Trying to capture a smile

I've been trying to capture a Sam smile.  He's pretty camera shy.  Here's some of my favorite attempts though. 

(I love the praying hands pose he does.)

(Not really a smile, but isn't he cute anyway?  His eyebrows make him look happy a lot.)

Speaking of, he has a tooth!  Hooray for him.  :)  Not hooray for whomever or whatever he tries to bite now.  

Quinoa

Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike tasting new foods?  Because I just don't like it.  I'm just not very brave.

But Weight Watchers has been encouraging us to try new foods.  Especially power foods.  I read online how healthy one of those foods are - Quinoa - and decided to try it. 

Quinoa (said Kee-noa with the accent on the first syllable) is an ancient grain.  It took me almost 3 days to be able to pronounce it right.  Even now I stutter a little bit. 

It has the texture of white rice with the taste more like brown rice - kind of a very mild nutty taste.  It cooks quickly, even faster than white rice, and seems to be pretty versatile so far.  I can't help but to see the grains after being cooked and think that it looks like there are little wormy things in my dish, but I guess that's how you know it's done.

(Doesn't that look like little worms if you look close?)

Anyway, I read some reviews and found that it is very important what brand of Quinoa you buy because it's grown in some kind of bitter tasting stuff that has to be rinsed off.  All brands say pre-rinsed, but most have to be re-rinsed at home anyway.  They say you rinse it until there isn't a soapy film in your bowl.  Yuck.  I don't have time to rinse my grains so I found two brands that you actually don't have to pre-rinse.  Costco's brand (Organic truRoots) and Bob's Red Mill brand.  I've only bought Costco's so I can't testify to Bobs, but it gets execellent reviews from people who say you don't have to rinse it. 

We've been pleasantly surprised!  It only takes 18 minutes to cook and the first time I made it, I cooked it in chicken broth. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Quinoa-Side-Dish/Detail.aspx My kids loved it!

The second time I cooked it normal and ate it with a little butter and salt (1 cup is a serving.  I put 1/2 tsp butter and salt on it). 

The third time I put it in meatloaf in this recipe...  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Quinoa-Side-Dish/Detail.aspx  (didn't have turkey and so used super lean ground beef).

And the fourth time I made a salad with it.  (probably my favorite way but not necessarily my kids favorite)  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Quinoa-Side-Dish/Detail.aspx

(This is a picture of my bowl of Quinoa Tabbouleth)

It's super high in protein and fiber.  Definitely a WW power food.

Try this!  You may like it!  You can find quinoa in Walmart, Costco, and most grocery stores.  There is a good selection at Health Food stores too. 

You'll have to report back if you like it too.  For more fun recipes, visit my favorite recipe place -
allrecipes.com and put in Quinoa. 

Clean dishes again

Because you all care about my opinion (me being the expert at doing things the wrong way the first few time) I thought I would share some recently acquired gems of wisdom with any who might benefit.

A few RS meetings ago, a few of us were talking about how frustrating it was that our dishes never seem to get clean in our dishwasher.  You have to wash the dishes first to have them come out half way decent.  This is because a few  years back, Utah banned the chemical Phosphorus from our cleaning products.  Something bogus about the environment.  I think they probably just had it in for us large families who go through cups and bowls like they were going out of style. 

So, me and some friends were bouncing some ideas around - like going online and seeing if we could find dishwasher detergent with phosphorus still in it.  But after shopping around on Amazon, I found that enough states have banned the chemical that the manufacturing companies just stopped putting  it in all their detergents.  I looked at buying phosphorus from Amazon to add to my dishwasher.  The warnings and instructions made me think twice about that.  Stuff like that I had to wear gloves to handle the bottle, and that I could only put at most 1/2 tsp in each load of dishes at a time.  Ha ha.  That's pretty funny.  I'm lucky to ge the dishes loaded!

While on Amazon and reading hundreds of reviews, I found that Consumer Reports had declared Finish tablets to be the best option out there.  (They used to be Electrasol and recently changed their name).  They were even better than Kirtland brand or Cascade.  So I decided to get some tablets next time I was at Walmart. 

(Isn't this a nice long story?  Are you getting bored yet?)

