Kid appetizers

I'm definitely not the first to introduce this idea (I think I saw it from my cousin Emily once) but it's a fun one and the kids sure like it!

You can use any muffin pan and put food in for your kids. It makes it fun and they might even be more willing to eat some of the things they usually don't want to :)

I put in carrots, celery, ranch dip, carrots, goldfish and peanut butter. I put these trays together and they worked on them while I made lunch (mac n cheese, I know, super healthy! ha). Anyway, it gave me time to cook and kept them entertained!

We aren't up to a lot lately, just the same old. I am 24 weeks today and feeling just great. My only complain is charlie horses! I only get them while I'm pregnant. I asked my doctor and he said it's because the baby is stealing my calcium and potassium. I should eat a banana every day and he suggested taking a Tum(s) each day for calcium. Interesting huh? I think I will give it a try!

The girls have gotten colds and Ali's is pretty much gone, but Molly's started Sunday and was a head cold and the next day it moved deep into her lungs and she has a pretty bad cough going. It's usually worst in the morning but does better after that. I kept her home from preschool yesterday and I think she had a lot of fun doing her own thing while Ali napped!

Oh and I even SEWED something yesterday. I know, I can hardly believe it myself. I think I will show you tomorrow. I couldn't find my cord for my camera, but yesterday I finally found it on my dad's desk. Weird. No clue how it got there. Anyway, I have been super unmotivated during pregnancy to do just about anything, but I bought a really cute valentine fat quarter that needed to be put to use! I also have some baby boy projects that are on my list like burp cloths, blankets, onesies, you know, the usual baby stuff you have to have. Since all my stuff is girl stuff, it must be done.

bad luck

We have had the worst luck with cars recently! I know we aren't the only ones, but "when it rains, it pours" is an accurate description for us lately! We bought a used car for Justin in Aug. or Sept. and I think we have now had it in the shop 4 or 5 times already :( We had it checked out before we bought it, so we aren't sure if they didn't catch these things or if they happened after and they couldn't tell. We've put snow tires on, taken it in for the check engine light, taken it back in for the check engine light, fixed what they told us and now it's in the shop getting a new timing belt (yikes they are pricy!) and something else done. This is just Justin's car.

I've been driving my parents wonderful '97 expedition. It just had to get new ball joints put on about a month ago and about 2 weeks ago it made a crazy noise, so they fixed whatever that was. THEN...I know, it continues!! Yesterday I was driving and heard a really loud noise from the back that sounded like air. I had no clue what it was until I could feel the car was driving funny and I knew it was the tire!! So I pulled over and sure enough, I had a bad flat tire. I pretty much just started to laugh! What else could you do? Luckily I was just a block from Big O Tires who had put the tires on just a year before and a guy came over and put the spare on and we bought a new tire. My mom came and picked me and the girls up in her car. Luckily she was home! Justin was at school and I had dropped him off since his car is in the shop!! Aren't cars the worst? I really hate them most of the time. They are a necessary evil. I guess I ran over a pen! There was about 2 inches of a pen sticking out of the tire. Crazy. If you have a reliable car, please tell me what it is and it will be put on the list of future cars for us :)

Grandpa Galbraith

Marlin C. Galbraith 

  

