Happy Birthday 1 yr old!

Garrett turned 1 year old on Monday! My goodness this year has gone by quickly. He's almost tripled his weight (27 lbs), learned to walk, jibber jabber, give kisses, and entertain himself (sometimes). He loves to read books, eat toys, make noise, and climb in, over, and on everything. One of his favorite spots in the house is the rug in the kitchen. He loves to have friends over - the more, the better. He likes to try and give hugs and kisses to his little buddies, but in doing so regularly invades personal bubbles/comfort zones and knocks them over with his hugeness. It's all in the name of love though. I am so lucky to have such a happy, rough and tumble little boy. He's going to be a great friend and brother to this next little guy. I am blessed to be able to stay home and enjoy all of these and many other great things about Garrett.

I wanted to make him a special birthday cake (you know, more than just a 9x13 cake with frosting) so I did some internet research and found the perfect idea... a pumpkin cake made from 2 bundt cakes! They make it seem so much easier than it really is. I'll just say that I am again eternally grateful for my very talented husband - without him the cake would have turned out miserably... and that's putting it mildly. I baked the cakes and Jared saved my attempt and decorating it and made this masterpiece! It's almost too cute to eat!
We had some friends and family over Sunday night to enjoy watching Garrett open a few gifts and dig into some cake. I think all were thoroughly entertained. My friend Andrea graciously video-taped the experience and now you too can enjoy from your part of the world his birthday celebrations! Thanks to all those who came. (Okay, I've tried to upload the video twice and each time it gives me an error message... check back later and maybe I'll have figured it out)

Doesn't this next one just say it all?

Sweet Pulled Pork... as requested

SWEET PULLED PORK:

5-7 lb pork loin or pork sirloin roast

3 - 8 oz cans tomato sauce

2 - 8 oz cans of El Pato sauce (I did the jalepeno)

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup water

Mix together and pour over meat. Cook in the crock pot on low for 8 - 10 hours. Shread the meat.

(NOTE: I have a 6 qt crock pot and only had room for maybe 4 lbs of roast, and I only did 2 cans of tomato sauce, a little less than 2 cups of brown sugar and probably 2 cups of water because my crock pot lets water evaporate right out of it (along with the 2 cans of El Pato). With all of these adjustments it still turned out GREAT. So, this is a fool-proof recipe!)

On tortilla put rice, beans (pinto/black), pulled pork, cheese, lettuce, dressing, and crunched tortilla chips for some added crispiness. YUM! There you go. Happy crocking!

CILANTRO RICE:

4 cups white rice

1 cube of butter

1 cup chopped celery

1 medium diced onion

1 bunch cilantro chopped

zest and juice of 2 limes

4 cups chicken broth

1 tsp salt

Melt butter and add all of the remaining ingredients. Cook according to the rice package. If using a rice cooker, use 1 cup rice to 1.5 cup liquid.

And if you're really ambitious you can make the green tasty dressing (I just bought it from Costco... the name had "Cilantro" in it, it was very green, and only cost $2.50)

SPICY RANCH DRESSING:

3 fresh tomatillos

1/2 juice of lime

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup mayo

1/2 cup sour cream

1 pkg dry buttermilk Ranch mix

1 cup chopped cilantro

5 green onions chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

4 tsp sugar

Blend in the blender until smooth

ATTENTION!

By the way, I just saw that Frys has their Boneless Pork Sirloin on sale for $1.69/lb instead of $4.99/lb. That means you save $3.30/lb!!!! This meal is great for big gatherings because it's super easy and way cheap if you buy the meat now. Now that I think about it you can feed about 40-50 people for like $15.

7 Random Things…

1. We don’t sleep with a top sheet at our house. I can’t stand having my feet restricted and I think it’s too much work to tuck it all back in when making the bed. Luckily Jared doesn’t mind sleeping without one either. I never sleep with socks on my feet unless I’m camping and it’s below freezing.

2. Like many others, I am nearly always barefoot and when I’m not the only shoes I wear are flip-flops. I have realized though that I have a strange habit of propping up each of my baby toes on the neighboring toe when lounging. If you get a chance to hang out with us when we’re watching a movie or just visiting, steal a glance and you’ll probably witness this strange habit. Weird… I know. Oh, and I always have a self-done french manicure on my toes. It's the only paint job I can handle. Anything else is too much. And I NEVER have my fingernails painted.

