The Hays Family

Miracles of Thanks Giving

2010-11-09T18:46:00.000-08:00

Most everyone knows that we are expecting a new little one in June 2011. While another little boy would be great to even out the numbers in our house I'm fairly certain this baby is a girl-- call it a hunch, call it mother's intuition, call it a guess, call it whatever you wish. What some don't know is the journey and miracle that have brought us to this place. It's a personal story, but I feel for those struggling with fertility, that it needs to be shared. Following is the story of our journey-

July 2007-
Christina gave birth to our little Gracie and decided their family with three beautiful children was complete. Jason conceded and had a vasectomy.

May 2008-
Christina passes away from Ovarian cancer.

November 2008-
Jason & I are married. We had talked about both wanting more children He confided that though he had had the vasectomy, he had always wanted SEVEN total.. I had always wanted 4- though we didn't agree on a specific number, we did agree that three probably wasn't enough. We looked into our options and found that a vasectomy reversal would give us the best odds of naturally continuing our family and decided we would save for the surgery.

May 2009-
Not quite two years after the initial surgery we had the vasectomy reversed. We were given a very positive prognosis and said the counts would continue to come up for the next 18 months but that there were already sperm present. Our chances of conceiving were 90% or better!

November 2009-
Had our first semen analysis and the results weren't great. While the movement was good, our count was only 1 million while a normal count is anywhere from 20-40 million. While disappointed by the news, we hadn't yet given up hope as it had only been 6 months.

June 2010-
We had discussed my adopting our 3 babies since we got married and as luck would have it I have a friend who is a Paralegal. She works with an attorney who does adoptions. She did all of our paperwork and the attorney charged us minimally. Though they had been my babies from day one, now we were legally, lawfully a family. We still felt like there were more babies to come to us.

August 2010-
15 months out from the reversal we still had not concieved. A healthy couple under the age of 35 unable to conceive after 1 year is counseled to consult a physician. We had waited until after this time as we knew there had been extenuating circumstances in our case. We decided it was, however time to figure out what was going on. The first and easiest determination in fertility issues is with male infertility so Jason went in for another test. We knew by this time, that whatever the numbers were- that was the best they were going to get.

The end of August the test results came back and were rather devastating. Movement was still good but our count had only risen to 3 million. Our first call was to a Reproductive Endocrinologist. From the test results alone he told us our chances of conceiving naturally were less than 1%. Our best chance was going to be Invitro-Fertilization with ICSI. A procedure that had to be done in Los Angeles and cost upwards of $12,000 dollars. Jason was working out of state and I felt so alone when I got the news. I wanted him to be here to share in my grief. I felt that all our dreams of expanding our family had just been crushed. We didn't have that kind of money and saving it would take years.. time we didn't have since I was already in my 30's. The longer we waited, the higher the risk of complications.

It took me several days to pull myself together and press on. I knew I couldn't yet give up. So I called the urologist who did the surgery. He told us what we had feared, the numbers weren't great and re-doing the surgery wasn't going to bring them up. Our best bet was Invitro-Fertilization. Shot down twice.

Jason and I got together and decided we would do whatever it takes-- sell our possessions, the car, have a yard sale.. save every penny to afford the IVF. If we were going to go that drastic it was time for me to make a visit to the doctor myself to make sure there were no issues with my ability to concieve. I set up an appointment with an OB/GYN who specializes in fertility problems. He suggested that we first try a round or two of IUI. A procedure that could be done in office in a matter of minutes and costs only a few hundred dollars. I called Jason when I got home and told him the news. We decided that was probably the best first step to take but coordinating Jason's out of town schedule with my ovulation schedule was going to be a nightmare. He was working out of state for 2-3 weeks at a time and was home 5-7 days a month.

Beginning of September 2010-
The stress of a new school year, running 3 kids to two different schools at 3 different times, Jason working out of state and worrying about try to concieve and the timing and costs involved had finally taken it's toll. I was tired of trying, I was tired of worrying about it and now I was doubting I even wanted another child if Jason was never home. It was hard enough to chase 3 on my own... how in the world was I going to do adding an infant to the mix? So Jason and I had a little heart to heart and decided we were going to lay off the baby talk until at least after the holidays.

End of September 2010-
I spent several weeks very sick and it was just adding to the rest of the stress. I couldn't figure out why I was so exhausted, so nauseated all the time. Then my cycle was late. I attributed it to stress and at 4 days late, I took a test just to prove it was stress. 3 agonizingly long minutes later, the pregnancy test was negative. So I continued on, still sick and now certain it was stress and probably the flu. Jason went to a week long training class in Grand Junction, Colorado on the 26th of September. He was to be gone until the following Friday.

On Tuesday, September 28 I was 10 days late. That had NEVER before happened. I was sure it was again stress and took another test so I could put it out of my mind. In less than 45 seconds the little digital test said PREGNANT. I didn't even know what to do. It was first thing in the morning and I still had kids to get ready for school. I left the test on the bathroom counter. I took the kids to school and ran to the drugstore for two more tests. I was going to need the third one as a tie-breaker in case the 2nd one was negative. I came home and holed myself up in the bathroom and took the second test... less than 30 seconds and it started blinking PREGNANT just like the first one.

I knew that two seperate digital tests- the most accurate on the market- couldn't be wrong. I sent Jason a text and asked him to Skype with me during his lunch break- a highly unusual request from me- so he did. I asked him if he thought his mom would like to come visit this summer so she could see her new grandbaby born... He yelled and said "We did it! They said it wouldn't happen and we did it!"

November 2010-
We're now almost 11 weeks. The end of our first trimester will fittingly be Thanksgiving Day and we have much to be Thankful for. My doctor laughed when I came in for my first appointment remembering that I had just been there a month previous seeking fertility advice. God does work in mysterious ways. While I'm still not sure what I'm getting myself into adding another little one to our already crazy house, I'm excited to finally be able to welcome this new little spirit that I know was meant for us.

We were told that all odds were against us.. medical intervention was our only chance. Cliche says "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans". We were "planning" to wait.. He saw fit to bless us otherwise. It IS possible, Miracles are possible and I'm carrying our miracle now and for that, we are so Thankful.

New Photos

2010-09-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

I know, I know- I haven't posted family pictures since Christmas. We were fortunate to win a delightful photo shoot with Amy Bennion Photograpy back in May and I'm finally getting the pics posted. So for your viewing pleasure- The Hays Family

Mommy's Rotation Vacation

2010-06-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

I heard a great quote the other day, regarding the repeating difficulties of life "It never gets any easier, you just learn to get through it" It's hard to be without your better half and for the babies to be without dad for days upon days upon days. Let me tell you though, we LOVE having him home for a full week at a time after rotation! Most people get a few hours at night or a day or so on the weekend, but we get Jason for an entire uninterrupted week every month and we sure take advantage of it.

This last week we partook of many adventures- bbq'd at the park, went to Bridal Veil Falls, splashed in the water at The Grotto and took in the breathtaking views of Devil's Kitchen.

Most importantly we went to court where our petition for adoption of the kids was willingly granted! As of June 23, I am officially- legally- lawfully: A Mommy

Here are some of my favorite pics from our adventures last week-

Bridal Veil Trail with Dad

Hanging out with Mom on the dock-

avert your eyes from my blindingly white legs

ADOPTION DAY!!!

All done- back from court

Utah Lake Overlook from Payson Canyon

Playing in the water at The Grotto- Payson Canyon

Crossing the river while hiking the Grotto Trail

The Oil Field Life @ The Rock

2010-06-04T17:49:00.000-07:00

Forever West- That's the tourism slogan for the state of Wyoming. Dust and dirt cover every surface and from the streets you can almost hear the sound of hoofbeats and the crash of bottles against the barroom floor during the 15th fist fight of the night. Although those actual days are long gone, you'd never know it when you set foot in Rock Springs, Wyoming. Jason's new assignment is in this dusty western town and I took the kids up to visit overnight this week.

