The Caldwell's December

Christmas has come again!?

didn't we just have Christmas last year??

seriously can't believe the year is almost over.

here's our Christmas card....that we didn't send out.

i was all gung ho on getting em sent out then i hit the lazy wall. let's use my favorite excuse as to why i don't have the energy to do things and say it's cuz i'm pregnant and am too tired!

our brazilian friend thiago took these pics before he left back to brazil.  it was so fun having him, thanks for hangin with us thiago!

it being december 2013 you know what that means!  that means the Hobbit-The Desolation of Smaug is out!

and this time kyla came with erin and i to the midnight premiere, IMAX 3D showing.  and we all wore our LOTR shirts we got from comic con.  i love my nerd family.  being pregnant made for an uncomfortable 2 hours and 45 mins though but i refused to let the growing fetus girl prevent me from seeing The Hobbit!

thanks to our parents, who had just arrived the day before, for watching the children!

we all crashed at kyla's apt that night then the next day brett and i scurried on over to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert.

my mom, kyla, and i all requested tix thinking that one of us was bound to get some but we were all denied.  i was pretty much devastated because John Rhys-Davies was going to be there.  and if you don't know who that is well let me tell you, he plays gimli in The Lord of The Rings.

this guy.

we were SOOOOO lucky that brett was able to find tickets, his co-worker hooked him up.  

it was such an amazing concert.  i never knew how much the church puts into their yearly Christmas concerts.  sometimes i do feel lucky that we live here in utah.  there are so many opportunities here that you couldn't get elsewhere.

the program said that after the show the special guests will be signing autographs at the deseret bookstore over at city creek.  so after the show this pregnant woman hauled it to the bookstore in her high heeled boots dragging brett behind her.  i was determined to get John Rhys-Davies's autograph.  we made it to where we didn't have to wait an obscene amount of time in line.

he was such a nice guy and it was so cool to meet him!  i got a little star struck meeting him.  he signed our program and a book we bought there.  2 signatures would've been like, $80 at comic con.  it's nice that deseret bookstore does this kind of thing and i don't have to give up my firstborn or something.

we spent the rest of december playing in the snow and farting around waiting for Christmas to come.

#sundayselfie

then the blessed day of Christmas came.  i love the fact that everton understands more of what's going on this time around.  and it helps that we know what to get him for Christmas based on his likes and faves and right now he's obsessed with pixar's planes.  so he got a good sized collection from lots of family members.  thanks all for fueling his love for planes! 

he loved unwrapping his presents too.

we got everton a mega blocks table thing, which everton uses to pretend he's godzilla destroying downtown tokyo.

call me lame but i took a pic of my Christmas goods and posted it mainly for everton's darling face.  but for real, brett, my mom, and my sis erin hooked me up with some sweet makeup!  LOVE IT.

then after the unwrapping of Christmas goods we chowed down on another type of goods, my dad's traditional Christmas cinnamon rolls.  and this year he stuffed them with cranberries, raisins, and pecans and spread an evil cream cheese frosting on top.

i think the baby girl's going to come out looking like a cinnamon roll with how many i've eaten.

then later that day we headed down to my aunt's in provo for Christmas dinner.

the food was bangin.  check out the hungry hungry preggo in the back.

then we finished out the meal with my dad's eggnog cranberry cheesecake.

it was EVIL i tell you.  the baby's been throwing a rave since Christmas.

the day after Christmas travis and kyla came over so we could unwrap more presents!

sassy hazel and her new fairy outfit from lola.

lola also gave hazel a bucket of play food so naturally everton and hazel started snacking on the plastic chocolate bars.

everton's new sunday suit from lola and grandpa.  such a a snazzy and sour kid.

took some quick pics after church today.

i look like i ate one too many cinnamon rolls.  i'm getting so tired of wearing maternity clothes so i stuffed myself into one of my looser non preggo skirts.  i miss wearing pencil skirts up to my boobs.

my hot mom, everton, and i.

december and Christmas of 2013 have been quite excellent.  having my parents here have made it more excellent too.  i am just so thankful to have the family that i have and for the family i married into.  the holidays are all about spending time with family and i sure love doing that.  and eating is our favorite too.

 hope everyone had an excellent Christmas as well!

everton probs and preggo favs

it's been precisely a month since my last post because when i have an idea for a post i would rather shnuggle up with everton and watch a movie...or stuff my face...or go to the bathroom (since i'm the urinator again.)  and my memory is that of a goldfish so even when i do have an idea for a post it flutters away from my mind.

