Packs a Powerful Punch

So I felt the babe move for the first time kind of early - 15 weeks and 2 days. I thought maybe I was further along, but when the doc measured me and asked if I was sure about a certain date, he said that I seemed to be right where they thought I was. Hmph. Even a week earlier would be a happy thing for me. Anyway, the babe has become quite active and I can feel him/her move a lot during the day and sometimes the kicks are pretty hard for someone so little. I never even went through the fluttering movements this time - it was straight thumping from the get-go.

Last night Tyler and I were watching a movie and the baby was thumping all over the place. I told him that and he put his hand on my belly (because, as he says, he's the dad and he should be able to feel the kicking when I do :) ). Well, neither of us expected him to feel anything since I am just 18 weeks, but he felt two good thumps right in a row! We are both pretty amazed. This is so different from Max and so early in general. I go in for THE ultrasound two weeks from yesterday and I guess that should give us more info. But for now we just think this little one is pretty darn spirited and wants to make his/her presence known. Sound like anyone else you know?! :) Like mother, like child...

And so it begins...

Last week Max came up to me saying "football" (in a dramatic, gravelly, manly voice that Ty usually uses when he says the word), doing some sign that he apparently made up for this word. He continued to say it over and over. I got him a football, I acknowledged that he was saying football, but he still kept going. Finally, he goes over to the remote, pushes a button, looks up at me, says the word with the sign and the light bulb finally goes on. "Oh, you want to watch football?!" I ask. "Yes," he responds with an emphatic head nod and a big smile. Thank goodness for the NFL Channel and ESPN to appease my son who seems to want to watch football all of the time. This is especially surprising to me since we usually don't watch TV during the day and only for a short time in the evening when Max is awake, if at all. And when it is on he doesn't pay much attention to it. But he has watched some football and Sportscenter with his dad. When he has me turn it on, he usually watches for a second, says "Football!" several times and then gets down and plays. He still wants it on, though, in the background so that he can look up and say "Football!" whenever the heck he wants. I usually keep it on mute so that I'm not overloaded with this sport that I do like, but do not want to watch quite that much. So the sports obsession begins! I really thought I had a lot longer. It is super cute, though, so I'm not minding it. And after football comes basketball which is an even bigger draw for his dad, so we'll see if his son follows suit. The up-side for me is that I actually kind of know now what's going on with a few of the players on my Fantasy Football team. :)

Below are some recent pictures and a video that mostly family will enjoy - it's kind of long, but since we're so far away I thought that especially the grandparents would like to see him in action. Enjoy!

Coloring: the other most recent obsession. That, and horses.

A Sunday afternoon walk near our home. I don't know why we took the stroller! Max had so much fun running on the rocky road.

He ate the whole thing by himself. So cute to watch! (Max, not Ty...although I was proud of Ty for eating the whole thing by himself as well. :) )

The Perfect Man

Unattainable, some may say. I would beg to differ. I am so lucky to have found the PERFECT man for me! I received my patriarchal blessing when I was 15 and it instructed me to pray for guidance toward the person I would marry daily! Yep, folks, every day since I was 15 I had been praying to be lead to the right person for me. That is, until I met Ty. When we met I knew pretty fast that this was it. The longer we are married and the more experiences that we share together make me love him even more and realize that he is so, so perfect.

We have such a great marriage and I think it would be even better if I were more like him. He is usually the first to either apologize or find something that he could have done better in a situation. He is so, so honest. So many times when he does or says something, I think of that quote from Job, "Until I die, I will not remove mine integrity from me." In a lot of relationships I think the woman is usually more sensitive to others and concerned with their happiness and welfare. Well, I thought I was a really kind person until I married Tyler Foster. :) He thinks of others so often and would drop anything to help anyone. Such a thoughtful person. Here's a recent example:

A young woman in our ward approached us and asked if she could possibly move in. Without going into too much detail...she has a not-so-fabulous home/family situation. Not horrible, just not great. Her parents moved about a half hour away and her mom wanted to home school her instead of sending her to the school she would now be zoned for. Well, her mom's version of home schooling would probably mean that she wouldn't graduate on time and maybe not at all. She's aware of that and so she wanted to improve her situation and her chances. She also wanted to stay at the school where she has been since she's in her junior year and has friends there. Okay, so I did go into too much detail. :) Anyway, I was mostly for it, but had some reservations. Not my husband. From the very beginning he saw the big picture: a young woman at a pivotal time in her life who needs the best chance to have a great future. He said several times (when I was airing my worries) that there may be a few inconveniences for us, but that helping her is much more important. I was so humbled by his unselfish, Christ-like attitude. He never made me feel bad for having concerns, but gently would help me see why it would be better for her. So she is living with us during the week and with her parents on the weekends and it's been great so far!

