Thursday, October 30, 2008

Voting Day

Though we are excited about this November 4th and the election results we have another reason for excitement on that day. We are getting our first ultrasound!! And we should be able to tell the gender of the baby by then. I will be at 22 weeks, so the doctor thinks he should be able to get a clear picture. Any votes for what gender you think this baby will be??

Friday, October 24, 2008

Got Tagged

I haven't been able to blog for awhile because we were in Oregon for 8 days, and we are leaving again this weekend. I'll have lots to blog about though when I get back next week! Just no time for that right now. But I am going to do this thing that Karley tagged me with just for fun.

5 things I was doing 10 years ago
1. I was in OHS marching band
2. I was a sophomore in High School
3. I was taking drivers Ed
4. We spent some time in Panama during that school year
5. Swing dancing all of the time

5 things on my to do list today
1. grocery shopping and errands
2. clean house for babysitters
3. PACK
4. make dinners that can be easily cooked by babysitters
5. Take off for a weekend with Jake without kids!!

5 snacks I enjoy
1. any gummy, fruity candy
2. cottage cheese with yogurt
3. smoothies (I sure wish we had a Jamba juice here)
4. graham crackers and milk
5. anything sweet

5 things I'd do if I were a millionaire
1. invest it
2. find a cause that I really believe in to donate some to
3. move closer to family
4. get a new van that doesn't break and has a built in DVD player (but stick with a minivan because I'm a believer in them)
5. Buy a private plane that can fit our whole family because Jake is working on his pilot's license right now and then we wouldn't have to rent them all of the time

5 places I've lived
1. Utah
2. Georgia
3. Texas
4. Alabama
5. Arizona

5 jobs I've had
1. US army aviation operations
2. KFC
3. waitress at Olive Garden
4. intern on Mitt Romney's presidential campaign
5. western watts

5 people I tag
1. Amber
2. Katie
3. Aunt Hope
4. Maria
5. Valerie Pritchard

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you’ve answered the questions on your blog.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Close Call

I think it is stupid to get angry over things in the car. I do sometimes gripe at other drivers, and I am not afraid to honk my horn. I know most of the time it does absolutely no good except for to make me feel better. But there's no point in holding on to anger about some other stupid driver that you don't know and will probably never meet. I have to gripe about what happened today, though I know it won't do any good but to get it off of my chest.
I had walked the girls to school because we didn't make the bus and Jake had to take the van to work. I was crossing at the crosswalk in a school zone when I almost was hit by a big white truck. I had to jump back and yank the stroller out of the road. My heart was beating so fast, and I was so angry at this guy. He just wasn't paying any attention. Cars had already stopped on the other side of the road to let me pass, and I was in a crosswalk in a school zone where the speed limit is 15mph. The other drivers honked at the guy and got out to make sure that I was okay. The guy just kept going. Not caring that he almost hit a pregnant woman pushing a baby in a stroller. I just don't know how people can be so uncaring. It made me think that if he had hit me he would have taken off anyways. On my walk home I kept thinking "what if?" though I know that it is pointless to do so. I was so mad. I thought what could have happened to Jaxon, or me or the baby. When I got home though, I realized that I should be praying and thanking Heavenly Father that it was just a close call, and not a real accident. It's just a small little instant, but it really made me think about things, so I thought I'd share.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Pomegranates Anyone?

We have a big pomegranate tree in our backyard. I have had a pomegranate or two in my lifetime, but I have never cooked with them or known anything about what to do with them. I am about to learn I suppose. It came time for us to harvest the pomegranates because many of them were splitting from being so full of juice. We did this for FHE on Monday. Jake and I got all of the pomegranates down and the girls put them in the buckets. They have to be cut from the tree, you can't just pick them off. Plus there are sharp short twigs all over inside the tree and we were all scratched up by the end of it.

This is our harvest. The tree yielded a lot of fruit. Then came the question: now what? We sent the big bucket over to our neighbors house. But we still have lots more pomegranates that we don't know what to do with.
We like to eat the seeds, they were pretty sweet, but also messy. Pomegranate juice stains terribly. Plus, there is not way we'd eat all of those before they went bad. I have been looking online for recipes and tips and have found a lot of suggestions. But first they have to be seeded and/or juiced. The seeds can be frozen for later use. But to juice them you have to take the seeds out first and get the white skins out, then press the seeds through a sieve. Most say not to use an electric juicer because the white skins and the inner seeds will just get chopped up too and make the juice bitter. I saw some pomegranate juicing things online, but they are very expensive and wouldn't get here in time for this season anyways. I set to work this week de-seeding the pomegranates and it has turned out to be arduous, awful work. I did it all day yesterday and I barely got through a bucket and a half. We have every big bowl in the house full of seeds in the fridge and I still have 3 1/2 buckets of pomegranates to go. I haven't even started juicing them yet. It makes me feel like a pioneer doing all of this work because it all has to be done by hand and it takes forever and ever and ever.
What I have learned so far: Pomegranates are a pain!! Sure they are supposed to be one of the "superfoods" and the juice is supposed to be more healthy than Noni juice and a certain amount of it every day is supposed to do all of these things for you. BUT they are a pain! There are muscles in my forearms that are killing me that I didn't know existed. All from sitting over a bucket de-seeding pomegranates. Not to mention my back and neck. I have been working on it all week, and I'm not even half way done!! We will definately be buying a good pomegranate juicer for the next time around. Take my advice: don't plant a pomegranate tree in your yard! Stick to a nice apple or peach tree.

Budding Photographers

The beauty of digital cameras is that you can take million pictures and delete them all if you want. Lyla and Mckayla love to use the camera and I let them have at it the other day. They went around the house setting up little things to take pictures of, and of course taking numerous picture of each other. Though most of the pictures are just of totally random things (about 20 pics of different Hannah Montana memorabilia), I thought I'd give you a sampling of their work.

This is Lyla in cheerleader dress-up garb (taken by Mckayla).

This is the inside of a cup that I am rather surprised turned out and isn't blurry like most. But I thought I'd include it to show what most of the pictures were taken of. (taken by Lyla).

This is Lyla after a wardrobe change (there were several).
And this is Mckayla (taken by Lyla).