A few fun pictures

The other night Darren had to go to a campout so Tyler, Ella and I went to my neighbors house to babysit her triplets so she could go on a date.  T and E loved it.  They argued about whose turn it was to hold the bottle and who got read the baby books.  This picture makes me smile.  They both read him a book while he drank.

Saturday mornings are a hot breakfast mornings.  Waffles, eggs, pancakes, french toast... yum!  

Tyler loves to help cook them. But Darren always seem to poison them with adding some chocolate chips in.  The kids love it! I think they love it that I DON'T love it!

And Ella has started to read.  She is excited. And loves to show off to everyone. But has a hard time sitting down and reading the whole book.  No problem... we just read half at a time.  I give most of the credit to that great computer program she does- Waterford Rusty and Rosy.  Best preschool program ever. 

We hope to head off skiing tomorrow.  It is always fun the first day because they kids legs have to remember how to do it and they are TIRED!

The Rest of Thanksgiving Weekend

We had the most wonderful feast for Thanksgiving Dinner.  I love food.  I love food a lot!

Darren learned how to brine a turkey this year.  It was so moist. Pat found THE MOST amazing stuffing recipe in the world.  I put it below so I would never loose it.  Corie brought Lion House Rolls and pies bigger than my head! 

Everett was so ready to eat. This picture made me smile.

 After lunch we headed out for a walk and bike ride.  Good thing or I wouldn't have been able to eat any pie.  I had to make some room. There was some fun soccer playing that happened too.

Grandma and Grandpa Balls slept over.  We watched Hugo with the kids.  Then the next morning we headed up to the Clammy Cyclocross race.  It was so much fun.  My kids love to race around, like their Dad.  

(Tyler loves to take photos. I let him hold the camera and before I knew it he had over a hundred pictures taken)

Saturday we had a big cyclocross race at Wheeler Farm.  It was a great dan because Dan beat Darren.  It was awesome! These four boys have been friends for half their lives or more.  And I really like all their wives.  Score for me!

Tyler and Ella got to race in the kiddycross.  Tyler got second place.  Ella was amazing.  They cant wait for the race this weekend.  

We got our tree up and lights up too.  I was so happy when I came down Saturday morning and saw my kids reading our stack of Christmas books we got out :)

All in all... it was a wonderful weekend.  I wish it could never end.  

Tyler summed it up well when he said with a sad face on Sunday night. Dad, You have to go back to work tomorrow and I have to go back to school.  ahhhhh!

Kneaders Bakery Stuffing Recipe

1/2 cup butter
2 cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 lb pork sausage
2 (14 ounce) chicken broth
9 cups kneaders asiago cheese croutons
Directions:

Place croutons in large bowl.
Brown celery and onion in butter, add pepper and chicken broth.
In another skillet brown sausage.
Pour vegetable mixture and sausage over croutons.
If the mixture is not wet enough add ¼ to ½ cup of water or chicken broth.
Cover and bake at 375° for 25 to 35 minutes.

Read more at: http://www.food.com/recipe/kneaders-to-die-for-stuffing-188209?oc=linkback

Not sure what to do...

I have tons of great pictures I wanted to post of our wonderful thanksgiving weekend. But blogger.com says I have used my 1GB of free blogger space and if I want to post any more pictures I have to start paying for their website... its only 2.50$ a month but thats LAME!

So I dont know if I should change to a new blog or pay to keep using this one. 

SO for now, they let me upload these few pictures and more will have to come. 

We had a great weekend with the Balls family.  It was so nice.  Ella and Grandma made Indian Hats with the cousins. 

Tyler set the table and made a fun turkey centerpiece. 

We played outside. Went on a walk and a bike ride, played soccer. 

Wonderful!

We did have an early Thanksgiving feast at my parents house.  These little girls are bound for trouble.  They run around like mischief already!

A good quote by Abe Lincoln- 

If you look for the bad in others expecting to find it... You surely will.  

School pictures

If I was a school picture buying kind of mom- I would buy this picture in a heart beat!  That is the best smile in the world!  Tyler loves to practice his piano and loves to do his reading homework, because it is his time to cuddle up with me.  I hope he will always stay his sweet kind self!

We went to Parent Teacher Conferences last night.  It was nice to have Darren there who speaks Spanish, since Tyler's Spanish teacher doesn't speak English around students.  Darren said Tyler sounded really good when talking to his teacher.  I loved listening to him speak Spanish! 

Candace's son Michael got baptized this weekend and they also blessed their baby Liesel.  I didn't take enough picture for sure!  

Rachel and Eli came down from Seattle. 

Jenny and kids came down from Pocatello.  

Ella used to tell me all the time 

Mom- I love you because your the best. 

Now she says

Mom I love you way more than my friends. then she says... tell Dad and Tyler too... I love them way more than my friends!

I love my kids!

