10 Things I am Very Grateful For

10 Things I am Very Grateful For

1. I am so grateful for my husband. It's common knowledge that he is so sweet. But he is also incredibly supportive. He is always there for me, helping me whenever he can. Every test day when I'm freaking out (and all the other many days I'm stressed) he is there, comforting me, telling me I can do it.

2. I'm thankful for my daughter. I never want to take it for granted that I have a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Not only that, but she's also such a happy, well-behaved child. I am so lucky.

3. I am grateful for my husband's job. With a nationwideunemployment rate of 9% I'm grateful my husband is not in that category. I grateful that it's a job he really enjoys. And that it's flexible enough that if he needs to take some time off he can, or he can do a lot of the work from home.

4. On that same note, I'm grateful for our 5 minutes in the morning and evening. This semester our schedule's have worked out really nice. JP comes home after coaching swim team, helps me finish getting Gabrielle ready in the morning, so we can drop her off at daycare together. Then we go up to campus together, and we have five minutes every morning walking from parking to talk and be together. Then at 5 I just walk over to his office, and we go home together, we get another 5 minutes walking to the car to talk about our days. Those small little moments have been so amazing. They've made such a difference, and I enjoy how close I feel to JP.

5. I'm grateful for my parents. I have wonderful and amazing parents. They taught about me hard work, integrity, respecting others, and following your dreams, and so much more. I also want to say that I'm so thankful that my parents are still married, crazily in love 25 years later. (Trust me, go to their house and you'll see way too much loving going on.) They example has meant so much to me, especially as I go through my own marriage.

6. I am grateful for sunshine. I'm one of those people who is incredibly affected by the weather. Sunny days make me so happy. But living in freezing Logan, with it's long winter, and the constant inversion that comes with the winter, it can be a long time in between the days I get to see sunshine. So the days when it's sunny and bright I'm very grateful for the brightness, the warmth and vitamin D.

7. I am grateful for personal prayer.  Prayer has been a great strength and comfort for me. I'm thankful for my Savior, my Christ. I am thankful for the strength He gives me, and His love.

8. I am grateful for my education. I'm thankful for the opportunity. I'm also thankful for my particular school, too. It has been a perfect fit for me. I love the atmosphere of Utah State, and I like the education and experiences I've been having here.

9. I am grateful for my talents. I realize that might sound a little arrogant, but I don't mean to be cocky. But I was blessed with the ability to grasp scientific principles easier than some of my classmates. (Yes, I still study like crazy mad.) With the field I've chosen to go into, it's been (and will be) a huge blessing and help. I wonder though, if my talents were different, maybe my interests would be too.

10. JP and I have been very blessed. Things in life have managed to work out for us. We haven't had any major trials or hiccups thrown at us. Yes, there have been small bumps, but nothing terribly drastic, and nothing we couldn't handle. I'm grateful that we haven't had any catastrophes happen to us. All of the scary moments in the ER have managed to resolve themselves, no scary problems there. Our van is still running, the day it stops we'll be in a heap of trouble, and I'm so glad is still turns on when I turn the key (most of the time). Finances can get really tight, but we find a way to make it work. We've been able to find jobs when needed. When we needed a place to stay, we've always been able to find a house with minimal difficulty. Things like that, no trails that we couldn't handle. And yes, I'm going to go knock on wood now. We had it easy, and for that I'm grateful. I know our mountains will come (I want to go to med school, need I say more) so for right now I want to appreciate the calm and how blessed we are.

Updates for Sariah

I was told that I needed to update my blog. So here we go.

July: We went to the Larson family reunion. It was a lot of fun. I love camping with my baby girl, even though it's very hard and takes a ton of work to keep her warm, feed and safe. Then JP and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. No, I don't remember what we did. Shh... don't tell him that. I think we had dinner and went to a movie.

August: I went to Panama!! It was incredible and life changing. I know everyone that reads this blog is on Facebook or has someone in their house that has Facebook. So just go on Facebook at look at my pictures there, so I don't have to repost them. You can also look at pictures from Gabrielle's first birthday on there too, you know the ones I said I'd post on this blog, but didn't.

