HUNTSMAN FAMILY

"Spin my minions"

2013-06-17T12:59:00.002-07:00

Breakfast for dinner. new recipe!

SO GOOD! really simple

Crazy EYE

First time on a swing. LOVED IT!

"spin me, my minions!"

"GO"

"GOOD"

Playing at the park

Baseball game

Batting

Out field

batting

Running to first

DInner! TO DIE FOR!

Sorry lame and short, but I wanted the pictures up!

Let the games begin

2013-06-03T11:24:00.001-07:00

This week was a fun and exciting one

Both Michael and Braxton started Baseball

Michael is in t-ball. His team name is the Indians. He is working so hard at catching!

Can hit the ball EVERY TIME, and FAR!

AND IS SO FAST! He is around those bases and home so quick.

Because it is T-ball we are just learning the basics. But he is picking it up quickly.

He really loves it so far. It has only been a week, so who know what will come of it.

Braxton is in Machine pitch. His team is the Angels. The boys games overlapped on tuesday, and I took the camera with me to Michael's game. I will get pictures of Braxton on Wednesday night. Braxton's team is intense. A majority of them have been playing for two-three years. He has a few third graders on his team, and his coach means business. If you have ever played any kind of sport with Braxton you know that he is a really quick learner, and can hold his own. I pray the coach sees Braxtons natural talents, and does not over look him because he is new. Pics to come

Caden found some gun on the ground and brought it to me...GROSS! I am thankful for lemon oil, off came the gum with little to NO scrubbing.

While I was cleaning hands Michael took some pictures.

My not so clean garage

A portrait of me. I was cleaning the bat, the little gum covered fingers brought me the bat ;)

Ready to play

All the kids were out in the road playing a game of baseball. Katie, a friend of mine was out with me, we had a great time. We played from about 10-12:30. The day was great. Did not even notice how long we had all been out there!

My max sat in the shade, and got lonely

This is Sophie. Max is a bit of a novelty, he is SO loved by all the little girls on the street. I ALWAYS have someone asking to sit with him, or hold him. Sophie dropped the bat mid play and ran over to make sure Max was ok!

Saturday Morning we went swimming with the Tanner's. Jess went to school with Chad and now carpools with him to St George every day.

Caden was a bit nervous and took almost the entire two and half hours to get into the pool

Braxton was so fun, he is becoming such a great swimmer!

Chad, Max, Jes, and Maylee. So fun to have the babies just floating around with us

We made a train, Braxton was falling off! We had a great time

Will, the other half of the Tanner's had been out the day before and FRIED himself from the waist up. He spent a majority of the time in the shade trying to get his legs to tan.

Sunday night we made a favorite of mine for desert. Strawberry cheesecake. The boys all helped

Chad mixing away. I did not pull out the camera for the finished project. But it was SO GOOD! However my boys are CRAZY, they all had a few bites then said they were done. I may or may not have eaten theirs and my own... Yummy.

Till next week.

Squishy Faces and Rock Candy

2013-05-27T07:36:00.001-07:00

Sorry about last week. The time just got away from me.

I am going to to all pictures form that week and this together.

the weather has been great.

We play outside almost every day and I have wonderful neighbors.

We all just sit out in the front and watch the kids play

Caden had stuffed his mouth full of carrots, and then was trying to talk to me...it was like a bad version of "chubby bunny" I laughed so hard!

Max still just sits with mom. He is getting VERY mobile and is starting to get courageous with his exploring. His poor skin still burns so badly, so he is often in long sleeves and in the shade.

Braxton has found his "Teddy" again. It was a toy given to him on his first birthday, and recently decided that it was toy worth play with again. i really love listening to him play pretend with it. Michael has the same bear in a lighter color and the two of the boys together use their bears as sidekicks. It is fun to listen to the imaginative play.

Michael is my out doors, crazy, go with the flow kid. He loves to be out side, and LOVES to have his shirt off.

My mothers day tulip, from the ward. I do believe that this flower is beautiful, but I have a tendency to kill green things.

Our garden is planted and it is looking great, but little plants in a pot...so this beauty died with in a few days. The second bloom did not even get a chance to grow big. :( This is a momma that would really love a kings size candy bar for mothers day.

I have discovered that my max really loves to feed himself. He has yet to master the finger pinching technique, so more food end up on his face, body and seat, than in his mouth.

But he loves solids, he gets angry when he does not get a little of whatever we are eating.

He is doing well at eating those things, but we have to cut them SUPER small.

The big boys were outside jumping so Chad sat down with Max and read a story.

Max giggled and laughed

Then tried to eat the book. I love catching these moments. These pictures make me smile!

Then there is me ad the big boys. We had been outside all day, and it was so time for bed!! but all the boys wanted to snuggle while daddy was reading scriptures. I am grateful for a big chair so that we can all fit together.

These next picture are of Chad and Ron's doing. Chad was holding and loving on Max and they started talking about how fat he was.

Then Chad started pushing my babies cheeks together and this is the result...

Just so you all know Max was giggling and laughing between each time. I love it!

On Monday this last week we made rock candy.

The boys had a good time choosing colors and flavors.

The candy turned out pretty good. Next time I want to pick lighter colors.

Because the colors were so dark we did not get to watch our rock candy grow.

WE took family picture yesterday. Although the family shots I think are going to be a bust (the six, and two year old, were not having it) I a hoping I got a good one of each of the boys.

The photographer put one of Max up as a teaser.

I think it is super cute.

Love you all until next week!

SUMMER HAS BEGUN!

2013-05-12T21:39:00.001-07:00

SUMMER HAS BEGUN!

This week three things happened that signaled the begging of summer. First off

THE TIKI SHACK opened.

This place is great. And the owners happen to be friends of ours.

WE love it.

This is the tiki man they have out front to direct traffic their way.

Caden is a big fan. They have a Zipper size, it is perfect just bigger than a dixie cup!

Caden can have his own and it is not TONZ.

Plus they are only $.75 perfect.

Our family! so fun great FHE treat

The second thing that happend is a warm spring rain.

I LOVE PUDDLE JUMPING!

I blame my girl friend Steph, she use to call me when it started raining, and out we would go.

I took the boys out.

It was not a big rain, but enough to go play and jump.

I love his tongue out, Reminds me of me

We built a dam. The boys were fun and we had a mini engenering lesson. The big rocks let to much water through

The little rocks kept floating away.

WE had to figure out how to combine and put them together so they worked together.

The third there was not picture of, I forgot to pack Chad the camera. But the boys went camping for father and sons. My superman of a hubby took all three of the older boys. I had the house to myself on friday night (I had Max, but he really does not count)

Chad said it was fun. The boys did great. Braxton would not keep his blankets on that night. Caden thinks he is big and does not need dad, until there is a bug...Then the world ENDS! And Michael just talked about the guns. They loved target shooting.

Braxton had his end of the year festival. They sang "Never Smile at a Crocodile" It was so cute.

He showed me all of his friends and about 98% of them are female.

Doing the actions for the song.

Smiling big. I was able to bring Michael, he is out of school already. Braxton spent twenty minutes showing Michael around his classroom. They were both so excited. Braxton was so proud to be big brother, we had to see where the lunchroom was, where the play ground was. He talked about the bus stop and all the rules. I loved to watch them, and they would have stayed the entire day like that if i had not pulled them away.

SO fun.

Enjoying the weather

2013-05-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

This week was great. I convinced Chad to come home early one day a week.

He usually leaves for work at 6 am,

to be to work by 7.

He would get off at 3 and be home and 4, sometimes 5pm.