Time has brought the city street lights, WalMart and the lucrative Oil Field Business. There's good money in the field when the market is good and each single waitress and convenience store clerk in Rock Springs is looking for their meal ticket out of town. They know these guys spend weeks at a time away from home and on those lonely nights away they drink to excess and seek the company of women - any woman- who will give them the time of day. While many of these encounters stop with conversation; "Honey", "Darlin" & "Baby" are thrown around by these desperate girls like quarters bouncing out of a slot machine. The Rock - as Rock Springs is affectionately known to the crews- is also home to the World Famous Astro Lounge, a cheap strip club buried in the heart of historic downtown. I've seen the women in that city... I have no idea what these guys are paying to see.

They say the oil field is no place for a family man and with the atmosphere I've been exposed to, I can see why. However, I see my husband make it happen every day. He goes to work each morning, does his job superbly and comes back to the hotel. He spends a few minutes after work with the guys and makes sure to call home each night. The kids love being able to "see dad" on the computer when we Skype in the evening.

It's a rough life, being apart for weeks at a time, sometimes not knowing whether he's even going to get to call and seeing how exhausted he is at the end of the day. But it's far better than what some other families face. For now, I'm grateful that he's back within driving distance and that we can head out to see him at the drop of a hat. Yes, the oil field isn't for the feint of heart and they say it's not a family environment but to those who say that, I say you've never seen the bond of brotherhood between a crew and you've obviously never met my husband.

North Dakota "Deployment"

2010-05-09T20:07:00.000-07:00

10 days and counting... that's how much longer Jason will be gone. He's been in Williston, North Dakota for 5 days now and I keep telling myself it has to get easier. You never know how much help your spouse is until they're no longer there.

I count my blessings though that he's so willing to go out and work in these wretched conditions (It's been freezing temps with snow and rain and hail for the last week) to provide for his family. I know it's not any easier on him being away from home than it is for us to be without him. Right now he's working a 14/7 schedule except with travel days it's really more like 15/6 but we'll just be grateful for any time he has at home. This stretch in ND will be the longest that our little family has been apart since we got married but we're tough and the babies and I, we'll just keep counting the days until Dad comes home.

You Grew in My Heart

2010-05-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day- full of macaroni necklaces and pictures scribbled by chubby hands, the same hands you try to keep off you clean walls and tuck into bed every night- at least for those lucky enough to have children with whom to celebrate this day. These precious babies come to us in varying ways through birth or adoption or marriage all a part of the Lord's bigger plan. Even for those who don't believe they are mothers in their own right, every woman is one by nature, nurture or design. An Aunt, a Friend, A Co-Worker, a Mentor, a Teacher. One doesn't have to give birth to a child to be seen as a mother.

My children did not come to me through birth, but through grief and pain and personal miracles. Though they are not of my blood they are my babies always and forever. So on this blessed holiday I want to wish every Woman a Happy Mother's Day and thank all the women in my children's lives for helping to teach and mold and love them. It's true that it takes a village to raise a child and it takes all kinds to be "mothers".

Especially on this day I want to thank my babies' birth mother, Christina for giving me the most precious gifts that one woman could give another. I know she still watches over them from the highest courts above and I can only hope that she's proud of the mother I've become.

By: Fleur Conkling Heyliger

Not flesh of my flesh,
Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously my own,
And don't forget for a single minute,
You didn't grow under my heart but in it.

A Few Pics...

2010-04-26T15:47:00.001-07:00

Our little wall-top container garden on the patio. We are growing tomatoes, green bell peppers, red bell peppers & jalapenos. Can't wait for the harvest this summer.

The living room. Jason even picked the color (after I said ~~Green~~, ~~Yellow~~, ~~Taupe~~ RED!)

I couldn't pass up a trip to The Quilted Bear-- Just to look of course, yet somehow this vinyl ended up coming home with me

Our Dining Room- (note the aforementioned vinyl)

It's Space Week at Central Elementary and today was Alien Hair Day. I told Madi & Caili to give me their best Alien faces--

Behold...

A more subdued Alien

Time Marches On-

2010-04-23T22:37:00.001-07:00

And before you know it you've moved cross country back to Utah - AGAIN. Oh you didn't move? Well we did. Two cross country moves in one year is just about enough for me. It's great to be back in Utah Valley though. The kids have adjusted fabulously to school and are almost done for the year already. I can't believe how quickly time flies. I looked at the blog and realized it'd been December since I updated so it was about time. The only major development is that we've moved back but I'll try to get pictures posted soon!

The Proofs are In!

2009-12-17T06:50:00.000-08:00

We had our first ever family pictures done two weeks ago and though the portraits aren't back yet, I couldn't wait to share the proofs with all of you! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Sounds Like Life to Me

2009-10-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

Lake Winnepesaukah train ride-

June? Seriously I've been lacking in my blog posting- so lets do a top 10 of what's been going on-

1. We're potty training Gracie- armed with a little pink potty, a bag of princess pullups and a lot of patience

2. I took the kids + Meredith to the Chattanooga Zoo

3. I took the kids to Mayfield Dairy to see how milk is bottled and Ice Cream made, and of course we had to eat some Ice Cream too!

4. The kids started back to school (mom's favorite part of the summer)- Jake is in Pre-K full time so I only have 1 baby home all day.

5. Jason has taken up Geocaching as a hobby

6. I've read half a dozen books or more (Thank you Nora Roberts & Patricia Cornwell for your fabulous writing that keeps me up all hours of the night when I should be sleeping so I can get up in a better mood for my kids in the morning- Speaking of Patricia Cornwell, the infamous "Body Farm" is only about an hour away from me)

7. Job Hunting, Job Hunting, Job Hunting.... ick

8. I'm about 20% done with my billing & coding coursework

9. We moved- Again (for an explanation see #7)

10. I spent 8 days in the hospital- herniated bowel obstruction. It was scary but I'm better now.

11. (bonus)- The rains came down and the floods came up. We were not flooded but many we know were and the streets around us were.

This is not a lake. It's a several hundred acre GRASS park--- or it used to be grass before it was covered by water

Jason's mom's next door neighbor. That's a 5 foot fence

Nothing terribly exciting around here- Sounds like Life to me

Hot, Humid, Gorgeous...

2009-06-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

HOME SWEET HOME

Did I mention Humid? Just a few words to describe our new home in Rossville, Georgia. I love being so close to Chattanooga and the Tennessee River and Chickamauga Battlefield and Walnut Street Bridge and RockCity and Ruby Falls and the Incline Railway.... there is loads to do around here, but it is SOOOO hot and humid. Luckily for us, Jack & Darla have a swimming pool and thanks to Grandma Ange the kids have a great water sprinkler toy that we have hooked up most everyday!

Jason and I are diligently job searching while Jake & Gracie adjust to sharing a bedroom. Madi loves that all her cousins are so close, I don't think I've seen her for more than 3 consecutive days since we've been here as she's always off staying the night with one cousin or another. School starts August 7th so only a few more weeks of summer for the kids and we'll all be back to our routine.

The babies are napping now and Jason took Madi fishing at the duck pond just a few blocks from the house so I could get some school work done, yet here I am blogging. I better go back to getting my education completed so I can find a job in the field I really want!

Here's a couple new pics of the babies, I can't believe Gracie is going to be TWO this week!!

Cornbread, Peaches & Coastal Beaches

2009-05-26T13:57:00.001-07:00

The Hays family is headed back to their roots- well Jason's roots anyway. It's been a crazy couple months since I've blogged, but it all culminates in us moving to Georgia. We will be leaving June 26- one month from today so be sure to stop by and say hello-goodbye before we're East bound and down ;-)

Josie's Cabin

2009-03-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

There's not a WHOLE lot to see and do in Vernal but once in awhile it's fun to play tourist. If you live in the area or plan on visiting and you're looking for ideas (like we always are) this is a fun little guide to check out- It's 101 ways to see and do things in the Basin. One of the things listed is to visit Josie's Cabin and the kids love to go there so off we went this past weekend.

Madi and Jake with Grandpa Jim in

the Box Canyon

Gracie and Grandpa Jim

"Are you coming, Mom?"

CHEESE!!