so brett has a friend from his mission in brazil currently staying with us for a few weeks.  brett took all of last week off to hang out with him and show him the american way of eating really unhealthily and took him on the mormon tour of temple square.  and thiago (the brazilian friend) also wanted to see the sights of vegas so he and brett had a little brocation.  and while i totally didn't mind brett leaving for a few days, what was awful was taking care of everton by myself those few days.  i'm at this point in this pregnancy where i find myself thinking/asking, "how the hell am i going to take care of 2 kids when i can barely take care of 1??"  i don't know what it is but everton's been a gremlin lately.  it's been like pulling teeth to get him to eat and it's like all of a sudden he's gone deaf and would ignore everything i say to him.

BAHHHHHHHHH.

it did help going to kyla's and hanging out there while brett was gone, except the fact that everton likes to take a swing at his cousin hazel every now and then.

everton scares me.  i think he's transitioning from the terrible twos into the terrifying threes and he ain't three yet.

good thing he's so freaking cute.  his looks are what save him from his mom's wrath.  

i do love that little monster.

he still doesn't talk yet so i've been having a speech development teacher come over and help give him a boost in talking.

will everton be a superhero to our little girl?  or a super villain?

life's just been hectic with everton and whether we're ready or not, baby #2 is coming!

i'm in my 30th week of pregnancy and seriously everyone who have asked when i'm due, their jaws drop when i tell them i'm due at the end of jan.  i have 10 more weeks and i'm in disbelief.  

10 MORE WEEKS.

despite my belly being tiny, the doc said that her head is measuring a little big; that'll be an adventure to push out, everton had a huge head too.

i love the fact that as the ultrasound technician found the girl's face, she immediately said, "she has your lips!"

i'm dying to see what she looks like.

so i wanted to share with you some of my favorite preggo products.

these are what i used in both pregnancies and i swear by them.

and honestly i wanted to write these down somewhere in case i forget what i like to use in my next pregnancy...cuz you know...my brain is empty most of the time...

1. back when i found out i was pregnant with everton i did what most newly pregnant women do and i went and got myself some prenatal vitamins.  except they were horse pills!  and getting into my nausea stage those horse pills were hard to swallow without gagging.  i found these gummy prenatals and they are soooo good!  i continue taking these to this day and i love the little dose of sugar i get from them.

2. in both pregnancies i like to treat my growing belly with tons of TLC.  the next 3 items are really just for my belly.  after i've done my usual shower routine the last thing i do i rub this delicious coconut lime body sugar scrub all up on my belly.  it's SO relaxing and smells amazing.  it scrubs off any dead skin and makes my tummy super smooth.  i used to get my body scrubs from bath and body works but those can get a little pricey.  this brand is a lot cheaper and works just as well.

3. when i get out of the shower i lather this stuff on liberally.  it smells like chocolate and isn't greasy after i put it on.  (now don't hate me)  but i have yet to get stretch marks on this growing tummy of mine and i like to think it's because of this creamy cream and getting my mom's awesome filipino genes has helped too.

4. after the scrub and the stretch mark cream i seal it all in with this baby oil.  i put just enough to lightly cover my entire tummy or else my clothes will be sliding all over my belly.  these 3 things really help to prevent the major itchiness that comes with the stretching of my tummy's skin.

i know this sounds like an arduous process but i find it to be so relaxing and i make it part of my "me" time.  who knows if i'll get to continue this process when i'm pregnant with our third in the future but i'm sure as heck i'm going to try to make time for it!

tomorrow is thanksgiving!!!  i love being pregnant in the winter/holiday time cuz it means good food and spending lots of time stuffing my face with said good food (the baby needs it.)

and what i'm grateful for this year is
 my darling brett and rambunctious everton
my awesome family and family in-laws
food
a healthy pregnancy
yoga pants
church
my home
and food, oh that's the baby talking.

snape, the snitch, and the boy who lived...to eat a lot of candy.

it's halloween it's halloween!

i never thought having a kid would make halloween even more fun.

and it's a huge bonus to have a kid go trick or treating and you get to eat some of his loot.

for this year's fam costume theme i had another idea in mind but as i thought about how to put it together it just started getting complicated in my head.

but then i thought about harry potter.  i finished a harry potter marathon a couple months ago, reading the book then watching the corresponding movie. and even everton seemed to like the movies, i attempted to read the first book to him and he didn't give a crap.  we'll try again later. 

anyways, i thought a harry potter costume theme was in order.

