I'm Back...

So I decided I'd venture back into the blogging world. Life's been crazy lately and things will start to really calm down once Christmas is done with. But I think I'm ready to BLOG again. So first, here's the story on what's been going on in my life over the last few months (and the reasons behind why I needed a BLOG break).


To start off I got one of these back in October:

(for the uninformed...that's a positive pregnancy test)

Which means I became very well acquainted with one of these:

Seriously, I've been sooooo sick. It was pretty much unbearable, but the morning sickness seems to have passed and I'm feeling a bit better. Tired, rundown, frumpy and frazzled...but better!

But before the morning sickness hit (which, FYI, was less then a week after the exciting news - blech) I was able to make Hailey this cute little shirt.

It took me HOURS! I'm not going to lie. Those angel wings on the back there were a labour of LOVE. I designed, cut out and ironed each little piece on...one by one. Hours of work - and it's not even perfect. But it was pretty cute, Ben loved it, the family love it, and Hailey will never be allowed to wear it again. That's the problem with spending too much time on something, I'm too worried it will be destroyed by my little toddlers shenanigans, and I can't risk losing something that cost so much of my time. So it was sort of a one time thing.

Then a few days later we celebrated the much anticipated HALLOWEEN! Am I late on this post or what? Anyway, our darling little Hailey was an elephant...with a pink bow. I think she was pretty cute...and I'm not biased at all.

She wasn't too sure of the whole thing at first...

But when she saw that there were treats involved, she changed her mind pretty quickly...

And was happy enough to let me pose with her for one shot.
Then right around this time Sarah (my baby sister) got engaged. And a few days later picked a date...6 weeks later. So the whole family went into a mad wedding planning frenzy. All at the same time Becc (my older sister) had a baby. My mom is still somewhat sane after all this...and I'm not sure how.

In the beginning of December we all took a break from planning the upcoming nuptials and went to Alisa's (Hailey's cousin) Birthday Party. Hailey had a blast!

Although I did see a lot of this face.

But overall she had so much fun!

Pretty much the rest of the month (and all of November) was spent at home...on my couch...watching my baby grow up and do silly things.

She did a lot of individual playing...and watched lots of tv...and I did lots of moaning and groaning and puking and sleeping. Good times.

So then later in the month (i.e. this last weekend) Sarah Got married...to Nick! They make a beautiful couple!

So here's the scoop on their wedding...they got married this last weekend. And if any of you have been here in Alberta, you know the weather was in the minus 20 range. Brrrrrr. So they ended up cancelling their photographer and decided to come back in a few weeks and take picture then...when it's warmer. But you can't just NOT have wedding pictures of your wedding day, so I was lucky enough to snap a few. THey turned out pretty good...and if I knew anything about editing pictures they would be a LOT better, but over all I'm impressed...mostly that Sarah was out there in her short sleeved dress. Brrrr.

But...because this is my BLOG I'm allowed to say this. My absolute favourite part of it all (besides Sarah finding her eternal companion and all) is that Hailey got the cutest dress out of the deal. Cute hey?

Ok, there are better pictures of her dress...like this one with her dream parents...seriously I think she loves Nate and Tan more then Ben and I:

Oh and then of course, this kid loves her Candy.

And finally, another one of the happy couple because they are just too cute together.

And that's it. That's what I've been up to lately. I'm looking forward to Christmas and all the fun it will bring. And then I'm really looking forward to the break we get after Christmas. Ahhh, I'm sooooo excited!

Time for a little BLOG break....

Things have been a little crazy around here lately, and I'm just generally feeling overwhelmed. So, I think I'm going to take a little break from this Blog. It's honestly the last thing on my mind these days and I come to it with nothing but dread and frustration. So out of fairness to my...uh... ONE reader (hi MOM!) I'm just going to announce a little hiatus. This way you don't have to waste your time checking to see if I've updated. I'll be back soon I promise...like in a month or something close to that.





See ya! And Until then, enjoy this little taste of paradise. This is where I wish I were (was?...I'm not sure on the proper grammar here - oh well.)

Bookworm Tag..and I'm it!

So my Lovely sister in law Tan just tagged me for this little game. I believe I followed the instructions right. Pick up the nearest book (not favourite or most intellectual), turn to page 56, and copy out the 5th sentence...and the following two. So here it is:





And so once more to circular Quay in Sidney, where Governor Phillip and his straggly, salt encrusted band stepped ashore two centuries ago. I was back in Australia after a trip home to fulfill some other work commitments and to prepare for my real trip - my present trip - and now I was back and feeling, I have to say, pretty perky.



