Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful women out there. I have been blessed with the best mother in the world. I missed her very much on Mother's Day and wished that I could be there to give her a big hug and kiss and tell her how much I love her. A mother and daughter sang a song in sacrament meeting together and I bawled through the whole thing. I don't know how the mother kept her composure through the entire song but the daughter was having a hard time. I just want to thank my mom for always being such a wonderful example to me and for being my hero and role model. I hope to some day be the mother that she was to me for my children. I know that both of my parents have made many sacrafices to have children and to raise us in a loving home and I am grateful every day for my family. In primary we did a fun activity and the children had to share things about their mother like what she is good at, what she does well, what she likes to do in the summer etc. I would like to list a few things about my mom. Feel free to add to the list in the comments and I will post them:

10 things she loves to do in the summer:
1. Garden
2. Be outside doing anything
3. Go wild flower picking
4. Go fishing (she's a very good fisher woman)
5. Eat fresh vegetables out of the garden
6. Go to the parade and town celebrations
7. Have picnics in the park
8. Go walking in the early morning to hear the birds sing
9. Go on bike rides as a family
10. Enjoy any family reunion functions to get together with cousins and relatives

9 things that my mother does well:
1. Being a mother (she's perfect at that)
2. Cooking (I really miss her cooking)
3. Sewing (I didn't inherit any of this skill)
4. Laughing (she is always cheeful and happy)
5. Singing (My moms voice is my very favorite one!)
6. Making friends (I think she knows everyone)
7. Being generous (she's always thinking of others)
8. Fixing, building and creating things (there's nothing my mom can't fix or make look beautiful)
9. Great at creating an atmosphere of peace in our home

8 things she likes to eat:
1. Fresh tomatoes
2. Green salad with lots of big chunky vegetables
3. Ice Cream (one of her favorite is chocolate almond)
4. Almonds
5. Cereal as a snack
6. Chinese food
7. Mother's Best Fudge Cake
8. Grilled cheese sandwiches on Grandmas homemade bread

7 things my mom likes to make:
1. Crochets blankets
2. Sews anything from wedding dresses to underware (she doesn't really do this anymore)
3. She builds gorgeous homes and does excellant wood work, rock work and tile work
4. She likes to make people happy
5. She always makes her bed and likes it when we make ours
6. Likes to make things organized and clean (and she does this well)
7. She makes a great friend

6 reasons she wanted to have kids:
1. She wanted grand children
2. It's a commandment
3. She loves kids
4. She wants an eternal family
5. So we could do the dishes and chores and pick up rocks in the yard (just kidding)
6. She wanted to learn to have more patience

5 types of dessert my mother enjoys:
1. Wacky cake
2. Spice cake ( I think)
3. Fresh fruit
4. Homemade Ice cream
5. She loves pie (lemon marange ?spelling?, berry pies and pecan pie)

4 things she does out of habit:
1. Sings (or hums) where ever she is or no matter what she's doing
2. Says her prayers
3. Picks
4. cleans things with a toothbrush

3 movies my mom could watch over and over:
1. Sound of Music
2. Any Musical
3. The Princess Bride

2 places she talks about going on vacation:
1. Mexico riding in the back of the truck
2. Family Reunions every summer

1 thing my mom would like to do in the future:
1. Go on a cruise

New Adventure

So, Darren and I have decided that Logan is the place for us. After much contemplation and praying we feel like this is what we need to do. Darren has changed his major to Wildlife Resources and so we either needed to transfer to Washington, Idaho or Logan to get into a good program. Well, Washington and Idaho weren't really reasonable because tuition was about 14,000 more a semester than going to Utah State. We went and visited the campus a few weeks ago and really like it there. This last saturday we went down and found a place to live and so it's pretty official. We are going to miss everyone is our neighborhood and ward in Lindon. We have loved living here. We are also going to miss everyone in Teambuilders but we are only a few hours away. If Chris could do it, so can we. I will still be able to work from home for Computer Marketing Corp and so we are so grateful for that blessing in our life. We are also going to be up there with Tessa and we're way excited about that. It will be great to do things with her and spend more time with her before she runs off and gets married.

