Tennessee

I'm not sure how many posts I have titled Tennessee or how many I'll have over the span of my blogging life, but here is another. 

I was able to visit my family for Christmas this year. It's only fair to trade holidays, we had Wamplers for Thanksgiving, so it's Roney time! Michael got the time off he needed, a little last minute, so he came too! Yay for being a family! This was the first time we had taken Ivan on a plane and we were a little anxious to see how it would go. Luckily we have breed an immaculate little man and he was perfect on every flight. We got to the airport a little early, thinking it would be super busy, and it was. We didn't wait for long and were able to board our flight. One of our friends gave us the advice to board the plane as late as possible, that way Ivan would spend very little time on the plane waiting for take off and building anxiety. We listened and that is some of the best advice I've ever received. We sat pretty far back on the plane and got some interesting looks as we boarded with an infant. But Ivan ate a bottle as we were taking off and slept the entire time. Our next flight was delayed by about 40 minutes and Ivan was awake the whole layover and repeated his first flight experience. The flights going home to Idaho were the same. Since we had a baby, and we didn't buy our tickets at the same time, we requested seats beside each other. We were assigned seats just prior to boarding. On one of our flights, we got on the plane and someone was in Michael's seat. We asked if he was assigned that seat and he said yes. So Michael had the flight attendant come and figure things out. Then she noticed that the guy in our seat was not assigned to that seat, he just sat there. Now his reasoning was that his wife and 2 kids were in the row in front of us and his other kid was in the seat beside him. So he needed to sit by his minor son and help with the other kids. The kid that was in our row was at least 12 if not older, so it's not like it was a 3 year old unattended. AND, his wife was just in the row in front of him. So he got sent to his original seat, only 2 more rows back (not super far away) and all we heard the rest of the flight was his wife complain about the hassle and ordeal she had been put through. The boy in our row was named Michael, now how's that for irony. But that lady turned around at one point and said to her son, well I'm going to make them give you free TV for the inconvenience they have put us through. She was really mad. I didn't think it was a big deal. Plus, it's harder to take care of a baby by yourself than a 12 year old. Grow up people. 

Once we got to TN, it was a little crazy. I was getting all these home sick feelings and didn't ever want to leave. Well, until we walked outside. It was raining and about 40 degrees. So it was way, way humid. I forgot! And it just hits you like you've never felt humidity before, especially when it's raining and especially when you fly. I sure do like the weather here. 

While we were in Tennessee, my niece and nephews were able to meet their cousin, my siblings were able to meet their nephew, and I was able to catch up with all my family. I really miss them. Especially my dad. He's such a cool guy and I really wish Ivan could get to know his Papa better. His Nana and aunts and uncles too, but if my dad is my favorite, I'm sure Ivan will just love him. We played tons of games from poker to nertz to rock band. We had family pictures professionally done. We hadn't taken family pictures since I was 2, so about 20 years had gone by without an updated photo. And now we have wives, husbands, grandbabies and all that to show off too. It's always a little crazy going back to a place I knew and still know so well and realizing I don't live there. It's so easy to fall back into sort of a routine, especially with seeing so many people you know. We had a get together with all the single adults from when we used to live there. Everybody is married now and half of us have babies. It's so crazy! And it's amazing how quickly things can change and people can change when you move away. We had Christmas too, we opened some presents, even though most of our stuff got mailed out here. Packing everything back up was fun. I took a scale and put just enough stuff in our suitcase to make it weigh 50 lbs. (50 lbs is the weight limit for a checked bag before they charge you an extra 50 bucks for it) And we still had to have my parents mail stuff to us! It was a fun trip though. 

This is Emma, she was just so excited to see Ivan.

This is Emma, Paul Jr., and Ryan.

Paul Jr.

My brother Erich and his little doggie Buddy. 

Since Michael served his mission there, we were especially motivated to see some people we knew from the ward. We saw 3 families in particular and I just miss them so much. I'm always impressed by their example and the influence they have over me in just the 30 minutes we were able to spend with them. It's so fun seeing people I used to see all the time and showing them my baby. I can't help but be super proud of him! 

Family dinner. 

Me and my Momma!

Another fun part of visiting Clarksville is seeing all the doggies. My brother recently got a pomeranian from craigslist. His name is Buddy and he is reddish brown. My mom still has Shadow, Blondie, and Paulie. Paulie just had puppies, fathered by Buddy. They are so cute, and don't tell Michael, but I've already called dibs on the party colored male! Then there is Mina, pronounced mean-ah. She is a purebred German Shepherd of all German lines. She is a beautiful red and black female. Her full name is something like Natasha Wilhelmina. Yep, that's a mouthful, so we say Mina. She's still a puppy, about 8 months, but she's huge. With my vet tech mind, all I could think about was the health of those animals. Shadow has seen better days, Mina had a yeast infection in her ears and Paulie needs a nail trim. But since she just had puppies, I spared her the torture. There's nothing I can do for Shadow. But Mina, oh Mina was in for it. I bought some ear cleaner, not the brand I prefer, but good enough, and cleaned her ears out daily. They were looking pretty good by the time I left, but my dad was supposed to keep cleaning them and I'm not sure if he's up for that. 

