Our Christmas Vacay So Far :)

Look at me, posting about Christmas before March - This is nothing short of a miracle!

Mary Being Cute

Her favorite place to be in the whole house.

The licorice, the upside down glasses, the smile... You can't handle the cute!

Mesa Temple Christmas Lights

Lydia has been loving all of the houses with Christmas lights. Every single one we drove by, it was always, "Mommy, Daddy look! Wow!!" So we were very excited to take her to the temple lights. As we drove up to the temple we told her to look. She looked up and very flatly said "Too many." and looked back down. Apparently she draws the line at 100s of thousands of lights. She got more enthused about them as the night went on, but it definitely took some coaxing. :)

SEESTERS!!

My Loves!!

The reflection pool

I love to see the temple!

I wish we could have been as bundled up and cozy as they were.

Fun with the Johnston Family

Robert's mom's side of the family had some sort of activity going on every day of the week before Christmas. Robert took the girls with his mom to most of the things, but I only was able to go and sit at a couple of them, being on bed rest and all. But it was fun to see some of the cousins we haven't seen in a few years.

A double ringer by Robert's dad. It is possible!

  

5th Annual Nertz Reunion

Christmas PJs with the Richardsons

Robert's Grandma Peggy recently had a stroke and is at the stroke rehab center for the next several weeks. This kind of put a wedge in the Richardson Christmas traditions this year, but we were able to spend a Sunday evening there at the rehab center with the whole family. We performed several songs for all of the patients and then received our Christmas PJs and took pictures

Wilcken Christmas Eve

Lydia's partners in crime, cousins Case and Trew

Christmas Morning

Part 1 - Waking up at 5am to open presents at my parents' house.

Waiting for my dad to come out of the bathroom so we
could open presents. Some things never change :)

The Purple Monkey - Every time we asked Lydia what she wanted for Christmas she would say a purple monkey. Later she added a spotting scope, but the purple monkey was priority. We looked everywhere! We could find every kind of animal in purple except a monkey, and we could find pink or rainbow monkeys but not purple ones. Our friend, Kris Hewitt, heard of our predicament and said, "I could just make you one." She's amazing!! She made it, shipped it, and it got here on Christmas Eve. Her only request was that I take pictures of Lydia opening it on Christmas :)

Unwrapping...

Assessing...

Loving!!!!

Another favorite present of Lydia's from Christmas part 1 was her bike. I couldn't resist posting this picture that we took mid-sneeze. Classic!!

She loves it!

Mary and Lydia's first loot :)

Part 2 - We headed over to Robert's parents' to open presents.

The girls' new push car.

I got some AMAZING presents from Robert's family!! I'm still completely overwhelmed by them. The main 2 being the last 4 seasons of M*A*S*H that I needed to complete my whole set of the series (I know what I'm doing when I'm in the hospital!) and then my new guitar!

Crystal, Robert's 15 year old sister, had picked our name for the sibling exchange this year. When she saw that a guitar was on my wish list she insisted on getting it with all the money she had, working for what ever she didn't. I'm still amazed at her. A name for the guitar is in the works, but I have decided that it is definitely a girl :)

The girls also got a bunch of new bath toys and insisted on taking a bath as soon as we were done opening presents :)

Part 3 - Heading back to my parents' for breakfast and to play with all our new presents.

Every second Lydia was inside she wanted her purple monkey. They are best pals now.

PRESTON'S ENGAGED!!!

The day after Christmas, Preston proposed to Sharon Graham! They'll be getting married May 4th. So EXCITING!!!!!!

Bunco Night!

Grams got the best prize of all! :)

Salsa!!! 

My dad's Christmas salsa is the BEST! We ate
more than 2 gallons of it in this sitting :)

There has also been plenty of visiting with friends and family that was not documented with pictures, but the moments were just as loved :) And that brings us to today. We're currently preparing for a night of snacking and games as we welcome in the New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

"What Have You Been Doing?"

A couple of weeks ago I reached my goal of losing 30 pounds. It feels so good!! Several people have asked, "What have you been doing?" Well here's my answer. I've narrowed it down to 3 things that I think made the biggest change.

1.  I counted my calories and made my calories count.
2.  Exercise.
3. Bob Harper's Skinny Rules

Now to get to the nitty gritty details...
1.  I counted my calories and made my calories count.
My biggest tool in this was an app I used on my smartphone called MyFitnessPal. You can also just use this tool online at any computer, but having it on my phone made it really convenient and easy.