AWWWWWW

Could you have lived here in 1960? (yep NINETEEN SIXTY.. that's when Josie died here of a broken hip at the age of 90)

Workin' 9 to 5

2009-03-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

You're singing the song in your head now huh? So it's acutally 8:30- 5:00, but I am working again. I really needed something to occupy my time (as if I didn't already have enough to do), and they cut Jason back to a straight 40 hours at Schlumberger, so off to find a job... and I did. I sent out exactly three resumes, recieved one interview & landed that job. I'm working for Advanced Title as their new Escrow Assistant. I've danced all around the Title end of the housing business but this is my first venture into it. I started on Wednesday and so far I'm liking it. Now that means my mom gets to watch the kids everyday.. she gave up 1 and took on 3... yikes! Jason is working 4-10's though so he gets to be home with them on Fridays which is good for him.. and them. Home on my lunch break... better get back to work!

It's Here!

2009-03-03T14:55:00.000-08:00

I know the calendar says that spring won't be here for another couple weeks, but it's here

trust me

I mean it's 61 degrees in Vernal today- that's golfing weather for sure! Forget that the course is still covered in slushy grey-brown ice or that there's snow in the forecast for the rest of this week. Obviously meteorologists know NOTHING! Beyond the beautiful weather... the fact I can see my yard emerging from beneath the snow and the softball sign up sheet I recieved yesterday, I know that spring is here 'cuz I just bought my first (this year) bag of these:

So it's officially here... the warm weather and sunshine are here to stay... but just in case, I left a little something by the door upstairs...

Future Cindy Crawford

2009-02-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

Gracie is practicing for her future modeling career LOL. I had the camera out this morning and she's such a ham. Check out these poses:

Sew Scrappy

2009-02-26T12:24:00.000-08:00

Now that life has settled into a bit of a routine since the wedding is over.. the tonsils have been removed etc etc. I thought it was time to get to doing some "crafty" things- like scrapbooking my zillion pictures and learning to actually use the sewing machine that's been sitting in the closet for almost two years.

So I found a spot I thought would work. The storage room downstairs. Haul the table down, get the sewing machine out- only to find out the one outlet in the room doesn't even work

So on to plan B-

See that spot where the dresser is? Great wall for a craft spot .. but first

I had to tackle these dishes:

Then the bed needed to be made-

And this mountain of laundry put away-

Then it was lunch time- Leftover Beef Stroganoff (the picture isn't great but trust me its delicious)

After lunch it was naptime-

(Apparently the bed wasn't good enough- see how she surrounded herself with toys... fell asleep playing after I'd put her in bed)

Time for mom to catch up on some of her favorite blogs-

By this time Madi was home from school and it was time to get dinner started, then baths, jammies, brush teeth, family prayer & bed.. WHEW!! A full day. And just for kicks here is a great article about what Stay at Home moms do all day.

See what time it is? (mental note- fix the date on the camera)

And NOW I can begin my project- or Jason can anyway:

After about an hour, a can of black spray paint and some baby food jars collected from freecycle.org I have My "Sew Scrappy Craft Area"

I even put it to use to make my first sewing project- a one yard apron.

It's not much, but I'm pretty proud of it and I can't wait to see what other great things come from this Sew Scrappy table!

Love at First Sight

2009-02-20T08:03:00.000-08:00

I decided to start printing our blog a couple times a month and mailing it to our family members without internet access so I began printing it yesterday which then made me nostalgic as I reviewed it from the beginning. I realized in reading it that I never told our "How We Met" story, and not everyone may know. So here it is... How "We" came to be-

I had been in an "on again-off again" realtionship with a guy in Idaho and we were in an "off-again-lets-just-be-friends" stage when I logged into one of the many singles websites (http://www.singlesnet.com/ - I should send them a thank you card) I belonged to in order to check my email in June 2008. In my inbox were the usual off-putting, creepy or otherwise undesireables.. and then there was a very attractive photo of this guy and a very generic.. "hey saw your profile , would like to get to know you"- kind of email.

One of Jason's profile pictures (this was added after the initial picture I saw)

Jason's first wife, Christina had passed away in May from cancer and suddenly after 9 years of marriage, he found himself a single father with 3 young children. He'd joined singlesnet to find some people he could talk to. He stumbled across my profile, saw my pictures and decided to send me an email. He says that he didn't think I'd ever even write him back...

I shot back a short email and we corresponded that way for several weeks. I was just biding my time until I was back into an "on-again" phase with Idaho-guy so I wasn't really looking to start a relationship. Besides, I lived in Pleasant Grove and Jason was three hours away in Vernal.. a town I'd been through ONCE in 13 years and it was when we first moved to Utah. It's not like we were ever going to meet. I wouldn't even give him my phone number at first. After several weeks of back and forth emails I finally gave in and gave him my number.

He called one night and from then on we spent hours on the phone every night. He would call me after the kids were in bed about 9 and we'd talk til 1 or 2 in the morning then he'd get up for work at 6! I don't know how he managed all those weeks. During one phone call we found out that we were both going to be at the SLC airport at the same time. He was leaving to go visit family in Georgia and I was going to pick up family coming to visit SLC. So we figured we may as well meet in person seeing as how serendipity brought us to the same place at the same time...

He walked up to me in the airport and though I'd never believed in it before, it was literally love at first sight. We only had MAYBE 5 minutes before he had to go catch a flight- 3 babies in tow. And I spent the next week waiting on pins and needles for every text message. They were few and far between and I didn't know if he was even really interested. When he got back from Georgia a week later we set up a date for the 15th of August.

Me on our first date (what was with my hair?)

I drove to Vernal that weekend of August 15th and it just confirmed what I already knew. I would marry him.. I didn't know when but I knew it would happen. We went to dinner and he showed me around town and took me hiking - I was wearing 4" platform heels- he figured if I could make it through that, I might be a keeper LOL. Everything after that was a whirlwind- Our first date was the 15th of August, he proposed 11 days later on the 26th of August and we were married November 8th, 2008.

He's my confidante, my best friend and my soulmate. He's the most amazing, generous man I've ever known. In six short months we've seen both sides of the country, had a wedding, honeymooned in Las Vegas & Disneyland, bought a house, blended a family, been through a surgery and a million other tiny little things.. a lifetime of activities already and I can't wait to spend the rest of our lifetimes together. As we turned to leave the altar at our wedding ceremony and greet our guests he said to me "Are you ready?" Yes honey, I waited 29 years for you, I'm definately ready.

3 Things

2009-02-18T11:30:00.000-08:00

How is it that things seem to come in 3's? It's been said that celebrities pass away in 3's. I have 3 children, my children have 3 parents, we have 3 cars and today I have 3 things to blog about... go figure.

1.) Valentine's Day...ahhh another Hallmark Holiday made up to sucker millions of people out of their hard earned money for $150.00 flowers that will be $9.95 on February 15th and still be dead by February 20th. Valentine's Day at our house came from Sears -in the form of a ratcheting wrench set for Jason (romantic huh? lol) and the Dollar Tree - in the form of inexpensive decorations, candy & toys for the kids. I made pink heart shaped waffles for breakfast and the kids thought it was great. Here's a peek at what our table looked like for
V-Day:

2.) Redneck Baby Gates

What the heck are you talking about? you ask. Jason and I discovered last night- after two months of freezing in our room every night, that the heating system was installed in our bedroom but not actually hooked up to the unit. We have a weird heat pump system that heats the house by pumping hot water through the baseboard units and we're not sure how to fix it. Our answer in the meantime is to keep the bedroom door open during the day so that the room stays semi-warm with the heat from the rest of the house.

The dilemma: How to keep Gracie (the main culprit) from destroying the room as has oft been the case when the door is open.

Answer: Redneck Baby Gate

My plastic roller cart from the downstairs bathroom and the garbage can from my laundry room. Yes I could've shelled out 22 bucks for a "real" baby gate at Wal-Mart today, but seriously 22 bucks? Butter is on sale at Smith's for 1.49/lb. Do you know how much butter I could stock up on for 22 bucks? But I digress... This is my current answer to the Gracie dilemma and hopefully I'll no longer have to chip the icecicles off my face to kiss my husband goodnight.

