My Sanity

Confessions of a stay at home mom

2011-07-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

I know you all have those days, when you think, I really shouldn't have gotten out of bed.

Well today has been one of those for me. My kids slept in which was nice since they NEVER do that (should have know it was only downhill from there).

My parents are in town. They came in town for my dad's high school reunion a few hours away. So they aren't really here for us, which is ok because we get to go visit them this summer. They got in last night and left late this morning, but I'm glad they were her for the morning!

I had every intention to make breakfast! I went into the kitchen to find water coming out from underneath my fridge! Turns out the hose that brings water from under the sink to the fridge got a hole in it. I pulled out my fridge and I quickly soaked up 3-4 bath towels, dripping with water! My husband had already left for work, or course! Then I realized I should probably take the stove out and sure enough there was a lot of water back there too. I couldn't get the water for the hose to turn off. I knew where it was but I couldn't get the thing to turn. Luckily my husband works 5 minutes from work and it was slow at work, so he came home and got that taken care of. By this point my parents had gotten up and were helping me. I was hoping to let them sleep in but I'm sure all the commotion woke them up.

I'm sure I could go on and on about what happened and what still needs to get done. Needless to say we had cold cereal for breakfast.

Has anything like this happened to you?

And it seems like today my kids are more hyper than normal and not listening and fighting more. Is that because of me, I don't know. But let's just say I need this day to be over and just hope I have the patience I am severely lacking right now!

Chocolate Banana Caramel Cupcake

2011-06-28T10:42:00.000-07:00

So for my birthday I had these!

They turned out pretty good, all things considered. At first I went into my birthday thinking I was going to make a chocolate peppermint filled cupcake. Sounded super yummy. But I made the pudding filling, it didn't taste right. I tried several things to try to improve it, but it didn't work. So I came up with this option from combining a little from several different recipes I had looked through.

First I just made a batch of chocolate cupcakes from a box, you could make them from scratch. Then I let them cool and then took the centers out so I could fill them. I used the idea from here to cut out the center.

For the filling I used a small box of sugar free instant banana cream pie pudding and made it according to the box. Then before I let it set up I added a small container of of cool whip. Then I stirred in about 1/4 c. of caramel topping. Then I put it in the fridge and let it set up. When it came close to time for cupcakes I cut up 2 bananas pretty small and stirred them in. Then I put the filling in a ziplock bag and filled the middle of the cupcakes and then put the tops back on.

For the frosting, I just put a big frosting tip on a ziplock bag and then filled it half with vanilla frosting and half with chocolate frosting. Once I piped the frosting on I drizzled some caramel on top and garnished with bananas.

Confessions of a stay at home mom

2011-06-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

I think all of us have "secrets". Well maybe they aren't secrets but we like to keep it to ourselves, and pretend like we don't do these things as mothers, but when we hear other people say it we kind of smile and chuckle, because it makes us a little happy and feel good that we aren't the only ones who do these things.

1)I don't really like to do laundry. Ok that probably isn't a secret, I'm sure most of us don't. It seems like the more kids we have the harder it is to stay on top of it. Well instead of staying on top of it, I usually do it when it's a necessity. Like when there are no more clean pairs of underwear and I know it needs to be done. Or all my exercise wear is dirty, and I know the people that I'm next too in a class won't appreciate the already sticky sweaty clothes.

2)What goes better with washing clothes then folding. This is the worst part for me. Sometimes clothes or towels stay in the dryer until I need to put another load in which might be a few days. Or the hubby is looking for something and ask if there is any clean and I say go check the dryer, and while you are at it bring the clean stuff up so I can take care of it.

3)Even worse than folding, or at least for me is hanging up clothes. When I'm folding clothes I usually toss the stuff to be hung up into another basket that is all the clothes that need to be hung up. I usually wait until this is full before I do anything about it. Which means most of the time they get a "few" wrinkles in them. I kind of wish it would take care of itself. When I'm folding clothes I can just be in one place and put everyone's folded clothes in their own piles and then they can take care of them. But with the hang up stuff, that requires me to get up and go into the different bedrooms to put them away. Not too hard I know but I still don't like it.

Well I think I've probably aired enough of my own "dirty laundry" for today. I hope this makes some of you moms feel a little better about that job you are doing. We all have those days! And we all have those tasks we don't like doing!

Thankful Thursday

2011-06-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

Today being my birthday my thoughts are turned to life.

On this Thankful Thursday I am thankful for:

1)My life, and the wonderful parents I have

2)My body and being healthier now than ever before

3)For my wonderful family (I wish I got to see them more)

4)The gospel of Jesus Christ that brings my life so much hope and happiness.

and

5)This very thoughtful and wonderful post from my husband.

Do you ever feel...

2011-06-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

...like your life is boring. You get in the same old routine as a mom and feel like, what do I have to send out to cyber space that anyone will find interesting. Well that's me! I've gotten in a funk. When I started this blog I was religious about posting, but sometimes I feel like I have nothing to entertain the few of you that are out there that read this.

So why the post then....Well I got a nice little text from a cute friend of mine saying she just found my blog. Now don't be judging her about being a friend and just finding my blog because #1 I don't pass around my blog info to everyone I know and #2 we just recently met when she moved into our neighborhood. Needless to say her text made me think. Why don't I blog, I have to time to do it? I feel like I have nothing exciting to share. I'm sure I'm not the only one, RIGHT?

As mom you get into a routine. For me that consists of cooking, feeding kids, laundry, exercise, trying to keep my house clean, etc., etc., etc. So what about that is exciting or would people like to read about?

So here's to trying again.

I've come up with a topic for 4 days, so that should give me some ideas of things to write about. So here goes nothing. And thanks to my friend for helping me want to get back in the swing of things.

Happy Anniversary

2011-05-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day! Ten years ago today I married my wonderful husband for time and all eternity. Time has flown. I can't believe it has been 10 years and we have 3 wonderful children together. How lucky I am to have you in my life! From the moment I met you I know there was something different about you. I never met a guy that insisted on opening doors for girls, even when you weren't on a date or dating someone. I tried my hardest to not have this be anything serious, but Heavenly Father knew differently. I'm glad you were patient with me and still are. How lucky we are to be together! I love you more than I show sometimes, and I'm sorry for that! I look forward to the rest of our lives and eternity together. Thanks for loving me, my imperfections and all.

P.S. I miss you and can't wait for you to be home!

Happy Birthday

2011-04-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty crazy week. It started off with the tree incident. And then on Sunday we had a birthday celebration for my mom since she was in town visiting, even though her birthday wasn't for 2 more days. Then on Monday we celebrated this handsome boy's birthday.

I can't believe he is 8! Where did time go? On his birthday we celebrated with family and had with cake.

Then today we celebrated with friends. He wanted an animal party so we had a friend of ours who owns a wildlife education facility. It was a hit, or at least I loved it. I wish I would have taken more pictures. I always think about getting my camera out a little too late. She brought a chinchilla, a skunk, an umbrella cockatoo, a bunny,

and a sulcata tortoise. Oh how cute, these two were reunited, although I don't think they really cared, since our little titan wouldn't come out of "his" (not sure its gender, but we always refer to Titan as a boy) shell. This is Titan with his mother. He used to be the size of a quarter when he was born, but he is much bigger now. It's amazing how much he has grown in a little over a year.

To go along with the animal theme we made these adorable cupcakes.

Happy Birthday to my little man.

Our happenings

2011-04-09T18:15:00.000-07:00

Things have been pretty crazy lately, we've had somewhere to be every weekend for the past several weeks. A couple weekends ago we made a trip up to Oregon to visit my brother and his family (we don't see them often enough). We were only there for the weekend and drove so we probably spent just as much time in the car as we did with family, but it was worth it! We had a good time, even though we had to drive through a pretty crazy storm. Here are some pictures of the trip.

And this past Sunday morning we woke up to this.

Then later that morning the last standing piece fell so our big huge tree was laying on the ground in 4 pieces. We finally broke down and bought a chain saw since we couldn't find one to borrow. Most of the tree is now down, but we have a lot of work still to do.

30 Day Project - Day 24, 25, 26, 27

2010-09-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot going on lately, and to add to that, I've had tons of peaches to do something with. So since you have heard from me last, I've made 5 batches of jam (peach berry and spice peach) and canned 7 quarts of peaches. I'm done for a little bit until I get my apples (at this point I don't know how excited I am for them to come, but it's always nice to have it!).
Friday for dinner we had breakfast, we had Oatmeal Pancakes.
Saturday was a our date night and we went to subways and got some footlongs $10
Sunday I made this Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak, and we really enjoyed it. If it is something you want to try here's some advice...For my family of five (2 adults and 3 small kids) I cut the ingredients for the patties in half and that was plenty for us. When I made it I cut the whole recipe in half, but that didn't leave you with much sauce, so next time I'd keep the quantities the same for the sauce, also I substituted cream of mushroom soup for cream of chicken. To me cream of mushroom goes better with beef than cream of chicken.
Tonight for dinner we are just having sandwiches. We have stuff in the fridge to make several different kinds and after spending all morning and most of the afternoon (not to mention most of the weekend) in the kitchen I'm done for today.

I also bought some more bananas which would put my total amount of money left for the month to about $9

30 Day Project - Day 23

2010-09-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

Today is a crazy day for us, so we are just doing tuna melts with tomato soup.

I did go shopping today

Bananas $1.80
Parmesan Cheese $2.50
Graham Crackers $3.69
Eggs $1.88

Total Spent $9.98

Total left $20.76

I think we'll make it! I'm not sure about the eating out part, but that's ok.

30 Day Project - Day 22

2010-09-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

Today for dinner we had a very simple recipe, that I learned to make when I was a young teenager.

Seasoned Pasta

Bow Tie Pasta (several cups uncooked), cooked and drained
1/4 c. butter
2 cloves garlic
2-3 green onions finely chopped
1/3 c. chopped parsley
10 large basil leaves chopped
1/4 - 1/3 c. Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a deep pan on medium heat, then add garlic and let cook a minute or two. Then add green onions, parsley, and basil and let cook for a couple minutes. Add hot pasta to the pan and toss to coat. Add parmesan cheese, stir. Taste it and see if it needs salt and pepper. Sprinkle a little more cheese on top before serving.

30 Day Project - Day 21

2010-09-22T11:57:00.000-07:00

For dinner tonight we had baked chicken, with some rice and veggies. I did take readers advice and bake it instead of broil it, I also cut back on the butter, which I'm not sure I would do again, since by the time it was done baking most of the liquid was gone and starting to burn a little on the bottom of the pan, so maybe instead of using 1/2 of the butter I'd try 3/4. Nothing too exciting. Things have been kind of hectic and busy around here so I don't have much to talk about sorry!

30 Day Project - Day 20

2010-09-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

Well I took an inventory of the fridge and there is a lot of left over food in there, so I opted to have today be leftover day. It ends up working rather well, because my son went to the orthodontist today, which means a soar mouth. The meal I have planned next probably would be better for him tomorrow, so he'll have pasta or a sandwich tonight.

30 Day Project - Day 19

2010-09-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

Today for dinner we tried a new soup using things out of our food storage. We didn't really love it so I'm not going to be sharing the recipe with you.

30 Day Project - Day 18

2010-09-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

Today was quite the busy day! We got a swing set last Saturday! But it came with A LOT of pieces. It took the hubby and I (mostly the hubby) several hours to organize and label all the pieces to make the set up much easier. His younger brother came over several times throughout the week after the kids had gone to bed for an hour or two each time. And today was the get it all done day! Which meant a lot of work for the hubby and those who helped, his brothers and my brother (a BIG THANKS to them)! Work started bright and early, around 7:30 in the morning when my brother arrived. I usually don't make something for every meal, but today I did because I felt like that was the least we could do was to feed those who were here helping us. For breakfast I made german pancakes. Shortly after that I had a volleyball game. When I got home from that, I had to take my daughter to a birthday party, then come home and make lunch for the crew. I had a ham and cheese loaf. While that was cooking, I started making bread, since we were almost out. After lunch I decided to take the 15 minutes I had to go and get ready for the day. Then ran to pick up my daughter from her party. Finished making bread. About this time all the help had gone, so I became the helper, I'm not sure I was the best helper, but better than nothing I guess. Well we finally got it all up and done, with even enough time left in the day for the kids to try it out. For dinner we had chicken salad sandwiches which I had put together the chicken salad the night before, because I knew what kind of day we had.

Here is the recipe for my mom's ham and cheese loaf

Ham and Cheese Loaf

Preheat oven to 400
1 Tbs. yeast
1 c. warm water
1 Tbs. softened butter
2 1/4 c. flour
1 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. salt
Mix all together and knead until you have a soft dough. Roll out to a 14x10 rectangle. Then down the center of the dough layer, leaving about an inch at the top and bottom.
1 lbs. of thinly sliced ham
American cheese slices
Swiss cheese slices
Cut the sides of the dough starting at the edge and cutting until you have almost reached the ham, making one inch strips on both sides. Weave the cut ends over the top of the ham and cheese, to seal everything in. If this is too complicated, I would think you wouldn't have to worry about cutting the dough and just fold all the edges up and over to surround the meat and cheese. Beat egg whites and water and brush the top of the dough with that and then sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 20 minutes.

30 Day Project - Day 17

2010-09-17T14:08:00.001-07:00

Tonight for dinner we are having Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff. I love searching around All Recipes looking for a new recipe.

