Christmas Day

First of all,  HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my friends and family!  It is currently 11:09pm and I am blogging.  Oh, and washing piles of laundry from our trip.  Thankfully we are not totally lame, and went to some friends house for dinner earlier this evening.  Thanks Brittany and Travis for the yummy food and great company!  We loved it!

Anyway, we had a wonderful Christmas.  My brother Nate and his family came over from Boise and my brother Mike and his wife Megan spent a lot of time hanging out with us (which we loved).  The boys played A LOT of Halo Reach on the xbox, we ate out, had frozen yogurt, saw old friends, took naps, went sledding, played games...and many other things.  Christmas Eve was wonderful as well.  As Jorgensen family tradition's past, we met up with all of my dad's family for a little Christmas Eve dinner.  It was great, and so fun to see family I hadn't seen in a while.   After heading back home, my mom passed out all of our Christmas PJs.  She put a lot of thought into them - all the girls had matching PJs and so did all the guys.  While passing out the boy's PJs we all noticed that they said 'Jingle My Bells' hahah....my sweet Mother had bought them thinking they said JINGLE BELLS.  The added 'my' made a huge difference! haha.  We all got a good laugh out of it.  My poor mom was so horrified and embarrassed that she may have even cried.  We all thought it was super funny though, and will remember that moment for forever!!  Thanks Mom, for such a great Christmas memory! haha (And don't kill me for telling everyone)!

Christmas morning we woke up early, opened presents and mom made a wonderful Christmas breakfast.  Just a warning ahead of time.  There are a lot of pictures, so bear with me.

Seeing what's in my stocking......

Chuck the Dump Truck from Grandma and Papa.....



A motorcycle of my very own......and some cars too.  Oh how I love cars....

What could this be, what could it be???

A Cars movie race station.....oh my oh my....

Realization/excitement set in....

Everyone is having a good time!

Golf shoes for Andy....

And a new Gingham quilt for Aunt Megan - made by yours truly, my VERY talented mother and even a little help from my sister Whitney.  Megan loved it! 



We were so blessed to have a wonderful and generous Christmas.  So grateful to have such wonderful family, on both sides.  We are so lucky to have them all in our lives, and are especially grateful for them this year.  I am sad to see Christmas come and go, but I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well!  Here's to a positive new year!  



Traveling and the 24 Hour Flu

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!  That's the first thing that came out of my mouth when we finally made it to my parents house.  Our travels ended up being a lot more eventful than we had anticipated and it all started around 3am. 

Our flight left around 8am on Monday morning...so in attempts to save money on a hotel room...we decided to wake up early and make the 2 hour drive to the airport that same morning.  Andy and I woke up around 3 am to get ready and finish up all the packing.  Once on the road Noah fell back asleep and we were making great time.  Then, about an hour and a half into our drive Noah started gagging.  I figured he was gagging on mucus, since he has been suffering from a chronic runny nose.  I turn around to wipe his nose and realize that he is not gagging on mucus, but he is in fact, throwing up.  I crawl to the back seat and try to clean him up as much as possible, until we can pull over and change his clothes.  Once we were able to, we pulled over for a quick stop and changed his shirt.  We all felt better, and Noah seemed to be back to his old self.  I wasn't sure if it was motion sickness, or if he was actually sick.  So we figured motion sickness, since he seemed to be a lot better. 

After we made it to the airport and proceeded to check in, we headed down to the security check.  We were running a little behind, and our flight was jam packed, so we wanted to be sure to get through security quickly.  While I am taking trying to get things organized I turn just in time to see Noah throw up all over the side of Andy's face and down the front of his NICE coat and Shirt.  Awesome.  The TSA people were super nice and helpful and after a lot of adjusting (and wiping up puke off the floor), we made it though security.  Once we made it to our gate, I ran to buy Andy a new shirt so he wouldn't be drenched in puke all day.   Meanwhile I was praying that Noah wouldn't throw up on the plane. 

