* oh and i failed to mention in my previous post that i've also somehow been managing to run a full-time daycare since the beginning of september, most days having 5-6 EXTRA munchkins underfoot, and i mean literally underfoot! god is granting me this capability because in my small world my three dear children are usually all i can handle most days!*
today zach told me "i am zachary." this is the first time he has referred to himself with his own name before. my does it sound adorable coming out of his mouth.
later, as we're driving to dinner he starts shouting out: "that is stupid." i instantly said, "oh zach, that's not a very nice word. let's not say that word, ok?"
zach: "ok mommy. i sorry."
brady: "what word did you say zach?'
zach: "i said THAT'S STUPID!" (yelling it to brady)
it is getting so entertaining to have him pick-up on conversational speech.
i have wrestled with this blog thing. it's not my natural inclination to get things done right away. i procrastinate, let it pile up and then take care of it....unless its laundry or dishes. i have a clutter counter in the kitchen, a cluttered desk covered in bills and to-do lists but i just am not good at getting on my blog frequently and updating. i know i've said it before, but my friend, Charlotte is amazing. she always has her blog updated, almost immediately after events occur. me....? i have like 7, 351 pictures waiting in lieu of being edited and sorted.
i hate this because my parents and other family live far away. i am sure they would appreciate updates that are not a year behind. this has been one crazy year i just tackled and i'm sure the coming year is full of it's own craziness but i am hopeful that it wont be so crazy that i feel like i have to often reach up and make sure my head is still attached to me body.
shorty after moving into our new house we began demo...actually i began demo 2 days before we officially closed (shhhhh....yeah i took a MAJOR risk) but inside i knew this house needed to be ours. it just did, we were supposed to live here. we ripped out trim, outlets, lighting, tile....every room has gotten a face lift. the kitchen is completely unrecognizable from the day we moved in and there are still a million small (and not-so-small) projects to be done but nothing NEEDS to be done...i can take my time.
a few months after moving in i was called into the bishop's office and before he even opened his mouth i knew he was going to extend me the call to be the young women's president. i just knew. that has been crazy busy, huge learning curve, fun...did i say crazy busy? i have never had so much responsibility and so many meetings before! i love my girls though and the women i work with. i think i may just now be getting the hang of most of it.
in april we learned that we were unexpectedly expecting a baby. after the initial shock (having had to try for up to a year before to get pregnant) we settled into the happy knowledge that our family would be growing by two more little feet. i was overwhelmed, in the midst of remodeling hell, planning for girl's camp and just...life...adding in sickness, debilitating tiredness, and then at 10 weeks we miscarried. it was devastating. i had never realized what a physically and emotionally painful process this could be. i am still affected by this loss, often thinking of how my belly would be swollen and i would be due in just a few short days to welcome our new little one. i had been determined that the baby was a girl, and we had already named her Sadie. the experience was horrible and i never blogged about it.
my sister-in-law lived with us during this time and thank goodness for her she watched the kids many hours while we painted, painted, painted and anytime we needed her. she was with us for almost a year, and then my brother moved in. it has been a great opportunity for all of us to grow our relationship and see him make changes in his life that brings him closer to us as a family and to God.
we've had two sisters get married this year, i've helped to throw three bridal showers and decorate for a wedding, 2 cousin weddings, brady got baptized, i have dealt with a lot of my own personal "demons" as i like to call them, figuring out who i need to be, who the Lord wants me to be, and emotional roller coasters- trying to live life with sometimes debilitating depression....
anyways...it has been a year of the refiner's fire. i am exhausted...can you tell? thank goodness for wonderful family and friends and a truly amazing husband who has never put me down, picked up my slack and been there through everything there was for me to "throw" at him. we made it. i made it. {deep inhale and exhale} phew.
where am i going with all of this? i'm getting this dang blog going. i'm starting from today. i'll get to all of the yesterdays when i can get to them.
brady's first night as a cub scout happened to be the blue and gold banquet. he earned his blue & gold segment, his cake segment and emergency preparedness segment.
for the cake segment, each scout needed to help their parent(s) design, prepare and decorate a cake. brady chose a wolf using german chocolate cake and frosting (because he thought the frosting would look like the fur!) we thought i came out pretty cute for not being experts! (and it was very tasty as well!!!) we added whipping cream to the cake mix and poured a little bit over the top before frosting it so it would soak into the cake. it was very moist!
some of the other very creative cakes! i was quite impressed!
we are so proud of our growing boy and his desire to participate in good activities!
this post is all about my zachy over the past year. the random pictures that i've been saving for a post just like this!
i found this picture that had gotten overlooked somehow. it's of zach at around 7 months with auntie shawnae!!! look at his bald little head and chubby cheeks!!!
