Right Now

::working together as a family in our new container gardens

::enjoying the closeness of Doug's family

::dating my husband and having fun with the girls too

::crying because crawling forward is honestly the worst thing in the world to her

::smelling homemade, yummy bread

::seeing green sprouts from little seeds

::eating "pupcakes" made by Allie

::jumping like a mad woman

::writing all the letters of the alphabet

::teaching about the weather, calendar, life...

::making healthy, delicious stuff {Green Monster Smoothie, Banana Breakfast Cookie}

::doing a happy dance

I am...

a child of God

a daughter

a wife

a mom

a sister

a cousin

a niece

a loyal friend

a granddaughter

a graduate

a teacher

a clean freak

a recent gardner

and

an amputee

These are titles that really do define who I am. There are so many more too. I lost myself for a few years. Not because of something bad. In fact, quite the opposite. I was so focused on the other people in my life that I forgot who I was. I became embarrassed about something that I was always proud of and always overcame. I am an amputee. My blessed parents had to make a choice for me before I could choose for myself. Their choice has blessed my life in more ways than they will know. I was born without my fibula and a few other bones in my right foot. So the doctors asked my parents to choose between amputation or reconstruction on the foot. They chose amputation and because of that I can walk, run, jump, and play with my girls. I am so grateful for that. Has it come with its own challenges? Of course. In fact I had to beat up two annoying little twin boys that made fun of me all the time. Trust me, getting kicked with a prosthetic is NOT a good time. Yeah, they never said a word to me after that. {Gee, I hope they are able to have children.} I'm digressing. But I feel sort of empowered to do the things I do with only one foot.

When Doug asked my dad if he "could have my hand in marriage" (haha, that sounds so funny) my dad asked him how he felt about my leg. My dad wasn't trying to turn him away from me in anyway, he just wanted to make sure that Doug loved all of me. Doug thinks it's the coolest thing. He has never even thought twice about it. Reason #322 why I love him. He never judged me or put me down. He wants to make me a leg someday........we'll just work on getting a job right now.

I have very great friends who would literally knock someone out if they made fun of me. So if you didn't know it, now you do. It's cool. Ask me questions, I love them.

I hardly have any pictures of my leg "showing." That is because, like I said, I lost myself for awhile. But don't worry, I found her again and it's been wonderful!

Part of my Heart

My heart is very full. I have so many wonderful things to be grateful for. I feel like I need to document my thoughts today, whether it's just for me or maybe it will help someone else, I'm not sure. We watched the LDS Conference last weekend and I have been rereading and pondering everything. It was so good. {Please take a minute to read some of the talks given by our dear leaders and prophet, Thomas S. Monson.}

Some of my personal favorites were:

"Waiting on the Road to Damascus" by President Uchtdorf

"An Ensign to the Nations" by Elder Holland

"The Eternal Blessings of Marriage" by Elder Scott

"Opportunities to do Good" by President Eyring

"The Holy Temple--A Beacon to the World" by President Monson

"Face the Future with Faith" by Elder Nelson

We thought we would get to watch a little bit here and a little bit there because of our small children causing a ruckus. However it was quite the opposite. On Saturday we set up the tent in the living room and Allie "decorated" and brought all her "cozy" things inside. And when she woke up on Sunday she kept asking when conference was going to start. She sat at her table and colored in her conference notebook. She would repeat the words she heard every now and then. On Monday she was ready for some more talks!! She kept asking when we would watch. Katelyn was really good too. It was so nice to watch all 4 sessions together as a family and be uplifted, reminded, and enlighted. It always comes when most needed.

photo credit: here

I'm so grateful for our wonderful families who lift us and help us in so many ways. They are everything to us. As we look for jobs nationwide we begin to question our faith because we are so sad to move even further away from our families. They truly are our biggest blessing.

