7 X 7 Blog Award

Number 1: Thank the person who nominated you.
Thank you to Briana at Sweet Carolina Grace.  I met her through 5QF and love her awesome blog!

I also wanted to thank Brandi at Life of a New Mommy, she nominated me for a "Tell me about yourself award" which is similar to this back in November and I never got to it at the time, sorry Brandi. 

Number 2: Share 7 things about yourself.

I love my boys, they make me smile every single day.

I love to hike and that is one of the few benefits to living where we do, so many beautiful places to explore.

I love to garden and am starting to plan out my garden for this year.

I celebrated my last birthday (33rd) being a beach bum with the boys in San Diego.

I love flowers, this is my "Crystalline" rose that I picked out and planted with Austin on my first official Mother's Day.

I am a Water Quality Specialist for an Indian tribe, and my favorite part of the job is teaching the reservation youth about science and watershed hydrology.

Every year since we moved here in 2004 we have gone to the forest where Dustin works and cut down our Christmas tree.

Number 3: Share 7 of your blog posts that fit into the following categories:Most Beautiful: Perspective
Most Helpful:  Adventures in Potty Training
Most Popular:  It's official!
Most Controversial:  I don't really do controversial, but this one was emotional for many 12 Years
Most Surprisingly Successful:  Aloha Friday
Most Underrated:  ??? Sorry, couldn't come up with one for this!
Most Pride Worthy:  The Quilt is Done!

Number 4: Nominate 7 other bloggers.

In no particular order:

1. Stephanie at The Trigstad Family
2. Our Little Corner  
3. KBREINTS at A Little Crazy and A lot of Love and Bird's Eye View
4. Ali at Ali Oops Oops
5. Colton's Mommy at The Colton Chronicles
6. Brandi at My Four Bubs
7. Lisa at Our Janidlo Clan

Questions for Austin

My bloggy friends at The Life of a New Mommy, The Trigstad Family, and  Our Little Corner did this survey of questions with their 3 year olds and plan to ask the same questions every year to compare how the answers change.

Questions for Austin at age 3:

1. What is your favorite color? Green
2. What is your favorite toy? Diego on computer
3. What is your favorite fruit?  Mango
4. What is your favorite show?  Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Cheeseburger
6. What is your favorite thing to wear?  Dinosaur shirt
7. What is your favorite game?  Wii boxing
8. What is your favorite snack?  Ice cream, fruit snacks
9. What is your favorite animal?  Monkeys
10. What is your favorite song?  Raffi songs, Numbers Rhumba
11. What is your favorite story?  The Very Hungry Catepillar
12. Who is your best friend?  Foster
13. What is your favorite cereal?  Mini Wheats
14. What do you like to do when you go outside?  Play in powerwheels
15. What is your favorite drink?  Juice
16. What is your favorite holiday?  Halloween
17. What do you like to take to bed with you? Doggy, duckies 
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Eggs
19. What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner?  Cheeseburger
20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Bigger (We haven't really talked about this so I'm not sure he understands yet that we have a career when we grow up)

OB appointment

We went and saw our OB yesterday for the second regular checkup.  It was the first time we met with the actual OB since the first appointment was with a Nurse Practitioner.   We really like the OB and had an in depth conversation about how my c-section went down and the possibility of VBAC.  He needs to look at the operative report from that procedure, but if it was done correctly he said I have an 85%-90% chance of success at VBAC. 

I have gained about 8lbs so far and my blood pressure was low as usual.  The babies heart rate was 146.

We scheduled our next appointment for March 21, and were also able to schedule our first ultrasound for that same day and should be able to find out what this baby is that day, so I am so excited!

5QF

It's Friday and I am catching up on blogging.  I actually have three drafts in my blog list, which I never hang on to drafts, so time to publish one of them!

1. What's your favorite way to spend down time (alone or with a significant other)?

I guess my favorite way is to play on Facebook.  Once my son and husband go to bed is when I catch up on what everyone is up to and play a few rounds of my favorite games while I watch the news.

2. Are you the kind of

person that wants things more as soon as you know you can't have it?

My first thought in response to this question was about material things and I would say no, I'm not really a person who sits around wishing for frivilous things.  My second thought though is about moving closer to family, which I desarately want, but will require us finding a new job for my husband before we can make it happen.  I try to be patient, but the longer time goes on then more and more my heart desires to be closer to family.