Rock Band, can you count all 4 band members?

Mina

Wamplers with Buddy, for the record, this is the most comfortable couch I've ever laid my tush on!

We, of course, ate at some of my favorite places, like Casablanca, oh how I miss the Pollo Ranchero, and a couple other places. We did some shopping, and I found an awesome pair of hiking shoes. I've been looking for a long time, but haven't wanted to spend much money. And I searched for some Sperry knock-offs, but to my dismay, they either didn't have my size or were a little more than I wanted to pay. Oh well. Maybe next time. Well, here's some pictures of our adventures. 

Papa and his grandbaby.

Playing Nertz, it never gets old, well until you have 8 people playing and it's too hard to see!

My older sister Heidi

My little sister Marisa

My sister-in-law Jen, my brother's wife

Party!

I have a tendency to go overboard with things that I really like. It happens. I would like to take this opportunity to associate the responsibility for these tendencies with my mother. She is a fantastic woman that made me love to cook and love to cook a lot.
I like my friends here and since I like to cook so much, what better excuse could I have than to cook things for my friends? So I planned a party for December 22 and began the baking. I started baking things on Monday, did some more on Tuesday and Wednesday, finished on Thursday and did all the cooking of real food then too. Michael helped.

The Menu

Rice Krispie treats

Strawberry topped Brownies

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Gingerbread Cookies

Sugar Cookies

Fudge

Creme Drops

Muddy Buddies

Snickerdoodles

Pepperoni Monkey Bread

Bacon wrapped Lil' Smokies

Bacon Poppers

Veggie Tray

Summer Sausage,CZ, & Crackers

Activities

Nintendo 64

Eat

Decorate cookies

Eat

build Gingerbread houses

Eat

conversate

Having fun

Play Bohnanza & other games

I think everything went well. At least there was plenty of food. We invited about 14 adults and 7 children and 8 adults and 3 children attended. I have to say that was just the right turnout. Had anymore showed up, it would have been a little crowded, had any less, it might not have been as entertaining. We had loads of fun though. We ate a bunch, talked a lot, decorated home made gingerbread houses (which made for interesting creations) and played games. Since we had just received Bohnanza! (thanks Chris and Laura) we played that game. We also played Fluxx. The attendees were: Kristen & Nathaniel Sellers, Sydney & Patrick Kelly, Katy & Taylor Wilson with their wee ones Ava and Sterling, Ben & Natalie Millett with Emma. Oh and we were there with Ivan. Here's some pictures & proof of the fun!

Aw, we're a little plaid family!

Ben and Natalie's House

Patrick & Sydney's Cabin

Nathaniel & Kristen's Mansion

Another view of the Mansion

My Cottage

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of Katy & Taylor's gingerbread house, but it was awesome too. When I made the gingerbread, I didn't really leave any room for error on the cutting. I did print out some templates and followed those, so some styles of the houses were different. But I didn't even think about the fact that the bread would rise in the oven. Well it did, and I left it all out to make it stronger to build with. So then we had really hard gingerbread that wasn't even on any of the sides. Yay! Ben filed down a couple, if not all, of the edges of his house to make it even. Nathaniel used extra pieces to make everything fit and Patrick used cookies to hold the roof up. I let the roof rest on the ground, like an A-line house that would get lots of snow. It all worked out in the end and definitely made us step up our creativity.

Photogenicity

Photogenicity - (fo-to-jen-is-it-y)- to present one's self as beautiful in any picture taken of him or her due to his or her genetics.

Our entire family has this. Michael, his parents, his siblings, their spouses, his nephew and nieces, his wife, and yes, his baby too. My side of the family has the same problem, picture proof soon to come.

