blog this

Gage came up to me and asked me to take a picture of him and blog it. I didn't know he was a reader of our blog. But whatever makes this little man's heart happy.

He makes me smile very day.

I needed a new post anyway. I am super busy this week but will hopefully add some new posts soon!

Baby Answer

So Thursday my Dr's office called ant they had to cancel my appointment Friday and reschedule. Boo. I had to wait a whole weekend. Wade was starting to really consider just having us wait to find out what the baby would be. Good thing I'm in charge of this baby business.

This morning we finally got the verdict. Unfortunately, Wade had rearranged his Friday schedule, but couldn't do that with his Monday schedule. So he was missing in action this morning and I couldn't get a babysitter so I took all 3 kids with me. Gage thought it was fun to see, Noah and Avery enjoyed getting special fruit snacks.

Looks like we will be holding on to all those clothes bins in the garage a little longer.

It's another...

BOY!

Refinished Dressers

Before Avery Ann got so sick during spring break my plan was to refinish some dressers for the kids rooms. Thanks to my parents coming up to help and a friend who sent me the link to the site, allthingstrifty, that talks all about painting furniture with spray paint, I was finally able to finish the project at the end of the week.

This dresser came from my parents and was going to be refinished for the boys room. I forgot to take the picture with the handles on it, but it had gold and white handles with flowers. I think they would have been perfect for the little boys room. The dresser was fun to sand down though, I used this dresser as a kid. I remember it as purple. I think we counted at least 8 layers. Yellow, green, purple, brown, yellow. It was fun.

And after:

I found the knobs at Target and I was going to get new baskets at Ikea but I think I'll keep the blue ones that they have. They keep their scriptures, piggy banks, pens and random stuff like toys they want to "sleep by them" in them. They are pretty used baskets but they are in a room with two little boys, who like to use things. I finished this dresser almost 3 weeks ago now and Noah is still mad at me that it's not orange. This does look really good with the train quilts that Wade's mom and sister made for their room (see them here.)

This is the blue dresser that has been in the boys room. I used for a changing table for Gage and Noah. It's been really great.

These are the inspiration pictures. The green colors in this quilt that I wanted to use and the picture in the magazine. I'm glad I went with green instead of white. It really pops in the room now.



And after:
It looks great and we've already started using it as a changing table for Avery. The poor girl has never had one and I am (and my back) SO glad to have one again! YAY! Now I can't wait for tomorrow when we find out if I can continue with greens and pinks or greens and blues!

blogs worth reading

There are a few blogs I read because they inspire me. They inspire me to be a better mom and woman. I know one of these girls personally, and the other I don't. Either way I read.

Kim is a girl I knew in Iowa. I was there at the play place when we all got the call that her little boy was born. For about 45 minutes we all rejoiced thinking that they had a new healthy boy in their family. Then I remember hearing the news about his heart. I've prayed for them, fasted for them, numerous other things. Gage still worries about Beckham and if his heart is better. My mom loves to read her blog. Their story is amazing. Their whole family is inspiring.

Nienie. Well, if you haven't heard about this blog I'm not sure where you have been (obviously not on the internet) Her husband and herself were in a plane crash and she was burned. Very long story short - She remembers distinctly making the decision to come back to Earth and taking care of her family although she was told that it would be a very hard life. She's been on Oprah, she blogs and it is amazing.

This past week I've been really bothered by similar issues both of them have posted about. Of course, they handled it much better than I would have. They really amaze me.

I don't know why people feel the need to be so mean. I wish women could just support other women. Gosh, don't you think our jobs as women are hard enough?

You can read their posts for yourself.

Click here.

and

Click here.

Easter Weekend 2010

For Easter we went to my parents and watched General Conference. It was very uplifting and we enjoyed being able to share the time with my parents.

Besides conference the best part of the day was during dinner while I was saying to my mom how well the boys were doing sitting and eating and how much louder their house is when we come to visit. (not that anyone was yelling, but we do add a degree (or two) of loudness anywhere we go). Just as the words passed from my mouth Noah picked up his fork with a piece of ham a little fast and the ham went flying across the room and over the dining room table. All four adults were trying to NOT laugh so hard that no one could say anything. I guess you had to be there.

In between sessions we had an Easter Dinner and an Easter Egg hunt with the kids.





The boys were also very excited that Grandpa had charged his big remote control truck so they could drive it around the cul-de-sac.

It was a great day spent with family and a perfect way to celebrate Easter.

Pinto Bean Fudge

Every month we try to hold special "classes" on different subjects for the ladies at our church. We usually hold them at night at someone's home, so far we've covered things like bread, pie crusts, salsa, couponing, we also have a play group and a book club. These special classes are a fun way to learn new skills and/or just get together and visit one another. Part of my job at church is to help oversee these classes.

That being said, later this month we are going to be having a class on Beans. Beans are a good source of protein and fiber, they are easy to use when you are on a gluten free diet. They are also SUPER cheap and SUPER easy to store. For the main part of this class we are going to learn about how to use dried beans, but we are also going to share recipes and eat lots of yummy bean dishes.

Because really - it's all about the food and visiting.

So, I've been eying a few dried bean recipes and now I have the chance to try them out. Yesterday I felt creative, and needed some chocolate, so I tried for the first time Pinto Bean Fudge.

