Scary Thought

So the other night we were watching TV and a commercial came on for a show called Switched at Birth. We started talking about what we would do if that happened to us. I can't even imagine how painful that would be. I don't think I could let go of the baby I have. Then if you kept the baby you would always wonder how things would have been with the baby you were supposed to have. Anyways, normal people don't sit around and think about those things, but I guess I do. It gave me anxiety and I couldn't stop thinking about how horrible that would be.

I read a story just now about a lady who had a baby last month. I guess the hospital switched babies on accident and she was feeding and taking care of someoone's baby. It turns out the nurse didn't check the band on the baby and the beds were switched somehow in the nursery. When they finally made the connection and came in to make the switch the lady who had been breastfeeding someone's baby was mortified. They did test on both the baby and lady because they had swapped bodily fluids.

It reminds me of The Office episode where Michael is getting ready for Jan to have her baby and Dwight tells him he needs to mark the baby to make sure they aren't swapped. This is a totally random post but when we were talking about that show we said that would never happen. Then a few days later I read a story about it happening. Luckily they found the error and fixed it. Well now that we all feel enriched from this weird post we can get on with our day.....

Christmas Day

We did most of the preparations for food the day before so Christmas day would be relaxing. Since I have been married I have been looking for a good Christmas morning breakfast I can make every year. This year I think I found it. It is a french toast recipe that you can make the day before and then bake the morning of. My bundt pan was too small for the recipe so we had it spill over quite a bit. I think next year I will half the recipe so it all fits nicely. We can't wait to eat it next year, it was delicious.

When my daughter woke up we brought her into our room for a few minutes so I could get dressed. She saw the presents as she was walking by and was so upset she couldn't run out there. I thought we had them all pushed over so she couldn't see but she saw one gift and that made her so excited to go out there. My husband was watching her and she kept going really quiet and then she would make a break for the door. When we finally got out there she was so excited and opened the gifts for everyone. We played with her toys and enjoyed just being in our pajamas and relaxing.


My husbands work gave him a honey baked ham so we enjoyed that for our Christmas meal. The rest of the day was spent sleeping, eating and relaxing. We went on a walk in the afternoon and couldn't believe how relaxed we both felt. It has been a long time since we have taken a day just to rest. There is only so much relaxing I can do, so by the time the evening rolled around I was ready to put Christmas away. We only put up a small tree and lights around our door so we were cleaned up in no time. This year was so much fun now that our daughter is old enough to be excited about presents. We can't wait for next year.

Even the dog got a stocking from us filled with toys and some treats from my sister. It was a good year. :)

Christmas Eve

We had a busy Christmas Eve. We went to my husbands sister's house for lunch. There were lots of people there and lots of food. We had a good time visiting. They have a big fluffy cat and our toddler followed the cat around most of the time and tried to play with her. She called the cat Gilbert. That is the name of a cat in a cartoon she likes to watch.

After we ate there we headed over to my parent's house for a dinner. It was fun and of course we had good food. I don't think my family has ever been together without some kind of food involved and it is always delicious. My Dad usually reads out of the Bible but this year he showed us a couple videos of Jesus' birth. Then we went on to the talent portion of the night. Our little one started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star but when she realized everyone was watching she stopped and ran out of the room. She is so loud at home but is pretty quiet in public.

It is tradition in my family to sing a couple Christmas songs. I was in another room feeding my baby and was listening to my family sing. It was fun to hear the laughing and how off key everyone was. I am so glad that my daughters get to make memories like I had growing up. I am glad we are still doing some of the same traditions and creating new ones of course. :) Someone brought in some musical instruments and the girls enjoyed making music and running around. We were so grateful we got to spend time with both sides of the family this year.

Family Night

We had a good night this last week visiting with family. My husbands little brother is in the military. He had a couple days of leave so he got to come and see us. We miss their family so much and wish they lived closer. They have a little girl the same age as our toddler. They ran around and screamed and laughed most of the night. Their little daughter was speaking Japanese and our little one kept looking at her funny and saying "what you saying?" It was fun to watch them play together. They also had a baby just a few months ago. Our kids are so lucky to have cousins the same age that they can play with. It was fun to eat and visit.

Christmas Week

It has been a long time since I posted something. A couple weeks ago I wrote a post and then tried to post it and my computer turned off. That is just my luck. We have been doing a lot of baking and eating lately. I made a couple batches of white chocolate popcorn for my neighborhood gifts. It turned out great but it super rich. I ate a little too much one night and had a stomach ache because it was so rich. Here is the recipe.......

2 bags of microwaved popcorn...popped

1 bag of white chocolate chips

handful of M & Ms

couple handfuls of pretzels (my favorite part, I love sweet and salty together)

a handful or two of mini marshmallows

pour a little bit of milk chocolate chips in a bowl for melting and drizzling.