3.) We have a family of 5... that means 5 times the laundry I had to do when I was single.. and I had a fully stocked walk-in closet of my own. So if I'm gonna do that much laundry, it's at least going to be in a place I don't dread. Hence my decorated laundry room.... the only room in the house that is totally decorated LOL

It started with this border I found on clearance for 50 cents at Lowe's. A little country? Perhaps. Pretty cheesy? Yeah. But its a laundry room not a Jackson Pollock.

Some $2.00 clothesline, a $1.50 bag of wooden clothes pins & a bundle of $3.00 dishrags and I have this adorable window treatment. The window only looks at the basement window well in the backyard, so it didn't need to be functional, just cute. I bought the supplies but Jason "designed" and hung the window treatments. (told you he could decorate in the last blog posting didn't I?)

So that's it for today. Great things come in three's and right now two of my children are taking a nap... better go take one myself so that will make 3.

Catching Up

2009-02-12T14:34:00.000-08:00

So this tonsillectomy really took it's toll on me. After the meds wore off the first day I was toast. I'm finally feeling well enough to at least blog a bit today. So here's what's been going on around our house the last 2 weeks. Warning: Lots of pics to follow

Grandpa Jim came to help with the kids for several days and we had so much fun having him here. We can't wait til he is here with Grandma Kandi all the time. Jason and I even had a minute to go on an adult-only slurpee run and when we came back, Grandpa had been playing Twister with Madi & Jake. I almost wish we'd been there to see that.

Occassionally, we played...

Mostly, I tried to sleep...

Jason decided to redecorate... or just decorate actually. He took this blank wall:

A little bit of sight measuring...

A little bit of package removal, a homemade stencil made with posterboard, an exacto-knife and some dragonfly stickers

And we have this beautiful arrangement on the wall downstairs now. My husband has pretty good decorating taste sometimes. Bonus: Total cost for the project was like 35 bucks. Can't beat that.

We got a new family member. His name is Bo, and he's almost 5 months old. A purebred Golden Retriever. He's a sweet boy and Jason is in love, though Gracie hates when he tries to get anywhere near her. She screams and the louder she screams the more he wants to comfort her and therefore be near her.. it's a vicious circle.

Just this past weekend I had the opportunity to suprise Jason with a little overnight getaway. We went to a friend's wedding reception in Bountiful and Grandma & Grandpa kept the kids and we got to celebrate Valentine's Day a week early.

King Bedroom at the Hampton Inn Lehi: $100.00

Bag of silk rose petals & strawberry scented tealights: $6.00

Two plastic champagne flutes & bottle of Cider: $5.00

An Evening spent laughing & dancing with my husband and a full nights sleep without having to listen for the baby monitor: Priceless

(BTW: We also went shopping for new church clothes for J. How handsome does he look??)

One day I tried to do Gracie's hair.. 19 month olds don't like to sit still

So it ended up like this: but it was cute for the 5 minutes it lasted

Yesterday the kids and I worked on Valentine's projects for Dad. We all made him "love bugs" Great project for your kids. You could have a whole family of bugs. Some googly eyes, a couple pipe cleaners, some markers and an egg carton.. at least an hour's worth of entertainment.

We all also know that Jason LOVES magnets.. so I made him some (I admit I ripped this idea off another website and now for the life of me can't find it)

This:

Became these: (there are magnets on the back of each)

Now Dad has magnet pictures of all his little SweetHearts

I think that about covers it for the last two weeks. I've become rather familiar with our DVR and like catching up on Rachael Ray when I can now. Jake and Madi both have Valentine's Parties this week at school so we've had lots of Valentines & candy around the house. Jason is still working hard and just this week he got a new toolbox for the house, so he's all sorts of excited. It makes me laugh. But now there arent' tools laying all over the place and that makes me happy too. And percoset.... that makes me happy and sleepy... think I'll go take a nap now.

Pockets in front- ties in the back

2009-01-30T11:09:00.000-08:00

I hate those words. That means I have to put one of those stupid hospital gowns on.. and they are always so fashionable and easy to figure out... NOT. We were taken back at about 9:30am, prepped for sugery and I was home by 3pm. Felt pretty good yesterday... lots of good drugs. Today they've worn off and although I can blog (as if it requires SOO much effort) I'd rather die than have my tonsils removed ever again- good thing that's not an option eh? Here's some pics of yesterday's adventue

My Hilton-esque accomodations

Smiling cuz I have no idea what's in store

Pre-Op in my lovely gown. I can't believe I couldn't wear makeup, what a bunch of crap.

My life line to anestethic and demerol yesterday...Could they have used any more tape?

Sharing popsicles from the nurses with Daddy before mom's surgery. They told us Gracie probably couldn't come back because it's RSV season, but once they saw her little face they couldn't resist. She got popsicles and juice and even a pink stuffed snowman! I got my tonsils ripped out.. sheesh

Day 2- Confined to my chair downstairs blogging away

Streptococcus-Tonsilitis-Otorhinolaryngologist

2009-01-28T15:54:00.000-08:00

No I'm not studying for my medical assisting vocabulary midterm, though I feel like I am. After 4 bouts with strep throat since the start of November, I am having my tonsils out tomorrow. It took me 2.5 weeks to get an appointment with Dr. Catten (now lovingly referred to as Dr. Twitch 'cuz the man is ADD and can't stand still for 30 seconds. But he's super nice and still thorough) and only 2 days to get surgery. I report to the hospital at 9am tomorrow morning and should be home before Madi gets out of school. Wish me luck and I'll keep you all posted on my progress... providing the recovery isn't as bad as all those horror stories I keep reading.

How to Be a Good Housewife

2009-01-27T09:55:00.000-08:00

HOW TO BE A GOOD HOUSEWIFE

From a 1954 Home Economics Text Book

HAVE DINNER READY-

Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal on time. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal is part of the warm welcome needed.

PREPARE YOURSELF-

Take 15 minutes to rest so that you’ll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your makeup, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people. Be happy and cheerful and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.

CLEAR AWAY THE CLUTTER

- Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives, gathering up school books, toys, papers, etc. Then run a dust cloth over the tables. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order and it will give you a lift, too.

PREPARE THE CHILDREN-

Take a few minutes to wash the children’s hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.

MINIMIZE ALL NOISE -

At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer, dishwasher or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet. Be happy to see him. Greet him with a warm smile and be glad to see him.

SOME DONT’S -

Don’t greet him with problems or complaints. Don’t complain if he’s late for dinner. Count this as minor compared with what he might have gone through that day. Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soft, soothing and pleasant voice. Allow him to relax and unwind.

LISTEN TO HIM -

You may have a dozen things to tell him, the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first.

MAKE THE EVENING HIS -

Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other places of entertainment. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure, his need to be home and relax.

THE GOAL -

Try to make your home a place of peace and order, where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.

So how are YOU doing with this list?

Cabinet Creations

2009-01-26T07:52:00.000-08:00

Jason and I inherited my mom's old buffet from her kitchen and turned it into our new TV stand.

Mom's old buffet: Free

2 black bookcases from Wal-Mart: $50.00

Knowing my children can't reach to put their dirty little fingers on my $1200.00 plasma TV: Priceless

We had to take the doors off to put the components in, however and in a brief moment of insanity I told Jason to save them cuz I just might turn them into a craft project. He looked at me like he knew they'd end up in the garage with my thousand other unfinished projects but he put them aside last week anyway. Last night I pulled out some things I'd bought at Walmart this week along with the infamous doors

Jason even came and helped me

After about an hour we had turned some throw away doors and a couple cheap picture frames into a decorative wall display

Now, in all fairness I know my girlfriend Rebecca Wisor could have turned some cabinet doors and a stick of chewing gum into a rocket ship that's actually capable of reaching the moon, but under the circumstances (me being craftily challenged) this was the best I could do ;-)

Make sure he isn't sad

2009-01-21T13:41:00.000-08:00

My friend James' mother passed away this last week and one of her last requests of her children was in regards to her sweet husband. To them she said "make sure he isn't sad". I could not believe how such simple words touched my heart and what love and compassion she showed in her final moments for her companion. I many times wondered what that kind of love would be like and now I have it. Today I renew my commitment to so live that when my final days.. minutes.. moments come that I will be able to go knowing I didn't make those around me sad and though they may miss me and be sad in that way, it will not be through any actions of my own.

