April

It's been so long since I have sat on the computer, my laptop is literally collecting dust. I have been so busy with my little daycare, running errands, caring for my own kids, cooking, laundry, and everything else I haven't had much time for the extra's. Not a lot has changed over the past couple months but for the record books, we better mention Easter and couple other happenings.

I have learned through test and trial that one way for me to ruin a perfectly good holiday is to fuss over a "big traditional breakfast." I am not much of a 'big breakfast' person anyway and I resent the cleanup once it's all said and done. I seldom have bacon and sausage in the house for this reason. I find that when I cook breakfast I usually use more dishes and pans than I would cooking dinner on an average day. This is why I am thrilled when I can whip up a slow cooker breakfast casserole the night before and wake up to a tasty almost mess free breakfast! It was the perfect way to start the day and is quickly becoming a favorite tradition.

Of course Easter Bunny left out some eggs for the girls to find, small ones for Danelle and larger more obvious eggs for Kaitlyn. The girls also had fun finding their baskets filled with a rabbit, colored outdoor bubbles, and a bunch of yummy treats. Danelle and I enjoyed egg salad sandwiches for lunch as part of our family tradition. After church, my mom invited us over for some Easter dinner. Poor Shayne had to work the day before and the day of which meant for a lot of sleeping Easter day, and him leaving again that night but we had a wonderful time anyway.

April was an eventful month. The week after Easter was Ellie's spring break. I planned and hoped to do several fun things with her, but the week went by fast and during which my Dad had a major heart attack. As far as heart attacks are concerned, he was a very lucky man to have everything fall into place just as if it were planned. Even when he went to the hospital, the heart surgeon was preparing for a surgery, and the operating room was already prepped. When Dad came in, they took him right in to put in stints. Dad had two stints put in that day and even though it was a major heart attack, he was back up on his feet and out of the intensive care unit the next day.

His heart attack couldn't have come on a better day that week for me too. I was not scheduled to babysit, Ellie had just been picked up to go mini golfing with her friend, I had dinner cooking in the crock pot, and Shayne wasn't scheduled to work until later that night. It was nice to be where I needed to be. I am happy to say he is doing well now and with some lifestyle changes, he can go on better than before even. We are grateful for this.

I think we redeemed Ellie's uneventful spring break when Ashley (Patrick's fiance') and I took Danelle to her first ballet. Ballet West II was performing THE LITTLE MERMAID, and Ashley was so cute and insisted on taking us for our birthdays. I loved the idea, so Saturday April 14th we went to the show. I didn't know what to expect, and it was different than the Disney version by a long shot, but it was magical and breathtaking all the same. We loved the show and it was a great ending to the week.

April is also a special month for our family because Danelle turned seven. We are having a family party on May 6th to celebrate with our family, but Shayne and I wanted to make the weekend special for her as well. Shayne and I go on date night every Friday and my mom is such a sweetie to babysit for us. This week, we surprised Danelle by telling her that we wanted her to come with us. At first, I think she wanted to stay at home and play with her friends but she soon gave in and we were on our way.

We let Danelle pick anywhere she wanted to eat for her birthday. No surprise, she chose Brick Oven. It has become somewhat of a tradition for her to go to Brick Oven on our near her birthday. We didn't talk about any grown up things, just things we knew Ellie might be interested in. Later on, we went to the party store and played around there, and finally Walmart to pick up her gift.

Danelle, Kaitlyn, and I go on bike rides often. Lately we have been going on a trail close to home but I noticed Danelle falling behind for a lot of it. She needed a new bike... something with bigger wheels so she wouldn't have to pedal twice as fast and still stay behind us. On our birthday date, we let her pick one out and bring it home. She was shocked and happy. She got a pretty 20 inch wheels blue bike. She handles it awesome and I know it will help her out a ton. Danelle really loved her individualized time with us and we enjoyed spoiling her.

This morning, her actual birthday, I made her a little special breakfast, lunch, and Nana and Popo came over with a cake and sang her Happy Birthday. I can't believe she is seven years old already. We can't wait to celebrate her birthday again in a week with our family in our joint party for Ellie, Kaitlyn, and Shayne.

