Yummy recipe!

Okay so if you LOVE Asian Toasted Sesame dressing from Kraft as much as I do then you will love this recipe. It is SO easy and has so much flavor. It's a little spicy though so I don't know if any younger kids would really like it. But we LOVE it. It's called Speedy Chicken Stir-Fry. I got it from my favorite magazine; Kraft food & family. Enjoy!

Prep: 10 min.
Total: 25 min.

8 oz. angel hair pasta, uncooked
2 cups broccoli florets ( I use peas only cuz I like them better)
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup Kraft Asian Toasted Sesame dressing
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. each ground ginger, garlic powder, crushed red pepper
1/3 cup chopped Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts

Cook pasta as directed on package, adding broccoli to the boiling water for the last 3 minutes of pasta cooking time.
Meanwhile, spray large non-stick skillet with cooking spray; heat on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 6-8 minutes, or until cooked through, stirring occasionally. Stir in dressing, soy sauce, giner, garlic and crushed red pepper; cook 1 min.; stirring occasionally.
Drain pasta mixture; place in a large bowl. Add chicken mixture; mix lightly. Spoon evenly into 4 serving bowls; sprinkle with the peanuts.

Makes 4 servings, 2 cups each.

THANK YOU!

So it's not Thanksgiving or anything and this is really random but I was cleaning my house this morning (and I mean REALLY cleaning) and came across SO many things that have been loaned to me that I need to return to their owners. Then I realized how lucky I am and how many people have helped me in so many ways, especially with being pregnant and having a baby. I decided I need to thank these people. This might get long, don't read on if you are already bored. Thank you MOM for staying late nights with me when Ryder was born and spending so much time with me at the hospital when Jon couldn't be there and I was lonely. Also thanks to you and dad for buying me all that formula - it helped us so much, and thanks for babysitting on a whim whenever I need you. Thank you DAD for taking me to the store to buy me things I couldn't afford for Ryder and helping me find the best deals :) Thank you SONIA for the crib, dresser, rocker, endless piles of baby clothes, many phone minutes giving me advice, and maternity clothes. Thank you KEIRA for the maternity clothes and formula holder, and babysitting. Thank you BARB for babysitting even when you feel like crap and for feeding us every single Sunday so I don't have to cook. Thank you SARA for the breast pump, bumbo chair, baby clothes, advice, and letting me and Ryder spend the night. Thank you SUSAN for the play mat and boppy pillow. There are also women in my ward who loaned me maternity clothes, educational books, and brought us food my first couple weeks home with the new baby. You wouldn't believe how much you all have helped me. I am SO fortunate to have good friends and family. I think I had more than most people do with their first baby. I am the baby of my family so it's nice to still be babied :)

By popular demand

Okay so it's not like everyone has been begging for another video but my brother Wil DID say (and this is a direct quote) "More, more, MORE!!!" So here ya go broseph. In this video I was changing Ryder's diaper and I just can't help but squish his naked chubby lil baby boobies. This is one of the many ways I can make him laugh. However in this video he seems a little worn out and doesn't laugh every time, therefore making me look like a fool. Oh well, that's what kids are for, right?

I know, I know

So two "tagged"posts in one day. Jon is watching stupid UFC fighting at a friend's house and I'm bored and can't sleep without him. Therefore I shall do yet another "tagged" post. Thanks, Sonia!

