Pretty Colors for Dinner

I posted this picture on my facebook account the other night, and a lot of people "liked" it, so I thought I would elaborate on the tasty goodness. This meal has become one of my summer time favorites. I buy all the ingredients from my local farmer's market (excluding the chicken) and it feels good to eat so many yummy and colorful veggies as well as support my local farmers.

I originally got this recipe from the cook book "Our Best Bites". Which has also become one of my favorites. All the recipes I have made from the book are AMAZING! And the ingredients are fresh and go together so well. I discovered recently that these two LDS ladies have a website that is equally awesome and informational. They are moms (just like me) and they like to make yummy creations (just like me). Check it out: www.ourbestbites.com .

When you get to the webpage you can type in the search box 'italian chicken skewers'. The recipe calls for a BBQ which we have, but when you live in an apartment with a tiny patio, let's face it, it's just kind of a big fat hassle to get the thing out. I am thinking they would be incredible on the "barbie". Let me know if you do that :) So I just put them on a cookie sheet in the oven with these directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes then flip over and bake other side for 10 minutes. Depending on how big your chicken chunks are, they may need some more time, but I found the chicken to be just right and moist with the 20 minute baking time.

Serve up with some quinoa, and you've got a protein packed meal! I know that a whole bottle of Italian dressing (I used Newman's family italan) seems like a lot, but probably more than half of it drips off. Also, I marinated my mushrooms for about an hour before assembling the skewers.

Hope you enjoy!

Summer Time

Summer has been great to us. We're loving all the time that we get to spend together because Kinzer is out of school. Lots of swimming, parks, family visits, and just being outside.

I can't believe how much Jane is growing up. It really feels like she is learning something new or doing something new every day. She is such a smart baby and (probably because we are her parents) we think that every little thing she does is amazingly perfect. Some our favorite things that she does:

* "ma ma" "da da" "ya ya" "ba ba" and many more un-identifiables... I love to hear her voice :)
* Sign language! I was amazed that she started to pick up on the signs I have been doing with her since she was little. It's great that she can communicate with us.  She's only 8 months old!
* She gets very intense when she eats. She'll get a big cheesy smile and show us her teeth, then start laughing.
* She claps for herself. So cute.
* LOVES music. We like to have little family dance parties at night with her and she hates when it's over.
* She also loves to see the chorister in Sacrament meeting and waves her arms when the hymns start playing, like she's leading the music.
* Any water anywhere can entertain her for hours. We went to the splash pad today and she was hyperventilating over the water shooting out all over the place.

Picture time :)

Happy 4th of July!

She loves her dad's hats.

Jane played with her 2nd cousin, Lynden, while in Utah. It was so much fun to see them interact.

Some more fun friends for Jane. Marlow (left) and Molly (right). Jane and Molly had matching swim suits.

Best toy ever: a lime.

Jane has a toothbrush and she loves to have her gums and teeth brushed. Start 'em early!

Put my shower cap on her. She thought it was so funny! So did I.

Trip to the zoo. Jane and this monkey had a stare down for a little bit. Hilarious.

The road trip to and from Utah. Jane did a great job. We were pretty anxious about how it would go, but she was a champ.

We had to document her tiny tuft of "bed head" one morning. I can't wait for her to have more hair. Isn't she cute in the morning?

Those beautiful blue eyes get lots of comments. And even though she has no hair, there is no mistaking her for a boy because of the lashes she got from her dad. I'm jealous!

While I was in Utah, my mom's neighbor had some free furniture on their lawn. So I snatched up this super comfortable rocking chair and refinished it with new cushions and all. I gave it to my sister. I hope she can use it to rock lots of cute babies to sleep :)

Just stuff

Hold the phone for this one...
...
I just feel like blogging. Weird.

