Happy Thanksgiving from Oklahoma!

Andy, Laura and Nic came for Thanksgiving. It was a really nice day and we took lots of pictures. Hope everyone else had a good day too.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We hope you have a fantastic Day. Eat lots, but don't get sick.
We are planning on going to mom and dad's at 2pm for dinner. Mom invited my in-laws over too. That way we didn't have to decide where to go! Then this evening we will stop by Grandma Long (Jason's maternal grandmother) just to say hello to everyone.
What is everyone else doing?

When is Sarah coming?

If anyone hasn't already heard, we will name our baby Sarah May. That is of course if it is a girl. The due date is December 6th but we thought it would be fun to plot on a calendar everyone's guess. If anyone would like to participate, leave a comment after this post and we will put you down on our calendar. When Sarah finally gets here we will let everyone know who guessed the closest.

The Wall II

We are not sure why our pictures are a little wierd in the last blog. O'well. Here are some more that show our progress.

The Wall

Many of you have requested that Mom and Dad put pictures of the wall on the blog. They have forgotten their password, I think they are getting OLD!! Anyway, Dad asked if I would do it so you all can see it.
Now this is Dad: Mom and I have been working very hard every spare minute. We are not going to make it before the snow comes, but we will try. I finished the steps today, but didn't take pictures. We will keep you posted. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes.
The first picture is of the yard how it started, before we did any work. The second is after we rented a bobcat and did the excavation. That's me! The last one is mom, slaving away.

BYU baby

Nicholas' "God Father" sent him some cloths from BYU and we thought that we'd better show them off, sence nick is so cute. Nicholas also got a hand made blanket from Shauna today. Thank you very much.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday, dear Grandpa (Daddy, Steve)....
Happy Birthday to you!

Mischevious Layla

Today I was talking to Mandy on line. Ryan was napping, Austin was upstairs playing games, and Layla was at the table drawing, or so I thought. When I walked into the kitchen, this is what I saw. She had opened her sippy cup, and the Nesquik. Then she must have scooped a generous portion of chocolate powder into her cup. Then she realized that she could just forgoe the cup all together and started scooping it into her mouth...and all over her face, dress, and the table!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Lasagna

Hi, here is a new recipe we tried last night. It was very good, except that Braden didn't care for it.... actually he gagged himself until he threw up the few bites he had taken. No FHE treat for him!!! But really it is good! I have the stats for anyone who is interested, as far as calories, fat, carbs, protien, but I refuse to post them.

1 hour 40 minutes 9 servings

2 eggs 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
15 oz ricotta cheese 16 oz creamy galic alfredo
1 c cottage cheese 6 uncooked lasagna noodles
1/2 c parmesan cheese 2 c(8 oz) mozarella cheese
1/4 c chopped fresh parsely 1 c (4 oz) swiss cheese
2 c diced, cooked chicken 2 Tbsp fresh parsley
2 c diced ham

1-Heat oven to 350. In medium bowl, beat eggs. Stir in ricotta, cottage and parmesan cheeses and 1/4 c parsley; set aside.
2-In another medium bowl, mix chicken, ham, garlic powder, and alfredo sauce. In ungreased 9 X 13 dish, spread 1/2 c chicken mixture.
3-Top chicken mixture with 3 uncooked noodles, 1/2 cheese and 1/2 of remaining chicken, and 1/2 mozarella and swiss. Repeat layers, starin with noodles, ending with swiss. Cover tightly with foil.
4-Bake 1 hour or until very hot and bubbly. Let stand covered 15 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with 2 Tbsp parsley.

Give it a try and enjoy it!!

For Mom

We thought we would post a picture of the boys in their matching outfits....just for mom.

Our New Fireplace

mm



Over the last weekend Jason built us a fireplace. It is an electric insert with a wooden mantle built around it. It is beautiful and thought I would share the photos with you.

Saturday Jason and his dad, who was also building a firplace, went to Home Depot and bought the wood. They went to our Dad's house and cut it to the right sizes.

Jason started putting it together Sunday after church. It was not work, it was family togetherness time. He had it all built by Sunday night. He did the trim work MOnday and Tuesday after work. Now we just need to decide what color to paint or stain it.

Something to Amuse...

So yesterday I told Mikayla that I would be coming in to her school this morning to do the morning reading.
Mikayla: Did they ask you to come in... or what?
Mandy: Yes, they did.
Mikayla: Did someone call and say "Will you read at school?"
Mandy: Yes, that is what happened.
Mikayla: OK... but can you wear something nice, because some of the moms come in and they are not wearing nice clothes. You should wear something nice, Mom.
Mandy: What were those moms wearing? Bad clothes?
Mikayla: Yeah, like striped clothes that were not nice.
Mandy: You mean striped like the shirt I am wearing right now?
Mikayla: Yeah, and the teachers like the moms to wear nice clothes.
Mandy: Well, maybe you can help me pick something.
Mikayla: Oh, like maybe the one with snowflakes on it. One day a mom wore snowflakes on her shirt to school and that looked so nice.
Mandy: OK.

