Birthing Class

This week I went to my first birthing class. It completely freaked me out! haha. I cannot believe there still isn't a better way for the baby to come out. In the class they went over all of the signs and stages of labor and what happens in each stage. The lady also talked a lot about how epidurals are not a good thing to get, but everybody else says I should definitely get one, so I don't know what to do about that yet. The instructor said that when you get an epidural it numbs your whole bottom half so you can't feel your contractions or the urge to push when it is time for the baby to come out which makes it hard to deliver the baby. That made sense to me but I don't have any clue how bad the pain will be and if I can handle it without the medicine. So that is what I have been thinking out recently trying to figure out what would be best for me. I just hope little Andrew decides to be a nice little baby and come out fast and easy, haha, I can always hope. I also didn't know that during the whole first stage of labor you just stay at home until the contractions get more constant and then you go to the hospital. That kind of scares me too because what if it all of a sudden gets going really fast and I don't have time to get to the hospital. I don't know. Brandon did use his connections at school to get me a doctor at Jackson Memorial though which is really great because it is only 5 minutes from our house instead of 30minutes minimum of the other hospital I would have been delivering at. I'm getting really ready to see my baby but I'm pretty nervous about the getting him here part. Mom's should definitely be treated like Queens for what they go through to get their kids here; if all kids understood what it took to get them here they would be more appreciative I'm sure. I know I have become more appreciative of what my mom went through to get me here :)

Chicken Fettucini Alfredo

I made chicken fettuccine Alfredo for dinner tonight. This is the best recipe ever! I don't even like Alfredo sauce but this recipe was really, really good! It makes a ton though so next time I will half the recipe for just me and Brandon. I even put a little chicken in it for Brandon and it was actually really good with all the seasonings and things. I've never really cooked chicken like that before, so I'm glad it turned out good :) The mushrooms are by far the yummiest part in the noodles though, they turned out great :)

Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Cook Time: 30 Minutes

Ready In: 1 Hour

Servings: 8

 

Ingredients:

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into cubes 6 tablespoons butter, divided 4 cloves garlic, minced, divided 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning 1 pound fettuccini pasta 1 onion, diced 1 (8 ounce) package sliced mushrooms 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon salt 3/4 teaspoon ground white pepper 3 cups milk 1 cup half-and-half 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 8 ounces shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese 1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:

1.	In a large skillet over medium heat combine chicken, 2 tablespoons butter, 2 cloves garlic, and Italian seasoning. Cook until chicken is no longer pink inside. Remove from skillet and set aside.
2.	Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3.	Meanwhile, melt 4 tablespoons butter in the skillet. Saute onion, 2 cloves garlic, and mushrooms until onions are transparent. Stir in flour, salt and pepper; cook 2 minutes. Slowly add milk and half-and-half, stirring until smooth and creamy. Stir in Parmesan and Colby-Monterey Jack cheeses; stir until cheese is melted. Stir in chicken mixture and sour cream. Serve over cooked fettuccini.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 7/8/2011

4th of July

For the 4th of July Brandon and I really wanted to go watch the fireworks over the ocean. We decided to go to Hollywood beach again because it has become one of our favorite beaches. So we set out early around 10 so we could get parking and stayed all day long at the beach. We bought a really cool beach tent from amazon that made staying at the beach all day much more comfortable and shady although we still got burned. There were a lot of people on the beach but having a tent gave us enough space to spread out a little on the beach. The hardest part of the day was just finding me things to eat because I get starving about every 1-2 hours! The fireworks show was really amazing over the ocean at night! I loved it and I think the baby did too because he kept jumping around in my stomach, haha  :)

Beach, baby decorating, school

       This past week we got to go up to Hollywood beach again which is always fun :) We took a boy from Brandon's young men's group because he has been dying to go to the beach too. Unfortunately we ran out of sun screen so we got pretty burned as usual, haha. Someday we are going to be tan. Brandon is in the middle of eating doritos and did not want a picture, haha, but we got him anyway.

