Je Suis Steph

New Goal

2012-02-12T10:17:00.002-07:00

Its halfway through February, and I decided to make another year-long goal. This year my goal is to do some sort of sewing project every month. Really, just one project a month, and most, if not all of them will be very simple, I'm sure.

The reason I decided to do this is that my mom and dad got me a sewing machine for Christmas. Yup, a pretty awesome gift, however, I don't really know how to sew. I wish that was something I am awesome at, but it is just not. I mean, I can thread the machine, I can sew a (sort of) straight line, I can do the really simple things like that, but following a pattern or really doing anything fancy--that's where things go downhill fast.

But, I figure, the internet will help me a lot. For example, I just found a friend from freshmen year's website where she has a lot of sewing tutorials for easy baby/toddler clothes. I'm sure I will be using that frequently. And I could make some pillows or something--those are easy, right? And the project for February is just going to be mending a pile of clothes, and hemming a pair of suit pants for Matthew.

~~Sew~~ So, that's the plan. Here I go!

whelp, that's awkward

2012-02-10T20:23:00.001-07:00

Hey you know what's embarrassing? When the ward intramural basketball team, of which your husband is a member, is featured in an 11 picture slideshow in an online article from the Daily Universe about BYU intramural referees and how they often get yelled at or criticized when they are refing. Yup, that's embarrassing.

Okay, so most likely, they just happened to have pictures of this game that they used for the article, but still. It fit.

I can't recall if I've written about it on this blog, I know I have said some strong words about it recently on Facebook, but one thing I cannot stand is poor sportsmanship. I hate it when crowds boo, I hate it when players or spectators yell at the refs, freak out, complain about whatever, and above all, throw things on the court.

And yeah, the game that is featured on this slideshow, some of our team were being pretty bad(not Matthew). I wanted to go apologize to the refs after the game. I should've.

Moral of the story: don't freak out, don't complain, don't throw things on the court. Act your age. I don't know why this is sometimes so difficult for otherwise mature adults.

family love

2012-02-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

Back in December we took some family pictures. I like them, but I also get a big kick out of Natalie's expressions.

"Mom, dad, you're embarrassing me. Everyone's looking."

She looks so tired she could just pass out. Check out those tired eyes!

This is a nice one. She's not looking at the camera, but she still is smiling.

We are just so precious.

flowers

2012-01-31T16:32:00.000-07:00

The product of Matthew's first lab in Floral Design. I love it when my husband takes awesome classes.

christmas baby

2012-01-31T10:49:00.003-07:00

It seems like I haven't posted many pictures of Natalie lately. So, here are some of her from Christmas :)

Natalie has been quite the goof lately. She'll grab our arm, hand or leg, and blow on it, like she's giving us a little raspberry or something. Then she gets this big grin on her face and laughs. Haha. So funny.

thoughts on modesty

2012-01-29T20:47:00.002-07:00

Today in church we had our combined PH/RS meeting on modesty. It was actually pretty impressed with it, I have to say, because I feel like more and more some of the things that are said or implied along with modesty lessons really grate me. I suppose I should disclaimer that I do in fact dress very modestly, it is important to me, and I 100% support the dress and grooming standards of the LDS church. Anyway, here are some things that I was thinking about during the lesson, as pertains to modesty.

1. First and foremost, I think a lot of lessons (although not really the one I was in today) on modesty focus too much on "don't show cleavage, don't show your legs, etc", and then make almost the whole point of modesty is that you don't want to tempt men by exposing your body. The point of modesty is more about showing respect to your body and respect to God for your body, and to have confidence coming from your internal worth, and it is less about the amount of skin being exposed. (Especially when you consider the different standards of modesty across time periods and cultures. What is modest today would have been scandalous 150 years ago.)

2. I think it is awful that some people will tell young women that if they dress immodestly, they can become pornography to young men. No can do. Women are beautiful daughters of God, and it is incredibly offensive to call someone pornography even if they are wearing a shorter skirt or a tank top or something. And besides very demeaning, it is almost a way of absolving men of the weakness of their own minds. "I had no choice to let my mind go crazy, she was being pornography!" No. And no. Annnnd no.

3. For one of my professionalism classes in Dietetics, the professor had a women who had specizalized in fashion and helping people dress appropriately professional come speak to us. She had a lot of good points about professional dress, but one thing she said really bothered me. A lot. She told a story about a man who was struggling to overcome a pornography addiction, and when he went to church, some women were wearing (modest) clothing with lace on it--think for example DownEast shirts with the lace on the bottom. To him, this was "lingerie lace" and made him think about pornography. So, based on this story, this women told us all never to wear "lingerie lace" because it can make the men think of bad things. Does anyone else think this is absolutely ludicrous? Lace on otherwise modest clothing is not "lingerie lace" and I have every right to wear it without you making me feel bad about it.

4. Modesty is always focused on women. I realize that the reason for this is obvious--women have way more options for immodesty than men do. But the men/young men should also be instructed on modesty. If I shouldn't go running in a sports bra, then men shouldn't go running shirtless. They shouldn't wear overtight clothes, saggy pants, or basketball shorts that hug the crotch. And since part of modesty is showing respect to your body and to God, and wearing appropriate clothing, they should also be taught about what is appropriate clothing to wear to church. Personally, I don't think a colored shirt is church appropriate, just like flip-flops on women aren't church appropriate.

5. Related to point #4, I think that since the young women have lessons on modesty once or twice a year (or more), I think the young men should have lessons on modesty and respect that often as well. The modesty lessons to young women should be taught with the major point being respecting yourself and respecting God, but you don't want to use your body to attract attention, you want the focus to be on your inner worth as a daughter of God. The modesty/respect lessons to the young men focus on that you should respect the young women for their inner, divine worth, instead of focusing on their outward appearance (e.g. what they are wearing). You teach young men to treat women well no matter what, and teach them to keep their eyes on the girls' faces. This way you are focusing on the real principle of modesty, respect, and you are also teaching the boys responsibility for their eyes and their thoughts, and also teaching them how they should treat women.

In conclusion, modesty shouldn't be focused on how much skin you are showing as much as focused on respect and your self-worth, you should never tell someone that dressing immodestly makes them walking pornography, men should also be taught about modesty, and young men should have modesty/respect lessons just as frequently as young women do as well as be taught to control their thoughts. The end.

the dumbest cheer ever

2012-01-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

At the end of a basketball game when a school with a worse record is beating a highly ranked, or generally considered good school sometimes the student section will start cheering "Overrated". Seriously, this is in fact the dumbest thing you could cheer in this situation. Suggesting that the team you are beating is overrated cheapens your win, making it seem like they aren't that good, and that is why you are beating them. Or in other words, "We're not that good, so you must be pretty bad for us to beat you!" That's what I hear when I hear "overrated". Oh, and finally, if you just got done chanting 'overrated', why would you then storm the court? You just said they weren't that good, anyway.

It happened one (or possibly several) Sunday

2012-01-23T16:25:00.002-07:00

Okay so I'm the pianist in Relief Society. Sometimes it is kind of an embarrassing job.

I usually know ahead of time what the songs are going to be. If I'm not super familiar with it, I try to go to the church and practice it during the week, so I don't make a complete fool of myself while playing. That doesn't always happen, and I don't know every song in the hymnbook, so every so often I look at a song and think "Whelp, it's right-hand only accompaniment today." I'm classy like that.

And then sometimes, I do know the song, and I've played it before, and it is NOT HARD. Think for example "Sisters in Zion". Or a song I know really well like "I Know that My Redeemer Lives". And I totally goof up a section. Why did I just bomb two random measures in the middle?

I think I psych myself out, and then my mind has a spasm, and then suddenly I can't play.

Yup. This is awkward, and a long walk from the piano bench to my seat at the end of the song. I kind of just want to go sit in a closet and pretend nothing happened and no one saw. But of course everyone saw because I'M SO STINKIN' TALL!

its just a few days

2012-01-16T07:20:00.000-07:00

Some mommy-daughter time together while Matthew has been out of town this weekend:

Its been super fun. False. It actually has been super boring. I mean, I like being with Natalie, but we get plenty of quality time together every day. Basically it would be a royal bust of a three day weekend, if not for the fact that Matthew is finally getting the root canal and other dental work he's needed for two years (much cheaper to fly Matthew to New York for my uncle to do his dental work free of charge than to pay for it out of pocket here). So we're very happy that he was able to do that.

And we're very excited that he is coming home tonight.

cheesy wheezy

2012-01-15T10:13:00.002-07:00

In the last few weeks and months, both Matthew and I have thrown away many clothes that have finally bitten the dust. Gaping holes, torn, too stretched out to wear modestly, that sort of thing.

We're kind of sad about it, both because we liked the items being thrown away, but also because we are moving on from the clothes that we've worn as we were dating, engaged, and newlyweds. It's like our newlywed life is leaving, too. It makes me rather sad and nostalgic. I don't care if it is sappy or silly, in a lot of ways I just want us to stay newlyweds forever. Like this:

new favorite movie?

2012-01-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

Several other people I know have mentioned this movie on their blogs, and I am here to do the same.

I could throw up I loved this movie so much.

Yes, I have had it pointed out to me that "I could throw up" is usually associated with negative things, but nevertheless, but right now, I feel like it perfectly describes how I felt about this flick.

Of course I loved the beautiful shots of Paris (no surprises there), but I also loved the mystique of the midnight adventures, and the magic of it and how passionate the characters were. It was amazing.

keeping up with the latest and greatest

2012-01-10T17:13:00.000-07:00

Over Christmas break my mom took pity on me and my one pair of jeans, bless her heart, and took me shopping with some of her Kohl's cash. And I got SKINNY JEANS!

I know, I'm only about three years behind the times, but I love them. I really do. Some skinny jeans are too skinny, if you know what I mean. These aren't too skinny, they are practically perfect in every way. And now Matthew and I can be matchy matchy!

Gotta run. Natalie is unloading my purse, scriptures, and Matthew's folders. Peace!

MN vs. UT

2012-01-09T12:09:00.000-07:00

Besides the naming scheme of Minnesotan cities, a few differences between Minnesota and Utah stood out to me during our five week long jaunt in the Midwest.

1. Driving. No one is surprised to hear that Utah drivers are fast, but what really surprised me was how stinking slloooowwwwwww Minnesota drivers are. Seriously. I would say the average speed limit in Utah is 65 mph, and everyone goes over. In Minnesota, especially around the Twin Cities, the speed limit is 55 to 60 mph, and people consistently go under. Seriously, at 55 or 60 mph, many cars would go under the speed limit. Drove me nuts. I was zooming by people when I was going 4 miles over.

2. Baby Food vs Pet Food in Grocery Stores. In Utah grocery stores, you have huge sections of an aisle, if not a whole aisle, dedicated to baby food, diapers, formula, whatever. In Minnesota, you have an aisle with approximately 25% of it dedicated to baby stuff, 50% dedicated to pet stuff, and 25% dedicated to other random stuff. Using this very scientific study involving exactly one MN store and one Utah store and my very accurate percentages, I can definitely conclude that Utahans love children more. Okay not really, but it is interesting...

3. How Many Children? I had several people in Minnesota ask me "Do you think you'll have more children?" That question really surprised me. Of course we're having more kids. In Utah, the question would be more like "How many children do you want?" or perhaps even "Why aren't you pregnant again already?"

And there you go. Minnesota and Utah are different.

Minnesota themes

2012-01-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

Even though I was born and raised in Minnesota, only recently have I've realized how many cities, especially around the Twin Cities area, are named after trees or water. For example:

Stillwater
Maple Grove
Apple Valley
Oak Park Heights
Bayport
Woodbury
Oakdale
Cottage Grove
White Bear Lake
Maplewood
Waterville
Coon Rapids
Ham Lake
Maple Island
Lake Elmo
Inver Grove Heights
Roseville
Roseport
Pine Bend
Prior Lake
Grainwood
Shorewood
Hazel Park
Golden Valley
Lino Lakes
Lakeville
Shoreview

I know there are more than this list,and this is mainly just the Twin Cities area. Like I said, Minnesota is all about trees and water.

2011 food favorites

2012-01-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

Last January, I made a goal to try making new food during 2011. I would say I accomplished that goal, as I regularly made a variety of things that were new and different to me and Matthew.

