Good Eyes, Folate and Iron

I never realized how lucky I was to have good eyesight, until this year. My eyes have rapidly declined over this past year and I now have glasses, although I am really bad at wearing them. So I just sit here at the computer and squint and strain because I am too lazy to go upstairs and get them.

Okay this is for all you health nuts out there. C'mon, I know you're out there. I have embarked on a new food tracking plan and I am trying to get in better nutrition. I am finding it a bit of a challenge to make my goals for Iron and Folate. Anyone have any good ideas. I have tried Total Cereal and Mulitgrain Cheerios, but I need some different ideas.

Anyone, Anyone?

Happy Holidays

Wishing I could give all of you a plate of these cookies.

I had a lot of fun baking cookies this year with Kate.

We made Gingerbread men, Spice-Cake cookies with

chocolate chips and cranberries, Cream Cheese shortbread

cookies with peppermint/cream cheese frosting (my FAV!)

And last, but not least, Eggnog Cookies. MMMM!

Ahhhh...my favorite afternoon past time.

Katelyn on Christmas:

Mommy: "Katelyn, who is Santa?"

Kate: "Santa Claus...candy cane...paper...stickers too!...girls...boys" (At our ward Christmas Party with Santa, they got candy canes and a paper with stickers of a manger scene)

Mommy: "Katelyn, who is Jesus?"

Kate: "Jesus Christ, Amen!" (the Amen said very emphatically, of course)

Mommy: "Katelyn, what do you want for Christmas?"

Kate: "umm...(eyes looking up like she's thinking) cake party!"

Last night. We were invited by the Galloway's to go to one of the nearby Nursing Homes to sing Christmas carols. We weren't there very long, but it was fun. The residents there really do appreciate even the smallest of talents. They are sweet. Afterward we went to the Library for about an hour. I checked out some books on Meditation and Relaxation. Should be interesting. Then we rented some Christmas movies. Last night we watched "Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage". It was a really good movie. I had goosebumps, tears, the works. We popped popcorn and made homemade brownies...MMMMMMM! So good!

Tonight we will watch "Fred Claus". Justin has to work Christmas Eve and Christmas night both, so Katelyn and I will have to get creative and have something fun to do while he is away.

We hope you all have a Wonderful Christmas this year, taking time remember the most important gift of all, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas!

Hangin' With Dad

My future Food Network Star

Katelyn loves hangin' out with Dad.

Last night she helped him make the

Spaghetti sauce and then later he

took her shopping for new boots,

gloves and a cool "Dora" hat.

My Kate

I just had to snap a picture of these cute girls. Maggie and Chloe are Kate's new friends. She is a year in between both of them (Maggie-3 1/2, Kate-2 1/2 and Chloe-1 1/2). She just LOVES playing with them and getting to be very girly. Barbies, dress up, singing and dancing. I think it's great. We dearly love all of her boy cousins, but it is so nice for her to get to play with little girls. Luckily, there are a lot of them in our new ward. I love the cheeks on Kate and Chloe.

Kate thought that her hair was pretty funny yesterday. When I fixed it like that, she just started giggling.

I'm dreaming of a...

green Christmas! Well, it appears as though I spoke too soon. Last night it started to snow here in "winter paradise" and it is COLD! Luckily, there isn't that much snow, but the wind does blow something fierce down here, so that does not help at all. Justin and I are going to have to go out and pick up some winter coats, which neither of us have.



Last night was our ward Christmas Party. A good time was had by all. We had a delicious dinner, lovely entertainment, and of course a visit from SaNtA! Katelyn wasn't so sure about Santa this year, which is why I am in the picture. That's OK though. We are still trying to get to know people in our massive ward and a nice young family with three daughters was kind enough to sit by us. Kinda made having one child seem like a breeze as I watched the mom juggle 5 plates and their youngest one all at the same time.

