Who do you look up to....Part 2

Okay, so I did a post a little while back titled "Who do you look up to?" My post was about an amazing woman named Kassie. I wish she didn't live in Miami so I could live closer to her. Anyway, as if she wasn't already kind and generous, caring and supportive, as well as a whole host of other qualities, she has started her own photography business. Oh My Goodness!!! Add another tally to her long list of amazing abilities. Her new business is called Soda Pop Photography. It's a cute little story behind the name and I think it suits her personality perfectly! She's always paying it forward and today is no exception. She's doing a little giveaway for one lucky person. So, visit her on facebook, check out her blog, drop her a little note. There are so many photographers out there, I know several amazing photographers and I'm so elated to add another one to my list. Love ya Kassie!

You walk where!?

I live a hop, skip, and a jump (okay, maybe a little more than that) away from a cemetery. It's a rather large cemetery with "roads" or paths that turn it into a bit of a grid. Well, when I decided to start walking in the mornings, the cemetery sounded like the perfect spot to me. No busy streets with crazy people driving to worry about, there are others who walk/jog there but it's not ever busy with swarms of people. No stop lights to worry about or streets to have to cross. Call me crazy but it sounds quite nice. So this morning, I grabbed the stroller, my phone, a couple of blankets for my son and his bottle. I loaded him up and off we went. Such a beautiful morning. The sun was shinning, the autumn air was cool and crisp with crunchy leaves that have fallen on the ground. It was peaceful. I of course needed a little something to keep me going so being that it's after Halloween and I am completely in love with Christmas time, there was really only one thing for me to do. Use the music player on my cell phone and play some Christmas music. It was the fantastic start to my day that I needed.

Who do you look up to?

Several years ago while working for an airline, being a trainer was part of my job. I was assigned to train a new girl who I came to have great admiration for. She lives on the other side of the country now and it's been a very long time since I've seen and spent time with her but I keep up with her and her little family through her blog. I still admire her to this day and I would say even more so now than before. Why you ask? She is such an amazing person! Humble, kind, loving, caring, genuine, considerate, thoughtful, thankful, I could go on and on. I look up to her so much, I don't think she realizes how much of an impact she has had on my life. If I could try to be more like a person on this earth, it would be her (other than my Mom. I think my Mom is pretty great). She is constantly giving to those who are without, spreading the word about important issues and always makes sure she has time for her family. Creative, artistic, beautiful in every sense of the word. Kassie, thank you so much for continuing to touch my life and be an example to me though you're hundreds of miles away.

The little love of my life

How can you not love this adorable face? I can't belive how much time has flown by. I love my little man. He's 9 months old, has his own unique crawl, pulls himself up to everything, climbs stairs and is always on the go. He loves blueberries and peaches, his favorite fruits but will eat anything I put in front of him. he's in 12-18 month clothing and has finally made it into the "Average" section of the weight chart for his age. He has 2 bottom teeth, one that just cut on top, and another one trying to poke through. He's a little flirt and knows a cute girl when he sees one and will go as far as to turn his head and stare when we pass one in a store. He loves snuggling up to mom at night but moves all over the place when he sleeps. He's talking up a storm these days though I have no clue what he's saying other than the regular "mommommom" and "dadadada". I love that I can be here to see all of his firsts and look forward to all the fun times that lay ahead for us.

Is it just me?

Am I the only one who thinks that 65 degrees in the fall times feels different than 65 degrees in the spring time? I probably am, I'm ok with that. Finally!!! After a freakishly warm start to one of my favorite seasons, the cool weather has arrived. I just hope it is here to stay. I was driving down the street the other day, it was in the upper 50's, the windows were rolled down and I was loving life! I just hope the snow stays away for a little while.

Football

The owner of Alex's company get season tickets to all things U of U. Well, he was unable to go to their homecoming football game and the tickets were up for grabs. Now Alex and I are not fans of the Utes, but we're not haters either. With so many other crazy fans that he works with he didn't think he would get the tickets but he emailed and said he'd like them anyway. He actually was the first one to respond with interest. Who knew!? I was driving back from Vegas the day of the game and woke up extra early so that Erick and I would make it back in time. I'm so glad we did. Though we may not love the Utes, we love football. Too bad the game wasn't that great, the Utes won but it was a TOTAL masacre of the other team. But hey, I'm not gonna turn my nose up at free tickets! It was a lot of fun. There were a few "firsts" for Erick this night. His first football game, his frist trax ride, and he even got his first churro. MMM....churros!

I love new cars!

Ok, so it's not the newest model, it's actually an '07, but I love our new vehicle! We traded in Alex's Saturn, and purchased a Dodge Nitro. It provides so much more room than we had in the Saturn, it's comfortable and a person can sit comfortably behind my husband, who has to sit far back from the steering wheel to drive since he's tall. Alex, who is going hunting in a couple of weeks decided to really break it in and went scouting for deer last weekend. It's nice and dirty now, not as bad as I would have expected but we had fun with my brother Erik that day.

Hello Fall and other things

My favorite season of the year is quickly coming upon us. Most people view the last "real" day of summer as Labor Day so shouldn't that mean that the first day of fall clearly falls on the following tuesday?? The month of September is great for 3 simple reasons. The start of the NFL season (excluding preseason games), fall actually begins and it's my birthday month!

This year on my birthday I'm actually in charge of activity days. It was determined that this particular activity will be the fundraser, Pennies by the Inch for Primary Childrens Hospital. What a great cause! So activity days is for girls ages 8-11 and I need to try and make this activity fun. I mean lets face it, how fun can it really be to go door to door asking for a monetary donation during the not so great economic times. I've been racking my brain trying to come up with an idea to make it  interesting. This is all I have come up with so far:

The girls will be split up into 2 teams and assigned the same amount of blocks to go around. Once they finish at the last house, they will be given an envelope with a bunch of word strips inside. They have to race back to the church and figure out in which order the words go. (The words make up a scripture in the Book of Mormon on service) They will be given the scripture reference and a Book of Mormon to help them figure it out.

