July 11th!!!

We are really excited to be awaiting baby #4 in July!! 

I had a really rough first trimester: lots of illness and horrible exhaustion!  After getting past that point in the pregnancy and getting some medication, I feel better!  Now that I am almost 20 weeks along (halfway, YAY!!) I am feeling pretty good. 

We still haven't been able to learn the sex of our baby!  We should in less than two weeks!  (As long as this little person decides to cooperate!)

Released!

"Released" really is a good word for no longer having a calling in your ward.  This is especially true when it was a tough calling!  I was just released from being the Primary president in my ward, yesterday.  I feel very liberated!  I feel released from the stress and craziness!  My brain keeps trying to figure things out that I no longer need to be figuring out!  I want another calling, but I hope I at least have a little down time! 

I will definitely miss the kids, though!  They were really fun and sweet kids to spend almost two years with! 

Joseph B. Worthlin Quote!

"To do what I can is all my Heavenly Father now requires of me. And it is all He requires of you, regardless of your disabilities, limitations, or insecurities." Joseph B. Worthlin

Peace

Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away. -Robert Fulghum

Hats for Sale-Proceeds to the American Cancer Society

I'm selling these hats for Relay for Life. They are $15 and all proceeds go to The American Cancer Society. If you'd like one, leave me a message (with your email address) and I'll get back to you on size and colors!

I love having a way to combine my hobby with making money for Relay!

P.S. Box Elder Relay for Life is June 3 & 4 this year!!!!

Food

Did I ever tell you I love to cook? I haven't always. I even remember being afraid to pull something out of the oven because I was REALLY afraid of burning myself. For the first couple of years of married life, we ate a lot of Hamburger Helper. Now, I love to cook from scratch. When I start making something from scratch, we don't want to go back to store bought!


I've come to this from need, then desire, then need and desire again. Being poor college students and well poor when you are young in general sent me to the kitchen with basic ingredients. Now that we can afford to go out a little more, I hate to spend money on something we can make as well or better for A LOT cheaper! Then, I learned that cooking for yourself can make you healthier as well as get exactly what you want, the way you want. I love the option of being able to play around with the spices, vegetables, meats and anything else I want to. It's a creative outlet for me.


My husband is allergic to corn. Just look at the ingredient list of oh, anything, and you'll probably find some form of corn. It is a good thickener, a cheap sweetener and it is also hidden in things like baking powder, powdered sugar and iodized salt! Because of this, going out to eat or 'cooking' premade dishes is mostly out.

Now, add in the internet and the plethora of free recipes and I'm one happy girl! I have my fair share of cookbooks, but I love the option to just print off a tried and true recipe for free!


Here are some of my favorite cooking websites/blogs:

Mel's Kitchen Cafe --I haven't tried a recipe of hers that I don't love!

Food.com

The Sisters Cafe

The Crepes of Wrath --You've got to love this one just for the name, but they have some great looking recipes, too!

Our Best Bites

Kalyn's Kitchen

Joy in my Kitchen --I actually just found this one, today, but it looks great!

Super Cook --This is a site where you can input what you have and it will tell you what you can make!



Now, I'm getting hungry!

Learning

I've started a "faithbook" post and it just didn't work. It was too private, too sacred and too much involved with telling other peoples' stories.

To be brief, I've learned a lot in the last couple of days. I've learned that I have a lot more friends than I could have imagined.

I learned that some of the most trying challenges we go through may just be the easier way to learn the lessons we need to learn in this life. I don't want to have to go through something like this, again, but it has got to be better than learning the lessons by making poor choices: addiction, infidelity, abandonment, incarceration. I really don't want to know what those things are like, EVER.

I've also learned a bit about the Atonement. Christ suffered not only for sin, but also so that He could know what our other suffering was about. He knows what the pain is like. He can heal our hearts.

Along with that, goes the understanding that to fully empathize with another person, we need to have gone through hard things in life as well. We can listen and love them, but if we've never had heartache, we can't really understand.

Basically, even though I'd never wish pain on anyone or myself again, I know that it is a necessary part of this life.

Faithbooking

Have you heard of this? I just ran into the idea of Faithbooking on Facebook and then I Googled it and learned even more.

Faithbooking is basically creating a scrapbook or journal focused on your spiritual journey. How awesome is that?

Here are some resources to get you thinking:

Lots of Links

A Faithbook blog

Website with lots of ideas

So, I'm thinking I may turn this blog into a blog about my faith and spiritual journey. Who knows, maybe my ramblings and thoughts about God and faith may help me or someone else!

I'll probably post things about my family and life, too, but isn't that what the whole journey is about anyway?