3. I don’t consider myself a good housewife – probably because my husband is a better cleaner, cooker, seamster (that’s my version of a male seamstress… is there a word for that?), etc. I am super lucky!

4. I hate being hot, but I don’t think I could survive in a place that has tons of snow - or any. I've never driven in the snow and think that if I had to I would be the driver going 2 mph. If our house gets any warmer than 76 degrees, I start sweating. My favorite temperature is upper 60’s to low 70’s.

5. I am crazy about Christmas. I don’t know what it is this year, but I can’t stop myself from starting early. I’ve been listening to Christmas music nonstop for the past month (but only when Jared is at work because I don’t know if he’s ready for that yet). Last night I watched “Miracle on 34th Street” – a favorite of mine. I frequently think about when certain Christmas decorations are going to go in my spacious house. I just bought a nativity two days ago and it totally made my day.

6. I am a “To Do” list junkie. If I don’t write it down, it probably will never happen. And I love having the satisfaction of crossing things off the list that are accomplished.

7. I have to have air movement when I’m sleeping. The ceiling fan is always on high and we actually have an additional floor fan that points directly at the bed at night. I think that low hum of noise helps too.

8. Okay, I know it says 7 random things, but I thought of another one... When I’m not stuck wearing maternity clothes, my closet is organized very particularly. Dresses and skirts come first. All of my shirts are hung on white hangers facing the same direction in the colors of the rainbow with blues on the left (I don’t know that I own any purple) and reds on the right. Then come all my jeans, and they are hung on black hangers. As for my shoes they are also organized by color and then within that color, style.

Okay, that was the first time I’ve been tagged… it was kind of fun, but probably took way too much brainstorming and energy than it needed to. Hope you enjoyed. Now I’ve got to pass on the tag, so watch out!

I was tagged by Salsa Mama

A Day at the Park...

The projected high for Monday was 80 degrees so I thought it'd be fun to take Garrett to the park since he can walk now and loves to get dirty. I invited Andrea and Caleb to come along and then we picked up Savannah for some fun at the park too. We enjoyed some fruit smoothies from Jamba Juice, sat in the shade of a big tree, played in the sand (Garrett ate some sand), and enjoyed the "cooler" weather.

Happy Birthday Jared...

The big 29! In the 4.5 years we've been married, I've never really done anything special for Jared's birthday - no surprises, sometimes not even a cake, and most of the time no present because he's already bought his own birthday present before I have a chance. So, I decided I'd try a little harder this year.

On his birthday eve we and our friends Jared and Andrea went goofy golfing and out for ice cream at Marble Slab. I got 5 hole-in-ones! One time Jared and I both got hole-in-ones! Woo hoo!

His family came up from Tucson for the day and brought him green corn tamales for lunch - a FAVORITE of his. Then for dinner I made him a super tasty meal - basically the pulled pork salad you can order at Costa Vita or Cafe Rio. The recipe makes enough to feed an army so we had quite the birthday gathering that night feeding 22 people. There are still leftovers to feed that many again. After dinner we enjoyed not one, but TWO oreo ice cream cakes (one was Mint Choc. Chip and the other was Cookies and Cream).

Jared was under the impression that there were again no gifts this birthday because he just purchased a bunch of stuff for his truck and also his up-coming hunting trip. I gave him a meager card that said at the bottom he would find a present hiding in the 2nd bedroom. His eyes lit up as he went to find it. He unwrapped a complete horseshoe set - a favorite game of his and great for camping.

His night was topped off with a round of scorpion hunting - only found one tiny scorpion hiding deap in a crack in the wall. He met his demise by way of the blow torch of course.

Thanks to all who came and helped us celebrate Jared's birthday - I think it felt like more of a special day this year. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED!

New Couches

Our new leather couches were delivered last night finally after 8 weeks of waiting. It was kind of a scary purchase since it was done online without having the opportunity to sit on them. But we loved the style and the 2x3" leather swatch and you couldn't beat the price for a 4-piece set. The sofa, loveseat, chair and ottoman look great! There was some damage sustained in shipping on the chair and we're in the process of seeing what can be done. I'm looking forward to when the leather is worn in and it gets progressively more cozy!

