cabella's...again.

my mom is visiting from california this weekend to see the grandkiddies and we went to cabella's today for some saturday entertainment. if you're not familiar, cabella's = rugged hunter bliss. or blech, in my opinion. we've been there before but there's not much to do in utah during the winter that's warm and "kid-friendly". it's sort of entertaining, in a creepy stuffed animal sort of way.

mom and derek...and lana helping derek with a nose problem.


RAWR.

workin' it.


ahhh...can't you just smell the fresh air?

haha i didn't even see that random antler hooked in the plane at first.

the chitlins weren't much more enthused than we were, and didn't feel like looking at or smiling for the camera...

so me and lana smiled for them.


and the only tolerable reason i think for coming to cabella's: the homemade fudge.

oh, cow drool fudge how i like you.

a really super great blessing

i don't talk about religion often on this blog, but i really wanted to share this.

do you remember this post when we found out paul got a job and i went on a slight rant about how we got stuck paying penny's $12,000 hospital bill out of pocket?

well, this weekend we got some really REALLY good news.

apparently there's a thing called "financial aid" that you can apply for and you give them all this financial information like last year's tax return and paystub copies, and a committee considers your situation and can usually help you out with the hospital bills.

imagine our surprise when we get a call on friday that says that the ENTIRE remaining bill of $10,000 had been wavied. i broke down in tears when paul told me. like, WHAT?! are you KIDDING me?!! no more $250/month payment out of our own pocket?! no more stupid hospital bill looming over our heads?!

i'm still a little shocked.

and the timing couldn't be more perfect. our new insurance starts up next month with a hefty monthly payment and we were worried about paying the hospital bill and the insurance premium at the same time. i had called to see if our monthly payment could be lowered and the guy informed me about financial aid, which i was completely unaware of. for some reason i thought that medicaid and financial aid were the same thing. (they're not). now that old hospital payment can go right towards our new insurance payment.

now you might think that it was just lucky that that guy told me about financial aid because it has always been there as an option and becoming aware of it is was convenient, or good timing, or whatever. but i know it was something more.

now this is where it gets religious.

we have a doctrine in our church that if you pay 10% of your income as a tithing to the church that you will receive a blessing of always being financially sound. now that doesn't mean you'll be rolling in the big bucks, it just means that somehow you'll always have money for groceries, or for rent, or utilities, i.e. the necessessities.

it could be explained away as just working hard or lucky or the government steps in with assistance, but i know that blessing has been true for every month of our married life. as a young couple with a baby living on one income, it gets tight every month. but somehow the money comes from somewhere and we have enough to support ourselves, even if at the end of the month we only have $40 in our checking account and the next paycheck is still a week away.

yes, it can seem like a sacrifice to give up 10% of your income, but really every single thing we have in our lives is given to us through blessings from our Heavenly Father. seriously, EVERY thing we have. so really, we're only having to give back 10% of what's not really ours anyway in the big scheme of things. it's the least we can do to show our gratitude to our Heavenly Father for everything that He blesses us with: good health, loving family, a roof over our heads, two cars that work, a great job with benefits, a beautiful little daughter who we love so much...the list goes on and on.

and that 10% does amazing things. yes, some of it does go toward building our beautiful temples and church houses but alot of it has always gone toward food storehouses for the poor and disaster relief around the world, like the recent sad tragedy in haiti.

and i know that because we pay our tithing that we are blessed financially every month and have been blessed more recently and profoundly with this gigantic stressful burden off of our shoulders. all said and done, i am supremely grateful to be a member of this church.

banana bread!

this happens every time: we buy bananas and somehow never finish eating them before they start getting brown and gross. but that's okay because then you have a good excuse to make banana bread - my favorite. it's pretty much a win-win situation.

here's my recipe that i like to use (from this book):

3 ripe bananas
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnuts (definitely optional...i hate nuts, blech)

Mash bananas and set aside. In a large bowl cream sugar and butter together. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to first mixture and stir together. Stir in nuts, if you want. Place in 2 greased, 9x5-inch loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 275 degrees and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Makes 2 loaves.

*note: if you want one loaf + some little muffins or mini loaves, bake the loaf like it says above but take the muffins out at 12-15 minutes after you've put them in at 350 degrees...otherwise they get overbaked and suck all the moisture out of your mouth when you eat them.

and then after that, you get these beauties.

aren't the little ones cute? i like to have little ones + a regular loaf...mini-sized food is always cuter than regular size food. (there were 5 little ones...i had 2 for lunch.)

