L

Lights and Love.
I'm so thankful to live in these modern times where we are blessed with great luxuries such as lights.  Especially thankful for them now as there are many back east without power :(
I am so thankful for love.  So thankful that I have someone to love, thankful that someone loves me back :) thankful for the indescribable love I have for my children.  Where would we be with out love?  It's such a beautiful thing...though not always an easy thing. Here is great quote about love from one of my favorite movies, Dan In Real Life: "Love is not a feeling. It's an ability"-Marty

I'd also like to add a little to K.
Kenton and Kiersten my older brother and sister.
I was going to write about it yesterday but then got carried away writing all about Kirk :) and totally forgot!
I'm thankful for Kenton. He is such a great big brother and I really look up to him. He has always been a great friend to me and such a good example of how we all should live our life.  When I was about 16 or 17 and he was still living at home we would stay up late a lot of nights just talking and he would give me lots of great advice about dating.  I even remember when I was going to a dance in junior high he taught me how to slow dance with guys.  When he showed me that I hold their hand and put my hand on their shoulder I looked at him and said, "Uh, that's not how everyone else dances. Everyone else kind of hugs each other." He said, "No. You do not to the bear hug.  If a guy asks you to dance, you put out your hand." Not sure if I followed his advice or not, but I'm thankful that he was always looking out for me. He was definitely one of those over protective brothers-but in a good way :)
I'm SO thankful for my sister Kiersten.  She truly is one of my best friends.  She is quite a few years older than me so when I was young we weren't super close, but always got a long great!(at least that I can remember).  It wasn't until she was in college that we really became great friends.  We shared a room when she would come home every summer and even though sometimes I'm sure I drover her crazy, I'm glad we had that time together.  I'll never forget all the times we drove the blue honda civic (making sure to bring water along in case it over heated) around town shopping and listening to the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack.  I'd always ask Kiersten to take me shopping and tell her that I'd buy her krispy kreme if she did.  Worked every time :)  Shopping with Kiersten was good for me because she really taught me how to bargain shop.  When I was in college I use to call her EVERY Sunday, but now we talk sometimes almost every day.  I love that I can call her with no purpose other than to chat.  She is such a great sister and friend!

Giving Thanks

A few years ago my sister started doing thankful posts on her blog for the month of November.  She would do a letter of the alphabet for each day up until Thanksgiving (or the 26th).  I've decided to take on that tradition as well, though I can't always think of just one thing per day. She also has her kids answer and they write it on a "feather" for their thankful turkey.  Maybe I'll do that next year.

Anyway, I've been doing this, but just on Facebook.  Thought I'd add it here as well, and elaborate a little more on some of them. 

A-

Annabelle and Alan. I am so thankful that Annabelle joined our family this year. She is such a sweet happy baby and her sweet spirit is such a joy to have in our home. She eats so well, sleeps great (through the night!), and is very happy and content when she is awake...what a blessing. She also is pretty cute too :) We seriously could not have been blessed with a better baby (of course I think I said that with William, and I'll probably say it with every other baby we have).

Alan is my oldest brother.  He is such an awesome guy! Growing up we weren't really close since there is a 10 year gap between us, but now that we're older 10 years doesn't seem like such a big gap.  I remember after his mission, before he got married we would watch all the Kings games together.  It was so fun and I loved that even though I was his little sister he made me feel like his friend.  He is my only sibling that lives semi-close to me so I get to see him more often which I love!  Him and his wife are always so willing to let me come over and hang out with them if I'm in town.  He is such a great Uncle to my kids and William loves going to his house.  A few months back him and his wife so generously offered to watch William overnight so that Kirk and I could have a night away before the baby came.  That was one of the nicest things, and they even took him to the zoo!  I love how laid back Alan is, how easy he is to get a long with, and his sense of humor.  He always keeps me laughing.  So thankful also that Alan was very smart in choosing a wife, because if you know Marisa you know he hit the jackpot.  Love you both!!

B-

Bobby pins. You're thinking, "really??" but yes, I am very thankful for bobby pins. They are a saving grace for my crazy hair sometimes.

