MARK!!!

I am so proud of my Mark lately. He is working so hard to better himself and his career so he can be a good provider for the home. Mark was so blessed to fall into this Devon job of his and instead of taking it for granted he is finding ways to try and advance even further at his job. The past two years he was taking a course at night through the college called Gas Processing Operator or in short GPO. It was kind of boring but passed with like a 3.9 GPA. Through finishing this course A very part time job opened up at the college this year were he took the course to teach it. He applied not knowing if we even had any kind of a chance. This Tuesday the college called him and informed him he had the job and can start prepping for classes right away. Not only will this be a great opportunity for him and look great on his resume. It will help bring in a little extra income once I am not working. Mark has also started taking a Petroleum Engineer course by correspondence through NAIT this September. He was really scared and did not know if he was smart enough to pass and had the motivation to do it all on his own. He finished the first course in May and a couple of weeks ago got his final grade of 93%. It is going to probably take him 6 years to finish his Petroleum Engineer course because he can only do one course per semester, but when he is done it will give him the opportunity to have a salaried monday to friday job. I love this man so much and don't even now how to think him for everything he does for our family. The Lord has blessed me with an amazing husband and best friend.

PICNIC TIME!!!!

This Friday night date night involved a picnic at our local ball diamond. Mark the other day asked me when are we going to use that $40 picnic basket again. So this past Friday night when he got home from work I had it all ready to go. The cutest were the puppies and watching them run around in the open field chasing the birds. After the feast we threw a ball around for a bit then headed into Lloyd for some garage sale hunting and birthday cake with some great friends. I am over the moon excited for this baby to come, but have to admit I will miss Mark and mine's time we have had together. We are celebrating 7 years together this July and both of us can't seem to imagine what life will be like with a little one running around.

IT'S A....................

I bet you are wondering how we know what it is at 10 weeks, well we don't know 100% but I bought this product called the INTELLIGENDER and it is suppose to be over 80% accurate at predicting what sex your baby is buy week 10. You just mix your first morning pee with this cup of crystal looking substance and the reaction goes a certain color for each gender. We are of course not buying anything due to these results, we just thought it would be a fun thing to do.

Soooooooooooooooo what were the results, while what do you think?




A GIRL





A BOY










It looks like there is a 80% chance we are having a Boy. We are so excited. When we first found out we were pregnant I thought we were having a girl, however these past couple of weeks I have kind of been feeling like it is a boy. So I was not surprised at all when the results said it is a boy. So lets hope in 10 more weeks the ultrasound agrees with the intelligender, because now I am getting so excited about having a boy.

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.