If I Listen With My Heart

Steven is now a sunbeam in Primary, and he absolutely loves it.  I think one of his favorite things is singing time.  Also, the primary choristers gave out CD’s to all the kids with the songs they’ll be singing this year.  The first song on the CD is called “If I Listen With My Heart.”  Steven asks for me to play it all the time, and he absolutely loves it.  I’ve had so many feelings lately that I’ve wanted to blog, and the title of that song was the best thing to describe my feelings.

I often wonder sometimes why the Lord has given me what I’ve been given.  I especially feel this way when I have friends or family go through trials that I want to be able to take away from them so they don’t have to feel that burden.  I’ve felt this way when I have friends that want to badly to have babies, but their bodies have things that make that difficult for them.  We got pregnant with both our kids within a month of getting off birth control, and so many times I’ve wanted to be able to say to my Heavenly Father that he can take that ability from me for a time and give it to them so that they can be able to bear children.

There are so many other times as well, but I recently found out someone very dear to me is expecting her first child, but just found out that she won’t be able to raise her baby here on this earth once her sweet daughter is born in June.  This particular incident has hit me harder than I could ever imagine.  When my sweet nephew was stillborn seven years ago, that affected me a lot, but my mom said something about it affecting you more after you’ve had children.  A few weeks ago I discovered what she meant.  My heart continues to ache every time I think about it.

As I’ve pondered and thought about why we’re given what we’re given, the answer I received was probably something everyone will receive one time or another, but it still was what I needed in my heart.  The Lord knows us what we need, and He puts us where we are for a reason! I am where I am, because this is where I can serve the Lord the very best.  Other people are where they are at because that is where the Lord needs them.  Righteousness does not always mean that you’re never going to struggle with anything.  Each of us has special talents and feelings, so He puts us where we need to be to help other people feel His love.  Or, He may have someone that only we can help along the way because of what we have experienced.  As long as we continue to strive to live the way He wants us to live, He is going to use our best talents to best help His work.

When I was in high school, I heard a talk where John Bytheway quoted a poem that I wrote down, and still reflect on often.  I found it here.

My Life is but a weaving
between my Lord and me;
I cannot choose the colors
He worketh steadily.
Oft times He weaveth sorrow
And I, in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper,
And I the under side.
Not til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the Weaver's skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.
He knows, He loves, He cares,
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives His very best to those
Who leave the choice with Him.

Recipes, Recipes, Recipes!

I only remembered to take one picture this week of my recipe madness.  So, I’ll start with this amazing homemade chicken pot pie recipe given to me by my good friend Christina. ( I encourage you to check out her site not just for the fabulous Thanksgiving Point giveaway she’s doing.  She amazing in more areas than just cooking.)

  

Chicken Pot Pie

1/3 C Butter
1/3 C Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/3 C Chopped onion

1 3/4 C Chicken Broth
2/3 C Milk
2 C Cut Up Cooked Chicken
1 package of Frozen Veggies
Pie Crusts ( I usually buy my crusts, although this time I did homemade, and they turned out fabulously).

Heat butter over low heat until melted.  Stir in flour, onion, salt and pepper.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth and bubbly.  Remove from heat.

Stir in broth and milk.  Return to heat and heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir 1 minute.  Stir in chicken and frozen veggies.

Place bottom crust in a pie dish.  Pour in chicken mixture and put other crust on top.  Close crusts together and poke a few holes in top crust before baking.

Bake at 425 degrees for 30-35 minutes

 

Sweet and Sour Carrots

1 lb Carrots
3/4 C Sugar
1 tsp Corn Starch
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 C Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Green Pepper (diced)
1 Can Tomato Soup
1-2 C Cubed Cooked Chicken
(I usually just warm up 5-6 chicken nuggets, dice them, then through them in. The first time I put chicken in it my husband praised me for going to the work to bread the chicken. HA!)

Peel, slice, and cook carrots in salted water.  Drain

Mix other ingredients into a sauce. (Mix sugar and corn starch first, then add other stuff)

Mix with carrots and simmer a few minutes.

Serve over rice or noodles

 

Creamy Baked Ziti

4 cups ziti pasta, uncooked
1 jar  (26 oz.) marinara sauce
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
6 oz.  (3/4 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed
3/4 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
1 pkg.  (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1/3 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

HEAT oven to 375ºF.

