Just the Girls

Having found out that this last baby we are having is going to be (well, IS) a boy...

I felt the need to pay tribute to the girls in the family.

Mina Mina you're so fine-a!

Julie Julie you are coolie!

Hm, maybe someone else should pay tribute, I stink at it.

But aren't we a cute little pair of chicks?!

Smells like heaven

While Mads & Mina were napping...

Rulon and I made Erin's "Seed Bread" as Rulon calls it!

I'm not kidding around people, Rulon is cutest, most dedicated cooking helper I could ever ask for.

He was in it from start to end.

Measuring, smelling, mixing, pouring,

And you better believe he was super excited when I told him he needed to rub margerine all over his hands like lotion to help with the filling of the pans and shaping of the dough.  Thrills-ville!

I believe his words went something like this," Mom! I bet in 1st grade none of the other boys know how to make bread like this!! Or any bread really.  I could probably teach the lunch room workers how to make this best bread ever too.  They would probably say thank you so much to me because it would be pretty amazing."

 Here it is, Round one!

When we were in Raymond I ran over to Erin's house to WATCH the magic happen in her kitchen with my own eyeballs.  It helped! This bread turned out delish!!!  For dinner the boys just wanted to eat their mini loaves, nothing else.  Mmmmmm, Erin we loooove your "seed bread"!

AND WE LOVE YOU!!

Oh me, oh my, a Mona pie (almost)

What naturally follows a Family Home Evening activity of picking a bazillion cherries?

Making cherry pies, of course.

It all began after the chillins were tucked in their cozy beds.

The googling "how to pit a cherry without a pitter tool"

The cherry pitting party for one.

The getting out of the baking ingredients, flour, salt, lard (what a yummy word)...

When Chester came home form work (and the gym or basketball or whatever) at midnight and I was in the middle of this...

 He was so excited that his tender heart bubbled over in praises of his hot little wife trying her best to make a Mona pie.  He loves that I love to learn this stuff.  I love that Mona answers my last minute 20 questions over the phone.

Well, there they are.  5 cherry pies. 

Baked ont the next day.

And gobbled a piece.  Hmm, I will improve.  But it was not bad at all!

If I keep practicing I will get to the point that I can share my pies.

If I keep practicing at 2am I will get to the point that the coma is permanent.

What fun!!!!!

Older News

Back in November I went back to work part time at Heritage... they opened a new day treatment program called River Run and I am the Recreation Therapist. It is a small program, so different from the residential program that has an enrollment of like 150 students... we have a maximum of 12 students at a time. For now we have 3, two girls and a boy. It is a great program, I work with 4 other staff and we have a building all to ourselves practically.

Going back to work was a sudden/unexpected decision followed by a quick interview and training process so I went from mom-all-day-long to 20-less-hours-a-week-mom... did that even make sense? It really is rewarding being back in the profession that I love and NOT being full time. I enjoy the students and the staff with whom I work. Everyone at Heritage has been so complimentary of me and has made a big deal over "having me back again". It makes me feel good. That said, I will be happy when I am all-day-long-mom again. My kids need me and I need them.

A few pictures just for fun: Me at my desk, I have a shared office with the program supervisor, Steve. He is easy and enjoyable to work with.

This was the official opening of the River Run Program with the Chamber of Commerce folks and pseudo-ribbon cuttting ceremony and open house.


Here we are, the staff that run the program. Left to Right: Steve(program supervisor), Colleen (teacher), Glen (Administration there for the ribbon cutting, etc. Such a nice man), Me (Rec Therapist), Molly (Therapist), Spencer (Residential staff).

What have I learned in the last 3+ months?

1. I have the best husband in the world.

2. My kids have the best father in the world.

3. I'm still pretty good at what I do.

4. We are so blessed.

Taylor Swift concert

Talk about a girls night out!!! Melissa, Lindsay and I all went to the Taylor Swift concert in Houston, Texas on Tuesday night!! It was a quick trip for me and Mina. We flew to TX on Monday, went to the concert Tuesday, and flew home on Wednesday. Chester was home with the boys doing "man stuff". Lindsay was wonderwoman with all the delish meals and kid entertainment - Melissa drove out with Brett and her 4 kiddos a few days before I got there... it was seriously such a great concert! We were on the front row on the lowest level, you know right behind the floor seats. It was PERFECT!!!
And little did we know that during the concert Taylor would practically be close enough to touch... she had a little round rotating "stage" at the back of the floor seats (right in front of US) where she did a few songs!! Too cool!

Here are a few clips for fun, I promised Rulon I'd film some of our favorite song, "Love Story" so he could watch it with me :) Here's part 1:

And part 2:

A litttle project

Well, I wanted to buy one of these car seat covers because they are so cute and actually cleverly functional... but they are expensive. So I made one!! Picked out the fabric, ribbon, buttons and made it from a pattern in my brain - and it turned out!!! so I can't resist posting it because I am proud of it.

Not bad, huh!! That's the first ruffle I have ever sewn :)

A Baby Shower for Julie and B.G.Powelson

My friend Taunya headed up a big baby shower including a bunch of the nice sisters of the ward. Doesn't that food table look inviting?? It was inviting me all night long!
Mary did a concentration game similar to the one I have, only she had some even cuter match-ups like "late night feeding" won a Milky Way Midnight!! It was great!

