Sip a Pop

We just got done having home-made popsicles. I enjoy having the homemade popsicles so I can control what goes in there...less sugar! I found some really cool popsicle molds, they have a straw at the bottom so there is no mess and you get to sip the extra juice! Whoever invented the Sip-A-Pop is a genius! :)

Oaklen's 2-yr-old pictures

We recently got Oaklen's 2-yr-old pictures taken. Here are the many faces of Oaklen, he's such a happy kid!

ACCESS Barbeque

On Wednesday night my family and I went to Sugarhouse Park for the annual ACCESS Program Barbeque. I am a former ACCESS student, and when I went to check-in, the girl saw "1998" and said "whoa!" So...I guess I'm old. I unfortunately didn't see anyone else there from my year, but I of course recognized the professors and university staff. It was great food, plus it was free! :)

The ACCESS Program is a scholarship designed for women pursuing the science & math majors and fields of study. I was one of the lucky 27 women chosen to be apart of that group for my year. We met during the summer after I graduated high school (yes, summer school right after I graduated!). Each week we were introduced to a different department within the college of science. We worked with some of the professors, and we'd write a team paper every week. It was hard work but yet fun getting to know girls that had the same "nerdiness" that I did. :) The fall semester we each did an internship/lab with one of the departments. I got a stipend each semester that helped cover a significant amount of tuition.

I'm grateful for the opportunity that I had to be in the ACCESS program. I made friends there that carried me through my college years.

Camping at the Hendriksen Reunion

Last week we went camping in Wallsburg. It was for the OJ Hendriksen Family Reunion. We all had a great time, here are some pics, click on this big image to view the smaller images more closely.

Ashley has recovered

When I was 5 yrs old I got a doll for my birthday. It was a baby doll that I named Ashley. She is the size of a 3-6 month old baby so when I used to carry her around by her arm, some people thought that I was mishandling a real baby!

She's been through a lot...
1. If you look at her eyes she has a "cataract" in her right eye. It's always been there, it must have been a faulty eye that missed inspection.
2. My sister and I performed "surgery" on her. We got real scissors to pretend to cut her open but then actually really took a snip from her soft-clothed belly. I put a band-aid on it and it's been there ever since.
3. Another time, Holly and I were fighting over my Ashley doll and we accidentally pulled her arm off. I used medical tape to bandage her back up. Then I made all my family members sign her "cast." I even helped my two cats sign it.
4. And finally, when we moved to our current house, her head fell off! Her head was starting to get loose and the roughness of the move must have been the final straw. I was saddened when Darrell brought my precious doll over to me to announce she had been decapitated. Some people that were there laughed, but I was sad.

Ashley has been in a closet for a few years with her head off. It made me sad every time I happened to open that closet and saw her with her head off, pretty creepy. This year for my birthday, my mom took Ashley over to the doll hospital and had her head put back on. She's good as new! (Although I specifically requested to keep the band-aid on her chest and the tape on her arm since those were fond memories.)

Thanks for bringing Ashley back to life! :)

Salem at 4 months was the same size as my Ashley doll.

My little mouse

The fridge lock only works when it's actually latched...this morning Oaklen went downstairs by himself and noticed the fridge lock was unlatched. He took that opportunity and got in there.

By the time I got downstairs to get him he had gotten the big brick of cheese open and was walking around the house chopping on the huge brick of cheese. It was almost too big for him to hold!

He was quite happy, then he smiled at me and said "cut it." I cut him a small piece, put the cheese away, then LOCKED the fridge. :)

Oaklen enjoying tofu in his hair

Curly Hair or Straight Hair

Look to the right side bar, I've added a poll. We're getting family portraits soon with my mom's family and I don't know if I should wear my hair curly or straight. Please help me decide! :)

Non-stereotypical

Joke:
Q: "What's a husband's idea of doing housework?"
A: "Sitting on the couch and picking up his feet so the wife can vacuum under him."

