Macy's first week of life

She's Here!

Macy Noel DeVore

born December 23, 2009

6 lbs 5 oz

19 3/4 inches long

I could make cards all day...

Oh wait, I did. The last two days I made a total of 42 cards. I made it a goal to only use scrap paper. I have so much it doesn't even seem like I made a dent in my scrap supply. I'm pretty happy with the results of the "scrapy cards." It's nice to have a husband that doesn't call me lazy for spending my days doing what I love to do. He even encourages this behavior. Thanks Jonathan!

The Christmas Spirit

A very cute video made to remind us of the meaning of Christmas.

Big Snow Storm in Virginia

It snowed more than 2 feet today! Apparently this doesn't happen very often because pretty much the whole town shuts down. One mall was completely closed and the other mall by us had a lot of stores closed. The roads don't get plowed very well nor does salt get put on the ground. Utah has their system down, we never had problems living there. We did venture out with our Suzuki (which has 4-wheel drive) so Ja could play in the snow with his nephews. He had a blast, as did the nephews. Ja had to drive through a huge snow drift that was blocking the street (thanks to the snow plow) to get out of the cul-de-sac. Ja just said that was his all time favorite moment in his driving career. I'll admit it was kind of cool to have the car covered in snow for a second, but also a little scary.

I wanted to post this just for the pictures of our buried car. This is around 5 p.m. tonight after it snowed all last night and today.

This is to show how much snow was on the roof of our car.

Here is a completely buried car. It's an Escalade! Look at how high the snow is! They aren't going anywhere for a while. I took this at 10 p.m. tonight.

Most people aren't going anywhere for a few days. All the cars are buried if they didn't take the time to shovel themselves out. It's so bad they even cancelled church tomorrow! I never got a snow day growing up in Southern California, so I think it's cool so have something cancelled. I guess I should be sad that it's church that is cancelled but oh well :)

Let it snow, let it snow, let is snow! I may also have my first white Christmas!

Another Laura Sighting!

My sister-in-law Tiffany called me and asked if I had ever posed for a picture wearing a black suit with a briefcase. I told her yes, then she said yep, it's you. She was looking at a fertility website and saw a picture of me as a "business woman." We thought it was ironic because I am young and having a baby. Goes to show pictures can show up anywhere. Here is the link, just scroll down the page a little bit to see me.

Unexpected Curtain Project

I bought plain green curtains for the baby's room from Walmart. I hung them up then realized I wanted to wash them to get the creases out because ironing wasn't doing the trick. Well, they shrunk 3 inches! I didn't want to make more holes in the wall to re-hang them so I decided to add some pizazz to the curtains to make them longer. I added a few inches of pink fabric on the bottom, sewed a white ribbon on the bottom, and sewed pink and green flower buttons on the tabs of the curtains. I'm really happy with the results! They look like I bought them this way. I hope I can use them for many years to come.

9 month Belly Picture

Well, I've done it! I made it to 9 months. It's not fair that your whole life you think pregnancy lasts 9 months and only when you get pregnant you find out it's really 10 months. Oh, well. Next week I'll be considered full-term so technically I could have a baby any day. We really need to buy a car seat!

I've been having a harder time breathing and turning over in bed always comes with grunts and other noises. She's still moving and punching me a lot. When my father-in-law was here for Thanksgiving he did an ultrasound and we found out her arms are still in the 89th percentile and her legs are in the 40th. Who knows, maybe "M" stands for monkey? She weighed in at 5 lbs 8 oz. She also gets the hiccups a lot, in fact she has them right now.

Don't tell me I don't look any bigger. I definitely am. All my stretchy maternity shirts are stretched to the max, and the shirts that seemed so big just a few months ago are getting too short. I've gained 32 pounds so far. It's unnerving to see the nurse having to adjust the scale higher and higher each time I go. Anyways, here are the pictures.

8 months

9 months

My First Turkey

This year for Thanksgiving I volunteered to cook a turkey for dinner. I only did this because I knew there would be other turkeys coming, I didn't want my first attempt to be the only turkey on Thanksgiving! What if I didn't cook it right and we had a frozen turkey?

Other than taking the neck and giblets out (which was pretty gross. I was glad I wasn't in the early stages of pregnancy, I probably would have thrown up.) cooking a turkey isn't all that bad. I brushed some olive oil on the bird then rubbed spices on it. The hardest part of moving the bird from the pan to a plate. Our poor turkey got it's spine snapped in half. We laid it on the plate and it falls open for all to see it's insides. That wasn't a pretty sight so we somehow positioned it so it would stay closed.

