All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go!!!

So tonight we had a devistating event.....we were suppose to be going to the Spanish Fork Rodeo with Jed's family and then at the last minute found out we didn't have tickets!!!! I'm not sure where the mix-up happened but I do know that I had one very devistated little boy (or rather mom because she wouldn't be able to show off Cash and all his cowboy gear). You see, my favorite Aunt Marti who lives in Montana sent Cash his first cowboy hat, Carhart overalls, and John Deer Cowboy boots months ago and I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity for him to make his first "cowboy" apperance!!! Well, I couldn't let the night be a total loss----I dressed him up anyway to take a few pictures. Jed of course was making fun of me the whole time saying things like "you think Cash is just your dress up doll!" I confess...I do love to dress him up! Don't worry---when Cash started to pout about not being able to go to the rodeo I quoted the great Layne Frost (who incidentaly was played by Luke Dreamy Perry in my favorite movie... 8 seconds) and I said "Cash....Cowboy Up!!!"

I'm THAT mom!!

So I was talking to Maile on the phone today and I told her that I've officially turned into THAT mom-----you know, the kind who's life revolves around their kids nap schedule----I swore it would never happen but let me explain the situation.......Jed was out of town...I had to teach our primary class by myself and Cash is teething and was being fussy (I know, excuses...excuses!) so I set him down for a minute to play while I gathered up the rest of the stuff for primary and finished getting ready-----the next thing I know he's asleep!!!!! So this is when I turned into THAT mom-----I just couldn't do it.....I couldn't wake him up to go to church so I simply let him sleep and I skipped Sacramnet Meeting and as luck would have it my dad came over just in time for me to go to primary and I left him home with good ole' grandpa! I'm sure this is just the beginning of many things I'll do that I swore I never would! If you really want me to be honest I'll let you know that I think all moms shouldn't have to go to church for the first 5 years of their children's lifes! I honestly don't even know how people do it with more than one kid!!!!

Here's just a couple random shots I've taken over the past month of my little munchkin. I don't mean to brag but the little dude seriously gets cuter every day!!---Yip I'm also turning into THAT mom that all they do is brag and post pictures of their kids.....lame!!

A few new recipes to share!

I've recently tried some new recipes and thought I'd share the ones that got the best reviews by my pannel of experts (mostly Jed and myself). I've found all of them on my favorite recipe blogs. So give them a try!

Crash Potatoes

-Boil either red potatoes or regular small potatoes cut in half (skins still on) in salt water until fork tender.
-Drizzle Olive Oil on a cookie sheet and place the potatoes a few inches apart on the pan. Take a potatoes masher and mash down on the potatoe just until it cracks.---don't mash the crap out of it.
-Drizzle more olive oil over the potatoes, sprink salt (I like kosher salt the best), pepper and whatever other seasoning you'd like (garlic salt, rosemary, onion salt)----be generous in the salt especially.
-Bake in over at 450 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Cinnabun Cake

3 cups flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ cups milk

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 T. butter, melted

2 sticks butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

2 T. flour

1 T. cinnamon

2/3 cups nuts, optional

2 cups powdered sugar

5 T. milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

In an electric or stand mixer mix the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs and vanilla. Once combined well, slowly stir in melted butter. Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, mix the 2 sticks of softened butter, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nuts until well combined. Drop evenly over cake batter by the tablespoonfuls and use a knife to marble/swirl through the cake.Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out nearly clean from center.Place powdered sugar, milk and vanilla in a large bowl. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Blueberry Sour Cream Pancakes

2 c. all-purpose flour

¼ c. sugar

4 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt2 eggs

1 ½ c. milk

1 c. (8-oz) sour cream

1/3 c. butter, melted

1 c. fresh or frozen blueberries (I actually used fresh raspberries instead of blueberries)

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl, beat the eggs. Add milk, sour cream, and butter; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until blended. Fold in the blueberries. Pour batter by ¼ cupfuls onto a greased hot griddle; flip when golden on bottom. Cook until the second side is golden brown.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins

2 rounded cups of frozen or fresh raspberries

3-4 Tablespoons sugar1 stick softened butter

8 oz softened cream cheese

1 Cup sugar

1 Tablespoon orange zest (one time I didn't have orange zest so I used a little coconut extract)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 c. all purpose flour

¾ c. whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 c. 2% milk (or cream)

Preheat oven to 350°. Place raspberries and sugar in a large bowl. Stir to combine so that berries are coated in sugar. Set aside.In a stand or electric mixer cream the butter, cream cheese, sugar and orange zest until well combined. Slowly beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined.Combine the flour, wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. With mixer on low, add half the flour, then half milk, then remaining flour, then remaining milk until just combined.Spray muffin tin with cooking spray and fill with muffin batter, about ¾ full. Press 4 berries into tops of each unbaked muffin. Bake for 23-28 minutes or until golden brown on top and cooked through. Remove and let cool.

