Realizations

Today I really truly realize the gift of love. Its a gift that we possess and we can all see it each and every day. I never thought I was very good at the whole love thing. But being married to the wonderful man that I am, I can see that I must be doing something right. I love the phrase "Love is Something Eternal," I do, its great. Because it really is, it can be Eternal, but it also can be sad ans destructive. We can see divorce everyday, I wonder why. I wonder why people that have loved each other so much that they enter into something so serious as marriage and then one day they just decide that they want to throw in the towel. I don't get it. I see that there are some people that get married that should have never been married in the first place. I'm really talking about those who have been married for 20 years and decide that it is over. I just find it really saddening.

I am so grateful to be married to a wonderful man that loves me so much and has so much care in his heart. He loves me so much and I'm glad.

I realize that I haven't always been the best at love, dating, and relationships, but I have a great one now. Before I met Chris and got married I wasn't into the relationship at all. It has really been the only thing I have ever been that decisive about. I went to a single's ward and yeah, I would date a lot, I just wasn't into being in a relationship. And of course all of the guys in the single's ward are looking for someone to date and to marry. I just wasn't ready, there were plenty of interesting guys. I'm sure it was very hurtful, and for that I am very sorry. I know now that it was for very good reason. Once Chris and I met I was interested in dating just like that. If I was dating all these other guys whose to say I would have even ever went out on a date with Chris. And now all of these wonderful guys from the single's ward are getting married and have found some fabulous brides.

I am thankful for Chris and our wonderful little baby boy. Brenden is great and amazing and lovely. I love my little family! I just can not say that enough.

Krazy in the Kitchen: Chicken Ole’

Krazy in the Kitchen: Chicken Ole’

Thinking about trying this soon! It sounds good!

Puff Pillows Tutorial

So I wanted to re-vamp some of the pillows we have in our living room. I really wanted an updated look, I just didn't want to pay $20 for a set of pillows. I've been on a saving money kick lately. Its great. I did some research on how to make puff pillows, well first I was going to make a puff quilt for Brenden, so this was kind of my trial run. And I think it turned out pretty great.

Here are some of the fabrics I chose to use and my fabulous rotary cutter! I love it, it makes projects so much easier.

Here is the before of our pillow. A little sad, I know.

The puff filling.

I will use this fabric for the backing of the smaller pillows.

A close up. Fun, huh?

I really love this one.

And this is one of Chris' favorites.

Some scraps.

I started by sewing wrong sides together so that I wouldn't have to turn them inside out, they're being sewn together anyways so you won't have any rough edges.

Here is what They look like together. I used 5 inch squares with 1/4 inch seam allowances.

Puffy!

Here it is almost done. I just needed to hand stitch the top and it was done!!!

This is a super easy project, if you're dedicated enough first cut to finish, you could do it in a little over an hour. I'm planning on making a few more soon. And Chris says its the best napping pillow.

Pockets

It's official!!! Brenden's Cloth Diapers will be shipped out on Tuesday and he will be one happy baby. Well, in reality he probably won't know the difference, but I'll be one happy mommy. I don't know why I'm so excited about the change. When I was pregnant with Brenden I was so grossed out by the idea of cloth diapers, but now that I've done research and really know what they're all about, I'm really not grossed out at all. I'm excited that we'll be saving so much money and not have to deal with disposing of the disposables. I'm excited to have more room in the closet where the boxes and boxes of disposables were sitting. Now I can use it for some extra food storage. Haha.

So here's the skinny on cloth diapers, well on the ones we've decided on anyways. Chris and I, well, mostly me have decided on Pocket Cloth Diapers. Here is a very long and drawn out description of a pocket cloth diaper, but it is way better than I could describe since I've never actually used on before.

Pocket diapers – Pocket diapers consist of a waterproof outer layer and a moisture-wicking inner layer that are sewn together on three sides to create a stuffable pocket or sleeve. Pocket diapers look similar to disposable diapers and some are virtually as slim as disposable nappies. The pocket is stuffed with absorbent material to customize an absorbency level for each baby. Typically suede cloth or microfleece fibre is used to wick the moisture away from the babies skin to prevent diaper rash. Pocket diapers dry more quickly than all-in-one diapers because they have less material in them, and those with a sleeve open at both ends mean that the insert will agitate its own way out during the wash, so you dont need to manually remove it before washing. A pocket diaper must be washed after each diaper change. Pocket diapers often come in one size that can be adjusted with snaps and hook and loop tape (velcro) to fit a baby over a wide variety of weight ranges. Modern Pocket diapers use "green" materials, such as bamboo textiles and biodegradable liners which significantly improves the resource savings of the modern pocket diaper.

Like I said, its a very long description, but it gets the job done. Since Brenden's diapers are shipping out on Tuesday, they should be here for his 6 month birthday. Yay, Brenden! I figured it was fitting, a little odd, but fitting. I'm pretty stoked about the change over!

Pregnancy Quams

Things that bothered me when I was pregnant with Brenden:

1. How far along are you? This really bothered me early on in the pregnancy with Brenden mostly because I wasn't 100% sure. Going to different doctors and having them all say different things make it hard. Another reason was that I have never been good with birthdays or anniversaries so it was hard to remember in weeks how far along I was.

2. Is it a boy or a girl? Again, early on in the pregnancy its a little annoying because everyone asks and you don't have an answer until you're about halfway through the whole pregnancy. It kind of stinks that you have know idea. Sometimes I wish the doctors could say, Oh, you're pregnant and you're having this...

