Woo Hoo, it's official, they are building and In N Out Burger in Draper, Utah. That definitely makes it a little easier to stay here in UT. They announced it last week on the news, it will be opening late summer, early fall this year! Hallellujah! Man lately I have been dreaming of In N Out, I'm so happy it's true! I'm so excited I just had to blog about it. I guess there going to be opening up several, one in West Jordan too the same day, and then Orem and Layton maybe.

So Jim my computer genius, husband, was able to recover the pics, so they are below, but now the blog reads funny cuz I had to move stuff around to get the pics in the right place.

My sister Kolette, hooked me on this DOVE brand ice cream, it's called unconditional chocolate and let me tell you it will satisfy that chocolate craving like no other. I think it is also a great remedy for bad days, pms, or just because. They sell it at Smith's in Utah or Fry's in AZ. Try it, you won't be sorry, the layers and layers of chocolate just make me happy thinking about it.

Also, we tried the Charred Chili Rellenos on Monday and they are soooo good. Jim was like this is a 10, on a scale of one to 10. We made them w/o the jalapeno and they were still spicy enough. The poblano peppers aka pasilla peppers were not too spicy the first day, but we ate the leftovers the next day and they were hot. We also added ground beef, but the recipe has them as vegetarian which would probably taste just as fabulous. Anyways this dish was an a+ for presentation and flavor.

OK so I just added a section called recipes I love. These are links to recipes I have tried and love, not just like but love. So if you are looking for some yummies check this out. This past week I made the Chicken Scaloppine it is one of our very favorites, tastes just like the restaurant, SO GOOD. Instead of the white wine, I use chicken broth and instead of pancetta I just use a thin cut bacon, tastes the same, and we cut the butter in half and it is still great. It takes some effort but the effort is worth it when you know it will turn out this delicious, it is a great meal to impress company :).

The BYU brownies in my opinion taste even better than the ones you can get at BYU, they are fresher I guess. Anyway this has become a favorite since I found the recipe last year. The brownie is sooo moist. And something that makes them extra delicious I found was adding organic, dutch cocoa, not just the hershey's brand. They are sooooo good that way.

So probably b/c I'm pregnant I've been having lots of food cravings lately and just thought I'd share some of my yummy stuff with you all :). This pregnancy I have been craving Mexican food and avocados with lemon. So I was very happy to get a bit of my mexican fix when we went to AZ for Christmas.
P.S. I am always on the lookout for yummy recipes, so if you have any I should try let me know.
I had pics of the stuff we made, but they got deleted (along with all our Christmas pics and video) in the middle of downloading to our computer, UGH! I'll have to take some when I make it again.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We did, it was great to see family and be in warmer weather for a little while. So I am sitting here wondering how everyone else does it. How do you keep up with blogs, emails, and facebook. I must admit I am feeling a bit overwhelmed and so that makes me just not want to do any of it. You know the "all or nothing" mentality. But I am determined to at least keep up my blog :). I guess that is one of my new year's resolutions.
Today we had a check up for the unborn baby, all is well, she is healthy and moving plenty, I am already uncomfortable and am wishing that I was 35 and not just 25 weeks along. I am going against the grain a bit and keeping my Christmas decorations up longer than norm. So we will go right from Christmas to Valentines, my other favorite time of year :).

As you know, it is Christmas time! We had some fun trying to get a pic of us without someone behind the camera. I think next time we will plan more in advance!

This past year our home has been filled with rocks and sticks and fishing poles, lots of running and lots of dirt. Jared has filled our home with tons of laughter and joy and rough housing. He is definitely all boy. And while we haven't yet had the snakes and snails and puppy dog tails we know it is just a matter of time.

And soon our house will be filled with ....

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice because.....

IT'S a GIRL!

We found out on Wednesday that we will be having a baby girl in April and we are very excited.

So Jared is growing like crazy and he is so much fun to be around. He is learning all kinds of new words, like light, boat, outside, more- that is usually for food he uses this one frequently. He loves to dance to music and gets into it with his whole body. He also loves to go outside with Dad, no matter the weather, rain, snow, cold, hot, just being outside playing in the dirt and collecting rocks and sticks is awesome to him. He has learned to tell his parents no when he doesn't want something and emphatically shakes his head. He is just a ton of fun to be around. We are so happy to have him be a part of our family.
I am also very grateful for my wonderful hubby, who is the brains behind the cute paper on my blog. I am so grateful for everything he has been doing around the house since I've been pregnant. He has taken on his responsiblities of work everyday and his busy YM/Scoutmaster calling in addition to doing the dishes every day for the last 4 months, yep EVERYDAY, to changing stinky diapers. He is my hero!! I am starting to feel a little more up to housework and such so I am starting to take on my load again, but I sure appreciate all he has done! So this is just my little thanks to my family. I sure love and appreciate them.

He didn't really enjoy having the head part on, he couldn't see very well, so he kept pulling it off. These are some of the pics that actually came out right.

Here is Jared in his Halloween costume. We took him to Gardner's Village which was totally decked out with pumpkins and witches for Halloween. He is an elephant, isn't he so precious?

Jared as elephant - his first Halloween.