But he carpools with another teacher here in Cedar to save on gas

and she does not get off work till 5pm.

So my hubby is not home until 6.

That is 12 hours every week day.

It makes for a long week for both of us,

and my boys see their day on Sat, Sun, and an hour every night before bed.

With school letting out, and the weather becoming so nice we will be up later

but it is still a long time to be a single mommy.

I know I am a wimp,

But I am not a very good single mom.

So I convinced him to just take one day a week

and come home early :)

This past week was Michael's end of the year performance

So Chad came home early on Wednesday.

Michael with Kenzi B. and Quentin T.

we carpool with Kenzi,

and Michael talked of Quentin ALL the time.

During the show,

He sang a few songs,

and even did one in sign language!

Daddy watched the little men

Don't all the people in this picture look so happy

Caden was really done

He did such a great job,

but there were a lot of people

and he wanted to run and play

This is Michael's amazing teacher, Mrs. Barbara

She truly loves the kids, I felt so comfortable dropping him off every day

She was all smiles and hugs

She announced at the party that she will be retiring.

Michael's class was her last.

I also found out that Brax's teacher from last year, Mrs. Jordan

will also be retiring. I am so glad, and feel very blessed to have these two wonderful women start my boys scholastic journey!

One last hug

Quentin comes from a family of four boys

and their ages are very close to ours

and he falls in the exact same place and Michael, second.

These two were meant to be friends.

They totally can relate!

On Thursday the weather was AMAZING!

And it was my GF Gina's Birthday.

That is her in the middle.

Her big sister came over and brought popsicles for all the kids in the neighborhood.

The little girl in the front is Livi, Gina's youngest.

I get to have Livi at my house a couple days a month, and she is so fun

she will sit in the sewing room giving me advice on color choices

she will paint my nails and I hers

she will let me paint her nails

and her favorite movie is Little Women.

I truly love her.

This is Caden after his popsicle asking my to wipe his sticky hands.

I love his messy face.

Caden calls Gina, Jooney.

So the entire neighborhood has jumped on board and she is now Jooney to all the kids ;)

Michael riding his bike

His helmet is to small, he put his other one behind my car

and well, it is now in a about five pieces.

And Braxton behind learning to long board.

Friday we went to the SUU farm to look at all the new baby animals.

They have tours and we missed it :(

But there was a lady there who said she would come back and give us a private tour!

So expect pictures of that in the near future.

We had dinner at I HOP after. They have a "Kids eat free" special, for every eating adult

you get one child meal for free.

SO we can feed out entire fam for cheap.

Caden sat at the end of the table, by himself

and did great.

This chunky monkey is Henry. He is about seven weeks older than Max.

And my Max!

The week was great

with the weather warming it is only going to get better.

We also worked on our garden lot

and tilled in some stuff to get ready to plant.

That is this next week

so excited!

PEACE

Busy week

2013-04-29T06:57:00.000-07:00

I went to go get some ice cream and found this.

Michael likes to wake up EARLY,

and we don't usually wake up with him till about two hours later.

He is good about watching a show,

and getting himself some breakfast.

I guess he wanted ice cream for breakfast and forgot to clean up the evidence.

It is melted around the edges, my guess is it was out for a bit...

We got Caden's glasses.

I have been really dreding the day when they would need to go on.

He fought so hard to get the things sized, I had to bear hug him just to even look.

Chad and I thought we would purchase a special Build a Bear doggie.

Caden really loves doggies.

But this build a bear was special. He needed glasses too.

SEE!

After we pointed out Doggies glasses, I asked if he could wear glasses like doggie.

He put them on with out even fighting me!

He loves his doggie, and it goes EVERY where with him.

I am ususally a sticler when it comes to toys being anywhere but the basement.

But the doggie has been to the grocery store,

to run carpools,

on the trampoline,

and almost to church.

SO cute

Doggie is present at every meal, and sits right on the table next to Caden

I just could not resist this face!

He is getting so big, and still so chubby!

Friday afternoon, the two little boys took a great nap.

So I went out to play with Braxton and Michael.

Braxton got bored and went to ride his bike.

But my Michael stayed and played with me.

SUPER MICHAEL

And flying through the air.

I love this photos of kids that I see online

so I attempt at imitating.

On Saturday, I signed to boys up for t-ball.

Braxton is actually to old and has to do coach pitch.

I was nervous about that so Chad took them out to practice Saturday night.

Look at that form.

Braxton has a great arm.

He has since he was very small.

His aim is getting better and better.

His ability to catch is still developing.

He is afraid of the ball.

Michael is still learning.

What he lacks in skill

he makes up in heart.

He was having so much fun

I love this face. He threw it way past Braxton.

Learning to catch

Not only does Brax throw very well,

he also is a great batter.

He hit four of the five pitched at him!

Michael swung hard, and is going to be such a power house when he hits off the T

This is the way Caden gets involved.

He jumps. My guess is he is about 10 feet in the air!

He giggles and laughs the entire way up and down.

And daddy always catches him!

That was a busy week.

I love the changing weather.

I am super excited to see the boys play baseball this summer

I have Zumba in an hour, gotta go get babies ready to go

KATY

Let's Paint Daddies Nails!

2013-04-21T22:04:00.003-07:00

This week was normal

We love the little bags of cucumbers you can get at Costco.

The boys, well Michael and Caden,

will eat four or five in one sitting.

I gave one to Max to try out

He gnawed on that thing until it was FLAT!

And then he got mad at me when I took it away.

I cannot believe how big he is.

Six months old and the 30th of this month!

This is dinner that same day,

Caden's crazy eye.

I have not yet gotten a call from the ophthalmologist

about his glasses, we took them in to get the lenses ordered

I plan on calling this week and checking up on it.

Notice the plate int he back ground

That is Braxton's I would not let him have a treat till he at one cucumber

You would think they were poison, he choked them down and got a treat!

Told Michael to smile...

A little scary right

He has such a little sidewards grin, but this is not it!

This is my Braxton though

I love that HUGE smile

Look at all the baby teeth

The dentist says we should not plan on loosing ANY

until the end of 1st grade

His teeth are just moving slow

His 6 year molars will be more like 7 or even 8 year molars

and he is missing a left k-9 tooth.

Chad did not have any either.

Chad still has his baby ones,

we will see what this means for Braxton's mouth later on in life

We had friends over for dinner last night, we had cilantro lime shrimp tacos!!!

They were SO GOOD!

But we heard a screaming child and could not figure out what was going on.

Come to find out, Michael's noggin was stuck between the springs on the tramp.

LOL

I am the type of mom that grabs the camera first, then helps :P

The kids thought it was funny after that, so they all did it as well.

This is Anna, she was so cute, her sweet little toes could barely touch the ground.

We had Chocolate dipped strawberries for desert.

The strawberries have been a good price here

and I am so excited to have good fresh produce again

Number one reason I love this time of year

Anyway, this is Madelyn.

She is Two

She REALLY LIKED her strawberry

So cute

Ok this has a back story...

As a family we strive REALLY hard to get FHE in

Chad does not get home till 6 on mondays

and the boys really need to be in bed by seven to make it to school in the morning

so if Chad is late at all,

FHE is SHORT

I asked Braxton what we should do as an activity on Saturday

because we did not get one in on Monday

he gets this mischievous look in his eye and says

"I know what we can do...Let paint daddies nails!

By this point Chad is not around, and of course I agree to this plan ;)

DADDY of the year award.

He laughed said they were weird, let them each pic a color

and sat down.