3. Are you pregnant or have you put on some weight? Are you serious? Just wait until someone tells you that I'm pregnant, and quit being so impatient. For starters, who would even ask a question like this. I was thankful I didn't get any of those questions until I was about 7 months along.

4. What are some of your parenting techniques? This is the one question that almost always turns bad. Everyone has different ideas of what the perfect parenting techniques and methods are and that's just it. Parenting is not perfect, parenting is all about trial and error. My teaching methods are even different than Chris' ideas on parenting. Nothing in life is perfect, our children may be perfect little angels at times, but the way we handle things are not always so perfect, but we learn and do better each and every day.

5. Was this a planned pregnancy? For all of those who don't know, Brenden was definitely planned for. Chris and I spent 6 months trying to get pregnant with Brenden. Even if he wasn't planned for, we would have gladly kept him anyways.

6. How is your baby doing? Sometimes I really felt like telling them to ask my belly because seriously how am I supposed to know how a baby I can't even see is doing. I was certain that he was doing fine for the most part, I just knew when something was wrong. So when people would ask how he was doing I would start to get a little paranoid that something was wrong with him.

7. Why so young? I was 21, almost 22 years-old when I had Brenden. I don't think that that's too young at all and when people would ask me why I wanted to have children so young it kind of bugged me. I prepared for Brenden and I was so ready to have a baby. I would have been unhappy spending my time doing anything else.

8. Can I touch your tummy? I was always the type that wasn't bothered by it, I just didn't liked to be asked all of the time. If you wanted to touch my tummy, just do it, I didn't want to be asked. First of all, its just an odd question. I felt like a budha. What you want to rub me for good luck?

9. Do you think that you'll have post-pardum depression? I never really knew how to ask that question. I had a few bouts of mild depression as a youth, I think every teenager does. But I never thought that I would even be bothered by post-pardum depression. And I wasn't. And yes, thank you for bringing up the fact that its possible that after I have a baby I could wind up being depressed for the next year of my life, thank you very much.

10. Are you stopping after 1? When I was still pregnant with Brenden this was bothersome because I had no idea. How can you prepare for something you really know nothing about. I hadn't had any children and I knew that I was very excited for the one that was in my tummy. I had no idea what to expect. I knew in the back of my head that I wanted many children, but who knows when you haven't had any kids.

So these are my 10 peeves about being pregnant and the question silly people ask. And everyone really does ask them. These question by any means don't make me angry, they just get mildly frustrating after being asked them with every person I happened to run into. I love being asked questions when I was pregnant with Brenden, its just a lot more fun when there's variety.

Graduation

One of my greatest friends here in Rexburg graduated today and I couldn't be happier for her. Sara, you've done an amazing job, and now we have even more play time!! I'm just really excited that she can be done with school forever! She can move on with life and get onto the next step. People who have graduated from college just seem so much more put together than Chris and I are. They know what they want to do with life, they know where they're headed, they have a ton of wisdom from dealing with classmates and awful deadlines, and they get to choose from so many different opportunities.

I'm so excited for all of our friends that have graduated and that have graduated today. Way to go!

I'm also really excited for Chris to graduate. He won't be graduating probably until December of 2012, but it is well worth the wait. I am really loving life here in Rexburg. It's been so much fun since we've been back last summer. We've got the chance to catch up with old friends, meet new friends, and watch friends move on with life. It's great to be able to see all of our friends progess and reach so many of their goals. Its really all possible because of facebook and blogs. I think it's great!

Once Chris graduates the hope is that we'll be going back to Seattle, but we would also love to live in Boise for a few years. We would really settle in any place in the Northwest. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, or possibly Utah. We went through St. George on the way home from California last month and it was so pretty. I don't know if I would like to live there, but I would be willing to give it a try. I'll be excited to be moving on with life.

Well for now, Frankie time!

Eureka!!!

I can now with a 100% certainty tell everyone that Chris and I are not pregnant!!! After a few months a speculation I finally know for sure for sure. It feels so great I can not even tell you. Sure, I have a lot of posts about how I would love to have another baby right now, and I would, but that doesn't mean that I can't get excited to spend this time just Brenden and I. With out having to worry about everything that comes along with pregnancy, mostly morning sickness. Never really been sick ever, morning sickness hit me really hard with Brenden.

I was really worried that I was pregnant again and just didn't know it. I had heard of some cases, quite a few actually where its super easy to get pregnant right away after having a baby. I know it happens. I mean, my brother Adam and I are only 1 year, and 2 weeks apart. But now, I have this feeling that I am on top of the world and man it feels good. I have a loving husband and a cute little baby. I am the luckiest woman, well I feel that way anyways.

Brenden is the root of my existence right now, he's the reason I fight so hard for everything and want to be the best I can be. Being the best I can be means that he can have better opportunities for himself and that makes me so happy. Not being pregnant right now means I can focus all of my energy on him, and I know he deserves it. He is such a great little baby and I love getting to spend all of my time with him.

Speaking of which, he just woke up and is talking to himself in his crib, maybe I can go get him to talk to me.

One Girls Opinion

I have heard a lot and I mean a lot of complaints about TSA in the past I don't know, 6 months or so. I honestly don't have any complaints at. I think they realize that the things that they have been trying this last year are really not the best. And that's okay, trial and error, that's how we make the world into a better place. There have been a lot of complaints about personal violations, which is very true, there is no possible way that I could argue that, but I believe that they are doing everything that they can to make it better.

