Gratitudes from November 2011

I mentioned in my previous post that for the month of November I listed 3 things I was grateful for each day (I might have missed a few here and there).  I posted this little note before starting...


"And just to clarify, I am grateful for my family and friends EVERYDAY, especially my  hubbyJames Sherratt, but my list of gratitudes for the month will be silly and simple. Things that specifically I am grateful for on that day. I just wanted everyone to know that so they don't say to themselves "wow isn't she ever grateful for her husband who is 1200 miles away working constantly and missing his family??? Yes I am!"


So here they are....


November 1
The three things I am grateful for today are:
1. heating systems - on cold days like today I'm grateful that I can just flip a switch to bring heat to my house rather than having to chop firewood and then getting a fire started in a fireplace!
2. baby bouncy chairs - Connor is probably thankful for it too :)
3. my laptop computer - I would never be able to spend time online if I had to sit at a desk, Connor would not allow it :)

November 2
I'm grateful for 
1. Bailey giving Asher a bath, 
2. sleeping children 
and 3. my washer and dryer.


November 3
Today I'm grateful for:  
(1) 100 calorie snacks, today I really needed some kind of little snack and the game allows us to have one 100 calorie snack a day.  I love how a lot of the cookie and cracker makers have packaged some of their tasty treats in 100 calorie bags.  
(2) recipes found online.  Sometimes I get so bored with the things I eat and I love that I can just get online to find something new and exciting, and I especially love when I find a recipe that is yummy, like I did today :) 
(3) Skype. with my hubby working so far from home Skype is a lifesaver.  Asher loves talking to his daddy on the computer and it makes it fun for James to watch the boys play and have fun.  Whoever invented Skype was/is a genius!


November 4
Today I am grateful for: 
(1) the wind finally stopping (at 7:30 tonight!), 
(2) Walmart, even though I secretly hate that place, I'm grateful its there with everything I need under one roof.  With a 3yo and a 5 month old that's a huge benefit! and 
(3) the excitement I am feeling for this holiday season, usually I dread it but this year I am feeling festive already.


November 5
Today I am grateful for: 
(1) Subway sandwiches...they are yummy and healthy and someone makes it for me :) 
(2) my Nook, because I can read it even in the dark when I am putting Connor to sleep, I can't do that with regular books! (3) movie channels on DirecTV, I've been watching them half the day!


November 6
Today I am grateful for: 
(1) free days on my Diet Game, I use my free day as a reward for working so hard the rest of the week and when I thought I wasn't going to get my free day because I wasn't going to make my weight I was really sad.  
(2) end of Daylight Savings Time, glad Bailey won't be going to the bus stop in the complete dark anymore.  Its kinda freaky sending my kid out to the bus when its pitch black out at 7:10 in the morning, and 
(3) my ability to bake/cook, I love doing it and I love trying new things, I'm really glad that most of the stuff I make comes out tasty otherwise I would be discouraged and probably wouldn't follow my passion.


November 7
Today I'm grateful for 
(1) my electric blanket...so warm and cozy. 
(2) cute sweatshirts, my favorite thing to wear during the winter is jeans, sweatshirt and tennis shoes, and 
(3) the fact that my hubby is coming home in 8 days!


November 8
Today I am grateful for 
(1) FedEx, they make it easy and cheap to send James goodies from home, 
(2) my DVR, I'd never get to watch a full episode of anything if it weren't for the ability to record it and watch it once all the kids are asleep! Plus the added bonus of being able to fast forward through commercials, and 
(3) the fact that my hubby is coming home in 7 days :)


November 9
Today I am grateful for 
(1) my ability to be a better person tomorrow than I was today, 
(2) Ibuprofen, and 
(3) the fact that James comes home in 6 days.


November 10
Today I am grateful for 
(1) mommy alone time, holy cow did I need that today, 2 1/2 weeks with no time to yourself will drive anyone crazy and I was really close to being there! 
(2) Iced tea, I love it!  and of course 
(3) the fact that James comes home in 5 days! (woohoo we are down to counting on one hand!)


November 11
Today I am grateful for 
(1) US Veterans for all the sacrifices they go through to fight for our freedom. 
(2) greek yogurt, I never realized how much I would like greek yogurt, wish I had tried it earlier!
 (3) the fact that James will be home soon!