Today I felt keenly aware of my frumpiness while at church. I really need a shopping spree! Everyone dresses so nice and almost professional like. I guess it would help more if I actually liked wearing dresses and skirts, but I don't. I made a huge mistake by wearing full nylons too and wanted to rip them from my body before Sacrament meeting was over. Never again! It's knee-highs all the way! Not only that, but I can't wear heels anymore. Anyway-someone please buy our house so I can go shopping!

My week

Soup. This week I made my first ever chicken noodle soup and it was very yummy. It's a great time of year for eating warm, hearty soups and stews. I used an entire rotisserie chicken...mmm! Delicious. I got the recipe from AllRecipes and then made my own variations.

Cookies. Tis the season for baking as well. Last night we tried out Tara's eggnog cookie recipe. If you like eggnog, you will like these. The only problem was that I added too much butter. I was looking at the wrong line of the recipe. Woops! So I threw in some extra flour to try and compensate. They still turned out tasty. We also tried out my friend Sarah's recipe for cream cheese shortbread cookies with cream cheese frosting, topped with candy cane bits. We LOVE these cookies and were always very excited to get them every Christmas season in Newport. They are amazing! Katelyn loves to help mommy in the kitchen and I try to let her help where she can. She's so cute. Next week we will make more cookies and deliver them to friends for the Holidays.

Quilting. The highlight of the week was finding this great quilt shop here in Richland. Village Quiltworks is a really cool and nice quilt shop. I was very excited to check it out because before we moved, I was in the quilt shop in Newport and there was some other lady in there saying how she hated the tri cities because there was nothing here and no quilt shops. Maybe she didn't know about this shop. I can't wait until I have money to spend again, so I can start up, or finish some existing projects.

Movies. If you are looking for some great family movies, here are two that we have recently watched and really liked. So many people told me how good August Rush was, but I never got around to seeing it. We rented it the other night and really liked it. Very clean film. Justin even got teary-eyed. Our other find is Nim's Island. I actually bought this one on a whim, and am very glad I did. It's a cute, clean show and Katelyn LOVES it. She wants to watch it several times a day. It's really nice to find movies that I feel totally OK with letting my toddler watch and don't have to worry about questionable content.

Other than that, I am very excited to be nearly half way through December without seeing one single flake of snow. It is getting colder here, but no snow yet. I hope you all are enjoying the Holiday Season.

My Brown Eyed Girl

couldn't you just eat those cheeks up?"cheeese"

After a particularly stressful day, I got Kate into bed and sat down to watch some mindless television. My first stop is usually the Food Network, but I can't stand to listen to Paula Dean's voice, so I began flipping. I ended up stopping on BYU TV, which always ends up being a really good idea, and listened to part of a talk Sheri Dew was giving. Although my stressful situation had been eased earlier this evening, I was still feeling pretty wound up and worried. It wasn't until I began listening to this talk, that I started to feel more calm. She quoted President Hinckley (see quote of the day) and it was exactly what I needed to hear today. I am very thankful to have God in my life and to have a rock solid foundation to stand on because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.





In other news this week, I became an Aunt again on Tuesday. Tabby and Travis (Justin's brother) had their second baby, a boy named Isaac. We can't wait to meet him! Hopefully we can produce another child, preferably before Katelyn is in high school, and join the two-kid club!





Katelyn: I just have to write thoughts down every once in a while, so I will be able to remember things about when she was a little girl. Sometimes I think Katelyn is a very unusual child. She is so mellow. I took her to the craft fair with me tonight-no stroller-and she stayed by my side the entire time. I had my eye on her the whole time, but she never wandered off or ran wild or anything. My Dad always tell me that she is exactly like I was when I was little. Very shy and reserved. I love Katelyn. She follows me everywhere when we are at home and wants to help me with everything that I am doing. She loves to color and read books and play mommy. Sometimes she seems very mature for her age, or maybe it's just because she isn't as wild and crazy as some other toddlers. A couple of weeks ago, my friend Molly, who is a teacher, was explaining to Katelyn that she should cough into her arm, rather than her hand. So today when I was coughing, Katelyn (very motherly-like) reminded me that I needed to cough into my arm. For a while now Katelyn has been calling me "momma". I can't really figure out where she picked that up from, by I think it's cute. It's not mommy anymore, just momma. Katelyn doesn't waste her time using too many words in one sentence. She gets right to the point. "Cold hands. Pockets. Nice and warm." One of her big things is to walk around with her hands in her pockets when we are outside. She is very much into wearing dresses right now, and likes to change her dress, or skirt, multiple times throughout the day. Katelyn also really likes to pray. Often times, we'll ask her to fold her arms for prayer and before we decide who is going to say it, she launches into her own prayer, which usually goes like this: "hey father, Jesus Christ, Amen." Sometimes I will even catch her during the day while she's playing, just randomly saying a prayer. I love it!