3. If you were given $1000 to spend on yourself, what would you buy?

Good question!  I would like to get a new lense or two for my new camera.  I would also buy some things for the house like decorations for my kitchen and dining room, new plates, and a new rocker/glider for the babies room.

4. Do you ever go out to eat by yourself?

I sometimes travel for work and when I do I am often by myself, so yes that is when I go out to eat by myself.

5. What company would you want to do a blog review for?

The sky is the limit on this one right?  I would like to try out a new SUV.  My husband is the car person in our family and he has all the mid-sized SUVs analyzed and has our next one picked out, and I think it's a Honda.  So I would review a Honda in return for a brand new one of my own, LOL!

Wrestling Tournament

My oldest nephew JC qualified for the Colorado State Wrestling tournament for the second year in a row.   He is a sophomore, so we are so proud that he is already doing so well.

His first match was Thursday night.  He actually had to wrestle a senior who went on win the state championship in that weight category.  Even though they were wrestling in the 2A class (smaller high schools) that particular championship was a highlight story of the tournament because the other guy in the championship was a 3 time state champion and trying to become the 17th person in the state of Colorado to win four state championships.  The kid that beat my nephew shut him down and kept him from that goal.

My nephew did well against him and went all three bouts with him and the match came down to a decision.  The other guy went on to pin every other opponent until the championship match, so I think it’s cool that JC was able to hang with him through the whole thing.

JC was excited that we made it to see him.  He really does have a sweet heart and loves all his brothers and cousins.  He was so excited when we announced we were expecting Austin, which was surprising that a teenaged boy would be excited about a baby.  He was excited to come and find us between matches so he could play with Austin.  I was worried that Austin would rough house with him and injure him before his next match, but of course JC would roll his eyes at me for being silly.

The proud Mom and Pop!

Future members of the Colorado Avalanche.

For his second match on Friday morning we were excited because he got matched up with another sophomore who he had already beaten once this year.  We thought if he could pull off a strong win it would do good for his mental momentum going into the Friday night match which was against another senior. 

BUT, the other kid did not make weight, so he forfeited to my nephew.  It was a bittersweet win, yes his first win at state, but didn’t have the benefit of actually beating someone.

More checking out the Avalanche props around the Pepsi Center between matches.

And his final match on Saturday night was pretty exciting to watch.  The boys stayed up for most of the match and worked on maneuvering.  I am not a big expert on wrestling, but is seems like most matches there is a takedown and then one guy is on top of the other guy trying to force him into submission and it’s kind of boring to me because there is not a lot of movement or things going on. 

In the second round though JC went in for a takedown and the other kid read it and was able to flip the momentum and took him down in a pin. 

It was so great to be there and see what a grown up he has turned into.  He was disappointed in the outcome, but we were so proud of how he competed and the sportsmanship that he showed.  In all honesty it was hard for me to hold back tears though, not because of the outcome, but because I knew how upset he was.  I told him I thought he did great and how awesome it was to make it to state as a sophomore and he said “well, I just wish I could have given you a better show.”  I told him there is always next year and I would try to be there again.

Wordless Wednesday

Together for 9 years and counting!

Everything but the tournament

I just got back from our trip last night and am back at the old grind today.  It seems like I have been away from my blog for an eternity instead of 7 days.  I have been reading through my blogs and trying to catch up, but everyone else in bloggy land has been so busy the last week it's taking me a while to catch up!

I wanted to share about my trip except for the wrestling tournament because I can do a whole post on that alone with pictures, so I will try to do that tonight. Overall it was great, we had good weather and the roads were passable.  We got to see a lot of family and achieved our work goals in the process.

For Valentine's Day we drove to Grand Junction, so spent most of the day in the truck.  We got there and got checked in, then went to dinner at Johnny Carino's.  When I was in college that place was a lot nicer and more formal, but it has really become family orriented like Olive Garden, which was ok since we had Austin with us and it was not really a romantic one-on-one date. 

I went to the Tamarisk Symposium for my work on Wednesday while Dustin entertained Austin.  We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner that night which was so yummy!   Feb. 15 is the anniversary of when we got together, so we have now been together nine years!

