Author Archives: Amanda

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You get to a point in life where you look back at the life you’ve lived and think WOW. It’s amazing how much things have changed for me. It’s amazing that 2 years ago I was a person I didn’t like. You go through life and you go through stages and I guess each stage makes you who you are. But I must admit, there are phases I wish I never went through. Friends I wish I never had. Decisions I made I wish I never made. But because of those friends, because of those decision I am who I am… right? Looking at my happy life, with positive people, positive friends, a happy marriage, Church and I just can’t believe I ever had the complete opposite of what my life is right now. I’m glad I changed. I’m glad my husband changed. I’m so happy I moved away from the most negative, chaotic place. I miss my mom, my sister, my brother. I do, but I know that marriage would not have survived had we stayed. And my marriage and my babies are the most important thing to me. You know what’s sad? A part of me honestly has no desire to ever go back there.

House Fairy

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Do you have a hard time getting your child to clean their room? Or maybe you just want to make it fun and magical and exciting. I came across the House Fairy’s website and while I haven’t paid for a membership yet I’ve tested her out on my son Jayden and it works! To have them not knowing when the House Fairy will show to check on their rooms keeps them on their toes! The house fairy at my house leaves fun little surprises. Chapsticks, pencil, sometimes some coins for the piggy bank. It’s been a fun time and I’ve loved that we’ve made things exciting for him. He even cleans the sink after brushing his teeth! He doesn’t want the house fairy to see a dirty sink. And if I leave the living room messy at all before going to bed Jayden will remind me that the house fairy is going to think that this is just a mess! It’s fun. And it really helps!! I think I’m actually going to get a membership so he can see all the videos and stuff. $10.00 is nothing for the results I’ve already seen!

For other tips that work for others visit ROCKS IN MY DRYER

New Years Resolutions

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It’s that time of year again. A time where we all make a bunch of goals that we usually don’t make. Last year I didn’t make one. This year I decided what the heck… I’m making some and determined to keep them!

I’ve been pondering over what I wanted my resolution to be all day. I’ve read other’s blogs, I’ve taken account what friends are doing and this is what I’ve come up with:

On Becky’s Blog she talks about focusing on one word and I think this is a great idea. Choosing a word and focusing on it and incorporating it into your life. I like that. So I’ve chosen a word. And it’s a word that I believe will be a great asset and challenge in my life. It’s Faith. I’m starting to go back to church and I think Faith plays a major part in that. Faith plays a major part in my marriage, my parenting, my family. So, I’m going to focus on Faith for the entire year of 2008.

I’m also going to start writing down weekly goals. And keeping track of them on my blog. These goals can vary every week therefore I’m not feeling obligated on focusing on one certain thing all year long. These goals can range from house cleaning, cooking, marriage, church, parenting… all kinds of topics.

One resolution I’d like to keep is starting to do scripture study every night before bed. Even if it’s preparing for the week’s lesson at church just spending quality time w/my scriptures, prayer and our Heavenly Father every day.

I love to hear other people’s ideas and goals, so please comment and let me know what your resolutions are or comment with a link back to your blog talking about your resolutions.

Cleaning the Oven

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This is my first time ever participating in Tammy’s Kitchen Tip Tuesday. This week instead of giving a tip we are requesting a tip on something in the kitchen we need. I need a tip on cleaning the oven. Over the Thanksgiving holiday my mom’s boyfriend cooked an apple pie. And I guess it dripped down onto my oven. I then went to cook chicken one night and there was smoke coming out of my oven…. NOT GOOD! So, I ended up eating at Subway that night. Then one night I was hosting a dinner party. I was having some friends and the missionaries over for dinner and I was making Enchilada Pie. I had prayed oven off on the bottom of the oven earlier and tried cleaning it off, but I guess I wasn’t as successful as I thought I was because while I was putting the Enchilada Pie together with my oven preheating I looked down to see flames in my oven…….HOLY $*&^% If my husband was not home my house would be burnt down. At the sight of flames I screamed, turned around grabbed my baby, ran to the stairs and yelled for Jayden to get his butt down here the house was on fire… grabbed the phone and was getting ready to dial 911 while running out of the house… when my husband says, “Amanda, calm down I put it out.” So I guess my husband grabbed the water hose thingy on the sink and sprayed the fire and put it out…. I’ve heard that’s not really a smart thing to do, but whatever it worked. I called a friend of mine that was coming to dinner at my house and she came and picked up my enchilada pie and baked it for me. So, that was a few weeks ago and I have yet to use my oven. So, somebody please tell me what a good way to clean the bottom of your oven.