Right now we're in Utah visiting family.  Family is so good for me.  Ever since we moved to California (almost 3 years ago), I have really had roller coasters of emotions.  Happy, sad, excited, angry, free, alone, hopeful, and the list does go on. I didn't realize how much of a home-body I am until I moved about 800 miles away. I remember saying to myself "My life will never be the same. It will be worse". I am here to tell you that moving away has been a very big blessing in my life. Here are some reasons why:

I am a different person. I'm happier.
I don't feel pressured to be someone I am not.
I am content and happy to make decisions that are good for me and for my family.
I am forced to learn and grown in an area that I am not 100% familiar with.
I can make new friends that know me and like me for who I am right now and not who I was.
I cherish opportunities to learn and grow as a mother and wife. These opportunities are important to me especially because I don't have my own mother around to lean on.
I have a true and deep love for those around me that support me and love me because they are who I associate with on a daily basis.
I don't take for granted my family in Utah. When I lived in here I didn't embrace the fact that my parents lived 5 minutes away. I miss them a whole bunch.
I feel more care-free. (maybe that's the Santa-Cruz-hippie rubbing off on me)

These things, along with others, are the reason that I am thankful that I was brave enough to pack up the Uhaul and drive across the dessert to the land of "the Granolas: fruits, flakes, and nuts." When I come home to visit, I am reminded of the blessing it has been to live in California. I am reminded of the change that has taken place in my life. Good change. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Utah. It's just not the best place for me. And even though marrying someone from another state has had it's rough times, I couldn't be more thankful for my California boy, and for our wonderful life there.

We struggle, but we have each other. All 3 of us :) We have hard times, but we get through them. We work hard, and sometimes it's not enough, but we are doing it. We are living life. We are enjoying our moments together. We are laughing and playing and learning and growing. This is just our life and I am in major likeness with it. I'm thankful for California. I'm thankful for all the good things that have come from living there and all the things that have come since living there, this one being the biggest blessing of all:

The 6 month, veggie-loving, ferberized, water baby, Janey pants

Jane is asleep. It's so nice when she is doing that, but honestly, I kind of miss her when she is asleep. I get so excited to get her out of bed!

Jane is almost 6 months old. I can't really believe it. I super like the stage that she is at right now and constantly find my self telling Kinzer that I wish these moments would freeze and we could soak EVERYTHING up before time goes on.

Jane is loving her solids. She is an awesome eater! Must get that from me :) So far she loves all veggies (sometimes sketchy about peas), and after every bite she says, "MMMMMMM". We haven't started fruit yet. But if she loves veggies so much, I think she'll go crazy over fruit.

Jane has been "ferberized". I never knew that there was such a thing as sleep training until I married into the Kaupert fam. One word about Dr. Ferber's sleep training method: AMAZING! She responded so well to it and I haven't slept so well since she was born. She goes to bed at 7:30 PM, wakes up at 4:30 AM to eat, then goes back to bed until 7:30/8:00 AM. When we put her down for a nap she fusses for 10 seconds, then starts talking to her self until she falls asleep. When we put her to bed at night there is no rocking involved and (this is the awesome part) no pacifier. We give her a kiss and an "I love you" then put her down. She rolls to her side and dozes right off. It's so incredible. I loved being able to rock her to sleep and have her stay up with us and I had a little bit of anxiety the first few days because I felt like I wasn't giving her enough attention (because I get an extra 3 hours to myself every night now). But I love even more the fact that she loves her bed, and the fact that I get to hangout with just Kinzer for a good 3 hours before we head to bed. One day we woke up after an amazing night of sleep and the first thing I said was, "I have a testimony of the Ferber method!!!" I really do. If you want to know more about the Ferber method you can get the book from the library (or buy it). There are 2 editions. We actually didn't use the book at all. We read a lot online, and this website explained things well and the writer has a really funny approach to the whole thing.

We took Jane swimming yesterday. She loved it. She loves the water, and couldn't stop splashing. It is going to be such a fun summer with the pool. She loves to be outside and has spent a lot of time outside since she was a born. We take her out every chance we get. Thank you California weather :)

She is growing and learning every day. As much as I love this time we have and I try my hardest to soak it all in, I look forward to seeing the little toddler that Janey will be. I love hearing her sweet squeals and screeches, but I'm excited for her to speak words. When I talk to her she really stares deep into my soul, trying to make sense of it all. I love her.

