"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before. Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty. You might say, I am not the creative type. If that is how you feel, think again. Creation is your opportunity in this life….. Start small. Creativity does not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze you. You will make the World a better place. Improve, beautify, extend, smile, cultivate, develop, create."
~President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

12.31.2009

Since Christmas...

Christmas was completely and thoroughly FANTASTIC for all the fabulous reasons other than the actual presents I received.

Our lives since Christmas have been filled with cleaning up throw up on clothes, carpet, counters, and sheets, changing diarrhea diapers, and having so much laundry to do that I'd rather throw it all away and buy more than actually wash it.

So Happy New Year to you all and maybe eventually I will get my life back in order.

12.15.2009

Father Christmas

We met the real Father Christmas this weekend at This is the Place Park. I think it went a little better than last year.

This year...


Last year...
It's probably because he gave Nathan a candy cane. You know kids and their treats...

12.09.2009

Calling

I got a calling on Sunday.
the primary secretary.

I know next to very little about primary. I have always done something with Relief Society since I got out of Young Women after high school! I feel a little like a fish out of water.

My first experience? a 3 1/2 hour presidency meeting interfering with lunch and nap time. Tired and hungry are not a good combination. Initiation by fire!!

New experience, here we come!

Have any of you had my calling? Any tips? Advice? Good experiences? I know you want to share...

12.03.2009

Christmas Ornaments

One of our Christmas traditions is to buy a new dated ornament each year.

It of course started with our first Christmas together...

The next year was when Corey went to basic training and AIT...

The following Christmas was of course right after Nathan...

And we finally got an ornament for this year...in honor of me graduating!

Yay!! I love Christmas traditions!

12.02.2009

Military Ball


*** The dress had a little train on it which is not visible in these pictures.

Our friends the Woodstocks and the Willsons.


I didn't bring our camera so I am relying on pictures from others. We did get pictures taken there, but we won't get those for a couple more weeks. We had so much fun. Seriously. Everything turned out so great! We had dinner at a restaurant we'd never been to before, Elements, and LOVED it. We'd recommend it highly to anyone who needs a nice place (hint: birthday, anniversary, graduation). Corey's job this semester for ROTC was the photographer/videographer. They ended up getting an imbedded photographer from the university's paper and he did such a good job. He got great pictures and that really allowed Corey to get some good video. Corey made a video each week for staff meeting to show what they had done the previous week in lab or something else. Anyway, Corey had a lot of really great stuff to choose from when it came time to do the semester long video to show at the military ball. If you didn't know, there is an underlying competitiveness between Air Force ROTC and Army ROTC and Corey really wanted to do a good job. Take no offense anyone who is reading this but The Army's video so much better. It was really good just on it's own and then compared to theirs, wow. I married a good one. I really wish you could see it. I've been trying since to figure out how to upload a 6 minute long video (part of the reason why this post has taken me so long to put up) but blogspot just won't have it! If I get it I'll put it up. It was really good.

11.20.2009

Holy Crap! (sorry for the language)

WE BOUGHT A CAR YESTERDAY!

Finally

That's all I have to say.
Well, I guess not. It's a Nissan Rogue. Crossover. 2 years old. 40,000 miles. It was quite a bit more than we wanted to spend but the monthly payment was still in the range we wanted. And I COMPLETELY LOVE IT!! Corey is finally convinced after driving it to school today. (He told me himself.) We are planning on having this car for a very long time and hope that we will grow out of it before it wears out! I can't even tell you how excited I am to have a car with me during the day.
Ah, the simple pleasures. Expensive. But simple.

Also, on other fun notes, here's a few things we've been doing.

I took the garbage out and when I came back, this is what
I found... an almost full bag of Craisins in a nice pile. Of course pictures took place before clean up.

In our new living room (I just realized I haven't posted pictures of our new place. That will be remedied quickly) we have a fireplace. A real fireplace. But it either hadn't been used in a really time or the past residents cleaned it out really good. So we were starting from scratch. To keep the fire going and get it hot, Corey got the blow dryer. Naturally. It worked great and I think next time we have a fire, it'll be a little easier.

Push-ups on a Sunday afternoon. Nathan is really excited to do anything with Daddy and tries to do push-ups. Then he wants everyone to do them with him. This time he just climbed on Daddy's back. Funny kid.

11.12.2009

Tonight

So apparently when hubby's gone for the weekend and the child is fast asleep I can get so much done! I've had a fabulous evening doing WHAT-EVER-I-WANT-WHEN-EVER-I-WANT. Even the motel has cooperated with me and not been incredibly busy with interruptions all evening.