I input my height, weight, activity level, age, etc and set my weight loss goal at losing 2 pounds per week. The app automatically set my daily net calorie limit at 1210 calories. Net meaning that if I burned 300 calories exercising, I could eat 300 more calories that day. One really great thing about this app was that everyday when I would complete my food diary, it would say "If every day were like today, you will weigh x lbs in 5 weeks." This number was always very motivating. I would go through cycles with this as far as how strict and exact I was with it. I would go a couple weeks where I would measure with measuring cups and spoons exactly how much I was eating, then for a few weeks I would feel like I could eyeball how much "one cup of cereal" or whatever looked like, but then I would again for a week here and there break out the measuring cups and spoons to check up on my estimates, which there were sometimes I was shamed to see that my eyeballed "one cup" of cereal had grown to be nearly double what it was supposed to be. Oops. Also, along the lines of "making calories count," I paid attention to what things made me feel fuller for longer, these almost always were foods that were higher in fiber and protein. For example, I felt much fuller and could usually make it to lunch without snacking if breakfast included a cup of Quaker Life Cinnamon Cereal (160 calories), but if I had a cup of Malt-O-Meal Cinnamon Toasters Cereal (173 calories) I would almost always need a snack between meals even though it was more calories than Life Cereal. Food for thought... literally.

2. Exercise

I won't spend too much time on this because I feel like most of my success came from changing my eating habits. Until my brain issues stopped us from doing so, Robert and I were training to run a 10k which was another New Year's resolution we had this year. Running has NEVER been my forte. I was very proud of myself for getting as far as I did. The last run we did before we decided I just shouldn't do any more was the longest either of us have ever run at once (no walking breaks) and that's 3.5 miles. Go us!!!

Aside from training to run a 10k, to go along with my weight loss I made it a goal to exercise for at least 30 minutes 4 days a week be it running or something else. As far as the weight loss goes, like I said, I think the nutrition was the more important factor in my case. But I will say that on days that I exercised it was by far easier to stay within or under my calorie limit and I think that not only is due to the fact that I got to eat more to make up for the calories I burned off, but also I just felt better about myself and more motivated. Also, especially when we were doing really great with running, I felt healthier than I ever have and I think I owe a good part of that to the exercise, not just the nutrition.

3. Bob Harper's Skinny Rules

Lastly, towards the beginning of when I got serious about losing weight I came across this book. Robert and I are fans of the show "Biggest Loser" and our favorite trainer is Bob Harper. I saw this book on Pinterest, found and bought it for cheap on Amazon and then didn't really think anything of it until I came to my first weight loss plateau. When that happened I thought I'd try following a few of the rules, just the first three. It immediately got me out of my plateau. Every time after that that I either felt like I was plateauing or wasn't losing as fast as I wanted, I would choose a couple more rules at random to start following, and it worked like a charm every time. The 20 rules are:

1. Drink a large glass of water BEFORE Every meal-No Excuses!

2. Don't Drink Your Calories

3. Eat Protein at EVERY Meal -or stay hungry & grouchy!

4. Slash Your Intake of Refined Flours & Grains

5. Eat 30-50 grams of FIBER per day!

6. Eat Apples & Berries Every single day- Yes, EVERY-SINGLE-DAY!

7. NO Carbs after Lunch (eat 'lean & green' at night)

8.Learn to Read Food Labels so You know what you are eating!

9. Stop Guessing about Portion Size & Get it Right-for good!

10. No more added sweeteners-including artificial ones!

11. Get rid of White potatoes!

12. Make one day a week Meatless

13. Get rid of fast foods & fried foods

14. Eat a REAL breakfast

15. Make your own food and eat at least ten meals a week at home

16.. Banish High Salt Foods

17. Eat Your Vegetables-(no excuses)- Just DO it!

18.Go to bed hungry!

19. Sleep Right

20. Plan one splurge MEAL per week

The book talks about each of these rules in great detail, then more than half the book has meal plans and recipes to help you follow the rules. So helpful!

And there you have it - my weight loss journey. I got serious about it the beginning of May and 7 months later, I am 30 pounds lighter and, aside from - you know - needing brain surgery, I am healthier than I've ever been ;)

Good luck with your journey! Wish me luck with my next goal - helping Robert lose at least 30 pounds. Heaven help me!

