Randomness from last week

First, a shout out for the best cell phone ever. I know there are fancier ones around, but this pink razor was meant to be mine. Last week I left it outside in a thunderstorm over night! Oops! Next day I realized what I had done and I just knew it was toast....but against all odds it came back to life. Oh but that's not the first time this phone has been submerged. There was the time when it was swimming in the bottom of my purse in apple juice, the time when I spilled half a bottle of canola oil on top of it, the times that Liam got a hold of it while teething and I found him sucking/chewing on it, and the countless amount of times that it has been dropped in parking lots, tile floors, and any where else one can drop a cell phone!!!! So I'm thankful for a phone that can keep up with my craziness! And a tip for anyone who's cell phone gets soaked....take it apart and let it dry out before you try to turn it back on!

Secondly, a big thanks to my mother-in-law and sister-in-laws for the new maternity clothes! Here I am sporting my new tank top that says, 'It's not easy being quesy!' Love it! I think my belly has slowed down a bit, but I still can't believe this pooch for only being 14 weeks (13 in the picture)

Can you believe these goobers? Never a dull moment around here. I tell ya they can make those 32 inch waist shorts look like 40 right!!!!?!?!?

And this is just too good not to post. Minnie lays like this all the time with us on the couch and Kevin was trying to help her maintain some dignity for the photo op. HAHAHA!!

All about Liam

My baby is not a baby anymore): He turned two almost a month ago and I didn't get many pictures from his party b/c I was making sure everyone got fed. Anyway, he had a Lightening McQeen party and almost every present he recieved had something to do with the movie Cars! He loved his cake, loved his presents, and loved the attention. Here are some things about Liam that I want to always remember:

-He is so affectionate
-He loves to cuddle with his blankie and his mommy and daddy
-He loves his broder (brother)
-He talks VERY well for his age
-He adores cars, trains, airplanes, and tractors
-He loves books
-He can count to 11 without missing any numbers
-He sings a very cute version of Jesus Loves Me, Thank you Jesus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABC's, I will fight this fight (a song brother taught him)
-He is not afraid of strangers
-He is more opinionated than Landon was at this age
-He is sleeping in a big boy bed
-He has started telling me that he loves me and it melts my heart
-His least favorite foods are meat and cheese sandwiches and green veggies
-His favorite foods are pizza, pastas, borritos, fruit, crackers and ANYTHING sweet
-He has to sleep with blankie and suck his thumb to fall asleep at night
-He enjoys doing pretty much anything that brother is doing
-He always wants to wear a hat and sun glasses when he go out
-He stomps down the hall and puts himself in time out when he is upset
-He gets very excited when daddy comes home
-He loves pretending to be animals
-He knows most of his shapes, colors, and letters
-He weighs about 31 pounds and is 33 1/2 inches tall
-He is starting to say some funny things, I am going to have to start adding his quotes:)
-His nicknames are Lee Man & Chicunk (that's what Aunt DeDe and Uncle Collin call him b/c he that's how he pronouced chipmonks on our Colorado trip and b/c of his chubby cheeks:)

Cooking....what cooking?

That pretty much sums up how I have felt about being in the kitchen the last couple months. We have had a lot of pre-made meals and we have been eating out much more than we usually do. I hate that but everything makes me nauseated of course.....I mean opening up the spice cabinet...wow...let's just say I breathe threw my mouth a lot lately. Anyway, my goal of this post is not to wine about my nausea again, it is to share with you a couple great recipes. Because I actually tried some new things last night and made a decent meal for my family!

And also before I forget, I would like to say that my sweet husband, who is not very skilled in the kitchen (sorry honey:)...but he can grill and use his smoker well!), has been helping out so much. He made two meals last week all by himself and he has pretty much been doing all the dishes. Thank you Kevin!!

So the first recipe is for Creamy Tomato Soup without cream! A very healthy version and it was fantastic. Second recipe is for the BEST grill cheeses you will every eat. Third, is a summer dessert I grew up with.


Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup (Cook's Illustrated Magazine)

1/4 extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
3 large cloves garlic, minced
pinch hot red pepper flakes (optional)
2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes in juice
4 slices white bread crusts removed, cubed
1 Tablespoon brown sugar, packed (you can add more at the end if it is not sweet enough for your taste, but we liked the bold flavor with out more sugar)
2 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper
fresh chopped basil for garnish

Heat oil in large pot on medium. Saute onions first, then add garlic. Cook until onions are clear and make sure not to brown garlic. Add hot pepper flakes if you want them. Next dump in tomatoes and their juices, let this simmer for a minute or two. Then add your bread cubes and brown sugar and let that simmer for about 5 minutes or until the bread is breaking down. Then get out your blender and puree this in two batches! Then return it to the pot and add the chicken stock and salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer for another few minutes on low while you make your grill cheeses! Garnish with basil.


Best-Ever Grill Cheeses

1 bag of your favorite shredded cheese (I used mozzarella this time)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup ( I have done it with other cream soup flavors which are great too, but I thought this complimented the mozzarella really well)
1 loaf of sour dough or french bread
butter

Mix thecream soup and cheese in a bowl. Stuff sandwiches with the mixture and butter the bread. Grill to desired doneness!!

Summer Strawberry Pie

2 cartons of strawberries
1 carton strawberry glaze (found in produce section..Albertsons and Kroger always have..but other places are hit and miss...and make sure you don't grab the sugar-free it is not nearly as good)
1 graham cracker crust
cool whip

Slice strawberries, mix with glaze in a big bowl, dump in pie shell, cover with cool whip. It's that easy and oh so refreshing! Keep refregerated! Sorry I did not get a picture of the pie:)

Oh and total side note, a couple comments from my previous post just disappeared! Has anyone ever had that happen? So fyi--Kelli and Angela I did not delete your comments!!

Now that you know...

So now I can vent to you all about my pregnancy woes. First, I feel VERY blessed to be pregnant and I am very excited about having another little angel...so just keep that in mind while I talk about all my symptoms:)

Okay, I am soooooooo not one of those women that loves being pregnant.....no way hose-a! I am in this for the end result! In fact, I have to tell myself on a daily bases, "it's all for the baby Laura, you can do this.....only 6 more months". SIX MORE months....ahhh:) Anyway, I am SO nauseated. I threw-up until week 24 with Landon and week 23 with Liam....so can we hope for week 22 with this one??? I sure hope so! My mom puked the same amount of time....thanks mom:) But I know of some girls that puked the whole time....so I'm SO SORRY for those of you who never get any relief until the end. Phinagrin (probably mis-spelled that) works well but I usually sleep for like 18 hours after I take one of those! So I take Zophran here and there and it helps a little, but then I get a killer head ache and even extra strength Tylenol can barely soothe it. So I am pretty much toughing it out. Nausea is definitely my biggest complaint at this point...but then there is the ligament pain that makes me double over, the hernia under my belly button is already back, my abdominal muscles have already separated again, my system is backed-up if ya know what I mean:), I'm peeing 2-3 times at night already, I'm crying all the time, my body pillow is giving me back aches (did anyone else have this problem...I can't figure out how to have good posture while I sleep with that thing!?!?!), and I'm my tummy is already huge!

Everyone has been teasing me about having twins because my belly has grown SO fast! I would not have been surprised to hear two heart beats at the doctor, but there was only one! I will tell all you girls that just have one...you will pop out really fast with number two. And all you girls that have two and are going for three....you will not be able to comfortably button your regular pants/shorts at 6 weeks!!! I'm already wearing some maternity clothes and I wish I was wearing more...but I am still forcing myself to do the rubber band thing for a little longer!! And I made myself my own bellaband:) A real bellaband would send me puking in 2 minutes of having it on, I can't have anything tight on at all.

