Erik, Jenn, Tyler & Mason

Well we did it! 9 hours in the car each way to and from Boise, Idaho. With the dog and the baby. We actually left the dog in Idaho--she wanted a vacation on the farm. We miss her already but it's nice to have bark-free naptime. Here are some pictures of Tyler and his adorable cousin Garrin. They had so much fun. They laughed at each other and watched each other and just loved sharing Grandma's lap. We love Garrin and we had so much fun with our Idaho family!!! I also wanted to start sharing some of my recipes...I have a knack for finding delicious but pretty easy recipes and everyone is always asking me to share. So last night I made a really yummy version of the Chinese classic Sweet and Sour Chicken. I took out the fattening deep fry batter and sauteed the chicken instead. The result was about 75% less fat and 100% of the taste! I have doctored the recipe from it's original and played with the ingredients to make it even better. Enjoy! Serves 4 - 6 Sweet and Sour Ch...

So as we all know, I gained about 1,000,000lbs during my pregnancy. Let's face it, food is good and I had been dieting for way too long. :) Going forward I have a goal of doing much better when I'm pregnant so I don't have this problem again. But in the mean time I have about 50 more pounds to lose and I want to make it public so I'll actually do it. So, I started Weight Watchers about 6 weeks ago and so far I've lost 12.2 lbs just on Weight Watchers. I lost weight before that but it was mostly baby and water weight--about 18 lbs. So yesterday Erik brought home one of those digital body fat scales that also tracks your water weight and total body weight. I have to say I'm pretty pumped. I'm more motivated now because I have a real scale that actually works (our old one was 10 lbs off) and now that I know Weight Watchers is really working I'm excited to keep going. I can see my goal in the distance. By October I should be as thin as I was when E...

I love being a Mom. The best moments are when Tyler is staring into my eyes and smiling up at me. I know he is counting on Erik and me to provide him with the love, nourishment and support he needs to grow up and be strong and successful and I am beyond humbled by the opportunity. Here are two more pictures of his smiling face. I just can't get over how cute he is. I bet most of you are sick of seeing post after post of pictures of Tyler, but I don't have much else going on since he is our whole life now!

So we were at Stake Conference yesterday and of course Tyler was upset because he can't stand church. He will only "be good" at church if someone is holding him and walking around in the halls. So as Erik and I were taking turns missing conference, I was out in the hall with Tyler. I saw another mom out there with what looked like a pretty new baby girl. I noticed Tyler is about twice the size of her baby so I asked how old she was. That baby was 3 weeks OLDER than Tyler. I didn't realize Tyler was getting so big! I swear I don't overfeed the kid--he just keeps growing!! He is already 12.5 lbs and just 11 weeks old. Unfortunately he takes after his parents and he's short--only about 22'' long. He has also started whining to get his way this week--it's quite entertaining though of course we are trying to put a stop to it by not immediately giving him his way when he whines. But its amazing to me how smart he is, to try whining when he want...

So I just found out that swine flu does not mean bird flu. I guess a swine is some sort of pig. And no, you can't catch it eating pork. You laugh, but those were my actual thoughts when I first saw the news yesterday. I've been recently thinking about food storage since Erik and I have really tried to stock up on things in the basement "just in case". I know its a good idea and I'm glad we do it, but lately I've been trying to imagine just what circumstances would we be in where we'd find ourselves needing 5 gallons of flour and baking soda. Not to mention that due to my oh-so-professional experience with food storage and natural disasters I imagine that we would be without power in any instance where we'd need to use the food storage. If we're without power, how do we cook? I picture having to feed my family raw flour for dinner....not a pretty picture. So I haven't done much in the way of food storage for a month or two while I've p...

The weather has been so nice this week! Tyler and I have been outside as much as possible--trying to get mommy back in shape!! We have some killer hills near our house and pushing that stroller is a great workout! Tyler has been smiling like a fool, and he's starting to laugh too. And have I mentioned that he's been sleeping 7 - 8 hours per night without waking for feedings!?!?! It's been a dream come true. Just when I thought I couldn't take another night of feedings every 2 - 3 hours, he surprised us and slept all night. That was about 2 1/2 weeks ago. So we're pretty confident that this should stick. I am just now learning how to balance my life and Tyler's needs. It's still tough when we are gone for more than three hours during the day. Yesterday I went to the mall with Jaime and had to feed Tyler twice while we were out. It was an adventure for sure. I figured it out of course but sometimes I envy those formula babies!! I also have a hard time w...

Seems like we are always at the hospital. Tyler has been getting congested lately, more and more with each passing day. Last night he couldn't sleep because he could hardly breathe through his nose and newborns don't breathe through their mouths. Of course I used the nasal aspirator but that didn't help because his congestion was deeper than that. So I called Children's Hospital this morning to see if I could give him nasal decongestant. They said I needed to take him into the E.R. because he could have RSV which is apparantly very serious. Long story short, Tyler was an angel at the hospital, didn't cry once (he only cries at church apparently) and they just want us to use a humidifier and saline solution on him. He has a small virus they said, but it will work itself out. Phew. Also, he is now 11.5 lbs!!! The nurses couldn't believe how much he's grown. They said there's no way he was born almost a month early! I told them all he does is eat so it...