Carroats, Sweet Potoats, and Pearoats

We have been introducing Jeremiah to solids recently, and most days it's a lot of fun! We started with oatmeal, and then tries carrots. Well he didn't like the carrots by them selves. And then he didn't like oat meal. But he did like carrots and oatmeal together. Thus the carroats.

Sweet potatoes he loved from the beginning, especially when we mixed them with carrots. And he loves butternut squash and peas, and sometimes bananas.

Yesterday he had is six month check up. Weighing in at 15 pounds even and 26 and half inches long, that puts him the the 9th percentile for weight and the 57th for height. The doctor said he looks healthy, but we need to focus on high calorie foods to help him gain weight. So I headed to the grocery store to look at baby food jars (because our baby food is homemade) and find out which ones have the most calories. Of course sweet potatoes were high, but higher still were bananas and pears.

So I made up a big batch of pears,  only to find out he doesn't like them. I tried them every meal, and he just spit them out. This morning I paired pears (he he!) with oatmeal. He ate every single drop! For lunch he refused sweet potatoes, until I mixed in oatmeal.

Apparently this kid loves oatmeal.  So caroats, sweet potoats and pearoats it is.

Our 2012!

As one year as come to a close, and another just begun, I thought it would be fun to look back at what we accomplished in 2012. So here we go...

January: We kicked of the year in our cozy little duplex in Cedar City, UT with Lawrence, Jen and little Olivia, who was just about to turn 1! They drove out to our place from California, and we had yummy snacks and spent the night playing games and catching up. We also started school at Southern Utah University, and we had most of our classes together. It made it really nice when it was time to buy our books, because we got to share! The world was just finding out that we had a little one on the way as well!

February: We hiked Angel's landing in Zion National Park, at four months pregnant it was a really good work out for me! If I was any bigger there is no way I would have made it!

March: Spring break never comes soon enough! We took a trip to Tehachapi, California to visit Lawrence and Jen at their place. It was so fun having them close enough we could drive one day and see them! And we found out we were having a boy!

April: Is school out yet??? By this time we knew were moving up to Ogden and we couldn't wait for school to be out! I was also very visibly pregnant at this point, and was so excited to start "nesting" but I had to wait until we moved!

May: Moving day arrived, and it was not very much fun. We had too much stuff for the little trailer Daniel rented, but thankfully my mom was driving down to pick up their dog, so I was able to send a few things with her. Daniel drove truck with the trailer and put the chickens in the cab. I drove the car and Congo (our dog) rode up front as my co-pilot. I felt bad for Daniel having to ride with chickens at first, but then Congo had diarrhea in the car, right as I was pulling off the freeway to let him out. Yeah, didn't feel bad for him all after that! Pregnant, alone, with stinky dog diarrhea, 30 minutes from new home, puking on the side of the freeway due to enhanced sense of smell.

June: All settled in the new place and nesting was in full swing getting ready for that baby! Daniel was working at Home Depot to keep us afloat until school started again, and was very pregnant and dying in the heat. Finally we broke down and bought an air conditioner for the window. Best. Purchase. Ever.

July: Surprise! Baby Jeremiah arrived 3 weeks early! Due the 24th and born the 7th, I was in shock, but sooo happy he decided to join our family early! I spent most of this month learning alot about being a mom, and being really really thankful for all the people who brought us dinner.

August: Mom and Dad Matthews came to visit for a whole week! I loved having them here with us! Jeremiah was blessed, and we had lots of family support there! School also started back up. Daniel went full time in nursing pre-requisites, and I started online Microbiology.

September: For  some reason I really don't remember anything big in September... perhaps that's because I was running on very little sleep. I was helping coach the 9th grade girls volleyball team at Mount Ogden Jr High and having a blast with that!

October: I turned 23 on the 23rd! and Daniel spoiled me:-) We were going to go to a corn maize on my birthday, but there was a rain storm and it was closed :-( bummer. My birthday was still awesome.

November: Jeremiah started eating solid foods! In the beginning it was kind of boring, just oatmeal, but now it is really fun! I love watching him chow down on butternut squash and making faces at plain carrots. After I introduced carrots, he didn't like them with out some oatmeal mixed in. And then he didn't like plain oatmeal any more. just carroats.

