The Ugly, The Bad, The...

A friend and I were having a discussion the other day about kids and how she isn't very excited about having them because all she seems to hear from people is the bad and ugly--"throwing up, weak, swollen (pregnancy), screaming, wetting the bed, not listening, coloring on things, etc." Why is it that so often when parents talk about having kids it always seems they talk about the bad and can't seem to remember any of the good. I understand that having kids isn't all peaches and cream that I should know ahead of time some of the hard (I like that instead of "bad) things that may happen but I also want to hear the good.

Like take this week at work for example---the two year old wet the bed while taking a nap, I'm probably not going to remember that part, but I am going to remember that my first day of work the 4 year old wanted to make sure that I was going to come back and watch them the next week. And my 2nd day of babysitting the 2 year old wanted to come home with me. I would much rather remember those tender and sweet moments than when I walked into the kitchen and found every single can on the floor (which the 4 year was very good about and put every single item away without me asking).

I still want to be a mom and work with kids, despite some of the horror stories I may have heard (and experienced myself), but there may be some who get completely discouraged and pushed away from the idea of being parents. So lets work on making our stories "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" not "The Ugly, The Bad, The...?"

(Sorry to be kind of negative...I've just had the same kind of conversation with a couple of friends lately about not wanting to have kids because all they hear is the negative stories and I don't want that to happen. I don't want to think it's all good and perfect but I want them to know that there are some wonderful moments with children too.)

Jimmer Time!

Last night was an amazing night, I'm sure one that will be remembered for many a year. I'm so happy (I'm not sure that, that is even big enough to explain how amazing it was) to have been at the game. What a night with tons of clapping and more than that of screaming/cheering. I'm not sure that my heart will ever recover from how fast it was going at times. I'm so proud to say that I am a BYU/ Jimmer fan and that I attend this university. I will never forget the loudness and total support from the fans of last night and know that nothing will ever compare. If you missed this game (I'm sorry that you did) be sure to check out why this was such a BIG game. Go Cougs!

Deseret News

Deseret News Article 2

Pictures (BYU Daily Universe)

Sports Illustrated

Yahoo (with Sweet Tweets!)

Some facebook statuses that were found last night and this morning:

Once upon a time I worked at a restaurant and I personally made a sandwich for Jimmer. That makes me cool, right?

best reason to live in provo? JIMMER FREDETTE

Somebody call 911! Jimmer-fire burnin' on the ball court, wooaaooh!

I LOVE JIMMERRRRRR!!!!! National player of the year fo sho!

It feels so good to ruin SDSU's record. I mean to watch JIMMER ruin it. GO COUGARS!!!

I love me some Jimmer!

lovin da jimmmer :]

JIMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMERRRRRR!!!!!

Loved watching #9 BYU beat #4 San Diego State tonight in Basketball. Oh ya!!! I'm a Jimmer fan!

Jimmer Blows My Mind!

Teach me how to Jimmer

In my wildest dreams, where anything is possible, I'm still only half as good as jimmer!

Facebook asks, "What's on your mind?" Well, answer...THE BYU WIN!!! WOOT WOOT!

JIMMER TIME!!! yeeeeaaah BYU! 43points, sheesh!

COUGARS! hit the road, san diego

Oh and did I mention Jimmer almost score more points by himself (23) than all SDSU (27) in the second half? Atta boy.

He's not petfect, but he's Jimmer!

43 points against the number 4 team in the nation... SDSU... YOU GOT JIMMERED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!

71 to 58!!! YES! Go BYU!!

WOOOOHOOOO!!! What now SDSU!!! I LOVE JIMMER! and BYU BBALL!

BYU baby! What a win!

Seriously?! Watching the BYU vs. SDSU game. Jimmer Fredette is unstoppable. Just witnesses the fastest trigger I think I've ever seen. I think the defender lost his shorts. An amazing game to watch.

Jimmer will never remember tonight, cause that man is unconscious!

