New family blog address

Hi, everyone! Well, after much searching and headaches, I simply cannot figure out why I can’t see half of our blog page, and any of your blogs in my list on the right side, so I started all over from scratch. This blog will be moved to a new location. Please bookmark it, as I greatly appreciate all comments and love from you all

http://littlehatchlings.blogspot.com/

Since I can’t see the friends and family blogs, I could only copy what I had in my following box, and try to find your blog addresses on your FB pages. If I don’t have yours in the list on the right, can you email it to me? Would love to continue following your adventures!

ethanmom07 at gmail dot com

The new blog still has some work to do, like a better header, but it will come. I just miss seeing your blogs and blogging. Allright, now to get a new post on the new blog. Thanks, everyone!!

The computer drama

What a week last week was! Finally getting all the housework done on the new laptop. Here’s what happened:

Last week, I took the old laptop to Laptop Exchange to get the fans cleaned out. It would heat up so fast, shut off all the time, especially while I edited photos, and I had enough of that. Came back home, but then there was an issue of the computer shutting completely off before any heating happened. (Which didn’t, the fan cleaning really helped.) I heard a little jangling sound inside, like a little piece floating around. Packed up the boys the next day, and headed back to the store. Was informed that because of the little part inside moving around, it shorted out the motherboard, making it a goner. I could have died right in the store when he told me that. All I could think about was our finances, and there was no way we could afford a new laptop, but how greatly we needed one to hopefully bring me some wedding business. I just wanted to cry. I had no idea a stupid little part would come undone, and wreck everything. Well, thankfully, the hard drive was ok, so that was good.  After continuous bathroom visits to Café Rio next door, we headed home.

Saturday, we made sure General Conference was DVRd, packed up boys and snacks, and headed out to do homework. Went to the Mac store. Very nice laptops. Much better quality than anything I’ve ever seen. Why can’t all laptops have vents on the top?? Genius! Totally out of our price range.

Went to Frys. Getting better at lower prices. Went to Best Buy. Hit gold. Found a good HP laptop that we could somehow afford, on sale, scraping my photo account and taking bill money together. Next paycheck will be fun. Yet, we don’t have another monthly bill, and that is wonderful. Whew, computers. Ugh

From what I could hear of Conference (hardly anything with young kids up and running) it sounded wonderful. I heard small snippets here and there. I love that the podcasts were available the next day! So, we listen later, and watch the recordings. If you’d like to see the talks, go HERE:)

One talk I have watched early in the morning is Lynn G. Robbins, on Sunday afternoon. He talked about Christ like attributes, and gave wonderful advice to parents. I loved every word of that talk. We’ve had some great days, and some awfully challenging days with Ethan, and it’s easy to feel that you are completely no good at this mothering/discipling/ teaching your kid to just be a good kid stuff! Gratefully, it has brought me to my knees in prayer, pleading for paitence and guidance in this chapter of my life. Trying very hard to not give Satan an inch over my thoughts. Prayer kicks him out really fast!

So, that’s our story. I’ll probably have to redo the blog, because it stopped showing the full blog page, and doesn’t show any your blogs on the side. Only to me. You guys can see everything normal, but I sure can’t. Another mystery. It’s ok. Hope everyone is doing well.

Recipe cards

I was reading HERE on the Nurture Mama blog, and got some inspiration for my cookbook. She shared some ideas on meal planning, and a link to some free, downloadable 4x6 recipe cards. They are quite cute, and easy to type in your recipe. I decided to do her photo book idea for my cookbook. What I’ve been using is a large binder with recipes in sheet protectors. Lately, it’s been resembling something like an anvil, and is incredibly hard to lug around the kitchen. So, I’m trying to simplify by using the photo book idea, and these cute cards.

I had fun and made up four recipe cards to start my book, and to share with you guys. I printed mine on white cardstock, and found a photo book at DI. In these cards, you’ll find our favorite smoothie recipe, Ethan’s newest favorite food, Seashell Pasta, Crock Pot Ravioli, and Easy Chocolate Mousse. We made the mousse twice last week, it’s so good! Enjoy:)

Click HERE for my recipe cards!

