I like food, food is good.

So lately, being inspired by some blogs and of course Pinterest, I've been trying to make new things. I came to the realization after Abby was born, I suck at cooking. Before I was pregnant, we ate out a lot and when I did cook it was always the same. When I was pregnant, I avoided cooking like the plague due to the fact I ruined everything or got sick on everything, so when it came time to stop using the pregnancy card I realized that I really didn't cook a variety of foods.

Like I said, I suck at cooking. But with a little practice and easy recipes, I have become pretty good if I do say so myself. (but I guess you would have to ask Sam) I've tried many new recipes, but one of my favorites so far would have to be the Honey Lime Enchiladas, found in my new ward cook book. I'm really picky with what I cook. I usually don't like what I make, but these? These were different. I loved them. They are on my top 5 favorite things I've ever made. And they are SUPER easy.

1 1/2 lbs of pork or chicken, cooked & shredded. I used pork and cooked it in the crock pot just in water for 10 hours. I didn't know what else to use besides water and it turned out perfect.

1/3 c. honey
1/4 c. lime juice
1Tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 can (28oz) green enchilada sauce
2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded
10 (8in) flour tortillas.

You combine the honey, lime juice, chili powder, and garlic powder to make a sauce, and poor it over the shredded pork or chicken. Let it soak in the spray for 30 min. (I didn't think the sauce would cover all of it but it did. I would stir it midway through because the juice goes to the bottom of the bowl and those pieces of pork were a little more flavored than the rest of it.) Then you take a 9x13 baking pan and lightly spray it with non-stick baking spray. Pour some of the green enchilada sauce into the pan, just enough to coat the entire bottom. Fill tortillas with shredded meat and some of each cheese. Roll and place seam down in baking dish. Pour the remainder of the enchilada sauce over the enchiladas and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 min. Then you broil it for 1-2 minutes until cheese on top is slightly brown and crispy.

I will definitively make this recipe again. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

6 Month Abby Mae

Holy Canolei! My little baby girl is already half a year! This is a huge marker to me. This past 6 months of motherhood has flown. I swear I just brought her home, and now she learns something new every day.

Abby loves to grab at things, especially faces. Particularly when she is falling asleep or eating. When I lay down with her to take naps, her little hand just grabs my face as she falls asleep. I love it. Even when Her nails dig into my face. It makes me smile. Also, she loves to sit on the counter in her bumbo while I cook/clean the kitchen. As she sits there, she is constantly grabbing anything and everything within her reach.

Abby can roll over...even if she doesn't do it much. In fact, I've only witnessed it a handful of times. When I put her in tummy time, she is fine for a little bit but then when she gets tired of it she will just cry and give up my burring her face into the floor.

Attempting to roll over, then giving up.

Abby can now sit up very well. I however, will line her spot with pillows seeing as now we have hard wood floor and when she falls down, it really doesn't feel good I'm sure. (I think its the crying that gives it away) But she loves to sit up and play with all her toys.

She also loves her bouncy toy. Best buy I've ever done. A gal in my sisters ward was selling it and I bought it for $15 bucks. She used to not be so sure about it, but now that she can touch the ground and jump around, she loves it and will sit in it for so long; I can actually get stuff done!

Abby is also constantly talking and cooing. She talked me right to sleep today and eventually fell asleep herself. She is also laughing easier. She used to be a good smiler, but was hard to make her giggle. Now she is always giggling at us. She is finally realizing what a dork her parents are. She hates wearing shoes, but loves to chew on them, (threw her first taker-her-out-in-the-hall-type fit Sunday when I tried to take away said shoe). She doesn't mind baths, unless they are in the big bath tub without sitting in her little one. She will whimper the whole time I give her one. And unfortunately for her mommy and daddy, Abby still likes to party in the middle of the night. Like last night. Mostly though she sleeps really well, so I can't complain. And speaking of sleeping, it looks like she takes after my side of the family, much to Sam's dismay. That's right, she also sleeps better with a fan. Yesterday after I woke up from our nap, I didn't turn off the fan and she slept for another hour and a half. When I did go in to turn it off, she was awake within two minutes. Looks like we'll have to purchase a fan for her room.

