Smoothie Sailing

Image by elana's pantry via Flickr

Just a quick something funny. I made myself a smoothie for breakfast: mango, banana, raspberry, carrot, celery, soy milk and honey. As I was drinking it, Marin made her "uhh, uhhhh, uhhh" sound, meaning "I want some!" So, I gave her a sip and she was hooked! She never knew she was drinking vegetables, funny girl. Gotta love the smoothie.

Thanksgiving Surprise

Wow, where did the weekend go? Thanksgiving has come and go and now we are fast on our way to Christmas already?! Kris and I had planned to spend the Thanksgiving with just ourselves, some homemade deep dish pizza and root beer floats, but we had a last minute change of plans :) Kris's family decided to come down for a super quick visit and a Thanksigiving feast, so Wednesday night, Kris and I scrambled to find a turkey and were up all night cooking some great food. We had SO MUCH FUN staying up chatting and making food, it was great. And, if I may say so myself, the food turned out AMAZING! We had a delicious, juicy turkey, garlic mashed potatos, cranberry apple stuffing, golden onion gravy, pumpkin cheescake, and Kris's sister made some delicious rolls with raspberry butter and cranberry sauce. We hadn't planned a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but it was I think the best I've ever had (or made!). And I got a some kitchen bling from my crazy and wonderful husband. He bought me a ceramic dutch oven, bright red and beautiful, I have been wanting one of those for a looong time. Plus, I got a roasting pan with rack to make our turkey, it worked perfectly, and I felt uber spoiled! If you are interested in my Thanksgiving recipes, just stay tuned, I'll be posting them later :) Although the visit was short, we were so happy to see family and Marin got to spend all day Friday with her Bestamor.

Here are a few of our pictures:

Marin with her Bestamor. Marin looks a little stunned, it was getting a bit late ;)

Marin ith Aunt Melodie, Kris's sister. I just HAVE to say how proud I am of Melodie, she played two of her amazing songs for us, and shared some good news about her new producer and we are so happy for her! She has worked so hard!

Marin and Uncle Sam. It was funny how unsure Marin was of Sam when they first arrived, she just stood there and looked at him, by the end of the night, they were laughing and playing together, she had a great time.

I was going to take pictures of our amazing Thanksgiving feast, but I couldn't find our camera charger until we broke out the cheesecake, so it's the only picture I have. Take a look at this bad boy, eh?! AMAZING! I made a chocolate ganache to go over the top, and the cheesecake was out of this world, sooooo good. It looks professional, no? Just think that the rest of the meal looked just as good.

Come to mama, oh yeah, my brand new ceramic dutch oven, I am in LOVE!

Such a great Thanksgiving. Work over the weekend was TOUGH though, man! I had some busy busy patients and they kept me running and the stress level high. I also had a "first"! I was starting an IV on a kid, and the mom passed out on me, right down on the floor! Yikes! Poor thing, I felt bad for her, but she was fine, I had someone walk her back to her room, and she was ok. I can tell you though, I was glad to be DONE with work! I missed my family.

Healthy Oatcakes DuJour

Wonderful Delicious Oatcakes

*Grind up oats (not instant or quick-cooking) in cuisinart until you have a flour. It only takes 20-30 seconds or so.

Combine:
-2 C. oat flour
-2 eggs
-2 tsp baking powder
-4 Tbs honey
-1& 1/2 C milk
-2/3 C applesauce or canned pumpkin (mmmmm!)
-dash of salt

*Let stand for 10 minutes until mixture is thick.
*Spoon onto griddle at med heat and cook until golden and delicious!
TIP: These pancakes are VERY filling and thick, so make small ones about 4" in diameter.
*This recipe should make about 6 pancakes.

Holiday Spirit

Last night after I put Marin to bed, I turned on the radio to the station playing christmas classics, plugged in the christmas lights on our entry-way, turned on the fireplace and let myself inhale the holiday spirit. I opened up a can of pumpkin and made some delicious chocolate chip pumpkin cookies to give out to my visiting teaching ladies today. It was wonderful to be in the kitchen smelling the cinnamon and pumpkin wafting from the oven, listening to Christmas jazz and seeing the fire in the fireplace. *Inhale* and release *ahhhhhhhhhh* :) I love this time of year, and I wish we could all be as happy and giving as we are during these wonderful months.