Thursday we drove to Denver and attended the wrestling tournament.  It went through Friday, so I will skip to Saturday.  My Mom, sister, Austin and I went shopping on Saturday and it was so nice to go and have a little spree.  Austin needed new shoes, I bought him 3 pairs since they were on a great sale.  I also got myself a new pillow and some clothes for Austin.

Sunday was pretty uneventful, we went to church with my Mom and she wanted to sit in the very front of church, which if you are a parent of a three year old, you know that presents a great deal of effort to keep them in control in front of the entire congregation!  My sister came down and we hung out and watched movies.  Dustin drove in that night and we drove home yesterday.

You asked for it

Brandi asked to see my bump, still not too much yet but here is at 14 weeks.

I have another appointment on February 23, so I am looking forward to talking with the OB and making sure everything is still going well.

Good luck JC!

My little buddy (oldest nephew) grew from this:

To this:

Good luck at the Colorado State Wrestling Tournament JC, we are proud of you and can't wait to watch you kick some booty on Thursday!

Thoughts for Friday

I thought about doing 5QF, but I'm just not in the mood, so here are some thoughts instead:

• I worked an 11 hour day yesterday because I had a meeting 75 miles away.  It was a sit down and listen all day kind of meeting so I was spent.
• I just filled up our truck and it took 25.2 gallons, YIKES!  I know a lot of gas stations cut you off at $75 when paying at the pump, but luckily the station out here does not.
• I usually have a 3 day weekend since I stay home to have a Mommy day with Austin on Mondays, but since we are taking our trip next week I decided to work on Monday.  I hope I am super motivated to get a lot done this weekend around the house.
• While I was in the big city yesterday I got to go to a Japanese restaurant for lunch.  I have really been into California rolls and hibachi cooking lately.  Too bad there is not a closer restaurant! 
• I also needed a sugar pick-me-up in the afternoon to get me through the last presentation so I treated myself to a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory carmel apple, yummy!  I also got one for Dustin and Austin and Austin devoured it!  I only wanted to give him half the apple since his was not only caramel, but then dipped in mini-M&Ms so I didn't want him to have a bunch of chocolate before bed.  I should have not left the other half in a reachable place on the counter because he went in there and snatched aonther piece of it when I wasn't looking.
• Speaking of bed, the night before last Austin had trouble sleeping.  He didn't fall asleep until after 10:30pm, which he never stays awake that late, then woke up at 5:30am to use the restroom.  I think he seems to have trouble sleeping when there is a full moon.  I don't know if it's the light that comes in or what.  He has a black-out shade on his window, so it can't be that much light.  At least he slept good last night.
• Did I mention that I am so ready to visit Colorado?  We were just there last November, but I just thrive on these trips and am really excited to be there.  I hope my nephew does well in the regional wrestling tournament this weekend and qualifies for state so we can watch him next weekend.
• I started researching birth doulas.  One of my BFFs is a doula, but she lives on the other side of the country.  Since she has educated me about them I am interested in possibly working with one when I have this baby if the doctor decides I am a VBAC candidate.  In case you don't know a doula is like a personal assistant to a woman while she is laboring.  They know about all aspects of the process and make suggestions to help you and your partner get through the process in the best way, ideally with no medical interventions like pain killers and induction medications.  What I started to find though was a lot of them encourage homebirths and completely natural births and I am concerned that I would want one who is not so anti-medicine that I feel pressured if I do opt for drugs during the process.  I of course will absolutely need to labor in the hospital since there is an increased risk of rupture.  I think I will ask my doctor about it during my next visit.
• I think my bump is becoming a little more pronounced.  It's still not that big yet though because yesterday at the meeting when our attorney saw me she asked if I was feeling ok since I looked thin.  I was thinking "what?" and told her I was surprised she said that since I am 13 weeks pregnant. I had a little sweater/jacket on and I think the style was slimming.

Cakes from the past

I was going through some old digital photo albums tonight and found some pictures of cakes I decorated in 2004-2005 and thought I would share.

My niece's fifth birthday cake

My sorority's founders day celebration cake, at least I can see that my lines have gotten straighter over the years!

I made this for Dustin when he was working in Vernal, Utah and I had to drive it there from Fort Collins, Colorado.  I think I remember that is slid in the car on the drive and suffered a smashed front and a crack at the wheel.