My daughters are precious angels from God. He has so much love for them. And He has entrusted me to raise them. I look at them each day. They are so pure, innocent, loving, sweet. I want them to be that way forever. I don't want anyone to ever hurt them and I most certainly don't want them to make choices that will cause them grief or pain. Allie and I read scriptures together everyday. I want both of them to see me reading my scriptures and know my testimony. I want them to love the gospel because it brings about eternal life.

My husband is unreal. I am amazed everyday at his love for me. He is so giving. He wants me to be happy in every way. His love for our girls is astounding. He only gets about 2 hours each day with them before they go to bed. The minute he walks in the door he is playing on the floor, laughing, letting Allie do his hair, etc. What a joy. That really brings joy to my heart. To be sealed to him for eternity is one of the greatest decisions I've ever made. I try to think of eternity without him and I fall apart.

The people in my life make it as perfect as possible. I am so grateful for the ways the Lord has shown His love in my life. His tender mercies are everywhere. I hope I can be more aware of them and teach my girls to look for them. I want to be better for them. I hope I can be the kind of woman who is full of virtue and love and has a serving heart. I hope we can ALL be that way. I know the people around me are inspiring me each step of the way.

Mormon.org

This website is so awesome! We can uplift and inspire each other through our testimony of the Savior.

Dating

We were in a dating slump to say the very least. After moving, having a baby, and being broke we didn't ever go on dates or couldn't justify spending money. If you don't practice then you aren't good at it anymore. We weren't creative and we weren't having quality fun together. Maybe this has happened to you...maybe it will. Here was our solution and it's great.

We are teaching Allie her ABC's all the time. So in a joking manner one night during pillow talk I said we should do ABC dates. Laugh if you want but it's brilliant! We now have a letter to plan our dates around every week. It gets us thinking about what we can do. We take turns each week.

Nothing extrordinary but it is planned, quality time together.

A: Date out. Answers and Allie. We answered questions about each other and went bday shopping for Allie.

B: Stayed home. We have been really excited to start our new budget so we did a budget and beverages (cherry limeades of course).

C: Stayed home. Romantic comedy (Doug rented "Teen Witch" just for me...I have the best husband I know!) and candy (chocolate covered cinnamon bears of course).

D: Date out. Doug's favorite place to eat, Denny's. Dollar date: Go to Walmart and fill your basket with things for the other person that cost $1. After 15 minutes come back and they can choose the best one. We both got knives (photo from last post). Donuts.

E: That's our date tonight. This is the agenda that Doug left on the computer for me. I'm excited!

So if you need some creativity for your dates, go ahead and try this. It's fun and we are loving it!!

Phone Pics

We get some good shots on our phones because we can catch those "in the moment" pictures.

Whipped cream from Cheesecake Factory

That was a fun one to change

Stylin' Diva

Our hotel setup so Allie would sleep. Pathetic huh!?

Great pic of those two!

Hippie mom feeding her baby

Dollar date. We each had a dollar to find a gift for the other person. We both picked knives...reeereeereee!!!

That's right. Maple Bacon Sundae. SICK!

Katelyn's first time swinging. Yeehaw!

Typical day around here...playing with everything.

Check out that posture and sipping sundae's made by Allie.

Wow

Fashionista

Countdown chain for Nan and Pa to get here

Cafe Terigo Salad

(For my family and others who are in need of a super yummy lunch/dinner idea)

This salad is A.MAZING! If you have ever eaten at Cafe Terigo in Park City then you know exactly what I mean. If you haven't, then you're in luck. You can make it at home, save $12.00, and have it more than once! That's what it cost last time I was there. Outrageous! The ingredients are easy. It was the dressing that took me awhile to figure out. It's a dressing my mother in law uses in one of her salads and it's PERFECT!!

Red Onion

Yellow Bell Pepper

Sugar Snap Peas

Carrots

Diced Chicken (I use the Diced Grilled Chicken Breast that you freeze and just microwave...easy! But you can grill your own chicken if you want)

Angel Hair Pasta (I go with whole grain)

So, while you cut up your veggies for the week set some aside in a bowl. I don't measure, I just make sure they are all equal.

Add your diced, grilled chicken to the bowl.