Pinto Bean Fudge

1 cup cooked, soft pinto beans, drained and mashed or the equivalent of re-hydrated refried beans. (if you use canned, it's about one whole can pinto beans)

1/4 cup milk

1 Tbs vanilla

2 lbs. powder sugar (8 cups)

6 oz. unsweetened chocolate

6 Tbs butter or margarine

chopped nuts

In a large bowl, stir beans and milk together adding enough milk to resemble mashed potatoes in consistency. Stir in vanilla. Melt chocolate and butter in separate bowl and stir into bean mixture. Add nuts. Gradually stir in powdered sugar blending well. Spread onto lightly buttered 9x11 baking dish. Chill for 1-2 hours, cut into pieces and refrigerate.

The verdict:

We really liked it. Gage keeps asking if he can have more, but it is super rich and I don't want him to get a tummy ache so he gets little bits at time. In fact we had the missionaries over for dinner last night and I served this as our treat for Family Home Evening. I didn't tell anyone it was different, just that we were having fudge. No one had a clue and everyone ate a lot. It wasn't until a few hours later that I asked Wade what he thought of the fudge that I told him what it was made of.

I do have to add though, you must add the nuts. I wasn't going to add nuts, but then I was looking at the consistency and thought people would think the skins of the beans were strange...so I added the nuts and no one questioned it. The nuts need to be there for the right "feeling" Once I told Wade the secret he went back and tried another piece and told me that now that he new he could find skin pieces versus nut pieces while he was eating, but he never would have thought they were bean skins.

I don't know how to cut fancy cute looking pieces of fudge but here is the picture.

Also, no they probably aren't really that healthy for you. It calls for 2 POUNDS of sugar. I looked at the calories listed on some of the recipes online and they were pretty high. But they do have a lot of protein and fiber and are gluten free.

It was a fun experiment. I'll keep the recipe and make them again!

Happy Easter

We will be making THESE Resurrection Cookies tonight before bedtime. It was such a good lesson that we did last year for the first time and I think we will now do it every year until the kids beg me to stop.

It's crazy to look at last years post and see how much the kids have grown and how far we've come. I'm glad Wade isn't a student anymore..although, besides the measly paychecks we get, I'm not sure a resident is much better. I'm thankful we are in our own little home busting at the seams with out own little family. I'm thankful for modern medicine and that I finally got my happy Avery Ann back to herself this week. It's been a rough spring break, but we've made it work. I'm thankful for the trials we have, even though they aren't fun, it helps us grow and learn.

Mostly I'm thankful for a Heavenly Father who sent his son and that Jesus Christ took upon our sins so we can live with him again. It's the biggest blessing any of us have.

Happy Easter.

April Fools

Tonight dinner happened as usual in our home. And as usual the boys (not matter what I serve) took a few bites and wanted to know if they could be done. Then Wade asked them if they would like to eat a grilled cheese sandwich instead. They eagerly agreed. YES, anything to NOT eat what mom worked hard to prepare for us.

He. he. he.

But the joke was on them. This wasn't your normal cheese sandwich. They almost fell for it, but Gage said the cheese smelled like frosting. Then Noah got scared and said he was scared to eat it. But once they figured out it was my April Fool's joke they gobbled up the cake like it was candy!


I got the recipes from All Recipes.com.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream together the cream cheese and butter. Add vanilla. Slowly add sugar until desired spreading consistency.

Pound Cake

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 5 egg whites

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8x4-inch loaf pan. Sift together flour and baking powder.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg yolks. Beat in flour mixture. Stir in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites until no streaks remain.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour. (I had to bake mine about 15 minutes longer to get the middle cooked all the way)

Happy April Fool's Day!

Spring Clams

Saturday we kicked off spring break by heading out to the beaches with my parents for a clam dig. It was such nice weather, we only had to wear our jackets, the sun was out and it wasn't too windy. The last time we did a spring clam dig was right before Avery was born when my OB told me to go home for the weekend and "not do anything AT ALL." HA! I did "take it easy" a little bit because I only took pictures last time, but this time I finally got my own licence and got to dig!

Of course, we had good weather, found tons of clams really fast but leave it to little Avery to steal the show.

We opened the car door and let the kids out while we put on our boots and other gear. Three minutes hadn't passed and Avery was covered in sand had her first taste!

Wade finally broke down and bought some waders and was able to venture out way into the surf.

This is where this post shows you what a bad mom I was...I have a few pictures of Noah..and one of Wade, but none of Gage because Avery was in all of them! She really was having so much fun digging in the mud and sand I just kept taking more and more pictures of her. In my defense Gage would never stand still long enough for me to take his picture. He had a good time finding the clams we would dig and then taking them back to a puddle of water and watch them try to "dig" their way back to freedom. Then he would grab them back up at the very last second and put them in our nets.

I also didn't get any pictures of us actually digging this time because I was actually doing it myself too!

Just like last spring there were tons of people on the beach. It's amazing that with all those people you can find clams so easy, but you can. You can even go day after day and still find them!

After finding all our loot and playing for a few hours we headed home. I really think Heavenly Father created some beautiful things in this world, but clams are NOT one of them. These are a few of Wade and my catch.

And the bowl of what they looked like after we cleaned them. We then split this up in two parts, one I put in the blender and chopped up and froze for chowders. The other half we left alone larger pieces to fry.

I already can't wait for the next time we can go. Hopefully we can work around Wade's call schedule so we can get at least one more trip in this spring.