 

Our 5th anniversary

This is my anniversary post. We had ours last week, but were in the middle of sick kids and other trials. One night, after the kids were down, I made some insanely good chocolate mousse for Shaun and I to enjoy for our anniversary celebration. (I’ll share the recipe soon, gotta type it out:) Here’s what I love about my darling friend:

• He gets all excited when there’s a fix it task around the house. Gets his tools out, takes Ethan to Home Depot, comes back and enjoys taking care of the home.
• Is an awesome worker, does the laundry for me on his days off, cleans the kitchen every night with me before we crash.
• Is incredibly better at loading the dishwasher than I am, and laughs kindly at my crazy assortment of dishes everywhere when I load it.
• Makes hilarious ‘Bruce Lee’ karate sounds when making the first cut on a vegetable, fruit, etc.
• Makes me feel good about my photography when he looks at the finished product, and says “Man, they’re going to love that!”
• Hasn’t lost his ability from our single days to plan the most awesome dates ever!
• Shares my love of action movies, and laughs when I find “Terminator 2” on cable, right at my most favorite part of the mall fight/T-1000 chasing John Connor on bike scene. (Yes, those are the exact names and yes, I’m still a huge tomboy dork:)
• Makes me laugh so hard with stupid, funny one liners. Days later, I’ll remember them out of nowhere and start laughing uncontrollably. Boys wonder why Mom is so weird.
• Puts up with my quest of trying new, heavenly pasta recipes.
• Gets way excited for a chance to grill some good meat outside.
• Super father to our boys, and they love their da-da so much.
• Is a supreme grizzly bear when it comes to protecting his family, but melts like butter for his eternal sweetie:)
• Is the best Paramedic on the planet. So educated on anything health, anatomy, sickness. Really knows well how to deal with drunks and legals, thanks to nine years of his job. Just laughs at them, while doing his job, ha ha!
• Is very attractive to me, of course, but when he’s in the ‘line of duty’ so to speak, doing his job, I find him stinking hot. One time at church, an older woman passed out and was having a hard time. Shaun came and knelt down by her, checked vitals, did assessment and his usual work. Lots of people were trying to peek in to see if she was ok. I just wanted to see him do his thing, and tried very hard to not faint in the hallway from swooning.
• Always makes me feel safe.
• Loves his family with all his heart, and just wants to give us the world.
• He’s Captain Redbox, bringing me home the latest new movies out that look decent.

Oh, there’s so much more, but I love him dearly. It took me a long time to find him, but it was so worth the wait. We both wonder ‘when did these kids get here' and where did the time go, but love our new chapter in our lives. Happy 5th to us:)

Inspirational examples

I have a few moments before Ethan wakes up to write. He’s sleeping in today, which is wonderful. I think he needs it, and I’ve been reading good things in scriptures and blogs that I pray will give me some much needed strength in mothering these sweet boys today.

On my ipod, I have some wonderful podcasts that I subscribe to, mostly church stuff. One of them is “Conversations”. Last week, I listened to two stories that I wanted to share.

The first was a young woman named Connie Gunnell, who lives in Utah now. She met her husband in high school, built a beautiful friendship, and married shortly after his return from serving a mission for the LDS church. They were married for two years. Then, he was on a field trip with other students in a van. The van had a blowout, van rolled, and killed nine students in the car, including her husband. All of a sudden, she was a young widow. She had incredible support from family, church and the community, but it was still supremely hard. After a little time, she wanted to serve a mission for the church. She wasn’t sure if she could, with her circumstances of already being married, but got a big yes to go ahead a serve. She served in Arizona, and it was there that she truly healed and learned more about her Savior. She now is working on her education, and is remaining hopeful. Prayer is the main thing that go her through it all.

The other story is of Christian and Stephanie Neilson. They were involved in a small plane crash that burned both of them. Christian was burned a little, but Stephanie had 80% burns all over. She was in a coma for three months. So very sad, but such a humbling story. Before this happened, she kept a blog, sharing thoughts about mothering and family life, and sharing her testimony of the Savior. She continues her blog today, and you can find it HERE. I the video clip, you can see in pictures that before she was burned, she was physically beautiful, just gorgeous. Now, she looks quite different, but her beauty from within shines through. Her example to me is so humbling, and reading her blog this morning has been so healing. Just when you think life is hard, and you’re going through rough stuff, there are others that have it so much harder. It’s just amazing when they keep a positive outlook on their life, and it helps us who still have a long way to go on becoming like the Savior. Here’s a wonderful video about her:

Today is Monday, and it’s going to better than last week. The kids are on the mend physically, we’ve been enjoying smoothies every day, and the trash truck comes today. That’s their favorite thing about Monday, to watch it through the window. It’s been so windy and dark these past few days. The garden’s growth seems to have slowed while the temperatures drop, but the little plants are hanging in there.

This weekend, I went to a huge youth formal for church to take candid pictures. It was such a blast. Hundreds of teens dressed in beautiful, modest dresses, and sharp dressed young men. The music was so loud, and I kept apologizing to little baby inside me. I stood on a low table, but high enough for me to hold the camera over my head, point it down towards the crowd, and get some fun shots. It made my night when they played Backstreet Boys ‘Larger than Life’ song. I sang every word to it while I snapped away. That stuff just blows away the rap crap for great dance music.