So I will leave you with my latest crazy dream. The other night I dreamed that I had a really hard time pushing this baby out and then I passed out right when it came out and nobody woke me up until the next day. Then I woke up and was like where is my baby and everyone was like we didn't want to wake you up and then they handed me the baby and it was a boy with very curly hair!! Strange....but the dream seemed so real while I was having it!!!

Adding to the family

My sister is married and we have a new brother-in-law!! I can hardly believe it, but I am so so so happy for them. My sister looked radiant and I'm very sad that I did not get a picture of her in her wedding dress. However, I think I will be able to post their gallery from their photographer's site when it is ready.

So the weekend was craziness. Complete craziness. It seemed like we just kept running home to change into new outfits and sleep and then go somewhere else! The boys were so adorable in their tuxedos...Landon walked down with the flower girl and Liam walked down holding our hands. And of course Landon was in full character for the audience. He had the biggest grin you've ever seen as he walked down the aisle, then as he climbed up the stairs at the front he of course had to pick his wedgie, then he waved to someone (I think it was Uncle Mark), then he proceeded to make faces the whole time. I wish we could see his face on the video, but you can't. Kevin and I couldn't see his face so we didn't know what he was doing, but I guess he put on a real show. Meanwhile, I just sobbed through the whole thing!

So this picture was taken at the reception and so the boys already had their jackets off, but you can still tell how handsome they looked.

These are long time family friends that traveled all the way from Glenwood, Colorado for the wedding!
Me and Tiffany........looks like we like the same lip gloss and eye-make Tiff!

And drum rollllllllll please.................................we had one more in the wedding!!! Little peanut in my tummy!!! That's right folks we are prego with number three......yipee!!!!!! We will be eleven weeks tomorrow and we are due around Feb. 18th-ish. And I say that b/c I have never made it full term, so I think we may have an end of January baby. I will of course keep you all posted on my progress and the sex....we are definitely finding out:) We are super excited and we would love for you to keep the baby in your prayers. We had Landon btw week 31 and 32, so making it to at least week 36 is our biggest prayer request.

Home from Montana and Drew's Blog

Well, we are back! We wish we could have brought the weather and scenery back with us...oh wait then Texas would be pleasant..that will never do! Sadly, I did not get a picture of Kevin's parents beautiful home or the mountains behind it. But let me tell you...you would want to live there, trust me.

Anyway, the main reason we went was for Kevin's grandparents. They both turned 80 this year and celebrated 60 years of marriage! So the Staples families planned a wonderful party for them and we had a great time honoring them and their commitment to one another. We really missed not having Drew and family with us to celebrate, but we know that he is where he needs to be:) Here is a link to their new blog: http://jkpdclark.blogspot.com/

You all will really enjoying reading their perspective on things. They are so up beat and are truly trusting God through this entire situation. They have been an inspiration to me and I know they will inspire anyone who reads their story!

Drew is home again and summer-time fun

Drew has been home since Friday evening. They will be going back in at the end of the month for another biopsy, but until then they would like to stay home and manage this. Also, Kari and Jordan are working on a blog and as soon as it is ready I will give you all the link. They will be able to give much more detail on his condition from day to day or week to week than I have been able to and that will awesome:)

My dad surprised the boys a few weeks ago with a 'new' play set. He set it up while we were gone and the boys having been loving it ever since. It needs a little work still, but Kevin and I having trouble working up the motivation to restain and seal a playset that we won't be moving with us to our next house! Anyway, the boys also love their little blow up pool. The little slide that we put in it has a a place to attach a hose and it shoots water out of the top. Needless to say, they love it.

This last picture of them at the table cracks me up. This is so typical. The boys wearing their hats, eating cereal in their favorite bowls (the ones with built in straws:), a train on the table that they have been driving back and forth to each other, and Minnie trying to lick up every bit of milk Liam spills before she gets caught!

We are leaving for Montana this week! Landon is so pumped. So hopefully we will get a chance to snap some pictures of the beautiful scenery up there so you all can oogle at what Kevin's parents get to enjoy on a daily basis!