December: Change of plans! Are you surprised? No more college for right now! Daniel started work as an electrician apprentice for Copper Mountain Electric in Salt Lake. We both finished out the semester strong though! Daniel is now working on a career, and I'm making a career as a stay at home mom, just what I've always wanted! That's not to say I won't be going back to school at all, I still plan on finishing one day, after our kids are in school. Yes, I said kids, plural. We plan on having more soon, just not right this minute, and there are no surprises in that plan yet. Thank goodness!

So that's our year! Maybe next year I will actually blog a little more often and you won't have to sit down and read about an entire year in one sitting. Or not.

Camping With a 5 Month Old

Daniel got a new job, which he started Monday. Once his school semester was wrapping up he decided before he went to work and didn't get a vacation fr a year, we needed to go on a little trip.  His first idea was to our land in Colorado, where he would finish the roof our little shack. To that I said, "It's too cold in Colorado for Jeremiah this time of year, and it's too long of a drive (like 12 hours too long) with a baby, but you could go yourself if you want."

He didn't want to leave me and the baby, thank goodness, so he suggested St. George. A two night camping trip, to a place were it is warm during the day, and half the length of drive for baby. "I'll take it!"

Jeremiah was very good on the way down. He started to fuss about the last hour of the drive, but I don't blame him, my butt hurt too. By the time we got to Snow Canyon State Park to pitch our tent it was dark, and the baby was tired, so Daniel did all the set up. That night wasn't bad, Jeremiah woke up once to nurse like he always does, and then he and I slept in while Dad made breakfast in the morning.

When the sun came up it was a Beautiful day! We started off with a little hike to a geocache, and by the time we where heading back for lunch I was sweating. Daniel reminded me, "It's December, by the way, just in case you forgot." Oh my! I wish December was like this everywhere!

We planned on gong into town for lunch, but when the time came we didn' feel like undoing the tent (which was a covered wagon style in the back of the truck), so we pulled out our 72 hour kits and ate our ravioli, saving the can for hot chocolate that night and oatmeal in the morning. It was time to replace the food anyway... the beef jerky was crunchy and the dried apples were soft and sticking together.

After a bike ride and another brief hike we decided to settle down camp for the night. Just as Daniel started the fire, Jeremiah started freaking out! He was screaming and I knew he was tired, but he really only likes to sleep in his crib. He would fall asleep in my arms only to wake up screaming a minute later. We tried putting him in his car seat, laying him on the air mattress, bouncing him up and down, going on a walk, nothing would calm this child down! We decided the only thing left to do was put him in the car seat in the truck and let him cry himself to sleep. That lasted about 10 minutes before I just couldn't take it anymore. Finally he fell asleep when I picked him up and remained sleeping until he woke up to eat before bed. I loved being in St. George, but when that baby started to cry I just wanted to be home!

I spent that night squished between my two favorite people. Daniel was no just touching my back, he was pushing into it, and later informed me that was because the place where my pillow and his pillow overlapped was the perfect comfort level and he was not going to give that up under any circumstances. And no matter how many times I moved Jeremiah over, he always slid right back next me. Squished as I may be, it's my favorite place to be!

The worst thing about the trip, in a close second to the two hour screaming affair, is the fact my camera is now no where to be found. I wish I could post the cutest picture of Jeremiah playing in the sand for his first time, but I don't have it. SO you will just have to imagine the cutest baby you've ever seen (Jeremiah of course!) sitting up by himself with bare feet, grabbing hand fulls of red sand...

Adding Variety to Breakfast!

Do you ever get bored with breakfast? I mean how many times a week can you have waffles or pancakes (which are pretty much the same thing!)?  I was tired of having the same things... waffles, eggs, pancakes, cereal, oatmeal... so I decided to try something new, and this is what I came up with.

Stuffed Biscuits!

 

 Just in case you, too, were bored with breakfast I decided to blog about how to make them. There are probably a million ways you could do these... okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but there are several ways you could change up this recipe to meet the needs of your family, or use left overs...

 

 

You need:

 

Biscuit dough (I used homemade wheat biscuit dough, but refrigerated would work perfect, get the big ones!)

eggs ( I used 3 and made 4 biscuits, adjust for the number you are making)

a little milk

a little pancake mix

breakfast meat (I used sausage left over from our homemade pizza! bacon would be yummy too!)

