Mawiage. Mawiage is what bwings us togevwa today.

Toby and I recently celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. As usual, we did nothing special. We're not the big fussy celebratory type of couple. But whenever our anniversary rolls around I think about the day we were married and I have a lot of fun memories!

Like when my sister, Joanna, was sent by my mother to the distribution center across the street from the Manti Temple and was charged at by an angry cow. I wasn't there, but the mental image is priceless.

Or the fact that I was like 20 minutes late for the ceremony and when we pulled into the parking lot at the Temple, Toby was by the doors in his suit pacing like a crazy person and then sprinted thru the parking lot to meet my mom and I. He thought I wasn't coming at all.

Or my sister-in-law Joyce's mother dumping a box of rice on our heads as we got in our car to go home for the night because she claimed throwing rice meant the couple would be blessed with fertility.

Or that virtually everyone in my wedding party had used the very hip three barrelled curling iron on their hair. Myself included. It was very 2001 of us. Joanna, April, Darcy and I all had essentially the same hairdo. Classy stuff I tell ya.

Or the lovely sight of Toby's sisters and sisters-in-law dressing up in various colored pleather skirts and serenading us with a rousing rendition of "On Top of Spaghetti".

Or the night before the wedding when all my girl friends stayed at my apartment and were playing the completely inappropriate game my friend, Eve, got for me for the wedding and horrifying my naive 17 year old roommate. The game even included a "massager" and in Eve's completely un-sex-educated world at the time she actually thought it was for a back massage. We told her otherwise and she nearly passed out.

Or sitting on the little sofa in the sealing room while people were coming into the room before the ceremony and consciously thinking "they're gonna close that door soon so if I'm gonna run, now's the time". I wonder why Toby was afraid I wasn't going to show up in the first place? Toby put his hand on mine at that very moment and I felt a rush of surety at my decision to marry him. I stayed, sobbing thru the whole ceremony (tears of joy, I promise) and it's the best decision I've ever made!

Or hearing from my dad and sister that they caravaned home with my mom and had to pull up beside her on the freeway and signal her to step on the gas pedal. She was going 35 on the freeway.

But my favorite memory is while we were on our honeymoon in Georgia. My sweet aunt and uncle let us stay in their lake house for the week as our wedding gift. They drove us up there, took us grocery shopping so we'd have food for the week, left us with a car, the boat & jet ski keys and we had a blast.

Keep in mind I was barely 20 years old when we got married and I was fairly sheltered. The best part of the trip was when my aunt came down from the bedroom upstairs. She announced very matter-of-factly that she had put the satin sheets on the bed in the master bedroom but, she said, "if you find you need more traction, there are some flannel sheets in the dresser drawer." The fact that people I knew and loved were aware I would be having sex in their home and that they were ok with that mortified me to my soul!

Lots of fun memories. Here's hoping we have years and decades more of them to come!

The Lunch Lady

First off, let me confess that I am a hoarder. Not as bad as the ones you see on tv, but if it weren't for Toby forcing me to get rid of stuff, I would keep everything . . . forever. I guess I just like stuff.

I am also terrible with forming irrational emotional attachments to these items I desperately want to keep forever for no good reason. Now that I am re-reading this I sound like a freak. I guess I'm ok with that.

So probably 10 years ago I was at Old Navy in Orem, UT with my bestie, April and we bought these cute lunch boxes to be our scripture cases. Not sure why or where the idea came from, but we bought them nonetheless. So I've had this cute green lunchbox as a scripture case for over 10 years. I have no idea if April still has hers or if she would even remember what I'm talking about (my guess is no), but I remember it well and have continued using it all this time.

So this lunch box/scripture case reminds me of my bestest friend and also reminds me of a great time in my life: my first year in college, having some freedom, enjoying school, enjoying my job, enjoying my new life out of high school. And somewhere in the depths of my twisted psyche, the lunchbox represents that. Freedom, reckless abandon, fun and games, etc.

Fast forward to last week. Toby had a field trip for the Jr high to the Grand Canyon. He needed a lunch box for the first day of the trip and we couldn't find Tysen's insulated lunch box at the time and we were in a hurry. So I grabbed my scriptures out of the Old Navy lunch box and handed it to him with full expectation I would receive it back unharmed (or else he wouldn't have touched it).