I obviously only wrote two sentences, because the real first sentence was part of an entirely different paragraph and didn't make any sense. Not that the above quote made any sense either...but it's better then what I should have written:


"Look what he left behind."


Would it have made sense to you?? Didn't think so.



So, this little excerpt is from a book by Bill Bryson and it's called "in a Sunburned Country".


It's an amazingly funny little book about Bill's travels through Australia. We read it last month in book club and I foolishly didn't finish in time. So I've been working on it for the last few days. I'm almost done...and I highly recommend. However, I'll have to warn you, it's pretty meaty - which means it's definitely not a quick or easy read. But it's a fun read...and can be read in little spurts. 5 minutes here 5 minutes there. I enjoyed it....for the most part. I'm still a fan of books that I can read in one day. I like to skim books and was so frustrated when I had to go back and thoroughly read through entire sentences and paragraphs. Who does that? Not me that's for sure. I think I would like a Reader's Digest condensed version of this book...something that highlights all the funny stories but lets me finish in a day. But then again, I'm not sure that's even possible with this book, because it's all good. Oh well.


So that's it. I choose not to tag anyone specifically because I don't have enough blog readers to tag. So if you read my blog...please do this!

Thanks

Thanks for all your encouraging replies to my last thread. You know how sometimes you just read other Blog's and all you can think of is how perfect they are compared to yourself? Well I was having one of those days...or weeks...well actually lives. But whatever.

Anyway, I will post my Bun recipe soon. I really will. My friend Emily gave it to me months and months ago...and I sort of didn't write it down very clearly. Trust me, it's a guessing game every time I make the buns. They turn out really good each time...but I'm not sure how to explain the thought process that went into my recipe. It's all in 'Meagan Shorthand' and it would take hours to explain to you on this BLOG. So, I'm going to go through the recipe again and find away to make it easier to explain. Or...maybe I'll just ask Emily for it again.

So until then I'll just share more stories from my life. First of all, I'm not sure if I made Ben out to be that great of a husband. Well I guess a good husband is one who lets you buy whatever you want for your Birthday...but a great one wouldn't make me go out two weeks late to pick up my own gift which was supposedly his idea. But really, he is great. And to prove it, he brought me home these flowers:

And then because things were even, and he wasn't comfortable NOT being in the Doghouse, Ben pulled out this fancy contraption.

I can just hear my Mother in Law laughing right now as she looks at this picture. It's the train set that Ben's dad had when Ben was growing up (and maybe even before that)...and even though it's cool and all, the kitchen table is not my idea of a good place to set it up - permanently. So I'm 100% sure Ben's mom is laughing right now because she finally got rid if it, and now knows that I have a life time of trying to keep it out of sight.

And then Finally, Hailey now belongs to the tu-tu club. Unfortunately (or fortunately - depending on how you look at it) she doesn't belong to the "my mom is crafty and made me this tu-tu" club. Oh well. Actually I was planning to make her one - but then my friend Laura posted pictures of her Girls in some really cute tu-tu's...so I asked he if she could help me make mine. And she so kindly informed me that she bought her tu-tu's. GASP!!! A stay at home mom bought tu-tu's for her daughter?? No. But it's true! I guess she did some calculating on what her time was worth, how much tulle is, and how long it would take to make a tu-tu. In the end, it made more sense to buy them off Etsy rather then make them herself. And she's super crafty, so if she decided it's not worth it making her own, then I will agree. And that's what I did. I bought mine off Etsy and I couldn't be happier. So here are a few shots of Hailey the other day...this was a bit of an impromptu photo session - so there are no real amazing shots...not that there would be even if I planned it. But they're cute still. Enjoy.

I'll post pictures one day...

But I'm really just to unorganized and lazy to do it. My house is a mess....as always. Hailey's napping...so I could clean it, but I decided to work out and play on the computer instead. Oh well. That's just the way I am. I'm sort of half thinking about making dinner, but we might just eat buns again. At least they're home made buns - my one redeeming stay at home mom quality right now. I'm not super crafty, I don't sew amazingly well, I don't cook all that often, I'm not a good organizer, I never do my hair or makeup anymore, and I don't think I'm very much fun with Hailey, BUT I do have a very yummy bun recipe that I make occasionally, which I'm pretty sure is exactly why Ben and Hailey keep me around.

