Birthday Boy

Last week we celebrated Jonah's first birthday. We went all out. I spent about 4 hours making this elaborate "Baby Einstein Caterpillar" cake. I am no cake decorator so I was pretty pleased with how it turned out (ie, I didn't burn it and it looked like the caterpillar). Here are a few pictures for you:

What a handsome boy! You can tell this is the beginning of the party as he's still smiling!

Here is the masterpiece.

Here we are singing "Happy Birthday" and he has no idea what's going on.

Dig in! He was fairly careful at first and only stuck one or two fingers in to see what it was.

I guess the cake tasted pretty good!

That's my boy!

That is so impressive...notice the leaning into the cake!


And I think we're done.

Opening presents: this is a fire-duck that goes on the bathtub faucet and makes bubbles. He loves it!

Pretty sure this is the only car we'll ever be buying for Jonah.

He loves this car. He walks around and plays with the steering wheel. Jon and I already have all the noises and songs memorized...great!

OK...we're starting to wind down here. He had quite the attitude by the end of the night.

We decided to save a few presents for the next morning so he would no longer be attacked by his cousins and would be a little better rested for the excitement.

Overall, this was a pretty exhausting two days. I think it affected me more than anyone else. It was like all the sudden I realized that I was really a mom and I was really in for the long haul. It's not like it took me a full year to realize this--it comes in spurts every once in a while. But it hit me pretty hard on his birthday. I'm so blessed to be a mommy and to have my wonderful husband. I love my family!!

Reflections of Christ

My sister-in-law sent me the link to this blog called "Reflections of Christ" where they show videos and pictures that were on exhibit at the Mesa, Arizona Easter Pagent. This video is of the photographer Mark Mabry Jr. as he prepares his actors and really focuses on the Spirit and the message that these photos were meant to convey. This particular video is showing the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist. As I looked at his photographs depicting the scene, I was struck with how much joy Jesus Christ and John the Baptist must have felt in performing this sacred ordinance. I am so grateful for my Savior. I hope you enjoy this video. To see more, go to Mark Mabry's blog.

Awareness Test

I've finally decided to make a post on this here blog--it comes in the form of a PSA (public service announcement, if you didn't know). Follow the instructions of the video very closely. And no, this is not of one of those ghost-jumps-out-of-the-screen-lets-out-a-bloodcurdling-scream-and-you-poop-your-pants-in-fright-videos. Just watch. Bonus: there's a guy with a British accent.



P.S. If there are any comments, don't read them as they may contain spoilers.

Almost 1 Year

It is amazing how much a baby can change in 1 year's time. I was looking at Jonah's baby pictures (not an infrequent thing) in disbelief that in less that 2 weeks he'll be a 1 year old. Time has gone by so fast and I've loved every minute of it. I have been so excited with every new development, from smiling, to holding objects, to crawling, to clapping and everything in between. I love being a mother. Here is a picture of Jonah when he was just hours old.

Calling All Codes!

I have a confession: I love Diet Coke!!! I have been on and off the Diet Coke bandwagon for years now. I cleaned up while pregnant with Jonah because of the aspartame and caffeine but it didn't take long after delivery for me to pick it up again. Now don't get me wrong...I'm not drinking like 2 liters a day or anything. It's more like 2 liters a week--or 2 cans a day. Is that bad?

Long ago, before I started working at DENTRIX (or as my mom calls it "the great and abominable church") I was drinking regular Coke and you couldn't have gotten me to drink Diet Coke for anything (or as Jake would say, "I'd rather drink my own urine"). But when I began my inspiring career at DENTRIX I decided that I'd better switch if I was going to be buying so much of it from the vending machines to keep me awake at my desk. So I did...and now I really can't stand regular Coke. It coats my teeth with a sugary film.

There is one flaw to Diet Coke, however. You cannot drink it with a sweet snack. It is really much better if it follows something salty. The best way to drink Diet Coke is with fresh lime. The bottled version of Diet Coke with Lime is good but it's really so much better if you use a fresh squeezed lime.