I know there should maybe be a reward but shouldn't the reward be the good deed that you're doing? Any thoughts? Afterwards we would have a little discussion about why serving others is so important and what we can gain from it. I think there would be enough time for all of that but I don't know. I guess I could revise it a bit. Any suggestions would be welcomed, the activity lasts 1 hour.

Talents?

About a month ago I was called to be an Activity Days leader. I am really excited about this calling and I think that there is a lot of potential out there for this program. Twice a year we have to do a recognition night and our next one is in December. The theme that was chosen (before I was called) is Talents. Tomorrow, myself and the other leader will be introducing this to the girls by each creating a table to display our talents. I know what a talent is but I am really stumped trying to come up with talents that I have.

My loving husband said that I am patient but is that really a talent? I don't know that I could justify that as a talent and even if it is, how do you even begin to put "patience" on a display table? He also said that I'm really good at baking cakes. Now there is something that I can run with. I thought about making and decorating a cake to take tomorrow. Now, I'm not super good at cake decorating yet but I've definitely got the cake baking part down! I've even found a couple new recipes I would like to try but I'm not sure if they're good recipes to try with girls I don't really know yet. Maybe I'll go with something like chocolate or white, who knows. The only other thing I could come up with all on my own is playing the paino. I can put a song book on the table but after those 2, I am stumped! Hopefully I can come up with something before 3:00 pm tomorrow. Wish me luck!

And thus it begins

School started Wednesday last week. Normally I really wouldn't pay attention or care as to when school was starting but this year is different. This year is the year that my little family embarks on a long journey. Alex decided to start school. Orginally I thought we were planning on him starting in the spring, however, somewhere along the way, it quickly became him enrolling for the fall semester. Now here I sit, after a long, LONG afternoon, with a sleeping baby in the nearby room, blankly staring at the computer screen. My husband has enrolled for 2 classes as that is about all that he can handle due to the fact that he's working full time. He has a math class and an art class which requires him to be at school Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights.

I always loved when Alex came home from work for 2 reasons. I missed him and I enjoy spending time with him and it also meant I could pass our son off to him for a little bit. Erick always loves when Alex comes home and gets excited when he sees him. Now, that won't be happening so much. I know it's going to be hard, it's already hard and this is only the second day of class, but I know it will be worth it. In the end, he'll have a degree, we'll have moved one step forward in the progression of life and all will be jolly. Ok. Perhaps it won't be jolly, but at least we'll have his college education taken care of, well the bachelor degree. Then it will continue on to the master and hopefully he'll be done after that. One can hope, right?

New Recipes

Hello Blogging World. I am here to ask for your help. Well, I'm more like BEGGING for your help. I am in dire need of some new recipes. Whatever you want to send my way, though I'm really looking for new dinner recipes. I've hit a brick wall and am so tired of cooking the same things for dinner. I love to try new recipes so whatever you have, please share. Thank you.

Learning and Experimenting

I never grew up with organic anything. I had never really been to a farmers market. It just wasn't how I was raised. My mom did cook all of our meals though. She made breakfast every morning for us, even if it was just a bowl of oatmeal, she would pack lunches (when we were wee little babes going to elementary) and she would make wonderful dinners. The older I have gotten (and since I've become a mom) I have become quite fond of farmers markets and learning about organic food. While I don't know that I am completely sold on organic fruits and veggies I do prefer them to be fresh, not frozen and I LOVE being able to support my local farmers. I do however want to make the switch to organic meats. I do believe the hormones they inject in the animals is a big factor in why kids are developing at a much younger age and I just think that there are better, healthier ways to do things. While I'm not the one who currently does the shopping for food, I hope that when I do become that person again, I will be able to buy organic meat. I know it will be a sacrifice but it's one that I am willing to make. I just need to get my husband on board. Sorry for that little tangent. Onto what I learned.

I found a website that I love! www.wholesomebabyfood.com. They have a lot of good information and suggestions on making your own baby food. A friend of mine has a little girl who is a couple months older than my son and we decided that we wanted to try and make our own baby food. It couldn't be that hard. Right? It wasn't. Buy veggies/fruits, steam if needed, puree and voila! Homemade baby food. She lives an hour north of me and came down so we could go to the farmers market to buy some veggies. We purchased summer squash, zucchini, green beans and blueberries. We decided to just go with veggies this time and a little later we will do peaches, apples and apricots, all of which we can get for free! You can't beat free baby food! When we got home from the market, we washed everything, chopped up the squash and zucchini, steamed them, boiled the green beans and the blueberries really didn't have any prep work involved. Once they were all done, we put some in the food processor and some in my Bullet (you know the infomercial" And in 1,2, 3...." okay maybe a little more than 3 seconds, we had delicious, fresh, non processed, no salt or sugar added, good for you baby food. Literally, that easy. I felt so accomplished.

Long over due

Tonight was the first night that Alex and I went out on a real date without the baby. I'd say it was about time, he is 7 months old now. I'm just kind of protective and don't really trust too many people to watch him. Since we live with my grandma now, it was high time that we take advantage of her willingness to watch him. Our original plan was to go out to dinner, a sit down restaurant, then head to the temple to do a session. Well, Alex got home late, his cold was annoying him so we decided to cut our temple trip short and then we went to Goodwood for some BBQ. It was tasty! On the way home from dinner I said, "Do you realize we just spend an entire evening without Bubbs and we didn't even talk about him!?". Alex's response was, "Ya. That's so sad" Me, "That's not sad. It's Healthy." Which I totally believe. I would hate to become one of those couples when they spend time away from their children all they talk about is their children.

Now my son is pretty good about going to sleep between 8 and 8:30, usually. When we got home, just after 10:00, my grandmother informed me that he didn't fall asleep until about 9 and he had just woken up right before we came home. I'd like to think it was because he was waiting for us to get home. No one else has ever put him to sleep. Alex picked him up off the couch and took him down to the room. I walked in to find our little bubbs laying in Alex's arms falling asleep. It was so cute! I wish I had a camera. It's evenings like this that I am reminded all over again why I love my husband.

