Thankful

What a wonderful holiday weekend this has been! I can't even tell you how nice it's been to be able to sleep in until 8 or 9 every morning for 5 days! I'm so thankful to my children for letting me!

This year we had Thanksgiving at my house which was a first, and it did make me a little nervous, but it was also really good to have a deadline for getting the house clean! The kids helped out a lot with the cleaning, I was pretty impressed and happy about that. On Wednesday they cleaned the bathrooms and the downstairs while I made pies. Yeah, sure, they didn't get everything clean to the standards I would hold for myself, but I don't think I could have gotten everything done on my own either. Besides, the best way to learn how to clean a mirror or a toilet is by doing it yourself, right? I'm very thankful for my children and that they (can be) so sweet and helpful. I'm sure they'll be really great little helpers when the new baby is born.

We had my dad, stepmom, two sisters and brother-in-law over so it was nice to have family around, but it wasn't too overwhelming. Plus, everyone brought something so all I had to make was the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (without the whiskey), and pies. I did an apple pie (which my sister voted to be the best out of all the deserts), two pumpkin pies (made from our halloween pumpkins!), a french silk pie, and mini pumpkin cheesecakes. I think I over-calculated how much pie would get eaten because we had a lot left over! But at least there was a good variety for everyone to choose from. Even my sister who doesn't like pie liked the french silk one so that was a win! I'm so thankful for the bounty of food we always have, along with the bounty of love in our wonderful family.

I'm thankful for a wonderful husband and that he has a good job where he doesn't have to work on the holidays and is able to spend time with his family. We had a lot of fun as a family this long weekend from going to the Children's Gateway, ordering pizza and renting Toy Story 3 on Wednesday to going to Tangled 3D and out for Indian food yesterday. It's kind of sad that the weekend's almost over and we have to go back to our regular, up at 7am, routine tomorrow, but it will also be good because we have not been eating very well this weekend, and I'm hoping the routine will help get us back on track!

I'm also very thankful that, because Pete has such a great job, I don't have to work, and that I'm able to stay home with my kids every day. What a blessing that is! I've been blessed to be a stay at home mom ever since I had my first child, but for the past 3 or 4 Black Friday's I've gone to help out at The Children's Place where my sister is a manager. It's crazy and tiring, but it's also fun and exciting to be working all night amidst all the excitement. I was glad I wasn't working this year, but I had a hard time doing nothing on Friday. We put up our Christmas tree and I did a bunch of cleaning before I realized that my feet hurt and that I was doing more than I'm used to anymore, so I sat down and read my book for a while. I'm thankful I was able to do that! :)

I haven't been to the pool since last Saturday, but I think I've been busy enough to justify it. I'm thankful that I'm healthy and that this pregnancy is going so well. I really don't like being pregnant, but I know it could be a lot worse! I'm thankful for this pregnancy, and that we will be adding another person to our family in 6 weeks!

I'm thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm grateful that I have his teachings in my life, that I know about the atonement and have his example to follow. I hope, by following that example, I can be a good example to my children.

I have a lot to be thankful for. I try to remember these things year-round, not just on Thanksgiving, but I do love Thanksgiving and think it's wonderful that we have a holiday where we celebrate all the blessings we have. I hope we can all keep our hearts thankful throughout the year. It really makes for a much happier life!

Pete taught the lesson in Elder's Quorum today in church, and the lesson was from President Thomas S. Monson's conference talk: The Divine Gift of Gratitude. I wanted to share that with you:

Click Here to read this talk.

Now, who wants to come over for pie??

Meals This Week

Thank you everyone for all your suggestions - I mean, Alexis. :) She gave me the great healthy meal idea of stir fry, which is always a great way to go! She also told me about the trainermama blog which I already know about and follow. Trainermama is quite amazing, and does have a lot of really yummy and healthy recipes along with other tips for working out and staying healthy so go check her out!

Here we go with the meals!

