'Because I'm Going to be a Mommy'

I have the most amazing husband.

I've rarely seen him this past month, except on Sundays, because his work explodes during this time of year and the poor man is running on fumes. The past two weeks have been especially awful as he has had to work 16, 17, 20+ hours a day. Then he had to take a trip to Phoenix last weekend (more work), flew home on Monday, went straight to work, worked all day every day and ended on Friday afternoon after working nearly 45 hours straight.

I joked with him that he owed me a date - but I was also very serious since we needed some husband/wife time! So, Friday we went out to an early dinner and grubbed down at a pizza joint. Since it was so early, we were the only ones there! About half way through dinner, Paul grabbed his keys and said he'd be right back. He ran to his truck and back and when he sat down I asked him why he had to go to his truck. He said he forgot his wallet. I said "No you didn't". He told me, 'Yes, I did!' And I again I said, 'No, you didn't! He is so cute when he's been caught :) He pulled out a little wrapped box and put it on the table. I was so confused as to why he had gotten me a present. He surprises me randomly quite often so it's not NOT normal, but again I was confused and he told me: 'Because you're going to be a mommy.'

Okay.

I almost cried. In fact, they came..but I held it in! I did not lose it at a pizza factory! I love my man. Seriously.

As I opened it he explained that 'it' is meaningful and I can tell my own story with it.

It's a Trollbead bracelet. I had never heard of it before. You can pick your own beads and charms and so over the years, I can create my own bracelet for my most cherished memories. See? I told you this man is perfect!

Paul picked out this flower clasp to symbolize our marriage - the beginning of our family - because we went to Maui on our honeymoon:

And my first charm symbolizes our baby in the making - Asher - because of his name and because I am doing his room in dragons. This is the Lucky Dragon charm:

He told me all about it and how he'd come across it and later showed me the book with all the other beads and charms that I can add. I seriously love my bracelet. I can't help but smile every time I see it, which is all day, cuz I can't stop playing with it. I love how thoughtful and loving my husband is and I just love love love my life with him!

Yay for Moms!!

Sunday was such a fun day, starting with the cute kids in Primary who were so much fun and so cute as they made their Mother's Day cards and a 'flower' for their moms. I love it for sure :)

We visited Paul's mom after church for as long as we could (scheduling conflicts) before heading to my mom's house for dinner with the family...well, most of them anyway. My dad was home for a week to be there during the time my mom had surgery and take care of a bunch of stuff, but he had to head back that morning. My older sister was feeling well so she and her two tag-a-longs didn't make it either. And what was with the weather?? Boooo!! It puts such a dark and depressing feel to your day when the house is so dark. I wanted BBQ weather!! In fact...we had planned a BBQ! It wasn't too fun for the person going in and out of the house with an umbrella to check on the meat!

We showered my mom with some nice things: gift certificates for a massage, clothes, plants and as well as new gardening pads, gloves and veggie buckets! The boys gave Grandma a jumbo card from Hoops & YoYo and got a kick out of the song:

Oh and some new painting supplies. My mom used to paint watercolors quite a bit when we were younger so Morgan and Sam thought it'd be nice to give her something to fun to do for herself:

Morgan and Sam cuddly-wuddling:

Gav & Xan:

Yes, folks, I am married to this face right here:

Love it!!!

Simple Salad

Mmmm! Easy peasy!!

Good As New...Almost!

Yesterday my mom went to surgery to have a hole in her heart repaired. I can't remember what the procedure was called but it went smoothly and so far my mom isn't in any pain and goes home this morning! Yay! It wasn't anything major like open-heart surgery, which a lot of doctors use to fix this, I guess. They went up through her femoral artery using a catheter and plugged the hole in her heart using an umbrella shaped device. The heart will now grow over the device and close like it should have. Did you know that it's very common for people to have holes in their hearts? That at birth, sometimes that hole just doesn't close up. And it's genetic, this thing of my mom's. Yay for us.

My mom would have been able to watch the entire procedue and see the inside of her own heart! Why didn't she? She fell asleep!! She was so mad, ha ha. The doctor, Dr. Sorensen at the Heart and Lung Center at Murray IHC, does these ALL THE TIME. In fact, he's the most sought after doctor for this procedure (so if you know anyone....he's really really good). In surgery, they are better able to see the hole and they had to go bigger in the 'plug' to close up the hole, which was a little bigger than a 50 cent piece. Wow!! He said he hadn't seen a hole that big in a really long time. The device only goes up to 35 mm and my mom's was a 30!