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1/8 cup margarine
1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup

Directions

Put chicken, margarine and dressing mix in slow cooker; mix together and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours.
Add cream cheese and soup, mix together and cook on high for another 1/2 hour or until heated through and warm.

30 Day Project - Day 16

2010-09-16T12:57:00.001-07:00

Today for dinner we are having enchiladas. A while back I was asked if I would be willing to have a freezer meal in my freezer ready just in case someone in our area got sick or needed help and needed a meal. So I made several pans of enchiladas to have ready, since I had most of the stuff I needed to make it anyway. Well I have yet to be called and they need to be eaten, so I got one out and let it thaw and am going to cook it for dinner tonight.

I also went shopping today, again! I didn't have enough time to hit the last store I needed and it's only a few minutes away and they usually stock well for sales, so I wasn't concerned about getting there the first day.

3 Onion soup mix packets - $1
4.4 lbs. Ground Beef - $7.85
Celery - $0.97
Total $9.82 (I bought some other things to stock up on so I wasn't sure the exact total)

Total left for the month $30.74

The store I went to today had Quaker granola bars on sale for $0.98, so I stocked up and bought 15 boxes. Since I almost always pack my child's lunch, fruit snacks and granola bars are nice to have around to toss in there on occasion. I'm planning on not using them until after the project, I have them kind of hidden in my storage room, so hopefully the kids won't say anything, or I can talk them out of it. If I do use any I'll subtract what I use.

30 Day Project - Day 15

2010-09-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

Today for dinner we are going to our friends house. One of the nice things about inviting people over to dinner, like we did on Sunday, the action is often reciprocated.
But I did go shopping today, which means less in my budget for the rest of the month.

Shopping
3 Gallons of Milk - $5
4.68 lbs. of Bananas - $1.78
2 lbs. of Mini Carrots - $2
Sour Cream - $1.38
Applesauce - $1
Sugar - $1 (I only needed a tiny to last me the rest of the month, so I went to the dollar store)

Total Spent with tax - $12.24
Total left for the month - $40.56

I'm going to do a little more shopping this week at another store. They have the hamburger I need on sale! After this trip it should be my last besides for staples like milk and produce, but we'll see if I can make what we have last.

Also there were some really good deals this week, which mean I spent money outside of the $100 for my food storage. Here's what I did.

Walmart
7 Gain dish soap - Free
3 Johnson EZ grip soap - Free

Grocery store
16 Fruit Snacks - $0.75 each
16 boxes of cereal (trix, reese, multi-grain cheerios, apple cinnamon cheerios, ect. ) - various prices
Total spent - $31.43, averages around $1 per item

I'm almost half way there!

30 Day Project - Day 14

2010-09-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

Well today for dinner we are going to use what we have from our garden. We are making a zucchini casserole that is in our family cookbook, from my sister-in-law.

Zucchini Casserole
1/4 c. onion, chopped
4 c. sliced zuchhini
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 package of stuffing
1 c. sour cream
1 1/2 c. shredded cheese

Cook onion and zucchini in boiling water about 5 minutes, until tender, drain. In a bowl combine soup, sour cream, and cheese, stir in cooked zucchini and onion. In another bowl, make stuffing according to the directions. Spread half of the stuffing on the bottom of your dish. Pour zucchini mixture over top. Top with the rest of the stuffing. Bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes until bubbling. Top with more cheese.

30 Day Project - Day 13

2010-09-13T19:48:00.000-07:00

Today was breakfast for dinner. We did french toast and I tried something new. It didn't turn out fabulous, and for that reason I'm not going to share the recipe.
I still have about $47 left in my budget and still should be fine making my goal of $100 or less. I'm just hoping that the new sales starting this week some of the items I need will go on sale.

30 Day Project - Day 12

2010-09-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

We've been trying to get together with some friends for a little while, and last night we decided on today and doing dinner. So when I got home last night I went through my list of menu items to see what would work for 11 people and I didn't have to go shopping for. So we decided on on Hamburger Rolls. This is a recipe my husband grew up with. You make a bread dough, and let it rise for an hour. Then you roll it out into a rectangle. Then you sprinkle cooked hamburger (I cooked my with onions) on it, along with Italian herb seasoning and grated cheddar cheese, this time I also added parmesan cheese (the kind in the green jar). Then you roll it up and cut it like you would a cinnamon roll. Put them on a greased pan or cookie sheet and let rise for an hour. Cook at 350 for about 20 minutes until it's golden brown. Serve with warm spaghetti sauce on top along with some more cheese if you would like and enjoy.

30 Day Challenge - Day 11

2010-09-11T12:50:00.001-07:00

Well today for day 11, is another babysitting day, although this time it isn't our turn, so the kids will be fed there. I'm not sure what we will be doing for dinner, but I think I'm doing an exempt day. I know I'm such a cheater! But remember I'm going until October 5th so it's really 35 days to do this challenge. And today I ran my first 5K with some friends, and I surpassed my goal on how quickly I wanted to finish it, so I think the hubby and I are going to celebrate on our date night.

30 Day Project - Day 10

2010-09-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

Today was pretty low key when it comes to dinner. The hubby worked kind of late and we went to the new park and water pad near by. So tonight for dinner we had grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with carrots and some peaches we picked from our own tree! Our tree is still pretty young and small and this is the first year we have let it produce fruit so it's kind of exciting. So sorry for the boring menu for tonight, but lets face that's life and reality or at least for our family.

30 Day Project - Day 9

2010-09-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is a day late, but our internet was down ALL day! So here it is a day late.
Tonight for dinner we had Tostadas with homemade refried beans. I used this recipe for the base, but used dried beans I cooked myself, because it's cheaper and also I can control what is in it. Did you know you can cook your beans in your crockpot, so you don't have to watch them or worry about staying at home for a few hours? Also you can freeze them in ziplock bags after they are cooked, so all you have to do is cook a big batch and have some in the freezer to pull out later. I usually put 2 cups of cooked beans per bag, which gives you about the same as a can, a little more, but 2 c. is easier to measure than 1 2/3.

30 Day Project - Day 8

2010-09-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

Well today for dinner is nothing too exciting. We are doing left overs, since we have food in the fridge that needs to be ate.

I did go shopping today and got quiet a few things. Something some of you might not know about me, is I love a good deal, and there were a couple this week, one on lunch meat (need to stock up for my baby girl who won't eat peanut butter and jelly, although it is a good after gym snack to get some protein) and one on deodorant (it was an awesome deal, I used as many coupons as I had, so I stocked up for a while and also to put in a 72 hour kit). Now the hubby said if there were good deals I could stock up, but just can't use what I bought this month and that way I wouldn't have to have it count towards my $100 for the month. But as of now I feel confident in my abilities and even with the things I bought, I can still do it (although I guess deodorant isn't food, but I'm going to ad it to my money spent, because you'll be shocked at how little I spent on it). We do have a tradition around here where we go out to eat once a month and take turns choosing where to go. I'm still up in the air on whether we are going to do that or not, because that will take a good chunk out of the budget, and we'll have to go some where rather cheap, so we'll see if I have enough left over towards the end of the month to cover that.

Here is what I bought:
1 head of lettuce $0.99
Nutmeg $0.69
Peppercorns $0.69
4 pack of Kraft Mac and Cheese $1.98
2 Gallons of Milk $1.98 each so $3.96
1 lbs. Black Beans $1.79
1 lbs. Black Eyed Peas $1.59
Italian Dressing Mix $0.59
Cream Cheese $1.19
Nectarines $0.98/lbs total $3.08
Onions $0.79/lbs total $1.41
Parsley $0.79
Garlic $0.50
7 packages of Carl Buddig Deli Lunch Meat, after coupon $1.29 each, total $9.03
10 sticks of Right Guard Sport Deodorant, after coupon $0.23 each, total $2.30

Total Spent at the store: $32.30

Money spent this month $52.80
Now some of you might be worried that I'm already half way done with my money and it's only the 8th! Never fear my friends! Looking a the things I need to buy for the rest of the meals I have planned for this month, it's about $15, and I don't need to go shopping until about the 18th, if my milk lasts that long. So that leaves me with about $37 to cover milk and fresh fruit and vegetables, and possibly a dinner out. I keep my finger crossed that the things I need go on sale, especially the hamburger I need to get.

30 Day Project - Day 7

2010-09-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

So today for dinner we are having Pasta Ceasar Salad, I posted this recipe on another blog, so you can go check out the recipe there. This is a super yummy and easy recipe and everyone in the family will eat it, even my picky 3 year old that I have a hard time getting to eat his veggies will eat this salad.
I did have to have the hubby pick up a head of lettuce for this salad on his way, but I'll add that to the price of things tomorrow, since I am shopping tomorrow (I have just enough milk to cover breakfast tomorrow morning).

30 Day Project - Day 6

2010-09-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

Today we are doing a bbq. When we put this on a schedule, we really didn't have any plans, just sticking around here. But now we are getting together with friends. I have several packages of hot dogs in the freezer that I bought a little while ago, for under 50 cents, but I can't remember how much. I also happened to have some buns in the freezer. Since we are doing a bring your own meat bbq, that is what we are going to bring. Also the hubby is taking some fish we had in our freezer that a friend of ours gave us. But I don't care for fish and some of my kids haven't made of their minds about it, so hot dogs are a safe bet. We also made this Spicy Bean Salsa to make to share, except we adapted it a little because I didn't have any black eyed peas, so I just used white beans. And we used fresh tomatoes, and peppers from our garden.

30 Day Project - Day 5

2010-09-04T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today for dinner (I got the idea from a local blog) we are having pulled pork sandwiches. She used beef, but I had a pork roast in my freezer and already had a packet of Italian Dressing mix, so I thought we'd give it a try, since it wouldn't cost me nothing out of pocket. I made homemade rolls to serve them on. We are also having artichokes out of our garden along with another vegetable which I haven't yet decided on since I'm typing this up before we actually eat.

Pulled Pork/Beef Sandwiches

Roast

1/2 c. water

1 pkt of Italian Dressing mix

Combine in the a crockpot on low and let cook 8-10 hours.

30 Day Project - Day 4

2010-09-04T18:57:00.000-07:00

Our family along with two others do a babysitting co-op on Saturdays. We each take turns watching all the kids (10 of them to be exact, ranging from 1-8 years old) for a four hour chunk of time. Which means often times when it's your turn it's a crazy 4 hours, but that means you get 8 hours of free babysitting during the month. So definitely worth the craziness that might come for the freedom you get. Since there are so many kids and we have some picky eaters, it's usually something like pizza or mac and cheese for dinner when it's at our house. Today we had pizza for dinner and breadsticks. Earlier this week Papa Murphy's had a customer appreciation week, and had their large pepperoni pizzas for $3.99, and I heard they froze well. So we bought 3 pizzas and put them in the freezer. We used two of those tonight with plenty of leftovers. And since we bought them in August, I didn't have to take any money out for my September budget.

So for this month, I have spent $20.05

30 Day Project - Day 3

2010-09-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight for dinner we are doing breakfast. We do this every two weeks or so. During the week, mornings are kind of crazy, and Sunday mornings the hubby isn't around for breakfast, so the only day a homemade breakfast gets made is Saturdays sometimes, if we aren't out the door early to go the gym or something else. Also I have one that usually isn't patient enough for me to make something, sometimes he can't even wait the couple minutes it takes to make oatmeal. I enjoy breakfast food, so that is my way of getting it more. Today for dinner we are having Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (although some don't have chocolate chips in them, for some who don't like chocolate, or for me if I choose to save me some calories). Along with them we are having scrambled eggs and fruit. And since I'm typing this before we actually eat, I'm not sure what we are drinking. I always love a good glass milk, so that is what I will probably do, but the rest might have home made grape juice or apple juice that I canned last year.

30 Day Project - Day 2

2010-09-02T12:15:00.000-07:00

Today for dinner is Alfredo with whole wheat pasta. After making this, I think I would add another TBS of flour next time, since I used milk instead of half and half to make it thicker, the sauce was rather thin. It's a quick an easy recipe from my mom. For the garlic toast we used this that we put on buttered bread then put under the broiler. You should really try the recipe for the garlic bread seasoning, super yummy, another one of my wonderful sister-in-law's Cori introduced this to me through a link she shared.

Alfredo Sauce
3 Tbs. butter
3 Tbs. flour
1 1/2 tsp. dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp. onion powder
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. pepper
3 c. half and half (I'm using milk)
1/2 - 3/4 c. grated Parmesan

Melt butter in a sauce pot. When butter is melted add flour and spices and stir to combine. Stir for a couple minutes. Whisk half and half in slowly to combine, and continue to stir until starts to simmer and thicken. Then stir in Parmesan and continue to stir until cheese is all melted. Serve over your choice of pasta.

So today I made my first grocery trip because we were running low on fruit and there was a good deal on sour cream and eggs, that I know I'll need later. So to keep track of things, I'll be posting what I buy and what I spend and then have the total of what I have spent this month.

