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It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Well, we had a great Christmas this year. It was fun because Tyler was able to actually get excited about Santa and everything. We had fun at Grandma Greats house on Christmas eve; although it was a nightmare on the freeway in the snow getting there. I think I white knuckled it the whole way there while randy laughed and tried to make it scarrier for me. On Christmas we opened presents, talked to Rick and Eileen, played for a bit and then went to my parents house for even more present opening and dinner (which was very yummy by the way). We got a huge surprise when my parents gave everyone a Mexican riviera cruise together from May 4-11! We are so excited! Rick and Eileen even said they would watch our kids for us! Double bonus!

Ty's favorite gift: Pirate ship

Jakes favorite gift: Anything Ty got that he shouldn't be playing with.

My favorite gift: (besides the cruise of course) My new kitchen knife set from Rick and Eileen!

Randy's favorite gift: (besides the cruise) The puzzle of Jake and Ty

Well, that sums up christmas! we had so much fun. Thank you to everyone for making it even more marrier!

Tyler says

Me: Ty, get your shoes and socks on so we can go!
Ty: where are we going mom?
Me: We need to take you and Jakey to the Doctor today
Ty: (totally frieking out) No Mom! I don't have poop in my eye! I don't need to go to the doctor! I don't have poop in my eye!

I feel sorry for the doctor who actually has a patient with poop in his eye.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Well, yesterday was Tyler's 4th birthday. He was very specific about what he wanted this year. I asked him which friends he wanted to invite (I teach sunbeams, so I know a lot of four-year-olds) he told me he wanted to invite his cousins Savannah and Will. That was the end of his guest list and there was no convincing him otherwise (I tried for about 3 weeks). I asked him if he had any ideas of what he wanted to do. He suggested bowling. I don't really think he even knew what bowling was, but he was set on it, so that is what we did. I showed him pictures of bowling on the internet, so he knew what he was getting into.
So, we had a party at the bowling alley in Bountiful (because that is about the midpoint between Michelle's and my house). Since the party was in bountiful (where my mom lives) she wanted to come to the party. I kept on asking Ty if she could come, but he refused every day. Finally, Grandma convinced him to let her stop by and drop off his present. I also had to convince him to let Jake, Daddy, Michelle and Isaac come. We bowled one game, which Randy won and Tyler got second place at 79 points. I think that is the worst game I have ever played in my life with a score of 78. After that, we opened presents which consisted of TNMT on DVD, Shrek the 3rd on DVD, a writing your abc's Book, a lightsaber and a darth vader figurine. (pretty good for a 3 person party) then we played in the arcade and got tickets to buy overpriced junky toys that the kids of course loved! We then went to a gourmet dinner at... you guessed it McDonalds! The kids had fun playing there as well and eating their happy meals. Then we came home and opened some more presents; a lightsaber from Grandma and Grandpa Bremner that really lights up and makes noises and another one so daddy can play with him. He also got a baseball bat and Tee set that he loves!

so, that was his party! I just want to thank Michelle for letting Savannah and Will come to the party. Without them, it literally wouldn't have been much of a party. enjoy the pictures!

Tyler's exclusive birthday party

Tyler says

Tyler: Hey mom, do you know what a giANT is?
Me: Do you mean a giant?
Tyler: No, a giANT. do you know what it is?
Me: I guess not, what is it?
Tyler: it is an ant that is giant!

what a smart, wonderfully wierd boy I have! He has been spending the last week singing "daboo doray daboo doray welcome christmas huh huh huh... daboo doray daboo doray.... over and over and over again! That is his favorite christmas song by far, and he doesn't even know it!

Tagged questions about my spouse and me

Tagged questions about my spouse and me!
(I don't know if anyone will have learned anything they didn't already know by reading this, but feel free if you have extra time.)


What is his name?
Randy


How long have you been together?
for almost six years


How long did you date?
we dated for 5 months before we were engaged, and then another 3 before we were married


How old is he?
31


Who eats more?
he eats more because when I eat the same as him, he gets upset (you know, the whole pizza rule)


Who said I love you first?
Randy did; there was a very long silence that followed.


Who is taller?
Randy, but only by an inch. so, if I wear shoes of any kind, I am usually taller.



Who sings better?

Maybe this should be my next pole question. I think that we both think we sing better than the other one.

Who is smarter?