I have heard this joke before and thought about it last night as this actually happened. Darrell was sitting on the couch reading a magazine, and he picked up his feet so I could vacuum.

Someone passing by the window probably would have thought "Geez, what a lazy guy!" But on the contrary, Darrell is NOT a lazy guy. He always gets up early and works hard all day long. It's a rare occasion when he gets to "take it easy." Prior to sitting on the couch, he was up on the roof doing repair, then he put in a little fence between our yard & the neighbor's yard, and later helped put the kids to bed.

I'm thankful for such a wonderful "go-get-'er" husband. If anyone knows him you'll know that he doesn't quite "fit the mold" of the typical man. He's "just Darrell" if you know what I mean. That's why I love him.

Salem's first trophy

Salem's tee ball games have ended and the last day was the most exciting. He got a trophy! It was so fun to watch his face when he knew he'd be getting a trophy of his very own.

The teams met in the little theater of the Jr. High School and gave out the team pictures and the trophies. Here is a picture of his pleased face:

Roses

I can complain that roses have thorns...
Or I can rejoice that thorn bushes have roses.

As I go on my daily stroll with Oaklen, Salem and the limo (double stroller), I stop and smell the roses. They are so beautiful right now!

We visited our friend this weekend and her yard had the most beautiful roses, and they smelled good too. When I got home I started noticing all the beautiful roses around my neighborhood. I have two rose vines on the side of my house that are in full bloom right now and I'd love to get a beautiful rose hedge to fill my yard with lots of color.

I have boys!

Both times when the person giving the ultrasound told me that I was having a boy it didn't really phase me. I thought "oh that will be just fine."

Well...now that they are 2 and 4 1/2 I'm now realizing that I HAVE BOYS! :) I'm going to have little boys running around, pouncing, tumbling, fighting, crashing, yelling, doing sound effects, being rough, and just being little boys! Then...I'm going to have teenage boys, I don't even want to think of what's in store for me then! :)

It was surreal when I went to Salem's first teeball game. I am used to going to dance practices and other girlie stuff. I never had gone to a ball practice. I sat there thinking "I have boys! Oh my goodness, what am I going to do?"

I guess the best thing I can do is just LOVE THEM, sit back, buckle up, and enjoy the ride! :)

Unwinding song

Darrell got out the guitar last night and played Nutshell from Alice In Chains. He introduced me to that song years ago, and I love it! I like to listen to it when I need to "unwind."

I often listened to it on my way home from work when I was pregnant with Salem. Salem really likes this song too, I wonder if it's because he heard it in the womb.

Here is the song, this is a live version but it's still good:

Oaklen's 2nd Birthday Pics

It's been a few days since Oaklen's birthday and now here are a few pictures from that day. It was a fun day. We let him open our (immediate family) presents in the morning so he could play with them all day. He loved the lawnmower, books and toy guitar/violin. Then in the evening was the family party. He got clothes, the fisher price airplane and bus, books, balloons, coloring book & crayons, and a cow-themed bowling set.

I like to make "themed" cakes for the birthdays. What better cake to make for Oaklen than a turkey cake? No, it wasn't made out of turkey, it looked like a turkey! :) Whole wheat chocolate cake, with strawberries for the accents.

Thank you to all who participated in his special day, and for all the gifts, hugs & kisses! :)

Grocery shopping is bad for my blood pressure

I now know why they have blood pressure machines at the grocery store. It's for all those people trying to figure out their convoluted sales!

I went to Albertsons today because there were some great deals. I ended up saving over $150 (53%) + and an extra $30 off, but I always wonder if it's worth all the stress. I could just feel my heart hurting and my blood pressure raising as we went through the store.

Like I said, the sales are quite convoluted...buy 10 of these items and save $2 at checkout, buy $10 worth of these items and you'll get $3, and don't forget about buying $50 worth of these items within the next month and you could get a $10 coupon on your next order. It's unbelievable! I think the store really wants you to make a mistake or miscount so you'll still buy the items but not actually get the discount.