CHEESE!

Hash browns might also b good in this, I just used scrambled eggs though...

 

First get out your biscuits and spread them thin...

Then make your scrambled eggs.  I used three eggs, added a dash of milk and about 3 tablespoons of pancake mix to make yummy, fluff eggs. Scramble over medium high and add your meat, and some grated cheese. Stir, and add more cheese!  Yum!

Divide your egg mixture for the number of biscuits you are making spoon it on top of your biscuits.

Stretch the biscuit over the egg mixture and pinch together.

Flip your stuffed biscuit over so the pinched together sides are facing your baking sheet.

Pop in the oven at 450 for about 12 minutes.

Top with  more grated cheese and enjoy!

I think this would also be tasty with some sausage gravy on top.  You could also make a bunch of these and freeze them to zap in the microwave when you a quick yummy breakfast! Enjoy!

 



Diapers...

OK, I know a bunch of you thought I was crazy when I said I was going to use cloth, but I really, really love it! Here are some reasons I love my cloth diapers...

1-) They are sooo much cuter than disposables! He has airplanes diapers, so cute!

2-) He has less diaper rashes. In fact Jeremiah has only had one diaper rash since we started using cloth.

3-) If he decides to poop or pee right after I change his diaper I haven't wasted 15 cents, I can just wash it and use it again.

4-) Yes my water bill was $7 more last month, but I washed about 360 diapers, which would have cost about $54 dollars. That's a savings of $47 dollars every month... so my diapers will pay for themselves in about 4 months... AWESOME!

5-) I only have to take the trash out of Jeremiah's room about once a month. When we were using disposables it had to be emptied at least once a week. (that means we are saving money on trash bags too!)

6-) I can choose how absorbent I want his diapers to be. Just add a prefold or a doubler and I don't have to worry about leaks when he sleeps 11 hours at night.

7-) I love how the sun takes the stains out. Its been 3 months and we still have white diapers.

8-) I like feeling a bit "old fashioned." Or maybe it's just that I don't like following the crowd. how many mom's do you know that grind wheat, bake bread and use cloth diapers?

9-) His pants fit better. Jeremiah has a really long body, but short legs and a little bum, so his pants look huge when he wears disposables, and sometimes they fall down.

10-) I was trying to think of ten reasons, and I'm sure there is one more somewhere in my brain... but for now 9 will have to do!

Coming soon is a "how to" post for cloth diapers, and which ones are my favorites!

Jeremiah Daniel Matthews

                With just less than three weeks left of pregnancy I had a lot to do.  Friday, July 6^th, Daniel went on a hike with my dad and brothers to the top of Ben Lomond Peak.  I spent the day with my mom and Chris.  We ate lunch at Javier’s and spent the afternoon walking around Ikea, which is probably me favorite store.  The boys returned home really late, around 10:30 pm.  Daniel was exhausted from spending all day on the mountain, in the sun, and he had to work early in the morning. I went to bed with a to-do list in my head for Saturday.  My mom was throwing me a baby shower Saturday evening and I planned on picking up my nursing garments, a package of newborn diapers, and pad for the changing table before going over to help her set up for the shower.

                I was having trouble getting to sleep in our hot bedroom, regardless of the three fans we had going.  Suddenly I felt a trickling and thought I had peed my pants.  I laid there stunned for a few minutes and decided I better go check and change my underwear.  I got to the bathroom, noting there was still liquid running down my legs. I sat there for a good 15 minutes thinking, “This can’t be my water breaking. I haven’t even felt any contractions! The baby shower is tomorrow. Is this really happening?!”

                Once I realized it was real I decided I better wake my exhausted husband. It was about 12:30 in the morning. I shook him awake and told him I thought my water broke. “What do you need me to do? I’m calling your mom.” He said. She didn’t answer when he called, so I tried calling. She told me to call the doctor, who told me to go up to the hospital, and call her back.  My doctor also told me she was on vacation, but was in town till morning. I couldn’t stop laughing on the way to hospital. This wasn’t really happening; I still had three weeks to go…

                By the time we got to the hospital and all settled our room it was about 1:30 in the morning and I still hadn’t felt any contractions. The nurse hooked me up and said, “You are having a contraction, can you feel it?” It barely felt like a tense muscle. I was dilated to a 3 and they decided to give me pitocin to help labor progress.   By the time they got back with the medicine (about 2:30) the contractions were strong enough I wanted my epidural.

