4th of July to Remember

I reached into the back of all my memories to compare and decided this was definitely the best 4th of July I have ever had. It was packed with fun and family, and what could be better than those two? I will give you a quick rundown and slideshow of our day from dawn to dusk!



I woke up early! Whoa! 5:45 a.m. early and was so excited I couldn't sleep. I read for a while and then got ready for the day, which might not seem so amazing to everyone, but the fact that Lucy outslept me by two hours was actually much more than amazing, it was a miracle. Starting the day with a book, shower and breakfast baby free is definitely a moment of bliss for a mother!

We booked it to get to the Parade on time and glory in our highly prized seats that David won (in the shade, might I add!) See the previous post for details on how he won the seats. Usually we get to the Parade in time to see the last 10 minutes, so being there for the full thing was really exciting and really got me in the spirit to celebrate our country! Lucy loved it! She watched intently and clapped every few minutes. It is so fun to share experiences with her and watch her take them in!

After the parade Lani, Sierra and Heidi took a trip to Wal Mart to deck themselves in Hannah Montana attire, while Dave and I relaxed, read, and chatted with my Mom, while Lucy took and extremely long 3 hour nap. Oh, what heaven! We ate good food and got ready for the show, complete with our Holiday Lucy Photo Shoot tradition and then started walking to the Stadium for the main event: STADIUM OF FIRE!!!

The show was amazing! Glen Beck gave a very inspirational talk about what it means to be an American, while Skydivers from all of the armed forces Skdived into the Stadium. Then the Stadium of Fire dancers put on a good show. Blue Man Group performed which was very enjoyable! They were really funny and unlike any musical group I have ever heard before. Of course Miley Cyrus sang (I actually wasn't that impressed. She only sang Miley Cyrus songs, not her Hannah Montana songs which are way better!), and then we watched the best fireworks we have ever seen! Lucy clapped all through the concert, she loves when we watch something and people clap because she knows what to do. I would rather bring her along to stuff than get a babysitter just because it is so fun watching her get excited and clapping! We were so close ash was falling on us! Lucy was really pretty good. She squawked a little toward the end of Miley and was getting really tired, but settled down and was excited as ever for the fireworks. Actually she was having a hard time at first because I was trying to cover her ears. She was really mad and wiggling all over the place. I finally stopped trying to cover her ears and she was completely happy watching the fireworks, loud booming and all! My favorite part of the whole day was watching her point up at the Fireworks, wondering what they were and why we were celebrating instead of sleeping. She was really in awe. Someday, Lucy, you'll understand why we are so excited on this day and why your life is the wonderful life it is because of our forefathers courage!

She just watched and wondered until a piece of ash got in her eye. We were all getting a little stuff in our eyes. I had to take her to the bathroom and wash her eye out, so I missed the finale, but it was such a great day I didn't care. In my hurry to get Lucy taken care of, I didn't bring my cell phone and then when we came out of the restroom the whole stadium was trying to get out, so i didn't know how I was going to find David. I went back to our seats, but David was gone. I wasn't really panicked because we don't live that far away and we would have met up eventually, but Dave had the stroller check ticket and Lucy is 22 lbs that I didn't really want to lug up the hill, in the dark, at 11:00 p.m. I decided I would go to the stroller check and look for him there. Meanwhile, I prayed. I asked very specifically if Heavenly Father would please let David know I was going to the stroller check. When I finished my prayer I felt confident I would find David there. I felt so confident I almost wasn't surprised when he came right up to me at the stroller check. I asked how he knew to meet me here and he just said "It was the only place I could think of." I love those small moments the Lord completely answers your prayers and you just know every minute of your life is being guided and watched over carefully.