Well, after a 3 hour flight and 2 throw up incidences (thankfully we asked for barf bags that saved our life), we made it to Salt lake City.  At this point I hadn't given Noah anything to eat, for fear that he would throw up all over me.  I already had it on my shirt, on Noah's pants and socks, and also on my jacket.  So when we went to meet Andy's brother Greg for lunch, we figured we could give him a little something to drink and see if that would help.  It didn't.  He threw up in the middle of the restaurant.  Thankfully it wasn't much.   Poor guy.  All in all, after one more incident right before bed...Noah had a pretty rough day.  I am glad it was only a 24 hour bug, because you can imagine (after getting it right in the face)  Andy caught the flu just a couple of days later. 

There were some happy points of our short stay in Utah though....and here are some picture to document them.  Thankfully while we were at Temple Square, my dad was kind enough to stay at the hotel with Noah so we could put him to bed.  Thanks Dad.

The Denning and Oakey Clan

Alyssa, Whitney, Me and my Mom

Andy, Me, Gus, Greg, Finn, Allice and Cammie

This is what happens when you have the guys take your picture..........

Finally, a decent one.......

We had a great (but short) visit in Salt Lake, and loved that we could spend it with my Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and also Greg, Allice the boys and Cammie. We appreciate everyone making the trip to come see us.  We are SO blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.  Seriously. So. Blessed.

More pictures and stories from our trip coming soon! 
PS.  If you are wondering why I am walking around in the freezing cold with my coat unbuttoned, it's simple,  I can no longer button it up without looking like this dude -  aka.  Fat Guy in a Little Coat

Burnt Marshmallow

Yesterday I finally picked up a winter coat for Noah.  It's always an inner struggle for me....do I spend $50-$100 to get a really nice coat for him, even if he may only be able to wear it for one year, or do I get the cheap one?   I decided to get a cheaper one for him this year.  Since the only place we have to shop here is Walmart (I know you feel bad for me right?), then obviously that's where I picked it up.  It was only $13.  And even if it isn't fancy, he LOVES it.  In fact, he wore it around the house all afternoon yesterday.   It's so puffy that he can barely move around, and it makes him look like a burnt marshmallow.  Good thing we love the burnt ones!!

Last night while I was making dinner I put on Toy Story 3 and found Noah chilling on the couch, in his coat, enjoying the show.  

Notice he has his trusty dog with him.  We got that stuffed dog a while ago and Noah loves him.  The tag on his bum says his name is Jazzy, but Andy didn't like that - so we call him Mo.  It's the only kind of dog that Noah will every be allowed to own, so it's a good thing he has him.

Noah also loves his cars.  I posted a while ago about how he loves to line them up.  He still does that occasionally, but lately he likes to lay on the floor, couch or coffee table and play with his cars while he lays there.  

Just to give you an idea...Noah will lay down on ANY floor to play with his cars.  The other day I made a trip to a fabric store about 30 miles away.  When we walk in, Noah sees a little basket with a bunch of toys in it (obviously for children to play with).   I set him down and he starts pulling them out...tractors, cars, dinosaurs...a little boy's dream.  I start looking for what I need and turn around to find him lying in the middle of the isle, on the cement floor playing with the cars.  I kept bugging him to get up, but it was useless.  I figured that there was only one other person in the store, and it was a very small store, so I just let him lay there.  Sometimes I avoid situations that I know will cause tantrums, and that day it just wasn't worth it to me (of course he did throw one when we had to leave, but I expected that). 

We are getting ready to head out west for Christmas and CAN'T wait (I know I mentioned this in my previous post as well).  Just to give you an idea of how much Noah has changed in the last 7 months...here are some side by side pics. 

I think the fam will be pretty surprised!

Party at Our House!

Or at least it was a party at our house, over the Thanksgiving holiday!  Our friends, the Whipple's, traveled to good old MO from Kansas to celebrate the Holiday with us.  It's a good thing too, because Morgan cooked the Turkey - and saved me from having to figure that part out for myself! 

The weekend was full of FOOD, Christmas movies, decorating the Tree, Golf and Video games (for the boys at least), Sewing, Shopping in Saint Louis - oh and Food. 

The day of Thanksgiving was great! The girls helped me to set the table and we were all so proud of the finished product! They are such good helpers!!