                It took about an hour for the epidural to work on both sides, at first only my right side was numb.  I thought it was pretty cool that I could hear on the monitor when a contraction was starting and not feel anything! About 4 o’clock when I was finally all numb the nurse checked and I was now dilated to a 5. Thinking I had a ways to go I decided to take a nap. About 20 minutes later I was about to call the nurse because I stopped hearing the baby’s heartbeat on the monitor. I heard running footsteps and the nurse burst into my room.  She tried moving the monitor to find the baby and then started to check. Her next words were, “We have a head, don’t move, don’t do anything, I’m going to call the doctor.”

                Since I was numb the nurse had to tell me when to push. Two contractions and 5 pushes later little Jeremiah was here to greet us. The placed him on my belly while Daniel cut the cord. I couldn’t believe it! This little baby I had been waiting just over eight months for was here, and he was so beautiful!

                At 4:39 am on July 7, 2012, we welcomed Jeremiah Daniel Matthews to our family. Weighing just 6 pounds and 3 ounces and 18 inches long, he was to most beautiful thing I had ever seen. We are so blessed to have this little guy in our lives.

 

Our Colorado Hideout

As soon as school was out for the summer we took a trip to our land in Fort Garland, Colorado. Ever since we purchased the land about a year ago, Daniel has been making and revising plans for building a cabin for our retreat.

This is what our land looked like when we arrived to start build our get away place. Our land is almost completely covered in sage brush, so Daniel had to do some land clearing before he could begin building.

My job consisted of lounging around camp

reading the infamous Hunger Games series waiting for Daniel to tell me he needed help, which wasn't very often. That's me and my 30 week pregnant belly holding a wall while he put braces on to support it. Bellow is me chopping up veggies for our chicken kabobs. Daniel was very accommodating to his pregnant wife, always making sure I was comfortable, in the shade, drinking water, and that I had plenty of snacks :-)

Almost there! This is close to the end of the first day of building. Just one more wall to put up!

Here is Daniel working on the roof. 

While he was busy on top of cabin I started painting as high as I could reach.

And here is the almost finished product! Next time we go out we need to finish up the roof, but we were able to sleep in it our last night in Colorado.

This is our awesome fire pit that Daniel constructed from tire rims. The grill wasn't cooking very fast so we ended up dumping our kabobs into a frying pan and having stir fry instead.

Can't wait to go back out and finish up our Hide Out!

Being Pregnant is Driving Me Bananas!

It's not everything about being pregnant, just a few little things that drive me crazy.  So far I have been very blessed and had a fairly easy pregnancy.  I only had minor nausea and some heartburn in the beginning.  I did puke a few times, but mostly just when I ate eggs, which I now avoid like a plague.  Here are the four things that are driving me BANANAs!

1-) DRY SKIN! I know it's winter, but seriously! I can lotion up my hands 5 times a day and they are still dry and cracked! The skin on my belly is almost worse. I lift up my shirt and dry little skin snowflakes go flying everywhere. I have high hopes that this condition will improve when the weather warms up!

2-) Stairs. I climb up one flight and I'm breathing so hard you would think I just ran 3 miles!  The SUU campus has so many stairs it isn't funny.  We park on the lower end of campus and to get to my math class I have to walk up 2 flights of outside stairs and another 2 flights once I reach the building. Then my English class is on the top floor of a 3 story building.  Since it takes me about 10 minutes to get to each class and I'm breathing hard and have a racing heart when I get to class, I consider this my workout on most days. 

3-) The fact that I should be putting on weight.  At first I was thrilled that I would be gaining weight instead of trying to lose or maintain weight.  Then after I found out I was pregnant I started loosing weight. At my 15 week appointment the doctor wasn't very happy that I had lost weight, a total of 10 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.  She told me to eat more, which I found difficult due to my lack of appetite, but I had been eating! Most of the time I ate just because I knew I should and felt like an overfilled beach ball after dinner.  Finally at my 19 week appointment I had gained 3 pounds back. With a net loss of 7 pounds to date, it really makes me wonder how my stomach has gotten so big....


