Italian Wedding Soup

Tonight for dinner, we had one of our favorite meals, Italian Wedding Soup. It is so quick and easy, and it tastes great. We especially love it with homemade bread. We've been getting several requests lately for this delicious recipe, so I thought I needed to blog about it. Try it out and let us know what you think.

New Belt

Well this Carter Family Challenge has been, how do you say, challenging. And the competition seems to be heating up!!! Regardless of who the winner is (I, Russ, am currently in the lead, woohoo!!!!!!), I am so happy about the progress and energy I now have. It's been a while since I've felt this good!!! I started the competition at 245 and I weighed in this morning at 228!!!!! I'm gonna need a new belt when this is done and over with. My end goal is 200 lbs.

In addition to the challenge of eating healthy and exercising, there have been other challenges that are included. Things like reading a book. I have to read everyday. If you know me, you know I can't sit still long enough to read a book. I've been able to listen to books on cd or the iPod. I've "read" more books this year (3) than I have ever read in any one year of my entire life. I just simply don't read. People talk to me about getting addicted to it and loving to read. I can't say that I love it that much, but I've been entertained. I find myself wanting to continue on with the rest of the book and being interested in "what's next". The book I am reading now is so so, which is kind of frustrating, but I told myself I'd finish it regardless.

Another piece of the challenge is that you have to get 8 hours of sleep every night. Now sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night, but that doesn't matter. As long as you go to bed (not lay in bed and watch a movie, literally go to bed) and wake up 8 hours later, you get points. This has probably been my hardest challenge. I have so many things going on that I have to simply not accomplish things as fast as I would like. But I do find myself having more energy, so that keeps me driven to keep going.

The last thing that I've had to pay attention to on this challenge is eating breakfast. I typically didn't eat breakfast as I felt I was already overweight and adding to my eating would only make it worse. In addition, I typically am in a rush to get to work in the morning, so I run out of time. When the competition started, I began eating breakfast EVERY morning. Most of the time, I eat two packets of Quaker Oatmeal. I sell product to them, so I may as well buy from them right???? I feel good and I know that Oatmeal is also good for maintaining lower cholesterol. High cholesterol runs in my genes, so this is definitely an added bonus. I also don't get hungry mid-morning like I used to.

All in all, I feel SOOO good about my progress. My energy level is good, I'm starting to get some abs and calves, and I have improved my life in ways I never figured I would. Thank you Mom and Dad Carter for this opportunity to challenge myself and better take care of my family.

Baby Sadie's Blessing

So this weekend we got to meet the cutest baby in the world, Sadie Belle Divis. We came to Spokane this weekend for her blessing and she is the cutest, sweetest baby ever! We have been in Spokane since Thursday, and what a blast we have been having. Audra is one of the best cooks, and every time we come, I have to steal her recipes. We have been playing and watching movies and lots of fun talking. These guys are some of our bestest friends. Poor Audra, was sick with strep throat the whole time, but she was still a great hostess. Mirian has especially loved playing with James Micheal and Evan. It has been so fun watching her follow James around like a little puppy dog. Mirian especially loves baby Sadie. She is going through a baby phase right now, and she loves anything that has to do with babies.


Sitting at the big kid table


All the kids, ready for bed

Baby Sadie's blessing today was just beautiful. She looked so pretty in her dress, and she was just so sweet. We are now winding down now to get ready to relax in front of the Super Bowl and then head home tonight.


After Sadie's blessing

Carter Family Competition

So as the Carters do so well, they've created a new family competition. It is so helpful when we have these competitions because it's the motivation that we've all been looking for. You are welcome to follow the program that we've been following. Feel free to check out the blog for some helpful guidelines. We've been doing the competition for about a week now and I have to say we are cruising forward.

We are eating healthier, exercising more (versus almost zero), doing service for each other, reading more, etc. This has been a great competition so far, and it's only just begun.

