Memorial Day Memories

For Memorial Day 2012 we went to Cedar City and went camping.  James had off the week before Memorial Day so the whole family loaded up and drove south.  First we spent a few days in Cedar City visiting family and friends.  We stayed at a the Holiday Inn Express in the south part of town.  They have an indoor pool there so of course we (the boys) had to do some swimming.  We also had dinner with our friends Mark and Patti and their kids at the Chicken Coop, its a new restaurant located on Main Street.  We always love hanging out with the Wellers!

   

Then, on Thursday morning we loaded up and drove up Beaver Canyon to camp at Fish Lake.  After getting a campsite, getting everything unloaded and set up we decided it was too cold up there for tent camping with the little boys so we packed up all our gear and headed further south to warmer weather.  We finally got to St George around 1am.  The little boys and I were dropped off at a hotel while James, Bailey, Josten and Bailey's friend Eric went to Baker Reservoir to set up camp.  James came back to the hotel room around 3am and stayed with me and the boys while the older kids stayed at the Reservoir.  My dad and Kimmie met us up there for a couple days of camping, fishing, 4X4ing and just hanging out with family.  It was really windy, almost too windy but luckily it was warmer than Fish Lake!  We had a great time and Connor really does love camping, just like his older brother Asher!

   

Asher...Four Years Old

On June 20, 2012 Asher turned 4.  It is so hard to believe that he is 4 already.  He is growing so fast and the years are flying by.  He is a smart little boy.  Some of the things he says just blow my mind (and of course I can't think of any of them off the top of my head right now).  He still loves being outside more than inside.  He isn't much of an eater, it's like pulling teeth to get him to eat.  He absolutely loves super heros of any kind right now.  We took him to see Avengers and Spiderman recently.  He loved Avengers but Spiderman scared him, well the big lizard in the movie scared him, not actually Spiderman.  He also loves watching Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go.  Some of his favorite toys are his trains.  Grandma Mimi just recently sent him this big electrical train that he loves playing with.  He also likes watching Cupcake Wars with me, especially if the theme is related to something he is familiar with.  For his 4th birthday we grabbed some KFC and then went to a local park and played.  A few days later, on Saturday, we had everyone over for a BBQ and cake.  His cake was so fun to make and he LOVED it!                

A Smoothie A Day...part 7

Well everyone, this is the last day of our 7 part series, A Smoothie A Day.  I've had a lot of fun searching my pantry, freezer and fridge trying to come up with some exciting new smoothie flavors.  I think the coffee one was by far my favorite, but that Almond Joy Smoothie is a very close second.

I wanted to call today's smoothie the "I am sick of winter in Utah and wish I was in the Caribbean instead" smoothie, but that seemed like quite the title for a smoothie so instead I'll just call it...

Put the Lime in the Coconut Smoothie (because I kept singing that line as I was making it)
makes 2 servings

1 frozen banana
1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 cup frozen mango
1/2 cup frozen pineapple
2 tablespoons shredded coconut
1 lime, juiced
handful spinach
1 serving protein powder
water



Calories (per serving): 261.5
Fat grams (per serving): 2.75

I'm really excited, this 7 part series has led me to another project altogether that I'm working on getting up and going.  It's just in the beginning stages right now so I won't spill the beans but I'm hoping to have it up and running in a about a month.  Stay tuned to this blog to find out what it is and when it's ready.

I think the little man was more excited about the new cups we bought yesterday then about the smoothie.  When I asked him what kind of smoothie he wanted today he said 'chocolate' but I figured everyone else might not be as excited about another chocolate smoothie as my little man was so we compromised on this concoction.

A Smoothie A Day...part 5

Do you know what you make when you have a basket of oranges sitting there waiting to be used?  Well a smoothie with fresh squeezed orange juice of course.  I wanted to make a smoothie that tasted like an Orange Julius.  I haven't had one of those is so long and it sounded so good.  I looked online for a recipe to get me started but I had some issues with the recipes I was finding.  It seems that in order to get that frothy taste that you get from the original Orange Julius you need to add an egg white to the smoothie.  Well, I'm not really excited about adding a raw egg white to something I am not cooking, so I didn't.  I don't think Orange Julius uses a raw egg white but all the recipes I found mentioned using one, or egg white powders which I don't have.  Today's smoothie is....

