The Happy Campers

Miss B: Two weeks old

2012-01-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

Today is Miss B's two week birthday. We celebrated by taking her to the doctor and then to the hospital for blood work, not really exciting but it was fun to see her growth.

Brooklyn at 1 week old. I don't have one from today. My computer is out of commission and I didn't have a lot of time to take pictures today.

Brooklyn now weighs 8 lbs. 14 oz. (70%), is 22 inches in height (95%) and her head circumference is 14.3 in. (57%). At 1 week old she was 8 lbs. 7.5 oz. (69%), 21 inches (87%) and 13.8 in (40%).

Rhett at two weeks was 10 lbs. 9.5 oz. (94%), 22.5 inches (96%), 15.3 in (83%). And at 1 week he was 9 lbs. 6.5 oz. (85%), 21 in (81%), 15 in (85%).
Even though our little girl isn't so little in the percentages she still seems so little in comparison to our little (big) man.
The hair report: Her hair has managed to stay in place so far and seems to be growing. We will see if it stays in or if it will fall to a similar fate as Rhett's baby hair.
The last two weeks have been a pleasant whirlwind of activities. I love our family of 4.

Raising a Little Boy

2012-01-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

Even though two can be at times a ~~frustrating, hair pulling, mommy crying~~ difficult age to interact with, I find that 90 percent of most of my days are filled with joy. It is some what challenging but always rewarding trying to help Rhett learn.

I know I posted this picture on the last post but I love his little smile in this one. It is his, oh so handsome, genuine smile.

A few days ago I decided that I should start Rhett on regular toothpaste and leave the training toothpaste behind. My reasoning behind this is that he loves the flavor of the training toothpaste so most of the time he would just lick it off the toothbrush and so it wasn't really serving a good purpose of training on how to brush his teeth. I saw that the regular toothpaste said that it could be used after 2 years old and for ages 2-6 to just use a pee sized amount. I gave it a try. The first couple of times that he tried to use it he sucked it and then got really mad at me, but then I told him that he needed to spit it. He tried but it was pretty unsuccessful.
Tonight I decided to make a game out of it. I told him we were going to play the spitting game and that we only play the spitting game when we brush our teeth. I would brush and then after a few seconds I would joyfully exclaim that it was time for him to spit. He loved the spitting game. After a few minutes of brushing when I was sure that we had gotten all of his teeth. I told him that he won. He put his step stool back and then ran to Brock to tell him that he had played the spitting game. I am not sure how I will teach Brooklyn to brush her teeth but I am sure the idea of a spitting game won't have quite the same appeal as it does to my silly little Rhett.
Rhett has taken a recent interest in scriptures. One morning I was trying to get mine read before he was up but he surprised me by waking up at 6, so I did my personal scripture study with him. Since then, he mentions his scriptures several times a day and loves the time that we spend together as a family as we read.
When my Mom came this week she encouraged Rhett to say the prayer. We have tried to help him the past but he has shown little interest in saying the prayer, but he now he wants to say every prayer. It is funny to hear him pronounce some of the words. Last night I was helping him say the prayer on dinner and when I told him that he needed to say, "please...bless...the...food...that...it...will...help...us... be...strong." then he said the "please...bless...the...food...that...it...will...help...us...be..." and then he said nothing. So I repeated the word strong several times but he refused to say a word but I could hear him moving his body, so I open my eyes a very small amount so that I could see what he was up to. When I opened my eyes I could see him flexing and pointing at his arm muscle. I couldn't control myself and I let out a little chuckle. Oh I love my little boy!

Brooklyn's Birth Story

2012-01-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

I promise one day soon this blog will return to normalcy and will stop being about pregnancy and child birth but for now one last post on the subject at least for the next few years.

If the only thing that you really care about is seeing the pictures just know I couldn't be more satisfied with her birth and I couldn't have asked for a better experience. It was all perfect! Now I am giving you permission to scan down the page to the pictures.

Here are the details for anyone else that cares....
Decision Time
After the ultra sound (Friday, 6th) were they estimated her size at 9 lbs. 3 oz. we made the decision between the ultrasound and when the doctor walked in that we would be proceeding with the C-Section. When Doctor Lovell walked in, he said, "So how should we proceed?" I said, "Let's do an ultra sound." (It was nice to have the time to ponder, pray and make a well thought out decision (something Brock and I had been doing for the last month and a half) and not feel forced into it by a nurse practitioner.)
He said, "Okay, let me get the orders ready."
He then proceeded out of the room and then came back in and said, "Does Wednesday work for you?"
I said, "Sure but could we do it on Thursday (I like even numbers best)?"
He replied, "The hospital only reserves C-Sections for Wednesday and Friday. So would you rather do Wednesday or Friday."
I replied, "Then lets do Wednesday, because I am not having a baby on Friday the 13th."
He then had a smile on his face and went out of the room to complete the orders.
It was interesting to have calm and relaxation this time compared to the stress and rushing of the last time.

Brooklyn's Day of Birth
Rhett had a sleep over at Allison and Curtis's house. Brock and I woke up early so we could be at the hospital by 5. I was finishing up the last few tasks before taking off to the hospital. The roads were slick but Brock drove slow (nice thing about a scheduled C-Section not much is rushed).
5:20 am We checked in and they gave me my gown to get into and then I got into the bed.
5:54 am Then time for the IV. The nurse said wow you have good veins as she started to poke the needle into my skin. Then she fished around for a while and said, "Shoot, it won't go in. It just keeps moving around. I am going to have to try another." I told her it was fine and she started again on the next spot. She tried again, then same thing. The third time I said, "Third time is the charm" hoping that it really would be. She tried and failed at this point she let out a not so nice word starting with a S. She went out and got the head nurse the head nurse. The head nurse inspected my veins and set her target. She tried twice and failed. At that point they brought in the rookie nurse to try her hand at sticking me she went for a big deep one. She tried and succeed. So by the 6th attempt they got it in.
6:30 Because it took so long to get the IV in they had to force the liquids in quick, which made me incredibly cold (2 room temperature liters of saline put in my body in an hour or less). I warned the surgery staff that last time I was really cold and they might want to have extra blankets on hand. They did that in addition to putting a warm towel on my IV arm to try and warm up the fluid.
7:38 When they were satisfied with the amount of fluids and my temperature they rolled me into the surgical room. I was greeted by a smile and hello from Doctor Meredith (I had a similar greeting from Doctor Lovell a few minutes previous outside of the room). Both were so calm and relaxed it was easy to be calm and relaxed and know that everything was going fine.
The spinal tap went in perfectly and then once they were sure it was working they had Brock come in and stand by my head. As they wiped down my belly with rubbing alcohol, I suddenly felt sick. The anesthesiologist ask me if I was okay. I tried to be tough and say, "I think it was just the smell of the alcohol." Thea anesthesiologist said, "I am give you something for the nausea. Do you need something to throw up in." All the sudden I just started to loose control of my stomach.And I was grateful for the little container she had put by my head.
All the sudden after that I began to get really itchy, so then the anesthesiologist gave me something for that. At that point Doctor Meredith and Doctor Lovell began cutting into me. This time there was not a big gush of water but Doctor Meredith talked about how there was a lot of water. Then Doctor Lovell and Doctor Meredith talked to the anesthesiologist about what advantages and disadvantages of the growing trend of mostly women going into Obstetrics. It was a very informative discussion, Brock and I even added into the conversation. You could tell everyone in the room was very relaxed and confident in the procedure.
Then it came time for Doctor Meredith to pull her out. He had a hard time finding her at first. He said something like, "I know your in there now where are you hiding." After a little fishing around he found her....well at least her foot. He then said, "She is breach. I got to find the rest of her." He then went looking around and found her hips he then had to rotate her hips to find the other leg and her head was up at the top of my body near my ribs. As Doctor Meredith and Doctor Lovell were trying to get her out I felt pushing this way and that but I never felt any pain. Doctor Meredith said, "We are really lucky you chose the C-Section because you would have been here anyway, but under much scarier conditions." At that moment I had the confirmation that our prayers had been answered and Brooklyn was able to enter this world in the safest way possible for both of us.
In comparison to Rhett's delivery it took a long time to get her out, probably about a minute to a minute and a half of them pushing and pulling.But then when they got her out finally they pulled down the sheet. And I got to see my beautiful baby. They then cleaned her off, measured her (8 lbs. 3 oz.) and let Brock bring her back to me. This time the anesthesiologist gave me one arm to move around so I got to touch her and I kissed her little forehead. After several minutes Brock and some of the staff took her to the nursery for her first nap and to get examined. While they were in the nursery they gave me more medicine for the itching and took me off the extra machines.
When she came in, I put on her on my chest (skin to skin) so to encourage breastfeeding and hoped for the best. I was grateful when she was able to latch on quickly and I was able to nurse her for 40 minutes. After that I was able to nap (I was really tired because of the early morning and sleepy from the meds that they gave to help with the itchiness).
For the remainder of the day it was a pleasant mix of naps, feeding and visits from hospital staff. It was super relaxing. Later that evening Rhett came to visit Momma and met his new baby sister. It was such a sweet moment followed by several frustrating ones for Brock as he tried to keep Rhett off all the equipment.
After that the nurse came by and took out my catheter and IV.
After a short stay (Wednesday-Friday)in the hospital we were able to come home and now we are And now we are trying to find a new sense of normalcy, we have successfully survived our first week.

The headband I made for her.

Brooklyn and I and our matching headbands

Rhett holding Brooklyn for the first time.

Brooklyn in her crib at the hospital.

Holding Dad's hand

How he loves his little girl.

Me and my best gal pal. (I love the hair accessories that the nurses in the nursery accessorized her with)

Rhett and Brooklyn in there sibling shirts. Hers says, "little sister" and his says "I'm The Big Brother"

I guess she wasn't as excited for the picture as me. The two all important arm bands one to match with Brooklyn's and the other one to get pain medicine.

Our first family picture. I couldn't feel more blessed.

Brooklyn with Grandma Lela.

Love my little dears long fingers. The shape of her nails reminds me of my sister, Erika's fingers.

Long Hands

Her going home from the hospital blanket, the headband I made was way toooo big. Lucky for us the nurses provided her with this adorable hat the day of our departure.

I Love my little girl and I can't image my life without her.

Even when she makes that face. I still love her.

Brock, "Are you ready to go home honey." She opened her eyes and gave him a look like, "I guess so Dad."

Ready to go home.

1 week later: We're Alive and Kickin'

2012-01-17T21:40:00.003-07:00

Soon I hope to finish her birth story and post the pictures from the hospital but this post is dedicated to the pictures from Friday to today. So here is my several thousand word essay given through our pictures.

Our matching snowman PJ's for our first night at home. (Forgive my puffy face, I am blaming it on all of the saline that I got through the IV and the extreme amount of liquids I drank at the hospital)

Dad cuddling with his sweet little girl.

Brooklyn usually has to be stripped down to nothing more than a diaper so that she will stay awake while feeding. This is after one of her feedings. How I hope she keeps her hair.

Brooklyn is the same size (minus her legs) is the same size as one slice of Big Foot pizza from 5 Buck Pizza.

Brooklyn talking to Aunt Meg

First thing this morning Rhett wanted to hold Brooklyn.

I was trying to get him to smile. So I told him to say Hi. He grabbed Brooklyn's hand and said, "Hi!"

I really think that they will become good friends.

He said he wanted to hold Brooklyn, so I told him that he had to sit at his special spot on the couch. He ran over to his spot and then put my nursing cover over his neck.

I handed him Brooklyn and then he told me he was going to, "Give. Baby. Food." and he lifted his shirt and said, "Baby. Bottle." Oh son if you only knew... Thanks for trying to share the load.

After he realized that wouldn't work. He knew one thing he could do and that was to give kisses.

Brooklyn keeps me really busy nursing and changing diapers. She has had some sort of mishap with me having the diaper off at the wrong time every day since she has been home from the hospital. Rhett is really loving his sister. Brock and I are busy, tired and loving having two kids.

Preparing for the 2nd C-Section

2012-01-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

Rhett's Day of Birth has been a painful day for me to remember. I know it shouldn't be that way, but it was. I have written parts and pieces about this experience before I have never owned up to the whole truth and why I had such an emotionally (this was longer lasting pain than the actual physical pain) painful experience. I am writing this for me so know that my feelings won't be hurt if you don't read it.
Day Before Rhett's Birth

This picture was taken in the middle of August,Rhett was
born at the start of October needless to say
I was large. (photo taken by Serene Sweeten)

The day before he was born I felt I was totally emotionally ramrodded. I found that the doctors and Nurse Practitioners had been lying to me for weeks (they had told me my fundal height was "fine" or "normal" only to find out that it hadn't been 2 to 3 weeks large for the last month and half). We had a long ultrasound where we found out Rhett was either high 9 pounds or low 10 pounds.
We then waited for 45 minutes to talk to a doctor, but then he was too busy so they had a nurse practitioner come in and check my progress towards labor. She said that I was not dilate and not effaced and Rhett's head position was a -3 (scale from -5 (no pressure on cervix from the babies head) to 5 (when the babies head crowns)). She told me that I was a terrible candidate for cervix softening because his head and shoulders were so big. She said that 1 of 3 things would happen, I would end up needing an emergency C-Section or Rhett would suffer from shoulder dysplasia (which could cause broken collar bone, paralysis or fetal death). She then told me that she would give me time to think about it and come back. I told her that I would like to talk to a doctor before making a decision. She said that she would try and get a hold of one (I know it is a lot to ask in order see a doctor at your 39 Week Appointment).
Brock and I talked, cried and prayed in the examination room as we waited for a doctor. The nurse practitioner came back after 20-30 minutes and said that she had talked to the doctor and he totally agreed with her analysis of the situation and that we absolutely needed to have a C-Section, but that the doctor was absolutely too busy to see me. I asked if one of the other 2 doctors in the practice could see me she said, she would see what she could do. Then came back and said that they were all unavailable and that we needed to get the paper work going for the C-Section.
She informed me the doctor that would be doing the surgery would be the only doctor that I had not met out of the office (not because I hadn't tried to have appointments with him but because he was always too busy to see me in the past when I had scheduled appointments with him). They said that they would make an appointment for me in the morning to talk to the doctor that would be preforming the C-Section and make sure he agreed with her analysis. They called us a few hours later to tell us that wouldn't be happening that we would just meet the doctor right before the operation.

Rhett's Birth Story
Brock and I both had a hard time sleeping the night before. Brock tried his hardest and got a few hours, I couldn't sleep no matter how hard I tried. The shock of knowing I was getting my stomach cut open and there wasn't anything I could do about it was frustrating and depressing. I stayed up all night reading about C-sections trying to understand what the procedure would be like and what the recovery would be like.
We went to the hospital and they got me hooked up to the monitors and fluid. We anxiously waited for noon to arrive (what time my surgery was suppose to be), it came and left, and no sign of the doctor. The anesthesiologist came in and talked to me about the surgery. He explained that Brock would only be able to come in if the spinal tap worked other wise they would put me under general anesthesia and then I would wake up after the procedure. I offered a silent prayer that point that the spinal tap would work and that Brock would able to witness the birth of our son. 20 minutes past 1 pm, the doctor walked into the room and introduced himself. He then directed the anesthesiologist to take me into surgery.
The surgery staff were very kind and friendly. I had to receive extra warm blankets so that I would stop shivering (I was freezing and INCREDIBLY nervous). The anesthesiologist then patiently and gently placed the spinal tap. Then they laid me down gently and my arms onto the surgery table (I am pretty claustrophobic so not knowing this ahead of time this made me pretty nervous but I tried to keep my cool so that I could stay awake for the surgery).
After a few minutes the doctor entered, he was very upset and was telling everyone that "this isn't the way things are suppose to go". Apparently, there was something wrong with the scheduling of my C-section and there wasn't a doctor there to assist in the surgery. Luckily he had found another doctor in the hallway, who was able to assist. The doctor started cutting, the anesthesiologist said that I might feel some pressure but if I felt pain to tell him. Luckily I felt nothing. I couldn't feel a thing below my collar bone, including my fingers which was really a strange feeling. At this point they motioned for Brock to come in. Brock sat on the other side of my head. And watched patiently. Then I heard everyone go, "Wow." And heard a splash on the floor. Apparently I had a ton of amniotic fluid (way more than usual). And then all of the sudden I heard the loudest scream/cry ever, all the staff waited to see what Rhett's weight was. The nurses rushed him to the window to clean him off. Then they wrapped him up and Brock brought him to me. I so wanted to touch him, to kiss him but all I could do was look at him.

30 minutes after his birth. At this point I still hadn't got to hold him (taken by my mother-in-law with her cellphone).

The doctors finished their work and stitched me up. Brock went with Rhett and I had my gown changed (because my amniotic fluid totally soaked it) and they took me into the recovery room. From there they hooked me up to all sorts of machines, it is almost a blur all I remember is that I just was ready to hold my baby. After 30-40 minutes they finally brought Rhett to me but at this point he was starving and I had nothing to give him. We both were trying our best to get latch on but both of us were getting really frustrated with it. Finally they took him and fed him some formula and took me to my room. I was happy to be able to see my family.

Picture of Rhett before his bath (taken by mom on her cellphone)

Rhett and I both continued to try and be frustrated with nursing, luckily we had patient nurses that were willing to help as much as they could with latch on. Before it was time to go to bed I was suppose to get my catheter out but that didn't happen until 2 AM. I was soooooooo exhausted since I hadn't slept the night before. I was so glad to sleep and looked forward to being able to get the leg pumpers, the oxygen and the blood oxygen monitor off (every time I would try to nurse the blood oxygen monitor alarm would sound because I was holding my breath in concentration). I was also incredibly hungry since all they would give me was apple juice and chicken broth. Because I looked so worn out, weak and colorless the decision was made my family not to take any pictures of Rhett and I at the hospital this is something that I still regret and no matter how crappy I look I will be getting a picture at the hospital with our little bird.

My first picture with Rhett (2 weeks after his birth)

Our first family picture, Rhett the day of his blessing, 1 month after (taken by my brother Levi)

Rhett at 2 months old (taken by Serene Sweeten)

Telling Rhett his Birth Story

Picture of the Crib Card at the Hospital

The other day Rhett was having a hard day going down for a nap, he seemed to be feeding off Brock and I's stress. I asked him if he wanted to hear a story and he said, "Do." I tried to think of what story I should tell and then I realized, he should hear his birth story. It was nice to be able to look at through rose colored glasses of 2 years old. Every word I said brought an even bigger smile to his face. I told him that the doctor cut a zipper in my stomach and pulled him out. And that after a few days at the hospital, "Dad and Mom brought you home and you are our little boy forever." I asked him if he understood what that meant, he said, "Do." He gave me a huge hug and a kiss. I realized at that moment that Rhett didn't know that I wasn't able to hold him right when he came out. And he didn't even care. He knew that I love him and that I will be his mother forever.

