It's a...

BOY!

Oh Christmas Tree

We might not have hot water or even be sleeping here, but we have our Christmas Tree!

I just had to get it up, so Haws and I went and picked out a fresh tree, had it chopped down and took it home. I love real Christmas Tree's. I know they can be a hassle, but I love the smell. I don't think I can ever own a fake one. Just my personal preference.

Why I Haven't been blogging

The weekend after Thanksgiving we started our move from our cozy little apartment into our new house!
It has been a crazy few weeks, but we finally got everything out of the apt today and handed over the keys. That felt good. Now we are just waiting until we can actually sleep at our new place! Our water heater hasn't been working, so we have been trying to figure out the problem and get someone out to fix it. This is harder than one would think... but I think we may actually be able to be staying there next week :) Thank goodness my parents have been kind enough to have us stay with them while we wait for hot water.

This is the apt as we were moving... what a mess!

Thank you guys for coming and helping out! We couldn't have done it with out your help.

This was just one of many trips. How did we fit so much into that 2 bedroom apt???

The new place... still trying to get settled in.

And another reason I haven't been blogging is because of this little one!

It is crazy how such a small thing can make such a huge impact on how you feel. I have just not felt like myself... tired, sick and eating things I thought I would never touch! I never thought I would be so grateful for Del Taco :)
So I am 11 1/2 weeks pregnant. We couldn't be more excited! This has been something we have been trying for for a long time and we are so happy everything is going so well. I had a miscarriage right before this, so I was a little nervous at first, but now I am just excited! The best part is seeing the ultrasounds and seeing the baby move around. It's crazy to think that is inside of me! Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and being so positive. It really helped.
Baby Hexberg is coming near the end of June.

TATER TOT CASSEROLE

Taeler and Dana welcomed their baby girl Raegan Elarie into the world on Nov 14th.
She was 7lbs 4oz and 20 inches and beautiful!

I wish I had a picture of the fam, but Taeler would have killed me.

Once they all got home, me and the girls took dinner over. I made my mom's tater tot casserole and I promised to give everyone the recipe. So here it is!
I made it again for us, with out the corn. So the pictures are minus the corn.

TATER TOT CASSEROLE

1lb extra lean ground beef
1 envelope onion soup mix
2 cans cream of mushroom (or celery) soup
1 (10-12oz) frozen bag of corn
1 bag of tater tots
1 c. grated cheese

Brown beef and drain. Add in soup mix, soups and corn. Stir until warm. Layer half of tater tots into a 9x13 pan. Pour in meat mixture and cover with the rest of tater tots. Sprinkle cheese over the top and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbling and tater tots are crispy.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
I hope your night is full of ghouls and goblins!

Here is a little treat for those gluten free peps out there.
Everyone will love this as well! Haws didn't even know the difference between the gluten and non-gluten version!

This makes 2 loaves. When I made it, I just cut everything in half to make one loaf and it turned out great!

Light Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

1 (15oz) can of pumpkin puree
1/4 c oil
3/4 c applesauce
4 eggs
2/3 c water
3 c sugar

3 1/3 c gluten free all purpose baking mix
1/2 tsp xathan gum
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cloves
1 1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9x5x3 in loaf pans.
In mixer, mix pumpkin, oil, applesauce, eggs, water and sugar until well blended. In separate bowl, combine baking mix, baking soda and powder, salt and all the spices. Stir dry ingredients and chocolate chips into the wet mixture until blended. Pour into pans.

Bake for about 40 mins or until toothpick comes out clean.

Robin and Cody

My very dear friend Robin got married last weekend to the wonderful Cody.
I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids and had so much fun being a part of their big day.
Aren't they a great looking couple? They are even better once you get to know them. Cody really is the perfect guy for Robin and I am so happy that she found him and gave him a chance :)
Who knew a Christmas scarf would lead to a marriage... you just never know.
Love you guys!

Coming out from the Temple.

The Wedding Party

Outside the Santa Ana Country Club where they had their reception. It was beautiful!

The Girls

Cody proposed to Robin inside a photo booth at the fair to capture the moment. So it only seemed right to have a photo booth at the wedding to capture those moments with all of their guest.

Here are just a few.

These are all the girls who get electrolysis from Tracey. She is awesome and Robin has been a great marketing person for her. These girls are nice and smooth :)

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Ever since one of my clients told me about cooking a stew in a pumpkin, I have been wanting to try this.
It was super easy and turned out delicious!
There are a lot of different things you can put inside the pumpkin. Any type of stew would probably work. Perfect for fall weather... if we ever get it!

