Christmas Gifts

Hey I wanted to ask everyone what they wanted to do this year. Do we want to draw names for siblings or just the kiddos like we did last year. Every one's families just keep growing and I know it's hard to just keep adding to the Christmas list. Dusty and I together have 9 nieces and nephews with 2 on the way and 13 siblings. It will be so much fun though as we have children and our kids will have so many aunts and uncles!

You can either post here or someone just start an email string with everybody included. I know that Dusty and I are down for whatever!

Merry Christmas!

We're Baaaaaack!

Well, Dusty and I had a fabulous ride home from Kentucky and we got back tonight! It was an uneventful trip back, but on a car ride I think that's a good thing, right?! I just wanted to say how much Dusty and I loved being there for Thanksgiving. The only thing I regret is not being able to stay longer!!!

I just wanted to let everyone know we were home safe and sound. I will post more on the trip soon.

Love you all!

Since Everyone's Talkin' Smack... (aka Undefeated fo' Life) by Dusty Rhoads

...I might as well start in. I just want everyone to know that I have never been beaten by Amy (or anyone else) at Uno in my life. Anyone who says so is a lie, and is in all other ways, delusional.

So, if y'all little pansy football Gayfest 2000 players think y'all are bad, then let's get it on , Uno DELUXE style, on Turkey Day, baby!!! Bring it! Uh uh! UH UH!!!

--- Dusty Nuggets Rhoads

Just a note....

There are a lot of new posts....I was bored tonight and decided to catch up. Scroll through and enjoy!!

Mr. There's Not Enough Rice

So last week Dusty and I come home (I think it was from Church) and we were going to have leftovers for lunch. We were warming up stuff to make tacos with. Dusty asked me if it's OK if he had the rice because there wasn't enough for both of us. I said sure that was OK with me. I looked at his plate after he had warmed it up and laughed my butt off. Mr. There's Not Enough Rice had a plate that was half covered in rice! lol lol I didn't care and we both laughed and he realized just how much rice he had...

Pumpkin Carving

I love Halloween. Dusty carved the pumpkin this year. As most of you know he wanted a peanut shaped one so he could draw a face from Corpse Bride. He did it perfectly and it was a lot of fun! He is a really good artist :)

This is our life!

We have our last clutch of snakes hatching out, Dusty's book is coming to a close and I wanted to post some random stuff about snakes on here since even I have snakes on the brain. I have had 3 snake dreams this week!! I am so glad that Dusty is following his dreams and go after what some people would think is the impossible. I love him and all he has done in his life....and what is still to come!

A snake sticking it's little head out for the first time! They have little egg tooths that cut the egg and they make slits and stick their heads out.

This is a snake's umbilical cord. It's yoke that is still attached to the snake and the snake absorbs it over a short period of time.

This is a common scene at my house....the house filled with boxes. This was when Dusty got his new snake rack systems in the mail. We had a date night putting them together :)

This is a snake that just came out of the egg.

This is our new and improved snake room that is organized! Yay! These are the rack systems that work really well for what we do. They hold lots of snakes and take up minimal room. Our room is equipped to hold 124 snakes easy (we are well on our way there....) and the room could even squeeze in more!

This is actually a picture I took after Dusty hollered for me to come quick. These are two teeth that we pulled out of Dusty's thumb. The snake mistook Dusty's finger for a mouse and WHAM!! Two teeth are stuck in Dusty's hand. We pulled them out and took a close up. This will appear in the book I think. It isn't an aggressive snake, it just felt the warmth of Dusty's body and thought it was food!

I Passed! I Passed!!

I got an email the other day telling me that I passed both the practical and written tests of Turbo Kick :) Yay! Now it's time for practice, education, energy and starting classes. I am going to start a Church first and get used to teaching and then start applying at gyms and stuff.

I will keep you all posted on the progress!!!

Halloween Fun at Work

So my work had everyone dress up for Halloween and I broke out the old Can-O-Soup costume. That costume brings back a lot of FUN memories. I had to put the games and lunch together at work. We played Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin (office style). I had someone draw a huge pumpkin on the white board with a face minus the nose. Then we spun people around and they took a dry erase marker and tried to draw the nose. We also played the HALLOWEEN word scramble where you try to make as many words as you can from the word HALLOWEEN. I also found a really cool Halloween Taboo on the Internet. I printed the cards off on cardstock and we played that one too. It was really fun. I also had things like a Mummy Wrap with toilet paper game and Halloween pictionary game planned but we didn't get to everything.