We topped off the night splurging with some ice cream cake decorated with strawberries and blueberries to look like a flag by my fabulous cake decorating sister, Heidi. And, even more excitingly, I got to eat it because I timed it so that I was introducing dairy into Lucy's diet the last couple days! It was really really good, but Lucy did have a reaction to dairy so it might be the last scrumptious treat I eat in a while (speaking of my crazy diet, I have lost 10 pounds, in the last 2 months because of it! I don't really know if that is something to brag about or not! It is kind of like "yeah I look good, but can't eat normally and probably should not be losing weight so quickly.")

Anyway, thanks for letting me share this exciting Independence Day with all of you! Sometimes life is really really hard and then sometimes is really really awesome. I think it makes both parts of life better if we are able to share our woes and excitements with our friends (which is where blogging fits in), so thanks again for being excited about my day with me!

Noteworthy News

View Album

Get your own

Right now there are lots of exciting things going on at the Pendergrass home. First and foremost David has now joined the quarter of a century club (His Birthday was on Sunday!). To celebrate we did a photo shoot of Lucy! Okay not really to celebrate, but we did do this photo shoot above on his birthday and I can't figure out how to move it to a lower position in my post (hey, at least I learned how to put a slideshow in a post so you don't have to scroll for hours), so once again Lucy takes the spotlight!

Here is a picture of the Birthday Boy. I wanted to mention that for only being 25, I think David has the most character of anyone I know. When it comes to being caring, patient, kind, honest, humble and truly serving others, those things are so innate in David. He doesn't even realize that he has mastered some of the hardest qualities it takes people their whole lives to even come close. And yet when he makes the smallest mistake he still worries so much that he didn't make the right choice. I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to be with him forever and hope that in our life together some of his greatness will rub off on me. Thanks for holding up our family and taking such wonderful care of me and Lucy, David! I couldn't be a luckier girl!

Also, I thought it was a good time to explain what David and I are really doing in life right now, since you are all pretty sure we have a cute kid, but are wondering if we have jobs other than playing with her! This is the David, Wendy and Lucy Too page so it is high time I mention something about me and David. Here is the lowdown: David is currently camping (yes, literally he is camping to try and save money! Oh, how I love that man and his many adventures!)in Cedar City attending graduate school at Southern Utah University in Sports Performance and Conditioning. He will be there for two weeks doing all the hands on stuff and then be able to complete the rest of his year long program online from home. After a year of Grad school at BYU he decided Health wasn't exactly what he was going for, and a Sports training program was more what he wanted to do with his life. When he gets home he will be working on starting his own business while he is in school. He hopes to get a Fitness Boot Camp rolling somewhere here in Provo or Orem. We think it will go over big because it will be way more fun for people to get a great workout with a personal trainer in the outdoors doing interesting activities, opposed to being on some machine in a gym when its gorgeous outside! He has already got liability insurance and started talking to people about locations, so as soon as we get a definite location we will be ready to roll!

And now its my turn to talk about how cool I am. I passed my Real Estate License Exam on Saturday, so as soon as I sign on with a broker I will be ready to help all of you find your dream home! I am so proud of myself for finishing, because I only had a few classes left when Lucy was born and i thought it wouldn't be too hard to finish once I had her, but then I realized everyone going to school at BYU with 2 kids and making it look like it is easy are pretty much liars! Either that, or Lucy is just a special baby who needs her Mom. Anyway, go me! Next week, I will also start babysitting for a neighbor 3 times a week, which is such a blessing right now while David is trying to start up his own business. Other than that I am anxiously trying to publish children's stories while getting nowhere because I would rather blog about my life! Oh, and I forgot to mention my other hobby is taking pictures of Lucy, but I am sure you have realized that by now!

