lookin' good

When you look this cool...

...life can be tough.

I guess New Hampshire, is famous for Maple Syrup. Yesterday was the open house for all Maple Sugar Houses in New Hampshire. We choose to go to the one that listed the most FREE food online, and it was a good choice. (Hey we're a student family, what can I say, FREE is what keeps us alive.) We went on a tractor ride, which Caleb loved! He kept saying "whoa, bumpy ride, whoa!" or screaming, "Tractor!!!"


We ate and ate and ate. They had maple flavored hot dogs, popcorn, and chili. As well as hot chocolate and doughnut holes. And my favorite was a homemade buscuit covered in maple syrup. After eating that I HAD to have a pint of pure maple syrup to take home. Back in the Fall Paul and I bought some pure maple syrup from an apple orchard store but we didn't really like it. I have higher hopes for the pint sitting in our cupboard. Apparently it's a sin to eat store bought maple syrup here. Oops.
Lately Caleb has been into guitars. They had a live band at the Maple Sugar House and Caleb only left the music for a tractor ride, then went straight back to the band when that was over. He danced, rocked out, and pretended to strum his own guitar. I know what we're getting him for his birthday.
It was pretty interesting learning a little about Maple and how it's extracted from the trees. I kept thinking about Joseph Smith, maybe becuase there is a scene in a movie about him where he is gathering maple during the winter with his brothers. We'll definately be back there next year.

haha I love Caleb's super cheesy smile. We told him to say "cheese" for the camera. He said "cheese please" and gave us this face.

It's a GREEN kind of Day

We had a fun St. Patrick's Day! I hope you did too. I decided to celebrate it like many others, with green food, and we loved it so much I think we'll make it a tradition.
We woke up to green "Leprechaun" Milk and Lucky Charms with a green smoothie.


Because it was Saturday and Paul didn't have to study we drove up to Winnepesaki Lake for a walk and picnic. We didn't fully think it through but 1 hour North is a lot colder than here in Concord. We walked on the railroad tracks and looked at the lake, then jumped in our warm car for the picnic.



For dinner we had green fajitas, with green peppers, avocados, green beans, a green apple and green Sprite. And for dessert green cupcakes with green frosting. Yummy!





We were babysitting our friends Jensen, Kenzie and Kaylee and Caleb enjoyed eating at the "little table" with his friends. And after allowing them to frost their own cupcakes it was bath time!

More Good Times

Since our computers broke we have done other fun things besides going to DC, so here are a few more pictures showing the fun times we have been having.


We went to the discovery museum here in concord and Caleb had a blast playing with all the airplanes. Amelia and I also got in on the fun. I tried 5 times to land the space shuttle but crashed every time :(


For playgroup Amelia and Caleb got to go to the firehouse and play on the firetrucks

This is Calebs best friend out here, Jensen Cruz. Caleb gets so excited when he sees Jensen

Here is a video of Caleb, Jensen, and Mckenzie(Jensens sister)singing and dancing with elmo


This is one of the cool orangatangs from the zoo as he crossed the ropes


Two weeks ago my best friend from Weber State come out to Maine for a PT school interview(he got accepted too hurray!)so we decided to drive up and have dinner with him. We went and toured a lighthouse. We found out there are only certain days during the year when you can actually go in the lighthouses so we just got to see it from the outside.

We FINALLY have our new computer! Which means I have my pictures at my fingertips and I can blog! We have had SO much fun the last month and this would be a really long post if I tried to type all about it. I'll let the pictures below do the talking about our trip to D.C., our amazing friends the Barton's.
We had the BEST spring break with an AWESOME trip to Washington D.C. This would never have been possible if it weren't for our super duper really cool friends Jeremy and Heidi Barton and their sweet 3 little girls. The Bartons moved to D.C. for the Spring and Summer for Jeremy's law internship and invited us to come visit for Spring Break! I was SO excited for many reasons, #1 being becuase that meant I got to have some girl talk with Heidi. Heidi was so welcoming when Caleb and I moved to Concord, she and I quickly became friends and Heidi has taught me a lot about what it means to be a mother, friend, and wife. Thanks Heidi, Jeremy, Lizzy, Abby, and Becky!
Here is all the fun we had!

We saw a lot of memorials, all of which reminded me of how many great men have led our country. Now I fear for it. Reading quote after quote on these walls I realized how much God was a part of these men's lives. They acknowledged Him and followed promptings, and the country thrived. It would be a blessing for this country to have a man lead by the Spirit again.

Thomas Jefferson memorial



World War II Memorial (this one is pretty new). Behind us are thousands of golden stars each representing 100 deaths.


Martin Luther King Memorial (very new)


Washington Monument-it's still closed because of the damage that was done after the earthquake the reflecting pool is also closed for repair.