November 12
Today I am grateful for 
(1) my washer and dryer, glad they work hard so I don't have to. 
(2) my Cooking Light cookbooks, so many yummy recipes I want to try and I won't feel guilty about eating them! 
(3) the fact that on Wednesday night at this time James will be home!


November 13
Today I am grateful for 
(1) the patience I managed to have with my kids today.  I'm hoping it will carry over to tomorrow, and the rest of the week for that matter. 
(2) losing weight rather than gaining it, even if it is a small amount and 
(3) the fact that James will be home in about 70 hours (that's a estimate, but I'm sure its pretty darn close to accurate!)


November 14
Today I am grateful for 
(1) Disney movies.  Asher just loves watching Finding Nemo right now and I'm glad that he has movies to watch that I don't have to worry about him learning something bad from. 
 (2) bananas, they are the perfect "on the go" food, and 
(3) the fact that James will be home in 48 hours!


November 15
Today I am grateful for 
(1) both of my little boys being asleep by 8:15 tonight! 
(2) the sunnier, warmer weather we had today that allowed me to get out of the house to run, and of course 
(3) the fact that James will be home in less than 24 hours!


November 16
Today I am grateful for 
(1) James finally coming home, 
(2) cheap hotels in Las Vegas and 
(3) Bailey for helping me with the two kids on the drive down to Las Vegas.


November 17
Today I am grateful for
 (1) being home, last night was miserable at the hotel with a 6 month old who is use to being in his own bed in a very quiet room, 
(2) airplanes and automobiles that make getting from one place to another a lot faster then it use to be, and 
(3) the Excursion making it to Las Vegas and back on one tank of gas, especially since it cost me $125 to almost fill it up!


November 18
Today I am grateful for 
(1) all the birthday wishes I received today. 
(2) my in-laws for watching the boys so we could go see Breaking Dawn part 1 and 
(3) our family doctor, Dr. Allen.


November 19
Today I am grateful for 
(1) being able to celebrate my birthday with my family, 
(2) a delicious fish taco recipe that I crave (even though I'm not a big fan of fish) and 
(3) tasting a grocery store cake and knowing that I can do so much better! LOL


November 20
Today I'm grateful for
 (1) lazy Sundays, 
(2) infant Tylenol because my poor little guy is teething and the Tylenol certainly helps him feel a little better, and 
(3) a clean kitchen, having my kitchen a mess makes me crazy, I can't relax until its clean so I'm grateful that right now its nice and tidy.


November 21
....guess I missed this day....

November 22
....and this day....

November 23
Today I am grateful for 
(1) my Bountiful Basket Hostess pack that I purchased on Saturday, it has everything I need for Thanksgiving dinner including tons of fresh herbs which are next to impossible to find here in Cedar City, 
(2) Music! I love listening to music when I'm cooking, especially country music and 
(3) the Netflix app on my phone which is seriously keeping my 3 year old entertained!


November 24
Today I am grateful for 
(1) my family and friends, 
(2) having food on my table and 
(3) the fact that I'm going to bed and not waiting outside some store in the cold to shop with a bunch of crazy people ;)


November 25

Today I am grateful for 

(1) my kitchen being clean after yesterdays mess, 

(2) leftovers,

(3) the movie Christmas Vacation, which I watch every year after Thanksgiving.

November 26
Today I am grateful for 
(1) Christmas music on Pandora, 
(2) leftover turkey to make turkey pot pies out of...Yummy! 
(3) the butternut squash cake recipe I found online a week before Thanksgiving...that cake is so much better than the pumpkin pie I made, its definatly going in the recipe file to make again.


November 27
Today I am grateful for 
(1) lazy Sundays (yes, again),
(2) all of my boys' smiles and laughter and 
(3) my bed because I'm exhausted...good night all!


November 28
....guess I missed this day....

November 29
Today I'm grateful for
 (1) making it home from Las Vegas with help from Bailey, he is an awesome son and big brother! Always so helpful when I need him. 
(2) the way my heart melts when my little boys snuggled up to me when they are sleepy, and 
(3) for James' job interview on Thursday...keep your fingers crossed!


November 30
Today I am grateful for
 (1) having so many things in my life to be grateful for that I can list 3 things a day for 30 days, 
(2) James making it home safe and sound through a snow storm and 
(3) dinner with the girls.

