They usually come with some wind.
And you can use your really cute umbrellas.
(Which you hardly EVER get to use)
And they leave you with pretty little puddles.
And gobs of glorious mud.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Dancin' in the Rain
Rainstorms are special.
They usually come with some wind.
And you can use your really cute umbrellas.
(Which you hardly EVER get to use)
And they leave you with pretty little puddles.
And gobs of glorious mud.
They usually come with some wind.
And you can use your really cute umbrellas.
(Which you hardly EVER get to use)
And they leave you with pretty little puddles.
And gobs of glorious mud.
Friday, January 1, 2010
What a Difference a Decade Makes!
I woke up this morning thinking about how different my life is now from what it was ten years ago.
New Year's Eve 1999, I was at Rockin' R Ranch dancing on a table to Prince's "1999," and at the stroke of twelve, I kissed a random guy (just a peck, although he did try to get more! What was I thinking?). Later, I met up with a guy I had met before, and we went to another dance until about 1AM. Then we went to Denny's for a late night bite, where he asked me to pay for his food because he had no money (what?!), and afterward we went to my parents' house, where I was living at the time, and watched a movie (perhaps "What Dreams May Come"). I finally got rid of him at like 5AM! That guy couldn't take a hint. Anyway, that's how I started 2000. College student, living with my parents, totally broke, single, childless, and 125 pounds.
New Year's Eve 2009, I was sitting on my couch watching a really cheesy movie with my husband, kids, parents, sister, and her kid. At the stroke of twelve, we popped a bunch of party poppers and then went to bed. Exciting, huh? I started 2010 as a stay-at-home mom, living in my third house after having lived in two other states, financially secure, married for more than 8 years, four kids, and large with child (I won't tell you how much I weigh now!). I feel as though I'm just a shadow of the person I was then.
Now, I'm not complaining here... these changes are all for the better. And though I saw my share of trials in the past ten years, I've also been very blessed, and I'm glad to be where I'm at. Would I go back and do it all over? No way! But I have learned and grown so much, and I look forward to the next ten years.
May you all have a happy and prosperous 2010!!
New Year's Eve 1999, I was at Rockin' R Ranch dancing on a table to Prince's "1999," and at the stroke of twelve, I kissed a random guy (just a peck, although he did try to get more! What was I thinking?). Later, I met up with a guy I had met before, and we went to another dance until about 1AM. Then we went to Denny's for a late night bite, where he asked me to pay for his food because he had no money (what?!), and afterward we went to my parents' house, where I was living at the time, and watched a movie (perhaps "What Dreams May Come"). I finally got rid of him at like 5AM! That guy couldn't take a hint. Anyway, that's how I started 2000. College student, living with my parents, totally broke, single, childless, and 125 pounds.
New Year's Eve 2009, I was sitting on my couch watching a really cheesy movie with my husband, kids, parents, sister, and her kid. At the stroke of twelve, we popped a bunch of party poppers and then went to bed. Exciting, huh? I started 2010 as a stay-at-home mom, living in my third house after having lived in two other states, financially secure, married for more than 8 years, four kids, and large with child (I won't tell you how much I weigh now!). I feel as though I'm just a shadow of the person I was then.
Now, I'm not complaining here... these changes are all for the better. And though I saw my share of trials in the past ten years, I've also been very blessed, and I'm glad to be where I'm at. Would I go back and do it all over? No way! But I have learned and grown so much, and I look forward to the next ten years.
May you all have a happy and prosperous 2010!!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Goin' Blue
My blog is going blue in honor of the first boy born to my side of the family in two generations. Can you believe it? After ten girls, we finally have proof that it CAN be done! Here are some photographs from the ultrasound.
Top of the head.
Femur.
Spine.
He's waving at you!
Here is a profile shot.
I still can't believe it's a boy... I'm in shock!!
Top of the head.
Femur.
Spine.
He's waving at you!
Here is a profile shot.
I still can't believe it's a boy... I'm in shock!!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
It's a Great, Great Thing to Be a Plumber
Okay, the next couple of posts are going to be a little out of chronological order because I didn't realize how many pictures I had stored up on my camera.
On November 19, my sister invited me to go to her daughter's school program called "When I Grow Up." Here she is with the kids waiting for the show to begin.
Natalie's class came in soon after. She's the one in the light pink hat.