Check it out... I finally figured out how to upload videos using the movie program that came with my Mac. It was never the right file type for blogger and I've figured it out. Super!

So here is that Halloween video that I so desperately wanted to show off.
How cute is my boy. I mean, seriously.

On another note, I found a dress for the military ball next Saturday. It's currently getting altered to fit my shoulders and taking a little off the bottom. Love it. For lack of all the right descriptive words and phrases, I'll just say for now that it's a deep red color, fits me great, and I love it. Pictures will do better than I can describe. I am so excited for a wonderful date night with my super fantasticness of a husband. Our schedules are pretty busy. He's gone completely all day long (i.e. 5:00 to 5:00 or 6:00) and then our evenings are somewhat interrupted every little bit checking in guests for the motel. We're trying to figure out a new schedule of things to make sure that we are doing everything with our day that we want (i.e. scriptures, prayers, family time, etc). Sometimes my days have been so hectic and stressful that I'm in a bad mood when he comes home and then I'm grouchy for the only time I get to be with him. Do any of you ever have that problem when you're staying home with your kids? I know it's not good and I'm trying to be better. It's worse when I'm tired cuz even little things bug me.

I just decided I need to talk to people more during the day so that I'm not going on and on in my blog like this. Boring for you to read. I need friends. Or a car and then I can go shopping and stuff in the morning when the motel is slow. That's what I need. Anyone want to buy me a car?

Let's Just Fall in Love Again

This song is way cute and if you are having a hard time with your spouse today, (notice I didn't just assume husband!) then think about why you married them in the first place.




If you can't see this video, go to launch.com and in the Top 100 Video Charts,
look for "Let's Just Fall In Love Again" by Jason Castro.

Let's Just Fall In Love Again Lyrics

Let's pretend baby
That you've just met me
And I've never seen you before
I'll tell all my friends
That I think you're staring
And you say the same to yours

And oh, we'll dance around it all night
And then Ill follow you outside
And try to open up my mouth
And nothing comes out right

And I wanna fall in love with you again
I don't have to try
It's so easy
Who needs to pretend?
But because it's so funny
Let's just think about it, honey
Let's just fall in love again

I'll call you in three days
Not too soon, not too late
And I'll ask your roommate if you're home
You call me on Thursday
And we'll hang out all day
Then fall asleep on the phone

And oh, I'll hold your hand when we drive
And we'll lose track of all the time
And we'll tell everyone
That we ain't never felt so alive

And I wanna fall in love with you again
I don't have to try
It's so easy
Who needs to pretend?
But because it's so funny
Let's just think about it, honey
Let's just fall in love again

We'll fall disgustingly fast
And we'll stop hanging out with friends
And they'll be so offended

And I wanna fall in love with you again
I don't have to try
It's so easy
Who needs to pretend?
But because it's so funny
Let's just think about it, honey
Let's just fall in love again
Lets just fall in love again

11.01.2009

Halloween Festivities

When our Halloween fun started this month, it was right before we found out we were moving. So, I never got around to uploading the pictures from all the fun we had. So here's an overload. Mostly for me to remember how much fun everything was.

First off, the primary party.




Next, the First Annual Holmgren Family Halloween party.


What holiday doesn't revolve around food? It's an excuse to do fun things that you don't usually do on an everyday basis.

Our breakfast: Cyclops eye pancakes, eggs, and bacon.
Our lunch: Mummy pizza.
Dinner: Maggot stew with a side of mummy dogs.
My parents and brother came to our house for a Halloween party yesterday. We did pumpkins. Nathan was going to color his...
but got bored pretty quick. He wanted to help grandma carve with the knife.



We need a good camera with a flash. Sorry the picture is so dark.


I got this super cute video of Nathan saying 'trick-or-treat' that I have already watched probably 10 times, and can't get it to upload. So sorry. Because it really is so cute. Really, it's cute.

10.29.2009

A little overwhelmed. A lot tired. But getting better.

Wow. Moving is so much work. And we only lived in a trailer. I am not looking forward to moving every so often when we finally get into the military. I guess I'll probably become a professional mover and get everything down to a science.