What is his name? Jon-O
How long have you been together? 1.5 years
How long did you date? We were engaged after a month and married 4 months later. Talk about not wasting time.
How old is he? 23
Who eats more? ME!
Who said I love you first? He did and it was SO cute. He had a party at his house and he took me outside to be alone and tell me. I thought he was gonna throw up!
Who is taller? Jon
Who can sing better? Me - Jon is tone def
Who is smarter? I think we are both smart, but there are things I know more about and things Jon knows more about.
Who does the laundry? I do unless Jon decides to pitch in which is, well, hardly ever.
Who pays the bills? Jon. He takes care of ALL things financial. We have so many stupid bills I would go nuts keeping track of it all.
Who sleeps on the right side? Me. Always have, always will.
Who mows the lawn? Jon
Who cooks dinner? I do unless I want spaghetti and then I ask Jon to because his sauce is good.
Who drives? Jon drives unless he's too tired.
Who is more stubborn? Definitely me
Who kissed who first? Jon kissed me first.
Who proposed? Jon of course. I could never propose. Too afraid of rejection.
Who has more friends? I don't know. We both have quite a few friends and lots of mutual friends from high school. I'd say it's pretty equal.
Who is more sensitive? I know I am, but Jon does have a sensitive side.
Who has more siblings? We have the same amount! :)
Who wears the pants? Um...well I think Jon does. He's the oldest of 5 kids and I'm the youngest of 5 kids so he likes to get real bossy sometimes like I'm his little sister. I have to remind him occasionally that I'm NOT! I'm his WIFE! Haha!

FIVES

Ashlee tagged me but I don't know if I'll even be able to answer some of these. Well, here goes.

1. 5 things I was doing 10 years ago
1. Sneaking to school dances and getting caught by my mother
2. Spending the night at friends' houses and sneaking out to meet boys (I was a sneaky snake)
3. Going through puberty and coming out of my "chubby" stage
4. Taking dance classes at Dance Connection Too
5. I think I was "going out" with Strider Farnsworth...not sure if I was 13 or 14 but he was my first "real" boyfriend. HA!

2. 5 things on my To do list
1. Get VT reports done at church tomorrow (part of my calling)
2. pay some medical bills
3. do some serious laundry
4. post some furniture on e-bay
5. finish reading my novel

3. 5 favorite snacks/food
1. sushi
2. chili and lime Sabritones
3. Flamin' hot cheetos
4. anything pasta
5. chips & salsa

4. 5 things I would do if I was a billionaire
1. pay off all our debt
2. buy a new home that we could stay in for a long time
3. buy Jon his beloved corvette
4. buy an elliptical
5. SAVE as much as I can for my kids to go to college/on missions

5. 5 bad habits
1. wiping my toothpaste mouth on towels after brushing my teeth
2. letting laundry pile up because i hate it
3. spending too much time on blogger
4. biting the skin around my fingernails (gross!! I know you do it too, Sonia!)
5. sleeping in late

6. 5 places I have lived
1. Hong Kong, China - my birthplace (don't remember it)
2. Scotland, United Kingdom (don't remember it)
3. Tempe, AZ
4. Gilbert, AZ
5. Flagstaff, AZ

that was fun! I now tag Joy, Sunny and Sara - even though I know she hates these things

First Video!!

Here is a video of Ryder sucking on his highchair. I think it is so funny. He is such a goofball I can't help but laugh through the whole thing. I have never taken a video of him before because we don't have a video camera but my digital camera records about 10 minutes at a time and it is SO fun. I had a couple more videos I took but it seems to take FOREVER to download and I don't have time to just sit around and wait so ya only get one. In this video I was trying to feed him cereal and in between bites he would suck on his tray. He has always been such a hard boy to feed!! Well, enjoy!

My favorite milestone!!!