Randy. well, at least he sounds like he knows what he is talking about most of the time; whether or not he actually knows the answers.


Who does the laundry?
I do.


Who does the dishes?
Randy does about 90% of the time. (yeah that's right girls!)


Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
Randy does. on the very edge, because I tend to sleep in the middle.


Who pays the bills?
Mostly Randy, but I do it every once in a while. He does the budget too.


Who mows the lawn?
Randy mows the.....uh...dead looking stuff around our house. does that count?


Who cooks dinner?
I cook dinner most of the time. I love it most of the time too. If Randy is in charge of dinner, he just picks something up on his way home from work.


Who drives when you are together?
Always Randy! I hate driving.


Who is more stubborn?
I think I am more stubborn. Just try convincing me otherwise!


Who kissed who first?
Does it count as a kiss when Randy backs you into a corner so you have no place to go?


Who asked who out first?
I think the answers to all these questions are RANDY!


Who proposed?
Um... yeah, Randy


Who is more sensitive?
Randy probably wants me to say ME (especially when I am hormonally crazy which is most of the time.)


Who has more friends?
If niether of us have friends, who has more? maybe me by one or two.


Who has more siblings?
Randy beat me out by one sibling.


Who wears the pants in the family?

Randy again.

So to wrap up, Randy does everything and I just follow his lead. It is a good thing is a terrific spouse in the first place! Love you babe! (and I mean Randy, not you Rick!) :)

Randy's song

This is the video of Randy singing at the ward talent show. He is very talented at many things! Isn't he cute! Just thought you people might enjoy it as much as I do.



By the way, this song is written and performed by Randy!

The nursing strike is over!

Thank you everyone for your concern for us during the nursing strike. I appreciated all of the calls. Fortunately it didn't last more than those long 16 hours. I still don't know why it happened though. thanks again,
Heather

Tyler says

Hey everyone. Today has been a horrible day! Jacob is on a nursing strike and I can't figure out why. If you remember when Ty was about this age, he stopped nursing alltogether at 10 months. Just stopped cold turkey one day. so anyway, this is my conversation with Ty today.

Ty: "mom, why are you sad?"
Me: "because Jake won't nurse today and it makes me sad"
Ty: "well, if I had milk come out of my nipples, I could probabwy nurse him and use my super powers to make it better!"
Me: "well, that's nice of you. thanks Ty."

Tyler is so nice and so funny most of the time! what would I do without him?!

p.s. Randy reminded me that I used to call "letting down" "getting my super powers" because of the movie "my super ex-girlfriend". when they get their powers, their boobs get really big. I guess that is where the super power comment came from, although I didn't realize it at the time. :)

Tyler says

So, if you have been around me and Tyler for more than five minutes, you would know that Ty says. "I love you mom!.... Jake's cute." all of the time. And I mean all of the time. I didn't know that those two things went together, but to Tyler they do. So yesterday, after Ty said this for the umpteenth time for the day, he said "mom, you know why I say Jake's cute all da time?"
I said: "No, why?"
Ty: "because I need to remember what Jake is."
"in case i forget what he is, I have to tell you he is cute all the time."

I hope we all can learn from Tyler how to remember things. Just so none of you forget, feel free to tell me how cute Jake is all the time. I won't mind hearing it one bit. (I also hope that this doesn't mean tyler forgets he loves me and needs to tell me so he remembers!)

Jake walking (again)

Hey, just thought i would try to put a new video of Jacob walking so you could actually see it. I hope it works this time! He pretty much walks all the time now; except when he needs a quick gettaway from Tyler. That is when he gets down on his hands and knees and speeds out of the room. He is such a sweetheart. he is happy most of the time and just grins from ear to ear. He also loves to get into trouble and uses the grin against me. We are excited for his very first Christmas this year.

"Working hard or hardly workin eh mack?"

Randy has been working hard in the basement lately. He is doing a really good job and Tyler and I are very proud of him. Hopefully we will get a lot of it done during Randy's Christmas break. Who knew Randy was so talented at so many things! I think maybe he took on this job just so he could get new tools though. He has gotten a lot of new tools. Well, as long as he is happy, and my basement is making progress, it is totally worth it. Love you Randy!