Now the reason I'm posting these pictures is because I like to tease Natalie a lot (she's a good sport), and she didn't actually want to be one of the plumbers, but she had no choice because her whole class had to be plumbers. She wanted to be a baker, though!
Because she's a good dancer, she got to be in the front row on the stage. It was kind of dark in there, so even though I creeped up near the front, the pics are still kind of dark.
"It's a great, great thing to be a plumber... you get paid by the hour..."
"Oh it's a great, great thing to be a plumber... you can install your own shower."
If you see her, have her do the song and dance, and tell her that Stacey told you how awesome it was. She'll love that!
Just to toss another picture in, a couple of days later, the kids came over to play at my house. Natalie discovered that the Webkinz pet she had let Paige borrow was put into our "recycle bin" (for toys that are left out). So, the girls did a chore to get it out. Notice how many paper towels they used... wow... and Paige was really trigger happy with the cleaner.
It looked okay until the sun hit it... then I saw streaks everywhere! It's not really their fault, though, because that window was super dirty since our back yard is just dirt right now. They got it... well, sorta clean. But they sure looked cute doing it!
On November 19, my sister invited me to go to her daughter's school program called "When I Grow Up." Here she is with the kids waiting for the show to begin.
Natalie's class came in soon after. She's the one in the light pink hat.
Now the reason I'm posting these pictures is because I like to tease Natalie a lot (she's a good sport), and she didn't actually want to be one of the plumbers, but she had no choice because her whole class had to be plumbers. She wanted to be a baker, though!
Because she's a good dancer, she got to be in the front row on the stage. It was kind of dark in there, so even though I creeped up near the front, the pics are still kind of dark.
"It's a great, great thing to be a plumber... you get paid by the hour..."
"Oh it's a great, great thing to be a plumber... you can install your own shower."
If you see her, have her do the song and dance, and tell her that Stacey told you how awesome it was. She'll love that!
Just to toss another picture in, a couple of days later, the kids came over to play at my house. Natalie discovered that the Webkinz pet she had let Paige borrow was put into our "recycle bin" (for toys that are left out). So, the girls did a chore to get it out. Notice how many paper towels they used... wow... and Paige was really trigger happy with the cleaner.
It looked okay until the sun hit it... then I saw streaks everywhere! It's not really their fault, though, because that window was super dirty since our back yard is just dirt right now. They got it... well, sorta clean. But they sure looked cute doing it!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
A Happy Confession...
And the other reason I didn't post much in October is because I've been spending a lot of time in bed with morning sickness.
That's right! We're expecting our fifth child this May. Isn't he or she cute? Kind of reminds me of my daughter's little stuffed bear.
We started trying just as soon as our court battle was over and we had a contract on a house, and guess what... boom, pregnant on the first try. After trying six months for Kallie, this was kind of surprising, especially since I'm no spring chicken!
So, having suspected the good news before closing on the house and confirming it just one week after moving in, I spent the next couple of weeks running all over town trying to get all the things we needed for our house before the morning sickness set in. I feel like I didn't have time to get very settled, but you just deal with whatever you have to... once the sickness sets in, not much else matters.
To tell the truth, I haven't been quite as severely or consistently sick as I was with the first two pregnancies... a sign of a boy?!? But it does seem to be lingering longer, as I am nearly 14 weeks and still regularly nauseous. I'm hoping relief will set in soon, as my birthday is next week, I have to speak in church the Sunday after next, and Thanksgiving is supposed to be at my house this year.
Another thing I've noticed with this pregnancy is that my belly is getting big faster. My pants haven't zipped up since week 8. At my last doctor visit I was surprised (and somewhat horrified) to learn that I had already gained 10 pounds! That's after a slim gain of 18 pounds with Kallie. Oh man, I'm in trouble!
The room we have designated for the nursery is already blue because of the previous owners, so maybe all these are signs about this baby being a boy? I don't know. Russ is convinced it's a boy, and he has all the kids calling the baby "Joey." His theory is that since there have only been girls born to my side of the family for the last two generations, the odds are low that we could have yet another girl. I feel kind of opposite... I think that means we might be genetically incapable of bearing males, and therefore have no chance of having a boy. With this baby, I don't really care if it is a boy or girl. I already got the two daughters I really wanted, and while it would be kind of neat to have a boy of my own, I love my girls and would take another. Plus, she'd have sisters close to her age to play with, where a boy would have brothers that are 11 and 14 years older... probably not as much fun for them to play together. But as I said, I'll be happy either way. That will take a lot of pressure and nervousness off me at the next ultrasound, which should be sometime around Christmas. I'll keep you posted!