My mom is really excited to be on the mend now. The way this hole had affected her for nearly 28 years (yes folks, that's how old I am and yes, it started after she had me) has something to do about the lack of oxygen to her brain and the way the blood was pumped. She apparently had migraines she didn't know of AND, most scary, it caused her several mini-strokes. She always thought that she was just sick and that it took her extra long to get back to normal (clear head, balance, equilibrium, etc), but I guess those really bad times were mini strokes and this last one was her biggest of all...which is what prompted her to see an Ears, Nose, Throat specialist, who in turn were able to determine that it was one of four things and by seeing other specialists, this was discovered and now she is looking forward to having her head & health back. As we all are :)

My New Hardware :)

Yesterday I took my niece to her first 4-H meeting, which was at the Riverton Arena right across the street from my good high school friend, Rachelle. I called that girl up to say 'Surprise! Guess where I am?' and she stopped by the arena on her way to dinner to give me a surprise of her own!:

She just started up her own business in stamped jewelry. Click here to access her Facebook page for Cherry Blvd. Look at how stinkin' cute this is!! It says 'Mommie's Little Angel' & 'Asher'. I la - la - laaaaaave it!!!

Make Your Own Almond Milk!

I love Almond Milk.

Besides the fact that Almond Milk is silky and nummy, I very strongly believe the cow's milk, especially the processed homogenized, pasteurized, hormone-filled milk that fills America's refrigerators, is incredibly dentrimental and hazardous to our health. I have witnessed it several times and done my research and there is nothing 'healthy' about store-bought milk contrary to what the Milk ads constantly throw in your face. That's all propaganda, folks, intent on one thing: sales.

But I digress. Let's move on to the recipe. One of the benefits of making your own almond milk is that it's really very simple, you know exactly what's going in it, and as the words organic and 100% natural become more of a trend, you need to be aware of companies who falsely label their products (yes, it happens) to bring you these items filled with things that are anything but organic and natural so that they can make a quick buck.

Almond Milk

4-5 cups spring or filtered water

1 cup almonds, soaked overnight

1 tsp vanilla extract (for flavor)

a few dates or 1/4 cup Agave, for sweetness

*you don't have to add the dates or the agave. Also, there have been times when I have just sprinkled in a small amount of Stevia and Cinnamon and shook it up into the milk later. Makes it super sweet ;)

** you will also need a fine strainer or sieve, a large-ish bowl, and a glass container to store your milk.

This recipe is actually very quick and simple once your almonds have had a good soak. Takes me about ten mintues is all :)

This is what soaked almonds look like. See how plump they are?

Look at the difference between soaked almonds and regular almonds (right):

I always throw a few extra nuts into the soak because I can't resist nibbling on them when I open the refrigerator. Soaked almonds are actually very good for you!

Take your cup of soaked almonds and throw them in a blender or food processor along with all the other ingredients. Blend until smooth. I don't have a stellar blender and so I use my food processor. However, my food processor will leak a lot of liquids so I usually start out with all the ingredients and only 1 cup of water until everything is chopped to fine bits and then I gradually add a cup at time and then 'pulse' for a few seconds to blend it all together.

It should look like this when your done:

Doesn't that frothy goodness make you want to go make some right now?


Then you need to take a fine sieve or strainer and a large bowl to strain the milk:

Pour your milk into the strainer over your bowl:

And then you will end up with 'almond meal'. I like to press down on the meal to extract as much water as possible and then I save the almond meal to go on top of salads or yogurt.

Then pour your the milk from the bowl into a glass container that you can store your milk in. It will keep for about 5 to 6 days and is delicious over oatmeal, buckwheat cereal and the likes:

See? Easy-peasy! Now go make some of your own and be proud of how 'natural' you can be :)

Bacardi's Sleep-Over

Bacardi had a 'sleep-over' this weekend. My friend from college was going on a weekend get-away. She and her fiance bought a house up the street from us and it was a pefect solution to have Toby stay here. My obnoxious dog drove poor Toby crazy. It took Bacardi a day and a half to figure out that he didn't have to follow Toby everywhere and act crazy 24/7. While having Toby over proved that I never want more than one dog, it was also nice that Bacardi had a playmate and someone to keep him preoccupied. It was a rainy day Sunday so they wrestled inside for hours on end, then stopped to sleep, then picked right back up again:

Happy 40th

Doesn't my hubby looks so sexy in my huge gold GIRLIE glasses?? :)

Kenny turned 40 last week and we all celebrated at the Padre's house.