Tyler is also a super-involved, fun, caring dad. I love that he loves parenting as much as I do. He was ready to start trying for our second a few months earlier than I was. He doesn't get mad and just does such a great job of being a calm disciplinarian when our little man needs it. He also knows when I need a moment alone or out and does whatever he needs to do, after a full day of work, to make sure that I am happy. Ty loves to surprise me. There are tons of examples of this over the course of our courtship, engagement and marriage: the proposal itself, a birthday trip to Hawai'i and our Babymoon are among my favorites. Just recently when Max and I went to Las Vegas, Ty was working on some secret projects at home. I came home to an organized closet with new shelves that we had been wanting to put up forever (anyone who knows me well knows that I love organization!), new blinds for the two bedrooms and a few other little things. They were all things that had been bothering me and I wanted to get done. It was so fun to come home to, not only my wonderful husband after being away for 6 days, but also to such thoughtful projects done on the house!
He honors his priesthood, womanhood, his covenants. He is always thinking of ways to improve and is very teachable, while also being confident and steadfast. Tyler is very smart and loves to learn. He is a man of great passion who wants to make a difference in the world. I could go on and on; such a great man! I love him more all of the time. He makes me want to be my very best self and at the same time treats me like I am already amazing. Yep, I have the perfect husband - the perfect man for me. I feel so thankful be Tyler Michael Foster's wife! It's been a great ride so far and it seems to only get better...

A Luau in Your Mouth!

I was inspired by my friend Cathy recently. She put some yummy pictures of food she had made, accompanied by the recipes, on her blog. Because of that, I tried out the pizza she showcased and it was a hit. So I've decided to do the same. The other night I was making a great dish called Chicken Luau that I got from a recipe book I received on my mission in Hawai'i. I've made it several times and we really love it. While I was making it, I thought, "This is really pretty," and then the idea came to share it with all of my friends and family. Now, the Fosters have this recipe in their cookbook, but maybe if you haven't tried it yet this will make you want to!

Super fast prep time - maybe 10-15 minutes. Though it does take some forethought since it has to cook for a while. The recipe says to leave the chicken breasts whole and if you do it takes 2-2 1/2 hours to cook. If you do like we do and cut the chicken breasts into strips, though, it takes 1-1 1/2 hours in our gas oven. I hope these pictures make it look good instead of making you want to gag. I guess it looks good to me because I know how good the end product tastes. I apologize to any of my readers who may be pregnant and are dealing with a bad food relationship right now...you may want to close out of this blog!

Here's the recipe:

5lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I usually use 4 breasts)

1 can coconut milk (can be found in the Asian section of any supermarket)

3-4 cans cream of chicken soup

1/2 tsp salt and pepper or garlic salt

2 pkg Luau leaves (you'll most likely want to substitute with fresh spinach since I've never been able to find luau leaves on the Mainland. It just takes 1 bunch of spinach, usually.)

Parmesan cheese

Place cleaned leaves in 9x13 pan. Cover entire bottom of pan; leave no holes. Salt and pepper chicken and lay on leaves. Mix coconut milk and cream of chicken in bowl and pour over chicken. Sprinkle cheese over the top. Bake at 325 degrees for 2 1/2 hours (or half of that if you cut the breasts into strips) uncovered.

I would ALWAYS serve this with rice, but that's up to you!

*Mark and Liz, notice the yummy zucchini from your garden. Yep, we're still chipping away at it! So far I've made 8 loaves of zucchini bread, one zucchini dish for a ward activity and we've had it steamed for dinner several times. THANKS for the gift that keeps on giving! :)*

Hot Momma?