Today at the store I bought:
2 bags of Potato Chips (to use occasionally for school lunch)
18 ct of large eggs
Light sour cream
Sandwich Bags (for school lunch)
Lunch meat (I have one who will RARELY eat a PB&J)
2.37 lbs of Gala Apples
2.12 lbs of Bananas
1.15 lbs of Broccoli
2 lbs of mini Carrots

Total Spent $20.05

Total for this month $20.05

30 Day Project - Day 1

2010-09-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

The hubby has started doing 30 day projects. He chooses something to work on or do for 30 days. The first one was not watching any TV for 30 days. Now he is onto writing a game in 30 days. He told me I should do one. Well we had already discussed being super tight on our budget this month and he informed me that could be my 30 day project and I should blog about it, so here goes.
My 30 day project is to spend no more than $100 in groceries this month! Although, realistically it's more than 30 days, because I'm starting the 1st and going until the first payday in October which is the 5th, so I guess it's 34 days. Crazy, huh? For those of you who might not know our family, we are a family of 5, and usually I try to keep my food spending to under $200. The best way for me to keep our food spending to under $200 is to only use cash when I'm at the grocery store, plan my meals out based on what's on sale, use coupons, and rarely, if ever eat out (we've started a new family tradition of going out to eat once a month to a sit down restaurant, and rotating who chooses, so we'll see if that fits into this months budget).
So how in the world do I plan on doing this? I've taken an inventory of all the food I have at my house, and tried to plans meals around that. (I love that I can search for recipes on Allrecipes by ingredients I want to use) So we are going to be trying a few new recipes so hopefully it goes well, if not, there is always tomorrow. Luckily when it comes to breakfast we have a stock of cereal and cooked cereal. For lunches for the kids we usually just do sandwiches and I have plenty of jam to last a while, and I make my own bread and have enough supplies on hand to cover bread. So for the most part the money will go towards a few ingredients I need for each dinner and perishable things like fruit and veggies (that we don't have in our garden), milk, and eggs. Part of this will be hard on me, because I love stocking up when there is a good deal and but I'll try to resist my temptation I hope and pray there are no killer deals! So I have the menu planned for the month, and the things I need to buy for the meals. So here goes nothing. I hope that I can still be successful on my attempt to loose weight with the lack of money to spend.
It's September 1st and what's on the menu tonight is chicken pot pies, which I have in the freezer. They are based on this fun idea . And have the filling from our family cookbook that was shared by my wonderful sister-in-law Amanda. We are having corn on the cob on the side, which we got from my cousin.

Pot pie filling
1 family size cream of chicken soup, or I used 2 small ones
1 pkg frozen veggies
Cooked shredded chicken

Combine filling together and fill pie or jars that have pie crust in them.

So out of pocket for this one for September is $0.00

First Day of School

2010-09-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

I now officially have two in school! Although one is only part time, because they only offer that for kindergarten here. Where we live kindergarteners start a week later then the rest, so the teachers can assess the students and find out what each child knows and doesn't know on an individual basis. Now that that week is up, I now have two in school, and they are loving it! I'm so glad that both of them ended up with great teachers and they are excited about school and learning!

Happy Birthday!

2010-08-24T13:05:00.001-07:00

Another year has come and gone. You're not much of a baby any more. You like to be very independent and want to do everything your older brother and sister do. Your spirit is as strong as even, which I'm sure Heavenly Father gave you for a reason. I hope you learn to use your strong spirit and will to do good. I hope you have a wonderful birthday. We love you so much! You are such a lucky boy to have a great brother and sister that look after you. And when they aren't picking on you or you guys are fighting, I love when you love them back. You continue to keep me on my toes, and you think by now I'd learn what to do, but I haven't. Forgive me for not being a better mother, I will try better. Happy Birthday Speedy! I love you!

Happy Birthday Baluga

2010-08-04T06:13:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday babe! I can't believe it's been 5 years! Where has the time gone? Five years ago today you gave me the greatest gift a mother could ever have, and that is to have a daughter. How fun it has been to have a girl in the house with me. From the beginning you have been all girl. You love having your nails done, hair done and dressing up. (that must have come from someone else)
You are so kind and caring. And I love that you want to be a mom and a big sister when you grow up. You want to take care of your brothers when you get older. You are always willing to help out when needed. You love to be in the kitchen.
I can't believe you are old enough to be in Kindergarten. You are beyond ready. I hope you'll be a good helper for you teacher and help the other kids in class. Your reading like you have been in kindergarten all year. You finished your summer reading program before your older brother, and I'm so proud of you! I hope you continue to love to learn and read.
I hope you have a wonderful day, and remember how fun and carefree life is right now.

Happy Anniversary

2010-05-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Well today marks our 9 year anniversary! I can't believe how fast time has flown by. We've been through a lot, good and bad. We survived things that other around us couldn't, and how blessed I feel to still have our family intact. When you find the one you want to marry, you love them so much you would do anything to stay together forever. That's why we choose to get married for time and all eternity, and have kept that in our thoughts since then. We've had a lot of tears and disappointments, but we know we couldn't have made it through without each other. It has brought us closer together and has made us unbreakable. There will always be twists and turns in life that we can't expect, but I hope we are ready for them. We have come to learn that anything is possible if we hold on and put our trust in the Lord. Although things have gotten tough, we consider ourselves very blessed and lucky to have each other and our wonderful children. I just wanted to take a minute and let the hubby know how much I love him and am grateful for him in my life. He's been my strength and support, and reminded me that we aren't in this alone. Thank you for making me a mother! Thank you for helping me see things clearer when I need a little help. Thank you for being my better half. Thank you for being the father to our children. Thank you for honoring the covenants we have made. Thank you for being a worthy priesthood holder in our home. Thank you for cleaning the bathrooms. Thank you for always opening the doors for me, since before we even started dated. Thank you for putting up with me. Thank you for being patient with me. Thank you for loving me, even when I was afraid to admit my feelings. Thank you for waiting for me. Thank you for seeing in me the things I can't. Thank you for complimenting me. Thank you for trying to help me see what you see. Thank you for being committed to the gospel. Thank for you everything! I love you more than I ever thought possible!

I said I never would....and I did

2010-04-14T19:31:00.000-07:00

I said I would never be a pet person! There is so much I don't like about traditional pets. The hubby convinced me to get a very unconventional pet for our family. So here is the blogger day view of the new member of our family, Titan, the sulcata tortoise.

P.S. Don't tell the hubby that he has kind of grown on me!

Happy Birthday Stir Fry

2010-04-04T17:24:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday! I can't believe how fast seven years have gone by! Seven years ago today we made us a family something that only you could give us. You were a very easy baby, from the day you were in my belly. I threw up once, while I was pregnant (I blame that more on something I ate than you). You gave me a very easy pregnancy, and that continued over into after you were born. You were a very happy baby!
You had an amazing way of influencing others at a very young age. You were a great missionary before you could even put multiple words together. I hope you keep that love of the gospel and your ability to touch peoples hearts forever! You will definitely have the ability to change many lives. You know the gospel so well and have a testimony of it! Continue to learn about our Heavenly Father and His love for us and share that with others.
You are such a good big brother! You are always helping your brother and sister without being asked, and it melts my heart. They love you and look up to you. I'm glad you are a good example for them to look towards.
You love learning and school. Keep up the good work. It comes so naturally to you, and I hope it continues to be that. Continue to enjoy it and learn as much as you can! Your teacher says that she knows she can trust you to help the other kids in class to help teach them the things you are learning. I love that you teacher knows that she can trust you and can see that special part of your personality that draws people to you and your ability to lead.
You've been through some hard things for a boy your age and you have been so tough and in those times remembered who you were and your Father in Heaven and asked for his help and protection. Which makes me proud! During those times as your mother it broke my heart and wish I could have traded you places. I think some of those times I cried more than you. Like when you had to get your tonsils out, or multiple teeth pulled, or breaking your arm. With all those hard and painful things to deal with you bounced back and recovered really fast, and I know that is because of your prayers and blessings you have received and the faith you had that Heavenly Father would answer your prayers.
I hope you have a wonderful birthday! And that I can be the type of mother that you deserve!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-07T15:24:00.000-08:00

Our holidays came and went, it seems like we were planning and shopping just the other day and now it's gone. We just stuck around here, which was nice, I had no desire to travel, although I would have loved to see all of our family.
The new year is here, with all the hopes and desires that comes with it. I'm working on being more happy with myself, which includes changing my body. I'm kicking up the amount of time I'm at the gym, and trying to be more careful of what I eat. I figured if it was out here in blog world and people knew I was going to try harder to do better, it might be easier to achieve. I also want to try new recipes. Today I made homemade bagels, which turned out ok, the kids liked them, we'll see what the hubby thinks. There was no added fat like oil, shortening, or butter, which is great and I used half regular flour and half fresh ground wheat flour. Another one I've been wanting to try is making my own yogurt in the crock pot, so hopefully we'll try that in the next few month. For the last 5 months I have been couponing, and I enjoy it and want to keep it up. I went to a free class about 6 months ago and learned an easier way to do it than I have ever seen, and have started getting newspaper and going full force. My food storage is building while getting great deal and feeding my family. I want to keep on being frugal and build my food storage this year. To help me stay on my budget I've started just using cash at the grocery store, which requires more planning but I should be doing that anyway. I feed my family of 5 on $200 month, which makes me do a lot more meal planning and plan meals based on what's on sale and what I have, for the most part. So hopefully with keeping this up we can eliminate our debt more quickly.
With the new year brings all of us getting a year older. I can't believe my "baby" (Stir Fry) is going to be 7, I can't really be old enough to have a 7 year old can I? He loves school and does well in all the subjects, learning seems to come easy for him, I just hope it stays that way and he continues to enjoy learning. By the way he gets braces this month, is that crazy or what!!!!! My little Baluga will be 5 this year and I'll be registering her for kindergarten in the next few months. She is learning to read and seems to be really good at it. It's funny the things we learn after the first one, I'm sure we could have challenged Stir Fry more, but I don't think we knew we could. I'm glad we moved so Baluga could be at a better preschool, I didn't know I wasn't impressed with the last one until we went to this one and she challenges the kids a lot more. Speedy is still keeping up to his name and keeps me on my toes. He is still a very happy kid, but when he is upset he is upset, but luckily he is more happy then upset.
The hubby is still liking his job that he switched to in the summer. We are very happy with the change and glad to be where we are. We have learned a lot of lessons during the last 7 years with his owning his own company, which we will never forget, which has helped us and will continue to help us.
I hope this new year treats you well and you treat it well return. May we all work hard to achieve our goals!

The kids

2009-11-01T15:21:00.000-08:00

I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything and there are no good excuses.
Stir Fry has started 1st grade and loving it. He does really well at school. He gets 100% on all of his spelling words, and usually gets all of his bonus words right, which they aren't required to know. Most of the time he doesn't need help on his math homework, he might just have questions on the directions. He is reading really well, and almost to where they want first graders to be by the end of the year. We couldn't be prouder of him and how well he's doing and how much he loves school.
Baluga is in preschool 3 days a week and is loves going. She is always so excited to show me what she has done that day. She is learning all the things she will need to know for kindergarten, which I can't believe she is old enough for that. She is such a great helper, and helps me to remember things that i forget to do.
Speedy is becoming more independent and talking more, which is always nice when you can understand them, but sometimes there are things that even I can't translate. He is still full of life. He likes to do what the big kids do, and wants to ride a scooter to school like Stir Fry. He is very good at saying please and thank you even when you least expect it. He definitely not my baby any more. He is a happy kid most of the time, as long as everything is going his way.
We took the kids out a little bit ago to take some pictures and this is some of what we ended up with. These are some fun we took of them throwing leaves, which turned out way fun. It's always nice that the hubby can go out and take their pictures and Baluga loves to pose for the camera, and Speedy likes to "cheese" and see his picture afterwards. They are definitely getting big and growing too fast.

Happy Birthday!

2009-08-24T12:04:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday, baby boy! Can it really be two years since you made your arrival in the wee hours of the morning, with such speed, I barely had time to get checked into the hospital and convince them to give me some pain relief. You've continued through your life full speed ahead. You've kept me on my toes. You make me smile, you make me laugh, you make me just want to hug you and hold you, even though most of the time you can't stay still long enough to let me, but sometimes you do and I love that. You've always been such a happy child, and you're nice enough to let everyone else around us know that. You save your not so happy side for us at home, which I appreciate. I'd much rather have people say he's such a happy child then, wow, look at that temper. You are happy more often than not, but I'm glad for the most part you save the fits for at home when it's easier to deal with. You love your brother and sister so much that some times you get carried away in showing that love and you can tell that they love you too, by how quick they are to forgive you and play with you. You are so special! You love to say your prayers and take advantage of the power of the priesthood in our home. I love you more than you'll ever know! Happy Birthday Speedy!

Couponing

2009-08-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

So I just recently started getting newspapers to start couponing. I went to a class, and when I heard the money that was being saved, I figured I'd give it a try, especially since their is a website that does the hard work for me.
So this week I went I made my first purchases. I got 2 things of lysol wipes for $0.27 (that was just the tax, since the coupons I used made them free!) I got Chex Mix for under a $1.00 a bag. And this week I plan on picking up A-1 sauce for $0.79 a bottle.
It usually takes a little while to really get going and have all the coupons when things come on sale, but I'm excited how things are starting!

Happy Birthday Baluga

2009-08-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday my dear sweet wonderful girl! I'm so glad you are part of our family. I'm so happy to have another girl in our home, even though we are outnumbered. You make me laugh, you make me smile, you make me so happy to be your mother. You love me in spite of my faults and you are quick to forgive of my short comings, I can only hope you keep that up, but you probably won't, but know I will always love you! You are my wonderful helper. You are probably going to be a wonderful cook, you love to help in the kitchen and ask questions about what I am doing. You are growing so fast! You play so well with your brothers and you are best buds, and I hope it stays that way! There is nothing better than being best friends with your family. I hope you remember I will always be there for you to listen and help you. I'm so glad you are my daughter. I hope you had a great birthday!