Cash's first photo shoot

So I finally went and got Cash's pictures taken in his blessing outfit. I waited awhile so his little outfit would fit him just a little better. I just went to Kiddie Kandids in the mall but I thought they did a pretty good job. The pictures are actually way cuter in person----I had to take pictures of the actual pictures to post here because I don't have a scanner at work. My sister Kami actually made his little outfit---didn't she do such an incredible job! I joke that she has more talent in her little finger than Maile and I do combined!

7 Peaks Summer

Let me begin by saying that I know the above picture is a very unflattering and horrible picture of me but what we won't do for a blog update!---especially one of 7 peaks!! Jed about died when I told him I bought a season pass yet again this year because he thought for sure once I had a baby I would grow up and not want to go "hang out like a 16-year old at 7 peaks anymore"----boy was he wrong! I love it!! To me summer = 7peaks! Of course I don't get the tan like I use to----or at least not a very even tan because when you have a baby wearing 50+ sunblock that is sitting on your lap you tend to get a little blotchy. So here's to another great summer at 7 peaks.....the best place in Provo (minus there dumb a-- little high school punk employees!)



Here's Cash totally crying because it's time to go home. Is it horrible that whenever he starts crying I totally start laughing because I think the little face he makes is so hilarious! He's been known to just bust into that cry for no reason --especially if something startles him----stinkin hilarious!

Back to Work!!!

The day I've been dreading for 3 months finally came this past Monday......the day I had to go back to work! I told Jed I didn't want to go back and he told me that I spend way too much money to stay home.......so rude...but so true!---ouch! So Jed watched Cash on Mon, Tues, and Wed and I have to say that he did such an awesome job! I'm not even kidding, he is the best dad ever. He took such good care of Cash, kept the house clean and even managed to plant the garden---dang! It's so nice that he can watch him the days that he's no traveling. Jen watched him Thurs and today and I just got an e-mail a few minutes ago from her with these pictures. It's so nice having her watch him.....she treats him just like her own and takes such awesome care of him which makes it so much easier for me to go to work. My sister-in-law Lesa will be back next week to watch Cash 3 days a week but it's so nice to have Jen as my back-up.


I was thrown right into work by my boss this week. On Wednesday we had our bi-annual Marriott Inspection and he informed me on Tuesday that I would be running the inspection!!! I was a little nervous seeing as I haven't been here for the past 3 1/2 months so I had no idea where we were as far as the preperation. This should make all of you who stay in Marriotts feel very good about staying in Marriotts.......every 6 months we go through an inspection......we usually don't know when they are coming and the inspection lasts all day. The inspector randomly chooses rooms from the hotel and inspects them.....you can fail you inspection if they find anything like a hair in the bed or on the bedding anywhere, they take a black light to the entire bathroom to check the cleanliness. They take a damp wash cloth and rub in on the carpet to see if there is any dirt. They check for dust and dirt everywhere---I'm talking even on the top of door jams going into any area of the hotel. They even take out the baby cribs we have and black light them to check for any stains. They grill our employees on the Marriott Standards and I had to answer all the General Manager questions and provide all documentation showing all our action and emergency plans. Needless to say it's intense!!!! We ended up scoring a 91%!!!!!! I was pretty proud of our staff! It's nice to be back to work but nothing beats seeing my little boy and seeing him smile the minute I walk in the door----that's the good stuff!!!!

What a week!

It's been a bit of a crazy week in the Baadsgaard house. First of all Jed left for a business trip a week ago Monday (May 12th). I knew he was going to be gone for 10 days so I was trying to be tough about it. Well, Wednesday night Cash wakes up bawling at about 2:00am (remember my last post where I was bragging about the 8-9 hours of sleeping a night---gone are those days!) So I changed his bum and fed him a bottle and put him to bed only to have him wake up about every 30 minutes for the rest of the night. Needless to say I was pretty tired. So the next day he's all congested. So the next night he sleeps in his swing so he's elevated.....once again not sleeping. So by the third night of this new sleeping pattern I'm delirously tired and cranky and Jed calls to tell me that he's going to be gone another 4 days!!! So obviously at this point I tell him "that's ok---whatever you need to do".... RIGHT!!!! I did what any sleep deprived mother would do----I start bawling hysterically!!!! So finally I calm down enough to go to sleep reminding myself that I've done everything that the nurse told me to do for Cash. So as I'm laying in bed feeling sorry for myself I try to give myself a pep talk telling myself it could be worse......I could be a single mom without any help ever or I could be one of those mom's who has a husband in Iraq for a year! Eventually my self talk of "suck it up" worked----but not without a little retail therapy! Above is a picture of Cash before we went to the doctor finally---yip, he had an ear infection to boot! Don't you just love the rolls on his legs!

