Matched

I have some serious catching up to do with my reading - so much so that I actually can't remember a lot of the books I've read recently.  One that I can remember is Matched.  

I really enjoyed this book.  I felt that it had a The Giver feel and I read that in a lot of the reviews afterward as well.  Still, I felt it was it's own story and I liked it a lot.  I will be reading the rest of the series but I'm not in a rush to do it.   As usual, there is always a love casualty that very well deserves to be the best man but somehow falls short and you feel bad for him.  The dystopian world they live in is strict, controlling and, again as usual, not all that it seems and so Cassia, the main chic, must find her brave little self and break through.  

I give it 3.5 to 4 stars.  Out of five.  And yes I just did that.

9 Months

Again I am a little bit late in posting this.  I have my blogging ups and downs.  

But check out my cute little baby so big at 9 months!

9 Month Stats:

Weight  - 22 lb 10 oz.....79%

Height -  29 in.......74%

Noggin Circumference  -  18 in.....64%

  6bnhg               lcxd:xd

That was Asher working on his typing skillz.

He has had a couple fun adventures...some trips to the park, his first swing experience which he loved.  The army crawl is a thing of the past and he gets around so quickly now that its freaky sometimes.  He LOVES the stairs, particularly the platform at the top of the first set of stairs and he heads straight for it all the time.  He just learned how to scoot down them but we still have to work on how to turn himself around at the top of the stairs.  He loves getting into the fridge, as evidenced above and can be found sleeping in peculiar positions.  His smile and laugh is my favorite thing - he is just the best present ever!!

  

Cute Labels from WeeDecor!

I have a pretty long list of websites that I keep bookmarking because one day, when my kiddo(s) are older, I'm so gonna want in on that action!!!  This is one of them so I thought I'd share for the mom's that are already at that point and this might just be a swell idea that you were in need of !!  weeDecor's personalized labels look so cute!  I want to label everything of Asher's!! Even his underwear!  okay maybe not that, but pretty close!  I'll label his bum instead - because he is mine....all mine mwa ha ha ha!!!!

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!!