Christmas is just a little spread out this year. We've had quite a few parties, but our biggest ones have quite a few pictures to go with. We celebrated with Michael's family on the weekend of the 17th. During the holidays, mainly Christmas and Thanksgiving, Marriott associates enjoy the opportunity to stay at a participating Marriott hotel for half the associate discount rate. Normally it's $40, which means it's cut down to 20 bucks during these couple months. So we stayed at a hotel close to Cabela's on Friday night. Brenda came too, mainly for the hot tub and pool, but she had fun at Cabela's too. Michael's cousin's wife, Janneke, is a photographer. I really like her taste and think she does an excellent job. So we paid her to take a few pictures of our cute little Ivan and the three of us for some family pictures. Not really Christmas pictures, we're not in to that. We got to take them at BYU in Provo and had a lot of fun with it. Then we went to Burger King. I only mention this because they changed the absolute best thing they had going for them... their fries. They used to be so good, the batter was different than any other place. Now they just plain suck. Boo. Saturday we all met at Chris and Laura's house to take family pictures. One of Michael's aunts, the same one that took our wedding pictures, was there to photograph all of us. We all got to choose what to wear, but the choices were limited to blue jeans and a white, red, or black shirt. We took pictures outside in front of some beautifully trimmed bushes. I have to say that Ivan is wearing the absolute cutest outfit ever. I love it! After all that, we played games and had the family gift exchange. Everybody rotates between who they get presents for each year. I like it; this way we can get something nice for one person rather than feeling obligated to spend a lot of money and buy for everyone. After gifts, we ate and played more games. Michael and I stayed at a hotel again that night. Lately Ivan has been sleeping through the night. I am always so impressed when he does. What a good little boy. But when we get around a lot of people he kinda goes into panic mode. He sleeps and sleeps all day, and is up all night. So Friday and Saturday night I didn't get much sleep. Is it bad that it irritates me when Ivan is wide awake at 3 am and all sorts of smiley and cute? Probably, but I was just so tired. Sunday we hung out some more, went to church, played games and were planning on being home by 10... Well, you know how it goes. We got to playing games and couldn't stop. Michael could, I couldn't. It was just so fun, I couldn't help myself! So we got home around 1. And I had to work at 8 the next morning.

That's my cute little Ivan.

I just love pictures of crying babies. 