Here's my issue

When a judge states that what was passed by voters is "irrelevant" why then are we voting!? If a judge is just going to rule and make decisions based on what he/she wants regardless of what the majority wants then we have major issues. It's a sad day in history when judges and government have no regard for what the majority of the people want but do what is popular. I'm curious to see how things will begin to take shape and form over the next several years. God help us all and give us the strength to fight for our freedom.

BBQ Grill and Baking

I love to bake. I moved in with grandparents the end of May and my grandmother, come hell or high water, will not turn on the oven during the summer time. I get it. Her kitchen without the oven on is probably the hottest room in the house because of where it sits. She found a recipe for red velvet cupcakes that she wanted to try the other day and she was going to bake them in her little toaster oven that can hold a pan of 6 cupcakes at a time. Yesterday she mixed up the batter and got through only 2 pans (1 dozen) cupcakes before she decided to stop. She had all of this extra batter left over and was going to make the rest today. I suggested doing them in the BBQ grill.

Growing up in my early to late teen years, my mother became familiar with baking on a BBQ grill. She would always say whatever you can cook in an oven you can cook on the grill. I remembered this and when I wanted pizza last night I was quick to tell my grandma I would do it on the grill so the house wouldn't be heated up. My mom taught me that when you're going to cook on grill, turn all of the burners on the grill on and close the lid to let it heat up. When you've reached your desired temperature, turn off one side and that is the side you put your pan on. For me I don't have a thermometer so I just leave the one side on low to med low and I watch it. With my grandmothers grill, I would say it keeps it at close to 350 degrees. I was successful in cooking 2 pizzas on the grill last night and then I finished baking my grandmothers cupcakes this morning. Thanks Mom!!!

6 months

So it's a little late in coming but I thought I would catch the blogging world up on my little tyke. He's now 6 1/2 months old and getting so big! He's wearing 12 months clothes, sits really well by himself, loves apples, pears, oatmeal, rice and peaches. He's obsitnate and doesn't want to roll from his back to his tummy but loves to roll from his tummy to his back. He loves our walks and playing with his toys as long as mommy is in sight, he's a bit of a momma's boy. I can't believe he's already 6 months old and before I know it a year will have passed.

Organizing

It seems like this is an ongoing process. I feel like There is always something more to do and it's really hard to get it all done knowing that we're just going to be here a short time in the grand scheme of things. My grandmother likes a tidy house, as do I, so I'm trying really hard to find a place for everything. I think so far I've done a pretty good job but there are days where I just feel that isn't good enough for her. How I long to have a place of our own again. I do know this is temporary. However, I'm not sure exactly how long we'll be here or where we will be going next. Alex the other day was looking at job postings online in Charlotte, NC. Who knows, maybe our next move will be cross country.

Lets get it together! Seriously!!

Okay, I understand and appreciate the fact that McNeil Consumer Healthcare recalled products based on quality standards. Totally legit. But come on people! This is the second recall and it's near impossible to find any infant pain/fever reducer. When I walk into several different stores to find any kind of pain/fever reducer for infants and I can't find a single bottle of even generic medicine, what is a mom to do!?!? For the love of all the is good an holy get your act together, fix the problem and get the medicine back on the market. PLEASE!!!!

What to do?

I need some motivation to workout. Then again, I need to figure out what to do to work out. I have the Turbo Jam DVDs which I love but unfortunately I didn't go with my husband when they unpacked the moving truck and put our stuff into storage. Where might you ask are the workout DVDs??? That's right, they're in the very back of our storage unit... our extremely packed, cramped, no room for anything else storage unit.  So I've been trying to figure out what to do. In the mean time I've been taking walks. I don't have a jogging stroller and I don't know that my regular stroller would work well with jogging. I don't have a weight set, I don't know that I really want to purchase a membership to a gym right now so I was thinking about giving Kendra Wilkinson's new workout DVD a try when it comes out. Any thoughts???

Along with finding a workout plan, I need to find some new healthy meal plans. I get stuck in this rut of making the same things over and over again. I need to find healthy, delicious new meals to make. Also, any thoughts and suggestions are welcomed. I know I always make goals and for some reason I don't stick with them so my new goal that I am determined to meet come hell or high water is to be under 200 lbs by the end of the year. Roughly that equates to me loosing about 23 lbs (according to my last dr appointment) which is totally reasonable. Right? So, for those out there that read this, help!!!

Are we done yet??

Alex and I officially moved to Spanish Fork this past Saturday. I thought I would FINALLY be out of clutter and done with boxes. I must have been fooling myself. Here it is Wednesday night and our room, complete disaster area. I seriously think we might need to Put CAUTION tape around the door. I am slowly getting to the unpacking but it seems to be taking forever. There is always something else coming up or a cute little baby that needs tending to. So my goal for tomorrow is to at least get my room in order. I at least need that. My sanity is riding on it. On the plus side, I finished cleaning the apartment today. It was such a bitter sweet moment leaving knowing that I would not be going back. It was "our" first apartment. It was the home that we brought our baby home to, it was the place where he had so many of his "firsts". It's where we learned to not sponge bathe our son close to our tooth brushes, he had incredible aim. He learned to roll over, he had his first Christmas, and so many more other memories we will have. As much as I wanted to leave I didn't expect the the feeling of sadness to take over for a minute. However, it is time to move on, move on to bigger and better things.

Speaking of bigger things. I found out today that my sister in law Kate is having TWINS!!! I'm totally stoked and hoping for at least one boy. Honestly, I feel kind of bad for her since she lives in Vegas and I know what's it's like carrying one baby inside, two must be hard! My brother better be good to her! She's due around Christmas but since they never let twins go full term they should be here before the 18th of December!! Why am I so excited?? Because we were already planning on being in Vegas for the 18th to do Erick's 1st birthday and now I'll be able to see my cute little jellybeans. That's what I'll call them for now. I can't call them peanuts because that's what we call my little man. My little jellybeans they'll be until the sexes are determined.

