Wish me luck!

Wow, I just hit 150 blog posts. For some reason, that seems pretty awesome to me, and a good number to start off the new year!

I've been thinking a lot about what New Year Resolutions to set for myself. Literally, I have been wracking my brain because there are so many things I want to accomplish. Last Sunday, a friend of mine gave a talk in church about New year resolutions and it really hit me that I need to choose ones that are the most important, and I'm not talking about those 30 pounds I will desperately want to drop in nine months! So I finally narrowed it down to one thing.

Be a Better Mom.

That's my new mission statement. This one sort of embodies everything I want to improve on. Spending quality time with my kids, getting the laundry done (and folded and BACK in the drawers) before our dirty clothes eat our hallway, cooking good meals, showing more love to my husband, working on becoming more spiritual, etc.

 That is the most important thing I need to change. Especially now that I'm pregnant and my angry fuse is only a few millimeters in length and my laziness level is neverending.

I also have a tiny goal of writing more on the blog, I used to write a blog almost every day, so I want to start up again. Maybe I can use my REAL resolution as blogging inspiration.

Well folks, what are your resolutions?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Once Again...

    So here it is folks: I'm pregnant. Again. And yes, it was planned. I had this ridiculous assumption that the third time around would be a breeze. I guess, mastering the art of puking directly into the garbage could be considered a step up. And after hearing stories of other women's obnoxious cravings for fruit and veggies, I believed that this would be my fate. But once again, the only thing that can quell my nausea is fast food. So far: cheese burgers. And hot dogs. I'm not gonna make it out of this next year under 30 extra pounds, I can already tell. What's the most depressing out of my entire ordeal? I was pregnant the last time my driver's license photo was taken and my face was "retaining water". (That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!) I finally lost all that darned baby weight and was excited about how I looked, and guess what? I glanced at my driver's license today and it expires when I'm about 8 months pregnant! That's seven more months of cheese burgers and hot dogs! I don't think the photo will be much of an improvement from last time.

   I bet most of you are saying, "she shouldn't be whining, she is receiving a precious blessing!"

   In response I say, "It's my blog, I can say what I want!" but also, let me illuminate my sitiuation. I have two kids now, so the days of wallowing in miserable peace are gone. I have to be a mommy! Yesterday, I was trying to steal a few minutes of rest on the couch to settle my stomach, when suddenly my one year old dive bombs onto my head and starts pulling my hair and laughing maniacally, and my son hands me the end of a jump rope and starts yelling, "Pull me! Pull me!" So I start dragging him across the floor, while my daughter continues her attack. As Grayson reaches the carpet, I look at him and say, "Grayson I shouldn't pull you on the carpet, the rope might break." After the announcement, my focus drifts to the daughter trying to rip my hair out and I forget I am still pulling on the rope then WHACK!

... The handle of the jump rope pops off in the full force of pulling, my hand snaps back and I stab myself in the neck with a piece of dollar tree plastic. It hurt. Bad.

    Sitting there in utter pain, I couldn't help but think: I want three of these things?!?!

   Not wanting to scream at my kids for my self-mutilation, I spoke through clenched teeth, "Grayson, pick up those toys." (Pointing to the never-ending mess on the living room floor.) Without question he did his duty, ran back to me, looked me in the eyes and said, "Are you happy now, Mommy?"

    I'm not happy. I'm miserable. But seeing that sweet concerned look on my horribly obnoxious three year old made me realize, yes. I do want three of these things.

SURPRISE! HERE I AM!!!

I’ve been told by several people that I need to start blogging again. And seriously, I really do. I don’t know why I stopped, just one of those things, but here I am, with a renewed goal to WRITE. Hopefully, all my “fans” will still be there to read my “amazing and interesting” life story!



I am going to try and nutshell my life for all you:


THINGS GOING ON RIGHT NOW:


*Grayson has un-potty-trained himself. Remember that blog I wrote about how brilliant I was for doing that family home evening and my brilliant son listened to me and became potty-trained? Yeah, well, I lied. Unintentionally, though. I think he has realized how “lucky” Jaye is getting her diapers changed, so now… not only does he NOT go on the potty but he tries to get us to change his pull-ups too! This is the first time we have ever seen him be jealous toward little sis, but I’m not a very happy camper. (He does do the messy business on the toilet still… THANK GOODNESS!!! )


* Our house is up for sale. We have decided to make Carlsbad our official home and since the interest rate on homes are so low here, we decided to take a crazy chance and sell our baby (the house… not Jaye). I won’t miss this house. I love it so much, but I won’t miss it. If it sells that is.


*I have three weeks and one more semester until I have my Musical Theatre degree from WWCC. It’s only taken me SIX years to get, but it will definitely fill a very important goal for me. I am extremely excited to move on from WWCC!