The Tooth Fairy must be Union

2009-01-20T06:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a no school day.. yay- for the kids. Not so much for mom. I woke up to a "knock and run" at the bedroom door at 7:00am (at least I got to sleep in 15 minutes) and this laying on the floor in the hall:

So mom throws on her robe and runs upstairs to find that she now has to clean the hallway carpets and the carpet in Madi's bedroom because Jake refuses to be potty trained. I could smack birth mom for putting a 2.5 year old in pull-ups cuz now at 3.5 he thinks they're for everyday "potty collection" and not just for accidents UGH!

Later in the afternoon Madi runs upstairs screaming "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!" thinking there must be a terror attack by the way she's screaming I run to the garage to grab our 72 hour kits only to be confronted by a teeny tiny piece of calcium commonly referred to as a lost tooth. She shoves it in front of me and says "Can we call Grandma Kandi?" Not sure whether to be relieved that we're not under fire or to duct tape her mouth for screaming bloody murder I just hand her the phone and walk away.

At bed last night mom convinces her to slide her tooth to the edge of the pillow so the tooth fairy can reach it instead of all the way under the pillow smothered by her head where it would be hard to get to. This morning I'm greeted at 6:45 by a very disappointed face and the same teeny tiny tooth from yesterday. I realize the tooth fairy didn't come last night. My smart child however, perks up and says "She must not work Martin Luther King Day"... Yeah honey, that's right.. The Tooth Fairy must be Union.

Hi Ho Hi Ho Remodeling we will go...

2009-01-16T07:55:00.000-08:00

Our new home has two finished bathrooms upstairs which is great for guests and the kids. However, our bedroom is downstairs. Great news though, we too have a bathroom- kind of.

This is our current downstairs bathroom and I'm chomping at the bit to get it finished. Certainly it's functional for some things.. but the lack of sink & shower leave something to be desired. It's going to be several months but already I'm in the pricing and planning stages. We plan to do most of the work ourselves and by "ourselves" I mean, Jason. If he lets me do it we'd probably end up with a bathroom like this:

Now of course my dream bathroom is on just a little different plane than the one above. It looks more like this:

As if Jason would ever in a million years live with a princess powder room. Plus our last name is Hays not Rockefeller and the room above is the size of my entire downstairs. So coming back from my sleep deprived delusions of grandeur we'll settle for something more like this:

Can't be THAT hard, right? I'll let you know in the coming months!

Sleepless Nights & Smiles

2009-01-14T06:47:00.000-08:00

How in the world do those two things go together, you ask? Gracie is teething so mom isn't sleeping 'cuz all she does is scream all night. But when you see that messy face and all those cute little teeth, you can't help but smile yourself. And yes, that's her cheesing for the camera, she's not trying to look mean.

Oh What A Night

2009-01-09T09:17:00.000-08:00

Last night was bath night (YAY!) and I was just getting the kids to bed around 9 o'clock when there was knock at the door. It was our neighbor from across the street at the old house to inform me that the water main at the sprinklers had broken and was spewing water all over the front of the house. Fabulous! So leave Madi in charge, give her my cell number and head out the door to the house down the block. On my way out however, I slip on the ice I haven't bothered to pour ice melt on bust up my knee with a good case of cement road rash and sprain my ankle. But life must go on and water must go Off, so I continue on to the other house where the neighbors, the Bartons & I proceed to shovel a foot of snow off of over half the lawn to find the main water shut off. Luckily it was warm last night and we weren't doing it in a snowstorm.

But my poor husband called this morning to say it was indeed storming, blizzarding even in Silt, Colorado and he had to drive two hours to Grand Junction today. So I'm betting he won't be home until Saturday. I know it's been a horrible week for him.. 18-20 hour days, rigging up-rigging down, blizzards, heavy physical work he has been out of for six months and just got thrown back into... so I decided that he needed something fun to come home to and this is what my not-so-creative self came up with:

Cheesy? Yeah. But who doesn't need a little cheese now and then after a long week. I think it'll make him smile.

OilField Deployment Day 2

2009-01-08T11:30:00.001-08:00

So, I always thought that being a military wife would be so perfect. I could do what I wanted, when I wanted, raise the kids the way I want, I could be married without actually dealing with the compromise of having a husband.. WHAT WAS I THINKING?? I can't even stand the fact that Jason has been gone for all of 18 hours. An 18 month deployment overseas would kill me. I'm scared to death now that something will happen while he's out on a rig and I'm 4 hours away. What in the world would I do if he was getting shot at everyday?

I also ended up back at the urgent care clinic again yesterday with yet ANOTHER case of strep throat. This is 3 confirmed times in a month, though I'm sure it was also what I was plagued with on our honeymoon. I'm home sick with my 3 babies and a husband out of town. So to the husbands and wives of our service men & women, I salute you. I don't know how you do it and I don't envy your position but I do envy your strength and determination and I'll be sending extra prayers your way for the safe and speedy return of your loved ones tonight.

Oil Field Widow

2009-01-07T10:24:00.000-08:00

I knew it was a possibility when we got married that Jason could go back to the field... 16-18-20 hour days.. 2 week training periods out of state... well luckily that hasn't happened, but he did get a call to go out of town last night. So he left at 5 this morning headed for Grand Junction, Colorado til at least the end of the week. We haven't been apart this long since our first date, I'm not sure what to do with myself lol. It's a great opportunity for him though, to go show Schlumberger that he's still the best of the best! I'm so proud of my husband and all he does for our family and for all the ways he shows us he loves us everyday.

The 12 days of Hays Christmas

2008-12-29T10:11:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me-

12 people playing parts of the nativity at Aunt Kerri's house on Christmas Eve. I was Mary, Madi was the donkey, Jason was a sheep, Gracie was an Angel and Jakob was a shepherd.. Awwww

11 days I could stand having the kids home from school before I started going crazy

10 family members for dinner the night after Christmas since I was sick Christmas day

9 trips to Wal-Mart to pick up "Just one more thing" before christmas morning

8 toys for Gracie she never even opened. Thank goodness Jake & Madi wanted to help her out

7 Amazing ward members who showed up to help us move on Christmas Eve! They could have been spending time with their families but instead were in the freezing cold so we could have our first Christmas together in our new home. I love the Glines 2nd ward.

6 times I've seen Horton Hears a Who this week cuz the kids are in love with it

5 the number the of days I had to be patient to get the keys to our new home after closing

4 Rounds of steroids to help my immune system

3 hours in the Emergency Room Christmas Day because I was so sick

2 cases of strep throat.. yep.. I got it again and so did Jason. We've learned that penicillin shots are such a blessing though.

AND....

1 New House.. we moved in on Christmas Eve and got to spend Christmas morning in our new place

We hope you all had an amazing Christmas as well and that santa brought everything on your list. We loved spending our time as a family this year and look forward to many more wonderful christmases together.

It's Beginning to Look alot like Christmas

2008-12-22T10:08:00.000-08:00

It's snowing like crazy here today and my living room is a mess of wrapping paper, boxes, tape, scissors and name tags. Ahh the joys of being "santa".

It's been a crazy week here in the Hays house. We got several small storms last week that kept me shoveling snow most days, we had Grandma Ange & the boys over for dinner and gingerbread house decorating on Thursday and Friday we finally closed on the new house YAY! We're just waiting now to get keys because it doesn't fund until Christmas Eve. A great Christmas gift, yes- but we were hoping to celebrate Christmas in our new home and it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Saturday we had Jason's Schlumberger christmas party. We had a great dinner and they raffled off some really good prizes like a gun safe, touch IPods and a big screen tv... we didn't win any of it.

At the Christmas Party

The new house sans Snow

Saturday morning we decided to take advantage of the great snow and took the kids out to the golf course and the Honda Hills to go sledding. It was cold.. 8 degrees to be exact.. but we had so much fun. We're planning a new tradition to go sledding the weekend before Christmas every year.

