Light

My favorite thing about Christmas is the lights. Winter always seems like such a dark time of year, so it's nice to see strings of lights glittering on houses and trees. When I lived in Logan I would eagerly wait for them to put up the lights on main street. They did it the lazy way, with strands of lights looped around the outside of the tree instead of the painstaking individual branches. So when you drove by it was like a swirling, dynamic light sculpture.
I remember driving to my Grandparents house in Fountain Hills, AZ and looking at the hundreds of luminaries that dotted the roads. It's one of my favorite memories. With few trees to decorate, they found a way to add more light to their town as well. This year I decided to adopt the tradition. So, I lined our walkway with white paper bags filled with sand and lit by a single candle. Luminaries are so classic, so simple, a variation on one of the symbols of Christ, the Light of the World.

Today is the shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice. The sun is the furthest away from the earth that it will ever be, and so, it seems fitting that on these cold, dark days, that we celebrate light. The ancients watched the heavens more then the average person does today, and so they had a holiday called natalis solis invicti, the Roman "birth of the unconquered sun". It just so happens that it's on December 25th. Happy Holy-days.

Kids are Hard

Had a photo shoot to do some X-mas pics for my sister, and this is what Madi and Jaden were like most of the time:


Kids are hard to photograph. I know this will be priceless someday. But today, it wasn't funny...well, earlier today it wasn't funny.

"What do you do all day??"

Surprisingly enough, that question was from another mother. She's my new hairstylist, and works full time. Young. With a little girl about three. I like her a lot, but still, her comment left me a little floored. What don't I do?
Adelei is now nearing six months old (that's 2/3rds of my pregnancy!), and she's hit a growth spurt, which means she's eating what seems to be 24/7, and continually attached to me. She's grown 2 inches since her 4 month check-up. Don and I discovered this after pulling out the tape measure due to curiosity, and the number of comments from people saying she was thinning out. Measuring her calmed my mommy nerves. LiLi also doesn't believe in taking naps. What's a mother to do? I try and tell her that she's a little baby who's growing fast and needs lots of sleep. Her usual reply is to grab her toes and coo. How can you argue with that??
In my spare time (ha, ha). I've been crafting. I'm doing my first craft fair. And I have to admit, it's been a lot of fun. I learned how to knit. (Just when I thought I couldn't get any more domesticated, I pick up knitting.) I'm actually kind-of proud of it. It's versatile, pratical, and an outlet--for art, for frustration, for zen. I'll keep you posted on the craft fair (or most likely tell you how it went). But until then, her are some pictures of my creations.

The "chirp" knitted hat:


Handstiched felted wool lamb (the felt was too thick for my dang sewing machine):



And my masterpiece:


This last one's not for sale. My little niece Madi already asked.

My Little Blossom-head Pixie

For Halloween Adelei was a fairy. I got ambitious and decided to make her costume. I haven't sewn anything serious ever since I got married. Don was a little surprised at my skills. He watched me at the sewing machine, scratched his head, and asked,
"If you can sew, then why do I have a bunch of pants with holes in them that I never wear?"
"Because you didn't ask."
I'm pretty proud of how her costume turned out. It took a while, but it was worth it to see it on her. It's so fun to have a little girl to dress up.



Don dressed up, too. For the first time he wasn't a cowboy. This year he was a...


Jamaican. I think he secretly wants dreads.
Four years of marriage, and this man still surprises me. Hope everyone had a good Halloween!

Adelei Update

My baby is now doing all sorts of fun things. She likes to grab her toes, and she's discovered her tongue, and likes to stick it out. She is now 4 months old, 24.5 inches tall, and weighs 14.19 lbs. Can you believe it? I can't. As of Sunday, she officially laughed. Before then it was more like a, did she just giggle?? Wait, do it again, Baby, I'm not sure if you did it or not. But on Sunday, there was no denying that my little 'Nilla Bean laughed. Ever since then she's laughed for me every day. It is the best thing in the world. Baby laughs are magic.
While I've taken an enormous amount of pictures of my little Lei-Lei, I decided to put some video on here just so you can see her cute little personality. She is so much fun. I'm the luckiest mom in the world.

Cooking Blog

I'm attempting to start up my cooking blog...again. Last time, my camera was at my in-laws for a month or two, and then by the time I got it back, I was so pregnant that I really wasn't cooking any more. So, here it goes! Fall is my baking season, you'll probably see a lot of that. There's a link on the side of my blog, and you can click here to view it as well.

Bon appetit!

Are you kidding me??

I have something to complain about. I went to two different stores the other day and both had their Christmas decorations out...it's early September, you ugly-little-money-grabbing-commercialized-store-mongers!!! (Try and say that five times fast. I dare you.) You ought to be horsewhipped. I know the economy sucks, but honestly...stop rushing the season. There are still at least two major holidays to go!
Which leads me to a question...why doesn't anyone celebrate fall anymore? Not Halloween. I'm talking fall, people. You know...bountiful harvest? I think that it was one of the most celebrated times through most of mankind's history and now it's not even noticed. Too lowly and unimportant to be noticed. So sad.
I'd get on my soap box and go off on how the human race is no longer close to the earth and how it's made us loose touch with our humanity, but it would sound a little too tree hugging/hippy child for my taste. Which I'm not. But really, it just might add a little bit of balance to our fast paced consumer society if we all slowed down, and took a deep breath of the approaching autumn air.



