"Excitement"

2009-07-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

This past weekend a friend from high school was in town which prompted a get together for all of us in the area, since we aren't good enough to do it without an excuse, we should be better. Here are some pictures of the fun we had on our picnic. We are missing a few people because someone had to take the picture, and by the time we took the picture one of our friends had left.

Those of you that know our family well, know that Speedy is full of life and no fear. Well today he fell and bit his tongue. I didn't know weather he would need stitches or if they even did stitches in the tongue so I called the doctors office to talk to them. They lady on the phone said he son had stitches in his tongue. It looked pretty bad, so we decided it would be best to bring him in especially since we are leaving on vacation in the next few days, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Well he took a nap before his appointment, and by the time he woke up at the office and the doctor had looked at it it had closed up quiet a bit. But now that he has been up and about and eating it has opened up again. So we took some pictures, this is how gross it is. Hopefully tomorrow morning it'll look better. He keeps me on my toes for sure. But you gotta love him because he is such a happy kid.

Craziness

2009-06-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

Things around here have been a little crazy lately.
The hubby has been working long hours to try to meet deadlines for a launch so their client can start testing the product, so we haven't seen him much around here.
The dentist has become our second home. I think our children inherited the hubby's "wonderful" teeth. We had check ups a month or so ago, and there wasn't any good news. Baluga went last Tuesday to have some work done, and did amazing!!!! No crying until after everything was done and she bit her cheek!. Monday Stir Fry went in to have sealant put on his teeth and to fix a couple teeth and did alright for what the poor child has been through at the dentist (cavities and having 3 teeth pulled, two of which were his two year old molars). He cried but it went ok. It's still enough to break a mother's heart. Yesterday (Thursday) Baluga went back for more work to be done and I was hoping it would go as well as last time. When they gave her the shots and she didn't cry, I thought we were in the clear. She did cry though when they were drilling and removing the cavity. But even still what a trooper for just being 3!!! And then today was the last of it Speedy went to the hospital to be put under so they could work on his teeth. The hubby took him in EARLY this morning and I stayed home with the other two, trying to sleep but really just worrying! They fixed his teeth and luckily put some sealant on it, I was wondering how we were going to stop this from happening again if he just has crappy teeth. Things went well I guess and he came home wanting to play but awnry. We have to go back to the dentist in a week or so and have Speedy just looked at to make sure things are ok.
Amongst all of this I had an overnight for girls camp this Tuesday to Wednesday. I'm lucky to have a great friend, Jessica, who took my kids that morning until the hubby got home from work, and then took them again the next morning until I got back so I could go! We had a good time. It sprinkled on and off most of the day and poured for a while when we were in our tents trying to sleep. Next week is girls camp so hopefully after next week is over things will calm down.
Last night my friend Jessica and I went to a Kelly Clarkson concert. She was suppose to go with her husband, but he had to work. We aren't huge fans but still enjoyed her music and had a good time, even while it rained for a little bit. Jess' husband works at UVU which is where the concert was and they got tickets for free, which is why we went.
So I'm counting down the days until my craziness ends and I can breath and relax for a while and hopefully get my house cleaned and organized better. Wish me luck!

Happy Anniversary

2009-05-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

8 years ago today, me and the hubby tied the knot for time and all eternity. We have been through quite the ride of ups and downs. I just wanted to wish him a Happy Anniversary. I love you and thank for standing by me through thick and thin and dealing with me. I look forward to spending the rest of our days together. Look at all we have accomplished. What a beautiful family we have together.

Inadequacy

2009-04-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

I hope you can tell by the title that this isn't a happy post, so if you are looking for one come back another day.
I'm a little overwhelmed with life. I'm lacking the patience I would like for my family, which I'm sure affects their attitudes. My kids are going through stages that are new to me, so we are all trying to figure it out, as parents and children. I'm having a hard time being happy and content, which DOESN'T help my eating issues. So then I'm not happy with my health goals. I just want life to be perfect, and it's not close to that. I have no reason not to be content, but I'm not. It's just one of those days. Usually I'd just keep it to myself, but for some reason I thought I'd put some of what I'm feeling here. Hopefully this will help me enjoy the good when it comes. I hope tomorrow is a better day, so I can be a better mother, wife and just a better me. Hopefully I'll have the desire to try better tomorrow.

Life and Cooking

2009-04-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while, and I feel my passion for blogging has kind of fizzled. I feel my life isn't all that exciting and who wants to hear about my stress? Not me!
Life always has a way of mixing things up. Just when you are comfortable with life something has to be thrown in the mix. Right now we are kind of in between to parts of life. And I'm not going to go into detail because that isn't something that we need to share, so don't ask because we won't tell, even those of you who know use well or are family. (and don't be starting rumors that a baby is on the way, unless it's about you).
As much as we are stressed right now with life, I'd be ungrateful to mention how blessed we are. Most of you know that 7 years ago the hubby ventured off and started his own business. We've been blessed that we have always had food in our bellies and were able to pay the bills every month, even though it hasn't always been on time. We are still happily married, which is more than we can say for every other couple that has been part of this endeavor (a least 10 marriages have ended over the years, probably more). How lucky are we that even though things were TOUGH and uncertain that was never an option for us and our relationship never got even close to considering that. I love you Jeremy and I'm sorry I haven't always been as supportive as I should be or could be and let life get to me. We have our family and that is what is most important and we love each other.
So what does this have to do with cooking, nothing really but I thought of some similarities of life and cooking. Some days you have good days and other days you don't. Some times you decide to try a new recipe and it turns out better than expected, sometimes it worse than you thought it would be. Sometimes you forget to add things and it just doesn't turn out right. Sometimes you make changes to fit you better. I'm sure I could up with more but I'm going to stop there. Cooking is an adventure and so is life.
So now to cooking, my sister-in-law started a cooking blog and asked me to contribute on it, so go check it out! One of the things about finding new recipes I have a hard time with is trying to decide if it's worth my time to make because you never know how it will turn. This is place where we are posting our favorites, so you'll know that at least we like them. And once we get enough up there we'll have labels so you can click on a type of food and see what your options are. Go check us out. We are just getting started so make sure you come back often to see what we have come up with. Happy cooking. And just like cooking if things don't turn out don't give up and try again. I'm going to try to apply that more to my life.

Happy Birthday Stir Fry!

2009-04-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

Today 6 years ago my not so baby boy made his arrival into our lives. Little did we know how much he would change our lives. (You have to forgive me for no pictures, I'm doing this while the hubby is gone and the pics are on his computer)
So here is to you Stir Fry, Happy Birthday!!!
Thank you making us so happy. For being the greatest big brother a kids could ask for. For being so welling to share with your brother and sister and looking out for them. For singing to Speedy when he's in bed crying and countless other things you do for them and for us. Since the day you were born you have been a content and happy kid. You love being with people, so much so that often times, when you were younger, people didn't even know you were ours because you could always be found hanging out with your favorite person at the moment. You've touched the lives of many. I hope and pray that you continue to love being with people and so outgoing and use that to influence those for good.
I'm so proud of you. You love learning and you are great at it. It surprises me at how well you can memorize things. I love that you enjoy sharing your testimony and knowledge of the gospel and hope you continue to have that desire to bring people to the gospel and the knowledge of how much Heavenly Father and Jesus love us.
I'm sure there are great things in store for you in life and have no doubt that you will succeed in whatever you choose. I love you and could not ask for a better son!

What has this world come to?

2009-02-27T10:58:00.000-08:00

So I haven't posted in a while, but I found a comment on my blog that made me want to blog. Don't go looking for it, it's not there any more, sorry!
Someone I love dearly has been going through a trial (because I love and respect this person and respect those involved I'm not going to name names or be too specific). I feel Heavenly Father gives us things in our lives to learn and grow and sometimes they are hard to deal with and sometimes we don't understand why we had to go through them and sometimes it's because of choices we make in our lives that lead us to that experience (I'm not sure which of these brought on this learning experience). Anyway there were two parties involved in this situation and both got hurt, but I think because one or both of these people were close to the Lord and wanted to do what was best in their lives that things happened. None of us on the outside of the situation know the whole story, and I think at least for those in my family we are ok with that. I'm not even sure if the two people involved know the whole story, since they only know their side. There were two pretty plain options of what we could do...1)we could express our hate and anger for what has happened and the person who "did" it to our loved one or 2)we can move on. We choose to move on, there was no hate or anger involved, just mistakes that happened and both people would probably agree they could have made better choices. Someone left a comment that questioned the integrity of my loved one. With that said I've debated on making my blog private which I don't want to do, but I'm making so you can't leave anonymous comments anymore and I have one plea... If you don't have anything nice to say don't say it here, I don't want to hear it. There is good in all of us, and we all make mistakes. I hope we can all when faced with the decision of what to do, choose to move on and forgive and see the good in all and realize that only person who really knows the whole story and the person's heart is the Lord. We can't jump to the conclusions of how someone is, based on one story and what someone says in the midst of their hurt and pain. So lets feel the love and if you don't, then just don't come back here.

Merry Christmas and Big Surprise!

2009-01-10T18:39:00.001-08:00

For Christmas my parents got to come out and visit for a week, which was fun to see them. While they were here my parents, little brother and his family and my family drove up to Rexburg to visit my older brother and his family. It was fun to be around family and hang out and catch up. We had a pretty good Christmas.

Now for the surprise.... For most of you who know me well enough to know my children, my oldest two as babies were really rather mellow and easy going. With Speedy he is the exact opposite, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised because his entrance into the world was very revealing of the type of baby/toddler he has been. He gave me a little less than 2 hours after the first contraction to realize this was the real thing and get to the hospital before he was born. Since then he has been rather content when awake. But eats like there is no tomorrow, acts like he hasn't eaten in days each time he sees food. Didn't sleep well for the first way too long of his life. Is into EVERYTHING. Onto EVERYTHING. And is all boy and then some. He is a handful and is enthusiastic about life. I didn't go into his pregnancy thinking it would be my last, but he has me wondering if I have the capability to mother any more, definitely not at this moment I have my work cut out for me. So this is what he surprised us with.

Yep that's right he broke his arm. You may ask, how does a 16 month old break his arm? The bathroom door was left open and he climbed onto the bathroom counter and the hubby walked in just to see him fall off. He's still as active as normal and doesn't let it slow him down.

New Year Goals

2009-01-02T14:14:00.000-08:00

So all of us with the start of the new year make goals for ourselves. I thought what better way to be accountable for them and have a better chance at achieving them is to post them here so all of you know about them. I'm only going to list a few of them here.
1) Continue working on my goal of last year to become more healthy and reach a healthy weight. I'm going to continue to use Spark People to track my fitness and become more active in other areas of the site. Go check out my blog over there and if you are looking for something to become more healthy check it out it's great and it's FREE. If you join make sure you add me as a friend my user name is EB_HAPPY1
2) Be a more patient mother
3) Be more affectionate with my husband in public
4) Work on my spirituality
What are some of your goals?

Girl Time

2008-12-12T19:02:00.001-08:00

Well as some of you know I've been trying to get more healthy. I've been working pretty hard and decided a while back that I would reward myself with a haircut when I got to a certain weight. I got REALLY close (a tenth of a pound away) and my husband decided to reward me anyway for working so hard and being patient. I decided to make a girls day out of it and took Baluga with me, she was excited to get her haircut as long as she didn't get it cut like a boy. So here we are minutes before walking out the door with our somewhat long hair.

She had me go first so she could see what to expect. She did a good job, while she waited for me to get my haircut, since it took awhile. She was so good for being just three. It finally got to be her turn, and this is her getting her hair washed.

Can you say spoiled, going to salon and only being 3, I think she looks like she is liking it too much!

Here she is getting her hair combed before the cut and our friend Amy, who cut our hair. She is married to one of the hubby's work partners, so it was nice to talk to someone who really knows what it is like.

Getting ready for the first cut.

Here is Baluga getting her hair done after it was all cut.

So here is the final product. Between the two of us we got about 18 inches cut off. I think it turned out pretty cute, and I'm glad to get rid of the hair.

Something Special

2008-12-06T19:02:00.000-08:00

Before Speedy was born we knew that there was going to be something special between him and his siblings, because of blessings that our older two children got before he was born. With Speedy and Stir Fry some of those special things are quiet easy to see. Like tonight for example, which is why I'm blogging. We were getting the kids ready for bed and Speedy was getting his drink of water after brushing his teeth and wanted to keep his cup. Well it was time for them to go to bed, everyone was ready. So Speedy went to bed upset and was crying, like there was no end in sight. Then out of no where he stopped and if you listened closely at their door you could hear Stir Fry talking to him. This is a somewhat regular occurrence. If Speedy is crying at bedtime Stir Fry will talk to him or sing to him and it seems to just calm him down like nothing else will. It's times like these that make me grateful for my children for Heavenly Father and glimpses he gives me on how he see my children and how precious they really are.

Recipe Blog

2008-12-04T07:12:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law is thinking about starting a recipe blog and wants several contributors. I'm going to be joining in on the fun. If any of you guys are interested let me know.