Really this guy is the is the best

the boys giggled and laughed, and Chad just took it.

Braxton did the red. It really looks like a small crime scene on Chad's toes

they are a bit messy.

However, Michael did the blue, and you know what, they are great.

I may consider having him do my left hand when I paint my nails.

This week I start teaching Zumba at my church building,

and the two little ones are coming with me.....

it should be interesting.

Wish me luck.

A day late (or two) and a penny short (or more)

2013-04-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

The begging of the week started like this for us...

I love the snow,

and so do my kids,

but we were enjoying the warm weather.

So we were not happy with this.

The boys were sad to not be out riding their bikes

and the chalk pictures that had been drawn with care

were now gone.

But we made do. Max chomped on a carrot.

he really hates solids,

but more on that later

Michael played minutes.

The boys get gaming time for doing chores

they have a total of 30mins that can me earned.

During the summer we hardly ever get 30 mins worth of chores done

but on day like this...

all the chores were done and the 30 mins were enjoyed

Braxton could not tear his eyes away

so this is the face I got when I asked him to smile

NERD

Caden is not big enough to play minutes

so when he woke up from nap

we pulled out the play dough

a favorite at our house

Michael likes to put anything he can think of into it

and make an indent

I mean anything

This time around I think I caught him with his two front teeth

and his bottom

all in the play dough to see what it would make

Caden is really great with Play dough and loves to play with it

It is amazing how different your kids can be

I could not leave the older two alone with the play dough

who knows where it would have ended up

but Caden can play for hours

and he plays so well

Never mixes colors

and the play dough is never found is random places

Again with the face

Braxton could not seem to take a good pic this week

this one was me talking to him for a couple seconds to get his attention

he ignored me

so I said "Braxton" loudly

he turned and I snapped this pic

Max,

our attempts at solid foods have not been successful

he has no interest.

We have tried

carrots

oatmeal

rice

apricots

and

applesauce

all have been thrown down the drain

I tried to load a video of him eating

he was dry heaving...it was fun

but he does not like baby food

I even make my own,

it's not the store bought kind

but NOPE

Let us all be honest though

the boy is not missing out on any calories needed

He is so fat

PROOF! Look at those legs! they are eight inches around

eight

so big

I have not talked about potty training this one

he has had no interest

until recently

He talks about the potty

He talks about peeing int he potty

sitting on the potty

even pooping on the potty

So one day i let him run around naked

Told him to go stand at the potty

to try it

he runs into the living room lays down

and asks for a diaper

when I did not immediately go put it on him

he attempted to do it himself

NERD

We love having daddy around

he is wonderful

and truly these boys favorite person

He claims that he will be able to take all four of the boys down

even when they are bigger

I just laugh and nod

this is what I found on Saturday morning

looks like they may already be able to best dad

Even Caden gets in the rumble now

They completely buried him in their bodies

If I did not know what shorts he was wearing

I would have lost his body in the jumble

There is daddies head

proof that he is alive

Last night I tried fresh strawberries with Max

ding ding ding

we have a winner

he loved them

I think it may be a self feeding thing

he wants to be in control

I love this little face and the other little men

and the big man

in my life

Spoiled

The never ending headache

2013-04-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

I had a HUGE headache this week

THis was the reason for not blogging on Sunday

More of th

I have two of these hampers

My boys love to play in them

I love Braxton Photo bombing Michael in this picture;)

I think Braxton and I look a lot alike in this picture.

He is getting so big.

Max, so big rolling from side to side.

He discovered his toes this week.

Tried carrots and apples for the first time

Braxton was suppose to make a silly face with me

his had is covering his

I just look ridiculous.

This kid has got such a smile

His WHOLE face just lights up

I love this picture of Caden's crazy eye.

WE tilt our heads to the side when we smile.

They must learn it from me

Braxton did it too in the earlier picture

Trying to steal a kiss

He was not having it

Wresting on the stairs.

It does not seem to mater how many times I ask them to stop

This is the spot to play

I guess it will just take a really fall before they will listen to me

...ya right

NuGGetS

This kid is so CUTE

The doctor wanted to try glasses before surgery

He had these on for five whole minutes

There were no lenses in them

The doctor said the lenses will make them worse

He does not need them for vision, just for eye correction

So the lenses will bother him more

THE WILLIAMS

I can say that this is Caden's first friend

Grayson lived next door and these two would play for HOURS

Either the best of friends or the worst of enemies.

Recently (like a week ago) the Williams bought a house and moved

This is Caitlin, I have missed her!

When she said they wanted to came spend the day we said PLEASE

All the kids playing

Max enjoying some V-D

Strong Lexi

Maybe Max got to much V-D

He is my burn baby

We were out side for five minutes.

It did not seem to bother him much

Conference Weekend

We take the tramp down Oct conference and put it back up April conference

The boys were so excited to jump again

Michael giving me a thumbs up

Caden picking at the one little spot on the tramp

If anyone knows how to patch a tramp please let me know

He is biting his tongue...

I do that

The headache I mentioned in the beginning NEVER went away. I lost sight twice throughout the week, and double vision on Saturday.

I tried to ignore it, oil it away, drink it away, IB profane it away, bless it away.

Nothing was working.

After throwing up all day Saturday and Sunday, I finally caved and went in to the ER

Four shots of Morphine, and a percocet finially got on top of the pain.

I have a sinus infection and something else called

Arnold–Chiari malformation

A congenital malformation. Is generally asymptomatic during childhood, but often manifests with headaches and cerebellar symptoms. Herniation of cerebellar tonsils.^[5]^[6]^[7] Tonsillar ectopia of more than 3 mm below foramen magnum. Syringomyelia of cervical or cervicothoracic spinal cord can be seen. Sometimes the medullary kink and brainstem elongation can be seen. Syndrome of occipitoatlantoaxial hypermobility is an acquired Chiari I Malformation in patients with hereditary disorders of connective tissue.^[8] Patients who exhibit extreme joint hypermobility and connective tissue weakness as a result of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or Marfan Syndrome are susceptible to instabilities of the craniocervical junction and thus acquiring a Chiari Malformation. This type is difficult to diagnose and treat.^[9]

THe doctor said I will get headaches more often then mosts, and my neck can become stiffer quicker than most. I did not even know I had the problem, it just escalated my sinus pressure.

There is our week

March in review

2013-03-31T20:01:00.001-07:00

I am taking a note from a friends book and going to try to blog every Sunday night. Once a week seems doable...

Because nothing has been said about our lives for a couple of ...months... I will start at the beginning of March.

Th bumbo bath. We suction the bumbo to the bottom of the tub and give the babies a bath. All four boys have taken baths this way, and this was Max's first.

He loved watching his toes play int he water.

Look how fat he is! I love all the rolls and the major Moobs. (man boobs) ;)

St Patricks Day

A leprechaun can into our house and picked all the green fruit loops out of the cereal.

he also dyed out milk green

This little projected was so fun.

Braxton was so proud of his design. SO awesome

My Caden.

Happy baby. Such a good kid

Easter dying

So fun

CRAZY eye

We tried new things this year. We tried the Shaving cream idea that is floating around Pinterest. It was so fun, MESSY, but fun, and made really pretty eggs.

Easter Sunday

Look how blessed I am!

Braxton informed me today that he is six 1/2! WHAT!!! He is growing up so fast

I asked Michael to smile...this is what I got.

This baby boy is such a personality. He eludes it out of every inch of himself.

His funny face

Almost six months. So happy and smiley

The boys! I am always so amazed how spoiled I am.