In no particular order, some of my favorite foodie adventures from 2011:

French Style Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Grilled Chicken Salad with Corn, Feta and Blueberries

Slow Cooker Pork

Herbed Yogurt Chicken with Mangos

Brioche

Basil Chicken in a Coconut Curry Sauce

Salted Caramel Chocolate Shortbread Bars

Orange Beef/Chicken

Panko Crusted Stuffed Chicken

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Grilled Vegetable Pizza

Stuffed Flank Steak

Strawberry, Chicken and Bacon Pizza

Chicken, Hummus and Roasted Red Pepper Sandwich

Tomato Cobbler with Gruyere (Cheddar) Biscuits

Strawberry Bruschetta

Whole Wheat Strawberry Mango Pancakes

Toffee Bar Brownie Torte

Foccacia Bread

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

I have to say, this has been a fun year. Matthew also has really enjoyed it, which I am very happy about, as he in general tends to be pickier about his food than I am. It's been a good time! I will, of course, keep trying new things and whatnot, but I think I won't post about it anymore. I'm sure ya'll are sick of hearing me talk about food all the time :) Peace out!

December

2012-01-04T20:14:00.002-07:00

I'll admit, there wasn't too much new food trying during December, as we were in Minnesota with my family FOR THE WHOLE ENTIRE MONTH!!!!!! Yes, it was that awesome. More about that later. We did, however, eat a ton of dang good food. Anyway, here are the two new things we made:

Potato-Leek Pizza: Very good. A thin layer of potatoes, a healthy layer of leeks, some bacon and goat cheese and voila, a yummy pizza. We actually made this for Pizza Night, where we had this pizza, a meat lovers pizza, strawberry chicken bacon pizza and mango, mozzarella and basil pizza. Nothing but good times! (Source: Pioneer Woman Cookbook)

South of the Border Sandwiches: Just a fancy name for something very simple, but my family loved, and so we made several times. Toast slices of french bread rubbed with olive oil or butter in the oven until slightly crisp, then top with some cheese (we did munster and cheddar), a tomato slice, an avocado slice, and some green onions. Delish. (Source: The Girl Who Ate Everything)

Recently:

2011-12-08T12:53:00.001-07:00

Decorating the Christmas tree

Enjoying grandma and grandpa's high chair

Aaannnddddd... first time climbing up stairs!

home

2011-12-04T12:04:00.001-07:00

I absolutely love being home. I love hanging out with my brothers. I love doing stuff with my mom. I love chatting with my dad. I love all of the Christmas decorating. I love living in a place that doesn't feel like a cave. I love grocery shopping with my mom's credit card :) I love having a bunch of live-in babysitters. I love spending more time with Matthew. I could go on...

I L.O.V.E. being home.

November

2011-12-04T11:42:00.001-07:00

This month truly was a lot slower for new meals, and justmeals in general, when you factor in that I wasn’t feeling very well the firstpart of the month, and then my family was in town and we were out and about all day, and then we went to Coloradofor Thanksgiving. Still, there are some things worth mentioning:

Apple Spinach Salad: A delicious, fall-themed salad with apples, spinach, candied almonds, and feta cheese. (Source: Annie's Eats)

Butternut Squash Soup: I’m pretty sure I’ve never hadbutternut squash before in anything, but the variations on butternut squashsoup looked so pretty, I decided it needed to be tried. And...I almost like it.My reaction was “this is interesting. Not bad. Different taste…” but I couldn’tquite get over the hump of “this is interesting” and make it to “this is reallygood.” It was almost there. I’m sure if I’d had previous exposure to butternutsquash I really would have liked it a lot. (Source: Loosely based on several different recipes)

Chicken Flautas with a Roasted Tomatillo Sauce: As far as I cantell, flautas are very similar to toquitos, but with a flour tortilla. We putbeans, chicken and cheese in them, fried them up and served it with thetomatillo sauce. It ended up being a really good meal, and one that Matthewespecially really loved. (Source: Galley Gourmet)

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles: These weren't too different from normal snickerdoodles, and the pumpkin flavor didn't make them taste "weird" or anything, so if you are looking for something a little different but not too crazy, here ya go. (Source: Annie's Eats)

Slow cooker pork loin with sweet potatoes, orange andcilantro: I liked the interesting combination of flavors that made an ordinary pork roast pretty exciting. (Source: America's Test Kitchen Cookbook)

Roasted Sweet Onions with Herbed Bread Crumbs: Love carmelized onions, and love bread crumbs. We really enjoyed the combination of the two flavors and textures, and it was definitely a unique side dish. (Source: For the Love of Cooking)

Student Evals

2011-11-22T19:43:00.001-07:00

Today was Matthew's last day of student teaching. I know, where has the time gone?? Anyway, he came home with his students' evaluations of him, what he did well and what he could do better. Oh my goodness I laughed so hard at some of them:

"Okay dude. You were good. I mean sometimes you were boring. But other than that, sir, you were way good!" Thanks, I think...

"More food!!!! And you should give me an A even though I don't deserve it! JK your awesome don't change I'll miss you :)" That last part in there reminds me of the generic stuff you write in people's yearbooks. And actually, two other people said he should have brought food and candy...?

"Well I didn't want to shoot myself in your class so your doing great." How's that for a ringing endorsement?

"Say your name more cause I just called you sir." This one was really weird to me. How do you not know your teacher's name?

"I thought you were a great teacher, fun and you let us call you coach." Apparently a lot of kids really did call him coach. I'm just now finding out about this. I feel like this is one of those stories that should have been shared during daily 'tell me about your day' storytime. I feel so out of the loop.

"You could improve your jokes."

And, the last thing that we learned from these evaluations was that most high school students do not know the difference between "your" and "you're".

favorite things

2011-11-21T09:45:00.001-07:00

Eight months old is a good stage for Natalie. She is doing things that I absolutely love right now.

She will crawl around and follow me as I walk around the house. If I go in the bedroom and leave her in the living room, she starts coming back to see me. If I'm walking back and forth, putting things away or something, she tries to follow me and just ends up going in a circle. Pretty funny. If I'm doing the dishes, she crawls up, comes in between my legs and then turns up and smiles at me. Or, she grabs hold of my pants and pulls herself up to standing behind me. She's not necessarily wanting to be held, she just wants to be near me. I love it.

Also, she has been so happy lately. Or, more accurately, her happy times are really, really happy. She has started to laugh uncontrollably when we are playing with her. It is the cutest, most adorable thing in the world.

And she loves sucking on our noses. I laugh so hard every time she does it. haha.

crazy exciting stuff

2011-11-14T11:36:00.001-07:00

Guys. My entire family comes in to town today. My brother is done with his mission Wednesday. (Side note: he's serving in Salt Lake). We basically get to spend all week with him. I'm so incredibly stoked I cannot wait. I've been counting the days for the past six weeks. My family is all staying in our little apartment. Needless to say, it will be quite cozy. I can't wait to see Jonathan. I'm so excited!!

10 months later, I think I can finally tell this story

2011-11-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

First of all, I want to say thank you for everyone's ideas about money-saving techniques. There were a lot of really good ideas that Matthew and I took note of. Now, on to today's story about being in the hospital at 7 months pregnant for the dumbest two days of my life.

If, perchance, you have diabetes and are pregnant, and have a decently high blood sugar when you are at a doctor's appointment, and the doctor wants you to check in to the hospital because she is so worried and wants to get your blood sugar down, and that hospital is the one that is 5 minutes from our house... don't think, don't blink, just waddle away as fast as your 7 month pregnant body can take you. You know what the regimen was at the hospital to bring my BG down and in control? The nurse would use a glucometer to check my blood before and after meals. Yeah, the same thing I do at home. I was so annoyed, and I hated every single minute of it.

One of the worst moments was when one nurse was in the room and was checking my blood and noticed that I had an insulin pump. And then she said something to the effect of "Oh this is really different that you are in here. Usually we don't have people like this. Usually when girls go on the insulin pump, their blood sugars aren't really a problem any more."

Right, because going on a pump definitely solves all your problems (eye roll). Totally misinformed. Very insulting in the moment. I think the reason that this rubbed me the wrong was was that I had been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to keep everything as good as possible, and she made me feel like I was weird or doing something wrong. In actuality I was really doing quite good overall. So, like I was saying earlier, before you get to this point, WADDLE AWAY!!!

bumblebee

2011-11-06T20:05:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually behind the times this much, I mean Halloween was almost a whole week ago. I'm a stay at home mom with only one relatively easy baby and lots of free time, c'mon get your act together woman! Actually, the reason this is a bit late is because the pictures we took of her on Halloween just didn't turn out super awesome, so I made us dress her up again today so we could take better pictures. I know, I know, was that really necessary, but you will never get your baby's first Halloween back and we needed a picture with a real smile!

She is so stinkin' adorable. I can't even handle it.

October Food

2011-11-01T12:10:00.001-06:00

Happy first day of November!

Chicken Noodle Soup: How have I never made chicken noodlesoup before? It is 143% better than anything from a can, very easy, andwonderfully comforting.(Source: very loosely based from Pioneer Woman)

Challah: By far the prettiest loaf of bread I have evermade. Also, very scrumptious. Similar to brioche, a richer loaf of bread thatmakes excellent French toast. (Source: Annie's Eats)

Hummus, Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Sandwich: Ohhhhhhhbaby. This was definitely one of the most delicious sandwiches I’ve ever had.Probably in the top three. The crisped ciabatta roll (instead of the pizzacrust suggested in the link, definitely a good choice) paired with creamy hummus,chicken, red pepper, swiss cheese and onions… oh baby. It was a party in mymouth. I loved this so much. Here isa tutorial for making roasted red peppers.(Source: Panini Happy)

Jerk Chicken Chili: A fun, slightly different take onchicken chili, although neither Matthew or I were super impressed with it.. (Source: Smells Like Home)

Honey and Sweet Potato Rolls These were excellent, did nottaste overpoweringly like sweet potato (actually, not really at all), were easyto make, and each roll gives you approximately 33% of your daily vitamin A.There you go. (Source: How Sweet It Is)

Red Velvet Brownies with White Chocolate Frosting: So. Dang.Good. Oh. My. Gosh. (Source: Macaroni and Cheesecake)

Creamy Cauliflower Soup: Despite that the title says“creamy”, this is a very healthy recipe, as the creaminess comes from plaingreek yogurt (okay, in the recipe link it comes from a potato, but I skippedthat and just added yogurt at the end… yum). It wasn’t at all bland, had a nicecombination of flavors, and there were no leftovers. (Source: Annie's Eats)

Tomato Cobbler with Gruyere (or Cheddar) Biscuits: So therecipe uses gruyere cheese, but yeah right that’s like the most expensivecheese in the store, let’s stick to some sharp cheddar, which worked out great.I loved that the tomato mixture was just the right amount of juicy, but didn’ttake away the flakiness of the biscuits. I’m excited to make this again… (Source: Annie's Eats)

Baked Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes: These tasted a lot likethose mini donuts you get at the fair or wherever… you bake the donuts inmuffin tins and then roll in butter and sugar and they are soft and moist andsugary and delicious. (Source: Pennies on a Platter)

Pumpkin Applesauce: Apparently we went on a pumpkin kick fora while…This was very simple, just pumpkin puree mixed with some just madeapplesauce (sans sugar). I really love freshly made, warm applesauce and the pumpkin justmade it a fun fall side. (Source: Pennies on a Platter)

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pancakes: These may be too good toreally be counted as a breakfast item, as they almost taste like something youwould eat for dessert, totally in a good way. You have a pumpkin pancake with a cinnamon swirlcooked in, topped with cream cheese icing… Matthew said ‘you can makethese anytime you want!’, which I think about sums it up. (Source: Recipe Girl)

This actually was a little bit of a slower month for making new stuff sincethere were two weeks in there where I was actually really, really busy.Especially when you consider that the hummus/red pepper sandwich, cauliflowersoup and tomato cobber dishes were all things I made for myself for lunch,since Matthew would definitely not touch any of them. Oh well, I sure enjoyedthem all by myself :)

Matthew’s favorites: Donut Holes, Pumpkin Pancakes and Sweet Potato Rolls

My favorites: Hummus/Red Pepper Sandwich, Tomato Cobbler, and Pumpkin Pancakes

a few more of Natalie

2011-10-29T11:24:00.001-06:00

There are just so many cute pictures of this sweet little girl...

Okay, and here's one of us too...

what I think about our lovely security-enforcing friends at the airport

2011-10-28T21:40:00.000-06:00

You know, I don't really have a problem with TSA in general. You want to do the backscattering images? Fine. Whatever. I'll take my shoes off. You can run special tests on my baby's bottles. What bothers me is the inconsistency.

