LOOOOOOOOONG overdue pics from Utah

Went to Utah to visit The James/Bentley Duos waaaaaaaaayyyyyy back in September. Their houses and yards were awesome, I managed to get pics of Chels and Adam's. Didn't have my camera for Cub and Amanda's house and yard....think hammocks, chickens, apple trees and a unique home with lots of odd nooks and crannys. All of the houses in Utah are on so much land compared to Southern California.  We were jealous.

We stayed at Adam and Chelsea's house.
These ones are from inside the house one day. Lulu must have been taking a nap.

One day we decided to go on a long hike then go camping. I was really nervous about it because I've seen pictures from the girls' blogs that showed them crossing a log over a raging river with the babies on their backs. No thanks. I told them that's where we would turn around. Instead we stopped early because the sun was going down and everyone wanted to play in the lake. YESSSSSSSS.

 Don't let Dan's baby backpack fool you. This picture was from the parking lot which is the only place I had my camera for the hike. I actually wore the backpack for the hike.

 And the trooper.... pregnant with twins, sick as a dog, hiking with a 2 year old on her back.

 The lake was pretty from a far but slimy around the edges so everyone started playing with babies and cameras instead.

Camping....hee hee. Now that I think about it, they may never want us to come back because they are all so hardcore and we were a few sticks in the mud. We really wanted to go for the food, fun and campfire, but the little one is a horrible sleeper still so we weren't so sure it would work.  But seriously.... 4 babies and camping, RISKY. We put our best effort in but Buds woke up 2 times so we peaced out. We stayed the entire night before everyone was getting ready for bed then took off with Adam and Chels around midnight. Oh yeah and there were "Beware of Bears" signs everywhere. I spilled Ketchup all over my sweatshirt and pants, that would have been no bueno, especially since they didn't even want you to have deodorant or toothpaste in your tents.

And now for the backyard adventure. I'm too lazy to put all of these in order. Basically we saw a buck and Adam, Dan, and I took Charlie and followed it all over the property. You'll see it here and there. In the distance we heard their kitty meow, we saw it bouncing over the brush every 2 feet like a rabbit. Eventually it caught up with us and followed us everywhere we went...by the awesome little spring that Charlie played in once (which becomes a raging river in the Spring ...I think), through the brush and even into the neighbors yards as we walked along the river. I'm a sucker for cats! ANYWAYS... back to the yard, there was no brush too thick for Adam to conquer...Dan and I on the other hand took a few roundabout paths. :)

Here are a few of my favs from the trip that I was saving because I didn't know if I would use them in a Christmas card but as usual, I couldn't get it together on time.

And lastly....some pictures I stole from Amanda. Thanks to my talented Photographer friend! If you look at her former post from the same day you can see lots of pictures that we took at the same time from different perspectives. It's kind of cool.

Somebody turned 1

Skip Halloween and Thanksgiving and go straight to THIS

 I can't wait to make these guys. My crafty friend and I will have a lovely day of snacks, singing, project making and baby holding.
Photo Found Here
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Uh huh... I got it.

The Great Showdown

"Oh there you are!"

"Noooooooo!"

Yes, Let Us.

Image found here

Summertime at Grandma's House

My mom has a great yard. So much space and the pool is fun. Actually everyone loves it. Booey gets to bark at the neighbors, Lucy gets to run like mad all over the place and that day C walked up and down the long driveway. He would be pushing his toy and all of the sudden next thing I know he's walking next to me holding nothing. That day, Dan had a practice course for his bike on the driveway. What a nerd.

One of These Everyday

 

I'm trying to eat better, I know it's the just the way that normal people eat all of the time but I'm trying to convert from eating Jack in the Box and McDonalds every day to eating more whole foods. It was hard at first because I've always sworn that I was born with a "hunger" gene. I've found that if I eat spinach in the morning in my shakes it helps curb my craving for "disgusting food." I got these books by Dr Fuhrman and his whole philosophy is the more nutrients your body gets, the more your brain will know that you are getting what you need and you will be less hungry. I think it's working, I've lost about 10 pounds, but I'll update you in a month. (I don't follow his whole vegan thing, but I've been cutting back.)

Anyways, the point of this post is these smoothies are actually REALLY good! Here's a recipe for the one that I created. I've been using a magic bullet but my Vitamix gets here today!! Yipeeeeeeeeee!