Today was a day were I was most definitely OUT NUMBERED! But tomorrow is another day and it will be different and better.

Oh and PS I made all the ties. I am proud of myself and they looked so great!

Braxton took this of us. I think he did a good job.

Christmas 2012 and other randomness

2012-12-30T20:53:00.002-08:00

Ok we start this picture feast backwards but...

Michael turned 5 on the 26th of this month, we do friends birthday parties every even year, so when asked what he wanted to do for his birthday he requested that Daddy go outside and play in the snow with him and his brothers. Chad had taken the day off, and was more than willing to go cover my children with snow...

Michael throwing a snow ball.

The fight begins

So fun!

I asked Caden if he was having fun, and he YELLED at me "YAY"

Earlier that week we got our first HUGE snow storm and I went out to shovel the drive way. Caden had started to throw a HUGE fit, and I just had to laugh.

This is him screaming at me to "Stop it"

He fell down in the midst of his fit, and just sat there crying

Until I came over to get him. And because I am such a Great mom. I snapped one more picture before picking him up and bringing him inside.

The saturday before Christmas we did gingerbread houses. We invited the Williams and our friend Dustin (who was stuck here because of work). I had to leave in the middle of it to go ring the bell at Wal-Mart, so I did not get one picture of the boys working on their house, or Dustin working on his.

Marshal and Greyson's house.

Chad starting his house. He was adamant that he had one this year, and then did not even finish it. ;)

Braxton and Michaels finished product.

My Girl friend Caitlin Williams had never done gingerbread before and wanted to try to bake it. She did a great job and her gingerbread looked great, but I forgot to tell her that you REALLy have to spray the pans well, and her houses came out in pieces. However this girl is a super creative one and turned her pieces into this master piece. The manger seen complete with frosting angel.

Chad's finished product. We gave it to the Bishop who has a daughter currently living with him, and Chad did a split house for the two families in the home.

Christmas eve.

Grandma Maxwell made these cute PJ's and all my boys looked so great.

The massive amounts of gifts. I stress every year that there is not going to be enough, that the boys will not like it. And this year was no exemption. We made all the gifts and it was stressful, but it was wonderful and there was TONZ!

We started a new tradition. Every year I worry a little about the amount of junk being consumed by my children, and no one wants to wait for breakfast to cook before presents, let alone eat it. So this year we picked five boxes of cereal that we don't buy that often. You know the ones that are over priced, we wrapped each box and wrote names on them. In the morning we all woke up and unwrapped our first present for the day and ate breakfast as a family. It was so great. It will happen every year now. Oh and all five boxes of the cereal are now gone, five days later.

The boys are always asking for gum, so we bought them each a tin. They both ate all their gum with in two days...

Max's first Christmas. He was perfect!

I have some videos from Christmas morning, but I can not get them to load.

This is random, but I LOVE this picture of my Braxton. This is the little boy I get to see every day, and those inquisitive eyes are always asking questions.

Blessed with Friends

2012-11-16T15:50:00.004-08:00

I don't know about all moms but the hour and an Half or so before my knight in shinning cargo shorts walks through the door is the HARDEST time of the day for me~! I am DONE, we have exhausted all activities and mommy. So at my house this time is usually when the kids are exiled to the basement, or outside.

Lately my kids have been outside, it is cold yes, but they have GREAT friends in the neighborhood and I am spoiled and have WONDERFUL friends in their mothers. Well the mob was at my house tonight, on our trampoline.

Caden is sick...so he could not join in the frae. He was not happy. This picture is mid fit.

Max takes a good long nap from two till about four or five every day...So really he is not involved. Sleeping angel in mom's room

This is Khale, he is a wonderful three year old, that makes my Brax look tame...I LOVE HIM. He decided it was too cold outside, so he is inside playing with trains. The rules apply to little friends just like my boys, no coming up stairs. ;)

And here is the brood, giving me the best group He-Man stance. From Left to right, Michael, Daniel, Jaxon, Reagan, and Braxton.

We did have a Bowen, Lexi and Kaitlin, but at the time of the pic they were not here. The group ranges in age from eight to three and they (for the most part) play REALLY well together.

I love my neighborhood and I love all the friends my boys are making.

FHE fails, and saves

2012-11-13T14:12:00.001-08:00

I tried to cook these AWESOME looking for cookies for FHE desert last night. This was the face-book post that was a result.

Things I learned tonight:
-Reading a recipe and actually following it, are two different things.
-An egg white in a recipe will do very different things vs. an egg yolk.
-You can make heavy cream by mixing milk and butter.
-Little boys like to double dip with licked little fingers.

-When one does not follow the recipe, things can and will get interesting.

-When a pinner says something is "Easy" they should include their cooking ability.

Then my hubby took these great Pictures to show how epic-ly the evening ended.

NAILED IT!

I had sad little boys, the cookies were not edible and they were looking forward to them, so instead we played, "Don't eat Pete"

Chad had never played this game, "AH WHAT" I loved this game growing up, and it was SO fun to play it with ALL my boys.

Caden always jumped SO big, and laughed SO hard when we all yelled "DON'T EAT PETE" this was the usual face he gave us after.

Braxton was our second victim, and he got to eat 1 skittle. It was so fun to watch him JUMP SKY HIGH after we all yelled. Then he turned to dad (who had gone 1st and practically cleared the board) and gave him this look, saying that he wanted to be as good at this game as he was!

The videos are so fun, and show how much fun my boys had with this game!

The night was really a fun one, even with the epic fail of the cookies. It always makes me smile when we are blessed with nights like these as a family, and confirms my testimony in FHE and it's place (even with little ones) in my Saviors plan for us!

WANT A POST WITH ALL THAT SYRUP?

2012-11-10T20:09:00.001-08:00

This post is going to be LONG! and it will have mostly syrup. Yes that is right I found the plug for my camera. Guess where it was...in my camera case ;) Then it did not work so I had to go get a new one.

My Caden has what is called a Strabismus, or a lazy eye.

SEE!

We will go into get it surgically fixed in February. The opthamologist says that it is not something that will fix itself and that surgery is our only option.

AUGUST 20th 2012

Braxton's first day of school picture! I have a Kindergartener. OH GOODNESS! He was so excited, and a little nervous.

SEPTEMBER 14th 2012

Caden turned two. He was so cute with his presents and spent so much time unwrapping each one!

SEPTEMBER 20th 2012

Braxton turned 6 in september. He got to have a friend party, and was so excited.

We did obstacle courses, played red rover, mother may I , and relay raced. Over and over. We had an awesome spiderman birthday cake and a pinata. But I forgot the camera up stairs until we started opening presents.

OCTOBER 23rd 2012

Chad's school changed locations, and his new class room did not have room for these little fellas. Two red footed tortoises. He brought them home so we could sell them to our local pet store.

They spent the night at our house and our boys were so EXCITED! However by the following afternoon I was DONE with he smell. BYE BYE Turtle!

OCTOBER 27th 2012

Every year we do a murder mystery party with some great friends of ours. This year was a super hero themed party.

I was not doing so well pregnancy wise, so this sweet amazing girl (kylie) played my part and her own. So that the show could go on :)

CHAD WAS CAPTAIN AMAZING!!!!!!! I love his costume! I thought it was the best and he wore it with such power, and dignity.

The entire group

The killer! I think he was the killer last year as well. Maybe I should worry!

OCTOBER 30th 2012

PERFECT, even with a sad face

MAXWELL ELDON HUNTSMAN

OCTOBER 31th 2012

Braxton was a vampire for halloween, and had the "I want to suck your blood" line down pat.