It continues, this morning when I got out of the shower, Mikayla was waiting in my room.
Mikayla: Mom, remember I came to help you get dressed in somehting nice for school. Can you get out your winter things?
Mandy: Ok, here are my sweaters.
Mikayla: OH, this one with snowflakes, that is the one I was talking about. Wear this one. Oh, and we should smell nice too. How can we do that?.... Oh, you just took a shower so you smell nice already, what about me. Sometimes when I am getting dressed I take off my jammies and dance around and smell my hands and OH, they smell so good! We both already smell nice!

What a funny little girl. Anyway, we went to the school did the morning reading and all went well. I was just amazed that she is already so concerned about how her mom looks. Am I so frumpy, out of style and smell bad?? How awful I must be! I guess I thought I was doing ok, good thing she came in to help me get dressed, who knows what I might have picked on my own?!?!

Unplanned Saturday Morning

Today we have a lot going on, like most weekends. Jason is supposed to be working with his dad to build electric fireplaces, one for their house, and one for ours. They are supposed to get started bright and early. And Patti warned that it would take all day. I have a birthday party at 10-12 for Austin, Layla wasn't invited, but I asked the mom and she said it would be fine if Layla came. At 2:30-4:30 I am supposed to be at an open house for Avon. I have a friend who sells it and told her I would be there. Also Jason is teaching Elders Quorum tomorrow and needs to prepare his lesson.
This morning I got up and showered hoping that I would be able to get away for a few minutes to check the Target clearance. I am anxious to get some costumes 75% off. When I went outside I noticed that there was this weird black shiny stuff all over the driveway. I walked back to look at it more closely and that is when I saw that the back drivers side window was shattered. Jason thinks that someone shot it with a b b gun or something.
So now, instead of running to Target, I am sitting home with the kids while Jason goes to the junk yard to see if we can get another window. Meanwhile it is freezing here, last night's low was 29, so I need to have the window in place before I can go anywhere. How long until the party starts?

It's Ralph's Birthday

Happy Birthday Ralph! We love you and hope your Birthday is great!

Pregnant Laura

Some of you have requested a picture of my pregnant wife. If she dresses like she normally does it is frequently hard to tell she is pregnant at all. In an effort to fulfill the requests here is a picture of Laura in a halloween sweatshirt that she is pulling tight so you can see that she really is pregnant. If she gets much further we will take another picture and publish, but we're thinking we might have the baby soon. For those of you who haven't heard, we are expecting a girl and are planning on naming her Sarah May. The "H" in Sarah is still in question. We'd be happy to here opinions but as is a mother's right Laura will have the final say(or me, but probably not).

Oreo Stacking Contest

One night last week we realized we had an open package of Oreos that wasn't worth eating anymore(Yes it was very sad). We decided to have an oreo stacking contest. We all had fun but in the end Steven was the best stacker of all. If I remember right he had 23 Oreos. It is quite an entertaining game that I would reccomend to everyone. We used Halloween Oreos which are like the double stuffed ones. I think if you used regular oreos you would get more cookies stacked because they are not as thick.

Only Child

I am talking to Mandy right now on Instant Messenger. She and I both went and looked at the blog. Nic is ADORABLE!! I asked her if she remembered what it was like to just have one child....
I could stay in bed until Austin woke up. He was a pretty good sleeper and would stay in bed until 8:00-8:30. In my bed, that is. He slept with us from birth to a year. After that he would sneak back into our bed in the middle of the night. We took him out of his crib at a year. It wasn't until he was at least 3 that he would stay in his own bed all night. But when you only have one child having them in bed with you really isn't that big of a deal.
We would get up and I would get him breakfast. I would feed him, or sit and watch him eat. He was just so cute. After breakfast I would put him in his jumper and exercise. He loved his jumper and would be content in there for about an hour. Sometimes he would even fall asleep in the jumper. Then I could take a shower while he napped.
We would play, read books, watch TV. Have lunch, then take a nap. I would often get to nap with him because I thought I was sleep deprived. (Little did I know.) We would have dinner when Jason came home and then we would all sit and just bask in the glory of having a baby and being a family.
Somehow that all changed when Layla came. There is no resting, no breaks, no just watching the baby. Because now all of a sudden you have all the same cute baby things, but also a toddler who is into everything.
Going from two to three was harder than I could have ever imagined. I don't think I left the house by myself until Ryan was at least 3months old, maybe even 4. But now I think I have got it down. It will never be like it was with just Austin. But it sure is fun.
My point...enjoy having one while you can....then enjoy having just two while you can...and I am going to try and enjoy having three while I can...
Oh yeah, and mom and dad, how did you EVER end up with FIVE of us!?! I sure am glad you did.