Quinoa Burgers, Cookies, and Snow

 I have a confession: I am a weather nerd.

There. I said it. I feel much better.

When big storms, winter or severe, are in the forecast and headed our way, you better believe I check weather.com, the news, and the radar, about 1,023,895 times before the storm actually arrives. I'm only slightly obsessive about this.

I have realized, through the years of my weather addiction, that winter storms are incredibly difficult to predict and prepare for. For example, earlier this winter they forecast a terrible ice storm and prepped all the roads with salt and brine. When we woke up, not a drop or flurry had fallen. None, nada, zip. A couple weeks after that, they forecast a very slight chance of maybe a flurry during the night. We woke up to 3-4 inches of snow on the ground.

So, when they started forecasting the storm that came yesterday, I didn't take it very seriously. I actually laughed out loud when I saw that schools had canceled class for the day...at 7:00 pm the night before. Since I had been following the weather, I knew the timeline and thought the schools were ridiculous. Especially when my friends in Kansas City were in the heart of the worst part and didn't cancel school until late that night or the morning of.

I was particularly amused when we woke up and found things to be dry as the desert.

However, I ended up being incredibly grateful for the precautions administrators took, because by 9:30 am, things started getting bad. First some snow, then sleet, then ice, then more snow. I haven't seen snow like I saw yesterday in a very long time. When it was all said and done, we got about 5-6 inches of snow with some ice and sleet mixed in. Since the air has been really cold for several days, every single thing stuck to the ground. 

Around 4:30 pm, we watched a poor Domino's delivery guy get completely stuck in our parking lot above. He was going absolutely nowhere. My neighbor and I finally sent our husbands out to help. They couldn't do much since even they couldn't get traction (it hadn't been plowed). Then 2 more men came by to assist. Luckily, one of them had a shovel so they had to shovel a small path, drive as far as possible while pushing the back, shovel again, drive and push, shovel again, and so on until he finally made it out. The whole ordeal from start to finish lasted about 30-40 minutes. 

Reminded me of my dad in his "abominable snowman" days of helping everyone get unstuck in the neighborhood. What a guy. 

Ever had a Quinoa Burger? 

Me either. Until this week.

I have been completely, utterly, disgustingly, bored with everything I know how to cook, and decided to try a new recipe every day this week. It has been really fun and sometimes not delicious. One of my favorites were these Quinoa Burgers. Light, refreshing, and really yummy. 

I know you're intrigued, so pop over to my food blog for the recipe: Karissa's Kitchen. These burgers come out around 125-150 calories per patty, so you can have two of them and still indulge in some amazing  no bake cookies. They taste as good, or better, than they look. 

You can thank me later for being so awesome and sharing such delicious food. ;-)
Happy Friday, everyone! Go enjoy a cookie. You deserve it.

Mardi Gras and Valentine's

Well I guess it's about time for me to sit down and cozy up with my computer for a few minutes. Why do I feel like February has been dragging on for months? Yet at the same time I feel like it's nearly gone when I look at my calendar! I suppose I'm just tired of being cooped up and cold. I seriously cannot wait for days and weeks of warm weather!!

What will I ever do when we move to Idaho?!?!?

We've done a couple fun things this month. Some of which were serious learning experiences. For example, the St. Louis Mardi Gras Parade.

We'd never been to a Mardi Gras event before. I actually wasn't entirely sure what Mardi Gras was all about. All we knew was there was a parade on Saturday morning and since parade generally equals "family  friendly" we decided to check it out.

We bought a couple bus passes for the day to take the ride into Soulard for the parade. Little did we know that we wouldn't want to be in the heart of Soulard for Mardi Gras. We found that out later. After waiting forever, the parade finally got under way. Since we were there early enough, we had crossed the street where the parade was on and found a spot right on the curb behind the barriers. At the beginning, a police officer stopped his bike and got a strand of beads with rubber duckies on it that he brought over to Bubs and put around his neck. It was super cute!

The first hour of the parade was really fun. Everyone thought Bubs was adorable and they were showering him with beads, a stuffed animal, a t-shirt, and some chips from Qdoba. Then things started getting crazier. We started getting more squished and pushed around. Every single person IN the parade was drinking, and near drunk and every single person WATCHING the parade was also drinking, and many were drunk. The floats and gestures from the paraders started getting more and more crude and we became more uncomfortable. 