I popped the popcorn and poured it into a bowl so I could scoop out the good stuff and leave the seeds. I melted the white chocolate and poured it into a bowl with the M & Ms, pretzels and marshmallows. Mix it up and dump it over the popcorn. Mix it up and dump it on a cookie sheet. Then I melted the milk chocolate and drizzled it over everything. Put it in the fridge for a few minutes so the chocolate hardens and then you are ready to go.

I have a few more recipes to post later. :)

I'm Back!

Its been a while since I have been on here. I finally had my baby. It feels so good to not be pregnant. Everything with the delivery went well and we are home safe and adjusting to life as a family of four. Our new baby is super sweet and the perfect addition to our family.

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is tomorrow. This is my first year cooking Thanksgiving dinner by myself. I am excited to see how it all turns out and I can't wait for the smells to fill the house tomorrow. I think the only bummer I have about this season is not being able to go shopping on Black Friday. My family lovingly named that day the Turkey Rumble. I love the shopping, waking up early, being with family, running to get the deal and sometimes fighting the crowd. Last year was a quiet year and we got all we wanted but the year before started out a little shaky. My nephew wanted to come with us so we let him come. We got to the two minute press and this lady shows up and cuts to the front. She just set a chair out and then went and sat in her warm car until they opened.

When the store employee comes to open the door the line always presses up against the door. The door opened and I went to start running and that same lady grabbed on to my coat and pushed me back. She wanted us all to walk calmly through the door (which takes all the fun out of it). She shoved me pretty hard so I said "let go of me hag." My nephews face went pale and he stood there because he is a good boy and thought we would be in trouble. I grabbed him and pulled him forward into a run. It felt good at the time but I felt bad later. Not only was I a bad example but I really hurt that ladies feelings. She recoiled and just stared at me. Hopefully I am better behaved next time.

I am excited to set Christmas decorations up this weekend. The holiday season feels like it is flying by.

Building

It has been a year now since we started building our home. Its amazing how excited you are in the beginning... discouraged, hopeless and tired in the middle and then numb at the end. I thought I would be doing back flips when we finished but I was so tired it took me the whole summer to recover and start feeling better again. Now that the house is built it feels so worth it but there were many times in the middle I wished we never signed up to build our own. But we love our home and it is kind of fun to know every inch of it because we did the work ourselves. I also picked up a lot of skills that will come in handy when it comes time to finish the basement. :)

I remember showing up for the first day of building with a skip in my step and so naive about how it was really going to be. After hauling wood for several hours by myself it soon hit me how terrible it was about it be. I think the only way I survived was having other people struggling there with me. I kind of feel bad for anyone that had to work with me, I am sure I complained way more than my share. But when the wind freezes your tears to your face its hard to keep positive. We liked to joke that we would have made terrible pioneers. We had gloves, hats, huge coats, warm boats and other luxurious the pioneers didn't. But I still felt so cold I could barely move. I think I would have been that pioneer that the group decides to tie to a tree and leave because I would have complained so much. :)

A couple who is about start the next group of winter building came over and talked to us a while ago. It was cute to see their excitement, I just didn't have the heart to tell them what they were really getting into. I think sometimes it is best just to let people get into things, struggle and then they will be happy with their house in the end. Any amount of hope you can hold on to during the process is needed. So they are heading into the storm with eager excitement.

One nice part about building our house was me having to face my fears. I was terrified to use a nail gun. When we did our safety training we got to hear all the horror stories of people being shot in the neck or nailing their hand to a wall. I remember shaking and holding it so gently in the beginning. I had to use it so much by the end I could have shot a apple off someones head. It was something I could use with my eyes closed. I never once got hurt by one either. I am also terrified of heights. We had to use ladders a lot and one day I guess I set it on a wall that still needed to be stabilized. When the ladder fell out from under me I reached up and grabbed on to one of the ceiling trusts just in time. I was hanging over the stair pit and could hardly breath (I also had a huge fear of falling in the stair pits). But I was able to swing over like a monkey to safety. The second time I fell off the ladder it had slipped on ice. Luckily I was able to jump away from the ladder so it didn't catch my legs on the way down. I think the two worst injuries I got was a black eye and I scalped my head once. I got the black eye from hitting out a piece of wood so hard it bounced out and hit me in the face. I should have had my hard hat on for the other injury (I learned fast after that one). I hit my head on some wood standing up and looked up and some of my hair and skin was on the wood. I had a little bald spot on the top of my head for a little while. The comb over hair do worked wonders. :)

I am looking forward to this winter. It will be nice to only have to go outside if I want to, not because I have to.

