Well this last week was really nice with Haley on Spring Break and the weather has been really warming up and very spring like. We are finally all healthy again YEAH!!! I made this peach no bake cheesecake for dessert on Sunday and it turned out great so I gotta say it has been a really good week for me. Even my kids have been better behaved. It must just be because of spring. Max has been talking and smiling up a storm. I might just get a picture of it one day if I'm really fast with the camera, we'll see, it seems like I just can't quite catch it fast enough. He has also been sleeping through the night although I don't know how long that is going to last, but he is just such a good baby and so big too. It is amazing to me how much bigger he is than Alex was at the same age. I am already putting him in 3 to 6 month size clothes and everything. Anyway overall it was just another boring week, but it has been nice and I have been thinking about just how blessed I really am. Oh and for anyone who is looking for a good family movie to watch, Nim's Island is really cute. I just watched it the other day with Haley, and she and I both really liked it. Haley especially liked the animals. I don't have much else to say and I need to go and feed Max, but enjoy conference and spring and all the blessings of life because we truly are blessed with so much. We just tend to focus on what we don't have more often than we should and I am definitely guilty of that.

My sister in law sent this to me and I just thought it was something everyone should think about in this day and age of texting. I felt bad for the poor woman who this happened too, but maybe her story can help us to be more cautious.

This lady has changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet... etc...was stolen.. 20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says 'I received your text asking about our Pin number and I replied a little while ago.' When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cellphone to text 'hubby' in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account. Moral of the lesson: Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list. Avoid using names like Home, Honey,Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad , Mom, etc..... And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back!! Also, when you're being text by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you don't reach them, be very careful about going places to meet 'family and friends' who text you. Along with that if you have an entry called 'Home' with your actual home phone number it's not too hard to do a reverse look up on the number to find the address. now the robber has your home number, keys, AND address.

Twilight, Getting Well, and Spring Break

Ok, so most of you know that I am a huge fan of the Twilight series books. I love them so much. Anyway we finally got the movie and I watched it with Eric's family on Sunday. We always go over to Eric's parents for dinner on Sundays and I tried out some new dessert recipes to share and I brought Twilight. I gotta say, I thought it was good. I think it could have been tons better and the acting wasn't so great but it was ok. I knew it could never be as good as the book and it felt really rushed to me. I also never thought that the guy playing Edward (Robert Pattinson) was good looking. Edward is supposed to be gorgeous and well to me he just wasn't. I just had a lot of little pet peeves about the movie, but I liked it overall and I am glad that I bought it because I will probably enjoy watching it again at home when the mood strikes me. I gotta say though that the book was 100 times better and if you really want to get into Twilight you have to read it. As far as the desserts went, I messed up a little on the pie, but it was still ok and the brownies were good. I made a Lemonade Cheesecake pie (you can get this recipe at kraftfoods.com) but I wasn't paying attention to the ingredients and instead of using only 1/2 cup of frozen lemonade concentrate I just poured in the whole can without thinking, so it was a lot more lemony than it was supposed to be, but oh well, it was ok, just kinda runny because of the excess lemonade. I made the brownies as a backup when I realized that I messed up the pie, and they turned out great. They were a little different because I baked them in cupcake cups and they had a peanut butter cream cheese center (also a recipe from kraftfoods.com). Anyway other than that it has been all about getting well since we have all been sick for a few weeks (well everyone but me anyway). Poor little Max has had fever and a bad cough so I haven't been getting much sleep these last 2 or 3 days from all the crying he has been doing. It is so hard with babies because they can't tell you what hurts or how to make them feel better. I am just glad for infant Tylenol and the power of prayer, because I think he is doing a lot better. Haley has spring break this week, and I think she has actually been a little bored staying at home. Yesterday she drew pictures of all the characters in one of her favorite cartoons and made a book out of the pages. It took her a long time, but she was really proud of her work and I think she is turning into quite the artist. It was so cute because she wanted to write her friend's name on her book and she asked me how to spell it, so I said "A" and she wrote it down then I said "U" and she wrote "you." I thought that was funny. We stocked up on the Jelly Belly jelly beans from Costco because of their coupon for this month and we are going to use them for Easter and as an incentive for Alex to go potty. So far though the potty training hasn't been working, Alex just has no interest at all and I think I am going to wait for the summer when Eric gets out of school to really work with him on it. That way I'll have some help. But I just love Jelly Belly especially since they remind me of how Eric and I met and fell in love. Anyway that's about it for us, now we are just looking forward to Conference, and Easter.