Here is what I did:

One small pumpkin
1 can organic red beans
1 can organic diced tomatoes
1/2 med onion, chopped
1 zucchini, cut lengthwise and chopped
1 tsp cumin, curry, garlic salt, italian seasonings
1/2 tsp nutmeg, cinnamon, red pepper


Preheat oven to 325. Cut off top of pumpkin and spoon out all the seeds. Combine the rest of the ingredients and place in the pumpkin. If you have left over filling, you can place it in a separate baking dish and cook along side the pumpkin.
Cover the pumpkin in foil in case it spills and place in a baking dish. Cook with the top off for about 2 hours. When serving, scrap the insides of the pumpkin and mix the flesh with the stew. Yummy!

Pa's Pumpkin Patch

I don' know why this is coming out in bold... but oh well.
The other day my mom was watching Joshua and Luke, so we decided to take them to the pumpkin patch. Have you seen the pumpkin patched lately? They are not just your pumpkins, but a small fair! Crazy, but the boys loved it.
Joshua was daring enough to go down the big slide.
This picture makes me crack up every time I see it. I had to share.
Check out the look on his face! Priceless.

I also love this picture of Lukey. He was inside the petting zoo, loving the pigs.
Something about the color of this picture makes him looks a little devilish :)

Even I got to go for a ride on the chu chu train.

SO EXCITED!!!

I was so excited when I was shopping at Trader Joe's today and found this new product!

I have been craving mac and cheese for some reason and even thought about trying to make my own gluten free version... but how convenient is this? I tried it out today and I was very pleased with the taste, given I haven't had the regular stuff in a while. I still want to make some homemade kind... anyone have a good recipe???
By the way... this is even better with TJ's organic ketchup. It's the best!

September baby girls

I am finally getting these pictures up of the two beautiful baby girls who entered the world in September. They both decided to come a little later than expected, we are so glad they are finally here!

Kelly was due Sept 10th. On September 13th (which is my mom's birthday too!) my dear friend Kelly and her husband Stan had their baby girl. They named her Teagan Grace and she was 7lbs, 9oz. and 20 inches. She is adorable! Thanks to needing to be born via c-sections, she has a beautifully shaped head :)

Kelly, don't kill me for putting this picture up, it was the only one I had of the 3 of you. Kelly is going to be such a great mom and Stan is such a happy father. You can tell Teagan has really stolen his heart.

I love holding newborns, they are so content. Even in my arms.

Then my friends and coworkers, Rebecca and Paul, welcomed their baby girl, Isabella Raine on September 21rst. Rebecca was due Sept 9th and did not find out what she was having, so there was a lot of anticipation leading up to the birth. They also had the baby at home, all natural! We are so happy everything went so well. Isabella was 8lbs, 9.5oz and 22 inches. She is a cutie and mom and dad are in love.

CAN SOMEOME PLEASE TELL ME....

What is this fruit??? We were walking in my parents neighborhood and came across two trees bearing this fruit. I picked one (don't tell) because I wanted to take it home to try it. Now I am afraid it is some kind of forbidden fruit and it will poison me! Anyone know what this is???

Mediterranean Chicken

I made this crockpot meal for the Nelson's who just welcomed a new baby girl into their family. There have been a couple of births this months and I will post some pictures of the families soon.
I got this recipe from Woman's Day magazine and then made a few tweeks of my own. :)
It is easy and delicious!

Mediterranean Chicken
serves 6-8

4 cups butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 lbs chicken breasts, fat trimmed, cut into chunks
2 red bell peppers
3 cans (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes in juice
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried apricots
1 tsp each cumin, minced garlic and salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 can (15oz) chickpeas

Serve with Brown Rice


1.Mix all ingredients except for chickpeas into a 3 qt or larger crock pot.
2.Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 7-9 hours, until chicken and vegetables are tender
3. Stir in chickpeas and serve over brown rice


Per serving:
234 cal
4g fat (1g sat fat)
31g carbs
5g fiber
63mg cholesterol
19g protein

G.E.T. Turns 100!

My dad's dealership is celebrating it's 100 years of business this year. There was a great article in the Long Beach Press Telegram and I wanted to share it with you. The actual article had a really good picture of my dad in the show room... if you get the paper, check out this past Sunday's and you can see it. I am so proud of the legacy of the dealership and the intergrity that my grandpa and dad have had in running the business.