Ivan and his great grandparents on his grandma Wampler's side

Confessions

Seems lately that I haven't had the inspiration to blog... I've been trying to figure just why this is. The conclusion I have come to conclude is Pinterest. Shame on that website! Ok, so it's not just that. December has turned into quite the busy month. I guess it all started with Thanksgiving. We had Turkey Day with the Wampler's in Salt Lake City, Utah. When we came back, we went right back to work. Michael filled in for a couple days on the night audit shift, the one from 11 pm to 7 am, gross, I know, but that was just practice for when he takes over that shift full time in January. Yay. We had our ward Christmas party on the 8th. It was pretty awesome. Ham, cheesy potatoes, salad, rolls, and of course dessert. A sign up sheet went through the girls meeting group at church, but by the time the list reached me, the dessert slots were all taken. Well that's just nuts. So I volunteered to bring a salad with one stipulation... I could bring a cake too! I'm really glad I brought both, most of the food went really fast and there wasn't anything left by the end of the night. The cake I made was amazing! You'll never guess where I found the recipe... Pinterest! It was a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and a cream cheese, whip cream, oreo filling. Amazing. I swear it's like heaven on a plate. Here's the recipe if you want it. http://realmomkitchen.com/6917/chocolate-oreo-cream-cake/
In other news, we had a Christmas party for Michael's work. It was at the hotel, catered by da Pineapple Grill. We had a white elephant gift exchange and the Hairy Fairy returned! Last year, Libby, a Marriott employee, brought this gift to the party. Originally, the little barbie was a regular doll that you could play in the bath with. Libby turned this doll into a hairy monster by taping hair to her legs. She included a razor and changed the barbies name to the Hairy Fairy, a Shave with me Barbie. So funny! Nate, another worker at the Marriott, received this gift last year and got stuck with it. As you know, you can "steal" any gift from anyone when it's your turn. That gift never got stolen.... This year, the Hairy Fairy returned. Nate had kept this special doll in his closet, or so he says, all year just to bring it to this party. I forget who got it this year though, sorry. And I didn't take a single picture. Michael had to work that night, so he came and hung out for a few minutes and I got to stay at the party. There was a caramel apple bar and a hot chocolate bar. It was pretty cool.
I had a Christmas party for my work as well. According to tradition, the employees at Cedar Ridge Animal Hospital got treated to dinner at Stockman's. If you have never been there, I highly suggest you do. That was the best steak I've ever had. Of course I was nervous about what I was allowed to get, ya know, don't want to be rude or anything. So I asked the other girls ahead of time and they said they all get the prime rib or something super awesome and they always get dessert. So I got the filet mignon and Michael got the 16 oz ribeye, or maybe the prime rib, I'm not really sure. We both had asparagus on the side and rolls and salad and my boss ordered nachos as appetizers. We got the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake for dessert. It was amazing. Best steak I've ever had in my entire life. I don't ever want to eat any other steak ever again. Dang, now I'm ruined, I can't go back after that! There was a bit of conversation, mostly just eating though. And that was it.
We are currently dogsitting for one of my teachers. Dr Dredge has 2 shih tzus that are just adorable. Scamper, the bigger one and the boy, is kind of afraid of Michael. He barks at him every time he sees him when he hasn't seen him in a while. I don't blame him, just as Scamper was getting used to Michael, Michael scared him. Figures. Snowflake is the tiny one, the girl, and the most lovable dog ever. She is so sweet and really just wants to sit in your lap and be loved all day. I've really enjoyed having them in the house. And they've done really well with Ivan. I think it's really good for Ivan to be exposed to dogs early on, that way he can kind of get used to seeing them and not be afraid when we get a dog, however soon or not soon that may be. I have contemplated asking Dr Dredge how much money it would take to buy these dogs, they are so good. Then I think about the fact that he has 6 kids that all love these guys so much and I just couldn't do that to them. Darn kids. It just gives me hope that someday I'll be able to find a dog that fits well with our family and I can love and spoil him all I want. One day...
School is starting again soon. My schedule is dumb. I'll be taking 14 credits, 6 on campus (aka the livestock center) and 8 online. Yay.  Monday and Wednesday I go from 1030 -1230, Tuesday 745-845 & 315-615, and Friday from 130-330. So my current work schedule of Monday and Friday mornings and all day Wednesday no longer works. I talked to my boss a while ago and tried to convince him that I could still work while I'm not in class, but there is another tech there that is also in school. She goes every morning until 1230. So she is going to work every afternoon. That leaves Monday and Wednesday short one person. There's no way to fill those spots with anyone else that works there, so we have to hire someone else. Today I overheard a conversation about seniority, since Brianna, the other girl going to school, has been there longer she gets first pick at schedule. I'm cool with that. It makes sense. However, when I spoke with my boss about working Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings his reply went something like... well the girl I want to hire needs at least 20 hours a week, so if she needs one of those days you want, I'm giving it to her. Where's the seniority there? I've been there since August and I think I'm pretty darn good at my job. Plus is the new girl works Monday & Tuesday mornings and all day Wednesday, she'll be getting 20 hours right there. And I've even talked to the groomer about helping her bathe dogs on Monday and Wednesday mornings before I go to class just to get a few more hours in. I don't know if I really need or want all those hours, but the more experience I get, the better I'm going to be at my job in the long run. Plus, if I can keep my foot in the door at this place, I'll more than likely have a job there when I graduate. And in a place like this, that is the only way I'm going to get a job within 20 miles of where I live. There are only 2 vet clinics in Rexburg, one small animal, one mixed and I really don't want to work in a mixed practice. And there are 20 students graduating 3 months ahead of me with the same degree I have. Sure, only 5 or so will stay here, but when there's one job opening and 5 people want it... who's gonna get it? Plus there will be about 7 or so more staying here that are graduating with me. So if 13 people, including me are all going for the same job, what chances do I have of actually getting it? If I already work there, then I'm set. So I'll do what it takes to make it work. Michael is taking 15 credits and will be working full time with night audit. He can do all his homework at work, even his online stuff. I figure this way he is forced to do some reading and maybe he'll get worse at procrastinating and maybe he'll just get his stuff done on time without the stress of turning it in close to deadline. Who knows, maybe he'll just get a Netflix membership and watch movies all night. It's a very real reality. Can I say that? Real reality? Here's to dedication, determination, and no sleep. We've got a few friends in town that are willing to watch Ivan when our schedules overlap, which I think is mostly Tuesday and Friday afternoons, depending on work stuff. I have to say, with both of us going to school full time, Michael working full time, and me working part time, we'll only have about 7 hours a week that we'll need someone other than us watch Ivan. Glad we could work that out, well, except for the fact that Michael and I won't really see each other. We'll have to see what we can do about that one.
December just keeps getting busier. We're headed to Utah this weekend for family pictures, baby pictures and extended family pictures. Plus a Wampler gift exchange/ party, meeting with old friends and the long drive there and back. Did I mention exploring Cabela's and 2 hotel stays and different hotels? Yay hot tubs! I'm so excited to not be in Rexburg for a bit. After that, we're throwing a Christmas party at our house. I've invited all our local friends and we'll be decorating home made gingerbread houses & cookies, watching Christmas movies, eating lots of party foods, and hanging out. I'm so excited! Then we head out for Tennessee. My mom, who is very convincing, decided for me that I was going to Tennessee for Christmas. Oh, and I wasn't allowed to come unless I brought Ivan. Sweet little boy that he is, I'm so excited for him to meet all his aunts and uncles out there. It'll be nice for some warmer weather too, I heard it was in the 60s there today. And it snowed a bunch here... Interesting. But, we'll be there for a week. We've got lots of friends to see, family to hang out with, gifts to be exchanged and people to introduce to Ivan!
Oh, this post was originally just going to be about my lack of motivation to blog and how Pinterest has ruined me. I want to look at that website all the time. I'm always finding great new recipes and fun new crafts. That is what my confession is. Oh and that I might be keeping Dr Dredge's dogs. Oh, but the kids... I can't make up my mind.

Ivan is 2 months!

