Catch up

Ok, so this is starting to be a trend. That's ok. The point is to frequently take time to think about what I am grateful for. So, I am just going to list a couple things that I have been grateful for over the past couple days.

-I am grateful for our new house. I'm grateful for the guidance of the Lord in helping us find this house. I don't know how many of you know the story, but we were so close to closing on a condo in springville. It was nice, but looking back. We would have been in over our heads. After backing out of that condo, we got a new realtor, first time looking at houses with him, we found the place. It was leaps and bounds ahead of any other place we had looked at for the price. So, we jumped on it. And felt good about it throughout the process. I'm grateful for the promptings of the spirit through that whole process. The stupors of thought and the go ahead nudges. We couldn't have picked a better place for our little family.

-I'm grateful for the ad match policy at walmart. I know that sounds weird. But, it is so nice to be able to save money on groceries. That has been an area where we struggle to stay in the budget. I can't say we are doing it, but we are getting much better. It is great to be able to go to one place and know I am getting the best deals. I went shopping yesterday, and I think i saved about 60 dollars, which is a lot considering I spent 110. Anyways. Grateful to be able to eat well on a budget.

-I'm grateful for family. I got to spend a chunk of saturday watching my cousins play volleyball in the state tournament. Sunday, Gretchen came over and spent time with us. By the end, william was crying because he didn't want me, he wanted gretchen. haha. And the frequent skype calls with my mom and dad are great.



I really am very blessed.

More Thanks

I forgot to write yesterday and almost forgot to write again today. So, here is a quick note before I go to bed about the things I am grateful for:

Yesterday: I am grateful that I have a job. I am grateful that I can still do my job and be a mom, that it doesn't take me away from will. In fact, because we haven't had a group of missionaries for a while, I have been able to stay at home all the time and just work while will is napping. Not many hours. But soooo nice. What a blessing.

Today: I am grateful for the plan of salvation today. The comfort of having a glimpse at the bigger picture. It is really easy to get caught up in the now and become stressed or angry or depressed, but seeing the eternal perspective helps to be kinder, more patient, and loving to all. All things I need to work on :) So, yay for the big picture!

Goodnight.

Mr. Sun

Today I am grateful for the sun. It is freezing in my house. But, sitting on the couch by the big window in my living room with the sun warming me up is wonderful. I must have inherited this love of sunshine from my mom. She is like a cat. If there is a slice of sunshine to be found, she is there laying in it :) I'm just counting down the days till we get to go to Hawaii and bask in the sunshine on the beach.

Give Thanks

In the spirit of the month. I decided, like many others of you, to think of something that I am grateful for everyday. Since, I missed yesterday, i will think of two things today.


1. I am grateful for Andrew. He is such a huge help with William. I've seen lots of dads who think everything is the mom's job. I'm grateful Andrew is my partner and sees me as an equal.

This picture is an oldie, but a goodie.


2. I am grateful for "Insanity." Even though I hate it when I'm doing it. I've been looking for a way to get in shape for a loooonnngg time and I've finally found it. On that same note. I'm grateful for my body. For health and the joy from being active.

Happy Halloween!

For the past 2 years, I've been really excited about finding awesome costumes for halloween and then I never get around to it. I guess nothing ever seems very creating. Then, when the time comes, we end up throwing something together last minute. Here is this year's last minute ensemble...just in time for our ward halloween party.






ps- we had a basketball game right after, some of my teammates were a little taken back by my makeup..haha...it has a little different effect without the rest of the costume...


Somehow, I didn't get a picture of will in his chilli pepper outfit last year...but this is him last year around halloween. Wow, I can't believe how big he is getting.

Delicious.

We have perfected our costa vida recipe. Ok. I lied. We don't have a perfect pico de gallo recipe yet. But the rest is wonderful. We made it last week and have been eating leftovers like crazy. These are not the kind of leftovers that you dread either. These are delicious, look-forward-to, leftovers. I promised i would post the recipes, so here they are: (I included a pico recipe, even though I didn't love it, I actually don't really like costa's pico either) (also, Andrew was the tortilla maker, I'll get the tortilla recipe from him and post it).

Pork:
Put roast and chopped carrots, onions, diced green chillies and water in crock pot overnight (in sealed bag on low setting).