Cook up your angel hair pasta according to the box instructions and then add it in. (I use about 1/2 the box.)

Now for the dressing...

I usually double this but you can do what works for you and what you like best.

2 T sugar

1/4 C oil

1/4 C vinegar

1 tsp. salt

1/2 pepper

A few drops of sesame oil (that's the yummy flavor right there)

Combine all ingredients and shake it up.

Then pour all over your yummy salad and stir it up.

Refrigerate for a few hours so it can soak up all the flavor.

Serve over green salad. Enjoy! And eat a roll too!

Birthday Numero 3

Yes, it's true...she's three. But really she's a 12 year old trapped in that little three year old body.

Allie asked for a balloon party and a balloon party she had. She was so excited to wake up and see her balloons, cake, birthday banner, and presents.

We met dad for lunch at Wendy's. She loves to see dad in the middle of the day...obviously.

Her balloon cake. Very fun and yummy!

An attempt at a family picture. But someone was dying to eat the cake :)

She blew out one candle at a time.

Look how she eats her cake...all the frosting first of course!

We had a family party. Luckily we live close to family now. We had Doug's sister and her kids over and his parents. They were so excited for her presents and cake!

Spoiled girl, but very happy and thankful for all of it!

Thanks for everyone who thought about her and made her feel so special. We sure love her but three is turning into a hard age for all of us. Here we go!

Green Goodness

I love celebrating holidays with kids around because it's a good excuse to just have a different kind of day. We set our leprechaun trap. Allie made it all by herself. She made sure to put all her green things inside so he would be lured in.

He of course came while we were sleeping and made a mess of things. But he's nice enough to leave some of his lucky charms.

This got the day off to a good start. We made funky headbands with a friend and played (what we do best).

Then had a green dinner. Green tortellini with pesto, kiwi, salad with cucumber, celery, green pepper, broccoli, and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Allie got to pinch dad because he wasn't wearing green. And, we are the Green's, in case you didn't know so that's just cool!

P.S. The first year we were married I made an awesome GREEN dinner and he didn't say a word about it. Yeah, he's color blind but he CAN see green. The green wasn't bright enough so it all looked brown. Sad huh!? I was pretty bummed about it. So I'm glad I can make stuff for my kids and they will appreciate it.

Don't worry, Katelyn had green beans!

*Note to self. 3 years ago I was in labor this WHOLE day. Everyone thought we'd have a St. Patty's baby. However, she took 18 hours to arrive. :) So happy birthday to Allie June tomorrow!

What do you do for St. Patty's? I love stealing ideas. :) Peace out!

Lucky Charms

Allie and I surprised dad at work on Monday with a basket full of green things (no picture but it was awesome). She loved shopping and finding everything she could that was green.

Doug's green basket:

Pringles

Cashews

Gum

Small notepad

Mouthwash

Chapstick

Sprite

Andes Mints

Sanitizer

Mike and Ikes

When we left dad's work she burst into tears. She really wanted the green basket. So, Doug brought it home for her and we decided the girls could use some green too.

Allie got:

Apple juice

Green bubbles

Shamrock pen

Skittles

Green pipe cleaners (I'm sure there is a project out there waiting for those!)

Pinwheel

Lucky Charms

{The toothpaste is from the dentist yesterday. Which by the way she was a champ. She let them clean ALL of her teeth, then floss ALL of them, and then paint the fluoride on. They said they hardly ever have 3 year olds do that. It was a proud moment for me since I always did terrible at the dentist and STILL DO!}

Katelyn got:

Ribbon toy with green on it

Frog

White bracelet (I know)

Green stickers

Necklace

{Since she has no idea what's going on she was happy with that!}

P.S. Don't you love Katelyn's drool drop on her chin in practically every picture. Haha! I love it!

Idea from here

Slow down

I realized just how fast my kids are growing. Katelyn is standing with help already...

while Allie knows her ABCs (the song and can recognize ALL of them)!

Both make me happy but both make me think...

slow down please.