Michael was Batman, so cute and loved his costume.

I was still in the hospital and was not around so I asked chad to take LOTS of pictures.

There costumes were home made, and so much fun. The paint on their capes glow in the dark. SO COOL.

My puppy. He was so cute! I was able to fix his costume pretty well, but I did not take the time to lengthen the sleeves.

No syrup.

2012-11-05T07:38:00.001-08:00

My camera is wonderful, and i promise we use it. But I can not seem to find the plug that goes from my comp to the camera...so therefore...no pics.

Halloween was wonderful, from what I hear I was in the hospital with littlest man still. I am so grateful my mom was here to help, Braxton and Michael want to go for much longer than our little Caden can, so mom took Caden home and handed out candy while Chad and the big boys walked. they came home with a great hull. Oh and good news for me...this baby has yet to show any aversion to chocolate...so the kids halloween candy may be missing all of their Kit-kat's, and Milky-ways.

Max is doing so great. He is such a content little man, and has established his spot as the corner of couch so he can see everything. He will sit in this spot for a long while and just watch the chaos. He is also turing into a GREAT sleeper, although I am well aware this may not last, I am taking advantage now. He goes "down" about nine and gives me four hours, then down again for three, then down again for what is turing out to be four to five hours. REALLY!

The boys seem to be doing ok with the new addition. Caden is a more likely to throw a fit at things that would usually not be a problem. And he has developed this HIGH pitched squeal, that needs to go.

Michael is a a little extra cuddly, but it does not mater who he snuggles, he just want hugs, even baby Max is sufficient. He also has been waking up EARLY. Like four am, we are working on it, and with daylight savings it has added to our confusion.

Braxton is the one struggling the most. I was somewhat prepared for this, had a feeling that would be the case. He seems to have completley forgotten how to use the toilet. We are having mulitple "accidents" a day.

Although all of these things are happening with my boys, I am so grateful for them. They want to help and they just LOVE Max, they all want to hold him, and love on him. Braxton informed me that he was old enough to babysit and that dad and I can go on any date we want now...Not quiet Brax, but you get the idea.

Today is our first day home all day alone. Wish me luck

KATY

Welcome baby MAX

2012-11-02T13:33:00.002-07:00

I know this is really quick to get this up, but I don't want to forget anything, plus I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of detail in the other boys birth stories. Like most birth stories in the blogesphere there is going to be a lot of gruesome details.

I had a very strong desire to go natural this time around, not only with out drugs for pain, but also drugs to induce. I have never gone into labor by myself. This time I wanted to give my body a shot. I had been contracting consistently since Thursday with no real progression. On Saturday night after two nights of no sleep I went into labor and delivery and was told "yes you are in labor, but not progressing" Yes this is something I have heard MANY times before in my pregnancies. So they gave me something for sleep and pain and I went home.

Sunday was a long day, and I was getting discouraged. Monday we went to see Laurie, my CNM, and I told her I was done, and my mom was here and Chad had work off. It was time to be done with being pregnant.

Labor started on Tuesday morning, and there was not much going on so we used cytotec to help thin my "thick" cervix. At about 9 am I was starting into contractions that were not...comfortable. A couple breaths then they were done. But I was still laughing and talking in between them. By 12:30 pm my CNM was not happy with my progress, or lack there of, and decided to push PIT...NO NO NO! I mentally felt defeated.

I was in the tub, about 1 pm, when the contractions REALLY started to get going. OH MY GOODNESS. Labor is no fun, and wow is it painful. I know "NO duh KATY" but it just became VERy obvious. I was mentally convinced that the PIT was causing contractions more painful than a non pit contraction would be. I was in some serious contraction for about an hour.

I was freaking out, I could not find any peace, I could not calm myself down. I was begging for drugs, screaming and begging for drugs. My poor mom. She tried so hard to keep me calm. But her labors, although natural, are not long. I had now been in the tub for about an hour and a half, in this pain.

Laurie came in, and talked me down. She is a super star. I was feeling in control, I was feeling like this entire thing was possible. Then Laurie had to leave. She had another mom in labor, and she likes to labor with her girls.

The contractions started to get hard again, and I tried really hard to maintain the feeling that Laurie had helped me create, did well for about a half hour or so, then was checked and over heard them saying that there had not been any progress. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I asked everyone to leave the bathroom, and Chad and I said a prayer.

It was now about 3:30 pm and I was in the bed now trying very hard to breath through contractions, doing ok. Every time a contraction got to hard my poor babies heart would decelerate. The prayer that Chad and I said was prevalent in my mind, the drugs were a thought that would not leave my mind, more than just the contractions. By 4 I had decided that not only was the epidural appealing because of my pain, but because the spirit was telling me that I needed it.

I begged my nurse to locate Laurie and quickly. Laurie came in and I explained to her in a sane and almost normal speaking voice, that I needed the epidural. Not because I could not bare the pain, or because I did not believe I could deliver this baby naturally, but because I felt VERY strongly that it would be needed. Now I had told her earlier in my pregnancy, that if at this point i were to ask for drugs I wanted her to try to talk me out of it. She started to do just that, and told me after delivery that she was shocked at how I had asked, and decided with the spirits promptings, to agree. She checked me and put some internals in

The anesthesiologist walked in and gave me an epidural at 5:15, I wad the first one that night for him. The anesthesiologist was there out of no where, he appeared before the order was even written, i did not have to wait, another tender mercy of my Savior.

Laurie went to check on her other patient and the anesthesiologist told me to push the button on my medicine till I was comfortable. Again the spirit whispered in utter chaos, that I needed to maintain feeling in my legs, the epidural was there to help me, not take away the pain completely. The nurses kept having me switch from side to side, Max's heart was not maintaining a good beat.

At 6:15 my nurse called Laurie in and with some distress they tried to bring the babies heart back up. At 6:25 Laurie says to me, Katy on your hands and knees. Now I had had an epidural, but because of the promptings of the spirit, I had almost complete control and was able to roll myself onto my hands and knees.

At this point I was at a 7 and 90% and Laurie and the nurses were FREAKING out about the baby. I did not know at the time, but, Laurie had called to prep the OR for a emergency C. She felt that I had the feelings I did about the epidural so that I could be awake for the c-secction, instead of being sedated. There were nurses and others in my room like a small swarm of bees. I did not even know what was going on, just kept begging Laurie to get him out. Laurie did not believe we would be able to delivery naturally and that we would be going into that emergency C.

Then my wonderful CNM Laurie decided to try to deliver. "Something" told her to try. I had told her before that I was a champ pusher, once I get to the point of pushing we are done. Laurie says to me, "Katy this is not going to be comfortable", she reached her hands inside of my and stretched me to a ten and I pushed to a complete at 6:32pm. She then told me to flip back over onto my back, and start pushing.

Max was not descending very quickly and his heart rate was dropping, I was pushing as hard as I could but Laurie could not get him pass crowning. Again she reached in and assisted my delivery.

I had him out with only a few pushes, he was born at 6:34pm. The cord had been around his neck once, and around his arm and neck once. The arm one was why he could not descend, why I could not progress, and the cord around the neck was why he was struggling with his heart rate. With out the epidural all the assistance from Laurie would have been unbearable.

I am grateful for the tender mercies of my Savior, he spoke to me in a way and time that would have been easily ignored. I am grateful for my hubby, and I am grateful for our healthy addition to the family Maxwell Eldon Huntsman born 10-30-2012 at 6:34 pm. 8 pounds 8 ounces and 20.5 inches long.

