Baby Updates

Trevin had his 9 month check a couple of weeks ago and the doc says everything looks good. He weighed 22 lbs, 71% for his age. He is 30 inches tall, 97%! I was shocked... maybe he got some of the Canova height after all, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Baby #2's checkup this week went well too. About a half a pound and about 5 inches long... and the news we've been waiting to hear.. It's a BOY! Now we can start coming up with names.
One the home front things are good. Gage has been working hard to get the sprinklers in, but the snow slowed him down for the time being. Trevin is very active and learned this week how to open drawers and swing doors open and closed. He has caught his fingers a couple of times but that hasn't slowed him down. I am just trying to enjoy life and get through the tedious parts. Trevin and I try not to stay couped up in the house all day, walks to Lindsay's or the Pond, Lunch with Casie, or grocery shopping. I've decided to adopt Elder Worthlin's motto. "Come what may and love it." So even on the rough days I look back and decide it was still a good day!

CEMENT!

1. Cement 2. Sprinklers 3. Grass

The yard has been the never ending project at our house...Between helping out in other peoples' yards, work, and church callings it got put on the back burner for a while. Now with only a few weeks left to get grass in... it's priority number one.
So, when planning the back yard we decided that we would pour cement before putting in the grass so we wouldn't have to drive/haul cement across our new lawn. Thanks to many hands and many hours of work step one is complete.

First came the mow strips and cementing under the dreaded air conditioner. I'm sure the boys hated it, but I thought they were very creative Jimmy rigging the air conditioner with the tractor. And I appreciated getting to keep the house cool.
Trevin loved every minute of it.. he loves watching the boys work (especially with the tractors).
He would sit and watch them for hours... and he did.
Next was leveling dirt and forming the shed pad and patio... another couple nights of working into the dark.

Then the day of the big pour finally arrived, FRIDAY! I had the night off from work so I was able to do my part by providing drinks and watching Trevin...who of course was watching the boys!



He would sit by the back door for hours and not move. I'm sure he was afraid he was gunna miss something if he looked away for a second.

The cement truck driver was great, he drove right into the back yard, making the pour a lot easier (no hauling it in with the bob cat, Whoohoo). But don't worry the boys didn't get off easy... they still had plenty of hard work to do.

Cement is a lot of work and I want to say thanks to those of you that sweat and toiled in my back yard! All the hard work paid off. I love walking out onto cement instead of dirt. Trevin loves that he finally gets to crawl around outside. and I'm sure Gage is just glad to have step number 1 complete!

Now on to step number 2! :)

Proud to be an American

In the past 7 years each of our lives have changed significantly. For me... Sept 11, 2001 brought any early morning and a bus ride to the Jr. High. How life changes... This morning I realized it was Sept 11 at about 1:15 am, I was at the hospital charting on my patients. We had turned on a radio station and my co-worker said "What's going on, I think they've played at least 4 versions of the national anthem in the last couple hours." That's when he figured it out. 7 years and the feeling of Patriotism still hits home. I can't help but feel extremely grateful for the life and the freedoms that I have. We truly will "Never Forget."

Happy Patriots Day. Make sure you take the time today to let your friends and family know how much you love them. God Bless America!

Recipes

I love to try new recipes mostly because I hate cooking the same thing over and over again. Gage is a good sport, he tries them all and even rates them for me on a scale of 1-5. His way of letting me know which ones to keep and which ones to throw out! So I'm always on the look out for a quick to make, great tasting recipe... I've decided to pass some of them on to who ever actually looks at my blog... in return I want you to do the same! If you have a good one I can try post it as a comment, Thanks.
Here's one that takes a little more time and costs a little more, real parmesan cheese, half-and-half, asparagus and things like that. So we don't get to have it that often but when we do it's great. Even better, Gage loves to help cook this one so I love having it.

