Recipe for Dinner...Disaster?!?

Yes, this is what we had for dinner last night....
I know all of you are dying to know how I made it, so I'll just put the recipe here to save time.
Recipe:
-Big stock pot of boiling tomatoes, chicken broth, onion, and garlic
-Pour into blender (fill it almost to the top)
-Turn on blender and see it explode, just a little bit
-Ask your husband standing right there what to do
-Use his strategy of putting a paper towel on top of blender and holding it there while trying again (Bless him, he was only trying to help)!
-Watch the contents in the blender perform a volcanic eruption
-Experience hot splotches of tomato soup spraying onto yourself, the child your holding, and your husband
-Freak out, scream, then go and pout on the couch while your husband cleans up the entire mess with a good attitude
-Meanwhile, find out that you have just blown a fuse from your house built in 1906, and take 45 minutes trying to fix it with no success (again, husband with positive attitude, wife complaining the whole time)
-Find out half of your outlets, a light fixture, and your oven/stove do not work because of the blown fuse.
-Eat dinner 1 hour later with cold soup, partially blended, and soggy grilled cheese sandwiches that weren't able to grill all the way because your stove doesn't work
-Enjoy! It doesn't matter, because you have a screaming/hungry 18 month old, and you are starved yourself

I'm definitely going to make this again, huge success!

The past month

Here we are in 2012!  Life is good, except for the 4 degree weather outside...!  Actually the dread "Cleveland Winter" has been delayed this year, which I am 100% fine with.  Unfortunately, the delay stopped a couple of days ago, and I think we have started the hibernating until April.   Bring on the red box, muddy buddies, and fleece blankets baby!
Tim is getting ready to end his 3rd Block of med school, oh how the time flies.  He works so hard everyday, it makes me tired just thinking about all he does.  He wakes up at either 4:40am or 5:00 (depending on when we go to bed, or how Max does during the night), and does 1 1/2 of homework before he leaves for school.  Bless his heart, he is doing that all for me so we can be together as a family after 6:00pm every weekday night!  I started a nanny job that is 30 hours a week (3 ten hour shifts Wednesday-Friday from 7:30am-5:30pm), and am so grateful that when I'm done for the day, I get to spend a whole night with my boys.  I get to bring Max with me to work, which is a huge blessing.  I watch a 2 year-old little girl from a great family.  It's a lot of work, but we are grateful for it.
This past month was so great seeing friends, family, and celebrating the Holidays!  Leaving both my family and Tim's family were accompanied by many tears and tissues...I was a wreck at both goodbyes.  We sure love our families and can't wait till we get to see them again.  Here are some of our adventures:

Max and his favorite Auntie Annie!  

Here we are! My mom, sisters Elise, and Annie, and Grandma Brockbank.  We stayed
at a darling little house in Manti the night before my cousins wedding and had a blast
eating Dick's Bakery donuts, going to a quaint little restaurant
and staying up way too late talking! Thanks Mom and Dad!  Elise drove
all the way from Cedar City to see Max and I, which was so kind of her.
Her hubby stayed home and watched all the kids so she could come, thanks Bren and Elise!

Annie and I had way too much fun together.  It was the best thing ever being able to spend
so much time with one of my best friends :)

Max and his cousin Theo. Tim's brother and wife, Pete and Tina made us a delicious breakfast,
and Max and Theo had a great time getting reacquainted.  We sure wish you guys lived
closer to us!

Seeing my dear friends was a major highlight of Utah!  I hadn't seen Michelle for almost
2 years...it was such a happy reunion! 

Some of the Holt grandchildren...we couldn't get a still shot as you can see.
My Mom and Dad took us to
the Mandarin (the best Chinese food in the world...) and Devin and Dallin brought
their darling families.  It was so fun to see everyone again :)

Aunt Canda and sweet baby Claire :)  Dev and Christine's first little bundle of joy!

Lovely.  From Utah, my Mom, Dad, and Annie were awesome enough to drive us up
to Boise to see Tim's family.  The car ride was the best...as you can see.  Little Max
was stuffed in the back, what a good sport! Thanks again you guys :)

Max and the black chair.  At Tim's house, this was probably Max's favorite thing to do.
His uncles would plop him on the chair after Max would point begging for minutes at a time
to get on it and spin him around.  Thanks Thomas, Spence, and Nato for playing so great with Max!

The BLOB!!!  Max got a kick of sliding around in one of his uncle's sweatshirt. I
thought he looked hilarious, and had to get a picture :)

Merry Christmas!  Tim's family has a tradition of dressing up and acting out
the nativity every year.  As you can see, Max was thrilled to be the angel this year.

