Welcome to Being an Adult

It has been a rough couple of weeks.

I started to have complications with my pregnancy on December 15th, and it was pretty much downhill from there.

The evening of Christmas Eve, I miscarried our baby. Needless to say, Christmas was not how we expected it to be.

People keep asking me how I'm doing. And I have to go through everything of what happened again. That's not an easy task. I guess I just fully understand why some people wait until the second trimester to tell people the good news.

I'm doing ok. I really am. I am for sure doing way better than I ever thought I would when I thought about it happening to me. And I believe that our rough 2 weeks of complications was God's way of preparing my heart. And He is carrying me through everything.

And, as hard as it is, I believe it was the Lord's will for us to miscarry. Greg and I did a lot of talking afterwards, and it seems as though God was preparing us for the miscarriage from the day we found out we were pregnant.

I went out and bought an angel ornament for our Christmas tree. Also, I'm working on a song about everything too. Maybe one day I'll post it on here.

Here's the ornament...

I know the Lord will bless us with another child when He sees fit, and so we're just waiting until then.

6 Weeks and Hunter

I am currently on hold with our insurance company to tell them that I faxed the pregnancy information they needed on Monday, so I don't know why they called me last night saying they still need it...

So, I thought I'd come on here and blog to lift me spirits. :)

We took our 6 week pictures last night. I feel like I'm SO big already. I know everyone I talk to with at least 2 kids says they showed faster with their second, but I even got a WOW out of my sister (who has 4 kids) when she saw my picture! I'm just saying...

Please ignore what looks like my giant hand. :)

So we have been potty training in the Wehrman household, which I am very excited about since that means we could possibly only have 1 in diapers. And, I'm even considering doing clothe with this next one, so pretty soon I could be done with BUYING diapers! I'm not totally sure about the clothe thing though, because I know Greg wouldn't want to put out all the money to buy them because he would be afraid I'd give up and the investment would be a waste. But, I'm hoping I could get some stuff from my sister who does clothe diapers to try it out before I buy my own stuff.

ANYWAY, now that I'm done with my clothe diaper tangent...Hunter is potty training! And whenever we go potty, he actually goes. He understands how to go pee pee, and does so every potty break. However, he's not crazy about going every 20 minutes, and also, doesn't realize when he goes any other time. I have to get him to realize that he's going in his diaper and to stop it so we can go in the potty. But, we just keep taking potty breaks, and I'm trusting that the awareness will come with practice of peeing in the potty.

So yesterday, I was going to the bathroom, and Hunter came in and stood in front of me and said "YAY!!" and clapped his hands like momma does when he goes in the potty. It was so nice to get recognized for my good efforts, so I also rewarded myself with 2 M&M's afterwards. ;)

I am so excited that he is at the age now when he will start doing and saying funny things like that. I started a journal yesterday to document funny moments like that. I wrote the date and then the incident, and I know that years down the road, I'll be so glad I did it and love to look back at all the silly things our kids have done. :)

This and That

This past weekend, we put our Christmas tree up. Hunter loved helping hang all the ornaments, although we had to constantly remind him that he needed to hang them on the branches, and NOT on the beads! He did a good job though. :) Below are some pictures of him and daddy putting the star on the tree to finish up the decorating.








And here's the finished tree. Every night when we ask if he wants the tree on, he gets SO excited. He just loves it all lit up!



With every day that passes, I can't believe how big my little bug is getting. This next picture is him eating an apple all by himself. I was eating it, and he decided it was his, and he ate the whole thing. I did have to tell him not to eat the seeds and core though. :)

Whenever we are about to eat, he knows we are going to pray. The other day, we asked if he wanted to pray and he said "yeah." So we bowed our heads and he said a little prayer. None of it was in english, but he definitely knew what he was doing.

If I ask him where the baby is, he points to my belly. He obviously doesn't understand yet, but I know as the 9 months continue and as my belly grows, he'll get a better understanding.

I can't get over how blessed we are. Money is tight, and so is time spent together, but God is good, and I have a wonderful, healthy family. I couldn't ask for more.

White Bean Chicken Chili

1 lb chicken, diced
butter
2-15 oz can chicken broth
2 lg (or 4 sm) cans cream of chicken soup
1 lb velveeta cheese, cubed
2-8 oz pkg cream cheese, cubed
2-15 oz cans white northern beans, drained
1-4.5 oz can green chiles

Cook diced chicken in butter in 6 quart pot until white.

Add chicken broth, bring to slow boil and let cook 10-15 minutes.