4-) And speaking of that stomach... Do you know what is inside?  Baby Center compared the size of my baby to a large banana weighing about a pound. A BANANA? So, your telling me that this huge belly of mine only has something the size of a banana in it?  I know, I know, my uterus has to grow and my baby has to be surrounded by amniotic fluid etc. But still, are you starting so see why I'm going a little bananas? A belly that size and my baby is only a one pound banana.

Our New Little Chicks

As some of you may know, Daniel and I would one day like to be as self-sufficient as possible.  Our goal is to have some land, some chickens, a few goats, and a garden.  Last week we stopped by our favorite store in Cedar City, IFA, and saw that they had little chicks for sell.  Well we came home and the next day Daniel decided we needed to go get some chickens. So we brought home four sweet little chicks, and they should be laying eggs for us in about six months!

This is Brahma. She, like two of her three sisters, is named for her breed, Lite Brahma. Sometimes I call her queen, because she thinks that she is in charge. The other chicks follow her around, and she is most aggressive.  You can kind of see the feathers starting to grow on her leg.  When she is full grown she will be the largest of our chickens and her legs will be covered in feathers.

Red, short for Rhode Island Red, has a lot of energy!  All of the chicks are really active, but Red seems to be the most energetic. And she will poop on you every time you pick her up.

Rock is our runt, for the time being at least.  She is a Barred Rock. She is the smallest of our chicks, but she also the one who runs the fastest when trying to pick her up.  She always seems to dodge the bullet, that is, until her sisters are all out of their little box and she is alone.

Last but not least is Chipmunk. She is an Arucana, but I have tend to try to say anaconda, which she definitely is not, so we named her Chipmunk for her Chipmunk cheeks.  She is the larges right now, standing about a head taller than the others.  She keeps to herself as much as can, but for some reason the others like to pick on her. When she starts laying she will have colored eggs! This is of course the reason I wanted to get an Arucana! Who wouldn't want to crack a blue or green or pink egg for breakfast!

LOOK Who's Home!

Daniel had a bit of trouble getting out of Washington and traveling to Utah.  The Army is brilliant, as we all know, which is why they have his home of record listed as San Antonio, Texas, after he tried to change it twice.  So we were thinking he was going to be flying home to Salt Lake on September 15th, but when he looked at his plane ticket they had him flying to San Antonio.  They tried to tell him that he could fly to San Antonio and just pay for a flight from there to Salt Lake.  Really??? Lets fly to San Antonio, which is even farther away from home, so that I can pay for my own flight to get back to my wife.  Sounds like a brilliant plan, NOT!  Daniel realized when he went to rent a car that he had left his licence with me to finalize on our land.  So after receiving help from the really nice ladies at the Georgia DMV, Daniel rented a Charger and drove straight through from Seattle to Salt Lake City with no rest.  I had booked a hotel for us for the night and met him there. We set out the following day to our new home in Cedar City. 

Daniel wasted no time getting to work around the house.  We needed a fence put up around our yard, so he scouted out some fencing that wasn't being used and bought a few fence posts. 

He finally got you use the power tools that I had found a really good deal on.  I was going to save them for Christmas, but I knew he would want to use them much sooner than that.  He crafted a gate out of some old wood he found laying around and it works really well! I was very impressed with his workmanship!

There were some bricks in our yard that I guess used to box off a garden space.  I told Daniel it would be nice to have a fire pit in our yard, and when I came out a little later he had this nice pit put together!

We picked up some beach chairs at a yard sale and we love to sit out in out back yard and enjoy the shade.

    We have a nice tree in our back yard to give us shade.  I wish we had taken a picture of the yard before Daniel Cleaned it all up so you could see the improvement! The yard was full of weeds and dog dodo and garbage.  Now we have a nice yard to enjoy.  The hill you can see in the background is going to one day have a chicken coup and maybe some rabbits. 

One our favorite things to do is spend time in the mountains hiking and camping. We spent a night at Kolob Reservoir, which is a beautiful place, but too cold for swimming this time of year!  I regret not having my camera, but I'm positive we will be returning soon.  We took the the back roads to get there, but found them very steep and rugged.  It was a beautiful drive, but to save the brakes on our new Toyota Tundra, we went out on the main road.  The main route takes you trough  parts Zion National Park, and we are excited to have access to some hiking trails that are part of the National Park.  We also did an over night backpacking trip in the canyon not far from our house. Again, I forgot the camera.  Silly me.