A Thankful Heart

2008-11-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

With it being Thanksgiving, I thought I would do a post of some of the things I am thankful for...
I am thankful for a wonderful husband who loves and cares for me, who applauds my successes, complements me, supports me when needed, is a good father, honors his priesthood, works hard to support us, I am thankful he can do what he loves and own his own business.
I am thankful for Stir Fry who has been a very sensitive kid from the beginning, he looks out for others, is outgoing, and friendly, he makes friends easier, influences other for the good, and is a great helper.
I am thankful for Baluga who is my little girl and I am glad she is mine, she always makes us laugh, she is loving, strong willed, loves to be with me, a good helper, is content with just observing and learning, and she makes me happy.
I am thankful for Speedy who loves his brother and sister and loves to play with them, enjoys food, being with us, getting into things, sitting on my lap, reading books, and being with everbody.
I am thankful for parents who have always loved and supported me, who have taught me about my Heavenly Father and Jesus and their love for me, who have taught me by example, and always call and check up on me.
I am thankful for my oldest brother who I became good friends with in high school, who has a wonderful family, and loves to learn.
I am thankful for my little brother who I have gotten to know better with him being down here going to school and living with us for a while, I glad we can live near each other now and he has a great family that we get a long with.
I am thankful for my baby brother who has become my good friend with him living with us for several month, for giving me a wonderful birthday present and helping me become more healthy, for calling me up just to talk and that we will get to see him.
I am grateful that my family has a relationship with our Father in Heaven and are great examples to me.
I am thankful for friends who help keep me sane and are a great support to me and my family.
I am thankful for a house that we love and is ours and is where my family will grow.
I am thankful for the wonderful area in which we live and for great neighbors and a good ward.
Most of all I am thankful for my Father in Heaven, my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for a living Prophet, for the knowledge I have that we can receive personal revelation for our own life, for priesthood blessings, and scriptures, and for the opportunity I have to be with my family together forever through the sealing powers found in the temple.
Of course there are many other things I am thankful, but no one wants to read that long. So what are you thankful for?

My current love

2008-11-26T19:15:00.000-08:00

Do you ever go through phases of loving to eat certain things. Well I do. My phase at the moment granola.
I've been going to this hard core cardio kickboxing class at the gym (btw thanks Blake!), and my teacher has been talking about getting enough fiber and this high fiber granola she eats daily as a snack. So I finally got her recipe and made it, it's pretty good, different but good, one that I would rather snack on. I've also made a recipe I make now in then that doesn't have oil and a little more healthy for you and more like traditional granola, one that I like to eat in the morning with milk. So with my love of granola I thought I would share with you my recipes.

High Fiber Granola
2 - 3 c. 6 Grain
1 c. 9 Grain
1 c. Amaranth
2 Tbs. Cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. Almond Extract
1 can Fat Free Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 c. Grape Nuts
1 c. Pecans
1 - 1 1/2 c. Pecans/Almonds
1/2 - 1 c. Crainsins
1 c. Coconut
Mix together put on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8 to 16 minutes, depending on how dry you like it. (if you live in UT you can buy the grains and Amaranth at Good Earth really cheap, if not find a health food store, and the fat free sweetened condense milk you can find at Walmart)

Low Fat Granola
1 c. Brown Sugar
1 c. Water
4 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. Salt
7 c. Rolled Oats
3 - 4 c. other (coconut, almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds, ect.)
Put brown sugar and water in a pot and put on stove over medium heat to melt sugar, but don't boil. Add vanila and salt to the sugar water. Pour over the oats and 3 - 4 c. of other ingredients. Mix well. Put on 2 cookie sheets and bake at 275 for 1 hour stirring a couple times during baking, or put on 1 cookie sheet and bake 90 minutes stirring every 30 minutes.

I hope you enjoy!

Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer

2008-10-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

So Speedy has finally decided to start walking. This is more for the grandparents than any one. I have to apologize though since I've never done the video clips online I didn't know I needed to have my camera the other direction. So just turn your head and watch. And when you are done scroll down and see the other blog post I just did.

On your mark get set go

2008-10-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

So this is a big post with a lot of pictures, so have fun!
Baluga and Speedy got sick a while back with a cough and congestion. I finally caught it and during that time Speedy decided to throw up for a couple days. He still has the runny nose and cough, which always seems to stick around forever and he's teething so that doesn't help either. So the other day as I was trying to get the kids ready in the morning he sneezed and this is what I turned around too.

The other day we went out to our friends house for a spur of the moment photo shot with our friend Jessica and her kids. These are some of the pictures we ended up with.

And then there are a few of my favorite baby girl, who's not so little anymore, and me.

What flower are you?

2008-10-29T16:02:00.001-07:00

What A Lily Says About You

You are playful, flirty, and friendly.

You can easily light up a room... or someone's heart.

Your unique personality attracts a lot of attention!

Your cute ways get you in trouble. People can't help but be a little jealous of you.

What Do The Flowers You Pick Say About You?

What color are you?

2008-10-29T15:58:00.000-07:00

You Are a Yellow Crayon

Your world is colored with happy, warm, fun colors.

You have a thoughtful and wise way about you. Some people might even consider you a genius.

Charming and eloquent, you are able to get people to do things your way.

While you seem spontaneous and free wheeling, you are calculating to the extreme.

Your color wheel opposite is purple. You both are charismatic leaders, but purple people act like you have no depth.

What Color Crayon Are You?

2 posts in two days!

2008-10-12T17:10:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since I've posted so often. 2 posts in about 24 hours. I haven't posted this frequently since I started this blog. Well we had something "exciting" happen this morning, and I'm sure grandmas are going to want to see pictures.
Baluga and Stir Fry were in the bath tub this morning/afternoon getting ready for church. They were clean and ready to get out, but since they are water babies they stay in and play until we kick them out. It was freezing this morning, so I was laying under my covers while they were in playing in the bath tub in our room. The hubby was in talking to me and all of the sudden we heard a thud and a cry. The hubby went in to see what happened and Baluga fell in the bath tub, aparently they were standing up playing in the bath tub. I stayed in bed until I heard ah oh blood! Never a good sign when it comes to bath tubs. I'm pretty sure one of my brothers fell into the bath tub and cut himself open. Baluga cut herself under her chin! We immediately got her out to look at the damage. The hubby said well if it was Stir Fry I wouldn't worry about it, but with it being Baluga and being his daughter he wasn't sure what to do. It is a pretty short cut and not too deep, one of those where you're not sure if it is enough to get stitches or not. So what do you do? With it being Sunday we couldn't just go to the doctor and have him check her out. If I'm going to take her to a place open on Sunday or the hospital I want to make sure it's necessary. So I called one of my good friends and neighbors, Jessica, to see if her hubby Drew was available for us to use his expertise. While we don't know any doctors or pediatrician personally to call, our friend Drew is the Athletic Trainer for UVU so he's the closest thing we got and is pretty intelligent when it comes to injuries since it is what he does for a job. So he came over and looked at it and brought his bag of things. He said if we were concerned about scaring we could take her in to get a stitch but he wasn't even 100% sure they would stitch it because isn't was short and not too deep, but if it was his kid he would just put butterfly tape on it. So she just laid on my lap and let him clean it and put herself back together. She did a wonderful job and so did he. So thank you Drew and thanks Jess for letting us take your husband away for a little bit before church and not be able to help as much in getting the kids ready. So here are a couple pictures, one with the bloody band aid over the butterfly tape, and then one after we took the band aid off to replace it. So we didn't pull the camera out after she cut herself open to show you what it looked like before. So this is all you are going to get.

Thank yous, preschool, and worst thing ever!

2008-10-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

Before I get started on updates on our lives, I owe a big thank you to the hubby for the brand new look of my blog. He created it and I think he did a wonderful job. So thank you love!
The beginning of September Baluga started preschool. Some ladies in my area are doing a little co-op. We all live within blocks of each other and the girls are all just months apart. They are having a great time together. We each take a week (two times a week), so we have one week at our place then four weeks off. It works out pretty nice. Baluga loves that she get to go to school like Stir Fry.

Excited for the first day of school

All the little girls

A little over a week ago Stirling had to go through a pretty horrible experience. At his last dentist check-up, we found out through his x-rays his mouth isn't big enough for his teeth coming in. Which led us to taking our 5 year old to an orthodontist! I thought that was pretty young, but after talking to my mom (who works at an orthodontist office) she has seen them that young. He is only 5 and already has his 7 year old molars in on the bottom. The top ones had started coming in, but from the x-rays you could see that the 7 year old molars were stuck from coming in, because they were growing into the roots of the 2 year old molars. So they needed to pull his 2 year old molars out on top in order for his other ones to come in. A few weeks before the extractions of his molars he had to go in for a filling and then to have his last bottom front tooth pulled because it was in the way of a permanent tooth underneath. That was a pretty traumatic experience for him and me, so I told the hubby he had to go to the next visit when the molars got taken out. He got a blessing the night before. He was very nervous and scared. Even after knowing what was going to happened he got himself in the car, put his seatbelt on, walked himself into the dentist office, walked back to the room and sat in the chair, which is all the hubby said he could ask for, with him knowing what was going to happen. After that things didn't go so well. They put laughing gas on him to calm him. The dentist came back to numb him and he was holding his dad's hand. He started yelling to stop, and eventually let go of the hubby's hand and grabbed the needle out of the dentist's hand. After that the hubby had to hold one arm down and his body, while some one else did the same to the other side and someone else held his legs. I couldn't have been there! He came home crying which led me to cry. I felt so bad for him! As you can tell from the pictures of his teeth below you can see that part of the roots are missing because his other molars were growing into them.

This boy never ceases to amaze us. He came home and I made him lay down for a while. Not more than an hour and half later his little neighbor friend came to see if he could play. I'm sure he would have been up and about sooner if I would've let him or if his friend came sooner. He wanted to ride his scooter and do his normal activities but I wouldn't let him. I didn't think that was something he should be doing so soon after, after all I just wanted him to lay down and take it easy. So this is what Stir Fry looked like less than 5 hours after having this done.

We decided to go out for a little photo shoot to test the colors of a location, and he did well. You couldn't tell by the way he was acting or this picture that he had some major dental work hours before. This child's faith is so strong and pure, I think that helped with his QUICK healing. He KNEW Heavenly Father was going to help him feel better, there was no question. I don't doubt that because of his faith in his blessing and our Father in Heaven he was up and back to normal in no time. I wish I could be more like that.
For an update on Speedy. He is into EVERYTHING! He likes to empty all the drawers he can get into in the kitchen. He is deciding whether he wants to walk or not. He'll take 4-5 steps every once in a while then fall of just sit down and crawl. So I think it will be a matter of a couple weeks and he'll be walking around.
There are more pictures to share and other things, but we'll save that for another post, because if you have made it this far, congratulations!

Where were you?

2008-09-11T07:53:00.000-07:00

All of us that were old enough, probably remember where we were 7 years ago today when we heard for the first time what had happened in our country. Where were you?
Me? I was a college student at BYU. I was up and in a made dash to get to work at the Payroll Office by 8 AM, so I didn't have time to watch any news that morning. I got to work and started working like normal. Helping people who were picking up their paychecks, answering phones, filing things. We had the radio on and were listening, which didn't happen all that often (a couple times month). That's when I first heard, over the radio. I was in SHOCK, disbelief. Trying to keep my emotions together and I did farely well. It wasn't until I got home from work and school in the evening when my husband and I turned on the TV that I lost it! When I just heard it, it was hard for me to visualize it, the horror of it all, so that helped for me to keep my emotions under control. It was COMPLETELY different to see what had happened. I can't believe it was 7 year ago. Anytime I think of it the emotions are still just as strong as first time I saw the footage.
I am so grateful for the men and women who have stepped up to protect our families. Many have lost their lives and we'll forever be in debt to them! I'm so proud to call myself an American and how the people of this country have acted and their willing to serve in different areas. So today and everday I am grateful to you, for you lives and service. It's because of you I'm proud to be an American!
So yet again, where were you 7 years ago today? And what are you grateful for?

No so little any more

2008-08-31T18:48:00.000-07:00

Well Wednesday was Stir Fry's, my oldest child, first day of Kindergarten. I can't believe how big his getting and how fast time is going. I walked him down to school the first day, because parents were asked to come for the first little bit to help the kids do tasks they will be doing every day and other things like finding their desk, their cubby, their hook for their backpack, make a birthday candle for the birthday charts. It was fun to see his classroom and his classmates. There were a few kids falling apart, like one of his best friends who lives across the street, who is extremely shy. And there were a few parents who were having a hard time keeping it together. I stayed under control, because I didn't think to much into what was happening, otherwise I'm sure I would have. My little boy is not so little any more. He needs me less and less. He's always been my social kid, from the very beginning when he was a baby. He loves people and being with others, so I hope that he'll be a good friend to many. He is so eager to learn. Good luck my little Stir Fry and the many years to come. May you always be so excited about learning and life. I love you!

Ready to leave on the way to the first day of Kindergarten

By his classroom, standing by the boat with all the kids names

Sitting at his table with all his new classmates

Sitting at his table working on his first project decorating a visor

Friends he's walking/riding to school with (we are lucky there are so many kinergarteners in our ward, and these guys all just live doors away from each other)

Give Away

2008-08-31T08:48:00.001-07:00

So if you have a little girl and looking for new ideas of how to do her hair, I found this site through my sister-in-law. http://girlydos.blogspot.com/ go check it out. She is having a give away for some hair stuff. Who doesn't like free stuff right? Any way feel free to enter. If you do make sure you let her know you heard about it from me. I hope you try some of her fun hair styles.