Why a 2nd C-Section?
Last doctor's appointment I was measuring a little large and I hadn't dilated. The doctor, Brock and I talked over what might be the possibilities for her delivery. And it is looking like I might be having another C-Section. It has been good for me to have the time and a reason to work through my pain of a C-Section. It is also nice to not be blindsided with a ton information and to be able to talk to doctors. On Friday, we will see what the ultrasound estimates her size at and we will see if I have made any progress from delivery. Depending on those two factors we will make a decision on Friday on how to proceed. But after pondering and prayer I am 100 percent willing to wave my dreams of a VBAC goodbye and have this baby.

Camper Christmas

2012-01-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

Last year for the Christmas Holiday we spent lots of time on the road. The roads were bad and everyone of our travels took double the time. When we found out we would be expecting a new addition in January I put my foot down and said that we would not be traveling this Christmas.
Luckily for us we have a very flexible and willing family. Our In-laws agreed to take us for Thanksgiving and come visit us once the baby came, even though it was their year to have us for Christmas. My grandma hosted an early Thanksgiving so we were able to celebrate with my uncles and new aunt.
We were also lucky to be able to celebrate Christmas with Allison, Curtis, Twila, Mom and Dad. Christmas Eve we had baked potatoes and ham. And then Christmas Day I made Chicken Cordon Bleu soup with the left over ham.

We had talked to Rhett about Santa and how he needed to be good (and go to sleep) if he wanted to get candy from Santa. Well needless to say we must have talked him up just a little too much, because at 5 AM Rhett was ready to see what Santa had brought him. By 6 AM he was wanting to wake up Brock to have his help putting up his basketball hoop.

Brock will be returning to school tomorrow. Rhett and I have enjoyed all the time that we have been able to spend with Brock during the break.

Nearly 36 Weeks (35 Weeks, 6 Days)

2011-12-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

On Friday we went to the doctor to see how everything was going. Her heart-rate was awesome, my blood pressure great, and I was measuring perfectly. The doctor then tried to see if her head was down, since last appointment she was still laying horizontal across my stomach and I have felt lately that she must have flipped to a more vertical position because it was much easier for me to bend. The doctor agreed that she was vertical but wasn't quite sure that it was her head down or not so he threw us in the ultrasound room for a quick look. Well she had flipped but the WRONG WAY! Our little bird is sitting in my stomach breach.
As of this week there wasn't a decision to be made. But next Friday is my next appointment and at that point it will be decision time. If she flips (the right way) then we will try for a VBAC. If she doesn't I will be having a C-Section. I was actually surprised with how little this bothered me. I realized when we left the doctor's office that I have tried everything in my power to help her come naturally, but if C-Section is what it takes to safely put our sweet baby in my arms I am good with it.
We are all getting so excited, Rhett points over at the crib at night and asks about his baby. He also has tried to convince me that other people's children are our baby and that we should take them.
Brock is glad to have a little breathing room this week to help me with a few manly projects; tightening bolts on the crib, fixing a drawer & helping me hang the bird mobile (I am getting so excited to show you the kids room, but it still has a few last minute details before picture time).
I am a few straight stitches away from completing the crib skirt. I am loving the look and it will tie in so nicely with the rest of the room. I also am in the process of making matching headbands for our little girl and I. I have completed all of the blankets that I have planned for her. I have posted tutorials to each one of these project on the Shaffer Sisters blog (a blog maintained my sisters and I).

Cuddle Soft Blanket with Satin Ruffles

Coming Home: Extra Large Receiving Blanket, Dress & Headband

Girl's Spotted Minkee Travel Quilt

Exciting Hospital Visit

2011-12-15T13:48:00.002-07:00

Nope we don't have a baby... but it was an exciting (and pretty painful) hospital visit none the less. If you have a weak stomach DO NOT READ. I don't have any pictures but you should be grateful for that.

Last night I was making the best shepherd pie of my life, when I realized I needed butter for the mashed potatoes and I didn't have any softened. I went to my freezer and got one cube. I put the cube on the cutting butter and cut off half. I mashed this 1/2 cube in and realized that I needed at least 1/4 of the cube. So instead of putting it on the cutting board I decided I would just shave it off into the potatoes. (I know, looking back this was a really, really dumb idea but I guess I was just trying to crank out dinner and I wasn't really thinking about safety). Well in addition to the butter shaving I shaved off the tip of my left index finger and nicked my middle finger. At that point I looked down at my hand to see blood and lots of it. I grabbed my fingers tightly and said, "Hey Allison, I think we need to go to the emergency room now." She saw the blood dripping down and ran for her first aid kit she grabbed a gauze patch and within a matter of seconds I had bled through it. I then requested a kitchen towel, which she found quickly. She ran over to her neighbors and ask them to babysit the kids (we only had Al & Curtis's old ford truck and one car seat). Rhett and Twila were blissfully unaware of any danger as they grabbed bandaids out of the first aid kit. I ran over to my apartment and got my wallet and we headed to the hospital. On our way to the hospital said, Everything will be find it will be just a few stitches. Even thought I knew that it would all be okay I was pretty sure the index finger was a little worse than a few stitches but I hadn't had a lot of time to look (and I really didn't want to look without the supervision of a medical professional).

Here is the diagnosis and discharge instructions:
Laceration to the middle finger. Laceration is a cut through the skin this will usually require stitches (in my case 4).Follow up: Stitches should be removed from body within 7 -14 days.
Complete tip amputation of the left index finger. You have cut off the tip of your finger. When this happens there is skin missing and the wound cannot be fully covered by sewing the edges together. For your type of injury, the best result can be obtained by allowing the wound to heal on its own by growing new skin from the sides. Depending on the size of the wound, it will take from 2-6 weeks for the wound to fill in with new skin. Once healed, you should have normal feeling in the new skin.

Here are some great quotes from the night:
-Nurse asking preliminary questions: "When was your last period." Me trying to think, "ummmmm.....April". Long pause.....Nurse says as she turns her head to look up at me, "Your not pregnant are you?" Me, "Yep, 35 Weeks." Nurse who's face is bright red at this point, "Oh, right."
- Nurse before she saw the wound, "So what kind of knife did you do this with? Butter...(I laughed at this point because I have never seen a butter knife that was able to do any real damage to anything but soften butter)."
- Doctor, "Hmmm, you got your finger pretty good. I am not sure what is still holding it on (it was the nail). It must have been a pretty sharp knife."
- Doctor, "Since it is only 1 cm off the tip it will probably grow back normally."

The Good thing about this injury is that I no longer feel like I absolutely want her to come at 37 weeks and would probably be good with 40 weeks (giving it 4 1/2 weeks post accident) so that it can be totally recovered before she is born.

Our Story: First Kiss.

2011-12-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

This post is the fifth edition of the Brock and SarahLynn Courtship Story. If you missed the first installment you can read it here, second here. the third here and fourth here.

Before I begin, I want you to know this chapter of our story has been hard for me to write because I didn't want emasculate my dear husband. But I didn't feel like I should over flourish the details and not tell how it really happened. After talking to Brock about it he said, "Well you have to tell it like it happened and you can't expect the first kiss to be perfect. But at least we got better from there." So here is the truth the best as I can remember it.

A couple of weeks after Brock and I held hands (were official) was Thanksgiving. Brock invited me home with him but even though I cared for him deeply I missed my family and I was scared of meeting "the family" before I had even kissed him. I declined and we said goodbye for a few days. I remember how much I missed him and how excited I was to get back to Rexburg and set up my Christmas decorations.
Right before I left to my house for Thanksgiving my friend Kristen stopped by and she said that she had ran into Brock and he had talked to her about kissing me. He asked her if he should ask or not. Luckily Kristen knew the answer to this question since we had talked in great detail about how I think getting permission to give a kiss is a mark of a true gentleman (I know this might seem awkward to some and unromantic, but I personally think it is way less awkward than when a guy kisses a girl when she didn't want to be kissed).

Left to Right: Kristen, Me, Brock and Lindsey doing an awkward family pose. This was totally Kristen's idea but one of my favorite things about this girl is her crazy, fun, sporadic sense of humor.

Ever since I was a little girl the glow of Christmas lights off of greenery always made my heart race and feel the magic of the season. I felt like the relationship Brock and I were developing was giving me a similar glow and magic but at an intensity I had never felt before. I was 100 percent twitter-patted.

This was me trying to get the lights unknotted before putting them on the tree.

Growing up my family usually started listening to Christmas music and putting up decorations the Sunday after Thanksgiving. And in those Sunday festivities we would watch "Nora's Christmas Gift". The Sunday after Thanksgiving Brock and I got together and put up my Christmas Tree and decorations, then watched "Nora's Christmas Gift". When it ended there was 30 minutes left until curfew. We sat there whispering and giggling. It was perfect. Our RA knocked on the front door and said that Brock would have to leave because it was 15 minutes before curfew. The romantic energy of the evening suddenly changed to long slow awkward time, because we both knew what we wanted to happen but we were both scared about how it would happen.

We were cuddling and I knew I wanted him to kiss me but I was scared because I had never kissed a boy before. Then he softly whispered in my ear, "Can I kiss you?" (Back-story on this I wanted to be asked., because I had a guy try to kiss me once that I didn't know that he was trying to and it was weird. Because I wasn't ready for that step and he was. But luckily because I didn't know what was happening I moved my face away and he got my cheek instead) Shaking like a leaf I squeaked out a simple, "Yes." Now that kiss wouldn't have been voted best kiss of the century, year or even of that day, but it was perfect to me because it was my first kiss. And I got to have my first kiss with a guy that I loved.

I would like to say after the awkward first kiss that I suddenly got comfortable with kissing but the truth of the matter is probably for the first 2 weeks after that first kiss when Brock would try and kiss me I would just start giggling and turn bright red because I was embarrassed. But luckily Brock stuck with me through it.

This picture is from my roommate's (at the time) birthday party. This was probably a week after our first kiss.

At this point the semester was ending and we were both preparing for Christmas break at home. We knew we didn't want to wait 3 1/2 weeks to see each other so we made plans that we would get together right after Christmas. Right before I took off for Carey Brock gave me my Christmas present (The Book of Mormon Movie I think) with a card. In the card he wrote:
SarahLynn,
I hope that Christmas is good for you this year. I can't wait to be able to see you over the break. We will have a lot of fun. I am so glad that I have gotten to know you. Sharing our first kiss was awesome. I enjoy being with you. Well I will stop being long winded. I just hope your trip back home is good and safe.
-from your boyfriend <---(that's funny sounding)
Brock

After we said goodbye and headed home for the holidays we both looked forward to the time we would spend together, but I guess that is another story....

Our Story: Holding Hands.

2011-11-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

This post is the fourth edition of the Brock and SarahLynn Courtship Story. If you missed the first installment you can read it here, second here and the third here. I am posting this part of the story five years to the day of the first time we held hands.

I love thinking about the time between our second date and when we first held hands because there were so many everyday experiences that allowed us to become best friends.

Porch Laying
One of these experiences was porch laying. Somehow, I had come across some strange costume goggles and when I saw them I knew just what I needed to do. Brock and I had discussed the recent trend of porch laying (much like today's planking. It is when you knock on someone's door and then lay there stiff in front of there door) and how if anyone did it to him he would pour water on them. I told him that I had the perfect solution to this I would just wear something waterproof and then his water would have no effect.

Once I found these costume goggles I was ready for the test, would Brock keep coming around if I did something as random and crazy as porch laying.

Getting Ready to jump over to Brock's apartment.

So with the help of my roommates, old roommates and FHE brothers I prepared for my porch laying experience. I got wrapped tightly in clear plastic wrap from shoulders to ankles and hopped over from my FHE brother's apartment to Brock's (luckily it was only a few doors down). Then I was eased to the ground by my many trusted assistants. Then someone knocked on the door and they all scattered according to plan and left me there as the solitary, helpless porch layer.
Sadly Brock was not the one that opened the door it was his roommate who was really confused. So he went and got Brock. At this point I was half concerned that Brock was going to really get me (even though my body was protected from water I wouldn't have been able to move out of the way of his attack).
I still remember the look on Brock's face he had a big smile, shook his head and said, "SarahLynn, what are you doing?" And then he proceeded to help me get up. This was a much bigger task than we had imaged because I was nearly as stiff as a board with clear plastic wrap.

Brock trying to get me up but at this point we both realized we would need more help. Good thing my roommates Mallory and Lori were downstairs.


Mal and Lori getting me unwound so that Brock didn't have to touch me in any inappropriate places

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Fall of 2006, I was really busy with classes and my church calling. On one such day I had a big activity planned. I had not yet realized the magic of delegating and needless to say the activity fell flat on its face and all my hard work had gone down the drain. After this activity failed I felt like I wanted to crawl into bed and never show my face again, but I also wanted to see Brock because of my (over) involvement in the activity I hadn't had much time to spend with him for a couple of days.
I came to him sorely disappointed. Looking back, I realized that a good friend will make you feel better about a disappointment but a best friend will respectfully and kindly help you realize what you did to cause the problem, all the while making you feel better.
That night we roasted mini marshmallows and made mini s'mores with chocolate chips and teddy grahams. It was amazing after a The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day; I went to bed knowing that I could do better at my calling and that I had a friend that would listen.

Roasting our "marshmallows"

A completed mini s'more

Cuddling on the Couch
Even though Brock and I were spending a lot of time together. It was usually very active time, like making dinner, going grocery shopping or helping each other study. I would classify the two of us as physically shy individuals, we both moved incredibly slow (like snail, but that actually might be faster than we move). So with our active dates/activities we didn't have the opportunity to move to the next level, holding hands.
One weekend to help us out my roommates decided that we should all watch a movie, Brock and I happily agreed. Though I had taken the lead in asking Brock on our first date that as far as my courage allowed me to go, so if we were going to hold hands it was going to be all up to Brock. So there we sat watching Minority Report, Brock slowly moved his hand up over my shoulder. Guess what it took probably 130 of the 145 minutes of watching the movie for him to get it all the way around. By that point his hand was totally asleep. I cuddled into him for a second but then suddenly his arm went numb and he had to put it down. So a swing and a miss on both our parts on getting to the hand holding stage. But I knew he liked me, and he wasn't one of those guys that was just cuddling because I was the closest warm body around (trust me I knew the type). He was way too slow moving to be a player, and that was absolutely endearing for me (pretty darn frustrating for my roommates that were happily cheering our relationship on).
Fast forward to six days later Brock and I were running from one activity to another and no good opportunities had presented themselves for us to hold hands. We went to go watch our friends play some rec sport, afterward they asked if we wanted to do something with them, Brock agreed but interjected that we should watch a movie. I wish I could remember what we watched that night but I know it was a chick flick (totally not Brock's type of movie) but he was focused, within the first 20 minutes he had his arm around me at that point I moved my opposite side hand over and touched my finger tips to his. He quickly grabbed my hand and said, "My arm is starting to fall asleep, do you mind if we just hold hands." I happily agreed to the comprise.
Looking at this story in retrospect is fun because Brock is a real gentleman and he is a planner big time. Now that I know that about him, I know that the second movie he didn't care what it was because he had one goal in mind, hold my hand.
The following day it snowed and we had a meeting to go to. Brock asked me if he could pick me up, I was thrilled. It was nice to have another body to hold onto as I slipped in my heels (at the time I didn't own any short church shoes). That night Brock dropped a few casual DTR (Define the Relationship) phrases without all the awkwardness that usually accompanies a DTR. At one point he talked about us being a nice tall couple, then he moved on to something else and finally ended with we are a nice couple. I agreed and from there we both knew we were in a relationship probably the least painful DTR known to BYU-Idaho History.

10 weeks to go

2011-11-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

Holy Cow I can't believe we will be meeting our daughter in less than 10 weeks (give or take -3, +1 depending on how things go). Things are really starting to come together but there is still so much left to do. Our house bounces between being perfectly clean and being a disaster of several of my projects. Example right now I am working on repainting Rhett's name plate so that it matches his new bedspread. I am also working on her crib skirt, which is a good project for the night time while Brock is working and Rhett has a little TV time.
Potty Training seems to have its ups and downs. We were doing really good (to the point I was about ready to call Rhett potty trained) but then Rhett hit a bad couple of weeks where we were having as many accidents as successes. But now we are back in the trenches of it all and seem to be making good forward progress.
I also got up the crib so that I don't have to worry about the crib mattress taking up room and now I have a Rhett free zone to store little B's stuff. Which is really nice because recently our Walmart did a flannel sale so I made two large receiving blankets (44 by 44 inches) with matching burp rags, which are now safely tucked away in her crib.
A few weeks ago Porter's had a sale ($10-15/per yard) on their Minkee fabric (it is a super soft and pretty expensive fabric often used in baby quilts) and I was able to get enough to make two crib sized quilts (one for Rhett and one for baby). I think they will be really nice for them to use when we take long car rides. I have finished the one for the baby and just need to purchase some quilt binding for Rhett's. When I went to pick out the Minkee I took Rhett along and as soon as I put the fabric in the cart he just laid his head on it and was in soft fabric heaven.
In addition to getting up the crib on last Saturday I went through Rhett's toys. I sorted them into DI, baby toys (that will be reserved for baby girl), Rhett's everyday toys (Blocks, trucks, wagon and favorite stuffed animals), and then daily quiet binds. I am really excited about the every day binds I think they can be really good for Rhett developmentally and I think it will be nice to pull them when I am nursing number 2.
I had my glucose test doctor's appointment and everything is looking great! My blood work looked awesome (sugar and iron levels), my blood pressure amazing, my weight gain is super, I was measuring just right and baby's heart-rate was great! The doctor gave me a high five with everything looking so great and asked Brock how it was to be married to Mary Poppins, someone who is practically perfect in every way (If he could see the stack of dishes that I have waiting to go into the dishwasher every day he wouldn't have said that). We talked about the VBAC and he said I still look like a great candidate for one but we really won't know until the baby come on whether or not I can really do it.
I think my next appointment I will talk to them about doing an ultrasound at the 36-37 week mark to check her size, because I figure if I can grow a 9 lbs. 12 oz. baby in 39 weeks I can probably grow a 8 lbs. baby in 37 or 38 weeks.
I was talking to my older sister and we were talking about C-sections and how many women who have C-Sections have guilt that they didn't do it right or that something was broken with there body (which I have felt both). After discussing it with my sister I decided that I will love my baby so much whether she is born C-section or VBAC, and that it doesn't make me any less of a mother or Rhett any less my son because he was born through C-section. I have found myself reflecting lately about what a miracle the technology of C-sections are. In pioneer times (and undeveloped parts of the world today), it was (is) common for women to die in the child birth process and the rate of infant mortality was (is) high, but now because of the technology of C-Sections babies don't have to get stuck they have an optional route out. I am really trying to prepare my emotions for a C-section and become educated about the natural birthing process, then which ever happens I will be ready.
A week and a half ago Brock purchased my Christmas present he decided to be nice and give it to me early (this also helps because the box would have been hard to wrap and store). I am seriously excited he got me a Kenmore Elite Stand Mixer. Kenmore and Kitchen-Aid are both made by Whirlpool and Kitchen-Aid only have a 1 year warranty and the Kenmore has a 5 year warranty (which was a huge selling point to me). I also saved 65 dollars over going with a Kitchen-Aid. I have enjoyed how quickly things mix together and how easy it is to make bread now. I have made: Baked donuts, Nutella cookies, Cinnamon rolls, English Muffin bread and Italian bread bowls.
So I realized this post has zero pictures (really boring) so I am going to throw here on the end some of our pictures from our family pictures (Taken by McKenna Wadsworth).