I was thankful that I found a "drive cart" at the store so Oaklen & Salem could ride in there. I'm also thankful that both seats in the "car" part of the cart had a steering wheel. That way the boys wouldn't fight over it. I debated going later in the day so Darrell could be with the boys and I'd go by myself, but I wanted to get it done in the morning.

My blood pressure goes up when I grocery shop for the following reasons:
1. I'm always nervous that the boys are going to "melt" at the store and I won't be able to make it through. We had quite a few screams in the aisles but it was great at the end in the produce section since they had a little TV monitor advertising fresh vegetables and how to cook them. It was suddenly silence in the cart! :) They liked watching that so I took advantage of that moment and stopped to finally figure out the coupons that I had used.
2. The sales are so crazy that I have to keep counting the number of items that I got in order to get the discount at checkout. Usually at the end I have to run to another aisle to get one more thing to make it 10 items or $10 worth.
3. The checkout today actually went rather smoothly but I'm always afraid that I'm not going to get the discount, coupon won't scan, etc. Guess how long my receipt was? Over 5 feet 4 inches! I put the bottom on the ground and held it up, it was taller than me! (Most of that was from the string cheese that they had to scan individually.)
4. Today was a "stock-up" day so I got lots of items and my cart was overflowing. I was hoping that I could make it through with just one cart and luckily I did.

And here's the clencher...would I do this all again? Absolutely! I have created a monster, but I can't NOT do it! :)

The Faith of a Child

Here's a script from this morning...
Heather: "Salem, it's raining outside, will you please change into pants instead of shorts?"
Salem: "But Mom! I prayed to Heavenly Father to make it stop raining!"

He refuses to change into pants. :)

Drop Biscuits

Salem loves to make these biscuits. They're fast, easy, & healthy. We just made them for lunch and they're great with any meal.

I make them "drop biscuit" style so I don't have to have the time or mess when rolling out the dough. The recipe can easily be doubled.


Drop Biscuits
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup milk concoction*

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Grease cookie sheet (optional)
2. In large mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt & soda. Using a pastry blender (or two knives or forks) and cut in oil until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Add milk concoction and stir with spoon just until moistened.
4. Drop batter by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm. Makes about 10 biscuits.

* I say milk concoction because you can use whatever. I usually put half plain yogurt, half milk, plus a little bit of vinegar. You could also use buttermilk, milk with lemon juice or vinegar, all milk, all plain yogurt, or even water!

Notes:
1. You could also just do step #2 and make a homemade biscuit mix. Store in the fridge and use within a month. When it comes time to make the biscuits just add a cup of the milk concoction and bake. Or use the baking mix to make waffles, pancakes, or other things.
2. If you don't like the "healthy taste," you could easily change the whole wheat flour to white flour, or the canola oil to other oils, margarine or shortening.
3. If you didn't want to use the drop biscuit style, reduce the amount of liquid (milk concoction) to about 3/4 cup. Roll dough 1/2 inch thick. Cut with a round cutter or the top of a drinking glass.

Happiness is... Part VI

Happiness is...
* Living in a walkable community.
* Darrell getting up on Saturday morning anxious to do yard work or home repair.
* The pitter pat of little feet upstairs (when Oaklen gets up from his nap.)
* The boys imitating the noise from the coffee grinder every morning.
* When everyone likes the meal that I make for dinner.
* Discovering that I can check out past issues of my favorite magazine from the library.
* Oaklen saying "a-waw-boo" (I love you.)
* Exercising to my own music with my own moves (I probably look hilarious, but it's fun!)
* Salem & Oaklen playing hide & seek.
* Darrell making a magnificent meal out of nothing.
* Getting on the bathroom scale and it reading "88 lbs" (but then Oaklen getting on and saying he weighed 1 lb; later it was fixed.)
* Darrell making waffles.
* Oaklen speaking in two-word sentences, or using adjectives ("shoe off, white cheese, daddy sleep, wash again.")
* Salem's drawings.