Ten minutes later his lunch was packed in the box and sitting on the table waiting for him to take it with him. That's when I noticed that he WROTE HIS NAME ON MY BELOVED LUNCH BOX!!! WITH PERMANENT MARKER!!! He defiled the last remaining representation of a carefree and wonderful time in my life. And I can't fix it. It's permanent. He was in HUGE trouble (and still is).

The funny thing is, he is absolutely baffled as to why I'm so upset about a lunch box. It seems like a small thing, right? I mean, it's just a decade-old hunk of green canvas fabric and zippers, right? Well, to me it was more and now it's gone, much like that portion of my life.

Don't get me wrong, I adore my life. I love my husband, I love my kids, I love our home, I love my job. Things are wonderful, really. But I think we all have times we look back on with a certain fondness and a little sorrow that we'll never get to live thru again.

That's what the lunchbox is to me. The embodiment of times past I'll never get back, and friends I no longer see as often as I'd like to. I miss my lunchbox.

Back in Black

It has come to my attention that my blog sucks. Now that tax season is over (hooray!) I will try to work on that.

Just not today :)

PS Did anyone else LOVE the Sue Sylvester version of Vogue on Glee last week? LMAO!

Pattycake Pattycake Baker's Man

First off, let me lead you to a great post by one of my favorite bloggers. Click here to read a new favorite of mine. Moving on . . .

I'll repeat my earlier sentiment that I am not that great of a cook. I can bake fairly well, but baking & cooking are 2 very different things. I have found another great dish that's fairly easy to put together and would be excellent for a special night (anniversary, date night, etc) or for entertaining! I know I would serve it to my friends (if I had any).

Garlic Parmesan Chicken

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
4 Tbsp oil
1 tsp garlic powder (more or less to taste)
3/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt & pepper

Directions (this is how I make it, edit as needed to do it your own way):
* preheat oven to 350 - I cover a cookie sheet (the kind with sides on it) with tin foil and place a cooling rack on top (the kind you cool cookies on) and spray the cooling rack with Pam - you could also use a broiling pan (this isn't totally necessary, you can use just a regular baking dish, but if the chicken sits up off the pan on the rack, then both sides get nice & crispy)
* pound the chicken breasts so they're all the same thickness (I don't have a fancy meat mallet so I put them in a gallon size baggie and use the hammer from the garage) - pat the chicken dry with paper towels - season both sides with salt & pepper and set chicken aside
* combine oil & garlic powder (I put the mixture on a dinner plate with high-ish sides & just swirl the stuff together with a fork)
* in a pie tin combine the breadcrumbs & parmesan - dip the seasoned chicken breasts in the oil mixture to coat both sides then dredge in the breadcrumb mixture to coat - place on the cooling rack & cookie sheet prepared before (if you have breadcrumbs left, pat them on top of the chicken once it's in the pan for extra breading)
* bake for 30 min or till juices run clear (if you don't pound your chicken thinner, you'll have to bake longer) - I serve with either spaghetti & red sauce if I'm feeling ambitious, or if I'm feeling lazy we eat it with instant garlic flavored mashed potatoes

Try it - you'll like it!

I'll be missin' you

After spending last weekend in Utah for a wedding, I have compiled a list of things I do not miss about living there. In no particular order:

• snow
• shoveling walkways and driveways
• driving in snow/ice
• getting to work late because of aforementioned shovelling and/or road conditions
• snow
• making sure each vehicle has a snow brush & scraper
• brushing snow off the car
• scraping ice off windshields & windows
• snow
• buying the kids whole new wardrobes each time the season changed
• spending money on heavy coats
• putting a baby in a car seat while wearing a heavy coat
• snow
• walking in heels in snow/ice and being limited to close-toed shoes for 4 months of the year
• the salty/sandy buildup that was present on all vehicles all winter long
• paying half my salary to Questar Gas
• snow
• having to entertain the kids indoors while they were off school for Christmas break
• frozen hands, feet, ears, etc.
• frozen pipes
• last, but not least, SNOW

Happy winter to all from a balmy 75 degree day in December!

Thing that must go

Something that MUST go: People who hug me, poke me, throw snowballs at me, or otherwise try to invade my personal space via facebook. Furthermore, I am not interested in joining your "cause", playing farmtown, or joining in for the mafia wars thing. I have my own causes and games I enjoy and you don't see me trying to push them on you, do I? Just a current peeve of mine I felt compelled to share. Hope everyone enjoys their turkey-induced coma tomorrow!