Have a good day, everyone:)

Hanging in there

We’ve been battling sickness. Ethan caught a cold a week ago, gave it to Kevin, gave it to me, and its been a tad rough. Housebound, missed pee wee soccer classes, extreme fussiness from Kevin. Yesterday, we took them to the doctor. They both got pink eye, but Ethan is on the mend. Kevin is still in the middle of it. Two hours straight of a whining, crying, fussy baby can drive you to the edge when you’re on your own day after day. Shaun always helps when he gets home, which is only three hours till bedtime and then back to work. He’s been wonderful.

We got prescriptions for eye drops and med, went to the pharmacy, only to find out that Shaun’s work changed some part of the insurance plan recently. So, the price for the meds was incredibly expensive. More money stress, and with meds costing that much, we simply can’t afford to get sick. I’ve been second shooting a lot, hoping and praying that it will help me start booking weddings. We really need the financial help from a wedding booking. It’s just been challenging to be away each weekend from Shaun. I know I can’t just wait for the referral to come. I have to be active, keep the photo blog up, and keep posting pictures, continue to figure the pricing for wedding packages, etc. I am incredibly grateful I have a few mini sessions in April booked.

Sometimes, you just have to be patient. When I want something so bad, and it doesn’t come right away, I find that I have to get on my knees more, and truly let the Lord guide me, and help me be humble. It’s so easy to get off the spiritual track, and not stay close in prayers and scripture study. Sounds like we need to be more humble, and pray for greater faith. Good things do come, eventually. Heck, it only took me seven years and a long road to find Shaun.  So, when that first booking happens, you’ll hear me sounding much like the secretary on “Ghostbusters” yelling, ‘We got one!’ :)

On a good note, I had an angel of a friend come by this week in our hardest of sick days. She shared some of her essential oils with us, Do terra oils. I’ve always believed in herbal remedies, oils, and such. My Mom, Grandma, and other friends have used stuff like that, and they’re great. Now, I love tyelnol, excedrin, and such, but I’m quite amazed at the result of using these in the past three days. Here’s what happened:

Kevin has been so fussy with the sickness. My friend rubbed a drop of a handful of oils, ranging from lavender to peppermint, on Kevin’s feet, and rubbed some on his back. Within a minute, I’m not kidding, the fussiness stopped. He started smiling and talking again. That first day, I was shocked. I got my hands on some oil of my own, and have been applying it to me and the boys. Thankfully, Shaun is not that sick. Again, the same blessing of calming and better breathing happened with Kevin, instantly.  Now, when Kevin sees me with the oil, he sits on the couch, and holds his feet up in the air. It’s hilarious. The lavender is my favorite, as it has helped me sleep incredible, and has that wonderful, calming effect. I got a ‘breathe’ blend of oils that helps with colds, and have been using it daily. It’s super. I’m going to a party next week to learn more. So, just had to share that.

Forgive me for being so open and honest about our trials at the moment, but it helps to write. I love reading all of your blogs, and have been trying to keep up with life:)

Some great bread recipes

Recently, I went to an enrichment meeting at church, and a sweet lady taught us how to make super, simple rolls. We watched as she got the dough out, sprayed the counters, and cut the dough into pizza slices, rolling them up. We tasted the end result, and it was wonderful.

I came home with the recipe, gave it a shot, and they turned out great. The amazing part was how simple it was to make them. I never grew up in a bread making home, and the first time I was exposed to that was in my chapters living in Kooskia, ID. Everyone made everything from scratch there, from bread to jam, to cheese. (Home made cheese is super squeaky on your teeth:)

I called my friend Kerri, demanded that she come over so I could teach her, and now she’s making them. Such a great sport:) So, I have to share these recipes with you guys. If I can make them, you sure can!

Bread Roll Recipe- When using all white flour, the rolls turn out very soft. I used all wheat, half wheat/half white. Not quite as soft, but still good!

Cinnamon Rolls and Breadsticks

One Hour Bread Recipe

Allright, my friends, go bake!

Good thoughts

Recently, I had a quiet birthday staying home, and taking care of the sick boys. It’s funny how you get older, you’re birthdays get quieter. We went about 2 weeks being healthy, before catching another round of colds. I’ve been meaning to make that no bake cheesecake in the pantry for me. Back to meds, staying home, taking it easy, and missing pee wee soccer for Ethan.

He LOVES his soccer class. I have never grown up with sports or been a big sports person, but there sure is a need for a physical outlet for boys. Its the cutest class, and Ethan loves running and working with the ball. I was amazed at how fast he picked up on it, using his foot to hold the ball still, and listening to the teacher. He sits down next to a kid, and starts up a conversation. I love how sociable he is!

We got a brand new Oster blender, and have been making smoothies every day. It’s absolute heaven. The boys stand on chairs next to the counter, and we all watch the blender work it’s magic. The thing’s blades go forward and backwards, and shuts off when its done blending. So cool!