A lot of people are under the impression that this scanner is like a 3-D Ultrasound, which is not the case at all. Its a low radiation X-ray, and that just it, an X-ray. Do we refuse to get an X-ray when we go in to see the doctor, NO, do we refuse an X-ray when we go into see the dentist, NO. And those X-rays are no more needed than the ones at the airport. All of these X-rays are in place for our safety. When we go to the doctor for X-rays, the doctor is checking for broken bones. When we go to the dentist for X-rays, they're to check any problems with our teeth, mostly cavities. When we go to the airport, the X-rays are for our safety, to make sure we're not trying to carry anything on board that could potentially hurt other people.

I realize the TSA X-ray seems innvasive, but it's just an X-ray, get over yourself. It's true that you can refuse to step into the X-ray machine, but the pat down by the TSA Agents are far more intrusive. And I think that's the major problem. There have been countless stories and I'm sure lawsuits of these TSA Agents going a little too far. And I have to agree with this, but on the other hand I can see the pat downs being a scare tactic to try and get everyone they ask to use the scanners. The scanners are much easier and faster and more efficient. As the world continues to grow, the world needs to continue to be more efficient.

There are also measures being taken to improve the system already in place. That is my main point here, TSA realizes that what they have in place is offensive and could be better, and its in the process of being made better. Why are we mad at an agency that is trying to make flying a better experience for us? I realize that they made it that way, but it was done for our safety. Would we rather die because someone hi-jacked our plane. Not me, no way.

If someone in our family did something to lose our trust. Making a mistake. would we continue you be made at them when they sincerely tried to make it better. I don't think so. In my mind this is the same thing.

Its recognized that the TSA brought these machines that have caused so much strife, but they are trying and here's a little bit of an article that I read this morning and the link for more.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/07/20/tsa.body.scans/

New technology will enhance privacy on body scanners, TSA says

Washington (CNN) -- The Transportation Security Administration is taking steps beginning Wednesday to eliminate the image of an actual passenger in the body scanners at airports and is replacing it with a generic outline of a person.

The new software on its millimeter wave Advanced Imaging Technology machines is designed to enhance privacy but maintain security standards.

It "will auto-detect items that could pose a potential threat using a generic outline of a person for all passengers," according to a statement from the TSA.

"If no potential threats are detected, an 'OK' appears on the monitor with no outline, and the passenger is cleared," the statement said.

Passengers will be able to view the same outline a TSA officer sees, and it will no longer be necessary for a separate TSA officer to view the image in a remotely located viewing room.

Currently, there are nearly 500 imaging technology units at 78 airports in the United States and more units will be deployed this year, the TSA said. Some of the units use the millimeter wave technology, while others use so-called "backscatter" technology.

What a Day!

I've had such a super fun day today, even though most of it was spent cleaning. The best part of my day was that I was able to spend it with my loving husband and beautiful baby boy. I love those guys!

Chris let me sleep in a little bit this morning. I slept in until 9! It was spectacular. I love being able to sleep in and since Chris is off track for school its been happening a whole lot. My rockin awesome husband spoils me! I'm going to be so sad when he has to start going back to school in a couple months.

Once I woke up this morning Chris got to cleaning out bedroom as I lounged around for a bit. Once he was finished, I started to clean up the kitchen a bit. My favorite part of a clean house is having a clean kitchen since I spend most of my time in the kitchen. I love to cook and make new recipes. After that Chris helped me de-clutter the family room and he vacuumed while I dusted. Chris and I work so well together, I love it. I'll be sad when he has an actual full-time job, I'll have to do all of this stuff on my own. But hopefully by then I'll learn the lesson that everything has a home and that everything has a place that it needs to be. My parents tried to embed that into my head growing up, but with how crazy life is right now its just not sticking. I had an emaculant home before I was pregnant. I was seriously super woman, but now, I just spend all of my time playing with Brenden. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with Brenden and playing with him, I just have to sacrifice having a clean home. And for the most part, I'm okay with that.

So after the house had been all cleaned, my friend, Tawni from back home showed up. I love that girl. I haven't seen her since Brenden was born. She is such a great friend and I can not wait until she comes here to go to school in January. We'll have so much fun together. She's not married yet, but I love her just because. She has always been such a great friend and has always been there when I've needed a great laugh or really anything. I wish that we were a lot closer, but someday we will be. She'll be leaving for Montana in the morning, but she'll be back on Thursday. I'm really hoping that we'll get to see her then too. Maybe Brenden won't be sleeping and she can actually play with him!

For now, it'll be bedtime.

APOLOGIES

Just a clarification on all of my blog posts about me ranting and going on about things that bother me. None of them are about specific people and most of the time they aren't even about people I know personally. When I blog about the things of the world that bother me, that's really just it, they're of the world, the whole entire world! I'm a stay-at-home mom of a wonderful baby boy named, Brenden, but lets face it he still sleeps and naps a lot and likes to stare at himself in the mirror, I don't spend a lot of time cleaning because for the most part its done, so I spend my time outside or watching my little baby and surfing the web. I read a lot of blogs, mostly from people I don't even know. I read a lot of news articles off of google news. I read a lot of stories off of the facebook ads. I go into my google reader and read friends blogs every once in awhile. This is my life. I don't blog and write about friends that bother me and the things that they do, and if I did I would just come out and say who they were. I'm not afraid of anyone or what they may think, I'm not afraid to hurt anyone's feelings, and I just think that that's not the way things should be handled. I've had a couple comments today about my blog and how bad of a person I am for blogging about things that bother me and that I should just come out and name names. There are no names to name, again, everything other than family I write about is just general. Earlier today, when I was talking about naked baby photos, it was super general. I was certainly not talking about anyone in specific or telling anyone that they're bad parents for taking photos. Its just my personal opinion. When I talk about smart phones being over used, I see them being over used every day, I hear about it everyday, my husband sells cell phones for goodness sakes. When I blogged about people thinking that they're better than everyone else, look out at the world, that's most of the world. I think these things would be bothersome to most people, I just happen to be one person whose decided to be more open about it.