September: School started, ugh. I was president of the campus rep team (disney) and the switched us to an e-presentation school, rather than a live presentation school, bummer and stressful. I taught human dissection, difficult but so much fun. Gabrielle went to daycare, she loves it. (JP's just been working this whole time, hence why no updates on him).

October: School continued, unfortunately.

November: school just kept going on and on and on...

December: School ended! Yeah! I did decent-ish, so little yeah. We had Christmas (mostly) at our home, which I was thrilled about, I even cooked a ham.

Sometime in between July and now, Baby Girl grew up. I think I may have to stop calling her Baby Girl. So I am pondering new names to call her, Child, Girl, Daughter, The Cuteness, Princess, Jelly Belly (going back to what we called her when I was pregnant), Ellie, GL, Gill. I know, I know to quote m husband, "Heaven forbid, you call her by her name." I would continue to call her Baby Girl, but looking at her, I honestly have to admit that I don't always see a baby anymore, just a young, curious toddler.

She's also learned some super cute thing, like giving hugs, kisses and holding hands. I can't decide which one is the best. Her hugs are these full body, I'm going to throw myself at you hugs with her mouth wide open in excitement. Her kisses vary from open mouth slobber to tiny puckered pecks. Sometimes, she'll go "oooh" afterwards. And when she holds hands she tries to interlock fingers. Her vocabulary, both spoken and signing is increasing rapidly. She's also getting into EVERYTHING, and driving me nuts. A couple days ago she pushed our cooler up next to the stove, climbed up and tried to grab things off of the stove, sending me in a whirlwind of panic. She loves reading, she is constantly handing JP and I books to read to her. She's also into clothes, shoes, jewelry and make up. Like really really into them, obsessed. She picked out her own outfit the other day, and told me to put it on her. Apparently being in PJs wasn't good enough for her. I don't know where she gets it from, especially the jewelry. JP is worried that she may turn into a girly-girl, and he's seeing the $$$ mount up. Oh, and one last thing, she loves taking baths. And she's taught herself (yes, with nothing from me) how to blow bubbles, stick her face in the water, stick her ears in the water, lay back in the water, and she even semi-floats.

For me, right now I am starting the application to Med School. Which is horrendously stressful, like nothing you can imagine. Yes, it's a two year process to get into Med School (not counting the undergraduate schooling). Right now I have to go through an Evaluation Committee. So this past semester I've been stressing out of my mind, writing autobiographical sketches and data sheets, finding people to write letters of recommendations, and general stressing out. Not to mention, trying to pick the 13 schools I'll apply too (I'm down to 26) and studying for the notorious MCAT.

There you go, I've updated. 6 months in half an hour, not bad I say.

Potato, Potato!

My aunt wants some potato recipes, so here is going to be a ton of potato recipes. I love potatoes because (1) I think they taste very good, and (2) the actual time I have to spend in the kitchen is like 20 minutes.

Let's start with the easiest first. 

1. Mashed Potatoes

• Peel potatoes if desired (I hate the peels in there). Cut up potatoes, my general rule is 2 potatoes per person, throwing in an extra one if someone is a big eater, or just using 1 for children. I use 6 potatoes for JP and I, it's just enough for dinner and then leftovers for lunch one day.

• Put them in a pot, with water almost covering potatoes.

• Cook on an oven for 20-30 minutes, depending on how small or big you cut up your potatoes.

• Pour out excess water, but pour out as little as possible, because that's where the nutrients are.

• Add butter, however much you desire, I use one stick, and beat with a mixer. Add milk as necessary to reach the consistency you want.

• Add *garlic powder (2 T) and dill (1T) and a dash of pepper and salt (I prefer to let people do most of this on their own plates since JP and I differ in tastes there). 

• Eat.

2. Baked potatoes

• Scrub potatoes and poke with a fork.

• Rub butter on the skins and wrap in foil.

• Bake for 40-60 minutes @ 425, or 70-80 minutes @350

• Put on desired toppings (chili, cheese, butter, sour cream, etc…)

**Nutrition Information (per medium potato without toppings)

125 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g cholesterol, 28 g carbohydrates.

