Save A Million Lives

One of the many things that influenced my decision to become a vegetarian:



It's 2.5 minutes of smartness.  Powerful smartness.

Make a difference AND vastly improve your health.   Duh..why wouldn't you want to??

Go Natural!

Just Call Me Quilty Quilter

It's Finished!!!! It's FINALLY finished!!!  

I had this great idea. I had left over material from making Asher's crib bedding and Asher needed a good quilt to go on him for winter.  Originally I hadn't cared to make a quilt cuz, c'mon - I made the kids bedding for crying out loud.  But I thought 'ooo I can make a super awesome crazy quilt with all these left over scraps!'

This was back in December. 

Well, after thinking it through, I knew I needed a pattern of some sort because quilting with a bunch of odd pieces of material doesn't really work.  So on went the search of a simple, boyish quilt that I could use with my leftover scraps.  

Well, to make a long story short, I needed more material (the darker green) to go with it, and then I didn't have enough check material so I needed more of that, and of course, I needed a large piece of black for the backing (so it really cost more than it should have - yay me for being frugal!) and THEN I could only work on it Tuesdays and Thursdays cuz my mom's sewing machine is better than mine and THEN there was lots of trial and error with the font and the pictures and forgetting pieces at my house and then forgetting something else at my mom's house.....sigh.  It took a long time.

It is now near the end of April.  

So it's done...just in time for spring! Holla!!  Which is okay cuz it actually didn't turn out to be the heaviest of quilts.  It will be perfect now :)

Ladies and Gents.......

Asher's very own, very personal, matching quilt:

TADA!!!!

He loves it.  See??  (maybe it's the colors or something but while I was working on the binding he would constantly crawl over to it and roll himself all up in it. So I also blame him for making it take so long.)

Close ups of the dragon pictures on his blanket.  It's also monogrammed and I made him a personalized tag. 

I think it looks pretty good!  The new green makes it look a little more boyish and gives it a pop...in my opinion.

Asher wanted to model for everyone and show off his room :)

I don't remember if I posted pics of his room before...I thought I did but I went back and I can't find anything so if I do this twice, my apologies!! But there are several things about his room that I love and want to show off ha ha.  Like his name for one, along with the dragons.  The name vinyl was done at EAD Designs  suggested to me by my friend, Amanda, and I couldn't be happier with it.  The dragons were done by Amanda herself cuz she's cool like that. 

These are his dragon pics that I LOVE LOVE LOVE.  No silly cartoon baby dragons here - just awesome looking mystical ones cuz dragons are ferocious!!! Rawrrrr!!!

I love how this blue dragon turned out and so I included it on his blanket:

When you walk into his room you see the main dragon pic and the corner with the rocking chair.  I think it would be unbelievably awesome if I could find some sort of hanging 'flying' dragon to hang from the ceiling above the rocking chair.  I looked into making something, either with fabric or paper mache and it is totally out of my territory so if anybody happens to see any type of hanging dragon decor that goes along with what  I have LET ME KNOW!!

And the teddy bears don't really go with dragons but I already had this ginormous teddy and he was given a little teddy from Morgan and Sam so I placed it here along with his Hallmark recordable books he was given - one from each set of grandparents.  If you don't have one of these for you little one, I highly recommend it!!  Asher loves his and he lights up when we grab it to read and he sits still (95% of the time) to sit and listen to the voices of his grandparents. 

On his cube dresser I have these pictures and dragon statues.  The little 'hear no, speak no, see no evil dragons were sent from Colorado by my friend Monica.  They are perfect!  I love these hospital pics of my baby.  I picked this metal frame because I liked that it gave it the 'knight with a sword and armor' feel.

A roaring stuffed animal, gifted to Asher from Truman (his best little bud), a dragon pillow pet (holla!!) with Andy the dragon (another gift from Morgan and Sam), a super cute little pic of a dragon staring at a sign that says "No Fire Breathing Beyond This Point".  Sigh...what's a dragon to do??

Hoppity-Hop

The Easter bunny came to our house!!  Just in the nick of time, too, cuz I think 'he' forgot that there was a kid in the house now that needs to be remembered for these type of things.   

Thankfully, we had a basket full of eggs for my Primary Sharing Time, Peeps I buy ahead of time so that they have plenty of time to dry out (as is the way Paul loves his Peeps) and a Hurley outfit and Hurley pajamas (that may or may not have been purchased a month ago and not used yet, making it the perfect last minute gift....for the Easter bunny to give. 

