I Always Knew I Was Destined For Greatness!

This either means that I write really well, or that my blog doesn't make sense. I thought this was funny. I typed in a few of your blogs to see what the reading level was. Try it and see!

Update on "The Girls"

The chicks (which really aren't babies anymore) are doing so great! I really am learning so much, and I get so excited planning what the coop will look like and all. It's an adventure!

I didn't know this, but chickens like to sleep on a branch or dowel above the ground. To help them get the concept early, I placed a branch in their cage and I've been helping them learn how to do this. Most of them aren't enjoying it so much, but Maggie is totally getting it! I'm a proud mother.
We took our chicks outside yesterday for a little fresh air, and to let them peck around at the soil (and let them fertilize the lawn :)) They were such happy chicks! We kept laughing at them running and flapping around like a...well, a bunch of crazy chickens, I guess.

I think it's so funny! Maya totally gets a high voice when she's talking to the chickens. They are her babies, too.

If you look closely, you'll see that they are getting their feathers. They look really pretty, I think. The yellow one, Bailey, is getting some brown mixed in with her yellow. She is a favorite of mine.

And here's Hayden. Look at his face! He still loves to hold them and talk to them. They are such good pets!

"It's important to realize that you keep chickens for yourself and not for your children--because no one outgrows the pleasure of finding an egg in the nesting box, still warm."
-Jay Rossier

Easter Egg Time

Yesterday we started dying our Easter Eggs. This will probably be a process over a couple of days because I wanted to try a few new techniques. Last year we tried memory dots on the eggs and rolls them in sparkles and put sticker letters on the eggs and dyed them and then removed the sticker. Both turned out great!

This year, I was inspired by my new favorite blog www.backyardfarming.blogspot.com --to try dying our eggs with onion skins. You can see the directions here. I think that the colors turned out really cool, and I didn't have to worry about dye getting all over the house and on clothes.
Hayden drew a big "H" on his egg with white crayon and then we wrapped it in onion skins.

The other neat idea comes from Martha Stewart. You use an old silk tie cut up into squares and wrap a raw egg up in it. Then wrap it again in a scrap of white fabric and secure it with a rubber band or twisty tie. Boil it with 3 TBS. vinegar...and the design of the tie comes out onto the egg! It's really cool, and my pictures don't do it justice. The tie was black, and I think a brighter color like red or orange would have worked much better. You can find the directions for that here.
The "tie" dyed ones are the top three. If you click on them you may be able to see the detail a little better.

We are still going to do the traditional dying with the white eggs. Don't the orange onion skin ones look awesome?

I love dying eggs, but really, my fridge smells like "you know what."

Leprechauns Up to No Good!

Every St. Patrick's Day since I was a little girl, leprechauns come and visit my house. They play tricks on us and leave yummy gold and green treats. My little brother, Trevor, would try to devise ways to catch the leprechauns but he was always outsmarted. One time, the leprechaun stepped in green paint and there were little leprechaun footprints on the kitchen table.


Well, this year was no exception. When we woke up that morning nothing seemed out of the ordinary. We started breakfast. I first poured myself a glass of milk and drank it. I started feeling itchy all over. That's when Hayden noticed that the milk was green! Then, I broke out in green dots all over my body...AND my feet turned green! Those darn leprechauns!

Maya drank some of the green milk in her cereal and broke out in the spots too, but her feet didn't turn green. Hayden seemed to be immune to their tricks. We think it's because he has red hair like them! He's got the luck of the Irish, he does! (said in my best Irish accent)

Kiss Me! I'm Irish.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Corned Beef and Cabbage, anyone?

Dinner and a Movie--Salway Style

A couple of weeks ago Eric and I didn't have plans on our usual date night, so we decided to have pizza (not delivery...DeGiorno) and watch a movie. Eric has a projector screen for work and we had been meaning to use it for watching a movie but we had never done it. We finally got it out and rented The Wild (not a great movie, by the way). My kids totally loved it.

Hayden and Maya enjoying their Pizza

We just taped up a blanket over the blinds to use as the screen.

I popped popcorn--of course it's a must! The kids got their blankets and enjoyed the movie and the popcorn for a few minutes before Maya decided that Hayden's popcorn tasted better than hers and Hayden decided he wanted to sit in a laundry basket rather than on the couch or floor. The "screen" fell down every 10 minutes. Great times in the Salway house! These are the moments that we'll look back and chuckle at.
There's no where I'd rather spend my weekend than with these people I love!

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Brianna's Poppy Seed Dressing

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THE BEST LUNCH EVER!!
Try it for yourself.

The Biggest Loser

Eric and I started watching the new season of The Biggest Loser last year. While watching those contestants I was thinking, "Wow, they are big! I would never let myself get like that." And then I realized, as a few of them were weighing in, that I basically was like that. I wouldn't call it denial, because I probably told myself everyday that I needed to lose weight. I guess I was just lazy.