Don't you just love pictures, so here are the ones of Max I promised and Haley jumped into one. Alex didn't want to be in any, he hasn't been feeling too great and he has been extra grumpy and not too cooperative. Oh well maybe next time when he feels a little better.

Oh and just for fun, and because my best friend Megan requested it, here is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe you will ever try I promise.

Blue-Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour 2 large eggs
½ tsp baking soda 2 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt 12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar (about 2 cups)
½ cup granulated sugar
*2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, softened Yield: About 3 ½ dozen

Preheat oven to 300. In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, and salt. Mix well with wire whisk. Set aside. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, blend sugars at medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add eggs and vanilla extract, and mix at medium speed until just blended. Do not overmix. Add the flour mixture and chocolate chips, and blend at low speed until just barely mixed. Do not overmix. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 18-22 min. or until golden brown. Transfer cookies immediately to a cool surface with a spatula.

*Do not substitute shortening or margarine spread for butter it makes the dough too soft; if you only have unsalted butter, add ¾ tsp. salt to the dry ingredients.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Ok, so I know everyone is dying to know how Max's 2 month checkup turned out, so here are the stats. He now weighs 13.3 lbs. which puts him in the 75th percentile for weight and he is 24 inches long so he is in the 90th for length. We also had his follow up X-ray today on his right shoulder, but I have to wait for the results to be sent to Dr. Quan before I know if he is completely healed yet or not, but he got a clean bill of health otherwise and 3 shots too. I just hate watching them get shots (poor baby). Anyway other than the fact that all my kids have caught what Eric had (I guess I should say has, since he isn't completely well yet), we are all doing well. I also had Haley's parent teacher conference today, and she is doing wonderfully academically, she is even a little bit ahead of some of the kids in her class in math, so that is great. On another note, I found out that I have to wait until Saturday to get Twilight on DVD and I can hardly wait, since I have wanted to see it since it came out in theaters and I didn't get the chance then. I love the books and I own them all. Speaking of books, I have been reading again since I finally made it to the Library last week and recently have been reading another book series (Percy Jackson and the Olympians). I read while I nurse and I find it much more entertaining than watching TV all the time; I just finished the 2nd book Saturday and if you want to know my thoughts on it, I will be posting that on my goodreads page soon if not today. I also wanted to let everyone know that Kyle XY had the worst ending to a TV series I have ever seen. It was full of unresolved story and I was highly disappointed. So if you are planning on buying the show on DVD, don't. The ending isn't an ending and I just couldn't believe that ABC would leave it unfinished like that. Anyway I won't spoil it for anyone who still wants to watch it, but don't say I didn't warn you. Oh and I added a playlist with some of my favorite songs to my blog, but it will only play if you click the play button. I just figured not everyone is a fan of my kind of music so I didn't set it to play automatically, but it's there if you want to listen while you read. Oh and I'll post some new pictures soon, since I plan on taking at least one of Max at 2 months in his green frog outfit that my mom gave him. It was the perfect outfit for today, so be on the lookout for that. Once again HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY! to all.