       My new project is decorating the baby's room. We are super poor so we can't buy all the really cute baby decorations that are in the stores so I had to be a little creative. I decided I would try making some sort of jungle scene out of felt. I made leaves, a sun, and a banana tree. It's not professional at all but at least it's better than bare walls :) I want to add more colors of leaves and maybe some water or something to make it more interesting, but for now this is what it looks like.

        Brandon has also started medical school and is working hard already. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday he is gone from 9-4 and Tuesday, Thursday from 1-4. Brandon's group is kind of like my dietetics group that I was with for two years. There are about 50 or so people in his class and they are all in the same classes all day long. He also has to do lots of group projects with them as well. We got Brandon a metro pass so he rides the metro to and from school and it is super fast which is great. I'm still worried about how safe it is because of the area we live in, but he keeps telling me its perfectly safe. While Brandon is at school I have been working on studying to take my DTR exam, watching Wimbledon, exercising, and trying to come up with dinner. Things will be pretty quiet around here for me for another couple months and then our house will never be quiet again, haha. I'm getting really excited for the baby to come. I just want to see how cute he is already!

Yummy mixed berry pie with pie crust

I just made this pie last night for dessert. It is super delicious! I tried my own pie crust for the first time too but the bottom didn't work out because it needed to be baked a little bit first and I didn't do that so it didn't cook well, but the top crust worked well :)

3 Berry Pie- I used frozen berries

1 cup fresh strawberries, halved

1/2 cup white sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

2 cups raspberries

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust

pie

In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar and cornstarch. Add strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries; gently toss until berries are coated. When using frozen fruit allow fruit mixture to stand for 15 to 30 minutes, or until fruit is partially thawed. Line a 9 inch pie plate with half of the pastry. Stir berry mixture, and transfer to the crust lined pie plate. Top with second crust, and seal and crimp the edge. To prevent overbrowning, cover the edge of the pie with foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes when using fresh fruit, 50 minutes for frozen fruit. Remove foil. Bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes, or until the top is golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Pie Crust

1 cup unsalted butter, chilled

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons white sugar

1/3 cup ice water

1. Combine flour and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer. Cut butter or margarine or butter and shortening into tablespoon pieces; add it to the flour and butter. Use the paddle beater to cut the butter and flour together. Alternatively, this can be done by hand with a pastry blender.
2. With the mixer on low speed , or while stirring the mixture with a fork, pour in the cold water. When the dough starts to clump, and before it turns into a ball, stop stirring.
3. Lightly knead dough in the bowl until it forms a ball. Divide dough into two parts. Flatten each part into a disk, and chill for about 30 minutes before rolling. 
4. Bake the bottom pie crust at 375 for about 15-20 minutes so that the bottom crust gets baked enough.
5. Flatten top crust out into pie dish. Melt some butter or use egg to slightly wet top crust and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar on top.

This week's update

      This week was a pretty slow relaxing week for us. We went up to Hollywood beach again and took one of the young men in Brandon's class. The big thing we did was apply for medicaid becuase there is just no way for us to afford health insurance for me right now so we are hoping we will be able to get it and have the rest of my pregnancy covered. It was a big blessing when we went to the medicaid office there were two nice ladies standing outside who we happened to talk to who knew a person we could just sit down and apply with instead of having to wait hours in line to apply; so that was really nice. The Spanish people here are so friendly once Brandon starts speaking Spanish to them. They love that he speaks Spanish and are so sweet and helpful to us.
      I taught my first relief society lesson in Spanish today on President Monson's talk about the temple. I was so nervous! It went pretty well though. The sisters could tell I was trying my best and lots of them participated and made comments so I was really grateful for that. Our ward is so interesting because so many sisters are from different Latin countries and have had so many different experiences. Especially with the temple lesson some of them shared experiences of how much they would have to sacrifice to go the temple and it was humbling to me who has never had to sacrifice anything more than my time to go to the temple which is not really a sacrifice at all. So I was glad I was able to at least understand their comments and learn from their examples. I know I pronounced a lot of things wrong in my lesson because I was kind of shaky and nervous but they were really patient with me. Hopefully the next lesson will be easier now that I have given one. My Spanish is slowly getting better but I still can't really hold a substantial conversation with anyone. I'm reading Twilight in Spanish to try to expand my vocabulary but it is just going to take a lot of practice and time.
     Brandon and I also found some free tennis courts nearby so we have been playing lots of tennis lately. We are watching Wimbledon on t.v and it makes both of us want to get out there and hit the tennis ball like a pro, haha. Brandon is getting very good at tennis; its fun to play with him. It is really hot to play here though because of the humidity. We are both drenched after we play and have to bring towels to sit on in the car, haha, its pretty gross.