I did remember it for our hike up Ben Lomond peak though. This is us at the top, after 8 miles of uphill and torturous switchbacks. I found the hike to be difficult, but of course I am not as beastly as Daniel, who found it to be a walk in the park.

I'll say it was worth the view though, and being able to say that I did it.

There are no words to describe how blessed we feel to be able to be together once again. 

Daniel Pops The Question

First off, I just want you to know that Daniel has promised to write about his journey back to Texas after he graduated for combat medic school. 

One day in February Daniel asked me if I was doing anything on Thursday. Once I assured him I didn't have any plans he said, "Good, do you want to go on a date?"

And why wouldn't I want to go on a date with this handsome man, who had stolen my heart and moved back to Texas to be close to me while I finished my training?!  It was set, Thursday, February 11, 2010, Daniel and I were going on a "date."

Megan, a friend of mine from the branch, had asked to borrow my van for the night.  I saw no problem with it since Daniel said he was going to pick me up for our "date."  She took the van, and I was left in my barracks room waiting for my prince charming to come steal me away for the night.  I showered, put on my favorite out fit, curled my hair, fixed my make-up, paced my room, sprayed perfume, paced my room,  checked my hair, paced my  room... yeah, I wasn't nervous at all.  Finally there was a knock on the door.  In a hurry I grabbed my jacket and my purse and opened the door. Daniel was standing there with a red rose! He told me I looked beautiful, grabbed my hand and we headed down the hall and out the door.  Once in the car we left post and he drove to a favorite place of ours.

This is the Chinese Teas Gardens. These pictures were taken on a different day, but you can see how enchanting it is!

We took a walk around the gardens and up the hill.  This is the view from the top of the hill, such a pretty sight over looking the gardens and the view of the city in the background.  When Daniel took me it was sunset, perfect timing to be looking out over this beautiful landscape.  We looked out and talked a bit, about what I can't recall.  Then Daniel pulled a box out of his pocket, got down on his knee, and asked me to be his wife.  I was so excited I hugged him and it took me a minute to remember I needed to say, "YES!" He slid the beautiful ring on my finger and we stood there enjoying the moment.

We took our time walking down the hill and back through the gardens. Then we drove around town and took the leisurely way back to his apartment. When we pulled up I was a little surprised to see my van there, after all, Megan had taken it for the evening.  He unlocked the door and pleasant aroma filled the air. We walked in and found Megan hiding in the closet because she thought she had ruined our night by not escaping soon enough. All along Daniel had been texting her directions on what to do for the romantic dinner he had prepared for us!  We didn't mind finding her there, she made an excelent photographer to capture the moment!

Daniel had set the table using a bed sheet for the table cloth, and had two red place mats with a vase in the middle for my rose. On the menu was tomato soup, followed by a delicious chicken casserole he had made all by himself! I was very impressed with his plan, and his cooking!  I couldn't wait to be the Mrs. Matthews!

Christmas 2009

Christmas was bitter sweet for us.  From our date on Thanksgiving to Christmas break we spent nearly every minute we could together.  We knew by the time we split ways to spend Christmas with our families that we had something special between us.  I flew home to Utah and froze in the snow.  Daniel took off to California to see his brother Lawrence marry his beautiful wife Jen, and then returned home to Georgia.
I wasn't sure what to do for Daniel for Christmas, so I resorted to the one thing I know I'm good at.  Baking.  I enlisted the help of my three brothers and we baked up a batch of all the best cookies.

I bought the biggest tin I could find and stuffed it full of samples from every batch.  We had sugar cookies, cowboy cookies, chocolate waffle cookies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, chocolate pepermint crackle cookies and cookies with cherries in the middle.  Once it was all packed I shipped it off to Georgia hoping this boy of my dreams would enjoy them and share them with his family.  One night when Daniel called I heard his mom say, "If she sends us cookies you can keep her!" I guess she really  just said, "She's a keeper!" but when I heard that I thought I had better keep sending cookies so he would keep me!