Finish has a new tablet called Finish Quantum.  Here's a picture of it. I figured I'd try it out.  This is the first time my dishes are coming out clean!  Even the bowls!  My glasses are actually clear.  Sam's bottles don't have some weird film on the inside of them!  My spoons are silver again!

And then I noticed after running a few loads, that my dishwasher is starting to look clean again!  WOO HOO!!!  Someone has finally found something that will do the job again! 

They aren't the cheapest  options out there.  But they beat the waste of heated water and running useless loads of dishes.  So, they are worth it to me in the long run. 

Just thought I'd share so next time you go to unoad dishes and they're still dirty....

Time is crazy!

I mean, I guess I can expect things to be crazy with 7 kids, right?  And it's so important to me to try to give each kid as much time and attention as they need.

The result:  I write a bunch of blogs in my head but never get them down on paper.

(I found this picture of a lady thinking but she didn't look like me so I had to redo a few of her features.)

Like the blog about reaching my hand in the bath 3 times to grab three "presents" my 3 year old left for me without even blinking!  (I blinked a whole lot after though, and gagged, and then couldn't believe I just did that.  I mean, someone had to get it out.  But with my bare hand?  What am I, nuts?)

Or the blog about starting Weight Watchers again and the stress about starting.  That blog would probably have some complaining in it.  Probably good that one didn't get written down.

There was a blog about my 2 year old turning 3.  But since a 3 year old really isn't any better than a 2 year old then it was okay I skipped this one.

How about the blog about the awesome recipes I've found recently - updated with current WW plus points?  Still a good one to try to get in.

I'd love to write a blog about how good Ryan's work is treating him and the difference and blessing this change of jobs has been in so many ways.  The years of praying and pleading (the pleading was especially prevalent the past 8 months) really paid off.  Our fasting and prayers really were answered in a way that they could not have been a year ago.  Or six months ago.  Or two years ago.  It had to happen like it did.  And relief came.  And it is better than we could have imagined.

Also with that post, I could write about the new book I'm listening to... "How to Win Friends And Influence People."  Good book so far.  Ryan's new boss is a great example of the techniques I've heard so far.

Then there is Easter.  Fun pictures from Easter I could post.  That would take downloading them to the computer first though.  Is there time?

My cool new toy I got for my 15th anniversary from Ryan.  Oh wait... 16th anniversary.  (See, time does fly!).  Oh yeah, I could post all the things I love about Ryan.  I could probably come up with 16.  (Just kidding Ryan.  I could come up with a lot more than that!)

The list goes on and on...  Prioritizing has become so difficult!  But I'm always working on readjusting.  I'm sure I'll get it figured out and then something will change and I'll have to readjust.  That's just part of this exciting life I've chosen, right?

Hooray for my chaos!  I love my chaos and wouldn't want it any other way!

Sam at 2 months

I have some requests to post  updated pictures of Sam.  He doesn't look that different to me yet.  And he's still pretty small.  At 2 months, he was 9 lbs, 1 oz.  He does smile but not enough that I can get good pictures of it yet.  He coos a little and already is trying to survive in loves the chaos!  

Anyhow, here are some pics.  I know there's a lot of them, but I can't decide which ones are the best and so I'll just post 'em all. 

What were they thinking?

So, in our house we have limited spacing right now.  We'll eventually need to move to a bigger home but until then, we are a bit snug.  :)  We have 3 boys sharing one room which isn't actually that unusual.  I think we've had 3 kids in a room for the good majority of our marriage.  That's what you get for having a big family in apartments.  So, here's their room (notice the cleared off top bunk - explanation to come).  

Matthew sleeps on the car bed and the two older boys sleep on the top bunk.  It's a little tight so sometimes Jacob sleeps better on the floor (we lay down some cushions) or occasionally in Brandon's bed downstairs.  There just isn't enough room for another bed in there.

Well, I went up to the boys top bunk because they had a couple of cups sitting on the wood frame that were leaking.  They each sleep in one of those small child thin sleepover type of sleeping bags instead of using blankets and I noticed their sleeping bags were stuffed full and had some hard things in them.  I decided to see what they were keeping in them.

