My first album cover

Saw this fun activity on my friends blog. Thought I'd give it a try tonight while I am doing my best avoiding dishes. ;-)



In case you are wondering what the title means...Pariksha guru is considered to be the first novel written in Hindi. The novel was written by Srinivas Das and published in year 1882. The novel is considered a landmark in Hindi fiction. The book was reprinted in 1974 with an introduction by Ramdaras Misra. The novel tells a story of the extravagance of Hindu bankers and traders.

You should try this. It doesn't take all that long. Here is what you do.

1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random”
or click hERE
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations"
or click HeReThe last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click here
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together (I used picnik click me, it's free and easy to use).

5 - Post it to FB/blog with these instructions in the "caption" and TAG the friends you want to join in.

Awesome leg workout

I found a bunch of mini-workouts by Jillian Michaels on Hulu last night. I tried this one out today. Of course due to a lack of range of motion, I could not go down as far as she said to, but it was still an awesome workout. If you wanna tone up your legs too, give it a try. Check out her other workouts too.

Random photos from the month

I just realized I had some photos in my carmera that I haven't uploaded yet. So, here are some of the things we have been up to...

Lately Eden has been obsessed with going "Gecko hunting" with her Dadda. She has always loved Gecko's. So last sunday I made her a gecko house out of an old baby-wipe box. Here she is, checking out her geckos. It's usually dad's job, he's the expert hunter...but even I cought my first gecko this past monday. Eden's always walking around the backyard looking for more geckos to put in her house.


Eden still loves playing everynight in her new tubby!!



It's a good thing we have the tubby too, cause Eden's new obsession is playing in the dirt. She loves to put dirt from the yard in one bowl, and then dump it in her purse, and then dump in on the lanai, and then go back for more. Here we are at Wal-Greens the other afternoon digging in some more dirt...putting it in her belly button...and throwing it.




And now... Eden loves to get her hair done. She just wants pig tail after pig tail put in her hair. Actually she calls them "tig pails"



And when you ask her to smile...she makes a face like this...


The other day we went to TVA playground again with a bunch of friends. I was feeling pretty brave that morning and left the house with Eden in a pair of panties for the first time. She did really great too!! No accidents. This morning she went all out in tig pails. I think she had 6 in all. She asked for more, but I told her there was not more hair left.


I just love Adelaid's red shoes





I get so nervous watching her climb up this thing (cause she is not the best at watching where she is going)... but she made it! All the way up herself, no help from Mamma.






And what kind of monkey would she be if she didn't love to hang from monkey bars?



She had fun swinging with Addy from nextdoor.




Then Eden decided to chase the birds for a while, and feed them some of her cookies and gold fish. Gwen did a pretty good job crawling on all fours trying to keep up with the birds too!




I'm almost embarassed to post this next photo just because my face is SOOOOO incredible swolen...yikes! However, it's just too cute not to share. These are the mommies of Eden's best friends Ambrose and Adelaide. They were all born within weeks of each other. I thought we'd have our next batch together, but I jumped the gun a little and got pregnant 3 months before the other mammas. They are both due in JUNE (5 days apart)!! And I am so excited to meet their little guys.

Wanna try something fun?

Click play and dance around with your little one all morning!! That's what we've been up to today. This is my new favorite song.



Enjoy!

5:30 am?

I know...I probably have no room to complain here...seeing how my delivery for this baby is labor free, and scheduled so I know when to plan for a baby sitter and have everything else ready to go(thanks again by the way, all of you who have so generously offered to help with Eden during the 5 days I will be stuck in the hospital recovering). Anyway, I just found out yesterday that since my surgery is at 7:30 I check in at 5:30 am. And since the hospital is 45 minutes away... I have to leave at 4:45? Yuck. It sucks cause you can't eat before surgery for 12 hours or so...and I do not do well being tired and hungry. It's usually a deadly combination that leads to throwing up for hours. Oh well, I am still excited!

You know you are exhausted when...

You know you are exhausted and had a long morning when: during your nap, you have a nightmare that your child woke up early from their nap. But then you look at the clock and realize they have been sleeping for 2 hours and so have you. ;-) Time to clean the house! Does that sound mean? I love my kid...I just love my naps too these days.

Love you Kevin James

at least when I watch you on King of Queens and Hitch...but not your newest movie.

