a little info...

So here's a little health info. for you women out there, which is probably all of you, unless you're my dad or my uncle Reid. Anyhow, I saw a link to this article on my yahoo homepage, I really don't search these random things out in case you were wondering. They pop up and if they look interesting, I take the time to read them. Most of the time I skip it, but this was some info. I thought we could all use. So here's the link to the entire article. And as Jared always quotes, "moderation in all things". I think it drives him a little bonkers when I go off on tangents and become too focused on certain areas of my life. But he loves me anyway. :)

food friday...

So I haven't found any recipes that I really thought I needed to share today, but I did find some interesting food news. Have you heard about the recall on products that contain HVP? They have been found to contain Salmonella, and you can find all the recalls here. They are mostly dips/gravies, and snack items. It's worth your time to check it out.

And, for even more disturbing news, this mom is attempting to become the world's fattest woman, and if she can't get that she'll settle for world's fattest mom. Kinda sad she's not a little more worried about trying to stick around a little longer for her kids.

Maddie is 8!

So today is Maddie's birthday, and I have to admit it kinda snuck up on me, not that I forgot, it's her 8th birthday after all, I've just been so focused on her baptism which isn't until April 10th. So in my mind, it seemed further away, does that make any sense? So I haven't made a cake, or any other preparations for her birthday today. I asked her what she'd like to take to school to celebrate with her class, and she replied, "Ding Dongs". Ding dongs, are you for real? When have you even eaten those? She explained that someone else in her class brought them, and she really liked them. So, I bought a few boxes of Ding Dongs, cringed when I saw how many calories were in them, and then smiled as she put them so delicately in her back pack. I am a little shocked that she's already 8. It makes me feel old, also a little like I've missed something, which makes me feel slightly sad.

Here's our chubby little Maddie. She had rolls and rolls on her arms and legs, and she had the best little smile. She and Colin were 19 months apart, so those first few months are a blur. Colin was so busy that we focused more on him than Maddie. It didn't help that she was so super content and rarely made a peep.

I might be prejudiced, but she is so super cute!

And I couldn't help including a picture of Colin back then. I just want to kiss those little baby cheeks.

And back to the present, this was a welcome sight. Two sleeping kids = time for myself.

food friday...

So I can never quite satisfy everyone in this house when it comes to food. Last night we had chicken and broccoli, and everyone loved it but Maddie. This morning we had the usual, cold cereal, and of course Colin was searching for something different. He's a pancake kinda guy. And today for lunch Gavin devoured his pb&j, and Kate hardly touched it. I've decided I'll never get it just right for everyone, so I'm going to keep fresh fruit and veggies on hand. They can have their pick if they don't want their dinner.

Peanut butter doesn't come off those chubby little hands very easily.

She's thinking I'm crazy for getting out the camera to document our lunch. I'm thinking the sun in the kitchen feels great!

And Jared keeps claiming that Gavin looks like this guy. I guess I kinda have to agree with him, although Gavin is much cuter. I think it's the hair-do. Gavin is in desperate need of a haircut. Let's just hope Gavin has a better reputation than this guy when he's older.
And for a little quiz, anyone know his name?

we're back...

So we're back from Seattle, it was a very nice break from the snow and yuckiness I had been feeling. Not a bad yuckiness, just you know that bored/tired of winter/wish I had something fun and exciting to do sort of feeling.

It was beautiful in Seattle with not a single raindrop while we were there. We left early Thursday morning with Maddie throwing up. That's just what I wanted to leave Jared's mom with, a sick child!

We flew out of Idaho Falls, to Salt Lake, and then on to Seattle. We took a cab to our hotel, my first taxi ride, a little stinky, and expensive, but fun. We stayed in the Olive 8 Hyatt in downtown Seattle. I was in heaven, there were so many interesting people to stare at! Snooty business people, foreigners, and of course the homeless. I don't stare to judge, but rather to take it all in. It drives Jared a little bonkers. We rode the monorail to the Space Needle and checked out the view, and then ate in the revolving restaurant. It was nice to eat without feeding anyone else, or dealing with spills of any kind.

On Friday we woke up to a text, "Kate's throwing up". Great! Actually it wasn't too bad, Maddie only threw up once, and Kate only threw up once. And thankfully no one else got it. Jared's mom was wonderful! We went to the Pike Street Market, and I stared a little more. There are so many crazy kinda people out there. And a lot of people who smoke. That disturbed me a little bit, not so much because it's against the Word of Wisdom, but more because I've studied all the health issues with it, and the information is so available, but people are still choosing to do it. Choice and Accountability I guess, just don't mind if I stare.

We also went on the Underground Tour. That was pretty interesting, more of a historical tour, but also very humorous. I saw my first rat in an alleyway while on the tour. Kinda creepy.

And on Saturday, finally, the big Farmer's Life event that we came for. I bought some cute gray pants from Gap, and a light purple cardigan from Old Navy. I was super excited to finally wear them, a little springy, but they totally fit in with the weather. We went down to the lobby to catch our ride to the pier where the dinner and concert was, and wouldn't you know it, everyone was in some version of black! It was like we were going to a night club or something. I felt a little out of place.

But the event was fun. It was celebrating 100 years of Farmer's Life Insurance. As we drove to the dinner, we saw a Farmer's flag flying on top of the space needle.

Pretty cool.

The dinner was good, there were a lot of people, all of whom we didn't know, so we had another chance to have some fun one on one conversation. Jared found out that I don't like bananas, after almost twelve years, we're still learning new things about each other, huh who knew? Actually Jared's district manager was there, and another agent from Idaho Falls, but there were so many people mingling on three different floors that we didn't have a chance to see them.

They had fireworks, and then the main event, we saw Heart. I'm not a big fan, although I recognized one of the songs from Rock Band, and another from American Idol. I tried to take pictures, but none of them were very flattering of them. Sorry Heart. You sounded great though...

All in all it was a fun weekend, we survived, the kids survived, more importantly Jared's mom survived! Jared and I still have a lot of fun and laughs together, and I'm even more excited for Spring! I'm over the yuckiness, which is kinda funny, statistics show that a lot of people in that area are depressed because of all the rain, but Seattle kinda pulled me out of the winter blues.

never thought I'd see this...

So, this is a totally random post, but as I was looking for some good, healthy recipes, I found something a little out of place. Baked corn dogs, on the Whole Foods Market website. It calls for all natural hot dogs, who knew there was such a food out there? I didn't know you could make an all natural hot dog, I thought they were about the most processed, fake sort of meat you could find, well other than Spam, it's in a can after all. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy corn dogs, and you can't go to a baseball game without getting a hot dog, right? I just never thought I'd see them in a whole foods, all natural kind of setting. But I might just try them the next time I have a corn dog craving. You can find the recipe with some other good ones here.