For example, many airports have both the metal detector machine and the backscattering machine. And in the Kansas City airport, you can choose which one you are going through by which line you get into. To me, that begs the question, why the junk is the backscattering machine even there? If you have something bad that could be viewed in that machine, but not in the X-ray machine, would you really choose the backscattering machine?

And let's say, for example, that you wear an insulin pump. Every other time you've flown, TSA agents have either told you that you need to put it through the X-ray machine or that you don't need to put it through the X-ray machine; and once, they rubbed it down with a special little pad and put that pad in their fancy chemical detector machine. That time, it came back negative (obviously, I'm not rolling around in weird chemicals.)

Except the last time I flew, coming back from Kansas City, after checking the baby's milk, the overeager TSA agent decided I needed to get the pump rubbed down and checked out in their little machine. It turns out that it came back positive. So then, 20 minutes before the flight, I got taken to the little back room and groped down because that checked out positive. In fact, it didn't even necessarily register positive, just "not negative." I don't know about anyone else, but I almost feel like the grope down in the little back room is more awkward than if they just did it there. Maybe not. I dunno. Then they patted down Natalie. Then they decided that, "oh hey, let's rummage through her purse too, even though it has already gone through the X-ray machine." Seriously? Oh and at this point, it's something like 7 minutes before my flight leaves and they've called my name twice for final boarding. Finally they let me go and I all out book it to the gate, and made it, barely.

One other fun factoid, when I flew to Kansas City from Salt Lake and went through security, the TSA agent who watched me walk through the X-ray machine commented on how my pump didn't set off the X-ray machine, and then let me go through. None of this "extra screening" business.

So here's my beef. I'm totally okay with the procedures in general, but for goodness sake do you need to pat down the baby? And go through my purse that went through the X-ray machine just fine? And different procedures about what I have to do with my pump depending on the airport and TSA agent that sees me? (That's the one that really annoys me. The other complaints are secondary to that.) And while I'm talking, do I really fit the profile of a terrorist as a young, white, cleancut woman with a little baby? Good one.

pretty baby

2011-10-26T10:37:00.000-06:00

already on the phone

2011-10-25T20:35:00.001-06:00

I've had this old, broken phone around for over a year because first I didn't know where I could recycle it and then I've just been too lazy to go do it. Now, though, I'm pretty glad that I've procrastinated, because my old phone is one of Natalie's favorite toys.

Oh, and this picture is one of many that my talented friend, Nicole, took a few weekends ago. She is awesome. I'll post more in the next day or two. There are some fantastic pictures!

where, oh where are my saving friends?

2011-10-25T17:30:00.002-06:00

So, I want to decrease the amount of money we spend on groceries without actually significantly changing what we're buying. People totally do that right?

I just don't really know how. I mean, we try to buy things when they are a good price. We don't spend a crazy amount on food, it's probably pretty average for two people. I know we could be "saving" money by eating spaghetti every night, or rice a roni or something else equally non-appealing, but no. That's just not happening. If this is the only way I can use my degree right now, gosh darn it, we are going to eat well! But it would be nice to spend less.

Here's the thing though. I don't buy a lot of pre-made things, and I don't buy a lot of mixes. If you've been reading my blog for longer than two days, you are probably aware that I get a big kick out of cooking, and I just don't want to deprive myself of the fun of mixing together the ingredients all by myself. We don't really buy a lot of canned soup. I think it's gross. We buy rice, but not Rice a Roni sorts of stuff (see above). Basically, I buy ingredients to make meals, not necessarily things that are meals in and of themselves, with some exceptions. Like frozen burritos. Or Poptarts for Matthew. We also buy lots of cereal, and we like granola bars and certain crackers and chips. So, what I'm saying is that a lot of the things that I've seen coupons for are for types of things we don't generally buy.

Also, I like to buy a lot of fresh produce, which I also don't see a lot of coupons for. However, we do spend quite a bit on dairy, between Matthew's yogurt obsession, my cheese obsession, and both of our ice cream obsessions.

So, probably more information than necessary about our eating habits, to add to the probably more than necessary information you already know about what we eat. But seriously, how is it done? How do you spend less, using coupons or any other similar sort of tricks? Are there really that great of deals in Sunday papers, and if so, is it worth getting the paper for them? Or is it only possible to find great deals on the pre-made stuff we don't usually buy?

stuff

2011-10-18T15:41:00.002-06:00

--I feel like people tend to have strong opinions about country music. You either like it or you don't, I haven't met too many people who are in between. Well guys, I'm in the Love Country Music Camp. Of course, I don't like every single country song, but overall, I do like country music. Incidentally, many country songs remind me of when I worked at a bakery in Minnesota. I did this for three summers and one December, and we listened to country music nonstop. So sometimes when a particular song comes on, I feel like I should be making cookies or pies or something. Nothing but good times.

--On an unrelated note, my little brother gets done with his mission in four weeks!! My whole family is coming out to pick him up, and they are all going to stay with us in our little apartment. It will be very cozy. haha. I'm seriously so incredibly excited though. I cannot wait!

--Also, Natalie has recently discovered how to "brrr" her lips. You know... where you blow your lips together and spit flies everywhere? She does it all the time now.

--And lastly, I definitely identified with this letter to the editor from the Daily Universe today. I know there are obviously some real issues with the economy and corporations and all that stuff, but I still feel like this is the attitude of a lot of people in the Occupy Wall Street Protest.

Evolution of Sleeping

2011-10-16T21:04:00.002-06:00

I love how lately she's been sleeping with her bum in the air, and her head half face-planted in the bed. So funny.

And yes, I know I should be putting her to sleep on her back, which I do, but she rolls over onto her stomach right away. Oh well, at least she's cute as she disobeys the experts.

Scary movies

2011-10-10T20:09:00.000-06:00

You may have noticed that the few times I have talked about movies on this blog, I've never mentioned any movies that are even slightly scary. That is not a coincidence.

Some sorts are okay. Movies about natural disasters, or sometimes alien invasions, like War of the Worlds or Transformers, or action movies, stuff like that is okay. But anything that is jumpy, or is something that could and does happen, no way. Like Taken. Seriously? How can people watch that movie? I would pee my pants... and then for three weeks afterward I would keep the doors locked, sleep with the lights on, keep a bat with me at all times, and maybe even make Matthew stay at home to protect me. Yeah, it would stay with me for a long time. And I am Number Four. Matthew wanted to rent that one, but I vetoed it because people hunting down someone seemed pretty freaky to me. I've never watched Signs, because although I've been assured it's not "scary", I'm under the impression that it is pretty jumpy. No can do for jumpy movies. And obviously stuff like Scream 4 I would never, ever in a million years watch.

I don't understand the world's preoccupation with scary movies. Whenever we go to Redbox I'm always amazed that there are a ton of movies that look pretty freaky. How do people watch scary movies? I freak myself out plenty all by myself, I don't need images and jumpiness and story lines and scary music to keep me even more perpetually freaked out.

300!!

2011-10-06T20:11:00.000-06:00

This is a big, big day for JeSuisSteph. As you may (or may not) be able to gather from the title, this is my 300th post. Super exciting.

I hope that through the 300 posts I've kept a healthy balance between sharing high points and low points of life (though keeping low points at a sparingly level. No one wants to read a whiner day in and day out), sharing some of my thoughts and opinions, showing pictures, telling stories, talking about my hobbies and interests, all that stuff.

I also like that this blog documents my life when I was single, then dating Matthew, engaged, married, newlywed (although, I still do think of us as newlyweds), graduation, baby... a lot of different stages of life have been documented, or at least mentioned here.

Nothing but good times all around. 300 yeah!

temple, temple, who has a temple?

2011-10-05T19:19:00.001-06:00

I just know you have all been on the edges of your seats wondering so... heck yes we will be planning a trip in a few years to see/go to the open house/do a session/whatever the new temple in France. Anyone want to volunteer their services now to watch our kid(s)? :)

I'm soo excited that France is getting a temple. Awesome!

Coping Mechanisms

2011-10-04T14:47:00.000-06:00

Even if you have a baby that is beyond adorable, she still spends plenty of time being whiny, crying, fussying, or just plain difficult. However, I have developed some very sophisticated coping mechanisms to prolong the moment of coming to the end of my rope.

1. Adorable outfits
As silly as it seems, it does make it easier when my Natalie is all dressed up in a cute little dress or outfit, with a pretty flower or bow in her hair. I mean, even if she is fussy, at least she is fussy AND cute. And then I can look at her and think, "Oh you are being such a pill. But you are still so stinkin' cute!" So, a HUGE shout out to everyone who has given Natalie a pretty outfit. Not only do you make her look good, you are contributing to my sanity.

2. Sing-song voices
This is all about either singing words to nonsense tunes you make up, or making up new words to songs such as Teacher, Do You Love Me, I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home, Saturday is a Special Day, etc. So, for example, to the tune of Saturday is a Special Day: Natalie is a happy girl/she makes me so happy when she smiles...

I know, awesome lyrics. Just make sure you do this with the windows closed.

3. Crying/yelling
Fun fact: if you start crying/yelling/screaming at the same intensity with a similar intonation as the baby, she will stop her cry/yell/scream and turn around and stare at you. I try not use this one too often but sometimes I'd just rather listen to myself than her.

The first two are the most effective, not to make her stop fussing, but to help me not get upset or overly frustrated. And I will say, that most of the time and more and more often, she really is a good, happy baby. But she is a baby. Which is why I need coping mechanisms.

What We're Watching

2011-10-03T06:58:00.000-06:00

I really was amazed with how much I loved this movie. When we rented it I did not have high expectations--I think I thought it was going to be cheesy/the shark attack would be super scary, neither of which was true. The acting, with maybe the exception of Carrie Underwood, was great and the message and story were so inspiring. Plus, the scenery was beautiful, it was clean, and it promoted Christian values and faith. Highly recommend.

Okay, I know this movie is almost ten years old, but this was the first time Matthew's seen it. At the end of the movie I ask, with great anticipation, what he thought of it.

"It was okay."

What??!! Just "okay"???? I don't think you understand. A Walk to Remember came out when I was just starting high school. I'm pretty sure I watched it a lot during my high school years, with my friends or YW in my ward, and we would all sob our eyes out. This was any teeny-bopper's dream come true. We'd drool over Shane West, we'd laugh, we'd cry, we'd sigh and grin cheesily and be all happy when bad boy turned into a sweetheart. We'd wish there'd be some stud of a guy that would defend us from the mean kids. Like I said, this movie has it all. And apparently Matthew just does not understand the pull of that to a 16 year old girl, and how awesome it makes this movie. Obviously.

September's Main Dishes and Desserts

2011-09-30T21:52:00.000-06:00

As far as regular protein-based main dishes go, stuffed and sauced was definitely a recurring theme this month. I'm just going to go ahead and say it, I love chicken/beef/pork that is stuffed in some delicious way and served with a flavorful sauce that you want to eat by the spoonful.