Wisk in soup. Heat through.

Wisk in cheeses, stirring constantly until melted.

Add beans, and heat through.

Add chiles to taste. I only add about .5 a can because I'm not a fan of super spicy foods, but feel free to add more. Just remember - the longer the soup sits, the longer the chiles have to develop and the hotter the soup will be.


Top with sour cream if desired, and enjoy! :)

FMTSO - Weather

Yay, it's my week!! :)

Well, let me first say that I picked the topic "Weather" when I lived in Illinois and there was actually changes in the weather! Now, I'm in Arizona, and it's pretty much either sunny and hot, or hot and sunny. :)

However, the weather did cooperate a little bit with me this week as it actually rained for the 3rd time in the 4+ months we've been here, and I was able to capture some shots. They aren't as good as I'd hoped they would be, but they're at least a variety from a clear sky that I usually capture.

If you look closely, you can see the flash caught some of the raindrops in the next 2 photos.

This next one (kind of) shows the ripples in the puddles as the rain hit them.

These next photos were taken of sunsets from my backyard. I seem to do that quite frequently. Arizona just has such beautiful sunsets, and they are never the same.

And lastly, from my archives of last winter in Illinois, and in honor of the Christmas season, here's a shot of a tree with a fresh snow fall on it. I just love how snow lays on top of each branch. I think it's beautiful.

FMTSO - A Few of My Favorite Things

I'm going into the archives this week - I hope that's ok.

First off, I LOVE LOVE LOVE being pregnant. I love the miracle that God has decided to let me be a part of. I love the belly. And I'll admit, I love the attention. :)

I love my boys, and I already think that we're adding another boy to the mix, which is fine. I will take whatever the Lord sees fit for our family.

I love running...and no, I didn't take this picture. :) My Aunt Lynne took it as I was finishing my half marathon back in August. I am still trying to figure out how to mix running with the pregnancy, but we'll get there.

5 Weeks

I canNOT believe how fast my belly is popping out with this pregnancy! I am excited though becuase I love the belly, but my sister was so kind to remind me that that mean's I'll be huge and uncomfortable sooner too!

I took weekly pictures with Hunter to send to Greg while he was in Iraq, but because I took them, they were always just of the belly, because I would just take the picture in front of the mirror. I am excited to get weekly pics this time around, and actually have my face in the picture with Greg behind the camera! :)

Exciting News!

This is our exciting news!! We just found out last week that we are going to have another baby and we are to excited!

We have been trying for 3 months, but we kept it a secret. There were SO many times I wanted to tell someone (especially my mom!) but we hid it well and are so happy that the Lord has finally decided to bless us with another one.

I actually took 5 tests (crazy, I know) because I kept wondering if I'd just imagined a faint line or something, and then finally, the digital test was pretty conclusive. :)

We are due in early August. I'm not looking forward to being a whale through the summer again, but I'll deal with it since it means another bundle of joy. I will keep the blog updated with weekly pictures...so stay tuned!!!

FMTSO - My Town's Premier Attraction

Ok, I'm aware that my picture is nothing spectacular. I actually just took it with my phone, and was trying to snap the shot fast enough in the parking lot of my work before the owner of the car ran out and said, "Hey, what are you doing to my car!?" I can't imagine telling him that I am in a photography "club" (what are we exactly?) and I needed a picture of a Goodyear tire.

Anyway, let me tie my picture into my town. I live in Goodyear, AZ. We're located about 45 minutes southwest of Phoenix. Whenever I tell people the name of my city, they sarcastically make a comment about Goodyear tires. However, that actually IS how the city got its name!

The 16,000 acres were purchased by the Goodyear family in the early 1900s to grow cotton which was used to make their tires, primarily tires for jets in World War 1. Since then, it has blossomed into any typical city with lots of new neighborhoods, however, there still are cotton farms throughout the city! (Not sure if they're still used for Goodyear tires though...)

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ok, so whenever Greg and I get Chinese, for as long as we've been together, we ALWAYS both order Sweet and Sour Chicken. Well, #1) the only 2 Chinese places within 20 miles of us (one way) were way overpriced for the amount you get. (Oh, how we miss the Chinese place in Havelock that delivered!) And, Greg wasnt crazy about their sauce (he's really picky about sweet and sour sauce.) #2)We really don't have the money to be getting takeout, even if it IS a good price. But, for some reason lately, I've reallyyyy been craving it.