C-

Chester and Carla. I am very thankful for Grandpa Chester and Grandma Carla. Grandpa Chester was such a fun, loving man. I loved every time I got to visit with him, he always made me feel welcome. I loved how much he loved my kids and how he always wanted to give William rides on his electric wheelchair. He was such a great example to me of a true follower of Christ. I sure miss him!! I'm also so thankful for Grandma Carla. I'm thankful for her kind heart and how much she selflessly serves others. She is always so willing to help out in any way. I love visiting with her and can't wait to go up to Idaho an see her again.

D-

Dad's and Disney. I'm so incredibly thankful for my Dad. He is the best example of ANYONE I know of giving so willingly of his time and serving others. I know that if we truly needed my Dad's help with anything he would be there in a second to help. He even mowed our lawn 

and helped fix our little golf cart while he was here on vacation visiting us. My Dad is such a great person to be around and visit with.
Another great Dad in my life is my father-in-law. Thinking about it both my Dad and father-in-law have a lot in common. They are both very willing to help us anytime and call us often just to chat and keep in touch-I love that about both of them! My father-in-law is always full of great advice for us and I love that!
Disney, because lets be honest they really have made this world a better place :) love their movies and Disneyland really is one of the happiest places on earth (unless you went there with me and William two years ago, hahaha!)

E-
Eggs. I am thankful for eggs because William LOVES them! I was just thinking about all the great things I make with eggs, and without them I would be missing out on a lot of great food!
So...which came first, the chicken or the egg??
F-
Freedom and faith. So thankful to live in this free country. Thankful to all those who have and continue to fight for those freedoms.
I'm also so thankful for our Heavenly Father's plan and that he gives us our agency and the freedom to make our own decisions. Though I may not always make the best choices, I'm thankful that He lets me make those choices so I can learn from them.
I'm so thankful for my faith in my Heavenly Father and his plan for us.  I'm thankful for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that has taught me what faith is.  Without it I would be a very lonely and sad person.
G-
Gym. I'm thankful that I have a gym that I can go work out at. Going to the gym is definitely therapy for me.  I'm thankful that the gym here has a child care center included in my membership so I can still workout even when Kirk is at work. I really need to take advantage of my gym membership more, but I am thankful that when I choose to go it's there--such a stress reliever!!
H-
Henrie (my maiden name for those who don't know). I'm thankful to be a Henrie. Though I'm a Wahlen now, I'll still always be a Henrie :) thankful for my Henrie family; they are so fun to be around and ALWAYS keep me laughing!! I sure wish they lived a little closer so I could see them more often. I love how willing each of my Henrie Aunt and Uncles are so supportive of me and my family. Thankful for my Grandma Henrie and her love for her family. I love getting emails from her and she has made some beautiful quilts for me and my kids. She is such a strong woman and a great example to me :) 

I-

Ice cream. I'm thankful for ice cream, even though it makes me fat :) It just makes everything better.  Now if only they could make a calorie, fat, and carb free ice cream that tastes good!

J-

Jana. I am so thankful for my sister Jana. I have so many fun memories with her. Growing up we did almost everything together. We had a lot of the same friends, same hobbies, same music interests, etc. We really were so much alike which also caused us to fight..a lot; but now that we're all grown up she really is one of my best friends. I love that I can tell her something is "Bomb-Diggity" and she gets it, hahaha! I remember doing so many fun things with her like...showing eachother the gifts we got each other on Christmas Eve, going to Wishing Well all the time to get Spice Girl suckers and gum, singing and dancing to the Spice Girls (blasting it as loud as we could in our living room), sneaking out of our beds to watch Home Improvement, playing school, sleepovers after she moved out into her own apt, and all those nights of folding papers together while watching Toy Story.<---Jana somehow would ALWAYS get me to help her fold papers for her paper route, but then she would always fall asleep during the movie and I'd end up folding most of them.  Then she'd beg me and beg me to help her deliver, and for some reason I always said yes!  So I always ended up being the one holding all the papers.  Yeah, not quite sure how that happened, lol.  She is so fun to hang out with; just wish she lived closer so we could hang out more! She really has been there for me through a lot of tough times in my life. She is such a great mother, sister, and friend, and has THE cutest (besides Annabelle of course :)) little girl. If you know my sister Jana, consider yourself lucky :)
K-