Jared's Army...

So Jared has really been uneasy about our scorpion epidemic. He bought some scorpion spray that "kills on contact," borrowed a black light, and went scorpion hunting every other night. The only thing was that the spray didn't kill the scorpions... it only paralyzed them for 10 seconds and then they'd be on their way again. Jared was not a fan! So he decided to purchase a blow torch to do the job. Let's just say that was more successful than the spray! None of the exterminating companies can really guarantee that they'll kill the scorpions off because no spray does - they just try to get rid of all the pests that they feed off of. Again, Jared wasn't impressed. So he took it upon himself to do some research. Geckos LOVE to eat scorpions supposedly and any other pests (cockroaches, spiders, etc). So, he went and purchased an army of geckos, 50 to be exact, and set them loose around the perimeter of the house - especially where he'd seen the scorpions when he went hunting. Happy feasting Geckos!

Do you feel loved?

I found this quiz through another's blog and thought I would take it. I remember taking a similar quiz at EA in the Marriage and Family Institute class before I was married. Back then my two main love languages were quality time and touch. Here are the results after 4 years of marriage. Strange how things change...

The Five Love Languages

My primary love languages are probably
Quality Time and Words of
Affirmation.

Complete set of results

Quality Time:		9
Words of Affirmation:		9
Acts of Service:		5
Physical Touch:		5
Receiving Gifts:		2

Information

Unhappiness in relationships, according to Dr. Gary Chapman, is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. Sometimes we don't understand our partner's requirements, or even our own. We all have a "love tank" that needs to be filled in order for us to express love to others, but there are different means by which our tank can be filled, and there are different ways that we can express love to others.

Take the quiz

4 weeks and counting...

It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone with this pregnancy - at least up until this point. I've officially reached the "I'm so uncomfortable, can I really make it until the end" stage. I didn't reach this point with Garrett until 2 weeks til delivery. My entire pelvic region is so sore! At night it's the worst - trying to get sleep is near impossible sometimes. They tell you to sleep on your side, but that just makes my pains worse. I've tried sleeping with a pillow between my legs, but it doesn't help and it actually wakes me up more. The only position that I can find some minimal comfort is laying on my stomach (which is amazing for being 8+ months preg... it's all because of our fabulous bed) - but I feel like I'm squishing the baby if I try to sleep like that. So, I'm starting the countdown. Now my days remaining are in the 20's - that is if this little one comes on his due date. 29 more days!

I went to Banner Gateway to get a tour of the maternity ward... all I can say is it's AMAZING! Since it's so new, there's no nausiating "hospital smell." It actually smells quite refreshing in there! The rooms are nice and spacious and there's a sleeper couch in the post-partum rooms! All of the nurses were super friendly and excited to see us too. That makes a huge difference. Anyway, I'm getting more and more excited. It's so crazy to me that I went through this just a year ago - I can remember most details so well. So last night I dreamt of labor experiences and the overwhelming joy that floods into your heart when they lay your precious newborn baby on your chest for the first time. That's my favorite part. I can hardly wait! That's when you remember that it's so worth it and it's a shame we ever complain about the aches of being pregnant. I should be more grateful. I'm so excited to have another little baby. I can't wait to see what he looks like and what his personality will be. Looking back, so much of Garrett's personality showed through when he was brand new. He was so awake and alert and inquisitive of the world around him.

Garrett's growing up...

Okay, so Garrett is growing up so fast. He's already 11 months old and I'm just 5 weeks away from my due date. I think it's starting to really set in that my one-on-one time with Garrett is slipping away. In ways it actually makes me kind of sad. Have I made the most of our time together? Have I read him enough stories? Cuddled enough? Sang enough songs? Played enough? I know I'll still get to do these things, but my time and energies will be split. Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited for our next little boy, but it makes me wonder if I'll miss these days and regret not having done more.

Garrett is learning to walk. He started showing signs of interest a few weeks ago, but he is doing it more and more. I'd have to say that his primary mode of transportation is still crawling, but his walking episodes are lasting upwards of 15 feet sometimes. Go Garrett!

This picture is from mid August so he's only 9 months here, but I had to share. He's just too cute and I love this new Sunday outfit (although it's already getting a little snug because it's only 12 months).