3. Scalloped Potatoes (One of my favorites)

     ½ cup chopped onion

     1 t bottled minced garlic

     2 T butter

     2 T flour

     ½ t salt

     ¼ t pepper

     1 ¼ cups milk

     4 medium potatoes

• Preheat oven to 350

• In a pan cook onion and garlic until tender

• Add flour, salt, pepper, and milk. Cook until thick and bubbly.

• Grease 1 ½-2 quart casserole dish.

• Slice potatoes and place half in the casserole dish, and cover with half of the sauce. Repeat.

• Cover with tinfoil, and bake for 40 min.

• Uncover and bake 15-20 min, until the potatoes are soft.

Nutrition Information (1/4 of dish)

187 calories, 15 g fat (9 g saturated fat), 44 mg cholesterol, 25 g carbohydrates

4. Optional preparation,

• add ¾ cup shredded cheese to sauce

Nutrition Information

273 calories, 15 g fat (9 g. saturated fat), 44 mg cholesterol, 25 g carbohydrates.

5.  Baked Potato Fans (one of JP's favorites)

     4 potatoes

     ¼ cup melted butter

     ½ t garlic

     ¼ t salt

     ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese

     ¼ cup sliced green onions

     2 T parmesan cheese

• Preheat oven to 350

• Scrub potatoes, slice potatoes, but don’t cut all the way through. One tip for that is to put the handle of a wooden spoon next to your potato, so it stops you from slicing all the way.

• Place potatoes in a baking dish and press down so the potatoes fan slightly.

• Combine melted butter, garlic, salt. Drizzle over potatoes, and in between slices.

• Cover with foil and bakefor 50 minutes.

• Uncover, bake for 10 minutes.

• Sprinkle potatoes with parmesan cheese, green onions and cheddar cheese. Try to get it in between the potato slices, or else it all falls off and makes a mess.

• Bake for 5 minutes.

Nutrition Information (per potato)

245 calories, 13 g fat (8 g saturated fat), 34 mg cholesterol, 27 g carbohydrates

6.     Cottage-Fried Potatoes

     3 T butter

     3 potatoes

     ¼ t salt

     ¼ t garlic powder

      Dash of pepper

     1 small onion, or ½ of medium onion

• Slice potatoes.

• Slice onion and separate into rings.

• In a large skillet, melt butter.

• Layer sliced potatoes and sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, and pepper,

• Cover and cook over medium heat for 8 min.

• Add onion rings.

• Cook uncovered, turning frequently for 10 minutes, until potatoes start to brown.

Nutrition Information (1/4 of dish)

168 calories, 9 g fat (6 g saturated fat), 25 mg cholesterol, 19 g carbohydrates

7.     Parmesan Cottage-Baked Potatoes

¼ cup melted butter

     3 potatoes

     ¼ cup Parmesan cheese  

Several dashes garlic powder    

      Dash of pepper

     1 small onion, or ½ of medium onion

• Preheat oven to 450.

• Slice potatoes.

• Slice onion and separate into rings.

• Layer potato slices and onion rings in a baking pan.

• Pour butter over potato slices and onion rings.

• Sprinkle garlic powder, pepper and parmesan cheese over potatoes and onions.

• Bake for 30 minutes, until potatoes start to brown, turning once.

Nutrition Information (1/4 dish)

197 calories, 11 g fat (7 g saturated fat), 30 mg cholesterol, 19 g carbohydrates

8.     Roasted Potatoes.

     3 potatoes

     2 T olive oil

     1 t minced onion

     ½ t garlic powder

     ¼ t salt

     ¼ t pepper

     ¼ t thyme

     ¼ t dill

     ½ t paprika

• Preheat oven to 325 or 450.

• Chop up potatoes into eights.

• Grease a small square baking pan and place potatoes in it.

• Combine olive oil, minced onion, garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, thyme and dill.

• Pour mixture over potatoes, and toss to coat potatoes.

• Bake for 45 min @ 325, or 25 min @ 450.

