Spring

Here are some pictures highlighting some of the activities we've had over the past few weeks. The first several are of Abigail and I going to the MSU horse and cow farms with some friends in the branch.

This next set of pictures is from when our branch did a Hawaiian luau activity that was a lot of fun. Benjamin pulled some sweet moves on the limbo and I got first place in my age division for hula hooping. Abigail enjoyed everything. The final video of Abigail hula hooping is hillarious to me!

We have been borrowing a car from a friend and before we took it back we cleaned it all. Abigail loved the Fabreeze. We used half a bottle of it. It made for a great Saturday morning activity!

Abby and I have gone on a few nature walks. Michigan is really pretty this time of the year. On Saturdays I take Abigail on a tricycle ride to a business that is down the road from our apartment. It is a very pretty walk. Abby loves her tricycle.

300 Calories a Day Keeps the Dodgballers at Bay

Well, I've been to the gym now 9 times according to my Burgers for Buns program and tonight I believe I proved that it's working! I went to play in a multi-ward game of dodgeball tonight and had a great time. I didn't get exhausted until we were nearly done, but that is not the reason I know my workouts are paying off.

In our version of dodgeball your team can score two points for getting every person out on the opposite side or one point for knocking over a little pin that is carefully guarded by the other team. About half way through a round I chucked a ball clear across the court in a line drive that OBLITERATED the pin! I smashed it into three pieces with the insides flying out all over the place. I had Emily take a picture of me with the remains to preserve for posterity.

Who's the McChicken now, huh?!

March and April pictures

We got to go to some friends house for Easter. They had 50 people there from the branch. The food was incredible and it was a lot a fun. We really missed being close to family and this felt like going to a family party for us. We really appreciated it. We have been really blessed to have wonderful people around us here in Michigan.
We house sat for some friends of ours and had a wonderful time. They have animals that Abigail really enjoyed talking care of. On April 5th we were surprised to wake up to 7 inches of snow! What was crazy was that the Friday before that we were outside riding on Abby's tricycle in 68 degree weather. The snow was really pretty though. It felt like Christmas.








Grandma and Grandpa Forsyth sent Abigail an Easter dress that she loves! She calls it her Cinderella princess dress. She wore it on Easter and got a lot of compliments. People would say something like, "Oh, Abigail your dress is so pretty." She would smile, flutter her eyes and do a little spin, then tell them it was her princess dress from Grandma and Grandpa and that they have a park and a dog named Jack. It was cute.










Abigail helps me a lot with cooking. Her specialty is enchiladas.





Abby had fun at a friends princess birthday party.

There were some free days at the Lansing Zoo we took advantage of. We had a great time.

Burgers for Buns

I made a new year's resolution to have no candy and no desserts for a year and so far I'm doing great! Normally I wouldn't recommend anyone doing this because it seems a bit extreme, but for me I was literally eating only chocolate some days. There have been a couple days where I have craved m&m's and I can't deny the overpowering sensations I have when I smell warm brownies, but these have been relatively minor inconveniences and I'm still pretty happy with my resolution. There have been, however, several unforeseen consequences.

First of all, the month of January saw a HUGE increase in my breakfast cereal consumption. Right before the new year I bought some Lucky Charms because they were on sale and that box was gone so fast. I usually like cereal brands like Wheaties and Life, but they were no match for the marshmallowy goodness of Lucky Charms for a while. I'm back to my Wheaties and Life, but it was an eye opener to me how much I was just craving anything sugary above and beyond chocolate.

You would think that by now I'd be looking like Conan here with such a reduction in my sugar intake and I did loose a little weight at first, but what I can't have in sugar I seem to compensate in two ways. First, it feels like I eat a lot more per day and second, the foods I now eat are much fattier. So I actually haven't lost any weight besides just a couple of pounds. It's nice to know I haven't put on any weight but now I've discovered a third problem...

I was looking over my bank and credit card statements and in the last three months I have gone to get a dollar menu hamburger from either McDonalds, Wendy's or Burger King 48 times!!! This is nearly 5 times my past consumption from last year! Now I realize that some people get fast food far more often and order fries and a soda along with it, but for me, this is too much! So I've come up with a plan. I call it burgers for buns.

I looked up how many calories are in a Wendy's Double Stack, McDonald's McChicken, or Burger King Jr. Whopper and they all hover over 300 calories. If I push my self on an elliptical bike I can burn 300 calories in 20 minutes so here is my plan: I'm going to "pay" for all those burgers I've eaten since the start of this year by burning them off on the elliptical bike. I have no problems with eating a burger every once in a while, but considering how many extra ones I have eaten in the last several months, I have decided not to have one again until I get rid of the ones I've already eaten. I've got a little chart with 48 boxes and I just checked off the first one. My incentive is to get these done quickly so I can get back to eating a hamburger every once in a while. I figure If I work out 3 or 4 times a week like I already plan for, I should be able to get back to my Jr. Whoppers in just under 4 months. Just in time for my birthday!

Sugary Conversation

Last night Abigail I were talking about how she put too much salt on her broccoli so I told her the word to describe foods that had a lot of salt was salty. I then asked her what she would call foods that had lots of sugar in them and she said sugary. Eventually I started telling her about how there are lots of different kinds of sugars and told her the names of a bunch of them: glucose, sucrose, dextrose, maltrose, lactose, fructose. She giggled after each one. The next morning I asked Abby if she remembered any of the sugars I told her about and she said "sucrose, dextrose...um...blink toes and black toast!" Close enough!