Funny Faces

I was feeding the baby his nanas when he started making the siliest faces I've ever seen! I was cracking up so much that I was barely able to snap these two. I think he was trying to sneeze.

Sunday Onsie

I thought this onsie was soo adorable. G-ma Hanson bought it for him and it's perfect for church! This was right after church a few weeks ago.

Cute Flannel Nighties

I LOVE these jammies. The bright colors look good on the baby too!

Almost Crawling

These were taken when the baby was first learning to crawl. He was almost there, but not quite crawling yet. He'd get up on his hands and knees and look at me expectantly, but wasn't sure how to coordinate everything.

He's after my leg!! Ahh!!

Without Further Ado

Funny story:

Pastor and I have been searching for a device to hook up to the computer that allows access the memory on our SD card. We've spent nearly $20 on little USB thingies that act as an adaptor. Come to find out, our computer had a SD memory reader installed on it already.

We felt silly when we realized this, but it's wonderful because now we have nice pictures to share.

So without further ado, the gap in our lives . . .

Daddy Feeding Duane

Duane has gotten so used to his solid foods that he throws a fit when he doesn't get them right when he wants them.

Papas a la Huancaina

This year our ward Christmas party was dubbed "Christmas Around the World" and Pastor was asked to make a traditional Christmas dish from Peru. Pastor really wanted to make this Papas a la Huancaina, which I've had only once before and could only speculate on how it's made.

Papas a la Huancaina, according to Pastor, is a traditional Peruvian food that is made on any major holiday like Christmas and Easter.

Pastor knew he wanted to make it, but had no idea how. His mom did all the cooking when he was home in Peru and he couldn't for the life of him recall what to do. He knew we needed eggs, olives, potatoes, lettuce, cheese, crackers, milk and peppers, but he didn't know how to say the kind of crackers, pepper or cheese we needed in English. I could only guess and was all for getting the peppers from a bottle. We bought Mozzarella cheese, hoping that was the right kind.

Thanks to our friend Roy, we knew that the cheese needed to be white and fresh and that the peppers were orange and spicy. Needless to say, we didn't get bottled peppers. Luckily, on our way home from the store, we found a Latino market that had hot Chili peppers stocked in their freezer. I've never used Chili peppers before and didn't know this was the one we were after. The only orange pepper I could think of was a bell pepper.

Anyway, I'm posting the recipe we used, because it was so hard to locate and get just right and find all the right ingredients.

Papas a la Huancaina

You will need:

Feta Cheese (we used Mozzarella and it turned out okay), milk, 4 hard boiled eggs (peeled), large pitted olives, saltine crackers (we actually used salted butter crackers), 2-3 Amarillo peppers (use chili peppers if you can't find them), 6-7 large potatoes (we used Yukon Gold, which took 8-9), vegetable oil, garlic powder, salt and lettuce

Steps to follow:

Boil the potatoes whole until you can stick a fork in the biggest and the fork comes away clean.

On a large tray or dish, arrange lettuce so it looks pretty. The lettuce is only for looks, but is traditional. Cut the boiled potatoes lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices and arrange in one flat row. Try not to overlap them too much because they will be doused in the cheese sauce.

In a blender, combine 2-3 seeded Amarillo peppers to taste (warning, you may want to wear gloves while handling, my skin burned for hours after), one cap of veggie oil, about half a pack of saltine crackers, 1 cup Feta cheese, 1 tsp garlic powder and salt, and milk. The goal is to get a very thin cake batter-like texture. That's what the crackers are for, to thicken the batter. So only add the milk a tiny bit at a time until you get the desired texture. Blend these ingredients together until smooth. Then pour the cheesy sauce over the potatoes arranged on the platter.

Once the sauce is poured, halve the hard boiled eggs and arrange on platter. We just scattered them around the potatoes and mainly used them for decoration. Then scatter 6 or 7 large pitted olives as well. I added a few sprigs of cilantro to make it really pretty.

Remember that this can be altered to taste, this is just the way we did it. You can add more or less cheese and peppers or whatever you like to taste. I was delightfully surprised at how well it did turn out. The only Papas a la Huancaina I'd had was cold and the potatoes were hard. Not a very good combination. So if you're in the mood for something new, this is nice, delicious and mildly spicy recipe. We just had such a hard time finding the right things that I thought I would share my trial and error. :o)

Baby and Music

The baby really enjoys music. Whenever Pastor and I turn on any kind, he'll stop what he's doing to look for the source. He'll sit and listen to it as well.