So lately I've been feeling a little "blah" about my appearance. You know those times? Today I put Max down for a nap and then the kids I'd been babysitting were picked up shortly after. I closed the door behind them and knew just what I needed to do for a little pick-me-up!

I went upstairs and took a super relaxing shower, picked out something cute to wear, actually did my makeup and hair and had a little self-portrait session. Remember, this is just for me to feel like even though I am a mom and pregnant I can still be hot. :) Part of that for me is to share it with others; I am an extrovert, after all. Thanks for letting me indulge myself. I know that I'm a little bit of an odd ball!

*You don't have to tell me, I know the shirt doesn't totally fit...it doesn't quite reach to the bottom of the belly. I just still like being able to fit in pre-pregnancy shirts. Plus, this one actually has some style to it, which (sadly) isn't true of a lot of my wardrobe. :)*

Oh, and some big news...I felt the babe move for the first time this week!!! Pretty early, but I felt him or her thumping around on Sunday twice, Monday once or twice and then Tuesday I laid on my stomach and felt it a ton - just thumping over and over again. Oh, I love growing a baby! I am so excited to find out what we're having this time around!

A Kick in the Pants

Who knew that a little over 16 months ago I was delivering not just a little boy, but a little boy who is such a hoot?! In the following pictures you will see some funny things Max has done in the past 3 days, just to give you a flavor for his sense of humor...

1) He brought me a swim diaper and lifted his leg for me to put it on him. I asked if he wanted me to put it on even over his PJ's and he said "Zes!" with an emphatic head nod.

2) Max has had a little touch of something that brought some nastiness which lead to a BAD diaper rash. He never - well, rarely - gets diaper rash, and NEVER has he had it this bad. So I was having him hang out sans diaper for a while to let the air work its magic (this time we opted for the bathroom since the night before he'd left some gifts on the carpet). Anyway, he picked up his shorts and was trying his darnedest to get them to stay on his head. Finally he approached me with the shorts and demonstrated where he wanted them. Again I clarified what he was asking and again with the "Zes!" and an emphatic nod.

3) That night he put these two funny things together and brought me a swim diaper to put on his head. Again with the clarification and the super cute response. (I do the clarifications FOR the super cute response.)

4) Lately when Max wants me to pick him up, I grab his hands and say, "Okay, climb!" I bend my knees so that he can climb his way up to my arms. Well, sometimes we are a little silly and I keep lifting my arms so that he can climb even higher. Last night he settled with his feet on my shoulders and then plopped his bottom down. He thought it was really funny to be sitting like that and wanted to stay there for a long time. *Notice the really cute/crazy after-nap hair. His hair has some serious wave to it, bordering on all-out curl, and so after naps we get some funky 'dos.*

5) Another trick that really cracks him up is balancing food on the top of his sippy cup. Tyler and I will usually be talking when he does this trick and we know to look over when Max is holding his hands over his mouth and doing an exaggerated laugh. We all cheer, including the Maxster, and get a chuckle out of our little dude.

Now this is just a cute picture.... He loves to read and loves to sit in this chair in his room while he does it since this is where Mom and Dad sit to read to him before nap and bedtime.

Thanks for making life so fun, bud!

The excitement never ends...

I have been absent for a long time, it seems. However, not nearly as long as some (hint to some members of the Foster Fam - my husband included!) Last week Ty went on a business trip and while he was gone I wanted to repay him for the awesome projects he completed while Max and I were in Vegas - I'll come back to that on another post. Anyway, so the days were filled with taking care of Max and then while he was napping I was painting like a mad woman...Max's bathroom, the front door and some trim on the house. Then on Thursday Max and I packed up the car, picked Tyler up from the airport (a VERY joyous reunion!) and started our journey to Worland, WY.

Why go to Worland, WY, you ask? Because the very best hosts reside there with their three adorable children and we thought that this just might be our last opportunity for a while to make such a trip. It was a long time in the car, but Max did awesome (I mean, really, really awesome. I was impressed!) and I actually love road trips. I love spending that much time in a confined space with my wonderful husband and super cute son. That isn't sarcastic...totally sincere. We drove for quite a while that day but called it quits for the night in Bozeman, MT, where we slept from midnight to 9 AM!!! So nice. We had just 4 1/2 hours left of driving and arrived at the Mark Foster home on Friday to a warm greeting. It was such a fabulous weekend! Mark and Liz really know how to treat folks right. I'll share some of the highlights - a few will be accompanied by pictures.