Again, my sincerest apologies for any feelings that were hurt.

4. do a recipe post

New Recipe for this week!

Brooke's Homemade Meatloaf

Recipe courtesy Brooke Deen

Prep Time:

15 min

Inactive Prep Time:

5 min

Cook Time:

1 hr 0 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

6 servings

Ingredients

Glaze:

• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons packed light brown sugar

Meatloaf:

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 large eggs
• 1 slice white bread, torn into pieces
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, whisk together all the glaze ingredients and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine all the meatloaf ingredients and mix well. Press the mixture into a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush some of the glaze over the top of the meatloaf. Bake for 30 minutes more. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes. Turn the meatloaf out onto a serving platter and spoon the remaining glaze over the top before serving.

I've never actually made meatloaf so this week I'm going to give it a go and I'll let you all know how it turns out!

Seriously?

I am all for posting photos of your kids and everyone knows that. I post photos of Brenden online almost every single day. But I strongly feel that once your kids hit a certain age there should be a bit of modesty when you're posting for the world to see. And that's what this post is all about. I think newborn photos of naked babies are just so cute, but if you're posting photos of a naked 2 year-old or 5 year-old there are some issues there. Yeah, you can tell me that Heavenly Father made our bodies pure and to be a beautiful thing, but think about the age that we're in, the things that we are surrounded by, the evils in the world make naked children a very bad thing.

I don't want to teach Brenden that being naked is a bad thing, but I want him to realize that there is a time and a place. Nakedness is for inside the home and for inside the bathroom, in the shower, and for changing. We should always be modest in everything that we do and it is a good thing. I also want to teach Brenden that it isn't anything to be afraid of or to be ashamed of. Brenden needs to know that we love him and he needs to know the difference of these things.

Now for the posting of pictures. I love too see my friends and their kids and their lives and I love the updates. I don't want to see your naked kids. Period. That's it. I have posted a few photos of Brenden naked, but seriously, he was only a few weeks old and it was during his newborn photo session. I think that's justified. I guess I'm just really bothered by this and maybe a little bit offended. I see it all the time, but it didn't really bother me until just today. Again, there a time and there is a place. That's all folks!

Donegal Bay

Chris and I took little Brenden on a walk this morning for breakfast. We were going to walk to Porter Park, but with all of just getting over colds, it just was not going to happen. So we made an unplanned stop. We stopped to look at some townhouses in town called Donegal Bay. They look really nice on the outside and have a ton of yard space. We really wanted to stop and and look at one of them, but they didn't have any open. They told us to stop by later on next week. Graduation is this weekend so they're expecting a few families to be moving out. Good news for us. Even though we wouldn't be able to afford to move until December. Although I would love a bigger place now!

I have been itching to move for quite awhile now. I really love our ward and would be sad to be leaving everyone, but I would love love the bigger place. This place that we'll be looking at next week has an extra bedroom, a lot more storage, and almost twice the size of what we have now all for $594 a month!! Wowee!! I'm excited to see what they would be like on the inside. If they're are as nice on the inside Chris and I will probably apply to move in December. It would be really nice to have some extra closet space. As it is now, Brenden doesn't have any room for his clothes in his closet, ours is totally full top to bottom, and all the beds are elevated with stuff underneath them. We are totally out of cupboard and above cupboard space, we have no more space for food storage, out front porch is crowded, don't have enough room for all of our bathroom stuff, we have no wall space at all, and too much furniture for out tiny living room. We just seriously need something bigger and I am ready for the move.

The place in Rigby was super nice, but staying in Rexburg would be far more economical for us. All of our friends are here and we would be coming out here all of the time anyways. I'm just hoping they have an opening in December. A lot of people graduate in December so hopefully we can get in. We'll have to apply now. So pray that we get in!

Lazy Sunday

Brenden and I have spent the morning at home this morning. My nose is super sick and Brenden isn't the happiest of campers. I was gonna go to Church, but Brenden isn't feeling well and I didn't want to go and sneeze all over everyone. I feel bad and really guilty about skipping out on Church especially since we went to the movies last night. I just don't know, we all woke up this morning as Chris was getting ready for work and Brenden wasn't doing super well and I've been sneezing non-stop all day long. So annoying. Part of me wishes that I could just chop my nose off.

I'm super glad that Brenden has been sleeping all day. He really needs the rest especially since he didn't get a whole lot of sleep yesterday. He was just awake all day yesterday and playing and crying. Poor little guy. He did sleep really well last night, he slept for 12 hours straight. Way to go little man!

So on our events for the rest of the day....Chris is at work until probably about 7. Once Chris gets home we will be skyping with my parents so they can take a peek at Brenden and see how big he is!!! He's getting big, almost 13 lbs and almost 27 inches. This little boy can grow and grow. I'm so proud of him and all of his accomplishments so far. He can now pretty much sit on his own. Look at him go. I'll have to catch it on camera this week.