 i also wanted to incorporate my round belly too and found a really cute idea online of dressing up as the golden snitch!  everton would be harry potter and brett would be professor snape.

i'm really proud of myself this year.  i feel like we hardly spent any money on our costumes.  brett used his old black grad gown (i'm glad we kept it!) and just wore his black church pants and a black sweater. simple enough!  i do wish i found him a wig though, he'd make an adorable grumpy snape.

and for my dear everton we bought a little superhero cape for harry's robes and i made his tie from felt.  i used my red lipstick for the lightning scar and my eyeliner for his glasses, i got so paranoid though, hoping he wouldn't touch his face and smudge my work.  and we thought this harry potter would be less dangerous if he didn't have a wand.  he was so cute as harry!  i loved it.

we went to our ward's trunk or treat on friday and re-taught everton the process of trick or treating.  he still doesn't talk very much but he did express his joy for all the candy he got by looking in his bucket and saying, "wowwwwwwwww."

my costumes always seem to be the most complicated to put together, probably b/c i like to be super glammed up.  it was mainly the gold "ball" and wings i was worried about.  heaven forbid i find a gold sparkly shirt this time around when i swear i've seen hundreds before.  that's my life.  but walmart had these sparkly sequin tops in what seemed like every other color except gold.  i grabbed the silver one and spray painted it gold, works for me!  i had to skype with my mom to figure out my wings and they turned out really well due to her help and to jill for helping me pin them on.

only my nerd friends really got what i was and this one lady in the ward thought i was a belly dancer.  pretty sure belly dancers wear a lot less than what i was wearing.

after everton and i made our rounds we hung out by our car and everton continued helping himself to the leftover candy from our bucket.  whatta fatty.

snape, the snitch, and the boy who lived...to eat a lot of candy.

after we got home we all junked out on everton's haul, everton had a sugar high then a sugar crash, threw him in bed, and then brett and i finished out the night eating pumpkin bars and watched hocus pocus.

it was a magical night.
(pun TOTALLY intended)

conquering cornbelly's

the kids are getting older so kyla and i really wanted to start taking said kids to corn mazes, pumpkin patches, tractor rides and such this fall.  and what better place to take em than cornbelly's down in lehi?  we've never been and thought it was a good year to check the place out.

holy crap that place was huge!  soooo much to do and see that we didn't get to see and do all of it.  next year we're definitely planning on spending all day there.

but we made sure to do the main stuff, starting with the gigantic corn maze.

check out hazel's pose.  "what's a girl to do in this huge maze??"

pretty sure everton and hazel saw no point in walking paths through a field of corn stalks.

darn kyla and her hot post-preggo bod!

and this is my current preggo bod.

and kyla's pretty amazing, feeding the baby while walking in the maze!  now that's fast food.

most tired criminal ever.

then we rode on a tractor sitting on hay that poked into our legs.

there were little wooden playgrounds galore.  everton esp loved this tractor one.

our aunt and cousins came with us too!  it was a splendid fall day to spend with family.  but it got cold and dark fast and the kids were starting to get cranky.

seriously can't wait for next year at cornbelly's and we're hoping our parents can come with us next time!

freezer meal lovin

blechhhhhhhhhh

i've spent almost 2 weeks rotting on the couch as sick as a dog.

and it's not nausea sick, it's the annoying cold virus sickness.
and being pregnant i can't take anything.

now i'm slowly getting over it but i just have the barking seal cough.

i seriously miss my dayquil and nyquil.

and being sick for so long meant no cooking dinners for most of the time.  in the early stages of my cold we used up the rest of my freezer meals.  thank freakin goodness for those.  then the last part of my illness consisted of brett getting creative with whatever we had in the kitchen/pizza takeout.

now i have a lot more energy to stock up our fridge/freezer with actual meals so i thought i'd take this post to show/tell you about my crock pot freezer meal adventures.

i would definitely say that i'm not the first person that would come to mind when it comes to cooking and cooking advice.  but whenever i post a pic of my crock pot freezer meals i have friends that ask how i do em, what my fav recipes are, etc.

so in this post i'm going to pretend i'm this awesome mommy blogger chef that is going to show you my freezer meal "SECRETS" and share some of our most fav freezer meal recipes.