Our friends had just returned from New York bearing gifts and I threw this into the pile because, well, it rocks.   

And Asher in his Sunday clothes, ready for some Easter goodness!   

Mmmm...so tasty: 

Handsome little mug: 

Playin' In My Pod

It's been awhile since I've posted any music but guess WHAT???

Eric Hutchinson is back with a new album!!! Holla

I'm so happy!!

I was starting to think he was going to be a one time wonder.  

His new song Watching You Watch Him is awesome - love it!! 

Hungry For Change

Click here and go to my health blog to obtain links to an EXTREMELY important 10 Step Action Guide from Hungry For Change.   We need to change the way the world views health.  Pass it along!

O. MYYYYYYYYY. WOOORRRD.

An actual, honest-to-goodness, real-live author of a New York Times Best Seller book actually commented on MY blog.  On my blog, people!!!!!!!!!!  If I could have had the gift of foresight and known that an actual, honest-to-goodness, real-live author would have seen my post about her book, I would have used a lot more fancier, smarter words!  Especially given the fact that she has an amazing talent with words! And if I could have the gift of time-travel...I would travel back to my post, pre-read by Beth Hoffman, and do that thing with the fancy words I was just talking about!!!  Seriously though - how cool is that!?!  Go out and read Saving CeeCee Honeycutt!! :)

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

I found this book charming and wonderful in a really sweet and funny way.  This book can make ya a little sad but not for long before you laugh, and then maybe get mad, and then laugh some more.  The southern talk of the women in this book is just a hoot and Cecilia Honeycutt is a cute little girl surrounded by women with wisdom who become her family.  It is from the vantage point of a 12 year old girl but it is not really a 12 year old's reading material.  It was wonderfully written!  Two thumbs way up :)

The Best Day EVER!!

...because I was accompanied by these two handsome fellas...

...to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch!

Does this look like the most delicious drink to be had?:

Well it is.  It's their Raspberry Frozen Lemonade.  SOOOOOOO delish!   Paul was even jonesin' for some.  

I love LOVE their Pear Gorgonzola pizza...I can't bring myself to order anything else because I love it so much.  And lucky me!! They burnt our pizzas just a tiny bit (honestly I really liked the crisp - it was perfect!).  Normally they said they would just have thrown them out and started over but they saw we had a kid with us and didn't want to make us wait (SCORE!!) so they put new ones in so we each had double our pizza for the price of one!  Happy Birthday to me??? I think so!!!!

What else made me happy?  To see my kiddo suckin' away on this piece of arugula.  With any luck, he'll be a greenie like us ;) 

And that's not all...my sweet husband took the day off to be with me (surprise?? yes!!!) and let me get my run in baby-free, had scrumptious healthy breakfast waiting for me when I was done, took me out on a shopping spree and let me shop while he manned the babe.  I spent most of my time at H&M, then we stopped for lunch, browsed a couple more stores, went to Jordan Landing for a couple things, finally went home for a couple hours downtime and then we stopped into Culver's because every time I drive by I really want to see what their frozen custard is like and believe you me...IT'S FANTASTIC!!!

6 Months!!

 Oh baby!! 

Can I just say that I think my baby is the bomb??

I love his smile, his dimples, his laugh, his expressions, his cute little diapered butt & his cute little bare butt!

I love when he rubs his sleepy little eyes, eats his toe, rolls all over the room like a super stealth ninja to get what he wants, and I even love it when he screams in the middle of sacrament and then laughs at himself :)

He's a ball of fun for me and I just love being his mom!

At his 6 month appointment Asher....

Weighs 19 lbs 10 oz   - 82% (no longer in the 96th but that was to be expected)

Measures 27 inches - 68%

And has a noggin that measures 17.5 inches - 69%

Here are some of the things Asher has been up to and in to in the last couple months:

Just adorable!! Yes, yes, I know!!!

29 Years Young

On the 9th, my sweetie pie husband celebrated his 29th birthday!! 

Oh how I love this man.  He makes me smile, makes me laugh, reminds me everyday how lucky I am to have a husband as great as he.  Smart, intellectual, humorous, thoughtful and giving - he's the man I always wanted to marry - and looky! I did!!!