Yesterday our sweet little baby had another doctor's appointment. Michael and I decided a while ago that it would be best for Ivan to receive all of the vaccinations he is supposed to get. So at this appointment he got like 7 vaccinations. One was an oral suspension and the rest were actual shots. Luckily some medical someone somewhere decided to combine some of the vaccines. So instead of getting stuck 6 times, he only got stuck 3. Still, that's a lot for a tiny baby. I absolutely love our pediatrician. He never makes us wait for very long, all his nurses are really personable, and he has the most excellent bedside manner. He stays and talks with us for as long as we need, gives us examples of what to look for in certain instances, and really prepares us for times when Ivan will be sick. I definitely recommend him. It almost makes me wish we were staying in the area so he could be Ivan's doctor forever. But don't tell Michael that... Maybe we'll just take Dr. Jones with us. Oh, that's the best part about our pediatrician, he's Indiana Jones! Ha ha, maybe not, we'll never know.
Ivan was in a pretty good mood before we went to the doctor. I woke him up to give him a bath and he didn't cry once, not even when I was drying him off, and that's a miracle. He's perfectly fine with being in the bath, but he doesn't like getting undressed for it and absolutely hates getting out of the bath and getting dried off. No crying this time though. He was happy and smiley when we were in the waiting room and moving like crazy when we weighed him. The doctor checked him out and everything looks good. Good muscle tone, good vocalization, good reflexes, an all around healthy baby. Then the nurse came in with the tray of needles and the juice stuff he had to drink. Thank goodness for the person that invented the sweet juice to distract the baby for even a moment while the nurses held him down and poked him 3 times in the legs. He did scream for that! He screamed so loud that his whole face and neck turned bright red and almost purple and held that scream for a good 10 seconds without taking a breath. Poor thing! Michael and I just laughed, sorry if that makes us bad parents, but Ivan doesn't know the difference. I did hold him and comfort him, of course, I just couldn't help but think his sad face was so cute it made me laugh. He stayed upset for a minute or two, then he entered... PANIC MODE. Panic mode is when Ivan gets too upset, scared, tired, whatever his trigger for crying is that he cries for a minute then stops and abruptly falls asleep. Not sure how he does it. Maybe it's a survival mechanism that tries to confuse predators into thinking he is dead. Pretty sure they would just eat him if he was dead though, so maybe it just helps Ivan to cope with things by not facing them. He knows when he wakes up that whatever set him off won't be there anymore. Maybe I should try that!

Panic mode entered.

Ivan is 22 inches tall now, that puts him in the 25th percentile for height.
He weighs 11 lbs 4 oz, that puts him in the 50th percentile for weight.
His head is ginormous, especially compared to his tiny little neck.
It measures 15.4 inches in circumference, that puts him between the 25th and 30th percentile for head stuff. My boy is getting so big!

Our new TOY

Ok, let's start by saying a gun is not a toy. You don't play with guns. Guns are never toys. As responsible adults... yes Michael and I are responsible adults, we do not admonish small children or immature people playing with guns. But since we're mature, we got one! Michael decided he wanted to sell the PS3 he had. He only had it for a couple months but when the new Call of Duty game came out, he had to have it. He traded Call of Duty Black Ops for Modern Warfare 3. I didn't like playing MW3 and I think that helped his decision to sell it. All of it. Instead of having extra money in our budget, we decided to do the responsible thing and redistribute it... again. We bought a single shot .22 from Michael's brother Chris while we were down for Thanksgiving. It's nothing big or fancy, but we see it as an investment. And we still have enough money left over to buy another one and be twinners with matching guns. Except I think we'll get a .22 with a clip and not a single shot. We've both shot guns before on multiple occasions, and I have a lot of experience with a bolt action, thanks dad! Eventually we want to get into the whole hunting game and getting really good at shooting has to start somewhere. Plus, with a .22 we can shoot all day and only spend a couple bucks versus shooting a shotgun for a couple minutes and coming out bruised to pieces or shooting a big rifle and spending lots of money. See, our reasoning really is reason. So we took Ivan and our good friend Sydney with us to the Menan Buttes and had a little fun. I think we were only out for an hour before our toes were froze, but Ivan slept the whole time. He's pretty good at letting us have our fun. 

Since we were going to be outside for a while Ivan needed to wear his winter coat. Thanks Nana and Papa for getting this! We actually left Ivan in the car, that way he's protected from the noise (cuz a .22 is so loud?) and the cold. Don't worry, whoever wasn't shooting was watching him. I swear that's a smile on his face, it's just such a big one you can't tell!

Here's a better idea of how big this thing is right now. His arms go about half way through the sleeve and his legs end about halfway through the bottom of the coat. Thank goodness this thing will fit him for a while though, it's super warm and he seems to enjoy the peek-a-boo aspect of the coat. 

My super hot husband.

Our friend Sydney. This is her first time shooting a gun. And she's pretty good.

I couldn't hit anything from too far away. Neither could Michael, so that's ok right? 

I did tear up this can though! Michael put the tab inside the can and I shot it out the back! I put 3 or 4 shots all in a line on the front of the can.

After we were done there we fed the ducks. There are more than that too. And they were a little crazy. Michael had me backed up against the car and was throwing bread at my feet. All the ducks swarmed over there and I got bit! On the leg! Crazy. 

