Monday, May 19, 2008

superhero

Inspired by the movie Ironman (which was awesome! I loved Robert Downey Jr. in it.) and Kathy. I wanted to see what superhero I would be. Kind of a fun quiz....









Your results:
You are Supergirl
Lean, muscular and feminine. Honest and a defender of the innocent.




Super Girl
75%
Wonder Woman
70%
Robin
70%
Green Lantern
70%
Superman
65%
The Flash
65%
Spider-Man
60%
Hulk
50%
Iron Man
50%
Catwoman
45%
Batman
25%


Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...



















Saturday, May 17, 2008

White Chocolate Mousse Pie



For Dana's shower I decided to try a new recipe I had seen in
Family Circle Magazine. I made it while I was babysitting Joshua and Luke... Joshua was a big help. Especially when it came to the taste testing :)
The dessert ended up being a big hit and I promised to post it on the blog. So here you go girls. Enjoy :)

White Chocolate Mousse Pie

Makes: 12 servings
Prep: 15 minutes Chill: 3 hours or overnight Cook: 5 minutes

Ingredients
Crust:
13 chocolate cream-filled sandwich cookies, ground (such as Oreo)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
17 oval vanilla-and-chocolate sandwich cookies (such as Pepperidge Farm Milano)
Filling:
1-1/4 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
1-1/4 cups heavy cream
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
12 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Garnish:
1 pint strawberries, hulled and halved
2 cups frozen whipped topping (such as Cool Whip), thawed
Directions
1. Crust: Set aside 1 tablespoon of ground chocolate cookies for garnish. Stir together remaining ground cookies and butter in a bowl until combined. Press the mixture evenly over the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate. Arrange oval cookies around the edge of pie plate, alternating with vanilla and chocolate facing out.
2. Filling: In a small glass measuring cup, sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup of the cream and let stand 5 minutes to soften.
3. Combine cream cheese, white chocolate and gelatin mixture in small saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat for 6 minutes, stirring constantly, until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour into large bowl; place over ice bath. Stir until thickened and cooled.
4. Whip remaining 1 cup heavy cream in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Fold a third of the whipped cream into the white chocolate mixture until well-combined. Gently fold in the remaining whipped cream until just blended.
5. Spoon mixture into prepared crust and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.
6. Garnish: Before serving mound whipped topping in center of pie. Sprinkle with berries and reserved cookie crumbs.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Finally... a Diagnosis!!!

Feel free to skip over this post. I am basically logging this for my own record. If you are curious then read ahead :)
For the past six months or so, I have been trying to find out what was causing me to have some "minor" health issues. These have included stomach issues, tingling hands and feet (remember the wrist braces?), Raynaud's disease, and Amenorrhea (which I have every time I go off the pill). The no periods have been the driving force behind trying to find out what is going on. I know the idea of no period sounds like heaven to some people... but if you are planning to ever have kids, it is kind of necessary to have one :) After trying multiple Dr's. and getting no answers (except eliminating possible problems), my Electrolysis lady (thank you soooo much Tracy!!!) is the one who mentioned it could be a thyroid problem. Duh! I am always cold, have stomach issues and my mom has a thyroid disorder. After further investigation... I found out my Grandma on my mom's side had her thyroid removed and that my mom has Hashimoto's disease (which is a genetic autoimmune disease). I decided to go and see my mom's endocrinologist and Dr. Kutas knew exactly what to test for. He found some nodules on my thyroid and had me go for a ultra sound and some blood work. Today I got the results. I have been diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease, just like my mom :) I was actually relieved that he found something wrong with me and that it is easily treated. The surprise was that he also found out that I am borderline Diabetic!! That was not something I was expecting. I don't even eat any sweets except for my frozen rice milk dessert! My Aunt Sue was diagnosed with diabetes... so I guess that runs in my family. Luckily, with a good diet (the gluten free really helps) and my exercise habits, I should be able to keep things under control. Right now, I am basically hypoglycemic, which makes sense considering how I get irritable and shaky when I go too long with out food and that I am occasional light headed.
So it has been an interesting journey towards discovering why certain things have been going on with my body. I feel like I have learned a lot by talking to different people and always reading up on different conditions I hear about. It is kind of crazy to think this could have been developing since I was in my late teens. Just goes to show... no matter how healthy a person may appear to be, when you feel like something is out of wack with your body, you really should get it checked out. As my friend Rebecca and I say... "I am not a hypochondriac. I am just in tune with my body!"

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Happy Birthday Joshua!

Joshua turned 3 on Monday. I can't believe how time flies! He is such a big boy and even got some new big boy underpants from Kori and Brad. I love this picture of him. The underpants were a little to big for him and as he was jumping around due to his excitement over all of his new birthday present (this kid really scored!) his pants kept falling down! It was hilarious! To keep them on, he had to hike them up really high, creating this little Urkel look with his new workman goggles. We celebrated his birthday on Sunday with both families. He let us know that "I am 3 now". When he was told the next day that it was his birthday, he said "I am 4 now?" The kid is so smart. I love you Joshua!

Saturday, May 10, 2008

I swear... Scouts Honor

I have given Haws a hard time in the past for not being an Eagle Scout... but it looks like fate has given him another chance to fulfill his scout duties. Haws has been called to be the Scout master over the 14-15 year olds in our ward. Recently he has been involved in a lot of scouting activities in preparation for the week long scout camp in June. The only down side as far as I am concerned is that all these outings use up some of his vacation time and he had to buy his own Scout uniform. Surprisingly, they are not cheap! But you know what they say about a man in uniform... he does look pretty hot in the green and brown!

Monday, May 5, 2008

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Our New Journey

Sadly, after over two years of loyal service... it was time to turn my caliber back in to the dealership. This car has been good to me. No accidents, only one parking ticket (which I fought and won!) and 1 towing incident. It has seen me through the early stages of dating Haws, our first road trip, our engagement and marriage. I have taken it on "girl trips" and all over Southern California and the boarding states. Needless to say, it has been good to me and I am truly grateful.
But Yippee! I am so excited to take on a new "Journey" with my trade. Haws has been so excited for us to get "Our Journey" (even though I will be the primary driver of the vehicle). I think he is slowly warming up to the fact that when the 4Runner kicks the bucket, he will most likely be joining the Dodge family. There are really so many benefits to buying a dodge, it would be silly to purchase anything else... wouldn't you say?

Brad did a wonderful job showing me all the new features on my new vehicle. I am really excited about being able to hook my ipod up and play it through the radio. Also, the U-Connect is going to be a really good feature for my considering I make most of my calls in the car and now the new law will be in effect that we all have to be "hands free".

I wanted to have a photo of Brad handing me the car keys... classic car purchasing photo. Brad really is a good salesperson and he showed me everything I needed to know and took good care of my. Did he really have a choice?

The best part is that once again... Kori and I have twin cars! We both trader our calibers in for Journeys this week. Here is us posing outside of GAYS (great american yogurt) to celebrate our new rides.

So if you are looking to set out on a new Journey yourself... give Brad a call at Glenn E. Thomas Dodge in Long Beach. You will be taken good care of :)