It was my big 25th Birthday a few weeks ago. Which I thought was a pretty big deal - but actually turned out to be less then that. Oh well, that kind of thing happens when you get older. Anyway, Ben didn't get me a present....which was surprising because he made that mistake 5 years ago and has not lived it down. So I thought I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and assume a present was on it's way. So I did the normal patiently waiting type activities....like watching out the window for a UPS driver to deliver my present (who did come 5 times in the last few weeks but always to my neighbour's house); checking our bank and credit card statements daily for purchases (which was a waste of time and only had me stressing about fiances in general); and finally reminding Ben every day that it was my Birthday exactly __# of days ago and I still hadn't seen a gift. So you can tell I'm a pretty patient girl. Anyway, the other day I was at Costco and noticed the KitchenAid mixer was on sale again...and then I noticed that we'd got our Costco money in the mail...which made me think of the most wonderful....uh...Christmas present idea for me. So the next morning I decided to drop a few very subtle hints for Ben about said Mixer and my Birthday/or Christmas present. I said something along the lines of "so because you didn't get me a Birthday present I decided I want the KitchenAid mixer right now". Subtle. The funny thing though is Ben's face suddenly lost all it's colour....he looked up from his bowl of cereal (remember, I'm a good housewife), and asked if I was kidding. Um of course.....not. Why would that be a joke? Well as it turns out, the reason Ben didn't get me a Birthday present was because he was waiting for the Costco money to come in, and then was waiting for the Mixer to go on Sale. So he had good intentions and I managed to spoil them. Oh well, it worked to his advantage because he then decided he was too busy to buy it himself and sent me into Calgary to buy my own Birthday present...two weeks late of course. Ahhh, married life.

Anyway, that's my life right now. Really exciting (sense the sarcasm???). But I do have a shiny new KitchenAid on my counter and we're all eating some really delicious buns. Just don't get me started on the whole Bosch vs KitchenAid thing. I think a KitchenAid sale at Costco with free Costco money beats the $500(plus) I'd spend on the Bosch. And I really don't need to make 15 pounds of dough at one time....at least at this stage of my life. So cheap(er) KitchenAid it is.

My current Favourites

I've been eating lots and lots of yummy dinners lately (maybe that's why I can't lose those last 5 pounds). Anyway, I thought I'd just share my favourite three recipes right now. I have lots of favourites, but these are relatively new to my list - so I'm loving them so much. Ok here it goes:

Chicken Tetrazinni - this recipe comes to me courtesy of Ben's sister Rebecca; it's easy, delicious, and super kid friendly (i.e they don't even notice the veggies)

1 Box noodles (i.e. spaghetti, vermicelli, etc.)
*cook according to direction on box (i.e. boil)*

1/2 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup chopped onion
3T butter
1 T minced garlic
*saute in frying pan for 3 minutes*

2 cooked and chopped chicken breasts
1 can cream chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk or cream
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
*add to veggies in frying pan...cook until warm throughout*

*Toss chicken/veggie sauce with drained pasta and serve*

Rustic Ratatouille with Chicken strips - this recipe is courtesy of my Sobey's magazine. Seriously, straight from the grocery store - and still super yummy - and pretty easy. It's less kid friendly - but in our home, Hailey will eat anything we give her. So it still works.

3T oil 1 onion chopped
*fry in large saucepan for 5 min*

1 cup Chopped eggplant
3 tsp dried 'garlic and roasted pepper' seasoning (you may not have this exact one where you live...but try something similar)
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
*add to saucepan - cook for 3 min*

1 cup chopped zucchini
*add to saucepan and cook for 5 min*

1 796 ml can diced tomatoes
*add and bring to boil...simmer until juices are thickened*

3 cups baby spinach
*add and cook for 3 minutes *
*Serve over chicken breast, or strips or nuggets....whatever you have. A

Substitution: I don't always add fresh spinach when I make it, sometimes I throw in frozen stuff, it's just as tasty

Cranapple Chicken Curry - this one's also from the Grocery store magazine, but is sooooooo delicious. Try it.