I saw “Morning Glory”, a cute movie that just came to Redbox, and one my Mom would have enjoyed. We loved watching movies together, and were not ones to watch good movies just once. Mom and I love Harrison Ford, and more of his other great movies, like “Regarding Henry”. When I was watching it, I could totally hear Mom laughing with me on the funny parts where Harrison is a cranky, old brat complaining about everything. There’s a tender part in the park where he and the “Notebook” actress are sitting on a bench, and he finally gives her a decent compliment, and says “See? Told you I could banter”. Total quotable part that Mom would have used in her bag of favorite movie lines. It was just neat to feel her near, even if its about something that doesn’t hold any eternal value, movies. Anyways, its a cute movie that wasn’t full of crappy sexual stuff and not too much swearing. It’s so hard to find decent movies today. By the way, “Despicable Me” made me giggle. Really funny movie, especially when the old guy says “We have to warn him fast!”, jumps on his motorized cart, and proceeds to move at the pace of a snail. Ok, enough movie talk. Sorry, guys. I just love good movies. Don’t even get me started on Jurassic Park:) Cannot wait to watch that with the boys, when they’re like twelve!

Tried to start networking with a sweet caterer last weekend. Went down to the reception at the south end of the world, tried to take pics of her food, and couldn’t get my new, darn flash to fire worth beans. Tried everything. Apologized profusely, came home, studied and asked online for an answer. Turns out I needed to go into the custom functions menu on my camera, go to the flash menu, and turn the switch from ‘no fire’ to ‘fire’. Tried the flash, and it fired away. Whew! The blessing of the night? The main photographer was kind to me, tried to help with the flash, gave me her info, and said I could second shoot for her anytime.  She’s in her first year of business too, and remembered second shooting to get started. Thank heavens for understanding and kindness!!

So that’s what’s been going on around here. Praying for weddings to book, enjoying the active boys and their sweetness, praying to not explode when they are being exasperating, diving into bed when they go down for the night, and laughing with Shaun about the day.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week:)

 

 

Spring gardening 2011

First chapter of gardening for this year! Trying to keep up the blog had been slightly challenging, as I just can’t seem to get enough energy theses days. (Sorry the font keeps changing. I want it to be this one, but have posted and forgot to change the font. Font lover:) Attempting to consistently exercise for an easier pregnancy, I walked on the treadmill for ten minutes this morning. Was so pooped later.

I am growing some Cosmo flower seeds under the grow lights in the washer room. Luxor light is back on, it’s so bright in there. Here’s the fun stuff outside!

The herb bed, with green onions, parsley, chives, oregano, and a purple lavendar plant that will attract some much needed bees. Last year, my neighbor said none of his grapevines gave any plants, because of no bees. I felt bad, because I had one, consistent bee come hang out in my garden often. Oops:)

1.4 aperture, love:) 

Mint above, basil below. Keeping the basil in a pot, so it won’t grow stinking huge! Don’t need that much.

Sugar snap peas! Great plant for springtime, and its fun to see stuff growing on the trellis. 

Two cherry ‘sweet 100’ tomato plants that I took a chance in planting early. I got the Tomato Lady’s silver mulch down there. It is SO bright, and bounces that light right up to the plants. By doing so, it’s supposed to help increase yield and size. I like it because after I secured it down, it didn’t fly away in the crazy wind we had, unlike the hay mulch. I sprinkled my Dipel Dust on the plants. It took care of the hornworm problem in the fall last year, with my one remaining tomato plant. We had a massive fall harvest of grape tomatoes after the dipel dust. So, this year should be great! I say ‘Just try to eat the plant now, hornworms!’ with the same tone as the pirate saying ‘Anyone who yells “parlay”, I’ll have their guts for garters!’

Broccoli!

I started these strawberry plants last fall, and they’ve been growing roots all through winter. There’s a sweet lady at church who jams strawberries in her garden each year. I figured I’d try it, and we love strawberries. So we’ll see how these do.

The boys and I have gone out each day and played in the garden, before the scorching heat comes. It’s been lovely. PS: I have a ton of hay leftover for mulch, if anyone wants some for their garden. Let me know!

Guess who had too much fun with their snack pack today? :D Yes, he dumped it all on the table cloth, and proceeded to it from there. Crazy kid. Love him. Looks like an Indian with war paint.

The new camera!

Squeal! Yes, I know. Silly, girlish squeals of delight when I heard the UPS truck pull up this afternoon. Thank you, tax return. Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping me get a very important tool for the business, a real professional camera.

The boys and I opened up the big box, and pulled out a larger camera than what I’m used to, the Canon 5d. First things first, I got a strap on it. I’m too scared that I would drop it, so I make sure there’s a strap on that baby. Took a few moments of “Wow, it’s big and black” with the boys, put on my only lens that will fit it, (50 1.4), put a card and battery in, and went out front with the boys.

