Christmas Card Photos (some we used, and some we didnt - you'll see why :-)

Lights on Temple Square

Tonight we went downtown to see the lights on temple square. The lights were amazing as always and it was great to feel the wonderful Christmas spirit all around. What wasnt so enjoyable was the COLD weather!! My hands were so frozen I couldnt use them - they hurt so badly!! Liane on the other hand was so bundled up that she enjoyed it all! We love temple square!!

Decorating the Christmas tree!!

This was Liane's first year decorating the Christmas tree and she LOVED it! It was so fun to watch her get into it and find joy in acomplishing it. We love the end result!

Disney Princesses on Ice Show

This month Liane had the opportunity to go with her Grandma and Grandpa Cano and Aunt Lilly to the Disney Princess Ice show. In preparation I totally brainwashed Liane into liking the Disney Princesses (ok so it really wasnt brainwash... or at least she didnt resist it at all :-) Liane had the princesses down and LOVED the show! She especially loved wearing her Cinderella costume to the show... so cute! Thanks Grandma, Grandpa and Lilly for taking her!!

The yummiest & healthiest little meatballs ever!

Ok so most of you already know that I am into eating/cooking healthy meals. You then also know that I am way into adding grains and veggies into whatever I can. Here is an example of what I mean and how I do it...

Tonight I made your simple Spaghetti and Meatballs, but I added my own twist.

1 lb ground turkey

1 egg

1/2 onion finely chopped

1 small zucchini finely chopped

1/2 cup frozen spinach finely chopped

2 cloves garlic chopped

2 cups cooked quinoa*

2 cups wheat bran

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

seasonings to taste

I use a small chopper to get my veggies super finely chopped so you really dont see much of them once done.

Mix, roll into big tablespoon size balls, cook in pan coated with cooking spray. Wa-la!!

The beauty of making the meatballs this way is that you get about DOUBLE the amount of "meat" you would get just using the meat without adding anything to it. This recipe made about 50-60 meatballs. We used some in our dinner tonight, saved some for lunch tomorrow and I froze 30 more for future meals. WONDERFUL!!!! Makes more meals AND you get so much more fiber, protein and veggies in your diet!!!!

I do this with ANY recipe I use ground turkey for... burgers, chili, meat sauces, lasagne, etc...

I also substitute the grains with other grains and/or seeds, depending on what I have at the time... such as oat bran, vegetable protein, ground flax seed, ground pumpkin seed, etc...

I as well substitute the veggies... carrots work great!!, broccoli, cauliflour (great pureed and added to mashed potatoes too), sweet potatoes etc... just be creative thats all I do!

Try it, and enjoy!!

*Quinoa/1/2 cup dry
Calories
318
Total Fat (g)
4.9
Saturated fat (g)
0.5
Monounsaturated fat (g)
1.3
Polyunsaturated fat (g)
2
Dietary fiber (g)
5
Protein (g)
11
Carbohydrate (g)
59
Cholesterol (mg)
0
Sodium (mg)
18
Riboflavin (mg)
0.3
Vitamin E (mg)
4.1
Copper (mg)
0.7
Iron (mg)
7.9
Magnesium (mg)
179
Manganese (mg)
1.9
Phosphorus (mg)
349
Potassium (mg)
629
Zinc (mg)
2.8

Fun pics of Liane

Liane loves to go into the cupboards and get food out to feed to her baby. What a good mommy she is!!
Liane has been home sick for a week now and so the other day I decided to something fun with her. We made oatmeal raisin cookies and she "helped". She loves to eat the dry ingredients as Im getting the rest of it mixed. Too cute!!

Halloween Pics (finally)

For Halloween we all got together to eat and go trick-or-treating. Each family made and brought a soup to our house to share and when finished we got the kids dressed up (and some adults did too) and went trick-or-treating! It was a nice night out ( you never know here in UT) and the kids had a blast (ok we did too!). When we finished trick-or-treating we came back to the house and had hot chocolate and pie. Yummy!

Birthday Celebrations

Pozole... yummmm!
Liane playing around

Salomon and Carlos being... themselves (trying on costumes for halloween)

Back in October we celebrated both my mother and father in-laws birthdays. Here are some pics from one of the festivities. Yum-O!

Fall or Winter?

As usual in Utah, the fall season lasts about a couple weeks and boom, its winter!! So sad to me because I LOVE FALL!! I dont mind the snow, in fact I kind of enjoy it, but can we just enjoy the wonderful fall colors and temps a little longer????!!!! We had our first "snow" - if you can call it that - yesterday. We did enjoy what little of it we got.