I spent Thursday at my parents house watching the nef and he helped me with a special project since I wouldn't have the time to do it after I got home and before Paul arrived.  We stopped by Walmart after picking him up from Preschool to grab a few necessary items and then we homeward bound where my little assistant Chef helped me do a trial chocolate sushi.  It went swimmingly and he was so excited that there would be a whole chocolate sushi roll for them to keep!  After the one was in the fridge I set to work to make one for Paul's birthday celebration.  

When I arrived home I set to work running about the house because there were many things I wanted to get done by the time he got home including most of the baking/cooking/cutting, decorations and spot cleaning.  I had to have a baby on my hip for most of that!   Since I was doing a night of sushi, I made a bunch of Birthday signs in Japanese, grabbed my paper lanterns, threw confetti all over the place and just had fun anticipating the night!

I placed signs on the exterior garage door, garage floor, my car, the interior garage door, the living room floor, and the kitchen table.  

And included a few priceless pics of my babies cute mug!:

When Paul walked through the door, Asher and I hid out of view until he walked to a certain point and then we (I) blew the noise maker and shouted 'Happy Birthday'!!!  He was pleasantly surprised - mission accomplished!!

Since there was no way I would be able to make all that sushi before Paul came home, part of the night was actually having him help me make his own birthday dinner - ha ha ....sucker!!  jk - I knew he would enjoy learning with me and so we had a fun night of it!   We made heart shaped, circle, triangle, and little square sushi rolls (all free of raw fish of course since we don't eat fish and certainly not raw fish!!)   We stuffed them with marinated chicken and vegetables.  I also had Asian sesame crackers, which Paul thought tasted like dirt (he wasn't far off) and several kinds of dips!

The chocolate sushi was my most favoritest thing! And the little square ones were the easiest to eat.  Now with a little bit of trial and error I will be able to do better with my sushi rice next time!

After that, Paul was presented with a piece of chocolate cheesecake - his favorite!!! 

And he opened up his present!! Which was a picture of the newest wedding ring that wasn't quiiiiiite done being made yet.  I swear if he loses this one, he's a dead man!!!  I bought him the ring that I was going to buy him in 2010, but was unsure if he would think it was as awesome as I did.  Good thing I didn't, although the other ring was still a very nice, awesome ring which someone probably is enjoying right now.  

And we enjoyed a night of hanging out and porking out and after the little one was asleep we enjoyed some time together: 

Love you, babe.

Shaun White's Stride

So I was at the grocery store with Paul last week and when I spotted this:

and I snatched it up purely because of the packaging.  I even said: "I'm buying this because someone's marketing skills are awesome".  I love that flaming red hair.  I love that Shaun White.  And I only chew gum that is Sweet Mint...in this case White Mint.  

Cuz I totally dig his hair - as in I looooooooooove it!!! - and he's just a seriously awesome athlete who's a bajillionaire just cuz he totally rocks the half pipe and did I mention the hair???  

So I bought the gum just cuz his face was on it.  

And then I realized it has ASPARTAME in it and I will never buy it again.

Sad.  It was really nummy.

Superbowl + Birthdays = Fantastic Fun!

Yesterday was Gaven's birthday and so we celebrated his birthday while cheering on the Giants for the Superbowl (I, however, had no interest in either team and so I was mainly there for the food ;) ha ha).  It is also Paul's birthday coming up soon and so we double it up! 

We celebrated with brats, wings, crackers and cheese, chips, root beer and apple beer - all things unhealthy!!  But it was delicious tasting food to dive into to break our fast for the day and start celebrating!

Asher is hittin' the booze a little too early if you ask me:

Dallin and Aiden did sit ups off Benny's back: 

I made our ice cream cake into a football for this celebration.  I was going to buy a football shaped cake pan and then decided that I could save myself 13 bucks and fashion it myself somehow.  It was rickety for awhile but I saved it and it turned out great - and yummy!  It was half Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup for Paul and half something NOT chocolate and nutty for Gaven :)

Yay!!!! 

Red Solo Cup, I fill you up!!

Let's have a party, Let's have a party!

Red Solo Cup, I lift you up!

Proceed to Party, Proceed to party!!

And the Giants won so many people in our household were just delighted.  I was delighted because I had a neck massage from my sister-in-law who is studying physical therapy and she worked out about 80 knots and adhesions in several layers of muscle.  Quite a good day!!

The Shape of Mercy

Mmmmkay.  So I wasn't supposed to read any books until I am up to date on Asher's journal.  I have the third book in the Hush, Hush series beckoning me every day from under my bed where I have hidden it from out of view.   