Paul Blart Mall Cop. Saw it for Valentine's Day. I don't recommend it. Really cheesy. Could have been much funnier. All was not lost though. I laughed several times, and I even laughed at the cheesy parts that I didn't think were funny...just because I love to laugh. And, it was nice to snuggle with my sweety un-interupted for 86 minutes plus travel time. ;-)

We snuck McDoubles and McChickens in to the theatre. That was the best part. The other good part was the movie was free. I'd have been pretty disappointed if we wasted $7 a person. We received movie tickets as a graduation present once upon a time, a L O N G T I M E A G O. Since we graduated almost 2 years ago now, we worried they wouldn't take them. But no problemo! And we got 2 free root beers and a large popcorn free too!

Then we headed back home to hang out with our little valentine. She got to stay home with one of her favorite baby-sitters, Romelyn. (I'm am pretty sure I spelt that completely incorrect.) But Eden loves this girl. She is so sweet, and always cleans my house or re-organizes Eden's toys for me whenever she comes. Last time she watched Eden, she was giving her a bike-ride when we pulled up. Since then Eden has been obsessed with bikes.

Sometimes I do Stupid things that turn out to be Smart...

Like the other day. Well probably a month ago really. I left my i pod charger in the backpack and Eden took it out. When I saw her take it I thought, "I shouldn't let her play with that. She'll probably break the prong off." Yet, I ignore that voice in my head. She's happy...and what's the real liklihood that she'll break it anyway? So I resume whatever it was I was doing, and let her play. Well, not too long after that thought, I look over at her, check out my charger, and sure enough! Bent the charger prong thing in half.

So a few days ago I look on eBay to buy a new charger. I figured it'd probably cost me at least $5 to fix this mistake. But no! I am in luck! I found this little beauty.
And it only cost $1.50 TOTAL. Including Shipping!

I love it cause it's small. I hated my charger that broke because the thing had 3 feet of cord that I didn't know what to do with. My computer has enough cords running around it thank you very much!

So, if you have a shuffle and you hate your big charger dock...check out eBay for one of these puppies pictured above. I think you will love it too! (Don't worry, it works for sinking your songs too.)

Wanna See a Naked Belly?

If not, look no further.

Otherwise here is the latest in Maternity photos.



Now that I am down to the last 25 days, I feel like I can pull this thing off. For a while there I swear I was stuck at 39 days left for 3 weeks. Now I lay in bed and wonder if I am going to be able to get everything done that I need to before this little guy is here. In the mean time I am sleeping as much as possible. Like today when I took a 2 hour nap after church. It was awesome.

Editing the Bread Recipe

For those of you interested in making that bread recipe I posted about a week or so ago here, I tried something new with it the other night. I didn't like the olive oil, or vegetable oil after taste is seemed to have. So, last night I tried it with 1T apple sauce and 1T melted butter, in place of the oil. I liked it much better this way. So, when you are wanting more home made bread, give it a try!

If you are wondering what to do with your left over wheat flour if you don't want to make bread anymore, try this recipe for home made tortillas.

I just tried it today, and made Eden a quesadilla, and a ham tomato spinach wrap for myself. It was delicious!

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 T olive oil
1/2 cup warm tap water or milk (mine was a little dry so I just added a little more water a little at a time)

Combine flour, Baking powder and salt. Add olive oil and stir until well combined. Put in warm tap water/milk a bit at a time until dough can be gathered into a ball. Add more water if needed 1 T at a time. Knead on floured surface 15-20 times. Let dough rest for 15 minutes (I didn't let it rest. I am impatient. But it would probably puff up better if I let it rest) Divide dough into 10-12 equal portions and shape into balls. On floured surface roll out ball from center into a circle. (I find the easiest way to do this is to cut a freezer glad bag into two - along the seems- Then put the dough between the two pieces in the center, roll it with a Pam Spray bottle -cause I don't have a rolling pin- and then take it out of the 2 pieces of plastic. Cook on ungreased skillet over medium-high heat on each side about 30 seconds or until puffy.

Fun and easy (and frugal). You can store the left overs in your fridge or freezer.

Thank Goodness for Blogs

What else would I do from 4:30-6 in the morning while suffering from pregnancy insomnia. I fell asleep at 9:15 last night 30 minutes after tucking Eden into bed. (Sorry again Jonathon) He stayed up and watched movies while I laid there passed out on the couch. We went to bed together at some point. I remember waking up and moaning loudly as I rolled BACK over to my left side. (I hate sleeping on my left side. I think that's because Jonathon sleeps on my right, and I like to face him when I sleep. But, then I would have to crawl over him 5 times a night to get to the bathroom if we had this arrangement). Anyway. when I woke up again to roll over (and it takes soooo much effort to do this now) I realized I needed to go to the bathroom. After that, I was hungry. So I ate a bowl of cereal. Then I decided I don't want to try to sleep anymore...too much effort! So, I have been reading friends blogs for the last 60 minutes. Crazy how the time flies. I should probably try to go back to sleep...but really. It is such a pain.