Here she is with hands clasped. There's a lot more where these came from.

We wanted to take advantage of the beautiful spring blossoms. So we turned it in to a very early Easter shoot.

Solids

Swim baby

Easter was fun. The only picture I have of Jane in her dress is the bottom one of the Kaupert Family. It was such a poofy thing and so hard to hold her in it. Jane loved sucking on the Easter Eggs she received and the little kids in the family LOVE Jane. They can't get enough of her. I can understand that:)

The cheeks!

Jane Darl

Hello blogging world! It's nice to see you again.

It's been a really long time since I blogged. And you know what the great thing is? I don't feel guilty about it. Nope I don't. I decided that I just can't be a wonder mom that blogs at least once a week. It's just going to have to be once a month. Maybe twice if you're lucky. Or maybe not even once if you're unlucky :)

These past 4 months of my life have been LIFE CHANGING. I mean, I just had a baby. No biggie. Just another human being to take care of. And let me tell you, when I say "take care of" that is an understatement (if that's possible). I don't really take care of myself anymore. Well, that's not true, I try really hard everyday to brush my teeth, eat 3 (or 1) meals, exercise for at least 20 minutes [just dance: wii], and shower. I can accomplish these things much easier than I could a couple months ago.

This is the hardest job I've ever loved.

Jane Darl Kaupert entered our lives on October 19th, 2012 around 5 AM. Weighing 8 lbs 3 oz, 21.5 inches long. I can't quite find the words to explain how perfect she is. She just fits so well into our life. It's the best. The very best.

I'll spare you the whole birth story and mention some of the bigger points:

- I was 9 days overdue. In the 100 degree Fresno weather. Awesome.

- Jane's heart rate dropped so I was induced and had to lay in one position and let the contractions hit me like a ton of bricks.

- Because of the afore mentioned contractions I got the epidural. It was a beautiful thing :)

- I was in labor for 18 hours. Pushing the last hour.

- When she made her entrance my whole life stopped. The water works were flowing, and I blurted out, "Best day of my life!!!"

- Kinzer is the greatest man. I will love him forever for everything, but especially seeing his sweet face at that moment and the tears in this proud father eyes.

- Giving birth may be the most spiritual experience I have ever had. It was tough, but I tried so hard to focus on the beautiful gift of life. Just incredible. Complete bliss.

Jane is named after her her great great grandmothers. Jane Brown was Kinzer's great grandmother who he had a great relationship with. And Susie Darl McGhie was my great grandmother, who I never knew, but her middle name, Darl, is short for darling.

We love having Jane around. She has such a personality and is growing so much everyday. She is at such a fun stage right now. She's got such big eyes and since day one arches her back and turns her head from side to side to see what the heck is going on. Many people say she has a pensive look. She has a furrowed brow a lot of the time. Even when she is sleeping. She clasps her hands together all the time, especially when she eats. It's like she's saying "Oh goody"! She is so the best. I could go on and on, but I wouldn't know where to stop. So I'll leave you with some fun pictures of Jane's life so far in this big big world.

Hello world!

First bath

11 days old on Halloween

We caught this smile during a feeding at 2 am.

She has always loved to arch that back. I can't believe she was that little. *tear

We couldn't wait to use the bumbo. This is her at 5 weeks and she has loved the bumbo ever since.

Visiting with Santa.

Christmas Card 2012

This is Jane's great grandma Cavell.

Hanging with Grandpa Larry

Fell asleep while I was clipping her finger nails :)

I just loved this face. And I love cuddling with Jane in bed.

First time at the park on the swings. Such a happy baby.

These two... my very most favorite people.

Can't get enough of those cheeks!

She loves to gum her fingers.

Just for fun.

Walking on West Cliff, Santa Cruz, CA. Beautiful!

The sand was so messy, but I let her go to town. I found the evidence of swallowed sand in Jane's diaper the next day...

First time touching the Pacific ocean. She's a California baby.

Happy family.

So tired that she fell asleep in the tub. She loves her bath time.