Stuffed Fajita Flank Steak: Incredible. You’ve heard ofsteak fajitas in a tortilla? Well, ditch the tortillas, and stuff all of theother fixings into the steak, add a flavorful sauce, and you have stuffedfajitas. We actually skipped the cheese (for Matthew’s sake), and the grits in the recipe (leftover mashedpotatoes instead). For the sauce afterwards, in addition to the drippings andgarlic, I opted for the chicken broth, we used a lot more (1/3 cup?), and Iadded in a squeeze of Dijonmustard and ½ Tbsp butter, which was a great addition. (Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride)

Apple Cranberry Stuffed Pork Roast: Super tasty, yummy, Iliked it. The end. Although I will say, while it says to use ¾ cup brown sugarin the filling/sauce, I thought it made it suuuuuper sweet. Next time, I willdefinitely be reducing that amount of sugar, and using something else (chickenbroth? white grape juice?) so balance out the acidity of the cider vinegar. (Source: Simply Recipes)

Chicken Bacon Roulades: Bacon, shallots and parmesan arerolled up in chicken breasts, seared, baked and served with a creamy, butterysauce. Yumm. Definitely not a low-fat dish, but so worth the calories. (Source: Simply Recipes)

Country Vegetable Skillet: I hesitate to even mention thisbecause there really isn’t much to say about essentially a chicken vegetablestir fry, but until recently I’d never heard of putting fresh corn off the cobinto something like this, but the small addition of that plus some bacon withthe chicken, zucchini, yukon potatoes and bell peppers really made it a delicious,yet simple, meal. (Source: How Sweet It Is)

Teriyaki Meatballs with Mango Pineapple Sauce: This was supposed to be a burger with a sauceand salsa, but we ran out of buns, so instead, the burgers were made intomeatballs, covered in a pineapple teriyaki sauce, with chunks of pineapple,mango, bell pepper and onion mixed in. It was quite good over rice. (Source: Annie's Eats)

Blueberry Lime Salsa: This was yummy… but I think that I’mjust not a huge fan of blueberries in this sort of a thing. Still, good. Andhad lots of fruits and vegetables, which is never a bad thing. (Source: How Sweet It Is)

Mixed Berry Mini Galettes: It was like a little pie… without the pan. Sort of. Either waythey were cute, fun, and delicious.(Source: Two Peas and Their Pod)

Salted Caramel Chocolate Shortbread Bars: These bars were like afancy-ed up Twix bar. I love Twix. I loved these bars. We ended up putting themin the freezer, to try and not eat them all in the first day, and we decided that we actually likedthem better frozen. They weren’t too hard to eat, and I think I liked thetexture better. (Source: Annie's Eats)

Dulce de Leche Cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Frosting: Goodgrief, these were so good. I’m kind of embarrassed to say how fast we atethese… (Twelve cupcakes between the two of us gone in two days… you do the math). Iloved the dulce de leche flavor throughout the cupcake, filling and frosting,and the frosting was so light and fluffy, which totally made it worththe extra effort of stirring over a double boiler forever. (Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride)

My favorites: Stuffed Beef Fajitas, Dulce de Leche Cupcakes, and Veggie Pizza

Matthew's favorites: Stuffed Beef Fajitas, Apple Cranberry Pork, Steakhouse Pizza, Balsamic Strawberry Chicken Pizza, and the Vegetable Chicken Skillet. Yeah... he chose five. Fine. I add the Balsamic Strawberry Chicken Pizza to my favorites too.

Oh, and go Cougars!

September: Pizza, Bread and Soup

2011-09-29T20:46:00.000-06:00

So, in previous months I've had some "Never will make again" things that we've made. But not in September! This actually has been a great month for food, and I'm pretty excited to talk about all of it :)

Steakhouse Pizza: This has marinara, with caramelizedonions, grilled steak, mozzarella cheese and finished with barbecue sauce.Yummmmmm. (Source: Pioneer Woman)

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough: Okay, this didn’t use just 100% whole wheat flour, it was half whole wheat, but I thought the crust was just asgood as any other crust I’ve had, so I think I’ll be using this one from nowon. (Source: Macaroni and Cheesecake)

Grilled Vegetable Pizza: This was out of this world amazing.I used the whole wheat pizza crust, and then it was topped with pesto, grilledzucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes (instead of bell peppers), with goat cheese and parmesan on top. Oh myheavens, it was an absolutely delicious combination of flavors and textures.And I’ve made it at least 5 times this month...and Matthew hasn’t touched itwith a 10 foot long pole. ha. (Source: Pioneer Woman)

French Baguettes: A real French baguette is perfectly crispyon the outside and perfectly soft on the inside. Basically, it’s perfect. Well,this didn’t quite achieve a level of baguette perfection, but it was prettyclose. And I image if you had a bread/pizza stone, it would have been there. As itwas, it was still very good, and took between 45-60 minutes of active labortime over the course of 24 hours to make it. (Source: Annie's Eats)

Broccoli, Leek and Potato Soup: The one thing I am excitedabout for cooler weather is soups. I love soups, and am souper (hahaha…) stokedto make a bunch. This one pureed broccoli, leeks and potatoes into a smooth,silky soup, with roasted potato chunks interspersed. Very good, and lots’o’vegetables all around. (Source: Crepes of Wrath)

Caraway RyeRolls: These were nice and dense, but not hard, had a good taste, and had agreat texture for sopping up broth. Basically, very good. (Source: Grains Cookbook from my SIL)

Tortellini Sausage Soup: Delicious. Great blend of spices,good amounts of meat, a fun mixture of vegetables (carrots/zucchini/onion), the pasta gave it some goodtexture. Matthew even loved it enough to take to school for lunch the next day,which is saying something (he’s usually not a soup guy.) (Source: Our Best Bites)

Balsamic Strawberry Pizza with Bacon, Chicken and Onions:Guys. I finally, finally achieved cooking perfection, at least in Matthew’seyes. I’m pretty sure that this is the first thing that he’s given a 10/10score to, which is a pretty big deal. Here’s what it was: reduced balsamicvinegar mixed with some strawberry jam gave a slightly sweet yet tangy base. Savorycubed chicken, salty bacon chunks, and slightly caramelized onions were next,topped with some fresh mozzarella cheese and Italian seasoning. Freshstrawberry chunks are sprinkled on the top when it’s out of the oven. It is aperfect combination of sweet, salty, tangy and delicious. (Source: Pennies on a Platter)

Stay tuned for September: Main Dishes and Desserts: tomorrow!

Mr. Penguin

2011-09-27T14:07:00.000-06:00

Natalie has this big stuffed penguin that she loves to play with. It just cracks me up cuz it is almost as big as her.

And when I say play, what I really mean is suck on the ball on the end of the penguin's hat.

Remembering

2011-09-27T13:55:00.001-06:00

In the Book of Mormon, different prophets talk about the importance of remembering the commandments and the Lord's covenants. Lots of General Authorities today about how important it is to remember. Both ancient and modern prophets have gotten after the people because they are so quick to forget. Recently though, I've realized that the propagation of the human race is probably very dependent on our ability to forget.

I didn't have a particularly awful pregnancy, but it certainly wasn't a walk in the park. Actually, no there were a lot of really not awesome aspects of it. Delivery was fine. But recovery, oh recovery was the worst! I had absolutely no idea how bad the four weeks after delivery were going to be and it was so difficult on so many levels. During the first week after giving birth I remember thinking, like all the time "This is awful. I am NEVER doing this again. Ever."

Anyway.

So yeah, growing and bearing children isn't the easiest thing.

But wait, six months down the road, I'm thinking: hey let's have another baby! Right now! It'll be so fun! At which point Matthew promptly slaps me across the face and says no! (Parts of that last sentence may or may not be true.) Also, about a month ago I was absolutely convinced that I was pregnant, so much so that I took the extra pregnancy test I had. (It was negative.)

The point is, once it was over and removed a few months from me, the reality of what it was like to bear a child is just a distant wisp of a memory. It really wasn't that bad at all! I would totally do it again. Especially for a cute little teeny, tiny baby. And of course, a sweet baby is definitely worth the pain and everything. But if I could completely and accurately remember the hard parts, I would probably be more hesitant.

And that is why, even though it can be bad for our spiritual progression, it is important that we are inherently forgetful creatures, so we can propagate the human race. Because if we aren't fresh from experiencing something, it is much easier to forget the challenges. And that is why I am thinking about how I want another baby. Matthew will never know if I just toss this package of BC pills...

season of the year and seasons of the baby

2011-09-26T12:51:00.002-06:00

I don't know what it is about people, but tons of people in my blog roll (mostly the foodies I think) are super excited for summer to end and for fall to start. What? I don't know about you, but I love summer. LOVE it. No, I don't love 95 or 100 degree days and heat that makes you feel that you're going to melt, but I really, really, really dislike being cold. And okay, fall is okay, the slightly cool whether can be okay, pumpkin and apple themed food is okay, and the changing of the leaves is pretty. But... fall means that winter is just around the corner. I just have a hard time being functional when I'm cold or chilly. No bueno.

Also, we've been working on helping Natalie go to bed earlier (she'd been going to bed between 10-12), and also trying to help her learn to go to sleep without needing to be swung in her carseat. For weeks, maybe even a couple of months, she's needed to be swung. Mostly Matthew does this, because she is super heavy and he is super buff, but I've done it enough that I've built up some legit muscles. Maybe sometime I'll post a picture.

In the last week and a half though, the stars aligned and she started going to bed earlier, between 8:30-9:30pm. Which means that we can go to bed earlier too, which also is nothing short of a miracle. I'm definitely a night person, and I just have a hard time making myself go to bed sometimes. However, it is really nice to wake up with Matthew and see him for 20-30 minutes in the morning before he leaves to go student teach, and then I can also get some things done before Natalie wakes up, which makes me feel super productive, and take a shower early, which also helps me feel alive. So it's basically a win-win-win. And, she's started to be able to self-entertain (read: go after the computer cord, pens, paper, remote controls...), which means that she is happy, smiley and cute all by herself and I don't have to spend 97% of my time holding her. Win-win-win-win.

Also, BYU probably won this weekend because this cute little girl was cheering for them:

Stats

2011-09-21T13:17:00.000-06:00

The new version of Blogger these days gives all sorts of interesting tidbits about who, what, where, when, why and how people view my blog.

What Matthew and I thought was the funniest thing was we have gotten a lot of hits to this post via Google images. If you need a refresher, that particular post we used a picture of Saul on the road to Damascus to help round-about-ly announce that I was pregnant. That post, or at least the picture from it, was viewed many times after people googled:
saul on road to damascus
saul on the road to damascus
byu road to damascus
on the road to damascus
pictures saul damascus
... and the list goes on. Apparently that ~~picture~~ photograph is a big deal.

Also, there is *almost* an equal divide in the browsers people use between Firefox, Internet Explorer and Chrome. Seriously? People still use Explorer? No offense if you do, but I absolutely hate internet explorer. It drives me nuts. I extremely dislike that when you click on a link it opens a new window instead of a new tab. I also hate all the popups it has when you enter or leave a secure site (like BYU). I really dislike that it doesn't have a dropdown memory of sites you've visited before. Of course, this is just my own personal opinion. More power to you if you are one of those that do use it and like it.

party

2011-09-20T07:35:00.000-06:00

Sooo.... Natalie's 6 month birthday was yesterday, so I will disclose that we did in fact have a little party for her. The 20 minutes of singing happy birthday, eating these dulce de leche cupcakes, opening a little present, and writing in her baby book were actually very exciting :)

Please notice how awesome she is at sitting up now

No, she couldn't open the wrapping herself. But she had a good time trying.

"Does this shirt make me look chubby?"

We love our little girl. She makes us so happy!

Names

2011-09-18T10:03:00.000-06:00

While doing family history, I've come across many a name that give celebrity names such as "Apple" a run for their money. Although, they are French Canadians, so maybe that's just the way they roll in Quebec. Here are a few:

First names:
Dieudonné: God's gift
Rock
Hosana
Louis L'Ange: Louis the Angel

Last names:
Papillon: Butterfly
L'Heureux: The Happy

I think my favorites are Papillon, because who wouldn't want Butterfly to be their last name, and Louis L'Ange, since Louis is a boy's name, and you don't really think of Angel as something you name a boy. Unless you're a vampire, I suppose, then it's totally legit.

Sleep Talking

2011-09-17T11:16:00.000-06:00

Coming into the bedroom where Matthew has been napping...

Me: Hey Matthew

Him: (Rolling over, very groggy) I've already learned a lot.

Me: (Chuckling) Oh really, what have you learned?

Him: (Still groggy) Don't go in a room with a person with the same name as you.

Me: (how long can I get him to keep talking?) Oh? Why not?

Him: Because it overshadows them.

And there you go, folks. haha.

Part Three: Candid/Action

2011-09-14T13:07:00.000-06:00

We think this picture (above) is like she's having a fun conversation with someone "And then I was saying..."

Thanks to our friends for taking some pictures and to y'all for looking at them.

dommage fromage

2011-09-13T13:10:00.000-06:00

We interrupt the baby pictures for something very important:

I just used the last of my parmesan cheese. It's kind of a big deal. I have to have parmesan. We'll probably go out to buy some more in an hour.

Also, I have goat cheese in the fridge. Really excited about the possibilities for that.

Have I ever told you about one of the most divine things I ate in France? It was a tomato-goat cheese panini and it was to die for. The only sad part of this story is that I discovered it just 3-ish weeks before the end of the program.

One last thing. Do you want to know what is so insanely simple yet so delightfully delicious? Peaches in milk. Cut up a peach in a bowl, add in some milk, and a tablespoon or two or three of sugar (depending on how sweet you want it). My grandparents showed it to me yesterday after I finished canning peaches with them and all I have to say is that if you eat it slowly and you have a nice, ripe, juicy peach, after a while the milk gets all peachy and you just float along on a fluffy cloud of peachy heavenliness.