Still Pregnant

2012-10-28T18:43:00.000-07:00

I am still pregnant. And I don't want to be anymore!

I was so determined to not be induced, and still have that desire, but now we are feeling uncomfortable. I have been contracting since thursday, NON stop. but they are just annoying little ones that just make it hard to sleep and me grumpy. I explain it like a bad head ache. Just makes the fuse in which your "I will kill you" trigger is attached much much shorter.

I have been so grumpy and over whelmed my mom came down to help "me" but really she is here to show my kids a smiling face, and keep my hubby sane. I have an apt tomorrow with my CNM, and we will see what she says. I would like to ask her to take the baby, but I really, really don't want PIT! So now I am stuck in an internal battle between being done with the current pain, and using a drug that has proven tough for my body in the past.

Prayers would be wonderful, just for comfort. Baby is healthy I am Healthy, just done...

Love you all

KATY

The will of a mother

2012-10-15T18:08:00.000-07:00

I have many mommies read this blog and I have no doubt that they will all shake their heads yes to this post.

Human body is amazing. I am always shocked at the ways my boys can contort their bodies and not get hurt, or how much they can or cannot eat, and still have so much ENERGY!

My body right now is doing one of the most amazing things that the female body can...I am creating life. I am making a baby, a small little person that will one day become a member of our functioning society.

This feat alone is impressive, and any mommy who has ever been 39 weeks pregnant knows that any task at this point in pregnancy is monumental.

But my amazing body is not only carrying a little (or maybe not so "little" at this point) body, but also caring for three other little people and a house. WOW.

Then to make maters even more interesting...this body is fighting an infection causing two ear infections, a nasty cough and a nose that will NOT stop running.

I have decided the only reason we are functioning is out of sheer will. Nothing else. And I am grateful for it.

My positive spin on a nasty situation.

The working poor

2012-10-10T07:17:00.001-07:00

Chad's new job has officially bumped us into a new tax bracket, this means we no longer qualify for government assistants. This is amazing. It really feels so great to be truly taking care of our family. We took advantage of government assistance all through school, I had some shame issues in the beginning then was told by a Utah case worker that is a friend of mine that the people like Chad and I were welcome, and what the program was made for. We were going to school, and had jobs. We were trying. It reminded me of the parable of little girl and the bike. She did everything she could and her dad stepped in to make up the difference. This is how we looked at benefits.

But now...well...We are no longer in that position, and it is funny to me that our income can increase SO much and our day to day standard of living has not, and will not for a while. But we are doing it, one day at a time :)

Pregnancy

2012-10-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

Pregnancy for me has never been super difficult. I have relatively easy deliveries as well. No I know that every baby is different and every pregnancy is different, there is no way to really say "I have it down", so it was no real shock to me when this pregnancy decided to shake things up a bit.

15 Weeks

My first tri was fraught with an immense amount of puking. My all time record 42 times in a 24 hour period. I had had morning sickness with the other three pregnancy but this was an entirely different animal. Now this next part may be a TMI (you have been warned). Throwing up is hard on the body. It effects everyone in different ways but I have never heard anyone say, "Oh ya, puking my guts up. No big deal." I am no exception, not only does puking make my eyes water, my stomach flip flop, and my throat hurt. I also often have acid coming out my nose. I threw up so often that I had sores develop on the insides of my nose, and would usually get a bloody nose while puking. On top of this...the really nasty part...well folks I have had three other babies and the control of my bladder is minimal, and at times, this being one of them, completely lost. I learned VERY quickly that in order to save myself an immense amount of laundry, and in public restrooms a whole lot of embarrassment, it was best to sit on the toilet and throw up into whatever receptacle I could find. And on those unfortunate circumstances where I could not make it to a toilet...well I just peed my pants, not just a drop or two, but really should have had a diaper on. This constant throwing up caused me to have 0 energy and really made me quite grumpy. On the plus size I dropped 15 lb. this insanity continued until about 20 weeks. This is the point I consider my 2nd tri starting.

20 Weeks

The middle of this pregnancy was so much better than the first part that I felt AMAZING! I could eat, and it would stay in my belly. I could cough without throwing up, the ability to breath out my nose was not inconceivable, and leaving my house was not something that seemed impossible. I felt great, this is also the time that we were able to do an ultra sound and determine the sex of our fourth bundle. Most, if not all of you know that we are having our fourth boy, and one day I will publish the incredibly long post I started the night we found out, and continue to add to periodically, but for now just know that four boys is going to ROCK! I am terrified but more excited.

25 Weeks

Chad and I talked before the ultrasound and I asked how he felt about inviting my mom and paternal grandmother to come with us. I wanted to do this for many reasons. But mainly because I believe I was the only one my mom had an ultrasound on, and my grandma...well all of her kids were a surprise on the sex. He was totally ok with it, and it worked out that we were in Utah County for a weekend and were able to do the ultra sound there so they did not have to travel. People I wish I would have brought a recorder. It was so amazing to listen to my grandmothers quite gasps as the baby came into view. It was amazing to glance and her with her hand over her mouth, and I believe tears in her eyes, as the ultra sound tech took pictures of my growing baby boy. Of his big heart, and beautiful feet. Having my mom there was fun, but seeing this experience through the eyes of my grandmother, her seeing for the first time her great grandchild not in her arms, but in my belly, amazing. She kept saying "Oh my gosh", "Oh my goodness". I told the ultra sound tech before hand to be really detailed in her explanation because although Chad and I were somewhat pros and reading an ultra sound, grandma was not. I really enjoyed having them both there, and I am grateful for their support when we saw what is to be the fourth little dilly whacker in our house. The second tri continued on much in this magical way, and I was feeling not only good physically (Remember the 15 lb.) but mentally as well.

30 Weeks

At 35 weeks pregnant with Caden, I took some pictures with Chad. I distinctly remember feeling very uncomfortable, and just LARGE! 35 weeks this time around I did not feel that way. I was getting uncomfortable, it was and is hard to stand after sitting for to long, and it is not fun waking up two to three times a night to pee. I have been having simple Braxton Hicks contractions since about 36 weeks and there has been four contractions that made me furrow my eyebrows. And then there are days like today were it is a constant all day thing that just makes me grumpy, but NOTHING worth going to the doc for.

35 Weeks

Now with 2 weeks left until "due date" I am feeling pregnant, my wedding ring does not fit, my clothes are getting a little tighter than comfortable, my feet swell if I stand for to long, and my face is looking a little pudgy. But folks we have, in my opinion, AT LEAST 20 days left. You see I REFUSE to be induced. I am grateful that it is something that works for some women, me... it is hell. I truly believe that Satan took notes this last time around and will put me into that exact position if I ever end up in purgatory. ;)

37 Weeks

So we wait. It is exciting, and nerve raking. I get a little annoyed at the stares, yes I know my belly is HUGE, no I am not having twins. No I am not way over due. and Yes I have had a nine pounder before but they have averaged about 8 lb. I get a little discouraged when all the women who were pregnant "with" me have their babies in their arms, but this time around I have told myself from day 1 that it was going to be different and that I have 42 week oven. AND THAT IS OK!

So folks, knowing my track record I will post again after this monster is born.

Life in a nut shell

2012-09-10T19:13:00.000-07:00

Changes have been abundant in our home. i guess one should expect no less really. But since May (the last time I blogged I think) Things have changed.

Chad got a full time teaching position at a private Boarding school in Hurricane. This is wonderful. The structure of the classroom is different than a regular high school setting and it is taking some getting to use to, and he is teach ALL sciences, bio, chem, earth systems, and physics. This is creating a stress because these are not all fields in which he has degrees. But to be honest, Chad is very very smart and is doing rather well.