Telling me about all the apples.

Rhett saying "Hi, Baby."

We have had to carry him like this before, when he was unwilling to come.

The handsome men in my life.

Love this little smile.

Big Hug

Our Story: A Really Happy Halloween

2011-10-30T16:50:00.000-06:00

This post is the third edition of the Brock and SarahLynn Courtship Story. If you missed the first installment you can read it here and the second one here.

One week passed and he still hadn't asked me out or really shown a ton of interest. I was sure that I had a better time than he had, so I put my best face forward and got ready for the ward Halloween party.

I dressed up as a cowgirl and wore my most fashionable western shirt. I again had my hair perfectly curled sure that I was going to have a good time with friends no matter what. I was being my stubborn self and I decided that he didn't make a move at the ward party I was over him and I would just move on to the next guy in line (just say I had dropped a lot of fishing lines at the start of the semester and if Brock wasn't going to bite I was moving on). Now that I think about it, it really hadn't been more than a couple of days and Brock was probably really busy with school, but I was impatient still the same.

Picture of my ward girlies before the party. Left to Right, top row: Marie, Julee, Megan, Amber and I.
Left to Right, bottom row: Kara and Jill

Brock and I kept bumping into each other at the party (now that I know more I realize that is because he wanted to). He asked to take a picture with me which might sound suspicious but in a college ward it isn't too unusual.

The picture for the ward party. I later found out later this was taken so that he could show his family what I looked like.

After we took the picture together, I gently hinted about the Halloween Carnival and Dance were the following night and asked if he was going. He said no because he had too much homework and tests to study for, at that point I realized that we were only going to be friends. The next day was Halloween and I had no reason to go to the carnival so I was busy studying for my Intro to Law test. A ring and telephone call changed all that, it was Brock asking me if I wanted to go to the carnival in 3 hours. Wow. I was grateful for the skilled hands and friendship of Julee that day because she was able to help me study and whip out my hair all before my date.
We did many of the activities before the dance one of them being a blow-up activity where we were strapped harness and we ran as fast as we could and then had to stick a velcro marker on the side. Brock told me not to leap forward when the harness pulled but I didn't listen. I ended up breaking the comb into my head and getting the wind knocked out of me. After I caught my breath we had a good laugh about it. And right then and there Brock learned about my super competitive side.

Brock decided to match my cowgirl attire with a western shirt.

The dance gave Brock a chance to show some humility, as he admitted he was not a very good dancer. With our weaknesses showing through see still had a very enjoyable night. He walked me home that night and I am happy to report it ended perfectly with a hug. From that night on we seemed to find time for each other between school, work and callings.

Our Story: First Date

2011-10-21T17:00:00.000-06:00

This post is the second edition of the Brock and SarahLynn Courtship Story. If you missed the first installment you can read it here. I am posting this part of the story five years to the day of our first date.

After my bishop told me not to give up on all guys, I made up my mind I wasn't going to wait for another weirdo to ask me out I was going to ask Brock on a date. I knew that he wasn't too strange because I had observed him from a distance one semester and talked to him several times. But just in case things turned weird I made sure that we were doubling with my really good friend and old roommate Nicole and her boyfriend Andrew.

I was nervous to ask Brock and did it with the support of my Family Home Evening brothers. Even though I was so scared it went really well and much to my delight he said, "Yes." Beyond that he asked me to come in and we talked for a little while. I was so excited and nervous for this date. (Let it be known at this same time Brock was thinking about asking me out he was just waiting to get up the strength to do it)

Preparing for the pumpkin guts. (I have a weird allergy to pumpkin guts where my hands break out in hives if I don't wear gloves).

I wore my favorite shirt and shoes and made sure every strain of my hair was perfectly curled. We did a date night in. We had cream of potato soup (from the can, I didn't have enough time to cook because I had to make sure I looked perfect) with pumpkin soup bowls, we carved pumpkins as a couple and the four of us made pumpkin pie (which I found out later Brock doesn't like but he ate it because he didn't want me to feel bad).

Cutting the top while talking a long.

It was the most perfect 1st date I ever had been on. There were no awkward silences or when we seemed to be stammering for something to say. Brock had many similar interests to me and we talked about how we would need to go play basketball soon.

I love this picture because when I look at it I remember how excited I was that Brock was having a good time. By the way Andrew and Nicole were the perfect double date.

Since I was the one that had asked him out and the date was at my apartment I decided I would walk him home for the night. This was the only part of the date that was a little strange. Since I was not used to being the one to drop my date off I didn't know what to do. I can't remember if I gave him a High Five, or shook his hand, or maybe it was a side hug with a pat. All I remember is it was really awkward, so awkward that it caused me to run all the way back to my apartment because my face was bright red. (Brock told his family the part about me running off).

Our Story: Becoming Friends

2011-10-11T15:30:00.002-06:00

As much as this blog is a part of our present and our future. I would love it to be about our past as well. I love hearing other couples courtship story, so I am going to share ours. It is funny the day that I started writing our story one of my good friends in the ward, posted hers. Just know it was one of those moments when similar minds think alike.
Since it was this time of year when Brock and I started dating, when I see the pumpkins at the grocery I begin to smile and have flashbacks of memories from 5 years ago.
I actually have quite a bit of pride in the uniqueness of our story and the fondness that we had for each other through out the whole span of our relationship.

Winter 2006
It all starts 5 1/2 years ago. I was being a diligent student working hard to make it through the Political Science class of death, also known as Political Inquiry. Being a single college student is usually about being social and making friends but this semester was about little more than surviving my classes with good grades. Once and a while I would peek my head out of my bedroom and try and be social and when I did I realized one of my good friend's boyfriend had a really cute roommate. He was shy, quite, tall, super skinny (he had just got home from his mission so he weighed 140 lbs.), he seemed to be nice but I didn't have time for boys. So I watched from a distance and a few times we might have said,"Hi." to each other, but at the end of the semester all I knew about him was that he was from Clearfield, Utah. And all he knew about me was that I was really good at getting my car stuck in the Saint Anthony Sand dunes (not really my fault for the record).
Fall 2006
I moved into the same apartment complex but had a totally new set of roommates. I was ready to really enjoy my Junior year of college. Our ward got our Family Home Evening Assignments and we got paired with a really nice group of shorter guys, so there weren't any strong dating prospects for a girl that was almost 6 foot. My neighbors on the other hand got paired with Apartment #18, which had that skinny kid from Clearfield, Utah. One day he was over visiting their apartment when I dropped by and we got to talking. I realized what a nice kid he was and he seemed really easy to talk to.
Then came the 50 lap relay for Spirit week. Our ward got all decked out in our green to show our ward spirit. Because it is hard to find much in the way of bright green I found myself in short green shorts with white spandex underneath (because the shorts were way too short) under the shorts I wore some tights to help keep my legs warm that I wrote with sharpie marker down the sides 51st ward, a green tee shirt and funny looking green sweater. I even went as far as to do my eye makeup all in green. I was ready for some fun.

So excited to show our ward spirit. (Left to Right Roommates: Lori, Mallory, Me and Jenny)

That night was a lot of fun and our ward ended up winning the spirit contest. Afterward, Amanda and I got talking and decided we were going to go to Craigo's (Rexburg's favorite little pizza joint) for pizza afterward. We asked if anyone else wanted to go, we only had one taker, Brock. We got our pizza and brought it back to Amanda's apartment, from that point on in the night I only remember talking to Brock. We talked for at least an hour I think it might have been two, after that I found myself hoping that he would invite me to spend time with him again, but knowing no matter what happened I wanted to be his friend.

Funny thing about this picture is that I was trying to take a picture of these girls but Brock walked into the frame just as I snapped the picture. (Left to Right: Brock and his FHE sisters; Angie (she is in the back behind Brock), Brittney, Jessica and Amanda)

About this time I met another guy that was about my same height maybe a little shorter but he was interesting. And seemed to be into me, he came over one night and asked me on a date. Even though I didn't know him super well I said yes, who doesn't like to get a free dinner and a free game of bowling. To this day I can't decided if that was the worst or the best decision of my life. That date was the WORST DATE OF MY LIFE. This interesting kid became the strangest person I have ever met. He was rude, sexist (rude to our waitress because she was a female and he said he had nothing to learn from his female teachers) and CRAZY. At the end of the night when he drove up to my apartment I jumped out of the car, run up the steps to my apartment, quickly waved goodbye and shut my door. I ran into my room plopped on my bed (safe place to be because guys can't come into the bedrooms at BYU-Idaho) and decided that I never wanted to go on another date again.

I ended up running into my bishop that Sunday and he asked how my week had gone I told him about the bad date the night before and that I was never going on a date again. He counseled me that not all guys are like that and that I should not go out with that kid anymore but that maybe I should give other guys a chance. When he said that one good looking tall blonde came to mind.

Super behind on Photos

2011-10-05T07:19:00.000-06:00

The other day I was looking through the blog (I can't remember why) and I saw the big beautiful pictures from the past and it help remind me that I am almost 6 months behind on post production of my photos (adjusting colors/levels and organizing). This may not sound problematic to most but in the course of 6 months I have taken nearly 2000 photos (And that has been with me taking a "break" from photography). Now probably 1 in 10 is a picture that I like okay and 1 and 20 is one that I might post on here. So you know what that means? I have like 100 photos (I just checked and it is not quite that many but still a lot) coming your way.
Now in a year from now I am probably not going to remember the reason I got so far behind on my pictures and I will simply remember the things that happened and what month I should have posted the picture in, so I am going to try and break up the posts (yes, multiple posts too) so that I can then move them to the write month on the blog. This is one serious advantage of blogging over regular journal writing is that I can just put it where it should have been.
Here is a little preview of what you have coming your way:

Minnesota Trip to Visit Erika

Random Photography- Landscapes, plants and some animals.

Austin's Graduation and Grandma Sweat's Birthday

Our Anniversary

And random smiles from the Rhett man.

Need some Mommy Advice: How to Deal with a Toddler Bully

2011-10-02T16:51:00.000-06:00

I have a really fun 2 year old birthday post partly written but right now this is what is really on my mind. And I need to get this out into my Mommy Journal so that I can try and let it go, you know writing therapy.
Yesterday, Rhett decided that we should go outside so that he could ride his "bike". I was excited to get some fresh air but was a little worried because of one of the kids that was outside playing. I know I shouldn't be scared of a 2/3/4 year old but I am because I really don't know what to do when he hits, throws rocks, pushes over or kicks Rhett.
I decided that it should be okay because Rhett would simply be minding his own business, doing laps around the complex on his little trike. I don't know if it is just the extra emotion that comes with pregnancy but I found myself quite frustrated because in the course of 30 minutes this kid decided to ram into Rhett several times with his or her trike and hit Rhett with a light saber. I understand toddlers aren't always the best at sharing or playing nice with each other but this was like malicious. Rhett would try at all cost to avoid getting rammed, but this kid continued to do it.
Often when it comes to Rhett playing with other kids I let their parents help them remind them to right decisions like I have to frequently to Rhett. But the parents were no where to be seen. So I found myself sticking up for Rhett, yelling at the kid, "Don't do that." At one point, I was so frustrated that I thought about angrily knocking on the door and having a serious discussion with the parents about how they shouldn't let their kid play outside alone, because he is not mature enough to play kindly with others.
Last night and all of today I have thought about what I should do......

Ignore it. It will snow soon and then neither Rhett or this boy/girl will be out much.
Talk to the Mom about my frustration (she has voiced concern that no one will play with her child, so I think there would be some tender feelings there).
Only go outside when this little boy/girl is clearly not outside.
Try and convince myself that this little girl/boy is going through a phase and it is good for Rhett to get some lessons in toughing up.

Maybe I am blowing this all out of portion, because I am pregnant. If you think that is the case feel free to say so, I won't be angry.

Nesting Act 2

2011-09-29T00:33:00.000-06:00

I am pretty sure most of the updates from now until the middle of January, will be mostly what I have done and what needs to be done lists.
Since I have been so busy with nesting it seems as though I can only stay focus on writing a blog post for about 15 minutes so this has taken me several evenings to write. I will try and update this post (and this blog) with pictures but for now it is just the 1,000 words instead.
In the last 2 weeks I have accomplished the following:
- I personally canned 20 lbs of pears, all by myself. It required a couple of crazy early mornings.
- Canned 1 box of apples (roughly 35 pounds) into 12 quarts of homemade applesauce (with the help of my Mom, thanks a bunch couldn't have done it without you).
- Nearly finished the blessing dress. When I finish the last few details on it and get it hand washed I will post a picture.

Here is a little preview. Of part of the dress. I love how the ruffles and the beads turned out.

- I have pieced the front side of baby girl's blanket and bought the material for the backside.
- Organize the kids closet and dresser. Rhett is loving being able to pick out his own clothes. Today was pretty warm and he choose a long sleeve shirt but he was so proud of himself.
- I have found quite a few long sleeve shirts for good prices, so I am happy to know that she won't freeze.
- I have finally committed to full time potty training. Yesterday, was a hard day but today is going really good. I think as long as I can stay with it then he can be pretty potty trained before she comes.
- I have finished her name plate.
- Organized all the clothes into outfits so when we bring her home from the hospital I won't have to think about what goes with what. I will just dress her. And I have extra shirts for the days she has an upset stomach.
In the next few days I am hoping to accomplish the following:
- Take Rhett's two year old pictures. I had every intention of doing that today but then when I got to the park with my camera, I realized I had left the memory card in Brock's laptop and that he was going to be on campus all day, so we will try again tomorrow.
- Clean the kids room. This is going to involve a lot of organizing and sorting some of my least favorite things to do but it is time I bit the bullet and did it...I did start on this today but lost steam after the first little bit so Rhett and I went to the park, store and came home and took naps.
- Put up crib so there is a place for all of the baby stuff to go.
- Actually finish the mobile.
- Repaint Rhett's name plate to match his new twin size bedspread.
- Try to patiently wait until Walmart or Porters have a package of crib sized batting in stock (if I can't wait I guess I could always drive to Idaho Falls to get some). And then try and finish quilt to completion.
- Do a 2-year old shoot with Rhett. I have a really fun and cut idea that I can't wait to share with you all.
- Get Rhett comfortable with sitting on a normal sized toilet.
Sometime in the next 16 weeks:
- Buy carseats.
- Work on Homemade Christmas presents.
- Make a baby wrap, so that when she comes I can have two free hands for Rhett.
- Bows/Flowers and hair accessory holder for her.
- Try and make some nice looking flowers/bows. If I can't pull it off maybe I will just have to spend some money at Mommy and Me on flowers.

It seems like my mind is always racing and I just want to get everything done. Which though I am pretty much exhausted, it makes it hard to sleep.

Time to Nest.

2011-09-12T08:42:00.000-06:00

I am the typical over planner that is without any additional hormones or mommy instincts. So I just happen to go a little crazy with a to do list for pre-baby. I realize I have been a pretty bad at writing on this blog since we found out what we were having but that is because I have been busy nesting.

Things we have completed in the last couple of weeks:

- Twin sized mattress and bed frame for Rhett (this one was real time consuming process and I am really glad that we tackled this one before Brock started school again)
- I have made two dresses for our little girl, one of which is her take home from the hospital dress

Home from the Hospital dress

- With the help of my Grandma Betty and my Mom I learned how to can. And I canned 40 lbs of peaches=yield 23 quart cans of delicious home canned peaches.
- Hit end of season sales for the kids and now Rhett's (soon to be the kids) closet has an ever growing population of pink and turquoise clothing growing in the back.
- Took Rhett to the zoo. Which he loved for the first hour and then after that he just wanted to be chased around. It was so cute to see him say, "Hi!" to all of the animals.

Rhett hanging on Dad's shoulders so he didn't run off.

Rhett quacking at the ducks

- I made a bunch of trucks out of felt for Rhett's car blanket.

Things we have started on:
- Started on the flower that will go on of the blessing dress.

Hair accessory that has flowers that are similar to those on the blessing dress.

- We decided what carseats we will be getting for the kiddos.
- Working on the elements of Rhett's car sheet for his birthday present. It is going to be so cute when it is all done, or at least I hope it will be.
- Rhett is getting much closer to getting potty trained but he still has bad days or days where it won't logistically work to potty train because he is too scared to go on a regular sized toilet.

Things that still need to be done:
- Can 20 lbs of pears (this is on my to do list this week for during Rhett's nap times).
- Find a little dress that I can use the top as a pattern for the blessing dress. And continue to work on the blessing dress.
- Make the special blanket for baby. This time I am going to be piecing it. I am waiting until fat quarters are on sale at Porter's (happens every 2 months) and then this one will be started.
- Find long term storage for the clothes that Rhett has outgrown (I wasn't going to put this really away until I was sure that we weren't going to have another boy with this next baby).
- Finish the mobile for the baby (think I might try and knock this one out this week because it is so close).
- Buy carseats.
- Put up crib so there is a place for all of the baby stuff to go.
- Organize the kids closet and dresser (I am going to move Rhett's stuff down to the bottom drawers so he can easily get his own clothes, he loves when he gets to pick out his own pants and shirt).
- Continue to work on potty training with Rhett and get him comfortable with sitting on a normal sized toilet.
- Make a name plate for above her crib.
- Bows/Flowers and hair accessory holder for her (I am still pretty bad at making hair accessories. I actually think it is easier to make a dress than make a hair accessory, if someone wants to help me I would love the help).
- Work on Homemade Christmas presents.

I am a little disappointed in myself that I haven't gotten more done because today Brock starts school. Between work and school he is going to be one busy man which means a good chunk of the lists are things that I am going to have to do all by myself (or with the "help" of a two year old).

I can't believe that our little girl is going to be here in about 18 weeks! In writing this list I have officially found my motivation for the rest of the day. I better go get something done.