The week of packing went really well. I had so much help from friends, and so many offers that I couldn't even accept, with babysitting Nathan so that I could pack. Corey still had school of course so I was the one that packed most everything. Corey's mom came and helped on Thursday and my mom came and helped on Friday. On Saturday Nathan got sick. He threw up 5 times while all the guys were coming in and out of my house with boxes and furniture. All I could do was hold Nathan by the sink to create a little less of a mess, which we only made it into the sink twice. Poor kid. It only took the guys 1 hour to load everything into the truck. The shed, furniture, all the boxes, 1 hour. Amazing. Guess it helps to be organized. I still could have been a little better but almost everything was already boxed when everyone got there. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE. Seriously. Not even just the movers, all my friends who babysat, all my other friends who brought us dinner on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday AND breakfast on Friday and Saturday. Seriously. I get choked up still just thinking about it.

Leaving the trailer was hard. It was our very first home together. The only home we've ever known. Nathan's first home. All our friends. Our amazing ward. The playground right in our backyard. Nathan's friends-Leah, Lana, Bridger, and others-which he tries to all say. Just hard.

When we got to the new place, we noticed that everything smelt kind of musty from the carpets being cleaned the day before. We started to air out the rooms and the smell went away except for in Nathan's room. Then we decided that the smell was really urine, dog urine. It was really bad and every time I walked in there I got more and more... uh... bugged... about the whole thing. Ugh. It still kind of smells like it, but it's doable and hopefully with more time it will go away.

Monday was our first day alone, handling things (i.e. the motel) by ourselves. It was pretty good. That night was hard. We went to bed and were woken up 3 or 4 times by people ringing the doorbell and the phone ringing. And then I got up at 2:00 and again at 3:00 for petty things. And then Tuesday was hard for no reason and by that night, I was completely beat, very stressed, and wondering what in the world we were doing. Tuesday was the day I also found a mouse in our basement. Yeah, welcome to your new home, here's a mouse. Wednesday started the first, 'Ok I can handle this' day. And everything has been really good since. I finished unpacking a lot of boxes on Wednesday and am working on finally putting things up on the walls. That always makes your place feel much more like your own. It's starting, slowly but surely to feel more like our place. I even cooked dinner last night for the first time in our new kitchen. I've done waffles a couple of mornings but hadn't done dinner yet. Things are looking much better. The motel is doing good and I feel like I'm really getting the hang of things. I now know how to make coffee. Funny, huh. It's for the breakfast that I set out every morning.

On another note, as I'm typing this I'm noticing, "Huh, it's pretty quiet. What's Nathan doing right now that he probably shouldn't?" I walk into his room and he had climbed into his crib all alone. I think he climbed up on to the rocking chair, then the arm on the chair, then pulled himself over the rail. Geez. Why do people ever have more than one kid? They are crazy! :) :)

10.18.2009

BIG NEWS

Wow, so much as happened since Friday. Are you ready for this? here we go...

We are moving to Tremonton this weekend.

I know. Here's the low down.

BACKGROUND: For over a year we've been interested in taking over an apartment managing position at Old Farm Apartments here in Logan. The current managers are our friends and so we have been able to talk to them a lot about what the job entails and working with them on a timing schedule of when they would need a replacement.

CURRENT: Corey's dad, Lyle, called me on Friday morning to tell me about this motel, called The Sandman, that Corey's cousins (Bruce and Julie) own and they are looking for some live-in managers. He said that the apartment has been newly remodeled and is pretty nice. He really thought that this was something we should talk about. I politely said that I would talk to Corey, not really thinking much at first because 1)we've been waiting on Old Farm for so long, my heart/head was kind of set on that; 2)it's in Tremonton and Corey is still in school and commuting would be really hard. But, I told Corey and he was really interested so we decided that since we had time that evening we would go over just to take a look at it and talk to Bruce about what all would be involved.

The apartment is nice, 2 bed 2 bath, bigger then what we have now (the kitchen is like twice as big so for someone who likes to cook, I was way excited about that), and has a basement but it isn't finished. The apartment is hooked to the office of the motel so I will be 'home' while still 'working'. We would be paid an income as well as earn free rent and utilities. That sounded great because that income would go straight to pocket (as soon as other debt things are paid off, i.e. motorcycle and student loan, etc.). We decided we were pretty interested, but needed to go home and talk about it and I wanted to call our friends with Old Farm to see where they were on things. I would hate to have turned down the motel job and then not get the Old Farm job.

So I called and we talked and it turned out that a bunch of things had also happened on their end just in the last couple of weeks. To make a really really long story only really long, they were going to decide between us and another couple and then let us know today or tomorrow. We told Bruce that and he said that he would hold the position for us and wait for our decision.