 We have been doing a lot of this.... raking!  Darren also pruned all our trees and it looks so much better.  But... this means our garbage cans will be full for months!  Ella said yesterday. I am going to be so sad when the leaves are all gone... I love raking them up and jumping in them.

Halloween week

The week of Halloween was great.  It snowed. so instead of making the kids do piano and homework they got to go out and play in the snow.  It wasn't long until they were back in for snow pants and gloves.  

Tyler went on a daddy date to a Real Salt Lake game. It rained the whole time. 

Later, Ella had her daddy date and went out for soup and cookies.  

I got this picture on my phone.  yum!

The kids are doing great at the cyclocross races.  Darren is doing pretty well too.  

Having fun at least!

Ella had a fairy costume and this Belle costume for Halloween.  She loves to dress up. 

We went trick- or- treating to my Grandma Elaine's house. My Aunt Linda took us around to some neighbors homes. They loved it. We loved it!

I loved Renee's costumes. Ben and Renee were the old couple from "Up" the movie. Beth is in the front with her scouting badges and a cute backpack on. And Ruth is in the background with balloons tied to her head for the house.  

Tyler was a doctor.  Nothing fancy. 

We stopped in at my parents house. 

By the time we got home from all that, Tyler was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed. But Ella wanted to trick or treat. so they did about 8 homes on our street and came home and went to bed.  

AWESOME!

The baby bump

These are posted by request. 

 I am growing and a few people who don't get the joy of seeing me all the time wanted to see these.  

So I am 20 weeks along. 

I am feeling good. 

I am trying to run 1-2 times a week, and bike once a week. 

I said... try... it doesn't happen all the time. 

My big goal is to just walk the 1 mile round trip to and from Tyler's school every day.  If I can keep up doing it... I will be in good shape. 

Ella typically rides her bike up the hills to the school and I just cant keep up with her anymore since her little legs are so strong.  She doesn't need me to push her up the hills anymore.  

GOOD THING!

A great UEA break

We had such a nice UEA break.  

Thursday we just relaxed around the house while Darren was at work. 

Friday we drove up to Logan and picked apples at Grandma and Grandpa Balls home.  This was only half of what we picked.  Darren, Tyler and Ella trimmed, mowed and pruned while I finished picking.  They kids loved the thought of surprising Grandma and Grandpa when they flew home from Minnesota the next day.  

Life is never dull with Darren around.  After all that we hiked 1.8 miles one way UP to the wind caves.  My kids our troopers.  They didn't complain, and it is a steep long hike.  By they time we ran/walked back down the 1.8 miles... my legs were pretty shaky.  

We stopped at the Center street Grill for dinner and that promised ice cream cone.  

As we drove home, Ella didn't like the music we listed too so she fell asleep with her ears plugged.  

Saturday. Darren had a cyclocross race.  It was so much fun. 

The kids raced after him.  Tyler is in the stripped shirt and Ella in the back with the red helmet. 

Ella rode with the big kids.  2 miles on a crazy bike course, just like her daddy had done!

They both rode so well!  Tyler is a strong rider.  and Ella peddled like crazy into that finish line to get her treat. 

Darren did give her a few pushes up some steep hills. 

The kids came home and helped clean and shine their bikes.  They loved using water and a sponge to scrub down daddy's bike too. 

Sunday was just as great.  Peaceful, quiet.   We had a simple dinner with hotdogs on the grill and cobb salad.  Then played games till bed time.  I love and treasure good family time!

It's a ....

Its a cute little girl.  She is the size of an avocado.  

It is amazing to me what technology is out there.  We got to watch her in 3D and 4D live.  Like the top picture, moving around and sucking her thumb.  It was so real.  not just a black and white hard to see photo, but a real live little baby.  She was kicking away and moving like crazy.  I couldn't feel any of it, but she was going to town. 

It was so real and amazing to see her.  A sense of realness.  Not just a big growing tummy... but a cute little baby in there. 

You can see the little cavity where her heart was beating in the bottom picture. wow!

This next stuff is just so I can remember what it was like to be pregnant. 

So I was sick until 11 weeks.  I spent a lot of time laying on the couch and had to take a nap almost every day.  I struggled to eat, and most everything made my stomach sick and bloated. I felt like I had a cloud around my head and didn't think well.  The house was a mess all the time and I dinner only got ready sometimes. I pushed through exercise and kept very active.

From 11 weeks until 18 weeks, I continued to feel tired and still didn't feel like I could think straight.  I didn't exercise much during this time. My body was so fatigues all the time.  My midwife suggested I have more protein.  This helped a bit.

After 18 weeks, I felt pretty normal.  Growing belly, I finally gained some weight and really popped out at 18 weeks.  My climbing harness didn't fit after 19 weeks.  I haven't worn much maternity clothes yet.  I am trying to hold out. Back pain started pinching about week 18.

On a personal note- When the tech said we were going to have a girl, I was excited then the thought came to me, Now we have to have one more and it will be a boy.  I will leave it at that. And see how we feel about 4 kids.