I sat in my camp chair as the boys pushed their cars around the culdesac, and I worked on figuring out the settings. I switched the focusing over to back button focusing, which has been great for me, and started firing away. The LCD screen is so much bigger than my rebel. I look at it, and think “HD flat screen TV at Costco”. It’s big and great! I know this is more of a post for the photo blog, but just wanted to share about it on this blog first.

The boys have been really good this week. I’ve really tried to be patient and listen more to them. Many times, Ethan will make arguments over things that don’t make sense or matter. I’ve responded a lot of times with an “Oh, ok.” answer and that has stopped many stupid battles. He freaked when I tried to take out the camera box to throw in the trash. I asked if he wanted to keep it to play, and he stopped crying and said yes. Again, slowing down and listening to the kids has been a tremendous help this week:)

Here’s my darlings. Love them!

Yes, this camera and I are going places, that’s for sure!!

Testing for the music blog

Ok, let’s see if this works. Can you help me out?

I’m preparing to work on my music blog, and have been researching how to have PDF files of the sheet music for sharing.

Click HERE for the "Holy Temple”, my most recent (2009) composed song. What you should see is the sheet music to the song, and should be able to download it. It’s perfectly legal and safe for me to share, as it has my name and date on the music.

The goal of this music blog will be to share the music freely, for personal upliftment, and for singers to perform in sacrament meetings at church, small church activities, and such. With balancing the family and photo business, it’s the least I can do to help others through my music. It’s exciting. The music is meant to be shared. A friend recently sang “Holy Temple” in her ward. A lady came up afterwards and spoke with the Bishop. She said she wasn’t planning on attending church that day, and my song really helped her. SO humbling to hear of stories like that. That’s why this music blog is so important to get going.

So, download the music, enjoy it. You have my permission to perform it in church. If doing so, all I ask is that you kindly email me and tell me how it went. I love hearing about it:)

ethanmom07 {at} gmail {dot} com

Glimpse of baby

Today, I went to my doctor for the first pregnancy checkup. The day you find out your pregnant from a little tube is exciting, wild, and emotional. Then, if you’re busy taking care of two, rambunctious boys, it’s easy to forget about your status.

Today, I saw on the computer screen that little, tiny, peapod of a baby inside me. I saw the flicker of the heartbeat. Seeing it on the screen just made it real again, like “Oh yea, I really am pregnant” :)

As I drove home, I thought about the hardships I’ve been encountering with Ethan’s growing stages, the independence and all, and the exhaustion that has come from it. I hope that I can be worthy of this third child coming to our home. I sometimes hope I’m doing ok with the boys. Kevin is still in the cute stage, Ethan is in the tough 3 stage. I’ve been praying a lot for guidance and help with him. When times are hard, I try to remember that he’s a sweet, child of God, and he has a great mission to accomplish here on earth. How lucky am I to be his mom, and to have him in our family. These thoughts help me so much. And so, with the thought of another baby in our family, I hope I can give that new one all the love and nurturing that he is entitled to.

Just taking it one day at a time:)

Recovering

First, I totally spaced it and didn’t name the restaurant, duh!! It was Brio Tuscan Grill:)

It’s been a week of sickness and a weekend of a massive photo convention. Today, I feel like I am finally getting back on my feet.

Last week, I caught a fever bug, and man, having a fever is no fun at all. I tried to maintain consciousness throughout the day, tending the boys, until Shaun came home and took over. He’s been wonderful, sending me to bed early, putting the boys to bed, and cleaning up the house. I tried my best to get better before the big WPPPI convention that I had planned on attending with my friends.

As strange as this sounds, I like it when we’re sick at times, because things slow down, we’re humbled and remember how small we are and how much we need the help of our Savior. I’ve tried to keep that pace this week, now that we are better.

I then had a mommy’s break for three days. I headed down to the strip, entered the MGM, and attended some photography university classes with my fellow photog gals. I learned buckets of great photo information, and much that can be applied to my business. Incredibly worth it. We were among 600 other photographers in that huge conference room, with our barcode name tags, checking in with security every time we left to use the bathroom. (A lot, for girls, you know:)

Monday was the trade show, a HUGE show of booths, companies, products, and loads of people to bump through. I printed out my map beforehand, circled some main places to see, and looked at albums, photo books, and other goodies that I wanted to offer in my products. Won a few freebies, and brought home a ton of paper junk.

Last night, I assisted a photo shoot at the great Neon Boneyard, a place that has all the old neon signs from casinos in the past. It’s hard to get in there, $200 if you want to hold a photo shoot, and lots of paper work. I was holding the flash up for my friend, while she fired away at this incredibly stylized and beautiful model, who was an amazing poser! It was hard to not drool and want to take pics also, but that wasn’t my job that day. As we walked around the place, I just felt like a kid in a candy shop, looking at all the signs, the colors, the faded vintage feel of it all. Fun place. As we left, I got the model’s name and info, and she was up for a future photo shoot with me and other friends. Sweet! Perks of being a local, ha ha!