What the....???

List of things hidden inside their sleeping bags:

A baseball bat (yes, a foam covered full sized baseball bat)
A sudoku book with pencil  (you would think that this would mean they are smart... apparently not)
A light-saber, fully extended
A stuffed dragon
Board book
Regular book
Lego set (mostly in pieces)
About a dozen Lego magazines (maybe to find clues on how to put the lego set together?)
About another dozen Bionicle comic books, including posters from the wall
Puzzle pieces (to different chunky wood puzzles, not the thin ones)
Disneyland souvenier (little light up flashlight type thing)
Jacob's shoe that he spent a very long time looking for this morning (and gave up)
Matthew's shoe
A full size pillow
A large quilt (queen size)
A small blanket
Another pillow
Pez candy dispenser (maybe they were hungry?)
Ball puzzle game thing
Lego cheat codes for a Nintendo DS game they have
Nintendo DS game
Nintendo DS system (obviously they are playing games when they're not supposed to)
A large baby ball type toy
Nintendo DS headphones
One single clean Matthew sock
A pajama shirt (hey, perfect for mopping up the water mess!)

I'll bet they slept well.

Will kids go to no end to hide stuff they are supposed to put away?  The odd thing is - LOOK AT THEIR ROOM!  Besides the small pile of stuff I took off their bed, do you see how NOT clean their room is?  It's not like they actually truly made it look clean to start with.
 

Probably because they could only fit so much into their sleeping bags and still fit in themselves.

Lucky for them, they'll come home to washed sheets, sleeping bags, and pillows nicely placed on their bed.  They'll just have the stuff on their floor to worry about.

Unlucky for them - anytime I "help" clean, I fill at least one large garbage bag with stuff to throw away or donate.  Someday they'll realize that if they want their stuff left alone, they'll have to make sure I don't need to go in after them...  :)

(Matthew had to have a part of the picture taking this morning.)  See how funny he thinks this is?  Look Matthew! I'm crying, screaming, fuming laughing too!  I'm just laughing on the inside.  (ha ha ha)

New year, new changes!

Yeah, I know - you missed me.

Thanks to the gentle prodding of a couple friends (thanks Sarah and Emily!) I'm back.  Why the long vacation?  Well, it's hard for me to blog when I don't have anything nice to say - which pretty much means my entire pregnancy I didn't blog.

I'll have to tell the story of my attitude adjustment later.  First though I wanted to announce the fun new changes we've had since the new year.

#1 - NEW BABY!!!

Yes, Samuel Jayden was a very welcome addition to our family on January 17th, 2011.  He was 6 lbs 7 ozs and a short 19 inches long.  He's been little since, but most of my babies have.  We love having him in our family.  He hasn't been the easiest baby.  In fact, he requires quite a bit of attention.  But I tell ya - the older the rest of my kids get and the more kids I have in teenagerdom, the more I appreciate the simplicity of a baby.  I am loving my baby!

#2 - NEW JOB!!!

Thank goodness we are done with American Express.  Ryan started with Zions bank on March 7th.  It is a great change and an answer to many pleading prayers to my Heavenly Father begging for relief.  Again, a story for another post, we are just grateful he has a job and that it is good.

#3 - New vehicle

(Note this is not in all caps).  Yes, we seem to have to get new cars as we outgrow our old ones.  And what kind of family outgrows a suburban?  We do!  So, our new vehicle is a 15 passenger van.  We went with a 15 passenger for the storage space.  Everyone loves the van.  My feelings for the van are at a little different level than everyone else since it is my vehicle and I have to drive and park and maneuver around in it.  But, it will be good to have a vehicle we can all drive in together when we go somewhere.  And did I mention how much the kids love it?

One thing to note however - the kids still fight in a vehicle the size of a small aircraft.  I just look at the van as proof of the blessings we have received in our family.  We've received so many blessings that there isn't enough room to fit them in anything smaller.  :)

I'll expand on the above more another time.  My time on the computer gets shorter and shorter all the time.  Our computer is our television (we don't have cable or any stations right now), homework helper, entertainer, and movie/music source. So you can imagine how often it is being used.  I need my own computer!  :)