Sunday best.

Thanks for stoppin' by!

A baby update

Well, it has come to my attention that unlike other blogging moms-to-be I don't update about the progress of this little dancing queen in my belly as much as I should or as much as I want to. Partly because everything has mostly been going well and partly because I don't think people read these posts. Are you out there? Oh, hi mom and Ab!

My visits are now every two weeks which really excites me because it means that the time is drawing near and things are starting to set in. The visits are usually about 5-10 minutes long: I go to the bathroom in a cup (which I am pro at), get weighed (which usually ends up with me hanging my head in shame), get my blood pressure taken (it's "looking great" every time), lay down and get measured, then get goop squirted on my hairy stretch marked belly (sorry if that's TMI and yes, I have stretch marks and I'm embracing them) and hear that beautiful beat. Then my midwife asks me if I have any questions which I usually don't (but I remember a list of about 5 things I wanted to ask on my way to the car to leave...pregnancy brain), then we schedule our next appointment and we are on our pretty little way. Let me mention that my sweet Kinzer has come to every appointment with me. At first I didn't expect him to care either way, but he really really wants to be there and I am thankful that he is every time. Plus, him and the midwife and ultrasound technician have some great conversation (can you say best friends?).

A couple weeks ago when the midwife was measuring my uterus with her handy dandy measuring tape she said, "wow, what are you growing in here"? uhhhhh...I started laughing a little bit, then total fear set in, my face got hot, and I thought in my head "Hopefully only one baby"!!! She continued on to let me know that my uterus was measuring larger than normal and they would need to do an ultrasound just to check things out. I don't know why but neither Kinzer or myself said anything like, "should we be concerned"? or "could something be really wrong"? We just went with it and kind of got excited that we were going to get another ultrasound, since they told us our last ultrasound was going to be the one we got at week 20. So we had to wait for 2 days to meet with the ultrasound tech. That means we had 2 days to think about why I could have been measuring large and 2 days to look on the internet at what could possibly be wrong. Google is so awful...I mean, I just have a love/hate relationship with it. I started reading about people who had twins but didn't learn about one of them until week 30. I read about babies having massive growth spurts that pushed their due date up a couple weeks. Gestational diabetes could be a factor (but I passed that test). Some women are just big in their pregnancies (gee thanks!). If you measure large it could be because you have a greater amount of amniotic fluid, which can mean that your baby has a disability or deformity. I was really starting to panic. Everything has been going so well with the pregnancy and if you know me, you know I am a worrier so I worried in my head that it was only a matter of time before something had to go wrong. I hate that I think like that.

The couple days came and went (they were very long days, by the way) and we went in for the ultrasound. I never thought I wouldn't want to see my child, but I was so afraid that the tech was going to tell me something I couldn't handle. I was shaking and sweating. I'm so happy Kinz was there. The tech went over all the measurements and said "Well, everything looks fine. The baby is 2 lbs. 4 oz. and right on track". The final verdict is that the baby had a big growth spurt within a 3 week period and I'm just blessed to have a large uterus which means I'm going to be (if not already) a big pregnant woman. Oh and our due date may be a few days earlier than we thought. They are going to give me another ultrasound around week 36.

I can't believe how much has changed since we last saw her! I'm thrilled that we were able to get another ultrasound. We even scored some 3D images of her cute squished face and puffy cheeks. I don't really know who she looks like. To me...well, she just looks like a baby. What do you think?

It's kind of hard to see, but this is a profile of her face. Eyes, nose, lips, and I love those cheeks!!

Sleepy gal. Again...the cheeks.

 I think she's pretty stinkin' cute, but I am biased I guess.

Some other random facts about the pregnancy so far:

* She is a mover and a shaker, especially when it's time for me to go to bed. I'm not going to lie. It's amazing and all to feel her, but after about 3 round house kicks to the ribs (had to throw in some Chuck Norris commentary), it's kind of annoying. Love her though. Promise!

* The heartburn is killer and gags me until I throw up. Tum tuh tuh tuh TUMS!! And I hate to say it, but I'm pretty sure french fries help my heart burn.