 Kirk. I am SO thankful for Kirk! He is such a great husband, and a perfect match for me. He supports me through my trials and helps me to become better every day. I am so thankful for his example to me. I'm thankful for him being a great Father to our children. I love the way he plays with them every chance he gets and is always such a great example to them. I'm also thankful that Kirk knows when I've had a rough day and is so willing to just jump in and cook dinner, help out with the kids, or whatever I need.
Things haven't always been easy for us, but I'm so thankful for all the fun times we've had and will continue to have like......  

 -getting the nickname of sweat heart ;)   

-going to a YSA halloween dance after we were married and I was 5 months pregnant :)

-the many many movie date nights   

-Seeing Phantom of the Opera in Vegas on our honeymoon...not to mention the Walgreens adventure we had there as well<---yeah, not one of my favorite memories, lol.   

-Driving up into the South Hills almost every week when we lived in Twin Falls   

-Eating our first breakfast in our apt using our suitcases as a table and our camping chairs to sit on (the only furniture we had at the time)   

-bringing him homemade chocolate chip cookies to work   

-working (almost) along side him at Sportsmans Warehouse   

-Fishing at Dierkies lake in Twin Falls   

-That moment we KNEW we should start our family   

-Our time spent together at the Hospital when William was born.  None of our family was there until about 3 hours after he was born, such a great experience to know that "We did it!" all on our own.   

-When Annabelle was born and becoming a family of 4.  Seeing the look on William's face when he first met his little sister :)

Yeah, I could go on FOREVER! :)   Anyway, I love you Babe! 

Stay tuned for more!!!

Life's Lemons

Life has given me lemons, but I have definitely not been making lemonade (at least not by my understanding of this phrase). 
I'm not sure that I want to share all of this, but I'm hoping that sharing my thoughts and feelings with you will help me.  I usually write in my journal, but when I'm feeling down those journal entries just tend to fuel the fire and are just down right depressing.  Anyway.....
I have a problem.  I have an addiction.  In all seriousness, I am addicted to food, specifically sweets.  I know some of you may read this and think "me too!" or "it's okay, everyone loves food" but for me it is not okay. Yes it is an addiction, no it is not just a love of food.  When I'm depressed, upset, sad, etc, I eat and eat and eat.  If there are sweets around I devour them until they are gone.  I can't just have one cookie, I have to eat them all or eat until I am sick.  It's gotten to the point where I am eating in secret because I don't want my husband to know I eat as much as I do.  I'm embarrassed, I'm ashamed.  Most importantly though, I don't want this to be how my kids remember me.
So I'm an emotional eater and I get in this terrible cycle where (as I mentioned above) I eat when I'm upset, then that makes me more depressed, which makes me want to eat more--and I do, EVERY TIME!  Today for example I was doing great all day.  I even went for a 2 mile run and did a TON of ab exercises and pushups.  Later in the day I got upset and started eating sweets and pretty much any kind of food in the house that sounded just a tiny bit appetizing.  The candy I was eating wasn't even really that good but just having it made me "feel better." 
I'm getting really upset because I literally hate every aspect of my body right now.  I only weigh 12 lbs less than when my daughter was born and my stomach is bigger than it's ever been.  Most people I talk to just say, "It's okay, you just had a baby, give it some time, you'll lose it in no time" well that's what I thought too after having my son, and 2 1/2 years later when I got pregnant with baby #2 I still hadn't lost all the baby weight.  I know everyone is just trying to be nice and help me feel better but I'm sick of it!  I don't need any excuses.  I give myself enough excuses every single minute of every day.
I really am at a loss of what to do.  I know I shouldn't eat as much as I do, but I just don't know how to say no!  A lot of people just say to not buy the sweets and junk so you won't eat it, but if I don't have it in the house then I'll just go buy it.  It's a serious disease.  I just wish I hated food and never had the desire to eat, then maybe I'd be a lot healthier, skinnier, and happier.  I know looks aren't everything, but they sure are something, and what's in the mirror now is NOT what I want to see!  I'm not being hard on myself, I'm just finally being honest with myself.
My purpose in writing this is not to try and get sympathy or for you to give me compliments or help me rationalize my behavior.  My purpose was to get my thoughts out and hopefully get some feedback of tips or ideas on what I can do to beat my addiction.  I love all the feedback I usually get from my blog posts, but PLEASE if you are just going to comment and say, "Don't be so hard on yourself" "You look great", etc. no offense, but I'd rather not hear it; at least not today.  I need HELP, not sympathy.