She also gives hugs and kisses-I swear. The best feeling in the world is when I'll pick her up from my sisters and she is so happy to see me. I'll pick her up and she wraps her arms around my neck and puts her mouth on my face. Perhaps she is just trying to taste me, but I swear they are kisses!

Just some snapshots of her on Saturday

Abby likes most the new foods I've been trying, minus green beans. She's tried carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, and on her half birthday she first tried bananas, and now she has also tried Applesauce. She also has her daddy's morning eating habbits. It's really hard to eat her in the morning, unless it's nursing. But she will ALWAYS gag on her cereal, no matter how thin, and is constantly getting distracted. She definitively eats better at about 11 and later.

Lastly, Abby experienced her first real snow storm and I think that she loved it!

Oh little Abby, You make me the happiest mommy on the planet. I'm so glad you're mine forever! But please, stop growing!

Things That Must Go: Walmart Edition

My favorite morning radio show has a segment every Wednesday called "Things That Must Go." Today, although it has been quite a nice day, has had a few annoying things happen, particularly at Walmart. Really who is surprised though, it's Walmart right?

So here is my list of Things That Must Go: Walmart Edition.

1. The bumpy entrance walking into Walmart. Abby typically falls asleep on the drive over, and I prefer to keep her that way while I'm shopping. The bumping on the way in shakes her up and wakes her up. Every. Single. Time.
2. When leaving an isle, you have to stop and look both ways or else you'll get run into by other carts. 
3. The narrow isles make it so its hard to pass people. Perhaps Walmart needs traffic lights?
4. The cute $5 jeggins I found in the baby department were 12 months and up. Sure, she will eventually fit into them, but I'd prefer her in them now.
5. The fact that I pick the wrong checkout line 9 times out of 10. Either the cashier is super slow, the customer has tons of coupons, or they are both idiots. 
6. The cart returns. Really? Can't you have more? No wonder people leave their carts everywhere, because there are no cart returns near your car. 
7. The produce bags. Again, like with the cart returns, they don't have enough. Today I wanted peppers, but there weren't any bags by the peppers.
8. The fact it makes me grumpy to go there, but I'll never stop because it's so affordable. 

And other little tidbits that must go today, that aren't related to Walmart, but just happen to bug me.

• Our missing Netflix DVD that we've had for a month and haven't watched. I swear I put it on the TV stand and it isn't there.
• My new flat iron, that is broken. I love the thing. Never before has my hair been so straight in such a short amount of time. And now it won't heat up. Thank goodness for a warranty.
• The fact that pay day isn't till next week. And we are poor.
• Related to the flat iron, my frizzy hair.

There you have it. My long-winded list of Things That Must Go.

Happy Friday!

Oh What a Night

Sunday night was the night of nights. My friends from SUU came over to our house for a GNI. Well a GNI plus Sam and Landon of course; the thorns amongst the roses. I haven't seen most these girls for probably about 2 years, maybe more. Which is a shame seeing as everyone, except Mel, live close by. It was so much fun seeing everyone, seeing how they have all changed: careers, different hair styles, new phones (of which I am particularly jealous) babies. We've all come a long way since our days at Stadium way. Apts 28 and 29 were the best. It just seemed like yesterday when we all gathered in one of our apartments and made Sunday dinner together before heading off to a fireside.

 I made some homemade pizza and everyone brought a little something to share. We just spent all night passing around the babies, talking, and eating.

 Abby particularly enjoyed flirting with Landon. Despite having a shy mama, that girl knows how to use her womanly ways.

Landon isn't used to such flirting.

And then...

How can Abby help herself? I mean, do you see how handsome Landon is?

And just because it's fun...

There's no doubt and there's no maybe

The two of us finally had our babies!

Guess it's nap time!

Enough said.

Here's to happiness dos.