Tuesday

Stir Fry

Since my first, and only, suggestion for what to eat this week was stir fry, I made sure to make that the first day. I fried up some chicken in a little olive oil, then added some carrots, zucchini, and bean sprouts (was that all? It seems like there might have been another veggie, but I can't remember). For the sauce I used a little soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and chicken broth. Served with brown rice.

Pretty simple, healthy and yummy.

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture, but it turned out really good, and the kids even pretty much ate everything on their plates! It helps when you call the bean sprouts snakes, and each different color of vegetable fights a different kind of monster: green fights ogres, orange fights dragons, red fights vampires, etc. (The colors are antioxidants and the monsters are free radicles, if you want to get technical)

Wednesday

I didn't end up giving myself enough time to make what I wanted on Wednesday so I made these little muffin omelets with spinach, mushrooms, orange peppers and cheese that no one (except me) ended up eating for dinner since Pete brought pizza home so we saved them for breakfast the next day. No on (except me) ended up eating them then either. Fail.

The reason I didn't have time to make what I had planned was because I had to take Mindy to her ballet field trip which was a dress rehearsal for the University of Utah's ballet company. I was lucky enough to get to stick around and watch it with her, and it was pretty amazing! They were really good. Here's my attempt at a photo with my iphone:

Haha Yeah, didn't really work.

Thursday

Moroccan-Style Stuffed Squash

This is one of my favorite things to make, and it was very appropriate for fall. I just love squash. Of course, the kids won't touch it, so they just got the stuffing. Even then, though, Ethan was the only one to really eat any of it. Pete and I liked it though, and it has a really cool presentation so it's fun to make when you have company. I'd even say you could make it with 3 or 4 squash because there's always a ton of stuffing left over, and just have it as a side.

We had squash left over (since the kids wouldn't touch it), and I just dug it out of the shell and saved it for lunch the next day where I smashed it up and mixed it in with some of the stuffing.

I actually liked it better this way because you get more squash mixed in, and the more squash the better for me!

Friday

Rotkhol with Brats and Potatoes

Pete served an LDS mission for 2 years in Germany so he has a fondness for German food, which he has passed on to me. Rotkhol means "red cabbage" and you make it with vinegar, a little sugar and apples. It's got a sweet, tangy flavor and is so yummy with the sausage! This is a pretty simple thing to make, but you have to give yourself a couple hours. I used this recipe except I started out with 8 pieces of bacon, diced, instead of just using bacon fat (where's the fun in that?) and I forgot the apple jelly, but it turned out really good - I mean "sehr gut!"

Pete made the potatoes, and cooked the brats which was really nice because I really wasn't feeling very good come dinner time last night.

Saturday

Almond Crusted Pork with Apple-Rosemary Sauce

This probably would have been better as a Sunday dinner, but I just didn't want to let that lovely tenderloin sit in the fridge for another day so I made it tonight.

This one is another one that's good for company because it has a really good presentation, and it's just so good! My sister was asking me for this recipe a little while ago, and I never gave it to her. Sorry, Katie, here you go!

I just steamed some asparagus to go with it, which was a little hard to get the kids to eat, but they managed.

Sunday

Chili

It wasn't fair when I said Alexis was the only one who gave me a suggestion. I did get a suggestion from someone on twitter also. Thanks Laura! She suggested soup or chili so I'm going to make Chili tomorrow. It should be really good because I can put it in the crockpot before we leave for church and we can have it when we get back. Plus, it's supposed to snow tomorrow, and what's better than chili on a snowy afternoon?

This is supposedly Barack Obama's Chili recipe. Well, whosever it is, we liked it last time so I'm making it again. Maybe with some cornbread.

And for Dessert: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made this with whole white wheat flour and applesauce instead of vegetable oil. They are very chocolaty!