So, I decided to go Keri style :) and try to make it myself. I found a couple recipes online, one calling for flour and one calling for cornstarch, and I didn't know what the difference between the two would do to the chicken, so I decided to call my culinary friend Kat, who ended up giving me her recipe from when she was in school. Here it is. :)

Vegetable oil, for frying

Cornstarch

Chicken, cut into 1" cubes (I used 3 breasts, and still had leftover batter, so if you only want a little, you could cut the recipe down accordingly)

4 eggs, scrambled

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 cup flour

5 oz cornstarch (just over 1/2 cup)

1 tbsp baking powder

salt, nutmeg and pepper to taste

9 oz water (just over 1 cup)

Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet to frying temperature. Kat told me when you sprinkle a little flour in the oil and it starts to crisp, it's just right.

Mix the last 7 ingredients to form a batter. Roll chicken pieces in the extra cornstarch to lightly coat, then dip in batter, then place in frying pan. There should be enough oil in there to at least mostly cover the chicken. Let it sit for a minute or two to crisp up the bottom, then flip and do the same to the other side. I then placed the finished chicken on a plate with paper towel to at least soak up any excess oil.

As far as the sweet and sour sauce goes, I just bought "La Choy" sauce, because the ingredients are all normal, and I figured I'd try one thing at a time. First, I did the chicken, and maybe one day I'll try the sauce.

Anyway, the chicken was AWESOME. The outside was exactly like at a chinese place and it actually had better flavor, probably because it was a better quality chicken. (Greg mentioned that at least we know for sure that it's not cat.)

So if you like sweet and sour chicken, I definitely recommend this recipe! YUM!

Friday My Town Shoot Out - Places of Worship

My places of worship (aside from Sunday morning) are all different kinds of places.

Sometimes, it's the front seat of my car, and is usually accompanied by praise and worship music.

Sometimes, it's my kitchen sink, ALSO accompanied by music.

Sometimes, it's my couch accompanied by my Bible.

And even sometimes, it's wherever my running shoes happen to take me.
My places of worship can't be narrowed down to one building. When He's a God as awesome as He is, how can you not praise Him everywhere?

Friday My Town Shootout - Skylines

I will not be participating in this week's shootout, but please keep me on the list. I'll be back on next week!

Birthday, Anniversary and Halloween

This past week has been a celebratory one for us, as it is every year.

The 27th was Hunter's second birthday. Mommy can't believe he's 2 already! He is eager to inform you of that every time you ask him how old he is, also.

Since we don't really have any friends here in AZ, we just had an intimate party. I made pasta, because that causes little frustration during mealtime in trying to get him to eat. He doesn't like meat and we always have to bribe him with vegetables (I know, crazy) to eat his meat, so I made pasta and veggies since it's the closest thing to what his "favorite" meal may be.

After dinner, we webcammed with my family so they got to sing happy birthday to him and watch him blow out candles. They also got to see him open his presents, too.

I, unfortunately, don't have any pictures of presents or candles, because I was helping him with it, and Greg was recording. He did have fun though. He just couldn't figure out why he'd open a toy and then we would take it away from him and hand him something else. He just wanted to play with the first toy!

The 28th was Greg and my 4th wedding anniversary. More surprising than my baby turning two, I canNOT believe it's been 4 years that we've been married. It has definitely flown by, but I am so thankful for every day. We didn't do anything for the actual day, but we will be going out on a date next week to celebrate. It's been months since our last date, and I'm super excited to get a babysitter and go!

On the 29th, we decorated our pumpkins. We stripped the little guy down to his diaper, gave him some paint, a couple brushes, and a pumpkin, and let him go wild! He LOVED it! He was so proud of his masterpiece when he was finished. And for whatever reason, this child HATES having anything on his hands. (When he helps me cook, he can't accept the fact that he's going to get food on his hands, and can't go on with helping until I clean it up.) Anyway, I thought the paint would be interesting, but he didn't mind it too much. He definitely noticed it, but just kept painting. I don't think he's ready to do finger painting yet, but it's a start. :) Greg and I each carved a pumpkin. Here is the pumpkin trio on Halloween night. Might is the one on the right, and Greg's is to the left. For Halloween, we dressed Hunter up as a Marine, because we had the camies and what's better than free? Also, Nana Wehrman made a matching hat (or should I say "cover") that topped of the ensemble (no pun intended) perfectly. While at the dollar store looking for face paint, I saw a cat costume that I decided to sport for the day. I couldn't pass it up for a buck. Here is Hunter head to toe in his camies, before paint.