It's going on in the kitchen but I don't know what's cooking

Gangtsa's Paradise, anyone? Coolio? No? Just me?

Anywho, I am in no way a chef. In fact, the thought of cooking dinner in the evening gives me cold sweats. But I came across a recipe that I have modified and made my own that I would like to share with you all (all 3 of you) because it is SUPER EASY and mighty tasty.

Chicken Macaroni Bake

2 cups uncooked macaroni noodles
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheese
1 can chicken breast in water, drained (or cook up 1 chicken breast & shred)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl (don't cook the noodles) - transfer mixture to greased 9 x 13 pan - cover with tin foil - bake for 1 hour at 350 - this recipe feeds our family of 4 (2 adults & 2 kids) and usually has leftovers for at least 1 lunch, if not 2.

Seriously, uncooked noodles and canned food? Does it get any easier than that? I think not. You can also rotate thru your food storage with this recipe. I'm pretty sure everyone has macaroni noodles and you can use powdered milk in this recipe with no problem. You can use the reduced fat soups and fat free milk and it tastes the same. The rest of the items are items most of us have in food storage anyway, besides the cheese. I've also made it without the cheese and it's still tasty. We're a cheese-loving family so I add it. But in a pinch, do without! You could also try to sneak in some veggies if you're into that kind of thing. The kids LOVE it!

Happy happy birthday Tysen, dear

Ok, it's a total mommy blog. It was my kid's birthday, deal with it.

Tysen turned 7 in October. How is it that I have a 7 year old? Not sure about that one. Perhaps I was 12 when he was born. Yes, let's go with that.

We normally hesitate having big friend parties. Mostly because I have no patience whatsoever and I'm cheap. But he hasn't had a birthday party since he was 4 so I caved. He decided he wanted a Space themed party. Here's how it went:

I made super-cute invites with a pic from the NASA website of all the planets on the front. They turned out way better than I expected. I'm a little disappointed I didn't scrapbook something, but I work, ok. Give me a break.

First, all the kids played in the backyard for a while. This, I can totally handle. There are various sorts of construction materials in our backyard from improvements we've done since moving in. They were in 7th heaven playing in the yard. Luckily no one bled profusely, so we're all good.

Then, they took turns coming inside to make alien masks. Toby's nieces helped me cut out all the face and ear pieces and I painted all the antennae blue, red & green. The kids had fun and they all turned out cute!
Then, we rounded all the kids up and went outside for the flying saucer toss. My mom helped me make the flying saucers out of paper plates with a paper bowl hot-glued to the underside of the plate. They flew a lot farther than I expected!
After the flying saucers, we blew up film canister rockets. The kids thought that was really cool and again, it worked a lot better than I expected and no one lost an eye. I put that in the win column. Unfortunately, no great pics of that.

We took the kids inside where they played a meteor dart game. I made the dart board out of felt and puff paint. I also made the meteor out of a Styrofoam ball, tin foil & Velcro. It was pretty cute (and still up in my living room if anyone wants to play a round) Tysen opened presents and then it was time for the solar system cake I made. Seriously Martha Stewart, right? (PS don't google 'space cake' unless you keep Cannabis in your pantry) When the kids left, they got to take home their masks as well as a "moon rock" made of coffee dough with a bouncy ball hidden inside along with crayons and a coloring book I made from pics I found online from the Space Program seen here. I was surprised how much the rocks really looked like actual rocks.
Tysen had fun, other than the one meltdown he had. I'm sure Tysen's favorite part was having Grandma & Grandpa Day come for his birthday! Overall I'd say it was successful. I felt even better about it after my drug-induced coma. Next year we're doing Chuckie Cheese.

We also had Halloween (like the rest of the country). Tysen wanted to be a vampire. I borrowed a Snow White costume from a co-worker for Audrey. She was obsessed with the headband. We had an added bonus of Kenlynne's hands and Tysen's hair being stained blue for a couple days from the black stuff we put in Tysen's hair. Thanks to Caryn & Rusty for taking Tysen to the ward party since Audrey was sick that day. As long as I'm mommy blogging, I'll mention that Tysen is playing soccer again this season and having a blast! This is my favorite picture of him because the look on his face makes me laugh and I think the kid in the green is picking his/her nose. This is T with his best friend on the team, Nathaniel.