Friday night Paul and I went out with Paul and Teresa (for some Mid-Eastern cuisine which I loved) and we decided to find an ice cream joint around Sugarhouse afterward.  We ended up at Barnes & Noble instead because I have been craving the smell of new books and Paul and Teresa are quite familiar with their coffee-free smoothies - Win Win!!!

I needed to find our book club's latest read, The Shape of Mercy.  I heard a couple girls in the book club say that they loved every single page of this book and so I knew it would be one I would have to have on my shelves and not in my Kindle.  And I am so glad I do have it in hard copy because I, too, loved every single page of this book.

It's written by Susan Meissner and, as Publishers Weekly comment says on the front cover, "She is a stunning storyteller."  I sat down with Asher to read and I was sucked in immediately and knew I was in trouble.  

This is a story of Lauren who transcribes the 300-year-old diary of a girl named Mercy Hayworth who was convicted and sentenced of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials.  I love Lauren's story and Mercy's story and the wisdom of the words of the author.  It's a book about how 'we tend to judge people based on notions rather than on truth, and without stopping to consider if we even have the right to judge them at all.' 

I love it! You should read it! 

One For The Money

I'm so excited for this movie to come out!!  

This is based off the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich.  There are 18 novels in this series of a learning to be street-smart girl (while clueless she can be quite sharp) who ends up being a bounty hunter.  They are actually really funny books, although, I only made it to number seven.  I just grew bored of the scenarios that always seemed to be the same: Stephanie doesn't do what she should, ends up in trouble, some how it all works out but she never carries her stupid gun anywhere because she doesn't like guns but she's a bounty hunter for hell's sake and always, always, always has a million things in her bag and can never get her stun gun when she really needs it and Grandma is always tagging along & somehow she always manages to get every car she ever drives blown up.  Ugh.  Those things bug me tremendously.  

However!!!  

The first five or so books = really funny.  The first two or three were my favorites hence why I am excited about the first one, One For the Money, becoming a film.  Watch the trailer!  I think it'll be a fairly decent movie :)

30 Things To Stop Doing To Yourself

I was reading a website that I can't remember and they referenced this article "30 Things To Stop Doing To Yourself" (I think they were talking about New Years Resolutions and the like).  I read over this and I personally think it's a list that everyone can benefit from. I know there is not one person out there who is not guilty of at least one of these (except me cuz I'm perfect, duh).

2012

I can't believe it's the beginning of a new year.  I've said before that I find New Year's quite depressing rather than exciting.  I hate hearing New Year party advertisements when Christmas is at a close.  And I've also said before that Paul and I have given up trying to find a happenin' club party to go to and have found that it's much more our style to stay in a be bums in our sweat pants.  We made some Charlie Brown style mini pizzas, played with Asher til it was time to put him to bed, and then we played Fruit Ninja, watched a movie that I can't remember and then popped the bubbly for the countdown.  As long as I'm near my hunny for that, I'm good :)

Happy New Year!  

I guess.

Christmas Bells Are Ringing!

Holy Crap I need to catch up!  Christmas was jam-packed with lots of fun stuff and dare I say, it was Gloooooorious!!!

I was so excited for Christmas Eve!  I was given these white and red striped baby bottoms a long time ago and I was hoping they would still fit Asher by Christmas and they did.   I wanted to find just a plain red onesie to go with it but happened upon a $3 'My First Christmas' onesie that was actually pretty perfect for it so I snatched it up.  He looked adorable!!!  I was so excited for everyone to see him and they all just ate him up!!  See him in his little baby Santa hat with lipstick marks all over his face?? That's the proof!!  Other happenings for the evening:  my dad and Asher had some good times together.  Asher LOVES being up in the air.  If he's cranky, you can stick him up in the air and he just starts smiling and laughing.  So fun!  Morgan and Gaven had a wrestling match in the middle of Catch Phrase, Paul and Gaven put Aiden and Bronsynn up on their hands (I dare say Gaven had the harder one!!), and Asher being so stinking cute in his Christmas Jammies and, as you can tell, he's so excited in his crib waiting for Santa to come!

Paul and I were sooooo tired by the time we got home from my parents that night.  It felt good to hit the sack.  But Paul was up and at it at 7 am Christmas morning.   I forced myself up and out of bed and helped Paul get our stuff set up....a fire, Christmas music, lights, hot chocolate!  This year Bacardi got a super nice bed along with his bone.  At first he didn't know what to do with it but eventually reached the point where he didn't even have to be told to go to bed.  We'd just start closing up shop and in he'd go.  I think he likes it.   

