Food Network Connoisseur

To save a little money when we moved into the new house, we opted to go with the family basic plan with our dish company. That means a lot less channels to choose from. No TBS, no TLC, no Discovery, no E! and many other that were my day time favorites. I get plenty of Nickelodeon and Boom Cartoons though! So I have had to change up my viewing preferences when Abigail isn't ruling the remote and my network favorites are on strike or summer break. I found we have the ID and Bio channel which loves to air all those murder, forensic science programs... you know what I'm talking about... Snapped, Notorious, 48 Hours Hard Evidence, Deranged, and The New Detectives to name a few. These have always been a favorite of Tim and mine. However, I began to notice that only watching these stories one after another started to make me feel paranoid and zombie like. It got really bad there for awhile since Tim works evenings. Lets put it this way... I would have trouble feeling comfortable enough to fall asleep easily without my police trained husband laying beside me!! After about a month I had to stop, it was too disturbing!! I have now really gotten into the Food Network channel. I have watched it before and liked it but now I set the timer to record some of my favorites. I absolutely love the Challenge show! The Challenge show, for the majority, has pastry chefs compete each other in making an awesome cake in about 7 hours! I love to bake so it is so intriguing to me to watch them create and decorate these cakes. Plus there is a women judge (can't remember her name right now) that is really witchy like Simon on Idol. The other show I record is Ace of Cakes. Chef Duff makes the coolest cakes and I love all the people that work in his shop... they are really funny and abstract people! You wouldn't think these people would choose to take their artistic talents and apply it to cake decorating. Anyway, I think my new dream is to go to pastry school some day. Even though I'm not too artistic, I am a perfectionist... that's something right?!? Oh, and I still watch those murder stories... just on days with Tim home at night and even then very sparingly!!

(The cake above is Ace of Cakes Harry Potter's Hogwarts Academy Castle... They took it to the movie premier!)

Cute Pictures

Along with the previous post of Tim and I... I took these in our backyard for my dad's 50th Birthday present on the 19th. I noticed that we didn't have a decent family picture since Michael was born. In fact, the only one we had was on Michael's blessing day (and I didn't look my best 3 weeks post baby). So we set our cameras timer and had a lot of fun taking a pictures outside with Oscar! I think I got some pretty cute pictures of the kids if I don't say so myself!

Four Years of Marital Bliss

Tim and I celebrated our Four Year Anniversary on the 16th. I can't believe it has already been four years! I feel like we should still be celebrating our third. One thing I have learned these past four years is that life goes on and sometimes you just need to go with it! It is nice to take a breather every once in awhile though. That's one of the reasons why I love Tim so much... he completely understands the importance of doing that occasionally. He planned a overnight stay at a resort along with a romantic dinner at The Melting Pot for our celebration. We even went shopping at Scottsdale mall, where we bought some cool stuff at Lush. Christine and Jared were kind enough to watch the kids over night. In spite of my freaking and stressing out the week prior about pumping breast milk for Michael... Tim and I were able to relax and enjoy our time together. It's funny how I forget how much fun we have together with out kids. Not that we don't have fun with kids, its just a different kid of fun... I guess a little more selfish kind of fun. Its like the weight and responsibility of being a parent lifts for a little while. It's also funny to notice how much you miss your kids when you are away from them. Anyways, we had a great four year anniversary. I love you Tim and am so happy to go through all the craziness of life with you by my side!

20 Things I Have Learned About Tim in 4 Years of Marriage...

1. His favorite color is yellow, you would think it was brown because he loves to wear brown, but it is yellow. In fact, if he had his dream car it would be a Corvette in classic bright yellow!

2. He loves to shine his work boots because it sooths him?

3. He loves to watch TV (even daytime TV's court shows) but never, ever sports!

4. He prefers chocolate over candy. But at the movies has to have red vines (not licorice) with popcorn and diet Pepsi.

5. His favorite thing to do is sleep. He would sleep all day if I didn't come in and wake him up. And if he gets sick... he will be sleeping all day. Oh yeah, he snores too.