I am finally updating the blog YAY! I have a good reason for not having updated the blog in a while. You will see the reason above. Yep we are having another baby. We are very excited and very surprised that everything happened so quickly this time, since with Jared it took 4 years and lots of fertility doctor visits. This pregnancy has also been a lot better, I don't feel as sick. You may be asking how did we get a pic of the baby already, well we went to the doctor on our 12 week visit and they couldn't find the heart beat, and that made me slightly nervous and then they said that b/c they couldn't find the heart beat they would have to do an ultrasound, so we were excited about that. And voila, here is the baby at 12 weeks, it was swimming and moving quite a bit so everything looked great. So I have my 16 week appt on Tuesday and I'm kinda hoping they won't be able to find the heart beat again, b/c this time the baby is old enough to find out what we are having. Jim is really hoping for a girl. I would love a girl of course, but will be equally as happy for a boy buddy for Jared.

Happy Anniversary to Mom and Dad. It was there 41st wedding anniversary yesterday. Many thanks to them for being so committed to each other all these years. I am so grateful that they have stayed together especially when so many people are getting divorced theses days. In honor of their anniversary I made a little scrapbook page. Love you Mom and Dad. May you have many more happy anniversaries.

So we have been pretty busy at our house lately b/c we had a minor flood. We were just feeling pretty good about our house being all fixed up and everything and then, the flood. Jim had gone to scout camp for a week and on Friday night July14th the day before he was supposed to return I started the laundry and went out with Jared. When we came back 2 1/2 hours later I walked into the laundry room and heard squish squish. I looked down and there was water all over the floor, and I could still hear the washer filling. So I looked inside and it was totally full and coming over the basket inside. Anyway, I pulled up the lid so it stopped filling and then I took the baby inside who was sleeping, yea, and I ran downstairs and opened our storage room where the water was pouring out of the light fixtures, all four of them. So I ran back up and tried to call the neighbors. They gave a few suggestions, turn off the water to the washer, drain it. So I did all that and then the Scotts came over and the 3 of them and I started to fix the damage. We pulled everything off the floor in the laundry room b/c the floor was soaked. Anyway to make a long story short, we had to pull up the carpet and take out the pad and unload all of our stuff. Then I called the insurance and they sent Service Master out the next day with tons of fans, and all the carpet was pulled up around the laundry room and downstairs in the rooms near the storage room, b/c the pad soaks up the water and spreads it. So that was as far as it got before we could get the pad up. Anyway, the service master guy had to pull down the ceiling which was bowing, b/c of the water, and pulled out lots of insulation which soaked up the water. So here is a pic of our now unfinished storage closet. So we have been really busy coordinating people to come fix it and doing our laundry at friends homes, to whom we are grateful for all the help. SO we just got our washer fixed yesterday, and I am soooo happy. It turns out the filling tube was completely detached and so the water was just pouring out. So now we know how to deal with the flooding of the basement.

We had lots of fun looking at all of the animals. Jared loved it.



We went to a bird show where the birds would fly directly over our heads.

Here are Jared's pics from the Birthday Zoo trip, to the Hogle Zoo.

I just had to write a quick note. Today was Jared's bday. I took the day off (most of it anyhow) and we all went to the Hogle Zoo in SLC. Morning was cool but warmed up quickly. We had a ton of fun - Jared seemed to enjoy everything. We rode the train, carosel saw bears, a white alligator, a bird show, Giraffe's, Gorrillas and a bunch more critters. When we left Jared was asleep as soon as he got in the car. He went from going 100 mph to zzzzzzz before we even had a chance to leave the parking lot. Karla will be posting pics probably tomorrow.

And here is some random funny stuff, I just found these pics and they made me laugh so I thought I'd share. We took these before this movie came out and then I actually saw it, sorry to say and would not recommend it to anyone. That said, I still enjoy looking pretty cute and skinny next to Patrick Dempsey, don't worry, Jim's not jealous, he took the pics, good photographer huh.
I'd say he took off more than ten pounds, hee hee.

The light looks so awesome the way it filters through the clouds.

So one of the things that I love, love, love about Arizona are the amazing sunsets, anytime of the year. Here are a couple pics of just one.

Kristen made a super yummy lemon poppy seed flag cake for the occasion, it tasted as good as it looks.



So here are some pics from the 4th of July Party, with Jared's cake. He had so much fun eating it all by himself. He was a bit hesitant at first, but it didn't take him long to warm up and dig in with both hands :). He has shown a preference for chocolate already and thoroughly enjoyed this cake. So Cute!

July 4th - what a great country that we live in. We enjoy so many freedoms - I am very greatful. Today we are in Arizona and enjoying the 100+ degree heat. I am also very grateful for our pool. It is crystal clear - I wouldn't call it cool (98?) , but it is nice. Jared's bday is on Monday but we will be celebrating it today with Karla's family. BBQ and swimming. I am happy to have the day off.

Yeah we are finally blogging for real!  I wanted to post a few cute pics of Jared who's first birthday will be on Monday, can't believe that.  Time has flown.  He is walking and babbling and has lots of teeth.  He is the light and joy of our lives :).