That's right! We're expecting our fifth child this May. Isn't he or she cute? Kind of reminds me of my daughter's little stuffed bear.
We started trying just as soon as our court battle was over and we had a contract on a house, and guess what... boom, pregnant on the first try. After trying six months for Kallie, this was kind of surprising, especially since I'm no spring chicken!
So, having suspected the good news before closing on the house and confirming it just one week after moving in, I spent the next couple of weeks running all over town trying to get all the things we needed for our house before the morning sickness set in. I feel like I didn't have time to get very settled, but you just deal with whatever you have to... once the sickness sets in, not much else matters.
To tell the truth, I haven't been quite as severely or consistently sick as I was with the first two pregnancies... a sign of a boy?!? But it does seem to be lingering longer, as I am nearly 14 weeks and still regularly nauseous. I'm hoping relief will set in soon, as my birthday is next week, I have to speak in church the Sunday after next, and Thanksgiving is supposed to be at my house this year.
Another thing I've noticed with this pregnancy is that my belly is getting big faster. My pants haven't zipped up since week 8. At my last doctor visit I was surprised (and somewhat horrified) to learn that I had already gained 10 pounds! That's after a slim gain of 18 pounds with Kallie. Oh man, I'm in trouble!
The room we have designated for the nursery is already blue because of the previous owners, so maybe all these are signs about this baby being a boy? I don't know. Russ is convinced it's a boy, and he has all the kids calling the baby "Joey." His theory is that since there have only been girls born to my side of the family for the last two generations, the odds are low that we could have yet another girl. I feel kind of opposite... I think that means we might be genetically incapable of bearing males, and therefore have no chance of having a boy. With this baby, I don't really care if it is a boy or girl. I already got the two daughters I really wanted, and while it would be kind of neat to have a boy of my own, I love my girls and would take another. Plus, she'd have sisters close to her age to play with, where a boy would have brothers that are 11 and 14 years older... probably not as much fun for them to play together. But as I said, I'll be happy either way. That will take a lot of pressure and nervousness off me at the next ultrasound, which should be sometime around Christmas. I'll keep you posted!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Kallie's Birthday and Halloween Fun
Okay, you might have noticed that October was pretty sparse on the pictures... like, as in zilcho. One problem is that the kids installed something on my computer that made it kaput, so I'm on the laptop until I sort that out... which I've been avoiding because I hate dealing with computer problems!
So, I finally hooked up the camera to the kids laptop so that I can post some pictures. First of all, we had a birthday party for Kallie when she turned three on October 28th, and she got a princess castle and princess clothing and jewels, which the girls and their cousins loved.
Then all the kids carved jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. Everything was going great until Jeremy cut his pumpkin open and discovered that the flesh was rotting and the seeds were black. The rest of us would have just chucked it at that point, but not Jeremy... he was convinced it was just "overripe" and went ahead and gutted and carved that nasty thing.
The artists from left to right: Jeremy, Quinn, Erin, Kallie, Sam, Josie, Paige, William, and Kyle. Of course, Kallie, Josie, and Paige had some help.
When we were finished, Kallie had her birthday brownies. See that hand on the right? It's trying to prevent Savannah from blowing out the last candle after she had already helped Kallie with the first two... what are cousins for?
Luckily, I got this awesomely creepy picture of everyone eating their brownies... totally appropriate for Halloween! When we finally get a light above our kitchen table, maybe people won't look like demon zombies in our pictures... we'll see.
After everyone left, a giant balloon fight broke out between dad and the kids. They had a blast! I like Russ' freaky pose in the first picture. What is he doing? The T-rex robot or something?
This year for Halloween, Paige told me she wanted to be a spider. What?! My pretty fairy from last year wants to be an ugly spider this year? I took her to Joann to show her lots of other really cute costumes I could make for her... a cheerleader, a princess, a 50's girl, etc., but she stuck to her decision. I must love her because I hate spiders (even fake ones), but I did it anyway. Russ said, "Just pretend you're making a cat with a bunch of tails." Even though she was a spider, I have to admit she's the cutest one I've ever seen, and I didn't mind hugging her even if she hugged me back with six arms.