Spider Trouble

This weekend I was all ready for bed and starting to fall asleep. My Husband walks in and starts punching the edge of my side of the bed right by my feet. I asked him what in the world was wrong with him. I guess there was a big spider right by my feet. He killed it for me. I thought for a minute there he had lost it. :)

I could not for the life of me fall asleep after that. I made a little cocoon for myself in my blanket. Just my face was out so I would be protected from more spiders. My Husband was falling asleep and I asked him how he could just fall asleep when I am so freaked out and why he isn't comforting me. Next thing I know this large hand comes out of nowhere and cups my face. I screamed because I thought for sure I was being attacked by spiders. My husband was just reaching over so he could give me a pat to get me to be quiet so he could go to sleep. I finally just had to get up and go read a book. I don't mind spiders in the light where I can see them. But if its dark and I have no clue if they are crawling on me I can hardly stand it. The next day my sweet husband sprayed for spiders and we have all slept better since. :)

Fall

I LOVE fall! I am just hoping we get a little more of it. It has been cold. I felt like we went from summer to winter too fast last week. But it has been feeling better outside this week. Believe it or not we still don't have the swing set put together. We are missing parts out of the box. So I ordered some new chains and thought that was all we were missing. Last night we tried to put up the other stuff and found out we are missing more. By the time we get it all up it will be snowing. Oh well, hopefully by next Spring we will be all set up and ready to go.

We have loved having the grass outback. It makes it a lot more fun to be out there. I just wish we would have done it at the beginning of the summer so we could enjoy it more. In the Spring we are going to work on getting some shade back there. I have been looking at building our own pergola. It looks like it wouldn't be too bad. I guess after you have helped build 6 houses nothing seems too bad.

I have less than 4 weeks until the baby comes. I am starting to get excited. I love those first few weeks when you get to just cuddle and enjoy their warm little bodies. It will be fun to have someone to cuddle during the winter time (My toddler is just too cool to cuddle her Mom anymore).

Since we have been married we have always gone to one of our parents houses for Thanksgiving. I will just be a week or two out from having a baby so we decided to do a Thanksgiving with just the four of us here at the house. I am kind of excited to have leftovers. We have always been guests so we don't get to enjoy the leftovers after. When we were first married we decided to cook a turkey. We both didn't think about the amount of time it takes to thaw. So our turkey, which was supposed to be a lunch thing ended up being ready around midnight. It was pretty funny. We learned a lot from that experience about cooking. So this time I will give it lots of time to thaw out. :) I love this time of year and am so excited to not be building this holiday season. It will be such a blessing just to be able to enjoy my little family and be warm inside. :)

Stuck Indoors...

This has been a long, boring week. It has rained all week and we have been stuck indoors with nothing to do but bother each other. My husband decided to work today so I have another day at home alone with the toddler and puppy. I love them but can't stand another minute.

Normally the rain wouldn't bother me and my daughter. We would go out and do some shopping or something, maybe visit someone. But I feel guilty leaving the dog at home alone. She freaks out if she is alone. Maybe its the pregnancy hormones that make me extra sensitive but she gives me a lot of anxiety.

This morning I was trying to walk to the fridge and my daughter had a hold of my shirt and was trying to hang on it. She was whining because she wanted something that we were on our way to get but she couldn't wait another second. Then the dog runs up and starts biting my pants and I had to drag her too. There is too much love going on in this house, I need some alone time. :)

Being trapped inside this week has made me extra nervous for this winter. I will have a newborn to add onto the pile. I had an idea of making an emergency boredom box for this winter. I wanted to fill it with bags of coloring pages and crayons, playdoh, blocks, stickers, and different activities to pull out and rotate. I am hoping if I keep my toddler busy that it will help keep the peace around here. Now if I could just get the puppy to grow up faster I would be set....

Long Weekend

Boy was that a long weekend. We had our sod delivered on Friday and had lots of family and neighbors show up to help. I appreciate their help so much. We finished the yard in about an hour and a half. When I open my blinds in the morning it catches me off guard for it to be green back there, it always brings a smile to my face. We were all beat after that and relaxed and visited for a while. I baked up some cookies and had a table of treats. We had lots of shy people so I had a lot of leftovers. I think if I really thought back on how many I ate I would be sick.

The next morning we woke up early and went to my nephews football game. He did a great job. Half way through my brother showed up with a truck and we weaseled him into taking a load of weeds to the dump for us. We had a huge pile that was taking over our garden. We pulled all the weeds from the backyard and piled them there. I still can't believe we let the weeds grow like that. Then we headed over and helped my sister move. I couldn't carry anything since I am expecting so I went over to her new place and organized her pantry. It was kind of fun because her pantry is huge. So I could put stuff anywhere, I didn't have to worry about space or squeezing things into places.