New New

So, we have a 'new new' on the way. Not sure when yet but sometime between November and January. We're excited! We found out on April Fools day.

Age

Ok, so Darren really isn't 29. He's actually younger than me and so I had to get a reaction out of him. He's actually only 26 this year. Sometimes I wish we didn't have to keep track. Why does age matter anyway. We really only cared about it when we were little. I think after you hit 20 you should just stop counting and just enjoy the party on your Birthday. I can never remember how old I am anyway. I seriously have to start from the year I was born and figure it out every time I think about it. Anyone else this way?

Happy Birthday Darren!

Darren was so nice to let Ammon and I take a week off and go visit Mimi and Papa in Washington and see Josh, Krista, Jaylie, Tanya, Ryan and Calvin. It was so fun to see them all but we missed Daddy's birthday. Darren had to celebrate at home alone. He's the big 29 now! Ha ha!!! Happy Birthday Love.

Love,
Your wife and Ammon

Raspberry Chicken

So I tried this new recipe and it was really yummy. I didn't have raspberry jam so I used strawberry and it was delicious!

3/4 cup raspberry jam
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 to 5 oz chicken
2 1/2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped shallots (I didn't have these or onions so I omitted them)
1 1/2 tsp minced thyme

Cook the Jam and vinegar for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the salt and pepper. Reserve 1/2 cup sauce and marinate the chicken in the rest for 2 hours. (I put mine in the crock pot in the fridge and then just cooked it in the crock pot in the sauce after a few hours). Cook shallots and thyme on stove in olive oil until cooked through. Add chicken to shallots and thyme. Add reserved sauce to chicken. (I cooked my chicken in the crock pot and then browned it on the stove with the thyme). Enjoy!

Make brown rice and serve wtih chicken.

Past to Present

Ammon on the way home from the hospital. He looks so tiny in this enormous car seat!

I wanted to post some before and after pictures of Ammon. The first two are of him in August and the last one is in January. I think he's chunked up a bit. I can't believe how much he has changed but he is still my cute little tinsy boy. Look at how skinny his arms are here!

Ammon's 6 month Check up

My baby is 6 months old already. I can't believe it! We went in for his 6 month check up today. He was 18 lbs 5 oz and 26 inches long. He got his vaccinations and screamed really loud this time. Some of the things he is doing at 6 months are:

Sitting up
Spinning in circles on the ground but not rolling over
Eating cereal, fruits and veggies
Testing his diaphram (thanks to Calvin j/k)
Reaching for everything in sight
Splashing and Kicking in the bathtub (He gets mom and dad more wet than himself)
Sleeping through the night (most of the time)
Trying to eat everything he gets his hands on
Laughing and smiling all the time
Rocking to the beat of his own drum
Squirming, Squirming, Squirming

We love our baby and don't know what we ever did without him!

Quick Trip

Krista called last week and convinced us to take a trip to Washington with her Mom over the long weekend. It was a blast but very quick. The trip actually went by really fast and Ammon was so good. He cried for about 2 hours on the way home because he needed a diaper change but there was nowhere to stop. I thought he was hungry but as soon as I changed him he felt better. Thanks to Linda for putting up with us.

We got to visit with everyone but Tessa. We missed having her there. We celebrated Tanya's 29th Birthday and got to enjoy seeing Ryan and Calvin. Ammon learned how to scream from Calvin. He was laying on the floor today and started doing this really load screech. I think he is learning from his cousins already. Jaylie Bug was sick but her and Ammon still played together. We went to a Valentines Party with Josh and Krista and Linda. It was a fun time and we're glad that we took the opportunity to go and visit.

We got to go fishing with Dad in his boat and had some adventures with their new truck that kept breaking down. It was a blast! Mom fed us lots of wonderful food. She made Mothers Best Fudge Cake for Tanya and it was delicious! Thanks for the wonderful weekend everyone!

Umbrella Bonnet Quilt

These amazing quilt blocks were made by my Grandmother. She needed me to take some pictures so my mom could pick out the color or fabric to put the blocks together with. My Grandma is amazing in every way. One of her incredible talents is quilting. She is always making several at one time. She says it's getting harder to do the detail but they look pretty perfect to me!