• Stir potatoes and bake another 10-20 minutes until potatoes are tender and starting to brown.

Nutrition Information (1/4 of dish)

145 calories, 7 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 19 g carbohydrates.

*I love garlic, so most of these recipes are very garlic-y, if you're not a huge garlic fan you should probably put in less garlic than I say.

**Nutrition Information is an estimate.

***Almost all recipes are from the Better Homes and Gardens Special Edition Pink Plaid Cookbook, (which is one of the best cookbooks ever, and it supports the fight against breast cancer) with a few alteration made by me. I think my Grandma Larson gave that cookbook to me for my wedding; thank you very much Grandma, I love it!

246,240 minutes

I had a baby!! I'm pretty cool, and she is so cute! On Wednesday the 15th JP noticed that my belly was tight and hard. We'd been told to look out for that since at the last doctor's appointment I'd dilated to a 4 and was 75% effaced without having felt much. Well we monitored (or JP monitored since I wasn't feeling hardly anything) my belly for the next hour or so and my belly stayed hard and tight. So we went to the hospital and got there at about midnight. Well sure enough that tight hardness was contractions and I was having them 2-3 minutes apart, or so says the machine, and they looked pretty big too, even though the machine isn't an accurate measure of intensity. I had also dilated to a 6 and was 90% effaced.

Waiting at the hospital

My motivation in the Labor & Delivery room. Little things like epidurals, spaces between contractions. Someday hospital gowns that are decent...

Go contractions! They're the blue lines, the red one is Baby's hearbeat.

So this was the real deal. But they told me that is was my doctor's day off! I was so upset; I absolutely loved my doctor and wanted her to deliver. However she got back on at 7:00 in the morning, so I hoped that I could still get her to deliver. So we waited and we walked around the hospital some, at about 2:00 am I feel asleep, and then I woke up at 5:00 am (It's a little hard to sleep 'cause you're still pregnant, uncomfortable and needing to pee, and they keep coming in to take your vitals). I looked at the machine and noticed that when I'd fallen asleep I'd relaxed enough that the contraction monitors had flat lined. Eek! I'd stopped having contractions; also I hadn't dilated or effaced anymore so what now? Well, at this point I'd gotten excited and I didn't want to go home. I was a little bit nervous too, if I'd dilated so far without feeling anything, what if I went home and accidentally dilated the rest of the way later without feeling anything and didn't make it to the hospital? So we took a few more laps around the Labor & Delivery section and my contractions started back up! But when I rested too long then they would go away. The nurses didn't think I should go home though either since I was already dilated so far, and simply walking started them back up, I'd probably just be back later that day. So it was decided that the doctor would break my water. I'd said before I went to the hospital that I would be okay with that if I was a 6 or more, and I was, since water breaking at a 6 is not unusual or unnatural.

At 7:30-8:00ish Dr. Kirkman came in, not my doctor yet (and so sad he was the only guy that got to do any vaginal stuff throughout the whole pregnancy, I'd been trying so hard to avoid that. Not to mention he was the only doctor I hadn't met yet, go figure). I hadn't dilated or effaced any more, and he broke my water. That was weird, I had no idea he was going to do it right then, and it was warm, which wasn't what I expected, though it makes sense. Well after that I started having contractions again, and I could feel them! It wasn't a lot of feeling, rather mild and not super painful, but I was pretty excited that I could actually feel something. How naive am I!

Sometime later at about 9:30 I started to really feel them. And they hurt. Bad! I had never felt anything remotely close to that, and I was completely blown away by how intense it felt. Well I wanted some pain med pretty soon after that. I couldn't handle it. I'd had no idea what to expect, but it certainly wasn't anything in that spectrum. JP encouraged me to try a little bit, no he's not a complete jerk, he'd been instructed to do so, but at the time I was pretty upset with him. Didn't he have any idea how bad this felt? So we walked a little while, some hugs and massages and trying different positions. But I still wanted that epidural and soon. It hurt and I didn't care about much else, and I was getting really frustrated at JP and his encouragement. So I got my epidural.