*edit: i just added the flour in the ingredients list...haha sorry if you tried to make this without the flour...i could never be a food blogger, i guess. thanks meg!

penny in her pjs

there's just something about a baby in pjs with bedhead that i think is so cute.

(warning, lots of pictures ahead.)

this one makes me laugh, she's just so...sacked out. ha.

p.s. penny is 16 months old today! she weighs 20 lbs (finally), has 7 teeth, likes to scooch on her butt, clap her hands, drop something and say "uh-oh", and sip from a straw. hooray!

st. george!

for the week after christmas, paul's brother and sister and their families came down from new mexico and california to visit. we spent some time in st. george where paul's parents have a condo that has enough space for us all to fit with our kids and stuff. we went shopping, ate too many homemade caramels, got pedicures and, my favorite, played games. i'm such a game junkie, too bad i don't have a picture...thanks for a great week debbie and glade!

penny had a great time with her cousins. makayla (the blondie) was constantly doing funny things to make her laugh. paul's mom got them some matching outfits and we tried to take some cousin pictures, they were pretty good sports about it. (penny didn't feel like wearing her matching bow.)

enjoying the warmer (and by warmer i mean 45 degree) st. george weather.


and i know this is totally random but i had to share. we go down to the condo once or twice a year and there's this guy's house on the way with these crazy big wire lawn ornaments, and there's new ones every time we drive down and i think they're so funny and, dare i say, beautiful?...how thoughtful. someone decided to give that bear a little support. hahahaha


this is also random, but i thought it was funny. one time we checked in on penny during a nap and she had her shirt half off which she NEVER does. she just wanted to be comfortable, i guess. ha. and the pic on the right isn't from st. george, it was just before we left, but i had to show how she crosses her legs like a little lady. she always does this, when she's eating or sitting on my lap, i think it's pretty cute.


(p.s. did anyone else notice dick clark's awesome count down? "14, 12, 10, 11..." haha. i know he's super old, but it's still funny.)

christmas!

we had a great christmas with paul's family here in utah. penny was way more into present opening this year and it was fun to watch her react to each present. she didn't like that i kept taking away presents to give her new presents though. i kind of forgot to take pictures of anything else but penny...but it's all about the kids, right?

checking out her stocking + waiting to open a present bigger than she is.

i think the sweetest present-opening moment was when she opened the little piano we bought for her. it was so cute - she saw it and looked up at me and gave the cutest exclamation, something like "ah gaahhh!" she just smiled all huge and plinked away at it daintily with one finger. it was just a little dumb piano but it was so sweet how she just looked up at me and grinned. i can't wait for more moments like that at future christmases! (christmas-ai?)

paul got me the lady gaga cd's (YAY!) and the 500 days of summer dvd (SEE IT!). i got him a passport case that he liked from an etsy shop.

we seriously feel so blessed this year that everyone is healthy in our family, and that we have this new job that paul is happy doing, and that friends and family are close by. we hope you had a great christmas too!

christmas + new apartment = yay!

so we're finally out of L-to-the-Logan and settled in our new apartment. thanks to y'all who helped us move! i love it here already - there's a TARGET only a few blocks away! oh, target, how i've dreamed at shopping at you often...

everything's mostly unpacked and i even put up our (fake) christmas tree and other christmas decorations. i love having no one above us (we're in a one-level duplex with a side neighbor). and i love how quiet and warm our apartment is. it has a new furnace so it's nice and toasty while it's snowing outside. although, we almost cooked penny the other night. it turns out her little room is the warmest in the house and the first night we slept here the heat was on all night and her door was closed and she woke up crying hysterically and drenched in sweat. so, lesson learned. sorry penny!

i'm so excited to watch her open presents! last year she was only 3 months and just about slept through the whole thing. and this year i vow to take more pictures and record some video since i slacked on that last year.

sorry, no pictures this post. my camera is still packed in a box but here's some "rudolph the red-nosed reindeer" courteousy of the california raisins.

(paul, mr. marketing expert, just told me that the california raisins are one of the most successful marketing campaigns ever, except they didn't translate well worldwide. apparently, little purple raisins look exactly like little round purple fairies that are bad luck in japan. hahaha.............i think they kind of look like poo.)

have a merry christmas everyone!