                          Orangn't Glad It's a Smoothie
                               makes 1 serving
1 frozen banana
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/2 plain greek yogurt
3 vanilla soy milk ice cubes (about 5-6 tablespoons)
1/2 tablespoon agave nectar
1 large handful of spinach
ice

I bought a large bag, I'm thinking it was a 10lb bag, of oranges at the store a week ago. The little man loves oranges so it was a great deal at only $2.50 for the bag.  It took me 8 large oranges to get a cup of juice, I was surprised it took that many.  Maybe they weren't very juicy oranges.

Yesterday I was curious about the calorie count of my smoothie, now I'm thinking I will go back to the other smoothies and figure out the calories on those as well, and on all the smoothies from now on.

Calories: 367
(banana 105, yogurt 75, orange juice 112, agave 30, soy milk 25, spinach 20)
Fat: less than 1 gram!!!!
(the soy milk has 3.5 grams in 1 cup, I only used 5-6 tablespoons so it has to be less than 1 gram!)


As I said earlier, the little man loves oranges so of course he loved this smoothie.  Since my munchkin (my 8 month old) was also awake he got a chance to try it out and he liked it too.

A Smoothie A Day...part 2

Day 2 of our week long smoothie experiments is a little later today because my 8 month old decided that taking a nap could wait until 12:30pm instead of his normal 10:00am.  Which meant that I couldn't do my workout until his nap, which leads me to the fact that I'm just now enjoying my smoothie for the day at 1:45pm.

Getting Caught in the Rain Smoothie
makes 1 serving

 1 frozen banana
1/2 cup lite coconut milk
1 serving protein powder (today was rice protein and I am hating the chalky taste it is leaving in my mouth.)
1 8oz can pineapple chunks in pineapple juice (I added the chunks and juice)
1 1/2 Tablespoons shredded coconut
1 large handful of fresh spinach
ice

Put everything in a blender and blend.

You like that name of this one right?  "If You Like Pina Coladas..." you'll like this smoothie.  I would tell you that it tastes JUST LIKE a pina colada but you'd make it, try it, realize that it doesn't taste just like a pina colada and never try my other smoothies.  I think if you didn't add the spinach (and added some rum) it would taste pretty darn close (depending on the flavor of your protein powder).  But it does have that tropical taste to it like a pina colada has so give it a try!



Asher, my 3 year old who always drinks my smoothies with me, had his portion of the smoothie almost gone before I was even done taking pictures...that must be equal to two thumbs up...right?

Happy Birthday Asher/Father's Day

In about 30 minutes it will officially be Asher's 2nd birthday. I can't believe he is 2 already. Time is flying by and its a little depressing. Right now Asher is so fun. He is learning tons of new things, he repeats just about everything you say (which is good and bad depending who he is around). I know that in 3 years I'll be thinking back to this time in his life and miss it so much. Well before I start crying I better say that I am so happy that this little boy has blessed my life. I can't even imagine what it would be like without him in it.

Tonight Asher and I took James to the movies for Father's Day. Really we just wanted to go see Toy Story 3 and that was a great excuse. It was the first movie that Asher has sat completely through. James tried to take him to see some other cartoon movie (I can't remember the name of it) one night when I was at work. They didn't stay the whole time because Asher got a little out of control. Its a cute movie and I recommend it to anyone who loves Disney/Pixar movies.

Just a quick note to the dads in my life. I love you all!!! James is a great dad, not only to Asher, but to all of our kids. Our family is so crazy some times and I know that dealing with all of it is difficult but he does a great job. My dad is amazing! He truly is. And to all the other dads out there...Happy Father's Day. I hope its a great day for all of you!

Spring Adventures

In Utah, the weather, throughout March and April, has a tendency to go from Spring to Winter and then back to Spring in the same week. Here in Cedar City its been especially crazy, one day we'll have snow and then two days later we'll have a high of 60 and sun! Anyway, about a week ago we were able to get outside and go to the park. Asher loves the park, you can't even say the word around him unless you plan on going that minute. The slide is his favorite. So on this particular day we decided to go around lunch time, stop and grab something for lunch and head to the park. We got in the car and about halfway to the park Asher fell asleep in his car seat so James and I grabbed lunch and headed back home so Asher could get a full nap. The good thing about that was when Asher finally woke up Jadeth and Jade we able to go to the park with us. It was Jade's first trip to the park and I think she had a really fun time. Here are some fun pictures from that day.