6. On the subject of sleep, Tim likes to sleep on the right side of the bed.

7. When it comes to weight, he can be worse than a girl. I think he says he is fat more than I do.

8. He thinks his voice is high and doesn't like hearing it on his work radio. He is especially insecure about using an even higher voice when talking with Abbey and Mikey.

9. He claims not to like girl movies but secretly is a big softy who loves romantic stuff.

10. He will order one of the most expensive items on a menu more often than not... ribs, steak, seafood and special combos are among the favorite (and he doesn't split his plate to my dismay).

11. He loves to whistle along to music, he says he gets it from his dad.

12. He has the most kind heart and would do anything to help out. He doesn't have any macho-ism in him... he helps me with house chores and the kids all the time.

13. He loves to cook. Chicken Parmesan is a new favorite and he is getting really good at making it taste like Macaroni Grills. He even will make bread and cinnamon rolls on occasion!

14. He hates being late.

15. He has to say and be told "I Love You" at the end of a phone call or before he leaves. If we don't he will call back to!

16. He loves electronics, especially phones... he will tinker with them for hours (I hate that!).

17. He loves his Abigail and Michael. His favorite thing to do is cuddle on the couch with them. He secretly enjoys it when Abbey cries for him over me.

18. There is such a thing as a vacation Tim... he becomes so easy going and relaxed on vacations. He is up for anything even if he doesn't feel his best... like having stomach issues in Mexico and still going kayaking or double ear infections in California and still body surfing and hanging out at the beach!

19. He would live in Seattle if family weren't in Arizona.

20. Last, but not least, he loves me... even when I'm at my worst!

Four Months Going On Five!

Little man is growing so fast. He has hit the really chubby stage and is too cute. This boy melts my heart. I can't believe he is rounding up to five months! Michael is bound and determined to keep up with Abigail. They both already share a special bond... they love to laugh with each other. (I can already see them getting into trouble and giggling about it mischievously about it together!) Not to mention that Mike can get around on the floor pretty good already with rolling and pulling. I give him another month before he starts to crawl! Slow down!!

Nap Time

Abbey takes her afternoon nap around 1 or 2. Sometimes we have a late lunch and she gets a little tired being so close to nap time. The other day Abbey couldn't stay awake long enough to finish her grilled cheese.

Here is the video of her falling asleep... classic!! Sorry about the lighting, the quality on the camera isn't all that great... guess what I want for Christmas?



This girl is too funny. Notice her favorite blanket is draped on the back of the chair, it's the one I made for her before she arrived in the world. The princess sippy cup is a must... we only have two of these left and she has to have it!! The pink tops were bitten up a long time ago so we bought the Cars cups and are borrowing the blue tops from them. I can't find more princess ones at any store... if you see them let me know!! She calls it her "tincess" cup and has to have it pretty much all day. The stuffed horse is a recent favorite, she really is into horses and finally is getting the difference between a cow and a horse (everything use to be "cow... Moooo").

15 Things That Make Me Happy

In no particular order...

1. Being with family
2. Singing along to great music
3. Watching my kids sleep
4. Hearing my kids giggle and laugh, especially when they are doing it with each other
5. Tim's days off
6. Bahama Bucks at the swimming pool or during the kids nap!
7. Coming home from a good church meeting, relaxing and taking a nap, and snacking after a big "linner" Sunday evening
8. My house being clean
9. Vacation, even if it is a quick trip to Pinetop!
10. Dates with Tim, or in other words watching a good movie in theater and going out to eat!
11. Reading a good book
12. Baking
13. Dancing with Abbey and watching her groovy moves
14. Crawling in bed and laying my head on the pillow
15. Reading Us Weekly and Blogs

Thanks Darbi... I had to think to get to fifteen! (sad huh) I really needed this exercise to remind me of what makes me happy!