New Years Eve

Watching "The Emperor's New Groove"  w/J

Balloons & Marshmellows in their ty-dye shirts

I love glow sticks! They last so much longer than fireworks or sparklers and less dangerous! They can entertain J long after the glow has worn off too because he likes to make chains out of them and find as many things around the house as possible to wrap them around. These next pictures were tricky to get, the flash on the camera would be so bright you couldn't see the glow from the glow sticks, but when I turned the flash off the pictures get blurred, nice color though!

The Mango doing the tango

Thanks to thebump.com we now know the baby on the way is approximately this big:

Week 19: Mango
Average size: 6.0 inches, 8.5 oz.
Vermix caseosa is coating baby's skin...

I can feel some of the baby's movements now, though it's still difficult to differentiate from other body functions sometimes.

And we are so excited for next week when the baby will be approximately this big:

Week 20: Banana
Average size: 6.5 inches, 10.6 oz.
Boy or girl, genitals are fully formed...

We will get an ultrasound on the 8th of January and find out the gender for sure, though Nate and I think we know what it is.

We are making plans for a baby diaper shower where we will do a gender/name reveal.

Sweet P and Daddy

I hope it won't sound too much like we are picking favorites...

When we had J it was during a time that was pretty stressful for Nate. He was working long hours, driving a long commute and had not started taking medication. We had not yet identified the signs of depression, the sleepless nights, racing thoughts and quick to feel attacked in a serious conversation.
J was our first child and I sincerely wish that it had been more cause for celebration for Nate. Often times having a baby in the house led to more irritation.




Things have changed so much in the past 3 years, different work, medication, and a different life style.


This time with Sweet P has been different. Nate gets to enjoy all the cooing and cuteness that I enjoyed with J and it is so endearing for me to watch. I'm sad that J didn't have the same daddy from the beginning.


Recently it was so fun to see Nate and J to go sledding together. Like a genius, I didn't take any pictures. I fully expected Nate to get wet and tired and want to go home after just a few runs down the hill. Instead he was like a big kid that begged to stay longer and put off other errands for another day and J was happy to be with his daddy. It was a bonding time for them that I will treasure and look forward to many more.

Playing together

Winter Wonders

The lights from Freedom Blvd shining on the snow and icicles

A close up of the icicles outside our kitchen window

The icicles, heavy snow laden branches, and a street light through our kitchen window

The moon shining on the icicles

One fantastic sunset that literally looks like a painting but it's REAL!

The tree and the train as seen from our balcony

The cute little house across the tracks from us

The trees outside our kitchen window

Christmas

J's photo with Santa
Taken at the Security Home Mortgage Company Christmas party!
The jolly fat guy was actually played by none other than our very own loan officer!
"Hello J, what do you want for Christmas?"
J says nothing but reaches for the candy cane he's been waiting for...

J with Buddy the Elf
Our home finance company is seriously amazing! They had a Christmas party today, with free pictures with Santa AND Buddy the elf (from the movie)! They had mint brownies, white chocolate chip cookies, red velvet cupcakes, crayons with coloring pages, and a basketball toss for the kids. And they actually started early enough that Nate was awake and we could go!

What Christmas morning should look like :) Our christmas was actually not quite like this. In recovery from all the excitement of chrismas eve the kids weren't actually in the new PJs, neither of us wore our robes and the day was spent just eating the goodies from our stocking and playing the nintendo games that Nate and I gifted ourselves.

Thanks to this gift from Grams and Gramps Blake our stocking goodies were very tasty! We had 2 flavors of non-msg beef jerky, 7 different flavors of all-natural fruit leathers, some sugary delicious dried mango, some freeze dried bananas, some raisens, some wheat free/rice free chocolate chip cookies, and some hot cocoa. 

And after the kids were in bed for the night, Nate and I made ourselves feel posh,
 in our robes and goblets full of Martinelle's Sparkling Apple-Grape. Yum.

Sweet P asleep in the car seat. So precious!

J is silly about the Christmas hats, wants to wear them ALL the time.