So, I feel that I had this weekend in the world, surrounded by worldly stuff, loud noise, more cigarette smoke than ever, and it felt great to come home to my family. To give them hugs, play with them, and see why I’m investing so much in this photo business. It’s for them, and for my passion of this craft. I love my family so much.

My dream date

First off, thank you SO much for all the kind feedback about the pregnancy news! I’ve been doing good, munching on string cheese and trail mix through the day, drinking tons of water, and feeling a little more tired than usual, but no complaints! It was exciting to hear of other friends pregnant also:)

I have to write about my Valentine surprises from Shaun. He really is a master at planning dream dates for me. He learned from his Dad how to treat a wife special, and it shows consistently. Power of a parent’s example:) First, instead of getting a present for me, he just asked what I wanted, to which I quickly replied “shoes!”. We packed the boys and headed down to the mall, to the “Easy Spirit” store. My Mom loved this store, and bought shoes there constantly for herself and I. The shoes are leather, last forever, and are very comfy. I still have some shoes that she gave me, they really do last. She taught me about two things you can’t go cheap on and forgo comfort: bedding and shoes! So, I got some comfy black shoes to do photo shoots in. Bliss.

Saturday night, we got a sitter, and Shaun took me down to the surprise date. We went into Town Square, my playground on photo shoots, and headed towards this fancy restaurant that I remember passing and wishing to eat at someday. I got so excited when we entered at asked for our reservation. We only waited 10 minutes, as opposed to the hour and a half wait for non reservations!

I can’t even begin to describe the elegance and sophistication of this place. A good starting mental point would be the restaurant in Pixar’s Ratatouille. It had soft lighting, and a massive coliseum structure which held another eating room. As you looked up, there were huge rings that hung from the ceiling that had large, white linens hanging down, connecting to other rings. It made me think of the decorations at an LDS wedding reception in the cultural hall.

There were tons of waiters, all dressed in black pants, white button shirts and ties, and moving VERY fast. One guy literally held his hand up high carrying his tray of food, and ran to his tables. Somehow, he didn’t crash. Two waiters would clean a table and redress it in one minute flat. We had to stop eating and watch them, because they ripped that table cloth off so fast, and placed the dishes and silverware in their order, one after each other, and moved on. The whole atmosphere was busy and yet, in order. Very romantic place. Our waiter was french, did a superb job, and described the meals with perfect detail. He made sure to get us new drinks right away, which is a big plus we look for. We got some ravioli appetizers that were to die for. Crusty, with parmesan, breadcrumbs, basil and marinara sauce, filled with my heavenly ricotta. So stinking good. Got some great pasta, and made sure to have room for dessert.

The dessert menu was so fun. I was expecting a written menu, but oh no, the waiter brought over a platter with the actual desserts to choose from. I’ve never seen that done before, course, this isn’t Olive Garden. We ended up getting this rich, chocolate lava cake with vanilla gelato and raspberries. Oh my gosh, I just want to go back for the dessert alone.

I wanted to savor every moment there, but of course, the clock struck 8, and I started becoming incredibly tired. I passed out in sleep on the car ride home. Lame me who goes to bed so early, I know:)

So now, I have you all drooling, ha ha! The amazing thing is that for such a fancy place, the prices weren't sky high. So locals, you have to go there at least once:D

Side note: Just started the mini sessions again this year! If interested, check out the details on my photo blog:)

Another hatchling

Yup, it’s true. We’re having another one, ahhh!! We were hoping to have a third gift sometime at the end of the year. Looks like I’m due sometime in the fall. Earlier this week, I took a pregnancy test, two to be exact:) Both were positive. We’re pretty excited, and yes, a girl would be great, as everyone is hoping for. Yet, I will be just fine with another boy, too. As if we have a choice, ha ha!

Sometimes, I wonder how is it done, having three? I mean, some days I’m just barely trying to handle two, be patient with them, give them love. How in the world am I going to do this? I get a little scared thinking of coming home from the hospital, and Shaun going back to work, because I will be totally on my own. Would love to have a mom or mom in law stay with me to help for those first, few days, but that’s just not our reality. Yet, we love our boys so much. The little moments they share with us, the things that matter most to them such as their trains and blankets. I love that. Yes, daily family prayer lately has been a huge battle each day. Seriously, it’s like pulling teeth. Yesterday, I was ready to quit, but I’m trying to be consistent and pray that something will show them how very important prayers are. It’s a work in progress:)

For now, the pregnancy is in the back of my head, while I take care of the boys each day. I am so very, very blessed to not have morning sickness, so there are no physical reminders to me of my condition, until I get big! I try to remember to snack and drink lots of water, but I’m just taking care of the boys. Yet, I am also giddy with excitement to have another addition to our crazy family. True, I don’t look forward to losing sleep again, but oh well. I just hope I can be worthy of these children. It’s such a huge deal! Heavenly Father entrusts us with His children. He loves them with a perfect love, and strengthens us to do the same. It’s so huge to think about, and so humbling.