Tyler Says

Tyler came up to me and said "mom! I love teet!"
Me: What?
Ty: I love teet! Do you love teet mom?
Me: I am confused, what do you think teet is?
Ty: I pour the teet and you drink it right? Do you like teets?
Me: (trying not to laugh too much) Ty, I think you mean TEA. Like a Tea Party!?
you should call it tea because teet is something different. And no, I don't like tea. we don't drink tea because it is bad for our bodies.
Ty: Well, I think it is teet, so I call it teet. (the conversation is finished and he promptly leaves)

I don't know why he askes me things. the answers don't matter to him. According to Tyler, whatever he thinks is right and there really is no point in debating; believe me, I have tried.

Tyler Says

Yesterday Tyler was watching me while I was working out and
he said: "Mom, why do you excersize?"
I said: "So I can be healthy and strong."
Then I said: "why do you excersize Ty?"
Tyler said: "I excersize so my nipples will get willwee willwee big!"

I bet you can't read that and not at least crack a smile! who knew that big nipples was anybody's goal.
Ha Ha Ha

Deck the Halls....

We are very excited for Christmas this year! We have decorated the house and we have found it is way more fun to decorate a house than an apartment! Randy was very sweet to put up lights on the house today in the freezing cold because he loves his wife. Anyway, we hope everyone has a very happy holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Turkey Day yesterday! We went to mom and Dad's house in Bountiful and ate and ate and ate. Well, maybe not that much, but the food was really good! We had our traditional thanksgiving fixings which include: Turkey, Mashed potatoes and gravy, mom's super yummy stuffing, dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, frog eye salad, green bean caserole, and a relish plate. We also had Pumpkin pie, apple pie and cheesecake. I still think that the apple pie wins though! The kids had fun playing pin the feather on the turkey (which I re-used from my sharing time lesson) and "the candy bar game" where you put on gloves and tear open a wrapped candybar with two butter knives until you get a piece of chocolate. We also played Blokus, and wits and wagers both are pretty fun. I also got to hold the newest addition to our extended family; Baby Megan who is only three weeks old! she makes Jake look enormous! well, that pretty much wraps up the holiday festivities for now. Unless you want to hear about us eating leftovers, which we have every intention of doing.

I made the cranberry sauce and rolls for dinner and Randy really liked the Cranberry sauce and said I should put it on the blog for anyone who wants a good recipe. (I don't particularly like cranberry sauce, but it is good and super easy to make)

Cranberry-Orange Sauce

addapted from Rachael Ray

Zest and juice of one orange (Naval works and about 3/4 cup)

1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

one 12 oz bag fresh cranberries rinsed

In a medium sauce pan, heat 1/2 cup water with the orang zest, orange juice, sugar and salt over medium-high heat. stirring until the sugar dissolves. 2-3 min. stir in the cranberries and bring to a boil. Rduce the heat and simmer until the cranberries burst and the sauce has thickened slightly. About 7 min. Sweeten with about 1 cup of sugar or to taste. Let the sauce cool to room temperature before serving.

Tooth Talk

Not only is Jake walking and crawling, it seems he is constantly teething! Right now, he has four teeth, two on top and two on the bottom. He walks around with his fingers in his mouth so he can feel them at all times. I thought this picture was kinda cute!

Oh Brother!

Well, now that Jake can move at lightning speed, Ty gets upset with him for getting into "his stuff." Ty still thinks he can leave his toys on the floor and Jake won't touch them! When he realizes that Jake can get something, he just holds him back, so he wont reach whatever it is he is going for. (instead of just moving "his stuff") Jake hates this of course, but hey, what can you do! Don't they look cute in their jammies!

Jake is walking!

Well, I guess technically he isn't walking, just taking a few steps here and there and crawling in between. I have counted 10 steps at one time though, so it won't be long till he is out and about running with Tyler. Is it just me, or is 8 months just way to little to be doing this?! By the way, this isn't the best video of him, but for some reason, he doesn't do it the same when he is on camera. I guess he gets camera shy. Sorry the video is so dark, it wasn't that way when I downloaded it, so I need to figure out what is wrong, but you can still kind of see it!

Tyler Says

Tyler : "Mom, I want to go outside with my feet on!"
Heather: "what?"
Tyler: he repeats the same thing.
Heather: "oh, you want to go outside with "bare" feet?!"
Tyler: (panic on his face) "No!!! I don't want "BEAR" feet!!! I just want "TYLER" feet wiffout any shoes on!"