This was my street in December.  Daniel was so jealous that he couldn't be in Utah with the snow that he made a secret deal with my brother Andrew.  I was on the the phone with Daniel, again, when he asked to talk to Andrew.  After Andrew hands me back the phone I hear him asking my mom if he could go outside.  Next thing I know he opens my door and pegs me with a snowball!  Daniel starts laughing, "I told him to do that!" Well, at least he made sure Andrew asked my mom's permission to go outside.  Silly boy :-)

Thanksgiving

This is us just before Thanksgiving dinner.



Daniel had previous engagements for Thanksgiving in the form of an Army detail.  I was so happy when he called me that Thursday morning and asked if it was too late to change his mind about going with me to Thanksgiving dinner.  He had worked his way out of the detail to accompany me to the Gibson's home for Thanksgiving dinner. We enjoyed great food and company.  The kids even invited us to play the wii with them after dinner!  After pie we slipped out the door and went to walk around down town (little did I know this would become a favorite pass time of ours).  Thanksgiving is now my favorite holiday because it reminds me of our tender beginnings.

Our First Date

We kept our date for Saturday, but didn't follow through with the movie.  I had volunteered to make some apple pies for our branch Thanksgiving dinner that was going to be held Sunday.  To my surprise Daniel wanted to help me make the pies and then go on our date!  I picked him up in my van (he was in training and didn't have a car, so I didn't hold it against him) and our first stop was Walmart to pick up 4 different kinds of apples for the pies.  Our next stop was Pam Mungle's house, since I lived in the barracks I needed to borrow her kitchen.  Daniel peeled the apples and I sliced them and added to spices.  I rolled out the crust for one pie, got it all ready and stuck it in the oven.  I was pretty impressed when I turned around and found Daniel rolling out the crust for the next pie.  I'm glad he was busy so I had time to wipe the goofy grin off my face.  It was then I knew he was a keeper!
We then spent the evening at Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum.  It was a great place to go for a first date!  There were so many interesting things that we always had something to talk about. The museum fun and all, but the best part of our first date was spending time in the kitchen working together and making yummy pies!

How We Met

A few years back I had this crazy idea that I was going to join the Army Reserves.  I can't tell you how many times I heard, "Amy? Joining the Army? Are you sure?"  Yes, I was sure, but I really couldn't tell you why.  Apparently about the same time there was a boy named Daniel who decided to join the Idaho Army National Guard.  I'm sure his family wasn't quite ans surprised as mine was.  My MOS (the Army name for a job title) was a 68WM6, or a combat medic with a nursing identifier. His MOS was a 68W, combat medic.  Our job training sent us both to Fort Sam Houston, Texas.  On post there was a military branch for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that we both attended. Fast Sundays meetings were usually followed by a branch dinner, mostly so we could socialize with the other soldiers in training. In October we had hamburgers, and this "Matthews kid" was behind me in line to get food.  We ended up sitting together and having a nice conversation.  In the weeks following I remember thinking, "What happened to that Matthews kid?" He didn't ever talk to me a church!
A few weeks later a few soldiers from the branch loaded in my van and we went to eat lunch at Rocco's, the post's best dinning facility. There was only one problem. We got there about an hour before it opened to start serving lunch.  So we all piled back in the van and went t the PX to burn some time.  Everyone split up and somehow "the Matthews kid" and I were left wondering the store together talking about movies and water rafting. He had mentioned putting together a rafting trip, and I thought that was a pretty fun idea!  On my way to drop everyone off I said, "Here, put your number in my phone so we can plan that rafting trip." I could tell he was kind of a shy guy, and I thought he was kinda cute, so I had to figure out some way to get his number.  Who knew how many weeks would go by before he talked to me at church again?  I didn't even know his first name was Daniel until he put it in my phone!
I spent a few weeks trying to text him, but when he sent back very few replies I figured he wasn't interested in being more than friends. Little did I know he just wasn't big on texting. One night after our Wednesday institute I was walking to my van and heard, "Amy!" I think my heart stopped when I realized it was his voice! "Do you want to go to a movie or something Saturday?"
My thoughts at the moment: "Oh my gosh! Is this Matthews kid really asking me out on a date?!" If my heart didn't stop when I heard him call my name, it definitely stopped when he asked me to go to a movie!
Of course my answer was, "Yes!"