THE WIND!!!!!!

The first time I heard this song, it's beauty filled my heart and has been and will always be one of my favorite song's to listen to. At a time with all of these tragedies happening in the world how can we not look and be grateful for everything we have been blessed with. The knowledge and understanding that we have that we will return and live with our Savior and family again someday is beautiful. Cat Stevens is a musical genius and his lyrics not only with "The Wind" but many others like Peace Train inspire me to want to do more and be more at this time in my life. I hope I can always remember that no matter what happens in my life just having the gospel is enough, and should be enough to make me eternally happy.

THERE ARE BUNS IN THE OVEN.... AND

a baby on the way!!!! Word is getting out so I thought it was finally time to post about it on my blog. We are still in the first trimester and living day by day and praying everything will be okay. We have had a couple of scares but I had an ultrasound at 7 weeks and the baby was dating were it needed to be and there was a beautiful heartbeat. I am 9 1/2 weeks and the baby is Due Dec 14th. We are over the moon excited and I can not thank my Savior, my husband and our Family and Friends enough for everything they have done. My Savior for making this beautiful baby and answering our prayers, my husband for being my rock as this has been the scariest 10 weeks of my life, and we still have many more to go before I stop being scared, and my friends and family for your prayers, your fasting, your hugs, the meals we have received as I have been on bed rest, and just the increadible support I feel from all of you. I still try and not let myself get to excited but as we get closer and closer everyday to that due date I can't help but smile and think of our beautiful baby. So here is to the start of a new chapter in our life.

CIRCULAR PUZZLES!!!!

You can only watch so many movies before you go crazy when you are on Mandatory bed rest from your Doc. So Mark being the sweet husband he is brought me home a puzzle to occupy my time. It definitely helped and was probably made in record time. I must say a circular puzzle is so much fun, but very difficult as well as there is a ton of pieces in the puzzle that are like edge pieces but are not. I might send Mark to buy another puzzle today to help pass the time.

THINGS I DESIRE!!!

I am bored to tears right now so this blog post is really just something to occupy my time, so it will probably be very boring and really only for my enjoyment.

1. A house totally done. we have been living in this house for almost 4 years this summer and still our basement is not developed and the upstairs is nowhere near looking the way I want it to look. At this rate it will probably be finished by the time we are ready to move.

2. A Husky, I know that sounds crazy as we already have two dogs and a cat, but they are so beautiful and have been on my list of things to have since I was 10 years old.

3. NO DEBT!!!!! I hate monthly payments they tie you down so much. every extra cent we earn right now is getting our small line of credit payed off from some stupid purchases and our truck payment. I can't wait to be debt free except a mortgage by September of 2012. At least that is the dream.

4. A 1 year food storage. Mark and I finally invested in some food storage items in March, and it got us excited to keep going. Our goal is to spend $100 every 6 months on items from the Church Food Storage and one item every time we go grocery shopping. I can't believe how quickly our small supply is already growing.

5. A job where I can work full time, but not have to manage. I know if I wanted my full time job back at superstore I would have to go back to managing, which is the last thing I want to do right now. I love love love not being the Manager, but I hate only working about 28 hours a week. It was nice at first but the extra money would really help right now, plus I find with more free time I spend more money to occupy my boring life.

6. A Baby Bullet!! A what? this really cool blender from the makers of magic bullet where you can make your own baby food. Seriously watch the add it is lamest commercial ever but the coolest baby making food tool ever.

7. A vacation, someplace hot where all I do is relax in the sun and drink Pina Coloda's and Virgin Strawberry Daqauries all day.

8. a long hard run. It sucks not being able to exercise, running is like a high for me and not being able to do it totally sucks.

we'll there is about ten million other things but most of those are very vain and wordly, and seeing as I don't want to look like a total selfish human being I will stop there. plus when I think about those worldy things, like clothes, cars, shoes, purses, makeup, and many more I realize how much I have grown this past year, as in the end I desire way more to have the house done, all our debt payed off, our food storage built up, and some money saved for a rainy day. When if you would have asked me 2 years ago or later what was more important I would have probably said the clothes, cars, toys, and vacations. I love growing and maturing you really see what is important in life.

SHEPARD'S PIE!!!

Meal #4 turned out great and delicious and something I have wanted to try making for a very long time but was so scared as I thought I could never do it as good as my Mom. We'll I can't say if it was as good as my mom's or not but it was delicious, and pretty easy to make.

Ingredients:
4 large potatoes, peeled and
cubed
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
5 carrots, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 pound lean ground beef
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ketchup
3/4 cup beef broth
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash. Mix in butter, finely chopped onion and 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste; set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add carrots and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, mash and set aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C.)
3. Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add onion and cook until clear. Add ground beef and cook until well browned. Pour off excess fat, then stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add ketchup and beef broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Spread the ground beef in an even layer on the bottom of a 2 quart casserole dish. Next, spread a layer of mashed carrots. Top with the mashed potato mixture and sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

AND THE WINNER........

By a landslide is Marky Mark. We both thought he was going to win, as his picture really did turn out better. Even I would vote for his if I did not have my own pic in there. Thanks for all the votes and helping us feel cool.

COLORING CONTEST!!!!

A
B


So Mark and I for FHE decided to re-live the elementary school days when at Easter time you had Easter Bunny coloring contests. However, since it would not work out for us to judge it ourselves seeing as we would both vote for our own, we need the help of others. So if you want in on our fun, vote for which Easter picture you think was colored the best. You can put an A for the picture of the orange bunny and B for the picture of the grey bunny. We will reveal in one week's time who the winner is. But we both think we already know who it is.

KITTEN NEEDS HOME!!!

The other night Mark and I took the dogs for a walk when this sweet little kitten saw us and started following us home. We realized she was not going to stop so we went and knocked on a couple of homes and nobody claimed her. We thought her owners might not be home so we put her on top of a vehicle and then ran to try and get a head start and hope she would not follow us. When we crossed the tracks we must have been about 200 feet away from her and could hear her crying. We then realized something was up so we went back and she immediately came running for us once she saw us. We petted her and realized she was skin and bones and had been abandoned or lost. So we walked home and decided if she followed us we would give her a home in our garage and some food, until we could find her owners or find someone to take her. She is the sweetest kitty ever and for the mean time we have named her Sierra. We let her roam around outside during the day and then bring her into the garage at night. Since she has not left us yet we assume she was abandoned and our putting up a sign at the post office today to see if anyone will take her.

SEWING!!!!

With the help of an amazing friend, and the careful hands of a first time sewer I was able to make this cute little dress. I still can't believe it myself. I love it, it is so cute, the only down fall is that it really shows off my lower stomach issues, so I will have to wear tights that suck in your tummy when I wear it.

SPINICH IN YOUR SHAKE?

This is what my husband said as I should him my Sister-in-Law's blog post on her spinach shakes. While Amber I gave it a try and you are right, you can't even taste the Spinach. The only thing I need to change up was the Orange Juice I used. Next time I will try this Acai Berry Juice I usually use in my shakes. Thanks for the great idea. Others feel free to try it is delicious and packed full of nutrients.

1 banana
about 7 big strawberries
yogurt
ice
some kind of juice
and the all special ingredient spinach,