August challenges and Salamanders

Today is Sarah's 2nd birthday! I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. She is learning to do so many things by herself and is a fairly independent little soul who loves to run after her brothers and tries to do everything they do. She sings to herself all the time, and talks about who knows what, with great enthusiasm and drama. She likes to 'help' do laundry and sweep, and is currently pushing the boundaries at every turn.

Today, however, she played mommy with her baby doll, trying to put a diaper on it, and discussed with me matter of factly what she was doing. She will play legos with the boys, until something gets broken and one of them decides they have had enough of little sister getting into their creations.

I think she is trying to potty train herself, a little bit, because sometimes she will go into the bathroom and remove her wet diaper and then climb up on the potty and sit for awhile. Of course, it's already been done in the diaper, but she's getting the idea anyway. Also, she still nurses, but during the day often it is executed with great drama and this goofy grin on her face, like she thinks she's too big for it, but still wants to. I hate to admit it, but she's almost not a baby anymore.

Starting tomorrow, I am going to be doing some challenges that I set up for myself. Hopefully, my blog will be a good way to help me achieve my goals for the month of August.

1. I will be taking a month long break from Facebook. I really don't need to be on it all the time, and it has become an addiction for me that I really need to get under control. I literally can spend hours every day on here, doing not much useful, and getting nothing done.

2. I am challenging myself to eat nothing with sugar in it. I am addicted to food, particularly things that are not good for me, so I am starting with sugar and will work on other things later.

3. Exercise. I have been doing really good at getting some in almost everyday. The kids and I go to the pond in the afternoons after lunch to burn off some of their energy, and I really enjoy putting on my mask and swimming around enjoying nature.
I would like to see if I can add my walk back in, in the morning. It's been very hot, but not so much that I couldn't get out there and walk. I've just been lazy.

So, those are the three things I am tackling this month. Next week we are going camping with the church and we are all looking forward to the break from the usual.

Utah Animals
Tiger Salamander  This is what we discovered the last few days at the pond. I finally got a pretty good look at one, and was able to figure out fairly quickly what it was.

What we have seen is a baby larval stage Tiger Salamander. They are about 8 inches long right now and are very cool to see. When they get big they will spend most of their time on land, but at this phase in their development, they are swimming around in the bottom of the pond. So this evening, we are learning about them.

Anyway, I'll check in tomorrow as we begin the month of August.