Double Date!

Seriously, Chris and I haven't been on a double date since before Brenden was born. We've only been a few dates since he was born anyways. A baby takes a lot of time and being a new mom sometimes you get scared to leave your baby home with out you, even if you do leave your baby home with a well trusted baby sitter. We love you baby sitter, Sharla. Its just sad that she will be leave this week, and won't be back until January. What are we going to do. We do always have Sara, she's our other baby sitter. She loves Brenden to pieces and she's so great. I feel so blessed to have such great friends that will watch Brenden whenever we need it.

Brenden is such a great baby, especially when he's sick, which has been the case as of lately. I love that baby.

So onto the double date. Chris and I decided we wanted to go to the drive-in and see Cars 2 and Green Lantern. 2 movies, one low price, I think so! We invited our awesome friends, Mike and Melanie. We pretty much do everything with them. We'll be lost when they leave us for California in a few weeks.

We had so much fun at the movies. The movies were great, the company was even better. My only complaint was the car next to us had a chain smoker. It was seriously bad. We eventually had to sit in the car because I couldn't handle it anymore. My eyes were all puffy and burning like chlorine, and my already runny nose was even runnier and it hurt. So next time, we'll watch out for that.

Cars 2 was really great! I love it. There's this one line that says, "Like a good neighbor, Mator is there." I loved it. It's a parody on the Allstate commercials. Funny, funny. It's probably not as funny as I think it is, but it sure is stuck in my head. As for Green Lantern, it was just amazing! I was really excited about this movie because its superheroes and my husband and I knew it was going to be a good time. I definitely wasn't disappointed. I really love super hero movies. Chris will explain things to me along the story line and its just so fun. We didn't get home until almost 2 this morning. And we were beat, but Chris still had to take Sharla home. Poor guy. I was so asleep when he got back. I was super tired. Thank goodness Brenden slept in until 8 this morning. If he's still asleep at 8, I usually just go in and grab him so he can eat. He's usually awake, just in there playing.

Such a cute kid!

Yum Yum Yum

Today has been a pretty busy morning for me and I haven't even took a shower this morning. I got up early this morning to go pick up our Bountiful Baskets. I was in and out with 10 minutes. I then went to the store to pick up a few things for breakfast. I promised Chris last night that I would make him something for breakfast. I made some Sticky Monkey Brains, oh yeah it sounds weird, but so so good!

Here's my recipe:

Sticky monkey Brains

• 4 packages refrigerated biscuit dough
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 
  
• Cut up biscuits into smaller sizes. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together in a medium bowl. Coat cut up biscuits in cinnamon sugar mixture and place in 9x13 baking dish. Mix together Brown Sugar and Butter, even pour over coated biscuits. Cover with pecans, if desired. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until biscuits are done.
• 
  
• Trust me, this stuff is to die for! We love it. We really don't have it very often, but it's our little family's famous breakfast dish.
• 
  
• After breakfast Chris and I were playing a couple games together at the table and he started to fall asleep. Aparently this has been happening a lot in the past 2 days. I'm actually really worried about it, but Chris kind of acts like it no big deal and just kind of dismisses it. I'm not too sure what the problem is, maybe the cold medicine he has been taking. But he's been taking the cold medicine all week, I just don't know. I'm just really worried, it's not normal to fall asleep doing everything! So if anyone runs into him, say something about it. Maybe he'll actually listen to someone else. I'm just the wife.
• 
  
• Time to go spend some time with my family!
• 
  
• 
  

Birth Stories

I love love to hear about different people's birth experiences. It's so nice to hear about both the positive and negative that come with the gift of life. I have been reading so many birth stories today thanks to my pregnant friends. Ha ha. I have quite a few friends that are pregnant and they are always posting things about whether they're having a boy or girl, different research they have done on birth, different stories they have read, the different methods of giving birth, different methods to trying to conceive, how long they have been trying, feelings they have felt when the big event finally happened, and just everything that goes along with it. I just get so excited talking about childbirth and I love listening to everyone's stories. Love it!

So I just had to share a story that I read today.

I read one story entitled: Giving Birth in a Mini Van.

Oh yeah!

Well so the story goes, a family of four, mommy, daddy, and 2 little girls wanted a baby brother. The parents had researched a method called Shettles Method. Basically its a method of gender selection based on ovulatory cycles. So this family tried this method to try and conceive a baby boy. And guess what? It Worked!! This Mommy and Daddy were pregnant with a baby boy this time. Well its about time for this baby to come out. They were scheduled for an induction because this baby was just not coming out on his own. Mommy started to feel contraction 2 days before the induction date at about 2 in the morning. She didn't really think anything of it. So she goes to the bathroom and notices she just lost her mucous plug. Contractions are 5 minutes apart. She calls her mother and her mother is on her way. So she decides to take a shower and finish up packing her bag. Contractions are about 4 minutes apart. By the time her mother gets to the house 20 minutes later her contraction are back to back. Her husband loads her in car to go to the hospital which is about 15 minutes away. The contractions get so intense she tells her husband to go and run all the red lights to get them there. He makes it to the hospital in 10 minutes. They pull up to the E.R. He runs inside for help. He comes back and says they're sending a nurse. By that time she can feel little baby boys head. He runs in and grabs as many people as he can and gets back to the Mini Van just in time to catch the baby.

This woman's labor and delivery lasted a total of an hour and a half. She had no drugs, no pain, a short labor, and a very supportive family. This is by far the most positive experience I have ever read and I loved reading it.