as payday approaches i sit down making a massive list of recipes and groceries and aim for 2 weeks of freezer meals.  i still have yet to figure out how women out there do like, 50 meals for $90 without repeating recipes over and over but for now, our grocery budget works for 2 weeks.
i then set off for the grueling task of grocery shopping, it's really not my most favorite thing to do.  and then after ALL that shoppin we usually get a pizza or taco bell cuz seriously, i ain't cookin after all that.
usually the next day i gear myself up for a few hours in the kitchen, leaving everton with netflix in the living room or "helping" me in the kitchen.

but before i start putting the bags together i label them first and let the ink dry.  i hate smudgy sharpie fingerprints. we bought this huge box of freezer gallon bags at costco for about $10.  i'm still good on bags for a while, one less thing i have to worry about.

and i get to chopping veggies and shoving food into ziplock bags.

these are my onion chopping goggles.

i use a lot chicken in my freezer meals so i count up about how many chicken breasts i'll be needing and buy accordingly.  most of the time 2 bags will do.  just something i learned, if the raw chicken is frozen already, don't let it thaw out, then throw it in the freezer again; that causes contamination and grossness.  but if you buy them not frozen, they're ok to put in.  other meats that are ok to throw in raw are cuts of beef or pork but if you are using ground beef or sausage you have to cook it first then throw it in the bag.  anybody's who has heard otherwise let me know!

one lifesaver is my jar of already minced garlic.  a lot of recipes i use call for garlic and this makes it SO easy to add it.  i am super lazy to cut up a ton of cloves and this tastes just as good.

  just FYI, a 1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic= 1 clove.

again, i'm actually really lazy and go for ways to make life easier, simpler, and faster.

so with that being said, i SWEAR by these slow cooker liners.  since i bought my crock pot i've been in love with using it but cleaning it SUCKED!  then my mom-in-law used a slow cooker liner with her awesome pot roast and i was infatuated.

these are about 1.97 a box at walmart.

the liners don't affect the taste of the food and make cleaning up minimal.

after all is said and done i freeze the food filled bags flat on a cookie sheet then when they're completely frozen i take the cookie sheet out and line them upright so there's more room in the freezer.  and throughout the day i open the freezer to stare at my work.  i'm really proud of myself when i accomplish making dinner for the next 2 weeks.

it's a good few sweaty hours in the kitchen chopping veggies, measuring ingredients, and putting crap into bags equaling the next 2 weeks of not having to think about to do for dinner.  usually the night before i decide what we'll have for dinner the next day and take out the freezer bag to thaw slightly in the fridge and throw it in the crock pot while everton and i have breakfast.  then as dinnertime approaches i make rice or veggies to eat with the main meal.  minimum thinking/work required.  these are perfect for when someone needs a meal, you just give them a bag!  or when this little girl arrives i'm hoping to have a ton of freezer bags prepared so we won't have to worry about dinner for a good while. 

so without further adieu here are some of my most favorite crock pot meals and here's my crock pot board on pinterest full of recipes i have/haven't tried yet.--- CRACK POT

ham and pineapple with rice

swedish meatballs

*i also add a splash of worcestershire sauce and horseradish sauce and it's SO flavorful.  serve with egg noodles!

garlic rosemary chicken and potatoes

buffalo chicken sandwiches

crock pot no boil manicotti

*i totally still throw these in the freezer too.

creamy italian chicken

moist and tender turkey

*i made this for thanksgiving last year and it is truly a beautiful and flavorful turkey.

taco chicken bowls

balsamic chicken

bbq country style ribs

*i didn't add the bbq sauce in the bag but added everything else then made a note on the bag to drain the liquid after the ribs have been cooking for about 8 hours.  then add the bbq sauce to the crock pot and cook for one more hour.  

super fast chicken freezer meals

*i've made a lot of these chicken recipes and haven't made any we didn't like.  most fav-french chicken.

this next website is what i used when i was getting started in freezer meals.

she has a lot of meals, grocery lists, and i love that she even has what you write on the bag for most of the recipes.  there are multiple parts but these are what we love the most and have made the most often.

beef burritos

*this is brett and my most favorite freezer meal EVER!  it makes a ton and brett makes his brazilian rice to go with it and it is super delicioso.  one thing about it though is that it calls for a ton of peppercorns and i hate having to fish out every single one.  anybody have any tips on cooking with peppercorns and how to get em all out at once?

the teriyaki pork chops from the same page are amazing too.

delicious pot roast

*i know i've been saying "favorite" a lot but this is our most favorite pot roast recipe and doesn't require a lot of ingredients.

and there you have it.  if you have any beloved crock pot recipes you're willing to share, please do!  i'm always on the lookout for really good recipes.

seriously, if my lazy self can do this, you can too.