Our Happy Holidays

We had a very busy and very happy Christmas and New Years. The best part was that Randy did not have to work from Christmas Eve until today. It was a lot of fun to have him home with us. My parents were in town the week of Christmas. It was fun to have them here. My dad set up a photo studio in my basement and took some great pictures of my kids, posted below. We had fun making gingerbread men with Grandma Gina. And of course it wouldn't be Christmas without a day spent making Tamales with my family. My brother Aaron and his little family came up from Provo on Christmas Eve. They stayed overnight so we could all be together for the fun on Christmas morning. With eleven people we had a lot of present under the tree. I felt very blessed to have so much. After my parents went home we spent the rest of Randy's vacation working of projects and enjoying each others company.

The Great Christmas Light Fiasco

Five years ago I bought some outside Christmas lights on clearance. For the last 4 years I have tried to get my husband to hang them on the house. He has always politely declined. Well, this year Jacob wanted the Christmas lights hung, and so Randy started to seriously think about doing it (sure, he will do it for the kids, but not for me). On Saturday he helped our brother-in-law Steve hang lights on his house and realized that it is not as difficult as he always assumed it would be. So late in the afternoon he decided to get up on our roof and hang the lights. It was about 4:30 and it gets dark at 5:30, so time was limited. We realized we did not have the right kind of light clips to attach the lights to the roof so I ran down the street to Lowes. Wouldn't you it, they were out. So I went over to the next street to Home Depot, they were out. I went across the street to Wal Mart, they were out too. Oh, and I had Adam with me, so at every stop I had to pull him and his heavy carrier out of the car, run in, run back out, and get him back in the car as fast as I could so I could get home before dark. I was so frustrated, I finally get my husband up on the roof with the lights and everyone is out of the dang clips. When I got home I called 4 more stores in our area, and my sister-in-law Kristin stopped at one for me. They were all out too. How can 8 stores all be out of light hangers! Well, Kristin found some extras at her house and she got some extras from her neighbors. So we did scrounge up enough to do the job, but by this time it was totally dark. We left the lights just sitting stretched out on the roof and figured it would just have to wait until Monday. Well guess what happened today! It snowed! Randy is not getting up on a snowy roof. So now I can't decided if we should just pull the lights down, or leave them how they are. What do you think? They actually don't look too bad in the picture. I have to say they look pretty silly in real life. But, the wind might make the decision for us, it is blowing pretty hard right now.

Every Boys Dream Come True

A construction zone in the back yard! My boys love watching the tractors. The novelty has worn off somewhat now that is has been going for a few months. It still serves as a great distraction though, "Nathan, go see what the trucks are doing." And the near constant rumbling from 7 am to 5 pm Monday through Saturday is great, especially when the whole house shakes during nap time. But seriously, it will be great when they are all done. The field behind our house is now the future site of several fun things. Right now they are building and elementary school. It should be done in time for Jacob to start Kindergarten next year. I will be able to spy on my kids at recess! They are also going to build a library and a rec center. We are really excited about both of those. We love the library. Who doesn't like free movie and video game rentals. The rec center is going to have a swimming pool and a gym. All of this within walking distance. I really have no idea how long it will take to complete the whole project. I hope we can live through it. Oh, and they are doing something funky with the road into our neighborhood. I am not sure how it will turn out. So, if you haven't been here in a while, you might want to call and get directions first.

A Blog About Food

I really like to cook. I am the type of person who likes to follow a recipe exactly. As a result, most of what I cook turns out really good, but I have had some mishaps. Like the time I made salsa and the recipe said 3 Tbs. of salt. I thought that seemed like a lot of salt, but it was a large batch of salsa and so I put in 3 Tbs. Yeah, that was way too much salt. I had to throw all the salsa away. Even though I love to cook and bake, I don't like to make bread, much to my husbands dismay. Bread is his favorite food. It is just to fussy for me. You have to make sure the water is the right temperature to activate the yeast and not kill it. Then you have to let it rise, then shape it, and let it rise again, then finally you bake it. It just takes to long. And kneading, forget about it, I don't knead. So one day after a discussion about why I don't like to make bread my husband found a recipe for me on the internet. "The Easiest, Bestest, Foccacia Bread Ever!" I wanted to make him happy, because that is the kind of wife I am, so I agreed to try it. Guess what! It really is the easiest bread I have ever made, and it is so good. I make it all the time now. So, I decided that I should share it with all of you. You can have yummy fresh bread tonight in under an hour and with very little work. Here is the link: www.recipezaar.com/The-Easiest-Bestest-Focaccia-Bread-Ever-27968. I just put all the ingredients into my Kitchen Aid mixer and let it do the work (remember, I don't knead). And, I don't use as much olive oil and cheese on the top as the recipe says. I hope you enjoy it.