By Saturday night I couldn't stay in my house one more minute so I went to my niece Kylee's princess birthday party! Is that pathetic that the absolute highlight of my week was going to a 7 year olds party and making pizza---it rocked!! Below is a picture of her modeling the new dress I got her. She's so cute!

So seeing as it had been a few days since Cash has thrown up I decided to head to the Nordstrom sale today with Amy. Well, as I was using my birthday gift cards (thanks girls) to purchase TWO new pairs of shoes (pictured above) Amy decides to pick up Cash out of his stroller. Well, about two seconds after picking him up he pukes all over her-----I'm talking projectile puke right in the middle of the Nordstrom shoe section!!!! Clearly Cash hasn't learned the proper respect for such a place yet or he would have held it until we were in a more appropriate place like Vanity to throw up----oh wait I would NEVER go in the store! So after a quick change of Cash...and Amy we continued our shopping. Well, then he decided to puke again upstairs in Nordstrom---but only the shirt/jeans section so at that point I was all "ok, fine---we'll go home and I'll clean you up!" As you can see from the picture below I think he's feeling much better now.

Mother's Day and Maile!!!

What a week it's been! I had my first mother's day yesterday which is so fun! Being a mom is the best thing ever! Jed and Cody started the day out right by making the ladies a big ole breakfast and it was grubbin! We then headed off to church and then out to the farm to celebrate mother's day with Jed's family which was another grubbin' meal. On our way home we stopped by Jed's mom's grave to put flowers on it---I always find it to be such a sweet feeling when we visit her grave even though I didn't know her very well I have such respect for the mother that she was and the great job she did in raising Jed, Lesa and Chad---they are all three such good people.

Maile and her boys have been here all week hanging out with us. It's been sooooo fun. Who knew Maile and I would end up being so close and like hanging out with eachother seeing as we hated eachother growing up. Her boys are so fun to have around and I'm so impressed with how polite they are. She's seriously done the best job in teaching them manners and to be obedient. Below are a few pictures of Kangaroo Zoo. We went with Meridith and her kids and of course I had to bring Rylee ---they seriously played non-stop for almost 3 hours. It was all we could do to get them to force down a cookie before playing some more. I think it's pretty much a toss up as to who's the most bossy----Quinn, Rylee or Hayli???

Finally after a week of being here Cannon warmed up to Jed and I. Until then he gave us the best stink face every time we looked at him. He thought Jed was quite alright after he took him on a 4-wheeler ride behind our house. Below is a cute picture of Quinn and Rylee. Rumor on the street is that they got married at my house one night while they were playing. Every morning Quinn would wake up and say to me "which of my friends is coming over to play today?" He thought he was quite popular.

And of course I had to include a cute picture of my chunky monkey Cash. He had his 2 month appointment about 2 weeks ago and weighed in at a nice 13 pounds 9 ounces. The best news is that he's sleeping a good 8 to 9 hours a night!!!!!!

Weekend to Remember!

So as many of you know we blessed Cash in church this last Sunday and I have to say that besides my wedding day it was the best day of my life! To have so many family and friends there that we love so much to support us and share in such a wonderful day was just incredible. The weekend started with my parents and sisters all coming into town. Then on Friday afternoon there is a knock at the door and there sits a little carseat with Tatem (my friend Natalies little 3 week old baby girl) and she had a note on her chest that says "can Cash come out and play? love, Tatem" Needless to say I had no idea that Sarah had driven all the way to Twin Falls to pick up Natalie and Tatem and bring them to my house for the weekend. Tatem is just the tiniest, sweetest little thing you've ever seen! Thanks again for coming girls---it was such a great surprise!! Below is a picture of the old Ricks College gang and our babies....too fun! My cousin Carrie (in the middle) blessed our babies the same Sunday and it was so great because all of our family got to be here for both blessings.