Alright so I went against my Dr.'s orders and put baby apple juice in Ryder's cereal. Well hey he was super constipated. Poor guy had 3 major hard turds yesterday and he was grunting ALL day long. I felt so bad for him, he just seemed so uncomfortable and I knew it was from his cereal. Oh and by-the-way he actually ATE the cereal with the juice in it because it tastes so much better. So the cereal thing isn't my favorite milestone but I fed him cereal 2 times yesterday and he ended up sleeping 11.5 hours STRAIGHT last night. No joke. It's never happened before. I went to bed after him and woke up before him. It was AWESOME!!! Jon congratulated me when we woke up all by ourselves rather than to a crying baby. And to add to the awesomeness I ended up getting not only 8 but 9 hours of sleep straight without waking up ONCE! Everyone who told me it gets better and easier was SOOOO right. I haven't slept like that since before I got pregnant so basically I haven't gotten the sleep I prefer for over a year. Wow. I just hope he continues to do this. I better keep feeding him baby cereal. Oh and couple other awesome things today...it's FRIDAY and for some whacked out reason Jon decided he wanted to take Ryder to work with him today. I know, right? When does that EVER happen to a mom? I asked Jon if he was sure he wanted to do it and he said, "No I'm not sure...but I'm gonna do it." I asked him, "Why?" He said, "He's just so dang cute I don't wanna leave him!" Haha! Just in case you all are wondering how the heck Jon can take a baby to work, he sits in an air conditioned office behind his parents' house and his dad is out of town so he can pretty much do whatever he wants today. Yay for me! Well, we are having a garage sale tomorrow. We have so much stuff we need to just get rid of and could use some extra cash. So I am going to spend my alone time getting ready for that. If anyone could use some furniture, scrubs, shoes, clothes, etc. come on over!!!

Father's Day

So we were in Lakeside for a family reunion on Father's Day and that's why this is a day late. But it's never too late to talk about how much I love Jon and what a great daddy he is to our little Ryder bug. Ryder LOVES Jon and will stare at him forever and smile even when Jon isn't looking at or talking to him. Whenever Jon gets home from a long day of work I will hand Ryder over (as if Jon isn't butt-ugly tired) and Jon will just take him in our room and wrestle him on the bed and play with him. I always tell him not to do that cuz Ryder will puke on him but he doesn't care and Ryder likes to wrestle. Jon is ALWAYS willing to change a diaper or outfit, feed a bottle, bathe, and put Ryder to bed. Every time I ask him for help he is right there. He NEVER complains about anything and I am the queen of complaining. Ryder is such a good baby and I will complain about any little cry, fuss, poop mess, spit up mess...any mother would be happy to have Ryder for their baby and I take so much for granted it's horrible. I wish I could be like Jon in so many ways. He's not even a mother but he has taught me so many things about how to be a good one. Before Ryder, Jon taught me a lot about being a wife. He is so patient and kind and just AMAZING! I respect him so much more than I show him.
Jon has worked so hard to provide for our family and thus far he has done such a great job. We have a home, a truck, furniture, food on the table, anything Ryder needs, clothing, we take fun vacations, we eat a lot of Sushi....our life has been better than I ever imagined it would be. Jon has been putting in a lot of long days lately and I give him such a hard time but that's what he has to do to provide for us. I am just so proud of Jon and am grateful that I made the right choice and married such a good man. He has made me happier than I ever though possible. I love you, Jon-o!

The rest of the photos

To feed.......or not to feed

Well............turns out Ryder doesn't love his rice cereal like I hoped he would. I felt like he did pretty well the first time I gave it to him. He didn't finish it, but he ate quite a bit. Saturday, he did alright too. Still didn't finish it, but ate quite a bit. But yesterday, Jon's mom tried switching off bottle and then a bite of cereal and it seemed to really piss Ryder off. He just cried and squirmed around like all he wanted was that bottle. Now when I try to feed him cereal today he wants nothing to do with it. AHH! Babies are so much work. It takes so long to feed him cereal I wonder if it's even worth it to start right now. His Pediatrician said to only mix the cereal with formula; NO juice and NO baby food. But I was thinking, "Okay so his Pediatrician ALSO said at his 2 month check-up that he should be sleeping 12 hours straight at night, which didn't seem right to me because he was so young so maybe he's not absolutely right about this either." So I decided to add the slightest bit of baby food to the cereal just to give it a little flavor flav and Ryder STILL wasn't interested!!! He won't open his mouth and when I finally wedge the spoon in there he makes a bitter face and just pushes it out along with ALL the food. So frustrating. So I've decided that I'm gonna put the cereal away and try again in one week. If he STILL doesn't want it, I am going to wait until he is 5 months old and try again. I have a hard time accepting that all babies are different. If other babies can eat cereal at 4 months I expect Ryder to eat it also. I'm having to learn a LOT of patience, which is something I've never had. HAHA! So any suggestions people? I wonder if part of the problem is that I don't have anything for him to sit up in. I feed him in his swing, which is slightly reclined. Also, I think I need to let him suck on the spoon and slurp the food off rather than shove the spoon in his mouth. Maybe I should just feed him half of his bottle to take the edge off his hunger and then try feeding him the cereal before letting him finish the rest of his bottle. But that's hard to do because I just switched his bottles to a faster flowing nipple and now he eats super fast and doesn't want to even break to burp. Maybe he's not ready for the fast flowing nipples either???? Is my child developmentally challenged?!?!?!?!?!? Or am I just a pushy, impatient, demanding mother? Okay don't answer that :)