Another year gone by...

As I grow older the years seem to rush by quicker and quicker.  How can it possibly be 2012 already??? Wasn't it just 2008 and Asher was just a tiny baby?  Ok, Asher was never a tiny baby (born weighing 9lbs 3oz), but you get my point right?  Now we have Connor, who actually was a tiny baby (weighing 6lbs 12oz), born in 2011 and just a real joy to have around.  Since its already 2012 and I hardly did any blogging in 2011 I thought I'd do a month by month recap...that is if I can remember what happened and what we did...I did just say I was growing older!

January 2011
Happy 2011!  Asher, James and I spent the new year in Southern California with my dad and Kimmie.  It was a quiet evening but lots of fun.  I had planned on going back to school for spring semester but after much consideration James and I decided that it would be better for me not to go because we were pretty certain we would be moving once James found a job.  On the 6th we found out that we were having another baby boy.  Sometime around the 5th of January (I'm thinking it was more like the 10th but I'm not sure) we went to Arizona to visit with my mom and Rocky in Kingman and then to Lake Havasu to celebrate my niece Cailin's 10th birthday.  What a great birthday party she had!  At the end of the month we headed back to Southern California because James was on the books for the union and a job came available.  After being down there for a week and looking for a new place to live the job ended up not working out so we headed back to Southern Utah.  It was nice being out of the colder weather for a week though.

February 2011

The first week of February James got a job operating a crane in Minersville.  He had to work 7 days a week and with the drive, about 12 hours a day but the money was awesome!  On the 9th James turned 43, for his birthday we celebrated with his parents and had prime rib at home, with some yummy cupcakes for dessert.  During February I started working on my website for my cakes and cupcakes.  I was doing a lot of baking and taking pictures and probably gaining a lot of weight since I was eating them all!  By the end of the month I had the website up and running, Cake It to the Limit was AWESOME! (now its not up so don't go check it out!)  I also attempted to start potty training Asher this month, he wasn't all that interested.

March 2011
Potty training is still going on.  Asher is getting better at it, thankfully.  Gas prices were at $3.47 a gallon and it seemed like every other day it went up another 5 cents a gallon.  James and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary on the 20th.  James bought me a Cake Cricut, which was so exciting for me.  James really wanted something for his motorcycle so he told me to get him saddlebags for his bike, he LOVED them!  At the end of March Bailey came to visit us for his Spring break.  We spent one of the days at Zion National Park with my dad and Kimmie.  The weather was great while we were there!  The last day of the month we took the boys (Asher, Bailey and Kade) to the new aquatic center which has an indoor swimming pool and kid play area.  Asher loved it.  James' job in Minersville came to an end around the time Bailey came to visit.  Back to looking for another job!

April 2011

On April 2nd our granddaughter Jade turned 2.  We celebrated by going to St George and having a BBQ at the park.  Her birthday officially marked a year since I started making and decorating cakes. (her first birthday was my first one!)  I had such issues with her cake, but luckily she didn't seem to care since the cake had a big Dora doll sitting on top of it!  The first week of April I had two cake (cupcake) orders from my website.  The same weekend I had a 8 year old boys birthday cake to make, it was Super Mario Bros themed and it turned out great!  I also had a 100 cupcakes to make for a baby shower, both events were in St George and of course the weather was awful (snow/rain/hail).  It all turned out really great though, and being 8 months pregnant I can't believe my feet weren't killing me by the time I was done.  By the end of April I was ready to be done with my pregnancy.  I wasn't due until the 27th of May but I was really ready to be done.  I decided to start walking every afternoon until Connor decided to make an appearance.  I guess I must've walked to hard one Friday afternoon because the Saturday before Easter I started to go into labor.  I just didn't realize it until later that day.  We took Asher to two Easter egg hunts that morning and I wasn't feeling well at all.  Afterwards I came home and took a nap, by about 4 I was getting worried and had James take me to the hospital.  They monitored me for a few hours and then decided to give me a few shots to stop the labor.  It was awful, I was shaky and ended up sick.  Sometime in April James started working for a company called Cleary.  They build those big metal barn looking buildings some people have in back of their houses.