Sledding at the "Honda Hills"

Dad & the kids sledding at the Golf Course

Gracie was NOT happy

Jake & Madi getting ready for a run in the big sled

Mom pulling Gracie back up the hill

Jason and I both finished up the last of our Christmas shopping this week and now we're just waiting on those wayward items we ordered online that are supposed to be here by Christmas Eve.

On the menu this last week was this amazing Jamaican Chicken & Rice recipe. It was a little spicy so cut the chipotle if you don't like spice, other than that we loved it. I substituted Chicken Breast for the chicken thighs & added a can of black beans to the rice in addition to the red beans. Quick & Easy dinner:

1 cup sliced onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
4 pounds skinless chicken thighs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce with 1 teaspoon sauce from can
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 avocado, diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Lime wedges, for garnish

Directions
Arrange onion, celery and carrots in bottom of slow cooker. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper and arrange over vegetables.
In a medium bowl, whisk together tomato sauce, lime juice, chipotle chiles with sauce, and garlic. Pour mixture over chicken.
Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or high for 3 to 4 hours. Serve half of the thighs with this meal (topped with diced avocado and cilantro and garnished with lime wedges) and reserve remaining thighs for another meal.

Jamaican Rice and Peas:
2 cups instant white rice
1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk
1 cup water
1 (15-ounce) can red beans, drained
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
1/4 cup chopped scallions
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a medium saucepan, combine rice, coconut milk, water, beans, thyme, and lime zest. Set pan over high heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 5 minutes, until liquid is absorbed. Fold in scallions and season to taste with salt and pepper.

(Courtesy of Foodnetwork.com)

Easy Cheesy Chicken Fettucini Alfredo

2008-12-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

So good even my kids ate it!

1/2 c. Butter

2 c. heavy whipping cream

1/2 c. fresh shredded parmesan

1/2 c. shredded mozarella

2 Tbsp. chopped garlic

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. pepper

1 bag. frozen chicken breast strips

1 12 oz. box fettucini

In 3 quart saucepan melt butter then add cream stirring frequently over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Boil one minute. Add parmesan, mozarella, garlic, pepper & nutmeg. Simmer until heated through. Heat chicken according to package directions and combine with sauce. Boil fettucini according to package directions and serve topped with chicken & sauce mixture.

Serves 4-6

This is perfect paired with bagged salad from the produce department and parmesan breadsticks from the bakery or refrigerated biscuit section of your supermarket. Dinner that tastes like you spent all day in the kitchen but really only took 2o minutes!

Confirmations, Carpentry & Cookies

2008-12-15T10:49:00.000-08:00

(Today's Blog title compliments of my creative husband)

Jason was going to confirm Madi last Sunday but since I ended up with strep throat we had to wait until this Sunday. He got as far as saying her name before he started to choke up, which made me lose it altogether and I sat in the pew bawling like a 2 year old while my incredibly wonderful, spiritual, worth priesthood holding husband confirmed our daughter a member of the church. I'm so lucky to have come into my children's lives at this time so I can share these growing experiences with them and Jason. We even took Jake and Gracie to

NURSERY!

That was an experience. Jake freaked out and ran screaming for the door after 30 seconds and Gracie just ran in and started playing with the toys. Once the teachers got Jake interested in the toys, however he was just fine and it was Gracie who had a hard time for the next two hours. I got to go to Sunday school then J & I traded and he got to go to Priesthood. Oh well, a little at a time we'll try again next week.

Last night I came home and whipped up a batch of gingerbread cookies. Jason remembered me struggling to get the right thickness for each sheet of cookies and continually adjusting the cooking time accordingly so he came up with a plan. We don't have a kitchen supply store here .. so he took some moulding we had out in the garage & cut it down to make me some guides for perfect cookies everytime. Leave it to my husband, some baseboard moulding & a sawzall to make gingerbread cookies. The kids thought it was great fun to roll them out

though!

Big Softie Gingerbread cookies

3/4 c. full flavored molasses

3/4 c. butter

3/4 c. packed light brown sugar

3 2/3 c. all purpose flour

1 Tbsp. ground ginger

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 egg

In 3 quart saucepan over medium heat, heat molasses, butter & brown sugar until boiling stirring occassionally to blend well. Remove from heat & cool. In large bowl combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, & nutmeg. Blend egg into cooled molasses mixture. Stir molasses mixture into flour mixture until smooth. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour. On floured surface roll half of dough to 1/4 inch thickness & cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Bake at 325 for 7-9 minutes or just until dough no longer looks "wet" and edges are lightly browned. Cool on wire rack.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

A Bag of Candy

2008-12-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

That's what Jason wanted to give the four guys on his crew for christmas. "Just a little something to let them know I appreciate all the work they do". I thought that was sweet of my husband, but you know that I couldn't just let it go at that. So yesterday I made a list, and I got to work. After a two hour trip to Wal-Mart and close to 6 hours in the kitchen I had 4 beautiful gift bags full of goodies to give the guys... Homemade Sugar Cookies with royal icing, Softie Gingerbread Men, Hand dipped Almond Joys, Fantasy Fudge, Chocolate shortbread and Peppermint chocolate spoons. With those I added a cute holiday mug and a box of hot chocolate (what else are you gonna put the spoons in?) Jason loved them and off to work they went with him today.

Easy Chocolate Shortbread

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, and cocoa powder. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Work mixture with your hands until it clings together (dough will be very dry to start). Shape into a smooth ball.
2. On an ungreased cookie sheet, pat or roll into an 8x8-inch square (if rolling, lightly flour the rolling pin to prevent sticking). Score by gently pressing with a knife into 32, 2x1-inch rectangles (do not separate). Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until cookie is just firm in the center. Cut square along score lines into rectangles again while still warm. Cool on a wire rack.

Pride Goeth Before a Fall... The Ward Christmas Party

2008-12-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

The ward christmas party was this past tuesday and each family was asked to bring two dozen cookies. Of course this brought out the competitor in me. I couldn't take just ANY cookies. They had to be the BEST cookies.. the most TALKED about cookies...and presentation was key. So I worked all the day before to figure out what I wanted to make and finally settled on some cute poinsettia cookies. Thank goodness I didn't wait til Tuesday... These cookies took forever to make (about 3.5 hours to make 2 dozen) but they turned out so cute.

I was handed my pride in a handbasket that night however, when my husband came home sick and we didn't even go to the Christmas party. *sigh* Instead I spent an hour at the urgent care with him and sent my slaved over project to the party with my mother -in- law. She says everyone talked about them... but I wasn't even there to enjoy it. Oh well there's always next year. By the way... Jason is fine. He tested negative for strep but they sent him home with amoxicillin anyway since he'd been exposed all weekend. He was back to work the next day.

Sugar Cookie Poinsettias

1 box sugar cookie mix
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 egg
1/3 cup softened cream cheese
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus additional for surface

12 sucker sticks

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a bowl, combine sugar cookie mix, melted butter, egg, cream cheese, and flour; mix together to form dough. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill one hour.

On lightly floured surface, roll dough, 1/2 at a time, into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle. With sharp knife, cut dough into 3-inch squares. Place 3 inches apart on ungreased, parchment-lined cookie sheets. Lightly press about 1 1/2 inches of wooden stick into bottom center of each dough square. With sharp knife, cut the dough diagonally from each corner to within 1/2-inch of center of each square. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon red sugar over each square. Fold alternate corners of the square to the center to form pinwheel, overlapping the dough at the center pushing down gently to seal in center. Press one M & M in center of each pinwheel.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until set. Using spatula, immediately remove from cookie sheets to wire racks to cool.

Note: this makes a VERY soft dough, so in between batches I put it back in the freezer. Also don't try to remove them from the cookie sheets using the stick, use a spatula and let cool completely before handling sticks.

My presentation container was just a 2 dollar metal bucket from walmart stuffed with floral foam and covered in green tissue paper. I then pressed the sticks into the foam.

On The Menu

2008-12-09T11:33:00.000-08:00

So other people blog about their hobbies, interests, activities etc. I've been blogging mostly about what our little family is up to. I've decided to add in a segment devoted to one of my favorite pasttimes- FOOD.. particularly what I'm cooking, baking etc.

