36.5 Weeks

Barefoot. Pregnant. In the Kitchen.

I'd like to throw out the negative connotation associated with this phrase and share with you some of my thoughts on food. 

Food as it relates to being barefoot:

I am barefoot or in flip flops practically year round but summer is an especially barefoot time around here. Food in the summer conjures up mouth watering ideas of sweet corn on the cob, fresh salads, juicy ribs for all you carnivores out there, eating out on the porch and sucking down on melting popsicles. One of my favorite summertime recipes is from my friend Chelsea. She called this concoction The Yumminess. It is one of Mike's favorite desserts as it includes chocolate in more than one form and berries.

The Yumminess is a trifle in which you layer one 9x13" pan of brownies cut into bite sized pieces, one large package of chocolate pudding, berries (whatever is in season, mixed or just one type, the frozen mixed berries work nicely) and a container of Cool Whip in that order. Simply use half of each ingredient for the first four layers, then repeat for the next four. 

What are some of your favorite summer time recipes? Leave me a comment if you decide to post one.

Food as it relates to being pregnant:

I have never had any of those 'I have to have that food right now' cravings, but there have deffinitly been foods this pregnancy that I have eaten in much higher quantities than at any other time in my life. Gummies - I started out with a 5 lb. bag of sour worms. In my defense they aren't ALL gone. Another big 'craving' is baked potatoes. I seem to plan baked potatoes into our menu at least every other week and then I make sure to cook enough to have leftovers for the next few lunches. If you crave foods that your body needs then this one is spot on. As is common with pregnancy, I am anemic and after some research I found out that potato skins are actually really high in iron, who knew?

Thirdly, Sunny Delight! I am sure that more than half of my total life's intake of the syrupy sweet sunny delight has been in the last 5 months. I keep thinking I won't buy any more, but as soon as my stock runs dry the stores seem to have it on their 10 for $10 sale. Who could resist such a buy?

After Easter we stocked up on chocolate (those bags of hershey's bliss eggs were $1). Anyway we just ran out last week. Mike, Annabelle and I have each eaten at least 3 pieces of chocolate every day from Easter until last week. My only pondering now is: Is this kid going to fit into this chocolate loving family:

Only time will tell.

Food as it relates to being in the kitchen:

Did you know that it is REALLY hot in Arizona already? Today was the first day in probably two weeks that it didn't hit 100 degrees. So being in the kitchen isn't really one of my favorite past times lately - and  I know - it is only going to get worse. BUT I have decided to spend one day in the kitchen next week making some dinners that I can freeze and pull out after this baby comes and I don't have the energy or air conditioning to keep up with making nutritious meals. So I am asking for help. What is your best 'freezer' recipe? I make soups and spaghetti sauce to freeze but I know there are some other dishes out there that freeze well. What are they? For some reason casseroles come to mind but I don't have any good casseroles in my cooking repitior. So if you have a recipe for a dinner that freezes really well let me know, put a link in comments, post it on your own blog or shoot me an email at mikebsherwood@gmail.com

Thanks!

A Child is a Curly, Dimpled Lunatic (continued)

Last year I posted some of the things Annabelle had said that cracked us up. I always think I will do it again - I've put it on long enough, let's see how good my memory is . . .

During a combined sharing time at church earlier this year they were discussing the story of Noah and the flood. Annabelle is in the sunbeams class. which is the youngest class (the oldest kids are 11). The leader asked the children why the animals needed to be on the ark. In true Annabelle fashion she skipped the whole raising her hand and waiting to be called on bit and blurted out "Because they can't float!"

Sometimes in the afternoon Annabelle and I have some quiet time and watch a show. Often the baby takes this time as an opportunity to kick me like crazy. A few weeks ago Annabelle was resting her hand on my belly enjoying the kicks while we watched the show. The baby had rolled over and was kicking the other side of me so I picked up her hand to move it and I said "He isn't over there any more" in all seriousness she suggested "Maybe he went to the neighbors." 

After the adult meeting for stake conference last night (which we took Anna to) we were driving home. Annabelle was wound up after being really good for 2 hours and had noticed that it was now dark. She initially had asked why we had stayed at the church so long. Then after about 5 minutes or so she asked if it was her bed time. It was actually about 10 minutes after her bedtime. I almost said "Yes, but you can stay up for a little bit since you were so good during the meeting" but Mike quickly replied "Yes it is" to which she responded "Good, because I'm tired!" What kid readily admits that?

This is how we found her on the couch a couple of months ago, maybe it's time to move her bedtime up a half hour.

When Nona was here in January she told Annabelle that milk was good for our bones. Since then Annabelle regularly asks me if a particular food is good for our bones. One night during dinner she asked this question about different ingredients at least 5 times before I asked her if she wanted to be a doctor when she grows up (I don't think she knows what a nutritionist is). Very mater -of-factly she said "No, I just want to be a big kid when I grow up - - like daddy."

Driving home from church about a month ago I was feeling pretty worn out from an active primary class when Annabelle asked me if the baby was good at church. Puzzled since the baby can't make noise, crawl under chairs or any other 'bad' church behavior I answered "Yeah, of course the baby was good at church, why would you ask that?" Annabelle's responded "Well he's pretty wild at home sometimes."

For Annabelle's first Christmas her Grandma Shauna gave her and her cousin Annica these cute Fisher Price dolls. Annabelle's has on a pink hat and pink shoes. She has played with hers for years, the fabric is dirty and the plastic is scuffed up, but about a year ago she named it Caleb after our friend named her son Caleb. Recently she approached me very concerned and asked "Mom, who put pink shoes on Caleb?"