Jimmer.... It's all about Jimmer... Marriott Center going crazy!

STOP. Jimmertime.

I love BYU. And Basketball. And Jimmer Fredette.

Great Game. Go Cougars!!!!

Jimmer doesn't flush the toilet, he simply scares the crap out of them.

Next Challenge...

I'm always thinking about new recipes to try, I'm thinking that one of these two may be my next "challenge." Both are from Favorite Family Recipes

Thai Peanut Saute

Orange Chicken

Sww-eeee-tttt PORK!

I'm sure that this picture looks familiar to many and to those that it doesn't you are really missing out. Here is Utah (and it's beginning to spread elsewhere) we have a wonderful restaurant called Cafe Rio. They have many wonderful tasty delights to make your mouth water when you smell. One of my favorites is the Sweet Barbacoa Pork (yum, yum, yum!). Though it's one of my favorites and you get a lot of food Cafe Rio is still a little on the spendy side (from my poor college student point of view that is) but I have been craving it for the last couple of weeks, which left me at a quandary...what to do, what to do? I know! I'll make it myself!

That's just what I did, if you search Cafe Rio sweet pork recipe in google you can find thousands of results. I looked at many of them and decided to just pick one, and boy am I happy with the recipe that I chose. I only spent a little over a dollar for all the ingredients in the recipe, the rice, and vegetables (with tortillas it's a little more expensive) and so far we've gotten 10 burritos out of this and there is still more left in the fridge!

Sweet Pork

2 pounds pork (we use boneless pork rib meat)

3 cans Coke (NOT diet)

1/4 c. brown sugar

dash garlic salt

1/4 c. water

1 can sliced green chilies

3/4 can enchilada sauce (I use Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness but any will work)

1 c. brown sugar

Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.

Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry) or on low for 8 hours. Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.

In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste..). If it looks too thick, add more Coke little by little.

Put shredded pork and sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours. That's it!

P.S I got the recipe from HERE

She also has copycat recipes for Cilantro-Lime Rice and Black Beans and the Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette for Salads. Plus many other yummy recipes

That Which Doesn't Kill You...

...will only (supposedly) make you stronger.

Lately these two faces have become quite familiar to me. A couple of weeks ago I ordered a Zumba DVD off of ebay, it was described as the "weight loss" DVD, it didn't really click to me of why it would be weight loss until I received it last week...it's Advanced! :D

Today marks the 3rd day in the row that I have done it, I'm not to the point where I can do the whole hour yet but even after 20 minutes I feel so much better and slightly (possibly more) disgusting.

I know that I have a lot further to go but 3 days in a row is pretty good for me, considering I'm usually the one that does something for a day, slacks off for two weeks and then says I need to do it and do it again for a couple of days and then slack off again. It really is fun and I can feel the burning and my legs getting stronger from doing it.

Diabetes Testing

A couple of weeks ago my doctor requested that I come in and take a diabetes test to find out whether I had diabetes, as it is a great concern with my families history.

I had to drink the most disgusting drink that I have ever drank before (it had 10 grams of glucose for every ounce and I had to drink 10 ounces...in 5 minutes or less once I started!), I had to fast for 8 hours before drinking this stuff and I don't think that helped matters any. By the time I finished drinking that stuff I was ready for many swallows of pure water (oh did it taste good!).

This last week I got a phone call from the office informing that my test came back normal...which means that I don't have diabetes! I know that I still need to take care of my body but I'm so glad to hear that I don't diabetes.

Disney Puzzle

Puzzle's in my family is something that is divided down the middle whether people like it--I for one LOVE them (every New Years Eve growing up that is what we did as a family activity--work on a puzzle). For Christmas one of my presents from Mom was a Disney puzzle!! Of course I had to put it together right away.

I love the colors and how they incorporated so many different Disney stories into it, even though I was looking at the box I didn't even realize some of them until I was putting the puzzle together.