After the move we went over to my Grandma's for a family party. I was pretty sick at this point. I needed more water and my body was getting sick from all the work we did the last couple days. But the food was great and it was fun to visit. We only got to visit for a few minutes until we had to go over to the Relief Society Broadcast. I am glad I didn't fall asleep in my chair. The talks were wonderful but I was exhausted at that point. I went with my sisters and we were whispering and had someone tell us to be quiet. I think I embarrassed my sisters when I let out a loud "Shhh" when she was whispering to her friends. I guess I was just a little grumpy....

I was so looking forward to Sunday. We had nothing planned and had the afternoon to relax, that was until we all got hit with the stomach flu. I couldn't believe our luck. My husband and daughter were up all night throwing up. I think I got about an hour of sleep that night. My daughter was old enough to give me clues when she was ready to puke so it was not as messy as last time. We spent Monday sleeping and resting. Still today my daughter is sick. She has been laying on the couch sleeping and watching TV. I am starting to go stir crazy here. I want to go and pick up some pears to can this weekend. I am loaded with canned peaches but I don't have one jar of pears and that is the only thing that sounds good to me right now. I am hoping that this weekend is a little more relaxing. :)

Oh we got to eat a couple watermelons out of our garden. They were super sweet and delicious. We decided we want to grow a bunch of the sugar babies next year. We only got one of those to grow and that was our favorite. I have pictures of a bunch of the stuff I talked about but I feel too sick to get up to get my camera to load the pictures. I am hoping we all feel better tomorrow.

Landscaping Update

We are almost done with landscaping! Well we still have to lay the sod but we are doing one final smooth raking tonight and then calling it good. Our sod will be delivered tomorrow and by Saturday it will all be over. After the grass is put in we still have the flower beds back there to fix up but we are just going to lay down some landscaping cloth and plant them in the Spring. I think right now we just plan on planting berries in them. I want a blackberry patch and we could always use more raspberries.

I decided to change methods for training Tootsie, no more growling in public for me. I decided to try the spray bottle with water. It has worked like a dream so far. It usually only takes about one or two squirts a day followed by a mean "no bite" and she will stop. She always mauls my husband when he gets home from work. She forgets all the rules and goes crazy with excitement. Yesterday he bent down to pet her and she sat really still and never went after his hands. He was so amazed and couldn't believe how good she was being. He looked up and the dog and I were having a stare down and I had the water bottle in my hands. I don't want her to think that all rules go out the window when Dad gets home.

Our two year old and Tootsie fight like siblings. The other day we were out working in the yard and my daughter had the dog in a head lock and the dog was biting her and they were both rolling in the dirt, it was a pretty fair fight. I can't keep the two of them apart. One of them will get bored and then head over and harass the other one. Yesterday I couldn't break them up so they both got a squirt of water in the face.

Our swing set came and is just sitting in our garage waiting to be set up. I can't wait to set it up so our daughter has something to play with outside. I am hoping keeping her occupied will help her and the dog get along better....we will see how long it lasts. :)

Spaghetti Sauce

So my tomatoes in my garden are in full swing. I need to get the canner out and also make up some sauce. I think this year I want to try to bottle my own sauce with my pressure canner. A couple months ago I came across this sauce recipe on the internet and decided to try it because of the name. Its called Jo Mamma Sauce. It makes a nice thick sauce (I'm not a huge fan of the runny kind). But I let it simmer for a couple hours and it turns out great!

1 lb of ground beef (original recipe calls for 2 lbs Italian sausage)

1 small onion, chopped

3 – 4 garlic cloves, minced

1 (28 ounce) diced tomatoes

2 (6 ounce) tomato paste

2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce

2 cups water (for a long period of simmering for flavors to meld. If you don't want to simmer it as long, add less).

3 teaspoons basil

2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

1 ½ teaspoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (If I am feeding it to my daughter I put in less, after simmering it can be kind of spicy)

¼ teaspoon fresh corse ground black pepper

¼ cup red wine (I just use chicken stock and it turns out great)

1 lb of pasta

Instructions: Brown meat, add onion and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until onions are softened.

Add garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce and water.

Add basil, parlsey, brown sugar, salt, crushed red pepper and black pepper. If you are adding wine add after sauce comes to a boil but if you are using chicken stock you can add it before.

Simmer sauce for at least an hour. A longer simmer makes a better sauce, just remember not to let it burn.

Landscaping....:-S

Well I have been landscaping our backyard for the last week or so. I feel just like the dirt I am shoveling. I wish we would have started on it before I got this big and pregnant. I just want to get out there and work like I used to be able to. I hate being pregnant and not being able to lift things and work hard. I love the baby afterwards of course but I want my body back. I know everyone feels this way at this point but I feel like I have been pregnant forever. My first order of business when this baby is born is to lay down on my stomach and sleep. I hate sleeping on my sides....that is if I get to sleep when they come. :)

We are trying to finish the backyard this month but I am not sure we will be able to fit it in. The new puppy goes to the bathroom out there so I want to get some grass put in before it gets muddy and wet.

