Finally!

Fall is finally here and I am so excited! Fall brings some of my most favorite things:

1. Cold Weather

2. All kinds of wonderful holiday traditions & get-togethers with family

and...

3. General Conference!

As part of BYU's "Recapturing Beauty" campaign I was lucky enough to be able to go and hear Stephanie Nielson speak last night. (If you don't know who she is, her blog link is in my sidebar: NieNie Dialogues). What an amazing woman! Her message was both humbling and inspiring and has definitely helped me get in the right frame of mind and spirit for General Conference this weekend. If you have a minute or two, click on the link below to watch her Mormon Messages video "My New Life". I've also added the link for BYU's "Recapturing Beauty" campaign if you're interested. (The campaign is being provided by BYU's Women's Services department.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHDvxPjsm8E

http://recapturingbeauty.byu.edu/

Also, just a quick update on our little family...

Allen had his 2 months vaccinations. Poor little guy!

And... Parker took and passed the GMAT!!!

I'm so proud of both my boys :) and am looking forward to spending General Conference weekend with them. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend as well!

Recipes

My wonderful friend Valerie made super delicious food for my baby shower and I was supposed to get these posted months ago! Sorry about the wait everyone!

Cafe Rio Pork
3 lb. pork roast
2 c. sugar (part brown, part white sugar)
1 can Coke
1-2 c. salsa

Slow cook pork roast in crock pot with a small amount of water added. Cook until the meat shreds easily, about 3 hours. Remove meat from crock pot and drain liquid. Shred meat and put back in the crock pot. Add sugar, coke and salsa. Stir in incorporate. Slow cook for an additional 1-2 hours. Serve in tortillas or on a salad.

Tomatillo Cilantro Dressing
1 pkt. Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
1 c. mayonnaise
1 c. sour cream
1 c. buttermilk
3 tomatillos (These are green tomatoes with husk)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 c. cilantro chopped
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Combine ranch, mayo, sour cream and buttermilk in blender. Mix until ingredients are incorporated. Remove husk from tomatillos, quarter and add to blender. Add garlic, cilantro and cayenne. Blend until smooth. Chill before serving. (You may reduce or increase the amount of buttermilk depending on the consistency that you want.)

Mexican Corn
3 cans corn, use white corn if you have it
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. milk
3 T. flour
1 small can green chilies, diced

Melt butter, add flour, add milk and thicken. Add cream cheese and melt. Add remaining ingredients and put in casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Truffles
1- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened (not reduced fat)
1 pkg Oreos
1 lb. Dipping Chocolate or Almond Bark (not chocolate chips)

Put entire package of Oreos into a large food processor and pulse until you get fine crumbs. Add softened cream cheese and blend until a ball of dough is formed. Use a small scopp to make truffles, about 1/2"-3/4" in diameter. Roll each truffle into a ball and place on large cookie sheet, lined with wax paper. Chill until truffles are firm.

Melt half of the dipping chocolate in a glass measuring cup. Use a wooden skewer to speak truffle, dip in chocolate, tapping of excess, and then slide truffle off skewer with another skewer, Fill hole. I usually do half of the batch and put them back in the fridge because the truffles will become soft and difficult to dip. When all of the truffles have been dipped, melt a small amount of contrasting color chocolate. Place this chocolate in a small ziploc bag, cut a small corner off of the bag and drizzle over the dipped truffles. If they will be used within 48 hours, truffles can be kept at room temperature, otherwise freeze or chill. Makes approximately 48-50 truffles.

ENJOY!

For Grammy and Gigi

Splish Splash

Allen LOVES bath time! He's usually a pretty good baby, but even more so when he gets to have a tub. He's perfectly content to just sit there and soak while being scrubbed.

Look how skinny he was! :( I'm proud to inform you that he has finally been gaining weight these last few weeks and is starting to get fat rolls!

Before he started gaining weight, I had to put a big towel in his tub to add some padding and help support him because he was just so small! (The washcloths in the photos serve a dual function. One, to keep him modest :) and two, to keep him warm.)
The one thing Allen doesn't like about bath time is getting out. He's very quick to let us know he's cold and wants to be put right back into the warm water. He'll only be appeased when bath time is followed by a great deal of cuddling. No problem there!

Sleep Deprived

As you can probably already guess, we aren't getting much sleep at our house these days. Allen is pretty much nocturnal--he loves being awake at night! Making the rest of our days so sleepy...

Krug has given up trying to sleep in our room. Now he usually goes and hides

once the crying starts.

Now I know why they use sleep deprivation as torture!

Under The Lights

Here's Allen sporting his goggles--we thought they looked just like the ones
Willy Wonka wears :)

Parker and I are so grateful that our little guy arrived safely and healthy. There were some minor complications during the delivery but we know we were watched over and are so thankful to have been blessed with such an incredible doctor and hospital staff. We've had a few little health issues to deal with in the last week. First, Allen has really struggled with eating and with gaining weight. :( We are slowly but surely making progress but have needed to use a variety of methods to do so. The pictures below show Allen needing to be finger fed by a syringe.
(I can NOT get over how cute he is!)

Allen also has jaundice. Thank goodness for wonderful doctors and technology! We were able to get him the treatment he needed AT HOME. He had to spend a few days under Bilirubin lights and daily visits to the hospital for lab work. Thankfully his levels dropped low enough that he no longer has to sleep under the lights. I find myself recognizing little miracles in our lives everyday.

As difficult as this process has been, we thought he looked so cute in his little "incubator". He absolutely hated having to wear the goggles and it made the nights especially long, but he looked so cute in his "tanning bed".

Drum Roll Please...

Introducing Allen Parker Ainge!

Born July 29, 2010 @ 3:10pm.
Weight: 7 lbs. 13 oz.
Length: 21 inches

Parker and I are so excited to be able to introduce you to our little Allen. We are so excited and thankful that he is finally here!!!

Thank you to all of our incredible family and friends who have been a source of constant support, comfort, and strength. We are so very grateful for all you have done and all that
you continue to do for us and our little family.

We will get more pictures posted soon!
(Trust me, there are LOTS!)