Last Sunday, a member of the bishopric gave a talk about happiness. In it he told a story about a young man. The young man kept saying when things would happen, then he would be happy. Things like "the MTC is hard. When I'm out in the field, then I'll be happy." "Here I am in the field. When I'm a trainer, I'll be happy" and so on and so forth.

I realized that too often I do this to myself. When I lose some weight, then I'll be happy. When we have more money, then I'll be happy. When I can be a stay at home mom, then I'll be happy. But the truth is, unless I'm happy right now, whose to say I'll be happy then? Now I'm not saying I'm an unhappy person, but I do tend to want things I don't have.

Remember when I wrote this segment about happiness? Well I figured it was time to do another one. So here you have it: Ten things that make me terribly happy.

Jess, Jess, Mel, Tif, and Erika

1. Our Lord Of The Rings marathon. Nothing (except Harry Potter) brings out the nerd in me more.
2. The fact that being a nerd now-days is actually pretty cool.
3. Our beautiful wood floors we have in our house.
4. Hot showers taken when Sam is home so I don't have to worry about Abby.
5. I get to see all my best friends from college a week from today!
6. My new elastic-waisted fat jeans that are actually skinny jeans. Yes. Elastic waist.
7. My new hot boots husband picked out. And my new hot slipper boots
8. Wearing my good old reliable green ninja turtle sweats up as high as they'll go.
9. Sams smoken hot beard. (that sadly he has to shave tonight)
10. Crazy baby Abby eyes as she plays with her toy.

Happy New Year!

Picture taken well before midnight.

So, what I thought was going to be a lame New Years Eve, ended up being a really fun night. We ended up going to dinner at Chili's with some friends, and hung out with them for a while. When it was Abby's bed time we came home, got her to bed, and continued with our Lord of The Rings marathon. Sounds pretty lame right? It wasn't.  We both downed a liter of Mexican Coke and enjoyed each others company. At midnight we had our New Years kiss, some sparkling cider, and continued on with our marathon, both falling asleep shortly after. Simple and perfect.

I've had a lot of great years in the past. 2001 I met Sam. 2004 I graduated high school and Sam and I realized we were more in love then ever. 2007-2008 I was in my prime coolness and not to mention my prime shape as I was away at college for some of the best times of my life. Also in 2008 Sam came home from his mission, and we were engaged. 2009 we got married. But I think 2011 has just about topped them all.

2011 we really became grown-ups by first buying our house. Having a house is truly a blessing. And slightly frustrating to be honest. I can't keep it spotless like I would like, and we still haven't fully unpacked, (someday) but turning my grandparents home into ours has been a lot of fun. And I'm pretty sure my grandparents visit us from time to time to see how we're doing.

But obviously the biggest life changer: the day we became parents. I can't hardly remember my life pre Abbigale Mae. It's like I didn't really have one. Every month since she was born has brought more and more joy into our lives. Sure it's been a challenge, but mostly just great.

Other small happenings in 2011:

• My grandma died in January, making me a grandparent orphan
• Sam turned the big 25. And his horrible wife didn't even get him something cool, but did get herself a swimsuit on his birthday.
• May we celebrated our second anniversary at The Anniversary Inn in Logan. A little pricey, but we knew it would be our last anniversary without a child so it was totally worth it. (it was also our last get-away with just the two of us.)
• I threw up every week in 2011 till Abby's birth.
• Besides Abby born in July, I turned 25 and had two baby showers.
• I quit my long time job at Zions Bank and got a new job as a Teachers Aid in the day and I clean the temple some nights. 
• We made up for our horrible costumes of Barbie and Ken last Halloween, and did Popeye and Olive Oil this year.

Yes. 2011, you were so good to us.

In 2012, I hope to:

• Lose weight/become healthier.
• Read/understand scriptures more.
• Continue with household projects/organize all our junk.
• Learn how to cook better.
• Get back to attending the temple at least once a month
• Slow down and enjoy the little things of life.

Lets get this started 2012.