If we can get it together in the next two nights then we plan on renting a trencher on Saturday. Then we will put the sprinklers in this next week and level everything out. If it all works out we would like to have our sod delivered on the 23rd. I can't wait to have it done and everything be green instead of all the dirt out there. We bought a swing set that is being shipped right now so the race is on to put the yard in so it will be ready for us to set up the new toy. Then after the lawn is in we just need some shade trees and we are set. I love sitting outside in the fall and can't wait for next year when we have a nice yard to enjoy. :)

Garden

When we planted our garden late this spring we didn't think that anything would grow. Boy were we wrong. So far everything we planted grew and we have lots of produce to share. My freezer is stuffed with shredded zucchini and we have at least two or three yellow squash ready to eat each day. Our tomatoes are just taking off so I will have lots of canning to do this Fall. Even our peanut plants are looking good.

I haven't bought anything to compost in yet so we were just taking out our scraps to the garden and throwing some dirt on top. So we were kind of lazy with it but it turned out great. I guess we threw some cantaloupe seeds in there once because we had a healthy plant grow with two cantaloupes that will be ready soon. We also had a random sugar baby melon that grew from scraps.

My husbands watermelons are looking great, I think we have 4 of them growing now. They are getting big.

We still have lots of corn to harvest. We pulled up our onions last night and we are drying them out to store. I think tomorrow is our potato harvest. I wish I had a root cellar to store them in. We pulled up one plant and it filled up a grocery sack. I think we have over 20 plants so we should have lots to share. I love gardening!

Teaching Tootsie

So our wild puppy has ended up being a little crazier than I would like. I have a baby gate up in the kitchen until she is potty trained. Anytime you step over that gate you are walking into a battle zone. She charges and goes right for the feet. She has a huge nipping problem (I know all puppies do but she is constantly biting). It was cute at first but she has drawn blood several times and it needed to stop. We have tried everything to get her to stop. I hate hitting but some people suggested giving her a whack if she bites. I tried it and it only worked half of the time. I read last night online that you should growl at the puppy like the Mom would and it should make them stop. I tried it a couple times this morning but my throat was so dry it came out as this weird whiny noise. She did stop once and looked at me a little confused, I wonder what that noise meant in her language....

I was outside working in the yard and I heard my daughter call for me because the puppy had a hold of her leg. I ran over and got down right in the dogs face, while baring my teeth I let out a huge growl. The dog yelped and ran away. I thought my problems were solved until I heard "what the heck is wrong with that lady?" I looked over and a bunch of kids were watching the puppy through the fence and now just stood there staring at me. I had no clue what to do so I crawl behind a bush and waited for them to leave. There was no way to recover from that situation, I was on all fours, out in the dirt, growling at a dog. This might just be one of the most awkward moments of my life. But maybe it was worth it. Hours later my puppy is not biting and we can walk safely in our kitchen, I just can't ever show my face in public again. :)

Labor Day Weekend

We had a pretty good Labor Day weekend. It has been wonderful to have my husband home to help potty train the new puppy Tootsie. He takes her out to go potty every hour so we don't have all the accidents in the house anymore. I asked my husband to build a little fence in the backyard. So tomorrow when he heads back to work I can just open the door and let the dog out. I am hoping tomorrow goes well.

Saturday we went to watch my nephew play football. He did an awesome job. Tootsie enjoyed laying in the shade and playing with the little kids.

We got to enjoy some corn from our garden last night. This might be the

tiniest corn I have ever seen but it tasted wonderful. We still have loads of corn left to pick and enjoy. If you

eat three or four ears of our corn then its like eating a regular piece of corn. :)

Monday morning we woke up early and headed out for a hike with my sister and her family. We had two toddlers on the hike and they did awesome. I couldn't believe how long they walked up the trail. It was pretty steep and they were almost jogging at times. They were both good sports even though they stumbled a lot. I couldn't believe how awesome Tootsie did. If we took her off the leash then she would run right by us. We had to stop every once in a while for her to smell things but she came every time we called for her. She is shaping out to be a pretty good dog. Here are some pictures from the hike...

After we made it to the waterfall we headed back and found a nice place for a picnic lunch. The girls had fun chasing each other around on the grass. I think its more entertaining to watch toddlers run around and play and discover things than watching TV.

