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.