Here are the two of us. :)

Our neighborhood had an Oktoberfest, as they called it, that we went to. It was right on the lake in the neighborhood and they had booths set up with different vendors, and games for the kids. The most interesting thing to Hunter, however, was the big stack of hay.

We then, of course, went trick or treating. We brought the camera along since this was really Hunter's first trick or treating experience. The following video is the first house we stopped at. Watch what he does. :)

Now, maybe it's because I'm momma, and I was there, but I am still laughing about this. I just thought it was so sweet. When have we ever rang someone's doorbell and NOT gone inside? :)

After a little trick or treating, I came back to pass out candy. This is the first year we've lived in a house, so really the first year we had trick or treaters. It was so fun. I love the neighborhood we live in and love how family oriented it is. Another first was being able to sit outside and hand out candy because it was 75 degrees outside! Oh, how nice that was!

Once we came inside, we did give Hunter one piece of candy so he could see the fruit of his labor, but he crashed soon after. It was a big few days for a little guy. :)

Friday My Town Shoot Out - Park Landscapes

As much as I'd like to think that I work ahead of our schedule with assignments each week, so I'm not overwhelmed on Thursday when I realize I have pictures to shoot, this rarely happens. However, I was very lucky with when this assignment fell on the calendar. If you looked at my previous post to this one, you saw that my family and I took a trip this weekend to see some gorgeous Arizona landscapes. As we left for our trip, I looked up what our assignment was and was SO excited to see that it was park landscapes! I am very proud of some of my pictures this week and so excited to share them with you.

Our first stop was the Grand Canyon. How's that for a landscape? :)

Here's my husband and Bella posing for a picture.

I am very proud of this next photo and think I may frame it. This picture was still taken in the park. The Canyon is actually about 10 feet to our left.

After the Grand Canyon, we drove to Sedona, which is located in the Coconino National Forest. The drive there was so gorgeous, and we stopped to get some pictures of the scenery.
And I have saved my favorite to be last. I am definitely framing this last picture.
If you've been here, you know that Arizona has some gorgeous scenery to offer. If you've never been, I suggest you try to make the trip!

Our Northern Arizona Vaca

This weekend, my boys and I made a trip up north. It's crazy to think that "up north" is the Grand Canyon, considering growing up, "up north" meant the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. THAT is up north. Anyway, while on this side of the United States, we wanted to take advantage of being so close to some awesome sights.

We left yesterday morning and drove the 5 hours to the Grand Canyon. I vacationed there as a child, but Greg had never been. It was as gorgeous as I left it 13 years ago. See for yourself...

Isn't God amazing?

We spent the morning there. We would have loved to hike down, even just a little ways, but that's obviously impossible with a toddler. So we just enjoyed the view from the top. After the Grand Canyon, we drove 2.5 hours south to Sedona. Now, if you've never been to Sedona, AZ, YOU MUST GO! This place is GORGEOUS! There's seriously no place like it...I don't think so anyway. The drive there was gorgeous too. The highway twisted and turned around mountains-and I MEAN twisted and turned. There was a stretch of the highway (probably about 2 miles long) that twisted down the mountain and probably brought us down about 1000 feet in elevation...if that makes any sense. I got some pictures of the drive too...

We arrived in Sedona right about sunset. We ate at a really cool diner called "Red Planet Diner" that was all space themed. It was really cute for kids. And their food was good too! We went to bed early after all the driving we did.

This morning we drove around Sedona and looked at all the gorgeous Red Rocks. We got pictures from up on top of a mountain looking down at the valley where the city is and then the mountains behind it. Isn't it gorgeous?!

Just to the left of the center of the picture is "Coffee Pot Mountain." Can you see it?

One thing you can do in Sedona to get the full feel of the mountains is to go on a jeep tour. However, if you're extremely tight on money (like us,) another option is to find a jeep that is driving on a tour and follow them! Now, in no way is this even comparable to an actual jeep tour (because I got to experience one as a kid when we visited there) but it is at least good to find the dirt roads that take you to some gorgeous places!

After Sedona, we made the 45 minute drive to Jerome. Jerome is a little town that was built in the side of the mountain. It was established in the late 1800s as a copper mining town. Now, they have cute shops all along the streets, and a gorgeous view of the valley.

While there, I got a turquoise stoned necklace and Greg got and awesome belt buckle! Check this out! It's real!

We drove the last 2 hours back home after a good lunch and lots of shopping. It was a fun filled, and very busy two days, but very enjoyable. This was our first let's-go-see-the-gorgeous-views-that-America-has-to-offer family vacation. I think that means we're officially Mom and Dad.