Marin I think is on the mend, she is still coughing up a lot of ....stuff, but I think it's on it's way out, so that makes me feel better. No mama likes to have a sick babe :(

And how could I forget....Thanksgiving is tomorrow! Wow! We had invited a few people over, but they were headed out of town, so it's just the three of us tomorrow. I was in the market last night looked at a turkey and thought to myself, "How are Kris and I going to eat all that?!". I therefore decided that this year, instead of turkey, we would be having a ....traditional Thanksgiving deep dish pizza! I make a killer deep dish pizza, and there were nooooo complaints from my hubby, he loves all things pizza of course (what guy doesn't, eh?). Maybe if we have company over, I'll go all out and make a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner, actually, two years ago I made some cornish game hens with all the trimmings, but this year, there's really no need :)

Marin mauling the dog. The only reason I keep that naughty dog is because she is so blasted good with the baby. Marin squishes and pokes and stands and sits all over that dog and Mollie just takes it.

Little Triumphs

I have a few moments while the babes sleep to make mention of my morning triumph. I have been trying to cut back on the amount of wheat products our family eats, in particular Marin. She, like her mama, loves all things carbohydrates and unfortunately, that sometimes gets in the way of eating other things. It has also lead Marin to have a rather yeasty diaper area, so I got myself to thinking! Since Marin is not a big oatmeal fan, I thought, what if I made pancakes out of oatmeal that I grind into flour? Marin loooooves pancakes, so this morning, I dumped some oatmeal into my cuisinart and ground it up fairly easily into a flour like consistency. Then I threw in some baking powder, an egg, some applesauce, milk, stirred and I was in business. I wasn't sure if the batter would set, but I am telling you, the pancakes came out absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I was amazed and just delighted. Not only did they turn out and look pretty, but they were darn tasty too! What did Marin think? She gobbled them right down! Yessss! I just grinned at Marin while she ate them and nuzzled her cheek and whispered "You'll never know!", into her ear. Little triumphs make me smile, now that I'm a mom, it's hard to feel like I'm making any headway, but this morning.....I won ;)

Found Marbles!

I have been recouperating this past week and missed work both days, Friday and Saturday, but I am feeling much better now. Marin's cold, on the other hand is in full swing. Poor baby is all congested and draining and coughing. Although she's usually pretty spunky even when she's not feeling well, I can tell she's not 100%.

These past few days, Marin has really been experimenting with words, she now say's the kitty's name, Sadie (well, it sounds like Sa-eeee), and down, phone, she tries to say flower but it sounds like wow. She also says "all done" when she's done with her meal. It's funny to see how she watches my mouth when I say words.

Saturday night, I made some pretty yummy almond chocolate chip shortbread cookies for my Young Women on Sunday. I love making new fun things in the kitchen , but I have to give my goodies away, otherwise I eat them myself! Check the out!

Kris found some marbles at Wal Mart and bought them for like, 5 bucks, he LOVES marbles and it's fun to play marbles together. Marin thinks they are the coolest thing. She loves to bring the bottle of marbles over to me and beg to have me play marbles with her, such a funny girl :)

Daddy and Marin playing with the marbles together.

Here daddy, this one's for you!

I am off to get Marin into a hot shower, hopefully to clean her out a bit, have a wonderful day!

Why I Like Sappy Love Movies

I have determined, after 3 years of marriage, 1 cat, 1 baby and 1 dog, that marriage is hard. It requires a lot of patience, talking and compromise, and occasionally, a reminder of why we fell in love. As many couples who have been married even longer may be able to attest, after a while, you get.....comfortable in the realtionship you have with your spouse. This can be a blessing and a curse all at the same time. The comfort and deep love you craved at the beginning and now have, makes you desire the excitement and passion you had at the beginning of your marriage. Ahh the eternal marital conundrum, this little problem leads many marriages to the grave and leaves spouses....alone. THIS....is why I have finally admitted to myself before God and his witnesses, that I like sappy love movies. While I love my husband more now than ever, it's great to have a reminder of those feelings I had for him when we first met, and sappy love movies are GREAT for that. I also get to watch all of the reasons my husband is amazing, those things that maybe I forget about on a day to day basis. And finally, I get to realize all over again that I am LIVING my own sappy love movie! I have the romantic "how-we-met" story, I have the amazing honeymoon story, I have the star-struck first year story, the Big-Move story, the baby-makes-three story, and so many more! It's easy to get caught up in the here and now, which may not seem very romantic, but those sappy love movies, they help me remember what I have. I have a memory closet chock full of the most amazing chapters of the greatest love story ever....mine :)

Relentless-itis?