Trying again for simplicity

Mondays can be rough sometimes. The start of a new week should mean a great start, right? Well, the first half of this day was not so smooth sailing. I learned a lot about myself. I am having a hard time finding simplicity in meal planning. I am spending way too much time on my feet in the kitchen after breakfast, working on food for the day.

I was attempting to make bread. The first recipe didn’t work, due to me not reading the whole recipe:) Threw that out and tried another one. Baked it, only to find it soft and doughy in the middle. Sighed, and threw that out. Quit working on bread for the week. Attempted to make a simple broccoli, cheese and rice casserole for dinner, trying to find something simple that Ethan will eat. (He’s gotten awfully picky lately.) Found the broccoli in the fridge smelling old and yucky, so that didn’t work. Finally settled on some stove top macaroni and cheese, which tasted too strong of mustard to me, but the kids downed. Success at last!

The problem is that I’m tired out by 11am, and I’m not giving the best me to my sweet boys. I’ve got to do something different. I really need to do better at this meal planning crud, and keep it really simple. It’s hard, because I don’t feel like eating hot dogs and bland kid food all the time. You know how much I love awesome pasta dishes with garlic, sundried tomatoes, and other amazing foods. Yet, I’ve got to figure out something in the middle. Kevin eats fine, it’s just Ethan. Must be the age. So, I stopped and prayed a lot this morning. and felt like not the best mom, but I’m trying:)

Last night was a treat. Got a sitter, and went to see Paul Cardall, LDS pianist, perform and share his remarkable story. After reading the book, and hearing his CDs, it was great to meet the person behind it all. I had a chance to chat with him, and he is very kind. We talked a little music talk, and I got the prompting again to get cracking with my music.

Today, I was feeling a little discouraged because I can never seem to sit down and play piano with the kids up. Nothing like the single days. I tried to play today, to get some comfort, but it’s always a battle with kids all over the piano, with their toys. As much as I try to teach them when its Mom’s turn and their turn, it never works. Young kids. I get concerned that my musical gifts will go away, as I’m not able to play as much as I used to. I so want to write another beautiful church song, but the windows are not open right now. I’ve tried. This is another dilemma I’ve got to figure out.

One thing I do know: God is so quick to give when He sees that you are ready. With whatever you want in life, He just waits for you to be sufficiently humble and ready. That is when good things happen:) When I wrote the ‘Holy Temple’ song a year ago, I was amazed at how fast it came. I was simply working on a ragtime piece for the church talent show. Bottom line, I was working at practicing my piano skills. That’s when He has given me songs. That’s always how it has been. So, I’ve got to schedule some time in the day, probably later at night when Kevin is asleep, and work a little on piano. Just keep it up.

Thanks for letting me ramble, and taking the time to read this. Ethan just came in from having a great time playing in mud. Love boys:)

Simple joys

I keep thinking that I need to wait until I have something really big and exciting to blog about, but that’s silly. I want to get better at writing more. It’s so fun to open up and share my thoughts on this humble, little blog of ours.

Today, Shaun was home from work. Any day that happens is bliss. The regular breakfast routine was thrown out the window, and resulted in munching on treats from last night’s church activity, and watching a little bit of “Open Season 3”. Then, we attempted again to be consistent in family prayer, (which at times is like pulling teeth to get the boys to comply) and did yard work. I am happy to say that all the rose bushes and Lantana plants are pruned, buckets of leaves are raked up, and the kids were happily chowing on cheetos, dragging around tools to help out:)

We then went to get some promotional cards I made for the photography business at Costco, raided the food samples, and happily ended at Yogurt Land. My aunt Jacquie introduced me to that place, and I was overjoyed to find a store located nearby. It just tastes better than U swirl to me, so good.

Earlier this month, we had a rare treat of snow, real snow! It’s a big deal for us:D

The boys were overjoyed to experience it, somewhat, from the window. I think they had colds at the time, or we would have frolicked about in it.

Little something

Well, I was trying to upload a video from our Mt Charleston experience last weekend. I have a sony handycam, and it looks like I need a firewire cable in order for the videos to be transferred to the computer. Sheesh. Is that how you guys upload videos to your computer for your blog? I’m still learning:)

Nevertheless, Shaun and I took the boys up to the mountains to see snow and beautiful nature. First, I thought it would be fun for the boys to see the ski area. I always think ‘This is their first time seeing something new’ and get excited for them. The excitement left when we had to park very far down the road, and carry the kids up for a long ways. I sure got winded, while Shaun kept chugging along carrying Ethan. Finally, we got to there, put them down, and we watched the hundreds of skiers all around us. The boys loved watching the ski lift. Lots of snowboarders, and people that looked like they walked out of a Big Five catalog.