Here is my Lesson on Temples- the English version :)

The Holy Temple- A beacon to the world

The lesson today is on the temple. President Monson gave a great talk on the temple in the last general conference. The talk is called the Holy Temple: A Beacon to the World.

I want to start with the history of temples. Who knows what the first temple was to be built in this dispensation?

•      It was the Kirtland temple in Ohio.

·     Reader #1- President Monson said: “The Saints at the time were impoverished, and yet the Lord had commanded that a temple be built, so build it they did. Wrote Elder Heber C. Kimball of the experience, “The Lord only knows the scenes of poverty, tribulation and distress which we passed through to accomplish it.” And then, after all that had been painstakingly completed, the Saints were forced to leave Ohio and their beloved temple. They eventually found refuge—although it would be temporary—on the banks of the Mississippi River in the state of Illinois. They named their settlement Nauvoo, and willing to give their all once again and with their faith intact, they erected another temple to their God. Persecutions raged, however, and with the Nauvoo Temple barely completed, they were driven from their homes once again, seeking refuge in a desert. The struggle and the sacrifice began once again as they labored for 40 years to erect the Salt Lake Temple, which stands majestically on the block just south of those of us who are here today in the Conference Center.”

President Monson Said: “Some degree of sacrifice has ever been associated with temple building and with temple attendance. Countless are those who have labored and struggled in order to obtain for themselves and for their families the blessings which are found in the temples of God.”

Question: Why are so many willing to sacrifice so much to receive the blessings of the temple?

·        President Monson said: Those who understand that no sacrifice is too great, no price too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive those blessings. It is worth every sacrifice and every effort.

Question: What do we sacrifice to go to the temple?

I want to read a story about the family Tham who sacrificed so much to go to the temple and receive the blessings of sealing.

Reader #2

·        At that time the nearest temple to the Mou Tham family was the Hamilton New Zealand Temple, more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km) to the southwest, accessible only by expensive airplane travel. The large Mou Tham family, which eked out a meager living on a small plantation, had no money for airplane fare, nor was there any opportunity for employment on their Pacific island. So Brother Mou Tham and his son Gérard made the difficult decision to travel 3,000 miles (4,800 km) to work in New Caledonia, where another son was already employed.

·        The three Mou Tham men labored for four years. Brother Mou Tham alone returned home only once during that time, for the marriage of a daughter. After four years, Brother Mou Tham and his sons had saved enough money to take the family to the New Zealand Temple. All who were members went except for one daughter who was expecting a baby. They were sealed for time and eternity, an indescribable and joyful experience. Brother Mou Tham returned from the temple directly to New Caledonia, where he worked for two more years to pay for the passage of the one daughter who had not been at the temple with them—a married daughter and her child and husband. In their later years Brother and Sister Mou Tham desired to serve in the temple. By that time the Papeete Tahiti Temple had been constructed and dedicated, and they served four missions there.

 

Question: Have any of you had an experience with sacrificing to go to the temple that you would be willing to share? It can be a sacrifice of time, effort, money, anything.

-     I have not had to make any big sacrifices like those in the stories, but I do sacrifice my time to go to the temple. I used to live 5 minutes away from the temple in Provo but it was still hard to attend the temple regularly. Satan will always try to fill up your life with so many things that it seems impossible to go to the temple.

Question: What are some things that distract us from going to the temple? Question: How can we overcome these distractions? I think prayer is a big way to avoid distractions and also setting goals for yourself.