*photo courtesy of wikimedia.org, and yes, there will be more posts of Adelei. Just had to vent, I feel so much better.

'Tis the Season

It's fun to show off your garden produce. I'm so dang proud.









































It's salsa season. Are you excited? You should be.

Because with salsa you can make things like this:





















Yes, please.

Erin's Nach-yos, Mine.

Ingredients:

• Chips (as many as you want)
• 1 Jalapeno
  
• slow cooker Mexican chicken*
  
• 1-2 cups cheddar cheese
• salsa
• (optional) sour cream & gauc
• whatever other toppings make your boat float

Layer first four ingredients, broil on low for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Add remaining toppings. As Don suggested, this would be good with pinto/kidney/refried beans as well. But I just happened to grab whatever was on hand.

Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken

Ingredients:

• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1 (6 oz.) can diced green chilies
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 (14 oz.) can pinto beans (I didn't have this on hand, thus the reason my nachos didn't have beans)

Combine all except pinto beans in crock-pot on low for 6 hours. Shred chicken with two forks put back into crock-pot with pinto beans. Cook for another 1/2 hour on high.

Salsa

Ingredients:

• 3-4 tomatoes, chopped
  
• 2-3 peppers (jalapeno, bell, habanero, whatever you like), diced
  
• 3-5 tomatillos, diced
  
• 3-4 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1-2 tsp. tumeric
• 1-3 tsp. lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients to taste. I like to try in with a corn chip to make sure it's just right. Chill in fridge, or inhale immediately.

Enjoy.




















We did.

2 Months

My little vanilla bean turned two months on Monday, the 27th. We had a check-up in Logan. Adelei has almost gained 4 lbs., and grown 2 inches. She is now 11 lbs. 13 oz., and is 23 inches tall. She is in the 75th percentile for heigth and 77th percentile for weight. And she's loosing her newborn look. She gets prettier every day. Where has the time gone?

The Sweetened Condensed Version of Our LIves

I hate to view my blog as an on-line journal. And you've probably noticed, I'm not very good at keeping all y'all up to date on the things that are going on in our lives. But some major things have happened that need to go on this blog, so let me give you an update of the things that have happened in the past two and a half months. It's been busy.

For starters, we moved to Bountiful and bought a house. I don't have a picture of our house yet. And I'm too lazy to go take one right now. Sorry. But it's a cute little starter home about 2 minutes away from where Don works. It has wonderful popcorn ceilings and retro wall paper. Both of which are coming down!

A week after moving into the house we got a dog. Her name is Lady, and she's part boxer, part lab. Which apparently is called a Boxador. I like Loxer better. She loves to play fetch with her bright pink ball.


About a week after that Adelei was born. This is actually her at 3 weeks. My little vanilla bean. She makes me happy. Yesterday she rolled from her stomach to back, and peed on my pants through her diaper. She also smiles and coos everyday now. Sometimes, if she's really happy, she'll squeal.



















A month after that Ashley, my little sis, was married on June 22nd, to Cody Robert Webb.





















And since then we've had a series of family reunions (one on the fourth, the other was with Don's family last weekend).
This is our first candid family photo. Adelei's fussing, and I'm not looking at the camera. Here's to keeping it real.



















Oh, and I also chopped a foot off my hair. Do I miss it? Surprisingly, not really. It's easier to take care of, I actually do it more, and it doesn't get tangled in Addie's little hands. Short hair is kind-of liberating. I've also had a career change from Civil Engineer to stay at home mommy.

Okay, now that you're all up to date, now I get to do the fun part. Here are some pictures I've taken over the last little while that make me happy, and a video at the end with my darling nieces and nephew taken on the fourth that I just have to share.



So, my life is pretty sweet right now. Especially with Adelei in it.

Meet Adelei

I am completely and totally in love with my baby. When Don and I left the hospital, I grinned, and glancing back exclaimed, "Honey, we got the cutest one!!"
My beautiful Adelei was 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 20 in. long. She was born at 1:22 pm on May 27th with chubby checks and huge eyes. She is the most beautiful thing in the whole world. And Don is just as in love with her as I am. When she was born, she had to briefly stay in the NICU due to the long length of the labor (18 hours, and all natural, I might add...and you wonder why it's taken me so long to post).
The night after she was born I woke up at around 3 am to find my husband had completely vanished. I couldn't imagine where he had gone, did he catch a late night movie?? I called to find that he was in the NICU, holding and feeding our baby girl. And that's how it's been ever since. Don was the first to discover that Adelei has a dimple in her chin. The first to have her fall asleep on his chest. He loves being a daddy.
And so, here's our little Adelei. Finally. We've all waited a long time to meet her.