The next big surpise came on Sunday morning when my Aunt Kay (below in the striped shirt) called me and said "so on 1600 north in Orem---how do I get to your house?" I was so excited---she and Uncle Dean drove my grandparents up from Blackfoot so they could be here for the blessing. It was so neat to have them here. I have to admit that I got quite choked up when my grandpa who's almost 90 hobbled up to the front of the church to be part of Cash's blessing----it was so sweet. Thanks again Aunt Kay!!





Here's just a few more fun random pictures. Above is me trying to "crack the eggs" --note that we got a new trampoline mat---it was one of my great finds on Saturday morning when I went garage saling with my mom and dad! Below is Sarah and Nikki it's so fun to me how my friends have all seemed to become good friends with eachother and it's like this big ole reunion whenever we have a party! I think we ended up with about 65 people at our house on Sunday---the more the merrier is our motto! And last but not least is a great picture of my mom and my second mom--my aunt Pat. Thanks again to everyone who came to support us. I'll say once again.... I have the best family and friends in the world!!!!!

Seattle

Jed had to go out of town for a week for work so I decided that I wasn't going to be home all alone---I was going to head to Seattle and party!!! I hadn't been home in a year so it was soooo nice to go home again. I kept telling Jed it was my "practice flight" with Cash to see how he did---ok, let's be honest---it was really to see how I would do. I'm happy to report that both Cash and I did great on the flight! He slept the whole time and didn't make a peep. The only thing that I was bugged about it that I had a middle seat and neither of the people sitting in the aisle would trade me seats....jerks!! So now that I know Cash is great on airplanes I'm trying to convince Jed to let me go to Hawaii at the end of the month to visit Kami. The best part of going to Seattle was having Maile and the boys surprise me on Sunday when they came from Oregon. It was so cute...the doorbell rang Sunday night and when we answered the door there stood Quinn with a birthday present and he said "Happy Birthday aunt Lani!!!" Too cute. So Maile and I had to go to Costco to get a few things and found the best cake in the world---it was chocolate with mousse frosting and cream puffs inbetween the layers and on top of the cake!!!!! We even celebrated my birthday a day early just so we could bust into the cake!!! We pretty much ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next two days!!!! I was so sad to see they didn't have the same cake here at the Orem Costco.

Here's just a few picutures of Cash meeting his cousins and his Aunt Maile. Between my mom and dad and Aunt Maile I hardly had to take care of my kid all week!!!! The last picture is Quinn and I at the Mariners baseball game. We were worried that Quinn would get a little bored but he loved it! We had awesome seats about 20 rows back from 3rd base. Of course trying to be the favorite aunt I had to buy Quinn cotton candy and a 32 ounce Root Beer for the game. He thought it was so cool that we could eat peanuts and throw the shells on the ground! I had a great time in Seattle but it was nice to come home and see Jed again. I got home on my birthday and Jed spoiled me rotten with beautiful roses, he took me to dinner to Ruby River---yum! and he game me a beautiful new bracelet....oh and he bouht me new luggage for my trip. I love him!!!

Cash's First Vacation

So this weekend was Cash's first big vacation.....ok, big vacation might be an overstatement---we went to Idaho for my cousins wedding. The best part about this post is that I realized that I didn't take one picture of the bride and groom! HA! HA! Isn't that so lame! Above is Cash and I outside the Rexburg temple. It is seriously the most gorgeous temple I've ever been in!!! I couldn't believe how huge and amazing it was. This is the first time I've been to the temple since my wonderful panic attacks began when I was pregnant so it was such a great day for me. Of course Grandma and Grandpa Oram flew in to see Cash for the weekend, I mean for the wedding. Grandma Oram has quickly gained the name "baby hog".

And below we have the original grandma and grandpa Oram. The still live in Blackfoot and are approaching 90 rather quickly. It was so sweet to see my grandpa hold Cash and sing his famous songs to him. Although I'm not sure if Cash knew what to think of my grandpa's "morning hair"----scary!!!

After the wedding we headed to Idaho Falls for the luncheon. Above is a picture of the "cool kids table"......at least we like to think so! It's always fun when my family gets together and I'm sure you'll all be shocked to know that we were "shssshed" quite a few times in the temple and eventually asked to go outside. I'm almost 35 years old and my parents still make me sit inbetween them in church to ensure that I don't talk and laugh.

I couldn't go a whole post without posting a cute picture of Cash!!!! Below is a nice shot of my dad and Cash right after he projectile puked all over my dad and himself ---we got him all cleaned up and changed and then they settled in for a nice nap---I'm not sure who was more exhausted. Now that Cash has completed his first road trip we'll be moving on to bigger and better things......airplanes! Here we come Seattle and Hawaii!