1 TB oil 1 Onion chopped
1 TB curry paste
1/2 tsp each Salt and pepper
*Cover and cook for 5 min in a deep skillet*

1.5 pounds boneless chicken thighs chopped
*add to curry mix, saute until brown and bring mix to boil*

1 TB flour 1 medium apple chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 796 ml can diced tomotoes
1 cup Coconut milk
*Add to chicken mixture - stir well*
*reduce heat and simmer until sauce it thick (20 minutes)*
*Serve over rice*

Substitution: I used precooked chicken breast instead of chicken thighs (I always cook a TON of breasts and then freeze them in strips to use later...totally time saving idea!!). SO it was easier to just pull a pack of precooked chicken out of the freezer

Anyway, those are my current favourites. I like these recipes because they are pretty much just one pot dishes. Everything goes in the same pot - just at different times. It totally saves on cleaning and helps with the organization. I hate it when there are too many things going at once on the stove. Anyway, I highly highly recommend you try all of these. And then maybe next month I'll share a few more favourites.

Multi-tasking already??

So I caught this little video of Hailey the other day. Does it get any cuter than this? Seriosuly, girls these days are growing up way too fast! Before I know it she'll be texting on her cell while speeding down the highway. Anyway, enjoy - and please ignore my talking. I was trying so hard to be quiet so Hailey didn't notice me - instead I ended up sounding creepy. oh well.

Calgary Temple

So Big news here hey??? We're oh so excited to get a temple close to home....although it's making me think twice about leaving that part of Calgary - we could have been sooooo close to it. How awesome would it be to be a 5 minute drive from the temple? Well, at least I have free babysitting withing 5 minutes! Hi G-ma and G-pa:) Seriously, it doesn't get much better then that. I'm sure my parents will be grateful for the end of my campaign for getting them to move to Cardston....because now we don't need them there to babysit, we need them HERE!! Yippee!

Anyway, here are some pics of the site.

http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/calgary/construction/

Can you imagine how gorgeous this place will be?? I'm so excited!

Free Stuff!!

Does it get any better than this??

http://www.handbagplanet.com/

Just give your name, email address and refer a few friends. It's as easy as that! And I'm going to win...I just know it!

I'm so Important

I really am! The other day I was trying to explain this to Ben after I realized that our clocks were all 10 minutes behind. This is how the conversation went:

Me: Hey Ben...I just figured it out. Our power must have gone out right around midnight and then come back on ten minutes later because all our clocks are ten minutes behind.

Ben: hmmmmm....interesting (said while trying to ignore me and read his Diesel Magazine...who reads diesel magazines anyway??)

Me: I'm serious, it's really important because now I know why I've been late all this week

Ben: Late for what?

Me: All my meetings!

Ben: Meetings??

Me: You know, like my tv shows, the mid afternoon nap, etc. I've been ten minutes late for all of it. So now I know.

Ben: Wow.

So there you have it, another glimpse into our lives. Fascinating hey?

Anyway, here are some recent pics. Hailey is constantly amazing us with the funny and silly things she does. Here are some examples:

Her favourite place these days...the bottom stair. Looks like a blast to me!

Her favourite thing to do...talk on the 'phone'. She must have just heard some bad news or something. (by the way, that is a calculator she's holding. I'm not sure what that means....mathematical genius? or phone addict?)

Oh my goodness. I can NOT forget this picture. I think I just walked in on her talking to her boyfriend or something. I am going to remember this face cause I KNOW I'll see it again one day.

Every once in a while we have a day like this....actually more often then not. But it's still fun!
She loves her baths...she loves her ladybug towel...she loves standing at the door and dreaming of playing in basement full of dangerous things that she's not allowed to touch.

And Finally....She LOOOOOOOOVES bugs. Ewwww.

Proof!

So, I wrote about it...and finally here's proof that it happened. I really did change out my parents 30 year old toilet. In fact I think the date stamp on the inside said 1974...a date I could only dream about. I definitely was not in the picture when this toilet was made or installed. Anyway, here's the evidence:

My 'trying to hold back the puke smile'

Busy at work

Hailey thought she'd come and whip me into shape...slave driver

Oh and some more pics of Hailey Courtesy of GW (grandma W):

Typical little kid - if she doesn't make eye contact with you, you can't see that she's doing something she's not supposed to. Sound logic there.

A little privacy please?