In a nutshell

I can't believe it's almost been a month since I've blogged. We're packing up and getting ready to move on Saturday. Blogging just has been pushed to the back as it was just one more thing I felt I had to do that I didn't really want to do. My mommy came up a week ago and helped me pack up pretty much everything that could be packed up and that was a HUGE help. I can't believe it's already Wednesday and we're moving in with my grandparents on Saturday. Our original plan was to only be there for 6 months but I think we will be there for longer. I've decided not to put a time frame on it. As long as we're actively paying off our debt, saving and doing something with our lives, I hope my grandma will be okay with it.

My little niece turned 2 the beginning of the month and we went down to Ephraim for her little party. I helped my sister decorate the cupcakes while she decorated the cake. We both love decorating cakes. In fact, I was perusing Wilton.com last night and came across a cake that I want to make for the 4th of July. I need to get a few things before I make it and it's a fondant cake so it will be a huge experiment for me. I'm excited though. Unfortunately my sister will be gone by then so she won't be able to enjoy it with me.

So while we were packing up last week, my mom came across my journal and asked if I wanted to pack it. I told her to leave it unpacked. I picked it up last night and the last entry was over a year ago. I wasn't even pregnant at the time. I decided to do a quick catch up and I kind of justified not writing in there a little by saying that I had been blogging. It's true, but I need to be better about writing. Writing and blogging.

Here's to future dreams

So for those of you that know me, you know that I love baking. More recently I've really wanted to get into cake decorating. My sister has also decided to get into cake decorating. We both would like to take the Wilton classes at Michaels and hope to do so soon. Once we perfect it we would love to open up our own little wedding business. Cindy and I would do cakes, our sister in law Kate would do Photography and I think Trevor would learn about flowers and do arrangements, or he can handle the financial aspect of it. There would be more involved, I think we would offer chair covers, table cloths, etc. Anyway, back to the baking. I only have 1 pastry bag and 3 tips right now but I do what I can with it. My husband I think is starting to hate my desire to learn cake decorating because it means that I make cake a lot, which if you know us, you know we don't need it at all.

Today instead of cleaning like I should have done I decided to make cookies. I made oatmeal banana chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies. The sugar cookies were in the shape of footballs, or at least what was supposed to be a football. Some of them turned out more circular that I would have liked but they were tasty. I'm trying to perfect buttercream and decorating with buttercream. My sister tends to like working with fondant more so I figure it's probably good that each of us likes working with a different medium. This is the plate I'll send with my husband to work tomorrow. Since we don't all this food sitting around in our house, sending it to work with him is the perfect solution! I just hope the people he works with don't get tired of the baked goods. A girl's gotta practice!!!

To add or not to add

So a couple of months ago I logged onto facebook one day and noticed I had a friend request. My interest was piqued as it always is when there is a friend request. I open up the notification to see that the request has come from someone that I am none too happy with. OK, lets back up a bit. We will call this person Miss X. 

A few years ago one of my brothers met a girl online. They chatted back and forth for I don't know how long. She had questions about the church and my brother answered whenever she did. Eventually he flew out to where she lived and they met, he baptized her once she decided she wanted to become a member. I thought she was a nice girl, my brother seemed to like her and all seemed well. This particular brother of mine is very smart and picks things up quickly. An opportunity arose for him to go to work with one of my great uncles doing surveying for cell sites in the south and it eventually took him up and down the east coast. This provided him the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Miss X. Along the way I think they started dating and I do believe they started falling in love with each other. Now, I'm not so sure what happened but Miss X decided to go back to her husband. My reaction??? WAIT!!! HOLD THE PHONE!!! SHE'S MARRIED!?!?!?!? Ya, I was shocked to say the least. So Miss X captured my brothers heart and then threw it on the ground and did the Mexican Hat Dance on it. If there is one thing you don't do, it's mess with my brothers! You will forever be on my bad side. 

My brother finishes working for this particular company and comes back home only to say that he's decided he's not going on a mission. Which is fine but then he takes a turn down a path I didn't see coming. Now, I understand that my brother is a big boy and he's responsible for his decisions but part of me blames Miss X for screwing with his heart and head and ultimately sending him to the lifestyle that he led for awhile. He knows how I feel about her, I've told him as much. 

OK, so fast forward to me opening the notification. I think to myself, OH HELL NO!!! I denied that request faster than I could read her whole name. Why on earth was she trying to add me as a friend? About a month later I was at my sister's house (where this particular brother happens to live as well) and she mentions she got a request from Miss X to be a friend on facebook as well. She denied her. Now this brother of mine said she had started texting him and he wasn't replying and she tried to request him as friend and ultimately he added her. So now, she has again requested to by my friend. I don't understand why. Why is she trying to come back into our lives? My brother pretty much wants nothing to do with her yet he added her so here I am, do I deny her because of my dislike or do I "add" her because my brother did and if he can add her then why can't I? The request has been sitting there as I'm not sure what to do. It wasn't my life she screwed with but like I said, DON'T MESS WITH MY BROTHERS!!!!

Palisade Trip

My sister and brother in law live in Ephraim, UT. It's about 2 hours give or take from my husband and I but close to a nice state park. Alex, my husband, grew up fishing and LOVES it. He in turn got my brother in law James hooked (no pun intended). Last weekend Alex and I went down to visit Cindy, James, my 2 nieces and my brother Erik. James and Alex were going to go fishing at a place called 9 Mile and Cindy, myself and the kids were going to join them a little later. They called and asked us to bring a few things but also mentioned how bad the insects were. I wasn't about to take my 4 month old son out to get eaten alive. So Cindy and I decided it would be best if we stayed home, it was also a perfect excuse to work on our mad cake decorating skills. :) Well, as we're heading to drop off the stuff to the guys, they call again and tell us they're just going to go to Palisade. They were tired of the bugs and nothing was biting. So, Cindy and I, after a few hiccups, go with them and decide to rent a canoe. Erik had gone golfing that morning at Palisade so I called him to let him know we were all there and we had a canoe. It was a little comical because he said he wanted to go out in a canoe so bad. We spent the day out there and I burned but we had such a great time. It was such a beautiful day. I will truly miss my sister and her family when they move to Las Vegas in a couple of months.