Kenny is a comedian in our family, we love him tonz!!

I'm sure Bronsynn loves this pic...ha ha ha ha!!!:

Gaven has a new puppy - Jimmer is an Old English Bulldog and he's six weeks old here. He is SO STINKIN' CUTE. At first, he didn't know what to do when the big dog came around. But Bacardi is good with little dogs and Jimmer soon found that it was pretty fun when they played. But he's a little too small for Bacardi so he easily loses interest in playing with Jimmer and Jimmer doesn't like that:

And then we sang!!! In this video I used the word conjugating to tell everyone we were ready to sing. My sister thought I was using the word consumating and I was really thinking of the word congregating. I told her to learn her dictionary - and then I remembered the word I was trying to say...seems like I am the one who needs to learn her dictionary!

Where She Went

Eeeeeek!!! The sequel to If I Stay!! It was released on Wednesday - FINALLY!! I re-read If I Stay on Tuesday, bought the new release on Wednesday and read it that day. I loved it!! Reading from Adam's perspective was quite a ride, since he is heart-broken and bitter and all that. What a rocker-stud though. :) Great book!

The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is, in a word, brilliant. I just wrote that and then realized it's also on the front cover of my copy. I guess it must be true then.

Until I bought my copy, I thought this book might be about some guy who's a thief for a living or what not. Not so at all. This book is a story told by Death and his story is about the story of a little German girl named Liesel Meminger during World War II.

The Book Thief does not center around the Jews in concentration camps or soldiers in War, but of course they are mentioned and are important to the story because of certain characters. The focus is on this little girl and how she came to be where she was & how she learned the power of words.

The writing is different than anything else I have ever read and I loved every minute of it. I loved the peculiarness and the choice of words and the way this story was told. It's the best fictional book based around true events that I ever remember reading and it's at the top of my list for the best books that I've ever read. I find it a real treat to find books that are written by talented authors who have a serious gift with words and telling stories. It's refreshing from the hundreds of authors who have an idea like everyone else's and somehow get published for works that are less than stellar.

You should read this. It's super duper worth the time.

It's A Boy!!

Many of you already know, but here is my official announcement. It #1 has a penis:

Shocked a little?? Yes. I'd always wanted a boy first...but then my mind was completely and totally centered around all things girl the entire pregnancy - actually, it was longer than that. I kept finding all these cute decals that I was going to put in 'her' room and I had all these fantastic, chicy outfits all picked out for pictures and the blessing...all things that will have to go on hold. I didn't know what to think when I saw that picture pop up on the screen! It was a really weird feeling for some dumb reason. Before the ultrasound, everytime I had tried to think of boy names I liked or how I would decorate the room, my mind went completely blank. So I would go right back to picking out the letters that would go on the wall above the crib and the little bee's and flowers and fairies.

In hindsight, I remember one of those times spent browsing the web for such fancy girl things and a brief feeling came to me that it was going to be a boy. It was so brief, however, and my mind was still stuck in fairy fairy land that I didn't pay much attention to it and forgot all about it. Out loud I would say: It'll be what it'll be. And inside I would say: But most likely it will be a girl. Oh, Maghann....ha ha ha. You silly girl.

Anyhooslebees, I love this picture alot:

Here's his footie:

And this, ladies and gents, is Asher Madsen Budd, no longer It#1:

I spent three hours browsing the web for a name, ended up hating them all, brainstormed with my hubbie and dwelled on a name that we had previously liked, tweaked it a little and voi la!!! I was seriously worried that I wouldn't find a name that I would love my boy to have. But now It is a He and He is a Asher and I even have room ideas and the PERFECT picture for it, thanks to my friend's fabulous eye, and I am five months and feeling him kick and get stronger every day and this is beginning to be seriously cool :)

Get On, Li'l Pony

I don't have very many days ahead of me left where I can ride until after my baby comes, so on this rare day of no rain and minimal wind, Bronsynn, Fajjjer and I headed out to the desert with the ponies. My dad recently sold his gelding and so we are down to only two horses that were home and able to go out to the desert. We had to borrow a little pokey pony of my dad's friend that goes with us. In the goodness of my heart I rode the little midget so that Bronsynn could be on B.J. who she is most comfortable on. Not my most favorite ride. The things I do for that child.