President Monson said:

·        If you have not yet been to the temple or if you have been but currently do not qualify for a recommend, there is no more important goal for you to work toward than being worthy to go to the temple. Your sacrifice may be bringing your life into compliance with what is required to receive a recommend, perhaps by forsaking long-held habits which disqualify you. It may be having the faith and the discipline to pay your tithing. Whatever it is, qualify to enter the temple of God. Secure a temple recommend and regard it as a precious possession, for such it is.

·      Reader #3- Until you have entered the house of the Lord and have received all the blessings which await you there, you have not obtained everything the Church has to offer. The all-important and crowning blessings of membership in the Church are those blessings which we receive in the temples of God.

Question: What are some blessing we receive in the temple?

·        Families can be together forever

·        Getting to know the plan of God

·        Peace in your heart and mind

·        Answers to your questions

·        Making covenants with God

Question: What questions do we need to answer to obtain a temple recommend?

·        Are you keeping the word of wisdom?

·        Are you keeping the law of chastity?

·        Do you sustain the leaders of the church?

·        Do you pay tithing?

·        Do you attend your meetings?

·        Are you honest?

·        Do you keep your baptismal covenants?

Question: What are some differences between the church and the temple?

·        In the temple we do much more than we can in the church. You need a recommend to enter the temple, we make covenants that we cannot do in the church such as sealings, endowments, and baptisms for the dead.

We also need to be good examples to our children. If we do not have the goal to go to the temple then our children will not have our example to look up to. President Monson said:

·     To you parents of young children, may I share with you some sage advice from President Spencer W. Kimball. Said he: “It would be a fine thing if … parents would have in every bedroom in their house a picture of the temple so their children from the time they are infants could look at the picture every day until it becomes a part of their lives. When they reach the age that they need to make the very important decision concerning going to the temple, it will have already been made. I plead with you to teach your children of the temple’s importance.

Conclusion: President Monson concluded that :

·        The world can be a challenging and difficult place in which to live. We are often surrounded by that which would drag us down. As you and I go to the holy houses of God, as we remember the covenants we make within, we will be more able to bear every trial and to overcome each temptation. In this sacred sanctuary we will find peace; we will be renewed and fortified.

·        My beloved brothers and sisters, may we make whatever sacrifices are necessary to attend the temple and to have the spirit of the temple in our hearts and in our homes. May we follow in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who made the ultimate sacrifice for us, that we might have eternal life and exaltation in our Heavenly Father’s kingdom. This is my sincere prayer, and I offer it in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord, amen.

Bear Testimony

Minestrone Soup and Italian Breadsticks

We just had Minestrone Soup. Minestrone soup is one of my favorite recipes, so I thought I would share :) This is perfect for a rainy day, especially with homemade breadsticks :) I will slowly be adding my favorite recipes and linking them in my recipe tab on my blog, that way I can have a whole cook book online to share with everyone.

Pasta Fagioli Soup (Minestrone)

2 cans (14 oz each) chicken broth

1 can (15 oz) Kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

2 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 ½ tsp minced garlic

1 tsp Italian seasoning

¼ cup frozen spinach

¼ cup shredded or diced carrots

1 cup small shell pasta, uncooked

Combine broth, beans, tomatoes, zucchini, oil, garlic, Italian seasoning, spinach, and carrots in crock pot; mix well. Cover; cook on low for 3-4 hours. Stir in pasta. Cover; cook on low for 20-30 more minutes or until pasta is tender (do not overcook or pasta will be too soggy). 

Soft Italian Breadsticks (bread machine)

1 cup warm water

3 Tbsp butter or margarine, softened

1 ½ tsp salt

3 cups bread flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder

2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast

Topping: melted butter and parmesan cheese

In bread machine pan, place the first eight ingredients in order. Select dough setting and start. Check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1-2 Tbsp of water or flour if needed. When cycle is completed, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Cut each half into 12 pieces; roll each into a small rope. Place apart on greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 20 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately brush with butter; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Yield: 2 dozen.