Anyway, to get to the point (the reason my post is called what it is)--I have started collecting Coke Rewards. This is my reason for posting. I NEED YOUR POINTS!! If you throw those little precious caps away without sending them to me...you're so cruel. I am currently saving enough points to get a Coke t-shirt with Paris paraphernalia on it.




So the moral of the story is: If you would like to donate your Coke Reward Codes (underneath each cap of Coke products, including Sprite), please email them to me or post them on my blog.

Sock Monkey

I don't pride myself on being very handy with a sewing machine but I am pretty proud of my latest creation. I went to Target the other day to find a pair of socks worthy of becoming a sock monkey. I used a pattern online and this is what I got!!

I wasn't sure how Jonah would like this strange toy but he immediately took to wrestling with it. I guess it was a success. By the way, I purposely gave it two different colored eyes. I thought it added to the vintage/home-madeness factor.










There are a ton of great socks at Target if you're interested in trying out this little project. It took me about 2 days to finish. There was a lot of hand-sewing involved with all the appendages.

Bon Appetit!

Our Valentine's was superb yesterday. Jon took me to 26.2 (a marathon store) and had my stride and foot impact analyzed so I could get the right running shoe and then bought me a killer pair of shoes. What a great present! I call them my magic shoes because they're gold and they have this small gold detail that looks like something out of Lord of the Rings. Here's a picture:

I'm excited to get out there and see just how magical they are (come on...dream a little, people)!
So, in return, I slaved away in the kitchen all day. First, my friend came over and we made chocolate and caramel covered pretzels. It was messy but a lot of fun! They turned out to be quite delectable!

After cleaning up after that mess, I moved on to other things--like putting this little guy to bed. He looks beat, doesn't he? Maybe it's the crash after the sugar rush induced by the leftover chocolate and caramel drippings.

With my hands free, I finally moved on to dinner. You have to understand the situation first. February 13th is Jon's birthday so I attempted to make stuffed pork chops for dinner. They were horrible. Besides the case of trichinosis we picked up from eating raw pork, the stuffing was disgusting. We ended up microwaving the pork and scraping out all the salty, dry stuffing. You can understand now my slight hesitance in attempting another new recipe for Valentine's Day. I hadn't quite recovered from the embarrassment from the night before...or maybe I was just nauseated and tired (hey, aren't those symptoms of trichinosis?). I made a trip to the store for the ingredients and laughed as I walked into Smith's and nearly collided with a long line of men holding all the ridiculously marked up, half-dead carnations (all the roses were gone). You wanna know my opinion of flowers on Valentine's? FORGET THEM! They're so expected. I'd much rather get flowers on any random day of the week. That tells me my husband thinks about me even when it's not required! I'd much rather get a Diet Coke and Peanut M&Ms for my gift! Thanks, Honey-Babe!
So here is what I made for dinner:

This is a rib eye steak, pan-seared, over portabello mushrooms and topped with a red wine, garlic sauce. It got raving reviews! One even commented, "This is better than going to a five star restaurant!"
I hope you all had successful Valentine's Days. If you want to wow your spouse, go here and try this: http://www.gastronomyinc.com/recipes/steak_ny.htm.
The recipe is from the Market Street Grill.

Past Posts Added

I just wanted to let you all know that I just added my posts from my own blog (which has been abandoned) to this one. I back-dated them so they will show up in the past. If you want to look at them, feel free. They're a little different style than our current blog.

Jonah Every Day

Here are some adorable pictures I have captured of Jonah over the last month. He is our little explorer and is constantly keeping us on our toes. We count our blessings everyday to have such a happy, healthy boy.


Mimi got Jonah new pants from Lucky.


Jonah immediately took to his model poses.




Jonah loves bath time. He eats the bubbles, splashes, and plays with all his ducks!

How To Awaken the Inner Child

Go sledding!


I took Jonah sledding yesterday for the first time.


It was also the first time I'd been for about 7 years. It was cold, icy, and snowing but it was so much fun!

Jonah had 3 layers of clothes on and looked like a marshmallow. His face was squished and he had rosy cheeks and nose. I'm pretty sure he enjoyed himself until it was just too cold and we went home.

I even took him down a pretty steep hill in the saucer and he just giggled at the end!