6 Month Appointment

Last Friday Zander had his 6 month doctors appointment. He is doing great. He only gained a pound so is now at 15.13lbs and grew 2 inches. He is only at 11% for weight but 73% for height. He is a long skinny kid!

The funny thing is my sister Megans little boy Mason who is 4 days older than Zander weighs the same! They also weighed the same at there 4 month appts.

The hard thing is always seeing him getting the shots. He did pretty well and cried right when they gave them to him but settled down as soon as I picked him up.

I took a few pictures of him and I while we were waiting for our doctor. They had a mirror right next to were we sat so we had some fun with it. Zander loves to look at himself.

This is my Kodak EasyShare MD81

Love this little camera for quick pics

Right after he got his shots and the nurse is rubbing his little legs:(

Cup Cake Brownies

Did you know that you can bake brownies in a cup cake liner? I don't know how this never occurred to me until Sunday. I was making cup cakes to take to my parents for Sunday dinner when I thought, why don't I just make brownies and put them in the cup cake liners too. They turned out fabulous and made for such a nice one portion size that was easy for people to eat.
Really just think of the possibilities! Maybe next I will try some mint brownie cup cakes!

Painting Rod Iron

I was so excited for the nice weather we had this last weekend because it meant I could go outside and paint! I have this rod iron circle hanging on the wall in our front room. The room is full of browns and I wanted a little more color. Our kitchen is kind of an orange/red so I decided to paint this orange and then glaze it with a black/brown color. Abe had his doubts but I am very happy with how it turned out and so is he:)

This is how it started out pretty basic

First I primed it so the paint would stick to the metal

Next I spray painted it with Rustoleam 2x coat in Paprika from the Home Depot

I loved this color it was a great orange with a hint of red

(sorry for the shadow)

You can kinda see where I started to add the glaze over to the left.

This is the part where Abe had his doubts. He was not to sure about the bright orange

If you are not familiar with glaze you apply it and then wipe it off to show the color underneath.

This is the finished product! I absolutely love how it turned out!

I did two coats of the glaze, I wish I had taken a picture after the first coat so you could see the difference. It adds just a little more color and texture to the room.

This was a time consuming project. The hard part was getting the paint and glaze into all the nooks and cranny's of this piece. In the end I think it was all worth it!

I am linking up with

The CSI Project

Check them out for other great painting ideas!

Sorry I'm having technical difficulties and could not post the button

Yummy!

Yesterday I made this yummy coconut lime banana bread. It is sooo good. If you like banana bread this is a great little twist on it. The lime sauce you put on top is the best thing ever and I think I could put it on just about anything!

Recently Abe and I started ordering produce from a group called Bountiful Baskets. Our baby sitter Emily told us about it. It is a co-op that you order produce from every other week. They try and get things from local growers and for a big basket of half veggies and fruit it's only $15 bucks. In our first order we got bananas and limes so I was in search of something to make with them and when I saw this recipe on Our Best Bites I new I had to try it. If you want the recipe check it out on there blog, you can get to it from the link on my sidebar, they have such great cooking ideas.

I hope everyone had a great mothers day. We spent it with family. First we had Brunch with Abes family at Marie Calendars. It was super tasty and you could get any kind of pie you wanted as much as you wanted! It was a great way to sample all the different pies without having to get the whole thing or feel bad about not eating it all after you paid for it. I ate way way to much. Afterwards Abe went Golfing with his family while I went and visited with my side. I also went to my Grandma and Grandpa Holt's. It was great to see my grandma she has been ill lately so I was happy to see her doing better although she still is not 100%. Also a bunch of extended family that I don't see as often.

 

I had a great Mothers Day with all my family and so many great women!

Here are some pictures of Zander at Marie Calenders with his first balloon

3 Years

So it's kinda weired but tomorrow I will have been divorced from my first husband for 3 years. You may think it weired that I remember the day but for me it was such a life changing moment how could I not. Really it was almost as important as the wedding day.
We probably had one of the quickest divorces ever. We went in on a Tuesday and by that next Monday it was final! What made it quick was that we did not have any kids and we did not have a house. So really all we had to do was divide who got what and that was it. We were married for a little over three years.
I really don't regret having been married before. It was not the best time of my life but I learned so much about myself and those that really do care about me. Also I would not be married to the wonderful man I am now if it were not for the trials I went through.
He and I had a temple marriage and honestly I probably would have gotten divorced in the first year but I thought that was such a huge no no being LDS and having a temple marriage.
What I learned is that heavenly father loves us and wants us to be happy. If we are miserable with our eternal companion really what is the point? That's not saying if you are unhappy now divorce is the answer.
The year before he and I got divorced he told me that he did not love me the way he should love his wife. Wow! That was hard to take but at the same time it answered so much about the way he treated me and made a lot of sense. In my patriartical blessing it talks about how I will have a husband who loves me. I always thought well duh of course I will. So that really hit me as I went back and read it.
We went to counseling and really took time to figure out the relationship. I think if both people still care about each other and are willing to continually work on things than it is worth keeping the marriage together. But once one of you stops trying it's over. You can't hold a marriage together with just one person doing the work. He and I had been together for so long before getting married I think we just thought that marriage was the next step without really looking at it.
I defiantly think having been through a bad marriage and relationship I learned what I did and did not want in a partner. Hopefully most of you figured or figure that out through dating before getting married. I on the other hand was a little slow:) When I met Abe I could see what great qualities he had and that he was someone I wanted to be with. He makes me laugh so hard all the time and I love it. I'm sure I make him laugh to it's just I'm not trying to be funny I just do funny things.
Really I am very open about my whole experience so if you have questions ask. I think being LDS and divorced it's important to share what my experience was. Really at first I felt trapped in a bad marriage and that I would be a terrible person for getting a divorce. I wish I had felt differently.
I truly look forward to my future with Abe knowing he loves me.

My New Life

I just watched this amazing video clip My New Life. Please go check it out. It makes me appreciate all the small things that happen each day and makes me greatful for all my trials and how they teach me and bring me closer to my heavenly father.