I've (Russ) lost 11 lbs as of this morning (8 days into the competition). We are planning on doing this for 8 weeks so if my one week of history keeps up, I'll have lost 56 lbs . . . . . . okay so it won't and I don't want to lose 56 lbs, but it still gets me excited to keep going. Last week I walk/ran just over 12 miles. My goal for this week is to run for 30 minutes straight before Sunday.

Here's to hoping . . . . . . .

Emily and I work together on our strength training. Most of the time we are working on either our arms or our abs. As we lay on the floor doing our abs, Mirian likes to come over and climb all over us (mostly on Emily).

We recently got Mirian to "exercise" with us. This really only involves her laying on the floor next to us and putting her arms and feet in the air for about 2 seconds, but it is oh so cute!!!!! What sweetheart she is!!!!

The Carter Cabin

Last week we went to California for a little getaway. We were supposed to go on a cruise this week, but our cruise ship caught on fire a few months back, and they still haven't finished the repairs. My Dad had the week off from work, so he asked if we wanted to come down and play and maybe help with a few projects. We got to my parents house on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, Russ helped my Dad repair a fence and garage at my brother's house. While the boys worked, the girls shopped. We had a blast. On Thursday, we went to my grandparents cabin. We haven't been their in about 6 years. My uncle now owns the cabin, and he made a bunch of changes to the place. It looked so nice!! While we were there, we did what we Carters always do, played lots of games. Anyone that knows my family, knows that they are epic game players. The cabin is such a nice place to getaway from technology and just be together as a family. Mirian loved getting to know her cousin Shade better. She is obsessed with babies right now.


Mirian and Shade loved sharing toys


Say "Cheese!"


Bath-time for Babies ( I love clean babies!!)

The next day we went to Columbia, a restored mining town. It was fun to relive my childhood there, getting Sarsaparilla, climbing on the rocks, and of course getting an old-time family photo.


Just us girls, sitting on the rocks (and Russ too)


I love the old buildings that they have restored here


Don't mess with this rough 'n tough family

The next day, we had to leave, we were sad that it was such a short trip, but we had a wonderful time. We were sad that Scott and Olivia and their kids couldn't be there either. We missed you guys.

What??? You thought we moved to Hungary?

So we haven't been posting much on the blog lately because we have been SUPER busy. We have been remodeling the kitchen since the beginning of December and that consumes our "extra free time". We did take some time to go to Cali for the purposes of helping with projects for Em's family since they came up and helped us huge on our kitchen. The kitchen is progressing, but it definitely takes time. . . . I attached a picture so you can see some of the progress. We will be very happy when it is all finished.

The kitchen went from this




and this



to THIS



We've done work since this picture, but this is the best "comprehensive" picture.

A HUGE thank you to all who have contributed on this project!!!!!! It is looking sooooooo good.

Thanksgiving and Sewing Camp 101

So, Russ gave me an early Christmas present this year. He is letting me stay in California until December 6. We came to California for Thanksgiving and we had a wonderful time. We had lots of family around, we had two fabulous Thanksgiving dinners, we dressed up in costumes and went to see the new Harry Potter movie, and we have been playing massive amounts of games. On Black Friday, my sis-in-laws and I went to JoAnn's sale at 5:00am and we bought tons of fabric. So, after Russ left to go back home, Kristal and I have been sewing up a storm. I have never really done much sewing before, and I never knew how to follow a pattern, so Kristal has been my teacher and we have been having a blast. I am making a few things for Mirian as Christmas presents, and then a dress for me. I just finished making her a cute rag quilt, and now I am on to toddler dresses. I will post more as I finish. It has been a blast and I am learning a lot. Thanks Russ! I love you and miss you!

Learning to make Homemade Noodles with Nancy Miles (Author).

My cute little Indian in our family pageant

She looks so grown up with the other kids

Hardcore game playing

Kristal, Emily, and Olivia at JoAnn's

McDonald's was the only place open with hot chocolate

Kristal put rags in Mirian's hair

After a little work, the results of the rag curls

Starting my rag quilt

Finished rag quilt