Day 5 of feeling awful and blah! Ugh! I took Marin and myself to the quick care today for a check up and although Marin has only had the sniffles for a couple of days, I thought I would get her checked out. They sent her off with a clean bill of health, I, however, got bronchitis and five days of antibiotics. I was actually hoping to I would get a little somethin' to help me feel better, my throat is sooo sore! I called in for work tomorrow, considering I can barely talk without squeeking, I don't think anyone will want me as their nurse. So, I am making a quick post tonight as I am about to lay down on the couch and veg. Have a good one!

Hi-Lo!

Marin has totally gotten into greeting and good-bye's. She will always say "hi!", but every so often, we can get her to say hello, but it sounds more like..."Hi-Lo!". It is pretty cute. Saturday evening, she found Kris's phone, picked it up and said "Hi-Lo?" and had a funny little conversation, it was just the cutest thing ever!

She is so good with the cat, she is very gentle when she pets Sadie.

Here she is, our little happy greeter answering the phone, such a sweetheart!

I am still feeling pretty under the weather today, and I think Marin has caught my cold, so once again, we are laying low today. I think Marin is teething again, she has been drooling like crazy! We have welcomed 6 teeth in the last 4 months, so bring it on! I can't believe how fast my little girl is growing. I know now why my dad used to say he was going to put a brick on my head, to keep me little ;)

*Cough* ...Good Morning Monday....

I think I may have run myself into the first cold of the season, and let's hope the last cold of the season! This weekend was a DOOZIE, phew! I don't think I slept at all Thursday night, and so Friday at work, I was running on "leftover" energy? So, even though I slept Friday night, I was so out of it at work on Saturday. It was a rough couple of days, it seemed as though I had some "heavy" patients (not literally), so I was running steady for both days. Saturday night, Kris and I chaperoned a youth dance at the Stake Center, and I had a BLAST! I love to dance, and I don't get very many opportunities to do it, so I was stoked to go. I rushed home from work so I could change and we headed to the dance. At first, Kris and I almost got "busted" for dancing too close! Oops! Then they realized we were married ;) Haha! I guess we still look young enough right? The night was great, I got to dance with my husband, I danced with my great girls and showed them some killer moves, PLUS, I busted three couples! Oh yeah! I love being a chaperone!

That night when we got home, I wasn't feeling so hot. It had been a LONG day (I had been up since 5am), so we went to bed and I woke up on Sunday with a scratchy throat and sore mouth. Yuck. We went just for the last hour of church so I could teach my lesson. Today I'm not feeling any better, so we are laying low at least for the day.

Pictures!

Marin on Sunday morning, she liked to go hang out with daddy and sit right on his chest.

Kris and I at the dance :)

Kris in a rare shot actually busting a move.

We had such a good time!

Marin on Thursday helping me make muffins, she stood on the chair and loved every minute of it.

Munching on an apple I gave her.

Such a big helper!

I hear a little on up from her nap, so off I go!

Check it Out....

Image by Brooklyn Museum via Flickr

I've added a ticker at the bottom of the page to our countdown to Paris! Tickets are bought and paid for and now it's just a waiting game. I absolutely cannot wait and Kris is also glad to be going back. Fortunately, we have an insider to give us tips on the best places to go. Our friend BJ served his mission there and has been back to France several times, so he knows the best places to go, where to eat, how to group our visits, PLUS, we have an interpreter if we can take him with us ;)

I'm off to work tomorrow and Saturday, so I hope you all have a great weekend! And since it's the season, I want to share a few things I am grateful for:

1) My wonderful husband and daughter. Everyday I know how lucky I am to have them in my life, they make me smile, and they both smell so good! Is that not wierd, but I love the way my husband and baby girl smell :)

2) Great, loving In-Laws. They have welcomed me whole-heartedly and I know I am lucky to have them all in my life.

3) A lovely, warm home to live in. Just the right size for our little family and I love all the memories we have here.

Growing Up Fast

Tuesdays will only be baby watching day for another month! At the end of December, our good friends are moving to Henderson with is about 45 minutes south of Las Vegas. This means we need to find a permanent (paid) baby sitter for my Friday's. We have been really blessed to have worked out this baby swap, and it's saved us quite a bit of money. But, we must move on!

This is what my living room looks like at then end of the day on Tuesday, a complete MESS!




She is growing up so fast! I cannot believe how grown up she looks now, more and more like a toddler every day.

Especially in this picture, she looks so grown up!

Marin has become quite the little helper, she will take her diaper and put it in the diaper pail for me, and bring me her bottle when she is all done, she sits on the dryer and puts the clothes into the washing machine for me, and plays with kitty. Such a big helper.