Actually the contractions got better in between the time I called for the epidural and when I got it. Partly because of the mental reasons, I could look forward to relief sometime soon, and partly the really did get a little less intense, but the still hurt. My guess it that's when I was about that 8 cm range and going through transition. But it still hurt. And I was so exhausted and nauseous. Ah, wonderful, sweet, blessed epidural! I was so lucky I got such a good epidural. It took away the pain evenly and it didn't completely numb me. I could still feel pressure, just not pain associated with it. And I could move just fine, nobody believed me but I could. It was easy to move my legs, they felt heavy but it was no difficulty to move them at all.

Well it didn't take long from then until I was dilated and effaced all the way. So they declared that I was to rest, try to sleep and get some energy, and let the baby descend for an hour and I would start pushing at 1:00 pm. They said pushing for with an epidural could take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours and I would need my energy. Well at 1:00 I started pushing, with a nurse and JP coaching. JP slipped back into coach mode, which worked really well for me. The nurse was amazed at how well I could push and also how well JP coached. She said I was a champion and they wanted to hire JP. So at 1:30ish the baby was sufficiently crowning and the called my doctor in. Yes I actually got my doctor. I was so ecstatic over that. I watched the baby crown, that was pretty cool, and it was good motivation to keep going. The first thing I saw on her head is that it had dark hair and I was so happy that she had hair. I'd been hoping for that. I would've liked to have gone a little slower since I felt like I was stretching beyond my capacity and ripping. (What do you know, I was, I just wasn't hurting then so I wasn't really concerned.)

Once the delivery process got underway I didn't get to watch anymore, there were too many people in the way for me to see the mirror. Well once they told me to push to delivery it only took like 2 contractions (I think, I don't remember too much, I was too tired) and a few pushes and she was out. They handed her to me, she was so cute. I wish I could've gotten a little more time and a better look, but they whisked her away pretty soon. I think it was because I tore (albeit minorly, a 1st degree, I have no idea what that means other than it's the smallest degree of a tear) and they needed to stitch me up. So I delivered the world's longest umbilical cord, (the doctor and nurse kept being amazed at how long it was) and the placenta and got stitched up they cleaned up baby and did all that stuff. I can't say much about that since I wasn't able to see any of that. So I officially delivered her at 1349 on July 17, 2009, she weighed 5lbs 6oz (truthfully 5.8oz but they called it 6) and was 18in long.

Not happy with the first moments of life. Don't worry Baby it's not fun on either end.

Getting weighed. 5lbs 5.8oz

Look at that sad little face, still not happy with life. Her eyes are all squinty from the antibiotics they put in them.

Cute precious little baby!

Our little family.

Eventually they handed her back to me, I tried to feed her some, and then they took me up to my recovery room. They didn't get to bath her in my room, so I didn't get to watch, because they had too many other babies being born that day. I was going to cry about that one. JP bathed her in the nursery, and then they took her blood and gave her the Hep B vaccination. Well they finally came back and she is the cutest thing ever!

Dad giving her the first bath. Poor baby, just one unhappy thing after another.

All clean, with fuzzy hair.

The little saying in my Recovary room, I though it was funny that they kind of matched.

Daddy's girl, has to sleep with her hands up by her face and her eyes covered. See even the nurses had issues keeping those Houdini arms swaddled up.

Well that was the big day, than we just stayed and tried to recover. She did have some trouble staying warm so they had to take her to the nursery for a while to sit under the heating lamps; it was hard to leave her. I cried. And when she came back they double wrapped her in blankets. She also got a lot of test done, they had to test the car seat to make sure that tiny her could still get enough oxygen sitting in it, and they tested her bilirubin and her hearing. She apparently failed the hearing test, so we have to go back. I'm not too worried though since she does respond to sound, and the nurse said that 3 babies right before her failed too so they think the machine might be broken. We left the next day at like 8:00pm and came home where my mom and little sis helped us out for the next couple of days, especially since JP had to leave on Saturday.

My Mom and little sis came up to help me out.

