Walking with Shayden

I told Shayden she'd get a flat tire if she rode her bike on the rocks by the side walk. Shayden walks on those same rocks and says, "I'm going to get a flat shoe!" She's been asking to take her training wheels off, lately.

It's been tough the past little while. Shayden has started a high pitched tantrum throwing stage, and has adopted my "I'm too tired" or "I can't do that" phrase. When I tried to go for a walk last week, she made it 0.1 miles on her bike and then was screaming bloody murder. Gavon dropped his toy car, and when I bent down to pick it up, he kicked me in the face on accident. I barely made it home from that one without getting too stressed out.

Shayden was trying to put roller blades on Gavon and started an 'it's the end of the world' type scream when he wouldn't listen to her. She absolutely refuses naps, so we're trying to go to bed super early. Since the time change, we go to bed ridiculously early; about 7:00, sometimes 6:30.

I feel like we go into survival mode with a new baby, so we're trying to prep for that. I'm 35 weeks, and the time is flying by.

Family Update

This last weekend Paul had his November Drill--a bunch of class like training. He was told that his unit will be deploying March 2012. For soldiers that are going to be finishing their contract terms (Paul will have his 6 years October 2011) they gave them the option of leaving the guard 120 days early to make room for soldiers that need to be trained for deployment. He might be done with the guard this coming summer. He is actually very excited to have his annual training this March; a whole three weeks in the Dominican Republic. He wants to spend some time away from the guard to see what's it's like, and has thought about maybe doing M.I. We'll look at our options over the next year here.

I'm almost 34 weeks. It feels like my body just remembered as good as ever what it was like to be big, so it went right to huge instead of somewhere in between for the 8th month. We're excited and counting down until this little girl is here. We are trying to decide between Ashlyn or Maylyn...maybe something completely different? Those are just the ones we like.

This last week was Fast Sunday, and it felt like I handled things pretty good with Paul being gone. Both Shayden and Gavon are healthy...Finally!...and were able to go to nursery. Gavon just had a good diaper during Sunday School, and then in Sacrament they got away from me once. Overall, it was pretty good. Right at the end of Sacrament Meeting Shayden told me she wanted to bear her testimony. I thought that would be a good idea, but that she had to do it all by herself. She said, "Okay," and marched right up. After waiting for a while she came back, but the bishop saw that she wanted to bear her testimony. The person finished, and the time was up, but the bishop looked at me as if to say, "Do you want her to go?" I wanted her to say something short and sweet like she always says, "Jesus loves me," or something like that. When she got up there she said, "Gavon broke his leg. It got better; the Dr. took his cast off. I went poop on the potty and washed my hands." Except it was more drawn out, so I ran up there and told her to say, "Jesus made him feel better. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." Everyone was smiling or laughing, and I was pretty embarrassed. The guy next to me said it was okay, because everyone would leave church smiling. She is definitely not afraid to do things.

Halloween Report

Shayden wanted to be a cat, and Gavon smiled when I showed him to himself in the mirror. He seemed happy to be anything, and we had this costume from Ryan and Bridget, so it worked great! I thought for a split second to make him a cowboy with some chaps and a belt buckle the size of a post card. I'm all about quick and easy this time around, though. Maybe next year.

One of Paul's favorite traditions is to decorate sugar cookies on Halloween. We took some to neighbors, and taught Shay and Gavon how to leave them on the door and run. Shayden threw the first bag and broke them all into pieces, and Gavon ran away saying, "Hide! Hide!" It was so cute; one of the funnest Family Home Evenings we've ever had.
Here we are at the Homecoming Parade. Paul was a trooper and came, even though he isn't the biggest fan of parades.

Grandpa!
She's at it again! Gavon seems to handle all sorts of stuff without getting too upset. He only gets really mad if Shayden takes his favorite thing at the moment. Lately that has been a little Lightening Mcqueen car. He plays with it all the time.
Trying on hats at Khol's

Such a silly boy. He kept putting diapers on his head just for the fun of it.

For Crystal Part 1

We went to the Pumpkin Walk this week, and I wanted Crystal to see all the cool scenes since she didn't get to see it when she came up before. Here goes!



Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
VeggieTales! Why is Larry on a golden toilet?
The entrance...dum duh duh...
A Bugs Life
Toy Story!
Pooh Bear

For Crystal Part 2

101 Dalmations
Spongebob
Nemo
Muppets
Monsters Inc.
Madagascar
How to Train a Dragon
Sleeping Beauty
Gavon liked walking around more than sticking his head in.

What's Up Doc?
UP

Shayden didn't know what to think about this witch. She was pretty nice.

Fablehaven
Pumpkin Beatles

Cast Off!

Gavon got his cast off yesterday! To celebrate I'm posting about all the fun stuff he did the last week.



We went up the canyon for a family hike. So fun! Gavon did not want to turn around.

Couldn't decide which one was more cute.

Pulling out our girl clothes, Shayden had fun dressing Gavon. Here she is looking over her handiwork.
Crystal came up to play with us for a few days. It was so fun! Here we are making slime right before she had to go.
Another cute one from the hike.
2nd Dam




Extra time before bed=lots of fun



A small video of our hike.



This video was about a week ago. Jump!

Whole Wheat Bread/Chicken Marinade

5 cups Warm Water
2 Tbl. instant yeast
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
1 Tbl. salt
3 Tbl. gluten
2 Tbl. dough enhancer
12 cups whole wheat flour

Mix all ingredients but only 6 cups flour until well mixed. Add rest of flour 1 cup at a time until dough cleans sides of bowl or forms ball you can knead. Mix in mixer or knead by hand 10 minutes. Divide into fourths and roll into loaves. Put into greased loaf pans. Let rise until double in size. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350 Degrees. Remove from pans and allow to cool.

I finally figured this bread recipe out! I'm all excited about it, because I've tried and tried but only started getting successful a few batches ago. By far the most important thing is the flour. It is only the absolute best if you grind it right before you mix it together. I don't think a few hours will matter, but a few days later, the flour will not taste the same. My father-in-law gave me a wheat grinder, and I now use it all the time. Mmmmm...it makes the best wheat flour. This makes 4 loaves, and I slice it up and freeze it so we only have out what we'll use that day. It only stays real yummy for a day or so at room temperature. It usually takes my loaves about an hour to double in size, and it takes my oven 35 minutes to bake all the way instead of 30.

Gavon likes to pretend to eat things off of tables/books/empty plates, so here he is modeling some invisible bread. I'll have to post a picture of the real thing later.

Also here is my favorite chicken marinade:

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. basil
1 tsp. garlic
salt
pepper
Combine all ingredients. Marinate 4 large or 6 small chicken breast at least 1 hour before grilling (I've done as little as 1/2 hour). Does not need to sit overnight. Also great for steak.