Separate pork from the rest and shred.
Sauce:
La Rosarita Enchilada sauce
about ¾ cup brown sugar (add according to taste)
Bottle of Dr. Pepper (maybe coke)
Salt
(Maybe Cayanne or Serrano peppers)



Dressing:

2 tomatillos
1 cup mayo
1 cup buttermilk
1 packet hidden valley buttermilk ranch
½ bunch cilantro (just the leaves, chopped)
1 large garlic clove minced
½ a lime, squeezed
1 jalapeno (seeded and chopped, but use gloves because your hands will burn...personal experience)

Put all in a blender and mix well.


Cilantro-Lime Rice:

3 cups uncooked rice
1 can chicken broth
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp lime juice

½ bunch cilantro (just leaves, chopped)
3 tbsp sugar
2-3 limes, juiced

put top ingredients in rice cooker. Stir bottom ingredients together and mix in with a fork when rice is done.


Black Beans:

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/3 c. tomato juice (i used tomato paste and just added water)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro

In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro.


Pico de Gallo:


Ingredients:
2 firm Roma tomatoes
1/2 of a medium onion
1 jalapeno (seeded)
1 small bunch of cilantro
juice of 1/2 a lime
salt

Dice tomatoes, onions, and jalapeno. You want them in nice little same-sized pieces (smaller jalepeno pieces). Gently mix together tomatoes, onions, and jalapeno. Tear steams off of cilantro. Give the cilantro a rough chop, then add to the bowl. Squeeze juice of 1/2 a lime over the mixture and salt to taste.


It seems like a lot of preparation, but it is totally worth it. Especially if you make a lot and use it for a couple meals. We had a lot of fun cooking together :)

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

As I sit here eating my ramen noodles in an oversized pyrex measuring cup, i can't help but think of how I'm a WINNER! I won twice last week! First, and the one I'm most proud of....My team won the upper division women's volleyball intramural championships! Yes. I got another shirt :) The Second, and the one I'm most shocked by....I won a $25 gift card to walmart! How? You ask. Well, I signed up for some drawing on the utahcoupons.com facebook page and my name was picked :) That is a first. I never win drawings. Andrew always does. That's why I married him. But me, no.



For those of you waiting for the costa vida recipe. That will be the next post.

Big Boy Bed

This is what I walked in on when William got up from his nap on thursday. It was only a matter of time really. Some of you may already know, but we built the crib. It was a great crib for a long time. But, I knew the day would come that Will would out-muscle those little slats. Unfortunately, the gap without that slat was just the right size to put Lil Will's big head through. I didn't know what to do. Andrew and I talked about it for awhile.... "should we buy a whole new crib?" "maybe a pack and play would work well enough" "what about a toddler bed?...is he even old enough for a toddler bed?"

Well, we did a little research online and decided to try our luck with a toddler bed. We ran to Walmart before bed time and grabbed one, thinking we could throw it together in a few minutes. Not so. We were almost finished putting it together, when we realized we put one part upside down and had to take the whole thing apart again and start over! Soooo frustrating! Especially with Will screaming the whole time. We finally got him to bed at about 11.



After a minute of crying in bed. All was silent. A couple minutes later, a thud. Andrew went in to find will still wrapped in his blankets on the floor trying to get back onto his bed. Since then he has done wonderfully in his new bed. He loves it! Especially the fact that he can reach the light. He turns it off all the time. And in the morning, instead of hearing crying, I hear him trying to open the door. A little easier on the ears.

So, one broken slat and one tumble out of bed later, and my little boy is forced into toddlerhood.

Coupon Clipper

Ok. So, I have become one of those people that you curse under your breath at in line at the store. Why? Because I have become a coupon lady. One of those ones that you stand behind and think, "really? Can this take any longer?" But, secretly you're thinking "where did she get these coupons?" "why am i not saving money like her?"



I am just a beginner, but I got a rush after going to walmart today and buying (along with regularly priced stuff):
a 10 lb bag of potatoes for $1
tomatoes for $.44/lb
onions for $.16/lb
pumpkins for $.10/lb
eggs for $.99
lean ground beef for $2/lb
$1 off any block of cheese

and some other stuff...

I feel like a superstar. Even though I still spent too much money and I'm still not sure if it was worth the time and stress. Seriously, I couldn't fall asleep last night because I was worried about checking out with all my coupons. Then, I had nightmares about the cashier not accepting them and me standing like a fool in line. Yes. I'm weird.