St. Paddy's

Every year on St. Patrick's Day, I tell my girls the story about how the leprechaun visited me in my second grade classroom. My class and I went to the library and came back to a wonderful surprise! There was a window open and little green paper footprints all around the room. Glitter and treats were on our desks! It was magical! A leprechaun visited our class! I was filled with happy excitement and will never forget that day. This is why every year on St. Patrick's Day, a leprechaun comes to visit my girls leaving them with treats and goodies. He knows me from my second grade class.

I usually start this special day with green eggs and ham for breakfast. Some years I get more creative and cook green hash-browns, pancakes, and milk but I will admit I got a tad lazy this year and just cooked green scrambled eggs with bits of ham lunch meat in it. The girls loved it anyway of course.

Later on I noticed that Danelle's bedroom window was left open! I asked Danelle why she opened her window, and she said she didn't. I told her to go investigate and sure enough that sneaky leprechaun left Danelle and Kaitlyn mugs of prizes and green bubbles! They were so excited to try on their green wigs and glasses and see what candy they got. We got another leprechaun visit at our door with green sandwich cookies too. :)

Danelle wanted to go leprechaun hunting for her date that afternoon, but we settled on seeing WE BOUGHT A ZOO because it was raining. Still wanting to celebrate, we picked up a Little Caesars Hot and Ready Pizza and bread sticks and came home to party. The Little Caesars was so friendly, the girls each got a balloon with a Little Caesars logo to make our party complete. Later that night when Shayne and Danelle were teasing each other, Danelle's top front right tooth came out!!! It was a wonderful day.

Cooking Happy

Ok, I give... I like cooking. I mean, I am starting to LIKE cooking. I have been cooking new recipes all year. We've had some sensational dishes, and some NOT SO GREAT. It's been a worthwhile adventure for me, and I feel so appreciated by my family for making the extra effort. It also passes the time when I need it. Plus, there is just something about having restaurant quality food from home sometimes. I feel like I should be on my own cooking show :)

Here are a few I cooked last week, all from my trusty CAMPBELL'S RECIPE COLLECTION cookbook.

Hearty Chicken and Noodle Casserole.
My family wasn't too excited about this dinner. I guess it didn't sound like anything special, but this meal SURPRISED us all! It was the perfect all in one meal. Danelle had two helpings and even Kaitlyn ate this meal well. Don't underestimate your noodle casseroles!!! They might surprise you.

Rosemary Chicken an Roasted Vegetables.
I wanted to make something tasty, pretty, and impressive for my company Friday night. Danny and Uurtsaikh (my brother and sister in law) were coming over for dinner. I had never roasted a chicken before, but I think it turned out as everything I hoped it would. It had a very nice subtle flavor to the chicken, and the veggies (red potatoes, celery, onion, and carrots) cooked well. This was also a very healthy meal so I didn't feel as guilty taking second helpings. ;)

Tonight - Roast Pork with Green Apples and Golden Squash. I have been trying to cook more with chicken and pork (the other white meat) lately to stay on a healthier diet. This recipe appealed to me because I have never cooked a dinner with apples before, and I am a squash lover. I had some trouble finding whole pork tenderloins though, so I settled for pork tenderloin steaks - luckily they worked. My favorite part of this meal had to have been the apples. They were very sweet, and reminded me of the fried apples they serve at Cracker Barrel.

This week I am thinking about letting Shayne help me with grilling Barbecued Pork Spareribs. I also think I will try the Savory Pot Roast and Tuna Noodle Casserole (since my last noodle casserole turned out so well). Look at me... Liking cooking :) How about that?

Brighter Tomorrow

Danelle was mad at me the other day. In her mind, she was fully justified wanting whatever it was from the store at the time so when I told her (like always), "Danelle, we don't have money for that right now," she had enough! She finally asked, "well, when will we not be poor?"

"Danelle," I answered, "Money isn't everything." I explained all the things we do have compared to others and how lucky we really are. We have so much to be thankful for! We have everything we NEED. We have enough money to meet our needs, clothes on our back, a nice home with heat and water, and a bright future ahead of us - especially now that Shayne is about to graduate college.