Random Fun

Well, I'm coming to you on bed rest from Mesa, AZ. After a very busy and stressful week I went through an especially bad episode of pain and weakness accompanied by numbness in my extremities, lack of balance, nearly passing out a couple times, and loss of fine motor control in my fingers that lasted a few days. Awesome right? We met with the neurosurgeon to get reevaluated on Wednesday, the 12th (my 10 year surgery anniversary, what are the odds). Our concern was that with the sudden worsening of symptoms we might need to move up the surgery that's scheduled in January. The doc said that it was just a result of overdoing myself, so he put me on modified bed rest from now until the surgery to avoid permanent nerve damage. In his words, "Indulge yourself in laziness. If you don't HAVE to get up, DON'T!" Robert asked if travelling to Arizona for the holidays was still an option. Obviously a long car ride is not ideal in my condition, but Robert felt like I would be more relaxed and would not be as tempted or feel as obligated to break the bed rest rules if I were surrounded by family keeping me from doing so. The doctor agreed, we moved up our trip, and here we are. I was somewhat dragging my feet the whole time. I was forced to stay in bed while Robert got us all packed for the trip (usually my job) on top of finishing up his school assignments, my visiting teachers took charge of finding subs for our church callings, and the ward and friends helped out with tending kids and meals those last few days we were in Santa Cruz. I HATE needing help and feeling like I'm such a burden to other people, and going to Arizona just meant I was going where I could be a burden to more of my family. But then yesterday I had another especially painful day, probably as a result of the car ride on Saturday. I was able to sleep in until after 10, I woke up and my sister was doing my girls' hair for church while Robert got himself ready, breakfast was taken care of, etc etc. It's SO nice! If for nothing else, Robert finally gets a break. He's had so much on his plate the past few weeks. It pushed him past the breaking point a couple of times. We have so much constant help here, and many hands make a burden seem light. We'll go back on January 5th, just 2 days before the surgery that is scheduled on the 7th.

Anyway, before they get lost in the shuffle, I wanted to post a few pictures from some random fun we had the past few weeks in Santa Cruz.

Ada's Princess Birthday Party

One of Lydia's favorite friends, Ada, turned 3 and had a princess birthday party. So fun to see all the little girls dolled up in their princess outfits.

All the princesses sandwiched between 2 princes.

How much cuteness can squish into one little nook?

Playing in the kids' room at the Creche Exhibit in Palo Alto

Dressed up as a sheep from the nativity costumes.

Blurry but still cute :)

Had to steal this picture of Lydia's friend Grant that was there the
same time we were. It's too much! Lydia has the cutest friends!!

Ward Christmas Party

Robert was Santa for our ward Chirstmas party. He was Santa Cruz style in shades and sandals. He looked at this picture and the following conversation happened...
Robert: I did that "cowabunga" hand sign in every picture.
Me: I think you mean "hang loose," but either way the sign you are doing is "I love you"
Robert: ... ... OH MAN!!!
Classic Robert :)

Brooklyn's Birthday Party

Brooklyn has joined the ranks of the 2 year olds! We went down to Monterey to join in the celebration.

Lydia "helped" Brooklyn blow out the candles by spitting all over a
corner of the cake. Don't worry, Robert and I ate that corner.

Brooklyn rocking the crazy glasses. Priceless :)

And now we are in holiday fun mode, which means I may or may not be posting much until after all the surgery fun. I guess it depends on how much I stick to the bed rest and need to post to pass the time... we'll see.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!

Thankfuls

As many people do, I posted something I was thankful for on Facebook every day in November. I want to also post that list on here so it ends up in the blog binders. So here goes...

1. Thankful the greatest guy in the world proposed to me 4 years ago November 1st 

2. I'm so thankful for the Plan of Salvation and the knowledge of forever families 

3. Thankful Robert almost always drives the whole way on our road trips while I sleep :) 

4. Thankful for the many recent opportunities I've been given to use and share my musical talents. 

5. I'm thankful for cuddle moments with my babies. 

6. I'm thankful for those who have fought and those that continue to fight for our freedom to vote. 

7. CHOCOLATE MILK!!! 

8. My laminator. It's probably one of my top 5 favorite purchases I made this past year. 

9. Naptime aka Mommy time :) 

10. A clean house on a Saturday night. It makes me feel ready for the Sabbath. 

11. Our amazing Santa Cruz Ward! - Mary fell head first off of the stage during church today and got a concussion, and within a few minutes was throwing up everywhere. It was like the whole ward sprang into action and was at our side asking what they could do to help. We've been getting numerous phone calls and texts all day long from people checking in on her (which she's doing fine. A little fussy, but otherwise okay) It makes living away from family so much easier. The Santa Cruz Ward is our family too! 