PASTA CARBONARA

3/4 - 1 lb. Penne pasta
1 lb. Asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
12-15 slices Turkey Bacon, cut into small squares
1 1/4 cups Fat-free half-and-half
3 Egg yolks
1/2 tsp Dried Basil
1/4 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Black Pepper
1/8 tsp Ground nutmeg
1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated

Preparation
1. Cook pasta in lightly salted water following package directions. Add Asparagus to pasta for last 4 minutes of cooking time. Drain and keep warm. (To trim asparagus take a stalk hold at each end and bend, it has a natural breaking point. When it breaks keep the spiky end.)
2. While pasta is cooking, place bacon in a medium size skillet and cook over medium-high heat, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until slightly browned and crisp. Drain any excess grease.
3. In a small sauce pan, whisk half-and-half and egg yolks. Cook over medium heat, about 8 minutes, whisking CONSTANTLY. After the 8 minutes, take off heat and stir in basil, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
4. Add bacon to cooked pasta and asparagus. Stir in creamy egg mixture. Stir in 1/3 cup grated Parmesan Cheese.
5. Spoon pasta onto serving dish and sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese on each serving. Enjoy!


Just a note, last time I left out the asparagus and it still tasted great.

Hair Cut!

Monday was Labor Day and Gage had big plans to work in the yard. But the weather had different plans, it down poured. Making walking in the yard more like sinking to your knees in mud! Trevin and I didn't mind, we got to spend all day with Dad. After cleaning the house, we started working on Jeep pictures for Trevin's room! They turned out great....

Dad's jeep is the one one the Left, in the middle is uncle Ryan's, and uncle James's is on the right!
Next it was time Trevin got a hair cut. I cut his hair every now and then but this time he finally had enough to use the clippers. So I held Trevin and Dad got to work. Here are a few before and after shots!

Before...

After...

We got a few funny looks when we went to run arrands but it was fun. We only let him keep the mohawk for about a day and a half. Now his hair is butched and I think he looks bald, hopefully it will grow fast. (the first picture with the Jeeps shows his butch cut).

BEAR LAKE AGAIN!

This past weekend Gage, Trevin and I got to host an overnight Bear Lake trip. We had a blast and I hope that everyone else did too. We wakeboarded, tubed, sunbathed and splashed in the water alot. Here are a few pics, you'll have to visit everyone else's blogs to see more!

Joni is a pro at wakeboarding!

Brinlee loved the boat!

One of the few times Gage was on the beach and not the boat! Thanks for being the "Boat Guy"!

Treving thought the dirt tasted better than his bottle!

Nate, Joni, and Kennedi hanging out on the boat. I'm pretty sure Kennedi didn't like her life jacket. ;) but I thought she looked cute!

Gage taught me how to drive the boat and then he was in the water for his turn wakeboarding. I was so nervous. I had the hardest time keeping the boat at a steady pace ( I never actually mastered that skill). I thought I was gunna run Gage over every time I went to get the rope back to him. But it all worked out, Gage and the boat stayed in one piece and I was more than ready to give the wheel back to Gage!

It was a quick trip, but packed full of fun...Everyone came back in one piece... It is always fun to get together and vacation with family, but I have to admit I can't wait until the next time until when I'm not in charge!

Thanks to the Crabtrees for letting us use the trailors! You're the best!

BOWLING 101

Last week Cass and I decided we were gunna hang out all day and decided to ask Lindsay if Brin could tag along. So after spending most of the morning shopping around for a "big boy" carseat for Trevin, we were ready to have some fun.

First we all got new socks and then, off to the bowling ally to brush up on our skills! Brinlee was so cute... she loved that she got special shoes to bowl. The lady at the counter got Brinlee her own ball (6 lbs). It looked pretty heavy but she managed to pick it up by herself and make it to the lane, where she would push the ball as hard as she could, and after about a minute and a half it would hit the pins! She would jump and cheer.
Brinlee made sure we all knew when it was our turn... "Brinlee two turns, then cass two turns, and kenna two turns" She made sure she got us up for our turns if we weren't paying attention.

Cassidy turned out to be a pro, a strike and a couple spares, she came out with a pretty good score.

I managed to walk away with out any gutter balls! ..... Thanks to Brinlee's bumpers!

So if any one needs a bowling lesson you can ask Brinlee to give you some pointers...