Ward Fall Festival

My parents are the chairs of the Activities Committee at church and this year they decided to do something a little different with our October activity. Rather than do the usual "Trick - or - Treating" from room to room in the church building, they put on a fun Fall Festival, complete with a hay ride around the neighborhoood, hot chocolate, apple cider, games for kids, face painting, cookie decorating, pumpkin carving, apple dipping, a pie eating contest and family photos!! Way fun and great memories!!

Playgroup Halloween Party

I am blessed to live in a neighborhood and go to a ward that has wonderful moms around my age with children around the same age as Liane. We get together once a week for a little playgroup and this past week we did a Halloween Party for the kids. Too cute!!

Breast Cancer Walk

We had a wonderful time at the Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk this past Saturday! So many people were there to walk and support this great cause. It felt wonderful to be walking for something that is important to me and my family. Thank you all again for your support, well wishes and donations!!

Breast Cancer Walk... Sat Oct 10, 2009 at Liberty Park - UT

Click on the link to view my personal page. Join me on the walk as park of my team or make a donation. Seriously even if all you can give is $1 it would help out so much! Every little bit really does help. Please feel free to pass this along to others whom you feel may be interested. Thank you SOOOO much!!

The American Cancer Society:

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Liane

Where does the time go? I look back at the pictures from when Liane was born and I almost forget that she was that little and helpless once. Liane has grown and changed so much since birth, but some things have remained the same as well... Since birth Liane is still...

*So alert! She has ALWAYS been very aware of what is going on around her and watches intensly.
*Not much of a napper :-( Over the years she has gotten better (she can now sleep up to 2 hours during nap time!! Woo Hoo!!)
*A picky eater... again, she is getting better, but eating is never like the main event of her day like it is for mommy :-)
*A snuggle-bug (which makes mommy happy!!)
*A LOVER of books and being read to!
*A fan of things happening on HER terms ( I dont blame her :-)
*An amazing mommy to her baby dolls!
*A mommys girl all the way!!


All about Liane...

*Great communicator!! Liane has been talking since before she turned 1 and hasnt stopped. She can speak in short sentences and we have never had a problem understanding her. It has been wonderful! Just today she said "One, two, buckle my shoe"

*Loves music, singing and dancing!! She requests songs she likes me to sing to her... some of her favorite songs are "Spider" (itsy bitsy), "Popcorn Popping", Bumble Bee" (im bringing home a baby bumble bee), "God" ( I am a child of God), "Temple" ( I love to see the temple), "ABC", and "Rock-a-bye" (rock a bye baby)

* She has to help with everything! Anything I do, she wants to do and she is great at it!! Mommys little helper she is!

*Has an AMAZING memory!! You tell her something one time or teach her the name of something or someone and she has got it for life! She knows the names of everyone in our family and can group them into the correct family, all of her friends names and their siblings names, and all of her favorite TV show characters. She remembers whos house is whos also (family and friends).

*Knows the colors blue, white, brown, green, orange, yellow, pink, purple. Knows the shapes circle, square, triangle, star, heart, moon (cresant).

*Loves burgers, pickles (and when she eats one she says "thats my girl" like I always say to her since I love pickles too!), fries, pretzles, chicken, bread, cheese, and chocolate (when she is cranky and I ask her, "Liane what do you need?" when all that I have suggested doesnt work, she responds with "I need chocolate"... ha ha ha... oh boy when she starts PMSing we are in trouble!!)

*Liane is a sweet girl... never has hurt anyone, yelled at any friends, or taken something out of a friends hand. She is content to play by herself or near other kids and does not react much when a child takes something away from her - even if she really wants it.

*LOVES to play with dolls!! She is an amazing "mom"! She holds them so tenderly and is so sweet with them. She loves to wrap them in a blanket, hold them tight and say "shh, shh, shh" as she rocks them. She can play forever with her babies by herself. She will make a wonderful big sister and mommy one day!

I love Liane with all my heart. She is truly a special girl and I am so blessed to be her mommy!! Im so grateful to be a stay at home mom, to spend all day with her, to teach her, snuggle with her, and just love her!! She is wonderful and I could not ask for a better daughter!! Happy Birthday to my "big girl!!"

Liane's Family Party

Liane had two birthday parties in one day!! She had a friend party in the morning and a family party in the afternoon (after NAP!!). She (and we all ) had a wonderful time in celebration of this beautiful, sweet, smart, funny, and good little girl!! She deserved to be spoiled!!