Here she is getting ready to trick-or-treat Halloween night.
Kallie used Paige's clown costume from when she was three years old... this clown could make even the grumpiest heart smile.
A couple more little stories before I go... a week before Halloween, we had gone to the ward truck-or-treat and won first place for our trunk decorations! After we colored Kallie's nose red with Halloween makeup for the trunk-or-treat, the girls took that little skill to Grandma's house the next evening and drew a kitty face on Lucy and a clown face on Savannah with SHARPIE! How precious... kids are fun.
Hope you all had a happy Halloween!
So, I finally hooked up the camera to the kids laptop so that I can post some pictures. First of all, we had a birthday party for Kallie when she turned three on October 28th, and she got a princess castle and princess clothing and jewels, which the girls and their cousins loved.
Then all the kids carved jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. Everything was going great until Jeremy cut his pumpkin open and discovered that the flesh was rotting and the seeds were black. The rest of us would have just chucked it at that point, but not Jeremy... he was convinced it was just "overripe" and went ahead and gutted and carved that nasty thing.
The artists from left to right: Jeremy, Quinn, Erin, Kallie, Sam, Josie, Paige, William, and Kyle. Of course, Kallie, Josie, and Paige had some help.
When we were finished, Kallie had her birthday brownies. See that hand on the right? It's trying to prevent Savannah from blowing out the last candle after she had already helped Kallie with the first two... what are cousins for?
Luckily, I got this awesomely creepy picture of everyone eating their brownies... totally appropriate for Halloween! When we finally get a light above our kitchen table, maybe people won't look like demon zombies in our pictures... we'll see.
After everyone left, a giant balloon fight broke out between dad and the kids. They had a blast! I like Russ' freaky pose in the first picture. What is he doing? The T-rex robot or something?
This year for Halloween, Paige told me she wanted to be a spider. What?! My pretty fairy from last year wants to be an ugly spider this year? I took her to Joann to show her lots of other really cute costumes I could make for her... a cheerleader, a princess, a 50's girl, etc., but she stuck to her decision. I must love her because I hate spiders (even fake ones), but I did it anyway. Russ said, "Just pretend you're making a cat with a bunch of tails." Even though she was a spider, I have to admit she's the cutest one I've ever seen, and I didn't mind hugging her even if she hugged me back with six arms.
Here she is getting ready to trick-or-treat Halloween night.
Kallie used Paige's clown costume from when she was three years old... this clown could make even the grumpiest heart smile.
A couple more little stories before I go... a week before Halloween, we had gone to the ward truck-or-treat and won first place for our trunk decorations! After we colored Kallie's nose red with Halloween makeup for the trunk-or-treat, the girls took that little skill to Grandma's house the next evening and drew a kitty face on Lucy and a clown face on Savannah with SHARPIE! How precious... kids are fun.
Hope you all had a happy Halloween!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Hot and Sour Ramen Soup
The classic Better Homes and Gardens cookbook has a great recipe for hot and sour soup, but I seldom have the ingredients, like tofu, to make it properly. One day I got the inspiration to combine this recipe with my ramen soup, and the result was a very simple, yummier version of ramen noodle soup!
In a saucepan, combine:
1 3/4 cup water
2 tbsp rice vinegar or white vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
dash of ground ginger
1/4 tsp black pepper
ramen soup flavoring (I like to use beef flavor)
Bring to a boil, add the noodles, and boil for 3 minutes.
In a separate cup, stir together 1 tbsp cornstarch and 1 tbsp water with a fork. Pour this in the soup and cook until thick and bubbly.
In the same cup, beat one egg. Pour the egg into the soup in a steady stream and then stir to create shreds.
Add 1 tbsp thinly sliced green onion, if desired.
Then enjoy!
In a saucepan, combine:
1 3/4 cup water
2 tbsp rice vinegar or white vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
dash of ground ginger
1/4 tsp black pepper
ramen soup flavoring (I like to use beef flavor)
Bring to a boil, add the noodles, and boil for 3 minutes.
In a separate cup, stir together 1 tbsp cornstarch and 1 tbsp water with a fork. Pour this in the soup and cook until thick and bubbly.
In the same cup, beat one egg. Pour the egg into the soup in a steady stream and then stir to create shreds.
Add 1 tbsp thinly sliced green onion, if desired.
Then enjoy!
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