*My husband and I were “called” to be the road show coordinators for our ward. Our stake is huge. We have to drive an hour to get to the stake center, so they don’t do a lot of activities for the youth, so we wanted to make this road show a memorable experience for the youth in the THREE weeks they gave me to throw something together. We are doing a spoof on Dora the explorer and are totally copying Dierdre McDonald’s firefly dance idea and we choreographed a swing dance. It’s been sooooo fun and I LOOOOOOVE working with the youth again!


THINGS FOR THE FUTURE:


*I think Baby number three will be in the works soon. It’s just one of those things we just know is the right time. Even though THREE kids will be INSANE!... We already started shopping for a minivan. Haha!


*I recently have become interested in Social Work for a lot of reasons, but I think that might be something I will pursue. If my bachelor’s takes as long as my associate’s, I have PLENTY of time to decide on a major!


*You know those giant, really far-fetched dreams you sometimes get? I’d like to be a singer. Like Hilary Weeks, kind of thing. I love to write music, and I’m getting better at writing good music (not there yet) but I would love to write and sing the kind of stuff that someone would listen to and feel strengthened… that inspiring and sometimes sappy cheesy kind of music.


THINGS THAT HAVEN’T CHANGED:


*Motherhood is still hard. But I’m learning.


*My husband is still my best friend and the most amazing person in the world. Sometimes I find myself thinking how in the world could there have possibly been someone so perfect for me. I never imagined marriage could be this good.


*I eat way too much chocolate. But I blame my husband. When we watch our shows at night, he likes to whip out our magic bag of never-ending Halloween chocolate and we eat like bears storing up for winter time. You know those movies where the rich people dump their millions on a bed and swim in the cash… that’s kind of what we look like with candy wrappers. It’s not as sexy as rolling in money.


*I seriously need to get back on weight watchers.


But that is life in a nutshell. Jaye is walking. Grayson might be accepted into a special preschool for kids with speech delays: he has a difficult time with some consonants like fish is Bish. Or Kitty is Titty… which makes for some confusing conversations. I’m so grateful we got him screened for speech! And I’m just plugging along in school and in life. And I absolutely love it!


That is the biggest Nutshell ever! Phew.

Blast from the past

     Since my brother moved to town, we have been nostalgic over movies we used to watch as kids, or sometimes even movies we watched when we lived together in college. It’s been so fun finding these movies and forcing Barry to watch them with us! Last night, we watched “Surf Ninjas”. (Anyone remember that one?) Well it was hilarious! And it’s definitely something I recommend to everyone, (Not surf Ninjas, but watching movies from your past). Nothing is more therapeutic then going back to childhood for an hour and a half!



   
     New topic: I have naturally bad teeth, so I have had to visit the dentist, EVERY Wednesday this month for some work. While there, I got to talking about little baby girls with one of his hygienists, and she mentioned that she loves hair bows. So, I mentioned that I make them. She told me to bring some in and although I’m sure she was just saying that I decided to actually bring some in. So I brought in a few, and by the end of my visit the box had been passed throughout the entire office! And they all begged me to come back with more tomorrow, because tomorrow is pay day! So I came home and made a bunch of bows, and tomorrow we’ll see what happens! I guess it pays to go to the dentist… hahaha! But it’s nice to do hair bows again. Jaye refuses to wear them right now so I stopped making them. Needless to say, I have reeeeally needed a hobby! I’m working on writing a musical, but that’s just a- whenever I get a chance to sit down and fiddle with the piano, and I’m also helping to decorate my brother’s upcoming wedding, but I’m searching for a HOBBY. Anyone? Ideas? (Have I asked for ideas before?)


Anyway, here is the recipe I made tonight. We thought it was scrumdidilyumptious so I thought I would pass it on. I LOVE easy meals so here it is:


FIESTA BEEF ENCHILADAS:


1 lb. ground beef
½ c. sliced green onions
2 tsp. minced garlic (or garlic powder)
1 c. cooked white or brown rice
1-1/2 c. chopped tomato, divided
¾ c. frozen corn
1 c. shredded cheese (Cheddar or Mexican Blend)
½ c. salsa or picante sauce
Corn tortillas
1 can (10 oz) mild or hot enchilada sauce
1 c. shredded romaine lettuce


1. Preheat oven to 375. Spray 13x9 dish with cooking spray. (I covered mine with tin foil and then sprayed, EASY CLEANUP)


2. Cook ground beef in nonstick pan until no longer pink; drain. Add green onions and garlic; cook and stir 2 minutes.


3. Add rice, 1 c. tomato, corn, ½ c. cheese and salsa to meat; mix well. Spoon mixture down center of tortillas; roll up. Place enchiladas seam side down in prepared dish. Pour enchilada sauce evenly over the top.