Part Two: Family

2011-09-12T23:48:00.000-06:00

Another series, Part One

2011-09-11T21:06:00.000-06:00

A budding photographer in our ward asked if he could take some pictures of Natalie to develop his portfolio a bit. Well, don't mind if I do! Never will say no to pictures.

To minimize on picture overload we are doing this in installments--today we bring you Natalie Part One: Portraits. Look for Part Two: Family and Part Three: Candid/Action in the coming days!

Mr. R

2011-09-11T20:06:00.000-06:00

This was Matthew on his first day of student teaching high school. Pysch! Actually it was like his 8th day. He leaves at like 6:30 in the morning, that's early. Especially for me. I'm such an awesome wife. Can't even get my act together until the 8th day to get a picture of this handsome man.

Anyway so yeah, Matthew's student teaching this semester--he's at a high school teaching a bunch of Physics classes, and he's been the main guy doing the teaching since day three.

Since graduating, every semester or term I think "oh this semester/term is going to be a lot less busy for Matthew," and it never is. That's what I thought, again, two weeks ago. Then I realized that even though Matthew doesn't have homework, he leaves at 6:30 and gets back at 4:00 and he now has grading and stuff to do as well. Oh well. We can almost see the light at the end of the school tunnel.

Caughtcha!

2011-09-07T17:07:00.002-06:00

I came into Natalie's room and saw her sucking on her toes. I ran to grab the camera, but as soon as I came back to her crib with camera in hand she quick stretched her legs and feet out and gave me an innocent smile and all the camera got was a smiley baby (not that that's a bad thing, mind you.)

We did this like five times until I snuck up on her and caught her in the act! Ha! I win!

Big girl

2011-09-05T00:23:00.001-06:00

This is Natalie in a 12 month dress. It hits her mid-calf. She is 5-1/2 months old right now. All I can say is, I sure hope she'll like to play basketball.

August food

2011-09-02T12:00:00.000-06:00

August was kind of a lopsided month. The first half of it I made hardly anything new, actually, I didn't really cook very much at all the first half. Since Matthew had a week off of school and work we just hung out all the time. It was awesome, but also meant we just kinda took it easy with what we ate, which was also awesome. I think I definitely made up for it the second half of the month though.

The Stuff That Came Out Really Good:

Low Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies: Here’s my philosophy on low-fat, low-cal, low-whatever treats. Most of the time, they just aren’t worth eating. If you’re going to have dessert, then make it worth it! That being said, this recipe came highly recommended and turned out to be a very delicious cookie. What made it low-fat? Applesauce replaced some butter, and it used an egg white instead of a whole egg. Also, half of the flour was whole wheat.

Veggie Enchiladas: This was corn tortillas rolled up with black beans, zucchini and red bell pepper. Matthew thought they needed more sauce, which they did, and that they would taste better with chicken, which they probably would, but they were still very delicious. And quite healthy to boot.

Fresh Fruit Enchiladas: We made it with peaches, strawberries and mangoes rolled up in a flour tortilla topped with a cinnamon vanilla sauce. Super good.

Spring Green Risotto: I think this was my favorite risotto that we’ve made thus far. It was delish. It had peas, asparagus and leeks in it (Side note: leeks are really good—I had no idea). We skipped the two cheeses in it and Matthew liked it, although he wanted meat in it, surprise, surprise.

Quinoa w/ Mangoes, Red Pepper, Green Onion, Pecans, Cilantro: Well, the title of this pretty much sums up what was in it. First time trying quinoa, and you know what, I liked it. Kinda a cross between couscous and tapioca. During dinner, Matthew just kept saying how this was a really weird dish, but good. And he really did enjoy it a lot. I'm actually super impressed by how willing he is to try all sorts of stuff.

Peach, Basil, Mozzarella and Balsamic Pizza: When I told my mom that this was SOO good, she was all like “um…peaches… and vinegar… on pizza?!!” as if it was the most disgusting thing she could imagine. Haha. So funny. Anyway, just think of it less as a pizza and more as a fancy artisan sandwich. So refined. Even though there was no artisan-like bread involved…

Toffee Bar Brownie Torte: This was my birthday cake! It was rich, decadent, beautiful and absolutely amazing. Nothing more to say about it, I loved every bite.

Stir Fried Noodles: I think that this may have been the best reaction Matthew’s ever given me to a meal I’ve made. He loves Chinese, and when he snitched a bite of this before dinner he just started gobbling. Ha. Canton noodles, rice vermicelli, snow peas, red bell pepper and carrots stir fried up into sublime deliciousness, that’s what this was. We even got to go to a Asian marked to buy the noodles which was exciting (if you're wondering, there's one on 300 S 300 E in Provo)

Chicken with Cherry Sauce: We made this two times, trying to get it right, and I still want to mess around with it more because I feel like it’s just not quite there yet, but it was still good and Matthew devoured it, so I count it as a success.

Café Rio Style Pork Salad: You know how everyone loves Café Rio out here, some people so much that they go through the work of making a knockoff salad? Well, I don’t love café rio (I do like it), but I still went through the effort to make a knockoff version. And it was something we both enjoyed a lot.

The Stuff That Came Out Much Less Than Good:

Apricot Chicken: This was so disappointing. Looking at the recipe, I thought it was be fantastic, even while I was making it I still thought it was going to be fantastic, and then when we ate it, it was just…weird. And not the good kind either.

Black Bean Brownies: I had my doubts about these before even making them, but we still tried them. Meh. Maybe it’s because I pureed them in the blender and if you had a food processor you could get it into smaller bits, but I could still taste little chunks of black beans, and the texture of the brownies wasn’t really that great either.

Eggplant Parmesan: This probably would have been a lot better if we had cooked them for a shorter amount of time.

Three More Things:

1. My favorites: The Brownie Torte, the Stir-Fried Noodles, the Fruit Enchiladas and the Spring Green Risotto. (What? I can have four favorites.)

Matthew's favorites: the Stir-Fried Noodles, Cafe Rio Pork, and the Quinoa.

2. The last three things on the "Good" list weren't from the internet, they were from good, old-fashioned cookbooks. If you happen to be interested in any of them, leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail and I'll send the recipe to you.

3. Here is a picture of my brownie cake torte thinger. Thanks to everyone who helped me eat it :)

All grown up

2011-08-31T11:29:00.000-06:00

For my birthday, my mom got me and Matthew a membership to Sam's Club.

Guys, walking around that store with just me and my cute hubby, we felt so... grown up. Every other time we've gone, a mom or sister or friend has been there with us. Now we can do it all by ourselves.

Apparently getting married, graduating from college, having a baby were all just stepping-stones to the real test of adulthood and grown-up-ness. Now that I have my fancy schmancy membership card with my very own name and picture on it, I guess I have joined the ranks of the truly old. I mean, mature.

The baby has a faux-hawk!

2011-08-27T14:31:00.000-06:00

I would just like to mention that this was not something that I did to her hair, it just happened all by itself. She sure is cute though, eh?

tolerance and the lack thereof

2011-08-20T00:49:00.006-06:00

I've thought about writing about this on and off for a while and haven't, but an article from Fox finally pushed me over the edge today.

This article is about a schoolteacher who got suspended from teaching because he wrote against gay marriage on Facebook. After reading the school district's reaction, I want to throw up in my pants.

Apparently, this is what the teacher wrote:

“I’m watching the news, eating dinner when the story about New York okaying same-sex unions came on and I almost threw up,” he wrote. “And now they showed two guys kissing after their announcement. If they want to call it a union, go ahead. But don’t insult a man and woman’s marriage by throwing it in the same cesspool of whatever. God will not be mocked. When did this sin become acceptable?”

Three minutes later, Buell posted another comment: “By the way, if one doesn’t like the most recently posted opinion based on biblical principles and God’s laws, then go ahead and unfriend me. I’ll miss you like I miss my kidney stone from 1994. And I will never accept it because God will never accept it. Romans chapter one.”

And because of this comment, he is suspended, with his job on the line. This just makes me so upset. Does anyone else feel like if you are not pro-gay, pro-gay marriage, you are labeled as a hater? That if you don't say, "oh it's okay, whatever you want, being gay is 100% great" that you are intolerant. That if you say, "That's not right" somehow you are a bigot and homophobe.

Beyond any discussion of the rightness or wrongness of homosexuality, let's consider our first amendment rights. We all get freedom of speech, period. Not freedom of speech only if we are supporting the radical societal movements. We get to have opinions. We get to say what we think. How many teachers would get suspended for making anti-Republican, anti-Christian, pro-atheist or pro-Obama remarks?

There was an article in the June Ensign that discussed what tolerance really means. I loved it. Elder Porter reminds us: An extreme definition of tolerance is now widespread that implicitly or explicitly endorses the right of every person to choose their own morality, even their own “truth,” as though morality and truth were mere matters of personal preference. This extreme tolerance culminates in a refusal to recognize any fixed standards or draw moral distinctions of any kind. Few dare say no to the “almighty self” or suggest that some so-called “lifestyles” may be destructive, contrary to higher law, or simply wrong.

Tolerance means civility, treating others with decency and respect no matter their opinions or physical characteristics. It doesn't mean that no matter what someone does, I have to think that it is A-okay.

Guys, I am not afraid to say it. There is no such thing as moral relativity. Lying is bad. Stealing is bad. Helping people out is good. Gay marriage is not right. If you want to be gay, I will still be nice to you, we can be friends and I won't think that intrinsically you're a bad person (note: this is where I'm being tolerant), but I will still not say I think it is right. And if you are tolerant, you'll be nice to me and respect my opinions too.

I am that mom

2011-08-14T18:55:00.000-06:00

I've tried to resist (sort of... kind of... maybe I've just embraced it...), but I guess I've now become that mom. You know, the one that says stuff like "oh you have the sneezies!" and "it somebody a stinkerpot?" and one that I laughed so hard at my own mom for, but now have said it more than once..."oh coughy cough cough!"

I also realized the other day that I am that mom with the purse of wonders.. The one that has a Mary Poppins style purse, which holds an infinite amount of anything you could need.

And now, I am that mom that thinks feeding her baby rice cereal is the funniest and cutest thing ever. And will share photos of the event on the internet, because who wouldn't want to see them too?!! So without further ado...

As you can tell, she *loved* it.

Fourteenth Flashback

2011-08-14T09:00:00.008-06:00

Matched

2011-08-09T20:17:00.000-06:00

A while back a friend recommended this book to me, so I reserved it at the public library. When I put in the hold request, my position in the queue was 182! Yup, 182. Four months later, I got to check it out and it did not disappoint in the slightest.

Matched is about a dystopian society, similar to books like The Giver or The Alliance. It explores the idea of "can there be freedom without choice?" I really like books like this, and I like exciting, page-turning books (who doesn't?), so this was really fun to read.

But wait! There's more! Matched is part of a trilogy. So, the fun doesn't have to stop! Mixed feelings on trilogies. They're fun because the story goes on longer and the story can get more involved. However, sometimes the second and third books just don't keep up the awesomeness of the first book (Think of Hunger Games. Book Three was nowhere near as awesome as the first two books.)

Anyway, if you are looking for a fun, exciting and engaging read, Matched is your book.

Also, I just finished reading this book, also very, very good:

Sad

2011-08-09T14:29:00.000-06:00

You know what breaks my heart?

Doing family history stuff, entering in families from the 1600s or 1700s or 1800s, and one particular family had two stillborn children, one child die around the age of two months, and another die before her second birthday. That's four children. So sad.

So many families, almost all of them I would say, had children die at such a young age. I guess this isn't really a new revelation, I know that's just what happened back then. But I think it is a little bit sadder when you see the child's name, and their birthday and death day, and know their parent's names. It makes it feel a lot more real than just knowing a lot of children died long ago.

I hope I never have to go through that.

Party tiiiimmme!

2011-08-04T12:02:00.000-06:00

Oh hey look at the cute baby in her party hat!

Wait, what exactly is on her head??

And just one more for good measure. Cuz she's so stinkin' adorable.

Yes, I am now that mom that thinks her baby is the cutest thing ever.

You know it's been a rough day when...