 Its amazing how hard you can work on preparing a meal, to have it finished in about 20 minutes!  It was worth it though, we enjoyed every bite on Thanksgiving (and for a couple days after too!) 

Here is what Andy and Corky did a lot of (can you say Halo Reach?)  Andy doesn't get the opportunity to play video games very often, so he and Corky jumped at the chance!

Apparently the sofa wasn't close enough to the TV, so they parked it on the coffee table.  Looks super comfortable, right?

The Girls decided they would help me out by taking care of Noah's unruly hair (I don't do his hair every day, because there just isn't much there).  The girls did a great job though, and we got a good laugh out of it.  Noah was very patient and let them make him over.

Noah loves Gracey and Emily!  When he saw that they were here he ran around in circles, squealing with joy.  He gave them lots of hugs, watched Rudolf with them, Jumped in the love sac and of course, let them make him over. 

We decided to take a day trip to Saint Louis to show the Whipple's around, since they had never been.  We stopped at the Arch, had a little picnic in the back of the car and then, of course, headed to the mall.  It was freezing, but we still enjoyed ourselves!!

At the mall, Morgan and I decided to walk through Anthropologie, to take a gander.  Who did we see there?  Well, see for yourself!

That's right friends, that's NieNie herself, and her Ma too!  They were SO nice, I can't even tell you.  It was great being able to chat with them...and certainly made my day. 

So, as you can obviously see, we had a great weekend...and you even get a nice peek at the bump.  The picture isn't super flattering of me, but you get the idea.  We had a wonderful time and now can't wait for CHRISTMAS, and I am pretty sure my parents and the rest of the Jorgensen clan can't wait either!!

Live In Thanksgiving Daily

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to give a lesson in church on Gratitude.  There have been distinct and often moments in my life where I truly realize the weight of my blessings.   From my joys to my trials, from moments of sorrow to moments of peace, I have been blessed in each circumstance and each instance.   I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who blesses me so freely and so frequently, for I truly believe that we can find blessings in all moments of our lives.

"My brothers and sisters, do we remember to give thanks for the blessings we receive?  Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God's love"

-President Thomas S. Monson

The Divine Gift of Gratitude

Baby GIRL Stockhoff

You read the title right.  We are expecting a baby girl.  As many of you may guess, that means I am about 19 weeks along.  I haven't necessarily been keeping it a secret, but I wasn't as eager this time around to announce the news.  Yesterday we went in for our ultrasound, and the verdict is clear (at least to the doctor it was) - we will have a baby girl joining our family at the beginning of April, and we couldn't be happier.

My exact due date is April 13th, but because we will be doing a repeat c-section, the date will be closer to around April 6th! 

We are especially happy to report that she looks perfectly healthy.  I am very grateful for the technology we have to be able to see our baby before she is even born.  I know she will be adorable!

Thanks to all of you who offered your well wishes on mine and Andy's facebook.  We are so lucky to have so many supportive friends and family!

Oh Noah!

I am sure I have titled a post 'Oh Noah!' in the past, but sometimes that is the only way to describe it!  He is at a funny stage, I love it (most of the time). 

He LOVES cars...besides loving the movie, he just loves cars in general.  Walking through the parking lot, playing with his toys....he always points them out.   This is what he does with his toy cars, and trust me , he has a system to it. 

The other day, Andy was helping him line them up on the coffee table.  Noah kept protesting and whining when Andy would put a car in line.  He couldn't figure out what Noah wanted, later Andy realized that he hadn't put the cars all in the same direction.  Once he fixed the problem Noah was as happy as a clam.  Noah is so observant and takes great care of his cars.  I think it's so cute!

I am not sure how to describe these pictures.  Andy helped Noah put the blanket on his head, but Noah walked around like this for at least 5 minutes.  We were cracking up.

Sometimes all you can say is, "Oh Noah!"  and leave it at that. 

Recipes to Share...

Well, the meal planning is going really well so far.  I can honestly say that I really enjoy cooking SO much more, especially now that I don't have to think about what to make!!  We have tried some really yummy new recipes and I thought I would share the links to some of our favorites.  Maybe you can add them to your menu and enjoy them as much as we have!! 