And for other Kitchen Tip Tuesday ideas (this week it be you giving advice to others) please go here Tammy’s Recipes

STARDUST

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This movie was amazing! I wasn’t too excited at first when my husband grabbed it off the shelf at Hollywood Video last night, but thought it would be a great “family” movie for us to watch all together. So, we popped our popcorn and got all comfy with our blankets and had family movie time. This movie was great! I loved it, Gino loved it, most importantly Jayden LOVED it!! If you haven’t seen this movie yet I highly suggest it. This definitely will be a movie that we will be buying.

Summing Up 2007

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This has been an amazing year. We started our year out in Sacramento, where we’ve lived our entire relationship/marriage. Where our son was born. Where our family lives. Where our hearts reside. I found out I was pregnant in December 2006. So, I started 2007 out pregnant and praying and praying that all would go well. In 2006 I had been pregnant and lost our baby girl, Mya. So, we entered 2007 with high hopes that it would be a much better year than 2006 brought us.

April 7, 2007 we did the unthinkable. We packed our home up and moved to Oregon. I never thought in a million years I’d be able to free myself from the stresses of the City. I never thought I’d be able to leave my mom, my sister, my brother – my brand new nephew. But we did it. We knew that we needed to plant our roots. Jayden would be starting kindergarten and we wanted to have him go to school in a small town. We didn’t want the city life for him or our unborn child. So, with tears in our eyes and a heavy weight on our hearts we left everything we knew and loved for a fresh start at life. I’m happy to say that it was the best decision we’ve ever made. Although we miss our families so much, we are finally a content, happy, loving family. I couldn’t ask for more.

August 14, 2007 we gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Ella Marie was 6lbs 7 ounces ~ 18 1/4 in. long. Amazing. The most amazing part of this day was that Jayden was at the hospital. He had his ear to the door waiting to hear his baby sister’s first cry. Moments after she was born Jayden was in the room holding his baby sister. Our family at that moment was complete. It’s like a hole in our hearts was filled. Jayden was an amazing big brother from the beginning. Never an ounce of jealousy, which being that he was an only child for 6 years I was a little scared of this.

September 5, 2007 ~ 1 year since we lost our angel baby Mya. We sent her off balloons at Lithia Park and had a family picnic. It was a very sad day for us, but at the same time we realized that without Mya leaving us we wouldn’t be able to have Ella and we couldn’t imagine life without her.

September 11, 2007 ~ Jayden started kindergarten. I cried. I wouldn’t have cried but the PTA passed out a poem that made me cry. He’s been doing absolutely wonderful and he loves school!! He’s writing his name, adding, can tell you what letter words start with and is working on reading!!! He’s so smart and just an amazing little boy.

October 5, 2007 our world almost came to a crashing stop. Ella was hospitalized and we discovered that our healthy little baby girl wasn’t so healthy. She was extremely sick and we had brought her in to her doctors the day before and was told that she just had an icky stomach virus. I knew in my heart that something else was wrong with her. Something major was wrong with her. October5, 2007 Ella’s doctor called me and asked me to bring her in for a quick check right before the weekend. Thank you, Lord. Thank you thank you thank you! If he hadn’t asked us to bring Ella in Ella would not be with us today. Ella’s heart rate was jumping up to 280 and she had been in this state for so long that her organs were starting to shut down. A couple more hours and this baby girl would have stopped breathing. They ended up shocking her heart and thankfully it worked. But in order to repair the damage they gave her something that paralyzed her and put her on ventilators so she didn’t have to work on breathing while repairing her organs. She got mediflighted to Portland and we learned that our baby girl had a heart defect called Wolf Parkinson White Syndrome. We now are aware and I can instantly tell when something is wrong with her, but we’ve had quite a roller coaster with this. She now is on medication that she started on 10/25/2007. This medication is a miracle. After many hospitalizations she has been symptom free ever since she started this medication. I am so thankful that she doing so well now. She will be able to have a procedure when she’s older where they go into her heart w/a catheter and fix her problem. Until then we are lucky to have a medication that works.

Besides Ella’s heart condition we had a miraculous and wonderful year. We’ve never been happier than where we are at in our lives. I am now able to stay at home with my children while I work for my Grandparents through my house. I couldn’t have ever asked for anything more wonderful. It’s like everything we’ve ever dreamed of us happened to us in 2007. I hope that 2008 brings us as much joy as 2007 has.