1 year (things he can say...)
no, no
ball ball (he says it twice in a row)
mamma
these pictures were taken a few months after moving into our house in idaho falls. zach took a tub in the kitchen sink one day, can't remember why. when we got our piano he absolutely loved to sit and gingerly play on the keys, especially with auntie shanwnae!
sometimes we find zach wearing the funniest get-ups! like all of our kids he loves to dress-up.
uncle bryce got zach "ernie" for christmas. we often find him snuggled up in bed like this, and sometimes telling zach that it's time to get ernie to sleep is the only way to get zach asleep!
zach missed a nap on the day that we went to our friends' baby blessing and we caught it on tape that he was falling asleep in chris' lap!
21 months+
no way!
mine
no, now!
hat
car
wuter (water)
cup
schwin (swing)
nigh-nigh (night night)
hi
bye-bye
wivy (livy)
bady (brady)
just in the past few weeks Zach has really started talking and understanding so much more. He responds to questions with "I do!" or "mm, hmmm." It's so cute.
we got this ball for zach one saturday afternoon because brady and olivia frequently earn new toys when they cash in their fake dollars from our token system. we thought zach deserved some fun things as well so he got this and a new basketball hoop and baby basketball. he loves to throw and he loves balls. he carried this ball around for days, everywhere he went until somehow it got punctured and died a slow death in our backyard
in may zach learned how to get out of his crib! enter big boy bed earlier than i had planned!
a few random pictures from this past summmer:
zach's first ice cream cone
super messy face after a BBQ and eating tomato soup and grilled cheese
silly zach sometimes falls asleep in the "DARNDEST" places!!!
getting down and dirty with friend, max
zach and his cousin audrey enjoyed making music together!
when we (meaning me) were refinishing the kitchen cabinets there were several days without cupboard doors. the upper cabinets were off for several weeks but i got the bottoms done as quickly as i could to avoid zach doing this and getting poisoned!
uh-oh! one sunday afternoon zach woke up from his nap before mommy and daddy did and while bug brother and sister were "watching" him he found a sharpie and not only used his artistic skills on himself but also on our family room- he didn't miss the couch, the ottomon or the carpet. after several attempts at getting it removed from the carpet via every pinterest and google search i could find, we were still left with a dark/off-colored ring. so, i got the area rug i've been eyeing for several months! (new couches hopefully in the future...maybe in a year? would LOVE dark leather...and thank goodness i hadn't gotten around to recovering my ottoman yet!) after a lot of scrubbing, one clean baby set to go!
always getting into trouble!
yeah, i gotta say, we made a cute baby...crusty nose and all!!!
eating ice at brady's baseball game!
2 years old!!! some of his favorite sayings are:
"I know mom"
"Hi mom!"
"I jumped!" (or "Can I jump?"- he stand and wait for you to tell him yes)
"I did it!"
"leave me alone!"
"I didn't do it....Brady did (or Daddy did it)"
he can pretty much say anything, it's just whether or not you understand what he's saying!!
HaPpY BiRtHdAy ZACH!!!
we love having you in our family! you make everyday bright, happy and silly. you are developing such a fun personality that is all your own. you love to jump, sing, hear daddy make "elmo" voices, run around and laugh.
Christmas last year was wonderful as we in our new home. even amidst the craziness of remodeling we settled down and enoyed the holiday season with our family.
shawnae and the kiddos decorated our patio doors with adorable reindeer made from their hand prints!
the first thing we always do is have the kids go get Santa's letter and come back to bed and read it to us. they are allowed to open their stockings (a tradition we had in my family) while waiting for mommy and daddy to come down.