Since we couldn't cross the street to get to our bus stop, we had to go around somehow. We had no idea how much longer it would last but we knew we needed to leave asap. So we packed up and turned around to go. Walls. Of. People. Not. Moving. It was quite the task to navigate the stroller through everyone while hearing  jeers and comments of "who brings a baby to Mardi Gras!?" We finally broke through to some open space and contemplated what we should do. There seemed to be no way out and I was seriously worried about our safety. We started walking down the street, parallel to the parade, and I said a few little prayers. We spotted a taxi drive by and I mentioned we should just take one to our car so we could get out of here fast. Luckily, a van taxi had just pulled up so we jumped in and watched the meter rise steadily up. 

Also a blessing for us was that the driver was a nice, older, white man who seemed pretty honest and kind. He didn't let anyone else get in until we got out. Another blessing was a friend of mine suggested that we sell our bus passes back to people waiting in line. As soon as we got to our car, Scott took off to sell the passes and I waited across the street. I suddenly realized my phone was gone. Sitting in the taxi. I said a few more prayers, panicked a little, and searched for Scott since I couldn't cross the street to our car by myself and the loaded stroller. I finally saw him and started yelling. He came running across and we both freaked a little. We loaded in the car as fast as possible to go search for the cab. Just as we pulled up to the first stop light to turn left, the cab was turning right on the same street!! The cab driver came to find us since he heard my phone go off when Scott was calling it. Tender mercy and huge blessing. We waved at each other and got the phone. 

Finally we were out and on our way home. I have never felt so filthy and disgusting in my life. It was such an awful atmosphere to be in and something I hope to never experience again. I completely felt the withdrawal of the Spirit and I felt very panicked, nervous, and scared. I was also in awe at the way some people acted to get attention in all the wrong ways. It very much reminded me of several Book of Mormon scriptures about the people who became prideful and wicked because of the "wearing of costly apparel." 

We got 134 strands of beads, a stuffed turtle, a t-shirt, a bag of un-eaten chips, and a whole lot of conversation for the rest of the day. When we got home I looked at the news and saw that just before 3 pm that day, within blocks of where we were, someone was shot and killed. We left the area around 1:40 pm. A  little too close for comfort. 

Mardi Gras was a once in a lifetime experience that we will probably, hopefully, not experience ever again! How grateful I am for the choices I've made in my life to be clean and worthy of the Spirit of God. I know I have experienced far more happiness and deeper joy with the life I live than if I made the same choices as many people at that parade. Gosh, I'm grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Later that night we went out on our Valentine's date. We enjoyed Texas Roadhouse, a couple rounds of bowling, and some frozen yogurt. All without a kid. It was glorious! I also took a little belly shot. This was about 26 weeks pregnant. 

To celebrate Valentine's day we painted lots of pictures and Valentine's for the Grandparents. Then we went to a super fun Valentine's party that was organized by one of my best friends. She is seriously amazing and I'm always wishing I could be more like her! She planned and organized the whole party and then her kids ended up being really sick the day of, so her hubby stayed home so she could still come! What a saint. 

And of course, a picture with my little mini-Valentine. He is growing up way too fast and getting way too cute. He had a ball playing with all the balloons and kids and eating about a pound of sugar. 

Scott and I had a nice, yummy, steak dinner at home that night followed by an interesting movie. Ya never know with some of those Netflix independent films...at least there was nothing inappropriate, just a going-nowhere story line with some interesting characters. 

So far February has been good and I hope March is even better! (and warmer) I'm still feeling great with this pregnancy, although the bigger and farther along I get the more tired I get. Scott is having a grand time in the clinic treating real patients. He loves it! Board Exams are coming up in a few weeks and before we know it, he'll be graduated! We also have a very positive prospect developing in Idaho that I'm oozing with excitement about, but I don't want to share because it's not official yet. 

And now my little man is awake so I'm out. Thanks for reading to the end, if you did!

A Saturday in Pictures...and words, because I'm wordy

Sometimes I think it might be fun to take pictures all day of everything that happened that day and then write a blog post about it.

Usually it doesn't happen.

But on Saturday, I was actually thinking, we had a relatively fun day, and I took lots of pictures. 

Here's how it went down.

"Hey Bubs, do you want waffles, pancakes, or eggs for breakfast?"

"Uhmmm, waffles!!"

So, waffles it was. I decided to try a new recipe. They turned out like this:

Thin, floppy, and meaningless.

So I added more flour, fixed the batter, and they ended up great!

After breakfast, we had a family coloring party.

Please, don't steal my amazing art work, I'm working on a copyright.