Speaking of bottles, we are down to three bottles a day, morning, mid afternoon and bedtime. She does pretty well with her sippy cup in-between. My goal is bottle free by at the latest, 18 months. Then, we'll get to work on potty training. I cannot even believe I am going to be potty training! What happened to my tiny newborn?!

Feeling Fall

Fall comes a little later here in Las Vegas, but when it does come, I breathe a long sigh of relief. All summer long, I hold my breath and wait for fall, when I can breathe again. We may not have the splendor of the northern or coastal states, but the little changes here still make me appreciate the cooler weather. The other day, Marin and I went for a walk and I felt impressed to take a few pictures of some of the color around us.

This is one of the trees across the street from our complex, so pretty. The entire street is lined with these trees and they are all colorful. The other trees are palm trees, nothing much to look at.

A really pretty bush next to the colorful trees, I love all the berries!

I did it! I made a wreath for our door and it turned out better than I expected. While the fake flowers were a little pricier than I hoped for, the end result was just gorgeous and I feel our house is a bit more festive. And you know, I have never really been a huge fan of fake flowers, but they have come a looong way from your grandmother's plastic-y shiny 1940's fake flowers. I think I've learned that if you do choose to use fake flowers, stick to only a few flowers in a similar color pallet, and try to shy away from the little flowers.

You may be a bit confused by his picture, it doesn't look like much does it?! I made some butternut squash ravioli the other night with a brown butter sage sauce, dried cranberries and toasted walnuts. Not only was it delicious, but it screamed fall flavor and even better...it got the thumbs up from Kris! This has been my goal since he turned his nose up at butternut squash soup last year, so I am really happy about this.

And the final fall favorite, homemade chicken noodle soup. One of our absolute simple favorites, and it can be good for you too if you up the amount of veggies and add a handful less noodles and maybe switch them out for whole wheat noodles.

Doorknobs and Discipline

Oh my, Oh my. Parenting has reached a new level in our house and Kris and I are still adjusting, well, I'm sure Marin is adjusting too, butshe won't remember. Lets start with the first:

Doorknobs. Marin, our smart cookie, can reach the door handles and pull the doors in our house open now. THIS REALLY SUCKS! (Am I being too candid?). I have relied on the doors as easy baby gates, in a sense, and now they are worthless I say! She has easy access to everything now, including, but not limited to: toilets, toilet paper, dog food, dog water, cat litter (ew, I know!), my food storage which includes her favorite, rotini and elbow macaroni. What is a mommy to do?! I don't have to kind of handles you can put the baby proofing stuff on, so now what, eh? This also leads to our next issue:

Discipline. The other night Kris and I were trying to eat dinner and Marin would come around and scream at the top of her lungs to be picked up. So we would pick her up and she would scream until we gave her a bit of our food which she promptly spat out. Then she would scream for the fork so she could "play" in our food. Ok, THIS momma says NO! I only let this little charade happen for one ride and then Kris and I looked at each other and Marin went off to her room. She did NOT like that. Of course, it was complicated by the fact that she could let herself out and scoot her little bum down the stairs. I looked at Kris and said "I have no idea wha I'm doing here, I just don't know what else to do!". He agreed. While we have a lot to learn about discipline and what works for Marin, it's time to get the wagon on track. Marin is not so little anymore and we are realizing she understands what you tell her, and when she just blatently ignores you. This is going to be SUPER fun.

The weekend brought some great surprises too. I won the weight loss challenge at work! Although quite a few people dropped out, I still brought home 300 dollars! Then, my biggest triumph yet. For almost 2 years, I have been fighting for a policy at work that would end up owing certain employees quite a bit of pay. This has been going on for almost 2 years and I felt like I have been going around in circles and getting nowhere. Well, before my trip to NY, I had a meeting with the Chief Nursing Officer for the hospital that went surprisingly well. To make a long story short, last Friday, the Director of HR and the Chief Nursing Officer themselves came to the unit and personally handed out checks for retro-pay for the last 2 years. UNBELIEVABLE! I almost fainted when they told me what had happened! It just goes to show you, stand your ground and when you're right, you're right. Ok, I need to get myself moving and make some dinner.

By Request...

I have had a few requests for the bread recipe I helped my Young Women make, so without further ado...

Amazing Homemade Bread

Combine: 1 TBS Yeast
1 C. Warm Water
1 TBS Sugar
-Let these sit for a few minutes until frothy. The yeast needs to wake up and come alive so it will give you a great, soft loaf of bread. No foam? Maybe your water was too hot or the yeast was too old.