May 2011

Mother's Day came and went and I sent out tons of cake pops to lots of wonderful mothers out there.  My c-section was scheduled for the 23rd and I was anxiously waiting for that day.  I was kinda depressed because it was the end of Spring semester for all those students at SUU and I was wishing I was there.  Crazy how we thought we would end up moving and how we ended up staying.  Bailey turned 13 on the 14th.  How insane is it to have a teenager and a new baby in the same month!  Lucky for me my c-section was switched from the 23rd to the 19th, I found this out on the 17th! On the 18th we had this freak snow storm roll through Cedar City.  Very early (4:30) I woke up on the 19th and got ready for the arrival of Connor.  I was at the hospital by 5:15 and in surgery by 7:00am.  Connor was born at 7:20am.  What an amazing day, we were so blessed to have this healthy little guy join our family.  On the 21st Connor and I were headed home from the hospital.  For Memorial day we stayed home with our beautiful new born baby.

June 2011

June was a pretty quiet month for us.  On the 20th Asher turned 3.  We celebrated his birthday with a visit to the park across the street from James' parents house.  We BBQ'd some hamburgers and hotdogs and had a Cars birthday cake.  It was so windy that the party wasn't actually much fun.  But the food and the company were great!  At the end of the month James got offered a really great job down in California.  He was going to be making an insane amount of money and we were really excited to finally get such a great opportunity after 3 years of crappy on and off again jobs.  But of course it turned out to be too-good-to-be-true and back up to Southern Utah we went.  Luckily for James he was able to go back to work for Cleary.  OH! And the last weekend of June (I think) we went over to Panguitch for their annual Hot Air Balloon Festival.  That was a lot of fun.  Sometime during June we also celebrated Sabelle's graduation from high school.  I can't remember the exact date, I blame it on post-pregnancy brain! :)  We also found out this month that Jared and his girlfriend Kimmy are expecting a baby in 2012, our second grandchild.

July 2011

Came home from Southern California just in time to celebrate the 4th of July.  We watched tons of fireworks from our front yard, we pretty much have a 360 degree view and there were fireworks on almost every angle.  Asher, unfortunately, decided that he was done with potty training and went back to needing a diaper (well pull-ups).  He had gotten a really bad cold in June and after that potty training went out the window.  The middle of July Bailey came back for his summer visit.  His visit proved to be pretty exciting, on the 20th he took a huge fall off of a scooter and ended up in the ER, luckily it wasn't anything serious, just tons of scratches and bruises, but it scared me enough to rush him to the hospital.  James was still working for Cleary and constantly out of town.  He was beginning to really dislike this job and constantly looking for something new.  The last week of July my mom, my sister and my niece came to visit us.  It was tons of fun having them here, we didn't do a whole lot but it was great having family here.

August 2011

What an exciting month for us!  Bailey decided that he wanted to move back to Utah instead of living with his dad in Indiana.  I was so excited.  We registered him for school and on the 17th he started going to Canyon View Middle School.  During the summer I found a new addiction to a game called Angry Birds.  I loved it so much I made cookies in the shape of the birds and pigs, Asher loved playing it too.  We even got my mom hooked on it when she was here visiting.  I started reading on my Nook again and found a book called "Skinny Bitches."  I made a post about this earlier in the year, you can read about it here.  The end of the month Bailey went over the Panguitch to hang out with Papa Rick (my dad) for the ATV Rally.  He had a great time Jeeping, fishing and just hanging out.

September 2011

On the 3rd Sabelle turned 18 and on the 10th Sabelle and Chad were married.  It was a lovely wedding held at a church in St George.  I made the wedding cake and stressed about it for several days before, wondering if I would get it done with a newborn who was so demanding.  Lucky for me James wasn't working that week and was able to really help me get it done by watching Connor and also by helping me roll fondant when Connor was sleeping.  I could not have gotten it down without his help!  September was a busy month for gardening too.  James' parents were bringing me buckets of tomatoes every other day it seemed like.  I made salsa, marinara sauce, tomato soup...all of which were YUMMY!  The middle of September my dad and Kim came up for a visit.  Kimmie took some wonderful family pictures for us.  Connor started eating rice cereal this month but I don't think he tummy liked it very much so I stopped feeding it to him for a few more weeks.  On the 27th James left to go work in North Dakota.  You can see a blog about that here.