Following the coloring party, we conjoined in our "play room" and had a "test Karissa's ability to name the artist and song title" with songs on my ipod. Bubs had a great time dancing and Scott was surprised and impressed with my mad skills until The Beatles came on and I had no idea what we were listening to.

Sorry, I was born in the late 80's and not raised on The Beatles.
I know they're like iconic and everything, and they have a couple neat songs, but I much prefer Michael Jackson. Thanks.

Apparently my lack of knowledge was shocking (and devastating) enough to my husband that for the next hour all we heard was The Beatles. Until I couldn't take it anymore and turned everything off.

Moving on.
Bubs really loves laying in bed watching Curious George.
Funny how this happened, because the day before I was telling Scott that I felt a need to limit Bub's tv time a little more, especially when I'm getting ready in the morning. He agreed and said to think of other options. Then I walked in to this sweet scene...while he was getting ready.
"....waaaait a minute, didn't you tell me yesterday I should not do exactly what you're doing? hmmm...."

Regardless, it's precious.

And easier.

Remember when our dog looked like a mop?
Because someone (me) thought it would be kind to let her hair grow out during the winter so she would stay warmer.
Then someone (me) decided months later that that was a dumb idea and she needed a hair cut. Bad.

An hour later...

1 hour, 30 minutes, and a pound of hair later...

Much better.

Then it was time for a trip to the mall.

This cold weather is making me stir crazy. I just want to play outside! Thankfully, the mall has a play place and Bubs loves it. After playing for awhile, we walked around.

He was mesmerized by the giant trampoline with people bouncing and flipping. 

(psst, see that paper in his hand? I drew some trucks on it. He held onto it the whole time at the mall)

"You are not taking a picture of our son in the Princess car!" 

...even though he was so cute and buckled in and smiling.

Mesmerized by the carousal. 

Lions, tigers, bears, oh my!

Of course we had to ride the escalator. 

Which sounds like "alligator" when coming out of a two year old's mouth.

Our day ended with some delicious pork chops and me watching The Taste while hubby played NBA12 on xbox, before we both watched most of the BYU basketball game.

The end!

P.S. Remember how in Missouri it can be freezing, then hot, then freezing again? We took advantage of a 70 degree day and played outside for hours. It was glorious! Bubs loved throwing rocks into the duck pond. 

He also loved when I dropped bread behind us and got the ducks to follow us around. 

He sure is a cutie no matter how much of a stinker he can be!

p.p.s. It's really hard to take a picture of Bubs' face because he gets so excited, grins real big, juts his chin forward, yells "cheese!", and then moves real quick. All in less time than it takes my phone to snap a picture. Thus, blur.

General Updates

So remember how I wrote about the Night Time Escapee? Well, I'm happy to say we've finally gotten things a bit more under control! After several frustrating days of nothing working, I decided to give the "Super Nanny" thing a try. This is how we did it, with naps and bed.
Sleep time 1- I sat right next to his bed and didn't say a word while he fell asleep.
Sleep time 2-I moved a couple feet closer to the door and did the same thing.
Sleep time 3-I  moved right next to the door and did the same thing.
Sleep time 4- I moved outside the door and left the door open pretty wide. I reminded him I was there and then was quiet.
Sleep time 5- I closed the door a little more and stayed outside of it.
Sleep time 6-I closed the door almost all the way and reminded him I was right there.

He is now staying in his bed to sleep! For the bulk of the night/nap. Usually he'll wake up at some point in the wee morning hours, cry for a couple minutes, and run to the door. We started closing the door and locking it when we go to bed, so he can't get out. We've had a couple mornings of crying for 10-20 minutes, but then he falls asleep again. It's way better than him sleeping on the floor the entire night!

Naps are still a little tricky. He stays in his bed the whole time, but since we took the binky away, when he wakes up after an hour or 1.5 hours, he freaks out and then cries until I get him. He's always taken a 3 hour nap (or longer), and I think he still needs it, so I've been letting him cry in his room until the 3 hours are up. Hopefully things will improve as time goes on. He's been completely binkyless for a week!

Yeah, I know it's washed out, the flash on my camera is 1,000 times too bright.

But we were watching Lorax and eating popcorn and he was just dang cute.

So how am I doing?

Well, after 4 weeks of battling a cold, I'm finally feeling better. Today marks week 5 since all of this started. I was pretty miserable the first week, then felt a little better, then got much worse, then I got an amazing Priesthood blessing from my husband.