This is us when we arrived at 'The Kitchen' for the best hotdogs in the world. I don't touch hotdogs anymore but I won't pass one up when I am the mountain. I brought sauerkraut and my dad put a can of chili on the fire and we had some damn fine dogs. Yum. This is the kitchen table with our game:

This is me and my doggie. I am not above physically forcing my dog to pose with me. He loves it on the inside:

Bronsynn atop the horse I trained...lucky for her:

The view from where we sat...prettier in person:

The ride back to the trailer was a thousand years. I didn't expect to feel any different when riding a horse while pregnant. I never get sore - not even when I got back on a horse after being away at college for two years. I was most apalled to find out that not only was I sore, I was sore in places that you don't realize exist. My stomach hurt, my back throbbed and I couldn't cross my legs for days. W.T.H. One of many things to cause me distress about this sitch-iation.

Also, the drive home took a thousand years. An extremely slow moving train decided to stop on the tracks for ohhhhh about 40 minutes. There is no other road to get home. yay. On the plus side I put my camera to use.....

...and had a photo shoot with myself. Your welcome for my artistic abilities.

I also included Bronsynn:

And my pops. He takes a really good pic:

Finally back on the road I turned around after some time and found this:

Oh a close up you say?? Why, of course!!

She'll be getting tagged on Facebook :)

Celebration....Of Me!!

Okay so many know that I have the #1 husband in the world. It's not bragging if it's true. ;)

I woke up on my birthday, having forgotten that it was my birthday, to the smell of sizzling bacon, eggs and fluffy waffles. Yes you can smell fluffly. Actually, my husband woke me up with a kiss and I said "why does it smell like bacon?" It's because he's so stinkin' awesome he woke up extra early and made me breakfast! We walked downstairs and I saw this:

My cute husband gifted me back with a Happy 2nd Birthday ballooon and the 8 balloon - for 28, just like I accidentally did for him three weeks before.

He is seriously so great and cute I love him to pieces. I was very much looking forward to my day because I had the entire office to myself at work so I didn't have to deal with ANYONE!!, but mostly I wanted that part over because Paul was taking me to Mazza that night, a Middle-Eastern restaurant that I have really wanted to try. It was delicious food and I know it would have been even better if I wasn't upchucking and trying to get my stomach to stop. hurting. already. Geerrr!! We had a good laugh at the fact that we were the only youngsters in there - we must have not been on the list to receive the memo that it was Senior Night. It wasn't really but it may as well have been because everywhere we looked were white-haired people.

Anyway....back home I was looking forward to relaxation! And I got it. We also got a visit from Paul and Teresa, in which we shared many good laughs as always. She brought me some fantastic presents that I must share. She knew of this really awesome website called Deviant Art, where there are thousands of different pieces of art done by anyone and everyone. There is so many that I couldn't possibly go through them all! She wanted me to pick something out for myself, and I kept looking for fairy pictures because 1) I really love fairy/pixie creatures and 2) I was going to put them in my babies room if I ended up having a girl because that is what I am going to do my girls room in. I think the pictures are so pretty:

Now....my baby had to go and turn into a boy so I will find another place to put these pictures and put my fairy room on hold for awhile :)

My second present:

So awesome!! I busted up laughing when I opened this up. Such humor, that gal. This book is full of fun recipes with clever titles like Edward's Sparkle Cake, Chopped to Bits Salad, Bloody Joes, Sliced-Open Face Grilled Panini w/ Pears, & Fang-Banger Ribs! The first on my list to make is the Passion Pudding and the Vulgar Bulgar Salad and that pear panini!! Yum!!!

Speaking of recipes, my mother-in-law bought me a membership to Barnes & Noble with a gift card for my birthday!!! Yay!! I had my eye on this Simple Salads book that has the most delicious looking salads so I went and used my gift card on that and enjoyed it at a lower cost :)

And of course I had to shake my booty as I was serenaded the way only Madsen's can do:

Spells

Yay!!! I just finished Spells by Aprilynne Pike. Do you remember Wings? Well this sequel is really good. Aprilynne is one of the better YA writers, in my opinion. After I read Wings I decided to wait until Spells was released in paperback to buy it and read it. But then time passed and I think I lost my desire to read it. But my mom picked it up from the library because she really wanted to finish it and so of course, I stole it and I'm glad I did.