For those of you who care. The trick is to take the ads from Buy Low to walmart. Buy Low has great prices with no so good product, especially produce. But, walmart has great product and will match any price.

Old Friends

Facebook may be a waste of time. In fact, when I usually find myself wasting time, facebook is at the heart of it. But, there is definitely a silver lining to it, and a worthy reason to keep it around. A couple weeks ago, a woman that was baptized in latvia that I helped teach randomly added me as a friend on facebook. This may seem inconsequential to some, but to me, this was a miracle. I have been thinking about her and wondering about her and her family on and off for the past 3 years. I had no idea if she was still going to church, or still alive for that matter. We have been chatting a bit and I am so grateful for the bond that we have. She doesn't have family or friends around her there, and I think our chats help brighten her day. But I'm sure it is doing more for me than it does for her. I found out today that the sister missionaries(which were both my students at the MTC) are coming to her house to visit her tomorrow. What a huge relief for me that there are people watching out for her there.

Also, Heidi is coming for the weekend! Anyone that knew me in high school or college knows heidi. Rarely were our names used alone in a sentence. Are Heidi and Ellie coming? What are Heidi and Ellie doing? We were frequently teased on dates because by the end of the date, the guy knew more about the friend then the girl he took on the date. Haha! Since she moved to texas though, we really haven't spoken much. I'm excited to see her and catch up.

Yay for reuniting with old friends.

Cheesy

Do we say cheese to get someone to smile because the act of saying "cheese" shows your teeth? Or, do we do it because no one can help but smile when thinking of cheese?

Either way. I've never seen it work so well as it does with William. I've created a monster. A camera-hungry-monster.

getting stronger...maybe not

Ha! I figured it out. It was actually quite simple.



I just can't win. Now the first is doing some freaky thing. What do ya do....

My little monkey

I took this video at least a month ago and just haven't gotten around to downloading it from my phone. Then, today, I thought "Hello, you idiot. Just send it to yourself from your phone." So I did. And here it is. William may not be able to say a lot of words, but I would take a baby who can imitate any animal over a verbal infant any day. Haha. To be honest though, it really is quite amazing all of the different noises he makes. I'm constantly impressed by this boy. And, of course, entertained.



Oh man! I didn't realize until after I loaded it that it is sideways. Another one of my technical handicaps. (I did, however, make the video bigger. I'm pretty proud of that.) Oh well. If I get around to turning it, then you can see it upright. It's the sounds that really matter anyway.

Perfection.

There are many foods that I enjoy. There are a couple of foods that I LOVE. But, there is only one meal that I could eat over and over and over again and not need a break. I am talking about Chicken Tikka Masala. My favorite place to get it is Bombay House, but it doesn't really matter where I get it. I made it for dinner last night. It wasn't quite the same as Bombay House, but I still looooveed it. Let me illustrate my point. I love Cafe Rio/Costa Vida pork salads. I enjoy every bite. But half an hour later I feel kinda sick and that stays with me for awhile. I need a couple days before I get the desire to have another one. With TIkka Masala, I feel happy after, and I stay that way. You might think I'm crazy, making such a big deal about a meal. But I just had to say something because EVERY TIME I eat it, I want to tell the world of it's greatness. So, there you go world. It's great!


This is the meal itself.


This is a picture of one of our many outings to Bombay House. Whenever we have cause to celebrate, this is the place.

Incredible

This is an amazing site.



I looked out the door from the kitchen to check on William playing in the living room this morning and this is what I saw. William was sitting in the corner, behind the chair, quietly reading to himself. It was so cute, I just watched him for a minute. And how wonderful that I have a place that he can play and I can get something done. I love our new house!

Our House...