Purple Smoothie

1.5 Tablespoons Ground Flax Seed

1 Cup of Frozen Blueberries or Frozen Mixed Berries

1 Whole Green Apple

1&1/2 Cups Baby Spinach

Half Frozen Banana

A Few Pieces of Frozen Pineapple or Frozen Mango

Some Almond Milk to help Smooth it Out

(You can also add some plain yogurt)

Another One I Love 

The Green Mango Smoothie

1.5 Tablespoons Ground Flax Seed 

Fill your Blender with Half Spinach and Half Frozen Mango

Use your Liquid of Choice or Yogurt of Choice

Blend until Smooth. Yum.

Yo Yo Yo Yogurt

We bought a yogurt maker a few weeks ago and I make a fresh batch every week. Nothing like some good organic, fresh yogi. I usually make plain but Dan hates it that way so this time I used vanilla and a little Stevia. Mmmm. All you do is boil a quart of organic milk, let it get back down to lukewarm, add 5 tablespoons of your favorite plain organic yogurt to a few oz of the cooled down milk (or buy yogurt starter) and mix that back into the original batch. Put it in the little jars and it does all of the work overnight for you. You can also make cheese from yogurt, that is my next adventure.

Hello.

Counting Down the Days Until September 13th.......

Yes please... saw a preview of some luggage I already know that I want. 400 other items are coming along with that. Yummmm.

Daily Affirmation

No Seriously, Listen.

I realized today that I am surrounded by living things that have no idea what I am saying, yet I expect them to understand.

This is what was happening when I gave up and realized that they could care less.

"Charlie, no no, don't grab Booey okay?" "
"Boo, NO! (while he stays in the same spot and grumples non-stop) just run away if you don't like it."

They both ignored me and kept doing what they were doing. I'm tired.

Pipe Dreams

That we could live by the ocean
but also in the woods
on a large piece of property
with perfect weather year round
in a house like this, (but the larger version).
I'm pretty sure there isn't a place like that but if there was it would cost gazillions I'm sure.

This is actually the 250sf modular home by l41. They make different connecting pieces to "grow your home". They're made in VC and approved to put on teeny tiny lots so anyone can get a home.
Cool idea.

On a lighter note...

I pirated this pic off Susan's (married to my cousin, Ryan) cake decorating blog. I never knew she was a cake decorator and I am trying to figure out an excuse to have her make me one of these....  YUM!

A BATHTIME SCARE: Every Father, Mother or Future Parent Needs to Read THIS

A week and a half ago when I was still at work doing one of my monthly 12 hour days....baby was taking his nightly bath and Dan was holding his arm when he went after a toy head first, with his mouth open (to grab it with his mouth of course). Dan grabbed him up right away but he was just in a staring spell, not breathing. He ran with him to look at the first aid chart that I got one day in the mail and decided to put up in our pantry. He gave him 5 back blows and it did nothing, he still wasn't breathing, considered calling 911 but wasn't giving up so he gave him chest compressions and snot and flem came up and eventually, water, then a breath.
When I got home Dan told me all about it and of course I was a wreck. The baby was already asleep and I just wanted to see him so badly that I couldn't wait until he woke up and wanted to get in our bed (which we are trying to break his habit of but not that night). I waited to hear his little cry and grew more and more anxious thinking about what could have happened so I took a shower and bawled my eyes out for 20 minutes. An hour later I snatched him out of bed and laid down with him and of course didn't sleep all night. I was so glad to have my little baby safe and sound.

WHAT WE DIDN'T DO THAT WE SHOULD HAVE........(This is the part you HAVE to read)

I thought that we were just lucky and that it was a scare but that everything was fine. It was. BUT...did you know that you are supposed to keep a VERY close watch on a child that had lung trauma like an "almost" drowning episode? They can still drown within 24 hours of the trauma from water that stayed trapped in the lungs. You are to immediately get chest x-rays and an exam to be sure that your child isn't susceptible to "dry drown." I heard this a week later and obviously it didn't happen to C but I had no idea that it could have. When I took him to the doctor for an ear infection yesterday, I told her what happened and that I didn't know that I was supposed to do anything about it, she gave me a very serious look with eyebrows raised and confirmed that we should have gone to the ER. She also said, "Dan did the right thing and acted quickly, that saved his life."
This wasn't something I was going to blog about because it is so personal but I felt like I should share it to educate parents and caretakers on...
A: Just how quickly something bad really can happen in the bath even when you are right there so you should NEVER EVER leave for "just a second"
B: Knowing about the close monitoring after lung trauma
C: It's so important to take safety classes for children. Dan and I are looking to get certified right away.

PS, I took this picture while my mom was sitting right next to the bath!