The Ashworth brothers sang a cool arrangement of Silent Night in church on Christmas.
I don't think we'll get a picture like this ever again...classic.  I loved that Christmas landed on a Sunday this year!  The program in the Ashworth's ward was perfect for celebrating Christ's birth. Oh, and don't worry,
the boys didn't wear their costumes for Sacrament Meeting..although I wish we would have tried it...haha just kidding!   

Merry Christmas at the Ashworths!!

Mom and Dad Ashworth took us to this darling little ice cream/candy shop and I had
to get a picture.  I loved all of it...especially the gazillion jars of candy  and fun Christmas decor:)

Happy New Year!!
Don't mind us...PDA!  This was our New Year's kiss...not one of our
best photos...

Dr. Ashworth, and Dr. Ashworth :)

When we came back from Utah and Idaho, we FINALLY got snow and rushed to
good 'ol Walmart to get Max his snow suit :) Sweet little buddy!

If I would have been proactive and sent out a Christmas card this year, this
would have been it!  I wasn't though...what a surprise!
I'm so glad this picture turned out the way it did, but hope Max
isn't scared of Santa next year...

This picture is kind of out of order, but here are my dearest friends from home!
Allie through a yummy breakfast for us all with a dish, caramel apple french toast, that
we used to make as roomies at BYU.  I love these girls so much, and was so glad
we found a time to be together and catch up!

Thank you Mom and Dad Holt, and Mom and Dad Ashworth and everyone else who mad our trip back home a perfect visit!  We loved every minute of it, and are so lucky to have the best families in the world!!  We love you guys :)

Gobble...gobble...gobble!

Thanksgiving this year was a huge success!  We decided to organize a Thanksgiving with our fellow Clevelandites who were going to be around for the Holiday.  Tim was a huge help to me, I couldn't have done it without him.   Not to mention our friends.  We had so much help with setting up, eating all of the DELICIOUS food, and cleaning up.  We had it at the church, and had a blast!  There is so much to be thankful for, especially friends who are family during the Holidays!

 A couple of weeks ago, I was not sure if I was going to be able to say it would turn out a success...  Holidays are supposed to be fun, stress free, and relaxing right? Yes, that is true, except for the part where you have to purchase a $30 bird with bones sticking out of it from the store (which was an experience in itself...I had no idea what I was doing, kind of like a turkey with my head cut off...), pull out it's neck and lovely giblets, wash it, then cry your eyes out while you cut the onion and celery to stuff the sweet old bird.  The best part was that Tim and I were doing this about 5:30am Thanksgiving morning, we were quite a sight. 

Here is a visual just to give you an idea...
Actually, this was the night before as we were figuring out a way to
thaw sweet little Tommy the Turkey.

Tom at the Ashworth Spa.  He is in his glory, that is for sure.
Leave it up to my engineering-genius-husband to think of a way to
plug up our sink when I realize we don't have anything to plug it with.
I put my full faith and trust in Tim when it comes
to stuff like this, his ideas (no matter how off the wall they may be) always work!  

I was very kind, and let Tim do most of the honors.  How nice of me, right?!?!

I'm not sure if this was after we had successfully set up the thawing
spa for Tom, but I think it is clear that Tim was relieved, or overjoyed, or...

The final product!!  I almost forgot to take a picture before Tim cut into Tom.  I know
that the pros have leaves and apples and fancy-shmancy decor around their turkeys,
but in reality, this is really how your supposed to dress up a turkey...with nothing at all!  We had so much
help from our parents and grandparents, which I'm sure were thrilled to get the 4th phone call in the same
15 minutes on what to do next when it come to cooking a turkey!
The verdict: It was amazingly tender and moist.  OOOHHH, it was so good!
And yes, it is 4 days after Tom made his debut, and we still have plenty of turkey to go around :)

Here are some pics at the church!  We had SO much yummy food, it was the best :) And yes, 

we needed a separate table for dessert, it was a must.

After we ate, most of us sat around and chatted for a couple of hours.  Each time I thought about

standing up, I realized that I probably couldn't even if I wanted to with the 50 pounds of food in me!!  

I decided to spend the rest of my Christmas money on a Turkey Trot!!  I haven't
been able to run a real race in a long time, and Turkey Trots are probably my favorite race.
This was the 30th annual trot put on in downtown Cleveland, and it was a HUGE event! There were 7,000
runners there, crazy, but awesome!  This is the reason why Tim and I had to wake up at 5:30am to put the turkey
in the oven.  Tim and Max were great sports, and cheered me on.  It was absolutely perfect running weather!!! 

Tim hurried and snapped this shot right at the finish.  There were so many runners,
I didn't even realize I was at the finish line after the 5 miles.
 I saw my time as I crossed, and thought it was
okay, but I wasn't too proud.  I looked online later at the results and had actually run
the race almost 3 minutes faster than I thought.  There was the gun time 39:53 (what I saw at the end of the race), and the
chip time 37:08 (time from when I passed the start and finish line).  It took me almost 3 minutes after the
gun shot to even get to the
starting line because of the crowds!  It was so fun to run one of my favorite races
and do well!