'Member how very sick I am of all the YA books that have these impossible love triangles?? I still am very sick of them but this one does have a pretty decent triangle. Usually I can easily pick the one I'm rooting for. Not so much this time. Both David and Tamani are swoon-worthy hotties and neither seem to have their bad points. Oh what to do? What to do?

I thought this was going to be a trilogy but there will be four books and lucky for me I don't have to wait long for number 3, Illusions, to get released this May! Yay! Also getting released this next month....Where She Went, the sequel to If I Stay. CAN'T. WAIT.

Playin' In My Pod

I love these songs. Lykke Li (a swedish indie singer) has several really contagious songs and these two are my favorite. Some of her songs are way out there (and videos, too). She is very creative though. After 'discovering' her, I was browsing some music and realized that she sings that really annoying song Possibilty on the New Moon soundtrack - you know that song that plays while poor picked-on Bella zones out zombie-style in front of her window while the seasons change? It has it's pretty parts but the pretty parts aren't worth me wading through the rest of it.

Anyhooslebees, I love these songs. Can't get enough!

Homemade Potstickers

I made these last night! I wasn't about to take pictures and the write her recipe down when she already does it so magnificently...I could never hope to compare! And her picture is so pretty because she's a pro. But I like it a lot. As a warning, the preparation isn't that bad but combining prep, with the small amount of cook time plus the stuffing and crimping of the potsticker...it can take a bit of time. It did for me since I am a virgin potsticker maker (until last night he he he). The only thing I would change is the amount of fresh ginger. It calls for 1 Tablespoon and I didn't even do close to that much and the ginger was still very strong and overpowered other flavors in my opinion. It was super fun though! My husband enjoyed them....at 11 o'clock at night :)

The Maze Runner

I thought I blogged about this book, too, but I must have some serious pregnant brain going on. Boo hoo.

Okay, so this book happens to be yet another trilogy. Which would be fantastic if it was any good. It starts out really good, capturing your attention, making you think, etc. But, seriously, it spends way too much time on things that nobody cares about, frustrates you entirely the entire time and then at the end, everything just happens really fast, too fast, and when it's all said and done you think: " What was the point of any of that?" Oh it's a fantastic idea for a story line but it needed a better reason behind it all.

The jist: Teenage boys one day find themselves in The Maze, their memories completely wiped out. They are added one by one and all have a role in keeping order in their little community while The Runners go out everyday, facing dangers and trying to find a way out of The Maze so they can all find The Creators and kill em for what they've done.

I usually like to finish trilogies, but I am pretty sure this one is going on the burner. Most of the Best Book Club Ever had a similar feeling. Apparently there is a movie being made from it, directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, Lords of Dogtown) and I have to wonder if it will be any good at all for two reasons: The book (if they follow it, it will most likely bomb) and the director (she's good, but she blew Twilight hardcore and I have a hard time disassociating her with that)

Catherine has also directed Red Riding Hood, which hopefully won't be lame. If it is I will probably steer clear of anything she ever directs. Possibly even One For the Money: which is a shame because I love those books and Katherine Heigl is set to play Stephanie Plum.

The Thirteenth Tale

I really thought I already blogged about this book. I checked and I can't find it anywhere on my blog so I guess I didn't. Weird.

This book is pretty dang good. It's full of twists and turns and really makes you put your thinking cap on when you are trying to figure out how it all ends. It's written so well, too. It's refreshing to read a book written so well cuz I feel that so many books I read have potential to be great and the writing makes it blow. When reading this book you almost feel like you're in some quaint little village, talking proper English in the days before electricity. :) And she has an amazing way of painting a picture. I love it.

It's about a famous author who tracks down this girl to write her biography. Doesn't sound too interesting. But it is! You will get ensared from the very beginning :)

It's My Fault

I'm so sorry for the snow dump we had yesterday!! You see...I am CRAAAAVING the sun and warmth and the smell of fresh cut grass and planting soil - basically I have Spring Fever. Over the weekend, I bought me some super duper cute flippie floppies, some shorts and some springy lookin' shirts. I should have known Mother Nature would have laughed evilly and then bashed my hopes of seeing permanent warmer temps and saying goodbye to pasty white legs. What does a girl have to do around here to get a little bit of Vitamin D??!!!! Hellooooo????