My first installment- Last night's dinner. Homemade Lumpia & Fried Rice

Why does my fried rice look like ground beef in the top picture? (top: fried rice -- bottom: lumpia with sweet & sour sauce)

UPDATE: Recipes

Lumpia

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup minced bean sprouts
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon soy sauce
40 lumpia wrappers
2 cups vegetable oil for frying

DIRECTIONS
Place a wok or large skillet over high heat, and pour in 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Cook pork and ground beef, stirring frequently, until no pink is showing. Remove meat from pan and set aside. Drain grease from pan, leaving a thin coating. Cook garlic and onion in the same pan for 2 minutes. Stir in the cooked pork, carrots and bean sprouts. Season with pepper, salt, garlic powder, and soy sauce. Remove from heat, and set aside until cool enough to handle.
Place 2 to 3 heaping tablespoons of the filling diagonally near one corner of each wrapper, leaving a 1 1/2 inch space at both ends. Fold the side along the length of the filling over the filling, tuck in both ends, and roll neatly. Keep the roll tight as you assemble. Moisten the other side of the wrapper with water to seal the edge. Cover the rolls with plastic wrap to retain moisture.
Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat, add oil to 1/2 inch depth, and heat for 5 minutes. Slide 3 or 4 lumpia into the oil. Fry the rolls for 1 to 2 minutes, until all sides are golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.

Makes 40 lumpia rolls

Pork Fried Rice

2 cups jasmine rice
1 cup cubed ham pieces (you can find these in the lunchmeat section usually)
1 16oz bag frozen peas & carrots
1/4 c. chopped yellow onion
1/2 c. chopped green onions
2 eggs beaten
4 tablespoons soy sauce (you can adjust this to taste)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Cook Jasmine rice according to package directions. Let cool slightly. Heat oil in wok or large skillet and stir fry rice until slightly golden brown. Add ham, peas, carrots & yellow onion stirring until just heated through. Make a well in the center of your rice and add eggs cooking until set. Stir eggs into rice mixture. (if you're unsure of this you can scramble your eggs in a seperate pan then add to rice mixture) Add soy sauce, salt & pepper, onion powder and garlic powder and continue cooking until again heated. Remove from heat and sprinkle green onions on top.

Serves 4-6

Achievements

2008-12-08T14:42:00.001-08:00

"Guess what I got today? We were all in the cafeteria and I got to go up in front of everybody and the principal called my name and look what I got!"

Baptisms, Blessings & Anti-biotics

2008-12-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

Our oldest daughter, Madi turned 8 in October but with so much going on we didn't have the opportunity to get her baptised until this weekend. What a beautiful site my husband and my precious daughter dressed in white entering the baptismal font. To see the excitement on Madi's face and the light in Jason's eyes was enough to bring this mom to tears. We were also very fortunate to have Grandma Angela, Noah & Ellis, Aunt Ivy & Abby, Aunt Kerri & Uncle Jeff, Grandpa Boyd & Grandma Elaine, The Bartons, The Abeytas & Bishop Foley all in attendance. What a blessing to have so many friends and family to witness her day.

I hadn't been feeling so great for a couple of days and by the time we got home from the baptism I was shaking and freezing and my throat was killing me. Jason finally convinced me to go to the dr. (not that I really had an option, I was too weak to fight my 6'4" 300lb husband lol). One phone call to Grandma Ang, she's such a blessing to have in our lives, had the kids taken care of and we were on our way to the E.R. A half hour later I had a 102 degree fever, a sinus infection, strep throat and a prescription for Amoxicillin. Needless to say I was pretty much worthless for the rest of the day and most of today. But I've found a few minutes where I feel well enough to sit up in bed and blog about our joyous experience.

Decorating & Donuts

2008-12-05T23:52:00.000-08:00

It's time again to decorate the christmas tree. I bought the kids all matching plaid xmas jammies for our little tree trimming party and stole a donut recipe from my girlfriend Rebecca http://olderandwisor.blogspot.com/2008/12/its-my-party-ill-fry-if-i-want-to.html to use for our snacks that night. The tree is now lovingingly garish with a thousand mismatched ornaments and the donuts were so good I had to promise to make them again, it's a good thing the 4-pack of biscuits was less than 2 bucks at Wal-Mart (thanks rebecca!)

Homemade Donuts & Hot Chocolate

Cinnamony Deliciousness

Playing with Mom

Hey! Look what we did

The Joys of Motherhood...

2008-12-02T12:14:00.001-08:00

I just love it when I get a phone call asking "Is this Madison Hays' mom?".. I just smile so big and I'm proud to answer "YES! I'm a mommy!" What sucks is when that question is followed by "She's throwing up at school, you can pick her up at the office"..UGH... I had spent several hours up with Jake vomiting the night before but Madi was fine when I sent her to school. Ahhh washing sheets and taking temps and listening to both of them argue over who gets to watch tv.... the Joys of Motherhood

The Honeymooners

2008-11-25T08:43:00.000-08:00

Chillaxin at the fountain at the Paris Hotel, Las Vegas

After the craziness of the wedding Jason and I spent 8 sun-filled, fun-filled days in Las Vegas and Disneyland sans kids. It was a blast. Jason had never been to Las Vegas and I hadn't ever been to California Adventure. We spent two nights in Las Vegas at the Monte Carlo hotel, then three days in Disneyland at the Disneyland Paradise Pier Hotel where we enjoyed a private entrance to California Adventure, then back to Las Vegas to finish out our week at the Beautiful Treasure Island hotel.

Our first night in Las Vegas we saw that Rodney Carrington (one of our favorite comedians) was in town for one final night so we ran down to the concierge to see if tickets were still available and sure enough they were. We went and saw Rodney at the MGM Grand that night and I've never laughed so hard in my life. My stomach hurt for two days after from laughing so hard. The following day I spent many hours dragging Jason up and down the strip shopping at the millions of stores there. He even took me to the top of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel. 500 feet above the Las Vegas strip, it's exactly half the size of the real one in Paris, France.

The Eiffel Tower, Paris Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada

Brandi at the Arc D'Triumph, Paris Hotel

Looking Down 500 feet to the strip below from the top of the Eiffel Tower

The Magic Kingdom

On Tuesday we headed off to Anaheim and spent the next three days like two kids in a candy store at Disneyland. We rode every ride, saw the Parade of Dreams, caught the fireworks show over the castle, saw Fantasmic and fell in love with the "Soarin' Over California" ride at California Adventure. Jason even convinced me to ride the California Screamer roller coaster the goes upside down and the appropriately named "Tower of Terror" ride. I was scared to death, but it was so much fun.

Taking a break on the Train Ride

Scared to death on the California Screamer

Awww Pluto! (See what's in my hand? Authentic Disneyland Churros.. the closest thing to heaven on earth besides my husband)

Me & my very own Prince Charming in front of the Castle

We headed back to Las Vegas on Thursday night and I was reminded why I no longer live in California- THE TRAFFIC! It took us 2.5 hours to go 30 miles. So what should've been a 4 hour drive, took us more than 6. We had opportunity to catch the "Tournament of Kings" show at Excalibur (it's like Medieval Times), the "Sirens of TI" show and the dancing fountains at Bellagio. We crammed a lot of activities into 8 short days but we were glad to get the chance to spend some time with Just Us 'cuz you never know if we'll be able to do it again, at least not until the kids are grown and gone. We had an amazing time and will have many many years of memories, laughs and souvenirs to remember it by.

Showgirls at the Tropicana. I asked them if I could take Jason's picture with them LOL

The Dancing Fountains at Bellagio

Our Life Together Begins This Day...

2008-11-23T12:10:00.000-08:00

At least that's what the napkins at the reception said. It's finally over... months of planning, stress and freaking out and it lasted all of a couple hours. But it really was a dream wedding because I married the man of my dreams. Check out the pics of the big day below and for a more complete album I've uploaded everything to photobucket in 2 albums because they wouldn't all fit in one:
http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii118/Brandilinam/Wedding%20Pics/Wedding%20Pics%202/

http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii118/Brandilinam/Wedding%20Pics/

My handsome groom... take a look 'cuz chances are good you'll never see him in a tux again

The bride

The bride at Millenial Falls

Daddy & Daughter- just a few minutes before I walked down the aisle

speaking of the aisle...