 

South Beach

This week we went to South Beach :) It has been super hot here lately. It was about 92 when we went to the beach. I just stayed in the water most of the time. We went in the morning and the ocean didn't even have any waves; it was completely still like a lake. It was really nice not to have waves splashing in my face. We are  trying to work on our tans here but we are still the whitest people on the beach, haha. Other than hanging out at the beach and the pool here we haven't had much to do lately. Brandon starts school in about a week and a half on the 27th so he is enjoying the last bit of his summer vacation. I am going to start studying hard for my DTR exam once he starts school and will just keep working on my Spanish. Lately I have been so tired it has been hard to do anything but hang out in the cool indoors or at the beach :)

28 weeks :)

         Here is the latest picture of my belly. It is starting to poke out more but everyone still laughs and says I don't look pregnant when I wear clothes, haha. I sure feel pregnant though. It is getting harder to sleep at night because little Andrew likes to kick me all night long. For some reason the second I lay down he starts going crazy! This week I have another doctor's appointment and I have to do a glucose tolerance test. They will give me straight glucose which my friends say is really nasty and then take my blood to make sure I'm not at risk for gestational diabetes. But everything is still going pretty good with little Andrew :)
        Church today was much better for me. I decided to be more friendly and talk to different people today that I didn't know. We are going to watch the Miami Heat game with a family in the ward today who lives in our apartment complex so that will be fun to get to know them.
        Brandon had his colonoscopy this past week too and the results came back negative. So at least we know there are no major problems with his stomach or intestines. But we still don't know why he gets the bad stomach aches. Brandon will go see the doctor again in a few weeks to see what else it could be. He got in to see a Cuban gastroenterologist because none of the other gastroenterologists at Jackson Memorial hospital or anywhere could get him in until the end of July so that was a big blessing to get in to see the Cuban doctor. The doctor said that he was a general surgeon in Cuba and that in Cuba they do not pay doctors much at all so he came to the U.S. to practice medicine. But in the U.S you have to pass your board exams over again in English so he had to learn English to pass the exam and do another residency and fellowship here in the U.S. So this doctor is a super qualified guy. It is pretty amazing that he would do all of that to work here. All the doctors and nurses love Brandon once they find out he speaks fluent Spanish. They think it's awesome, haha. And when Brandon woke up from his colonoscopy he woke up speaking in Spanish to everyone and they all thought that was pretty funny. He is just a Spanish guy at heart, haha.

This weeks experiences :)

  
       This past week we went up to Hollywood beach which is about a 20 minute drive from where we live. We really like Hollywood beach because it has a really great boardwalk with all sorts of shops and places to eat which makes it super fun. We went up at about 10 in the morning and stayed until 3. The beach is really beautiful up there and the water is so blue! We made sure to put on lots of sunscreen this time but we still got a little burned. It's going to take a while to build up our tans after living in snow for so long! Over memorial weekend we also went up to John U lloyd state park beach which was really fun too.
        Today church was really hard for me. There are very few people in the ward who speak English and my Spanish is not good enough yet to just go talk to people in Spanish. I am also so shy that it doesn't help anything. Our gospel doctrine English class has about 5 people in it including Brandon and I and the other classes are not given in English. So I went to relief society today by myself and it was a bit shocking for me. I just felt so out of place and had a really hard time. Everyone in the relief society spoke Spanish and the lesson was in Spanish and there was nobody to really help translate for me so I tried to understand the best I could. I can understand quite a bit of what is being said but I still don't catch everything. There was a nice girl who talked to me a little in English and introduced herself so I appreciated that because I felt so out of place. Then after church we had a meeting with the bishop and he gave us callings today. Brandon was called as the first counselor in the young mens program and I was called to be a relief society teacher. I was hoping so bad I wouldn't get called to be a teacher because I am just so awkward with people but the Lord saw fit to call me as a teacher. The bishop said I can teach in English but nobody in the Relief Society speaks English so I don't know how I am going to teach the sisters. I am going to try my best to learn Spanish but it is going to take some time to get it down. I am feeling pretty overwhelmed with the new life here. I am just out of my element with the Spanish and the big city but it is going to help me grow a lot and I need to just make the best of it and throw myself into the culture here. I'm really scared and nervous right now about being here but I'm sure I will get used to it soon. Other than that things have been pretty quiet this week. Brandon and I watched the French Open on tv and just hung out and relaxed this past week; it has been pretty nice :)