That's what's up with us for now. We're so interesting, right?

Marcel, did you poo in the shoe?

What is it that is so difficult for the male gender to understand about shoes? It's a girl thing, ok? Just deal with it.

I'm pretty sure in our 8+ years of marriage, I have received more eye-rolls over shoes than any other topic. I've also heard the phrase "You bought ANOTHER pair of shoes?!" more times than I care to remember. I have a thing for shoes. You know, me and 80% of the female population. At least I know I'm not alone.

You see, not long ago, I came home from Dillards with these beauties. Cute, right? A very practical peep toe Jessica Simpson pump with a 4 inch heel. The response from my better half was "why do you NEED another pair of shoes?" Um, excuse me? What is this NEED you speak of? There is no NEED. Since when is that a prerequisite for purchasing footwear?

However, I tried my best to explain that I would, indeed, get quite a bit of use out of these new additions to my growing collection. I wear a lot of items that call for a black shoe and in Arizona, an open toe is acceptable year-round. Not to mention I work in a professional environment and wear heels 5 days a week.

Toby's rebuttal to my valid argument was, I felt, rhetorical. He said "what about the 5 other pairs of black heels in the closet". Oh, honey. Honey, honey, honey. He simply can't understand can he? It's that pesky Y chromosome.

I took a deep breath and explained that while I do own 5 other pairs of black heel, they are all slightly different.

I have a pair of black leather kitten heel sandals with a cute silver buckle detail. They are very acceptable with a longer skirt and I quite often wear them with dress pants because of their height. They look just like these only black.
I picked up a knock-out pair of Paris Hilton black stilettos on sale at Kitson last winter seen here. As you can tell they are TOTALLY different than the Jessica Simpson ones I purchased more recently. They have a closed toe and that cute gem detail on the toe. To be honest, I've never actually worn them out of the house because they kill my feet, but I love them all the same!

Then there are my closed toe patent leather ones with the gold buckle that are not too high and not too low. And who doesn't love a patent leather shoe?
Then there's the pair I bought as an homage to my Grandma Smith. They are a rounded toe Mary Jane with a funky hourglass shaped heel. My Grandma had multiple pairs of Mary Janes with a funky heel. Don't mock me. I love these shoes!
My personal favorites are a pair I bought at Nordstrom at least 5 years ago. They are really high, have a peep toe and are slingbacks with a crocodile textured leather. They are by far the most comfortable shoes I own. I adore them.
After these same lengthy and valid arguments, Toby respectfully waved his white flag and surrendered. I'm hoping he remembers this little episode the next time I bring home something in an animal print.

My baby boy

Every year in October I always think about when Tysen was born. FYI, he was born in October. I'm not one of those great mothers who keep journals or write my children letters as they grow up. Instead, I normally embarrass them to tears.

But since I always think about that time 7 years ago this time of the year, I'll share a few of those memories with the world wide web. I mean, why not? Warning you will probably not be interested in this at all so don't feel remotely obligated to read on.

Toby and I were SO excited when we found out we were going to have a baby. I was home alone one morning when I took the test and I called Toby immediately and told him he had to come home at once. We were young and still in school at the time so he skipped his first class that morning and came home. He was elated. I was terrified.

We told our parents right away, since that's what you do with your first child. I think Toby's parents were excited. I think my parents envisioned another human, this time an infant on the "payroll" since we were young, stupid & poor.

It felt like I was pregnant FOREVER. When I had the ultrasound to find out the gender, my mom and Toby were there with me. I even remember what I was wearing, black pants and a blue wrappy shirt. How silly is that? We were all thrilled to find out we were having a boy! We would have been thrilled either way, but Toby was secretly wishing for a boy. My mom and I cried, as we always do.

I remember the first time I felt him move in my tummy. I was at the Tabernacle in Logan for an event for my brother, Steve. I was coming out of the restroom and I felt him move. It was so strange feeling to me. I remember what I was wearing that day as well. A black dress with big pink flowers on it.

