Love my Life

Life comes with its ups and downs but I feel very blessed and just take it one day at a time!

Sugar Cookies

This week Ty bought me frosting from my favorite bakery and I decided to make cookies to put them on. I let sugar help me decorate them. Don't mind her crazy hair, she had pigtails in the day before.


She sure got a lot of frosting out of the tub, but not that much ever made it on the cookie


Her finished product.
I don't know how it got by her eye
This picture has nothing to do with Sugar cookies, but I just think she's adorable.

Updates

Ever wonder what happens to a golfer who has been holed up all winter and still can't get out? This:
He puts on shorts in 40 degree weather and practices his swing outside. (He hit my kitchen light earlier this year, so he can't do his full swing inside the house anymore)
I've never been so excited for Spring. I don't even like this season usually but if Ty doesn't get out soon, he's going to send me to the loony bin. Okay, it's not that bad, but we'll all be happier when golf season is here. (But then I'll probably complain about him being gone golfing all the time. :-) jk
Look at this angel Luckily Sugar has been able to play with her cousins lately. She is doing great with the baby. Occasionally she's a little rough, but she hasn't lashed out at all. She loves when we sing songs and has even started singing some of the words to a few songs. Sugar is expanding her vocabulary daily and we're currently trying to teach her the First Presidency and the Quorum of the 12. So far she knows about 7 of the 15. We have 4 weeks to learn them so she can identify them during conference. :-) She is so much fun and I'm really trying to give her enough stimulation and attention. It is really tough and a hard learning process so far. Hopefully I can start doing a better job balancing everything.
The baby is doing great. At 3 weeks she weighs 10 pounds 9 ounces. Yes a pound up from her birth weight. Obviously she is a great eater. She sleeps well also, I only feel exhausted about every 3 days or so. She has been more alert the last couple days which has been really fun. She tolerates Sugar's loving her well. She almost never cries and when she does, she only cries out once and then she's done. She is such a joy and time is already flying.
Sugar is pretty independent and sometime she comes out of her room with crazy things on. She loves hats recently.
Last week Sugar started putting socks on her hands. I have no idea why but she is obsessed with it and does it all the time, it's hilarious! She still uses her hands like normal.

Enjoy these additional pics:

My little girls all dressed up for church

Chicken Lasagna

So my sister got this awesome new casserole cookbook. I was looking through it and found a recipe for chicken lasagna. I've had lasagna noodles since one of my bridal showers so I decided maybe I should use them up. I made it yesterday for supper for my parents and us, it was super easy which is a necessity for me. Here's the recipe:
Chicken Lasagna

9 lasagna noodles

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2/3 cup milk

2 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

18 slices process American cheese

Cook noodles

In saucepan on medium heat combine milk and soup, remove and add veggies and chicken

In greased 13 x 9 baking dish. layer three noodles, a third of the soup mixture and six cheese slices. Repeat layers twice

Cover and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 5-10 minutes longer or until bubbly.

Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.

Yield 9-12 servings.

I made a couple of changes. Since we went to church yesterday I browned the chicken and then put it in the crockpot with the soup, milk and vegetables and some extra seasoning. I also used a monterray (spelled wrong)/cheddar shredded cheese instead of the american cheese. I served it with rolls and salad:
It wasn't the most amazing meal I've ever had, but it was pretty good. Everyone seemed to enjoy it so I'd say it gets a positive rating from me. Let me know if you try it and what you think!

Naptime

I love my children. I really do but I also really need naptime. Not necessarily me taking a nap but the little ones. I really love that time to be able to take time to reload. I can read, watch tv, sleep, shower, workout, clean, etc. I really utilize the time I have to myself. Well, today Sugar decided she can climb out of the crib and hurt herself. She really needs a nap so I decided we all needed to lay down and take a nap. We've all been sick and the baby needs to sleep upright so she can breathe easier. They both fell asleep on me. I know this is a dark picture but look closely:
Sugar is on my hip and the baby is on my chest. It wasn't the most comfortable position for me so I couldn't sleep and the remote was too far away to reach so I had to watch the credits to Madagascar. Luckily I had a brought a book back with me. I'm sorry I needed to vent. Days like today just really make me grateful for routines and regular naptimes. I am grateful staying at home gives me the flexibility to adapt to the needs of the family.

Happy Valentines Day!

We had a fun day as a family today. Filled with lots of love! Everything is going great here. Hope you had a great day!

She's here!

This was taken today, but let's start from the beginning:
Yes, I know I look like death. Give me a break, it's called labor for a reason :-)
A proud Daddy
So happy to be moving to our recovery room!
Our new family!
Sugar has been so great and tender with the baby.
I'm surprised she didn't come out holding a golf club, knowing who her dad is!
Getting ready to leave the hospital
Yay! We're home!

Our precious little peanut is finally here! She made her grand entrance Thursday afternoon, all 9 pounds 9 ounces of her! I did not think she was that big. I thought she was less than 8 pounds. Anyway, here's the story from the beginning. We went in on Wednesday night to ripen my cervix, because NOTHING was happening. I was trying to avoid being induced with pitocin (because it was invented by the devil) so I was willing to try whatever else I could. After three doses of that I started to contract on my own! I was very grateful. No pitocin was needed! After 8 hours of labor, I was ready to push. I was amazed it only took 15 minutes to get her out. Everything is going great and we are so happy to have her here. We have had so much help and support from our families, it has really helped make this such a great experience.