Then Add: 2 + 1/2 to 2 +3/4 C. Bread flour
1 tsp Salt
1+1/2 TBS Red Wine Vinegar

-Stir everything together until you get a ball and then knead for 5-7 minutes. Kneading works the proteins in the bread flour so you get a nice chewy bread. Depending on your climate, you may need more or less flour. I live in Las Vegas, so I use less. And you may be wondering about the Red Wine Vinegar? Yeah, I know, it seems realllllly weird, but I have tested this recipe HUNDREDS of times (no joke!), and the vinegar somehow keeps it tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. You don't necessarily taste the vinegar, but it is sooo much better with it.

-Oil a bowl and drop your kneaded bread into the bowl and flip it over so the oil coats the dough. I have to cover the bowl with plastic wrap because it's so dry here, but if you live a wet climate, you can just cover the bowl with a damp towel. Let the dough sit for an hour until it rises.

-Punch down the dough and knead for another 2 minutes. Form dough into a boule shape or a loaf shape and place on a baking stone sprinkled with cornmeal.

-Slash the top of the dough lightly with a knife. This allows the dough to expand as it bakes, and it looks pretty too!

-Let the loaf sit for about 5 minutes to let it rise just a bit. Then drizzle with olive oil and give a liberal sprinkling of salt. Put into a preheated 375 degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes until light brown on top and it sounds hollow when you tap it with your fingernail.

-Remove from the oven and let it sit for at least 5 minutes before you slice.

****TIPS****
-I know it looks like a really complicated loaf of bread, but once you make it, it is sooo easy, and WORTH IT!

-I have a breadmaker, and it makes making this bread AMAZINGLY easy. I program it to the dough setting and put the ingredients in JUST as above (in that SAME order) it kneads and lets the dough rise while I do other things. Then when it's done, I dump out the dough, knead it for the 2 minutes and finish it off in my oven. Don't try baking the bread in the breadmaker, it bombed for me EVERY time, besides, it doesn't turn out the same.

-You can leave the olive oil and salt off the top of the bread. Kris and I love it because it makes the crust deliciously crispy and salty, it's the best part!

Good Luck!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]" src="http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=0739950f-9e52-43cc-8630-2cdfd5a81325">

Odds and Ends

Tonight I have the Young Women in our Ward coming over to learn how to bake bread. They will be making a loaf for the sacrament on Sunday too, but we'll make sure we get our fair share of freshly baked bread too! I was thinking we could have some hot cider too, ahh, I LOVE fall!

As we speak, I am running the self clean apparatus on my oven, I scrubbed the door last night and this morning, and now, just for kicks, I thought I would try out the self clean button. So that means that my house is filled with a smoky-esque aroma and my windows are open all the way.

I am also washing the pillows for our couches. Pillows are such hard things to wash! They are big and bulky and just don't fit into the washing machine. You would think I would have been a little more careful, but I tried to stuff 4 pillows into the washing machine. Did NOT turn out well. All of the sudden I heard a loud cyclical ripping and found the top two pillows had eeked their way up to the top and the spin cycle had torn the sides of both of them. Oh well, I've been thiking about new pillows anyway. I was thinking maybe I could buy some plain pillows and then make some covers for them so I can switch them out with the seasons? I need to think on that for a bit...

I was also thinking about how I would like to make a fall wreath to put on our door. I love fall and it would be so festive and fun to have a little fall centerpiece on our front door to welcome our visitors.

Next in line....So far I have been pretty lucky when it comes to my holiday work schedule, since I started working in healthcare (which was when I was 17) I have always gotten a pretty good deal. Not so much this year, but I guess it's been a long time coming. I kind of got the shaft this year. At work, every month we fill out a "wish list" schedule of the days we would like to work. This time around, because of my two weeks in New York, I got to the schedule DEAD LAST, so my choices were pretty much....well...obsolete. I was hoping I could get Thanksgiving off when Kris had his maximum amount of days off so we could take a trip up to Salt Lake. No such luck though. I'm scheduled to work right smack in the middle of pretty much ALL of his days off. So, it looks like we'll be spending our holidays here in Las Vegas. We'll be making some invitation calls here soon though...!

I think I've covered pretty much everything! Marin and I will be heading to the gym this morning and then to the grocery store later this afternoon to pick up a few things.


Picture Time!