The Five Languages of Love

This is the last book that our little book club read. I have to say that it was one of my favorites. It really has altered my thoughts and feelings towards the expression of love in so many ways and so quickly. It was a very easy book to read and grasp the concept.

The concept of the book is that all people express love in different ways and it's not likely that you and your spouse express the same "love language". This clash of needs/expressions can create a "battlefield" in your marriage simply because of the misunderstanding of the other spouse's needs. I think the author did an excellent job of narrowing down the possible love languages out there. Chapman states that people want or express love in 5 different ways: Words of Affirmation, Gifts, Acts of Service, Physical Touch and Quality Time. There re dialects or sub-categories within each language but these are the primary categories.

The book was full of examples and analogies and insightful questions so that you can figure out your love language. It gave several different examples of couples who literally couldn't stand each other, were on the brink of divorce etc. and this concept, regardless of how basic it sounds, was able to turn their marriage around. The book is a quest for you to find out your needs (in terms of what you "need" from your spouse) and how you would like your spouse to express love to you. It also helps you see that the way you are currently expressing love to your spouse is probably not in line with their "love language" but it's probably the way you want love expressed to you.

Chapman uses the example of a love tank. In a lot of marriages love tanks are empty. Couples think that they have fallen out of love with one another. Or couples think that the other spouse doesn't love them, doesn't care about them, isn't doing enough etc. etc. etc. and that causes friction and hurt.

One of the techniques used in the book was for the reader to think back about the requests (or naggings) that you have made of your spouse in the past.

Are you asking for more time with just the two of you? (quality time)
Are you asking for help in the house? (acts of service)
Are you asking to hold hands or hug more? (physical touch)
Do you like little notes left for you around the house or flowers brought to you just because? (gifts)
Do you want to hear how good you did on a project etc.? How pretty you are? (words of affirmation)

Each person probably does one of this things more than the others. This main category of your requests of your spouse is more than likely your love language. Your spouse on the other hand probably has a different love language and doesn't necessarily ignore your request but things that his/her idea would be a better way of expressing love so they do it their way. Both have good intentions but the "love tanks" are still empty and the message isn't getting through to either.

Find out your love language, have a discussion with your spouse and find out your spouses love language and watch the transformation in your marriage. I seriously believe the message of this book. I think it can be a powerful tool in healing marriages or just improving the companionship of a marriage and helping each other feel empowered, loved and a full "love tank".

Ways to sneak vegetables into kids (or adults) foods!

Here are some links that I found while searching tonight that try to incorporate veggies in foods for picky eaters! I hope some of them help. The first links are books and then there are article links below.

Books:

Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food (Spiral-bound)

The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids Favorite Meals

Disney's Family Cookbook: Irresistible Recipes for You and Your Kids

Kid Favorites Made Healthy: 150 Delicious Recipes Kids Can't Resist (Better Homes & Gardens)

FamilyFun Kitchen: Super Snacks (Familyfun)

Here are a few links of articles too:

http://www.essortment.com/family/parentingtipsh_sasb.htm

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/128914/three_ways_to_sneak_vegetables_in_your.html

What things have worked for you all?

Holiday Countdown

I love anything that will help me get organized, especially for the holidays! Here is another little Holiday Countdown helper from Kraft Foods site. Do all of you ladies get their quarterly FREE magazine?? If not sign up now!! I LOVE IT!! I always read through it the second I get it. The holidays magazine that just came in the mail is one of my favorites I have gotten from them!

Holiday Countdown

Sign Up for Weekly Recipes Emailed to you

Visit the Holiday How To Center

Sign up for the FREE Food and Family magazine

They have a fun site so check it out and see if it can make your life a little easier!

My Latest Pampered Chef Toy

As many of you know I started out in my marriage with much more Pampered Chef things than I otherwise would have had because I had a Pampered Chef Bridal Shower that was SO MUCH FUN!! Well, I LOVE PC stuff. One of the many things that I love from PC is my chopper.