If you want to read the whole story, which is much much better by the way here it is:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_birth-story-giving-birth-in-a-minivan_10339786.bc?page=1

It's Official

Brenden is officially switching over to cloth diapers, well not that he really has a choice. I sold 4 boxes of diapers and got rid of them today. Its been good. Now I have $130 to spend on cloth diapers which is nice. I just need to raise $40 more dollars to invest in some diapers for Brenden. This would include everything I need for 12 diapers. Pretty good I do think. I'm actually really excited to give this a try and then when we feel like it we can start building up our stash, but honestly that probably won't happen until we're pregnant with baby #2. Which, just so everyone knows it not just yet. Back to the cloth diapers. So, in order to earn money to pay for cloth diapers I have put a few things up on ebay and a few things on the university's bulletin board. So hopefully we hear something very soon.

I'm getting really excited to start using cloth diapers on Brenden. Is that weird? I think before having a baby I would have thought it was weird, but now, its just excitement. Excitement over getting to try something new, excitement to know that we'll be saving oodles of money in the long run, excitement to be doing something good and worth while. A little overboard? Yeah, I know, I'm just super happy to have made this decision. I'll be putting my order in wither this weekend or early during the week next week. Its hard to decide.

But for now, I have a sick baby to go check on. :)

Guess Whose Sick?

I'm pretty sure I'm coming down with whatever the boys have. Stink! I still don't have a really bad cough or anything, but this sore throat is horrid. It started in the middle of the night last night. I woke up around 3 this morning with a pretty bad sore throat. After that it was pretty hard to get back to sleep, but I finally did get back to sleep. And I woke up this morning at 6 with Brenden and boy am I ever wiped out. Chris and Brenden are both back to sleep. They both are just so sick and so tired. I feel so bad for Brenden being so young and tiny and having to be sick. And Chris is so sick, I think he might miss out on another day at work. Sad. i just hope that everyone starts to get better really soon.

For now, I think I will just rest up and try to get over whatever this is.

We're in Luck!!!

We took Brenden back to the doctor today yet again. This poor little guy, he doesn't get enough sleep as it is because he's sick and then he has a mommy that's paranoid and takes him to go see the doctor for every little thing. Not really, but I sure do feel like it.

As everyone knows, we took Brenden to the doctor on Tuesday because whatever this thing is that Chris has, he gave to Brenden. So Brenden was coughing pretty bad, first cough ever. I was super scared, so we took him in. The doctor pretty much told us that it was too early to tell and that we should keep an eye on poor little Brenden. And to give him some baby Tylenol ever so often. So we had been doing this and it seems to have just been doing worse. What. The. Heck. I just didn't understand. Baby stuff, I guess. Well I decided that I should at least call into the doctor's office this morning, so I did. We called in and the receptionist told me that she would have a nurse call me back and to stick by the phone. 3 hours pass. Are you kidding me??? I have a little baby that's only 5 months old and you're going to hold out on me for hours? That's just not okay. I was just a little bit upset.

So we call back and the receptionist said that they had out a note on the doctors desk and that he just hadn't got to it yet. Seriously? Again, little baby that's never been sick. Rude! The receptionist finally set an appointment for us this afternoon. We went in and all the doctor really said was that his breathing looked to being okay. He also said that when baby's are teething they tend to have a runny nose and when their little noses don't get cleaned out it can drain into their tiny little throats and cause them to cough. That was a logical enough answer for me and I'm willing to go with it for now. But 2 visits and multiple phone calls just to tell me that my baby's teething. Wow! Get it together guys. I'm just very frustrated with doctors today. When it comes to Brenden I have a very short temper, I guess. I love that little boy.

As for me, I am feeling pretty great, but my that pillow of mine is looking very enticing very early tonight. Yay for early bedtime!

Peeved

I'm going to use this blog post just to rant just because I can. No names, mostly because there is no one in particular I'm peeved with. I just got thinking, it really bugs me and hurts my feelings when people think they are so much better than me to the point that they feel that they have to correct every little thing I say. I mean come on guys, we're all here to learn from each other and to experience the gifts of life. We're not here to be shovenous and down right rude. I see this every day and it is really bothersome. I'm really not even really talking about this happening to myself, even though it does, mostly I'm talking about having to watch it. I know, don't look, right? Well, that's much easier said than done. It's sad to see people hurt other people's feelings in the most arrogant of ways. I realize that not everyone can know everything, but sometimes I feel like I'm the only one that knows that. And I'm not claiming that I don't do the same thing, I promise, I really try not to. I've just been seeing this more and more lately. I see this with a friend of mine almost everyday. They're just under this delusion that they know everything and can not possibly be wrong. And when they are they will argue it to the death and then cry about it. All I can say is, humble yourself. I can admit that I don't know everything and I can admit when I'm wrong, for the most part at least. I have a very stubborn personality. One thing I have learned since being married is that it is more important to save face and show love to the people around us and not hurt their feelings than it is to be right. What is it to be right all of the time anyways? What do we get out of it? I mean, if we're always right and know everything, we can't really progress into anything because we're already the best. Now, I know I'm not the best nor have I met anyone who I think is the best. I can always find someone better. And that's not to say anything bad about anyone. It's saying none of us are perfect and we're continually growing and progressing to our goal to be the best that we can be. If you think you're the best that you can be, then why are you still here? If you're the best that you can be you no longer have a purpose on this Earth. I love learning new things and I know that I learn something new every single day and I love it! I love learning new things and being corrected so that I know what the right thing is. I don't enjoy being slaughtered by friends or watching this happen to other people. We are better than that. We have agency, righteousness, and a kindnesss in our hearts that no other species have. We have a sense of humbleness though hard to achieve, but it's the best of any personality trait we could bear. Get along and teach with love. This is all.