2011-08-03T11:22:00.000-06:00

--You get less than 4 hours of sleep before the return flight home
--Delta looses your bag
--You get home and the plate of cookies your HT left is covered on the doorstep is covered in ants (gross)
--The baby won't take a nap so you can too
--You go to take a shower, there is a nasty sauce dead spider on the inside shower curtain and when you try to shake it off the whole rod and curtain fall down, and the spider stays on
--When you get out of the shower you can't find your comb
--The baby is crying. Again.
--You go to the store to get some food and stuff. When you get home, two cars have spread out to take up the four parking spots in front of the house so you have to park forever away from the house
--Your husband calls and says that his 4pm flight was delayed till 9pm.
--Your husband also says he could have bumped to a 6:30 flight and gotten a free ticket voucher, but didn't cuz he couldn't get a hold of you to check if I was okay with it you so he didn't and now is on a later flight with no voucher
--Your baby starts screaming cuz she's so tired, and the only way she'll be happy is to be swung in the carseat, and your muscles aren't big enough to swing the 50 pound carseat non-stop, so she keeps screaming.
--Your husband calls at 9:45pm to say that his flight was delayed another 45 minutes and they are just leaving.
--You get in the car to drive to the airport to pick up your hubby. Somehow while putting on the seatbelt it catches the tubing of your pump and rips the infusion site of your insulin pump off your body.
--You encounter a 25 minute construction delay on the highway, at 11:15 at night.

Yup, it just wasn't my day yesterday.

The good news is that eventually the baby fell asleep, eventually later Delta found my bag, eventually my husband arrived, because traffic was at a standstill for a while I could give myself a shot on the freeway, and while giving his professor (have I mentioned she's French?) a ride home from the airport, we talked in French for like 30 minutes. It was awesome.

July

2011-07-31T17:09:00.000-06:00

So much good food. I love eating.

The Really Good:

Whole Wheat Strawberry Mango Pancakes: I made these for Matthew’s birthday breakfast, and I dare say they were the best pancakes I’ve ever had. Even though they were whole wheat, they still were light and fluffy, and the strawberries and mangoes in them just made them perfect.

Homemade Oreos: Again, made these for Matthew’s birthday, then made another batch to send to my brother… and then another batch with my brothers. They tasted like a good version of an oreo (not a big fan of just plain oreos. Love oreo flavored stuff though). Soft and delicious.

Orange Chicken: Very, very good. Loved this.

Strawberry Bruschetta: I thought that this was such a clever idea. We ended up not doing the exact thing that appears on the link. With Matthew, we just did olive oil toasted bread with cut strawberries+sugar. With my mom and family we put some Boursin cheese on it too. Loved it with Boursin, it sure disappeared fast and my mom said it was to die for.

Chicken and Spinach Lasagna: A slightly healthier version of lasagna. I’m not lasagna’s biggest fan ever, but this was a very fulfilling meal. Also, we just made enough for a bread pan of lasagna, so we didn’t have to keep eating lasagna for weeks on end—a very wise decision.

Panko Crusted Chicken Stuffed with Ricotta, Tomatoes, Basil and Spinach: We made this for my dad when he was in town the other weekend, and then again with my whole family in MN and boy did it disappear fast both times! Really, a scrumptious combination of flavors and textures that made a great meal.

The Good:

Smores Milkshake: I really enjoy graham cracker crumbles, and this milkshake which incorporated graham cracker, mallow and chocolate chips hit the spot.

Guacamole Salad: Tomatoes, avocado, beans, corn and a bunch of other stuff made a healthy yet delicious salad thingy that I enjoyed for lunch one day.

Strawberry Lemonade Bars: Like lemon bars but with pureed strawberries mixed in the filling. Note: We had to double the amount of pureed strawberries and increase the baking time quite a bit. A fun twist on a classic dessert.

Toffee Crunch Cookies: These didn't exactly turn out like the description (the marshmallows and rice crispies were supposed to turn into a toffee-resembling flavor?) but they were still solid cookies. No complaints, just no rave reviews.,

The Probably Won’t Make Again:

Grilled chicken tostadas with Grilled Tomatillos and Queso Fresco: Ok so this wasn't really that great, but we didn't follow the recipe very closely and omitted several things. Also, we didn't grill anything and the tomatillos were just... squishy.

I'm not sure which one was my favorite of the month. Maybe a 3-way tie between the Oreos, the bruschetta and the stuffed chicken? Something like that...

Baby Boating

2011-07-31T14:08:00.000-06:00

This baby was born for the water.

I also went waterskiing and we threw the dog in the lake.

funny faces and firsts

2011-07-24T17:42:00.000-06:00

"Seriously, mom?"

Hiking to the top of Y mountain. Woot.

"Hey if I put her on my head she stops crying!"

First pony ride! ...On a pony someone was taking on a walk up the street. Oh, Utah.

First baseball game (with grandpa!)

I'm just a proud sister

2011-07-24T17:25:00.000-06:00

Guys, I am so proud of my little brother Aaron:

He just graduated from high school. What makes this even that much better is that he graduated from high school, completed all the requirements, and did very well... despite the fact that he has autism. He's basically amazing, and really an inspiration to me.

He has made SO MUCH progress since he was diagnosed at three years old. He's always had a milder case of autism, but he still has overcome so much and learned so much, it's really amazing to see what a great boy he has become. In talking to him or looking at him today you would never guess he has any sort of challenge. He still has his struggles--learning and comprehension are still difficulties for him but overall he's just doing awesomely.

These are some of the things that I think are great about him. (It's a list!)

He's hilarious. Really, he is incredibly funny.
He will chat with me when I call home or come to visit. How many boys, much less teenage boys in general, much less boys with autism, will chat with their sisters on the phone?
He's a stud. I mean seriously, look at that picture!
He has a job as a lifeguard at the YMCA
He is kind and really cares about other people. He's just a sweetheart.
He is an AMAZING singer. He has an absolutely beautiful voice and is very, very talented with music.
He has a strong testimony and bears it very powerfully.
He's a great teacher--he goes out teaching with the missionaries frequently.
He just finished being on the Work Crew at the Hill Cumorah Pageant--they treat it kind of like a mini-mission. The Work Crew sets up the stage for the Pageant, runs all the lights, sounds and special effects. They also proselyte before the show.
He's working on submitting his papers to go on a mission.

I really love my little brother!

Public Service Notice 2

2011-07-21T15:03:00.000-06:00

Unlike my first Public Service Notice, which if followed would have supplied you with more than ample amounts of fat, sugar and calories, Public Service Notice Part II really is helpful. Hopefully. Well, it could be for some people at least.

Today we're going to talk about Amazon Mom.

No, not that amazon mom.

Through amazon.com, you can sign up for Amazon Mom, and then use their "Subscribe and Save" option to save 30% on baby things like diapers and wipes. You also get free Amazon Prime use, which means that your orders will ship for FREE and arrive in two days.

To illustrate, I ordered a box of 276 Pampers Baby Dry Size 1 diapers on AmazonMom for $31.49 after 30% off with Subscribe and Save. That comes out to 11.4 cents per diaper. Looking at Walmart's website, I can buy a box of 192 diapers of the same brand and size for $29.95, which comes out to about 15.6 cents per diaper. Not a bad deal eh?

Additionally, you're not locked into anything. You can always change the brand of diapers, the size of diapers, and how often you're receiving shipments. I know there are many other ways to get less expensive diapers, but this has worked really well for us. One of my mom's friends passed on this tip to me, so maybe someone else will find this useful for their expensive diapering needs. You can click here for more information about this. Peace!

Baby goes to Minnesota

2011-07-13T17:04:00.000-06:00

Just some fun pictures of Natalie from Minnesota:

Sparky checking out the new little person.

Natalie checking out the dog...

"I don't think I like the dog!"

Someone gave Natalie a little doll. When Natalie would get fussy, Nathan would say "I think she wants her doll" and get it and try to make Natalie happy. Cute eh?

how much

2011-07-13T16:55:00.000-06:00

I was looking something up...

Call me crazy, but I'm very entertained by the diverse variety of suggestions from Google.

Lists

2011-07-12T18:51:00.000-06:00

If you are all going to be my blog-stalkers, you have to know something about me.

I love LOVE love making lists.

Here is a list of a few reasons why I love lists so much:
1. I love organizing and being organized. Making lists ensure that I don't forget anything. Side story: When I was younger, living at home I used to rearrange my room every couple of months. Pretty sure a big reason was because rearranging room basically = reorganizing everything!

2. Related to being organized... I can sub-list my lists! Or in other words, I make a shopping list, I make another list categorizing my list by sections of the store. I make a packing list, I categorize by what room I can get stuff from. I make a to-do list, I categorize by priority. Why make just 1 list when you could make 2?!?

3. Lists give my life meaning and direction. They make me feel accomplished. Or rather, crossing off stuff on my list makes me feel uber accomplished. (Never mind that the things crossed off on my list today were "go on walk with Natalie" "do dishes" "call doctor" and "pay bills" and it takes less than 2 hours to do them all. I crossed off 4 things therefore I am awesome.)

4. I make lists when I'm excited for something that's going to happen.. For example, I make a list of things to pack or things to do at a vacation destination when I'm excited to travel. I make grocery lists when I'm excited to eat something. Etc... etc...etc...

5. Lists increase the chances of me getting things done. Pretty sure that I am about 87% more likely to read my scriptures when its on my to-do list. (So I don't always read my scriptures every day. Don't judge. It's on my list of things to improve on :) )

...I might need help. But it's just so much fun!

Why I probably wouldn't vote for Romney

2011-07-09T11:26:00.000-06:00

Not even considering policies and ideologies, if Mitt Romney won the Republican primaries, I would be very hesitant to vote for him. Specifically because he's LDS. I know, I sound like one of those crazy un-informed Mormon haters but here's my reason why.

Let's consider Obama right now. I don't really know any specific numbers or percentages, but I think it's safe to say that there are a lot more people dissatisfied with him now as compared to when he took office. And I don't think that his inability to really improve the economy, fix healthcare, curb the deficit, blah blah blah is really all his fault. Of course he should have/could have done things differently. But these are big problems that are hard to just simply fix. In a lot of ways, I think he just has had a really stinky situation to work with that no one could have completely "fixed." And his inability to rectify these problems has drawn a lot of criticism of him.

If Mitt Romney was the Republican candidate, and he beat Obama, I don't think that by the time he took office many of these problems will have gotten a whole lot better. I think he'll be dealing with a lot of the same types of hard problems that are very complex and difficult to fix. Even if he is successful, it seems people are always unhappy with the President. So I can see him drawing a lot of criticism. And I can see a lot of that criticism in the form of "Romney stinks, he's not doing a good job, therefore, all Mormons are also dumb." I would just be afraid that the church would get a lot of negative PR, even though it's ridiculous and we all know that the church in no way supports or endorses any political parties or candidates.

Anyway, I only moderately follow politics and the news and stuff, so I'm no expert, but this is my opinion and the impression that I get from different things I've read. And although I would be hesitant to vote for Romney for the reasons mentioned above, I don't really feel awesome about voting for Obama. So waddaya do? I guess we'll just see what happens in the upcoming months.

Matchy Matchy

2011-07-08T11:29:00.000-06:00

Natalie and her cousin Eliza (and her other baby cousin Josie) have some matching outfits. Cute eh?

And because I've had a few requests for more pictures of Natalie, here are a couple more random pictures. I don't know why I think this one is so funny... probably because her legs/feet are symmetrically shaped and pointed and cuz her arms are just splayed out. haha.

Matchy matchy with great grandma. (Color coordinated outfits not intended this time).

And because I know this is SOOOO interesting... a video of Natalie's happy coo-ing when she is well fed. Okay I actually think it's really cute. Don't judge me for posting this.

June

2011-07-01T21:57:00.000-06:00

This month with food we are going to simplify and streamline my reporting process. Instead of having the link to the recipe at the bottom of the recipe recap, the link is embedded in the title of the recipe. And really, some of these you should definitely check out.

The Really Good:

Honey Ginger Chicken: We loved the tangy sweet flavor of this chicken and the way that it carmelized into a sticky sauce all over the chicken. Note: we used teriyaki sauce instead of fish sauce (yuck!)

S’mores Bars: It’s a graham cracker crust (one of my favorite things!) with layers of marshmallow cream, chocolate bars, and more crust. What’s not to love?

Pizza: Just a straight up pizza with homemade crust and homemade sauce. But so good.

Pineapple and Peppers with Chicken: This is a variation of something my dad made. Put diced pineapple, small-ish chicken chunks, and thin red pepper strips into a frying pan with a *little* brown sugar and/or honey, oil and some cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Cook until done… if you want you can pour off some of the juices that come out so that things get a little crispier if you know what I mean…Basically it was delish.