Can YOU draw a baby girl on a paper plate on your head?? I cannot, Melissa did much better, hers looked human and girly!! Holy Smokes, look at my belly!!!!!!!!!! Where did THAT come from, oh yeah, I remember...

Might as well fill any empty space in that big belly, ooooh the fruit was goooood!

Evil eye?? Melissa must have been talking about me and my spider senses were tingling. Either that or I just dripped strawberry juice on my belly.

Here come the gifts, it was so much fun and there were such cute things!!

That look is the realization that Jane MADE this blanket, it's not the one I drooled over on the store shelf, it's even better because it is softer, bigger and made with love!!

These booties and a (matching outfit and bracelets) were hand made too, by Mary. They are sooo darling! Such awesome talent, I just sew straight lines on curtains!!

I think this is my first girly toy!! And I just loved the fuzzy blanket.

Do I look happy??? This box is full of all colors of head bands and clip on flowers, a ton of colors and sizes, sooo fun!!!

Wish you could see the stripey pants better, they are skinny little cute things!!

Just plain happy to be here!

This one is from Taunya, all hand made items in this hand made diaper bag. 2 Blankets, 3 bibs, 3 burp cloths, 3 bean bags, a little baby book, a teddy bear and a sounds and textures blanket (the little kind a baby plays with)... how cool is that?!?

And thank you soooo much Melissa for loving me enough to solicit Brett to watch your kiddos (thanks Brett) and make the drive to my place to be at this shower. AND for taking pics and being the amazing sister that you are!!!

Transformation!!

A great transformation has to start with love right?? Well, I love my Chester and that he is the father of our beautiful children!! This was my Valentines Day sentiment to my Chesty!! Love you the best forever babe!!

This also marked the beginning of changing the green boys "nursery" into a not green girls "nursery". We do not intend to paint this room ever again if it can be avoided, so we went with a warm neutral color that Rulon thinks is "NOT A GIRL COLOR" because it is too close to white I guess. We actually had to prime it twice to block out the green, that was fun. Then paint it twice with the real paint to get a nice coat of color (or non-color according to Rulon).
Hmmm, whose big hand was on my belly???

I painted ALLLLLL day long, thanks to Chester being Mr. Mom with the boys.

Ok, so lets all remember the room BEFORE:

And here is the room AFTER: the pics will change once there is a new baby to take pics of, duh.

Does anyone realize how happy this makes me?!?!?!? Anyone, really? And by the way, you are looking at Linz and Ethan's baby gift to us... the room decor!! The bedding, curtains, lamp!!!!!!! Could I be any happier??? I walk in the room just to look at it several times a day now instead of keeping the door closed to avoid the reminder of work to be done.

Baby Belly

(this is an updated post so it has some past comments already)
Well, my baby is staring to take up some space!! She moves around a lot for such a tiny thing. I am happy and feel great and the boys (Chester included) love to rub and kiss and talk to this little baby in my tummy. It's pretty cute!!! This picture is actually an old one, from 20 weeks pregnant.

This one is about a week ago at 24 weeks. Bit of a difference in the ol' profile!!

This is also 24 weeks but I thought it was cute with the boys and plus I'm dressed cute for church thanks to Lindsay & Ethan's Christmas gift card to Motherhood Maternity!! (Thanks guys!)

I love this baby already!!! But she can stay in my belly for a while longer!

My latest accomplishments - with Chester's help

#1 - Ok, so Chester didn't help with this one... I cleaned my oven all by myself. Oooo, gold star Juls! I have decided that the best way to decide to clean my oven is to look at it, roll my eyes, get the oven cleaner out and spray it like crazy inside no matter what else I might be in the middle of (almost). Why? Well, once you spray it with that blasted oven cleaner you can't breath, cook, or leave it unattended until you finish the job. Then it's gets done. Chester told me it's so clean it looks clinical. Forget the hospital, come have surgery in my oven!!!
This is what happened AFTER my next accomplishment was complete. Doesn't everyone strip down to their birthday suit after planting a garden - good thing I'm BEHIND the camera ;)

#2 - Yup, got the boys up did the breakfast of champions and get dressed routine and took the boys to Lowe's to get garden starts. We really had fun, Rulon pulled the "wagon cart" Mads rode in it and tested the durability of the plants and then we went home and got to work!!!!!

Yes there are little plants in there, squint and you'll see em. Peas, onions, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, squash, cucumber... and soon pumpkin.

#3 - My "pantry/storage" room downstairs went from this...

to THIS!!!!!!! HooRay Shelf Reliance (and M&D) I cannot believe how much food I do not have!!! Which is great because it means that I actually have room for MORE as in food STORAGE, you know that divinely inspired concept that is so hard to find room for, oh and money for... I am seriously a happy girl. Now to gradually fill that shelf FULL!!

Now do I get 6 days of rest??

Nice Buns!

I finally got up the guts to try to make Mona's delicious buns!!! I decided they would be a great gift for the neighbors this Christmas... AND THEY ARE SOOOO GOOD. I am happy to say that I did a good job, Chester even says so.

Here's the set up, big bowl of dough (after 1 hr rising) and buttered pans ready & waiting.

Ooooo, aaaaaaaah, buns all ready to rise again for an hour and then bake.

MMMMMmmmmmmmm, so golden-soft and delicious!

Packaged and ready to go to neighbors!

WAIT, taste test first...
Yup, they are good!

Can't resist showing what Mads was doing while I was baking, no big surprise, he HAD to find SOMETHING to do :)