Sorry for the Gross Out!

So in my excitement for homegrown meats, I may have given too much information about the fate of "blacky". Especially for the unsuspecting pregnancy bunch, which just happens to make up half of my friends! I will try to be more PC in the future :)

I did have a hard time growing up with a couple of the animals that "went to greener pastures", but I just learned that if I wanted to enjoy all the work put into them that I just had to remain de-tached from said beasties. So I purposely kept distance from these critters.

I have to say that it was a very enlightening experience when "They" came to our house to get said animal. Maybe it's from watching all those episodes of Dirty Jobs from discovery, but they didn't mind if I watched (from the comfort of my warm home) but I felt like I was watching something from National Geographic or something. It's like it makes me appreciate the goods more when I know how much hard work goes into not only the raising but in the.....you know.

So sorry for the upsets stomaches, but it was a weirdly fun day for me! I hope you guys don't think I'm some crazy b/c I shared this :) But this was a big day for the amateur farmin' gal!

Tomorrow is Meet Your Maker Day...

Some of you might remember my post from the summer how four little piggy's came to live at the Radder home. We have gone from four to two. One of them, the runtiest little one, died unexpectedly in the night a couple of months after we got them. It got sick or something like that, which sucked b/c we lost out on the meat. It now rests in the field behind our property. Piggy two became.....................................

........... the wonderful main course for our ward Relief Society/Priesthood BBQ Social. Holy cow (er, Pig) was it amazing! It was slow roasted all day, courtesy of Marcus, My Dad and Cory Everton (Cory's magical spice rub!). They rigged this contraption to cook it on.

So then we were left with two. They have been living in blissful ignorance of the fact that one of them was going to be heading to our deep freeze. But the time has come, after the butcher being overbooked for weeks, the lucky (or not so lucky) black pig will be meeting it's maker tomorrow. I'm pretty used to eating things we raise as we did this a lot while I was in High School and still living with my parents. I am so excited to have my freezer stocked to the hilt of bacon, pork chops, ribs, roasts and ham! It's such a satisfying feeling to know that we have meat to last us for the future! And not only that, but the meat is chemical and hormone free, as we have been the only ones to feed it.

That leaves us with one little piggy whose story has yet to be concluded.

The Big Two Five

After I graduated high school it kinda didn't matter anymore how old I turned on my birthdays. I would actually forget what age I was and would have to stop and think about it whenever I was asked my age. 18 wasn't that big of a deal b/c I wasn't a citizen then so it's not like I could vote, legally that is. Then 21 wasn't a big deal b/c I don't drink, which drinking for a lot of people is that years focal/exciting point. So they all just blended together.
For some reason I am very AWARE of the fact that I am now 25. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I am lamenting about being SO OLD or anything like that! I totally understand I still have TONS of living yet to do ;) It's more like it's gut check time. Is everything thing in my life the way I had pictured it would be at this point? If not, then what am I falling short on?
Before I was blissfully unaware of the time flying past, but now I am more hyper-aware of it. I also didn't expect to be this reflective about this birthday either. I just always figured the next birthday that would be a big one for me would be the big three-oh, not the big two-five. That's what has been on MY mind lately!

Girly Girl!

So she got this car for her birthday. She pushed it around a couple of times (after ripping the doors off) and then after a few days of not playing with it, when she picked it up again THIS is how she uses it. No prompting or nothing. I just looked over at her one day and she was using her car as a purse. She likes to add extra things for effect. Like in this picture it is keys, sometimes chapstick or her cell phone (my old phone). She just crawls around the house like this, pauses and then poses for me!

She also loves to talk on the phone! I guess if they mimic you, it must mean it is something that you do A LOT! Oops, my phone talking can be a little excessive ;)

She will just stand there with this phone or her cell phone for like 1/2 an hour and talk to herself. She even pauses, like waiting for a response, and then kicks up the talking again. She loves doing this so much that my parents even have a "Liv phone" at their house. The one over there she especially loves. It has an antenna and she pulls it out before she talks on it.

It is so fun to see what new and interesting way she thinks up to use her toys next!

Christmas Morning-Better Late than Never!

This is her just chillin' on Christmas Morning! I love how proper she is with her little legs crossed!

This is when she first woke up. She feels the same way about mornings as I do. We are both pretty tired and cranky until we wake all the way up!

Look at me go! I'm motorin' across this floor! Watch out world, here I come!

