6-Month Pictures

Here you go…Enjoy!

View Full Album

Once A Month Cooking (OAMC)

Alright, a couple of people have asked me about my goal below where I mentioned OAMC. So here’s what Wikipedia had to say…

WIKIPEDIA – ONCE-A-MONTH-COOKING

The concept of once-a-month cooking (OAMC) is to spend a set time cooking, be it a day or two, but with an end result of having enough meals to last through the whole month. OAMC recipes usually involve freezing the meals until needed.

The idea of cooking ahead for the freezer began many years ago, probably at about the advent of home refrigerator/freezers. But in recent years, thanks to bestselling books like Frozen Assets: Cook for a Day, Eat for a Month and Once-a-Month Cooking, the concept has acquired almost a cult-like following. There are now numerous books, popular online discussion groups, official cooking clubs, and even businesses that allow people to prepare meals to take home for their freezer.

ADVANTAGES

The primary advantage to this method of cooking is to save time over the course of the month by buying groceries in bulk on the cook date. There are some other substantial advantages, however:

* Saved food resources. Buying what is needed and preparing it into a finished dish right away rather than losing track of it or losing it to spoilage

* Saved energy. Cooking several dishes at once means less pre-heat time and better use of the energy that is being consumed

* Saved money. Having a ready supply of finished meals makes it less tempting to eat out because "you're just too tired to cook"

Many groups participate in a batch cooking or OAMC for communal consumption. When practiced on this large scale, the benefits mentioned above are even more pronounced. Church kitchens are often usurped for these cooking binges as they are usually the readily available source of commercial cooking equipment. Many restaurants (especially dinner-only establishments) are also available for rental if a church kitchen is not available.

Summer Goals

I saw this on my friend Abbie’s blog and thought I should share my summer goals also. It’s been said that if you share a goal with others, you are more likely to achieve it. So here goes…

* Continue to lose weight at a healthy rate. As of yesterday I have lost 10-pounds. YAY!

* Make a recipe book of my favorite recipes.

* Continue to fine tune my once-a-month-cooking.

* Continue to go on walks at least 3 or 4 days a week with Tucker.

* Take Tucker swimming often.

* Keep up on my cleaning.

* Continue to fine tune the minimal crafting ability that I have. :)

So, there you have it. These are my summer goals. I am SO looking forward to this summer with Tucker. He is at the BEST age for it I think. He doesn’t walk or crawl yet so he won’t want to get down everywhere, but he responds to all sorts of new things. He loves to watch animals and can’t smile big enough when he sees someone new talk to him. It’s the greatest! I have a feeling that we will get more use out of our camera this summer than we have since we bought it when we got married. :)

Here’s to a fantastic summer for EVERYONE!

Enjoyin’ The Water

I took Tucker down to the pool at our apartment today. I wasn’t sure how he would react, but he seemed to enjoy it. Here are some pictures of the adventure…

View Full Album

Tucker was a total champ. I figured he wouldn’t totally hate it because he LOVES the bath, but the water was a little cool so I was a little concerned. Tucker didn’t seem to mind to much at all though. He wasn’t all smiles, but he didn’t cry. His expressions seemed like he was just thinking that it was a really big bath that he and Mommy could play in. He was OK out in the water as long as I was holding him close. If I tried to float him in the water away from me at all, he would get a little nervous. So we mostly sat on the steps and played. He was more smiled once we were playing on the stairs. It was so fun to play with him, and I can’t wait for the rest of summer and all of the fun swimming we can do. I think sometime next month we’ll have a BBQ and go swimming. :) Enjoy the pictures. (Ignore any picture of me… I look AWFUL!)

