Count Your Many Blessings

Recently I've been thinking a lot about how many blessings I truly have. So many people in life have so little. I've never really known or been friends with families who worry about where their next meal come from (or at least not been aware of it like I am now) and moving to Iowa and being in a ward where we have some very poor families who struggle with real problems has been so eye-opening. We know people who have money problems, problems with unemployment, serious health problems, problems with their babies' health, and so many more things that I can't even imagine. Then I look at all the things I have in my life and I am incredibly lucky. My family is healthy, my baby boy is perfect and happy almost all the time, we have a fully-stocked kitchen, we have health insurance, we have two cars, we live in a comfortable home surrounded by friends, we have the gospel to guide us and help us live righteously and make good decisions, we have families who love us, my husband works really hard every day so that he can one day have a good career to support our family, and there are really so many things. I know that sometimes I feel down because I feel overwhelmed or stressed, but I should really just think about all of the incredible things that Heavenly Father has blessed me with. There are so many people out there with real problems that can't be solved by a hug or someone telling them "It will be okay," and really all my problems can be solved easily. I don't know what I did to get so lucky in my life, but I hope I never forget how happy and blessed I am.

Jameson versus the Toy Box

Today I put Jameson in his bumbo, which is right next to his toy box. He decided that he wanted to take all the toys out of the box, except for a few, because he wanted a certain one. I don't think he knew that was the one he wanted, but he took all the toys out until he found one that he decided he would play with. It was really funny and cute.

Once he finally picked a toy, he just shook it a ton. Like, a ton.

Also, we are officially, 100%, a sitting pro. He can sit for long periods of time now!

Summer Festivals and Fairs

The last two weekends we were able to go to the Adel Sweet Corn Festival and the Iowa State Fair. First we went to the Sweet Corn Festival and got some amazing free corn! They cook the corn in giant pressure cookers and then pour the ears into a big tub and people give you as many as you want. Dan and I both ate two ears each, and after that we both agreed we could have had more. They were fantastic!

Last weekend we went to the Iowa State Fair and had another amazing time. But for real, it's hard not to enjoy the fair. We got to see the big bull who weighed 3032 pounds, and the big boar who weighed 1103 pounds.

Something the Iowa State Fair is famous for (besides the food) is the butter sculpture. This year it was Abraham Lincoln! How fancy is that?

 Now, most importantly, the food. Oh, the food! I knew before we even went to the fair what I wanted to get. Four words. Caramel apple funnel cake. After partaking of this magical food, I realized that I need to come up with a recipe for it because I cannot go through life without eating it again. We also had a deep-fried brownie on a stick, fried cheese curds, strawberry limeade, and I had a delicious veggie wrap for dinner.

Needless to say, I can't wait to go again next year.

First Time at the Playground

A few weeks ago, we took Jameson to the playground for the first time. He loved it! We had a lot of fun and it was exciting to see him doing so many new things. He's getting so big!

"There's meat on this?" aka My Secret Meat Confession

I feel like I need to confess something. Those who know me have heard me boast that I have been a vegetarian my entire life. "I just don't like the texture of meat," I have been known to say.

Well, I am here to tell you that this is not entirely accurate.

It is true that as a baby, I did not like meat. I would even spit out the pureed meat baby food. But it is a little-known secret that I used to eat cheeseburgers from McDonald's and Burger King. Yes, this "lifetime vegetarian" is not actually a "lifetime vegetarian."

When did I actually give up the burger and become a true vegetarian you ask? Well, in 1999 Burger King came out with the Big Kids Meal. What made this kid's meal special is that it came with not one, but TWO meat patties. So, being 10, I decided that I was big enough to eat the Big Kids Meal, because, after all, I was a big kid.

So my parents took us to Burger King expecting it to be like any other fast food outing. Little did they know that my life would change forever (cue the drama). After proudly ordering my Big Kids Meal with a cheeseburger, I sat down at the table and waited for my parents to bring it to me. When it came in my fancy Big Kids Meal bag, I excitedly unwrapped my cheeseburger and took my first delicious bite. I'm not sure exactly why I had never discovered this before, but while I was chewing my first bite I looked down at my cheeseburger and you will never guess what I discovered.

"There's meat on this!?"

I guess since there were two patties, it became very clear to me that what I was eating was not just cheese and bread with some seasonings. If you can't tell from the picture of 10-year-old me, I was a little dramatic, so I'm sure this conversation was overheard by many of Burger King's customers. I spit out my not-so-delicious-anymore first bite and wouldn't eat any more. I'm sure my parents exchanged glances saying "well I guess she finally figured it out" and were a little disappointed their daughter finally understood that a cheeseburger was just a hamburger with cheese. As for me, I haven't picked up a cheeseburger since, and now I know that it is not just a fancy name for a grilled cheese.

Since this lovely and somewhat embarrassing incident, I have tried meat a few times (turkey at Thanksgiving, pepperoni on pizza, and chicken at Winger's), but it has never stuck. Maybe one day I will finally be able to get over my mental problem of not being able to stomach meat, but for now, I will stick with being a "lifetime vegetarian." And I will still probably tell new people that I've been a vegetarian since I was a baby because this story is too long and too embarrassing to tell in person.

Also, please don't judge 10-year-old me for being dumb and not knowing what a cheeseburger is.

Five Months Already?

So another month has come and gone, and even though I feel like I just took Jameson's four-month pictures, I did his five-month ones today because he is officially five-months-old today. And I know I say this a lot, but he seriously has changed a lot in the last month! Here are some fun things that happened: