Cereal

I am pretty sure I gained about 10 pounds last week at Jeff's family reunion, so yesterday and today I have tried really hard to get back on my eating program. "TRIED". I was doing okay until I started writing my speech for Back to School Night a few minuets ago. I was starving...from eating salad all day, and a little stressed...so I went into the kitchen and ate 3/4's of a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I would have eaten an entire box, but 1/4 had already been eaten.

Why is it that I can never get full eating cereal? It is the ultimate comfort food. And there is always a little more milk, so you have to add a little more cereal, and then you need a little more milk to finish that off...

Cinnamon Toast Crunch is, I think, my favorite. I also really like Lucky Charms. If I throw a handful of fiber 1 in with it, I usually don't feel to guilty eating it, as long as I stop at 1 bowl, I tell myself...

It never happens.

What is your favorite cereal?

Sorry...PTA Calling

It is 1:40 a.m. I got home two hours ago from a week long trip with Jeff's family. (It was wonderful.) I have 14 PTA emergency phone call messages that I have to deal with tomorrow, as well as a budget meeting, and Clint's first day of school. My blog is going to have to wait a few more days. I just checked in with everyone because I couldn't sleep...

And Jeff's Grandmother Esther died yesterday morning...just as all of the weeks activities were coming to an end. She had been going downhill for quite some time...the family was ready to let her go. We feel terrible that we will not be able to make it back for the funeral. Jeff's two sisters were able to stay. I have been thinking about her all the way home. She was amazing. Strong, sweet, tough. I think she was 94? She lived by herself in her own home in Oregon and was very independent up until the last few months...

An interesting way to end the week. I am still forming my thoughts about the whole thing. But I just wanted to acknowledge the fact that she impressed me...even though I didn't know her very well. I admired her, and am so grateful for the family that she raised and for the example she set. I will be posting more about her on the Bingham Family Blog, as I am sure many others will also.

It's funny that I just read a post by my friend Miranda all about why we blog. I have thought about this myself. Blogging for me, has become not an action, but a place. I feel secure with some of my deepest thoughts and feelings. I am not sure why...because I have deep relationships with sisters and friends and I feel safe knowing that I will be understood, and that others who don't understand, don't bother. So I feel like it's okay to ramble on about Esther, even though I don't make any sense. And it's the middle of the night. For some reason, even if no one out there is listening or reading...it makes me feel better to write it down. It makes my thoughts more concrete. It is something to do when sleep doesn't come...

I just wanted to post the most important aspect of my trip...the rest of it will have to wait.

See you next week!

We will be in the Pacific Northwest all next week for Jeff's family reunion... Then we get home the day before the start of the school year :(. See you then!


(This is us last year, before I discovered the blogging world. That water was freezing...much diffrent than California!)
See you soon!

Girl Power!

...not that I don't love my boys...and I love being their mom. But every once in a while, I think girls are fun! And they are bouncy! I remember how much fun I used to have baby sitting my nieces when they were little...This brought back a lot of memories for me today! You can come over and dance any time girls!!!

This is just one of many songs they sang today! I will make a disk for you girls of your entire concert! What a blast!

Nieces

Amber and Andi...Little
My favorite people to hang out with when I was in High School were my nieces! I love those girls! Check out the amazing hair! That is one thing all the girls in my family all have in common. We all have a ton of hair! I especially love the way Andi's flips around in her little Egyptian/Cleopatra costume in the video below. And Amber is the one in charge, wearing one of my 80's homecoming dresses. And Michelle was really ticked off about something...I don't remember what. Also in the movie are my other sweet nieces that I have lost touch with, Heather, Nicole and Shannon, and Briar. I need to find those girls. Jacquie and Chelsea were not around this time, and Hannah and Ali were not even born yet! We have a high percentage of girls in our family. I have 3 sisters and 1 brother. 13 nieces, and 5 nephews. And all but 1 of the boys belong to my brother. Then of course there are my 2 boys...do to the inability of Jeff's family to be able to have girls!

(Sorry about the quality of the movie...I just had it on a VHS, so I just filmed it with my digital
camera right off the TV.)
Enjoy!


When Amber was at BYU, whenever she would bring over 1 of the new guys she was dating, I would make him watch this video...She was embarrassed, but it was always good for a laugh! She is a good sport.

(Wow, after watching that, I am sorry to say that the playback quality is absolutly horrible! I will have to try it on a high-def TV and see if that works better. Otherwise I will just have to invest and get it done professionally, or by one of those transfer machines...I wonder how much they cost. All of Clint's baby videos are on VHS. I need to transfer those over too...not to mention my wedding videos, etc.)

Beauty and Brains!!!!

My sweet, beautiful and talented niece....Jacquie!!!! (I actually have quite a few of those types of nieces...) I'm a very proud Aunt. Wish I was there, girls! (my sisters have great kids!)

Next stop....the MTC...Taiwan! You go girl!!! Love you all!!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

(And yes...for all of you who follow Chelsea's art...that is Chelsea on the right...Jacquies little sister. Also, Hannah on the left and Ali next to Jacquie.)

Spiderwick House

One of Clint's favorite series of books is the Spiderwick series. He has read all of the first 6 twice. We also liked the movie. We decided to build our own "Brownie House" to put in the garden. For those of you who may not know, a brownie is a small, magical creature (pictured above).

I originally wanted to make a "fairy house". But of course, Clint didn't go for that.

It took a lot longer than we thought. Most projects do.

But the end result is pretty cool. Derek even showed up at the end to help with the roof.

We just used hot glue, lots of sticks, and a few pine cones...and Clint added the Thimbletack sign, which is the name of the little brownie character in the book.

My fairy house would have been a lot cuter, with ribbons, flowers, glitter...but the boys like their's the way it is. So I do too.