...is a very, very, very fine house. With 2 cats in the yard...
Actually, we have no cats. And we are now one of those mean landlords that don't allow pets.
So, we bought a house. It has been in the works for months. I didn't post anything about it because I was worried I might jinx it. Last night was our first night in our new house, even though we've been moving things in for a couple days. We love it! We love that it's ours. We love that we feel like a real little family now. We love having a place to ourselves. And we love that we can take all of our stuff out of storage. We have our couch and love sack back! We also love that there is an accessory apartment as part of the house. We are renting that out and we love that we only have to pay 1/3 of our mortgage payment.
The house is an old home, built in 1918. It is in really good shape though. I have decided to make the living room William-proof. There will be no chords. No tv. Nothing to break at his level. I don't even care if he climbs on the couch. My plan is to let him loose and run mad. I will go crazy if I keep trying to take him away from things. My parents' house is definitely not William-proof. This will be a nice change. It was really sad to go though. Leaving was hard. One worry about leaving was that I'm a bit afraid that things will get really lonely with just me and Will all day. I guess we'll have to make friends. Don't know if I remember how to do that...
Pictures of our new place will be coming soon. As soon as I finish putting stuff away.
here is a sneak peak

Me Time

I never really knew what people meant when they said "I need some 'me time'". I guess because almost all my time was 'me time'. Well, today I finally understood. I got my first pedicure. Believe me, not my idea. That was the last thing on my list of things to do today, but because Hannah is leaving for New Orleans tomorrow and my mom is leaving for Jordan on friday. We wanted a girls' day. My mom herded us into the car and we went to the nail salon. My dad volunteered to watch Will.
I won't go through all the details with you, but wow. Soooo relaxing, besides the incredible tickling sensation when he scrubbed the callases off. Sorry, if this is grossing you out. The point is, I loved the 'me time' and might be getting a lot more pedicures in the future.
Here's a picture of the crazy pink color I picked for the polish. Andrew laughed...

Hunger Games

The Hunger Games has been on my list of next book to read for a long time. I tell myself I didn't have time, but i had time to watch america's next top model. I could have finished the book 5 times by now. So, tuesday afternoon I finally opened it up. I couldn't put it down. I stayed up till 4:30am reading. Finally, convinced myself I should sleep, and then picked it up again when I woke up. I finished it a couple hours later. I love that excitement of wanting to know what's going to happen next and not being able to do anything else but read. Andrew always gets a little sad when I pick up a book like this because it means he probably won't see me for a week. In the past it seems that I had a habit of starting a book during finals. Bad timing.
I ordered the next two books the same day I finished the book. I hear they are not as good, but I am still excited to see what happens. I can't decide yet if I am a gale or peeta fan. Gotta read more.

Day of Mistakes

Today, I went with Hannah up to Layton to get her hair cut. Why Layton? Well, Gaye's salon is in Layton. And Gaye is the only one we trust with our massive mats of hair. Anyways, the ride home was a screaming fest for William. And 10 minutes from provo I realize that I don't have my phone. Blast, I must have left it in Layton. Mistake #1. Then, I decide to get off the freeway at University and take Geneva home. Oops, forgot there is even more construction and it's harder to make it home that way. Plus, William kicks it up a notch. Mistake #2. I see an incredibly long turning lane and remember that the inside lane can turn left too. I guess that lane has expired. I have to go straight, planning to flip a U and then turn right onto Geneva. Too bad there is a mile long line waiting to turn right. William is screaming bloody murder. Mistake #3. Wow. I hope three is all that can happen in one day. I feel like a fool today.

Technically Handicapped

As you can tell, I changed our picture at the top of the blog. And, you can tell that I did it, and not andrew because obviously somebody who has no computer skills did that. If any of you read this before the end of the day, you will get it. If you read it after Andrew gets home and cleans up my messes, disregard this message. I'm lucky to have found someone who can do the stuff I can't. Too bad there isn't much that I do that he can't.

Lip Clip

William woke up a week or two ago with a bloody mouth. We couldn't figure out what happened, he must have just fallen in his crib. He fell a couple more times the next couple days and his mouth bled every time even though they were pretty minor falls. Well, he's all healed up now, but his upper lip has seemed to heal with a little bit of tissue that fits perfectly between the gap of his two front teeth. I hear that this is pretty normal, but that sometimes it has to be clipped. Yikes! Nobody wants a chunk of their lip clipped. We went to the doctor today. We are supposed to watch it for a couple months and if it doesn't improve, out come the snippers. Cross your fingers.
We don't want it to turn out like this...