And the 1st pick of the 1st round of the 1st primetime is.......

Sam Bradford!!!! Lets hope the Rams do better this year than they did last year. Unfortunately for my husband, he loves the Rams so the past SEVERAL of years have been rather disappointing for him. Lucky for me when they do loose, it's not a big deal, he expects it. I don't know much about the NFL draft or how it works so it was interesting to watch it tonight. Well, I kind of watched it. So for those of you that know me, I have this passion for making cakes and learning to decorate. I'm a newby to all of the decorating side of things but it's become a hobby. So, I spent my night making and decorating a cake in honor of the draft.

Now like I said, I am new to the whole decorating thing and I don't have a lot of tools but I had fun. So with that being said, here is my final product, don't laugh....

I was pretty impressed with myself. I think I'm most proud of the NFL logo. It took the most time (obviously). I love football season and can't wait for the fall! I told my husband the next time we move we need to move to a city where there is a professional football team. I would love to take our son to a game!

4 Months

My sweet boy is 4 months old today. He had his doctor appointment this afternoon and we learned that he is 16 lbs, 4 oz (85th percentile), his head is 43.1 cm (75 percentile...a jump from the 45 we were at 2 months ago) , and he is 26.3 in long (95th percentile).  What it boils down to is my little man is the average size of a 6 1/2 month old. But, the dr. said that he's doing well, everything looks great he's just going to be tall. No surprise there. My dad, all 3 brothers and my husband are all over 6 feet tall. I'm hoping for a football player out of this one but we'll see what he wants to do as he gets older. Along with his appointment he received another round of immunization shots. Luckily it was only 2 shots and an oral one that they give. He doesn't ever cry the first time but it's the second shot that gets him every time. Once they're done I just pick him up and within a minute or so he calms down. I love that my dr lets me stay in the room as long as I need to feed him after the shots, it's nice not having to rush and deal with a crying baby.

I tried giving him apples the other day and well, Little Man isn't quite sure what to make of solids yet. I think I'll hold off for a couple of weeks and try it again. In the mean time, breast feeding it is! I am looking forward to solids though for many reasons. I'm going to try and make my own baby food, we'll see how that goes.

Easter

This year it was Erick's first Easter. I figured with him being all of only 3 months old we wouldn't do anything special for him and I don't really regret it. I would have eaten all of the candy and he's not quite into playing with toys yet. Next year, I will definitely be all over the Easter thing and I'm really excited!

Alex and I went down to James and Cindy's place for Easter/Conference weekend. We got there Friday night and waited up for Trevor and Kate to get in. It was so nice to have all my siblings together, minus Paul. He was greatly missed! But what can you do when you're serving the Lord in Mexico!? Saturday Justin and Susan came down with baby Cooper and they guys all went paint balling. It seems to become a monthly thing. We go down and they paint ball then we have an awesome BBQ. Nothing like slow cooked ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, potatoes and of course it wouldn't be complete without rice for James. After a quick bite to eat on the guys end, they rushed off to the priesthood session of conference while the girls watched "The Blind Side". I'm still receiving grief for watching that without my husband. Good movie though. I think I will buy it. Oh and on a side note, I also just watched "All About Steve" and thought it was hilarious! I will also buy that movie. I love Sandra Bullock! Stupid Jesse James...

Ok, so back to Easter weekend. We've always had a tradition of making waffles the Sunday morning of Conference but since James isn't a huge fan Cindy decided to make baked oatmeal. I say she should have stuck with waffles because James didn't even eat the baked oatmeal! He ate the BBQ from the night before because he didn't get to enjoy it. However, the baked oatmeal was awesome as always. It's a nice twist on a breakfast dish. I was in charge of Easter lunch (since Kate and Trevor had to hit the road to go back to Vegas) and thus I missed most of the first session of conference Sunday morning. It paid off though. Lunch was good! We had twice baked potatoes, ham, oatmeal rolls and green beans. Cindy made a shortcake and I brought down strawberries for strawberry shortcake. What a perfect end to a great weekend.

I love when we all get together. There is nothing better than family. The first weekend in May is my niece, Emjae's birthday. Everyone will be back for that and I can't wait!

Temple

Tomorrow Alex and I are going to the temple. I am really excited since we haven't been for awhile. In all honesty I really hate to admit that because I never thought I would be one of those people who lived in Utah and didn't utilize the fact that there are temples everywhere you turn. I mean come on, from where I live you can see 3 temples from the freeway. I really want to try harder to at least attend once a month with my husband and I'm working on the whole going by myself thing. I haven't done it yet for a few reasons but mainly, I don't exactly have anyone to watch Erick while I go so there is the biggest problem. I do have a sitter for him tomorrow evening and it will be good, I'm determined to make it good! 

Happy Birthday Alex

Yesterday was Alex's birthday. He turned the ripe young age of 29. My original plan was to take him shooting for a couple of hours and then go to Joes Crab Shack. Due to unforseen obstacles, that didn't happen so instead I made him a couple to do both and made 29 peanut butter cups (his favorite). My lovely son whom I adore didn't really want to cooperate with me as I tried to make the peanut butter cups and thus it took over 3 hours to make. I was worried that I wouldn't finish them in time to pick up my husband but lucky for me, I completed them within literally minutes of having to leave to pick Alex up.

Red Robin......YUM!

So lately it seems there has been an increase in Red Robin commercials. I love Red Robin and haven't eaten there in so long! My favorite thing to eat there is the Bonzai Burger and I absolutely love the Hawaiian Heartthrob Smoothie while my husband enjoys the A1 Peppercorn Burger. I thought to myself, I could probably make the stuff myself so I set out to find any info I could. Basically it came down to me reading from the menu online what was on the burgers and in the smoothie then making it up myself. The spread for the A1 burger I did find more information for on RecipeZaar.com. They said that they use Heinz 51, A1 peppercorn sauce and mayo. There were no ratios so I just kind of added until it looked right and made my husband taste it. For my burger, I marinated the burger in the terriyaki sauce and grilled the pineapple. It was tasty!! I baked our french fries for 2 reasons. The first reason being we didn't have enough oil for me to fry them fried (I thought I still had some oil in my pantry...my bad!) the second reason was, well lets be honest, it's just a little bit healthier.

Now for my FAVORITE part of dinner tonight, the Hawaiian Heartthrob Smoothie!!

Ok, so I looked on Recipezaar to see if they had a recipe and there was definitely a recipe but when I compared it to the ingredients from the menu, they were a little different. The menu is really vague but just says what is in it so it was up to me to come up with the portions. Here is what I came up with:

Serving is for 1 person

1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/2 banana
1 tsp grenadine
2 TBSP coconut cream
1/2 cup frozen strawberries in syrup (aka in sugar)
ice until you reach the consistency you desire.

Blend it all together and enjoy! OMG SOOO good! At least in my opinion.

Random things...

I love the random things in life that make me smile. If I'm having a bad day, or even if I'm not I love these things...

-The Little Caesars sign guy who stands on the corner and with so much energy waves the sign around and dances.

-Happy hour at Sonic...who doesn't love 1/2 prices Cranberry limeades and dr pepper everyday from 2-4??

-While we're talking about Sonic, Sonic ice. In the words of Rachel Ray....YUMMO!!

-People who regularly update their blogs. It gives me something to read and generally entertaining.

-The little kids in grocery stores who push the little kid carts with groceries in it.

-New York Pizza and Pasta

-The little old couple that you see still holding hands as they walk

-Driving into Vegas at night and seeing the lights creep up over the hill and descending into the city.

There are many more things but these are a few. Everyone needs things in life to put a smile on your face. I hope today someone or something put a smile there!

So Lucky. Actually, Blessed.

So I've seen commercials for the show "The Locator" and I've always thought it would be a cool show to see. This morning I actually got to see it. (It's actually still on) Here I am sitting on the couch crying.  The past few episodes have been about adoptions. One was a birthmom searching for her son and the other story was a girl searching for her birthmom. It brought back a lot of emotions for me. It made me think back about my first pregnancy, how alone I felt through all of it, how it broke my heart that the baby growing inside of me was one I knew was not meant for me. The happy part, how lucky am I that I got to find an amazing family to place my precious baby girl with. They are an amazing family and I am so incredibly blessed to have them be a part of my life. To this day I have a wonderful relationship with her and the family I placed her with. 

She'll be 5 this year. I can't believe how much time has passed since the day she came into the world and how much she has grown. My love for her has not changed if anything it grows more and more each day. I feel so blessed to be able to see her hold my little boy now and to know that right now the hope for the future is that I will get to continue to be there in her life and one day hold her babies as she holds mine. 

Thank you Mom!

Dear Mom, thank you for teaching me how to cook, bake and use my resources. Thank you for the knowledge you have passed on and continue to pass on.

Today I wanted an egg on a bagel for breakfast but unfortunately for me, there were no bagels in the house. Well, it turns out not so unfortunate. I think to myself, how hard can it be to make bagels? I hopped online this morning, found a bagel recipe that appeared to be pretty easy and I had everything I needed to make it. So I did.

Flour and Yeast

Salt, Sugar and Water

This is what is looks like before you add the rest of the flour and before it gets messy.

Hand mix in the rest of the flour, dump it on a lightly floured surface and knead baby knead!

So I depressed the center with my thumb then put it on my finger and spun it around. I felt like a little kid playing with my food...it was fun :)

let the bagels rise, boil in water and then bake!!!

TADA!!!!

Needless to say I finally got my egg on a bagel. It was tasty and although it was quite a bit of work for such a simple breakfast, now I have plenty for when I want another one. 

Do you ever?

Do you ever daydream about what you want in life, things you want or what you would do if had "x"?? I find myself doing this all the time. I don't know if it's A) my way of making it a goal, B) trying to visualize it or C) just wishful thinking. I'm sure for me, it's D) a little of all the above. Lately, my daydreaming has been geared toward my dream home, gardens, how I would be self sufficient, my yearning to be an amazing cake maker/decorater and oh the things I could do with a Bosch and a Kitchenaid.

When I think about my dream house I picture something sort of "Dan in Real Life" (ish). Not his house, but his parents house. A large piece of land by the water with lots of trees, a huge wrap around porch, something with dimension and room for everyone. I would love for my dream house to be the home that is always there. The home your kids can remember growing up in, that your grandkids come to, it becomes an icon to your family. Does that even happen anymore??? I keep the dream alive in my mind and hopefully one day (before my kids are grown and out of the house) my husband and I will achieve the dream. As for the other things they are all attainable at some point in my life. If I had to pick an order in which I would like to get things (aside from the house) it would be a Bosch, then a Kitchenaid mixer, and with those 2 I could become an awesome cake maker/decorater. The garden obviously won't come until I have a house to plant one. In the meantime, I use my trusty handmixer to make bread which I then had knead for 10 minutes (awesome arm workout) and I use it to make the cakes. I just need to invest in a nice cake decorating set so that I can start teaching myself.

Changes

Goals. Those funny little, sometimes big, things in life that require work, and dedication. Alex and I have set some goals for our little family. They are mostly for the 2 of us but they affect our growing family. When we got married, I had 2 credit cards. One has a very low balance and the other is maxed out but it was never an insane limit that I had. I also have a "school" loan that I have been working to pay off and that was all of my debt. My husband has a car payment and now we have hospital bills and dr bills from our little, not so little anymore, bundle of joy. With me being a stay at home mom, there is no way we could pay these all off and get ahead in life. It felt very depressing. Several days ago I felt impressed to ask my husband to consider moving down to Spanish Fork. The plan is we would move in with my grandma for x amount of months, work on paying things off, save up and then move back up to the Salt Lake area. Of course we had to sit down and create a plan before approaching my grandma. This past Monday we sat down mapped out our plans, our goals and today we approached Grandma and presented her with our plan.