4 Year Anniversary Trip to Las Vegas

2011-08-31T20:33:00.000-06:00

For Our 4th Wedding Anniversary/Brock's birthday we went to Vegas. It was the first time that we have been away from Rhett for that long. It was really nice to have some time for just the two of us. We stayed at PH (Planet Hollywood) Towers. Our Room was a 1-bedroom suite. The view was amazing. We could see the whole Southern side of Vegas.

This is the view of the strip from our living room (floor number 51, out of 52). I love that we had such a photographic view.

The view from our bedroom at night

We went to Ghirardelli Ice Cream Shop and got sundaes (it was important to me that we were within walking distance of this. So no matter how hot it got we could make it. Brock got a super peanut butter one. And I got a banana split with a scoop of strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. It was topped with strawberries, pineapple and dark hot fudge. (Cell phone picture so I didn't have to bring my DSLR out in the dirty city)

Waiting for the free 3D movie at the M&M store. It smelled like chocolate. (Cell phone)

Brock looks so cute with bright yellow 3D glasses. (Cell phone)

Yummy. Yummy in my tummy. (Cell phone)

If you are ever in Las Vegas stop by the Miracle Mile Mall and go to Earl's Sandwiches. We tried their turkey club, meatball and chicken tortilla soup. Everything was really good and fresh and really well priced. (Cell phone) These were so good that before we flew out in the morning we ran to get a sandwich it ended up being 3 of our meals.

Brock with his birthday dessert. We went to Rainforest Cafe. (Cell phone)

Opps. Cut Brock's head off. (Cell phone)

Oh Well, he got me back. (Cell phone)

I am married to such a great guy. We have so much fun together. (Cell phone)

Baby #2 is a.....

2011-08-30T14:54:00.000-06:00

Well for those of you not on Facebook we are happy to announce that Baby #2 is a girl!
I am so excited but it seems like the 20 week ultrasound reiterates that baby is coming and what is ever on the large to do list needs to be done and quick.
Here is our (primarily mine) to do list before our little girl joins our family:
-Decide how little sweethearts name is going to be spelled with one n or two. Brock says two (so it is like my name) and I say one because it is the traditional spelling. Hopefully we figure it out soon so I can start on her name plate to go above her crib.

Name plate that I made for Rhett
(sorry for the unclear picture this is from the old camera)

-~~Sell the desk that takes up a large amount of room in kids bedroom~~ (Scratch the selling of the desk is now in the living room and is now going to be my sewing table. It will be nice to have a permant home for my sewing machine and it won't require me to put away my projects in order to eat and every time Rhett runs behind me he won't unplug my sewing machine. Can't I believe I didn't think of that sooner. Crazy the things nesting helps you realize).
-Make little bird and little man blankets that coordinate but aren't too matchy matchy.
-Buy a twin size bed and frame for Rhett (probably his Christmas present because we are a little lame like that and he has tons of toys).
-Find ~~material~~ (did that today and I got it for 1 dollar a yard! : ) ), pattern and start her blessing dress.
Here are a few blessing dresses that I have found that I love and have really got the wheels in my head turning.

Beautiful dress from creatively christy. It kind of reminds me of a wedding dress.

Or this one from Make-it and Love-it, I love that she uses one of her daughter's dresses
to make the blessing dress.

-Finish Bird Mobile for crib.


Here are the birds that I made for our little sweetheart. Now to make it into a mobile.

This is kind of what it will look like when it is all done,
I love the pattern for the birds it is really easy to make.

-Find a new carseat for Rhett (the one he is currently in expires at the end of the year, hopefully Kmart will do there BOGO sale on carseats before that point)
-Make an holder for her bows and flowers
-Make bows and flowers (bought a box of 100 alligator clips today)
-Make sweatbands for Rhett so he doesn't try and steal all of his sister's hair accessories.
-One Car themed birthday party for Rhett. Which involves drawing cars and roads on a shower curtain for him to use as a car mat, getting some cars/trucks for his cake/present.
-Make matching PJ's for Christmas gift for the whole family. I bought some Camping print flannel (it has tents and trees printed on it) last year but never had the time to make them. I think that I will do my pants with a yoga waistband to make sure it will fit pregnant, post pregnant and the rest of the time.

4 years ago

2011-08-16T10:39:00.001-06:00

4 years ago today I had my last day of work for the school district tech department. I packed my bag and headed for Utah.
4 years ago tomorrow I celebrated my sweethearts 23rd birthday, decorated for my reception and attempted to get some beauty sleep.
4 years ago from the day after tomorrow. I woke up really early did my makeup and my sister did my hair. I rushed to Bountiful, and knelt across the alter from my Mr. Wonderful and was married for time and all eternity.
Today as I wait in the Salt Lake Airport for our flight to Vegas (Anniversary Adventure Romantic Retreat as I am calling it). I reflect on how far we have been in 4 years. Wow there has been some struggles and heartaches, but for the most part it has been amazing. We have been very blessed....with 5 different jobs (some Brock's some mine), 3 cars (not all at once), 2 apartments, 1 1/2 kids (number 2 is about half baked), 1 bachelors degree (and other soon to follow) and so many loving and supportive friends and family members. I love being married to my best friend. He is funny, intelligent, great attention to detail, kind, compassionate, and my favorite person.
You might be wondering why I wasn't talking to that nearly perfect man of mine instead of writing a blog post but the picture explains it. Brock isn't a morning person and our flight is a morning flight. So after waking up at 7 he decided to take a little power nap.

Baby #2: 17 Weeks

2011-08-13T09:24:00.002-06:00

Graphic from Baby Center

I figured since I finally got Rhett's 22 month post done I should do one for the baby/pregnancy, to get in the habit of a second kid. Since the baby is pretty tiny and only does occasional little pokes and squirming around I guess this post is mostly about this pregnancy.

It has been 4 days since my last bout of morning sickness which is my longest days without sickness since getting pregnant, so I am ~~hoping~~ thinking I might possibly be over it. It seems like morning sickness has been swapped with heartburn and sore hips. The heartburn so far I have been able to manage with a daily dose of acid reducer (as approved my my doctor). The sore hips another story all together, I have been doing interval training before and for the first part of this pregnancy which was feeling really good. But last week I did some running and for the remainder of the day my hips just ached. I am not sure what to do because my mind/body are loving running but then when I get home I just want to cry and sit and do nothing for the rest of the day. I am hoping to get it under control soon with the use of Extra Strength Tylenol. Are there any other suggestions out there from my active pregnant (or recently pregnant) friends for this pain?

Last night I went to a shower for a girl in my ward she is getting really close to her due date and she is having contractions frequently. Her first kid was, 9 lbs. 9 oz. so there is some concern that this baby will be big as well so she will be getting induced early if the baby doesn't come soon. It got me thinking about my desire to do a VBAC. Induction increases the chance of having a C-Section, so if I want to increase my chances of doing a VBAC I should avoid induction. But my doctors office will only let me attempt a VBAC if the baby is 8 lbs. 6 oz. or smaller. So if I go to my due date the baby might be bigger than allotted amount and I will have to have a C-Section anyways. I woke up this morning feeling some what frustrated because I could do everything in my power to attempt a VBAC but if this kid is big just because Brock and I make big kids together, I will have to have another C-Section.

I will be the first to admit that C-Sections aren't the worst, I just want to know that I am strong enough to go through labor and that my body knows how to do it. I want to be able to hold my baby when it first enters this world instead of having my arms strapped to an operating table. I want to be able to have my milk come in naturally and be totally frustrated the first day and half with my inability to produce milk to feed my baby. I want to be able to laugh when my baby does something cute without having to hold a pillow over my stomach so I don't tear out my stitches. I want to be able to do laundry and vacuum without having pain for the first couple of months. I guess really all I can do is try and manage my weight and keep active and hope that this baby is a small 8 lb. 6 oz baby (that is kind of smallish/average for my family).

On a happier note. I am getting so excited to find out whether baby number 2 is a boy or a girl (we find out the 25th of August). We won't be announcing what we are having on the 25th because I would like to give you a little bit of a preview of the kids room/nursery when we make the announcement. Sorry, but that will help give me the push to get it all done because I am sure I am going to bursting to share the news.

Whether #2 is a girl or a boy, I have great plans for the kids room. I have found a lot of fun stuff on pinterest that is really going to help the kids room be much cooler than I ever made it with Rhett alone. I am going to stick with the Jungle theme and just try and make it a little more grown up for Rhett. I have a plan to make photo canvas' of the kids baby pictures to put above their beds. We are going to buy a twin sized bed for Rhett, so I will need to make a new bedspread for that. To prepare for Rhett we had a lot of refinishing furniture to do but this time I think it will just be more decorating and sewing more than anything. I guess that is all I can tell you for now, I don't want to ~~over promise and under deliver~~ ruin too many of the surprises before we have it done.

Rhett at 22 months

2011-08-13T08:26:00.001-06:00

Rhett seems to get more loveable every month. The last couple of months we did have to deal with a few discipline issues but it seems like they have pretty well been resolved now. One of which was Rhett had learned from an older cousin how to over the use the word "N-O" and we had to deal with a few large scale no tantrums. Where Rhett would just yell, No; for But soon he realized that it wasn't getting him positive attention or what he wanted so he should just use it when he really means it.

Rhett has always been a real softy but the last month he has been so sweet it almost melts my heart to see it. He has become a big hugger and kisser. It is the most adorable thing ever (well to me anyway) because sometimes he doesn't actually kiss he just makes the pucker/smacking sound.

Rhett also calls every animal, besides a bird a dog. I think he thinks he has replaced the word animal with dog. We took him to the fair this week and he was walking around calling everything a dog. I was sort of embarrassed because what type of country girl momma can't appropriately teach her kids just the basic farm animals like pig, sheep and cow.

A few weeks ago we went and visited our friends the Burger's in Logan. Emma and Rhett had a really good time together. Emma is a real chatter box and Rhett is an adventure hound, so together they made a great pair. There were a few disagreements about who should be playing with which toy but for the most part they got along swimmingly with several games of pica-boo and just running around.

Rhett and Emma walking home from the park....Oh so cute. I know these things never work out but I would love if little M-Bug was my sweet daughter-in-law some day.

We took them to the park again this year it is great to see how much they have grown up. I am so excited for the Burger's they will have a new addition joining their family the next couple of weeks (hopefully sooner as opposed to later for Nicole), another girl. I look forward to next summer when Abigail and our Baby Number 2 will be able to play together like babies do and then the kids (Emma and Rhett) can have even more fun than they did this year.

Last year the kids couldn't walk so they had to ride around in the stroller. (August 2010)


Standing yelling at the ducks. With Mom close behind to make sure they don't fall (August 2010).

This year no one rode in the stroller for too long because it impeded the ability to run to the next animal

Look at our little kids. There not babies anymore. They liked the noise this bird made so they decided to shout at it.

Rhett had to yell at the ducks again this year. Then he mooched fish food off some little kids and fed it to the ducks.

After the Zoo we took the kids to the park right outside of the Zoo. Rhett loved this red slide. I was kind of freaking out to see him climb it every time but he loved it so what is a mom to do.

Emma liked the big red slide a little but she felt a little bit better about going down the smaller brown slide (and so did her parents)

The kids trying to figure it out together. But not having a lot of luck. From the distance I could hear wee's and yee-hahs.

Andrew went over and helped them and the kids were in heaven.

Then Rhett found another slide and left Emma and Andrew to have a father daughter moment. So Cute!

I was going to take some cute 22 month old pictures of Rhett once we got home from Logan but then he fell on the sidewalk and scrapped up his whole face. His nose is still healing so look for some cute portraits at 23 months as opposed to this month.

I can't believe he is almost 2! Where did the time go?

Make Ahead: Homemade Granola with Berries and Yogurt

2011-08-07T17:55:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, when I was at the grocery store I was delighted to see that berries were a good price.That took away one dilemma for me what to have this week as a healthy breakfast or snack. I decided we would have Granola with Berries and Yogurt. I was planning on just buying the granola but as I compared prices, ingredients and calories I was pretty disappointed with my options. I thought I might just give up on the granola part and eat berries and fruit instead. I finished my grocery shopping some what annoyed that I didn't settle on a granola. But then as I got out to the car I realized I could just make my own and probably for a lot less and a lot healthier.
I looked at a few different recipes before I settled on one but I realized I needed to go back into the store and get some bran, wheat germ and nuts.
I found a highly rated recipe from Allrecipes.com and started on it when I got home. I replaced the nuts she called for with just almonds and hazelnuts. Here is my adaptation of the recipe.

Megan's Granola

Adapted by SarahLynn

4 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup wheat germ
3/4 cup oat bran
1 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 cup chopped almonds
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Toast the nuts according to the instructions on the nut bag and then set aside. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line a large cookie sheet (you need something that has a little bit of height over a regular cookie sheet, I used my favorite roll pan) with parchment or aluminum foil.
Combine the oats, wheat germ, and oat bran in a large bowl.

Stir together the salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to coat.

Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven until crispy and toasted, about 40 minutes (or until toasty on all sides) . Stir it every 10 minutes. Cool, then stir in the nuts.

From this recipe I was able to get 2-1 pound bags plus a small sandwich bag of homemade granola. The 1 pound bags I put in the freezer to keep the fresh taste longer (also so the nuts wouldn't get gross nothing worse than gross nuts).

The finished product. I used my new kitchen scale to measure 1 lb bags.

A larger scale version of my champion breakfast.

It was great to be able to eat something so fresh I am looking forward to the future to further adapting this recipe to use the granola as a hot cereal but right now it is just beautiful beside the fresh berries and yogurt.

Cooking Smarter not Harder

2011-08-06T21:46:00.003-06:00

When I was in high school, I remember my basketball coaches telling us at half time to "play smarter not harder". Lately, I have thought about how this term could be applied to cooking. Sometimes I feel like I am prepping and cleaning up all the same things day after day. Most nights Brock is working which means I have a super clingy little boy trying to get in and touch everything I am. I realized to have more time to be a mom and less time freaking out, I have to plan better.

One thing that I already do to save me time is to meal plan so that I only have to go to the grocery store once a week. In addition to saving us time it also saves us money, because usually we aren't buying things that aren't on the list.

Semi-Homemade
The last couple of days I was in Utah visiting my friends, Andrew and Nicole. I would describe Nicole's cooking style as a semi-homemade, don't worry she is adorable and not annoying unlike Sandra Lee. I enjoyed all of the meals we had and I noticed how easy her clean up was. I found myself a little bit jealous (not of her but the clean up time) because it seems like before I have even set dinner down on the table I have made a sink full of dishes.
One of the reasons I cook mostly homemade is because I like knowing all the ingredients that are going into my food and the food of my family. I like to try and by brands when I can that are close to home and are trusted even if that means sometimes spending a little bit more. I did realize as Nicole was cooking is that semi-homemade is still very healthy as long as you read the labels to make sure you aren't getting a bunch of extra junk that you don't want. As a rule of thumb when I am looking at labels if there is an ingredient that I don't have at home (this is my most basic rule), can't get in a grocery store or don't have a clue what it is I usually don't get the product. Today, that meant that I spent 10 cents more on a large tub of yogurt but for me that was worth it.
Using the Freezer to Ease Prep
The other day I was on Pinterest and I saw a pin that was 2 weeks or so worth of vegetables all cut up and put into freezer bags. When we do a big shop at Winco I already split up my meat and put it into a meal's worth of containers. But I have never thought to do this with veggies, I don't know why. Also another great idea that I found on Pinterest, that I really want to try is making bread dough and freezing in quart freezer bags for later use (sometime in the near future, but not this week).
Last week when I was mixing up some homemade pasta I ended up not needing it all so separated the leftover uncooked pasta into two bags (each will be sufficient for our family for a meal). This week I will be using it in a recipe I will share.
Make ahead
I really think that I could cook a lot smarter by making some of the stuff ahead of time, so that I am not trying to prep it all at the last minute. One thing I am going to try soon (hopefully this week) is to roast a whole chicken, then shred the chicken and freeze it into individual meal amounts. I just got a food scale so this should make separating pre-cooked items and dividing them equally a little easier.

So here are the recipes I am hoping for this week:

Make Ahead: Homemade Granola with Berries and Yogurt (I am so excited to eat this for breakfast tomorrow)
Semi-Homemade: Costa Vida inspired Green Chili Chicken Burrito
Using the Freezer to Ease Prep: Italian Sausage with Pasta, Corn, Tomatoes and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

In what ways do you "Cook Smarter not Harder"? I really could use some more ideas.

Summer Photography: Landscapes, Plants and Animals

2011-08-01T11:34:00.000-06:00

Montana is where I want to live in the Summer when I retire. Look at the beautiful valleys

There is something so beautiful about Lilly pads

I loved all these green things that were on the nature park pond. They were so bright and beautiful.

I Love to See the Temple

We would have stopped at Home On the Range but like most things in North Dakota there was not a lot to see

Like most of the members of my family I am a little horse crazy.

What I have learned from Italian Cooking Week

2011-07-31T00:27:00.001-06:00

1. Some people are really good at posting on their blogs daily and I am not one of them. Today instead of getting caught up on recipes I took a nap. Then later this afternoon I tried to finish up and then Rhett decided to help me post, pretty counter productive (so if there are any errors in the soup recipe I am blaming it on him).
2. Assignments can be fun. It has been fun to have a goal to make this week fly right by. One of the things that I miss most about school/work is that sense of accomplishment, because with most of my mommy/wife jobs they are never done they just get caught up on.
3. I love to cook, it is one of my favorite ways to create. It has been so much fun sharing that with my few blog followers.
4. You guys are bomb diggity (yes Grandma, I know diggity is not a real word). The feedback I have gotten this week has been so positive and kind. Which has made me less lonely with Brock having to work a ton this week.
Moral of the Italian Cooking Week Story: I am going to continue the recipes coming (this is going to help me with my ultimate goal of writing a cookbook...not anything special just something to give to friends and family for wedding presents and such). But I am only going to do two or three, because though I love cooking sometimes I have to other things like play with Rhett, pay attention to the sweet man I am married to, take naps and.....clean the house.
I have already thought up a few themes and hopefully will continue to think of some when I run out of the ones I have now. So here is the list for the next little bit in no particular order.
Family classics: these are the recipes I learned early on in the kitchen of my mother and grandmothers (this might end up being several weeks long)
Cooking Smarter: Preparing food ahead to making dinner time easier (I am making this one because it is a goal of mine)
Mexican Food: As many of you Rexburg friends know I live Mexican food and I have a couple of must cook recipes to share with you.
Breakfast is a BIG Deal: Growing up breakfast was considered the most important meal of the day. To this day this is still true.
Momma Lela Menu: I have learned so much from the side of this amazing cook. I think before I loved my mother in law, I loved her cooking.
One pot meals: Because few people hate doing dishes more than me.
I have a few more planned as well just didn't want to over share.

Chicken Gnocchi Soup.

