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Friday, November 23, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope you all had a great holiday. We enjoyed ourselves down in San Diego with Chris' grandmother and aunt and uncle.

Things I'm particularly grateful for this year: (not really in any order)

- A smart, loving, hard-working, funny husband who is also a fantastic dad. (Except when he lets my son watch the Simpsons!!) :-)
- THE most incredible little boy ever to walk the earth.
- A house that only takes an hour to scrub from top to bottom.
-The gospel in my life: family scripture study and family prayers. Watching scripture videos for movie night, hearing Shea say his nightly prayers and the knowledge that we're a family forever!
-When I get a parking spot right by the gate. (Esp. when I've just been to Costco.)
-Two new jobs that will let me pay the bills and still be a stay-at-home mom! What a blessing.
-Only 91 days until this pregnancy's over and I get to hold and love and kiss my baby girl. (Ok, that still seems like a lot, but at least it's not 191!)
-Seeing the spectacular LA Temple almost every time I run an errand.
-A mom who always wants to talk to me even when I've already called her 16 times that week and it's only to tell her that Shea pooped on the potty.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Little parrot

As I'm catching up on some emails at the desk, I hear this little conversation in the background. I look behind me and Shea is nestled into daddy's lap watching basketball and repeating everything he says.

Daddy: The Phoenix Suns are lame.
Shea: The Pemix Suns are yame.

Daddy: Stoudemire's a thug.
Shea: Stotemire's a sug. Hee hee

Daddy: Rajabel is a ghetto rat.
Shea: Raja's a ghetto rat. Hee hee hee (by this time he thinks he's really funny as Chris and I are both cracking up.)

Mommy thinks it's bedtime!

Grateful Turkey

Today in preschool they made these adorable Grateful Turkeys and then got to take turns telling what they're thankful for. When I got there to pick Shea up the teacher made sure to tell me that when it was Shea's turn that he said he was thankful for his baby in mommy's tummy. Awwww!!! :-)

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Wicked


I had such a fun birthday this year. Chris took me to see Wicked down in Hollywood. We had such a fun afternoon/evening. I had forgotten how much fun it is to date. We didn't have Shea with us, we held hands, he opened car doors.... :-) The show was super fun. Nothing compares to Les Mis (alas) but it was really enjoyable and then he took me to dinner at PF Chang, my ALL TIME favorite restaurant. Yesterday on my birthday he called and invited over a bunch of friends for cake and ice cream and we had a really good time. So, 33's starting out pretty good. Thanks for all your Happy Birthday wishes.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Jenna's Birthday

Today is Jenna's birthday! So don't forget to call her.

I'm sure she'll get on here to recount what we did for her birthday.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Irritated????

Shea and I were having story time today before his nap , oh how I love cuddling with my warm, sweet little angel and reading stories!!! Anyway, I pick the next book off the stack he had chosen and it happened to be an Eric Carle board book that I'd never read him. He got it shortly before we moved and it got put directly into a box. So I pick it up and Shea looks at it then takes it gently away from me and puts it on the floor and he says, "Not that one mommy, that one irritates you."

Really? Interesting. I didn't realize I was "irritated" by that book and I certainly didn't realize that I say I'm irritated that much. I hope I don't, let it just be a word he heard me say once and thought was cool enough to repeat!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Prayers

I meant to log on to share a couple of great recipes, but then my little guy rendered me speechless and I had to share. After prayers I was kissing my baby and telling him how much I loved him and I reminded him of things he could think about if he woke up in the night. (He has been waking up and crying and calling for mommy, who would really like a bit of uninterrupted sleep before the baby comes, so we're trying to nip the night waking/crying in the bud.) So I said that he could think about how much fun he'd have in preschool tomorrow with all his friends. So he names the 5 other kids, but I said, no, Logan won't be there tomorrow because he doesn't feel well. (He had surgery today.) Then I asked Shea if he would like to say a prayer for Logan. He said yes and jumped out of bed and asked Heavenly Father to help Logan to feel better. As he jumped back into bed he said, "Mommy, now Logan will be at preschool with us tomorrow." I don't know how a 2 year old knows that his prayers will be answered, but what a good example for mommy. I love this little man.

A few good recipes

I hate chili. Always have. I blame Grandma Hansen for starting the chili and donuts on Christmas Eve tradition. Sometimes I'm tempted by all the cheese and sour cream that you get to put on it, so I'll eat it, but I never like it. Well, it's getting a little chilly here and feels like fall and Chris has been begging me to make this chili recipe he found on Better Homes and Gardens. I finally relented and all I can say is WOW! I ate and ENJOYED chili, multiple times. If you're looking for an EASY, yummy fall, cold weather meal, this was really delicious. Next time I'll make it a day in advance and let it sit, it was divine on day 2.

Beefsteak Chili

1 1/2 pounds boneless beef top round steak
1 T cooking oil
1-2 medium onions, chopped (1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 14 oz cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup beef broth
1 4oz can diced green chilies
1 T brown sugar
2 T chili powder
2 t dried oregano
1 t salt
1 t ground cumin
2 15 oz cans pinto or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
cheese and sour cream to top

Partially freeze beef. Slice across the grain into small, thin strips. Brown half the meat in hot oil. Remove meat, brown remaining meat with onion and garlic (add more oil if necessary) drain fat and return mixture to pan.

Add all remaining ingredients except beans and toppers. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 1 hour. Stir in beans, cook 5 minutes. Top with cheese and sour cream and serve with corn bread.


Another great one I just tried tonight and really loved is an oven fried chicken that came from Megan although I modified it a tiny bit. I have about 5 of these so I'd never tried this one, but I think this one is better than all my others. We loved it!

Oven Fried Ritz Chicken

4-6 chicken breasts
2 tubes Ritz crackers
6 T Parmesan cheese (I LOVE using the shredded not grated, for breadings, it adds a lot of texture to the breading and tastes delicious as it crisps up.)
1-2 cups sour cream
1/3-1/2 cup melted butter

Crush Ritz crackers in a Ziploc bag and add the Parmesan cheese. Coat chicken generously in sour cream then roll in crackers and cheese mix. Place in a baking dish and drizzle with melted butter. Bake uncovered for 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through.

Served with mashed potatoes, gravy and a salad, it's a delicious dinner. Enjoy!

Friday, November 2, 2007

"Look mom!"

So I turn around a few minutes ago and Shea is standing there like this. He says to me, "Look mom, I'm Lehi!" Then he says, "And mommy, you are Nephi and daddy is Laman." (Uh, oh daddy, have you been naughty?) I guess he's listening to something during family scripture study and he's definitely looking at the pictures! :-)