It seems like forever ago that Shayne decided to go back to school. We had been through a lot of rough patches financially to finally make that decision. Shayne had been working as a salesman with unstable paychecks, and we had just lost our home in Cedar Hills (not my proudest admission). Life was harder than ever at that point. We wanted another baby so badly but ran into infertility probelms, and it seemed like NOTHING was going our way. I was upset with where our life was going. Our marriage and faith was being tested and I was starting to lose hope of anything changing.

Then Shayne started to talk about going back to school. All the sudden, we were caught in a long dark tunnel with a light at the end! I urged him to take the plunge and KNEW that although it would be hard, we would be SO BLESSED for him going to school.

Shayne started in fall 2008 at Steven's-Henager College in Provo going into Health Care Administration with an emphasis in biotechnology. In 2009, reality of the importance of his degree hit when his job at the time closed it's doors leaving former workers unemployed. The economy had taken a dive and employers had now hundreds of applicants wanting the same job. If you didn't have a bachelors degree you were among the first to be weeded out. We realized even if he didn't want to go into his field, just having a bachelors degree in anything put him ahead of the game. We looked forward to job security.

It's now 2012. It's been a LONG road, but I could always take whatever difficulty we came across KNOWING that one day it would be better! Well, that day is coming fast because Shayne just got his graduation date and time. June 21st at 6:00 p.m. I will be watching my husband graduate! I have never been more proud of any of his accomplishments. We have stuck it out and are better and more in love than ever knowing we did it as a team.

I am so grateful to him for the sacrifices I know he made to go back to school. I love him dearly and can't wait for the day the girls and I will be his cheerleaders when he walks on that stage. It's going to be HUGE and he deserves it.

WAY TO GO SHAYNE! :) Almost there.

February

I have one amazing baby. Today I went in her room to wake her up for the day. She has been severely off schedule lately, so I didn't want her to sleep in late. When I peeked in her room, I was surprised at the sight! Kaitlyn was naked from head to toe, fast asleep in her bed! Sure enough, she had taken off her pj's and thrown them out of the crib, and to make matters more interesting took off her diaper and left it at the end of the bed.

Two things shocked and surprised me. The first is that the pj's were still zipped up, and snapped shut. She had to have carefully climbed out the NECK hole! Second, I could not believe it but HER BED WAS DRY! She hadn't even wet the bed! I really hope she doesn't pull anymore shenanigans, but I guess no harm was done so I let this one pass.

Danelle is an amazing kid too. One thing about Danelle is that she LOVES to talk. Whenever she is home, she is following us around talk talk talking away. She always has something on her mind. You can almost see the thoughts reeling through her head.

The other day, she was watching me exercise on our new/used treadmill we found on KSL. She was pretty excited to see me "get sweaty." I put the TV screen right in front of the treadmill for entertainment when I run or walk, but this day Danelle was talking away, asking questions, and actually making me more tired and out of breath answering her. Finally, I said in a nice way, "wow you like to talk a lot!"

Danelle laughed harder than I expected. She said, "well - I have a lot to say!" I couldn't help but smile and I realized I love her talking. She is so smart and always thinking and feeling something. I love that she can talk to me about anything. She can talk talk talk all she wants.

Life has been changing lately. Shayne is in his last few months of school. This means he has to go on campus and is gone an extra four nights out of the week.

It's been a BIG adjustment to our lives. Now that Shayne has school in the evenings, I am now fully responsible not only for the girls mornings, but bedtimes too. Bedtimes have never been my favorite. I am proud to say though that amazingly enough, we have developed some wonderful new routines and everything is going much more smoothly.

I have to tell you too, I am feeling so GREAT lately. Winter always depresses me. I miss the sun, I miss warm, and the usual yearly expected weight gain depresses me too. Well, like I mentioned earlier, we got a treadmill. It is doing WONDERS for me physically and emotionally.

I started a Jillian Michaels FROM COUCH TO 5K program, and am following it strictly (only adding extra walking time). It might not sound like much but after a week and a half, I can run four minutes straight now. I add another minute tomorrow and will be up to six by the end of the week. The hope is to be able to run 30 minutes straight by the end of the program which is 10 weeks long. I am so excited and proud to be getting more healthy.

