Life According to Emma, Lesson 1

Today Emma made me realize something we all take for granted. Eating. We all do it. Every living thing has to eat or drink in one way or another. Babies get fussy and my even cry and scream when they are hungry. Emma starts off with a little whimper and it grows to a short quiet cry, and if you still don’t feed her fast enough, well, heaven help you.

Babies truly enjoy their meals. They are relaxed and comfortable. I believe that all meals should be something we enjoy on every level.

I love to cook. My best friend Sara loves to cook. My husband loves to cook. I think that preparing a meal should be fun, exciting, entertaining, and an adventure. We try to cook something different each night. I have Jake rate it between 1 and 5 and 3 doesn’t count. I ask how it could be better. We often buy a basket from Bountiful Baskets Food Co-Op. This basket comes with 5 different types of fruit and 5 different types of vegetables. We never know what we are going to get until Saturday mornings. It’s exciting when we get to see what we are adding to our menu that week. I take this as an opportunity to search for new recipes from the multitude of sites out there.

I think that where you ear is important as well. I don’t mean which restaurant you’re going to tonight, I mean where in your house you eat. I hate to admit it but Jake and I eat at our coffee table so we can watch TV more times than not. A goal I have come up with is to eat most meals at our dining room table as a family. I would like to update our table linens and place settings to be a little more on the modern side instead of traditional. I’d like to make our dining room an enjoyable, relaxing place to eat and spend this important family time.

Emma has shown me that I should enjoy myself and put more thought into my meal times. I should take these few hours a day to relax and really enjoy my surroundings and my new family.

A New Beginning



The day before Emma was born

Well, I've decided to blog again. I've actually gotten pregnant, had a baby, and finished my 8 weeks of maternity leave since my last post. Yeah, it's been that long. So, I'm starting over.

Emma Fay

I've been off work for the last 8 weeks, the fastest 8 weeks of my life by the way, following my C-section and the birth of our daughter Emma. She has been such a blessing to Jake and I. I have to admit, I didn't think that being a mom was going to be this amazing. We asked Saremy to be Emma's godparents and we are blessed that they agreed. 

In the last year, Jake and I have been on 2 cruises. One with Saremy to the western Caribbean and one with just the 2 of us to the Mexican Riviera. We found out we were pregnant on December 27th and announced it to our families January 1st at church. 

The last 8 weeks have been a a change for the better. We stay at home and cook healthy meals more often, I've been re energized and motivated about cleaning and organizing my house, and I've been inspired to blog again. Check out my other blog, The Simplicity Adventure, to follow my journey to a more organized and less cluttered life. I started today by going through my closet and dresser and getting rid of a lot of clothes. I have a lot more to do, but that will come with time.

Baby K'Tan

As I'm typing Emma is curled up on my chest and belly in my Baby K'Tan sleeping soundly. I'm thinking she will be able to teach me a lot about what really matters in life. I can't wait to be able to share what I learn. 

Until next time...

Long Time Gone

Well, well, well... Look who it is. Yep, I'm back. I've been out of town a lot lately. But that's no excuse to not blog!

Honestly, not much has gone on around here. My horse Reno is up in the bay area now. My college roommate, Maggie, called me one day and said she had a client that needed a horse to lease and asked if I would be interested in leasing out Reno. After a lot of thought I decided it was a good idea and would be best for everyone. So she drove down and picked him up. He's doing really well up there. This will give him a job, he'll help teach someone a lot of things, and it'll save us a little money. It's really a win-win situtuation.

Last week, Jake got some sort of viral infection and was really sick for a few days. He woke up with a bad headache and was dizzy and had a fever. Took him to the doctor and they said it was just a virus going around. His fever got up to 103.7 but he never felt sick. He's doing much better now, but still has a stomach ache every once in a while. Poor guy. I'm lucky I didn't catch it at all.

Other than that, really nothing exciting around here. I'll be better at posting, I promise.

Give Aways!

My good friend Sara (of the previously noted Saremy) is having a give away on her blog http://saralovescooking.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-giveaway-derby-pie.html She’s giving away some amazing hand lotion perfect for our dry Arizona weather.
I am going to have a give away soon too so be sure to come back and check the blog soon for your chance to win!