12. Sunsets 

13. Helpful neighbors :) 

14. All of my many, Many, MANY cousins!!! Lyman, Wilcken, Hall, Nielsen, Richardson, and Johnston. They're awesome! Love them ALL! 

15. Our piano AKA Butch, and the many other blessings it's brought to us. 

16. My husband who is downstairs doing the dishes, while I'm curled up in bed. My hero!! 

17. Kidless date nights! 

18. Great friends that always have my back. 

19. A good cry. Sometimes it just makes me feel better. 

20. My family. I'm really missing them right now. 

21. 1- I was able to hear right away when we picked up a screw in our tire on the way home from the grocery store at 6:30. 2- We were able to find a place that was still open until 7 and it was only 5 minutes away from where we were. 3- It only cost $15 to repair. Awesome!! 

22. Holidays 

23. My inlaws! I really have the best. It's been a fun couple of days while they've been here. 

24. Daniel 3:17-18 “But if not…” 

25. Disposable diapers. Props to you that do cloth, but I for one appreciate the convenience of being able to throw the mess away. 

26. Modern medicine 

27. My Patriarchal blessing 

28. Mary 

29. Lydia 

30. Robert Richardson!

Happy November!!!!

I Like Life, Life Likes Me

My all-time favorite Christmas movie is Scrooge with Albert Finney. It's a musical version of A Christmas Carol. 

Growing up, I watched this movie with my family every year on the first Sunday in December. Since I've been married, we have carried on that tradition with our little family. However, Sunday is jam packed, tomorrow too, so tonight was the night! It totally puts me in the Christmas spirit, and tonight it was extra special because Lydia cuddled with me and watched, fully engaged, the entire movie. She even sang along a little bit to some of the songs. She knows them well enough since Robert and I tend to break into them all year long. :) And Mary only tried to change the TV to football twice. I consider that a great success! It's so fun to see what our little family's traditions are becoming, especially now that the girls are getting a little older and more interactive with everything. We have a few traditions taken from Robert's family, a few from mine, and a few brand new ones all mixed together to become OUR traditions. I love it!

A couple of my favorite clips from the movie...

You see, now don't those just make you happy? :) Such a great way to ring in December! 

Christmastime is here!

But If Not...

"At times it may seem that our trials are focused on areas of our lives and parts of our souls with which we seem least able to cope. Since personal growth is an intended outcome of these challenges, it should come as no surprise that the trials can be very personal—almost laser guided to our particular needs or weaknesses. And no one is exempt, especially not Saints striving to do what’s right. Some obedient Saints may ask, “Why me? I’m trying to be good! Why is the Lord allowing this to happen?” The furnace of affliction helps purify even the very best of Saints by burning away the dross in their lives and leaving behind pure gold. Even very rich ore needs refining to remove impurities. Being good is not enough. We want to become like the Savior, who learned as He suffered “pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind."" - Paul V. Johnson of the Quorum of the Seventy

10 years ago, on December 12, 2002, I had brain surgery. I have what is called Chiari Malformation. Simply put, my brain stem is longer than it is supposed to be. This caused strange, severe headaches because of the crowding that occurs. To correct it they did what is called brain decompression surgery where they went in and shaved off part of my skull where the crowding was occurring to make room for my over-sized brain stem. 

Morning after the surgery

I was 15, and it was scary. Easily the biggest, most character defining trial of my youth.

My scar a couple weeks after surgery

But I got through it. With lots of prayers and fasting by countless family members, friends, and myself, the surgery happened, I recovered fully, and I went on with my life a better person with a stronger testimony in the fullness of the Gospel because of this trial I had endured.

This past April, I started noticing strange headaches that were happening fairly regularly. Every few days, there was a rush of pain that would pulse for several seconds and then be gone. At first I thought nothing of it, but as the months progressed the headaches became more frequent and severe. Eventually it got to the point a couple months ago where there was a constant headache, on top of which the rushes of pain would happen dozens of times per day. Some days it was bearable. Others the constant headache would be bad enough that all I could do was lay down all day long. Then some days the constant headache would be endurable until I'd get hit with a rush of pain that would immediately have me clenching my head and in tears. Advil and Tylenol never did anything for the rushes of pain, but at first took the edge off the constant headache. However, eventually, whether because I built up a tolerance from taking so much so often or just that the pain got worse, those didn't help at all either. Finally, after Robert telling me several times to go get things checked out, we made an appointment with the doctor.

