Midterm Results

I was able to log on to my BYUI account and get my midterm grade. I was a little disappointed when I saw that I got a 75 out of 150. I knew that I wouldn't do that well, so I expected it but I was still disappointed and even questioned finishing the class/program.

The midterm however didn;t just consist of a test, but four formal essays. The grade for said essays still had not been posted, so I logged on yesterday to see my score and I had several emails from my professor. One of the emails said that he posted the wrong grades. I quickly checked my grades and instead of 75 out of 150, I got 75 out of 100. Ok I'll admit still not the greatest score, but way better. My essays I got 97 out of 100!

Those scores made my day and motivated me to better. Maybe I still have a brain after all, I was starting to wonder!

3 weeks left in the semester!

Cafe Rio Salad

Alright I made my salad, and it was AMAZING!! It was so good, I am still eating leftovers! I spent 5 hours making it and the recipes that I had made so much. Although the recipes were not exactly the same as the original, it was close enough to the real deal for me(and I love my Cafe Rio). I am going to post my recipes, with a few modifications, so that others can enjoy them. If anyone has any questions feel free to comment or email me(email address is on the right).

Cafe Rio Chicken Salad

Dressing:
1 pkt buttermilk ranch dressing (make as directed) or 3/4 bottle prepared dressing
2 tomatillos
1/2 bunch cilantro (I bought a huge bunch of cilantro, and a 1/2 bunch was too over powering, make sure you cilantro bunch isn't too big)
1 clove of garlic (I used extra garlic in everything that called for garlic)
juice of 1 lime (2 T)
(I added a touch of the chile juice)
Blend everything together in a food processor(I used a hand blender and it worked perfect).

Chicken:
1 small bottle zetsy Italian dressing(apx. 8oz)
1 T chili powder
1 T cumin
3 cloves of garlic
5 lbs chicken

Add everything in a crockpot (on high)and cook for 4 hours. Shred chicken and then cook 1 more hour.

Rice:
3 cups water
4 tsp chicken boullion
4 tsp minced garlic
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 can green chiles
1/4 tsp salt
1 T butter
1/2 onion
3 cups minute rice (or 1 1/4 cups regular)(I used 1 1/2 C regular rice, worked great. watch it close though, you don't want mush)
Blend cilantro, onions, garlic and chiles in a food processor. Boil water, add all ingredients. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

We made our own tortillas, which I think adds to the taste. Jon had this recipe from his BYU cooking class and they were yummy!

Homemade Flour Tortillas
4 C. flour 1 C. warm water
1 ½ tsp. baking powder 1/3 C. milk
1 Tbsp. salt 1/2 C. shortening
1. Mix dry ingredients in mixer.
2. Mix milk and water, and heat to just below boiling.
3. Add milk/water mixture and shortening to flour mixture and knead to a soft dough.
4. Break into 20-24 balls. Let rest 10 minutes or more.
5. Slightly flatten each ball with the palm of your hands. Roll out with almost no flour on the board, but with flour on the roller. If you have a tortilla press, you may use that.
7. Tortilla: Cook on hot griddle or electric fry pan (about 375° F). Use a towel or large turner to press down and turn, repeating until the side is done. Turn and cook the other side the same way. The tortilla should be white, not browned.


To make Salad:
Layer:
A tortilla (melt cheese on top)
chicken
rice
dressing
beans
salad greens
pico de gallo(tomato, onion, cilantro, garlic, and jalapenos)(make it chunky)
Parmesan cheese
Cilantro

Hope everyone who tries it enjoys it as much as I did. Be aware that this recipe make alot, especially the dressing!

Pregnancy Update!!

Well we have good news and not so great news. Lets get the not so great news out of the way.

I went to the Doctors yesterday and we were talking about the pain in my lower back. After telling him how excruciating and sometime debilitating it was, and that I was not sleeping at all. He then asked if I was experiencing certain symptoms and I confirmed that I had experienced 4 of the 5 that he had mentioned. He then told me that we needed to order an MRI. The doctors said that he was ordering it only for precautionary reason, and his main reason is that he is worried that baby could be sitting on my spine. If she is sitting on my spinal, she could be causing irreversible damage(such as being paralyzed). So catching it sooner then later would be a good thing. He did say that he doubted that she was sitting on my spine, but that it is a possibility that he wants to rule out soon. I go in for the MRI at 12:20 AM(yep not a typo, I guess they do MRIs around the clock here) on wednesday. I go back to the doctor on the 19th to talk options. If she is infact sitting on my spine I will have to go see a nuro or othopedic surgeon. I have not the slightest idea what they would do, so I am kind of in the dark on that one.

Sometimes I feel like if it isn't one thing then, its another. Oh well.

Good news is that we are rapidly gaining weight. Baby's heart rate is in the 140 range. She has been kicking me like crazy, which can account for a little of the sleeplessness(thank goodness for naptime). I doubt that I get 20 minutes to myself when she isn't kicking, I bet that is why I am in so much pain. Baby is almost two pounds and measures roughly 14 inches. She can start to hear now, which I completely believe. When she hears Brett in the Morning, she must get so excited cause that is when she kicks the most and the hardest. I think the two will be fast friends. I did the glucose test, which I neither hate nor love. Honestly though it really isn't as bad as some people make it out to be. However it does leave you feel sluggish with a little headache. I have yet to find out the results. 97 days to go!!

On to even better news, the weather was 68 with a slight breeze. It has been a super georgeous day and I am anticipating the arrival of spring. We went to the park today, and brett had a blast on the slide. I was going to take my camera, but decided against it. Dang it I missed a lot of fun and laughter. I will take it next time!!