As of June 1, we will be living in Spanish Fork for 6 months. Change is good....right? I feel blessed that my grandmother is willing to allow us to live with her while we take care of things and get on the path to achieving our goals. I also feel blessed to have a husband who is willing to get up earlier to make the nearly hour long drive to and from work every day to help us get ahead. I love you babe!

2 Month Appointment

Erick had his 2 month appointment on Monday. He weighs 13 lbs 4 oz, is 24 in. long and his head is in the 60th percentile. He's getting big so fast and I wish he would just slow down. About a week ago we noticed Erick was starting to have a lot of drool and creating little drool bubbles along with gumming daddy's hand. Yep, our little man is teething. Last night was what I'm sure will be the 1st of many frustrating nights. I'd given him tylenol, teething tablets, fed him and he was still fussy! Nothing Alex and I did could soothe him and as much as I was frustrated, it broke my heart. I think that when we have children we should be given the knowledge as to how to fix every problem, soothe every pain and stop every cry. Right?? I'm hopeful for today though.

Two nights ago little man actually slept through the whole night. WAHOO!!! I'm sure that there will still be nights where he wakes up to eat but can we say huge milestone!? Yesterday morning when I woke up and realized that he didn't wake up to eat I was ecstatic...and in pain :) After our long evening of crying I was sure last night was going to be awful. At about 3:30 Erick woke up crying and I gave him his binks brought him into bed with me and he fell right back to sleep. I can handle that! I think I'm going to try getting him on more of a schedule. We have our night time routine down pretty well, it's the day time I need to work on. Here's to having goals!

Family

What is a family? The dictionary defines it as "parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not". In my experience, it is also more than that. Family goes on to include friends and those that are closest to you, not blood related, who care about you and have your best interest at heart. Very few people make that cut but the ones who do are rare. I feel blessed to have the family that I do and I know that they will always be there should I need them.

We blessed our little man over the weekend in Las Vegas. My husband's side of the family doesn't share the same beliefs we do but that didn't stop us from including them and it certainly didn't stop them from being involved. In fact, on his Dad's side most of the family came and they made the trip from out of state to be there for us. My husband's dad and step mom even had a couple of friends who have become a part of their family show up. How lucky am I that there are so many people who love me, my husband and my little man?

I can't imagine how lonely life would be without those dear people in my life. Friends and family are so important to me, without those relationships, life doesn't seem like it would really be worth it. You wouldn't have anyone to share joyous occasions with, nor would you have a shoulder to cry on when times were tough. In my life I have had many experiences on both sides of the spectrum and I am so blessed that there was always someone there and there continue to be people there to share in those experiences with.

My hope is that as life progresses my family continues to grow in number both within my immediate, extended and non blood related family. Thank you to all those who made the past weekend a memorable one! I love you all.

Why??

Why is it that when you set out to do something, right around the corner there seems to be something waiting for you? You let it distract you and soon you find yourself doing other things than what you began setting out to do?

Last month I decided I was going to wake up at 5:30 every morning, stretch, exercise and stretch. The first week there were a few hiccups but I accomplished what I had set out to do. Last weekend my little man got a cold and wasn't breathing well so I wasn't sleeping as well and my days were consumed with holding him. It has gone into much of this week and I haven't exercised at all. I've let myself down and that is what frustrates me the most. I know I'm the only one who can change that. There is still plenty of day left that I can get my exercising in and my little man is doing better and I will strive to be better at exercising. I need to do this for me.

Can't help but laugh...warning this is a little nasty

There are things in life that before I was married and before I became a mom I didn't think I would ever do. Hold poop in my hand would be one of those things. Let me elaborate. My son (who does not poop on a daily basis) decided to finally poop today. He hadn't gone since Monday so I knew that when he went, like always, there would be a good amount. I gave him some time to finish going and I thought he had so I decided I would change his diaper. I start cleaning him up and on about the 4th wipe (there was A LOT of poop) he started pooping again. I just held the wipe there to try and catch it since I had already moved the diaper from underneath him. When I think he has finished again, I start to wipe and he poops on the changing pad I have him on. So I pull the changing pad out from underneath him and what does he do!? That's right he starts pooping AGAIN!! So me, my first instinct for some reason is to catch it in my hand. So I sit there with my hand under his butt and catch his poop while in the mean time he starts peeing. Seriously dude!? With my other free hand I try blocking the pee so it does go all over the place. I couldn't help but laugh because seriously, what else do you do?

P.S. On an exercising note, I did my workout today completely uninterrupted!!! :)

So Tired!

I feel like I've been up for 24 hours and have been going non stop. I was going to just go to bed and not check in with my peeps about my work out but then I reminded myself that this is really important to me. So, here I am, checking in. I did get my 20 minutes in, albeit in two 10 minute sessions....thanks Erick. I was feeling extremely defeated this morning and was beginning to wonder if I picked the wrong time to work out. After much pondering and further contemplation this morning, I've decided 5:30 a.m. is still the best time to get up and get my groove on with Turbo Jam. So tomorrow is yet another day and at this point I'm convinced that my son will wake at 5:30 as I begin my workout, but I will not let that stop me from accomplishing my goal. Good night blogging world!

Sabotage????

First off, note to self: Go to bed before 11!!! Erick went to bed fairly easy lastnight and even close to his bed time. Score!! I was playing online and before I know it, I look at the clock and it's 10:00 already. I see that my brother pops online and I haven't talked to him for awhile so we chatted a bit and I finally hit the sack around 11. The alarm for my husband goes off at 4:50, which comes way to fast when you go to bed so late. I laid in bed until a little after 5:00 then got up to pump since it makes working out much easier. I start the DVD and what happens??? OH that's right, my son wakes up. I don't mean he starts stirring, I go in the room and he is wide awake. Seriously!?!? My little man is trying to sabotage me, I swear! My workout was a little less interupted today since I brought him out to the couch and gave him a bottle. Day 2 down, lets hope tomorrow is better!