Abraham Lincoln memorial




Iwo Jima


Our little group of troopers! Abby, Becky, Caleb, and Lizzy. We LOVE these girls...and Caleb!


Paul and I really enjoyed Arligton Cemetary. There is a special feeling here for all the men and women who have served our country. I am absolutely amazed by the amount of graves. War is a horrible thing, and I am thankful for those who serve, dying for our country and leaving their families behind.


Korean Memorial


The National Zoo was so fun! Caleb is now old enough to enjoy the zoo. He knows his animals well enough to understand. The animals were active while we were there, we watched the lions wrestle and "roar", we watched the crabs eat, and the octopus crawla ALL over his aquarium, and we watched the oragutangs swing along ropes connected to towers right over us! It was so neat! (I was so enthralled by the animals I didn't take many pictures).



Again, thanks to Heidi for babysitting, we were able to visit the temple. Ah! As always it is a great experience to be in the temple with your spouse.

And after the temple we went to Cafe Rio. Oh how we've missed those pork salads!

The Metro was a highlight for these boys.



The Botanical Gardens


The Capitol Building and Lady Freedom



Everyone doing yoga, looks like the girls get it but Caleb isn't sure what's going on...

but if you tell Caleb to do Downward Facing Dog, he's got it.


After a week full of FUN, we were exhausted. We also left 70 degree weather in D.C. and came home to 6" of snow as you can see out the bus window.

"Mic-phone"

You know what I love about staying home with Caleb?
Our dance parties. Caleb loves to sing into his microphone. Every time I sing he starts saying, "mic-phone, mic-phone mommy!" Once he's found it in his mound of toys on the floor we can continue our singing.
Today, at 10:00 and still in our pajamas, we put on some good ol' Backstreet Boys danced our little hearts out and sang at the top of our lungs, "I want it that way!". When I sing I must make some odd faces becuase whenever Caleb is pretending to mouth words into the microphone he has a grimace on his face. Where would he learn that?

My Baby

I just love the way Caleb acts when a baby is around. He puts his little hands on his knees, squats down to the level of the baby and says "Hi baby!" (you know the way he says "hi" so animated) It's so sweet.

Caleb has started to enjoy pretending. He'll get his 'baby elmo' and 'softie', bring them to me so I can wrap Elmo up in his softie like baby for Caleb to hold. He'll walk around the room rocking Elmo in his arms saying "baby, baby, baby" in a soft singing voice.

Often during the day Caleb will bring me a blanket and say, "hold you? Baby?" Translation: He wants me to wrap him up in the blanket tight, and hold him like a swaddled baby. He never has to ask me twice! I get to cuddle him while singing a lullaby. It only lasts a few seconds but it's one of those moments when I look down at him and think, "Wow, I am one lucky girl".

I love being healthy

I love being healthy. It just makes me happy.

Those of you who know Paul well, you know he is a very picky eater. He is, however, willing to try new things, but rarely likes them. Nutrition is very complicated, especially with all the ads and claims for "healthy" foods it's hard to really know what your eating, if it's really healthy or if your just being fed lies. Even with the many many nutrition classes, diet planning, research and practice in nutrition I know very little about nutrition.

But I'm still passionate about it, I enjoy trying new healthy foods, and reading about nutrition (from credible sources of course).

Anyways to get to my point, I'm proud to say I've converted Paul (and myself) to some new more healthy food choices in the last 3 years of our marriage (slow but steady). Some of them include; brown rice instead of white, wheat bread instead of white, Quinoa, no sugared cereals, olive oil instead of vegetable oil, and spinach and flax seed in our smoothies.

Although it's been a low process I'm proud of Paul for being willing to try. He grew up on a much different diet than these foods so it can be difficult to change.
Lately there have been two things I have been trying to work on to make our cupboards full of healthier food.
#1 Fewer hydrogenated oils
Hydrogenated oils are SO BAD for you! And they are in so many foods. These go straight to being stored as fat (yuck). They clog your arteries (heart attack!), make your liver work extra hard to digest and make you feel more tired because your body is using so much energy to digest them.

#2 More "healthy fats" (omega 3 fatty acids, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats)
Just off the top of my head I can come up with many health benefits of eating more mono and polyunsaturated fats; they don't clog your arteries, lowers cancer risk, raise HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) and lowers LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol), helps lower blood pressure (if high), decreases inflammation (which adds a huge list of health benefits on it's own) and so much more. Good sources are fish, peanut butter (watch out for hydrogenated oils in the brand you buy), olive oil and Conola oil, coconut oil, flax seed, walnuts, almonds and other nuts and more. So I have tried to purchase more of these foods for cooking, snacks and meals but again watch out for ingredients in things like peanut butter, they are so tricky, some brands such as Skippy have hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils in them which are SO BAD for you!

Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary, and Happy Snow Day

The last few weeks have been eventful. We enjoyed being lazy during the rest of Paul's Christmas break, then celebrated his birthday, and our 3rd Anniversary! Can you believe that, 3 years have gone by already. Life is just too fast.
Paul and I went to dinner without Caleb on Thursday, then Sunday we tried out our fireplace for the first time. We had a romantic evening by the fire talking about the most memorable times of our marriage.
I won't get too mushy but the last 3 years have been the happiest, but I will admit, the most trying as well. Marriage hasn't really been diffuclt for Paul and I. Most say the first year is the hardest, we didn't feel that way one bit, and it's only gotten better from there, but we have had to rely on the Lord and each other more than ever. We added Caleb to our lives 18 months after we were married and we are more happy than ever.
We don't usually give gifts on our Anniversary but Paul brought be home flowers and I gave him a cheesy candy bar poster.



(if you can't read it too bad, I'm too embarassed to write it all, it's so cheesy!)

Happy Anniversary Paul, I love you!

We FINALLY got snow here in New Hampshire. Here we come sledding hill! Caleb enjoyed it, but not as much as I thought he would. We tried sledding last year with him, he was only 6 months old. We didn't have a sled so we tried going down a hill on a cookie sheet. I'll just say this years sledding was much more successful.






Happy 26th Birthday to Paul! or as Caleb says, "Happy Day daddy"

I gave him a little portable grill and Caleb gave him lighters.



We lit the candles twice because Caleb loved blowing them out.

Interests

I've had two things on my mind lately and I'd like your opinions/knowledge on the subjects.

#1 Herbs

Since I have a minor in Nutrition I know somewhat about herbs, mostly herbal supplements. I'm not one to supplement. I figure if I'm going to get my nutrients I should get it from the best source FRESH FOOD. Supplements are difficult for your body to breakdown, hence taking longer get the nutrient, harder on your liver, more energy and more money.
I've been getting a lot of headaches recently. I've always had migraines at least once a month but now they seem to come at least once a week, often they are just tension headaches but on occasion turn into migraines. No fun. I hate popping the Tylenol and Ibuprofen so much, so I was thinking about herbal treatments. Do they work as well? My goal really is just to get rid of the headache at least in this area...

But also, I have a toddler, I hate giving him medicine when I have no idea what's in it. So herbs interest me in this area as well. When I think about how to be healthier I think to myself, "How did the Nephites do it? What did they do when they had a headache, back pain, a sick baby..." Well the natural way right? They'd probably make some sort of mixture of herbs. Obviously Heavenly Father put us on this Earth with everything we needed to survive, without having factories to make it. Thus, herbs must be the healthiest way to go...but how? I don't know where to start? What will work for what illness? And is drinking tea ok? (Most herbal mixtures seem to be taken as a tea).

#2 Home School

This has just been on my mind because it seems to be I hear about it more often than I used to and maybe that's just because I'm a mom now. I realize I have years before Caleb is school age. But I'm curious on others thoughts about the subject. Pros? Cons? I have my opinion and I'll share it later.

Our little Family & a BIG Christmas

Our first Christmas away from family turned out to be really good. Although we missed family gatherings and opening presents with a large group we had a great time wtih Caleb. He got the hang of ripping paper and realized that there was a toy inside. It still took him most of the day to get them all open.
Caleb rarely sleeps past 7:30am but of course on Christmas morning he slept in. Paul was up and waiting by 7:00. Paul had our cinnemon rolls in the oven and cooking when Caleb finally woke up.
We didn't anticipate having so many presents! Our families were VERY genereous despite the fact they had to send presents across the country. I had used toys I'd gathered and wrapped for Caleb becuase I didn't think he'd have much to open, but he did.
Paul got me a sewing machine! I also got new clothes, 17 Miracles movie (so good!), boots, scarves, decorations, sequence game...
I got Paul a new peacoat and I made he and Caleb matching aprons. Paul also got Harry Potter movies, toothbrush heads...
And Caleb got a kitchen, plastic food, toys, books, new clothes, a musical Elmo and more. Spoiled.
And Santa brought us a Wii!! We weren't expecting that but I guess becuase Paul has been doing so well in school Santa thought we deserved a Wii.







New, homemade aprons!


He was SO excited!!


One of our packages came with these, so we enjoyed popping them. Caleb thought it was so fun to JUMP on them or hammer them.


I wouldn't normally put a picture of myself up but Paul insisted. This is a new outfit I got from my mom and boots from Paul. They're warm!