Happy Easter!

What a nice weekend this has been! For one thing, the weather has been gorgeous! Sunshine and warm breezes!

On Saturday we went to a friend's home for a potluck. The food was great. The company was lovely. The kids had a great time finding Easter eggs and eating all the chocolate in them!

On Sunday morning the girls enjoyed their easter baskets, and then we went to Church, which was great (Kevin gave a talk in Sacrament meeting) and uplifting. After Church we drove up to Mom and Dad's with the Molloy family for Easter dinner and another super-duper egg hunt! All seven kids were out searching for nearly 200 eggs. It was so much fun to watch their excitement! (Katrina blew everyone out of the water, finding nearly 50 eggs just by herself, and with all the change that was in most of the eggs she found, she ended up with $8.40!) Not bad for a two-year-old! The kids played all over the place, on the swings and on the rocks (as evidenced by the scrape and bruise on Katie's leg and the cut and bruise on Jacob's head! Ouch!), until the mosquitoes chased them inside at dusk.

We had a lot of fun and enjoyed the beauty of the earth at this time of rebirth and renewal. Happy Easter!

See Saturday's pictures HERE.
See Sunday's pictures HERE and HERE.

A day at the Zoo

Today was a gorgeous spring day and we went to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. We had decided to go last week, and then the Sister missionaries asked us if there was a Zoo in Fresno, and so we decided to go today so they could go on their P-day. We hadn't been for a while, so Katrina was especially excited, as last time she was a little too young to really appreciate the Zoo.

Since it was still cool the animals were all pretty active and we got to see most of them. The Winged Wonders Bird Show was not doing shows during the week in the month of March, so unfortunately we didn't get to see that, but other than that, we saw most everything. With the new camera, I took a TON of photos of all the animals, as I was able to get some great upclose shots that I hadn't been able to get before! We saw the birds, monkeys, reptiles, elephants, tigers, giraffes, zebras, flamingos and much more!

The Stingray Encounter was back and so we got to pet the stingrays and we also fed the giraffes. It was a lot of fun!

Oh, and Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Amanda is wearing a shirt with green on it under her red sweatshirt!)

See all the Zoo pics HERE.

Lea & Scott's Big Day

Scott Bolin has been a part of the Nehring family for years. Mom and Dad consider him to be one of their own. Our kids call him Uncle Scotty. When Scott and Lea got together we were happy to get to know Lea, and our kids immediately started calling her Aunt Lea. We were thrilled when Scott asked Lea to marry him at the end of his first Ironman Triathalon.

Scott and Lea's wedding was held at a beautiful home in the foothills surrounding Millerton Lake. It was a gorgeous location! The weather was mostly cooperative, as it didn't rain during the ceremony, but it did sprinkle before and after. Scott looked great and Lea looked fantastic! Their vows were perfect for their relationship. The girls got to be a part of the ceremony and hold flowers in the background. When the ceremony was over, there was a great buffet meal and then the Santa Cruz River Band played several songs for Scott and Lea. One of the band members is Scott's uncle. They were great! It was a great party and now they are off to Hawaii to run the route of the Hawaiian Ironman Traithalon! How cool is that!

See all the pics HERE and HERE.

For more pics, click the following links: Scott & Lea's Announcement, Announcement Photos, Lea's Dress Fitting

Letter to the Editor

I have opinions about a lot of things. Some things I feel very strongly about, and others, my views are fine-tuned as I learn more about them. Most of the time I make my comments out loud to the radio (I like listening to "Talk of the Nation" on NPR news), or at the newspaper, but every once in a while I feel the urge to see my opinion in print (mostly when it comes to the subject of voting and the electoral college). The Fresno Bee has printed my Letters to the Editor over the years, but today, my letter was featured at the top of the "Your Views" section, with an illustration! Cool!

Amanda at the Ranch

Papa (Kevin's Dad) went to his Aunt's ranch, in the hills west of Coalinga, Ca. today, and Amanda went along for the ride. According to Papa, she spent the entire day outside, playing in the creek that runs through the valley; the same creek that Kevin played in when he was young, and the same creek that Kevin's Dad played in when he was young. Amanda only came in for lunch and then it was right back out. She played in the water, built a house out of sticks, saw cattle, horses, and poppies, and she found some fossils. Not enough time to do everything, but she tried. She's eagerly awaiting a return trip.