Oaklen's Birth Story

Today is Oaklen's birthday, he's 2 yrs old!

My friend Catey posts her birth stories on her blog when it's her child's birthday and I like that idea so I'm going to do it too! Warning: this is a long post, and has a lot of information, possibly even “TMI”, read this if you’re interested in birth stories, otherwise skip it! :)

Oaklen's Birth Story
First of all you'll need a little background. When I was pregnant with Oaklen (Okay Darrell, now is your time to chime in and say "you can't be pregnant with..."), I was working at Overstock.com.

My due date was June 9th and I planned on working through the end of May and begin working from home June 1st. That way I wouldn't go into labor with all my worried co-workers. :) Every day I'd leave work, my friends would wonder if I'd be back the next day; then when I arrived bright and early the following day, they'd all take a sigh (of relief since they didn't want me to leave!) For some co-workers this was their first experience dealing with a pregnancy so it was quite interesting. They watched my belly (and my nose) get bigger, I let them touch my stomach (don't listen to that HR department), they wondered "what on earth is she eating now?", they helped me think of names, and they placed bets to see if the baby was a boy or a girl.

Since it was my second boy, there was no need to throw me a shower but a bunch of my co-workers wanted to have a party/shower anyway. They talked to me and I decided to schedule it for Wednesday May 31. Monday would be the Memorial Day holiday and Tuesday didn't work since some would still be on vacation so we decided on Wednesday May 31 for the shower.

I went to work on Tuesday May 30 and had a great work day. For some reason, I had a feeling that I should bring home the laptop and a few work supplies "just in case." I figured I would just bring them back the next day.

I got home and Darrell was there with Salem, Candace, and Eli. Candace & Eli had come over to do some laundry at our house (since we offered) and then stayed to eat good ol' frozen burritos with us for dinner. I wasn't really feeling too well, but didn't really do much about it since my friends were over, I just put my head on the table and let my belly hang over and that seemed to help my discomfort. (Little did I know that those were probably mild contractions!)

After we ate, (about 6:30 PM) Salem wanted to go show Candace & Eli his new bedroom upstairs. By the time I got to the top of the stairs, I felt a rush, and then suddenly REALLY needed to go to the bathroom. I ran to the bathroom and sat on the toilet and thought that I “didn’t make it.” I thought that it was strange since that hasn’t really happened to me before. Then I realized “oh, maybe that was my water breaking!” I didn’t want to believe it; I wanted to fake myself out of it. Was this it? Was I really going into labor? ( I hadn’t experienced these things on my previous pregnancy since I was induced and had an epidural so I felt like I never had a real “labor” experience, I didn’t even know what a contraction felt like.)

After I realized what might be happening, I yelled “Um Darrell, will you come here for minute?” Darrell came in and I sheepishly told him that I thought my water had broken. Darrell: “What? Can’t you tell if you’re water broke or not?” Heather: “Well I don’t know… it’s weird.” Darrell: “Well what else could it be? You’re 9 months pregnant and it’s bound to happen!” So, Darrell finally convinced me that I was in labor. While I was changing into different pants, Darrell told Candace & Eli that I was in labor. I came out of my room and looked at Candace with a worried, unbelieving face and said “I guess this is it!” They collected their laundry and said goodbye and good luck. (One a side note, it’s funny that they were there when I went into labor because they were also there the night that I found out that I was pregnant. We had taken a home pregnancy test that evening and they came over 30 minutes later and Darrell, of course, had to tell them!)

I called my mom and asked her what “water breaking” feels like and she said that yes I had probably broken my water. I called my midwife and told her what had happened. She said that she happened to be at the office (even though she took the day off) and to come in and get checked to verify that it truly was amniotic fluid. I then called my mom back to have her meet us there so she could take Salem home with her if needed.