Separation of Powers

Ok, after many nudges from family, I have decided to create a separate blog. I realize that I feel like I have to wait until I do something noteworthy to write on this blog, like make a cake. I created a cake/baking blog where I can record those fun things. I am going to start writing on this blog more about william and my, some may say, boring days.
So, if you are interested in seeing my cakes or even ordering one(although I haven't set up a way to do that yet), go to my other blog elles-belles.blogspot.com

Big Boy and Bad Mother

William turned one a couple weeks ago! If I was a good mom, I would have documented everything about that day as it happened and written a novel on here that very night. If only...

I will write about it. The biggest delay has been getting the pictures off of my mom's camera. Who wants to hear about a birthday party without pictures? Not me.

But, while we're on the topic of me being a bad mom. Here's another one to add to the list. I did probably the worst thing that you could do as a mother. I left my baby in the parking lot. Strapped into his carseat. Just sitting there. Now, I could make a million excuses as to why it happened: like, I was busy putting other things in the car, I thought andrew put him in, I didn't see him...the list could go on. But when it comes down to it, the real reason is that I am a BAD MOTHER.

Luckily, William has a guardian angel. We were leaving Costa Vida. I was in reverse (without will in the car. He was off to the right side of my car). I heard a honk, thinking it was for somebody else. I looked back and saw a big truck blocking my path. I was cursing him under my breath. Thinking what a jerk he was for blocking me in. I started to reverse anyways thinking "I'll show him." Then I see a man jump out of the truck and to the side of my car. I didn't see his face but then andrew (who was getting on the scooter to drive it home) ran over and said "We forgot to put william in the car." Initially, I felt like a fool. But, as I drove home I just kept running through horrible scenarios in my head. By the time i got home I was almost crying. Chalk another one up for bad mother of the year.

Thank Heavens for those who look out for strangers. I never even saw the man's face. I asked andrew later what the man had said. He said he simply yelled "BABY!"

2 years and counting

We celebrated our 2 year anniversary this past week. We wanted to make it a special one, especially because our 1 year anniversary was a bit spoiled because of the large baby in my belly that had big plans to show up 2 weeks later. So, I put in quite a few hours searching for great deals on hotels and things to do in Utah. We ended up staying at the Hyatt in Park City.


We left William with family for 2 days. We started out early on monday morning. We packed in everything that we have wanted to do for the past year, but couldn't because we have a 3rd one.
We played golf.
We went to 7 peaks.
We got a pizza at Pier 49 and ate it on the road.
We checked into our hotel. (we were upgraded for free to a one bedroom suite which had a huge kitchen and living room along with a bathroom you could waltz in)
We walked around historic Park City (In very high heels, this was quite the feat) (plus, we were dressed to impress and the streets were full of biker-short-wearing grandparents. We could have just worn a sign that said "Tourists"...can you be a tourist if you live 45 min away?...)
We ate at a cute little bistro. We sat outside and felt so European until the sun went down and we snuck inside to finish the meal.
We soaked in the Hot Tub.
We watched Megamind. (Funny. Some people think Will looks like megamind :)
We made cinnamon rolls for breakfast in our huge hotel kitchen. (from a package, c'mon we were on vacation)
We went to the outlets and bought Will too many outfits, because by this time we were really missing him.

Then we came home because I had to go to work :( It was a nice little getaway.

Math?

This is my bed time snack tonight. A nectarine and a cupcake. I figure one is good for me and one is not...that means if I eat them both, it's like eating nothing, right? Right.
positive one plus negative one equals ZERO!
This is why I like math.

The new...or old...me

I'm on a journey to get back to pre-pregnancy-self. So, the new me, is really a quest for the old me. Don't worry, I'm not doing anything crazy. Just running 3 times a week and eating better. Man, fresh fruits and veggies suck the life out of our grocery budget! I have a handy little app on my phone that helps me track my exercise and weight loss. Honestly, I hate having to use a scale to measure my progress, but, there really isn't a better way, unless I want to spend hours with a tape measure a couple times a week.
This post is mostly so that I have to be more accountable. I start these health kicks all the time...usually they last a week. So far, I'm 3 weeks in and only missed one run day because will was in the hospital...more on that to come.

Edible Aquaduct

Hannah's project for her history of creativity project. I helped a little :)

Oh, and that's sweetened condensed milk died blue. Yummmm.

Camera Cord

I have been a horrible blogger as of late. We just found my camera cord, so, instead of boring you with words, I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

BAKING:










HAIR:







BABY: