Looking for the Good

Talked about this in Sunday School. I thought it was a good reminder.

"Have you ever noticed that people can usually find whatever they are looking for? Look hard enough, and you can discover both good and bad in almost anyone and anything. People have done the same with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since its beginning. Those who look for the good will find a kind and compassionate people—a people who love the Lord and desire to serve Him and bless the lives of their fellowman. But it is also true that those who look for the bad will certainly find things that are not so ideal.

There is no end to the creativity, ingenuity, and tenacity of those who look for reasons to criticize. They cannot seem to release their grip on grudges. They gossip and find fault with others. They nurse wounds for decades, taking every opportunity to tear down and demean others. This is not pleasing to the Lord, “for where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work” (James 3:16)

The word of God admonishes the followers of Christ to be “pure, … peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” For those who make peace, “the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace” (James 3:17, 18).

We have a choice. We can seek for the bad in others. Or we can make peace and work to extend to others the understanding, fairness, and forgiveness we so desperately desire for ourselves. It is our choice; for whatever we seek, that we will certainly find."

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Looking for the Good", Liahona, March 2011, 4-6

The Rest of Sledding

These are pictures taken on New Year's Day.

This was the aftermath of Dad's hair. Sorta. If you know my Dad, you get this.
Dad going down the hill.

Steven and Torin stopping just short of the fence.

Torin riding on Steven's back.

JJ making sure the turn is perfect.

Steven and Torin.

Wipeout!

Let's go!

The men making sure that the run was ready to go. I think they spent an hour perfecting it.

More Sledding

Here is a bunch more pictures of the family playing in the snow.

Dad and Lucy. Lucy loved to chase everyone down the hill.

JJ and Torin. Got a little close to the snow.

Lucy stealing Dad's hat.

JJ and Torin going down the hill.

Oh hey!

Down down down...

Up up up...

What's going on here?

Gavin is still not a big fan of being in the snow.

The boys playing with the sled at the bottom of the run.

I think the first video is of Torin going down the hill on his own. The second video is of Dad trying to make a jump at the bottom of the run.



Ok...almost done with the sledding pictures. Maybe just one more post of playing in the snow.

Green Smoothies and Dinner

I have a friend (more my sister's friend) whose blog I read from time to time. She just had a little baby boy two weeks ago. During her pregnancy she raved about how great these green smoothies were and how great they made her feel and gave her extra energy.
I have been struggling with exhaustion during this pregnancy more than my other two. I hate to admit it but for weeks I would get the kids out of bed, give them a piece of toast or a bagel for breakfast and put them in front of the TV for hours while I crashed on the couch. I am slowly starting to get my energy back. I have been trying to go back to the gym for the last 6 weeks. My best week, I made it 3 times that week. I used to workout 6 days a week.
Anywho...I thought that since my friend had such a positive experience with these smoothies, I would also give it a try. I just want to feel normal again. So, today I had my first smoothie. It was not good. I put in an orange, 2 bananas, a cup of baby spinach and peach yogurt. I think it was the yogurt that grossed me out. Next time I'm going to go with plain yogurt. I had half of the batch for breakfast and then the other half right before church. My energy felt good and I thought that I was in a better mood than normal. Honestly, it kept me full (more like not hungry-content) till about 3 pm (Christine-we will see if that is the case on the days that I actually workout). Then I got hungry! Really hungry!

Which brings me to dinner...

JJ is a picky eater. Pickier than I am used to. So every now and then I try a new recipe for variety and I get nervous that he won't like it. A lot of the things that I like he doesn't so it's been an experience to say the least.
I tried this recipe "Dirty P's Garlic-Ginger Chicken Thighs". Amazingly, it was a hit. I served it with green beans, brussel sprouts, rice pilaf and dinner rolls. JJ really enjoyed this so it's a keeper. Yay!
Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 pounds skin-on, boneless chicken thighs
• 1 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons minced peeled ginger
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup fresh tangerine or orange juice
• Freshly ground pepper
• Vegetable oil, for the grill

Directions

Combine the chicken, onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, juice and 1 teaspoon pepper in a large resealable plastic bag. Seal and shake to coat the chicken with the marinade. Refrigerate 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat a grill to medium high and oil the grate. Grill the chicken skin-side down until marked, 5 to 6 minutes. Flip and continue to grill until cooked through, about 5 more minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

I let it marinate overnight. It took me longer to cook than it said in the recipe. I also cooked it in the oven under the broiler because I don't have a grill. Next time I will probably set aside some of the marinade to use as a sauce to cook some pineapple and snow peas and carrots and then serve over white rice.

Try it!

BTW-I ate a ton for dinner!

I hope this was interesting for you to read. It is just what was on my mind. If you just prefer pictures and only a couple sentences (like most of my other posts), I'll keep my thoughts to myself :)

What is That White Stuff?

So, these pictures are actually from November when we had our first real good snow that stayed. Sorry it took so long to post.

JJ tasting the snow before he built an igloo for the kids.
Torin absolutely loved playing in the snow! He probably would have stayed outside all day if we had let him. He was so dang cute!

Gavin was not as excited about being outside. He pretty much did not move. He didn't like walking through the snow or anything. He did enjoy throwing snowballs though.

Gotta have a taste!

Inside the igloo. They just loved to hide in it!

More snow to come...

What Happened?

On Thursday JJ had an indoor soccer game which he played goalie. He is a great goalie. He started playing about a year and a half ago and he's not scared to just get in the way of an opponent to stop the ball. At this last game, it was a one on one situation and he slid on the ground and the opponent kind of flipped over him. Both guys got right up and kept playing. Apparently this is when JJ got hit in the head. I must have been at the wrong angle because I didn't see him get hit in the head.
At the end of the game, JJ sat next to me and kept telling me how tired he was. He asked me to drive home which is something that he never does. On the way home he kept asking where we were going, where we just were and where we were headed. When we got home he got really angry and yelled for about 15 minutes. He then calmed down and kept asking the same couple questions over and over again. After a while (about an hour) I spoke to his mom to see what I could do because I was at a loss. She told me that he had had a concussion about a year and a half ago and this was how he acted last time. I took him to the ER to make sure there was no bleeding in his head.
We checked into the ER at about 10 pm. I had to keep repeating myself to JJ to get him to do anything (sign this paper, take off your shirt, put on your shoes, etc.). It was kind of like talking to an incompetent 3 year old. He had a CT scan which showed that everything was normal. JJ was still acting strange so they wanted to keep him for another hour to see make sure he improved before he be released. He ended up throwing up a little later so they wanted to keep him overnight to monitor him. He didn't want to me to leave so I prepared myself to sleep in the ER. His mom came and kept me company for about an hour and a half (JJ was driving me crazy).
JJ kept asking me the same questions over and over again. Literally, the same questions hundreds of times. That was certainly a trial of my patience. Here are some of the questions:
What happened?
What day is it?
What month are we in?
What year is it?
Are we married?
How long have we been married?
Are you pregnant?
What are we having?
What are we naming it?
Did we win the game?
Did I play the whole game?
Who is on our team?
What was the score?
Where is Kristy?
Did I throw up?
Did I just eat a graham cracker?
Why are my shoes on?
Why is this bag on my hand?
We have two kids: Torin and Gavin?
How old are they?
Why don't I have an underwear on?
What this on my arm? (it was the IV)
What happened to Emma?
Is she married?
Is the nurse related to Tony?
How long have we been here?
Did you call my boss?
Why do I have to pee in this container?
...
There were several more but this is all I can remember right now. It was so frustrating. At about 1 am JJ had a fit. A laughing fit. I swear he laughed at nothing for over an hour. That was one of the highlights of the night!

The good news is that there was nothing really wrong with JJ besides a concussion. The more rest and sleep he got the more coherent he became. He was released at 6:45 am. He just isn't allowed to okay sports for 2 weeks. JJ is thinking he will no longer play goalie because he has had so many injuries playing that position. Back to the field for him.

Anyway, that was my weekend. Taking care of JJ and the kids. Oh yeah, by the way, Gavin also has croup. Fun.

I love my family.

Christmas Time

Well...all the pictures I loaded came up in reverse order so I guess I'm telling the story backwards. I'm just too lazy to correct it.

This is a picture of Torin after all the presents have been opened, relaxing and enjoying a new movie.Gavin checking out his new tool bench while talking on the phone.
The start of the opening of the presents!
This is a good representation of how Gavin felt on Christmas day. He didn't feel good when he woke up, didn't eat anything for breakfast and then went back to bed in less than an hour. We went to my dad's house later that day and Gavin threw up on me and then slept for the next 6 hours. He took about a week before he started feeling better.
The kids really loved their stocking stuffer-Pillow Pets. The make snoring noises too. The kids HAVE to have them in bed with them now.
The tree was OVERFLOWING! The kids got a lot of presents this year.
The family stockings.
JJ helping me be 'Santa'.
Torin put out cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and even signed his own name.
We had a quiet Christmas. The kids got a lot of fun new toys. It was a good day.