This is when she was first starting to get the hang of it!

We ended up having a fabulous Christmas. Grandpa and Grandma Radder and Auntie Rachel were able to make it up (they face the blistering weather to drive from Sunnyside). Marcus and I talked about if for days, how much fun we had with them that morning!

I cooked breakfast for everyone, we opened some presents and played games. Liv loved the time she got to spend with them, especially playing with Auntie Rachel and her totally cool phone (sorry about the slobber!).

While I was taking FOREVER to get breakfast ready...everyone opened presents. Breakfast included: Hash browns, pancakes, sausages and herbed scrambled eggs (the eggs were to DIE for if I do say so myself). Liv absolutely loves her toy from Grandpa and Grandma. Grandma searched high and low for that car walker and even had the employee search the back stock, for which we are so grateful. That toy has provided HOURS of entertainment!

We even convinced them to play Catan with us, which was SO FUN! They had never played and were really great sports, although some were a little more ruthless than others (YOU know who you are!).

I feel so stupid for not getting more pictures. I didn't realize until now the only pictures I got were of Olivia in the morning and then with her toy-NO group shots at all! I am kicking myself over this! Oh well, live and learn. We are just so grateful they braved the crazy weather to come and make our Christmas so much more special!

This is what I've been up to...

So Kaitlyn let me borrow this workout DVD set, and I have to say I am totally loving it and loving her. I guess she is the fitness person on biggest looser (a show I've never watched). But working out to these

DVDs makes me want to watch it!

I've figured out the best time to do it is during Olivia's morning nap. It has made such a difference in my day. More energy and better attitude. I never seem to remember that when I stop exercising but the moment I get back into it I kick myself for not just sticking with it before.

For some variety I've also recorded some workouts from the Fit channel, which have also been awesome and totally free. Marcus (without my knowledge) has recorded one of my exercising sessions and threatens me with it. The threatening being making a blog post about it (which he almost did after the whole bib post). Luckily I have managed to persuade him not to (thank goodness for all my womanly wiles).

Thanks Daddy!

See Olivia, It's okay to wear a bib when you eat dinner...even Daddies wear them!

Well I guess if cool guys like my Daddy wears a bib, I CAN TOO!

Daddy keeps eating all my beans!

Today was just "one of those days". Olivia was ESPECIALLY grumpy this afternoon, and it was testing Mommy's patience to the max. So I made the executive decision that tonight qualified as a PIZZA NIGHT. Little Caesar's makes an amazing thin crust pizza-to nights drug of choice being the thin crust supreme with NO onions! I think it was as much the drive TO GET the pizza that I enjoyed just as much as eating it.

Marcus agreed to hold down the fort while I was on my pizza quest. Liv always calms down when Daddy gets home and is so excited to see him. She was way over tired today and just didn't know what to do with herself. She was too cranky to eat even (which if anyone has seen my daughter eat, NOT wanting to eat is a clear sign something JUST AINT RIGHT!). The bib has been a real fight lately, she does not want to wear it, and if you make her wear it....NUCLEAR MELTDOWN! So in an effort to get her settled down, distracted about being tired for long enough to realize she is hungry, Marcus jumped into action. I walked around the corner on my way out the door to see the above scene. LIV EATING and WEARING A BIB!! I heard them before I saw them b/c Liv was laughing and Marcus was singing "All the Single Ladies" by Beyonce in a falsetto. She was rocking back and forth to the beat while eating her beans. It was the cutest thing ever!! After I snapped the incriminating evidence Marcus told me he just figured she might be okay with wearing it if she sees other people wearing it too. It totally worked, she only went to take it off when she was almost done with her beans, she also took off Daddy's bib. She just figured they were both done with wearing the bibs at that point.

Us Mommies are always there for them through out the day, to play with them, to love them, to feed and nurture them. Sometimes they are just ready for their fun loving Daddies to come home and just PLAY and PLAY and PLAY. Just the change of scene and all the new and different games that Daddies can come up with is usually just what the doctor ordered! Haven't you ever walked around the corner and witness whatever crazy game is going on thought to yourself "why didn't I think of that?". But I think that is what is fun about both parents. Each has there own way of doing things, which at first I didn't like ("isn't MY way always the BEST way?") but now I realize is so vital to our little rascal's development. It's all the different things that we each bring to the table that are going to keep her well rounded. So.....THANK YOU DADDY!