9/11 Poem By Jill Mahone

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My cousin, Jill, wrote the best poem about 9/11 that I’ve ever read. She actually wrote it on 10/18/04 for her 10th grade English paper. It’s a tear jerker and is just absolutely amazing. Here’s a picture of my beautiful cousin Jill who is expecting a baby girl in March

We watched as people suffered and died,
as orphans and widows prayed and cried.
As the planes hit the towers the world held its breath,
as everyone saw the destruction and death.
The workers stopped working, the teachers stopped teaching,
all the alarms sounded and the preachers kept preaching.
We could all feel the pain of the people stuck up there burning,
and when another person jumped our stomachs started churning.
Everyone was on their knees praying for the souls
that were going up to heaven and had lost their dreams and goals.
We were losing all hope as the number of deaths got higher,
and our anger kept growing in our hearts like fire.
The day September 11th would now be a very important date.
The day everyone, everywhere would question their fate.
This would be the day that our courage shows bright,
for everyone around was helping with all their might.
All those people dead with not even a grave,
but the helpers still worked with the hope that another they might save.
After all the destruction was done all we could do is give,
so we waited in lines miles long to give blood so someone might live.
Now where the Twin Towers had once stood is a pile of ash,
and everyone alive will always remember the day of this terrible crash
that took the lives of so many that didn’t want to die,
this day when smoke and ash filled the New York sky.
This is our country, the land of the brave and free,
this is a country that everyone should see,
with our colors Red, White and Blue,
and forever and ever we will shine through.
This is our country and it is AMERICA!

~Jillian Mahone

Strawberry Banana Bread

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I have not yet made this….and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to make it today, but I caught my oven on fire a couple of weeks ago and have been scared to use it ever since. Long story – but it all ended well 🙂 I figured I’d share it with you all so that you can make it and let me know how it is. I will be making it soon – in fact I thought about going up to my Grandma’s and making it. Well, here’s the recipe – let me know how you like it!!!

3 Cups of Flower
1 1/2 T Ground Cinnamon
1 T Banking Soda
1/2 T Ground Nutmeg
1/2 T salf
4 Eggas beaten
2 C sugar
1 1/2 C mashed strawberries
1 C Mashed banana
1/2 C oil
3 t shredded orange peel

In a bowl combine the flour, spices and salt. In another bowl stir together the eggs strawberries, banana sugar, oil & orange peel

Pour into 2 greased loaf pans Bake at 350 for 60-70 minutes

**Makes 2 loaves

Ella’s Video

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This is a video that I just came across that I thought I’d post for everyone. Personally, I feel kinda bad whenever I watch it, because it was very mean of me to scare my baby like this, but the look on her face was priceless…..after she jumped pretty bad I was done… but she has some cute cooing on here!! Enjoy ~ a lot of people have had a good laugh over this ~ poor Ella!

Being a Mom

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Being a mom is such a blessing. I love looking over at my sleeping babies and thinking to myself – WOW I did that. I made them. They’re mine. But at the same time it’s the scariest thing ever. They’re mine. They’re mine to mold. They’re mine to make sure that they are fed, dressed, bathed, taught, loved, taken care of. They rely on me. Without me they could fail. And that’s scary. They watch your ever move and they want to be just like Mommy & Daddy when they’re little. Sometimes we forget this. Therefore, we have to be careful what comes out of our mouths. We have to be careful what directions we’re leading them in life. We have to be careful. I want nothing more than my children to love God, love themselves, love me, love their kids, loves their spouse and live a good life. It is my responsibility to see that they get on this path. An amazing thing to think about is that God trusted me to take care of his children. He chose me to raise them how he would want them raised. He chose me. I don’t know why I never actually stopped to think so deeply about this before. It’s scary, but it’s almost like an exciting rush. Life doesn’t make much sense until you’re staring at your sleeping baby. My life makes complete and perfect sense. I am here for them. I am here to make them good people. I hope that I never fail them. I like to think that I will be here forever for them, and even though I know that I won’t be able to catch them every time they fall, but I sure can try. I am so thankful for my family. I am so thankful that I have been given the opportunity to be a wife and a mother. I am so thankful that I am part of a wonderful church. I am thankful for every smile I get to see on my family’s face. They melt my heart. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.