We arrived at the birth center and Rebecca, my midwife, verified that it was amniotic fluid and I was in labor. She was excited of course, but the week prior, she told me that I "couldn't" go into labor on May 30 or May 31 since she paid for this midwife conference that she was going to attend and jokingly said that all of her patients weren't supposed to go in labor then. :) I felt bad that I was going to disrupt her non-refundable conference.

I still wasn't really feeling any contractions but since my water broke Rebecca said that if I don't have the baby within 24 hours that I'd have to be transferred to the hospital. She set me up on the fetal monitoring system for just a while to track my labor. She had to tell me that I was having a contraction! I thought "Oh, is that was they feel like?" I was thinking more about the juice that she gave me and my family than my contractions.

It was about 7:30 PM and we decided to head home to labor there and then call Rebecca when things started to pick up. (I didn't expect to call her until late morning the next day.)

My mom followed us home so that she could get Salem's overnight bag. I kissed Salem & my mom goodbye about 9:00 PM and then it was just Darrell, me, and my belly that was starting to look like a baby with a bunch of skin over it.

Darrell and I knelt together and said a prayer, and then I headed upstairs to "rest" while Darrell finished cleaning up the kitchen and living room. (He had the nesting instinct too!)

I knew that rest was a good thing that laboring women needed so I went straight to bed and closed my eyes to sleep. I thought that I could sleep through the contractions. I stayed lying down in the bed for a few of the first contractions but they were distracting enough that I couldn’t sleep. I then started to sit up when I had a contraction they lay back down (on my side) after it was over. The contractions were then coming closer & closer together so I remained sitting up. I instinctively started to rock my body from side-to-side and just breathe deeply when I had a contraction. (Later I likened that to when the Polynesians rock/sway side-to-side after they have eaten a big meal to help them digest their food. If it works for them, it’s got to work for helping the baby get in place too.)

The contractions were getting to a point that I no longer wanted to do it by myself and wished that Darrell would finish cleaning and come upstairs to help me. Luckily he must have heard my unsolicited wish and came upstairs in a timely manner.
It was about 11:00 PM by then and Darrell was excited that the contractions were happening. We sat on the bed together, he behind me, and I grabbed his hand whenever I started to feel a contraction. I didn’t really want to talk so the only way he knew I was contracting was when I squeezed his hand. He noticed that they were getting pretty close together so he grabbed a pen & paper to time the contractions. After a short while, I wanted him to stop writing them down and to focus on me instead of the paper. He kept telling me that these contractions were quite close and that we should call Rebecca. I was still faking myself out of it and thought that we still had a lot of time to go.

I decided that I should try to get up and go to the bathroom. As I was getting up, I had another contraction. Darrell was quickly right there, and got up so quickly that he stepped on the garbage can next to the bed and smashed a hole in it. (To this day, I haven’t gotten a new garbage can because it still works and does the job, plus it’s a fun memory every time I look at it.)

Anyway, I made it to the bathroom and after a few more contractions; I had the urge to push. Darrell ran to get the phone to call Rebecca. While he was dashing for the phone, I let out a yell for the first time and it felt good to use my vocals. I remember learning that when you think it’s getting too hard to manage, that it was almost over. I was now hoping that this was “it,” though I was still preparing myself for possibly more hours of intense labor.

Darrell arrived back upstairs with Rebecca on the phone. By now it was almost 12:00 midnight. I wasn’t in the mood to talk on the phone but Darrell wanted me to talk to her. I just yelled from a distance and said “I’m pushing!” I heard Rebecca say “Heather, don’t push, don’t push!” She wanted me to wait until we arrived at the birth center so she could see if I really was ready to push.

We got off the phone and collected our things to go to the birth center. It took me a while to get from my bedroom all the way to the car in the garage. I kept crossing my legs, and holding my hand down there as I walked. I’m sure that the walking helped Oaklen get down into place.