Spring Break

Spring Break has begun! And it couldn't have come at a better time. I was getting a little overwhelmed that last week. But other than being stressed at times, school is going very well. I'm really loving it but I do wish I could finish a little quicker and actually get started doing the teaching rather than the learning.

We don't have any really plans for Spring Break, we were going to go to California and try and get on the game show "Lets Make A Deal" but we don't really have the funds for that. So instead today we are headed down to St George to enjoy the beautiful weather they will be having, I think its suppose to be about 75. We'll probably go to In-N-Out and the park. James also needs to get his truck's radiator fixed so we are taking that with us to St George. He is really excited to get his truck back up and running, he has been working on it pretty much nonstop for the past week. The only thing that stopped him from working on it over the weekend was the 9" of snow we got!

Bailey is coming to visit us the end of the month when he is on Spring Break. It would've been a lot better if his Spring Break was the same week as mine but oh well. He'll be here for Jade's first birthday and for Easter so I'm not complaining too much. I am really excited for his visit, I can't believe he is almost 12 already, soon he'll be a teenager! YIKES!!!!

Speaking of growing up fast, Asher is almost 2! He is crazy. There are times when I think a monster has invaded his body and has come just to torment me with his behavior, but most of the time he is just too cute. He says the most adorable things. For example we have this diaper rash stuff that the doctor prescribed and its called Pink Wisell and Asher walks around saying that and its really cute. He loves chasing the cat around the house and he is having the time of his life with Jade around. Sometimes he gets a little rambunctious with her but overall he is really good. He loves to give her hugs and kisses. Oh, that's another thing he is saying now, "I love you" SO CUTE!!!! His favorite thing to watch on TV is either Elmo or the Wiggles, so every night I go to sleep with the songs from those shows in my head. He also still loves to sing Old MacDonald Had a Farm and now he likes Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes too.

Well I guess I need to go shower (that's what James just told me) so we can head down to St George, have a fabulous day blogland!

Olympics, potty and new residents...

Tonight was the first night, other than Opening Ceremonies, that I sat down to watch the Olympics. I was so impressed with my countries' athletes. We did amazing tonight....Gold and Bronze in Men's Halfpipe, Gold and Silver in Women's Downhill...so others that I'm not quite sure what the sport was called. Way to go USA!!!!

Asher is learning to go potty in the "big boy toilet". James has been wanting to teach him for a few months now but I kept arguing with him that Asher was too young. Apparently I was wrong. He has gone several times in the last few days and he is getting so much better at it. He comes up to me or James and tells us "potty" and we take him in, sometimes he has already pottied in his diaper but a few times he does it in the toilet! He is such a smart little boy!!!

We have new residents living with us here at our house in Cedar City. Jadeth, Whitnee and Jade are staying with us for a little while. Jadeth's job up in Lehi, UT didn't work out after the new year and so they have decided to move back to Cedar where Whitnee and Jadeth both have previous jobs that they were able to come back to. Unfortunately, Jadeth didn't get his last 3 paychecks from the place up north so they didn't have the money to move into their own place, which is why they are staying with us. We love having them around, its so great to get to see Jade (and Jadeth and Whitnee too) everyday. She is growing so fast. She is walking!

Anyway, I have to go help James with one of his tests...just wanted to give everyone a quick update! Night all...and again...WAY TO GO USA!!!!!!

Asher's Favorite Thing

A while ago, James downloaded a kids app to his iPhone and it had a few really cute short little cartons that played. One of them Asher feel in love with. He would walk up to me or James and say "Quack, Quack?" which we both understood meant he wanted to watch this one video. I don't know if anyone else has seen it but it's called The Duck Song and here is the link. Well, after watching this video a few hundred times a day I decided to start searching youtube for some other short videos he would like. The big thing for him is that they sing, he LOVES music, so I did a search for Sesame Street, knowing they like to sing on that show. Now I've created a monster! An Elmo-loving-monster. He loves Elmo, as soon as he wakes up in the morning he says "elmo?" The other day I bought him a video from Walmart, The Best of Elmo. It has about 6 or 7 songs on it and he watches it every hour! And its a 30 minute video!!!!! I don't know if this obsession will continue until his second birthday, but if it does everyone can buy him anything Elmo related and he will be thrilled! Its so cute (except around 5pm when I've watched that video about 30 times!!!)