The other huge and monumental thing going on is that I am on a diet! Okay, I know some of you are thinking...what? Wendy, miss anti-diet herself who is always telling people "You are doing great, just try to eat healthy and don't give yourself strict rules or else you are bound to break them and then hate yourself," is going on a diet? Yes, actually I have been on it for 2 and 1/2 weeks now and been keeping it a secret from all of you, so I could lose tons of weight and then surprise everyone with how awesome I look! Just kidding! I am actually on a diet because we suspect Lucy has food allergies and since I am still her primary food source, I have eliminated all the common food allergens in my diet and will soon be slowly introducing each food back into my diet to see if there is a reaction. What are the common food allergens I am eliminating? oh just a few like: Nuts, Dairy, eggs, wheat and whole grains, soy, chocolate, seafood, berries or citrus fruits. Yes, I have actually eliminated all those from my diet for two weeks now. What am I eating? Well, less food than I ate before, that is for sure. I am not going to lie, it has been really hard to think of things to eat sometimes. Mostly I have been eating rice and chicken with vegetables. If you really look there are tons of substitutions for stuff and I am getting better at cooking with them. For instance, On David's Birthday he wanted biscuits and gravy, but he didn't want to eat it if I couldn't, so I made biscuits using rice flour for white flour, Rice milk for the milk and applesauce for the shortening. They were a little chewy and weird, but tasted okay. The gravy I also made with rice flour and rice milk. It turned out better than just edible so I was excited! I also made spice cake with a gluten free mix I bought at the Good Earth and Egg substitute. It was kind of good, hey at least we had somewhere to put the candles! You may think I am crazy for doing this, but Lucy's rashes have been improving, she has had fewer messy diapers (She used to be at about 10 a day, now we are at around 6), and most importantly she doesn't wake up every two hours anymore. It is funny because Lucy slept great until about 4 months she started waking up again which is right around the age some kids start developing food allergies. I felt very strongly with Lucy that I shouldn't let her cry it out to get her to sleep. I just knew something was wrong and it wasn't just a bad habit like the doctor said and now I am very glad I didn't because I probably would have missed this problem and then poor Lucy would just be miserable and alone in her misery. I think Mom's really know their children and have a very strong instinct when it comes to what is best for them. Anyway, I have done a lot of research on the subject and am finding this is actually a somewhat common problem ( in fact many kids have eczema because of a food allergy) so if any of you have kids with food allergies or suspect them feel free to ask me any questions about what I have learned or more importantly if you have to do a crazy diet like this ask me for recipes.

Well, that is what we have been up to. Pretty interesting, huh? Well, now you know why I would rather post cute pics of Lucy and talk about what she is doing, rather than rant and rave about crazy diets! But hey its life and I am learning how to love it more fully, even when I seem in the midst of trials!

Yoga Baby

Lucy has been dabbling in the Art of Yoga lately. Who would have known she could have invented so many poses! (Just for the record i didn't put her in any of these poses. She does them all on her own, I just obsessively follow her around with a camera to catch them all!)

Real yoga Squat:

Lucy's improved Yoga Squat:I don't know the name of this one:

Similar to Tree Pose, I guess?Navasana or Boat Pose:
Lucy's Boat Pose: (She looks like she is about to fall over, but she does this all the time and never falls over. Maybe she just likes balancing?)Butterfly Pose:

Lucy's Butterfly Pose: (What happens when you sit down a tired baby! This one is my favorite!)
Pigeon Pose:
Almost Pigeon Pose Lucy:
And of course, Downward Facing Dog:

Lucy's Downward Dog: (Or should we say elephant walk)And Here she is instructing her Daddy (or is it the other way around?)


Keep up the Good Work Lucy and Dave! You will be fit in no time!

Exclusive Interview: My Weight Loss Secret

Weight is one of my least favorite topics to talk about! It isn't fun if you have lost weight because you feel like people are analyzing you and what new diet you went on. It isn't fun if you have gained weight because ... well...this one needs no elaboration. It is especially miserable if it is some ridiculous new diet someone is trying to convince you to try! If someone starts telling you about a diet, are you supposed to assume that they think you need to go on one? And really what do you say to your friend that has lost weight? You know that they want you to notice, but if you say "wow, you look great!" you are pretty much saying "you looked lousy before," but if you don't say anything they think all their hard work is for nothing! Because of this very predicament, I made a conscious decision a few years ago never to comment on people losing weight because I want them to know I value them regardless of what is happening with their weight.