Herbed yogurt chicken with mango couscous: We eat a lot of chicken, obviously (hello it’s cheap) and so variations on chicken are an important part of our sanity. This one was really fantastic.

The Good…ish:

Burger Buns: They were good, and we liked them, they worked, we’ll make/use them again (we froze half the batch) but they weren’t really that good, so that’s why they’re in the “Good-ish” category.

Buttermilk Biscuits: We like biscuits, but something was a little lacking here, in our opinions.

Cake Balls: I liked these, although they were insanely sweet. Matthew liked them in a bowl of ice cream, but otherwise weren’t his favorite.

The Probably-Won’t-Make-Again:

Chicken Parmesan Burgers: I had such high hopes for these. In theory they seemed really good, but they just turned out a little bit too…meh. I might just not have refined enough tastes for these though. I'm sure someone else would find them delicious.

Smiley

2011-06-28T22:52:00.000-06:00

A gift from the baby gods

2011-06-28T22:46:00.000-06:00

Recently we discovered that Natalie will *almost* always settle down and stop fussing when we set her in her carseat and swing her. Fun fact that I did not realize before having a child: Babies in carseats are heavy. Like really, really heavy. Although swinging her in the carseat is a good solution to a fussy baby, it is not a good long-term solution to being able to get stuff done. Also not ideal if you have the arm strength of a beetle (yuck).

Many thanks to the baby gods for creating baby swings and one of my generous aunts who lent me hers. We've only had it for a few days but already have enjoyed the benefit of a happy swinging baby while doing other stuff.

She is so happy.

Girly time

2011-06-23T21:31:00.000-06:00

I love playing dress up with Natalie with pretty dresses and adorable headbands and bow things...

A trip turned vacation

2011-06-20T22:28:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, from the 6th to the 13th, was the first time Matthew and I had been apart since being married. It was really, really hard! I am NOT a fan!

And at least both of us went out of town, just not to the same places. Matthew was in New York City! He went on a research trip with some members of his research group to do some experiments on the synchotron at the National Laboratory at Brookhaven on Long Island.

At least, that's what they were supposed to do. They got there and were supposed to start experiments on Wednesday, but the machine was broken. It was supposed to be fixed by Thursday, then by Friday, and finally halfway through Saturday they were able to start running some data. It's too bad, because they had to come back on Monday to take finals and stuff, so instead of many days of data gathering, they got... a few hours. I felt really bad for his professor whose project this is. It's a good thing the group is going to a few other synchotrons this summer though. And at least Matthew got to be in a cool place for his Physics Department sponsored vacation.

What a handsome guy eh?

Part of the beamline Matthew was supposed to use at the synchotron

The joys of apartment living

2011-06-20T22:07:00.000-06:00

We live in the basement of a house. Overall we really like it, but we've decided that the upstairs tenants are crazy. Here are four reasons that we just shake our heads at the people living above us.

Reason #1
They control and AC and heat. Usually it's not too bad, but they have this thing about when they keep the house cool. Lately, (during the summer time this is) they have been running the AC at night. So when it's hot during the day the AC is often off... and it comes on at night to freeze us out. Sometimes we turn on the oven to help warm up the house a bit.

Reason #2
Our landlords (they live in AF) provide us with Dish Satellite complete with DVR. We kinda like it. Anyway, the upstairs people monopolize the DVR. They record all sorts of stuff, fill up the memory with all their random stuff, don't delete stuff after they watch it, and then there's hardly any room for us. We have probably seven things recorded right now... they have around 190. We try to be considerate of the finite amount of space and delete after we're done with something, but they just go ahead and record episode upon episode of The Hills, Phineas and Ferb (seriously?), Design on a Dime, Gossip Girl, Modern Family, Project Runway, and a lot of other things I can't remember now, and leave it on there forever. Drives us nuts.

Reason #3
The upstairs people are in charge of watering and mowing the lawn. They have been given the responsibility and they have the key to the shed. So this spring they decided to wait to mow the lawn until it was two feet tall. We were like "ummm... they yard is looking like a field..." and so we were pretty excited to come back from somewhere one day and see them mowing. Hurray! When we went outside after they were done, we saw that they had only sort of mowed the lawn. They had left big patches of tall grass unmowed all over the place.

Reason #4
They play the synthesizer in the middle of the night.

Other than that though, they're great!

Public Service Notice

2011-06-14T15:17:00.000-06:00

I don't know if this is company wide, or just at the one in Orem, but I thought the general population might be interested to know that at KrispyKreme (in Orem, at least) if you bring in an ugly tie this week, up until Father's Day, they will give you a dozen original glazed donuts... for FREE! Absolutely free. We got some today!

Second Breakfast

2011-06-02T14:53:00.000-06:00

I think Natalie (or probably any baby for that matter) and the hobbits would get along well.

Sleeping habits

2011-06-02T14:49:00.000-06:00

This cracks me up so much. Notice how Natalie's arms are turned upwards around her face. Natalie sleeps like this all. the. time. Always. The only time she may not is if she's sleeping semi-upright, like in her carseat or bouncer (but even then its 50-50). It's so cute and so funny and so predictable, all wrapped up in one adorable little baby.

may food

2011-05-31T20:55:00.000-06:00

Seriously, May is over?

Anyway, we like making food... and we made a lot of it this month. At one point Matthew asked why I don't take pictures of what we made because pictures make everything better and more interesting. My response to that is that I tried doing that a couple of times at the beginning, but our camera and our lighting are such that it makes everything look gross. Even stuff that tasted really good looked... well, not delicious, that's for sure. That's one reason I put the links on, because other people take good pictures of stuff. So here's this month's stuff:

Crème Brulee French Toast Casserole

I had high hopes for this, considering the name of it and all, but I have to say that while it was okay, it just didn’t deliver the amazingness I was expecting. Still, a solid breakfast option.

Source: Foodie Bride

Chicken Salad with Feta, Fresh Corn and Blueberries

Fresh: That’s the word that comes to mind when thinking of this salad. It was not your typical chicken salad, that’s for sure. I loved loved loved the crunch of fresh corn off the cob and the flavor of the feta cheese and blueberries. Delicious.

Source: Pioneer Woman

Panko Crusted Green Beans

Meh. It was a fun concept, green beans coated with panko (special type of bread crumb) but they turned out a little bit dry…

Source: For the Love of Cooking

Garlic Chicken Pasta with Spinach

It appears that this month was at least in part a study on variations of chicken and pasta. This was the first one, and it was pretty decent. Nothing spectacular, but I certainly enjoyed it. And there was a bunch of spinach in it, so a good amount of folate was had by all.

Source: NSP Ward Cookbook

Caribbean Chicken

The first crockpot recipe to grace this project—it was a mixture of spices, tomatoes, potatoes, chicken and coconut milk and I have to say we both really enjoyed it. An additional plus was that it was super easy to make.

Source: A collection of crockpot recipes that magically appeared on my desk at work one day

Roasted Vegetable Meatloaf

We made meatloaf many moons ago, and although Matthew thought it was really good and has been asking for it again, the recipe we used I just didn’t love that much. This one however, was delicious! I absolutely loved the combination of textures and flavors in it. (Btw, we used ground turkey instead of ground veal. Seriously, ground veal?)

Source: Food Network

Pear Clafoutis

Custard covered with pears in a round baking dish, and apparently it's "French". I liked the custard better, but Matthew liked the pears best. Matthew also suspects that this dish would have tasted better chilled, perhaps with an appropriately flavored ice cream.

Source: Barefoot in Paris

Chicken Cacciatore

Round two of chicken and pasta. A combination of bell peppers and dredged chicken in flour, braised and mixed with pasta and a flavor-istic red sauce. As I was making this I had some doubts about how awesome it was going to taste, especially since there was enough for a couple of meals. It ended up having really great flavor and although it may have not looked like much, I personally thought it was very yummy. And quite a healthy meal to boot.

Source: Pioneer Woman

Slow Cooker Pork

Divine. Absolutely amazingly D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S. We ate this with taco stuff, and even after I declared myself done and full, I kept picking at the pork on the plate in front of me. So good. We think the meat would also work well in a pulled pork sandwich.

Source: Food Network

Citrusy Angel Food Cake

Holy eggs! I did not realize how many egg whites are in angel food cake, but I guess that’s what makes it a relatively low calorie dessert. The lemon and orange zest in this particular recipe only made it better. The author of the blog this came from mentioned that normally she doesn’t like angel food cake for various reasons, and I would tend to agree with her, but this recipe takes the cake (haha… get it?!)

Source: Foodie Bride

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Round three of chicken and pasta. It was really good, too (three). It may have been our favorite. Another bell pepper/chicken/pasta combo including red onion, tomatoes, a creamy white sauce seasoned with Cajun and red cayenne pepper that all combined with winning results.

Source: Pioneer Woman

not a bad deal

2011-05-31T13:32:00.000-06:00

I really do try not to make too many of my posts on here about food, but I have yet another food related topic I want to write about so here we go. This past week we decided to participate in a Co-op around here. We paid $15 and got a basket with 6 different kinds of fruits and 6 different kinds of vegetables in it. It was pretty exciting picking up our produce and putting it all in a laundry basket to carry home (not all items pictured):

The biggest benefit from this is that we got about $37 worth of food for $15 (we were curious so we priced out what we got at the grocery store.)
The downside is that you don't get to choose what kinds of fruits/vegetables you get--you just get whatever was cheapest and in season that week. So, we got 2 cantaloupes and 3 cucumbers which neither Matthew nor I really like that much. Although, we brought them with us to a barbecue with some of Matthew's family last night, so instead of being straight-up moochers we actually contributed to the meal (haha?). So it worked out really well. We plan on doing it again--the co-op that is. Okay, okay, and contributing to family meals. And, thanks to our produce basket, I've been enjoying mango-pineapple (with yogurt and ice, too) smoothies the past few mornings and oh my heavens they are soooo good!

little cutie

2011-05-25T14:16:00.000-06:00

One minute you're happy...

the next minute life is just so hard. :)

family history excitement

2011-05-25T14:13:00.000-06:00

I have found my new favorite thing to do: family history!

My dad is the first one in his family to join the church (and currently only one other person is a member) which means that there has been virtually no one else to do temple work for all of his ancestors. Its pretty cool because it means that we get to do their work!

So, several years ago my dad and I went through a lot of different sources he had and traced his patriarchal line back many generations. We also had a lot of information about some of his great and great-great and great-great-great grandparents and their families but the farther back generations all we knew was the patriarchal line. There were a LOT of blanks.

BUT then recently my dad found this website that has a lot of family history lines from Canada. My family came from France originally, and then was in Canada for a couple of centuries. This website is a gold mine! I think my dad said it has somewhere around 15,000 names for my family, displayed all nicely in a family tree. It is so exciting!! I've done a lot of the data entry so far, and filled in several hundred family names. My dad has been working on getting the names submitted for the temple work and I just have to say that I am totally hooked! It is so exciting to see the family pedigree chart expand and get filled in, and enter in all of these names of my ancestors, knowing that they have been waiting for so long to have their work done. I think that as I've entered names and worked on things, I've definitely felt some of their excitement and happiness from where they are.

My dad is a lot more in tune and perceptive to the spirit, and he's had some pretty cool experiences working on this too. This week as he was getting some names ready to submit, he came across one individual that had a rather weird name (I think the name was Domitilde.) and I didn't know whether it was a boy or a girl so I had left it as "unknown." He saw that, and couldn't tell whether it was a boy or a girl either. So he sat there thinking "hm, well how am I going to figure out what gender this person is?" And as he was sitting there thinking about that all of a sudden he felt/heard, "I'm a girl! And I want my work done!" He was a little surprised by this, but he indicated on the record that this person is female, and then stopped to confirm that this was correct and heard/felt again "Yes, I AM a girl and I really want my work done!" Well all right then! Apparently after this, my dad described it as "the floodgates kind of opened" and he heard/felt all sorts of other people that were all clamoring for him to get their names submitted and their ordinances completed too. Really cool stuff.

When I go out to Minnesota this summer I'm planning on sitting down with my dad and having him show me how to get the names ready for temple submission, so that I can help do that too.

One other thing both Matthew and I have been doing is Family Search Indexing. If you're not aware, basically its just transferring pictures of old microfilms of census data into typed, computer data. It's a easy, simple, pretty fun and important way that anyone can contribute to family history work, even if you don't have a way to do your own family history information. Just a little plug for indexing :) Here's the link: Family Search Indexing.