It’s That Time of Year… Again.

Well, it’s almost March and do you know what that means? It means I’m that much closer to being another year older. On St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, I will turn 27.
I have updated the background of my blog to celebrate this wonderful Irish holiday.
You may remember last year, Jake ordered a cake from a friend of ours named Jenna. She has a wonderful talent for making cakes. You can see some of here cakes at http://www.cakesbyjenna.com/ Jake ordered a birthday cake for me and it was a pot of gold with a rainbow coming out of it. You can see a picture of it here in my collage/slide show to the right ----->
Well, this year is no different. Jake has already put in an order and we have no idea what it will look like, I just know it will be delicious! I can’t wait to see what she comes up with.
Did you know…
The shamrock, which was also called the "seamroy" by the Celts, was a sacred plant in ancient Ireland because it symbolized the rebirth of spring?
Each year, thousands of Irish Americans gather with their loved ones on St. Patrick's Day to share a "traditional" meal of corned beef and cabbage.
Though cabbage has long been an Irish food, corned beef only began to be associated with St. Patrick's Day at the turn of the century.
Irish immigrants living on New York City's Lower East Side substituted corned beef for their traditional dish of Irish bacon to save money. They learned about the cheaper alternative from their Jewish neighbors.
The original Irish name for these figures of folklore is "lobaircin," meaning "small-bodied fellow."
Belief in leprechauns probably stems from Celtic belief in fairies, tiny men and women who could use their magical powers to serve good or evil. In Celtic folktales, leprechauns were cranky souls, responsible for mending the shoes of the other fairies. Though only minor figures in Celtic folklore, leprechauns were known for their trickery, which they often used to protect their much-fabled treasure.
Leprechauns had nothing to do with St. Patrick or the celebration of St. Patrick's Day, a Catholic holy day. In 1959, Walt Disney released a film called Darby O'Gill & the Little People, which introduced America to a very different sort of leprechaun than the cantankerous little man of Irish folklore. This cheerful, friendly leprechaun is a purely American invention, but has quickly evolved into an easily recognizable symbol of both St. Patrick's Day and Ireland in general.
Kinda interesting.

I Can't Believe It's 2010!

Can you believe that the Y2K scare was 10 years ago?!?

Well, Buster has been doing very well. We had to take him to the vet about a week and a half ago to have his teeth floated- filed down to remove any sharp edges. He had been drooling excessively and it turns out he had a lot of sharp points that were rubbing on the inside of his cheeks. Poor guy. He's better now.

I body clipped Reno and Soda Pop. Reno looks like someone took a lawn mower to him. Soda Pop looks pretty good. Each day I see Reno I ask him, "Who clipped you?" Poor guy. They both jumped around and acted like brand new horses when all of the hair was off. They are so much easier to groom when their hair is short.

I've been riding a lot. I started jumping Reno again. If you remember last May, him and I had a terrible fall while jumping. Well, I found myself thinking about it too much. I was trying to shorten his stride up so he would get the correct spot and striding. I was hindering Reno... a lot. I finally let him just decide what he wanted to do. I let him pick the pace, the striding, and his own takeoff spots and he was perfect! That boy sure knows what he's doing. I had so much fun that I raised all of the jumps up and we were able to jump big for the first time in a long time. It was great.

I'm having so much fun being able to see the kids so much. I still feel like I have no time for anything, but that's ok. I'll make time.

Oh, So Much To Catch Up On!

Oh, my. I can't believe it has been so long since I last blogged! I'm going to try to update you all in one posting.

Here is what has been happening the last two months, in no particular order.

At the beginning of December, we moved all 3 of our horses closer to home. About 2 1/2 miles from our house, a house sold and it had an 11 horse barn on it. The new owners, Scott and Kylie Joy, decided to have a boarding facility. She made us a great deal on the cost of board for having all 3 horses there. They clean their stalls throughout the day, feed 2-3 times a day, makes sure they have clean water, puts on and take off the horses jammies (their blankets to keep them warm at night) and generally watches the horses to make sure they are in good condition and health. It's a great facility. There is an arena with jumps and all weather footing, an dressage arena, several turn out areas, and the horses have over sized stalls with shavings and an outdoor area. They take very good care of our kids. They even give Buster all of his medication too!