Adventures in photography

Thanks for all the suggestions and help with my last post.  I am trying to get 3 year portraits done for our house and to print for family.  We took Austin to Sears Portrait Studio when he was 3, 6, and 9 months, then at a year and at two years.  At 1.5 I did some portraits myself, but they were nothing special and I never had them printed out for family even.  Each trip to Sears we do ala carte, but easily spend $60-$70 per session, so it adds up.  The blue shirt one is the one I would print out to go on the wall with all the nieces and nephews school pictures at the Grandparents, so I’m looking for something comparable.  I thought about putting him in a shirt and tie, but I figured that would just complicate the situation.

I did take a whole series of photos, 80 that day.  I also did a bunch at the Zion National Park, like over 200, but it’s much harder than I anticipated.  I also love outdoor shots, but it’s January, and while it’s probably warmer here than a lot of the country, it is still jacket and hat weather most days and I hate to freeze Austin for the sake of a good photo.

Here are some ou-ttakes for your Tuesday viewing enjoyment:



Put the cars down and look at me!



Is it too much to ask for a smile?



Come out from under the stool!



Ok, now look at Mommy!



Look at me!

  


Leave the hat alone!



Well ok, but now the hat is all cocked back and it's a fake, squinty eyed smile.




Let's try a full pose, now smile!



Ok, open your eyes while you smile.




This one reminds me of John Wayne "I haven't lost my temper in 40 years; but, Pilgrim, you caused a lot of trouble this morning; might have got somebody killed; and somebody oughta belt you in the mouth. But I won't. I won't."
- John Wayne - To Leo Gordon in McLintock!



Finally a cute one, except for the horrible under bite, which no he DOES NOT have an under bite.

  


Well, maybe with a little editting!



Honest opinions please?

I got my awesome new T3i for Christmas and I have been trying to do my own portraits of Austin to save money from having to go to a studio like we have done the last 3 years.  He is not the most willing subject, but I got one I kind of like and think will work.  I took it in the house and I of course don't have all the fancy flashes that they have in a studio.  The original has the ugly shadow behind it, so I tried to use my photo editing softward to take it away.  The editted version looks a little fake to me, but I'm trying to decide if it looks too fake, or if it would work.  Give me you honest opinion, what do you think?

Taco soup

I needed to copy a recipe from the internet, so I thought I would post it here for safe keeping and in case anyone wants to try this yummy soup.

Chicken Taco Soup
In the crock pot add:

2 frozen raw chicken breasts
1 can black beans
1 can dark kidney beans
1 can tomatoes with chiles
1 can regular tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce (I added a small one, but should have been a big can)
1 can bud light
some frozen corn (I was out of cans of corn)
I didn't have any "taco seasoning" on hand so I added some chile powder, paprika, garlic powder, ground cumin and Mexican Oregano.

When I got home from work I took out the chicken breasts and shredded them up and added them back in.

Serve with tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and sour cream.

5QF

It's Friday, head over to Mama M's for some 5QF fun! 

1. What have you done recently that you are proud of?

Well, in the grand scheme of things I had a hand in creating this little peanut who is growing in my tummy, and that is pretty exciting for me.  I am proud to try my best to give this kiddo the best start in life by not smoking or drinking and eating healty including taking my vitamins and drinking gallons of water.  I need to work on more exercise!

For a short term accomplishment, I am pretty proud of how Austin's 3rd birthday cake turned out.  I am a hobby cake decorator and I free handed it.

2. What is your favorite way to work out? Or if you don't workout, what are you wanting to try?

I love pilates, I love how it works all muscles and you really feel it all over.  I need to get a maternity pilates DVD.

3. If you knew you best friend was cheating on spouse would you tell?

I would like to think I would just keep my nose out of it.  I also would think a person wouldn't tell on their best friend, but would if the spouse were cheating on the friend. 

 

4. If you could afford a live-in maid or nanny, would you have one?

Probably not a nanny, but a maid would be awesome!  Heck, I would be happy with an occasional house cleaning service.  I think I will do better with it when I am a SAHM after having our second baby.  When I do go back to work I think it would be nice to have a house cleaning service, but it will depend on where we live.

5. Do you stress out about birthdays (specifically the age) or do you enjoy them?

I don't worry about age, so birthdays definitely don't stress me out.  Every year I seem to be happier and happier, so I enjoy the fact that I am now the person I have worked so hard to be and can enjoy the benefits of my efforts. 