When we went to the "big" ultrasound, rather than learning the sex of our baby, we learned that there was no heartbeat.

It has been an extremely difficult time, but with faith and an eternal perspective, we are beginning to heal.

My take on menu planning

I like to be able to choose what I want to eat based on how I'm feeling that day. I don't do your "regular" menu planning. Here's what I do: I have a list of meals that we'll eat for that month (I have finally built up to 6 month's worth & we cycle through them) and I buy the groceries for the month. Of course I have to go back to the store for forgotten and used up things, but I try to do one BIG trip and save money by not going all the time. Then, I have a list of the meals for the month on the refrigerator and we can choose each day what we're in the mood for or have the energy/time for. I actually only plan for about 21 days and the rest either end up as eating out, leftovers, or we have to shop for a few things to make up the rest.

I have a lot of our favorites repeated several times in the cycle with lots of variety so we don't get bored eating the same thing.

My next step (that I just saw on another blog, today) is to create shopping lists for each month so that I don't have to do it over and over again. I can cross off ingredients that I still have enough of and add to the list as needed, but the basic list will be there to use the next time. I was just thinking that I had to sit down and do all of this at once, but I don't. I can do them each at the beginning of the month and save them for the next time. The only trouble is that I use an app on my iPod to shop with...I'll have to think about that some more.

What tips do you find helpful in creating menus for your family?

Good pic of new hair

As rare as it is to get to get a picture of myself that I like, I thought I'd post this one that my son took of me. (I think I may have mastered the "fake smile"!!)

Random Pictures

I just took all of the pictures off of my camera. It had been a REALLY long time so there were TONS of pictures. Here's a little sampling!

Someone little thought it would be a good idea to bang her head on the front window one a newly cold and high pressure kind of day. (She only got a scratch.)



We love to make Chinese food! Yum, I wish I had the ingredients to make that tonight!



Yes, it's been a long time since I got the pictures from my camera! FALL!!



A really cool double rainbow!



Real estate!



I got a really cool amaryllis from Willard Bay Gardens this year. It is now blooming for the third time this season! I even got better instructions to get it to bloom again! Even if it doesn't work, it was so worth the $15 to have flowers in my house during the winter!



Books for Christmas! He is such a great reader!!




I love to take pictures of our trees. One of these days I'll print and frame them and make a photo collage on the wall of our trees through the seasons.



It's interesting to see what we've been up to over the last several months by looking at these pictures. There were 477 of them and now I need to organize! Yay!

Oh, Baby

Wow, if there is anyone out there still reading this blog (and not checking Facebook to already have the news) I am pregnant and due to have baby #4 the first of August!!! We are all pretty excited and I am starting to feel a little bit human as the second trimester approaches.

Since my doc couldn't hear the baby's heartbeat at my 12 week appointment and he wasn't sure of my dates, I got to get an ultrasound. The baby is doing great and wiggling around a bunch! I swear I've felt some of it, but it is just so early that I've decided surely it must be something else!

We haven't made a lot of decisions, but it does make us wonder what we should do about our house. It's small, but the basement is unfinished and there is room to add on in the back. For now, we've decided to stay here and decide the rest as it comes!

Well, I probably won't get on this thing for several more months, who knows? Perhaps I'll update you when we know the sex of this child in March...

Natural Beauty Products

They may not need beauty products but my girls sure love to use the natural stuff anytime they can! I love to catch them at it!














Who knows? Maybe they have softer skin and hair because of it!!

Great Quote!

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.

Douglas Adams

SFR

I finally got my SFR designation! I took a class and watched webinars and then I waited! And waited.

It turned out that the only half of the faxes made it through, so others had to wait. Well, I'm now certified to work on short sales and bank owned properties.

I hope I can help a lot of people with their problems!

Busy Spring

It's been so beautiful outside AND we're on Spring Break AT THE SAME TIME!!! It's amazing! We purposely didn't make any plans to go and do anything exciting! Life's been busy, so we just wanted a break together to hang out and get some things done as well! So far, it's been awesome!!

We've been getting work done, yard work, sewing, and lots of playing! It's great!

Moon

I was looking at my blog and I decided it needed more pictures. I found this one. I don't even remember taking it, but I thought it was beautiful. My neighbors probably thing I'm nuts since I can be found laying on the ground, pointing up in the sky and everything in between to get a good picture!

To Do Lists

I LOVE marking things off of my to-do lists! I love the feeling of having everything cleared away for the day. Then, I can relax! I just marked one off that I've been passing from list to list for a couple of months! It wasn't that big of a deal, I just had to make dental appointments for all of my family. I just kept not getting to it! It feels so good to get it done!!

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

How much better off would we all be if we always followed these simple instructions??