One day Dusty was getting some dishes out and he dropped and broke it. I was devastated at first because it cost like $25-30 and I didn't want to get another one. After saving the pieces and trying to have my dad fix it I decided that it was time to throw it away. Just before I was about to throw it away I remembered that some of the items have a lifetime guarantee on it. I found my receipts for it, contacted PC and they sent me out a new chopper!! Yay! I was so excited and from then on I am a loyal customer. I love their products and trust that everything they put out will be great. I have a PC wish list a mile long....

Anyway, last time I was home Lissa had a PC party and I got a garlic press :) I LOVE it! You don't have to peel the garlic. You pop it in, press it out and you are done. I HATED to chop garlic so I didn't add it to anything and skipped recipes that told me to put it in there. Now I have expanded my dinner vocabulary and use it a lot. It preses ginger too.

What is your favorite PC item?? I have a ton of favorites and a ton on my list....what's on your wish list??

Michael's HAPPY PANTS, by Jason Logsdon

Shopping for school supplies was so much fun as a lad

Except for poor Michael who’s waistline was bad

We would all pile in the car and head to JC Penny’s

Then off to another department for Michael because we couldn’t find any

Year after year it was more of the same

Our dear Mom had no one to blame

You see, at that time in fashion for young men

Was a branded letter, not S, M, L, XL or even “N”

The small leather tag on the back of Michael’s jeans

Would lead to school kids being nasty and mean

Michael came home crying from school one day

Mom was there to console her little boy and asked, “tell me, what did they say!”

Michael replied, “Mom, you were wrong about my pants,”

This big “H” on my pants doesn’t mean I’m “Happy” and ready to dance

Well, the truth was out and Michael finally knew

That the “H” on his pants meant that he just grew and just grew

It’s OK, Mike, because we all love you too We’ll help you get geared for Shaq’s Big Challenge, Season Two!

Happy 28^th!!!!

It's all fun and games until.....

OK. This is a quick little side note. So, I was sore for 3 full days after my Turbo Kick certification. I didn't work out at all even though I knew I needed to.

Dusty looked at me and said, "Girl you best do Turbo Jam or else yo butt will be Turbo Haaaaaam!" I just laughed so hard. It sounded straight up like something Mike, Jason or Jeremy would say.

**When did Mike start saying ham like that anyway? Was it at Thanksgiving? Whenever it was Dusty says it like that all the time. Heck so does mom, Lissa and me.....**

My Turbo Kick Certicifation Experience!

Wow! Wow! Wow! What a day. Last Saturday I drove up to Layton, UT for my Turbo Kick certification. Turbo Kick is the live version of Turbo Jam. I love it! I absolutely love it! It makes you feel so powerful and tones your body like nothing else that I have done. The music is powerful, motivating, helps you let loose and helps me, the instructor, get into it and pump up the class--and myself! It's kick boxing, martial arts and hip hop rolled into one. Dusty often tells me it was made for me. I love all three of these elements and I have a blast doing them.

I love to teach, especially dance. I know I get this from my mother. When she is in the spotlight, she shines so bright; no wonder her name is Starr :) I am a different person when I teach. I love to have a connection with my students. I love to feed off of their energy and give them a little of my own ;) I love to motivate. I love to see results in myself and those in my class. I love to push it to the next level. I love to see how far I can go, what would happen if I go a little bit further.....push a little bit harder... When I am in my element I feel like I am the person I want to be.

These feelings and experiences I have had from teaching dance is what ultimately got me to go for the Turbo Kick certification. Tonight I was doing one of the Turbo Jam home videos and I kept thinking that "Now I am the instructor. What am I going to give my students? ENERGY!!" I was able to push through it so much better now that I have a goal and direction. Whenever I get my class(es) they will be looking up to me and I owe it to them to give it my absolute very best every day whether I am teaching them or not.

My instructor last Saturday gave me just that--her all! She had energy bursting through her toes and finger tips. She had so much stamina, energy, form and FUN!! The workouts, no matter how difficult they are, are FUN!! As a teacher it is not only my responsibility to teach my students, it is my responsibility to entertain them as well. Encourage them. Motivate them.

I started out last Saturday in tears because I got lost. :( The directions I had were confusing and the place was very hard to find and I ended up being like 45 mins late!!!!! I called Dusty crying and asked him to say a prayer for me and within a few minutes I found it. I felt so stressed out my body literally felt like I had gotten the flu or a bad cold from the stress of being late and getting lost. My joints ached, my head was pounding with a headache and my body felt so heavy. I got registered and my instructor was already doing a lecture but she welcomed me with a smile and made sure she new my name and I started to feel a bit better. I started to feel a lot better when 3 other girls showed up later than I did!! I felt bad for them too because I knew what they had just went through but happy it wasn't just me.