Calling for Recipes

Man, it has been a crazy couple of weeks! I was sick with a nasty cold all last week, and the week before that (starting on Halloween) Ethan and Elle were sick. Mostly Ethan, though. He missed all 5 days of school and had a fever almost all week. It was not fun for him, and having a sick kid almost feels like I'm sick too since I can't really go anywhere and end up sitting around a lot so it feels like I've been sick for longer than a week! Luckily,I didn't get the fever and nausea that Ethan and Elle had, I just had a bad cold.

The good thing that happened during all this was that Mindy got her casts off, and boy was she (and I) happy about it!


Today I was going to try to get out of my sitting-around-the-house-all day funk and get back to the pool. Of course, Ethan wakes up crying about his throat and ears hurting. I gave him some Motrin and almost made him go to school anyway, but he started crying again about how his teacher says not to come in if you're sick so I felt bad and kept him home. He seemed totally fine after a couple hours though, I should have had him go! It's so hard to tell sometimes!

Anyway, with Ethan home sick I wasn't able to go swim, but I was able to take a nap, buy a used dresser at D.I. that im going to sand and paint for Ethan and the baby to share (the dresser Ethan and Elle are using now tipped over today, luckily not onto anyone, so im just done with tall dressers! Plus this one will double as a changing table! Win!) and make some throw pillows for our couch downstairs! Yeah! And can I just say that my new favorite thing is iron-on Velcro?! It sure made making those pillows a snap!


Plus, after school, I took all the kids to the doctor where we got a prescription for Ethan's ear infection and they all got their flu shots. Elle was just as calm as a summer's day and hardly even flinched when she got hers. Mindy was a little more tense, but managed to stay pretty calm. Ethan, on the other hand, was hiding under chairs and trying to get away and the nurse and I had to hold him down. He does not handle needles well! I'm glad I got that over with, though, since my doctor recommended anyone who is going to be around the baby much for the first 6 weeks get a flu shot. I got mine at my last appointment. The kids still need to get a booster shot for theirs, and Pete needs to get his, but we're getting there. I'll make sure Pete's with me when Ethan gets his follow-up, though!

Next on my list is to plan out dinners for the week so I make sure and get everything I need when I go grocery shopping and we can start having healthy meals again! Its hard to want to cook much when half your family is too sick to really eat, and then again when you're too sick to want to do anything. The good thing about being sick, though, was that it helped me forget about being pregnant for a little while because I had something else to feel sorry for myself about. Now I am mostly feeling better (though I still have the dang cough!), but I'm still finding it hard to think of meals that sound good. I'm hoping it's the pregnancy doing this and that my love of food is not gone forever!

So, I could use a little help thinking up meals for the week. If you could leave a comment with the recipe or link to just one of your favorite, healthy meals that would help me out a lot! I might even get ambitious and blog about what I make this week (or however long your recipes last), but I'm not promising anything. It's kind of a pain to blog from my phone (note any weird words or spelling is because of this), and I seldomly have a computer handy. Thanks everyone! I love you!

Done

I tried to go running again on Thursday. I went about 2 miles, and maybe ran 1.

After less than half a mile I started to get that side ache/belly pain and had to stop and walk. I had asked my doctor about this pain and she said it was fine as long as it goes away when I stop and walk. She asked me if the pain felt like contractions, and I wasn't sure. I still wasn't quite sure while it was happening, but my belly did feel a little harder and it sure did hurt. I decided there was no point in trying to run if this keeps happening, and that I'd just stick to walking from now on. I decided I would just finish walking to the restroom on the bike path then turn around. I got to the restroom, and it was closed.

Dang.

I turned around and started walking home. Like usual, though, I started to get sick of walking and tried running again. I was able to run about half-way home really slowly. I actually felt really good for this part even though I didn't get to use that bathroom. I was going over my spanish in my head in case I had to stop in one of the shops with Spanish signs to use their bathroom., but I made it home just fine and set about stretching.

My pelvis was really sore the rest of that day, and by the end of the day so were my legs. I was frustrated that 2 miles, in which I only ran half of, would make me so sore.

So, I think I will just be done with running for now. I'm just going to take a little 3-month break, then I can come back nice and strong.