Patience

Patience.  Such a hard thing to have sometimes.  My patience is currently being tested as I wait for our baby girl to arrive.  Really, I should be more patient and not complaining, but it's just a little hard.  I'll be 38 weeks tomorrow and since my first came 9 days early I keep expecting this one to come early as well.

Some of you may know this, but I'm having the baby up in Idaho because we don't have any insurance yet in Utah.  I'm staying with my in-laws until baby girl comes, so at least I have a place to stay while I wait.  So grateful for family!  My husband's work was slow this past weekend so he came up here for 4 days.  Since I have been getting some contractions we tried anything and everything we could to get labor going, but no success...well, at least not with labor.  A week ago the Dr was concerned that the baby might be breech.  Today when I was checked we found that she has dropped and is not breech so that was wonderful news!!  The only downer at the appointment was that I'm still not dilated.  That being said, my husband left to go back home (6 hours away).  I wouldn't have been so sad about not being dilated today, but I'm just SO worried that if I suddenly go into labor like I did with my first, I'm afraid my husband won't make it in time.  With my son I was checked on a Monday and was not dilated or effaced at all, then 4 days later my water broke!  8 hours after my water broke my son was here.  So, you can see where there might be some concern. 

Anyway, just needed to vent my frustrations a little.  I guess I will just have to try and have faith in the Lord's timing and wait...

Free craft day for kids at Michael's!

Did you know that Michael's offers free crafts for kids ages 3 and up?  I just found out and am pretty excited.  I don't have a Michael's near me, but while I'm staying with my in-laws in Idaho for about a month I'll be near one.  I'll have to try and take William before baby girl arrives.
To see the schedule for June, click here. 

Family pictures on a budget

We recently had our first family photo session.  Since our wedding (4 1/2 years ago!) this is the first time we've ever had someone else take our pictures--besides the occasional "Hey, will you take our picture real quick?" to a stranger.  I've been wanting to get good family pictures for a long time, but we've just never really had the money for it.  This time we decided we were willing to spend some money for good quality pictures, but in the end it didn't cost us a dime!  I LOVE when I can save some money!!

I wanted pictures outside, so hopefully they would seem more natural looking and let's face it, trying to get a 3 year old boy to pose in a studio just didn't seem like a possibility for us (at least not with our toddler).  I have a photographer friend who we were going to pay to do our pictures, but that ended up not working out, since she lives out of town.  We then decided we just needed someone, anyone to just take the pictures and we would edit them.  In talking to one of my friends I found out she use to do photography for weddings and such.  Awesome!  She was nice enough to give of her time and spend 2+ hours doing ours for FREE!!  She said she hadn't taken any pictures in over 4 years, but I was sure impressed with how they all turned out.  So thankful for such great friends--I owe you Ali! :)

So she took all the pictures, then I spent the time editing.  We recently bought adobe photoshop, but I have not yet learned how to use it, so the following pictures were edited on our Mac.  I was amazed at how simple it was and how great they turned out!  If you don't have a Mac, there are so many great photo editing sites online for the low price of FREE! :) I just googled "free online photo editing" and came up with a dozen or so sites.

For Mac users: For all the pictures, I first clicked the "enhance" button, then if they needed further editing, I went into the effects section and went on from there. A lot of the pictures I boosted the color (under effects) just to help them stand out more, but sometimes it did make the pictures too dark so I had to lighten a little.  Here are a few examples of pictures I edited and what I did.  

Changed to black and white, then clicked vignette for the black edge.

