Ayres Insanity

  This is not a recipe blog, however, I have a few recipes that are staples at my house. The kind of stuff that when you make it, people gobble it up and ask for the recipe (yeah, it's THAT good).   Well, this particular recipe that I'm about to share is one that I got while I was on my mission and it's one of my favs! In fact, every year I celebrate the coming of fall by making this soup, buying a new sweater and warming my pumpkin spice scentsy. I started this tradition several years ago because I'm so in love with the fall season.   Anyway, my sister Jenny called today and asked for the recipe so I figured I'd share it with whomever might be interested. Enjoy! Lemon Chicken Soup 12 C. Chicken broth 1/3 C. Lemon Juice 1/4 C Butter 1 Pint Heavy cream 12 oz. Bowtie pasta (or whatever you've got) 1 1/2 C cooked chicken 1 1/2 C. Sliced carrots 3/4 C. Chopped celery 1/4 C. chopped onion (optional) 1/2 C. Flour 1 1/2 C Water In  a...

  What a crazy month! So many changes in our lives, Aspen being the biggest change, but by far the best. Despite her being fussy, high maintenance, and the cause of sleepless nights, we love her to pieces!   Christmas was... well, not what we'd hoped for this year but such is life. Russ has been working 70 hours a week and with a newborn it was hard to get out, but somehow we managed to get the Christmas shopping done (thank goodness for online shopping).   Zoey got sick a with croup a few days before Christmas but we got her in to the pediatrician and got her treated and figured we'd be OK to go to my big family party on Christmas Eve, (which I really didn't want to miss since I had been working on my grandma's gift, a picture quilt, for the last 3 months and was dying to see her open it) anyway, that would've been the case, but despite my best efforts, she got Aspen sick. I took her in the morning of the 24th assuming that the pediatrician would give her a l...

Aspen's birth story, the slideshow     She is here!!! Our beautiful little Aspen Whitney Ayres arrived on November 30th 2012 at 8:14pm.   The following is the birth story for anyone interested.   She was due on November 26th. I hate due dates, because I, along with most women, get so hung up on the one specific date, that if nothing has happened by that all consuming date, will start to lose my mind. And that I did. As the 26th came and went, I got crazier by the day and was convinced that somehow I would be pregnant FOREVER! This was unacceptable so my midwife (Rebecca)encouraged me to be patient and agreed to strip my membranes and give me a little herbal concoction if nothing was happening by Friday. By Thursday night I was melting down, so Rebecca scheduled me for 12:30 the next day.    I went in on Friday knowing that our efforts may not actually work, but hopeful nonetheless. I drank my nasty little cocktail around 12:40, had those me...

  Thanksgiving was lovely as always. We went to my grandmas house at noon and enjoyed a delicious meal and some good time with the fam. Russ had worked the night before and hadn't slept much so after dinner he went and slept in the spare bedroom for a few hours. I took full advantage of the quiet time after everyone else left and spent a couple of hours reading my grandmas history and journal. My aunt had compiled her journal from back before I was even born so I skimmed through and read everything that involved me and my family, it was so sweet! My favorite parts were when she spoke about my grandpa, every single time she referred to him as her "sweetheart". Cutest thing ever! Maybe someday Russ and I will be that cute.   Later that evening we went to Russ' sisters house for leftover turkey sandwiches and more pie and enjoyed the rest of the evening with his family. Overall, a great holiday.   Next on the agenda, new baby. Only a few days left and I can't wait ...

  Yesterday as we were getting ready to take the kids to Cornbellys, it happened...   The boys were playing outside while Russ and I were getting Zoey ready, I walked downstairs to find a very terrified and sad looking Taevin sitting quietly on the couch. He said with his little voice shaking "mom, I feel really stupid". Thinking surely some kid had been mean to him I was ready to go outside demanding justice but I could barely ask why when he burst into tears and told me he had been throwing rocks in the road when one accidentally hit Tasia's car and broke the window. I tried to calm him down to gather the whole story but he was inconsolable. I finally said "well let's go take a look and talk to her."   We walked up there to survey the damage (Taevin sobbing and clinging to my arm the whole time) and sure enough, the window was broken. (turns out it was actually big dirt clots he had been throwing to break them up and one had flown up and got the wi...

  This has been a totally miserable pregnancy for me, and the only reason I'm documenting it is for my own personal records. This kind of rant is uncharacteristic for me given that I usually love being pregnant so I apologize in advance for the negativity.   As I've said before, this one caught us off guard and although we are thrilled to welcome this little girl into our family, it did take some getting used to, making this pregnancy an emotional roller coaster for the both of us.   I had just lost 10 lbs and was working toward my goal weight when the news came, and I was sick almost immediately so the working out stopped and I was devastated to have to put my health goals on hold. I was nauseous and throwing up until 20 weeks, the nausea has never fully gone away causing food (particularly breakfast) to be the enemy for the last 8 months. I eat what I can tolerate and probably shouldn't admit it but have given in to the urge to make chocolate pudding ca...

  Today was an eventful day. Among the many errands I had to run, one of my stops was at Joann Fabrics. We were there for a while so the kids were tired and I was frazzled by the time we had checked out, but alas, we made it home and were outside enjoying some play time when I noticed that Taevin and a bunch of the neighbor kids were chewing gum. I asked where they got it and they said that Ryler had given it to them. Given that Ryler cannot be trusted with gum, I very rarely have it around, so I called him over to inquire about where he had gotten it from. He innocently replied (with a wad of gum the size of a kiwi in his mouth) that he got it from the store and showed me the empty package.   Oh boy! Well my first response was to be angry but upon further questioning on our way back to the store, I discovered that not only did he not know what stealing was, but also didn't understand why it was bad. I explained things to him and told him th...