The best part of the race though, was seeing this little guy (and his Daddy) at the finish line!
Of course, the first thing Max did when he saw me was point out the trucks he was seeing...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We are so grateful for all of the blessings
that we enjoy here in Cleveland.  We are so thankful for our family and friends, the gospel, Tim being able
to attend medical school, our health, this beautiful earth, and much more!  We love you all :)

15 Months and Counting!

Max is officially 15 months today! He is the sweetest little thing that ever happened to us, and we are so grateful for him.
He is such a mischievous little boy, and knows it too!  He is always getting into cupboards, drawers, bags, papers, etc...that he shouldn't.  He will make eye contact with whoever caught him, smile, and then run off as fast as he can while waving his hands in the air and mumbling something that sounds like Russian.  
He gives the best kisses, with the fish lips and everything.  Tim and I will usually kiss after we pray, and just from watching us, Max caught on and now will make a kissing noise after every prayer, so great!
Ever since Max fell down our front steps head first, he is deathly afraid of stairs, and will just stand at the top of whatever stair case we are on and look down at his fate...!
He can go down a slide by himself, and even land on his feet...well some of the time.
Max would take his tooth brush everywhere with him if we let him.  He LOVES babies (Max says 'Behbe'), and will always lean his head to one side and talk in a high-pitched-voice anytime we see one.
Snow Bear (Max says him 'Bobehhhhhhh' in a high pitched voice, and gradually will go up in pitch) is still his favorite stuffed animal, although his doggie from Grandma Ashworth is in close second!
Max could stay outside all day and run up the walkways of our neighbors houses.  I don't know what it is, but going up the walkways is apparently 'in' right now with 15 month old kiddos.
 He loves to go up to a tree trunk and hug it while looking up as far as his little eyes will let him.
Max loves to read, and I will catch him sitting down on the floor with tons of books opened while he mumbles in a, once again, high-pitched Russian mumble.  I could watch him for hours.
Max is so sweet to pictures of Jesus, and will always give Him kisses.
Max loves his Daddy, and stops whatever he is doing when he hears those keys in the door at 5 or 6 o'clock.  He'll run to the front door and as soon as Tim is seen, Max will reach for him with his head back and a huge smile on his face!  I think I have teared up only a couple of times watching that...
Max bleeds blue, and could watch BYU Football all day.  He will climb up on Tim's lap and watch the game for a good chunk of the game (don't worry, I have had no influence on this one...)  Everytime he sees a game going on he will throw his arms up in a touchdown (he says 'duhdowh') about 68 times expecting our attention on everyone of them :)
Max loves to eat frozen peas, cubes of cheddar cheese, chicken nuggets, anything sweet, his bottle, tomatoes, grilled cheese sandwiches, graham crackers, raisins, beans, eggs, and anything off the floor.  Tim and I have to applaud and give Max a standing ovation when we try to give him anything besides the food I listed. After our celebration of Max having a bite of whatever he doesn't like, he will nod his head in excitement and clap his hands. It is the only way we won't find it on the floor, gotta love positive reinforcement.
As many of you know, Max is OBSESSED with trucks.  Enough said.   
He can say Dada, shishee (fishy), Duhhhhh (truck), seesishh (Jesus), and Duh for about everything else (his shoes, socks, dog, or anything he points to!)
He is soooo ticklish, and loves when Tim will go to town as the tickle machine.  Tim will also throw him up, spin him around, pull rugs from under his feet, and make him soooo dizzy and then set him down to see how many walls Max will run into...don't worry, Max doesn't get hurt too often when Tim is playing with him!  No really, Max loves it more than anything.

We love you so much Mr. Max, and can't believe how fast you are growing up!!!!  Keep up the good work buddy :)

I took these today right after he woke up from a nap!  Here he is, in all of his glory :)

My day is complete with this face I tell ya!

Don't mind the perfectly matching socks...

 

Dance Like A Monkey!

Well Max can officially be called "Crazy Little Monkey" now!  My sister Elise sent a darling monkey costume for Max, and he LOVED it!  He actually won some costume contests in it, we were so proud :)
Trick-or-Treating was a blast, especially Max and his dad going up to all of the spooky houses.  I stayed behind to take pictures...not because I was scared of the dummy hung by a noose in the tree, or the one in the electric chair that would shoot sparks...or the one with the guillotine... haha!  

Oh what a night!  He was all tuckered out from the fun :)  Sweet Little Monkey!

