The Haggard Herald

Here Matt and I are last Thanksgiving with Grandma Carbine; I was about four months pregnant here: This year all of Matt's immediate family came, plus Auntie Mimi and her husband, Richard.  We mostly hung out at Grandma's house; Mimi taught me how to juggle (which made Madeleine laugh) and she did balloon animals with Meleah and Aaron.  I wish I had pictures of that but we don't.  Matt and I also managed to go for a short hike in Snow Canyon Friday morning with "junior grandma Melory." Thanksgiving day, Alisa and Matt were our photographers most of the time.  Poor Steven was falling asleep or grumpy-faced most of the day.  Isn't he so sweet though?   Grandma had this very cool box to play with.  It had secret compartments, keys, washers, locks of different shapes and sizes, a calculater, and a water spicket (sp?).  The boys filled the compartments with rocks and grass and leaves; it was very fun. Beautiful Kri...

Hmm, where to begin... I've had a handful of blog post ideas over the past two months that haven't really matriculated.  Madeleine was a cat for Halloween; Matt was a tourist who looked like Bill Nye; and my last-minute costume was a scuba diver, minus the tank... and the mask... and the fins... not our best year of costumes for Matt and I but Madeleine was pretty cute. Then November came.  I bought 40 lbs of chicken from a company my mom buys from.  When I picked it up I had a hard time remembering why on earth I would buy that much chicken at one time.  Forty pounds is a lot of chicken to figure out what to do something with, even if it is cheap.  So I canned about 30 lbs (I never thought I would can meat, but it's actually really good).  And I marinated and froze the other 10 lbs.  We've had the marinated chicken 4-5 times already this month.  It's so easy just to defrost and bake along with rice and vegetables. Then right before our bel...

In the brown rocking chair, 4 month old picture Matt took a picture one afternoon of her sleeping like this (from September) She used to love eating rice cereal and then about a month ago she started teething and forgot how to swallow solid foods.  She coughs up anything I give her that isn't milk now, even if she likes it (I gave her homemade apple sauce this afternoon and I could tell she liked it but she still was choking on it).  Maybe she'll like solid food again when she finishes teething. We all watched general conference together.  I actually got to hear pretty much all of three sessions and a good portion of the fourth.  We've been going on walks occasionally when Matt gets home from work.  This if often how Maddie looks when we get ready to go.  Notice her little dolly that she's carrying.  the little feet are just the right size for her to gnaw on when her mouth hurts.  Last Saturday we went to the Centra...

I may have blogged about the whole grains council a while back but it's worth repeating.  They have a great website with a lot of really good recipes with whole grains.  I was thinking a few minutes ago that I wanted to find a good whole grains oatmeal bread recipe or other recipe ideas that seemed appealing with oatmeal in it.    I thought of the whole grains council.   Interesting facts about whole grains : 1.  Whole grains provide quite a bit of fiber, especially compared to similar grain products that are NOT whole grains.  In addition to fiber, they are often a good source of protein too.  Did you know that? 2.  Popcorn and tortilla chips are whole grain foods, among many others.  It isn't just wheat bread... :) 3.  Incorporating whole grains into your nutritional meal plan helps prevent chronic diseases as well as gives you more antioxidants, vitamins and minerals (wholes grains are often times an even better source...

Matt and I were talking yesterday about this story from Elder Christopherson's talk from a couple years ago.  I don't remember how it came up but it did and then this morning I found a MormonMessage video about it. I love this story.  Take a look:

I was thinking the other day that I want to remember the fun things I did in school growing up and try to recreate some of those fun memories for my kids, or if I ever teach, to be a fun teacher and make learning meaningful like some of my favorite teachers have done for me.  I'm starting with my favorite memories from elementary school: 1.  Painting in kindergarten 2.  decorating cookies in kindergarten 3.  dressing up on Halloween, getting to go in the Halloween parade as a kindergartener 4.  making carrot juice with Mr. P (3rd grade) 5.  reading Encyclopedia Brown as a class at the end of each school day (2nd grade)  I think that was the year I also started getting into the Boxcar Children series and My Side of the Mountain .  Mrs. Potter was big on reading and finding us books that we would like.  I loved those and remember them better than many other books I had to read for school. 6.  having class hamsters (2nd grade) we g...

Matt happened upon this cool cooking blog yesterday and forwarded me a recipe for homemade graham crackers that he wants to try.  I perused some of the other recipes on the blog and am excited to try several of them; I made the taquitos tonight and really liked them.  Here they are: smells-like-home.com

 Here are a few more pictures from our little photo shoot a week or two ago.  She was very happy to be taken out of the dress and have her yellow and white onesie put back on.  It's a lot easier for her and me when she's wearing regular clothes, even though this and the other Sunday dresses she has are beautiful.   I love this picture.  She was staring up at the fan while I changed her out of the blessing dress and back into regular clothes. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Last weekend M&M and I went for a walk in the canyon along the river trail.  It had been rainy that day and  the weather forecast said the high was only 65, hence the sweatshirt Matt is wearing.  It wasn't cold at all actually, it was actually still warm.   Madeleine was trying to pick her head up here.  Sometimes she just doesn't want to recline and she is anxious to be able to move on her own.   Side note: one day last week I wa...

I was reading an address by Julie Beck to seminary and institute teachers which focused on teaching youth the doctrine of the family.  At first I thought that was an unusual phrase, "the doctrine of the family."  Then I started to read and I understood what she meant by that phrase.  It's summarized in "The Family: A Proclamation to the World."   If you haven't read the Family Proclamation recently,  read it again .  To me its like the scriptures and general conference messages; I need to reread it and think about it and when I do I feel happier, my mind is clearer, and its like being filled with sunshine.  In the meantime, here is an excerpt from Julie Beck's address: "In The Church of  Jesus Christ  of Latter-day Saints, we have a theology of the family that is based on the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement. The Creation of the earth provided a place where families could live. God created a man and a woman who were the two essen...

I subscribed to LDS gems a while back and sometimes I get one in my email that is very meaningful to me.  Such was the case today; here it is: "Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come." —Jeffrey R. Holland, " An High Priest of Good Things to Come ", Liahona and Ensign, November 1999 Topics: Hope , Happiness

After about 45 minutes of church on Sunday Madeleine was finished and ready to sleep.  Consequently, I listened to the rest of sacrament meeting from the mothers lounge and then missed the first 30 minutes or so of sunday school.  I was sad I missed my chance to visit with family after her blessing--but its either let her cry while we're out visiting everyone or else seclude ourselves to let her nurse and fall asleep for a few minutes.   I'm glad Mom took several pictures with her phone from Sunday, but I wanted to get a few more pictures of Madeleine in her beautiful dress that Aunt Kelly smocked and Grandma Melory made.  This afternoon that mini-photoshoot came to fruition.  Enjoy the pictures: 

Mom and Dad and Mike and Ethan came to stay with us last weekend, which was the weekend Madeleine was blessed in church.  Here are a few pictures that Mom took on her phone and emailed to me: 

The other night Matt got the camera out when I was getting Madeleine ready for bed.  She had just had a bath and kept smiling at us, especially me whenever I yawn--she thinks that's one of the funniest things to watch.  She also happens to love the ceiling fan and smiles at it throughout the day every time it catches her eye.  Enjoy the pictures! I think this one is so funny.  I don't remember what made her look so stunned, but it must have been something good.  I LOVE this baby.   Do you think she knows she's the reason for my yawning?  :)