I found a ribbon and was playing with Sadie, Marin saw me and snatched the ribbon so she could play with the kitty by herself. It was pretty funny, and the cat played along!
Play with me kitty! Oh, and just a side note about kitty, when Kris and I say family prayer with Marin at night, we bless "Daddy and mommy and doggy and kitty" and every time she hears the word "kitty", she says "kieeey!", right in the middle of prayer, it's sooo funny. :)

Have a great one!

New Shelving Makes EVERYONE Happy...

Have you ever looked around and just wished you had more shelving?! I have! So yesterday, Marin and I headed off to Wal Mart to buy some additional shelves for our laundry room. Some simple wire shelves that would give us a little extra space. I even installed them myself! Oh yeah! Kris was working on homework last night so I borrowed his power tools and slapped those puppies up on the wall. It was really cool to see the finished product courtesy of MOI.


So here is the lonely little shelf before I started...
Shelf number one....

Shelf number two....

The finished product! I put stuff on it right away so I could start to de-clutter other parts of my house. Soooo nice to have extra space to put things!

Hooray for new shelves!

Halloween Bugs and Zombies

Our little Marin was a sweet lady bug for Halloween and although she doesn't really grasp the concept of Trick-or-Treating yet, she sure looked cute in her outfit! I worked that night, but Kris took Marin next door where they had lots of Halloween lights up and she got to practice for next year's festivities. She also helped daddy hand out candy to our dressed up visitors.


Marin was captivated by the lights next door. Every time we went to get the mail over the last ccouple of weeks, she would literally run over to look at the lights and pumpkins.

Hey everyone! Love my outfit?

Counting the candy.....

Here daddy, let me help you give out some more candy!

Kris made a zombie out of our sweet girl, she thought it was pretty funny, it was cute to hear her giggling and running around with her arms out in front like that.

Web Log

When I started this blog a little over two years ago (wow, two years!), it was for the sole intention to keep our families in touch with our soon-to-arrive Marin. At the time, it seemed like a good solution to the many miles separating all of us. It was only for this reason that I overcame my trepidation of becoming one of those scrapbooking/blogging/craftmaking mormon wives, and so I bit the bullet and started to type.

At the beginning, I had no clue what I was doing really, and so I kept typing and loading pictures and wondering if anyone was really reading what I wrote. Then something happened. Something that made me come to appreciate my 12 inch wide array of alphabetical keys. I started to experience life as a new, stressed out mother. As most new mothers, I was scrambling to find balance and control in my newly-chaotic life/brain, and I found myself looking forward to the moments when I could sit down and type in my blog. The good, the bad, the ugly....typing helped me to process my day or week and find a sense of accomplishment after reading of our triumphs as a family. "Blogging" had turned into what it really is, a "web log", and although at the moment, I couldn't quite put my finger on it, I had come to find....satisfaction. Who knew! As a disgraceful journal keeper, I hadn't even imagined that keeping an online "journal" would amount to so much. I had found an outlet for my emotions.

Over the last two years, my posting has changed quite a bit to now include not just the happy and exciting front page of our life story, but also the intense and perhaps sober pages that follow. I find that I absorb so much more satisfaction as I go back through and read through our triumphs over the hard times than only the good times. Besides, we have a name to live up to! There is nothing extraordinary about only eperiencing smiles and sunshine :)

This blog has helped me to channel life's positive and negative energy in a good way, so I can process my day, my week, my month and move on. While I may post some entries that seem a bit droll and down-heartened, I need that blessed time alone with my keyboard and my thoughts to fill a teeny tiny void in the vast space called the internet.

I am in love with my family. My husband is one of the strongest men I know and he keeps me centered and waiting for Sunday mornings with him. I have learned a lot about what it takes to keep a marriage strong since he has been in school and I pray every day I can be a better wife and a better suport for him. My baby girl is the sweetest thing. She teaches me to be kind and of course, patient. I have never been a more grateful mess than I am now being her mommy. I love, love, love my family, and it's through reading back over my little web log, I can see our progress as a family, into eternity.

Clarification

Before I post my weekend fun and follies, it has come to my attention that I need to make a quick clarification in light of some....ahem...outside concern. I enjoy my job, I enjoy what I do. I LOVE the people I work with, and... I love my manager. She is a great, caring person and always has time to listen. If there have been some posts that may have mislead some readers I apologize. Keep in mind, that I work with other individual(s) that may be mistaken for my manager, that are NOT as kind or caring as she is. Again, sorry for the confusion, and I hope I never have to have the awkward displeasure of clearing up this confusion via secondhand information, again. Stay tuned for happier posts!