Well, as you might be able to guess, Old Farm chose the other couple (I really am ok with this and am in no way mad or upset with our Old Farm friends for those of you who know them). So, we called Bruce and told him we would love to accept this position. We are the managers of The Sandman Motel now.

I have been on an emotional roller coaster today. I feel so incredibly sad to leave my amazing friends both in the trailer court and in our ward and all of the other great people we know around here. I also feel so incredibly sad to make Nathan leave the first friends he has ever made. He knows their names and tries to say them and he gets excited when he sees them. But, I know that he is only 19 months and will make friends so easy. I also have lived in Logan for almost 5 1/2 years and love it here. Everything I know is here. And moving would mean I hae to change doctors and what grocery store I shop at and what park we like to play in and movie theater we'd run to. And then I get excited about moving somewhere nicer and bigger and getting to decorate a new space and possibly not having as many bugs and spiders to deal with. And then I think about the super fun enrichments that I've been to and everything I'm going to miss out on. It's a roller coaster, I tell you.

On the flip side, I can completely see the Lord's hand in all of this and from all ends. Everything really has worked out for the very best for us, for Old Farm, for the couple that got the Old Farm job, for Bruce and Julie, and the list could go on. Prayers have been answered all around and I think that this chain will just continue.

So now, my completely normal week of completely normal things will still be there but now I have to pack up our entire trailer and we are moving on Saturday.

BY THE WAY, we now have to buy a second car so Corey can commute back and forth. Stipulations: tops $2,000, good enough condition, not too concerned about # of miles (within reason), has to have good gas milage-ideal would be mid to upper 30s or higher. PLEASE, let me know if you see/hear/read about anything.

You're all great. Thank you and goodnight.

10.15.2009

A Little Preview

I finished Nathan's costume today and put it on him to see how it looked. I decided to go with a hat instead of a headband for the ears for two reasons: a)it's warmer, b)he's never worn a headband and I didn't know how he would take it, plus I thought it might look more Minnie-ish and less Mickey-ish. The hat/beanie is a little big and the ears are a little floppy, but he didn't really want to keep it on for very long anyway. Luckily, I think you can still tell who he is dressed as without it. Here's a little preview before our Halloween parties start with weekend, first a Primary party and then a Holmgren Family party! There really are two ears but I managed to capture these pictures just right to where you can't see both.




Then, I walked away for half a second (you know how it goes) and he had gotten into the peanut butter on the table. It was my fault for leaving it out after lunch and with the lid still off. I walked back in the kitchen and he looks at me and says, "Mmmm." while holding it up to show me what was so yummy.



Also, I never blogged about this, but I finally finished our wedding signing book. It only took me 3 years! All I had to do was trim the paper so it would fit in the sheet protectors. It took me a single afternoon, like 2 hours of that afternoon. These are the moments that make me happy I am done with school so I can finally work on these kinds of things that otherwise would never get done!



10.08.2009

Progress

For 2 whole days now, in a row, I have done a personal study AND worked out in the MORNING. I'm feeling really good about this. Corey and I still do our reading together at night, but now a personal study in the morning. 2 days now in a row! Corey's been waking up early for a couple of weeks to study before Army PT, but I'm just getting started in doing both. I feel like this is already becoming a habit.

I'm making progress.

I've been doing the P90X workout program and am in the middle (technically towards the end, I guess) of week 3. This is the third time I have started this program and have never even made it past week 1.

I'm making progress.

Furthermore, I have indeed lost some weight already. Only a few pounds, but consistent with losing 1-2 pounds a week. My clothes still feel the same, and I can't really tell a difference in how I look yet, but I feel great! Well, except for some part of my body aching from various workouts.

I love the feeling of making progress. It makes me want to keep going to see what comes next!

**This isn't a super exciting post, and most probably don't even care, but I thought I'd share anyway because this is what's going on with me. What's going on with you?

10.01.2009

Was it that bad?


I recently ran across these pictures of Nathan taken the day after his first birthday. The first thing I thought was 'How In The World Did I Let His Hair Get So Long?!?' I thought it was so cute, all curly in the back and by his ears. But, now I'm not so sure!

9.26.2009

Oh, how great it is to be a daughter of Heavenly Father

I love Relief Society. I love the errand the Lord has given to us as women. I love visiting teaching. I love being able to listen to our leaders and feel so energized about doing the Lord's work. This is truly his plan for us and it is our duty to ensure the spiritual welfare of our sisters. How blessed are we to have that calling? Not only to nurture our children and our family, to help each other out; to lift up our dear friends; to lift up others that we just met; to make acquaintances into sisters and to truly love them.