I would cook a turkey again but I would invest in a real roasting pan. I used the throw away kind and that made it a little difficult to get the turkey out of the oven because you can't lift the pan out.

We had plenty of turkey that day. We had my turkey, Holly's turkey, and two turkey breasts. No one went hungry.

Two Good Books

I just finished reading two books that I thought were very entertaining and good reads. I thought I would pass them along in case you're in the mood for a good book.

The first is "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society." This book is a series of letters written between a lady in London and people on the island of Guernsey, which is part of the Channel Islands. I liked the letter-style of the book because it was short tidbits of everyone's life and made the book go by fast. The letters mostly have to do with the German occupation of the Channel Islands during WWII. I didn't want this story to end. I loved reading about the daily lives of the funny and interesting people.

My sister-in-law- Heather introduced me to the second book, "A Year in Provence." The author writes the book in seasons about his and his wife's first year living in Provence. They moved from England into an old stone farmhouse. He shares his experiences with the local people and their love for food, disregard for time, their mannerisms, and love of wine. It's considered a travel book, but a very fun and fast-paced one. (The first couple pages were a little slow but after that it got much better.) I really enjoyed this book too. It will make you want to go to France and eat their food. One of my favorite lines was at the end of the book. The couple woke up to a kitchen with no electricity, therefore no way of cooking Christmas dinner. What the author says sums up the French: "It is at a time like this, when crisis threatens the stomach, that the French display the most sympathetic side of their nature. Tell them stories of physical injury or financial ruin and they will either laugh or commiserate politely. But tell them you are facing gastronomic hardship, and they will move heaven and earth and even restaurant tables to help you."

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had some extra pumpkin leftover from Thanksgiving so I decided to make these cookies with it. They are so delicious. I've eaten almost half of them myself. They are a moist, cake-like cookie.

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp milk

1 cup pumpkin

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil (can substitute 1/4 cup with applesauce for less fat)

1 egg

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

Dissolve baking soda in milk; set aside. In a large bowl, add pumpkin, sugar, oil, and egg; stir. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda mixture. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and vanilla. Spoon onto lightly greased cookie sheet. (They don't spread out, they keep the shape you put them into.) Bake at 375 for 10 minutes or until done.

Curtains!

My sister-in-law Tiffany and I took a beginning sewing class and we both made curtains. We finished a week before the class ended we were so fast. Here is the finished project. They look very professional. The teacher showed us the best way to make curtains and it wasn't very hard either. I'm very happy with them. It's nice to have them hanging, that was a lot of fabric to lug around.

A Sneak Peak

We are still working on getting our new place set up so I only have empty condo pictures. I figured you've waited long enough so see something.

Our light blue bedroom: It now has a great king size bed with great bedding and night stands that Jonathan built last night.

The baby's light yellow room: The crib on the floor is now built and set up with all her bedding.

The cream living room: Is finally clear of all boxes. It has a desk with my computer on office stuff on it that Jonathan built, a TV stand (that Ja made) with a great new TV on it, bookshelves (that Jonathan put together). We get our couch on Saturday.

The dining nook: Now has a great counter height table that fits six chairs. We love that table. I only have four placemats so I'll have to work on getting six.

We are working on getting our pictures set up once our couch gets positioned. I'll post more pictures later!

Baby Decorations

I received a Cricut Expression for my birthday and I was finally able to use it today. I wanted to make some artwork for the baby's room. This was very easy to do with my "Special Delivery" Cricut cartridge. I was lucky to have the perfect paper already to match the crib bedding. Here are the final products:

The two that say "dream" and "little one" are my favorite.

We have half of the baby's room set up and we are loving it. There's nothing on the walls yet, but there will be soon. Here is a sneak peak of her room. I painted the walls a light yellow and the crib and dresser are white. The bedding is dark pink, light pink, green, yellow, and a hint of light blue. It's still hard for me to imagine my own baby sleeping in the crib, it doesn't quite feel real yet. We are very excited and love looking at her cute room.

Belly Picture Time

I'm now 8 months along! Only 56 more days to go. I'm feeling pretty good. I'm sleeping much better than I was, but now it's a burden to bend over and tie my shoes.