We then took them down to a sledding area, walked some more distance due to no parking anywhere. It was a busy Saturday. I saw a pretty spot of snow, and thought we could play there. As we got into it, we realized that it was really deep! Every time I took a step, I fell down to my waist in snow. As I took another step to get out, I would sink to the bottom again. At this point, I was ready to say “ I want to go home!” but kept laughing and attempting to keep the camera bag from getting buried. Kevin was safe with Shaun, and Ethan enjoyed being sucked in by snow. It was crazy but funny!

We then made it to higher ground, and found a sledding hill. Shaun took Ethan back with him to get the car, and I was left holding Kevin, and enjoying the peacefulness, singing to him John Denver songs and “For the beauty of the earth”. We sat still eating bagels, listened to the stillness, and looked at the huge mountains around us. Thoughts of girls camp came to my mind, and living in the beautiful country of Kooskia, ID. Sitting with Kevin, being still, was my favorite part of the day.

So that’s our adventure that we survived:D I’ll work on pictures and videos soon. I just wanted to write a little something.

Great dessert! I tried this super easy creamy fruit freeze from Our Best Bites. Supreme hit. You gotta try it:D

On a side note, I upgraded my photography blog from blogspot to a new wordpress prophoto blog. It’s glorious! I love it:)

Love only knows

I’ve fallen in love with this new song from Josh Groban’s latest ‘Illuminations’ CD, “Love Only Knows”. (You can hear a little bit of it on that link. It even plays my favorite part where the chorus busts out with the piano and strings!:) It’s just gorgeous, as all Josh Groban songs are. Sunday night, I plugged my ipod and computer speakers in right by the piano. I listened to find the right key the song was in, matched it, and had a blast playing along to the track. The kids were jumping on Shaun and having fun next to me. It made for a fun Sunday night. Now, it’s our little joke. Whenever Shaun and I are discussing matters, he always counters with ‘But dear, ‘love only knows’, which results in us cracking up:)

I’ve been trying to get started with a good routine of homeschooling with Ethan. January is just going by too fast! The rough sketch is doing a little school with him Monday through Thursday. It’s not a lot right now, due to short attention span, but we’re trying. I am amazed and humbled by his excitement to learn whatever fun freebie I print off from my home school blogs:)

Here, he’s working on a trace the number sheet. He did his best to write the number one, then had fun just coloring everywhere.

Didn’t quite get him out of his pajamas that day:)

We also have been enjoying this free clothespin number game. He loves this one! Needless to say, we need more clothespins in the house:)

Lately, we’re just trying to get over colds, again! Yesterday was the first day of 71 degrees this year. It was glorious. The boys and I went outside in the backyard, cleaned up a bit, and tidied up the garden.

I got bit by the gardening bug doing so, and I’m excited for round 2 of gardening this year! The red peppers did so well that I’m growing more, lots more:) I can’t believe how much I chopped them, froze them, and used them all the time. Starting in the middle of next month, I can grow broccoli and sugar snap peas, then trade them for the tomato plants in April. Ah, it just gets me stoked talking about it!

Sharp dressed man

Thank you for your kind words about my last post. I always worry that when I do a ‘open up about life’ post, that I’m being too negative. It’s just that, real life stuff, and I’m so thankful to have the encouragement and support of family and friends. Bless you:)

I am still trying to catch up with the month flying by so fast, and wanting to accomplish so many good ‘new year' goals and such. I still need to blog about the train trip, and I wanted to do a last garden blog post of the year. I am also trying to keep things simple, and not overload myself with too many good things. Doesn’t always work out, but the desire is there:D

Last week, Ethan moved up from his nursery class to the big boy ‘sunbeam’ class at church. We had a suit given to us awhile back from some dear friends, and I just think he is SO handsome in it! Before church, I tried to get some decent shots of his active little self, and this is the best I could get. (Tough age to get good shots of:)

Our church time changed from 1pm to 9am. We’ve had 1pm for the past two years, and it has not been fun with the fussiness of the afternoon, and the rushed madhouse of coming home with hungry, tired kids. Last Sunday was a dream. Coming home at noon, and having the rest of the day to relax is SO wonderful for us!! Getting up early and getting ready is a cake walk compared to going to church in the afternoon. I just can’t get over how awesome it is. Kevin was less fussy, big time. He got his afternoon nap. What more can I say. I am so thankful for 9am church.

A couple awesome cupcake recipes that we have tried last week, in honor of Kevin’s birthday:

Chocolate chip cookie dough recipes. SO rich!

Cookies and Cream cupcakes. Wonderful, oreos, and the frosting was the best part! By the way, this “Annie’s Eat’s” site where I got the cupcakes from is pretty cool. Lots of yummy stuff:)

 

Have a super day, everyone! Hug your little ones:)