Our sweet baby in his cute Christmas jammies, playing on his Christmas blanket that Paul's parents bought him.  He played with wrapping paper while Paul and I did our thing.  He received this cute bomber hat for his nugget in stocking and got a super stellar outfit for Christmas from Mom and Dad!

Paul made out like a bandit.  In his stocking, among all the goods, he found coal.  Guess he was a little naughty...ha ha ha.  He got a stellar tie 'from Asher', his yearly BKE's, and then it got a little tricky.  All Paul wanted for Christmas was an Xbox.  He actually wanted it last year and I basically refused it.  We already have the Wii and why do we need two gaming systems?  But the Wii doesn't have Call of Duty, Halo, or the not-stupid versions of Madden Football, Paul cries to me.  So I pretended I was still not going to buy him an Xbox, but in order to fool him I wrapped up two extra 'presents' to throw him off (the idea being that if he had six wrapped presents then there's no possible way an Xbox could be one of them because that would be way over the limit).  It worked!  Ha ha nailed it!!  In one box I put a bunch of stupid stuff from around the house in like a mini flashlight, knee straps, nipple cream (yep!) and then a card where I made up a little Christmas jingle about this stupid musical tie Paul's mom gave him that he would never wear in a million years.  Then he opened his Xbox - lots of smiles!!  Yay!!  And then he opened another empty box.  And then he opened up his Kinect...because c'mon - I can't NOT get a Kinect to go with it!  And then he opened up MW3.  I think I made him pretty happy: 

One of the thousands of reasons I love my husband is that he is so thoughtful with his gifts.  He tries to make things meaningful and he pays attention to the little things and he always ends up happily surprising me!  I got my slippers I wanted (cuz I actually found them, bought them and gave them to Paul and said "Here: wrap these.  These are from you to me."), a 15lb kettlebell (which was too light for me and so we upgraded to a 30), money for me to shop for myself, a killer new pair of running shoes, and Asher 'gave' me some weight lifting gloves!  

As tradition serves we gathered up presents and headed back out to my mom's where hot Sticky Buns welcomed us.  My nephews were so excited for their new Wii and Balance Board.  They also received dart gear, as you can see on Paul and Aiden below.  They have shirts and goggles and the two of them had a war all morning.  Paul and I received a stellar tent to add to our camping gear!  In the last few Christmas' we've collected some nice stuff from them for Christmas and we are so excited for the summer!  Asher got a suuuuper cute pair of overalls from Grandma and Grandpa along with that really cute stuffed dragon that matches his room (it's actually an alligator but I saw it and had to have it and I say it's a dragon so there).  Exchanging presents with sibs and fam was full of laughs and great fun.  We hung out all day and watched new movies and then headed over to Paul's parents: 

Paul and I had a great time at his parents as well.  We ate a great dinner and visited with some family we haven't seen in awhile.  Trudi and Mike had also given Asher a Christmas outfit that I changed him into.  It was pretty dang cute on him!   Asher the Elf visited with Santa Matt, drooled all over Grandma Budd's pants, and was given some toys, books, a Champion tracksuit, and jammies.  His Uncle Beej and Aunt Hilary also gave him some great books! In the middle picture with me and Matt in the background...I promise Matt isn't really picking his nose.  That was just for the camera's benefit.  Also, BJ had me for Christmas this year and when he asked what I wanted I jokingly told him I wanted sand from a beach in Costa Rica.  They were married back in August but had just left a week before Christmas for their honeymoon and guess where they went??  Well, those gift cards down in that there picture box would be sitting on top of a bunch of sand.  That's right --- I have sand from Costa Rica!  I laughed so hard when I picked up the present and felt something slosh to the side.  So cool!: 

We had such a great couple days and felt so blessed.  I love being with family more than anything and Christmas makes it super special!  But that wasn't all the Christmas fun - my dad's side of the family got together a few days after Christmas.  We had a Cafe Rio style nacho/taco/salad bar (which was absolutely tremendous!), the kids smacked the pinata and it only took 2 rounds to bust it this year, my cousin Nicole got a Sundae in her mouth, Paul visited with my tiny cousin, Ella, and my Grandma is sitting there in the corner with her 13 great grandchildren!!  Holy Cow!!  There were three great grandkids born this past summer.  Oh, and that middle bottom picture is Asher pushing himself up onto his knees!  That was a first!