The combination of having really curly hair and the ability of Annabelle's head to sweat like crazy while she sleeps results in some of the craziest bed head I've ever seen. The other morning the hair on the sides of her head was really flattened and pushed upward, and the top was wild, somewhat resembling a mohawk. Groggily walking into the bathroom she caught her reflection in the mirror and immidiatly lit up as she looked in the mirror and exclaimed "I look like a chicken, I look like a rooster! COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOO!"

A while ago the primary presidency gave the kids a chocolate chip cookie with a recipe for the cookies that had each ingredient representing some part of the family and the principles of The Family: A Proclamation to the World. I wasn't sure that Annabelle would catch on to the analogy but as we added each ingredient and talked about what they represented she really enjoyed it and chimed into the discussion . She had caught on pretty well and as we added the repentance (aka salt) and before I could even remind her what repentance was she blurted out "Repentance?!? I repent ALL THE TIME!"

 

That's all I can remember for now - I hope this brought a smile to your face. She sure makes laugh!

Spoiled Rotten

I have been spoiled rotten this last month as I have had family and friends come down to play. I am just now getting back to real life (and blogging I suppose). Over Easter weekend two of my former roommates came to play! Kirsten has been in Texas teaching middle school this year and Katie is working in finance in Washington. It was so fun to catch up, stay up late talking and of course enjoy a little (or a lot) of Cafe Rio!

They indulged us in participating in our favorite activities while they were here. Mike took us on a little hike to experience some real desert landscape, we worked on a craft together and played 'Pretty Pretty Princess' with Annabelle. We were able to head over to the Easter Pageant at the Mesa temple and enjoy what must have been the last chilly evening Arizona will have for quite a while.

Annabelle LOVES the dress the girls brought for her. She wore it for Easter Sunday, and the day after. This morning she even wanted to wear it on our walk around the neighborhood. 

After the girls headed home my Italian grandma (Nona to those of you who have met her), came for a week. Several times during the week I found myself reminding her to stop working so hard because she was here to relax, to which she would reply that she was here so that I could relax! As it turns out I think we both had a great week relaxing :)

Nona and Annabelle get along so so well, there isn't an hour of the day that goes by that the two of them weren't erupting into laughter. I practically had to separate them so that I could have Nona help me with a project for the baby (and by help me I mean do it for me - I have no real sewing ability).

A week later Annabelle's doll is still wearing one of them - I'll get it back and into the wash someday. For you crafters out there, if you are interested in making one the instructions are here.

Another great moment of Nona's trip was Annabelle learning Italian. Usually the Italian lessons would end in laughter, but Annabelle still uses words like "Perfecto" and "Mangia" on a daily basis. Here is a little peek at one such lesson:

And all the while my belly seems to be growing and constantly shifting shapes! This kid is going to be born with some seriously strong leg muscles :)

A week late, but here he is at 33 weeks.

Browns Peak

So, another post from Mike.  I went climbing this week up at Browns peak, which is part of Four Peaks not to far from Phoenix.  We climbed most the way to the top, it is the tall one on the left. AZ is really diverse, our turn off from the highway was in the valley with huge cacti and not much else.  by the time we got to our campsite we were in the pine trees high on the ridge. Snow was even visible high in the shaded areas of the mountain.  All in all it was a great trip. 

 

Our campsite.

 

The first pitch.

My buddy Mike on top. 

Our campfire.

Me, part way up. 

The rock was cold in the shade, but I shouldn't complain about that I guess since it is really starting to get hot here.  

New Blog

My brother Adam and his wife Trudy have a blog! It is private so if you want access you'll have to write Trudy at radioflier4@gmail.com and make your plea :) The reward? You can check out pictures of my cute nephew Jeremiah AND the crafty projects Trudy is working on. 

Sedona

To celebrate Mike's birthday last month we decided to go explore Sedona, Arizona. I had recently made a comment to Mike that I wouldn't mind going camping but the sooner we planned a trip the better. He realized that with a growing belly and rising temperatures that now was the time!

Sedona is a beautiful town about 2 hours north of Phoenix. The main street section of town reminded me a lot of mountain towns in Colorado and Utah. Like Breckenridge or Park City there were galleries, jewelry shops, spas and upscale restaurants. A small section of town is a historic replica called Talaquepaque. There were fancy shops and all of that but the architecture and outdoor art was what we really enjoyed the most. Another attraction is "Chapel of the Holy Cross". We visited this chapel that was built up on the rocks on the edge of town. It was so beautiful. 

Surrounding Sedona are large red cliffs and rock structures much like southern Utah. The ponderosa pine smell reminded me of when I was Annabelle's age and my family lived not too far away in Prescott, Arizona. We camped up in a winding canyon near Oak Creek. The temperatures dropped pretty low but we stayed warm and managed to suck down some of the corn chowder that I had burnt. 

 

Annabelle's favorite part of the trip, hands down, was sitting by the creek and throwing rocks in. We spent several hours there, throwing rocks, watching hikers and fisherman. I told her stories about my Papa that was an avid fisherman and she was quickly hooked on the idea. In fact, after we got in the tent she kept asking for more and more stories. Around the time I had exhausted my repertoire of Papa fishing and camping stories she looked at me with excited eyes and said "Let's stay up all night long and tell fishing stories, until the sun comes up!" 

It was so fun and relaxing to spend time together away from our usual distractions. I highly recommend it!