Craftgasm

So you are probably wondering what exactly a craftgasm is, right? Here's the story: Recently, one of my sisters was telling me of a new shoe store they are putting in Spokane and she is so excited because she has been to one of these stores previously and had what she called a "shoegasm". I guess you have to be a shoe lover to relate. Well, I was out doing some shopping today looking for a particular allusive item and decided to try the Craft Warehouse. Ok, maybe I don't get out much, but I think I had a "craftgasm". I was expecting it to be really lame and sort of dollar-store-ish (not that I have anything against the dollar store), but it turned out to be really cool and they had some really nice fabric in there and all kinds of cool stuff. I was just buzzing in there and came out with some cool projects that I had not intended on. Just wanna let my family know, they are getting hand crafted gifts this year for Christmas (even Alura). I can't wait to get started! I came home triumphant and treated myself to a "PMS-er's Delight" brownie (recipe follows) and I will sleep a happy woman tonight!

Brownies: The real name is "Fudgy Toffee Bars"

1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
3/4 C Confectioners' sugar
1/4 C baking cocoa
3/4 C cold butter or margarine
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 t vanilla
2 C (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 C coarsely chopped walnuts
1/2 C flaked coconut
1/2 C English toffee bits (i.e. heath bar)

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, and cocoa. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press firmly into a greased 9x13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat milk, vanilla and 1 Cup of chocolate chips, stirring until smooth. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with nuts, coconut, toffee bits and remaining chocolate chips; press down firmly. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Giving Thanks

This year's tree. It's only 3 feet tall, but it will do. We didn't think to bring any of our Christmas decorations down from our other house, and I am not sure if we will be making it up there before Christmas, so we decided to get this small tree and some mini ornaments so we could have something at least. We got some LED lights this year and wow are they bright. Almost too much for this little guy.

Just before we moved I was talking with someone about the uncertainty of making a big move, feeling bad for leaving a small area that needs people, but having to follow what you feel is the right thing. This person said to me that "maybe it is the right thing, but maybe it just doesn't matter. Just think of it as an adventure!" At the time it seemed like a cool way to look at it, but as we have spent the last month here in the Tri-Cities, I have had a reassurance and confirmation of the decision we made to move here. I am sure there are things in life that the prior mentality can apply to, but this was a big decision for us and I believe that it did matter, that we did pray hard about it, and we did get an answer from Heavenly Father. I am thankful for the ability to be led by the Spirit of God, and to know that we can trust in His plan for us. We feel very blessed to be here as a family.

My Quirks

I just noticed that I have been tagged. Maybe I would have known earlier if it didn't take all day to get from one blog to another. Anyway, I think I am supposed to list six quirky things about me, so here goes..

1. I hate wearing a bra. I have even been known to go to the grocery store without wearing one, but only if I happen to have a heavy sweatshirt on, so you can't tell. I know, I'll probably have nice saggy boobs when I get older.

2. If I don't get a nap every day, I am not too happy about it.

3. I cannot eat raw onions or garlic. They make me feel sick.

4. Hair: I have to wash it every day and I hate fixing it. I would be fine with a pony tail every day, if I thought it was socially acceptable.

5. I hate quarreling.

6. I hate when I lose control of my emotions.

Sorry, that was really not very interesting, but there you go. Now I am supposed to tag two other people. So, I tag: Sarah P. and Molly