4 Months!

Ryder had his 4 month check up yesterday. The Dr. gave us an A+ and said he's doing perfect!! He weighs 18 pounds 8 ounces and is 26.5 inches long. He is in the 97th percentile for height and weight but his head is only in the 70th percentile. Ha! I was so excited to start feeding him rice cereal that we went straight to WalMart and bought some along with baby spoons. Yay! As you can see from the picture we were making quite a mess but it was so fun! Ryder is just growing up and is learning new things all the time. He now is able to reach out for things and grab them and where do they go? Straight to his mouth. When he becomes more mobile I'm gonna have to watch him like a hawk! So something amazing happened last night. I put Ryder to bed at 8:30pm, which is normal for him and I expected to wake up around 5am to feed him since that happens every night. Well...silly boy started crying at 2:30 this morning. Usually when he gets up early like that he only cries for a couple minutes then goes back to sleep. But THIS time he didn't stop crying. I got up and went in his room to find him kicking frantically in his bed like he was excitd. His eyes were wide awake and I thought, "Great. I'm gonna be up for a while and he's gonna want a bottle but it's too early." Well I picked him up and immediately started rocking him and he was back to sleep in no time. So when I got back in bed it was almost 3:30am and I thought, "Great. He's gonna wake up again in like 1.5 hours to eat and I'm gonna be so tired. But lo and behold my little bug didn't wake up again until 7:30am!!! The longest he has EVER slept in his short life. Yay for us!!!! I couldn't believe it. I hope it happens again soon if not tonight :)

WOW!

So I just had to document the worst night's sleep I've had since Ryder was a newborn waking up every two hours to eat. Sadly, I know I totally did it to myself. I've decided to start running again like I did before I got pregnant. Well last night I wanted to run but had to wait for Jon to get home from mutual, which didn't happen until about 9pm. So I started my run at 9:15, ran 2 miles, then jumped in a nice cold shower. Then I laid in bed watching t.v. but couldn't drift off so I got on the internet for a half hour. Went back to bed but didn't fall asleep until 12:30am only to wake back up at 3:30am. I'm talkin WIDE awake. Now it is 4:47 and I can hear Ryder starting to slowly wake up in his crib. He'll go right back to sleep, which will give me 2 more hours to catch some zzz's. That will give me a grand total of 5 hours sleep. I cannot function on that. I wish I could but I know myself and I can't. Let's just say I'm gonna be taking every nap with him today. Oh and I just have to mention that on top of that Jon was up sleepwalking and talking in the night. That doesn't help my situation at all. HA! I'm an idiot for running so late at night. It gave me a HUGE burst of energy that I really didn't want for the time being.

Yet another photoshoot

Once again Keira took such cute pics of Ryder. He will be 4 months old on Friday. He is looking more and more like his daddy everyday. Keira babysat Ryder for us on Saturday so we could go to the river and I'm so glad she wanted to take more pictures of him. He is wearing one of Eli's shirts. So cute! Makes him look like a big boy. I can't wait for that day to come (in the far, far future) when we can take Ryder to the river with us. Oh and by-the-way she took more pictures but I don't have them all yet. She is making a CD for me and then I will post a slideshow of all of them. These are just ones I stole from her photography website. Thanks again Keira!!