4. Cover with foil; bake 20 minutes or until hot. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, and bake until cheese melts. Top with lettuce and remaining tomato.


(I filled enough tortillas to feed us, then put the rest of the mixture in a freezer bag for a rainy day!)

I'm back!

A friend of mine told me I needed to blog about all the fun and/or crazy things we do as a family. I’m really grateful for her little shove… it’s been way too long since I have blogged. I have no excuses this time, I guess I just fell off the bandwagon.



But I have had a wonderful summer! My brother’s girlfriend/ fiancé decided to get baptized! That has been the most exciting news of the summer! My parents rented a twelve passenger van and carted us all down to San Antonio for the big day! It was a lot of fun, and I can’t wait for her to join our family in October!


I am taking a math class at the college! All of the assignments are done online and I misread the due dates, so I spent an entire day working on my homework (I thought the due date was during our trip to San Antonio) but then I figured out the REAL due date. So I accidentally finished the 5 week class three weeks early! Only Krystle Ricks would manage a blunder like that! But at least I passed!


I’m trying to get all my credits done by the spring, because (DRUM ROLL!) I will be able to transfer it all up to Western Wyoming Community College and finish my degree from there. YAY! And then my goal is to finish a bachelor’s BEFORE our ten year high school reunion. So I can have bragging rights! 


Anyway, so that’s where life has placed me right now. I really like life.


So Ricks family adventures:


For FHE on Monday, we took the kiddos to see “Toy Story 3” at the drive-in theatre. About 20 minutes into the movie, our car battery died! So we all creeped up to the car next to us and asked if we could sit next to their car and listen to the movie! Luckily, they were really nice, so we laid a tiny fleece blanket on the ground and squished together. It didn’t go as planned, but was a lot of fun!


And for FHE on Tuesday night, we called a lady in town who has a swimming pool and asked if we could “borrow” it. I made a Ham and Cheese braid to take with us, and we had a picnic by the pool and swam for an hour. It was soooooooo fun! They had a big blue fish like Dory painted on the bottom, and for a while Grayson was scared of it. At one point, he floated over it, and said, “The fish is going to bite my bum-bum!” I don’t know where he gets this stuff! Haha!


So that’s it for now! I mentioned on facebook about making pretzels for FHE, so here is the recipe:

PRETZELS:
1 tablespoon yeast
1-1/2 c. water
1tablespoon sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 c. flour
1 egg, beaten
Coarse (Kosher) Salt


(the batter was a little thick so we added a little more water to make the dough more shapeable)

Ham and Cheese Braid (One of the Ricks FAVORITE meals!)
1 loaf Rhodes bread dough
1 stick butter
1 envelope Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not generic)
3/4 thinly sliced ham
1-1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp. poppy seeds


(the Rhodes bread is in the freezer section.) thaw loaf on a floured surface. Roll dough out into rectangle shape so it's approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Melt butter; combine Ranch mix. Spread about 5 tblsp. of mixture on rectangle. Layer ham and cheese down the center of rectangle. Use a pizza cutter to cut strips along each side of dough (even numbers on each side). Starting at bottom, take each piece, cross and twist. Continue criss-crossing until your dough is braided. Carefullly place on greased cookie sheet. Brush remaining butter/ranch mix over top. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.


(This is a good freezer meal too! Instead of baking, wrap loaf in plastic wrap and then foil. )


(You can also use marinara and pepperoni to make a pizza braid! And if you combine two loaves to feed more people, use a BIG cookie sheet. It grows pretty big!)

Family Home Evening

     We've been having a frustrating time potty-training our two year old. His potty days fluctuate from total independence to refusing to mention needing to go potty. As I was perusing the aisles of Dollar General, a favorite past-time of mine, I noticed this Potty Training activity book from Sesame Street. Grayson isn't familiar with Sesame Street but the book came with a huge fold out Potty Chart complete with big Stickers. I bought the book and decided to have a Potty lesson for F.H.E.

   I read Grayson a little book (we found in the dollar bins at Target) about how the potty works. Then Barry read through all the pages from the activity book. Then we showed Grayson the poster, explained the stickers, and as a family went to the bathroom and ceremoniously had him help us tape up the poster. We made it a big deal. And guess what?!? It WORKED!!!!!!!! It's been about three weeks, and now he runs to the potty all by himself, does his stuff and shouts "I went Pee Pee (or the other business), I get a sticker!" And then we do the sticker dance. I'd say Grayson is about 95% potty-trained!!! So for you other mothers out there, trying to think of a way to potty-train: This is what worked for the Ricks Family!!!

HALLEUIAH!!!

Evolution of Grayson and the garden hose

Grayson: fully-clothed

Five minutes later...

Ten Minutes Later...