Speaking of all tuckered out, this is what was happening at the Ashworth's
while Dad was studying in his dungeon, and Max and I were bored.
Who needs bedtime stories, right?
Oh, and excuse Max for the burp at the end...I promise we teach him manners...!

Picture update!

Who knew how busy life could get?  I have started to blog, and then surprisingly enough, I get interrupted.  Sometimes it is a legit phone call or knock on the door, but most of the time it is Max attempting to go to the ER for the #438 time. Seriously, if I leave him alone for even half a second, I will hear a BANG or CLOMP or SHATTER...then a pause...then the cry that every mother has nightmares of.  One thing is for sure, Max is a ALL boy climbing, exploring, diving, pulling, eating, jumping, etc... We have been lucky so far (knock on wood), but I don't think it will be too long before we will have to go.  Maybe it will be accident #524.  We'll keep you posted.
So, I hate doing the "picture updates," but I guess they have to happen every once and while, especially since I am kind of using the blog as a journal and would love to have some kind of chronological structure!  So buckle up and enjoy the ride!

Oh the fall in Cleveland!  We love it here, and are sucking in each moment with so much

enjoyment.  There are so many beautiful parks that are really close to us, and
we have gone to as many as we can while the weather is still good. Max would live outside
if we let him, so we hop in the stroller with our good friends whenever we can :)

Soooo pretty!

Just me and my Dad...

This is the park that is right above Horseshoe Lake and we can't get enough of it!!

Cleveland celebrates Columbus Day which is awesome!  We
got a group together, and walked down to the parade. Max had a blast looking
and pointing at all of the "Duhhhh" (Trucks)!  It was so fun and exciting for both of us,
we will definitely go again next year! 

Of course, the beads were his favorite part (haha), and he wore them for days :)  

So intent...

I just had to put this picture in, it is too cute to leave out!
Sweet little buddy!

We went to the children's museum that is on Case's campus last
week with our friends the Millburns.  I bet you can't guess what Max  spent
most of his time doing...oh yes, the trucks.  He couldn't get enough of them!
Have I mentioned that we have a 100% boy?

Darling Mallory was a great sport with Mr. Max the Truck Driver...they
play so well together!

Aren't we something else?!?!  So our friends decided to have a Halloween party
last weekend.  We weren't going to dress up
 (A, because we have no money and B, because I have no creativity)
 , but at the last minute we changed our minds.  I thought, "What could Max be
that is free, and that Tim and I could compliment?"  I stood puzzling and puzzling till
my puzzler was sore, then I got an idea!
  An AWFUL idea...(haha, yes I am a Grinch geek)!  Since Max
was named after the dog in the Grinch (not really), I decided he could go as
himself...!  Tim gets all of the credit for Max's costume.  He traced his hands
on some brown felt I bought, then sewed the
antlers onto the head band (I didn't even tell him
how to do it, he thought of the sewing all on his own!)
He also was Max's make-up artist.
I decided to go as Cindy Lou-Who, and Tim helped me do the
whole cup hair-due...I was sure lovely...
Finally, we needed a Grinch!
 My dear husband did not complain that he got the position.
I was able to find an old Grinch t-shirt from high school, and some green face paint.
Then, I went all over, ALL OVER, and finally found a blasted Santa Hat.
The party was a blast, and we actually won some prizes for
best costume!  My awesome sister Elise sent Max a real
Halloween costume a few days ago, and so he will be able to
feel like a real kid on Halloween.  We'll be sure to take pictures,
thanks Elise, you're the best, and Happy Halloween everyone!!

Happy Birthday Tim!!!

I can't believe it!  I am married to a 26 year old man :)  Tim is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and it was so fun to celebrate with him.  His birthday was yesterday, and so it was on a busy school day.  Despite the hours of studying, we still managed to eat a yummy breakfast, stuff our faces with spare ribs and cake, and watch The Lord of the Rings!  For those of you who know Tim and I, you know that The Lord of the Rings is his favorite movie, and my least favorite.  Perfect.  I allow him to drag me into watching it about once a year, and even though I regretted suggesting it after I said it, I figured he deserved to watch his favorite movie on his birthday!  They are good movies, but SOOOOOOOOOOOO long!  I can never, and I mean never stay awake.  Poor Tim, he is a good sport and will either turn it off when I have zonked out, or keep watching it until the end all alone.  The day was a blast, and in the words of my Grandpa Brockbank, "Thanks for having a party so we could celebrate!"  Tim is so wonderful, and makes me so happy.  He puts up with my emotional up and downs like a champ (especially since we have moved out here to Ohio), and is the best daddy in the whole world!  Happy Birthday Babe, I love you!

The birthday boy and his little side-kick!  These two boys are my life, and
I love them so much!  Max looks like he is plotting something, but hasn't quite
figured it out yet...!