I never had a weight problem growing up. I was a size 2/4 in high school. It wasn't until I got pregnant with Hayden that I put on massive amounts of weight. I worked a lot, and I had breakfast, lunch and dinner at various Fast Food restaurants. The weight came off pretty fast when I started eating right and exercising, but I never got back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Then, I had Maya and put on more weight. (I am going to be very candid here, because this is MY blog, right?) I can't deny that my parent's divorce was hard on me emotionally. Since I am an emotional eater, I would comfort myself with food. It was a vicious cycle. I would feel sad, so I would eat, then I would feel guilty for eating so I would eat more; then I would feel fat so I'd eat even more.

In July of last year we had a family vacation planned with Eric's whole family. It was going to be so fun. We planned to see where they grew up, and meet some old friends. I totally didn't want to go. I weighed the same as I did when I was 9 months pregnant with Maya! I did go, but felt so uncomfortable the whole time. I have gorgeous, skinny sister in laws and mother in law. I was out of place for sure. When I got home from that trip, I weighed 190 pounds. You would think that the pictures from the trip and everything would be enough to make me want to change, but no. I ran into people that I went to high school with and they didn't even recognize me. When I started finding friends in the blogging world, I wondered why they all looked exactly the same as they did in high school and I was unrecognizable.

It wasn't until around Hayden's birthday in September that I realized my life was not what I wanted it to be. We went to Regional Conference at the Conference Center in Salt Lake. President Hinckley spoke directly to the women and said, "Stop complaining about things that are bothering you in your life and change them!" I could blame pregnancy or my parent's divorce for my weight gain, but the truth was it was my fault. I had to take responsibility for what I had done to my body. I stopped complaining about my weight and I started changing it.

This has probably been the absolute hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I am used to putting my kids and husband before me, and losing weight required me to do the opposite. To put myself before them. I started getting up at 5:15 every morning and exercising. I changed my eating habits. It seemed like people noticed right away that there was a change in me. Whether it was weight loss or a countenance change, I don't know. I have had the greatest support system in my ward and with my family. My mother in law especially, is always complimenting my progress. It means a lot to hear those things when I have been working so hard. She is a big part of the reason that I have had success losing weight. My husband has also been very supportive and has changed his eating as well. We go to the gym together almost everyday. It has been nice to have someone to keep me accountable. It has helped us be united in other aspects of our life. We are different people now.

I now weigh less than I did before I got pregnant with Maya. That is a HUGE milestone for me. Almost 40 pounds of weight gone! I am not at my goal, but I am close. I can run 2.5 miles straight, I can bench press 70+ pounds with out a spotter, and I can fit in jeans I never thought I'd wear again. I have never been able to run or lift weight. Even when I was a size 2. This weight loss has made me a better mom and wife. I am happy when I wake up in the morning. I am more patient with them because I no longer am frustrated with myself. I can keep up with my kids! I really feel like I can do anything now. I have overcome this huge battle, and I have confidence and self esteem now that I didn't have before. This new Brandi is way better than the old one!
(The most recent pictures of me are the ones below with the chicks. I'll have to have Eric take one of me so you can see before and after!)

We're Just Some Wanna Be Farmers, Now

We started our seeds earlier this year in the hopes that my garden would finally flourish. This will be my 3rd attempt at a garden, and I'm determined to make it work this time. I tested the soil yesterday and found that it has very low levels of important nutrients, so hopefully adding those to the soil will make a difference.


We are not planting as much this year, because if it doesn't work out again, I don't want to feel like a total failure! So, we are planting peas, green beans, and onions. In May, I will start my Giant Pumpkin seeds! I can't wait. We also have strawberries in our front yard for our yummy jam! I love Spring!The Chickens are still doing great! They are starting to lose their cute fluffy feathers, though. The oldest chick (Batman) flew out of the cage today. What a defiant one she is! She is supposed to be the best egg layer; that's why I bought her. But, I can totally picture her not laying eggs for us, just because she's stubborn. Whenever I open the cage to hold them, Batman gets behind the other chicks and pushes them towards me so I won't try to hold her.

The novelty still hasn't worn off yet. Maya loves to go talk to the chickies. She talks in a really high voice and says, "Hi, Chickies!"

Hayden has been really responsible with them. He makes sure they have enough bedding and food and water. He checks them and counts them to make sure they are all still there. (We actually have 5 now!) This picture below is funny: Can you guess what the chick did? Boys think that stuff is so funny.

My little farmer children!

An Early Easter Gift

After seeing Marisa's cute post about baby chicks, I dreamt about chickens all night long. I saw my family cuddling with them as babies, I saw us taking care of them as they matured, and I saw us enjoying the work of feeding them and gathering the eggs they laid. The next day, I could not get it out of my head, so I called Marisa to see how much work they are. After talking to her and reading her "Backyard Farming" blog, Eric and I decided (well, more me) to go and get our baby chicks.

We are really loving them. I can't tell you how much fun it is to hold these cute cuddly things. I check on them almost every hour and my kids always want to hold them. They really don't require much effort to be taken care of. Just food and water every day and change the bedding every few days. We also have a heat lamp on them because they need warmth.

The black one is a black sexlink (holds the record for the most eggs laid in a day) and that one is Hayden's. He named her "Batman". The reddish one is a Rhode Island red and is named "Maggie". And the yellowish white one (my favorite one) is a white sexlink named "Bailey".

Here's Maya saying "Hi!" to the chickies.
I am totally in love with them!!