October 2011

The first week of October brought our first snow of the fall/winter season.  That was really upsetting to me because I had started running in September and now couldn't do it anymore due to the weather.  Well I could do it on my treadmill but I have a strong dislike for running on my treadmill.  Finally, after 3 months of not being potty trained, Asher was back to using the potty again.  I was so darn excited.  The whole month James was up in North Dakota.  Halloween was pretty low-key for us.  Asher dressed up as the pumpkin he was suppose to be last year but got sick and never got to wear.  Connor was a cute little chicken (same costume Asher used his first halloween) and Bailey was a scary guy from a movie.  Bailey took Asher trick or treating for about 20 minutes before Asher was done.  My mom also came back to visit us around the 19th of October, she stayed for a week and it was awesome having her around to help out.

November 2011

Ahhh...my favorite month, and its not because its my birthday month, although that does help.  Its my favorite month because its my favorite season and my favorite holiday.  Jadeth turned 24 on the 8th.  James came home from North Dakota on the 16th, just in time to celebrate my 36th birthday on the 18th.  Thanksgiving was pretty mellow for us compared to normal.  None of my family came up like they usually do.  In fact, it was just the 5 of us and then James' parents.  James tried grilling a turkey this year and it was really tasty.  I decided to post on Facebook 3 things I was grateful for every day durning the month of November.  I'll have to make a separate post on this blog of all of those so I remember them years from now.  Went to see the 4th Twilight movie (Breaking Dawn part 1) on the 19th.  Connor also turned 6 months old on the 19th.  On the 29th James flew back up to North Dakota and then turned right around and drove back home because of a job interview a couple of days later with the City of Santa Clara, which turned out to be a bad idea.  Connor got his first tooth on the 14th and he really started rolling around on the floor this month.  He could go clear across the living room floor in just 3.4 seconds! LOL

December 2011

The first day of December brought a huge snow storm to Cedar City.  It was crazy because it was so windy during it that the backyard got around 8" of snow and the front got about 2".  Connor got his second tooth around the 9th.  Our Christmas tree, that we bought from Home Depot right after Thanksgiving was pretty much dead by the 10th.  Gas prices finally dropped below $3 a gallon and continued to drop the entire month.  Christmas was fun.  Christmas Eve we had dinner with our friends the Wellers, like we have for 3 Christmases now.  James and I woke the kids up around 7:30 to see what Santa had brought.  Bailey got a TV and a remote control helicopter.  Asher got a motorized Jeep (that he still hasn't gotten into) and also a remote control helicopter.  Connor got some books and a fun walking toy.  I decided to change things up a little this Christmas and hid a present for James, Bailey and Asher and then sent the on a scavenger hunt throughout the house to find them.  I really enjoyed it :)  For Christmas I got these really awesome cupcake shoes...so cute!  Christmas evening we had a house full.  All the kids and their significant others, James' parents and my dad came for dinner.  We of course had prime rib again this year because last year it was so tasty.  We played Apples 2 Apples and a fun game Josten taught us a year or so ago that we call the wolf game after dinner.  Every one left around 9:30.  It was a great day.  New Years Eve was quiet.  The Wellers, Josten and James' parents came over for dinner and a little bowling on the Wii, James' parents stayed until midnight and then we all went to bed.  Bailey had a friend, Eric, over and they had a bon fire in the backyard...great way to get rid of all those boxes from Christmas and the dead Christmas tree that apparently went up in flames really quickly.  Jared turned 21 on the 29th and Josten turned 22 on the 31st.  Jared and Kimmy got engaged on Christmas morning and Jadeth and his girlfriend Mandy got engaged New Years Eve.  And the biggest news of December...around the middle of the month James had a job interview with Halliburton and found out at the end of the month that he was hired and would be starting his new job in Rock Springs, WY on January 6th (which is after this post).

Looks like 2012 is going to be an exciting year for us!

Seasons are changing...

The seasons are changing quickly or I'm letting too much time go between posts.  My last post was about fall, it's currently snowing outside so winter is here!

Two weeks ago I started a diet game with several of the women in my neighborhood.  I've posted about my experience during this game on a different blog I keep.  If anyone is interested they can check it out here.