Mind you, the headaches didn't feel exactly the same as I remember them feeling 10 years ago. Similar, yes. Exactly the same, no. Also, when I got the surgery done before, we were told that it was a one and done type of deal and it should never bother me again. But all along it was my biggest fear that it would be the same stuff again, and I could not shake the feeling that that was exactly what it was. Up until this point, when I would think back to my surgery I would think about all of the lessons I learned from it. How much I had grown and matured from it, and all of the love that I was surrounded by that helped me through it all. But as the doctor's visits and tests began, it brought back all too clearly the terrifying moments. The uncertainty of what's wrong and what would happen next. The pain through it all and not knowing if it is going to get better. I prayed constantly that whatever it was, it would not be that.

A month of chiropractic appointments, 2 appointments with my primary doctor, an appointment with a neurologist, and an MRI later, we got these results from the MRI:

"In spite of previous decompression, there is abnormal relationship of the cerebellar tonsils and the upper cervical spinal cord, with crowding of tissue at the craniocervical junction. The anatomic structures may again be causing abnormal CSF flow dynamics at the foramen magnum thus recreating the patient's original symptoms"

In non-medical terms, it was exactly my worst fear. There still is not room enough to accommodate my over-sized brain stem, and in my neurologist's opinion, a redo surgery would be the next step. He would be referring me to a neurosurgeon to discuss my options.

I was crushed.

A million thoughts went through my head all at once. The main thought behind it all was, what did I do wrong or not endure well enough last time to have to do this again? Just as it was when I got the diagnosis 10 years ago, it was a day of much soul searching and prayer for direction and guidance. That night, while I was gushing to a friend about all of this I had a thought hit me...

"But if not..."

A few years ago after many personal prayers, I was struggling with an answer I had received that I was NOT supposed to serve a full-time mission for our church at that time in my life. As I often do when I feel lost, I had turned to the scriptures and randomly came across Daniel chapter 3. This is the chapter where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are thrown into the fiery furnace and saved by the power of God. When Nebuchadnezzar confronts them about not worshiping his golden image, and tells them that because of their refusal to do this they will be thrown into the furnace, they respond:

"If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

This gave me a knew understanding of what true faith is. They not only had faith that God would answer their prayers and deliver them, but they also knew that if God chose not to save them, they would still continue to keep the commandments and serve Him, with the perfect knowledge that God had a plan for them. Heavenly Father does not always answer our prayers in the way we expect him to, but we must always hold faithful to the truth that he has a plan for us that always leads to eternal happiness.

I had prayed countless times that this would not be the same problem that my surgery ten years ago had supposedly fixed. With the recollection of this scripture, I took the better perspective that if it be His will, Heavenly Father would keep me from needing this surgery again, but if not I will once again strive to endure it well and become more like Him in ways that only trials can teach us.

We met with the neurosurgeon this morning. Basically, our only option is surgery. It's just a matter of which surgery it will be - a repeat or a different one where they will remove soft tissue instead of bone. We have to get further testing (a CT scan) before we'll discuss it further. I'm scheduled to get the scan tomorrow morning then we will meet again with the surgeon in a week to discuss the findings and hopefully schedule the surgery. Robert and I are hoping to get the surgery done while Robert is off for Christmas break, so in just a couple of weeks, but with each additional test or doctor appointment I feel like that's less and less a possibility and it will more likely happen after the first of the year. We'll just have to take it as it comes.

And that's where we stand right now. The waiting game continues. Prayers are always appreciated.

Turkey Day 2012

For the first time in the 26 Thanksgivings I've had in my life, I spent Thanksgiving away from home without my family. I'm not gonna lie, Thanksgiving Eve and Thanksgiving morning as I thought of all of my family traditions that were taking place without me, I got pretty bummed. But Robert's family came into town, and as the day went on and we spent time with them and the Thanksgiving feast came together, I had a great time all weekend long. I love my in-laws!

Robert in awe of our Thanksgiving feast.

Sister love

Cousin love

We Black Friday shopped and scored a bike for Lydia and some storybooks for cheap. We are going to rock Christmas morning!

Friday afternoon we headed to Dennis the Menace Park.

The famous big rolly slide

Mary is such a ham!

Having a ball in the sand... Literally ;)

We all went down together. I may or may not have been scared for my life :)

That evening we headed to the beach in Carmel to eat pizza and roast marshmallows.

The girls discovered the joy of burying people.

First they buried Grandpa (Note Lydia's tongue sticking out as she
concentrates. She becomes more and more like her Daddy every day)

Then Uncle Jonathan

Then each other :)

It was a fun weekend. We were sad to see Robert's family go, but hopefully we'll be seeing them in just a few weeks for Christmas.