7 months 8 months

We Have a Condo!

We officially have a condo to rent. Here are the great things about it:

-We asked for $25 decrease in rent, and they agreed

-We asked for them to pay for the paint in the paint colors of our choice, and they agreed

-They fixed everything that we asked to be fixed

-We have the keys on October 30th!

-It has a big pool, exercise room, two tennis courts, billiards room, clubhouse, playground, basketball court, great sidewalks that have exercise stations along the way, extra storage, covered parking, and an elevator.

-It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, washer & dryer in the unit, dishwasher, great views out of the windows, and great natural light

We are very excited about living in this condo! I personally can't wait to start decorating!

My Baby's Quilt

It's so nice to finally make a baby quilt and get to keep it! I'm very happy with the finished quilt. During the quilting part of it, I realized I am a much bigger fan of stitch-in-the-ditch. Free motion quilting is such a headache with all it's accompanying tension issues! I ended up using only free motion on the middle white block. I stitched around the flowers and the butterfly trails.

The middle square of fabric was the inspiration piece. I love the pinks, greens, browns, and blues. I love minkie fabric so of course I had to use it for my baby. Only the best for the DeVores. JoAnn's was having a great sale on baby flannel fabric so I got all of the fabric (minus the minkie) for only $15. I think that was a great deal.

I had a lot of fabric left over so I decided to make a little rag quilt and a little quilted square she can carry around without having to lug around the whole quilt. The pattern said it was crib size but the quilt is much bigger than that. Now I can't wait to use it with little "M!"

Third Trimester, Here I come!

Today I am 28 weeks along. As promised to my relatives here is my latest belly picture. I look slightly bigger right? I feel bigger, and so does she. She kicks with stronger force now. Everything is going well and I feel fine, other than being tired all the time. I guess that's never going away so I may as well get used to it.

24 weeks on the left 28 weeks on the right

Consignment Sale Extravaganza!

My sister-in-law has opened my eyes to the wonderful world of consignment sales. They are amazing places. It's like the wonderful craig's list, but better because you can see and touch the items before purchasing them. At this sale there was everything baby and kid: toys, books, shoes, blankets, sheets, towels, diaper bags, costumes, jackets, clothes, cribs, play pens, changing tables, bibs, bottles, cups, etc, etc. Everything is priced by the consigner so some things are better priced than others, but all of it is much cheaper than you would find in the store. If you have access to a consignment sale around you I would recommend going. It's better than a thrift store because the items are inspected beforehand so most of the items are high quality with no stains, tears, or broken parts.

Here is my loot: 10 adorable outfits, changing pad w/ cover, 2 swaddle blankets, overhead gym, diaper bag, 5 wash clothes, 4 receiving blankets, 3 bibs, 3 little hats, and crib liner. I could have purchased many more items but I had to restrain myself. I'll go again the next time they have the sale in April :)

The absolute best find of the night was this crib set. On the before mentioned craig's list, I came across a cute Pottery Barn Kids pink, green, and yellow bumper (as seen in the picture). But that's all it was, the bumper. At the sale I found a matching Pottery Barn kids valence, crib skirt, and two matching sheets. I was so excited. Now I have the whole matching set. I love, love the valence because it isn't necessarily baby, she can use it for many years to come. I just love it!

Our newest little Nephew

Our newest nephew, Mark, came home from the hospital yesterday! He was in the NICU for 8 weeks due to his premature birth. He is doing great! Greg and Holly are glad they don't have to take the nightly journey to the hospital to visit him anymore.

Ja, Brigham, and I made a "Welcome Home Baby Mark" sign. Brigham made the W a rainbow and did a great job! Brigham was very helpful all morning and was actually excited to see Mark (he says he hates babies). He even waited outside for 30 minutes for his parents to bring Mark home from the hospital.

Here's the whole family. Caleb couldn't keep his eyes off of Mark. We couldn't get him to look at the camera. The whole morning he kept pointing to Mark and saying, "Baby." He wanted to hold Mark and would get very upset if Mark was moved away from him. It was very cute.

Now Ja and I can get real newborn practice and see what life is like with a newborn baby.

Apple Recipes

As you can remember we went to a farm and came home with 30 pounds of apples. Needless to say we have been eating a lot of apple dishes lately. I wanted to share the recipes we have tried because they have all been good.