COOK pasta in large saucepan as directed on package, omitting salt. Remove from pan; drain. Meanwhile, add marinara sauce, tomatoes and cream cheese to same pan; cook on medium heat 5 min. or until cream cheese is melted and mixture is well blended, stirring frequently. Return pasta to pan; mix well.

LAYER half the pasta mixture in 13x9-inch baking dish; cover with layers of sour cream, 1 cup mozzarella and remaining pasta mixture. Top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.

BAKE 20 min. or until heated through.

The Happenings

Since my camera flash broke a monthish ago, I haven’t taken many pictures at all. (Obviously….)  It’s been a good month.  This gorgeous princess turned 13 months old last Sunday.

She has now just started standing up to things, but then cries because she can’t figure out how to sit back down

Her vocabulary mainly consists of “mom” “da"  “dr” (Drink) and “ba.”  Although, she has said “up” and “book” a few times.  She jabbers constantly, and seriously sometimes it sounds like she is saying “I want this” or “I want that.” She is definitely not quiet.

She’s figured out stairs, which has been kind of a fun adventure.

She absolutely loves her daddy, and loves to laugh.

Steven has been introduced to the amazing art of fort making.  He says fort like a hick, so it sounds like he says, “Let’s build a fart.”  We chuckle everytime.  We’ve had some good, bad, and ugly forts. :)  It’s a joyous occasion.

  

Also, I’ve been doing learning labs with Steven (Daily learning activities).  He is way into the letters of the alphabet, and can sound out most of the letters now.  Putting them together is a whole different story, but we don’t mind.

He has started asking “why?” after almost absolutely everything.  I knew this stage was coming, but am not sure I’m ready for it.

He also loves getting into trouble with Lillie.  The other day I came back downstairs after doing something only to discover that the two of them had unloaded a full container of wipes and a full box of tissues.  Joy. 

He just wins his way into my heart daily.  Yesterday it was raining, so he asked us why it was raining.  We told him that Heavenly Father decided that we needed rain that day, so he gave it to us.  He seemed satisfied with that answer.  Later in the day, we were out test driving mini-vans.   The sales-dude was sitting in the back seat behind Steven and Lillie who were in the middle seat.  Darrell was asking the sales-dude if the bad weather had made service slow for the day.  Sales-dude proceeded  to talk a little bit about it, and somewhat complained about the weather.  Steven was quick to reply to his complaint “Heavenly Father gave us the rain.” Yeah. Pretty sure that shut the sales-dude up pretty fast. :)

Happy New Year!

Yeah, so this post is a little late. Who cares, right?  :)  I was just sitting and reflecting on what a great start 2011 has had so far!  Mostly for journaling purposes, I want to reflect on what the first three weeks has brought to me.
Of course, as the new year rolled in, I set my resolutions, which included the generic ones:

• Get to the ideal weight for my height
• Read the scriptures 30 minutes a day
• Become a more patient mommy
• Be a more optimist mommy and wife
• Take time for myself
• Exercise 5 days a week
• Make it the temple once a month

But really, with the generic, basic goals, it’s been an amazing year so far, and I’m already more positive about life! 
I’ve been going to a killer aerobics class in the mornings with ladies in my ward, and it’s so fun!  I’m starting to feel more buff, and despite the stupid scale telling me I’ve gained 3-4 pounds (I’ll blame weaning and muscle building), I’ve lost inches and am starting to fit into my “skinny” pants more comfortably. And Darrell asked me if I’d lost weight.  We’ll skip the actual stupid scale results here, smile and thank the husband.
I went to Bunko about a month ago -(which had the most AMAZING fondue bar I’d ever experienced, but that’s another story)- but my prize there was a gift certificate to get a hair cut and a manicure.  I’m now now longer sporting split ends, and I’m trying out the side-swept bangs look.  It’s taken some getting used to, but still fun.
That was one up on getting an excuse to take time for myself. 
The same week I got my hair cut and my hands pampered, I hemmed some pants for my neighbor, who just so happens to own the Toe Chateau, where she does foot stuff (i.e. pedicures).  For hemming the pants, Jenni then gave me a pedicure!  Cue feet feeling ready for a new year.
Then, today I went to the dentist.  As fun as that sounds, I was cavity free, and now my mouth is ready for a new year!
Another random thing; I took my wedding ring in for it’s annual cleaning and re-rhodiumed (Whatever that is). Anyway, my ring now looks brand new again, and is also (you guessed it) ready for a new year!
With time for myself, I’m hoping to take a cake decorating class, experience zumba and/or spinning, and I have three 5K’s on my list for the year, possibly even a half marathon.