Tootsie

Well after 5 years of excuses I finally ran out of them and my husband got the dog he wanted. He found a Brittany Spaniel half off on KSL so he couldn't pass it up. I have always told him that one day when we get a house he can get his dog. He lasted just a couple months in the house before the topic came up again (I was hoping he would forget). I love dogs, don't get me wrong. But I am the one that gets to be home with the poor creature whining at my feet all day (and licking and biting them), it poops or pees every 30 minutes or so on my kitchen floor and last night I never went to sleep...ever. That dog has quite the pair of lungs. Good grief, it cried all night long. I know all dogs go though this stage but when I saw the clock and it was 5 am and I hadn't fallen asleep yet I felt like throwing the dang thing outside.

She is super sweet and I am excited to have her as part of our family (once she is trained and used to the house rules). I felt bad for her last night because she was taken from her Mom that day and was shut in someone's laundry room in the dark. She had 7 siblings so she was never alone. It made me think of the first night I was away from home. My parents dropped me off at my new apartment and helped me get set up. I was excited all day until it came time for me to go to sleep. I remember how lost and lonely I felt that first night. I even looked out the window and could see the mountain my parents live by. I stared at it for a while and thought of how safe and comforting it was over there and how alone and vulnerable it was where I was staying. I didn't sleep that night either. The next night I went right to sleep and was fine and excited again but for just that night I remember feeling completely alone.

My daughter was eating dinner when my husband brought Tootsie in for the first time. We thought she was going to fall off her chair, she was so exited. Three hours later my daughter was still screaming and jumping around. I have never seen her so excited about something.

I thought it would be fun to stage a little photo shot of the two.... I should have known better than to try to get a good shot of a two year old and a new puppy.

Grrrrr!

I went in this morning to let my daughter out of her room. She was really quiet in there so I should have known something was up. When I went in her face was really pale. I walked over and she had a tube of diaper rash cream. She had it all over her hair, face, legs, clothes, bedding, shoes, toys and her mouth! The tube said to call poison control right away. I called and they said that she will probably get sick with bathroom problems and might not feel good for the next few days. I went and put her in the tub and the dang stuff won't come off! I got most of it off her skin but her hair still has some I can't get out.

I washed her bedding and none of it came off. It is totally stuck on there. I am not sure what else to do to get it off. This isn't just the regular diaper rash cream, it was the kind with 40% zinc oxide instead of the cheap Destine kind. If anyone has any tips I would love to hear them. :)

Yummy Gelato Recipe

We celebrated my Dad's birthday this weekend and my Mom made some yummy gelato. My favorite was the pineapple kind but the lime is also very good, here is the recipe....

Lime Gelato

1, 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup milk
1 cup of orange juice
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon of lime zest
1/4 teaspoon of salt

Whisk together and freeze.

Pineapple Gelato

1, 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1 cup of sugar
1 can of crushed pineapple, juice and all
1 cup of orange juice
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pineapple flavoring (optional)

Whisk together and freeze.

Enjoy!!

Monday Shopping

I had a really hard time sleeping last night because I was excited and nervous about getting my Walgreen's deal today. If you spend $30 on certain items then you get $10 in register rewards. I ended up spending $8.99 in cash but got $15.50 back in register rewards. So I ended up getting it all for free plus a little extra. On my receipt it says that I saved $78. I just couldn't resist taking a picture of it.
I had a coupon for everything which took $15 off and also had $38 in register rewards from the week before to use. They were out of toothbrushes so I need to go again on Wednesday to stock up on those. They are $0.25 a piece with a coupon and you get $6 in register rewards. It was a good week for people like me who get a rush from this. :)

Secret Pouch

So my 2 year old has been into stashing things lately. Her new favorite place is in her shirt. She likes to stuff food, toys and anything else she wants to keep in there and save for later. Sometimes she will sit and watch her shows and eat out of the pouch. I gave her a bowl of mini marshmallows and found them in her pouch later when I changed her diaper and they all came raining out. She was not happy with me. :) Here is a picture of her walking around with her treasures in there.

I wish I had a pouch for things. Right now I am enjoying my pregnancy shelf. I like to balance plates of food and bowls of cereal on my stomach. Its kind of like having your own table with you all the time. I had a big bowl of cereal on there a couple weeks ago and my baby kicked really hard and almost knocked it off. I caught it just in time.

More couponing at Walgreen's

I wasn't sure if I was going to make it on time to Walgreen's this week. My garage door decided that it wouldn't close. So after trying to fix it for a while I finally just manually shut it. I am not sure what was wrong because an hour later it worked again. There are about 6 of us that come at the same time every week at my Walgreen's. Sometimes we help each other find stuff and other weeks we are rushing to get the stuff first. This was a rushing week. I wanted to get two packs of the Huggies diapers. They were on sale for $9 and you get $2 back in register rewards. I also had a $3 off coupon for each pack so they ended up being $4 a pack. When I walked to the diapers a lady passed me with a cart full so I thought I had missed it. I went and they only had the size I was looking for left. So it worked out perfect. I wish I had more coupons. I need to order some more papers. A lot of deals at Walgreen's are two for something. So if you are looking to get into it then it is best to at least have two sets of coupons. You can get the best deals. Now that I am getting the hang of it I am ready for 4 papers a week. I know that is still weak compared to the people on the show Extreme Couponing but I only have a small family so it works well for me.