Mid December our horse Buster got really sick and was in an equine ICU for 3 days. Day 1 he was colicing which basically meant that he had an upset tummy, however, it could be fatal if not treated quickly. He got better the first day, not great but better, and then got worse again that night. The next day, we took him to the vet and he said he was severely dehydrated and had an impaction- an intestinal blockage. We took him to the equine clinic here in Prescott and they hooked him up to an iv. They gave him 35 liters of fluid before he felt better. It took 25 liters even before he urinated! He was there for 3 days while waiting for this impaction to pass. It did, but it was found that he had a "stone". A stone is similar to a pearl. It can come from anything a horse eats that doesn't get digested and stalls out in the intestines. It could be a piece of leather, a staple from a shavings bag, a small piece of twine from a bale of hay, anything really. Basically, the intestines cover this thing with mineral deposits to protect itself. It just keeps adding a layer of minerals until it is sometimes too big to pass. One that a vet showed us was the size of an ostrich egg. The one Buster passed was like a 2" x 2 1/2" river rock. We then rushed him to Phoenix to a very high class vet clinic for abdominal x-rays to make sure there were no larger stones still inside. Luckily, there was not, just a lot of sand. He is now on a very high fiber diet to flush the sand from his system. We put the other two kids on this fiber also since they probably have sand too. Anyway, about $2,200 later, we have a healthy horse again. Merry Christmas to us.

As many of you know, almost 6 years ago I started my own Mary Kay business. I was very motivated for a few years and then I slowly tapered off as life got busy. The beauty of the business is that it is all mine and I can go back to it whenever I want. Well, I did go back. I started up again. I had a party the other day and did very well. I made in 2 fun hours as much as I would have made in 4 1/2 hours of my air traffic controller pay! If that isn't motivating, I don't know what is! I have a website and you can check it out. It is www.marykay.com/kaylamm There is a virtual make over where you can upload your own picture and used different colors of make up and even different hair styles, colors, cuts and accessories to play with. It's fun. Try it out! If anyone wants to do a party, please let me know. I have several types to choose from. From a spa day to a quick 15 minute on-the-go facial to an online party, just let me know. Also, if anyone is interested in the Mary Kay opportunity, I'd love to talk with you. It is a great way to earn some extra income on your own terms.

Christmas was great. The Monday before, we drove to CA to visit with Jake's family. It was a short trip but a great visit. We were able to see everyone, including our new nephews, and some family friends. We had a great big family dinner at El Torito one night and we were there for hours visiting. We went shopping at stores they don't have in AZ and finished buying some Christmas gifts. Now on to the gifts: Jake got a Coca-Cola dart board for his man cave and some money to get the cave started. We want to have it painted and put a finish on the concrete floor. He wants to decorate it with Coca-Cola themed things. He also got a Wii game- the Toy Story Midway Mania, just like the ride at Disneyland's California Adventure. He got a blu-ray disc of a John Mayer concert. I got a sewing machine and all the accessories. Jake built me the biggest tack trunk I've ever seen. I now can put all of my horse stuff in it! He had my name painted on the top of it by our friend Jules. She does decorative painting, murals, faux finishes, etc. She is very talented! We had about 10,000,000 lights on our house and I'm pretty sure you can see it from space. We had the most in our neighborhood and plans are already being discussed about how to improve for next year. So much fun.

A funny thing happened today. I asked Jake what his new year's resolution is and it was to keep the house really clean and organized. You know what mine was? To keep the house really clean and organized. Weird huh? We have a central vacuum and I LOVE it. I found a website that sells a ton of accessories and attachments for my system. I have made a list of the attachments that I want to get to have a super clean house. I also want to get the Shark steam cleaner for around the house too so I can sanitize things. I love a clean house, but not the cleaning part. I may end up hiring a cleaning person to do it all for me. We'll see.

We are planning a vacation with Saremy again next year. We don't know when, where, or for how long yet, but it will be awesome! We've already talked about going to Europe in 2011. After that, I think we'll be ready to have kids. So the year to look for is 2012!

Well, that is pretty much it. I am going to do my best on updating my blog more often. Until next time.