* I'm craving peaches all the time. There is such great produce here in the valley. The pitted fruit is so incredible!!

* I have been spending lots of time at the pool. I go walking every morning before it gets to 100 degrees, then I hit up the pool almost every day and swim laps. It feels like the best exercise, and you weigh 90% less in the water, which feels great to me and my large pregnant woman bod. I just wish it was acceptable to skinny dip in mid day in a public pool.

* I feel really ugly, but Kinzer told me I was sexy today. It made me feel so good. He's nice.

* We have started looking into birthing classes, we found a pediatrician to discharge the babe, and we get to go on a tour of the hospital in a week. I think being familiar with the hospital, will ease my terrors.

Things are really starting to set in. I am getting more and more excited to meet her. Still scared though. Any advice is so appreciated!

23 weeks

Swimming pool

29 weeks. Cute outfit, I know.

Utah: Part 2 [ Pinning Ceremonies, Boy Bands, Black cars, and Birthdays]

I have been away from the blogging world for so long that it feels like I don't really know how to blog anymore. Bear with me. [I just had to google whether I should use "bear" or "bare". Turns out that "bare with me" means get naked with me, FYI. Please don't. Unless you're my hub]

Okay so more of Utah. I'm kicking myself, because this vacation was 2 months ago and the fun memories are slipping my mind.

A huge reason we went to Utah was to be able to celebrate my awesome sister, Haylee's, graduation from nursing school. She worked super hard and after 3 long years and a bagillion cold sores (our family knows stress and cold sores), she finished! Good job Hay!! She also took her NCLEX, passed, and scored an awesome job. I'm really just so proud of her:) I can imagine what a relief it is, and it just keeps getting better - She is engaged and getting married in exactly 6 weeks! Yes, that means we will be back out in Utah when I am 34 weeks pregnant. Sorry Haylee and Craig, but I'm going to ruin your wedding pictures. I am so happy for this couple. They are so great together. I am super excited to have Craig as my new brother-in-law.

I was able to go to her pinning ceremony. It was really neat. I especially liked the part when a boy from her class was giving his speech and then at the end he started singing Josh Groban's, "You Raise Me Up." It was a shocking change after his really hilarious speech. WTG Sis!

My super talented brother-in-law, Dave, produced a documentary about Alex Boye. It's very good. While we were in town the DVD came to the shelves. There was a showing at a local movie theater to kick off sales. Alex even started the night off with a few of his songs. Did you know that he was in a boy band? He was singing songs about being a citizen of the U.S. all while he did some real fancy boy band moves. It was pretty rad. At one point he even called me, my sister, and a couple other ladies down and sang to us. He sang us Happy Birthday...boy band style. :) He has a very inspirational story. Check it out it's called Frontman:The Alex Boye Story. Thanks Heidi and Dave for getting us such great seats. We really enjoyed it!

Nice glasses!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgovv8jWETM

Watch this video! Alex Boye made it along with "The Piano Guys". It was one of the songs he sang at the beginning of the night. The video is really amazing, and I love Coldplay! He commented on John Schmidt's hair being the same color as the southern Utah red rock. So funny!

It was my birthday while we were in Utah. My sister Heidi has a birthday a couple days later. I went out to lunch with my sisters at Cafe Rio. And after we ate we all sat there talking and freezing our little tooshies off. We decided to go out to Heidi's black car and continue the conversation. I tried to capture the moment. Hahaha, it was funny.

Please don't hate me for putting these up. P.S. I love my mom in picture #2, no joke :)

I was able to go get lunch with some buddies and doggies. It was so nice to catch up. I love these people to death. And did I tell you that Amy is engaged! Getting married a week after Haylee, so I will be in Utah for her wedding as well. I'm so happy about this, and so happy for Amy and Cesar. He is a lucky duck! They are a great couple.

 Cheesin' it up for the cameroon.

Oh puppy!

It was a great time in Utah! I miss it so very much. I love my family. I miss them. I'm so happy that I get to go back for weddings. Yay!!

XOXO