I'm not sure I've mentioned it on the blog yet but James has been working up in North Dakota for the last 6 or so weeks.  We all miss him very much and we are really excited that he is coming home on the 16th and staying for 2 weeks (he'll be here for my birthday and Thanksgiving).  Its crazy up in North Dakota right now.  James is staying in Williston, ND and there are jobs everywhere.  Its hard for me to believe because you can't find a job here in Southern Utah at all but up there everyone is hiring and getting a job is pretty darn easy.  The thing that isn't easy up there is finding a place to live.  Luckily James found a job that includes a place to stay.  We've put our house up for sale and we aren't really sure yet if we want to move our family up there or stay here and have James go back and forth for work.  Its really crazy that we've shown our house probably 15 times already but no offers, I'm not sure if I'm happy about that or not.  I really don't want to move from Cedar City but I also don't want James to be away from us so much.

Well, just wanted to update everyone on us.  Stay tuned to see if we end up in North Dakota or not :)

Why I love Fall

I was driving home from Walmart earlier today and I realized that there several things I love about Fall. I thought I'd share them with everyone.

1) The very best thing about Fall is the changing of the leaves on the trees. I grew up in Southern California and never realized how beautiful Fall was until I moved to Utah. When I lived in Utah County one of my favorite things to do during the month of September or October was to drive the Alpine Loop. If you drove it at the exact right time you would see such amazing colors. Something like this picture.

I miss living in Northern Utah purely for this drive. Iron County has some amazing canyons but I've never found the colors like the ones you will see when you drive the Alpine Loop.

2) My favorite holiday is at the end of Fall. Thanksgiving has to be the best holiday we celebrate here in the United States. I love Thanksgiving because you get to eat amazing food but you don't have to spend tons of money buying everyone in your family gifts (I hate trying to find the perfect gift for everyone in my family).

3) Fall flavors...pumpkin, apple, butternut squash...YUM! Today I had a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks....mmmhmmmm. Some of my favorite things are pumpkin flavored...pie, ice cream, coffee, muffins, cupcakes, pancakes, protein shakes (yes, pumpkin pie protein shakes are yummy). That reminds me...I wanted to make pumpkin muffins the other day and was out of pumpkin, time to go to the store.

4) Cooler weather is another reason I love Fall. By the time September rolls around I am really ready for the cooler days and nights of Autumn. Last week was a crazy weather week for us here in Cedar City. On Monday it was 80, by Wednesday it was 50 and Thursday morning we woke up to a light dusting of snow on the lawns. Weather like that is a little too drastic for me...but nonetheless I love it!

5) Its a fun time of year. With back to school, Halloween, Thanksgiving...and my birthday, Fall is just a fun time for our family.

Well there you have it...the many reasons I love Fall. I hope you enjoy this time of year as much as I do!

A wedding, a hospital visit and a new way of life...

Yes, it has been over a month since my last post. That month went by so fast, I can't even believe it. I did, however, get my pictures hung, pantry cleaned out, some exercising in and I've started to eat better (which I'll explain here in a little bit).

So, what have we been up to this last month you ask? Well let me tell you! First let me give you a little background information. For my birthday this last year James bought me a Nook (you know the electronic book from Barnes and Noble). I love my Nook and I use it even more now that I have Connor because its easy to use when I'm nursing him. Also, because of Connor, I have been trying to lose my pregnancy

weight. So I was looking through the online bookstore to find a new book to read when I came across the book

"Skinny Bitch," whose tagline is "A no-nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous." How could I NOT read it? I wanted to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous. Lucky for me, my Nook lets me download a sample of the book for free, so I did. I read the first 2 chapters, which were on how bad soda, coffee, alcohol and refined sugar are for your body. The women who wrote the book give it to you straight, they don't sugar-coat anything and they use a little foul language, which actually made me laugh. So after reading the sample and laughing out loud a couple of times I thought, "What the heck, I'm gonna buy it." Little did I know how this book would put me on a new way of life, I didn't have a clue what the rest of the book would be about, or I never would've read it. Since reading this book I have decided to not eat meat anymore. The graphic images the book paints of the way animals are raised for human consumption made it impossible for me to look at meat without it turning my stomach. The book explains how these animals are pretty much stacked on top of each other, unable to roam free in the pastures, treated inhumanly, injected with all kinds of steroids and hormones to get them to grow bigger and faster, and then slaughtered in the most unclean, nasty environments I never dreamed possible, all for the sake of MONEY. The bigger and faster they grow the more money the ranchers make. Even if I could look past all of this, the book makes a strong point of explaining that what you are eating is a dead, decaying carcass of animal. Again...turned my stomach! It's been a month since I've read the book and I haven't eaten any chicken or beef, I did eat some salmon the other night but that's it. I can't say that I feel any better because for the first couple of weeks all I did was trade out meat for junk food. And when I realized that wasn't going to work I bought another book, "Appetite for Reduction." It's a vegan cookbook.