2011-07-30T19:19:00.000-06:00

I like to do hard things. I love challenges. And I hate people telling me I can't do something. Gnocchi...has been one of those things that I have wanted to conquer but have never been brave enough because Brock told me they are really hard. He pretty much summed it up as the only people that he ever saw do it successfully is the older ladies in Argentina with Italian decent.
In the last year I have found two authentic Gnocchi recipes that made me think that I might just be able to do it. And I really wanted to because one of my recent cravings has been the chicken gnocchi soup from the Olive Garden. So I peeled and boiled my potatoes away followed the recipes, but I realized something on my last potato as I shredded it into the bowl.....it didn't get boiled long enough. It wasn't soft enough. Thinking I was probably freaking out about nothing I continued on my merry way.....I added my flour. I rolled it. I cut it. I boiled it. Only to have the yucky starchy little alien creatures arise out of the boiling water...dinner time was quickly approaching and I was beginning to feel the walls closing in because I had been working on this for 1 1/2 hours and didn't have anything else planned. Just then I remembered that I had once come across a not so authentic but would help me save dinner recipe for gnocchi's that called for instant potatoes.
I then found a recipe for gnocchi's made from instant potatoes on allrecipes.com (this is where I go when I need a recipe and all of my favorite cookbooks/blogs don't have it). The recipe I found had 280 reviews and a rating of 4 1/2 stars, I read some of the review and kept in mind the things that were mentioned. I went with a new sense of hope and purpose... to make Gnocchi's even if they weren't 100% authentic but 100% delicious. It went so much better my dough came together great, and in a few minutes I had all of my little Gnocchi pillows ready to plop into my cream soup.

Quick Gnocchi Recipe
adapted by SarahLynn
originally from Sandy Metzler from Allrecipes.com

1 cup dry potato flakes
1 cup boiling water
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour

Place potato flakes in a medium-size bowl. Pour in boiling water; stir until blended. Let cool.
Stir in egg, salt, and pepper. Blend in enough flour to make a fairly stiff dough, just add a little at a time then your dough will come together a lot easier (you might not even need the full cup). Turn dough out on a well floured board. Knead lightly. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a long thin roll, the thickness of your thumb (unless you have tiny thumbs then do it the size of your husband thumbs). With a knife dipped in flour, cut into pieces the width of your thumbnail (they will expand in size in the boiling water). Place a ten gnocchi in boiling water. As the gnocchi rise to the top of the pot (probably about 3 minutes), remove them with a slotted spoon. Repeat until all are cooked.

Placed cooked gnocchi's in a bowl and set aside as you work on the soup.

Chicken Cream Soup Base
1/2 stick of butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons of flour
1 cup of cream
2 cups of milk
1 teaspoon of Italian Seasoning
1 teaspoon of ground oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
2 chicken breasts (cubed and cut)
1 batch of gnocchi's
3 carrots pealed and diced
2 cups of water

Melt butter in a stockpot on low heat. Then add garlic. Once garlic is flavorful add flour. Make a rogue. Then
add cream and milk. Add seasonings, precooked chicken breast, gnocchi's. Fill a small sauce pan with warm water and carrots. Boil carrots until they are soft and then put the carrots and the carrot water in with the rest of the soup. And right then it is ready to serve.

I cooked my chicken the day before while working with some other chicken so after the gnocchi dilemma it went really fast. And I am thinking in the fall when Brock goes back to school this might be one of those go to meals that I can whip up in 30 minutes.

Lasagna Rolls (or Lasagna depending on whether you stack instead of roll)

2011-07-30T13:52:00.000-06:00

I love making homemade lasagna (or lasagna rolls) because you can taste every bite of freshness in it. Sometimes when you take the time to make something fresh you aren't openly rewarded with anything but a lot of extra dishes but this dish rewards you openly with deliciousness.

Start making a recipe of Savory Red Sauce and Fresh Pasta.
Before you start boiling the pasta you will take and combined Ricotta cheese, Mozzarella and beaten egg.

Cheese Filling (double this if you are making a 9 by 13 of Lasagna)
1/2 large tub of Ricotta (or a small tub)
1 lbs. of Mozzarella
1 egg beaten

Shred Mozzarella. Reserve 1/2 a cup of Mozzarella for the top of the rolls (you would double this as well if you were making lasagna instead). Combine Ricotta, Mozzarella and beaten egg.
Preheat oven to 350F
In your 9 by 13 pan put down a layer of red sauce with out any meat, this will keep your pasta from sticking.
Now cook your pasta a few sheets at a time. As soon as then are soft remove from water and move onto a roll pan with parchment paper. As soon as they are cool enough to touch (it still might be a little uncomfortable but it wouldn't be a killer) flatten them out and begin to cut sheets into manageable sizes. It seems like for my rolls I made my pasta sheets about 2 inches long. Put a heaping tablespoon of filling in each one and rolled them tight. Then I lined them up right next to each other (like what you would do with enchiladas). Then I topped it with some red sauce and ground turkey that I had cooked up.


Forgive the picture this is what it looked like the next day after I microwaved it. I had every intention of taking a picture after I made it but then blasted morning sickness hit and I was laying down for the remainder of the night

Pop this in the oven for 30 minutes or until it starts to bubble around the edges (if it is not bubbling leave it in). Once you have the sweet bubbling action top it with Mozzarella and consume.

Today and Yesterday's Post: Savory Red Sauce and Homemade Pasta

2011-07-27T19:09:00.009-06:00

I had every intention of posting yesterday....I was going to take pictures...but then I remembered that I am pregnant and have morning sickness occasionally so when I made pasta this week I had every intention of making the savory red sauce or at least using some of that which I had frozen from making it last week. But then everything went against the plan. Brock got called in 4 hours early to work which meant grocery shopping meant taking the jogging stroller to the store. So by the time I got home Rhett was really ready for dinner, I was hot and it was getting late. So I traded the Savory Red Sauce for Hunts spaghetti sauce. I really missed the depth of flavor but sometimes you have to do what you can especially when you have a grumpy little boy hanging on your pants (yes he was literally trying to hang on to me by grabbing a hold of my pants). Which explains the lack of picture for the red sauce recipe. I will try to post one in the next few weeks.

Hearty Yummy Red Sauce
One of my favorite parts of Authentic Italian Red Sauce is the depth of flavor and the heartiness of it. I remember as a child going to DaVinci's and their lasagna was AMAZING! The waiter brought out a dish, it was steamy, beautiful and gorgeous. From this one dish I began to wish that I have Italian somewhere my bloodline, sadly I haven't found any to this date. I noticed something as I began to eat, a small piece of carrot. From that amazing dish came the idea for this Hearty Yummy Red Sauce.

6 carrots-pealed and cut up
2 garlic cloves-minced
1/2 onion cut up
1 tablespoon of butter
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 tsp of Italian seasoning.
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 bunch of cilantro-chopped
1 bunch of Italian parsley-chopped.
3 cans of diced tomatoes
1 lb of hamburger
1 lb of sausage
2 cans of spaghetti sauce.

Warm butter and olive oil in a large stockpot then dump in carrots, onions and garlic. Cook on Medium-Low heat until the carrots start to soften and onions start to turn clear. Add Italian seasoning and cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes. Then add cilantro and parsley to pot and allow herbs to sweat out for an additional 3 to 4 minutes. Then turn heat to Medium and add diced tomatoes. Stir frequently. Cook until almost all of the tomato juice is gone (it will look similar in consistency to a chunky salsa but don't worry in a few minutes it will be beautiful). Now transfer that to a bowl and allow it to cool (probably at least 10 minutes) before placing in the blender, and blend until it is thick and saucy. While the veggies are cooling, use the stockpot to cook the hamburger and sausage. You will want to season it with a little bit of salt and pepper. When the meat is all cooked and the veggie herb blend is done combine the two. And then add two cans of spaghetti sauce. Let simmer for 30 minutes and enjoy hearty red sauce.

Homemade Pasta
Okay now I am caught up from my slacking yesterday. I was feeling really bad today that I had failed at my own assignment. But at least you are all my friends/family and will love me anyway right? Good. In April we had some of our best friends come over and have dinner with us and I wanted to make something really good so I made homemade lasagna from scratch, with red sauce and homemade pasta. I rolled out each sheet as thin as I could with my rolling pin. It was a lot of work. After tasting every delicious bit I knew that if I was going to go through all the work to make lasagna making the pasta was a must step for me. Since then I have purchased the sweetest pasta maker, it is one made in Italy and though a good chunk of the instructions I can't understand (written in Italian), I can tell it was made to last.

Since that point I have tried a couple of different recipes but this one is my favorite. I got this recipe from my mom's best friend and I am not sure where she got it. It is my favorite because the pasta comes out light and delicious (think it has something to do with the baking powder). It is also great for rolling out by hand because the dough is soft enough to roll easily.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
4 egg yolks

Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add egg yolks and mix until dry ingredients are moistened. (With fresh pasta making a lot of people say you have to make a well but I have found that I can make a well like dome in the flour in a big bowl and not have to worry about whether it is going to break and make a mess all over my counter tops)

Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add egg yolks and mix until dry ingredients are moistened. Make sure you work your dough for a few minutes by hand or you can do it in a stand mixer (if you have one, I don't...but someday I will)
Let sit with a tea towel or plastic wrap, for 15 minutes to let gluten do it's thing
Flour a nice big area on your countertop.Cut dough into 3 manageable pieces, roll each one individually. Lightly knead it until til you can roll it out. Don't knead it til it's stiff, just till it soft, light and smooth. When you roll it you want to get as thin as you possibly can because if you don't they will puff up and be like dumplings. This might take a fair amount of elbow grease but it is totally worth it and just think an extra workout in the day. If you have a pasta maker roll start on the widest setting and work your way down. I usually get down to my second to narrowest roll.
Cut to desired width and length. Lay on linen dish towel or wooden dowel (I use a laundry drying rack) to dry. I think 30 minutes or so is enough drying time. If you don't have a pasta maker then you will need to cut your noodles, I like to use a pizza cutter for this. If you are making Lasagna you just want to get as big as sheets (of any shape) as you think you could manage because you are just going to stack it and no one will know that it wasn't the perfect shape for Fettuccine you will want to cut in long skinny strips about 1/4" wide.
In a large pot boil water, season the water with salt. Buddy the Cake Boss said about this part, "Your water should taste like the ocean." When I use Kosher salt I get to that "tasting like the ocean" a lot quicker. Then when it is at a boil you are ready. Now this step takes constant attention to the kitchen you will need to watch your pasta to make sure you don't over cook it.
With Lasagna noodles I put them in 4 at a time, set the timer for 4 minutes and then pull them out. I have found that it is a lot easier to pull them out if I have my strainer underneath them. Then I pull the strainer out of the water and dump it on a cookie sheet with parchment paper and start another 4 noodles, set the timer for 4 minutes. While next 4 noodles are cooking, I straighten out my sheets as soon as I can stand to touch it. If you are doing a different type of pasta then you will go from strainer to sauce pan. 4 minutes rule still applies and probably do no more than a quarter of the noodles at a time (this part really depends on the size of your pot, you want to make sure the pasta has a lot of room to swim around in the boiling water)

Lasagna sheets drying on the rack, I cut them up to the size I needed after they cooked.

Family videos

2011-07-26T21:20:00.000-06:00

Being into photograph I always thought that photos are the best thing for keeping memories, but the other day we (my siblings and I) were going through my mom's vhs and found some family treasures. A favorite tape is Allison's 5 year old birthday. It was nothing really out of the ordinary but it was funny to see how our little personalities have all grown up. Allison was picture perfect the whole time sweetly smiling into the camera while she opened her presents. Levi got her a gadget (cap gun) that he was far more interested in than she was. Erika got her an African American Barbie that had been dressed to the nines by Erika. It was funny to hear the shock in my Grandma's voice when she opened it (obviously back then Michelle Obama wasn't on anyone's radar). So cute to here Allison talk about her panda sweat pants and shirt as party clothes and jump around in her light up shoes.
As we watched we laughed and cried because we were laughing so hard. It made me think that pictures are great but it can't catch the little comments, tones or the little details. So my goal is going to start catching the little moments on video along with the pictures, if for nothing more than for my kids and grandkids amusement.

So here is a video I took tonight that shows how sweet, cute and mischievous our little boy is getting. Warning there is a probably a 5 second delay between sound and the video by the end of the clip so you will hear me say something and then about 5 seconds later Rhett is doing it.

An Inspired Italian Week. (Olive Garden why bother? Homemade is so much better!)

2011-07-25T17:26:00.005-06:00

The last few month I have not felt the urge to blog or to take photographs so today as I planned out my meals I decided that I would blog (and take pictures of the food) about some of my favorite dishes and some new Italian recipe challenges.
Recently, when I went to Minnesota to visit my older sister I found myself starved for carbs because her family eats gluten free and our family eats pasta 2 to 3 times a week. So being the nice older sister she is she decided to take Allison and I to lunch at Olive Garden, I found myself in sticker shock as I looked at the prices and knew how I could make the dishes so much less expensive ($1-3 per serving to every $10 per serving) and it would taste so much better. I ate my carbs happily but there was a part of me that was disappointed by the taste to price ratio. Here is the schedule:
Today:
Tortellini Al Pana - Tortellini served in a Cream Sauce with Pancetta Bits in it (I am cheating this is one that I have posted before but I will make up for it by posting another day). Click on the picture below to get to the recipe.

Tuesday:
Savory Red Sauce - Inspired by one of my favorite Italian restaurants, this red sauce is balanced, filling and healthy (another cheat). Recently I made this sauce and my Dad gave it two thumbs up and is requesting for me to write down the recipe. He even said without provocation that it tasted like the sauce from the Italian restaurant that inspired it (SMILE! Ya. Loved that moment).
Wednesday:
Homemade pasta - I have tried quite a few recipes and I will tell you my favorite because it is light and cooks great. If you don't have a pasta maker, what are you waiting for! Just kidding, you don't need one before I purchased on I rolled out my lasagna sheets on our kitchen table.

Thursday:
Lasanga Rolls - Lasanga Sheets rolled with Mozzarella and Ricotta Cheese topped with a Savory Red Sauce and Ground Turkey.

Saturday:
Chicken Gnocchi Soup - Cream soup with Gnocchi (potato pasta, that are like light pillows with potato yumminess) I have never made Gnocchi's before so this one will hopefully be a positive experience for me (especially since gnocchi's are nearly impossible to find in the store and this is the one dish that Olive Garden has over my head)

My date with myself

2011-07-23T20:36:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, Brock had the day off and Rhett was hanging out with his grandparents in Carey. So that gave Brock and I time to have a long, awesome day/evening date. It was super random fun. We went to Nielson's frozen custard for dinner,even though the prices for the burgers are a little bit more than most fast food joints it was a really yummy burger. Then we window shopped a whole bunch while we waited for Captain America to start. Oh by the way Captain America was really good. It must have been rated PG-13 for violence because there wasn't anything else in there. I highly recommend it. We saw it in 3D because I had a voucher for two movie tickets up to 15 a piece so it didn't cost us anymore, I think I might have enjoyed it more in 2d (some of the effects were silky enough that they were distracting).

Today, Brock had to work all day. So I had a date day in with me, myself and I. A few months ago I saw on a talk show where the challenged the viewers to take themselves on a date. So the opportunity finally presented itself where I could. It was fun for the first few hours but let me tell you it is a lot easier for me to do a long date with Brock than just with myself. I think that if I could give myself a 2 hour block every month where I would take myself on a date it could be a very refreshing thing, I think I will give Brock permission to do the same because he is always working so hard.
For my personal date I turned an old duvet cover into a maternity shirred dress. I am not sure that right now it is the most flattering item on my but I think as I get bigger it won't look so strange (or at least that is my hope). It did hit on major goals for me it is super comfortable and won't be overly hot. Both will be plus when Brock and I jet away to Vegas for our anniversary next month. I have some more maternity sewing in the works as well when I finish them all I will do some show and tell.

Pictures from the Trip to Minnesota

2011-07-03T11:07:00.000-06:00

Allison and I (Rhett and Twila, too!) were able to take a trip to Minnesota to help Erika prepare for the birth of her daughter baby E. I swear I wrote a blog post about this but I can't find one for the life of me, so I think blogger deleted it.
Parts of this trip were really exhausting and gross (Allison, Rhett, Twila, Erika's Whole Family (6) and I all got stomach flu). After that experience I will never complain about one sick kid, because it was quite a chore to keep up on cleanup of all of THAT. I really enjoyed the time I was able to spend in the car with Allison. It was great to have sister time. And it was really fun to keep track of the contractions (I know that sounds silly but I never had that experience with Rhett).

As we were leaving it decided to downpour. It was hard saying goodbye to Brock.

And these are the sort of messes that you get when you let two toddlers feed themselves so you can drive straight (besides gas and diaper changes) for 10 hours.

Rhett was star struck by Dora and Boots.

And the Wonder Pets.

Don't you love my nephew's cape

My beautiful sister with number 4 (2 1/2yrs), days before she had number 5

There is something a little super about a two year old's smile.

These two have so much fun together

I love my little man. He is such a sweetheart.

In front of the temple. It is only a few miles from Erika's house.

We really had a hard time getting a good picture of both of them. Try 1. I just Love Rhett's smile in this one.

Attempt 2: Twila wasn't sure what her mom was doing

Finally, she decided it was funny.

We went to the nature park with Erika's number 2 and 3. They were so cute they wanted me to get pictures of slugs and all sorts of cool little boy things.

We only could stay a week the day (at 1:30 am) that we were planning on leaving this little sweetheart decided to make her debut. So we decided to stay one more day.

I love that after patiently waiting through 4 boys my sister got a little girl that looked just like her.

Love her little white streak.

Happy Birthday Momma Lela,

2011-06-19T08:00:00.003-06:00

All things being fair Brock would be writing this, but I will try and make up for his lack of time (because of his new job) and his disdain for writing. Remember that he loves you, just remember how much he hates writing. So I am doing this on behalf of Brock.

Happy Birthday Momma, sorry we can't be there for your birthday. I want you to know we love you. You have worked so hard throughout your life to nourish, provide and care for your children. Your friendship with your kids is one that I hope to have with our kids as they grow up. In the last four years you have taught me so much about being a mom. It seems like every time we go down to visit you, you inadvertently teach me something that helps me be a better wife and mother. As we were talking the other day and you related experiences of trying to make your home a haven for your family from the sin and filth of the world.

What a great batch of kids you are raising

You have created a home for any that enter that is full of laughter and caring. I have learned in the last 4 years that I need to be careful of how I phrasing things in the Hall home, because of the quick and playful wit of you and your children.
I love how you take time to play with your children. I know that we have all had cherished memories playing: Hillbilly Golf, Hand and Foot, Rock-Band and Dance Central. Some day I hope to have a home filled with as happy memories as your house has for us. You have such a happy home where we are able to have such fun.

Brock totally got his easy going fun personality from you.