Happy Birthday!

2008-08-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

Well I'm not quite sure where to start. I guess Happy Birthday baby boy is a good starter. Before you were even born you gave a few scares, so hopefully you are done with that and it's not a preview of what your life is going to be. Shortly after we moved into our new house I started bleeding which ended up being nothing to worry about but still scared us. Then I got really sick and lost 10 pounds in one week, just weeks before you joined us. Then when you decided to come, you didn't give us much warning and time to go to the hospital. You made your arrival only 2 hours after my first contraction. You struggled with jaundice and had to be almost constantly hook up to something your first week at home with us. But you were so loved and brother and sister were so glad to have you here and love you. You have been a very content and happy baby, although a terrible sleeper, which has worn me out and questioned my mothering abilities and my ability to have or want more kids, but I hope you can forgive me for my imperfections. Because I do love you tons and you make me so happy. I love watching your brother and sister interact with you and see how much they love and protect you (most of the times). Don't ever forget how much we love you and no matter what you do or how exhausted you make me, we'll always love you and be proud to have you as part of our family. Remember your older brother is there to protect you, and you big sister will always be your special friend. Thanks for joining our family! Thanks for making me stronger and increasing the love and joy in my heart. I'm so glad to have you as my son. I love you and Happy Birthday!

Simple Pleasures

2008-08-20T18:14:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we went on a walk and I've been meaning to post about it for a while. We went for a short walk and then were going to go home and watch a movie for some family time. So we told our kids they couldn't play with kids that were coming over. When we were a few blocks away from home we notice a "swarm" of dragonflies maybe 30 or so just flying in front of house, they were going crazy but fun to watch. Well when we got back to our house we were getting ready to go inside and realized we had a "swarm" of at least 20 in front of our house. So instead of going inside we let the kids stay out and try to catch them. They had a blast. The hubby did some research and found that in Japan they catch large dragonflies with a piece of hair and small rocks tied to either end and throw it in the air. So we tried several different materials that are similar to hair and tried to catch them. We eventually got some of the neighbor kids to join us, because they saw us outside after we told them our kids couldn't play and saw us looking crazy in our driveway jumping around. From across the street they couldn't tell what we were doing because they couldn't see the dragonflies. For whatever reason they were only in front of our house, but everyone enjoyed them and trying to catch. It's always fun to enjoy the simple pleasures of life.

What brings us all together

2008-08-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

And so it begins....
It's my favorite time of year every two years. The Olympics have begin. There is something about them that brings us together as humanity and gives us hope. There are so many stories of hope, courage, determination, struggle, success, and so many other words that are endless. I love the Olympics! I always find myself crying, over stories or triumph, defeat, or just being proud to be an American. I had my first of many cries yesterday afternoon. We went camping this weekend for a ward camp out and did some more b-day celebrating for B with family, so we weren't able to catch any Olympic time until yesterday afternoon and last night. So what caused this first cry?.... A story of a little boy not even competing. They were showing scenes from opening ceremonies the night before. There was a little 9 year old boy walking out with China in the front. Why you might ask? Well that's where the tears come. Months ago when China had their huge earthquake, this little boy was at school. The school crumbled to the ground with him in it, reason enough to cry, sure. But wait there is more. He came out of the rubble and started going back to bring his fellow class mates out of the rubble and save their lives. When he was asked why he did it, he answered that his job for the week was the hall monitor and he was responsible for them! With the world like it is, it makes me worry about the future but when you hear stories like this, it gives you hope that things might just be ok. Another story last night, was from men's beach volleyball. It was Latvia vs. USA. The last time they met, USA CRUSHED them. In a best of three match, USA won in 32 minutes, with the first game ending in the score of 21 to 6. To prepare for this Olympics the Latvia team found the best 6 volleyball players in the country, since there weren't any other beach volleyball players in their country. They practiced for months 8 hours a day 6 on 2. What happened last night, they beat USA in 2 games! Way to go, I think they deserve it. There is nothing like watching the Olympics. I love it! I look forward to watching a lot more, and I have a feeling it will be over before I know it, and I'll be waiting another 2 years for another one to come around. And I side note I think my kids have caught the bug! Woohoo! Stir Fry after we got home from camping we all had lunch and then nap and quiet time. Instead of watching a movie or a cartoon he chose to watch the Olympics. He saw the rowing and said he wanted to do that when he gets big, too bad we live in Utah and not back home in Seattle (maybe someday). And then Baluga after Michael Phelps won his first gold metal and got a new world record, she started chanting go Michael, go Michael, go Michael. I hope that all of you can catch the bug and enjoy it as much as we will.
After posting this I thought of something I wanted to add, so here is my second plug for the Olympics. After the Olympics end something happens that I wish would be broad casted just like the regular Olympics. When all the athletes head home with their metals and memories a whole new group of athletes arrive to start the Paralympics (don't confuse this with the Special Olympics which is great too). The Paralympics are amazing!!!! Getting a degree in Recreation and taking an accessible recreation class I learned about this. I wish this would get TV time. With as amazing as the regular Olympic are, these are multiplied. You have athletes with lots of different disabilities with extraordinary abilities competing for their country. The hubby and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the Men's Sledge Hockey Gold Metal game when the winter Olympics were in SLC in 2002. We lucked out that USA happen to be competing for the Gold in this game, since when you had to buy tickets you had no idea who would make it that far. It was inspiring and amazing. We showed up early and had the perfects seats, up close and by the USA. These were men who were paralyzed or had leg amputations sliding around with aggression and passion playing their hearts out. I can't say it enough it was AMAZING! The USA ended up winning which made it that much better. It was one of the best experiences in my life. I love it. I wish more people know about this and the unsung heroes that win real metals just like the ones who get TV time. I love the stories I love determination I love everything about it!

Happy Birthday!

2008-08-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

Today is my baby girl's birthday, although she's not much of a baby any more. She turned 3 today! We've been so blessed to have her in our lives. She's been our comic relief (more so as of recently since she now likes to tell what she thinks are jokes). The one who can always make us smile. It's been nice to have a girl in the house with me (both my husband and I come from houses that are male dominant so I was hoping for at least a girl and luck out by getting one on the second try). She enjoys the finer things, like make-up, finger polish, soaking her feet and things like that. But she is pretty well balanced and can hang with the boys and hold her own. She is our adrenaline junkie. She is more adventurous than her older brother. We are in a parent and me swim class and I have to keep on reminding her she can't just push away from me and go where she wants because she can't touch the bottom. I hope she always is adventurous and doesn't fear trying new things. But at the same time I hope she stays close to the Lord and chooses the right kind of adventure. I just love her so much and can't get enough of her, especially lately where she is becoming more independent and eager to learn and really becoming her own person.
So to my Baluga baby Happy Birthday! Mommy loves you!

Pictures

2008-07-21T13:00:00.001-07:00

Sabbath Activities

2008-07-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

Well were we live we have a little over a week long celebration in our town of our heritage and history called Fiesta Days. They have a wide variety of things for us to enjoy, from a carnival, rodeo, different displays and parades and other things. Tonight we enjoyed one of the first of a few activities of Fiesta Days that we as a family will enjoy.
The hubby found out at church he had some responsibilities for his calling to do, which interfered with the time of this activity. So he called and talked to some people to see if things could be moved up or back so we can still enjoy our family activity, which he was able to move things up. When he told the guy he was doing stuff with what we were doing, he was kind of surprised that we were going. I was a little shocked, because I didn't see anything wrong with what we had planned.
So what did we do tonight?.....
We went to a concert. There was a free concert in the park. There was a group called Joshua Creek performing. I didn't know much about them except this...they sing Christian music. Here in Utah they play spiritual music on some radio stations on Sunday and I had heard a song or two of theirs on the radio. Turns out after going there they LDS, but either way Christian or LDS, isn't the message the same? They did some fun songs and they did some spiritual songs, all and all it was a good time. And we had good quality time as a family.
Being a primary teacher to 3-4 year old sunbeams, often I don't feel I get much out of church. So I didn't see why someone would question our choice of activities when I felt more of the spirit there then often times I do when I'm trying to get a group of 7-10 3 year olds to sit in their chairs, listen to my lesson, not tell 10 minute stories about nothing. I found it very uplifting and something we could enjoy as a family.
So the question is this, what do you find appropriate for Sabbath day activities? As long as we are together as a family and being uplifted somehow and we aren't spending money I think for the most part I'm ok, although everything is on a case by case basis. But then you think is someone having to work? Well were they working, I don't know. But the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs every Sunday and people do firesides on Sunday. I think their are a lot of enriching activities we can expose our children to, to help them appreciate the arts, whether they be Mormon or not that we can enjoy on Sunday. And go check out Joshua Creek, turns out one of the guy teaches at BYU (and I think I had a class with him).
And funny thing, while we were on our way home we were listening to our Sunday music on the radio and they were talking about an upcoming event for this group for $20 a family, and we just enjoyed them for free for a couple hours.

Happy Anniversary

2008-05-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well 7 years ago today, I married my wonderful husband. I just wanted to let everyone know how blessed I am to have such a wonderful supportive man in my life. We have been through A LOT the last 7 years, more than I could have imagined. We've been down roads I'm still trying to figure out what I'm suppose to learn from it, but we are still in love and happy with each other. Down one of the paths (trials) the Lord felt we needed to travel together, 15+ other couples journeyed through with us in a business endeavor. Because of some poor choices one man in particular made things didn't not go well (and that's a HUGE understatement). When all was said and done, all of the marriages ended, except ours. How blessed I am to know that what we have is real and will last forever. And even though things aren't always easy or happy, at the end of the day we love each other and we are family and family never gives up on each other. So to my wonderful husband, happy anniversary. Thank you for making me the luckiest happiest woman every. Thank you for being an active father in our children's lives. Thank you for seeing the real me and trying to help me see it. I love you! Here's to countless more years to come!

Happy Birthday!

2008-04-04T13:27:00.000-07:00

My precious boy,

Five years ago today you changed my life so completely. From the day you were born you had a way of drawing people to you. At first when you were born is was by your amazing eyes. Your LONG eyelashes and your blue blue eyes, had the nurses paying more attention to you then the other babies in the hospital. Then your personality started taking over; your sensitive, loving, social, happy self made people want to hold you and play with you. Everyone loved you when they met you. You love being with people and are so outgoing, I hope you continue that through your life. You are not afraid to met new people and make new friends. I have a lot to learn from you. You have a sweet testimony of the your Savior and Heavenly Father and their love for you. I hope and pray that you continue to build on that and only make it stronger and never loose the desire to share and talk about that knowledge. You have made me so very happy. I love the way you look out for you siblings and want to share with them and take care of them. I hope you have a wonderful birthday. I love you more than you will ever know. I wish you all that you ever want out of life and more. I love you.

Mom

You can be anything you want to be!

2008-03-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

As I was helping my 2 1/2 year old little girl, Baluga get dressed this morning she was talking this very topic, that you can be anything you want to be. She started talking about a doctor and I asked her if that is what she wanted to be, and she said that is what I wanted to be. I said you can be anything you want to be, and she you can (meaning me). So I informed her that she too can be anything she wanted to be. So I asked her what she wanted to be and she told me a penguin! Good for her, and then she told me she wanted to be a penguin doctor. Now she didn't mean a doctor that worked on penguins, like a vet, but a penguin that is a doctor! I was telling me husband about this, so we decided to ask her again what she wanted to be. This time a Rice Krispy! I later asked her again and this time she said she wanted to be Traci, from Hairspray. At least this time she picked the right species, and something that is living. I hope she never forgets that she can be ANYTHING she wants to be.

Long time

2008-02-14T12:23:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a long time since I've blogged, well at least here. I've been a little consumed by a new website that is helping me and other reach their goals to be more healthy. I've really liked it and have found it very helpful, I'm glad my friend Heather told me about it. So if you have a goal to be healthier this year, go check it out, and if you sign up (which is free), feel free to check out my page.
So to the reason I really decided to write, an update.
The kids are getting big. Speedy finally decided to roll over two days ago, being days away from being 6 months (ABOUT TIME). I decided to try potty training AGAIN with Baluga and seems to be a success this time around, hooray! Stir Fry has a loose tooth! Are you kidding me, the kid isn't even 5! We also noticed a little while ago that he has his 6 year old molars coming in, ones almost completely out! We are doing pretty good about eating healthier and for the most part the kids have been good with it, even the whole wheat bread or multi grain bread I've been getting. I hope all of you have had a good new year so far!