Thanksgiving

There are actually a few more photos in our digital camera, but it ran out of juice so we took some with the camcorder.

Oh man, that smile gets me every time! *sigh*

This is my brother and his gang. Chris, the one in the sunglasses, is a real good pall of Paul's and comes on Holidays to visit him. My brother's date is Chelsea, the one in the pink.

My great grandpa Armistead holding his great-great grandchildren. The adorable little girl is Kennedy, which I'm hoping I spelled right. Great grandpa Armistead has cancer that's spread all over his body. We are counting every day with him as an added blessing.

This is my little brother Jared and my little sister Nancy way after the dinner party took place. After Pastor and I went to see twilight, we watched my dad's kids so he and mama could go see it as well. They were kind enough to watch baby Duane so we thought we'd return the favor.

Tagaroo

Humm . . . seven random facts about me? I guess I'd better make it interesting!

1) I claim to be a cat/horse lover, but really goats hold my heart. My dad had some dairy goats that I milked every morning and night while we had them. They were the most loving and cuddly creatures I've ever come across! I love goats and would love to have a dairy farm full of them one day.

2) I like to write love stories. I'd like to have them published one day, but we shall see what the future holds. I just adore a good love story.

3) I do eyelash extensions from home. If any of you ladies want to try it out, give me a shout.

4) I paint/draw pretty well and love doing it, but it takes the right inspiration to get me going.

5) It's sad in way to admit this, but the highlight of my week is grocery shopping with Pastor. It takes nearly the entire day, or a good chunk of it, and I always learn something new about my husband. The baby absolutely loves going to Wal-Mart as well and it keeps him entertained. I think he's only cried twice while there in his entire life.

6) I love things that glitter and sparkle. I know a lot of people do, but it's kind of an obsession for me. Just ask my mom about fairy dust at my wedding. LoL

7) I wish Christmas was in July so all my favorite things about a year could be meshed into one. I love Christmas time, but I despise the snow with a passion. It's pretty from the window and lovely to play in, but driving is a whole different story. That itself scares me enough that I dislike snow. If Christmas was in July it would be warm and I could BBQ the turkey!

The seven people I'm tagging are:

1) Janie, who was the last person I saw and knew today besides my family.

2) Pastor even though he'll never do it.

3) Tracie

5) Brittany

6) Esmeralda

7) Stevie

twilight

I finally did it! Like I mentioned in the previous blog, Pastor and I went to see Twilight. I was so thrilled that we were able to do so by ourselves on our first real date since the baby was born.

I really enjoyed the movie, but it was a tad drab for my taste. I like action and passion like the book. A lot of the elements were captured from the book, but it was more monotone in my opinion. It's not the same when you have certain expectations from the novel. I think it could have been so much more.

Happy Happy

Yesterday Duane turned seven months old! We had a double celebration by leaving him with his first real babysitting. Pastor and I went to see Twilight while mama and my dad watched the baby. They said that he was really good and crawled all over the place. I was a little surprised because the baby does crawl, but he never does more than a little scoot with me in the room. Sometimes I'll leave the room and come back a few minutes later and he's moved all the way across the carpet. He just knows that if I'm there, I'll pick him up. When I leave him to his own devices, he crawls.

Besides the exciting news of the baby just learning to crawl, he is also getting on his bum from being on his tummy. This was another thing that would shock me when I left a room. I always make sure to put him on his back so I have that much more time. When I come back, he's sitting up but he wouldn't do it while I was there. I finally got him to do it for the camera and Pastor will post the video later.

Baby boy is getting so big and we love him tons!

Baby Update

Duane went to the doctor's yesterday. He got three pokes in the legs (shots) and has been terribly grumpy and clingy since then. When the doctor came into the room to do the regular check up, Duane was sitting up on the table and smashing the tissue paper they put down with his hands. The doctor looked in shock and said, "I can't believe he's sitting up so well!" Duane was sitting by himself. I was standing right next to the table just in case, but he was doing wonderfully on his own. "Usually babies are able to sit up, but they topple over within a few seconds." The doctor informed us.

We were pleased, but not shocked. To us our baby is what we are used to. He is bigger and stronger than most other babies and was one week late so he had more time to develop. Now he is pulling himself up on tables and sofas, but he isn't crawling. He hates to spend time on his tummy, but is growing more and more used to the idea. He can now get on all fours and rock back and forth.