See all the pics HERE.

Katie and Lauren

We took this very cute picture of Katrina and her friend, Lauren, last night. These two have been friends since they were babies. When they see each other they give each other a big hug. Every Sunday they wave across the chapel to each other. We swap babysitting with Lauren's family, so that the parents can go out on Date Nights, so Katrina and Lauren get to play together all the time. As we looked at this picture, and looked back over the photos we have taken of the two of them over the past two years, we thought about how great it is that their friendship has begun at such an early age.

Click these links to see a few more pics of them together:
At Katrina's Grandparent's house in Auberry, Ca., In the Backyard, Playing Piano, & Playing with the Nativity pieces, Christmas 2007.

Spring is here...

...and the blossoms are gorgeous!!!

See more of Lora's pics HERE.

Church Releases New Official Portrait of First Presidency

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released today the official portrait of the new First Presidency.

The members of the First Presidency, President Thomas S. Monson, President Henry B. Eyring and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, have been in their current leadership positions since 3 February.

The First Presidency was reorganized following the death of the Church’s 15th president, Gordon B. Hinckley, who passed away on 27 January.

President Monson is the 16th worldwide leader of the Church. President Eyring, who serves as first counselor to President Monson, previously served as second counselor in the First Presidency. Second counselor, President Uchtdorf, was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles prior to his new assignment.

The First Presidency is the most senior governing body in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The new photograph is downloadable.

Posted March 07, 2008 by www.newsroom.lds.org in http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/church-releases-new-official-portrait-of-first-presidency#continued

Young Author's Faire

Tonight was the Young Author's Faire Reception, put on by the Fresno County Office of Education. Both Amanda and Rebecca entered books into the Faire. Rebecca's wrote and illustrated her book, "The New Friends". It was the only entry from her school. Amanda's book "Jupiter: The Gas Giant", was one of three books that came from her classroom. They both did an excellent job and it was nice to see their work recognized.

At the reception there were many tables, all loaded down with books that children had written. They were great! It was a lot of fun to look through them. There was a guest writer who talked about her books (which are mainly about agriculture in the Central Valley), and at one point Rebecca was up on the stage as a strawberry. Fun!

We went out to eat tonight as a celebration of all the great work that our two scholars do!

See all the pics HERE

Blogging my weight loss journey

I have been very resistant to the idea of blogging about my weight loss journey, as I am always afraid that people's expectations of me will be high and then I will fail and then they will think less of me. If I put my goals out there for everyone to read, then I am setting myself up BIG TIME!

Here's the thing though - I am going to do it this time and so I am going to share with everyone why it is going to work this time, as opposed to the other times that I have gone up and down and back and forth.

This time I am scared. I am afraid that I have gotten to a point that if I don't do something about my weight I could have serious health problems. I never have, as I have been blessed with very good genes, but that doesn't mean that I can skate by on that forever. When I walk across the room or climb into bed and that makes me breathe hard, that is not a good thing.

This time I am making several short-term goals. My first goal - to get back below 200 lbs.
Second goal - to get back below where I was last year (32 lbs lost).
Third goal - to fit into my size 16 Levis.
Fourth goal - that my stomach will no longer touch any other part of my body.
Big picture goal - 140 by 40 (I want to weight 140 lbs before I turn 40 years old)

This time I like my eating plan a lot. I am eating five small meals a day, rather than three. That has been a very positive change for me, as I have significantly reduced my portion size. I am eating a protein, a carbohydrate, and a fruit or vegetable with each meal so there is a balance. I am drinking more water (or trying anyway). I am staying away from fried foods, soda and high fructse corn syrup (this one is hard, as it is in EVERYTHING!!).

And, I am doing my Turbo Jam workouts! Love Turbo Jam! I also do a 3.5 mile walk to mix it up a little bit.

So, here is my BEFORE picture.

1 January 2008
weight: 218










one month later:
1 February 2008
weight: 207
total pounds lost: 11 lbs
total inches lost: 16.5"

two months later: (TODAY!)
1 March 2008
weight: 199 (I reached my first goal!)
total pounds lost: 19 lbs
total inches lost: 27.5"!!

Watch for next month's weigh loss report!