This new job means that I am now an official "Stay at Home mom". It has been wonderful. The other day was disastrous lots of yelling and screaming, on my part and my children's. We had fight after fight, and tears upon tears. Chad came home from work and I was telling him about my day, he said to me "I'm so sorry", I replied... "I am not, I was home. I got to deal with the fits, I got to stress about dinner, I was there to stop the arguing, to love the boo boo's and to snuggle when the fighting was done." I was crying and gave thanks once again to my Father in Heaven for making this possible. And then thanks to my hubby for taking the fiscal responsibility of our family SOLEY on his shoulders.

Braxton is in Kindergarten. We decided to take advantage of a charter school here in cedar that has a Montessori curriculum. If you do not know what that is Here is a link and Here is a cool presentation. Braxton seems to be enjoying school. He does come home every so ofter and spout some new bit of info he has learned. But if asked he tells you he did nothing but eat breakfast and play outside all day... Nerd.

Michael is in head-start preschool and LOVING it. He comes home every day and says "mom want me to tell you ALL i did today" and then he will, tell you from the moment he walked through the door until when he came home. He seems to really be enjoying it, and I am stoked to have him in such a wonderful environment.

Caden is Chad incarnent. He reminds me daily how to giggle and laugh, and is SUCH a happy boy. He really reminds me of Chad. He is getting big and loves to play, the weekday mornings are hard because both big brothers are gone, but we are slowly figuring out how to play by ourselves and just with mommy. I guess I am not nearly as fun as the boys...

that is us, life in a nut shell. :)

SISTERS

2012-04-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

Today I spent the entire day sitting in my house with three little boys that wanted to go outside...Send them out you say... What a great idea...except that in Cedar with have four-five inches of snow that has fallen with in the last twelve hours. OH YES THAT IS RIGHT! April 14th and we are COVERED in snow.

I am only slightly perturbed at mother nature. I have decided that her mood swings in weather can not be held against her, she is bi-polar. And being a bit of a crazy at times myself, who am I to judge.

On another note. I MISS MY FAMILY! MY SISTERS! All you in blogger land must understand. I am the youngest of four, two older sisters and the oldest is a boy. My brother married a women that was TAILOR made for our fam. SHE FITS. SO when I say my sisters I mean ALL three. It makes me teary.

My little fam had planned on visiting for Easter, but my body decided to contract pneumonia and the thought of leaving my bed became an immense task so I just didn't do it for four days. So I did not get my sister fix!

Now the one right above me is planning a birthday bash , the next one up called today "just to talk" and the last one is living life and going about business as normal with her sweet family. (Do they not know that I tell myself that their world "PAUSES" when I leave Utah county and then "Plays" again when we enter the county?)

Steph, Bobbie, and Trish. I miss you and want to be closer. I pray one day i will be and you can "Un-pause" your lives for more than just bits and pieces. You are amazing women and TRULY shaped me into the Wonderful, all be it some what dependent, women that I am today. When we all get rich lets do girls weekend once a year. Even if we live close. Cheesy and corny I know but you people just need to be told that you are each blessings in my life that I count daily!

I am now pushing my soap box back into it's corner until the need to stand on it again! Love you all

The above pictures where taken one my wedding day. They kind of sum up my AMAZING sisters!

The picture below has an unknown date. It is at my moms house. And really non of us look very good in it, so I felt justified posting it. Plus it is the only other picture I could find of only us.

KATY

"No I want mom to do it"

2012-03-08T18:58:00.000-08:00

This is a sentence we here often in our house. It does not really mater what it is, but if I am home, I have to do it. I think Chad has secretly trained them to do this. :)

Well tonight we were watching a Phineas and Ferb in mom and dads bed, before bed time. Michael fell asleep before we could get a pull up on. (We still wet the bed pretty much every night, on a side note if anyone has tips on how to prevent this, we are all ears) anyway...Chad went to help him put a pull up on, and in a half asleep groggy voice he says...you guessed it "No, I want mom to do it" The kid was asleep. :) What a nerd. We both just laughed and I put my hand on him thinking that would suffice but NO.

Chad went to pull the pant off and he again in a sleepy little boy voice "No, I want mom to do it" So I pulled on a pant leg while chad pulled the other. He is such a sweet kid, but even in his sleep Chad has him trained. ;)

Things we've learned from F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

2012-03-02T17:20:00.000-08:00

We've been talking about it for a while, and we finally decided that through the duration of a few nights, brainstorming, and corroboration that we will finally get this list done and posted.

For those of you who DON'T know, Friends is a very funny show that started in the nineties and went for ten seasons (at the time it was the longest running TV series ever). So we thought that we could answer all of life's questions through quotes or situations found within this wonderful series. If you've seen the show and understand these statements you will have a wonderful time, if you're new to the concept you might laugh because of the oddity which we bring and share with the world :P

Here there are! Things I've learned from FRIENDS.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S is not really an acronym

Unagi is awareness of all things around you; and you can get it in about 30 mins.

Anything white could be a ghost

30 year olds can pass for 19 with the right clothes.

Ken Adams and Regina Phalange are good cover names.

No answer is more sophisticated than: To-get-you-into-bed.

Spending 8 hours in a refrigerator box is enough to be forgiven of ANY discretion.

Trifles are "good" even with peas and onions.

You can make scary faces with scotch tape.

Clowns don't have heads

"Fine-d" is a really hard word to say

Only accept sugar-less gum from Victorias Secret models.

Never plug your ears, close your eyes and hum, with live poultry in the room.

Never discuss relationship issues over a "friendly" game of darts.

Just because someone chooses to live naked does NOT mean they do not have clothes.

Never go commando in another mans fatigues.

Every one should have big signs above the bed that say "MERGE"

The cushions are the essence.

Pizza boxes don't fit down the garbage shoot.

Chicken fat looks a lot like cider.

Tulsa is the Paris of Oklahoma.

Underwire can pick a locked car door.

Pigeons can make phone calls.

Dehydrated cantaloupe makes for a great foose-ball.

Denise could be Santa.

Planes do not need flanges to fly.

It's ok to fog a yeti.

Deers eat fruit from the orchards.

Skiing sounds like: "Shoop, shoop, shoop"

ATM alcoves are call vestibules.

There is a laundry song... "uh oh... the laundry's done..."

Uberwiess impresses women.

Never buy an Encyclopedia unless you can afford the whole set. or just buy "V"

It's important to call it. (heads, or tails)

One of my favorites ^^

Freezer Meals

2012-02-21T19:30:00.000-08:00

Because I am going back to school time, I am trying to lighten the load a little for Mr. MOM. He is an amazing man and really I am not worried about my kids, but ANY stay at home mom knows that it is HARD, and I want to help. SO, Freezer meals. Not only that, but they all go in the crock pot. :) That rocks, I can make dinner without even being home. Now that is talent. I posted the picture in this post on FB and received many comments asking for recipes. SO here they are!

Freezer Cooking- Slow Cooker Meals!

*Please note that all "bags" are 2-4 servings* Adjust ingredients to increase or decrease serving sizes.