Sometimes I think people are especially drawn to talk about weight with me because I majored in Fitness & Wellness. They want me to evaluate their diet or tell me about a new exercise program they are on which will somehow make them a good person in my mind because I obviously care about fitness.

I'm actually more of a Wellness than Fitness person. Really my passion lies with helping women to realize their true potential and love themselves for who they are, completely separating their divine potential from how much they weigh. There is nothing more heartbreaking to me than seeing absolutely amazing women obsessing over how they look and feeling bad about themselves. Right now this is how everything in our society tells us we should feel. In fact, if you act happy about how you look, it is so rare that people will probably isolate you because they don't know how to react. This topic means even more to me, now that I have a daughter who I know is absolutely perfect to me and to our Heavenly Father. I never want her to worry if she is good enough for anyone or anything. It is especially important for parents to stop obsessing about weight because those perfect children will model your behavior and be worried about their weight and looks if that is what they see.

I understand how incredibly hard it is to not care about how you look. I used to really hate myself and always be on some ridiculous diet and extreme exercise program, but after a lot of prayer, reading books, help from David, attending a great class at BYU (Hlth 403 R by Dr. Hawks "Body Image, Self Esteem & Weight Loss"), oh and I can't forget going off Birth Control (that stuff can really mess you up), I actually really love who I am, like how I look and try to exercise just for the fun of it! If I'm not feeling it that day, I don't do it and I don't give myself a guilt trip about it. This is one of the biggest accomplishments in my life and it is very hard to explain to people who ask me questions about exercise really wanting to lose weight because I don't want them to obsess about it. I always just want to tell them "Just try your best, but don't try so hard it makes you miserable" but that is not the answer people want to hear.

So hear is how my conversation went a few weeks ago with a friend at church:

Friend: "Wow, Wendy! How did you lose all your baby weight so quickly?"

Me: "Oh, well it's my first baby. You have three kids. I am sure it just gets harder with each one"

Friend: "Oh no, it still took me quite a while with my first and I really never fully got it off. Really what is your secret? How did you do it?"

Me: "Well, I guess I should tell you my secret. I just dance with Lucy."

Friend: "You just dance with her? How do you do it? Do you have a videotape or something?"

Me: "No. I just turn the music on and go to town. She absolutely loves it and starts dancing along. I get so caught up trying to make her laugh and dance that I end up going for an hour. It is really the best part of my day!"

And now you know the truth about weight loss. If you stop worrying about it and just have fun, I promise it is way easier to lose weight! Stressing is the worst thing you can do for your weight and your family. Trying to eat healthy, while definitely allowing yourself to have treats and finding a fun way to exercise is the best thing you can do for yourself and your children!

And now you are thinking "Oh man! I read this whole article for that! I thought there would be some awesome secret!"

If you don't believe me,
ask Lucy what she thinks about life:

It's True. We Really Just Dance!

(Here we are rocking out to our favorite music from "Hairspray." She gets really into it and after the whole CD I have to play Mozart for at least 20 minutes to help her calm down.)

Watching Lucy Dance reminds me of this truth and scripture "... and men are that they might have joy!" (2 Nephi 2:25).

As David always says "A Happy Wife is a Happy Life!" words of infinite wisdom!

I know this is so much easier to say than believe, but really each of you is an incredible creation of our Heavenly Father and if you don't like the way that you are, that is Satan talking. I think this is one of his best tactics against great faithful people. If you can get someone to wallow in self pity you can sure stop a lot of awesome things they could be doing to move the work along.

In conclusion to this ever so long blog I would like to leave you with one of my favorite quotations:

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."

So get out there and start enjoying life!

Dance like nobody is watching, because really God is the only one watching who matters and I am sure he loves watching his children when their joy is at its fullest.