Baby Duane weighed 18 pounds and 13 ounces and was 27 inches long as of yesterday morning. He has just recently started taking an 8 ounce bottle on top of nursing and solid foods. The solid foods I've managed to work into his diet are rice cereal, yams, carrots and bananas. He is growing strong and healthy and is a huge weight to lug around! LoL

Lysine & Cold Sores

In past years, I have had serious colds sores. I know some individuals who get them and the sore stays about the size of a lentil. Well, my cold sores get really big. Day after day it will grow until it is nothing more than an enormous glob of blistering gunk. When they get to this stage, cold sores are horrendously painful. They pulsate and throb and bleed and gush.

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine said that he read online somewhere that Lysine helps cold sores. I, of course, had a gigantic one at the time. Why else would someone so readily offer information like that? Anyway, I was desperate. It was a stressful time in my life and stress = cold sores when you are prone to them. One right after another affixed itself to my lower left lip. They were so big that I still have scars from them today. I'd been to the doctor's and had to pay $60 dollars for a prescription drug with only about 12-13 doses per bottle. It worked but hardly seemed worth the $60 dollars. I'd rather suffer through the pain! So I bought a bottle of the Wal-Mart brand L-Lysine. The next time I felt that little bump and sting of a cold sore, I took a couple of the pills. The cold sore never got bigger than a lentil and went away in a couple days time as opposed to weeks.

This is one of those things that I feel I need to share. I consulted with my doctor about taking Lysine while nursing and he said it was okay, but it's always wise to double check. With all the advertisements for expensive remedies used to alleviate cold sores, a cheap $5.00 bottle of Lysine seems a breeze. So if you ever have cold sores, I strongly suggest looking into it. You do have to take the Lysine the moment you feel a cold sore coming on, or it will just be all that longer for it to heal.

Possessive

Our little guy is getting a wee bit possessive of his things. When we were shopping for groceries yesterday, we let him play with a toy as we were shopping for a new bottle. He played with it and loved the noises it made when he hit the right buttons, but when we took it away, he screamed. We gave it back and he calmed down. He played with it for another few moments then we had to put it back. He cried and arched his back and all of that fun stuff. What a silly little man. Perhaps he shall have that toy for Christmas! :o)

Delay

There is going to be a delay in pictures. I'm taking them, but we're actually using a digital camera now instead of the video camera. I got my old one fixed and we just need the gadget that hooks the memory card to the computer. So have patience, more pictures are coming soon!

Christmas Music

So I've added Christmas music on my blog. I know it's early, but the earlier the better! I love Christmas and Christmas music. My favorite song is O Holy Night. It's not my favorite Christmas song, it's my favorite song out of all categories of music. It's the only song that makes me cry every time I hear it! I love, love, love Christmas!

What is the World Coming to?

I'm sorry, I have to say something about the fiasco that happened in the Granite School District. A 19 year old boy was caught red handed with a 13 year old girl. They were both in his car with their shirts off. How did he meet this girl and wind up in his car with her? He was a substitute teacher at her school. He was texting her back and forth all day after getting her number. I can't imagine what people are thinking when they hire a 19 year old male to teach at a junior high school! No offense intended to all 19 year old people, but I do not think that is an old enough age to allow someone access to teach other teenagers. The guy was 19 years old! In my opinion, there should be an age limit. I know that won't catch all the danger, but hormones are raging much strong in a little 19 year old boy than a mature adult. I'm outraged that this happened. I'm upset that he was at the school in the first place, he doesn't even look older than 16 in the picture posted on abc4.com. (http://www.abc4.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=88efc6da-e621-4a2c-a7b9-6307b17d712f) Since when do children teach children in a formal environment? Am I the only one who sees a problem with this scenario?

The Changing Kitty

Halloween Fun

I'm going to start out by saying that I really dislike our video camera for taking pictures. It's horrible, but it's good for shooting video! That being said, these are the pictures we managed to get. We took more of the baby trick-or-treating, but they didn't turn out.

This is a semi blurry picture of Pastor's painted face. The girls at his work painted that beard and mustache on to be funny for Halloween.
This is what the baby was wearing under his tiger costume. It was really to keep him warm and to be able to remove the tiger costume if he got too hot, but I think it's equally as adorable!


Such a cute Kitty Cat!