I shouldn't complain, I am very excited to bring this baby home to our house. I think that is why I am complaining. I am soooo ready for this whole pregnant thing to be over already and have this baby in my arms. I just can't wait to meet him.

Well, with that being said, I guess I better get back to bed so I can be a decent mamma tomorrow to the one who left my belly 22 months ago.

Saw this on a friends blog

thought it looked like fun. Here goes!

the firstborn survey
Here you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your first born! Just copy and paste it in a new note for yourself! Let's see how much you remember!

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? yep
2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? yep
3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? pretty excited and freaked out of my mind. I'd quit birth control 5 months before and was starting to think that being pregnant just wasn't in the cards. So when the test said positive I didn't believe it. Then I couldn't stop saying OH MY GOSH for about 1 minute straight. That's all that would come out of my mind.
4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? Why would I do that?
5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 22
6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? I just felt different. So, I took a pee test at home. Jonathon said that I could only take it if he could look at the results before me. (He was trying to get me to not take it since I had taken so many negative ones before.) When he first looked, it indicated not pregnant. I could tell from the look on his face what the result was. I sat on the closet floor and cried for a moment. When I stood up to go sit by Jonathon, I glanced at the test and it had changed!!! I was pregnant after-all.
7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Honestly don't remember. I think it was maybe Brooke Douglas. She was pregnant at the time too (3 months along) and I was starting to wonder if I would be able to pull of student teaching and being pregnant. SO I asked her a lot of questions, and she guessed it.
8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Kind of yes, kind of no. Jonathon for sure wanted to know, so I didn't really have much choice in the matter.
9. DUE DATE? 04/24/07
10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Most definitely. Couldn't drink water for weeks. Only Gatorade which after a week or 2 starts tasting like syrup. Threw up probably 10 times a day for 3 months. Couldn't stand up after 4 pm. Had to go to bed by 6. And got insanely car-sick through out. I marked Kam highway many a time. ;-)
11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Not really sure. Mostly just had to find food that would stay down. I did like Marshmallows and stars (Lucky Charms), and ate a lot of baked potatoes with cottage cheese.
12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Don't remember anyone irritating me. Definitely hated sleeping at night. Felt like someone had been punching me in the hip all night long when I woke up. Sleeping on your left side all the time was definitely a challenge.
13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? girly
14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? nope
15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 50, and I was able to get 60 off after her. Hoping it's the same story this time around.
16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? yep, I was spoiled with many showers
17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? The first one in Utah was a surprise with many many friends and family. Then my old family ward in Utah threw me one (expected). And the school I was teaching at threw me a surprise party!
18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? nope. Pretty normal except for the fact that she never turned around.
19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Castle Hospital
20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? 0hrs. 0 Min. 0 Sec...Yup! Planned C-section.
21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? I probably did. Jonathon doesn't like driving much.
22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Whoever was lucky enough to see over the blue tarp in front of my face. Not me. Jonathon was sitting behind the tarp with me, but stood up and saw it. All I saw was the grey chest hair from my anesthesiologist sticking out of his scrubs, as he stood over me watching.
23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? As previously stated, c-section
24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Most definately. Are you kidding? But I refused nausia medication afterwards. I threw up for 5 hours (every 20 min) while coming off the spinal block. The nurse told me the nausia medication would make me sleepy and I couldn't imagine sleeping through my baby's first hours of life.
25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 7 lbs. something?
26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? April 10, 2007 5:10 pm?
27. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Eden Noelani
28. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 1 year 10 months and 1 day.

Playin' around on a Playground

We went to the TVA playground the other night before heading to BYUH to enjoy some good eats at this semesters Foodfest. Jonathon and Eden had fun playing, I had fun taking lots and lots of pictures.







Eden's friend Taylor came and joined us for a while too. She was a crack-up posing for the camera. We had lots and lots of fun!






She loved climbing up to the top of the slides more than she liked coming down them.









Monkey'n around with Dadda










See, told ya! Lots of pictures. And there are 7 times more where these came from. ;-)