My family is benefiting from the treadmill as well. Danelle walks 15 minutes four days a week, and Shayne is also doing the couch to 5k program. I am already noticing him losing weight. It's inspired us to eat better too. I love it. I am so proud of my family.

Kaitlyn is getting healthy too in her own way. We have been trying to get her to a healthy weight. She is small for her height, only being at 2% in her weight... yikes! Her doctor suggested we power pack her food with extra calories and start giving her Carnation Instant Breakfast with her milk for nutrients. She might not be eating more, but she is taking extra calories with every bite and every milk she drinks. I have been giving her V8 Fusion as well for vegetables and extra nutrients. One of these days, I should get a juicer and make my kids homemade healthy drinks.

So there you have it; an update on our family. I am so happy to have February out of the way. January and February are my most difficult months of the year so once they are over I like to celebrate. "Birthday season" is fast approaching and then another fun packed summer. I am still so excited about 2012. :)

Crazy About My Carbs :)

My favorite adventures in the kitchen involve making bread and I LOVE my bread machine!!! I love the smells of bread baking, the taste of a warm slice, and the many varieties of bread there are to choose from. When I first got my bread machine as a wedding gift, I was thrilled and made many tasty breads with it.

Now that I consider myself an "intermediate" baker (still learning) I use the bread machine for DOUGH and bake the bread in a bread pan with the oven. It makes it more homemade looking, and I think the loaf itself is cooked better. For example, sometimes when I cook Cinnamon Raisin Bread, the raisins in a bread machine cooked loaf are all at the bottom... if I pull out the dough however, I can knead it evenly all together.

Making bread with the bread machine dough cycle is easy... I put the ingredients in the machine and set it to the dough only setting. About 90 minutes later, the dough is ready. Lightly flour your surface, and spread out your dough. Roll it kind of in a rectangle shape, and roll it up tightly and pinch in the ends. Tuck the ends over, and set in a greased bread pan. Let rise until double. Bake 30-35 minutes. Then, I usually brush melted butter on the top to finish it up.

Here is a recipe from the Betty Crocker Bread Machine Cookbook.

Raisin Cinnamon Bread

(1 1/2 Pound Recipe)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
3 cups bread flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine or quick active dry yeast
3/4 cup raisins

Place all ingredients except raisins in bread machine pan in the order recommended. Add the raisins at the raisin/nut signal.

To bake in the machine, select the basic or white cycle. Otherwise, choose the dough cycle and continue with directions above.

The Moment it Hit Me

Danelle was a very anticipated baby. We were only married a year when we found out we were pregnant and so excited to be first time parents. I had a pretty easy pregnancy with Danelle in comparison to Kaitlyn's. I had just had a successful normal delivery, and although I was a mom now, it hadn't really hit me yet.

Danelle was one day old, and approaching her second night. Up until that point, I let the nurses take her when I needed to sleep and they fed her when needed (although I was trying to nurse) and always changed her diapers. I had it pretty easy. It was getting dark now, and Shayne was asleep when I smelled something bad coming from the baby. I know the smell of poop, so I beeped my nurse from the button on my bed.

The nurse rang in, "can I help you?"

"Yes, I think she needs a diaper change," I said very matter of fact.

My nurse spoke back, "there are diapers and everything you need in her bassinet."

I was taken back a minute. I expected this nurse to come running in and change her diaper! Then I felt really sheepish to have even asked. I remembered thinking to myself, 'of course I should change her. After all, I am her mom!' It was a big moment for me to change that silly diaper because it was then I realized that I REALLY was a mother now. This is MY baby and it's MY job to care for her.

Looking back, I have to smile at how clumsily I changed Danelle's first diaper. Changing diapers was somewhat of a game after that, at least the first few days until the newness wore off. By the time Kaitlyn came around, I was a professional diaper changer and didn't ask much of the hospital nurses at all.

Sometimes I wish I could relive these memories. I am so happy to be a mom. I wish they could stay small and in my arms forever. I love you Danelle and Kaitlyn!