Thanksgiving 2011

This year we were able to spend Thanksgiving with Michael's family. We all went to Salt Lake City to enjoy the luxury of Christopher and Laura's very nicely sized home... Oh one day I'll have a house like that... For the record, I really really like their house, even if it is in the city. It was a bit difficult to get the time off of work to make the trip though. At the clinic I work at there is one receptionist, 3 vet techs, a groomer, and the veterinarian. On our busy days, Monday and Friday, we have to have 3 people there and the vet (4 total). The receptionist works Monday - Friday but has Wednesday off. I work Monday and Friday mornings and all day Wednesday. Another girl works Monday, Wed, Fri afternoons and all day Tuesday & Thursday. A different girl works all day Monday and Friday and mornings Wednesday. Confusing, right? Pretty much nobody works full time (so none of us get benefits) and there are only just enough of us to work exactly the amount of shifts that need to be covered. This means getting time off sucks. The clinic was closed Thursday and the vet had to get his knee scoped to see if his meniscus was torn (it was and he got the torn ligaments removed and is fine now). So all of us got Thanksgiving off, but just one day for the holiday kinda sucks. One girl has Wednesdays off as part of her schedule already, so she was covered. Since the vet had his knee scoped, Friday was going to be a light day and we only needed 2 people to work. We really only needed one person to work, and the vet of course, but somebody wasn't ok with cleaning all the kennels by themselves... So that gave another person 2 days off. Now there's just me and someone else. I agreed to work all day Friday so that gave the girl that works afternoons that day 2 days off. Now there's just me. Originally I wanted Friday off, but since I had to work 8-12 Saturday it didn't make much sense. Instead I opted to have someone cover my shift Wednesday. That worked out nicely. Michael rearranged his schedule to get off in the afternoon Tuesday so we could leave right after. Then I'm not sure if someone forgot they were working for me or if they just wanted to have an extra day off, but I got asked if I could work Wednesday... What am I supposed to say? No? Pretty sure that's not really an option. I like my job and would like to stay there as long as we're in Rexburg. So I said if I absolutely have to, then I reminded them of the arrangement we had made prior. So I ended up waiting until Tuesday at noon to see if I needed to work Wednesday. And I didn't, yay! We were the first ones to arrive at Chris and Laura's for the holiday celebration, but I can't say we were all too entertaining. The drive was long and sleeping hasn't been very rewarding lately. But it was nice to hang out a bit before everyone else got there. We did make sure to stop at In-N-Out on the way down. :] Wednesday (how dumb of a spelling is that?) Michael sold the PS3 and brought back Carl's Jr. strawberry biscuits. Love it! We hung out for a while and finally convinced Chris to get off work early, thanks Chris! It just wouldn't be the same hanging out with Laura if she couldn't enjoy the company of her husband! Then we went to Chick-fil-a, cuz it's awesome! Man, it's a good thing we don't live in Salt Lake, we'd be broke and super fat from all the restaurants we don't have here. We had the worst timing ever with going there though. Seems like everyone in town wanted Chick-fil-a at the same time and there were tons of people there. We actually had to hover around someone's table as they were leaving so we could sit there. Then as we were leaving an hour later, there was like no one there. Dumb. But the food was amazing as usual.

Ivan was more than happy to sneak us in a drink. And he slept the whole time. Don't be fooled by his eyes being open, he's good at that, fooling people that is.

Ben was more than content to just hang out on the bench for a little bit while Jane and Megan played.

After that we took a trip to Provo and visited Michael's Wampler grandparents. They are awesome. Chris and Laura came too. Before we got to their house though, we stopped off at Michael's aunt's house. It's only about 5 minutes away from our original destination anyway. It was good to visit them and let everyone meet Ivan. Plus Ivan got to meet a dog up close and personal for the first time. I can tell he loves animals already! Well, maybe he's just too flaccid to be able to react too much to anything we put in his face.... We'll see. Then we enjoyed the Golden Corral with Chris, Laura, Jane, Megan, Ben, Ivan, me, Michael, and Michael's grandparents. I'm pretty darn excited that Ivan gets to know his great grandparents so well at such a young age and having them there is so fun!

Here's the Wampler Great-Grandparents, and Chris and Jane in the background :]

