Prayer Requests

I truly believe in the power of prayer!

LDS prophet Ezra Taft Benson once said it best -

"The example of people praying is more awe-inspiring, more powerful, than the explosion of an atomic bomb. The force of prayer is greater than any possible combination of man-controlled powers."

Please add my sister and my dad to your prayers this week!

• My sister, Molly, will be having gall bladder surgery on Monday, hopefully solving the years of stomach pain she has been having (and this only a little more than a month after giving birth to her 4th child!). Please pray that the doctors hands will be guided properly, that the surgery will go well, that this will solve her problems, and that she will have a fast, easy recovery!

• My dad, John, will be starting treatment this week for his Stage 4 cancer - Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). He will be starting an experimental 7 -month trial (led by some of the top CLL experts in the world) to help treat - and possibly even cure - his cancer! Please pray that his treatment is successful, that the doctors will be inspired, that the side effects are minimal, that he will have energy and positive attitude to get through each day, and that my mom will also have the strength to help my dad on his journey back to good health.

Thank you for all your support and prayers!

Shayla's First Easter

It was Shayla's first Easter - here are some of the memories!

It was so much fun to see our cousins who came in from Utah this week and to have an Easter Egg hunt with them!


Shayla hung out with Uncle Danny chewing on her plastic eggs most of the time!

Shayla's first Easter Basket! She loved chewing on everything!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Happy 10 Months Old!

WOW! Shayla is 10 months old today!
21 pounds 11 ounces
28.75 inches

She is as fun as ever and still loves to pull herself up on everything, she can stand by herself for a few seconds too, crawls very fast everywhere, loves the outdoors and swings, has 6 teeth, and she can climb up stairs now too (with me spotting her - just in case!)...here are a few photos of the last month (as if there weren't enough of her on here already!)


"I love to stand!!!"

"I love to swing!"

"I love to dress up"

"I love my daddy!"

HAPPY EASTER

Here are some Easter/Spring photos taken of Shayla! She is such a precious gift to us!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Top 'of the morning to you!
We had a fun St. Patty's Day and joined a bunch of kids and moms for a St Pattys Day party today! Green food , green bubbles (not a good idea though as they stain clothes) and green outfits! Here is Shayla in her St. Patty's Day outfit!

Irish Soda Bread Recipe

In honor of my Irish heritage, I make Irish Soda Bread every year for St. Patty's Day, so I thought I would share the recipe if anyone else wants to make some for their family. My mom always made it for us as well when we were growing up, and here's the recipe she shared with us:

IRISH SODA BREAD
One hundred fifty years ago it was common to make bread using baking soda rather than yeast in parts of rural Ireland. That's where Irish soda bread gets its name.The practice of using baking soda started out of necessity. Yeast won't make dough rise unless the baker uses "strong" flour, which was scarce in parts of Ireland. Baking soda, however, could be counted on to leaven bread. The baking soda has to be combined with something acidic in order to do its magic. In this case, we've used buttermilk. So, not only is this a historic and tasty recipe; it's pretty foolproof, too.

Ingredients
2 cups white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. butter, chilled
1 cup raisins (you can make w/o raisins if you like)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk or plain yogurt

Directions: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
Cut in the butter until it is pea-sized. Stir in the raisins and buttermilk or yogurt. Turn the dough onto a floured surface, knead 1 minute, and shape into a disk. Cut an "X" in the top and bake on a greased baking sheet for 45 to 50 minutes. Makes one 8-inch-wide loaf or 2 small loaves.

*My mom's tips for this recipe: The chilled butter: I take a steak knife and shave off pieces of butter from the 4 TBSP. Hunk and then I just mix it into the flour mixture by rubbing with my fingertips and tossing the flour mixture as I go so the butter pieces get better incorporated into the mix. I never use 1 tsp. salt...more like a half teaspoon. I never use a half cup sugar, but about 3-4 tablespoons less. After I cut the X in the loaf, I rub buttermilk all over the surface of the loaf. I often make 2 smaller loaves, instead of one big one. That way you can give one away on St. Patrick's Day!

Shayla's 1st Egg Hunt

This past week, Shayla went to her first Easter Party and egg hunt! The babies did actually crawl around on the grass grabbing the eggs and mostly sticking them in their mouths! It was cute. Here are some of the pics...

Shayla with mom!

Shayla feeding her hand to the Easter bunny!

Happy Baby!

Oops! She was flinging the eggs and hit herself in the face with one as I took the photo!

Who I am...

There are many definitions of who or what a person is. Today I am sharing about who I am through my ethnicity. I celebrate each part of my heritage and try to embrace the culture of each in my life in some way - food, holiday traditions, songs, etc. So, here is what I am made of:

...and please do not laugh because I am mostly Polish - yes, blonde AND Polish - ha, ha - I can probably tell you the best blonde and Polish jokes out there! And you probably couldn't guess that I was Armenian too! That is a part of my background I am always striving to learn more about as well! My dad's mother is 100% Armenian and there is a lot of that culture on her side of the family and neat to hear about and participate in as well!