Have a great weekend!

Thursday thoughts

Here are some random thoughts for this fine, overcast Thursday:

• I finally got all of our tax form info so I will be hitting our taxes this weekend.  The last several years we took them to H&R Block, but they have gotten so expensive, and our taxes really aren't that complex at the moment.  I hope it goes well and I have no regrets about preparing them myself.
• I switched out my regular clothes for my maternity clothes last weekend.  It was fun going through them and remembering my pregnancy with Austin.  I have a lot of winter clothes so I'm glad I went ahead and pulled them out now and will have to work on more summer maternity clothes as the time comes closer.
• It's crazy sometimes how things go in this blogging world.  I love doing these random thought posts, it's a good way to get a lot of thoughts down without getting weighed down with a bunch of boring details.  I recently started following a VERY popular Mom blog, where the lady has thousands of followers and does the whole business aspect of blogging.  I usually don't like the business blogs, but she has enough personal family stories, and she is a photographer so I enjoy it.  She currently is in the process of being separated from her husband and she did a random thought post where she discussed that, she also discussed her thoughts on Susan G Komen withdrawing funds from Planned Parenthood, and mentioned one of the products she endorses for her sponsors.  She gets hundreds of comments and I found myself reading some of them, and man people can get vicious.  There were of course several replies about the abortion issue, which yeah, any time you talk about abortion, no matter which side you are on you are going to get an earful.  But some of the comments were criticizing her for combining so many random thoughts and trying to use her personal tragedy to capitalize on her advertising and blogging business, and push her political agenda.  Sheesh, I'm happy my blog is mine and I don't have to worry about marketing, or catering to people's opinions like that.
• I know someone who is making a life decision that I think is completely foolish and I have been pondering a great deal how to best handle the situation.  It's like I want to support the person, but at the same time I can't condone the decision/actions being made.  I don't want in any way to validate it, or seem supportive of it because I really believe that it is setting the person up for more failure.  I feel like I am letting that person down at the moment, so I don't really know what to do other than pray on it.
• I am so ready to go to Colorado in two weeks.  It's funny how even after 7 years I miss it so much and long to be there more now than ever.  
• I felt like such a meany last night.  I picked the boys up at the Learning Center and got them all strapped in the car.  Usually Austin plays with his Leapster2 and F plays with Austin's V-tech computer.  Well last night Austin asked for the computer.  I tried to encourage it to go the other way because I think F is too young to figure out the Leapster2, but Austin was insistent so I obliged.  A couple of miles down the road, out of a 16 mile trip, Austin starts asking for his "game."  I explain to him that he made the choice that he wanted the computer and he was going to have to let F play the Leapster2.  So the asking turned into crying and demanding the game.  I of course was not going to give in even though I don't think F even ever figured out how to turn it on.  The crying ensued all the way home, ugh!  I know it's just a phase, but I am done with the crying tantrums!
• In the past I have talked about how funny sometimes things can be relating to Facebook, and I had another moment this week where I was just shaking my head at people.  So my Dad's family is big, he was one of eleven kids so I have bunches and bunches of cousins on that side.  They set up a family group on Facebook and there are about 90+ people on there.  So one of my Dad's Sister-in Law's birthday was this week.  As far as I know she is not on Facebook herself, but her sons and grandchildren are.  Even so everyone started posting happy birthday messages to her on the family group page.  It's like yeah, I know her sons are on FB, but come on, if you want to wish her a happy birthday pick up the phone and do it yourself, don't expect her sons to pass along some cheesy message on FB!
• Ok it's obvious that I am in a bit of a ranting mood, so I will end this list and wish you a happy rest of Groundhog Day!

And most importantly, thank you to my readers, you are all wonderful and I appreciate all of your warm and thoughtful comments!

Recent photos

Opening family gifts on his birthday.

We went to the horse barn with Dad on Sunday to feed the Forest Service horses.

He was being so photogenic, I wish I could have taken off his hat, but his hair was totally sticking every direction.

I really love this one, again I wish the hat was off.

He loves his "spoonman" Spider Man hat.

He rode Dillon for the first time.  He has been on a horse before, but only standing still.  Dad gave me the lead rope and I walked him around the pen about 8-9 times while Dad spotted Austin.  He LOVED it!

The boys playing Rock Band/Guitar Hero