Cuteness of the Week

Tucker had a TON of cuteness this week, as always. Here is some of it for you all to enjoy! There are quite a few pictures and two videos at the end…

A glimpse of the wonderful 6-month pictures that were taken on Monday, the 18th…

There is more of that cuteness to come soon. :)

We went to a birthday party today for our friends Dustin and Melody’s little girl, Bella. She turned 1… CRAZY! But she’s dang cute!  :) Here’s Tucker in the birthday hat, and then a picture of Tucker and the birthday girl. She’s so petite and cute. David kept saying, “a person that little shouldn’t be able to walk.” She’s so tiny and light, I love it! :)

This is a picture of what happens when you give your son crackers, fruit, and juice to eat on his own, and then some mashed potatoes from your plate…

Here is Tucker with his cousin Levi who was born the end of January. Tucker kept trying to grab Levi…in the eye! So we had to take the pictures FAST! The hand in the picture is Levi’s protection from Tucker. All Tucker wanted to do was play. :)

 This is an outfit that David’s Dad wore in a picture when he was a baby. It has become somewhat of a tradition to get all of the grandsons in the outfit as well. 

Here is Tucker with his Grandpa Jon.

Tucker fell asleep on our bed one morning. I just thought he looked too cute not to take a picture. :) 

These last two are videos…

Tucker loves to look in the mirror. Every time he sees his reflection he laughs so hard. It’s dang cute! :) (about 45 seconds long)

This is how Tucker wakes up from his naps all of the time… (about 55 seconds long)

Happy 6-month/28th Birthday to Us

My baby is 6-months old today… HOLY MOLY!

I turned 28 today… HOLY CRAP!

Seriously, where has the time gone? I cant believe that 6-months ago I had a baby. Some days it seems like it was 6-years ago, and other days it seems like it was 6-days ago. It has been an AMAZING 6-months. We have SO much fun with Tucker and love him so much. We got 6-month pictures taken of Tucker yesterday, so we will [ost them once we get them back. We went to the Dr. today for his 6-month check-up and here are the stats…

Weight: 26 lbs. 2 oz. (99%)

Height: 30 inches (99%)

Head: 47 centimeters (99%)

David and I looked in our baby books and David was Tucker’s size when he was 11-months old, and I was Tucker’s size when I was 9-months old. So, size wise it looks like he’s taking after his Mommy’s side of the family.

Here are some of the things Tucker is doing now…

• Tucker is now onto stage 2 Gerber foods. The Dr. told us today that we can start giving him some of the things that we eat for dinner. As long as they are soft and easy to gum.
• Tucker is sitting up like a champ. He loves to play sitting up more than laying down. He has mastered reaching for a toy a little far from him and being able to bring himself back up. We love it.
• He has not shown a ton of interest in crawling/scooting, but he does recognize that when he wants something just out of reach he needs to figure out a way to get it.
• He is EXTREMELY flexible. He now loves to gnaw on his big toe. It’s so funny!
• We have gotten rid of the infant bath and he is now playing like a big boy in the bathtub. It’s so darn cute to see him play with all of his toys. Every once in awhile David or I will put him in the shower with us and he loves it. He loves to put his hand in the water and try to catch/hold it.
• He is to the stage that whatever we put in his hand, goes right to his mouth. He doesn’t care what it is.
• He is starting to realize when Mommy or Daddy leave the room. He’s okay as long as one of us is still in the room, otherwise he starts to squeak!
• He has mastered rolling… EVERYWHERE!
• He has moved on to the convertible car seat, which he loves.
• He is officially wearing 18-month size clothes. That’s insane, because my 23-month old niece, where’s 12-month clothes.

We love our Bubba!

I turned 28 today.

Seriously…28? Yes, it’s true! I can’t believe I am 28-years old. I still feel like I should be 18. It’s weird for me to think that I am considered an adult in our family ward. CRAZY! I could go into all of the things that I have done over the last 28-years, but I won’t. :) I’ll just touch on a few things that happened in the last year.

• David graduated from college. That was AWESOME in and of itself.
• We move to Salem for David’s new job.
• I had a baby! Yeah, that’s a pretty major one! :)
• I got called as the 1st counselor in the RS Presidency.
• I made some amazing and wonderful new friends.
• I have reconnected with some amazing and wonderful old friends.

All-in-all it’s been a great year. I look forward to all of the fun things to come with the year to come! :)

Since I refuse to post any unnecessary pictures of myself on the blog right now, I will give you a glance into what I looked like when I was about Tucker’s age. :)

(This is a picture of a picture. I took it with my cell phone so it’s not the greatest quality. Sorry!)