Ruby Marie

Our sweet baby girl Ruby Marie was born by c-section on June 18. She weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. Everything went great and she is just perfect! So far (knock on wood) she is a very good eater and sleeper. I've been trying to find the time to put some pictures up on our blog for the past 4 weeks, and I'm FINALLY getting around to doing it! The pictures below are all from the past 4 weeks, from birth to today (in no particular order). I'll try to be better about updating more regularly so each post doesn't have this many pictures. Rocklin is doing good as well; I think he really is enjoying his role as big brother.

Uncle Adam feeding Ruby

Hanging out on Daddy's chest

This was right after she was born - check out all that hair!

Happy Big Brother Rocklin!

My two kiddos.

Kristie & Todd (Adam's sister and her hubby) came to visit us in the hospital.

Proud big brother.

Gramps & Grammy (Kristen's mom and dad)

Grammy (Kristen's Mom) and Ruby

Rocklin meeting his baby sister for the first time.

Naptime!

All ready for her first time at church.

So sweet.

Ready for an outing!

Here's the "before" picture - going in to have my c-section.

Right after Ruby was born.
Just home from the hospital.

Kevin's China Hoops

For anyone who happens to know my little brother Kevin, I wanted to share his blog with you. He's currently in China for about a month coaching a USA basketball team over there. He's having a great time and has been capturing some fun stories and pictures on a blog. Check it out if you're interested: CHINA HOOPS. (Oh, and here's a picture to entice you to check it out. haha!)

A Recipe and Lists!

I wanted to share a couple of random things. The first is a recipe that my Mom recently gave me. I had bought some pork chops on a really good deal, but needed something new and different to do with them then the same old pork chops and scalloped potatoes recipe that I generally make (which is also very good). So here's the recipe from my Mom, and believe me, it won't disappoint! It's kind of an odd combo of flavors, but together they are so tasty! We've had it twice in the past two weeks. (and sorry, no pictures to accompany this post).

Blackberry Pork Chops

1 1/2 lb. boneless pork chops

2 tsp. Montreal steak seasoning

1/4 C. blackberry preserves

1 T. soy sauce

1 t. lemon juice

dash of cinnamon

dash of curry powder

1 C. fresh blackberries.

Sprinkle both sides of chops with Montreal steak seasoning. Spray both sides w/ cooking spray. Grill 8 - 10 minutes, turning once. Combine in sauce pan: blackberry preserves, soy sauce, lemon juice, cinnamon and curry powder. Bring just to a boil to liquefy preserves. Cover, remove from heat. Spoon sauce over chops and garnish with fresh blackberries.

--On a side note, I don't care for curry, so I just used a dash of crushed red pepper and that worked just fine. Also, if you don't have the Montreal steak seasoning, just use whatever seasoning you'd usually use to grill your pork chops or steak. I used the Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute.

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Also, I wanted to share one other thing I came across online and thought some of you may enjoy checking it out, especially if you're as OCD as me when it comes to list-making! The website is called Organized Home, and THIS link will take you to lots of useful and free downloadable lists - everything from pre-travel checklists to menu planners to daily to-do lists.

Enjoy!

An Update!

I thought I'd post a few random things so my blog has an update! We are all moved into the house now and are LOVING having all this extra space. I think Rocklin especially loves it with a backyard and plenty of place to run around!

Adam has painted a lot and the other night he was painting baby girl's nursery and he let Rocklin help out a bit. Here are some cute pictures of them painting:On a different note, today Rocklin and I hit up the local thrift store to see if we could find treasures. Sure enough, we found some good stuff! Just clothes this time around, but I ended up getting 7 things (all in great shape and great name brands) for $15!! With a little trip to the washing machine, they are as good as new...and for less than the price of one outfit!

I thought this little blazer and shirt were so cute for Rocklin for this fall/winter. His first big boy blazer...and how cute is the plaid? The GAP blazer was around $3.50 and the shirt was 75 cents!

Of course, baby girl dresses - can you ever really have too many? :)
These are both in great shape and both from Gymboree. Oh, and half-price, too! Each dress was less than $2.

These cute little ruffled-bottom pants are from GAP and were $2 and the sweater was just a Carter's, but looks brand new...and was $1.75.

This dress could be my favorite of my finds today. It's from Janie & Jack (pricey little boutique store in the mall if you are not sure what that is). Lucky me, this was half-price as well, and it ended up costing just $2! You can't really tell, but the ribbon in the pictures is pleated all the way around and is a chocolate brown color.

Thanks for letting me share my finds. I just love hunting for good deals and actually finding some worth bragging about! :) Now if I could just find a dresser for Rocklin's room on a killer deal, we'd be all set.

Lately

In case you've been wondering what we've been up to lately, we're getting ready to move! As you can tell by the picture below, we've got a lot of things packed up and in boxes, but still have a lot more to do. We are only moving about 10 miles from where we live currently, but are SO excited to be moving into a 4 bedroom house...which is going to be MUCH nicer than our tiny 2-bedroom apartment! I'm mostly excited for Rocklin to have a backyard to run around in and a room especially for our baby girl's nursery! I'm getting really excited about getting everything organized...my "nesting phase" has kicked in! After the move we have the arrival of our little girl to look forward to, and I know she'll be here in no time flat.

I'll post more soon as we are making the big move this Saturday.

Adam's First Bike Race!

For the past two months, Adam has picked up a hobby that he LOVES! He bought a road bike and has amazed me with how long/far he can ride, especially for someone who just began riding.

Yesterday he competed in his first road bike race called El Tour De Phoenix. Rocklin and I and Adam's sister Katie and her family came to see him cross the finish line. It was so neat to see him cross the finish line and compete this 72-mile bike race! He completed it in just over 4 hours. GO ADAM!!!!

Adam and a couple of member of his Tri-club he is apart of.

Adam coming into the finish line waving at us!. Rocklin and cousin Luke kept themselves occupied digging in dirt while waiting for Adam to come in.

The whole crew.

Completed Project

A few posts back I mentioned that I had bought some pink spray paint and was working on a project. Well, I finally finished it and I loved the way it turned out! It matches the image I had in my head when I started, which is always a good thing. I wanted to make something to hang in the nursery to hold all the hair bows I plan on making for Baby Girl. Initially I wasn't going to make it look like a memo board, but I'm glad I did because now she can use it in her room later when there aren't a million hair bows to hang on it. And a big thanks to Adam for cutting the wood exactly the size I needed for the base! Glad I have such a handy hubby! :)

Here's the frame before. It's the UNG DRILL frame from Ikea.

And here's the completed frame after LOTS of pink spray paint and TLC.

And here's a closeup of the Rhinestone buttons I used.