After a little bit of lecture we went through breathing, form and technique and punches, kicks and signature moves. Over and over and over again as our instructor went through giving advice to people and encouragement. We went right in to learning our first Round. a Round the live version of what a 60 min video would be. The Round is what I will teach to my students. 60 mins of non stop, no-holds-bar workout. It was great. Wow was it tough but it was great. Afterwards we had a quick lunch of about 35 mins and then back to the grind.

We were then divided up into groups and each group took turns getting in front of the class and instructor and teaching our segment to the others. It was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be. You have to make sure that your energy is high. You need to be careful of the pitch of your voice and make sure it's not too high and annoying. You need to make sure you aren't saying a lot of words when you cue your students to the next move and confuse them. You need to learn when and how to make your visual and verbal cues so students can easily transition into the next move. There is a lot to remember! Everyone kept messing up but that was OK. It was a good experience for all of us. When it was our groups turn there for a while no one was cuing so I just started to do it. I was messing up a little but I was proud of myself for just stepping up and not being nervous and just willing to learn. It was great...and an eye opener! Wow! It was hard.

After that we got our lesson on music utilization, teaching on the 32 ct phrase, cuing, making your class FUN and a lot more. It was a lot to take in in one day. I will never stop learning! I want to be the best instructor I can be and those kinds of instructors learn something new and get a little better each day!

After more review of form and technique it was time to do Round 31 again, but this time we would be judged. We were lined up in rows and the music was turned on. When you are in the front row you are being judged and you had better be doing your very best. Holy cow!!! 60 mins of giving it your all!!! It was great!

I got one compliment when she was standing in front of me she told me I had awesome kicks!! Yay! She said it like 3 times :) That was a big compliment to me. It was towards the very end of the day and I was trying so hard. That made me feel good.

After the practical test we had to take a written test. The test wasn't that hard because if you were paying attention to stuff throughout the day it's really just a repeat of what you learned that day. There seemed to be a few trick questions so it needs to be read carefully. By the time I got to take the written test my body was in overdrive and I had a real hard time concentrating on what I was reading. It was one of those tests where you had a question sheet and an answer sheet. I always think that I marked the wrong letter when I have to mark another sheet but I am sure I did fine. I always freak out like that :)

Afterwards I stayed around and talked to the instructor (she told me I did a great job) and other people that were there certifying. I also bought 2 pairs of workout pants and 2 belts. I will have to show you pictures I LOVE them.

After my BIG day I made my journey home for 1.5 hours. I called a few people to spill the beans about my day...........and just Dusty was home. Dusty was laughing and said that sounds like his life. Your triumphant news and no one is there to hear it. lol He said it reminded him of his mission. When he got home from 2 years of being away his family was 2 hours late to come pick him up!!! To this day I have that image of him sitting next to all his belongings in an empty parking lot....SAD!!

Anyway. I am so looking forward to learning and teaching and getting better with every class. Maybe when I come and visit you we can do a class together :) I have a long way to go to be a good instructor. I even have a long way to go before I teach my first class....but what I LOVE about teaching Turbo is that it's almost like I just bought my own little franchise. I purchase Rounds and that consists of the music perfectly mixed, a DVD to teach me the pre-choreographed moves and written choreography. Awesome!! All of the guess work is taken from me and I just learn it and deliver a powerful class to my students. You have the freedom to modify where you want within certain guidelines but it is just awesome to just have all of that done for you and you just buy a round, learn it and teach it!

I really want to have an active lifestyle and this will definitely help me achieve that! Please keep on encouraging me and helping me to always do better. I am so glad that I made the decision to do Turbo Kick and I am thankful for all of your support.

Comfort Food Recipes

OK. Here is the last recipe link. It's from, of course, Family Fun! I love their site. I am on it all the time. You can create an online recipe box to keep all of your favorites in. Here are some soups and perfect foods for the fall / winter season!

Halloween recipes

OK. I know it is a little late but I wanted to share this link with. It's from Family Fun and it has tons of really cute ideas for foods at Halloween parties.

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/special/specialfeature/halloween_ms_food/