Asher vs. his dinner

Oh boy oh boy oh boy...what was I thinking letting Asher feed himself? But how could I resist, look how much fun he was having. Good thing I stripped him down to his diaper first!

Halloween 2009

For Halloween this year we decided to go visit my mom and Rocky in Kingman, AZ and then go to my sisters new salon in Lake Havasu for Halloween night since they close down the street her salon is on for a big street party.

The drive to Kingman was awful with Asher. It was just me and Asher, James came too but he was coming from CA and so it was just me and Asher. Somewhere after the dam (Hoover Dam) Asher got incredibly fussy. He wouldn't stop crying and I knew he was tired so I tried singing him to sleep but he would only sleep for a few minutes and then wake back up. He was still really fussy when I finally got to my mom's. Come to find out later he had a really back tummy ache. Poor little guy. Saturday morning, Halloween, he was back to his usual self. Around 3 we headed for Lake Havasu. Its about an hour drive from my mom's house. Asher was all dressed up in his hand-me-down costume. It was a Superman costume that I had semi-homemade myself for Bailey on his second Halloween. Asher loved it! Once we got there the street was just starting to close down and people were starting to show up. I could not believe how many people were there. It was crazy.

We didn't stay long, Asher was getting sleepy and we still had an hour drive back home to my mom's so around 9pm we headed back for Kingman. Sunday we hung around my mom's for a little while and then around 1 packed up and headed out. Asher was a lot better on the drive home. In fact he slept from Vegas all the way to Mesquite, which for him is amazing!

Here are some great pictures from that trip.

What Hurts the Most...

I love this song, even though it has to be one of the saddest songs I've ever heard I still love it. And I think the title is appropriate for this blog. But first, here is the link to the video on CMT, What Hurts the Most.

As a parent, I think one of the worst things in the world is when your child is sick or hurt and you can't fix it. James and I had to go through this twice the last week with Asher. On Tuesday we got back from our visit to California. James was moving the TV and trying to reconnect everything, and Asher, being the curious little boy that he is, was right there next to James trying to help him. I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready when I heard a crash and then a cry. Some how the TV had fallen off the stand we had it on and onto James, Asher and the rocking chair. Luckily James and the chair stopped the TV from really doing serious injury to Asher, but just to be safe James wanted to take him to the hospital for a check up since it got his head pretty good. All was fine, nothing serious, just some bumps and bruises but it was pretty traumatic for all 3 of us.

Thursday night Asher and I were home, James was in CA again working. Around 7 I put Asher in his highchair to feed him dinner, turned around to get something out of the fridge and then

next thing I knew Asher was throwing up! He was having a hard time so I rushed over and tried my best to help him. I gave him a bath thinking it was just the one time it would happen...wrong! From 7 until 10pm he threw up about every 1/2 hour, until he had nothing left to throw up and then it was dry heaves. He wouldn't drink anything and as I thought back to the time I picked him up from his grandparents I realized he hadn't had anything to drink since 4:30pm. His lips were really white and he had no desire to do anything but lay on me. I panicked, which I do often, and took him to the ER for the second time that week! The doctor gave him an IV and some medicine to stop the vomiting. We stayed at the hospital until well after 1:00am. The last time he had thrown up was a little after midnight so they sent us home. They left the IV needle in his arm in case I had to bring him back again for more fluid. Asher hated that. We didn't sleep well at all that night, he woke up several times trying to roll over onto the arm that was all wrapped up. Then at 6:00am he woke up with a fever of 102.5. I gave him some medicine, he finally drank a little water on his own and crashed back asleep. Friday we pretty much spent the day on the couch going in and out of naps and watching movies. I took him to the doctors office around 10 that morning and he said as long as he was keeping liquid down he was doing better, by Friday around 5:30 he hadn't thrown up again and had actually eaten a little bit of banana and some crackers so back to the ER we went to get the needle out of his arm. He actually cried more when they took the needle out then when they put it in. Poor little guy! He still isn't feeling 100% but I can tell he is getting better, thank goodness! Doctors said it was the stomach flu, I'm just thankful it wasn't the H1N1 flu!!!! Because James was in CA I took some pictures of Asher to send to him. Here they are, even sick he is still a little cutie!!!

The first two pictures were taken in the emergency room Thursday night and the last one was taken at home Friday afternoon. I knew he didn't feel well at all when he climbed on the couch and fell asleep without fighting with me to take a nap!