1915 ~ 2012
Marlin Comran Galbraith died peacefully January 19, 2012, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was born July 5, 1915, in Lyman, Idaho, to Archibald and Selma Galbraith.
Dad graduated from Madison High School in Rexburg, Idaho, and from the University of Idaho in Moscow with a degree in Forestry. He married Ethel Briggs of Teton, Idaho, on May 29, 1939, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. Dad worked briefly with the Immigration Service in Montana and taught at Utah State University before joining the U.S. Navy in 1943. After completing his officer training, Dad was transferred to Pearl Harbor where he spent the remainder of WW II as a communications officer.
After the war, Dad was hired by the U.S. Forest Service where he spent the rest of his career. He had many transfers within Idaho and Montana as well as to Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Albuquerque. His last transfer was to the Ogden regional office where he served as the Assistant Regional Forester until his retirement in 1975.
Dad was very active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served as branch president, high councilor, member of several bishoprics and wherever he was asked to serve. He had an unwavering testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He also taught us as his sons the importance of hard work and honesty. Dad always set a great example for us to emulate. Dad was also involved in community service; he spent many years delivering for Meals on Wheels and was one of the oldest volunteers of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
In retirement, Mom and Dad divided their time between their cabin at Mack's Inn, Idaho, and a winter home in Mesa, Arizona. They also visited their children and grandchildren in England, Japan and Hawaii. After their children relocated to the SLC area, they sold their Mesa home and moved to Salt Lake to be closer to the family. Dad loved Yellowstone National Park and always enjoyed taking family and friends on excursions through the Park. Coupled with his knowledge of forestry, he had a truly in-depth understanding of the Park. Vacationing at Mack's Inn was always a highlight for our entire family.
Dad is survived by his youngest brother Keith; four sons: Jim (Dixie), currently serving a mission to Tokyo, Japan, Randy (Bonnie), Bruce (Marie) and Kim (Glenda); as well as 16 grandchildren and 21 great-children. He was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years, his parents, two sisters, four brothers, and one grandson, Brian.
Funeral services will be held at Jenkins-Soffe Mortuary (4760 South State Street, Murray, Utah) on Monday, January 23rd at 1:00 p.m. A viewing prior to the service will be at noon. Interment will be in the Teton-Newdale Cemetery in Idaho on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. 
Online condolences may be shared at www.jenkins-soffe.com

Granpda Galbraith passed away this week at 96. We have so many fun memories with grandpa and he will be missed!

Here are a few pictures of us with grandpa.

Grandpa called Justin and I the night before our wedding and sang, "I'm Getting Married in the Morning." It was the cutest thing! What a sweet grandpa! So thoughtful and fun.

When Ali was in the nicu the rules were that only parents and grandparents could visit because the swine flu was so bad. We brought grandpa over to visit one day.

At Ali's blessing

We were lucky to have grandpa so close to us. He only lived about 10-15 minutes away in Sandy. We often had him over for Sunday dinner with our family and on Saturdays we would sometimes go on a hike or walk with him when the weather was nice. He always loved the great grandkids and loved to play with them.

Molly loves great grandpa! She would often go with my dad on Saturdays to his place to visit him. They actually just went last Saturday to visit but grandpa was sleeping! Grandpa was very witty and always kind. He loved the outdoors and recently on a hike this summer he went up and told everyone he was 96 years old (he probably told at least 10 different people)! It was so funny. He has always been friendly with EVERYONE. He will go up and talk to anyone, no matter who they are or what they look like.

Another fun memory is going up to grandma and grandpa's cabin in Island Park. Grandpa would take us through Yellowstone and he knew all about the kinds of trees and animals around. We loved to take up 4 wheelers in the summer or snowmobile in the winter. We loved roasting hot dogs out back and making smores.

We are so lucky to have had grandpa in our lives! We love you grandpa! We are so glad you are with grandma again and we know we will see you again too.

half way

Here we are at 21 weeks! I feel great and everything is going as it should. Even though I'm in my 2nd trimester, I still feel like I have a bit less energy than normal, but that's all part of the fun and games I guess!

I have gotten 2 comments so far on my belly from 2 different girls at the gym. And they were good comments. Like, look at your cute belly! So I guess I can deal with that :)

This last picture is to show you my new cute scarf! And see, you can't tell I'm pregnant when I wear it :) ha ha. Not like I'm trying to cover it up. I've had to pull my maternity stuff out, but luckily I can still wear some of my "normal" clothes. I kind of gave up on my pants because even though the elastic trick works for some of them, my pants always seem to fall down, and then you can see the fly down and well, that's just not cool. So I gave in to maternity pants so I don't have to think about that.

My ultrasound revealed that my cervix was right up by my placenta, so at my next appointment they will have me schedule another ultrasound to make sure my cervix has moved away from the placenta. The complication would be if it is attached, then I would have bleeding come delivery which is obviously not good. The doctor seems pretty sure that it will move, so I'm excited to have another shot at seeing this little guy!!