You are like a magnet all of us are drawn to you because of the warmth and honesty you possess. It seems like every time we come to your house everyone will be in what ever room you are in. You have taken me in like one of your own and I know you are are concerned for our welfare.

Trying to give you kisses

Rhett always has so much fun at Grandma and Grandpa's House

And I am pretty sure you enjoy him too.

You are always looking out for our best welfare and I love that this picture shows that. You trying to help clean up the mess that your son made with the cake.

What a fun family this is to be in.

And I am loving the family we are becoming.

Love,
Brock, SarahLynn and Rhett

PS

I know you are missing your Daddy and our prayers are with you that you might be comforted. What a great man he was and because of his righteous life one day we will all be together.

Marrón Tres Leches or Chocolate Tres Leches

2011-06-18T10:43:00.002-06:00

I love Tres Leches (three milk) it is one of my favorite deserts (also one of my favorite Mexican foods to make). This month I celebrated 25 years of being on this world. And like a true foodie I wanted a challenge for my birthday cake, this is where I came up with the idea of Chocolate Tres Leches.

Here it is in all it glory. Tasty satisfying chocolate cake.

I used Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake as my chocolate cake base, because one of the most important parts to Tres Leches is a good cake base. For the Chocolate Tres Leches I combined; evaporated milk, chocolate pudding and whipping cream.
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake
Cooks Illustrated All-Time Best Recipes, David Pazmino; Adapted to 9 by 13 pan for making Chocolate Tres Leches by SarahLynn
12 Tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, very soft, plus extra for greasing pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting pans
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsley chopped
1/4 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 cup hot water
1 3/4 C sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs, plus 2 large egg yolks
Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat to 350 degrees. Grease 1-9 by 13 cake pan with butter; dust pan with flour and knock out excess. Combine chocolate, cocoa powder, and hot water in medium heatproof bowl; set bowl over saucepan containing 1 inch of simmering water and stir with rubber spatula until chocolate melted, about 3-4 minutes. Add 1/2 cup sugar to chocolate and stir until glossy, 1-2 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and set aside to cool.
Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Combine buttermilk and vanilla in small bowl. In large bowl, whisk eggs and yolks on medium-low speed until combined, about 10 seconds. Add remaining 1 1/4 C sugar, increase speed to high, and whisk until fluffy and lightened in color, 2-3 minutes (it will end up a light baby yellow). Add cooled chocolate mixture to egg/sugar mixture and mix on medium speed until thoroughly incorporated, 30-45 seconds, pausing to scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing about 10 seconds after each addition. Add about 1/3 of flour mixture; followed by half of buttermilk mixture mixing until incorporated after each addition (about 15 seconds.) Repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining buttermilk mixture (batter may appear separated.) Scrape down sides of bowl and add remaining flour mixture; mix at medium low speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans; smooth batter to edges of pan with spatula.
Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 35-40 minutes. Poke holes across the cake with small side of chop sticks. Cool cake for 20 minutes and then place in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Rhett loved this chocolate cake and the batter and the whole experience this is a really yummy cake.

Three Milks-Chocolate Style
Portions adapted from OurBestBites.com Tres Leches Cupcakes
Chocolate Pudding mix
Milk according to pudding directions
1 cup Evaporated Milk
3/4 cup of Whipping Cream
Mix up a package of chocolate pudding, following the directions on the package.
In a medium bowl, mix with electric mixer together the evaporated milk, 1/4 c. chocolate pudding, and 3/4 c. of whipping cream. Taste mixture if it doesn't taste chocolaty enough for you put in some cocoa powder or some more chocolate pudding. Let sit in the refrigerator. For 1 hour. Then pour on top of the chocolate cake.

Chocolate Mousse from Chocolate Mousse Crunch Cake
Recipe from OurBestBites.com

1 tsp. unflavored gelatin

1 Tbsp. cold water

2 Tbsp. boiling water (just heat it in a small bowl in your microwave)

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 c. whipping cream

1 tsp. vanilla

In a small bowl, combine gelatin and cold water and allow to stand for about 1 minute. While gelatin is softening, bring 2 Tbsp. water to a boil in the microwave. Whisk into the softened gelatin and allow to cool slightly.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine sugar, cocoa powder, whipping cream, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer until medium-stiff peaks form. Mix in gelatin mixture and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
After you have waited the hour on the tres leches and the cake. Start pouring the tres leches over the cake only do half to start out (only put a little bit more than what it will accept, because other wise you will loose the structural integrity of the cake). You will probably have to go around the corners and sides of the cake to get it accept more. You will probably have to poke a few more holes (or in my case a lot more). Then cover cake with plastic wrap and let sit another hour, until the cake has soaked up it up. Once you are satisfied with the amount of saturation of liquid top with mousse and then top with chocolate shavings.

Hearty Yummy Red Sauce (feeds about 6 adults-2 kids with leftovers)

2011-06-18T09:17:00.001-06:00

One of my favorite parts of Authentic Italian Red Sauce is the depth of flavor and the heartiness of it. I remember as a child going to DaVinci's and their lasagna was AMAZING! The waiter brought out a dish, it was steamy, beautiful and gorgeous. From this one dish I began to wish that I have Italian somewhere my bloodline, sadly I haven't found any to this date. I noticed something as I began to eat, a small piece of carrot. From that amazing dish came the idea for this Hearty Yummy Red Sauce.

6 carrots-pealed and cut up
2 garlic cloves-minced
1/2 onion cut up
1 tablespoon of butter
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 tsp of Italian seasoning.
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 bunch of cilantro-chopped
1 bunch of Italian parsley-chopped.
3 cans of diced tomatoes
1 lb of hamburger
1 lb of sausage
2 cans of spaghetti sauce.

Warm butter and olive oil in a large stockpot then dump in carrots, onions and garlic. Cook on Medium-Low heat until the carrots start to soften and onions start to turn clear. Add Italian seasoning and cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes. Then add cilantro and parsley to pot and allow herbs to sweat out for an additional 3 to 4 minutes. Then turn heat to Medium and add diced tomatoes. Stir frequently. Cook until almost all of the tomato juice is gone (it will look similar in consistency to a chunky salsa but don't worry in a few minutes it will be beautiful). Now transfer that to a bowl and allow it to cool (probably at least 10 minutes) before placing in the blender, and blend until it is thick and saucy. While the veggies are cooling, use the stockpot to cook the hamburger and sausage. You will want to season it with a little bit of salt and pepper. When the meat is all cooked and the veggie herb blend is done combine the two. And then add two cans of spaghetti sauce. Let simmer for 30 minutes and enjoy hearty red sauce. I topped it with cheese which added additional depth of flavor.

Little Dancing Gummy Bear

2011-06-18T09:15:00.000-06:00

Warning a few posts coming your way. I am trying to get all caught up on the blog I have a few drafts that I just need to bite the bullet and finish.

The Ultra sound tech was trying to get a good
picture but the baby just kept squirming around.
Several times baby moved his or her arms rhythmic time.

On the 16th of May I took a home pregnancy test. I was really anxious to take one but after being one week late I finally bit the bullet. Before we got pregnant with Rhett we had tried for a while so when I would be a few days late I would take a pregnancy test only to find out that I wasn't pregnant. I think it kind of scarred me. Within a matter of seconds it flashed "Pregnant", so I came out with the world's biggest smile on my face and showed Brock. He said, "Ya, told you so."

Since that initial excitement, there has been lots of nausea, vomit, large consumption of saltine crackers and preggo drops (seriously a life saver especially on the tough days). The following things cause me morning sickness: Smell of cooking meat, eating quinoa (worst reaction of my life, honestly thought I was going to die that night), photographed food (which has ranged from looking at circulars to my favorite food blogs), Brock coming home from work smelling like chemicals and eating more than half a plate of food. Things that make me feel great are: going for walks, going for runs and smelling the sweet fragrance of lilacs through the air.

For the last several weeks it seems like the throwing up part of the sickness is every other day which is bearable and allows me to get stuff done on the off day. I have been so much more sick with "Gummy Bear" than I was with Rhett. Thank goodness on my very worst days I have been able to turn to Brock or Allison. With Rhett as long as there was food in my stomach I could keep my morning sickness under control. With "Gummy Bear" I eat about 1/3 of what I usually do and end up stuffed.

The cravings I have had so far have been Mexican Sweet Pork Salad and fresh pasta. This week I whipped up a lot of fresh wheat pasta. The first time I made the mistake of doubling the recipe and it seemed like I was rolling pasta for hours, and only used half. Last night we had a dinner party with a small group of friends and I made the best red sauce of my life. I didn't get a picture of it because I was busy talking with friends instead of taking pictures of food. But it was great and held up to the heartiness of the whole wheat pasta. I will post that recipe next.

FAQ about Baby Number 2:
Official Due Date of Number 2? January 16th.

Was this pregnancy planned? Yes, it was. Even though I didn't enjoy being pregnant tons (hated it) I do love Rhett and love being a mom. We felt like it was a good time to bring another member into our family.

What will be the age difference between Rhett and Number 2? Based on the due date, 2 years 3 months and almost 2 weeks.
Do you have any names chosen? If baby #2 is a girl; yes, we will use Brooklynn. If baby #2 is a boy; not really we have a few options we are playing with but are still undecided. On the board is Everett (but I think it sounds too much like Rhett) and Wyatt (but I am not sure about doing another 5 letter name that people can easily confuse with Brock and Rhett, I worry about that because it already happens with Brock and Rhett weekly).
Concerns with this pregnancy: I really would like to be able to do a VBAC with this baby but after talking it over with the doctor everything depends on the final size of the kid. If Baby #2 is remotely close to the same size as Rhett I will be having another C-Section, but if baby number two is mid 8 lbs. I will be allowed to attempt a VBAC. Also after talking to the doctor about my pregnancy with Rhett he is sure that even though I passed the gestational diabetes test, he said there is enough evidence and side effects to prove other wise. He said that the glucose test is just a screening tool which can give false results. That does mean with this baby if I really want to have a VBAC or not blow up like a water balloon, I have to be strict with my diet and workout frequently. Which I think will be a lot easier than it was with Rhett because I was already working towards overall health before getting pregnant.
Do you think it is a boy or a girl? Brock really really really wants a girl. I think he has had so much fun having Twila around that he is ready for a girl to come to our family. But he has no inclination one way or another. I really don't care one way or another I just want to have a good pregnancy where I don't blow up like a water balloon and we get to take home a happy healthy baby. But my prediction is girl, but I could be wrong for the first 18 weeks of my pregnancy with Rhett I was sure he was a girl. Then I had a vivid dream where I was pushing this beautiful blonde little boy with bright blue eyes in a shopping cart around Broulim's and when I woke up I knew he was a boy.
Doctor's Office: I am going to a different doctor's office with #2 than with Rhett. There was a lack of honest communication with Rhett's pregnancy that made me very nervous to go back. So this pregnancy I will be going to Seasons Women's Clinic (formerly called Targee), the first appointment went really good. It was great to be able to sit down with the doctor to get honest answers, and not feel like he had one foot out the door while asking me if I had any questions. (It isn't like I want to have my hand held through the whole pregnancy but since pregnancy is a time when a woman and her babies life are fragile I think it should be treated with some care)

Rhett 20 Months (or 2 months past a year in a half)

2011-06-13T07:36:00.000-06:00

I know I always say it but I love this age. Rhett is becoming such a fun and funny little guy. He wants to be outside 90% of the day (the other 10% of the day he reserves for nap time). He loves when the big kids are outside and he can chase them around and play with them.

He has recently come to a point where he is really testing boundaries which has been interesting. For example, we will tell him not to do something he will do it anyway. We tell him to go to timeout, he runs right over to the timeout corner and puts his nose in the corner until he is told to come out. Sometimes there will be whining and complaining other times he just takes his punishment like a man. But when he is told he can come out he always has a big smile on his face and arms open to give a hug to whomever he disobeyed.

Lately he has been really into hugging strangers which can be a little awkward at times. Like restaurants, Walmart and public events. I decided having such an outgoing kid is good for me, because it has taught me to let go a little and just go with his flow.

The other day for my birthday Rhett and I went to the Farmer's Market while Brock was at work. They had some music playing in the background Rhett got so excited that he ran through the crowd (I was anywhere from 5 to 15 feet behind him because it is a lot harder for me to get through a crowd than Rhett, he has the duck and dodge down pretty good) until he found the source of the music, then he pointed, and broke out some serious dance moves. So there we were in public and Rhett is rocking out. He then looks at me and points at the speakers and starts dancing, as to say, "Mom, don't you hear the music you should dance." I thought about how embarrassed I was for a moment and then I reflected on how great it is that Rhett doesn't care what anyone thinks about his dance moves he just hears the music and starts moving. So I started moving and grooving as well.

The other day I went to Walmart right before Rhett's bedtime with Mom, Allison and Rhett. Within 5 minutes of being in the store Rhett had made a dirty diaper, that under no circumstances did he want to sit in. So we let him out of the cart and walk around. In the span of a few minutes I am pretty sure he jumped in front of 5 carts just to see if people would stop, he hugged several people, and he said "Hi!" and waved as several people walked by and sprinted away from me several times. After me being 100% red in the face from embarrassment and no significant progress in leaving the store from my Mom. I decided that Rhett and I would go sit on the bench outside the store, from there Rhett took on the job of Walmart goodbye specialist as he waved to all the people leaving.
In a nutshell Rhett at 20 months is a social, outgoing, funny little dude; that likes to push the boundaries of his parents embarrassment level (and sometimes our patience). I will just leave you with a few more pictures from our park adventure yesterday.

Rhett loves these old slides that some of the parks around town have. And though I ~~freak out~~ get a little nervous every time he climbs to the top he is getting so good at it and enjoys it so much.

Rhett has a really good arm so one of the things we are working on right now is what items are appropriate to throw and which ones are not. Example: Books at your cousin Twila's head, Not Okay. Balls at the Park when someone is paying attention, Okay.

Austin's Graduation & Grandma's Birthday

2011-06-12T12:42:00.000-06:00

The Awesome Graduate

Austin getting ready to to walk in.

It was easy to find the 6'7" guy in the crowd of graduates.

With his diploma

Momma Lela saying, "Three down, one to go"

Carson didn't want to smile at first and then I told him that I would Photoshop girl lips on if he didn't smile.

So he decided to smile for me.

Grandma's Birthday Cake.

Austin's graduation cake.

The birthday girl enjoying her cake.

Rhett decided that he needed to go outside and ride the tractor while
Dad and Uncle Carson were working out on the yard.

Rhett has the best uncles they make sure that he is having a good time.

You can see from the look on Rhett's face how much he appreciated it.

Tortellini Al Pana

2011-06-06T20:03:00.000-06:00

1 clove of garlic
2 Tablespoon of butter
1/2 Tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 package of Pancetta (or you can use bacon but it won't be exactly authentic Italian but I won't tell, the biggest difference between Pancetta and bacon is the smokey flavor so it is really your call)
1 pt of cream (you probably won't use all the cream but this really depends on the amount of Tortellini you have made and how much you have to cover)
1 pt of milk
1 package of Tortellini

Turn a Stainless Steel pan to low heat with a small amount of olive oil. Melt butter and mince garlic. Once butter is melted put garlic in pan and cook for 3 minutes. Cut the Pancetta up into small pieces, and dump into stainless steel pan. Cook Pancetta until crispy, don't dump out your oil from the Pancetta because that will help build your sauce. In a separate pot bring salted water to a boil and begin to cook Tortellini as instructed on the packaging. Once the Pancetta is cooked, then dump in flour to make a rouge. Then pour in cream and milk in parts, don't dump in the whole thing at once, probably like 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups at a time. Wait for your pancetta fat and cream to combine, stir and watch constantly. Once the cream and fat have combined then you can add additional cream as needed. Once Tortellini begins to float to the top of the water you know it is done. Take the Tortellini straight from your pot into you sauce pan (the little bit of pasta water you will get from taking it straight from the pot into your sauce will help it thicken).

If you are tempted to use Teflon resist the urge, I love my non-stick pans more than about anyone but it just works better to use stainless steel because of the texture of the metal. But if you only have non-stick I understand, just put one stainless steel pan on your wish list for Christmas or birthday.

100th POST: I am in Love with...

2011-05-27T06:14:00.000-06:00

Today when I got off the phone with my sister I said that I was going to do something important today. I never imagined it would be this the 100th post on our little family blog! This the 100th Post is about what I am in LOVE (caps to add extra emphasis) with.

This Man

Does a great job packing Rhett around even when Rhett doesn't want to go.

He is an AWESOME Dad.

He knows his way around the kitchen, and is a way better cookie baker than me.

He makes a great playground for Rhett

Love his goofy looks

And his great sense of humor

This little personality

especially loving this age

Chasing after a little friend that left the playground, in his grandpa hat.

His Love of being goofy and wearing sunglasses

That he is such a great sleeper, which I love! He sleeps 10-12 hours at night and 3-5 hours during the day, we are really blessed.

I love watching the little wheels in his head turn. It is great to see.

Photography

Pregnant woman

Sweet Couple in love

Taking pictures of food is so fun and interesting

Capturing beautiful landscapes

This little blog

When I first started to blog I never imagine that I would love blogging this much. It started as a little place for us to be able to cope with challenges we were going through. Then it allowed me to document my pregnancy from the first announcement, to finding out we were having a boy, to Brock's blog post with the announcement of our son. And since that date nearly every post has been about our sweet little man. I love looking through the posts and seeing 3 years if family history, I am so grateful that I started this when I did and hope that I can keep it up so that I have a record of all the stuff that my mind is too crowded to remember.

Our header when I started.

For the last few years our blog description has been "Keep up with Brock, SarahLynn & Rhett as we move from one stage to the next" but I have decided that I am changing it to "A Collection of Stories and Snapshots to Help Us Remember". Because this blog has become so much more than a tracking device as moving from one stage to the next, I really am using this blog to record our stories, jokes and pictures; so that one day we can share it all with our posterity.

Here is a goofy comment assignment for any readers I have out there. Here is my United States Google Analytics map for brockandslcamper.blogspot.com for 2 months. If you could tag where you live and what your blog address or your favorite part of blogging is. Example: I live in Idaho, and my favorite part of blogging is sharing the joys of my life with my friends and family.

First Meatless Dinner

2011-05-26T21:30:00.000-06:00

This is what we had for dinner tonight. It was SOOOOO Good and Meatless. The recipe is at the bottom of the post.