Christmas Eve

J opens new PJs

Sweet P opens new PJs

J 

Nate's ty-dye Dragon shirt 

Lynn's ty-dye Butterfly shirt 

J's big present

Sweet P's big present

Sugar Cookies

Nate's sister, Meili, came to stay with us for the weekend. We had fun together, playing games, talking, watching Netflix. Saturday evening Mei was having a major sugar craving. We just don't keep much ready made treats in our house, it's my way of avoiding too much sugar... The more I have to work to make the treat the less likely I am to eat what I don't really need.

But for her sake I went on safari and found a recipe that we had all the ingredients for...
The recipe was called "sugar cookies" and it called for 9 cups of flour, among other ingredients.

I knew right away that it would be a huge batch... I really should have cut the recipe in half but it had been a long day and my brain could NOT handle numbers (I tried). So we made the recipe with 9 cups of flour.

Poor Mei. I don't think she knew what she was getting herself into when she suggested we make cookies. I helped preheat the oven, pull out the ingredients, measure the right amount and mix the dough. I had Mei wash the pans and do all the spooning out the dough, putting the pans in the oven and putting the cookies on plates to cool. Pan after pan after pan...

In the end we had 3 gallon size zip-lock backs FULL of "sugar cookies."

They would have been better with icing, which I actually tried to find another recipe for but I didn't have any of the right ingredients, so I settled for having a glass of coconut milk with my cookies. The texture of the cookies themselves was more like a sweet bread. We were a little disappointed since we both like a cookie that is a little more moist/gooey. But over all the flavor was good and we got our sugar fix...

Does anyone want some cookies? We still have some...

A testimony

Speaking with a family member that was a convert to the church as a young adult, she mentioned her daughter who she is now striving to raise with a love of the gospel: "I didn't grow up in the church, so I don't know what it's like... How was it for you?"

I still don't KNOW it all... And if you are one of those that is questioning wether or not you believe, if you feel like you don't know....

I think the interesting thing that we all need to realize at some time in our lives is:
Progression is eternal. We are ALWAYS LEARNING. It's never going to come to us all at once. When the Lord's millennial reign has been completed this earth shall be rolled up like a scroll and become a Urim and Thumim. It will contain all the knowledge for us to learn throughout eternity.

As the Lord revealed the restored gospel to Joseph Smith, it was not all at once. The Lord sent multiple messengers to a boy who was willing to seek out a receive the truth. The Lord taught Joseph through the scriptures, which then inspired other important questions. Along the way the Lord revealed truths about the priesthood, baptism, tithing, and eventually temples

All the knowledge in the universe has to be taken in a little at a time. Understanding comes with age and putting our knowledge to the test.

For me my testimony has come little by little. I would say there has NEVER been one BIG BANG in my life that made me realize YES I BELIEVE IT ALL! And I think it is likely the same for many converts. They may meet missionaries, or members of the church, hear about principles of the gospel, read the Book of Mormon. RARELY, if ever, does it happen from the beginning that they just KNOW it is all true! They have to come to believe as the spirit touches their hearts. Even at baptism they may not have a testimony of everything about the gospel, but they act on faith. The members raised in the church have just had a little longer to work on learning those things for themselves... And are still learning.

Individually, you must learn. You must question the Lord...
Pray to know Him. Pray to know His truth.
Pray about the teachings of the gospel a little at a time.
Pray to know if the scriptures are true. When you know that...
Pray to know if Joseph was/is a prophet. When you know that...
Read the manuals and the conference talks and learn about how the Lord calls prophets
Pray to know if President Monson is a prophet. When you know that...
Learn what the Lord expect of the men and women of the church, learn how the Lord uses tithing, learn about temples and what happens there...
Learn! Pray!

...Try it out. Often times our testimony of what is right come by trying to do what we have been taught and it brings joy to our lives. It usually isn't the kind of joy that makes you giddy or shout out loud, but a peace in your heart, knowing you have tried to do what is right and feeling the Lord is pleased with you. A peace you would not find if you have learned about the truth and choose to live a different life of sin and sorrow.

Faith is an action. It is showing we are willing to believe, even if we aren't sure in the beginning. And after we have shown faith, the Lord will answer us.

J builds a bridge

J love to take the pillows from the couch and build mini forts... His uncle Sam was visiting and we were all surprised when J suddenly tried to crawl across his bridge of pillows, fully expecting it to hold his weight. We decided it was funny enough everyone else needed to see, yup, gravity still works!