways.

Well, I'm supposed to choose 7 people to tag, but how about this? If you read this, post 7 random facts about yourself and leave me a comment with your URL! And by the way, post the first 7 things that come to mind. Don't think about it and wait two days. Let your inner beauty shine!

5-Spice Turkey Lettuce Wraps

I tried a new dish tonight, and thought I would share it with any of you out there who enjoy the lettuce wraps at PF Changs (No, it's not the official recipe but something similar). A few weeks ago I hired a personal trainer who has been meeting with me once a week (coming to my house!)to show me some new work-outs, and has given me new goals every week regarding my diet. I've been trying really hard to work out/eat well and it's nice having an accountability partner! This week I was trying to eat less sodium and include more veggies. I modified this recipe a bit (I'll try to include the modifications) but it was a big hit with my husband and daughter! I even made extra so that I could freeze a batch for next week sometime. If you need to add carbs to yours, I would suggest using whole wheat tortillas (instead of the lettuce as a wrap) or adding in some brown rice to the mix. Enjoy!

5-Star Spicy Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 pound lean ground turkey (I used the Jennie-O turkey...Albertsons had it for $2.99/lb!)
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger (I forgot to use this....whoops! It was still good though)
1 large red bell pepper, finely diced (I threw in a few peppers to add more veggies)
1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, rinsed and chopped (I added more since we love these)
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth (I used 1/2 of this and added some water)
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce (if you've never used this, you buy it in the Chinese section. Its yummy...made of soybeans, chiles, garlic and spices!)
1 teaspoon five-spice powder (You buy this in the Chinese section as well)
1/2 teaspoon salt (I did not use this, but you could use the no-sodium salt if you wanted)
2 heads lettuce, leaves separated (Either Boston lettuce or butter leaf lettuce)
1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs (I used chives, cilantro, and basil)
1 large carrot, shredded

Cooking Directions

Heat oil in large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add turkey and ginger (which I forgot to add); cook about 7 minutes until the turkey is cooked through. Stir in bell pepper, water chestnuts, broth, hoisin sauce, five-spice powder and salt (which I omitted); cook until heated through, about 2 minutes.

To serve, spoon portions of the turkey mixture into lettuce leaves, top with herbs and carrot and roll into wraps. That's all!

Nutrition Info
Per Serving
Calories: 338 kcal
Carbohydrates: 27 g
Dietary Fiber: 4 g
Fat: 14 g
Protein: 26 g
Sugars: 4 g

Hope you enjoy! Since it was cold out, I boiled some lemon tea to go along with it. Mmmmm...

Home From Afghanistan

Earlier this year my boss (and good friend) Captain Edwards was deployed overseas to Afghanistan. Yesterday he surprised us and showed up to our office! We were all shocked since we did not expect him back until next week. It was a wonderful surprise and we are extremely thankful for everything he did for our country this year. I want to thank everyone who prayed for him during his deployment, and continues to pray for the troops that are still over there. It was so wonderful to see his family back together after such a long separation. Welcome home Tony!

The joy of seeing Tony return home is also accompanied with the pain of remembering a friend to many in the community who lost his life last month. Everyone is doing a wonderful job of keeping his memory alive, and I hope that this comforts his family every day during this difficult time. Please continue to pray for the troops that are still overseas as well. And if you would like the address of where to send a care package, let me know. They really appreciate getting something in the mail, even if it is not much!

Things that annoy me at Costco...

-Everyone thinks that they are in a bigger hurry than you are
-People walk extremely slow and take up a huge amount of space in the middle of the isle (the carts are too big to manever and they really need a fast and slow lane)
-The self check out does not accept cash, and there is no sign telling you this (I had to find out the hard way on Saturday)
-There are no express lines
-The parking lots
-The gas lines
-Forgetting that the employees always need to check your receipt on the way out the door (after Ive placed it in my purse and have my hands full on the way out)
-My daughter wanting to try every (and I mean every) sample they offer (even the ones I know she won’t like)
-People never smile at you
-The one isle I always need to get through is roped off because someone broke something
-You can never spend less than $200 (which is why Ive started to take cash out of my account beforehand)
-I never know where to put the 40 rolls of toilet paper Ive purchased
-Everything has to come in sets of two, at least sets of two, even if you do not need 2 coffins or 2 plasma tv’s