O Christmas tree
we like to set out special presents under the tree that remain unwrapped. this year we gave zach the refinished rocking chair that was mine as a child and olivia got the dollhouse i refinished for her. brady's big gift was a Lego set but we wanted to save that for later.
i thought olivia was going to be SO excited when she first saw her doll house..her reaction was, well...a little less enthused...
later we went down to grammie and grandpa's and they kept the kids for a few days so we could go home and work on house projects, which was great despite me being down for a day with the 24-hour bug!
we went in on a gift with nick and nickie for mom and dad- some snow shoes for them to use up in Sun Valley! they loved them!
been frying bacon for years? yup me too. until i discovered baked bacon (i hate to say it, via Martha Stewart). sounds silly and redundant. but it is soooooooooooo good and easy and mess-free!
baked bacon
cover cookie sheet with tinfoil (easy clean-up). preheat oven to 375, bake for 20-24 minutes, turning halfway through. the fat will render out and drip through the rack onto the foil. the bacon all cooks at the same time and rate and cooks flat. awesome.
someday i'm going to catch up on this blog (i'm almost a whole year behind!) and someday i'm going to write a book. a cookbook. here's to frugal and easy. me likey both. and the best part was that when i was out of chili packets the other day i didn't need to run to the store. oh no, just consult my besty pinterest and use things i already had stored in my cupboards. did i happen to mention how CUTE my spice cabinet came out! ah in love. with my spice cabinet. that's right. before (blah!) after (ooh lala!!!)
homemade chili seasoning:3 T. = 1 store-bought pkg. 1/3 C. chili powder 1 T. salt 1 1/2 T. garlic powder 2 T. cumin 1 T. dried basil 1) combine well and store in an airtight tupperware. i like to use a pint-sized mason jar with an adorable label of course! they make plastic lids that screw onto canning jars. i loooove these things. they are anywhere (usually) that sells canning supplies.
homemade chili: serves 8. 1 lb. ground beef or turkey (optional) you all know i have a man that loves his meat, but sometime i make this veggie-style 1-2 green peppers (or any other color), diced 1 small-medium onion, diced 1-2 tsp. minced garlic 2 pints (or cans) kidney beans 2 pints (or cans) black beans 2 quarts (or large cans) diced tomatoes (with the juice) 2 small cans tomato paste 3 T. of homemade chili seasoning (or 1 store bought packet) 1) fry meat with garlic, peppers and onions until well-browned and cooked through. i like my meat to be browned really well. i think it gives it more depth of flavor. when i don't use meat i'll "brown" 1 can of each of the beans along with the garlic and veggies to deepen the flavors. 2) drain meat in a colander. i do not rinse it; just let it drain really well and shake it around some to let the fat drip out. when you rinse it your rinsing away a lot of the flavor. 3) add meat mixture to a large soup pot and stir in seasonings, tomatoes, and paste. let simmer until flavors combine well and chili is warmed through and thick. easy. and one of the best parts of this fall comfort food for me is that i can use almost everything right from my garden or canning. it's inexpensive, especially if you omit meat and it's super duper yummy with a dollop of sour cream, a sprinkle of shredded cheese, a handful of crushed tortilla chips and a corn muffin of course! you could get all fancy with this and add macaroni or ditalini noodles, corn, avocado, cilantro, black olives, chives or green onions or any other variation of Mexican flare. you could serve it over potatoes, french fries, nachos, rice... i like it simple. just like my mom served it. although when we were kids we loved a melted piece of American cheese on top. you can also make up several batches and can some for a quick healthy dinner to grab right off your pantry shelf!!!
amazing corn muffins. a.k.a. jalapeno bacon corn muffins: makes 12 muffins. 1 1/4 C. cornmeal 3/4 C. flour 3 T. sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. garlic powder 1 T. parsley 2 T. diced pickled jalapenos 4 pieces cooked bacon, blotted and crumbled (i bake mine in the oven, see here) 1/2 C. shredded cheese 1/2 C. creamed corn 2 eggs, beaten 2/3 C. milk (i use powdered) 2/3 C. buttermilk (i use powdered) 2 T. canola oil 1) heat oven to 425. 2) mix all dry ingredients. 3) mix wet ingredients, other than the canola oil. beat eggs and milk and add wet to dry. 4) fold in jalapenos, bacon, corn, cheese and add oil. 5) stir until just combined. 6) spray muffin tin and fill muffin cups ALL THE WAY to the brim. 7) bake at 425 for 6 minutes and then reduce heat (without opening the oven) to 350, continuing to bake for an additional 6 minutes. (this allows muffins to rise fast and then bake through; leaving a taller , fluffier muffin!) 8) remove when toothpick comes out clean in the middle. sweet and spicy- so good you can't just eat one!
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