Once There Was a Snowman.... But in the Sun He Melted!

Mom and Dad Wierschke came up to visit two weeks ago, and they kindly watched Brett(I am sure they hated every minute of it ;)) while Jon and I went on a much needed Temple trip. While we were gone Grandpa and Brett made a little snowman. Sadly by the time we got home and got a picture of it, our poor snowman looked like this. Since I had Midterms last week, we decided that Mom and Dad could watch Brett while I focused on school(good excuse, huh) Really that was the intent, but I had so much fun that I wasn't able to focus much. Anyway Saturday night we were hit with a huge snow storm and we got about a foot of snow. So I encouraged the boys to go out and build a snowman( you can see the snowman's progress on the slide show). Brett had a blast, despite the frigid weather and they guys built a TALL snowman. Minus the little details(ie eyes, arms, mouth)he was a pretty cool snowman. On Sunday, as we were chatting I inquired about our giant friend. The news was devastating, in a few short days our snowman had turned into this

So Long Snowman, You Made My Little Boy Happy!

Much Needed Break

First of all, I took a week off of blogging. Ok lets be honest, I took a week off from EVERYTHING!! I am sure that I will regret that decision later, but I sure needed it. My one (yeah pathetic, I know) midterm was a killer. Why am I complaining, my sad lame midterm is nothing compared to Jon's regular homework. Anyway it is all water under the bridge and I start fresh(well at least I start)tomorrow.

The week was pretty uneventful and very cold!! That was a lie, now that I think about it. We got home on Wednesday from mom and dads(I wanted to take dinner to a sister in the ward, or I wouldn't have come back). Thursday we had some non member friends over, they are from Brazil and they were a blast to hang out with. Friday and Saturday, I did nothing but laundry and I waited until 8pm to even start it. Today however was a little more eventful then I would have liked it( only one little thing happened, the one thing I have been dreading for a while now). After church while I was getting dinner ready, Jon was changing Brett into clothes that would fair ok after he got spaghetti all over himself. Jon dresses Brett in a long sleeve shirt and a pair of overalls. Brett has had this thing lately with his diaper, he just hates having it on and so he will dig at it. SO I started putting him in onesies and I pin his zipper closed at night, to prevent his hand from going down his pants. Well in the process of making dinner I notice his hand down his pants and I stop him. We eat dinner, he makes a few grunting noises, I smell him, and we are off to get back up(Brett likes to fight us, during diaper changes). Dad was in the computer room, I am on speakerphone with mom and dad wierschke. Brett runs in to get dad, we head into Brett's room. The phone starts to die, so I head back into the computer room to change phones, notice something weird on the floor. I bend down to get a closer look, and sure enough Brett had pooped on my floor. I just about died. Come to find out Brett had pooped and peed in his pants and it was everywhere. I am just grateful that nothing was ground into the carpet. Mom and Dad sure had a good laugh though.

We did take a new family picture, it is posted to the right. Sorry there isn't even a glimpse of my belly. I assure you though, people at church today said that I had nothing to show off :(, I guess I always look pregnant. Just kidding I know they meant it with kindness, I just notice my bump more, I am ok with that. The family picture isn't our favorite, but it was the best that I could come up with. I just need to pay someone to do a better job, I am so cheap! I also finally updated the slide show for those who watch it, sorry it has taken me forever.

Pregnancy update:

Nothing much has changed since last week, except for the fact that I got less sleep. I am craving mexican, which for me is nothing new. I ate at Cafe Rio alot while I was pregnant with Brett. Sadly there is nothing like Cafe Rio here, anyone want to over night me a chicken salad? Honestly the craving is so bad that during my nap time today I couldn't fall asleep cause I was too busy trying to figure out how to make that darn salad! Never fear I have a recipe, so I am going to try it soon!! I head to the Dr's this week so we will see how much weight I have gained. If I can master this salad recipe I am going to gain a TON of weight. The glucose test is coming up, which I don't mind either. I have my orange drink I just need to drink it and let the vampires(that is what my grandpa always called them) have at me.

Pregnancy Update

Well I was quite surprised that you all wanted to know everything. K, so here is our update.

Our little girls is a mover, which I am very grateful for. Because this is baby two, she sits a little lower then Brett did which is causing ALOT of pain. After a call to the Dr's office, I found out that she sometimes pinches my sciatic nerve, which causes alot of pain when walking, if I am able to walk. I feel absolutely huge(we are taking family pictures for FHE tomorrow). Baby is currently a pound and almost a foot long. I am not sleeping at night, partly because of the baby but mostly cause of the nightmares that I am having. We still don't have any names picked out yet, but we totally have 15 weeks to figure it out. There is nothing like procrastinating to the last minute.

Copy Cat!!

I was once told that kids will copy anything you do. I believed people, but thought that by the time my kids started to copy me, I would have changed my ways and they wouldn't copy any bad behavior. or that they would be the exception to the rule(ignorance is bliss, I tell ya). So here are a few things that Brett has copied:

While cooking with me, we had cracked an egg and got egg shell in the mix. I replied, "oh dang it." to which Brett responded, "dang it" and to this day every time we crack an egg he says, "dang it."

Dad is doing something and gets frustrated, and so he growls. And so since one growl deserves another, Brett growls also.

Sunday after Brett's bath, I needed a little help so I hollered, "Jon Help!" Brett starts screaming, "Jon, Jon, Jon!" I tell him, "No he is daddy to you." to this Brett responds, "No, Jon"

I know that these are not as funny to read as they would be in real life, but I just wanted to share them anyway. Thanks for humoring me!