This summer I am trying to challenge myself to do 1/2 of our dinners meatless. I don't know that I am going into the tofu, sprouts and soy stuff. But I do feel like fruits, veggies, non-meat proteins and grains have a lot of flavor that gets over powered by the meat in the dish. I always joke that Brock doesn't like veggies but that isn't really so, he likes most of the ones that are not green and a few of the ones that are.
One ingredient that Brock recently educated me on is quinoa, and let me say I am falling in love with this cooking ingredient. Quinoa is a fruit from a broadleaf plant "it is in the same family as spinach and beets and is classified as a pseudocereal." Quinoa is considered as a complete protein because it contains the following amino acids: lysine (found in grains), histidine (important for infant and children nutrient), cysteine and methionine (found in legumes). It is also rich in vitamins B2, B6, E, folic acid, bioticin, calcium (higher than whole grains), potassium, iron (higher than whole grains), cooper, magnesium, maganese and cloride.(Source: Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood)
I have tried a few variations of Quinoa, like using it in place of rice with sweet and sour meatballs, with fruit and yogurt in the morning....etc. But because I hadn't tasted any dishes beyond my own I felt some what limited with my experience and I hate wasting ingredients so trail and error isn't my favorite. Yesterday, I was in at Costco looking through the books, and I found this little number called

Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood

I was skeptical at first when I opened it up but when I looked at the pages and read some of the recipes I knew that it would be a cookbook that I could really use in my journey to greater fitness and my desire to make more meatless meals.
I made a few adjustments to their recipe both in order of ingredients and quantities of ingredients to best suit our family's pallet but it was great to have a base to work from. Here is the recipe as I did it.

Quinoa, Carrot and Lentil Stew
1 Tablespoon Butter
2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 onion
2 garlic cloves minced
6 peeled and cubed carrots
1 diced red bell pepper
1 diced green pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt

4 cups stock
2 cups water

1 c quinoa
1 c lentils
Soak quinoa in a bowl of cold water stir every 5 minutes to cause the saponin to come off. Combine butter and oil in a stockpot. Let butter melt. On low let onion and garlic sweat out, until the onions get clear and you have a bright fragrance in your house. Peel and dice carrots and add to the pot to sweat. Remove stem and seeds from bell pepper and cut up into small bit size pieces. Add salt and cumin to vegetables until peppers soften up. Add stock and water to the saucepan and get to a simmer. Drain quinoa from water. Add lentils to stockpot and then quinoa. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until quinoa has expanded and lentil's shell comes off when smushed between thumb and finger.

You know I was really worried about missing the meat but I didn't! I really love the feeling of being full but with something light and really healthy. I am looking forward to cooking myself through this book and analyzing both meat and meatless choices.

Why it Matters: Fair Laws

2011-05-21T12:12:00.003-06:00

WARNING: Political Science post headed your direction. With my views expressed in great depth.

When I was in Introduction to Law my Junior year I remember our teacher, Brother Inama asking, Why we as good citizens should care that fair criminal laws and a fair appeal process be in place." Some of the students presented the opinion that the American criminal process is too slow, too easy for guilty parties to get off and too expensive. One student even presented the idea that if we really wanted to stop crimes we needed to turn to similar punishment as Singpore (where if you are accused of a crime usually within a day or two you will receive your punishment). After I had heard enough I remember raising my hand (this is not a direct quote but it is pretty near to what I said), "But what if it was you that was wrongly accused. You never know when you will be the one who is accused of a crime you didn't commit."

I think it is easy to think of ourselves immune to being accused and we think of the criminal trial process a game of strategy for those that are guilty. I don't know how many of you have read about this case:

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

In full disclosure Debra Brown is my mom's cousin. So as a family member I may be bias but I don't think I have ever met her. All the facts I am stating on this blog is after reading newspaper articles, her petition for Factual Innocence, the States rebuttal and the judge's decision.

Debra Brown did make bad decisions that called her integrity to question, but she did not commit the murder that she was accused of. The State of Utah and the Logan police ignored evidence and testimony to incriminate this mother of three. Her public defenders ignored testimony that would have called the state's circumstantial evidence in to question.

She missed her kid's graduations, weddings and births of grand babies. She maintained her innocence for 17 years to this murder even though she was offered plea bargains if she would just admit her guilt.

In 2008 there was a law passed in Utah were cases could be appealed if there was factual evidence to prove that the petitioner was innocent. If the judge found the individual factually innocent then the "criminal" would be set free, given financial restitution and have the crime cleared from their record. Factual innocence is different from legal innocence, the difference of the definition explain what is different. Factual innocent: Is when there are facts that would prove that the individual DID NOT commit the crime. To be found factually innocent the burden of proof is left to the individual that has been convicted of the crime. Legal innocent: Is when there is reasonable doubt that the individual did not commit the crime. In the case of someone found legally innocent the person may/may not have committed the crime, the burden of proof is left to government to prove guilt. Before this time convicted individuals could only appeal based on a change in DNA evidence.

In the case of Debra Brown, the police ignored the testimony of individuals that testified that the murder victim was still alive on Saturday afternoon. They modified the documents of the autopsy to fit the time frame that they needed to convince a jury to put Brown in jail.

After 17 years she is free. She has been going on long bike rides just enjoying the outdoors like only a free individual can. We need to make sure that we take the time to make sure fair laws get passed and when we have the opportunity to serve on a jury we do it with full energy and integrity. Let us make sure that the innocent do go to jail, because what if it was you that was wrongly accused.....or your child.....or your mom.................................

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how....

2011-05-21T07:00:00.004-06:00

"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
The other day while cuddling Rhett so he would go down for a nap I was watching The Talk. The guest was Jillian Micheals from The Biggest Loser, she was talking about her new book and about how she is wanting to be able to help more people than the few that she has been able to help every season of The Biggest Loser. She also talked about how she gets such joy as a personal trainer, in helping people find a "why" to live for. She quoted Nietzsche, and compared the "how" to eating healthy, exercising and having healthy relationships.

For the last several months I have thought of a million ways to talk about this but never could find the right base to start it on. I am happy to say that in the last 4 months I have lost over 45 pounds. I still have a little way to go in getting more fit but I am feeling so much happier. My putting on the weight came about with some major stresses, pregnancy and depression after blowing my ACL.

The turning point for me is when I realized that if I wanted to be there for my family I needed to get it in gear. I started by writing down a few reasons why I needed to get in shape and posting the list in my kitchen. Some of them are silly but 3 of them are REALLY important to me. These are the ones that are most important: Keep myself up for Brock (it is important for a marriage to succeed to have attraction), Set a Good Example for Rhett (by making good decisions now I think it will make it easier for Rhett to make it a lifestyle) and to Live to Be an Old Lady (who doesn't want to live to be a cool great grandma? 100, here I come!)

Focusing and reminding myself of the "why" has made it so much easier for me to make good decisions on the "how". I could have tried some crazy fad diet with appetite suppressants but because I focused on the "why" I knew that I didn't just want to get skinny I wanted to be fit and nourish my body, so I had the fuel I needed to complete my daily tasks.

It may sound weak but I was able to loose the weight by looking for lower calorie/fat/sodium versions of our favorite recipes. And forcing myself to find a workout time, even if it is 30 minutes for Jillian Micheals' 30 day shred workout video (which if you are going to do a workout video I really like this one).

I have to say that this change to a healthier lifestyle has been in large part to:

My big sister, Erika. Erika made a decision about a year ago that she was changing out for a healthier lifestyle by embracing running. She started training for a 5k, then a 10k, then a marathon. Recently, she trained and completed a triathlon in her 2nd trimester of pregnancy! Her dedication has taught me that even a stay at home mom with 4 boys can work out. She challenged me to look at my fitness goals and gave me the push to get back in the gym after ACL surgery.
A former classmate, Chris. Chris and I were in a design class several years ago since that point both he and I have gained weight. At the end of 2010 he examined his personal health and realized that if he wanted to live a long and full life he needed to make a changes in food and fitness. Every day he writes with complete honesty about his journey to shed the pounds. He started with a 5k, now he is training for a marathon. As I read his daily accounts I am reminded that working towards a healthy lifestyle is always worth it but even still it is okay if a workout once in a while kicks our butt. He has also help remind me that our weight is not who we are it will just help us or hurt us in what we want to do. I have subscribed to Chris's blog via e-mail so every morning when I wake up the first thing I see is Chris's blog post on my phone and his ability to keep working even though things get tough has given me the strength to not give up.

My favorite recipe blog, OurBestBites.com. I love Our Best Bites, I go to their website several times a week to look up new recipes. I am always so impressed with how many recipes they offer with few to no preservatives and usually pretty low fat stuff. It has been so nice to eat food that tastes so good but not have to overspend on the calorie bank. Here are some of their Healthy Recipes. I really don't know if I could have been successful in starting a lifestyle change without them, because they make healthy taste OOOOOOoooohhhhh Soooooooo Good.
Inexpensive and Flexible Workout options, so I guess with Brock being a college student it is not really a surprise that we aren't rolling in dough. One day as I was walking by the workout section I glanced at the price of the DVD's and I saw the 30 day shred it was 9 dollars, it requires hand weights which were about 6 dollars for the price of going out to eat two times I was able to get a workout video that I can use at any time (like when Rhett is in his bed asleep). Another Inexpensive (or Free) workout option is doing a Couch to 5K there are mp3 out there that you can get for free that tell you when to start and stop running and when to walk, so you don't have to use a timer when running. Both of these options don't force me to get a babysitter or cost monthly fee's it just requires 30 minutes of my time and to get a little sweaty.
Meal Planning, One of the lessons I took from trying to be a super couponer actually had nothing to do with couponing but meal planning. When I plan ahead our meals it is a lot easier for me to make sure that I have healthy meals planned and we aren't just scrapping up whatever crap we can find.

I have learned healthy is a lifestyle choice, and it is one that I am planning on making permanent. And for a while it might take me conscientiously thinking about working out or eating right in order to make the positive lifetime habits (kind of like I am still working on trying to clean up the dinner dishes while I am cooking instead of trying to force myself after dinner to do it). I am happy to report I am a lot closer to overall wellness than I might have ever been. I am quite satisfied in all the aspects of my life: spiritual wellness, mental wellness, social wellness and physical wellness. In all these areas I am still incomplete but I am totally satisfied in the journey towards increased happiness.

I am hoping that this post can be a strength to any of you that are wondering "how" you will ever be able to work towards wellness. Just please remember that you and your love ones can be the "why" that you are looking for.

Dear Momma,

2011-05-08T00:00:00.011-06:00

I love you. And if motherhood has taught me anything in the last year and half it is having that expressed to you never gets old. You and Dad are the ones that taught me what love was through your continual service and compassion.

I love our matching blue eyes. And anyone that knows you can tell without a doubt that I am your daughter. - taken August 2007

In raising my own family I am being to realize how much of what I am is because of you and how many great changes that have come to my life is because of sacrifices you have made for me. I am sure at times (very select times though :-) )you would think how much easier life would have been if you weren't a mom and you would have just continued your career. Lately, as I have been working on potty training Rhett I now realize how much time and energy you put into potty training me and I know that in so many different ways you have spent millions of hours serving me.

Even though for part of my life I didn't like my curly hair I always felt like yours was a beautiful golden frame around your face.

Thank you for caring about us and who we were becoming to be a stay at home mom. Your decision to stay home with us has made my decision to stay home so much easier. I could take that leap of faith and know without a doubt that it would be worth it for my kids, because it was worth it for me. You also taught me with years of "Shaffer Summer School" (which consisted of both homework and 4-H projects) that it is my primary responsibility to teach my children not only scholarly information but real life skills.

Sometimes you do really silly stuff like not shutting the mustard jar before smashing the spider with it. But then you don't mind us having a good laugh about it. - taken October 2010

I think a great part of my sense of humor and passion for life was the fact that you taught me to laugh and never took yourself overly serious. I remember that nearly every shopping trip to Twin, we would be able to count on you cart surfing across the parking lot, your trying to achieve maximum speed before reaching our cart. I am sure that we weren't the only ones chuckling, but you didn't care you just made the most out of it. Your ability to laugh and learn about your mistakes has taught me how to let go, and let the past be left alone. I remember when Brock and I were engaged and Dad, You, Brock and I were out shooting and you shot Dad's 20 target with his high powered pistol (I don't know what the name of it was) and we teased you for the rest of the day about it and you just laughed.

Thanks for keeping us girls from killing each other long enough that we could become best friends - November 2007

Thanks for giving me such a great set of siblings. I know that it was your compassion and friendliness that has made my siblings some of my very best friends. Just like you in a drop of a hat they will serve anyone whole heartily. They often find themselves over scheduled because of this quality (sound familiar :-) )

I love when we get to spend time together (and on a really rare occasion when it is just the two of us). Often the way we swing together time is frequent phone calls as you are commuting to work - taken August 2006

Thanks for being my sounding board, whether it be joys, stresses, tears or fears. Often times I will call you with some hare brained idea you show your mother's intuition when you encourage me to seek for inspiration on whether I should do it or not.

You taught me how to take an active interest in whatever your husband is interest in and how that time can be precious - taken June 2007

Thanks for showing me how to make a great marriage work and that marriage is a great work. I always knew that you loved Dad because when you would talk about him your eyes would sparkle and light up. You never said stuff to us kids to make us doubt your affection for him. You always cherished the time that you had to spend with him even if it was just doing outside chores, you seemed pleased to be working by his side. As I watched you get up every morning, make and pack Dad's lunch and breakfast; I knew that making a marriage work means continually serving each other. Brock and I diligently follow one of the traditions that you two set, to always leave with a goodbye kiss (even if sometimes you are a little upset after a little "discussion").

You totally rock the Grandma look

You are such an excellent Grandma to Rhett. It is fun being able to watch both of your eyes sparkle as you communicate and make memories. I am starting to think that you might be an even better grandma than you were mother (which I never thought was possible). I love that you take time to talk to Rhett on the phone even though the conversations don't usually consist of much more than "da" "truck" "ya" "na" and some random jabber. The big smile on his face helps me know that he loves you very much.

You are such an awesome grandma that everyone wants your attention when you are around (I am pretty sure this is the way us kids act emotionally when you come to Rexburg for a day trip) - taken July 2010

Mom you are always trying to balance all of our needs, and I know often it gets overwhelming but we are all so grateful for all that you have done and continue to do. You and Dad are the glue that keeps this crazy family together. Nearly every time that we talk on the phone one of the other kids calls to talk to you, and it has helped me realize you are Mom to 4, Grandma to 7 (almost 8) and that in itself takes nearly all of your energy.

You and Dad have created such a great legacy (since this picture was taken we have 3 more grandkids and have 1 more on the way). As you taught us all the importance of education, hard work, compassion and faith

You have taught me motherhood and marriage is about doing all you can do and then dropping to your knees to for divine guidance and inspiration. Your constant and daily supplications to the Lord have become one of the most powerful gifts that you continually give us.

I am learn more and more every day that there is no Mother's Day present that will ever be enough to compensate you for for all that you have done, so instead of that, I am going to try and make sure you know I really appreciate it all as I am becoming more mindful of what "all" entails.

Love you lots,

Pete (you remember right?, of course you do)

Brock Camper: World's Best Husband and Why I am so sure.

2011-05-04T21:33:00.001-06:00

This post is 100 percent sure to make Brock blush but I am going to post it anyways!

The Vacuum Experience
When Brock and I first got married we got a vacuum and for the last 4 months it has just not been cutting it. I have had to pick up before it and after it. Brock helped me a couple of months ago clean out the vacuum and do the regular maintenance to see if it would fix the problem (we are talking 2 hours of work). We it did help but then I noticed that I was smelling burnt belts so I told him and we took the cover off and we found that sure enough it was. Within 2 days I vacuumed one room and we had burnt threw two belts at that point we realized the vacuum was toast.

This is what our new vacuum looks like

Knowing that Brock hadn't found a job (he has now) yet I volunteered to just borrow Allison's until we had a little bit more money. After one week of me going back and forth between borrowing and returning the vacuum Brock put his foot down and said that we really need to buy a new vacuum. He spent the rest of the day on the internet reading reviews trying to find the best bang for our little bucks. That evening we went to Walmart and picked out a new vacuum. And I LOVE IT! There are 10+ reasons this one is better than the last here are a few: Works (I know huge stretch), Bagless, Wide Cleaning Path (that was one of my wish list items), Long hose, Powered stair and upholstery brush. It is so nice to be married to a man that gives me the tools that I need to make my choirs easier.
Grocery Shopping

I think it is a true generalization that men dislike shopping less than women. In our marriage it is probably a tie. Brock knows that I hate going shopping so much that he has me write the shopping list and send him. He even lets me write a list using Coupons!....Without complaining! Yep. He is such a good right hand man.
Supporting my Interests
Brock has always been great at supporting the things I love. Today, Brock broke tradition and gave me my Mother's Day gift a couple of days early and let me tell you it was amazing, I couldn't have asked for a better present.
For those of you that don't know I LOVE COOKING! Like I think I like cooking better than eating, and the weird part is cooking actually saves me from snacking all day. I love knowing I am feeding my family with the highest quality ingredients. Last week I decided that I was going to make homemade lasagna noodles and even though it was time intensive and physically demanding, I decided that I would never go back to dry store bought noodles.
Today, he gave me a...........
.......................
......................
Pasta Roller!
It is so cool it does lasagna sheets (not with the pretty edges, but functional thin sheets), fettuccine and spaghetti noodles. And I can get additional cartridges for the roller.
Tonight I made Chicken Alfredo from scratch. It was so fun for me to be able to make the whole dish myself. I whipped up some Fettuccine noodles, seasoned some chicken breasts in a mix of seasonings and made Our Best Bites Recipe for Guiltless Alfredo Sauce. All the while Brock took Rhett to the store (to get the chicken breasts) and played with him in Rhett's bedroom so that I cook without distractions.

Back of the chair has to work until I make myself a noodle dryer. Don't they look so pretty!

The final product..yummy in my tummy. Rhett inhaled it.

The other day Brock's parents were reflecting with Brock and I on how we used to act when we were dating and engaged. As they were talking about how our eyes would light up when we saw each other at the end of a two week separation. I realized that when I look at Brock after a whole day without him I still have those same butterflies rustling in my stomach. So there it is:

Brock is The World's Best Husband

according to SarahLynn Camper. (I am only putting this for all of you that believe that your husband is the world's best husband).

The Toddler Bed: An Reminder Why Motherhood is a Very Important Job.

2011-05-02T23:25:00.000-06:00

Today Brock took down Rhett's crib and put up his toddler bed while Rhett and I were outside going on walks and playing. Then it was time for Rhett to go to bed. I showed him his new bed he thought it was pretty cool but he wasn't too excited about laying on it or taking a nap on it. So after a little crying I decided to rock him until he got settled down. It didn't take long. But he still wanted me to stay with him so I did. I shhhhhh in his ear, I rubbed his head and laid right beside him (well my head and body anyway, I am much too big for a toddler bed). After 10 minutes I was able to stop and go about my chores. At that moment I thought man it is nice to be loved.

First Nap in the Toddler Bed.