We hopped on the freeway and went a little over the speed limit but not too much. When we exited the freeway and traveled down the street to the birth center, we wanted to go faster but there was a slow car in front of us. It’s quite ironic that the one time that we could warrant breaking the speed limit, we couldn’t because there was a slow car in front of us, at 12:15 in the morning!

We arrived at the birth center and Rebecca was already there. The nurse/owner, Susan, arrived shortly after. Months earlier, I had chosen “my room.” I chose the ivy room since the bed looked like our bed at home and there was a nice big tub. We went in the room and Rebecca was already starting to fill the bathtub. I started taking off my clothes to prepare for the bath and Rebecca looked down there and said “I see a head!” Heather: “Good!” Rebecca: “Do you want to push?” Heather: “YES!” They stopped filling up the tub and drained it since I was ready to push. I got on the bed and laid on my left side to push. It felt the most comfortable.

Meanwhile Darrell and I realized that we forgot the camera! I told him to call my mom to go get the camera. She woke up and left Salem sound asleep with John (my step-dad) and came to the birth center. She gave us her brand new digital camera still in the box and wanted us to use that one. I told her that I’d prefer to use our camera so we gave her our keys for her to go to our house to get it. She left for our house, I was pushing, and Darrell was fiddling with the new camera trying to see if he could get it charged. I quickly told him to forget about the camera, and to just come on the bed and be with me. (Throughout the whole labor I was proud of myself that I didn’t get too ornery and start yelling at people. I anticipated that I’d do that. You’ll have to ask Darrell for sure if I was as nice as I think I was, but I thought I did pretty well.)

I didn’t count how many pushes that I did, it was more than just a few but it wasn’t an hour like last time. Rebecca and Susan were really great and patient. They knew just the thing I needed at every moment. Darrell also was a great labor coach, I mainly just needed him beside me for moral support and to hold my hand or stroke my hair.

Oaklen officially arrived at 1:10 AM on Wednesday May 31, 2006, less than an hour from the time that I arrived at the birth center. My mom happened to come in with the camera just after Oaklen was born so we were able to get some “right-after” pictures.

The moment Oaklen was born, Rebecca laid him on my chest & belly, skin to skin, and draped blankets around the both of us. He stayed on my belly for a while then he nursed for even longer. My mom said congratulations and then headed home to finish her sleep. Darrell and I sat on the bed and just stared at our new son. After about an hour Darrell finally got to hold him and weigh & measure him while I got up and took a shower. Oaklen was 7 lbs, 10 oz and 20 inches long. After the shower, I came back to the bed and slept/rested with Oaklen by my side for the remainder of the night. Darrell tried to sleep there on the bed too, but since he has a hard time sleeping anywhere except his own bed, he decided to get up and go to another room to watch a movie. Rebecca went home to sleep and Susan stayed there and snored in the next room, loud enough that Darrell could hear it.

We got up about 7:00 AM. I called my mom to tell her to bring Salem to meet Oaklen. Rebecca came about 8:00 AM and gave me an exam to make sure everything was okay. She and I were happy that she could still make her conference that she paid to attend that day. :)

My mom came with Salem and he got to meet his new brother. He was very happy and gave us a rose from Grandma’s garden. I got myself and Oaklen dressed and our family of now 4 headed home. We arrived home about 9:45 AM. It was great to be home with the comforts of my own house.

Many people came to visit that day and by the end of the day, I was quite tired! My co-workers still threw me the shower even though I wasn’t there. They even brought over the presents that evening. Thanks!

Oaklen’s birth story will be an experience that I’ll never forget. It was amazing and there is nothing that I would have done differently!

Happy Birthday Oaklen, I love you!

Peaches

I love this song. I was opening a can of peaches and it made me remember this "Peaches" song. I remember recording it from the radio onto a tape, then listening to it over and over so I could learn the lyrics.

Buses, Trains, a Stroller, and a Museum!

Today we went downtown to the church museum. We traveled using a stroller, buses, and trains. It was lots of fun. I decided to create a storybook about it, enjoy!

Make a Smilebox photobook