Day 1

So I decided that I was going to get up and do my 20 minute workout at 5:30 in the morning. My reasoning is because that is generally when Erick is still sleeping before I have to take Alex to the trax station. This morning, I got up came out to the living room, started doing my thing and then Erick wakes up. What the heck!?!? So I pause the DVD go back, stick the pacifier in his mouth he calms down and start working out again. Yeah, I played the pause and take care of baby game for about the first 10 minutes then the last 10 was uninterupted. I did complete it though, my stretching and working out. Day 1, down!

Resolutions and Workouts

So I've decided that making new years resolutions is for the birds. How many people actually make new years resolutions and stick with them? I presonally do not know a single person who has kept with their resolutions for a whole year. I've always wondered, what happens after that year? Do you stick with it or do you say, "Ok, I've accomplished my goal of keeping it for a year, onto the next!". I don't know because I have never stuck with a resolution. I would say I'm ashamed to admit that, but I'm not. There are soooo many others out there just like me. Also, why is it that we focus on goals so much at the beginning of the year and then we don't give it a second or third thought the rest of the year? Just curious....

I came across a website last week called Zen Habits. From what I have read so far, I like it. There was a posting/article about creating workout habits and I really liked what it had to say. For those that don't know I had a baby in december, my little man in now a month old. Two days after I had my son, I was able to fit back into my pre pregnancy jeans but they're by no means a size that I would brag about. However I must say I was proud to be able to fit into them so soon after giving birth. So yes, I would like to lose weight. I actually have a lot to lose. After reading the post on Zen Habits about creating an exercise habit I've decided not to focus on how many pounds I'm losing (or not losing) but I am going to do what it says, focus on 1 goal.

My orginal goal was to start my workout program today. Unfortunately for me, Mother Nature had different plans for me and that monthly thing I got so used to not having came back with a vengance. So, I've decided to post pone starting my workout plan for a week since I can't use tampons yet. Anyway back to my workout plan. I like to pretend that there are lots of people in cyber space who check in on my blog that don't comment (for those of you I know, don't burst my bubble, it's my motivation) The article on Zen Habits talks about making sure you log what you've done daily and have someone to check in with. So this blog will serve the purpose of 3 steps I need to take in creating my habit. I will check in daily, log what I've done and like I said, for the many people out there that ready this blog, that will be my motivation. Knowing that I have people who are checking to see if I've done what I've set out to do, I'm hoping will be enough for me to get up each morning. I haven't quite put together all of the specifics like the post talks about but this is what I have: Monday - Friday: 5 minutes of stretching, 20 minute Turbo Jam workout, 5 minutes stretching.
Saturday: stretch for 5 minutes, walk for 30 minutes, stretch for 5 minutes.
Sunday will be my 1 day of rest.
The day I actually begin my workout program I will post a picture of what I look like (another motivating factor) and occasionally I will post updated pictures. 30 days. That is what I am committing to right here right now (Of course I will let you know when I actually start my 30 days). Wish me luck!

Growing Up

Erick is a month old today. Some days it feels like he's always been a part of our family and he's been here longer than a month and at other times I sit back and can't believe it's already been a month. He's getting so big! When he was born, he weighed 8lbs 15 oz and was 21 inches long. At his 2 week appointment he weighted 9 lbs 7 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. I'm not sure where he is at now but I'm sure he's well on his way to 11 pounds.

In the past month he's met his Grandma and Grandpa Loa (David and Barbara, Alex's dad and step mom) and Grandma RuRu (which is what his mom wants to be called) as well as Oma and Opa (my mom and dad). He's met Auntie Cindy, Uncle James, his 2 cousins Emjae and Julie as well as his Uncle Erik.

It's been a fun month. I have loved being at home with him during the day and watching him grow. I just wish he wouldn't grow up so fast. Time truly does fly and they really do grow up fast. My hope is that I remember to cherish the little moments that we get.

All About Alex

My lovely sister tagged me, and I must say it's kind of fun. It reminds me of the game my sister did at my bridal shower only this time...no trick questions! Since some of you have never met my husband, this gives you a chance to know a little about him, and us. Enjoy!

1. Where did you meet your husband? Craigs list when I was looking for a job. He helped me find it.


2. How long did you date before you got married? 1 year and 4 months
3. How long have you been married? 1 year 2 months (today! Love you babe!!)

4. What does he do to surprise you? Sometimes he'll randomly bring flowers home for me.

5. What is your favorite feature of his? His eyes

6. What is your favorite quality? I don't know that I have a favorite but if I had to choose just one I would say his honesty. He won't say anything that he wouldn't say to your face.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? He just calls me babe

8. What is his favorite food? Tacos with the rice he makes.

9. What is his favorite sport? He enjoys watching NFL football and the Rams are his favorite team...even though they REALLY suck.

10. When and where did you first kiss? He kissed me on our first date in July of 07...not a good kiss but I gave him a second chance...obviously.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? I enjoy just being with him even if it is just going to the grocery store. I used to love our drives to Cali from Vegas, lots of good conversations.

12. Do you have children? We have 1, Erick aka the Peanut.

13. Does he have any hidden talents? Yes he does but he's very quiet about it so I won't say what it is.

14. How old is he? 28 and well on his way to 29.

15. Who said I love you first? He did. It was on my moms couch

16. What is his favorite music? Like my brother in law James, he love true hip hop but he enjoys just about all genres of music

17. What do you admire most about him? His acceptance of the church in his life. He's always stood up for the church to his parents and doens't let them or their beliefs intimidate him.

18. What is his favorite color? Blue

19. Will he read this? Nope

People I tag? Janice! Your turn. I want to know more about you and your hubby! Have fun!