As soon as he finished the blessing, I felt an immediate change. A couple of the things that he said were: "Heavenly Father has been waiting for you to come and ask for a blessing." and then the most profound and powerful experience I've had, "Be healed." I knew that I had done all I knew how to do to help my body fight the sickness and overcome. I had finally gotten to the point that I needed Divine Intervention to help with the rest. I know that Priesthood blessings come directly from God and that my husband is just a mouthpiece. I also have a firm testimony that when we strive to do all we can, then turn to the Lord and ask for help, He will make up the difference.

I felt an immediate change after the blessing, but it still took several days for my body to completely recover. I feel almost 100% me again and have seen the progress my body has made in eradicating the sickness. I am so grateful!!!!

As far as the pregnancy, since people keep asking, the second trimester for me is a piece of cake. It was with Bubs and it's the same with this little guy. I'm never sick, I'm not super tired, I have lots of energy, I feel happy, and I can function completely normal. I feel very blessed that pregnancy is so easy for me, the majority of the time, and when it's tougher it's definitely not manageable.

I'm still working on the emotional joys and excitement of being pregnant and seeing my body change, but each day is getting better. I'm trying to focus on what a miracle it is and how beautiful and wonderful of a blessing I have to carry a child and bring a Spirit into the world and into our family.

I had a dream last night I had to get a c-section because my doctor wasn't there and the other doctor was impatient and wanted the baby out. I woke up a little anxious and I'm feeling more anxious about preparing for the actual labor and delivery part. Ugh.

Anyway, I now hear my sweet munchkin playing with the dog in his room. It hasn't been as long of a nap as I would've liked, but he's not crying, so that's something to be happy about.

Gift from the Retail Gods

So we all know pregnancy is hard. For everyone. In their own special way.
For me, this time around, gaining weight and getting bigger is hard. Very, very, excruciatingly hard.
More on that someday later.
Now that I'm 23 weeks along, I'm suddenly not fitting into my normal clothes as well.
Especially my jeans.
I tossed my skinny jeans about 3 weeks ago and I've been squeezing into my other jeans, sans buttoned button, only for special occasions. Otherwise, it's yoga pants, leggings, or sweatpants. Every day.
My maternity jeans are still uncomfortably big, so I'm stuck in this weird, awkward, uncute feeling stage of life.

Thus, I decided to go shopping.
Since our budget is minimal, (I was using Christmas money), I always hit up Marshall's and Ross before the mall. Usually one is better than the other and for me it's usually Marshall's.
On this particular day, I browsed around for a minute before coming to a random rack placed in a random area that contained random clothes in random sizes.
Right on the end a beautiful, long, dark grey, maxi skirt caught my eye.
Of course I grabbed it, I've been dying for one.
It happened to be the softest material I've felt in awhile and it was also Express brand. I thought for sure it'd be over $10, if not closer to $20.
Imagine my surprise when I found the tag that said "$5.99". Into my cart that went.

I meandered about keeping my eyes open for anything else that looked cute and fun and right as I rounded a corner, something definitely caught my eye!
The exact faux leather jacket I have been pining for since October!!!!
I found it in the mall before we took family pictures and couldn't find my size. I decided to search around to locate my size, but after Black Friday, it suddenly went missing. And by it, I mean all of them. Everywhere. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Then I decided I would probably never find my perfect jacket again and I would just have to ooh and ahh at everyone else who had a cute leather jacket.
Imagine my surprise again when they had several in my size! Into my cart one of those went.

I kept looking around thinking maybe I ought to try on some jeans just for kicks. However, they had no maternity section and I was a little unsure about what size to try and if I would actually find something that worked.
I found a relatively cute pair of boot cuts in the juniors section.
Then I thought "women's sizes are usually a little more curvy, maybe I should look there?"
So I did.
After one glance through a bunch of too-high-waisted skinnies, I almost gave up.
On my way to the dressing room I checked the other side of the rack just to make sure and out popped a super, duper, ridiculously cute pair of skinnies. In a size 6. In a sweet brand. With a great price.
I grabbed them and headed to try stuff on.

Now, when I say the following has never happened, believe when I say: "THIS NEVER HAPPENS!!!"

I slid on the skirt. Perfect fit.
I slid on the jeans. Perfect fit. 
1 pair of jeans. 1st pair I tried on. Perfect fit. Pregnant. Non-pregnant jeans.
THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN.