We went to the doctor for her follow up 5 day appointment on Monday, the 20th. She'd dropped weight and was down to 5lbs 1oz (and I didn't think she could get any tinier) however the doctor said it was okay, and normal, especially for a first time mom, and that she was healthy and fine, but to just follow up in a few days (Thursday) with a weight check to make sure that she didn't lose any more and that by then she should be starting to gain the weight back.

So now we are just home, sleeping, eating, changing diapers, and slowly recovering. I can't get over how absolutely adorable and precious she is, or how tiny. She is so sweet, and I feel so blessed to have her. I am also very grateful for the ease of my pregnancy and delivery. Like the doctor said, I was built to have babies, lucky me. Yeah, I am so amazing. (Note: Both still suck, but I had it way better than most.) Maybe if I don’t get into med school, I’ll just hire myself out as a surrogate mother for a living. Just kidding, I’d like to not be pregnant or so tubby for a little while. It’s actually hard for me to not exercise right now to try and get rid of the leftover weight and tummy. Though when I do try to sit up or anything like that it’s so hard and my abs just give out on me and tell me that they just can’t do that. And I’m still sorer than I thought possible. So that’s the story of how my beautiful baby came to be. She is the sweetest thing ever.

41,760 minutes

Strawberry Pie that JP and I made. As you can see, it goes really fast. 

40,320 minutes

JP spoiled me and bought me an exercise ball. On the weekends the campus closes way early so we can't go workout up there, so I was just working out at home, following some work out plan in the magazine, Pregnancy. (Magazine curtosy of the doctor's office.) Supposedly, it's a workout designed by the trainer of Halle Berry and Jessica Alba, similar to what they used when they were pregnant to workout, and right after to go back to looking so skinny again. We'll see, don't expect me to have a celebrity body. But JP noticed that there was a section I was skipping because I didn't have an exercise ball, so he surprised me and bought me one. Isn't he so sweet, just got to love him.

38,880 minutes

Yay! We went to Brian Regan tonight. He is an amazing, and clean, comedian. JP and I love him, we laughed so hard. We originally had to buy seats that were two rows apart, but then the theater didn't sell the seat next to JP, because the view was supposedly blocked. We decided that we didn't think the view was that bad, so we stole it, and left my seat empty, and managed to seat together. 

Oh, and just an update, some guy came buy today, and asked if he could take the trunks left over from the trees and use them since he has a wood burning stove. I told him I wasn't the landlord, and it was the city who did they chopping, but I was all for him to take it. So he said he would call the city, and he wound up taking the wood. Hallulujah, I was getting so sick of the leftover, poor sad dead tree sitting in front of the house. However the city has yet to finish it's end of cleaning up. They said that they would pulls out the stumps and replant some trees. Nope we still have ugly stumps and sawdust on our lawn. Yes, I'm grumbling and not happy with losing the trees.

37,440 minutes

Remember that pile of branches from a few days ago? Apparently that wasn't enough for the city. They decided to chop down both of our trees. And yes, once again they just left the trunk lying there. I'm a little upset. I liked the trees, and can't they at least clean up after themselves? And they didn't cut down the tree today, they cut it down a couple days ago, but the leftover mess is still just sitting there. 

36,000 minutes

Once again, I'd forgotten to take a picture most of the day. So here is a picture of my leftover spaghetti I'm about to it. I always wake up in the middle of the night absolutetly starving. But I've found that if I eat right before I go to bed, especially if it's high in carbs I'm sleep better and I can sleep a little longer before I have to wake up. So this is my pre-bedtime meal. I know it's backwards of everything doctors and mothers tell you to do to be healthy and to get a good night's rest, not to mention the Atkin's people would cry if they saw my diet. But if works for me, and I get a little bit extra sleep.

33,120 minutes

So apparently, this is what the city does in it's free time, trims trees  so they don't get in the way of the power lines, and then just leaves piles of branches on people's lawn. Wasn't that so nice of them?

31,680 minutes

This is my box of baby stuff so far. Yay for free stuff and coupons. So far I have a changing pad, one newborn diaper, a sample of diaper cream, a rattle/teething toy, a baby foot cookie cutter, one bottle, one two year old t-shirt, a health keepsake book to keep track of doctor's visits, and a host of coupons.