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Happy Halloween!

We had such a fun halloween this year! Tyler was a cowboy, Jacob was a chicken. We have eaten and will continue to eat entirely too much candy! We went trick-or-treating three times. Once at the church, once at my dad's office and on halloween night as well. Ty said his favorite part of Halloween was his cousin Clara in her pirate costume. (Very interesting!) He also enjoyed his new cap gun "because it smokes real smoke" he says. My favorite part of Halloween though, was seeing my new niece Megan in the Hospital. Who doesn't love to hold a newborn baby on Halloween or otherwise? She was soooo very cute in her "lil pumpkin" outfit with the black and orange bow in her hair! Anyway, enjoy the pictures of our kids! by the way, who do you think wins? Randy's costume last year, or mine this year? Just curious.

Beaten wife?

Hey everyone,

Randy and I went to a costume party on Friday, and we went as a wife beater and a beaten wife. It was really fun! For some reason, I forgot to get a picture of Randy though. I had a lot of fun trying to make myself look hurt. I am not sure why I enjoy doing weird makeup so much, but I do. Everyone kept on asking me if my split lip was real, and it made me feel wonderful! I particuallary like the choke marks on the neck, but you can't see them very well in the picture. It is a really easy costume for a couple that doesn't want to spend a lot of time or money that's for sure.

Jacob in the bath. He loves loves loves to splash mommy! Ty likes to help give him baths as well. And in turn, jacob likes to stand at the edge of the big bathtub and give Ty baths. What is better than giving your brother a bath? aparently not much!

My Recipes

Unfried Chicken (aka Corn Flake chicken)
A healthy alternative to fried chicken. To make it even healthier, use just egg whites and omit the salt. You can also use bone-in chicken of any kind(breasts, thighs, drumsticks, etc.) for a more moist or grownup meal. I like to serve with the potato wedges so Ty thinks he is having chicken fingers and French fries!

2-3 Boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into strips
1 cup of crushed Corn Flakes
1 t. Natures seasons (or your favorite seasoned salt)
1 T. seasoned bread crumbs (or flour)
1 egg
1 t. water
½ Cup flour

Mix Corn Flakes, Natures Seasons, and Bread crumbs and put a shallow dish. Mix egg and water and put in a shallow bowl. Put the flour in a shallow dish as well. Place chicken pieces into flour, then egg then Corn Flake mixture. Place onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 20-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and coating is crispy. (best if served with a large array of your favorite sauces like BBQ, ranch, and ketchup)

Potato Wedges
A healthy alternative to French fries and the kids love it!

Potatoes cleaned and sliced into wedges
Place on cookie sheet and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle Natures Seasons (or salt and pepper), garlic Salt and paprika onto the potatoes. Bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes (depending how dark and crispy you like them)

Easy Mexican Sloppy Joes
Best for those nights when you don’t want to cook, but you don’t want to go out either. It’s super easy and pretty good.

½ lb hamburger
1 can tomato soup
½ cup Salsa
½ cup Cheddar cheese

brown hamburger in skillet. Add Tomato soup and salsa and cheddar cheese. Mix on low heat till thoroughly mixed. Serve on hamburger buns or slices of bread.

Crock Pot Roast
seriously the best tasting pot roast I have had. Randy makes this for us every once in a while and it is sooo very tender and juicy

1 pot roast, rump roast or chuck roast, whatever you like (size determined by size of crock pot. Ours is kind of small)
1 large onion
2-3 potatoes peeled and quartered
½ cup water
1 T oil
Score roast with a serrated knife (scratch surface in a criss-cross motion.) season generously with Larry’s seasoning, garlic salt, nature’s seasons, or your favorite seasoning. In skillet heat up oil on high to med-high heat and when heated, braise the roast till browned on both sides (takes about 2-3 minutes total). Place some of the potatoes on bottom of crock pot and put the roast on top. Put the remaining potatoes around the roast if there is room and top with onion slices. Pour in the water and close the lid. Cook on Low for 10 hours, or on high for 5 hours. You can make gravy when it is done, with the remaining water and fat, but it is good without it too.

Lemon Pepper Chicken
One of our very favorites!