Then when Rhett woke up from his nap he was pretty upset and all he wanted to do was cuddle. After he got settled down, he poked his head up and gave me a cheese grin. I told him, "I Love You." Which I usually say half a million times a day. He said something back to me that sure sounded like, "I Love You."
Tonight we went to dinner to Celebrate Brock's new job (oh remind me to post the details of that later). But when we got home it was time for Rhett to go to bed. We all stalled a little as we put together the new container/cubby that we got for Rhett's books (also if you could help me remember to post about our reorganizing of our mess). Well Rhett knew the drill and he was going to have none of it. So I told him I would stay there until he was totally asleep. He seemed to agree to that as the only condition that he would allow. So for 30 minutes I stayed there rubbing his head, shhhhhhhing and allowing him to hug my head for courage.

For part of the time I was singing, "I am child of God, and he has sent me here." I realized how lucky I really am to be trusted with one of my Father in Heaven's special spirits. And I thought how nice it is to know that someone puts full trust in you. Because Rhett was scared to dead but he knew that if I said I would be there with him until he was asleep and comfortable he knew I would. I LOVE BEING A MOM! Happy Mother's Day, in less to a week to all of you mothers out there!

Easter Weekend: Hunting, Fishing and Feeding

2011-04-26T00:17:00.001-06:00

Friday night we went to Carey and spent time with my parents and siblings. Then Saturday morning we got up early for the Carey Community Easter Egg Hunt. It was pretty windy and early on we realized that Rhett's hands were cold. We thought we would pick up some eggs and leave but within the first minutes of picking up eggs Rhett started to scream so I took him to the car to get warmed up and Brock waited for Landin to be done.
They had a raffle in which Rhett won a wooden train puzzle and Landin won a Color Wonder Paint set. It was probably a good thing that Landin won the paint set because he was so busy trying to find the prize eggs (gold, silver, bronze and white) that he completely forgot to pick up eggs, on the way home when I saw how little he had in his basket I realized that he must have only picked up 4-5 eggs. I asked him why he had so little candy and he said, "Because I was looking for the gold egg."

The wind made it pretty cold, that is what all the tense smiles are about.

Stomping rocks as Landin and Rhett impatiently wait for the Easter egg hunt to start.

Brock pointed the eggs out to Rhett but he didn't feel inclined to pick more than a few up. He was more interested in the candy that had fallen on the ground from the ones that blew open.

Not too sure about Easter Egg hunting.

Then after the Easter Egg hunt Grandma Karla and Grandpa Larry took Rhett, Landin and Daisy (the Lab) fishing at Gaver's Lagoon at the Hayspur Fish Hatchery, Brock and I came along for the ride to help transport Rhett and make sure Grandma and Grandpa weren't too overwhelmed.

Daisy was smiling because she got to come along. She did end up going swimming a few times which led to her finally being tied to a tree.

Look at that form as Landin reels in a fish.

Brock held the pole while Rhett reeled one in.

Rhett looking to see what Grandpa was going to do with that fish.

Rhett seemed interested in the fun of all of it.

Story behind this picture: Grandpa Larry got a fish on the hook and he was going to help Rhett reel it in. Grandpa, tried to get Rhett to go a little closer to the water. Rhett was sure Grandpa was trying to throw him in so he started to plant his feet. Then Grandpa told him he wasn't going to throw him in he just needed to get closer. At which point Rhett planted his feet and sat down on his behind. Then Grandpa almost fell on Rhett nearly taking both of them into the water. From that point on Rhett became more of a spectator than a participant.

From the moment Landin caught his fish he wanted to play with it. Which involved poking it. Throwing it in the air. Tossing it from side to side with the net. ETC. After 5 minutes of this the fish gave up the ghost, at which point Landin said to Grandma Karla, "Look Grandma, my fish is being really calm."

Landin, "Rhett Look at my fish." Rhett, babbles but seems to say, "Gross. No Way am I touching that thing."

Hey Grandpa look you got one on.

"Grandpa, Why are you holding Landin's gross fish?"

After fishing we headed down to Jerome and spent some time with Grandma Betty and Grandpa Jack. The moment we stepped out of the car Rhett saw the horses. He ran over to them and started trying to give them food. After a while we were able to get Rhett into the house. But it wasn't long before he was saying, "Shoes, shoes," and pointing outside. Brock and I took Rhett out and he decided he was going to take us for a walk, along our walk we found another corral of horses that were very eager to get some grass to eat. This fence was quite a bit higher so I hold Rhett up so that he could feed the horses. After the horse took the grass from his hands, the horse started to sniff him. At which point he decided to stick his hand up it's nose. Then the horse and Rhett touched heads like they were trying to understand each other. We stayed a little longer and hung out with them. At one point Rhett was walking along all the fence line and all of the horses were sniffing his head and he was giggling. I wish I had a pictures of all of this but I left my camera in the car.

Sunday, we went to church with Grandma Betty. At church we met up with my Uncle Scott and his girl friend Heike (pronounced Hi-Ka). It was great to finally meet Heike; she is very beautiful, kind, intelligent and friendly. Rhett started to melt down at the beginning of the children's service, I waited in the nursery until after the children's service was done in hopes that I could sneak back for the adult portion of the meeting. That only worked for the first 2 or 3 minutes at which point I heard Rhett scream I went to look what was going on and I saw that the kids (who were all 3+ years older than Rhett) were playing dodgeball. From their Brock and I split the service in which of us would take Rhett out so the rest of the congregation could hear what the pastor was saying.

After Church Rhett went down for a nap and we prepped the food for our Easter feast. It was a foodies delight there was so many tasty options I don't think I had seconds of anyone thing (maybe mashed potatoes but I am not sure). Then we talked for a while before we set for home.

Whew! That was a Busy Week.

2011-04-17T07:44:00.000-06:00

In our week down to Utah we were able to stay REALLY BUSY, but we were able to have a great time and get a lot done.
1. Helped with the house remodel: Brock's parent's have been out of their house for 6 weeks because they had a pipe leak and ruin the sub-flooring in the kitchen and bathroom. When the insurance company came and checked it out they found asbestos so they removed that but because of the additional work they ended up needing more replaced than they though originally. We were busy paint, paint and some more painting. Along with scrubbing title to get off the mud so that it could be grouted, Brock helped with pluming stuff and I did some yard work. Most of the days we had a set of great babysitters so that we didn't have to keep Rhett out of stuff which really made the work feel like a date as Brock and I had time to talk and tease.

Brock and Gordon putting on the first coat of paint

Saturday I was outside for most of the day which Rhett was pretty content to be outside with Meg and I, he would float between the two of us. I was getting ready to mow when Rhett looked up at me and noticed there were some short little men trapped in Grandma's flower bed. He ran as fast as he could to rescue them. He brought them out and put them on the grass. :) I love 18 months!

"I am still not really sure why these men are in her but they need to be rescued."

"I will help you escape"

"First, we have to wade through the foliage."

2. Rhett got to feed some animals and play with some cousins: Rhett loves animals and since there wasn't a working bathroom at Brock's parent's house we stayed with his Grandparents who have sheep, dogs and calves. This was a lot of fun for Rhett but it caused him to always be looking for his shoes so that he could go out and play with them. Brock has a lot of younger cousins and two of them are within 2 years (or less) of Rhett's age. It was fun for Rhett to be able to play and in some cases entertain them.

Rhett off-roading with the truck

Nothing like playing trucks with cousins

Irish the bottle fed triplet. So cute!

Bottle feeding for the first time

Loving it.

Trying to help Grandpa Hall feed the animals hay.

Trying to give Irish some hay.

I hope one day he can be a little 4-H sheeper like me.

Brock had to carry him back because he didn't want to stop playing with Thomas but he was getting tired.

3. Carson's Track Meet: One afternoon we went to Carson's track meet it had been warm in the morning but it seemed as soon as we arrived to the track meet it got cold and windy. We ended up only being able to stay for one of his events because the weather was too bad and Rhett's hands got cold. It did remind me why some day I won't push my kids to take track because I don't like freezing.

Rhett was trying to figure out why those kids kept on going around the track.

4. Austin's Prom Answer: Austin had asked a girl the week before but because it was spring break and she was gone he hadn't gotten an answer. It was a fun reminder of the things that you go through when you are young and shy to ask and answer for dates. It made me think, "What would Brock do if I did something that elaborate to ask/answer him for a date?" And then I realized why I don't, because no matter what he has to say yes.

Reading his clue.

5. Meg and Matt's Engagement Pictures: When Meg got engaged we had talked about doing her engagement pictures in Rexburg but Matt is leaving in a couple weeks to go do installation for summer sales, so we changed plans and did them one sunny afternoon after a day of painting. I knew these kids are in love before taking their pictures but their natural affection towards each other really showed in their pictures. If you want to see more of the pictures please go to my photography blog or click on the pictures below.

I think the think I missed the most as we were so busy was being able to read the blogs of my friends and be able to blog. I really look at this as a way to keep our family history and it is a nice way for me to be able to remember how to write more than a to-do list. But I did enjoy all the ways we were able to stay busy and it was really fun to be able to take A LOT of pictures.

Easter weekend we will be heading to Jerome to meet my Uncle Scott's girlfriend and eat with my Grandma and Grandpa. And then the following weekend back down to Utah for one of Brock's cousin's wedding. Go summer!

Home Sweet Home

2011-04-16T22:58:00.000-06:00

Right after Brock's finals we were able to leave town and go help in the Remodel of his parent's house. We were able to stay really busy and Rhett got to learn about farm animals but I am just happy to be home. I was thinking as Rhett was going from one thing to another making messes there was a touch of relief knowing that he wasn't going to get hurt (construction zone) or mess something up (like putting his hands in wet paint). Tonight as we all sleep in our beds we will wake up saying, "We had fun but it is good to be home." I really wish there would be a way to shrink the distance between Rexburg and Carey or Utah, then we would have the best of both worlds.

Tomorrow look for some more blog posts I have a very full week of pictures to post!

Potty Training: 18 Month Edition

2011-04-16T22:22:00.000-06:00

I am writing this because my Mom told me it would be encouraging to other mom's that are trying to potty train early. A good chunk of these details are going to be Too Much Information, but I guess that is pretty normal for a post about Potty Training.

On Rhett's 18 Month Birthday we bought him a "throne" and as soon as we purchased it he began to sit. He sat 30 minute chunks on several days with little results. I tried to stay calm and remind myself that the reason we are starting now isn't to be completely toilet trained immediately but just make Rhett more aware of his bodily functions.

Friday morning when I heard Rhett wake up, I remembered a piece of advice that my Grandma Twila had told my Mom, "They will be more likely to have success if you put them on the potty first thing in the morning." I decided to put him on while I was getting ready for the day. Rhett and I were chilling in the bathroom together. I was doing my hair and makeup and he was sitting on his "chair". 5 minutes into our bathroom hang out I noticed he had grabbed a piece of toilet paper and he was wiping. At which point he caught my attention he had gone number 1. I was so proud of him. He didn't scream with fright when it happened, he just calmly was cleaning up the mess.

From that point I put him on the potty every hour and he didn't go again but he didn't wet his diaper either. Then at about noon he said chair and pointed at his diaper. I was in the middle of fixing lunch for Twila, Landin, Rhett, Brock and I. And I knew I didn't have time right that second so I told him to wait (apparently that isn't in a 18 month old's comprehension or ability). So he started to squat. At which point I grabbed him and ran him to the bathroom stripped him down only to have the poop just land on the diaper. I wanted Rhett to know I was really proud of him for telling me, "So I said good job, next time we will get it in the potty." I then took the poop and dumped it in the toilet and flushed the toilet. Rhett decided he wanted to sit on his potty for a little while longer so I let him sit a few more minutes and then he pooped in his little toilet. Landin was a spectator of the grand event and he made sure that Rhett had done something totally great. At this point Rhett's smile was so big it seemed like it reached from ear to ear.

For the last week we have been down in Utah (details on our activities to come in a future post) and it has totally thrown off our schedule of wake-up, snacks, naps and going to sleep. And in addition to that I just wasn't able to keep up working on the potty training. And now every time has a poopy diaper he starts whining because he thinks he did something wrong. Which makes me feel a little guilty that he feels that way. I am hoping now that we are back home we can continue to work on potty training. Wish me luck.

Happy 18 Months Little Buddy

2011-04-07T09:30:00.000-06:00

Little Rhett is getting bigger he is now 18 months. I know I probably say this every post but he is a great little helper, and this patterned has continued. This last month he walked into the bathroom after I put the Comet in the toilet, I had my backed turned as I was scrubbing out the tub surround. Then I start hearing an additional; scrub, scrub, scrub. I turn around to see Rhett cleaning the toilet with the toilet brush.

Another part of Rhett's personality is his innate sense to pick up on the attitudes of the people around him (kind of like an emotional barometer; he can pick up on winds, humidity, and temperature). Which has made the last 18 months a great exercise for me in controlling emotion. When I am stressing then he begins to stress and freak out.

I know his hair is a little teenagerish in these pictures the reason it was this way is when he woke up from his nap his hair was sticking up like crazy and wouldn't go down so we had to work with what we were given.

Rhett is compassionate, the other day while we were watching General Conference I was laying on the couch and Rhett kept on coming up to give me kisses and hugs. He loves to bring food to Twila, he gives her bottle (kind of like how you would feed a baby calf) or hand her toys when she is sad.

I am so grateful that a year and a half ago he decided to join our family.

Oh yesterday we went to the doctor for his 18 month appointment and here are his stats:
Weight: 26.2 lbs - 55%
Height: 34.8 inches - 97%
Head Circ.: 19.8 in. - 96%

Rhett seems to be more and more aware of his happenings so I am casually starting potty training. So far he has been pretty satisfied sitting for 45 minute sits but nothing has happened which is okay, I just want him to get used to the idea of sitting on the potty. Yesterday afternoon, Rhett was diligently sitting on the potty and reading some books. and then all the sudden he started to scream. I assessed the situation and realized that Rhett had shut a certain body part in the book. After that he continued to sit and read books he just made sure and held them higher. (He is probably going to want to shoot me one day for sharing this story on the world wide web. Oh well, I am pretty sure that is one of the callings mothers have, to embarrass their children. )

This was from the night when we got the potty, and Rhett thought it was the greatest.

He really wanted to wear my sunglasses he thought they were the bomb digity especially once he saw how "cool" he looked in them.

They played this game for like 45 minutes they dumped droplets of water in half of a plastic eggs and then they would drink out of it.

Rhett waiting patiently for his turn to drink.

They always look so much alike but I love when they have the same expression.

Cookie Day

2011-03-30T15:48:00.001-06:00

Today I didn't have any energy and I thought I would take a nap while the kiddos were napping. Well plans change (especially when kids are involved) and Rhett ended up taking his nap 2 hours earlier when I was babysitting for the Gosar's. Which meant he was done napping when Twila was ready to go down. So I decided to make the most of it and bake some cookies with Rhett. Rhettster loves to help with stuff (or at least thing he is helping), so I put him on the counter top and had him count with me how many scoops we had put in (he made up his own names for each of the scoops). Then he handed me some eggs to put in, and we creamed it. Brock realized how much fun we were having and decided to come join in the fun. I let Rhett lick a beater while we waited for the cookies to bake (I know I shouldn't do that but I loved that part when I was a kid; Allison and I used to get a beater and Erika would get the bowl and the spoon).

Rhett intensely licking the beater

Yummy Cookie dough

Little Balls of Dough

Showing the perfect form for inserting cookies into the oven.

I think this picture proves that Rhett is as big, if not bigger cookie dough fan as his mom and dad.

Oh so yummy, look at that melted chocolate perfection.

The end result

Even thought I didn't get in the nap I had been hoping for we did have a lot of fun. And now we have some cookies to share with our neighbors, the women that I Visit Teach and the families that Brock Home Teach.
This recipes is going to be one of the items in my cookbook, here is the recipe just in case you want to have your own Cookie Day.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 1/2 cups Shortening
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 1/2 cups Brown Sugar
3 Eggs
18 oz of Chocolate Chips
3 tsp. Vanilla
3 1/2 cups Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

Cream shortening, sugar, and eggs. Add remaining ingredients. Bake at 375 degree F for 8 minutes (set your timer for 6 just in case your oven cooks a little hot).

What A Good Day!

2011-03-29T22:02:00.001-06:00

Few Random Pictures:

Nothing like riding on the shoulders and grabbing at the cheeks

The best way to practice for riding double on a horse is to practice on Allison.

Random Story:

Landin: (out of the blue comment) I want to sleep walk
Me: No, you don't.
Landin: Why?
Brock: Aunt SarahLynn does and it is scary because you don't know what you are doing because you are asleep. You could walk out into the middle of the road and get hit by a car.
Landin: Oh.
Me: That is why Uncle Brock sleeps in the same bed as me to make sure that I don't sleep walk into the road.
Landin: Oh, that is why he is tired all the time.

Random Story II:

Landin was outside playing with Emyri (our 4 year old neighbor) and Rhett saw him outside of the balcony window and wanted to go out to get his attention. So I let him on the balcony, then I shut the glass door. A few seconds later Twila realized that Rhett was outside without her so she started to hit on the balcony door. It was just funny to see Rhett trying to get the attention of his older cousin and Twila trying to get the attention of her older cousin. Both were successful in their attention seeking at one moment Twila was getting Rhett's attention and Rhett was getting Landin's.

Twila (Allison's girl) getting Rhett's attention

Rhett trying to get Landin's attention, Landin is in the red coat in the top middle part of the picture.

Rhett finally got their attention, but at that point I made him come in because it was getting too cold.

Few More Random Pictures:

They love playing with each other (and I like playing with Photoshop Effects this is a coloration effect)

Here is the one with no coloration effect

Seriously best friends.

I love this little smile....

and this one two...(12 teeth and working on 2 to 4 more)

Rhett will do about anything to get a laugh including putting a blocks bucket on his head.

Miss T (that stands for Tongue) and Rhett trying to sneak attack on her.

Rhett has taken a recent interest in photography (I think he likes the flash) so I let him us my old camera occasionally. And he Loves it. One day I will upload the pictures he took.

This is just a sample of the destruction that these two can do in 30 minutes. Rhett was tired from all the hard work of opening Twila's Cheerios container and dumping them on the ground, pulling out a measuring cup, trying to get into a phonics ABC kit, finding a jacket and trying to put it on. And lifting the coffee table with his legs and moving it off the rug. Twila took down the pillows and scattered the Cheerios.

Sometimes when you take pictures of kids they turn out like this....

....or like this.

Sunday I made a pan full of cinnamon rolls and they turned out perfect, this the first picture I have for the recipe book that I am working on right now.

Rhett reading to himself for a good 10 minutes. He points and make the animal noises and says the words that he knows.

Today, was a good day that reminded me why family is so fun and worth it, I love days like this!

THE END