* Homemade Pizza using THIS dough recipe. 
It is so simple to make and you don't even have to let it rise.  It's my new favorite...I will never ever buy pizza dough again.

* Southwestern Cobb Salad from My Kitchen Cafe
I forgot the chives for the Green Goddess dressing so we used just homemade ranch instead.  It was awesome.  Next time I will use less onion (since I am not a huge onion fan to begin with).  Also, take her advice use turkey bacon!  Its a healthy alternative but still tastes great!

* Turkey Chili and Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie from Rachel Ray
Um Yum?  Yes Yum!  I don't always love Rachel Ray's creations...but this one was sure tasty!  We actually had it tonight for dinner with a little green salad and cornbread.  mmm.  I halved the recipe and there was PLENTY of left overs.   This was the first time I have ever had, let alone made any type of shepherds pie.

*Cheesy Chicken, Bacon and Avocado Quesadillas from kevinandamanda.com
We love quesadillas at our house...and these were especially tasty!  A couple changes I made...first I used turkey bacon and cooked it in the microwave and instead of cooking my scallions and chicken in bacon grease, I cooked it in olive oil instead.  They still had GREAT flavor.  We will definitely be making these again!

Other yummy meals we have had....
BBQ Chicken Salad,  Basil Pork Chops,  Yaki Tacos, Turkey Sloppy Joes, Won Ton Chicken Salad (my mom's infamous recipe!) and lots of leftovers (as you can imagine). 

I am surprised how much I enjoy meal planning, and searching for new recipes has become my favorite pastime!

Trip to Kansas

Ok, so just to get it out of the way.  No, we didn't dress Noah up for Halloween this year and No, we didn't take him trick or treating.  So don't curse at me when you don't see pictures of him in a costume.   That doesn't mean though, that he didn't eat a TON of candy and that also doesn't mean that we didn't have a GREAT Halloween.  Because we did.

We took a little four + hour road trip to visit our friends in Kansas.  The drive was actually pretty great, seen as though we got to stop and shop at Target, eat at Chick-fil-A and even eat at Jimmy Johns on our way back home.   I mean, those three things always make a drive more manageable, wouldn't you agree?    I hadn't eatin at Chick-fil-A since I was pregnant with Noah.  So that was an especially nice, and rare treat!

On to more important things...the PEOPLE we went to visit.  I realize now that I didn't take as many pictures as I should have.   So I may have to add some pictures a little later as well.   But you can obviously tell how much fun we had, and can't wait to visit with them again!!

This is Gracey, she took awfully good care of Noah.  She even carried him around at times (which is probably as surprising to you as it was to me, since he is almost her size!).  Her and Emily doted on Noah and he LOVED every second of it.  Needless to say he has been a crab since we got home, because he doesn't have his friends to play with anymore.

Here are some of our favorite highlights!  

A trip to the Zoo

I love how this baby Gorilla is the same size as Noah.  He was so intrigued by it, and kept bending over to look at it in the face.  It was pretty funny.

A few other fun things we did...

Went to the kiddie parade where we saw Emily and Gracie all dressed up in their costumes.  Their mom Morgan was right a long with them and the first thing we heard Gracey yell?  "NOAH,  HI NOAH"

It was super cute. 

If that's not the cutest alligator and Snow White I have ever seen then I don't know what is!!

Went to the carnival event that went on for at least 4 nights.  We ate funnel cakes, gyros, and maybe even a little cotton candy.  The kids even went on a couple rides and Andy helped Noah go down the big slide.  Noah was stone faced the whole time, but the rest of us got a kick out of it.  



While Andy and Corky were golfing.  Morgan and I took the kids to see the Clydesdale horses.  They were beautiful, and we even got to take a carriage ride around the block.   We saw the horses again the next morning when we all went to the Grand Parade (which was 140 floats long!).  It was a great time.

Went to the pumpkin patch where Gracey pulled Noah and Emily around in a wagon, while still dressed as Snow White.  She is a trooper.

We also had great food, because of Morgans wonderful cooking.  Watched some movies (I really liked Prince of Persia - who would have thought it was based on a video game?!?!).  And most importantly got to spend some good time with friends.