Our Craziness

2008-01-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

Well we had been planning a trip to Seattle to visit my family for Christmas, but I didn't post about because we wanted to surprise my parents. Stir Fry got his cast on about a week and a half before we left. The splint had caused a sore in the crease of his elbow, so they put the cast below the elbow and only after about 4 days it was getting loose, just before we were about to leave. The last thing I wanted was to be in Seattle and have a cast fall off. So we went to the doctor and it was loose enough the doctor just pulled it off. Since the sore was better they put the new one above the elbow and we were ready to go. It snowed the night before we left, and since we leave at 0'dark thirty there was still snow on the ground that hadn't been driven on and weather was pretty bad, until we hit Idaho and the sun came out. Speedy didn't tolerate the 16+ hour trip every well, but the other two did good. My little brother came with us and he was a good help, because I was losing it towards the end. My older brother and family went to Seattle for Christmas and knew we were coming and were at my parents house for a couple days before spending some time with her family, so they made sure my parents were around. We FINALLY got there! We debating on how to surprise them, besides just knocking on the door. I brought one of our big moving boxes from the move and we had Stir Fry and Baluga hide under it and we rang the door bell and hid around the corner. So my mom answered the door to have this big box just sitting on her doorstep. She lifted it up and there were my two oldest. She was in shock and couldn't believe it! Pretty good Christmas present if you ask me. Back to the craziness, so moments before we showed up my brother's oldest child threw up, their second child threw up during the night and first thing in the morning Baluga threw up. After that things were pretty calm for a few days. Stir Fry started to get cough, but nothing horrible, it was usually just at night. A couple days after Christmas (which was just a couple days before we were to leave) Speedy threw up a couple times in the middle of the night, and it also looked like he was starting to get pink eye, which then spread to the other kids, but never got really bad. So we had the doctor call in a prescription, which we had to pay for, $40 for a LITTLE bottle of eye drops! We got up again really early to leave for our trip home. Needless to say after the first trip I was a little overwhelmed of the task ahead of us, and this time my baby brother wasn't with us. I had my dad give Speedy a blessing ended up getting one myself. We were getting ready to go and Stir Fry threw up! Then he ended up getting a blessing and then we said a prayer before we left which was different than expected and had a lot of detail. Anyway so we were on our way. We made our first stop of many to feed Speedy. We stopped on Coffin Road exit, which is like a ranch/farming exit. We should have known better! Stir Fry threw up while we were stopped! And then we got ready to leave and our car wouldn't start! Of course this put in my tears! What were we going to do? We were on a road that didn't get used often. Part of my father's prayer before we left told the Hubby to listen to the spirit. He saw a car coming and took off. These people decided to stop and help some strange guy on a rarely used road, which they questioned but did anyway, which I am grateful for. They tried to jump our car, no luck! Luckily they were from a ton 10 minutes away and knew a lot of people. They knew a guy who had a tow truck and a man who owned a battery/starter shop in town and called them for us. By the time we would have gotten to the shop it would have been closed, but they told the owner to wait for us. We got a new battery and we were back on our way. About 20 minutes later we saw a REALLY bad semi truck accident, which left me just too overwhelmed and thankful to contain myself, I lost it! If our car wouldn't have died, who knows where we would have been if we got back on the road when we were ready. Speedy did a lot better this time than last, which I am grateful for, because I couldn't have dealt with that. We got about midnight and all of our smoke alarms were going off! Fortunately no fire. Although Stir Fry said this loud noise made him throw up again! We had been gone for over a week, who knows how long they had been going off. And because of the time we got home all the stores in town were closed for the night, so Jeremy had to make a trip to the next city over to get new batteries, since we weren't sure how much of the battery had been used. We eventually got to sleep. Lots of craziness, but all and all we had a good Christmas and good time with family. Definitely one we'll remember through the years. It just makes me very grateful for an earthly father who listens so closely to the spirit and gave the blessings and prayer he did that day. It also make me grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows us and watches over us. I'm grateful that he watched over us that day and protected, and that if he couldn't have made our car start he sent us "angels" to help us. My testimony was definitely strengthened through these trials. How can you question if there is a God and if he cares and listens and watches over us when something like this?

Mother knows best

2007-12-11T15:35:00.000-08:00

Well things have been crazy around here lately. Jeremy and I are the co-chairs of the Activities Committee at church, which means for this time of year, the Christmas party. Since the move this has been the first BIG Activity, which has left me a "LITTLE" stressed. Although we have a great committee with people willing to serve. So I've been busy getting all the loose ends taken care of, or as best as I can. This ward has done a ward gift for each family, so Jeremy volunteered to make vinyl stickers for each family, since his dad has a vinyl cutter, which is not at our house since it's not being used on a TV set. So we cut, wedded, and masked 90+ stickers!!!! TONS of work, to say the least. We did "Families are Forever", "Return with Honor", and "No Empty Chairs", they turned out good though. The party was this last Saturday morning, so it's over and I can breathe.
But to the title of this post....
With the snow coming, that meant the garage floor getting wet from snow melting off the tires, which in turn meant boxes getting wet. So I started moving the boxes we hadn't unpacked yet in the house. There was a diaper pail out there I decided to bring in and put down stairs for the use of diapers of course. But the kid found other uses for it. They put their toys in it, and then Stir Fry started standing on it, which I told him not to do. While I was working on the stickers for the party, he stood on it yet again, and I told him to get down. What did he tell me? "You can't see me, I'm invisible!" Then what happens? He falls off! It's only like a foot high or maybe a foot and a half if you are generous. He immediately starts crying and holding his arm. Oh course it's almost the end of the business day, which means no time really to schedule an appointment and get in, nor do I know if it's serious or something he'll get over. So I call and schedule an appointment for the next day and ask about what I should do if it's broken. So we wrapped his arm to his chest and waited to the morning to see if it still hurts. Well in the morning it still hurt, so we were still on for his appointment. Two and a half hours after showing up to the office we were walking out the door with a broken arm and a splint! This all just days before the party and not having an extra 2 1/2 hours to waste. But everything got done and things worked out. We got back tomorrow to get the cast on and another x-ray to see if it's broken in two places, it's definitely broken in one place on the radius and could possibly be broken in one place on the ulna. So all the holiday pictures will have a cast in it.
So when your mom tells you to do something, she's probably right and you should listen!

8 things meme

2007-11-21T17:58:00.000-08:00

I got tagged by Emily at the Sassy Lime to do this, so I here I go.
It says to list the rules, but didn't see any so here are my rules. List 8 things about yourself that most people might not know about you. List the person you tagged you and tag 8 other people.

1) My kids are my life, and I often forget about myself and just focus on them, which makes it hard for me to think of 8 things that people might not know about me.

2) I don't sew much, but consider myself to be pretty good at it.

3) To go along with number 2, although I can sew costumes, I tried to make speedy a patch quilt, and it's no where near even, when I went to fold it it was very lop sided. So I can sew harder things but not straight line and straight rectangles of material.

4) I consider myself to be a better than normal cook.

5) I have a hard time talking about myself, especially the positive, that's why for number 4 I didn't say I'm a great cook, even though I am.

6) Growing up I didn't like my curly hair, and it didn't help a boyfriend once told me he liked straight hair better. But now that I'm older I like it. I like the fact I can do my hair in one minute and just scrunch and go, which you straight hair people can't say, you have to blow dry it straight. Lucky me!

7) I'm Thanksgiving is over since now I can listen to Christmas music. I don't like to skip over Thanksgiving, so I like to wait until after to start "thinking" about Christmas (although of course I have because I've been thinking about what to get people, who doesn't?). Although those darn radio stations have been playing Christmas music since almost the day after Halloween!

8) I look forward to holiday baking, making all the goodies, but I'll have to make sure I give most of it away, since sometimes when it comes to that stuff I have little self control.

So here are the people I tag to join in the fun. Stephanie, My sister-in-law Cori, Heather, Heather, Laura, and who ever else wants to that reads this that I didn't put.

The day is here

2007-11-15T08:07:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder that the Mary Kay deals are going on today and tomorrow. The link to the site is http://www.marykay.com/supersteph/default.aspx
The specials are: buy two eye shadows two get one free, perfume buy one get one half off, buy one color (all make-up besides eye shadow) get one half off of the same product, spend $40 before tax and get a free travel size satin hands. Place your orders now. Happy shopping.
If you need more info see the previous post.

Mary Kay

2007-11-13T15:38:00.000-08:00

I'm hosting a Mary Kay online party this Thursday and Friday, November 15th and 16th. Come check out the things they have to offer. There are few specials going on to take advantage of. Buy two eye shadows and get one free. All other color products (lipstick, gloss, blushes, ect.) buy one get on half off of the same product (doesn't have to be the same color just same product.). Perfume buy one get on half off. Also if you spend more $40 or more before tax, you get a free travel size satin hands, which makes it totally worth. For those of you haven't tried satin hands, it is a must have, and doesn't bother my super sensitive hands. If there is one thing I would suggest buying it would be that, or spending $40 in other products you want so you can get that in travel size. Go check out the website http://www.marykay.com/supersteph/default.aspx?tab=home and under comments when you order put down that your host is Erin. Help me get my hosting benefits by just even ordering the cheapest thing you can find. Remember to place your orders this Thursday and Friday (November 15th and 16th). If you have any questions feel free to email me. There is no shipping fee so everything is the same price as if you were to order it at a party and you don't have to worry about the pressure of a sales rep to make you buy more than you want or feel like. I hope you find some great holiday gifts for you and others.

Erin

The things they say

2007-11-12T14:52:00.000-08:00

Well Stir Fry and Baluga were playing on the floor, I heard the funniest thing. They were playing with race cars and having them go down a track, and I heard what sounded like, "Are you ready? Hold onto my boobies!" come out of Baluga's mouth. Whether that is what she said or meant to say I don't know, but it definitely put a smile on my face.

The cosutmes

2007-11-05T14:38:00.000-08:00

So this years theme for the costumes were the Wizard of Oz. I made Baluga's Dorothy dress, and Stir Fry's Tin Man costume. I didn't make Speedy's lion outfit, it was one Stir Fry wore his first Halloween. All and all I think they turned out pretty good. The kids had fun trick or treating. Baluga came home early when some older kids in masks scared her and she came home and helped me pass out candy. I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween. I had too many pictures to put on one post, so make sure you check out the next post too.

We're off the see the wizard

2007-11-05T14:35:00.001-08:00

Holiday Gift Ideas

2007-10-31T12:17:00.000-07:00

My friend Stephanie is going to be throwing an online Mary Kay Party. If any of you are interested let me know. She'll be having some specials, and it's a great time to do some holiday shopping for others and yourself. It's a great opportunity to get the quality things, without hosting a party, doing it when it's convenient for you, and no pressure to buy things you aren't sure you want. If you are interested leave a comment, and I'll post later with more info.

I'm at it again

2007-10-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

Well if any of you remember, last year at this time I took my first attempt at sewing and made my kids Halloween costumes. Well I'm doing it again this year. They are almost done. Baluga's needs a few eye hooks sewn on, and Stir Fry's needs some minimal sewing that hopefully get done by this weekend. Speedy's costume I'm not sewing, they don't make many patterns for that little of babies. We are doing a theme again this year, but I'm going to wait until Halloweeenish when I have pictures to disclose the theme. Wish me luck in getting them done and I hope you are ready for Halloween.

New Pictures

2007-10-07T18:23:00.000-07:00

I know it's been awhile since I've posted, and there is no good reason. Do I need one, I just had a baby? Speedy had bad jaundice and had to be under or attached to lights almost 24/7 the first week home. Which made it hard to adjust when things weren't "normal". My mom came in town a week after the baby was born to help out. We were able to get a 4 generation picture or my daughter, myself, my mom, and her mom. My brothers who were gone for the summer are back, which makes us, especially the kids happy! My parents and siblings and their families were all in town a little over a week ago for Speedy's baby blessing. So we had a full and loud house, but it was fun. It had been over a year since we had seen my older brother and his family and the kids had a good time with their only cousins. Our house is now empty and it's nice but I'm missing it. There were a lot of good times that weekend with my family, enjoying each other company, feeling the spirit together and having spiritual experiences. We laughed and we cried and I want to thank you all for that. I feel it brought together even more. So here are some pictures of the things that I've talked about.

Four Generations of Girls

Stir Fry fishing with his Uncle and Aunt

Speedy "Tanning"

Speedy's First Bath

Go to the next post to see some more pictures. I had too many to fit in one post.

More pictures

2007-10-07T18:15:00.001-07:00

The kids ready for church

Stir Fry being silly

My family

The Cousins (impossible to get 6 kids 4 and under
to take a good picture)

Baluga and Uncle "Bake"

Self Diagnosis

2007-09-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

The other day one of my new neighbors brought over a starter for Amish Friendship Bread. Today was day 10 and it needed to be made, so I decided to try to make it while Speedy was sleeping and Stir Fry was watching a show. Baluga wanted to be involved and pointed out all the messes I was making in my kitchen. In an attempt to keep her busy and out of my hair while I was cooking I gave her some chocolate chips. For only being 2, Baluga talks pretty well and is pretty easy to understand. Although sometimes she likes to gabber when singing songs or just talking to herself. While playing with her chocolate chips she was doing this, but sounded like she was saying, "I O.C.D, I O.C.D, I O.C.D." over and over again. Now is this a prediction for what is to come, self fulfilling prophecy? Either way I thought it was pretty funny to her my 2 year old call herself what sounded like OCD while she was organizing her chocolate chips.

He's arrived!

2007-08-30T09:45:00.001-07:00

Well before I start, I never posted a picture of Baluga's room. So here it is, it's not a great picture, but you get an idea of what it looks like.

Early Friday (August 24th) morning 3:45 AM I had my first contraction. I was thinking that this was it, but hoping it wasn't because Stir Fry was having his preschool open house that morning. Well they continued to come, and then I thought maybe my water had broken. So the mother-in-law was on her way to our house, which takes about 15 minutes. We almost just left the kids home with the door unlocked for grandma when she showed up, but we waited. We got to the hospital and I was 4 cm after less than an hour of labor. At this point I was ready for the drugs, but was told my doctor might have me wait an hour to see if I progress, which he had done just 30 minutes earlier for another one of his patients that was there. Are you kidding me!?! Do you not see that things are getting worse fast!!! They finally called the anethesiologist and I got some relief. Before it was over I had a lot of pressure and felt like pushing, and was just hoping there was enough time for it to kick in. By the time it was done I was to 9 cm. Only minutes later our little one was born (thank good the drugs were starting working fast and the doc gave me extra because he could tell things were happening FAST), after a little less than 2 hours of labor, and only being at the hospital 40 minutes. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 8 oz. and measured 19 1/2 inches long. I have yet to decide on a blogger name for him, so for now we'll just call him Speedy, for obvious reason. So for his blog day view, Speedy.