"The errand of angels is given to women;
And this is a gift that, as sisters, we claim:
To do whatsoever is gentle and human,
To cheer and to bless in humanity's name." -Hymn: As Sisters in Zion



"Sisters, now more than ever, we need women to step up and be strong. We need women who declare the truth with strength, faith, and boldness. We need women to set and example of righteousness. We need women to be 'anxiously engaged in a good cause.' We need to live so that our lives bear witness that we love our Heavenly Father and the Savior Jesus Christ and that we will do what They have asked us to do." Sister Thompson, General RS Presidency




9.21.2009

Recipes

I've recently had some requests for various recipes of mine. So, eat your heart out!

Whole Wheat Waffles
2 cups milk
2 eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 cup oil (OPTIONAL)
2-2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tbl. baking powder
Mix all ingredients and pour into the waffle iron. For pancakes, add more milk/less flour. Batter can be refrigerated for up to 5-7 days. Reheat leftover waffles in the toaster to keep them crispy.

Buttermilk Syrup
1 cup buttermilk
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Stir buttermilk, butter, and sugar together in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, boil for one minute. Using a whisk, stir in baking soda and vanilla.
**For Coconut Buttermilk Syrup: Instead of 1 tsp. vanilla, stir in 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp coconut flavoring with the baking soda.

Caramel Popcorn
2 cubes butter (not margarine)
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup karo syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
Combine butter, sugar, and karo in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat stirring continuously. Bring to a boil and add sweet milk. Bring to a boil again and let boil for 30 seconds to a minute, stirring continuously. Let cool in pan for 1 minute. Pour over 4 bags of microwave popcorn. Stir until coated evenly. Let cool for 5-10 minutes.

Whole Wheat Bread
6 cups warm water
2/3 cup oil
2/3 cup honey
2/3 cup honey
8 cups wheat flour
2 Tbl. wheat gluten
2 Tbl. dough enhancer
3 Tbl. yeast
2 Tbl. salt
4-8 cups wheat flour
2 Tbl. liquid lecithin (optional)
In Bosch mixer, combine water, oil, honey, and lecithin. Add 8 cups flour. On top of flour, add gluten, dough enhancer, yeast, and salt. “Jog” mixer. Mix on speed 1 until smooth. Add additional flour based on specific wheat. (Golden Wheat = 4 cups). Mix on speed 2 for 8-10 minutes until sides and bottom are cleaned off. Grease pans. Put shortening on hands and form into 5-6 loaves. Let raise. Place in a cool oven and set it to 350° for 35 minutes.
**For multi-grain bread, replace 2 cups of flour with 2 cups of 9 Grain Cereal and then mix for 8-10 minutes. Everything else should be the same.

Black Bean Brownies
1 brownie mix (any normal size will do)
1 can black beans
1 cup water
Drain and rinse black beans so the water runs completely clear. Pour black beans into a blender and add water. Blend until smooth. Add to the brownie mix in a medium sized bowl. Bake as directed on the box.

***Questions about any of these? Let me know!

9.01.2009

Happy 3 years to us!

It feels like forever and just yesterday all at the same time. How can that be?




All I know, is that the past 3 years have been the best and hardest times of my life! (Let's be real...) But I wouldn't have done it or had it any other way!

I love you, Corey!

8.29.2009

I love it. Who would've thought?

9 motorcycles on a ride to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was so great. Really.


Do I look like a biker babe? haha We still need to get chaps. Then I really will feel like the part.


From left to right: Sean (friend of John and Jenny's), Casey Nelson (ROTC cadet with Corey), Randy Weston (Keenan's father-in-law), Keenan Ryan (in our ward), Nick and Lisa Creamer (ROTC cadet and in our ward), Evan and Nadin (Jenny's brother and sister-in-law), Corey and me, John and Jenny Hambleton (in our ward), Nick Thomas (ROTC cadet) and his girlfriend Kelly.

Waiting on 1400 North and Main on our way out of Logan.

Driving through a canyon in Idaho.



We went to the Bar J Wranglers for dinner that night. Authentic cowboy meal. And then were entertained by old time cowboy music. And a little bit of funny-ness (hence the next picture).



There may have been a little too much love going on between cadets.

Don't ask, don't tell. That's all I can say...

On our way home. Love this picture!

We stopped in Bear Lake on our way home to get this pizza. Have you ever seen one so big?


The crew, minus their leather and helmets and tired from an almost 400 mile motorcycle trip.