I go into the next part at the risk of sounding like a horrible person. Consider yourself warned. People always say that they love their baby from the moment they find out they're pregnant. That they feel this impenetrable bond with a child they've never met. Suffice it to say, I didn't feel that way. I felt more like a host to a parasite. I felt sick literally every day I was pregnant. Tysen had the hiccups A LOT while in utero and one time I remember waking Toby up in the middle of the night crying and asking him to "make him stop" because he'd had hiccups for like 3 hours strait and I couldn't sleep. I'm sure I was a total prego-nazi.

The Sunday before he was born, I thought my water broke so we headed to the hospital. It was just the mucus plug, but my blood pressure was high so they told me to call my doctor in the morning. I did and I went to see the doctor Monday afternoon. I was only dilated to a 1, which had been the case for a couple of weeks already. My blood pressure was still high and I was just a week before my due date so the doctor schedule an induction for the next morning.

I was TERRIFIED! The doctor suggested we get a good night's rest since it would be a while before that was an option again. Um, yeah, right! We went to eat at some fancy pizza place for our last night out as a childless couple. We tried to sleep that night and after a few hours of both of us tossing & turning, we went into the living room and played video games for the rest of the night.

Tuesday morning, we arrived at the hospital early. It had gotten cold all of a sudden overnight. We got checked in and I got the pitocin. By the time we got to the hospital, I was dilated to a 4. I had been a one just 12 hours prior in the doctor's office. They told me he probably would have been born that day even if I hadn't been induced.

About 3 contractions after the pitocin kicked in, I was begging for the epidural. Yeah, I'm a wimp. I have no shame about it. The knight in shining armor, I mean the anesthesiologist came and whipped his giant needle out of it's sheath. My mom promptly left the room. After that I was nice & comfy. I actually slept most of the day. Toby's mom and dad had come and my mom and dad were there too. Just all of them with Toby waiting in the giant hospital room for Tysen to be born.

The monitors showed my contractions were plenty strong and I was dilating, but Tysen wasn't dropping like he should have been. He was also turned around facing the wrong way. Not breech, but he was face up - or face down, I can't remember which one is the right way. Whichever one is right, he was the other way.

Each time I had a contraction, his heart rate would drop dangerously low. They let us go as long as they could and the doctor finally said he had to be born ASAP and went to have the OR prepped for a C section. By the time he came back about 15 minutes later, Tysen had dropped, the doctor was able to turn him around, and they had me start pushing.

I only pushed for about 20 minutes when his heart rate dropped again. For some reason, the knight in shining armor (aka the anesthesiologist) had come back and the doctor had him push down from above while the doctor pulled and I pushed. Tysen came out all at once with the cord wrapped twice around his tiny neck. The doctor took care of that and Tysen was absolutely fine. He didn't even need any oxygen or anything. He was perfect. As soon as the doctor haded him to me my first words were "isn't he pretty?" The doctor told me I might have to find some different terminology when he was marching onto the football field.

After that, they drugged me so much for the blood pressure issues that I remember very little for the next 36 hours. I remember Toby and my mom leaving the room to call family members and it was just me and my dad in the room. My dad was holding Tysen sitting in a rocking chair and Tysen kept sticking out his tongue. It was almost like he was tasting the air or something. My dad just did it right back to him, sticking his tongue out too saying it was their first game they played together.

While I was pregnant, I thought that as soon as he was born, I'd have that flood of emotion and I'd feel all the love and bonding that had been promised while I was pregnant. Well, not so much. I loved him and I was happy to have him here, in this world. But, well, it was just weird.

I remember one time the day we left the hospital, I was still in bed and mom and Toby were out of the room (no idea where they kept disappearing to) and I was alone with the bassinet in the room. He was sleeping and I remember looking at him and thinking "they're going to make me take him home" and I was horrified.

What was I supposed to do with a baby? I didn't know anything about babies! I'd never even held a newborn until he was born. How was I gonna do this? I don't know what either of us would have done without Toby and my mom. Mom was a huge help! And Toby is so natural and good with kids, even infants. He was (and is) the most amazing father. Seriously.

Tysen and I got used to each other again, without sharing a body. Within a couple of weeks, I couldn't imagine my life without that child. It's been that way ever since. He is so amazing. He is hilarious, brilliant, gentle, fun, and loving. I adore that boy like nothing else in the world! And, in the words of my mom and dad, I'm so glad he's mine!