Christmas Treats

I hope everyone is enjoying some kind of treat with Christmas right around the corner! We have finally gotten around to making some. With the holidays being so busy it's hard to make time but homemade treats are my favorite. Sam LOVES chocolate covered pretzels so that is always on our list of things to make. We also made caramels, oreo truffles, and fudge. We found an oreo truffle recipe here . The fudge and caramel recipes I had from my mothers cooking class in 9th grade. They are super easy and I can't believe I don't make them more often.

Dax's Birth Story

9:30 AM- We arrived at the hospital so I could be induced, they got me hooked up on the IV and settled in for what would be a long journey! 

11:30 AM- The doctor finally showed up to prescribe the pitocin to me.

12:30 PM- The doctor broke my water.

4 PMish- I got the epidural (heaven)!

4 PM - 9 PM- They check my dialation about every hour, it was pretty slow going.

9:00 PM- Made Sam call the doctor because I couldn't wait any longer. They checked me and I was dialated to a 10!

9:20 PM- Started pushing.

11:14 PM- Dax was born!

Ever since I can remember I imagined having a baby (the IV, epidural, contractions, and the baby physically coming out) to be incredibly painful. And maybe for some it is, but for me it was not. I'm glad now that I imagined it to be so painful because in reality after each one of those events I thought, hmm, that wasn't so bad. 

Keep in mind I did have an epidural so I can't promise anything to those who don't get it. The IV was painful and annoying the whole time, that was probably my least favorite part! I also thought breaking my water hurt but you don't really feel anything. Obviously the contractions started to hurt or I wouldn't have got the epidural. I imagine not having the epidural is quite painful. You always hear about how big the epidural needle is so that freaked me out. When he came in to give it to me I just didn't look at it. Didn't didn't really hurt at all and I had immediate relief! After that all you feel is pressure with the contractions and it gets stronger and stronger. Eventually it was so intense I knew it was time. 

We started the pushing process which lasted 2 hrs and it was exhausting. There is nothing more annoying to me than having the doctor tell you to push just a little harder when you are already pushing as hard as you can! When he would say that I wanted to say, "Oh, I thought I wasn't suppose to be pushing as hard as I could yet!" I did have to get an epesiotomy. It's really weird to feel yourself being cut but not feel pain with it. 

Finally the whole thing is over and you don't have a care in the world besides holding your baby for the first time. The complete joy, peace, and love that come with it are amazing! 

Overall, I had a really good experience. The doctors, nurses, and hospital were all amazing and I came out with no horror story's except the pain of having your baby go to the NICU.

P.s. You will be starving the whole time and all you get is flavored ice chips! It sucks, and if your husband is anything like mine he won't sneak you anything to eat! :)

Daxton's Blessing

On December 7th we were lucky enough to bless Daxton in my parents ward. We did it there so more of our family could be there. Sam's family was also there but we didn't get any pictures with them and only a few with my family.

4 Generations

My mom made his little tux and I couldn't have loved it more. It is so cute and will be an awesome keepsake!

He slept through the whole blessing thank goodness!

4 Generations (bet you can't tell we are related!)

It was a great day and we are thankful to all of our friends and family that were able to be a part of it.

Family Pictures

                   His faces just kill me!

                  Oh those baby sneezes!

First Family Christmas Card

         Eventually I will get around to posting about Dax's birth story but for now I thought I would share our first family Christmas card! I'm so excited to celebrate with our little dude!

Telling the Fam/Boy or Girl?

Telling your family you're going to have a baby is so much fun! Especially when it's the first one on one side! We told my family by coming home on a Sunday and giving my parents these mugs I made:

                                       

They were so excited and we immediately told everyone else in the family. My mom has been waiting for this forever so this baby will definitely be spoiled! 

Sam's family is planning a big Christmas celebration so we made an RSVP and added a plus 1.

A few weeks went by and then we made the announcement public. We went to our first Dr.s appointment, got to hear the heartbeat which was awesome! A lot more weeks went by with prepping what we could and a few Dr.s app. 

