Super Excited!

Jared and Emily found out what gender their baby is today!  I am not at liberty to say what it is but I can tell you I am super excited for them.  I'm also excited for my boys to have another cousin.  Especially one who lives so close to us!  I am sure they will be great friends. 

Congratulations Jared and Emily we can't wait to meet your little one!

Just to update everyone you can linke to Jared and Emily's blog here to find out what they are having.

This Guy!

Tonight I was looking through my pictures for inspiration on what to write about and I came accross this picture. 

So I thought "use it".  This is my oldest brother Brian.  He is one of my favorite people on the planet and literally one of the nicest people you will ever meet.  Brian would give you the shirt off his back without even blinking an eye. 

I decided I would write a top ten list of my favorite things about Brian.

10.  Brian is a passionate person.  Whether it's his hobbies, his work, his car, his family, his callings.  He puts his heart and soul into everything he does

9.  Brian is honest to a fault.  I have never heard Brian lie about something (except when he is telling me that something never happened when I know for a fact it did)

8.  He is hard working

7.  He is a great uncle (not great as in old, great as is awesome, cool, far out...).  He likes to call himself mean uncle Brian but I know deep down he is a big softy

6.  He is incredibly smart!  If I can't figure out the answer to a question I ask Brian

5.  He is a great friend and extremely loyal

4.  Brian is super fun to hang out with and is always up for a good time

3.  Brian has always been a great older brother, protective, caring, kind (did I mention he is kind?)

2.  HILARIOUS!  Brian is one of the funniest people I know.  He has this dry sense of humor that catches you off guard.  If you don't believe me go read his blog

1.  I know I mentioned it above but it is my favorite thing about Brian.  He is the nicest person you will ever meet. 

So there is my top ten list of my favorite things about Brian.  By the way all you ladies out there he's SINGLE.  Just saying...

Thanks for being such an awesome brother Brian!  I love you!

They Say Over a Million People are Born on Your Birthday...

Today I called my doctors office to ask them a question.  The women on the phone said she needed to look up my chart and asked me for my birthday.  When I told her 11/24/1981 she said "thats my birthday!  Another Thanksgiving baby."  I have never met another person with my exact same birthday so I got a kick out of it.  It made me start wondering what else has happened on November 24th:

1963-New American President Lyndon Johnson confirms that he will continue the policy of his predecessor in Vietnam, by continuing to provide military and economic support to South Vietnam.

1944-World War II: America launches its first bombing raid over Tokyo.

1642-Dutch explorer Abel Tasman becomes the first European to sight Tasmania, which at the time Tasman named, Van Diemen’s Land.

1871-The National Rifle Association was incorporated.

1963-Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK's accused assassin, in the garage of Dallas police headquarters.

1971-D. B. Cooper parachuted from a Northwest Airlines flight with $200,000.

People Who Share My Birthday:

1968 – Todd Beamer, American, acclaimed hero of United Airlines Flight 93 (d. 2001)

1977 – Colin Hanks, American actor


1978 – Katherine Heigl, American actress
 
Who or what has happened on your birthday?

This Weekend

For a Christmas gift this year Terence's sister Talia gave him tickets to a Portland Trailblazers Game. Since the game was on a saturday night, Terence drove down that morning and spent the night.  Terence found his sister a year and a half ago and the two of them are so much alike.  They even look alike!

They had a super fun time at the game.  Talia had never been to a basketball game before so Terence had a lot of fun teaching her all the different rules and strategies of basketball.  By the end of the game she was even getting into it and yelling at the refs.

This was the view from their seets. I think they were something like 12 rows back on the home team side.

While Terence was out of town I enjoyed spending some time at home with the boys.  When we were growing up I remember my brothers always making forts out of the cushions from the couch, blankets and whatever else they could find.  I thought it would be something fun to do with my boys.

Corey did not like going in the fort much, instead he liked climbing on top of it.  Shocking that once again Corey wanted to do things his own way instead of the way they were intended ot be done.  I'm starting to notice that this is a trend with him.  I wonder where he gets that from?

As much fun as it was to spend some time alone with the boys and have Terence spend some time with his sister it was nice to have him home. 

New Years Eve

For the last seven years we have had a tradition of spending New Years Eve with our very good friends Scott and Melissa.  The tradition started back in 2003 when Terence had moved into his first apartment.  Going out on New Years has never really appealed to us.  Instead we stayed in and played Mexican Train Dominos.  It was super fun!

This is all of us at midnight 1/1/2004.  We drank sparkling apple cider, blew noise makers and popped those poppers that have all the streamers in them.  Scott and Terence have also made a tradition of trying to drink an entire bottle of Mountain Dew.   Over the years we have continued our tradion.  A couple of years we had to have"fake New Years Eve" as one of us would have to work the actual night or was out of town for work or school. 

We also have changed our games that we play over the years.  New Years of 2006 we played blackjack and the last two years we have played Pinochle.  The Mountain Dew drinking has also slowed down considerably.  I hope that it's a tradition we continue for years to come.  It's a fun, safe way to ring in the New Year with people we love!

Here are some pictures from this year:

The only group picture we have is the one from our kiss at midnight.  Sorry if you think it's cheesy! 

This is the picture of my table scape. I was pretty proud of it.

I reached another milestone in my life on New Years.  It was the first time I have ever had my own "kids table"

For some reason every year we end up wearing all the streamers.

Awesome Recipe

Most everyone I know starts some kind of diet in the New Year. Having been on a million different diets myself I am always looking for fast easy recipes. This is literally a 3 minute recipe that I love and is really good for you.

1 can corn
1 can diced tomatoes with jalapenos
1 can diced green chilies
One medium onion diced
1 can black beans
1 can tomato sauce
1 can of diced chicken breast (I get mine from Costco)
1 can chicken stock
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning (this is something I add for more spice it can be left out)
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a pot and let simmer for anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour.
Serve with a little bit of shredded cheese and sour cream on top. I also sometimes add 1/3 of a cup of rice to this recipe to give it a little more bulk. If I do that I add 1/2 a cup of water and let it cook a little longer.

Try this recipe out. It's easy, fast and good for you

Welcome 2010! Time for Resolutions!

Well it's officially 2010.  Where has the time gone?  I have spent a lot of time today reflecting on the milestones in my life that made up not only the last year but the last decade.  I have been incredibly blessed by my Heavenly Father, I have EVERYTHING I could ever ask for. As I write this the words to a Michael McClean song keep going through my head, the words are;

All I ever wanted
all I ever dreamed of
everything I hoped,
and all the things I prayed for
couldn't hold a candle to what I've been given,
I've been given what I need

So this year instead of focusing so much on the temporal things (lose weight, make more money...) my resolutions are going to focus on giving thanks to my Father in Heaven and recognizing his hand in my life.  I am going to pray more, study the scriptures (all of them), give more to my calling, give more time and attention to my family and last but not least keep a daily journal.  I was inspired by a someone from my ward growing up who as a resolution last year decided she was going to blog every day.  Her blog has been amazing inspirational for me.   She is genuine and honest in what she writes and how she expresses herself.  I have decided to follow suit, my goal is to write something on my blog every day. What I write about may not always be super exciting to read but my hope is that at the end of the year I will be able to have a record to look back on.  I am reminded of a quote that I love that says "enjoy the little things in life, for one day you will look back and realize they were the big things."  This is my effort to stop, take a step back and enjoy the "little things"

I want to wish all of you a happy and healthy New Year!