Oh...check out those cute toes in the above pic. ture. We've been LOVING painting her toes lately. Is there anything cuter?? I might just have to get her a pair of these:

http://www.heelarious.com/index.php

You know I'm kidding right? Kinda.

Speaking of feet (sorry to all you podiaphobiacs). This little picture is also courtesy of GW...notice Grandma's un-polished toe in the very bottom of the picture? Notice Hailey's pure disgust of the unmanicured foot? Yep, she's my daughter. Grandma...we know you have some great Polish - now slap a coat or two on! Hailey's a little afraid of unpainted toes right now.

Hailey faces

Ok...so it's pretty obvious that Hailey is full of personality. Anyone that knows her knows to watch out or you might just get chewed out by this kid...literally too. But in all honesty, I've never seen someone able to tell and adult off without saying anything understandable. For example...on Sunday I was talking to the ward Chorister who mentioned that he heard I was his new boss (I'm the ward music director). Anyway, me being miss humble me, replied that I wasn't sure if boss was the right word. At that moment, Hailey, who was happily strolling the church hallways, stopped dead in her tracks looks up at the chorister and yells "akshee see is". Umm what? Did she just give that guy some serious attitude? You'd better believe it. Everyone in the hall was laughing because first of all it totally sounded like she said "actually she is" and secondly, cause she totally told him off. Wow. That's my daughter, and sadly enough, I know exactly where she gets it. Hi.

Anyway, here are a few pics of Hailey that I've taken of the last month that really show her personality.

At Arbor Lake - Hailey's "you lookin' at me?" face

Hailey's "mom, if you snap that picture, I'll, I'll.... snap too" face

Her "I'm still mad at you about this life-jacket thing, so don't even try to take another picture" face

Her "I will not smile or pretend I'm happy to see the camera" face

Hailey's "like I said mom...I'm so done with this camera thing" face

And finally, my favourite of all time...her "I LOVE this slide" face

Our last month and a bit

So August was kind of crazy...we went out of town twice, and we did LOTS of hanging out with the family and friends. Then I went back to work (As you know) for two weeks. And then somehow September snuck up on me. Did you realize it is now September 18th? Where did the last few months go? Anyway, here's a little picture journal of the last little bit:

So, we had a few really great days in August - which were spent lounging out by the pool. And when I mean pool, I mean this classy little blow up thing: Cool hey?


Hailey loved it...almost as much as she loved her beach wagon.

However, I think there's a pretty close competition between the pool and Hailey's new bike. She is IN LOVE with this thing.

G-ma and G-pa W bought it for her and she pretty much gets a ride on it everyday. Lucky kid too, she doesn't even have to work for it. Kids, these days. Why, when I was a kid...I had to pedal my own bike around - uphill both ways...in 5 feet of snow. You get the picture.

Let's see, sometime in August Chris and Lauren bought a little aluminum fishing boat and motor...and in typical big brother fashion, Ben could not be outdone. So...he went out and bought one too. We took the boat down to Montana with us for the long weekend and Ben spent pretty much the entire time trying to get the thing running again. The only comfort Ben could find in that situation was that Chris was dealing with the same thing. Their boats died the same day...they spent all weekend fixing them...and then got them going again on our last day there. How perfect. Anyway, we took it out for a little spin on Flathead lake...just so Ben could prove to me that it wasn't a waste of money. Believe me...he's getting his money's worth out of that thing. Seriously, I'm a fishing widow these days. So here's a pic of Hailey and I...and a self portrait of the fam (which is harder then you'd thing - hence the funny smile)

Then when we came back from Montana I started work. My mom watched Hailey for a few days and then Tan watched her for a few days. I'm SOOOOO grateful to have them around. It would have been utterly unbearable if I didn't have family watching her. Anyway...the camera had a few weeks break during those two weeks because I was too tired to lift it out of the bag. Man I forgot how tiring it could be to sit in your office all day staring at a computer. It wiped me out!

Oh...we also went to Heidi's First Birthday Party...cute kids hey??

And finally...here is Hailey's latest favourite thing to do. Cover her head with the laptop case and run around. Classy.

Oh my gosh...I can NOT...absolutely Can NOT forget about this:

We were sooooo lucky to get to see this a few weeks ago with this wonderful couple! We had a blast and totally LOVED the show. Thanks so much for inviting us a long Lisa. I 'heart' Cirque du Soleil!