Halloween

2008-10-31T10:56:00.000-07:00

So I have a little bit of a fetish for Halloween... Hence the costumes for Jason & I, pumpkin carving, and the reigning cubicle decorating champion at Fieldstone Homes. This year I stole a little tradition from my mom's friend Kristi and decided to do a Halloween breakfast for the kids. The table was set with Halloween placemats, halloween plates, skeleton hand goblets, plastic spiders and even plastic vampire teeth. Our breakfast treats were "Monster Gut Orange Pancakes", "bleeding brains (green eggs & ketchup)" and "bloody punch (orange juice with red food coloring)" Both Jake & Madi thought it was super cool and it was definately a fun start to our Halloween festivities today. We're off to trunk or treat with the ward at 5:30 and even Jason is getting into the spirit by taking a strobe light, pumpkins and the fog machine to pass out Candy from the truck.

Celebrations

2008-10-30T07:44:00.000-07:00

October is a busy month for us with 5 birthdays in the immediate & extended family as well as Halloween. My 29th birthday was on the 28th and we celebrated complete with cake and ice cream thanks to my sweet husband-to-be.

My awesome Tinkerbell Cake, Jason went and ordered it all by himself

The beautiful roses delivered to me from Jason & the kids

Us on my 29th BDay

In the midst of the busy season we did manage to take a little time out to "celebrate" Halloween by carving pumpkins. The kids thought it was great fun to make a mess all over the kitchen table and squish around the pumpkin 'guts'. Jason, on the other hand, took a different approach to pumpkin carving this year....

Sawzall pumpkin carving... Look at Madi's face.. she's saying "Honestly Dad.. sheesh" While I admit it did get the job done to get the top off, it wasn't practical for any actual pumpkin carving. He resorted to the old fashioned plastic saw.

Jason drawing a face on his pumpkin after putting the power tools away.

Jake and dad carving Jake's pumpkin

Me helping Jake draw on his face

Jason, Madi and Jake pumpkin carving

Our little family of pumpkins in the light

Pumpkin Family all lit up

Jason's Vampire Pumpkin

Jake's toothy grin pumpkin

Brandi's spider web pumpkin

Madi's Silly Grin Pumpkin

Time Flies...

2008-10-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

Why do I feel like life just gets crazier every day? Maybe it does.. or maybe we just have alot on our plate right now. I just haven't found time to sit down and blog lately so I'll try and catch up on the reader's digest version of things now.

Rollin' into Tennessee

Jason and I took off a week to Georgia and Tennessee to go meet his family. We left the kids with Steve & Angela and went flew down just the two of us. I now understand why he misses it so much sometimes. It's absolutely beautiful there, just green and lush everywhere you look and for the history buff in me, it's a fascinating place.

Cruisin' down the street

Green trees as far as eye can see

We spent one full day just doing all the things WE wanted to do. We went to Rock City and Point Park and Chickamauga Battlefield and rode the Incline Railway and went to Hamilton Place Mall and the Tennesse Aquarium , visited the Southern Belle Riverboat and even went to the Corn Maze.

On Saturday we had a family BBQ at the park where I got to meet all the brothers & sisters, aunts, uncles & cousins. His family is amazing. Really down to earth, good Southern Folks. The six days we were there just flew by and before we knew it we were leaving behind the gorgeous 75 degree weather and headed back to the wintry 40 degrees in Utah.

Monuments at Chickamauga Battlefield. 34000 people died on this hallowed piece of ground. The bloodiest battle of the civil war was faught here.

Cannons and monuments at Chickamauga

Awww... so cute.

Rock City Gardens

Riding the Incline Railway

The 72% grade of the Incline Railway straight to the top of Lookout Mountain

Petting the stingrays at the TN Aquarium. That water was FREEZING!!

Don't Fall in!

Brittany (Skipper's Daughter), Shelby (Jamie's Daughter), Mikey (Skipper's Son), Me & Jason at the Tennessee Aquarium

Shark Divers at TN Aquarium. The kids loved this, they could ask questions while the divers were in the tank.

A Real Southern Belle

Southern Belle Riverboat

Downtown Chattanooga as viewed from Point Park

Civil War Memorabilia at the museum at Point Park

Jason trying to read the clues for which way to go in the corn maze

Brrrrr... look at our pink cheeks at the corn maze

On Saturday the 25th we attended the Workman Family Annual Halloween party. Jason wasn't sure he wanted to dress up but when I found the pirate costumes in Provo I just couldn't resist. We all went to Canton City Chinese Restaurant in Vernal and had a great time seeing everyone! Well off to Wal-Mart to get pumpkins to carve for tonight. Take a look at our pics from the Halloween Party!

My little Madi Geisha

Jason's crazy pirate face and my little Gracie geisha.

A more subdued pirate

SpiderJake... ah... SpiderMan

My little costumed family

PirateGirl... or 80's girl.. what's with that headband anyway?

As a final note- Jason and I went and got our marriage license on Monday... one day before my 29th birthday so for all of posterity to read, I was only 28 when we got married MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Alright so if they look at the date they'll realize I was 29, but hey a girl can dream right?

What a weekend!

2008-09-16T15:11:00.000-07:00

Weddings can be budget busting and the bridal gowns a huge part of that. So to help pay for mine, I decided to have a yard sale to get rid of all the extraneous items I would no longer need when combining households.

We packed the kids up Friday night and drove down to Cedar Hills to spend the weekend with my parents. Grandma Kandi had the kid room all set up with sleeping bags and pillows & blankets. She even brought in the TV & VCR so they could watch Charlotte's Web.

Saturday morning we unloaded everything into the driveway and turned the yard sale over to Tiffani the yard sale Diva. By 2 o'clock when we closed up shop, we had made over $500! That was a great big help in paying off the dress. Jason and I got a night out without the youngin's that night as they stayed with Grandma & Grandpa. We went to the Mayan Restaurant in Salt Lake City and had great steak & mexican food and watched the awesome cliff divers. Then we cruised to downtown and walked around Temple Square. I hadn't been there since last Christmas. It's beautiful to see in the Fall.

Dad took Jason to Cabela's on Saturday after they went and got fitted for Tuxes. Now he's hooked and had to go back each day we were down there. We came home with bags full of Cabela's gear.. hats and shirts and even camoflauge winter coats for the kids. He was like a kid in a candy shop.

Gracie got a new pair of Disney Princess sneakers this week and she just loves them.

Madi is excited about putting in a book order and is selling cookies for a school fundraiser. If we haven't called you to order yet... wait by the phone LOL.

Jake is learning all about seasons in pre-school this week and brought home a fun picture today where he had glued leaves of varying colors on a tree.

Time for me to go get dinner started and change the laundry and help Madi finish her homework and......

The Beginning

2008-09-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

So much is going on with wedding planning and running a house and raising three kids I thought I'd have a place to keep you all informed of what we're up to. Check back frequently for new pictures and updates. Here's what we've been doing lately:

Met with Millenial Falls Reception Center on Tuesday and selected all the linens, food, invitations etc for the wedding. All that's left now is to meet with the florist so I'll have to schedule another trip down from Vernal to take care of that.

Madi has started school and loves her computer class. She's excited to have the same teacher for 2nd grade that she had in Kindergarten and Noah is in her class as well which is making things easy for her as well. They ride the bus together every day and she shares her snack with him. ;-)

Jakob started pre-school today. He was bouncing up and down with his Cars backpack and couldn't wait to get out the door this morning. He had a well baby check yesterday and is in the 95th percentile for weight and 75th for height. The Dr. says he's going to take after Jason.

Gracie is growing like a weed and she's so smart. She's vocalizing more and more everyday and chases the older kids around to play. She loves her peaches at dinner time and is our little binky baby.

Jason is working hard at Schlumberger and trying to help me adjust from "single and fancy free to married & mother of three". It's a bit of and adjustment for us all but we're taking it one day at a time and enjoying every minute.

Well time to go pick up Jake...

2008-09-11T08:41:00.000-07:00