 Boosted the colors, then added the edge blur.

 Sometimes just simply changing the picture to black and white can do so much for the emotion in the photo.

 Changed to sepia, added edge blur, then matte.  Love how this one turned out!

 For this one all I did was boost the color.

 Just a quick boost of the color.

 Antique setting.  I liked the antique setting for some of the pictures of my son on the tractors and such, since the tractors are antiques.

All-in-all, here is what I have learned about saving money on family pictures:

• You do not need to go to a studio, or necessarily even have a professional take the pictures, though it was nice that our friend has lots of experience! 
• A little bit of quick photo editing goes a long way--I spent less than 30 seconds editing some of these.
• There are so many new photographers out there who are willing to do free or dirt cheap photo sessions to expand their portfolio-don't be afraid to ask!
• It is best to have someone with a dslr camera take the pictures.  It seems almost everyone now has one, so I'm sure if you talk to your friends you'll find one.
• If you are taking them outside, make sure to do it early morning, or evening.  We did ours around 7pm and it was perfect!  The natural lighting helps a lot with the quality of the photos.

Hope this was helpful, thanks for reading!

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

This is a recipe I learned about 7 years ago back in high school, but it has to be one of my very favorite dishes to make.  It's so delicious!  I've made it for a lot of friends, neighbors, and family.  Almost everyone that I make it for asks for the recipe, so I thought I'd share it with all of you.

Before I begin though, let me make you aware that not all measurements are exact.  You kind of just have to use your best judgement in deciding the consistency you like for your enchiladas.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 1/2 cups cooked white rice
• about 1/2 lb pepper jack cheese, grated 
• 8 oz fat free cream cheese
• about 1 1/2 cups green chile enchilada sauce (I usually use medium for a little extra kick, but if you don't prefer spicy things, or maybe have kids, I'd go with mild)
• 10-12 flour tortillas (soft taco size)
• 1-2 cubes (depending on size) chicken bouillon (optional)

Directions:

First, boil all the chicken with the chicken bouillon.  If you don't have bouillon don't worry.  A lot of times I don't use it and I really can not tell a difference.  Though, if I have it on hand and remember, I'll usually throw in a cube or two. 

While chicken is cooking start cooking rice, and preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.   Rice is not in the original recipe but a year or so ago my husband and i decided to start adding it.  It just makes the recipe go a lot further, and rice is cheap so we've been doing it ever since!

After chicken is cooked, shred and place in large bowl.

 Next, add cream cheese, a couple handfuls of pepper jack cheese, and about 1/4 to 1/2 cup enchilada sauce.

 Mix ingredients together.  I use my kitchen aid with the hook attachment because it makes it so much easier, but before I had a kitchen aid I just used my hands.  Don't worry about getting messy, you will be messy by the end of this-especially if you cook like me :)

After chicken, sauce, and cheeses are mixed thoroughly, add in rice.  Mix again.

Pour a small amount of enchilada sauce in baking dish.  Just enough to coat the bottom so the enchiladas don't stick--though almost every time I make these they stick a little to the dish anyway.

 I usually bake 10-12 enchiladas in a 9"X13" oven safe baking dish.

 Pour more sauce on a plate.  Coat tortilla on both sides with sauce, then add chicken mixture.  Roll up tortilla and place in baking dish.

 Top enchiladas with sauce and pepper jack cheese.  Bake in oven at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Enchiladas are done when cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly.  I like my enchiladas to be a little bit crispy, so I bake them until cheese starts to lightly brown.

ENJOY!

Tips for good enchiladas:

• Don't crowd enchiladas in pan
• Don't underbake-nothing like taking a bite of something that is cold inside.
• If you plan to have leftovers, make sure to eat them in a day or two.  They tend to go soggy fairly quick.  If I know I'm making more than we'll eat I just bake what we'll eat that night, then prepare the rest, cover, and put in the fridge to bake later in the week.

For a healthier variation, you can:

• Prepare with brown rice, instead of white
• Use whole wheat tortillas
• Cut back on the cheese.  I  tend to use maybe a little more cheese than necessary, because it's just so yummy! :)

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