Another one of Randy's favorite foods is jalapeños. On Saturday we were at Costco and they were sampling jalapeño poppers. The box was a little pricey, but he had a craving, so again he turned to the internet to find a recipe. I bought the ingredients for him that night. I was thinking that I would make them for him the next day, but he really wanted them, so while I took care of the baby he and Kyle got busy in the kitchen. I was very impressed. They did a good job. Their poppers turned out good, not as good as the ones you buy, but good. Overall, Randy decided they are worth the money you pay for them because they were a lot of work. Randy is always begging for jalapeño cheese bread, a combination of his two favorite foods. Next time I will have to tell him to find a recipe and go for it, now that I know he can follow a recipe so well :0)
So, my baby Adam is seven months old and he doesn't like food. He nurses great, but he has no interest in solid food. I have tried different food, different times of day, before nursing, after nursing, in between nursings. He just won't open his mouth. He sticks out his tongue and gives it a little taste and that is about all I can get him to do. He is the total opposite of Nathan who loved food, he gobbled up everything I gave him. Maybe he just isn't ready. Maybe I nurse him too much. I don't know what to do, any suggestions. Maybe I just shouldn't worry about it.

Sick Kids on Halloween

Yes, my kids were sick on Halloween. That didn't stop us from having some Halloween fun, at least a little. We made it about halfway through the neighborhood when Jacob asked to go home. I asked him if he wanted some more candy or if he really wanted to go home, and he chose home. That told me he really wasn't feeling well.

Super Heroes and a Puppy

Jacob has been the sickest. On Saturday night he fell asleep at around 7 and he didn't wake up until after 7 on Sunday morning. That is very unusual for him. When he did wake up he climbed on Randy's lap and fell back asleep. I couldn't get him to open his eyes or talk to me. I really became concerned when he threw up on himself and didn't call me or cry or anything, he just lay there. We had Randy's brother come over and help give him a blessing. He wouldn't even sit up for it. But, as soon as it was over he sat up and asked for breakfast. Today he was almost back to normal. I am so grateful for the Priesthood.

The Magic Eraser has failed me!

Apparently the Magic Eraser, which removes just about everything from walls, does not remove blue gel pen. It has always worked for me before, sometimes with a little extra elbow grease. My darling two year old got a hold of a gel pen and left a nice scribble on the wall and then down the hall. One day I found the pen in his room and thought "Oh, I am glad that I found this before he scribbled on something." Turned out I was already too late. Well, no matter how hard I scrubbed that pen would not come out. It did get lighter, but it is definitely still there. (Note to self: Throw away all gel pens.) I did manage to remove lots of finger prints and other junk from the wall left there by little hands, that is a plus. And, I have wanted to add some new art work to the walls. So, next time you come to my house you will have to check it out, it is right when you come in, you can't miss it.

6 Months

I can hardly believe it has been six months since Adam was born. Six months! Where did the time go? Oh, I know. It went to feeding, dressing, bathing, redressing, and playing with three very active and sweet boys. And in between the time I spent caring for my children it went to making sure my house is not a pig sty. And whatever time was left after that went to my very small part time nursing job. I have found time to read some books in there, I do have to do something to keep sane. I guess part of the reason I am shocked that it has been six months is because I thought that by now I would be back to some sense of normalcy. But, I am not. With three kids my house is not as clean as I would like it to be, I am not as organized as I would like to be, I don't have the time for myself of for my husband that I would like. We go, go, go all day and at the end I think, "What did I do all day?" I guess this is my new normal. I will never be as organized or on top of things as I used to be. My three little guys are worth it though. They make me happy every day. Adam is the sweetest baby. He is very content. He doesn't cry very much. As long as he is somewhere where he can see the action he is happy. He had his first taste of food on Sunday. He enjoyed a yummy dinner of rice cereal. He seemed to like it.

My family was all at our house for Conference weekend. My parents, my brother Aaron and his family, and my brother Kyle (who lives with us). Aaron's baby, Sammy, is so cute. He is not even three months yet and he is as big as Adam. Adam is at the bottom of the charts and Sammy is at the top. They are total opposites. We had a fun weekend.

My sister-in-law Erika gave birth to the 17th Wardle grandchild on Saturday. She had a boy, they named him Elias Bradley Wardle, he was 8 lbs 1 oz. He is so cute. He looks just like my brother-in-law Jason.