    

Finally we were able to see the gender! We could have waited till 20 weeks and it would have been free but I couldn't wait much to my husbands dismay. We paid the extra fee at 16 weeks and went in. I read a million things about what you could do so the baby would be moving so we for sure could see what gender it was. I drake orange juice for breakfast, and a coke throughout the day. Basically anything thing that had sugar! We were able to tell pretty quickly that it was a HE! My brothers were going to be excited because they wanted a nefew! We told our familys with this crossword puzzle.

We are so excited for our little guy and mommy is so excited to start shopping for you!

When Two Becomes Three!

   We have the most exciting news!

                                      

Sam and I had started talking about starting our family but, we had decided to wait until he would be done with his undergrad at UVU. Well, one thing led to another and we knew there was a chance that I would become pregnant earlier. For half of January and February we debated on wether or not I was pregnant. The only difference I felt was being hungry all the time but told myself it was all in my brain. 

February 13th rolled around and I had, had enough waiting. I decided to go get a test thinking that if it turned out positive I would wait until the next day (Valentines Day) and tell Sam. I ran over to Target and picked two up. Let me just tell you it's not very fun buying the tests. You feel like everyone in the whole store knows what you just picked up! 

Home I go to gloriously urinate on a stick. This is where I start freaking out and suddenly I can't go! Finally a little makes an appearance, I start to worry it's not enough but there's nothing I can do. I make up my mind to set a timer and not sit there and stare at it. Never has time gone by more slowly! The time is up and I'm afraid to look at it. Finally, I do and I see it, I'm pregnant! No way, it's probably wrong, so I google if it can be. Nope can't really get a false positive so I am indeed pregnant. 

I had made up my mind to tell Sam tomorrow but I suddenly can't wait. I have to tell someone! I run over to his work and he is of course surprised to see me. I tell him we need to talk so we go somewhere a little quieter. First thing I say is you were right (I would always tease him that I wasn't going to tell him when I was pregnant, and he always told me I wouldn't be able to wait) he's confused at this point and I'm somehow able to tell him. He's shocked, happy and amazed. Then we go over all the details like when it will be born and how excited we are. Eventually he feeds me (something he will be doing a lot of) and then I go to work.

After I got over the initial shock that I was pregnant, I started to worry. I don't think there's anyway you can't. Even though we weren't expecting it this soon I was already attached and it's so hard to just wait and see if everything will work out. Plus, it's so hard to just go living life not telling anyone! 

We are so excited and will now start dreaming of everything that needs to get done. Also just a tip, don't google anything about pregnancy, it will just freak you out!

Devilishly Good Chocolate Cake

Last Sunday I put my Christmas presents to good use! A lot of the things I got were for cooking(wondering if that is a hint from my husband:)). I was in the kitchen all day and it was actually a lot of fun to try out new gadgets and recipes. So the next couple posts will be highlighting recipes and gadgets letting you know how I liked them.

I don't know if you've ever heard of the Cake Mix Doctor but she is amazing. The first cook book of hers that I got was actually the Dinner Doctor and I loved it so much the Mister got me her Cake Mix Doctor book. Basically she takes normal recipes and boxed cake mixes and enhances them. They are all super easy and fast! So the first thing I made was a bundt chocolate cake. It was delicious, although I think I would change the frosting next time, it tasted a little too much like powdered sugar for my liking.

Devilishly Good Chocolate Cake

INGREDIENTS

• Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
• Flour for dusting the pan
• 1 square (1 ounce) unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 package (18.25 ounces) plain devil's food cake mix
• 1 package (3.9 ounces) chocolate instant pudding
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (I used imitation)

DIRECTIONS

1. Place rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly mist the bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour. Shake out excess flour. Set the pan aside.

2. Place the chocolate and water in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, until the chocolate is melted, 3 to 4 minutes. Set aside.

3. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Fold in the melted chocolate. blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 to 3 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look thick and well combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven.

4. Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with finger ad just starts to pull away from the side of the pan. 45 to 50 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a rack to complete cooling 20 minutes more.

From here you just add the frosting. I would share the frosting I put on it if i thought it was worth it. But I wont because I don't. Excellent cake though, I would definitely serve this to anyone I love :).