After this we were planning on going to Cabela's, cuz there isn't one here. We enjoy seeing all the taxidermy and just drooling over all the things we would like to have someday. Like a good tent, good boots, and guns. Someday. We had forgotten one thing. We were an hour away from Chris and Laura's and the rest of Michael's family was arriving that day. Brenda is living in Salt Lake, with Laura, and is currently doing a clinical/ internship type thing. She's all smart and stuff and is practically a physical therapist already. It was the evening already, hence eating dinner, and Brenda wanted to spend time with us. So Chris and Michael went to Cabela's and Laura and I went home with the kids. By the time we got back Brenda had left, which is understandable, why wait around for us when you could be doing other fun things. It was good though, I got to spend some quality time with Jane and Megan. They are so funny! I would share a story, but it's really not appropriate, that's how funny it is! We stayed up late talking and having fun, then we went to our hotel. We stayed at a Marriott downtown for 20 bucks! It was nice to watch some tv. I have to say since we don't have cable at home, anytime I get closed to a tv with cable I'm sucked in. And Michael enjoyed the hot tub Thursday morning. On Turkey day, we ate, watched the Curious George movies, had lots of desserts, played games, and had loads of fun! The babies were good for us most of the time. Ivan wanted to be held while we were eating lunch, so he slept in my lap while we ate. After dessert, Jane and Megan wanted to play a game. Jane (who is almost 4) told Megan (who is 2) that she couldn't play because she had a silly face. Megan had eaten a slice of chocolate pudding pie and left some on her face for later. Jane told Megan to lick it off her face and showed her how. Megan couldn't quite get it, so Jane tried to lick it of off Megan's face for her! It's much funnier if I tell you in person. I'm always interested in what kind of personality Ben will have since Jane and Megan are just so colorful. Gotta love 'em.

The cause of Michael's wrist pain?

I love playing games! Especially the Bean Game, my favorite. 

My favorite people, I am such a lucky girl.

Since I had to work on Friday, we needed to leave that night and head back home. Before we could do that, we needed to go black Friday shopping. Toys-R-Us opened at 9. We got there at about 8:40, waited in line half a mile from the door, and were in the store by 9:20. Not too shabby. Then we realized the baby stuff didn't go on half off sale til 5 am. Lame. So we left, all we wanted from there was a jumparoo for Ivan. We immediately went to WalMart. Conveniently enough we got there right at 10, which is when most of the things went on sale. They put the movies at the front of the store, and we really like movies. I just so happen to be small enough to slip through people and weasel my way in to small places. I was able to get to the front and get some pretty sweet movies. We got 8 movies for 25 bucks brand new. We picked up a present for Jane, a safe, and 26 piece tupperware set. We left there at about 11:30. Not bad! We knew exactly what we wanted and spent the majority of our time at the store waiting in the check out line. We are definitely grateful that people were fairly nice and that we didn't have to bring Ivan with us. And that was it. I went back to work Friday and got to decorate the lobby for Christmas and we set up our tree on Sunday. Yesterday was my brother's birthday, shout out to him and his awesome beard.

Ivan's preferred sleeping spot.

Yep, his pants are on his head. This way you don't lose them or get them dirty. Everyone's doing it. 

Aw, our cute little family.

In other news, we recently discovered that Ivan is destined to work on computers... the I.T. man. He is also cousin IT to Jane, Megan, Ben, Paul Jr, Ryan, and Emma. (cuz his name is Ivan Tyler)

Pondering

I would like to say that my life is overwhelmingly busy and that every day is full of exciting activities that completely consume all of my time. However, most of my days are spent on facebook or pinterest or watching movies. When I'm not doing those things I'm thinking to myself how can this baby be so fussy?! Nuts, right? Recently I have become aware of just how thoughtless and selfish I can be. Not that I haven't always been that way, but I haven't been able to see it til now. I know that November is the month of gratitude and what not, but what I'm feeling right now surpasses any kind of thankfulness. I have been given so much I can't even name everything. I know that the most important things in my life aren't things, they are my family. I love my family, my parents and my siblings, my grandparents and my cousins, aunts and uncles, but I love the family that I created so much more than I ever imagined. I chose to be chosen by the most special man in the world. He knows and understands me like no one else ever will. He helps me when I need it, and even more when I think I don't. He makes me laugh, constantly. Seriously, that's the best ab workout ever. He and I were able to bring the most precious baby into this world and to call him our own. And we get to keep him! Sure he poops a lot, and it smells really bad, but I'd rather be changing his diaper than have to face this world without him. It's now that I can appreciate my parents and Michael's parents more than ever. And I even look at other moms who have more than one kid and sit in awe of how they do it. Ivan is my most favorite person. He is so sweet and beautiful and has so much potential. I am so in love with him. Every day I get to wake up and see his beautiful face and spend time with him. He is smiling so much right now and he started making all this cute little baby noises. His cries are starting to sound different so I can tell what means he's hurt and what means he's hungry. I know that not everyone out there believes in the same things that I do, but I know that what matters most to me is the opportunity to be on this earth, to be human, to love and be loved, to learn, and to return to where I came from. I know that God does not discriminate from one person to the next, but I do know that things are made easier with the knowledge of what is in store for us. I have struggled, obviously, with pregnancy and having children. I've always know that is what I want, of course it's what I want, I'm a woman right? And I do believe that there are certain nurturing characteristics that women are prone to have. But I never thought it would be so hard. I can remember being a teenager and looking at pregnant women with their cute bellies and thinking that there could be nothing more fulfilling, how can anyone complain about that? Now that I've gone through it, I'm back to that same mindset. During that experience was a whole different story. Sure the timing of Ivan's birth could have been a little different, like maybe after I finished school. But if I had the chance to change it I wouldn't, but mostly because I'm too afraid that would change him. Maybe you can't tell a lot about who a person is going to become when he is just a baby, maybe you can. And maybe it's all up to me and my husband to make all the difference. I don't ever want to hold Ivan back from a test or a trial just to make it easier for him. I want him to learn and to grow and to be filled with a greater love and knowledge than anything just here on earth. I want him to know he has a father in Heaven that is constantly watching over him. I want Ivan to want to make the difference in someone else's life. I'm sure this all sounds like a bunch of ramblings, but I felt the need to write it. I want to be able to look back at this when times get hard and I get discouraged and remember the hopefulness and incredible love that I felt for this tiny little person before he knew it was possible to be loved so much. I am so grateful to be a mom and to have to work at it. It's a hard job, but I was made for this.