I did some double couponing at Walmart yesterday and was surprised to find things still in stock at 5 in the evening. I went once at midnight so I could get everything and walked out with nothing. I also went at 5 am and they were out of a few things. I think there was only one thing I didn't get going in the evening. It was awesome to not have to bring my daughter. She gets really bored in the cart (she was mad at me for going "choppin" without her when I got home). Its nice to know that I don't have to wake up at an unearthly hour to get a good deal. I asked them about price matching. I have never done it but have heard of a lot of people saving a lot of money and time that way. I think I want to try it this next week, we will see how it goes.

I also went to a sale at Smith's this morning. My garage door decided not to work again...but then worked again a couple hours later. I am not sure if some sort of curse has been put on it or what. But every time I try to rush to a sale it opens and then won't close. Smith's had hair gel on sale for 10 for $10. I had a couple coupons for a $1 off so I got some for free (again wishing I had more coupons). I got home and realized just how much hair gel I had. I have over 22o ounces of hair gel. That should last my husband for years. We joked last night that he will probably be bald by the time he finishes using all that gel.

Here is the haul for Walgreen's this week. The toothpaste was all for free and a lot of the other stuff. I think I only paid for one set of the diapers. I have $38 in register rewards to spend next week. I hope they have something good one sale. :)

I am not sure why I take pictures of what I bought or got for free. Sometimes I just like to look at them and it makes me happy. I coupon more as a sport because it gives me a rush (which is really weird I know). I am starting my own small stock pile of things. Sometimes I just like to go and stare at it. If you find me one day smelling or talking to my stock pile please get me some help!!!

Fablehaven...

I decided that I wanted to finally read the Fablehaven books. I know that I am probably the last person on earth to read them (besides my husband). I like to wait until all the books are out so I can read them all in a row. I hate waiting. I waited for the last Hunger Games book and when it came I never ended up reading it because I lost interest. I am hoping one of these days to read it but I hate all the violence in them. I am not a big blood and guts person. It also kind of got cheesy near the end of the second book with that Peta guy. I was fine with cheesy until I read the Twilight series, now I have a low tolerance.

My husband just started the first Fablehaven book. He started getting really mad a couple minutes ago because of Seth. If you know my husband he is a really calm guy that usually isn't bothered by much but he hates Seth from the book. He started calling him an idiot and talking about how stupid he was and how he needs to listen to his grandpa. Every once in a while I can hear his say "What is wrong with you?" or "I hate you, why won't you ever listen." I had a hard time not laughing. I think Seth makes the book. Without him we would just follow Kendra around and think about things and look at stuff. Seth is one of my favorite characters. I like how brave he is. I just heard him yell in frustration from the other room....I wonder what Seth is up to now....

Ps...I asked my husband if it was alright if I write about this. He said sure and then growled about something he was reading. I wonder if he really heard me or not. :)

Mystery Solved

Yesterday morning I woke up and could smell something that smelt like throw up. I checked my daughters room but didn't find anything. When I opened her door she ran to the fridge screaming "milk" like she does every morning and she ran back and said "Ew yucky." We found the mystery smell on the floor by the fridge. It looked like a small puddle of throw up. I text my husband and asked him if he threw up and he text back and said no. I opened the fridge and dug around and found an old thing of half and half that was leaking. I was relieved that it wasn't really throw up but it was terrible to clean up. It was satisfying to move out the fridge and steam mop under it though. Now we are all clean and smell free.

When my husband got home we kept laughing about the text I sent him. He was making fun of me because who in the world would just puke on the floor and walk away and leave it? He hasn't thrown up in years so he said he would have stayed home if he was that sick. I guess it was a dumb question to ask but I couldn't think of what else it could be at the time. This is kind of a gross story to read, I hope you weren't eating something at the time (at least I didn't include a picture. :)

Why I should mind my own business....

I was at a family reunion this weekend and we were up in the mountains camping. We went back to my in laws house to grab some supplies and I noticed there was a camera on the counter. My mother in law kept saying how she was sad that she forgot her camera. I pushed play on the camera so I could see if it was hers or not (so I could take it to her of course). The first picture was of someone who was dead and there body was all mangled. I have never been so sick/freaked out in my whole life! Gross!