The scripture reading goal has also, so far, been successful. I’m feeling the Lord carry me through the stressful, ornery times of the day, and I feel more like somebody that I’d want to hang out with.  I also feel the He is helping me see the sunshine a little bit brighter on the plain old great days. 
Darrell and I were able to start off the year with a date to the temple, and it was an amazing session of just feeling peace and knowing that my Heavenly Father is aware of me, and knows I’m trying my best each day.

Now, to look to the rest of the year!! The GMAT is a “maybe” on Darrell’s list for the year, so I’m going to support him and help him in whatever he needs to do for that.  Also a new (to us) minivan purchase is on the horizon.  So exciting!  Hopefully we’ll throw some exciting vacations and/or outings with the family to toss some extra fun into the mix.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Lillie’s Birthday Party!

First off, the sad part of the story.  On Thursday, Lillie’s birthday, I pulled out my camera to take pictures.   Once I started taking pictures, I realized my flash is either broken or burned out (same thing?).  That was sad.  Also, if the light is not very optimum around now, my camera will not take good pictures at all. Super sad story. 
The good that comes from the bad: 3 different people (My dad, My father-in-law and my sister) bring great cameras to Lillie’s party and take dozens and dozens of pictures.
  The hard part of the story.  Selecting the BEST pictures to put on the blog from her party :)  Hence, you may get too many, but oh well:)

 

Saturday the 15th we had Lillie’s party!!  We had grandparents, some aunts and uncles, and a couple friends here to celebrate! (About the max amount of people we could fit comfortably. :))

 

Lillie was ready for a fun fun day!

 

My good friend, Ashley, and cake making extraordinaire, came a little early to help me put the cake together.  I had never done a fondant cake before, and so she helped me out a lot!  It was definitely a lot of fun!   

Lillie was happy and ready to party!

Once we got her on a sugar high, it was time for presents! She definitely got spoiled, and we had a lot of fun!! Hooray for birthday!

Can’t believe it’s been 1 year already!

Thursday our little Princess turned one!  This has been quite the year for us, and she has just made it all that much better!  From her amazing arrival, to being the light in the days that were rough, to her spontaneous constant laughter, to her fun personality, we love everything about her!  I took her in for pictures on her birthday, and am slightly grumpy that I can no longer share them on the blog and facebook through JCPenney’s new format.  If you’re interested in seeing the fantastically darling things, click HERE.  (It’s just a slideshow).

I took her in yesterday for her 12 month well-child visit, where she got stats and, of course, dumb shots.  Glad they’re over.  Here are her stats, and some pictures to see just how much she has grown over the past year:

28.25 inches long – 24th Percentile
19 lbs 9 oz – 23rd Percentile

(Pictures of the celebration coming soon)

    

More Christmas

We always try to get together with our families over the holidays.  This year on Christmas we headed to Richfield to party with my family.  I just took a few pictures to show how much fun 39 people have when a reason to party occurs :)

 

Steven and his “Best buddy” Tait

 

Lillie was getting into everything, so Darrell put her in this box.  It proved to be very exciting :)

We also had a delightful New Years Eve dinner with my fam, and a wonderful New Years Day with Darrell’s family.  I’m a little sad to be done with the holidays.  They were so much fun with my kids.  At least we have all the loot to keep us entertained for a while :)

Christmas Morning!

This year, for the first time with our little family, we had Christmas morning at our own house.  It was exciting to start this tradition, especially since it was our first Christmas in our house.  We had to wait forever for Darrell to wake up before we went down to see what Santa brought. But thankfully, it was worth the wait. :)

Steven got tools from Santa, and was excited to get to work!

 

Lillie got Beads and a dolly.  She has always loved beads.

 

A yummy Christmas morning breakfast!

 

We all got BYU jammies for Christmas.  On Christmas Eve when Steven opened his pajamas, he disappointedly said, “it’s material.” and tossed them aside.  IT was hilarious.  We showed him they were actually pajama pants though.  As you can tell, he was thrilled about a picture.

 

Opening present.  Steven’s cousins gave him some Buzz Lightyear wings, which he LOVES! Lillie also got some great toys.