What I loved most about this specific cookbook compared to the other 100 I looked through was, (1) the recipes are designed for the cook who doesn't have hours of time each day to prepare meals. Most of the meals come together in about 30 minutes, which is perfect for me with a 4 month old, (2) the recipes don't require a bunch of ingredients I've never heard of, and (3) most of the meals are around 300 calories or less, which is perfect since I'm trying to lose the last little bit of pregnancy weight. Now I haven't actually cooked anything out of it yet (LOL) but I will tonight and I'm pretty excited about it. So I'll keep you posted on how the recipes taste. Maybe I'll even take some pictures and share a few of the recipes with you! :)

In other news...

On September 6 Connor and I stayed the night in the hospital. He developed croup and the doctors were concerned with his breathing. Everything turned out fine, it was a really long night in the hospital and I ended up in tears a few times (mostly when they were trying to get an IV in him and stuck him 4 different times before finding a vein) but he was released the next day around 3pm. He still has a bit of a cough but he is a happy little boy for the most part. His sleeping patterns could use some work, especially at night, but I'm sure we'll both make it through. He is getting so big! Tomorrow he will be 4 months old, ALREADY!

On September 10 Sabelle got married to Chad. I was lucky enough to make their wedding cake for them. After stressing more then once that I wouldn't get it done in time, (because of a hospital stay that lasted 24

hours when I should've been baking the cakes) it turned out beautifully. Luckily for me, (but not our bank account) James didn't have to work that week and was able to help me with taking care of Connor and then actually helping me decorate the cake Saturday morning. The wedding was beautiful and the bride was stunning. I don't have any pictures of the wedding to post yet because I spent 90% of the wedding walking around the church with Connor who cried for 85% of the wedding. He was NOT a happy camper. I did get a picture of the cake (of course!) and that was it.

Well, for now (since Connor is awake and demanding my attention) that's our update. We had a ton of other things happen during the month that I'll have to post about at a later date :)

Trying to get motivated!

I have a list in my head of things that I need to find motivation for. This blog is one of them, along with eating right, exercising, hanging tons of family pictures up that are just stacked on my desk, cleaning out my pantry, finishing the bedding for the boys' bedroom, etc, etc, etc. I think I will update this blog and hang my pictures today. Perhaps I'll get to the pantry tomorrow which might motivate me to start eating better once I can actually find stuff! And if I could just find a spare 45 minutes a day without a toddler or infant wanting my attention at the same time I might actually get some exercise in!

So speaking of infants, Connor is almost three months old now (on the 19th). If you have read my previous post you will see that I did NOT get this blog updated before giving birth, I warned you that I was a slacker!

Here are some adorable pictures of our new little guy. He is pretty much a twin of his older brother Asher. He was born May 19th at 7:20am via c-section. He weighed 6lbs 13oz (the smallest of the 3 kids I gave birth to) and was 18.5 inches long. Now that he is almost 3 months old he is weighing over 14lbs. He has some tummy issues, the doctors think he has acid reflux. Poor little guy. But other than that he is doing wonderful, growing big and strong and developing his own personality.

In other family news...Bailey has moved back to Utah! I'm so excited about that. He is starting the 8th grade this year at Canyon View Middle School. Hard to believe he is 13 years old now...a TEENAGER! YIKES! I think he is most looking forward to the winter so he can learn to snowboard this year.

Other kid updates: Jadeth is living in St George when he isn't out of town working. James, Jadeth, Jared and Chad all work for the same company and they are constantly out of town working. Right now they are in Bozeman, Montana for two weeks. They are all looking for a new job! LOL Anyway, Jadeth's little girl Jade is getting big and more and more beautiful everyday. Here is a cute picture of them with Connor.