Sick Brenden

Brenden is such a trooper! He has never ever been sick, but he was so good today. He slept a lot and when he was awake he was very happy!

This is Brenden after a series of naps today. Being sick he took a lot of naps. It was hard for him to take naps because every time that he would fall asleep he would start coughing and that would wake him up. Poor little thing. Well, he finally got a pretty good nap in. And he has been a pretty happy little baby ever since. We've been playing on the floor for the last hour or so and I love it. I have a love hate relationship with my baby being sick. I hate it because he's so helpless and sad, but I love it because he's so playful and cute and cuddly. I really love it! I love my baby.

My Poor Baby

Brenden has been sick since yesterday morning and it just seems to be getting worse and worse. He's such a tiny little guy and I feel so bad for him. He's still not running a temperature or anything, but his cough is getting worse and it makes me so sad because there's really nothing I can do. Poor little baby. He slept pretty well last night. He went to bed a little after 8 and slept until about 5 this morning. I fed him and he went back to bed until about 8. It's really nice that he sleeps so incredibly well. He woke up and we fed him some mangoes. First time, he loved them! Ever since breakfast I have been trying to get him to take a nap with no luck. He'll lay in his crib and talk to himself for hours, but as soon as he starts to fall asleep he starts to cough and wakes himself up. I put him in his swing and really that's the only way he can get any sleep at all. His cough is just this hacking gross cough you would expect from an old man. I have been giving him baby advil since yesterday and I think it helps him sleep, but that's about all.

The doctor said to call if it got worse, but I feel like such a louse for calling in for every little thing, but at the same time I don't want to not call in and have it be something really serious. I just really hope this passes and he gets better real soon!

Happening of Our Evenings

I went Visiting Teaching earlier this afternoon and it went great. I really have grown to love the girls I Visit Teach and also my companion and it really hasn't taken long at all. Katie has been my Visiting Teaching Companion for almost a year now and she is seriously the greatest thing ever! She's my friend, Preston's cousin, small world, right? I know. Chris and I know Preston from back home and his cousin, Katie just happens to my companion....Really, really small world. Katie is always so on top of things, even when she is beginning to be super pregnant. So cute by the way. She's great at reminding me and being forgiving when I'm super forgetful. She's always so sweet to the girls that we teach. She's always genuine on learning about them and the goings on in their lives. She just happens to be moving out of the ward in a few weeks and I will be super sad!!! I also wonder who my new companion will be, they've got some big shoes to fill, so to speak, but I'm sure I'll love them just as much.

I have grown to love our ward SO MUCH over the past few months. After all of our friends moved out of the ward it really gave us the opportunity to get to know other people here. It's really nice to know how giving and wonderful everyone here is. I really didn't know all of this until we got back from Seattle. I really started to notice the good in everyone's heart and it really makes me feel so good.

So now to talk about the wonderful girls that Katie and I Visit Teach. First, there is A'lyce. I really have grown to love this girl and she is so sweet and funny. Every time Katie and I have gone over she is always so inviting and wants to know everything about what has been going on with us. She is just a great person. She always loves to play with Brenden and to hold him and to make him smile. She is going to be such a great little mommy! I'm so glad that her and her husband will be staying in the ward for awhile!

Now on to Brittny. Katie and I just started Visit Today was actually our first time teaching her. Chris and I had dinner with her and her husband, Tommy on Sunday. They are really a great couple. They're only been married a few short months, but they were totally made for each other. They make everything work and they love each other so much and you can see their love and its such an inspiration!

Onto the rest of my night!

After I went Visiting Teaching, I went downstairs to be Visit Taught myself. I love my Visiting Teachers. They are my dear friend, Sara, and my downstairs neightbor, Lacey. They are so great. Sara is honestly the best Visiting Teach I have ever had. She comes over all of the time just because she's a great friend and wants to check in on me. We're able to do a lot together and spend a lot of time together. As for Lacey, she's the best downstairs neighbor Chris and I have ever had. We've had 4 sets of downstairs neighbors since we've lived in Hyde Park. Crazy, Huh? The first set, we just didn't know very well because we were newlyweds and just kind of kept to ourselves, and then they moved. They were fun. The second set were not so fun. I swear they just hated the bain of our existence. They would complain about everything. I even got this facebook message from the wife one time complaining about every little thing that we did wrong from walking, cooking, sleeping, showering, watching t.v. I mean everything and they were not very nice about it. They would take up almost 4 parking spots between 2 cars and through outrageous parties until 4 in the morning. They would listen to loud and obnoxious rap music on Sundays. To say the least, they were our least favorite neighbors, but we were pretty good, we never really complained about them until after they were gone. Our next set of neighbors we didn't know very well. They weren't even here a semester and were very newlyweds as in they just got in married in the middle of a semester and then they moved out at the end of the semester. But Brett and Lacey, they've been here all this semester and they have 2 little boys and we love having them downstairs. They don't complain, well if we really do make a whole lot of noise I really wish they would complain. But they invite us to do things with them all of the time which is really nice. And Lacey just happens to be my Visiting Teacher, she made us pretzels today. They were amazing, I NEED that recipe!