My father in law is a coroner so he has to take pictures of those kinds of things when he does his investigations. But I was wondering why in the world would you not buy a separate camera just for business? Who wants to flip through there pictures and come across vacations, grandchildren, human skull, fancy dinner, mangled body, flowers, trees...someone hanging from a tree. Yuck! I guess it serves me right for looking on the camera. I just can't imagine uploading it all on your computer and having all those pictures mixed together. You would think I would have learned my lesson by now. The last time I looked on someone elses camera I ended up seeing a naked picture of their spouse. I love looking at pictures but I guess its time to just wait for people to post them on facebook. :)

Coupon Adventures

I always get excited for the Sunday paper to come so I can see what deals they have at Walgreen's. I don't do a lot of couponing at other stores but have had a lot of fun hitting up Walgreen's at 8 am every Monday. I use the coupons from the paper and register rewards that I earn each week to get free stuff.

I always go in super prepared each week. I make a list of what to buy, how many to grab, if I need a coupon, how much it will cost and how many register rewards I will get back. So we are usually in and out in just a few minutes. Last week for some reason they didn't have the right prices marked. So I had to walk around and try to decide what brands are the ones on sale using my ad. I asked a manager there and he said he had no idea. I called my sister who was at another Walgreen's at the same time to see if she could help me figure out what to buy. I left a message about how terrible that Walgreen's was and unorganized. I said a lot of mean things because I was frustrated and my two year old was getting sick of sitting in the cart. I hung up and turned around and the manager was standing right behind me!!! He heard every word. I just smiled not knowing what else to do and he said "why don't you just pick out what you planned on buying and I will price match it for you." Lets just say it was an awkward few minutes after that. But they did get me all taken care of and I left with a huge haul of free stuff because of the register rewards.

This week was a small week but I did get some free stuff. They had everything organized well this morning and we were in and out in no time. This is what I got this morning. The nail polish has a scent when it dries. I keep smelling my fingers now. :)

I think my little girl gets sick of me pulling her out of bed to go to Walgreen's. I found her the other night eating one of my register rewards. There was a huge stack of paper and she had to pick the one thing I wanted to save most. :)

I got $23 in register rewards this week and I can't wait to go and see what they have on sale next week. :)

The Beginning...

I have been married to my husband for 5 wonderful years. I was at work one day and my boss asked me to look at two applications and tell him which one he should hire. I remember looking at my husbands and I saw that he was a returned missionary so I picked him (not telling my boss why I picked him). Who would have known I was picking out my husband that day. :) We worked together for about 9 months and became good friends doing everything together and flirting a lot. We kind of made each other crazy at the same time because we both wanted to date each other but we felt awkward because we worked together. My husband was brave and asked me out on the first date. We went to the Brick Oven in Provo and I was so nervous when I was talking I put my elbow right in my salad! I had ranch all over my shirt (another good reason not to put your elbows on the table while you eat). I remember him seeing the ranch but not saying anything. I thought that was super sweet because I was pretty embarrassed. After that date we started talking about going on more dates. I told him I wasn't comfortable dating someone from work (even though I really wanted to). That week he quit his job and found another one and took me on another date. Things moved pretty fast after that. Its amazing how you feel like you really love someone when you get married and then it just gets stronger every year after that.

He picked me up one Sunday and took me for a drive. I knew he was going to propose so I was super nervous. I knew I was going to say yes but my nerves were out of control that day. He took me to the first place we kissed, then over to the place where we first decided to be a couple. Then he took me up in the mountains to a ledge overlooking Utah County. We stood on the ledge for a while and I was just waiting for him to kneel down but nothing happened. The man was frozen. I felt bad for him so I turned around and gave him plenty of time to kneel down. I turned around expecting to find him white as a ghost laying on the ground but he was kneeling and asked me to marry him. It was super sweet. We drove over to the Provo temple and sat on the grass and called our families to tell them the news. From that day on time has flown by.

Here is a picture of us while we were dating...

Us on our first date...

Welcome :)

I am new to this blog thing and am not sure if I really have anything interesting to say or that people would want to read what I type but here we go.... I got off the phone with my sister an hour ago and we were talking about blogs. We both wondered why we haven't set up our own blog so I decided last minute to give it a try. Hopefully this is fun because I never really think things through before I do them. A few years ago I was talking with the same sister and she said "hey lets hike Timpanogos this weekend." me "sure, it can't be that hard." I think we got a quarter of the way up the mountain before we were both ready to be done. A group was on there way down and we asked if we were getting close and they all burst out laughing. By the time we even made it close to the top we were like Frodo and Sam on the last LOTRs movie. I think at one point I even laid on the ground and she offered to carry me. I spent the last 1/2 mile crawling up. Probably a good example of not thinking things through or preparing. We should have been exercising for months to get ready for that hike. Hopefully this blog turns out a little better.