I have been a "dodge girl" since I was born and feel like Glenn E Thomas Dodge is a huge part of my life. Here's to another 100 years!

http://www.presstelegram.com/columnists/ci_13379321

Gluten Free Coconut Chip Coffee Cake

This is the recipe for the gluten free cake I made for Haws' birthday. If you don't need to eat gluten free, just use all-purpose flour in place of the GF baking mix.

Coconut Chip Coffee Cake

1/4c butter

1/3c apple sauce

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups gluten free baking mix (I use arrowhead mills)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1c light sour cream

Filling/topping:

1/2c sugar

1/2c flaked unsweetened coconut

1/2c semisweet chocolate chips

1/3c chopped walnuts

In mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar and then adds in eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Combine baking mix (flour), baking powder, baking soda and salt in separate bowl. Add dry mix and sour cream alternately to creamed mixture.

Spoon in layers, half topping/filling into greased bundt pan, followed by half of mixture, the rest of filling and the rest of the mixture.

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Cool for 10 min before removing from pan.

makes 12-16 servings

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAWS!

Today my wonderful husband turned 33. I am not going to go on and on about how great he is, cause if you know him, I don't have to convince you of anything :)

I love this man!

I always say he has a hard time multi-tasking, but look at him go! Talking on the phone and still controlling the remote!

We went out to dinner last night to The Clay Oven in Irvine for Indian food (one of Haws' favorites). This place was soooo good! We highly recommend it. Then we went to the district in Tustin and saw a movie, came home and had the cake I made. It was really good and gluten free! It was my first try converting a normal cake recipe into a gluten free recipe and it turned out good. I will post the recipe once I get it back from my mom :)

A few more additions...

We have a niece! This is a first on both sides of our families. Bronwyn Mae aka Winnie, made her entrance into this world on Aug 16th. Everything went well and we are so happy for Jared, Sarah and Thor. I can't get over how much blond hair she has! I have never seen a baby with that much hair that wasn't black.

Here is little Thor helping his sister with his pacifier. We can't wait to see them all next month for the baby blessing.

Also, this month we put Haws' trusty old '95 4 Runner to rest. It was pretty close to kicking the bucket. This baby had almost 300,000 miles on it!!!! The young men in our ward would affectionately refer to it as "The Dirt Limo". May the dirt limo rest in peace (although Haws is hoping someone will buy it and it can live on...).

So he finally became a part of the Dodge family and bought a 1500 Ram Quad Cab!

He was a little nervous about buying a new car since he has never paid more than $2,000 for a vehicle, but he loves his new truck! He will sometimes ask me if there is anywhere we need to go just so he can drive it around! He had probably the best sales experience ever thanks to Brad and John over at Glenn E Thomas Dodge. It helps to be related :)

I wanted to post this shot for my dad. Three GET vehicles all in a row! There is even a caliber down the row, but I couldn't get it in the shot. Here we are representing!

Our next addition is a new microwave. Our "old" one was a wedding gift from Haws' brother Wade. It was really nice, but after only two years, it exploded! So we had to buy a new one and here it is :)

Montana 2009

I have taken such a long time to post about our trip to Montana. I just wanted to put some time into, but realized that is never going to happen. So here it is... a bunch of pictures from our vacation, not any special order, just pure randomness. We had so much fun while we were there and hope that the Bendheim's will have us back again sometime. They were the best hosts and we fell in love with their place. Haws and I have both said that we would love to move to Montana. We would have to live in whitefish on the lake of course :)

Peter and Brad in the boat. Peter was an amazing driver and he got everyone out of the water on the wake board or the skies.

I actually tried out wake boarding this time around. It was a lot of fun, but I am still a water ski lover.

Brooke and John announced that they are having a baby girl! We are all so excited for them to have a girl in their family. She is due in January.

Taking a walk through Glacier Park

Playing phase ten on the deck during some down time. Nice view of the lake, huh?

We were so happy to see Dana and Chase. We miss having them around all the time. Can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Even with a bum shoulder, my dad hit the water.

Haws didn't get to wakeboard the last time we were in Montana due to his knee surgery. So this year he was determined to get out there and he did awesome!

Debra wore a drysuit to ski. It was hilarious watching her when she was in the water. The suit would blow up with air and she looked like the marshmallow man!

SO COLD!!!

We flew up with Brad, Kori and Tanner. Tanner was such a good little traveler!

Haws rekindled his "bromance" with Redge. It was a sweet reunion.