**Mark & Liz, I really have to apologize that you are included in only a very few pictures. We think you are very attractive people and would love to have your beautiful smiles in our pictorial memories...I was sad to see that you (especially Liz) were missing when I looked through the pictures.**

*An awesome menu throughout the weekend. I loved everything we ate! And a yummy dessert every night was absolute heaven since we hardly ever do desserts around here.

*Really cool small town - small, but not too small - with a lot of fun things to do. Oh, and they just happen to have the best doctor in their town! Mark delivered a baby during the weekend which foiled his plans to golf with Ty...but I was all caught up in the excitement that he was leaving the house to be a part of such a miracle.

*Walks to the park or around the neighborhood every night. Perfect weather for this!

Sweet, sweet Justin! Sorry we fed you to the mosquitoes, bud.



*Thermopolis...."Home of the World's Largest Mineral Hot Spring" It totally stunk - literally, but not in the enjoyment factor. It smelled like sulfur, but once you got past that you could then enjoy the fun pools and water slides, which we did. This place was super cool. It was totally small-town Wyoming, hasn't been up kept very well. Our take is that the owners are pocketing as much of the money as they can before the place gets shut down. There are hardly any rules - except for one sign that listed a few things, among them: Be Curtius (or some funny misspelling like that) :) - for a few kind of dangerous areas and the one lifeguard I saw was a middle-aged man with a big pot belly who didn't seem real concerned about anything other than looking good in his sunglasses. Still, a really fun place! Especially for the kids. I have to say that once I went down the Wet & Wild slide, I was hooked. Best water slide I've ever been on!

Grant Guy

Joy Bear

Max started a new game. He kept wanting me to put him on the edge of the pool. I wasn't so keen on the idea because I thought that meant he would take off and I'd have to chase after him (pregnant lady running around in a swimsuit - not that pretty) but when I finally did, he just plopped his bottom down on the side and scooted himself off until he fell into the water (and my arms). Ty came over and Max did it with him for a while too. It was so cute! He did it over and over and over again. I think we got a few videos of it too...

The amazing Spidey Kids!

*Seeing Max play with Joy and Grant. They had a great time together. Joy and Grant were so good about sharing toys and space with our little dude. We love their fun personalities. It was so great to be able to spend that much one-on-one time with them!

Max felt that this was just the right time to remind Joy the whereabouts of her nose - or "no" as he calls it.

*Big Horn Mountains. Beautiful country! We went up for the afternoon and had a great time. The guys all made a dam in the creek. We played on rocks and followed Max while he ran down the dirt road...then followed it all up with milk and Mark's famous Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chip cookies! We were tired on the drive back.

Ty with all the kids (minus Justin)Cutest sequence of pictures...Max was really hard to hold on the rocks - he just wanted to get in the water. We took his shoes off and let him dip. As you can see, it was pretty cold. :)

But then he was ready to do it again!

I love, love, love my two men!

Thank you, Mark Liz & Kids for such a perfect weekend! We appreciate all that you did and loved spending that much time with you. Next May we'll be looking for your Pilot rolling into our driveway.... :)

Max was so, so good on the trip home too! He only had about a ten minute cry-out. The rest of the time we checked out the trains, cows and horses on the side of the road, played hide and seek with his blanket - we would sometimes look in the rearview mirror and he would be patiently waiting with the blanket over his head for us to say "Where's Max?", or he would just put it up and say "ax?" which is his version of his name right now - and a lot of the time he just entertained himself while Tyler and I talked. It was good to be out of the car at the end of the 15 or so hours!

Now we're back to life here at home. My belly is growing more all the time - I'll be 15 weeks tomorrow, I can hardly believe it! Max has learned the sign for "baby" and since we got back from Mark & Liz's where there is a baby, he'll do the sign, say "babay" and then put up his hands, "Where go?" I'm trying to let him know that we're growing one of our very own and he or she will be here in February. :) Now it's back to finishing our project of painting the house. It was so nice to have a respite from our many home improvement projects, if only for a weekend! Life is good. So, so good!