Even when I'm not pregnant and at an ideal body shape, it takes me about 25-50 pairs of jeans before I can find one that sorta, kinda, feels almost right. (just ask my hubby, he'll agree)

Of course I bought all three items with a huge grin on my face wondering how in the heck I got so lucky.
One of my most successful shopping trips of all time.
I fully believe that when you're pregnant, if you dress cute, you'll feel cute and it will lessen the blow of feeling huge and pregnant.
So now I feel a little more cute and a little less huge and pregnant.

Although, after a week or two of craving, and satisfying those cravings, of chocolate, sugar, treats, late night snacks, potato chips, and pizza, I decided this week to start:

"Tracking my food so I consume the appropriate amount of calories in a day versus consuming about 4,000 calories a day"

*which probably actually happened...on the night we had a normal, good, healthy, dinner and then had fries, frosty's, and a JBC at 9:00 pm. Oy. Did I mention the Wendy's 2,000 feet from our door opened? Not good.

I know I shouldn't be concerned about dieting and losing weight while I'm pregnant, and I'm not. But I should be concerned about what foods, and amounts of food, I put into my body, which I'm trying to do. The healthier I am pregnant, the easier it'll be to bounce back! Right?
Now if only I could find some motivation to exercise...oh wait, it's 19 degrees outside.

Happy Monday and thank the Retail Gods for a little wardrobe update!

It's all just Stuff, right?

Sometimes things go wrong. Like...

...Bubs forgot how to sleep through the night.
...he also learned how to remove the child lock on his door in about 2 seconds.
...he also thinks it's hilarious to do exactly what I've just told him not to do.
...he also thinks it's fun to throw his food off the table, along with his cup, plate, bowl, and anything else in sight.
...he also thinks it's fun to spoon feed the dog.
...he also thinks it's fun to throw tantrums and make everything dramatic.
...he also thinks it's fun to only nap for an hour.
...he also thinks it's fun to wake up at 5:15 am and wander into mom and dad's room.

and biggest of all...
...he thinks it's fun to dump his sippy cup full of water all over our couch and laptop while he was watching Cars, on the laptop.

It was a really fun morning.
I'm not really sure if our laptop will survive.

*we do have a desktop computer, but every  picture and file we've ever written is on the laptop.

Maybe we can salvage the hard drive?

Sometimes things get better. Like...

...eating oreos and peanut butter.
...being surprised by your husband leaving class early to help solve the laptop crisis.
...reading a book while ignoring the crying it out because you know he can't escape since the door now locks from the outside.
...putting on sweatpants after deciding they sound far more comfortable than trying to stay squeezed into normal sized "cute" jeans.


Today is one of those days that I'm glad a day is only a day and lasts for 24 hours.

...I promise my life is not tragic and dramatic every day. We seem to be experiencing a particularly difficult week from our dear sweet toddler.

What do you write when you don't know what to write?

I've been sick for 3 weeks now. When will it go away?

I finally decided to write a cookbook. Nothing big. Nothing major. Mostly just for me so I can have all my favorite recipes in one central location. I may feel kind and share if others are interested.

Bubs got his MMR shot today. I really hate shots. I think they're important but scary. We only gave him the dTap, the polio, and the MMR. None of the other ones. And those were administered over a span of 18 months, starting when he was 6 months old. It worked for us. I know it doesn't work for others. I also know it's controversial and extremely personal.

I want to blog, I really do, but every time I think about writing something, I only think about one major thing that's been on my mind. I don't know if I want to share yet because it feels personal. It makes me feel vulnerable to write it. I'm afraid of sounding whiny. I don't want people to tell me the same things everyone else have told me and the same things I already know. But I know I'm not alone. And sometimes it's therapeutic to write things. So maybe I'll start, write, re-write, re-write, re-write, and eventually finish the post some day. Then maybe I'll find the guts to share.

Until that day, something exciting happened here over the weekend....

YES! It's a piano!

YES! It's residing in our apartment!

YES! 4 guys moved it up 2 flights of stairs!

YES! It was free!

YES! All of my married sisters and I officially have pianos!

YES! I'm SO excited!

YES! Bubs loves it!

YES! Scott has played it more than I have.

YES! I play(ed) piano. I was amazing until I quit at age 14. Now I'm dying to pick it up again. 

Thank you, Dad, for spotting it on the curb one day and generously donating it after you acquired something far better!

Thank you, Mom, for driving 250 miles with an extra couple hundred pounds in the back so I didn't have to rent a van!

Life is busy, crazy, and oh so happy. I'm also craving candy. 

The end.