Raspberry Cheesecake... CUPCAKES!!!

To give credit where credit is due, this recipe is from Annie's Eats and I found it on Pinterest. That has been my favorite thing lately. I thought I would give a really good recipe to start with, and have pictures with it so that one day I can make a blog book of just my recipes and hand it down. Wouldn't that be cool? So here comes the bombardment of cooking!

Yield
32 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the crust:
1½ cups graham cracker crumbs (I like crust, so I used 2 cups here)
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted (6 tbsp here)
3 tbsp. sugar (and 4 tbsp here)

For the topping:
6 oz. fresh raspberries
2 tbsp. sugar

For the filling:
2 lbs. cream cheese, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature

It is very important that the eggs and cream cheese are at room temperature. The eggs being at room temperature make the filling fluffy and light rather than too dense. The cream cheese is 100 time easier to mix at room temperature. That being said, put the cream cheese in your mixer bowl first so it can get to room temperature in there rather than in the wrapper. This makes it easier to get out of the package, and it seems to warm up a bit faster. It takes about 2 to 3 hours for the cheese to warm up, unless you cheat. The eggs take about 30 minutes and there is no cheating with them. 

Preheat the oven to 325. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. In a small bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups graham crackers, 3 tbsp sugar, and 4 tbsp melted unsalted butter. Stir with fork until all dry ingredients are moist. Press 1 tablespoon of the mixture into the bottom of each cupcake paper. I used a bottle to press the mixture firmly, any small sized cup would work as well. Bake for 5 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack.

To make the raspberry puree, combine 6 ounces of fresh raspberries with 2 tablespoons of sugar in a blender or food processor. Process until smooth, about a minute, then press through a mess sieve to remove the seeds. Using a bigger mess sieve (wire strainer) goes by a lot faster.

I just used a spoon to press the raspberry against the side of the sieve. Make sure you empty it often so it's easier for the juice to get through without the seeds in the way.

To make the cheesecake, beat the cream cheese (the stuff you let get to room temperature) on medium high speed in an electric mixer until fluffy. If you want to cheat, at least pull the cream cheese out of the fridge when you get all the ingredients out, then put the flat beater on the mixer and mix on stir making sure to stop every minute or so to scrape the sides and the beater. After about 5 minutes, change beaters to the wisk beater. Mix on medium high speed until fluffy. 

This is fluffy. It looks a little chunky, but it's definitely much smoother than a block of cream cheese.

Blend in 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth.

This is smooth. It should feel like frosting and come off the beater easily.

Mix in a pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. I never know how much a pinch is, so I used a dash from my salt shaker. Beat the eggs in one at a time, mixing well after each one. You'll know if it's mixed well if you no longer see any yellow in the bowl. 

To assemble, first replace each cupcake liner in the cupcake pans, spoon 3 tablespoons of the cheesecake batter over the crust in each cupcake liner. I spooned the 3 tbs for the first one and used a measuring cup to pour the same amount into each of the remaining cupcake liners. Don't over do it and put more than that amount in each cupcake. If you do, the filling will double in size in the oven and cause a sunken look to your cupcakes. It all tastes the same, but its kind of disappointing when you're expecting something beautiful to happen. Stirring just the cheesecake filling inside the cupcake liner before adding the puree helps prevent this as well. Dot 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry puree in a few dots over the cheesecake filling. Use the first couple cupcakes to decide just how much puree you want to use. Use a toothpick or wooden skewer to swirl the raspberry, creating the marble look. The more raspberry you add, the less marble you will get. 

Aren't they beautiful? The more small dots of raspberry you put, the easier it is to marble. 

Bake, still at 325, until the filling is set, so about 22 minutes. Don't  worry, they're gonna be puffed up, but they'll go back to normal. Transfer to cooling rack and let cool to room temperature. Then move to the fridge and let chill for at least 4 hours before serving. 

We had these at Ivan's blessing party and they were amazing! I think next time I'll actually use all the raspberry puree on the cupcakes and care a little less about the marbling. I hope all my hints help. I found them all very useful and it made my job so much easier.