The day we got back from the farm Ja and Greg made this apple pie. It was very delicious! Brigham said it was the best apple pie he's ever had.

Apple Crumble Pie

5-7 tart apples, peeled and sliced (we only used two because they were so big)

9" unbaked pastry shell

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/3 cup butter

Place apples in pastry shell. Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over apples. Combine brown sugar and flour, cut in butter until crumbly and sprinkle over apples. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. (Greg said he sprinkled the cinnamon and sugar in between each layer of apples.)

I made these Apple Muffins. If you make them, I would double the amount of apples and cinnamon used. They were a nice light muffin that was good for breakfast and as snacks.

I made this Apple French Toast recipe conference weekend. It is very sweet and almost like a custard because of all the eggs and sugar used, but very delicious. I personally liked it better with a little bit of syrup on it.

Apple Cinnamon Baked French Toast

• 10 slices of thick French bread
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 2 3/4 c. milk
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 1 T. vanilla
• 4 medium apples, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 t. cinnamon
• 3/4 t. nutmeg (optional)
• 1 T. butter

Place slices of bread in a greased 9×13 inch baking dish.

Combine eggs, milk, 1/3 c. sugar and vanilla; pour 1/2 mixture over bread. Top with half of the apple slices. Combine 1/3 c. sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Sprinkle 1/2 of this sugar mixture over the apples. Top with remaining apples. Pour remaining egg mixture over apples and sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture. Dot with butter. Cover and chill overnight or 8 hours.

Take out of fridge 30 minutes before baking. Bake uncovered at 350° for 1 hour or until knife comes out clean. Let stand for five minutes before serving.

Last night Ja and I made these Apple Dumplings from the "Our Best Bites" blog. They too were very good and very easy.

We still have about 10 baking apples left so I'm up for any other apple recipes you have to share!

Halloween Pillow

Some ladies in our ward quilting group wanted to make a Halloween paper piecing pillow. I was told it was easy and could be done in one day so I thought I'd try it.

We all shared our orange, yellow, green, and black fabric scraps then went home to figure out how to actually do the "paper piecing.' It's not that hard once you figure out how to do it. The biggest thing to remember is making sure your pieces are big enough for the spaces. I didn't do that every time and you can see where the fabric doesn't quite reach the next space.

You sew right onto the paper then tear the paper away once finished. Here's the pattern we used for the pumpkins.

Here is the finished product. It's my first one, and it definitely shows. There are a few holes (I just found one in the middle, arrr), and I had to tear out many stitches when it came to the borders. I didn't have directions for that part so I was guessing what to do. It may be a pillow I have out for Halloween and won't be sad if it gets ruined somehow. I want to try paper piecing again because now it is easy and it uses scrap fabric. Hopefully my next attempt will be better.

Another Laura Sighting!

My brother-in-law Devin informed me of another website that is using my picture. It's been over 2 years since I took this picture so it's funny it keeps showing up. This time it's for a cell phone service for study abroad students.

Apple Picking at Homestead Farm

*Beware this post may contain a large amount of pictures*

"Apple of Our Eye"

We went apple picking on Saturday at a farm in Maryland. It was nice cool fall weather, perfect for picking produce.

First of all, on the drive up to the farm, there are some gigantic houses. My favorite was a Spanish style house that was called "Casa de Amor." My other favorites were the houses (I should say estates) that resembled Pemberley.

I love the way the red colors of the apples, the green colors of the leaves, and the kids red hair stand out in the pictures. I took our nice camera figuring we could get some great pictures and I felt we did.

This was my very favorite picture. It was Ja's idea to put Caleb in the empty row so he picked Caleb up and put him down then ran into the next row. It only took a second for Caleb to figure out he could run after Ja. I was glad I was able to get one good shot! The colors are great, I didn't do anything to this picture.

We first found the animals. Brigham was actually trying to help Caleb!

Caleb wanted to hold the apple bucket, until he noticed the big open fields and wanted to run. The bucket was abandoned very quickly.

Cute Holly.

Kids enjoying the apples. Notice Caleb has two apples, one in each hand. He ate both, core and

all.

Ja took this picture of two shiny round things.

Greg and Brigham. I love how they both have their head tilted in the same direction and their faces have the same expression. Ja pushing Jacob around.

Ja juggling his apples.

Caleb and I pretending to make apple juice.

We had a great time and I can't wait to go pumpkin picking!