2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
lemon pepper seasoning
1 can cream of chicken soup

¼ cup mayo

¼ cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1T parsley

Dice the chicken into bite sized pieces. Place in shallow greased baking dish and sprinkle a generous amount of lemon pepper. Put in oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Drain excess water. In a medium sized bowl, mix mayo, cream of chicken soup, milk and parsley. Add shredded cheddar cheese and mix in cooked chicken. Bake for another 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve over rice.

Fun FHE activity

On monday for FHE, we decided to paint our front window for Halloween coming up this month. I highly recommend this activity! It is so much fun for everyone (If it's not too cold). the hardest part about doing it for me though, is letting everyone else paint it the way they want it. So if you need an idea, there it is!
-Heather
p.s. you can buy window paint (tempera) at almost any store.

Happy Birthday Randy!!

Today is Randy's birthday! Yep, he is actually 31 years old! when did I marry an old man? He is such a sweetheart. I asked him what he wanted to do today and he said he just wants to stay home. That sounds good to me! It works out well too because it is also General Conference today and tomarrow. (good days not to do much but sit around and listen eh?) Tyler said he wanted to get daddy a toy helicopter and a "monkey" cake for his birthday. I hope Ty isn't too disappointed to not get what he wants for his father's birthday. Randy did get what he wanted though when Kim and Brandon Baum came to visit us way out here in Tooele and played games with us all night and than stayed over till today. well, that pretty much sums it up!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RANDALL!
-Heather

Snip snip

Jake got his first haircut today! He has kind of an odd hairline and it was driving me nuts, so I cut it. most of you probably can't tell much of a difference, but I think it looks much better!

Fun in Oregon

Hey everyone,
We had so much fun in Oregon! it was nice for the boys to see Grandma and Grandpa again.
Jake decided to grow up while we were there; his two bottom teeth grew in (so cute) and he started crawling really fast.

My Recipes

Gonnies Chili
Here is one that is tried and true! Randy's Grandmother makes this Chili and it is wonderful

1 lb lean ground beef
1 small yellow onion chopped
1 green pepper diced
1 can dark kidney beans
1 can black beans drained
1 cup water (about)
1 can pinto beans
1 can tomato paste
1 can diced tomatos
2 pkg. chili seasoning
1 teaspoon cinnamon

In big pot, cook beef, onion and green pepper till browned and cooked through. drain excess grease. put all remaining ingredients into pot and bring to boil. turn heat to low and simmer about 20 min. garnish with sour cream and cheese if desired.


Heather’s Quick Seasoned White Sauce Recipe
yummy recipe that I have modified to make my own.

Melt 3T butter (or margarine) in saucepan
Add 2-3 cloves Garlic and cook in melted butter for about 30 seconds
Combine 3T flour with 1T caraway or celery seed, Basil, Oregano, or sage (Salt and pepper to taste)
Stir flour mixture into melted butter and garlic and combine
Stir in 2 1/4 cups milk all at once on medium heat till thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir an extra minute.
Over low or no heat, stir in 1/2 Cup parmesan cheese till melted.

Additions
Green onions finely chopped
Tomatoes finely chopped
Chicken (blackened)
Can Rotel (drained and dried)

Garlic Cheese Crostini's
these are super good! one of Randy's favorite appetisers
Chef: Bryan Woolley

Ingredients:
1 baguette, sliced on an angle 2 cups grated parmesan cheese 1 cup chopped green onions ½ cup mayonnaise 1 cup butter 3 garlic cloves, minced Salt and freshly cracked pepper
Melt butter and add minced garlic. Brush sliced baguette pieces with butter and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Set aside until ready to use. In a medium sized bowl combine parmesan cheese, green onions and mayonnaise. Stir to combine. Add salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste. Spread about a tablespoon of spread on each piece of sliced bread. Place into the oven on broil for about 5 minutes or until topping is bubbling and beginning to turn golden brown. Remove, arrange on a platter and serve.

Quick and easy Meatloaf
it isn't difficult, but it sure is tastey!

1 lb lean ground beef
1 small pkg stove top chicken stuffing mix
1/2 C. water
1/2 C. bullseye BBQ sauce

Mix beef with stuffing mix, water and 1/4 C. BBQ sauce (with hands) in a bowl. form into the shape of a log (don't laugh) and put it in a small baking dish. top with remaining BBQ sauce and put in oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
Obvously, you can mix in any BBQ sauce you like, but Bullseye gives it a nice bold, tangy flavor I like.