I have to add that Molly wants to name the baby drummer boy or Prince Phillip. Justin is pretty stuck on Jackson, which I like, but it's sooo popular. So we are working on the name. We'll see what happens.

Happy 2nd Birthday Alison!

Today Ali is 2! We had a fun party over the weekend to celebrate. I borrowed all of the cute decorations from my sister Emily, so she gets all the credit! She had a banner and tons of stuff left over from Elise's party and she was very nice to share with us.

Instead of cake, we did cupcakes with a circus animal on top.

Have you tried cotton candy recently? Wow. I can't believe I ever ate the stuff!!

I don't think Ali realized the party was for her until we started singing Happy Birthday. She looked around and realized we were singing to her! It was so cute.

She needed a little bit of help from daddy to blow out the candles :)

A very happy birthday girl!

Cute cousin Laney.

We played pin the nose on the clown. We only had Molly, Ali and Laney, but they LOVED it! It was totally worth the $1 I paid for it! And they each had several turns.

The party attendees! We didn't quite get everyone in the family, but we had a nice sized group that worked out well.

All of the kids were very helpful opening the gifts!

My mom gave Ali another kitty. It's identical to the one she has, only this one doesn't look like it has been run over by a car several times and washed! I forgot to take a picture of both kitties. It's pretty funny to see the difference.

She got a pretty dress from her other grandparents and we got her a little people fairy treehouse.

It's hard to believe that 2 years ago I was in the hospital having a baby 6 weeks early! I was so calm, yet had no idea the fun roller coaster ride we would be on early in Ali's life. After 3 weeks in the nicu she came home to us and we were so excited! Then after 3 weeks at home we rode in an ambulance from the doctor's to primary children's hospital for her to be treated for rsv. She was there for 5 days and then came home on oxygen, which she quickly got off of. She was so small, starting at 5 lbs. 3 oz. but after about 4-6 months, the doctor would just laugh when we brought her in, she looked so great, healthy and strong! And not like a preemie. Ever since she has been so healthy and has caught right up to what is normal for her age.

Dear Alison,
We are so grateful to have you in our family!! You are such a happy girl and you are so quick to smile! We love your happy, cheery disposition. You are a singer! You pick up on the songs Molly sings and you sing them as well. The other day we were out shopping, just you and me, and you were just singing the whole time, making up words. It was so cute! You love apple juice, your kitty and bunny blanket, and treats, which you request almost every day! In the past few months you have really started to talk and it has been so fun to understand and communicate better with you. You love chapstick and lip gloss and are willing to share it with everyone. You tell us, "Say mmmmm," and then you put it on! You recently have started to answer by saying, "Yeah, sure." When we ask you something or tell you to do something, you say "ok!" in the happiest voice ever. You are an obedient little girl. You love to be chased and you are in love with your daddy! You love animals and look out as we drive in the car to see if you spot any and then you point them out to us. You love shoes and socks and take them on and off all day, including anyone's shoes you can find! When I come to pick you up at the gym you are usually wearing someone else's sock and/or shoes! You are a great nap taker and still love your binky, although pretty soon we will probably be taking it away. You can be feisty and sassy, and we love that about you. When you take a bath you are last to get out and wait on your tummy until all the water has drained out and even then I have to convince you to get out! You bring us so much joy!

Love, Mom and Dad

Playdoh fun

Yesterday we pulled out the playdoh and the girls were entertained for about 45 minutes. Which is pretty good! (Not sure why this picture is so grainy. It looks great in iphoto! Sorry about that.)

My mom had some fun things for them to play with, including these little trays.

The girls were pretending that this drawer was the oven. It was so cute watching them "bake" their cookies.

Why do kids think it will taste good? I will never know. I even warned her!

I hope you enjoyed some of my "artistic" shots here at the end :) One of my goals this year is to be a better photographer. I'm hoping to get a new lens too and that should definitely help things improve!