Count down

2007-08-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

Well I'm glad to report that things have improved, (almost 1 week and 9 pounds down later) although we are still going slow on adding to the diet.
On another note, I had my LAST doctors appointment today. Holy cow where did the time go? I'm 3 cm, which with my other two I was only 1-2 cm up until labor. They stripped my membranes today and scheduled me for an induction on Monday, August 27th. So sometime between now and then there should be another addition to our family. We are still debating on a name, we have a list of about 4 that we go back and forth on. Everyone is kind of leaning towards one name, which they are just trying to convince me to agree to use. We'll see.
So my next post will probably be as the mom of three, wish us luck!

Could it be any worse?

2007-08-16T09:17:00.001-07:00

Well I'm sure it can, but right now it doesn't feel like it. With the number of days left until my due date, being able to count on two hands, it starts getting miserable anyway. But having some of the hottest weather this summer and having no air conditioning and just a swamp cooler, I feel what I can only imagine a menapausal woman feels like. I sweat so much it's gross. Then to make things worse a few days ago I came down with a bug, that is supposidely going around. Which leaves me more tired, achey, and uncomfortable than normal. I'm not sleeping, or at least not that much. And I spend a lot of the day in the bathroom. I haven't ate much, because it only makes it worse. Hopefully things get better, the good news is the kids have been pretty good for the most part over it and understanding. And the hubby has been more than willing to help, that is if I can think of anything that might help, and dealing with being in charge of dinner, since I don't join them. So let hope things improve quickly and I feel like I did before this sickness happened, then I'll be a lot happier.

Missing home

2007-07-27T15:10:00.000-07:00

I always wish I live closer to my family, but there are times that makes me miss it even more. Like at the beginning of the week when we had a pregnancy scare at night and left me thinking who would I call if we had to go to the hospital to have a baby. It's times like this that make anyone miss their parents (especially your mom, for us girls), if you aren't lucky enough to have them close by.
In other news, besides me missing my family. We've got all (well except for a few odds and ends) into the house, that is not to say it's unpacked. Most of the house it packed and not unpacked. The kids seems to be adjusting well, and seem to be a nice neighborhood. Baluga is now in her own room, after sleeping in Stir Fry's room for several days, waiting for the paint job to get done. It turned out cute (I'll post pictures later). Hopefully we'll be mostly unpacked by the time the baby comes, which hopefully isn't for another couple weeks, well I guess we have about 1 more week until baby can be born and not premature. Wish us luck.

The one some of you have been waiting for

2007-07-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

I mentioned I think in my last post that we were looking for a house. We have found one and signed papers yesterday. We should be moving in this weekend. People have asked for pictures so here are some. I didn't have the time or desired to format them to put them strategically through the post so deal with it. The first few are of the outside. The old owners have been out for weeks, and the sprinklers haven't been one since, so the lawn is showing that along with a lot of weeds. There is a big sand lot in the back which can see in the corner of one of the pictures growing weeds. When it comes to pictures of the inside we don't have much except for the living room and kitchen. As you walk in there is an accent wall, which you will see on the right and then the living room. Then that leads into the kitchen/dining room. On the main floor there is also 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. In the basement, which you can see the banister from one of the pictures in the kitchen, has a big family room, which will probably turn into the TV room/office/play room, because it's so big. It also has another bedroom. There is also an unfinished bathroom that is framed and wired. There is also another room that is framed with lots of shelves, that will be used for food storage for now, which can later be converted to a 5th bedroom if we want. So wish us luck this weekend, in moving, finishing packing, unpacking, and cleaning and everything else.

My Substitute

2007-07-04T07:54:00.000-07:00

It would be nice if parenting was like basketball and you have some subs waiting on the side line for their turn to come in and get a chance to "play". It would be nice to have a couple people just waiting around, where at a moments (I guess more like a micro-second) notice they could relieve you of your duties for whatever time you need to re-coop. There are tons of times where I would like this, for example, when the kids don't take long enough naps and I'm not ready to get up from mine and the same goes for night time and getting up in the morning, and nameless other things. But yesterday I NEEDED one of these. Approaching the end of pregnancy makes me more emotional at times than normal and more tired. The day started off fine with the kids, but it was about dinner time things started falling apart. The hubby had been at work since 4:30 AM and wasn't going to be home until 8:00 PM at the earliest. I had dinner in the over and Baluga was asking for gum (she recently figured out the not swallowing gum issue, so she has had it more often), which I told her no because this would be her who knows what number of piece for the day. She wasn't happy with me, so the screaming and crying began. It didn't help that I think she was starting to get tired and I think she missed her daddy, because she hadn't seen him at all that day, and she is very much a daddy's girl. Then it led to her wanting chips, which in turn I said no, since we were close to having dinner (her crying and screaming hadn't stop since the rejection of her first want). Lately all she has wanted to eat and will eat without force and constant telling her to take a bite (if that even works) is snacks and treats. So I've had to hide them, although I missed one box and it was out in site. After about 25 minutes of this crying and screaming and asking for things I wouldn't let her have she finally ask for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which I finally gave in, even though dinner was minutes from being done. So the kids had sandwiches and I was the only that ate the dinner I made, but I was done, I was reaching my limits, I'd rather give her a sandwich then continue on the road we were on. Which that worked for a couple minutes. I let them have a few chips with their sandwich and that is of course all she ate and wanted more and I told her no, and the crying and screaming all started again. At this point I was at my limit, so I decided to go upstairs and let her throw her fit, I couldn't deal with it any more. So what happened. She brought her fit upstairs to me. How thoughtful. Of Stir Fry is following her, but he had finished his "dinner" and wasn't throwing a fit. After several more minutes of the screaming at my side, I was in tears and at the beginning of falling apart, so I got up and locked myself in the bathroom just to be alone. At this point the floodgates opened, so Stir Fry could her me crying, I'm sure Baluga might have been able to over her crying and screaming. At this point Stir Fry keeps on telling me through the door that it's ok. After a couple minutes of being in there and Stir Fry telling me it's ok, which progressively got louder and louder, since I wasn't responding, I came out (but mind you Baluga is still screaming and crying). I came out and told Stir Fry that I needed her to stop crying and then laid on my bed. At that point my substitute came in! My little 4 year old took over. He calmed her down (I don't know how) and they both climbed on the bed with me and he snuggled her and hugged her and whispered to her. I didn't ask him to do anything, he did this all on his own, which was almost reason enough for me to start crying all over again, but for different reasons. He's such a good helper, especially when I need him the most. So this one is for my sweet little boy Stir Fry who I love more than anything. I love you!

Who wouldn't want...

2007-06-14T06:56:00.001-07:00

So the hubby likes photography and has been doing it more lately. I think he likes doing nature shots best because what you see is what you get, where with humans and anything else that can move on it's on it's unreliable. He's taken some good shots of our kids, but yet again back the problem I just mentioned. They don't want to hold still. They don't seem to understand the difference between their natural smile and the smile they give when they say "cheeeeese". A few months ago he took this picture of Baluga and you can see what I'm talking about. She thinks she's smiling but she's not. He still loves this picture, though.
So this where the title of this post comes in. Jones Soda allows people to submit photos for the chance to make it on their bottles. We thought this would be perfect and goes along with the types of pictures they put on. After reading my friend, Stephanie's current post, I decided why not use my blog to advertise it and have all you guys (how ever many or few that might be) to vote on my baby's (although she isn't much of that any more) picture and help put her on a bottle or two. So go check out my little Baluga and vote for her picture. And if you like it send it along to people you know and have them vote too. Wish us luck we'll need it, and if you read Stephanie's post you'll know why.

Catch up

2007-06-08T09:11:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, so here goes.
Baluga eye is healed, although there is a red mark still there that will hopefully fade. She's been getting into a dress craze, so I decided to make her a few dresses (there is one dress that is purple with flowers I haven't gotten a picture of) that only cost me a couple bucks to make and required very little sewing and no pattern.

She also recently had her first hair cut ever, by me, which I don't think I'll ever do again and just leave to professionals. She got a couple inches cut off

We've also made some pretty big purchases lately. We bought a new kitchen table, since we were quickly outgrowing the one we got when we first got married. A tiny 4 chair set. We found this one and loved it. It's counter height and very dark wood, it almost looks black, but you can see some red in it if the light is just right. It has a leaf that fold into the table, so when it's open it's a big square and can fit 8 people.

Which then led to our next purchase. We didn't want the kids playing with playdough and other things (especially since it's so high and I didn't want to worry about them falling off the chairs and getting hurt) on this and wanted something they could play on and eat on when we had people over.

Now for the last pictures and last purchase for now. We got Baluga a new bed. With the baby on the way it needed to happen sooner than later. She was sleeping in the crib which we converted to a toddler bed, but wanted to get her a bed before the baby came so hopefully she would be adjusted to her new bed. The head board and foot board look the same, except of the course the foot board is smaller.

She loves her new big girl bed and has been sleeping well in it, thank goodness.
Now for the last little bit of news. We are looking for a house, which is exciting and a little stressful. I feel like I should clean and dejunk now. Then part of me thinks what's the point when we'll have to go through everything when we move. Just thinking about it makes me more tired than I already am. So there's what's going on with us lately.

Happy Mother's Day

2007-05-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to me! Well I'm not one to praise myself, but I just had to post this.
My little 4 year old brought this home from preschool yesterday. It was a bright pink paper that said "My mom" and then had fill in the blanks, which I'll just have in bold text.
My mom
Her name is Erin
She is 5 inches tall
She weighs 5 pounds
Her hair is gray (I'd like to add that it is NOT!)
Her favorite movie is.... Over the Hedge
Her favorite thing to do is... Catch Butterflies
She makes the best... Food Ever
I love her because... I love her

I hope all the mother have a wonderful mother's day and all of us children remember the simple things that we love about our mothers!

Poor thing

2007-05-04T16:04:00.000-07:00

Up until yesterday, weather has been pretty nice around here, which is leaving the kids wanting to play outside ALL of the time. Wednesday they were outside in the back playing and we weren't out there for more than a couple minutes when this happened.
There are a couple cement stairs from the back door leading down to the carport area, which she has gone up and done tons of times. But this day, just wasn't her day. I just barely sat down to read my book and looked up to see her face plant into the first stair and then flip over backwards. Fortunately this is the only damage on her check and nose.

It's one of those things that you see happen, that seem to go in extra slow motion, but yet you couldn't get yourself there to do anything about it. You gotta love it when that happens.
I think it's still a little sore and definitely swollen. She's funny about letting me touch her ouchies. She'll let her dad check on her teeth coming in and feel her gums without a fuss, the minute I try anything like that she cries and says "no, mommy!"
This last picture I took today, while she cried and said, "No, no, no picture mommy!" The first two pictures were taken by her daddy, which she was pretty cooperative about, and of course for me this picture was taken in between her putting her head on my pillow crying and telling me not to take her picture. She's also said a few times when we have asked to look at her cheek, "No, not look at me!"
She's been kind of funny about it. And this has been her first real accident and I feel bad since it happened on my watch, but to keep myself from crying and feeling too bad, I need to tell myself kids will be kids and they'll get hurt. The last few days she has seemed to be more clumsy, so maybe she's just getting into that phase. Hopefully she won't be too self destructive for my sake.

The truth comes out

2007-04-13T06:58:00.001-07:00

Well there is something that I've been keeping from most of you, and now is the time to let it come out. I'm pregnant. I'm half way done with this pregnancy, too bad it is the easier part that is over. I decided I would wait until I had my 20 week ultrasound so that not only could I announce I was pregnant, but hopefully also announce if we were adding a boy or a girl to the mix (I say this because with Baluga, she was stubborn and we didn't find out when we were suppose to because she wouldn't let the ultrasound tech good a look at her heart and other thing as well as in between her legs). We found out today that the kids will be having a little brother. So there you go, the boys will now out number the girls.
I'm lucky that with my pregnancy I haven't had to deal with weird cravings, or I guess maybe I should say the hubby is lucky, since he doesn't have go out and get them, since I assume pregnant women who have those cravings don't mind eating them at the time. But the problem is my little Baluga has got them!

The other day we were having lunch (some leftovers from the night before). It was a ham and cheese loaf (so like a hot sandwich) and some apples. Baluga LOVES to dip her food and one of her favorites dips is mustard, which Stir Fry and I aren't found of but the hubby is. I gave her some mustard to dip her "sandwich" in, since that is what her and her daddy did when we had it the first time around. I also put some peanut butter on her plate so she could dip her apples in there. Did she use the peanut butter, of course not! She dipped her apples in mustard! I showed her what the peanut butter was for and dipped a couple bits in there, but she kept on going back for the mustard. I fought my instinct to tell her no and that was gross. But then I thought who was I to taint her taste buds. I should really let her decide, right? If it won't make her sick, who am I to tell her not to eat it, even if it's something I wouldn't imagine trying!