Well I got home from all of those adventures and my baby is still sick. I finally just fed him and changed him into some jammies and gave him some baby medicine and let him go to bed. He was so so tired, and I don't blame him one bit. He has had a very long day. Between being sick and not napping very well and just being a great baby. My little Brenden is just an angel!

Panda Orange Chicken

Another amazing recipe! I am on fire!!! Both the recipes that I tried today have been so great, I'm really impressed. I was really worried about the fig cookies. Tonight the dinner was great. The chicken was scrumptious and the sauce was even better! It was a lot like the Winger's sauce that we use just a little bit more tangier. YUM! The only recommendation I was make is to add the sauce after the chicken is done cooking. If you put the sauce on before and bake it in the oven the breading on the chicken can be a little soft and soggy. Other than that, I loved it, Chris loved it, and we'll probably be making it again sometime.

Fig Newtons!

Seriously, AWESOME! I made these this afternoon and in making them I was fairly skepticle because after I started making them the recipe didn't actually look that great. But, after taking these little heavens out of the oven and letting them cool, I cut into them and had one. One bite and I can really hear the Ahhhhhh.....sound. They were so delicious. I decided to take some over to a girl that I visit teach, hopefully she likes them as much as I do because I am in love. When I first got figs I was worried that they were going to go to waste because I had never used a fig and had no idea what to do with them and then I found this awesome recipe. Greatest idea of the week!!!

So for using fresh figs, I had to look this up since I have never even seen a fig, let alone made something with fig. What you do, its simple really, is you cut them in half and scoop out the insides. Watch out for mold on the outside of the fig because figs tend to mold super easily. Other than that you just follow the directions in the recipe and you'll end up with heaven in a pan!

Enjoy!

Cough Cough

Ah what a day its been already today. Chris came home yesterday from work with a cough. He said that it came on yesterday while he was at work, but it wasn't bad at all. By the time we were done watching Harry Potter Part 1 he was feeling pretty lousy. He took some medicine and got to sleep. We Chris woke up this morning feeling even worse so he decided to call in sick from work. Well when Brenden woke up at 7 this morning he was starting to cough. We didn't think anything of it at the time. As the morning went on we noticed little Brenden cough was just getting worse and worse. I decided we needed to call the doctor and get Brenden in to see him. I was so scared, Brenden had never really been sick before other than his acid re flux.

So I went on to the White's house, I had promised Crystal that I would model my hands for her doing the alphabet. It was super fast! It took me all of maybe 3 minutes. So we just sat around talking for awhile. It was really nice to get to know her. We shared dating and engagement stories. We also shared wedding stories and how we met our husbands. It was a lot of fun. I'm really enjoying getting to know the different people in the ward. Kind of sad we didn't get to know many of these people before now.

I got home from the White's and it was time to take Brenden to his doctor's appointment. Well, I thought Chris said it was at 10:20, but when I got home he had told me it was at 11:20. But I remembered him telling me multiple times that it was at 10:20, plus Chris is sick, so we decided to head down to the doctor's office anyways. We got there and they saw us pretty much right away. Service is good! They weighed him, Brenden now weighs a nice 12 lbs. 10 1/2 oz. They then took his temperature, 98.6, perfectly normal! They checked his ears, nose, and throat. Both his ears and nose looked perfectly fine. Minus the potatoes in his ears. GROSS! But they said that his throat was a little red and inflamed, probably from all of the coughing. The doc said that it looks like the start of a viral infection, but its too early to tell. So they sent us home and told us to keep an eye on it and if it gets any worse to give them a call. And also to load this baby up with baby advil or baby tylenol.

We got home and Brenden took a nice nap and I woke him up to feed him. Little Piggy. He ate a ton of sweet potatoes and then some pumpkin. And he has been sleeping ever since. I think I may go wake him up in a little while.

On another note, the Homemade Fig Newtons are in the oven. So we will see how they turn out. We will also be trying the Homemade Panda Orange Chicken for dinner. Be expecting a blog about our yummy food later on tonight. :)

Homemade Fig Newtons

Chris and I got Bountiful Baskets this weekend and we got some figs in our baskets. And me, I've never had any figs other than fig newtons. Chris cringed at the idea of making figgy pudding which is the only thing I've heard of making with figs. So here's a new recipe that I'm going to try this week. 2 recipes for this week, maybe I'll get lucky and be able to make them on the same day. :)

Fig Newtons (Homemade)

By Spyder-man on August 23, 2005

Photo by Dixie Vader

9 Reviews

• 
• Prep Time: 1 1/2 hrs
• Total Time: 2 hrs
• Serves: 12, Yield: 1 dozen

About This Recipe

"Make your own version of these tasty cake/cookies"

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried figs or 2 lbs fresh figs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water ( 1 c. for dried figs, 1/2 c. for fresh)
• 1/2 cup butter, room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon cream or 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 3/4 cups flour

Directions

1. Dice figs, soak in water 1 hour.
2. Add sugar & cook on medium heat until of thin jam consistency.
3. Beat sugar, butter, egg, milk & vanilla until well blended.
4. Add dry ingredients.
5. Mix well and refrigerate for 1 hour.
6. Place 1/2 on well floured dough cloth; knead about 6 times.
7. Roll out to 1/4" thick. Line 13 x 9" glass baking dish; cover with figs.
8. Roll remaining dough, cover figs. Cook at 350° for 30 minutes.
9. Let cool and cut into squares. Depending on the size you cut you can get a couple dozen cookies.