A Sneaky Situation

Well the last few weeks have been really hard, it started with Haley and her sneaky personality. I love my little girl, but she is too smart for her own good and has been in trouble a lot lately. I'm not really sure why, but she is making me doubt my parenting skills. It seems that no one I talk to can relate, and if it weren't for the knowledge I have of the church and knowing that the Lord is always there, knows how we feel, and only gives us what we can handle, I would go crazy literally. Well I just don't know and at first I thought her behavior was because of attention since she recently told me she thought I loved Max more than her, but all my attempts at trying to spend more time with her haven't helped. We went and got our hair cut finally since it was so long. Then I painted her fingernails and I have been walking her to and from school just the two of us everyday this week. I have also punished her for her recent bad behavior, but I just have to say that I feel like it is somehow my fault she is this way, though I don't know how. I just wish there was some sort of instruction manual on how to keep your children from lying and sneaking around. I have also been really tired from a newborn keeping me up at night so I have had a really hard time keeping a good attitude about everything. Plus Eric got sick and the spring break we were both looking forward to, hasn't been so great for him, so I have been worn out trying to deal with Haley and taking care of the rest of my family. Like I said before it has been a hard week. The positives though, we had an at home doctor visit (weird I know, but they do those here I guess) and on the 3rd Max weighed 12 lbs. 2 oz. so whoo hoo his is doing great! Also as I mentioned before I finally got the haircut I have been wanting since we moved here and it feels and looks great if I do say so myself. I cut it from mid back to short shoulder length, so I took off a good 5 or 6 inches of hair, and Haley's was even longer and it is now the same length as mine. The weird thing is, only one person commented on it and it was one of the moms at Haley's school whose name I can't even remember. I know it doesn't matter, but I just thought it was strange. The important thing is that I like it. I will maybe get some pictures sometime soon to post, but don't be disappointed if things get crazy and I don't get it done. If I don't get to it on Tuesday HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!

Blessing Success

Well I finally have some time to blog, but it won't last long, so this may not cover everything that has happened, but I wanted to at least post some pictures from Max's baby blessing. I really need to figure out how to do slide shows for pictures, but I just don't have time to figure it out, oh well. I also wish I had taken some more pictures of Eric's family with the baby, but I think I was just excited to have my family come from out of town and didn't think about it. Well first off, some news unrelated to Max's blessing. I have a new nephew. My brother, Spencer, and his wife, Malinda, had their second baby boy Friday the 20th and he is a real cutie (at least in the pictures I saw) and a big baby too. I thought Max was big, but my new nephew Grady Kevin Quinto was 9 lbs. 10 oz. and 21 inches long. I wish that I could go and see him but that will just have to wait. My parents were glad they got to see him before they came out here for the blessing. The blessing was wonderful as all baby blessings are, and I am grateful that my husband is a worthy priesthood holder and so in tune with the spirit. I was glad to have my parents come out so that my dad could stand in the circle, and they could finally meet their other new grandson. It just wouldn't have been right not having my dad there. It was also fun to have my 3 sisters here and Yvonia even had her 2 girls with her so the kids had a great time playing with their cousins which they don't get to see very often. I was also glad for Eric's family. I really do think I have some of the best in laws. Along with his parents and brothers, Eric's Aunt Gloria was able to be there for the first time, since she wasn't able to travel out to Utah for my other kids blessings. After the blessing and photos, Vanessa and Yvonia had to leave, but the rest of us spent the afternoon at Eric's parents home and enjoyed a wonderful lunch. Eric's friend Steve, also came later for the lunch. He has been Eric's friend since kindergarten and he surprised us because he had his hair cut short. The hair was a surprise, because in all the almost 8 years that we have been married, Steve has had shoulder length hair and he seemed to have no desire to cut it all that time. Anyway it was nice that he was there to visit. So the blessing was a success and I was grateful to have everyone there that could be there. Well this post is getting long and I have some other catching up to do, so I guess I'll end this post and blog when I have more time later. Enjoy the pictures!

Our First Family Photo since Max was born

My Parents, Vanessa, Me, Eric holding Max, Yvonia Ruth, Haley, Catia, Alexander and Raya in the carrier

Aunt Gloria, Kevin, Eric's Parents, Me, Eric holding Max, James, Alexander, and Haley

We just wanted a picture of Max with the hat on that came with his blessing outfit. We both thought he looked better without it.

Eric Holding Max

The Blessing Cake with Max's birthdate on it (Yum, Yum)

My dad holding Max

My mom holding Max

Yvonia holding Max

Vanessa holding Max