My Grocery List:

Fresh Produce:

(3) Green Peppers

(1) Red Pepper

(1) Zucchini

(1) Red Onion

(1) Bag of Onions (you need approx. 8-10 onions)

(1) Bag Potatoes (I bought Red) (You will need approx. 14-16)

(3) Bags of 1 lb. carrot chips

Meat:

4.5-5Ibs of Chicken Breast

3-4Ibs of Beef Stew Meat

3Ib Chuck Roast

1-1.5Ibs of Ground Beef

Spices & Condiments:

Basil

Thyme

Salt

Pepper

Worcestershire

Brown sugar

White sugar Olive oil

Garlic cloves

Balsamic vinegar

Mustard

Teriyaki sauce

Other Groceries:

(2) 20oz cans of Chunked Pineapple

(2) 15oz Cans Tomato Sauce

(2) 6oz Cans Tomato Paste

(1) 28oz Can Diced Tomatoes

(1) Pack of v8 juice (I buy the 6 pack of cans)

(1) Small box Tapioca (I had no clue where to find this in the store-- It's right above the pudding/jello)

(2) Boxes Beef Broth (I buy low sodium)

Steak Rub (I bought grill mates in the spice aisle)

(1) Bag egg noodles

(1) Bag Frozen Cut Green Beans (you will need 2 cups)

AND DON'T FORGET TO BUY A BOX OF GALLON FREEZER BAGS! I have a food saver that worked wonderfully, but if you do not have one of these the glad freezer bags are awesome. Make SURE you get a FREEZER bags, they are generally more expensive but thinker to help prevent freezer burn.

Okay... Once you get everything home leave it all out on the counter and admire what you are about to do! J

First I labeled all of my food saver bags with a permanent marker. I wrote on the bag todays date, the meal name and the instructions for the day I will make it. Some of the meals will need beef broth added, water added, sour cream added etc. so I made note on the actual bag what I needed to do so I don't forget! I also notated on my bags if the dish was supposed to be served over rice or egg noodles etc.

Next... I started CHOPPING VEGETABLES! (It's not as bad as it sounds!)

As I chopped I placed the correct amount in each bag. (I started with ALL the onions, and then did peppers, then potatoes, see below for instructions.

I lined up all of my freezer bags across the counter and just dumped the correct amount of veggies for each recipe in the respective bags (see below). I never measure anything so I just guesstimate!

After I had the veggies chopped and distributed I tackled the meat... for this round of freezer cooking I only had to cook the ground beef for the vegetable soup... the chicken & beef stew meat stay raw.

For the ground beef take (1) chopped onion and (2) chopped garlic cloves and brown them together. If you are feeling super savvy you can let the beef brown while you are chopping the veggies! This is what I did and it really was not hard. Let cool, instructions below on how to finish.

For the Pot Roast, rub meat on both sides with steak seasoning and black pepper, and then brown the roast very well on both sides. Depending on your pan, you may need to use a little olive oil. When the meat is brown let cool slightly and put into your bag, followed by the onion. Then deglaze the pan with ½ cup water, scraping off all browned bits, add this to bag, ½ in each.

For the chicken, I washed & trimmed it and left (4) of the breasts whole (for the teriyaki chicken) and the other (4) I cut in half just because I felt like it (for the healthy BBG chicken).

After placing the meat in the correct bags I added the spices and remaining ingredients.

Here is how it broke down per bag- each recipe is made for two meals. Split ALL ingredients into two bags.

Teriyaki Chicken (2 Bags)

• Split a large (2lb.) bag of Baby Carrots between the 2 bags (I bought the pre sliced carrot chips in 1 lb. increments and added one bag to each meal. No cutting of carrots.)

• Cut Red Onion into Large Chunks

• (2) 20oz can pineapple (un-drained) 1 for each bag

• (4) Garlic Cloves chopped, 2 each bag

• (4) Chicken Breasts, 2 each bag

• 1 cup teriyaki sauce, ½ cup each bag

*Add ¼ cup teriyaki sauce to mixture before cooking on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours. Serve over Rice.

Savory Vegetable Beef Soup (2 Bags)

• Chop (1) Onion and Chop (2) Cloves of Garlic- Brown in Pan with the Ground Beef- once cool divide mixture between bags

• 1 lb. bag of carrot chips, ½ lb. each bag

• (6) Red Potatoes chopped, 3 per bag

• (1) Can v8 split, ½ per bag

• (1) 28oz can diced tomatoes, ½ per bag

• (2) Cups frozen green beans, 1 per bag

• (1) Tbsp. Worcestershire, ½ per bag

• (1) Cup Beef Broth, ½ per bag

• (2) Tbsp. Parsley per bag, 1 per bag

• (2) Tsp. Basil per bag, 1 per bag

• (1) Tsp. Thyme, ½ per bag

• (1) Tsp. salt, ½ per bag

• (1) Tsp. pepper, ½ per bag

• (2) Tbsp. Sugar, 1 per bag

*Place in Crockpot with 1.5 cups of water and 15oz Beef Broth (My food saver bags are big enough to hold this extra liquid. I froze it in the meal and added nothing while cooking.)

Cook on LOW 8 Hours.

Healthy BBQ Chicken (2 Bags) * from mamaandbabylove.com *

• (2) Green Peppers Cut into Slices, 1 per bag

• (1) Red Pepper Cut into Slices, ½ per bag

• (1) Zucchini Chopped, ½ per bag

• (3) Onions Chopped, 1 ½ per bag

• (6) Red Potatoes Chopped, 3 per bag (you can also use Sweet Potatoes)

• (4) Garlic Cloves Chopped, 2 per bag

• (4) Chicken Breasts, 2 per bag (I cut each breast in half again)

• (1) Tbsp. Quick Cooking Tapioca, ½ per bag

• (1) 15oz can of Tomato Sauce, ½ per bag

• (2) Tbsp. of Brown Sugar, 1 per bag

• (2) Tbsp. Worcestershire, 1 per bag

• (2) Tbsp. Mustard, 1 per Bag

• (½) Tsp. Salt, ¼ per bag

Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours. Serve over Rice or Egg Noodles.

Stephanie's Goulash/Beef Stew (2 Bags) *adapted from mamaandbabylove.com *

• (1) Green Pepper Chopped, ½ per bag

• (1) Chopped Onion, ½ per bag

• (1) Lb. of carrots chips, ½ per bag

• (4) Chopped Garlic Cloves, 2 per bag

• (3) Lbs. Beef Stew Meat, 1 ½ lbs. per bag

• (2) 6oz cans Tomato Paste, 1 per bag

• (4) Tsp. Paprika, 2 per bag

• (½) Tsp. Black Pepper, ¼ per bag

*Cook for 4 hours on HIGH or 8 hours on LOW in a slow cooker. Add (1/2) Cup of Sour Cream about 10 minutes prior to serving. Serve over Egg Noodles.

Balsamic and Onion Pot Roast

· (3-4) Pound boneless chuck roast, 2 lbs. per bag

· (1-2) Tbsp. steak rub

· Black pepper to taste

· (1-2) Tbsp. olive oil (depends on your pan)

· (¼) Cup water to deglaze pan

· (4-5) Large onions, peeled and thickly sliced, ½ per bag

· (2) Cup beef broth, 1 per bag cup

· (1) Cup balsamic vinegar, ½ per bag

· (1) Cup tomato sauce, ½ per bag

*Cook on low for 8-10 hours. This looks like a great French dip recipe, I am going to have it with think rolls, and dip it.

Once ALL INGREDIENTS are in freezer bags push all of the air out of them and seal. Lay bags flat so they freeze flat. Stack in Freezer... once they are frozen you can re-arrange to best suit your freezer space. Take meal out of freezer the night before you want to put it in slow cooker so it thaws a bit.

This makes a total of 10 freezer meals, 5 separate recipes. A quick disclaimer, I have never tried these meals before and do not know how they taste but they look really good so…?