Josten is also living in St George. He is starting another semester of school, at Dixie this time. He is completely committed to working out and staying in shape. I wish I had even a little bit of the drive he has to stay fit and healthy. He loves to ride bikes and hike in Zion. He is hoping to get a motorcycle soon, I guess riding James' motorcycle got him hooked!

Jared is also living in St George with his girlfriend Kimmy. They are expecting a baby in about 6 months (I think, I actually don't know the due date). They are both pretty excited about the baby. One thing is for sure, boy or girl, that little baby is going to be adorable with such adorable parents!

Sabelle is getting married in about 3 weeks (September 10) to Chad Smith, her boyfriend of about 4 years. Right now they will be staying in St George but they both want to go to school so I'm not sure if they plan on staying in Southern Utah or if they want to try some place new and exciting.

Asher is getting so big and so smart! We celebrated his 3rd birthday in June. He loves having a little brother. He is constantly giving Connor hugs and kisses. He hates James being out of town, he is a total daddy's boy. He loves singing Mamma Mia (from the movie) and Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 and he loves stealing my Nook to play Angry Birds. He was potty trained until about 3 weeks after Connor was born. He got really sick and since then has reverted back to Pull-Ups. The doctor says that he will come back to it in his own time but its been almost two months and I'm wondering when that will happen...hopefully soon!

Update on me and James: I was suppose to finish SUU with my teaching degree this December but with the pregnancy that pushed me back. I was going to take a few classes this semester to get back in the swing of things but I'm debating that now. Not sure if I'm ready to leave Connor for a few hours a day yet. I should probably make a decision soon because classes start in a week! I haven't been baking a ton, but I do miss it. I just don't have the free time anymore with a 3 month old. One of these days I will get my online cakery up and going but for now I'm happy just spending time with my little ones!

James is working for a large company that builds metal buildings. The work is hard, physically, but I think he enjoys the challenge of it. He hates being out of town so much, but he loves that he gets to work with Jadeth and Jared. When he is home he loves taking his motorcycle out for rides and he is even more excited to do so now that his nephew Kasey just bought a bike too. But the weather will be changing soon and he'll have to park it for the winter....poor James :( LOL

One of these days I might actually change our blog background and post more pictures that I have missed over the last year of my blog absence. However I don't know when that will be. For Christmas James bought me a Passport hard drive. I was so excited to get one, I had tons of files on my computer for scrapbooking and such that was really slowing it down. I transferred all my files, including my pictures, itunes music, webiste info, recipes for my cakery, scrapbooking kits, etc to this hard drive. My computer was so happy to be free of all that "weight." Then a few months ago Asher was reaching up to the table to get a toy and pulled my hard drive down to the floor. It hasn't worked since. I took it to Best Buy and a local computer store here in Cedar City to see if they could pull the information off of it but no luck. They both told me that I would need to send it to a data recovery company to see if they could get the information off of it. I contacted a company I found online and they told me it would cost me at least $400 to get it the information, and possibly up to $1800 if it was difficult to get to. HOLY CRAP!!!! I need to get into the data recovery business because that is outrageous! Needless to say, everyday I try plugging it back into my computer praying that it will register on my computer just once so I can get my information off of it without it costing me $400!

Well there it is...an update on our family. I'll try (do or do not...there is no try!) to keep this thing updated more frequently. But please don't hold your breath!

HUH????

So how pathetic am I? Its been almost a year since I posted anything on this blog. That's just sad and wrong. I could give you tons of excuses as to why I haven't posted anything but I'll save you all the time and just say that I'm a slacker!

Well it's 4:10AM! You'd think I'd be asleep right now but nope...I'm exhausted, don't get me wrong, I'd much rather be asleep then posting to this blog. Being 9 months pregnant has not helped in the sleep department. I get these terrible leg aches which make it nearly impossible to lay still for any amount of time over 2 minutes. I took some tylenol about an hour ago, hopefully I will be going off to dreamland here in the next little while.

Just wanted to post a quick note to let everyone know we are still alive and well (barely). I'll try to get this thing updated before giving birth but I'm not making any promises because who knows, maybe I'll go into labor later today! (not likely, but a 9 month pregnant woman can hope can't she???)