Comings and Goings

2011-05-21T23:11:00.000-06:00

It's a Christmas miracle!

Oh how I love Cadbury mini eggs. I've documented this love here and here and honorably mentioned them again here and here. (I'm not obsessed.) This year's Easter candy season has been exceedingly long and so I got to enjoy them for a really long time. The day before Easter we bought a couple more bags to stock up a little and extend the Cadbury joy a little longer (I'm not obsessed.) I've been eating them a few at a time every day, and then Matthew told me that we only had one bag left. Yipes. BUT then at Macey's the other day we were buying a lot more food than we came in for and there on the end of the aisle, like a shining beacon, were... MORE CADBURY EGGS! (I'm not obsessed.)

Not sure how they lasted in the store that long, cuz who doesn't love these babies? We bought... several bags. Okay okay maybe it seems like I'm a little over the top, but it just makes my day a little brighter to have a couple of candies once or twice. To chocolate!

In other news, Natalie is at the 93 percentile for height. She's gonna be a tall one. I can't decide if I'm excited for her to kick some trash in basketball, or if I feel so sorry for making it so hard for her to find clothes that fit.

Daddy's helping her get smart already!

Aging

2011-05-16T18:29:00.000-06:00

Whelp, I'm officially getting old. Not only have I birthed a tiny human:

but I also forget how old I am.

The other day Matthew and I spent about, oh, seven minutes trying to remember how old we are. Am I 22 or 21? Is he 22 or 23 or 24? Was I 19 when I got married (2 weeks from turning 20)? For a while we were convinced that I was in fact 19, and thus still a teenager when I wed. False. I was actually 20, almost 21, and now I am currently 22. Matthew is 23. Wow. I think I will forever be 21 in my own mind. Forever 21. Hey that's a store! They really were on to something when they named that place eh?

Another movie night

2011-05-15T00:51:00.000-06:00

So we watched Tangled last night (good flick. loved it). During this song:

... did anyone else notice anything funny or different during the line that Rapunzel sings: "And it's like the sky is new" ?

Okay, Matthew wanted me to leave the post at that because he didn't want everyone to think we have dirty minds.

BUT...we are very observant, and we heard a slight "d" sound at the end of the word "new" and went back and listened to it again a couple of times to be sure and sure enough there is a "d" at the end....

So instead of "And it's like the sky is new" we have "And it's like this guy is nude." Maybe we're reading too much into it, but probably not, as Disney does have a strong and repeated history of this sort of thing.

Oh Disney. You just couldn't resist throwing in the subtle sexual innuendos could you?

Any dissenting or concurring opinions?

Seriously, a good movie

2011-05-13T15:42:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago Matthew and I rented Miss Potter from Redbox.

Has anyone else seen it? I absolutely loved it.

It was sweet and charming, engaging and passionate. And it had no language, sex or violence. How refreshing. I'm not usually a big fan of Renee Zellweger (I just think she looks weird) but I make an exception for this flick. Also, Ewan McGregor looks ridiculous with a mustache. I'm a little confused though, because he doesn't have a mustache on the case of the movie (shown above) but he definitely has a bit ole 'stache in the film. Hmm

just a little story

2011-05-08T17:18:00.000-06:00

Today I was reminded of a really funny moment with my mother-in-law.

It was the spring of 2009. Matthew and I had just decided to get married, and I was down at his house visiting him. We weren't really telling anyone yet, but many of his siblings were getting pretty suspicious.

Towards the end of my visit, Matthew and I were in the computer room talking with his mom about something or another. One of his siblings came in and said lunch was ready, and so we started to get up to go eat, but Matthew's mom said "Matthew you go, Stephanie stay in here I want to talk to you." So, Matthew left and me and his mom conspicuously stayed in the room. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little nervous about what the conversation between me and her was going to be. However, after the door was closed, Matthew's mom just leaned back and said, "Oh I didn't want to talk about anything, we're just going to sit in here for a while and get everyone good and curious about what's going on." So we just hung out for a few minutes and then came out to lunch. And just as predicted, several of Matthew's already suspicious and suspecting sisters were VERY curious about what this conversation was all about. And I just shrugged and smiled. Bahaha. Totally cracked me up and still makes me laugh to this very day.

a little perspective

2011-05-06T15:38:00.000-06:00

Every once in a while I get a little wistful for the day when we'll have a nice place to live and nice things in our house. I mean, not that I don't like our little basement apartment with no yard and short ceilings and bad lighting and old appliances and splotchy walls and ugly curtains (I think I just realized this week how ugly some of them are), but sometimes I look at people about my age who actually have real homes that are nicely furnished and think, wow, we're just never going to get there. And why can't we live someplace nice now?

I was talking with my sage aunt Becky about this a little bit ago, and she had an interesting story to share. Several years ago they decided they wanted to buy some nice couches for their family room. They had some money saved for them, and they really, really wanted some good couches to replace the old ones that were there. They shopped around for a long time, and finally found exactly what they wanted. They were really excited about getting these couches, and finally they were delivered and in their house. They sat down on them and were like "hm these are nice," and then went about their day. It didn't change their lives at all and it didn't make them happier, even though they liked them and getting new couches had been something they wanted for a really long time. In the end, they liked their couches but it just wasn't that big a deal. Although I must say, their couches are very comfortable.

That was a really good story for me to hear, because even though I *know* that things don't make you happy, sometimes you can sort of forget that. And on days like today when I'm feeling a wee bit wistful, it's a good story to help me remember that things don't make you happy. Also, its much better to be living with DI and garage sale items in a small apartment than to be in debt or spending a lot on non-essentials.

And for the record, we really do like our apartment--it really is a good place for us right now.

Burgers and stuff

2011-05-06T15:15:00.000-06:00

Yesterday evening I was hankering for a good hamburger, so Matthew and I went out to find one. (We also went out because we wanted to lull Natalie to sleep in the car.) We ended up going to Fuddrucker's, which neither of us had been to before. I think part of the reason it was our first time was because the name almost sounds like a bad word, you know?

Anyway, so I had no idea that Fuddrucker's had exotic hamburgers. I mean, a buffalo burger? An elk burger? What the...? Matthew was seriously considering getting one of their weird meat burgers, but in the end decided to get the One Pound Burger.

Again I'm just like what the... a whole pound of meat?? That is LOT of meat and is almost kinda gross. I mean, I like a good burger and all, but I'm all about the toppings and extras--the lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion. That's what makes a good burger great, a mon avis. Proportionally, you can't have too much meat.

However, the One Pound Hamburger is just a warmup for the main event that will occur sometime later this summer. At some point, we are taking a road trip up to Rexburg to go to Big Jud's, which apparently serves The Big Jud, a burger the size of a large plate. Matthew went there with his dad once and according to him, "It was the BEST burger I've EVER had!" So yes we are taking a 4-1/2 hour road trip for the sole purpose of getting that hamburger (we'll do other stuff while we're there too). It's going to be legendary. After 4.5 hours, it better be!

oops

2011-05-02T23:34:00.000-06:00

Holy snap I just realized I have left out several desserts I made over the past few months that have been absolutely DIVINE. I don't know how this omission occurred--probably because I came across a recipe and decided to make it right away so it never made it onto the master list. To correct the error, here are the three delectable things I tried:

I made Cookies'n'Creme Cookies, which were cookies that had chunks of oreos, white chocolate chips, and oreo pudding mix in them.

I also tried Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes, a decadent cupcake that was filled with a cookie dough filling and had a brown sugar based frosting on top.

Lastly, we made Caramel Brownies, which was simply a smooth caramel filling in between layers of rich brownie batter.

All three of these were really amazing desserts. The only thing that maybe was a downside were from the Cookie Dough cupcakes. Personally, I thought the actual cupcake was too much like a muffin than a cupcake. However, Matthew thought that the cupcake part was just fine--no complaints from him. I think though, the next time I make these (because there will be a next time) I'll probably just use a standard white cupcake recipe, but of course use the same filling and frosting recipe as in the original.

Seriously though, all of these were dang good treats. Matthew and I both would 100% recommend them.

big day

2011-05-02T15:52:00.000-06:00

Here are a few pictures from Natalie's blessing day. Thanks to all of our family who came down for it!

april food

2011-05-02T12:23:00.000-06:00

Risotto with Peas and Prosciutto

Our second try at risotto—this time much more successful. No cheese and just a touch of cream, with the addition of the peas and prosciutto, made Matthew liked this time around much, much more. Actually he really loved it, which is a ringing endorsement. Go me.

Source: A combination of several different recipe ideas

Roasted Chicken with Lemon

The recipe that I took this from actually used fish here, but I never ever cook with fish because we both really don’t like it. So, it might have been better as a fish recipe, but it was still fine with chicken. Nothing to write home about, but it was a good meal.

Source: Food Network website

Fried Smashed Potatoes with Lemon

Here’s how this dish went: boil baby potatoes, smash them with the palm of your hand into disks, pan fry them, and coat them in a lemony dressing. It would have been delicious, but the lemon was a little overpowering. Next time we’ll leave out the lemon dressing and call it a jour.

Source: Food network website

Herbed Pasta Primavera

Similar to something I made in February (I believe), this dish was basically a mixture of pasta and vegetables (carrots, green beans, zucchini, green onion). I wouldn’t normally think of carrots and green beans with pasta, but there you go. Not bad.

Source: Better Home and Gardens cookbook

Foccacia

This was amazingly fantastically delicious. Focaccia is an olive oil and herbed bread, if you didn’t know. This recipe made a whole 12x17 pan of bread, and boy I could’ve eaten the whole thing in one meal if my stomach would have had room. Matthew also loved it. Definitely a winner.

Source: Elly Says Opa blog

Chicken Piccata

Eh. This was all right. I don’t really have anything else to say about it.

Source: Simply Recipes blog

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

These were great! I was a little dubious, because I don’t really like barbecue sauce, but we used J'dawg's bbcue sauce and they turned out really delicious, and more significantly, Matthew loved them. Success!

Source: Another food blog

Chicken in Tarragon Sauce

This was one of those recipes that was a “well it wasn’t super amazing but it was something different and expanded our culinary horizons a bit and it wasn’t bad” sort of recipe.

Source: Yet another food blog

Let's see... over all, I think that the foccacia, meatballs and risotto were the favorites from this month. Hey we can have 3 favorites...it's hard to choose!

Natalie's favorite place to sleep

2011-05-02T11:34:00.000-06:00

Good, Bad and Ugly

2011-04-26T17:55:00.001-06:00

We decided last minute to take a weekend trip to San Diego/LA:

The Good:

Temple Hopping: San Diego Temple, Los Angeles Temple, Newport Beach Temple. Newport Beach vastly exceed expectations. Inside and outside were gorgeous!
The beach in San Diego--even if it was cold. Natalie's first time in the ocean!
We really thought San Diego was very pretty. I was impressed.
Hanging out with Janae and Nathan (Matthew's brother and sister)
Natalie was a very good traveler, thank goodness

The Bad:

I kept waiting to see all the beautiful people walking around town in bikinis but it never happened. Apparently there are normal looking people who wear normal clothes in California just like everywhere else. Hollywood you have deceived me.
I wasn't super impressed with Los Angeles. I just don't see what the appeal is--I mean there were some cool parts I guess...maybe...somewhere... but overall not that great.
In'N'Out. Matthew and I have resisted the In'N'Out rage in Utah, but we stopped in in LA. Our opinion was that the burgers were pretty good, the fries were awful and the shakes were solid. This just reaffirms our theory that the place is so popular solely because its a "California thing." *Vomit.*

The Ugly:

LA traffic. Holy smokes.
The two hour wait to get back into the USA from Mexico.
Gas prices--yipes!

What cute fruit they grow here!

Los Angeles Temple

Newport Beach Temple

San Diego Temple

The gang

photo op

2011-04-18T23:41:00.000-06:00

Thank you, BYU grounds, for giving us a family photo.

ready, aim....

2011-04-14T16:47:00.001-06:00

We've experienced several diaper blowout explosions already, both with the diaper on and with it off, but until a couple of days ago I had never experienced projectile poo!
I'm talking about the diaper's off and all of a sudden a horizontally moving geyser-like stream is unleashed! Whoa baby!

I just can't decide what's the better tagline:
Option 1: "Whoa you got like three feet of air that time" (no but seriously. I measured.)
Option 2: "We're going for distance here, not aim"

Although, she did seem to have good aim, as she hit me straight on before I screamed and jumped...haha

Good thing she's such a cutie!