February

 A lot has happened in the last month. I can't believe February is almost over! Can't believe it, but couldn't be more happy about it, either. It just means we are getting closer to Spring and then SUMMER!!!  The month of February began with us finding out that we are adding a sweet little BOY to our family in late June. We are so excited!! We went out and purchased an outfit for him. Austin was so sweet about letting me choose the first outfit we purchased for Sedona. He was like a kid in a candy store looking through all the boy things. He and his Dad LOVE camo. They have camo jargos that they wear religiously YEAR-ROUND. So, I wasn't surprised when this is what he came up with:

Truth be told, I am not wild about camo. But I am wild about having a baby boy and so excited for Austin to have a son and Sedona to have a little brother! She is so excited, and asks regularly when her baby is coming.  Last night, as I was laying in bed with her, she was laying on her tummy and put her chin in her hands and said, "Momma, I'm so gig-cited (excited) to be a big sister." My heart melted. I almost cried. She is so sweet and she will be an awesome big sister!

The day after we found out we were getting a boy, we drove to Denver to pick up Austin's Mom, Mariam. Or, to Sedona, Mimi.  She came in town to help celebrate Sedona's 3rd Birthday. It's hard to believe my "baby" is already 3. 

For any of you who know my Sedona, you know she is OBSESSED with the movie Frozen. She loves the music and thinks she IS the princess Elsa. She wants a side braid in her hair every day and will actually hold still long enough for her rather untalented mother to complete it. Needless to say, she wanted an Elsa cake. But she made it very clear she was not going to share it. Especially with her Uncles. Because they are boys. Boys don't eat Princess cakes.  So, after I found a bakery that would make us a small Elsa cake, we went to the store to pick out all the fixin's for some cupcakes that she could share with her Uncles.  She picked out every aspect of these babies. Pink cake mix, pink cup-cake papers, vibrant blue frosting with fish sprinkles, and then of course, she had to add pretty sprinkles that I already had in my entourage of baking supplies. She was pretty pleased with the finished products.

 Here she is admiring her beautiful Elsa cake. She just could NOT wait to bite into that thing! It was really pretty adorable.

  She had a great birthday and we feel so blessed to be living close to my brothers and that Mimi could make the trip to come celebrate with her. She is something special and is loved by so many people. I love that. No matter what, she will always have a support system that will always be cheering her on in the good things she does.

Valentine's Day is only a few days after Sedona's Birthday. Austin and I don't want her to think that her Birthday is an entire week of getting gifts and having parties. So, we don't do much to celebrate Valentine's. No gifts or get-togethers until she is old enough to understand and separate the two days.  So we decided activities are the way to go. This year, we made Valentine's Jell-O Jigglers with her. She LOVED it! Brought back memories of after-school snacks of Jell-O jigglers.

The hardest part about this month is that it is still very much winter here in Laramie. Sometimes, I wake up and see sunshine and get excited, "Maybe today we could go outside and play without freezing to death!" Then the wind starts. 30-50+ mph winds are not conducive to ANY kind of fun outside. Not for this sun lizard, anyway. I get the winter blues every winter, but I can usually fight it with my daily trip to a gym and some intense exercise and an occasional session in a tanning bed.  Welp, I don't have a gym here, and being pregnant kinda makes the tanning thing out of the question. Not to mention, both cost some serious $ here in Laramie. 

Since my recent "clean bill of health" from the Dr, I was told I could begin exercising regularly. Like more than walking and doing my regular daily activities. So, after a very tough week with days where I just didn't want to get out of bed and face the day. Days when I never even got out of my pajamas because I could HEAR the wind howling outside my window.  Days when the sadness just felt so heavy and tangible yet totally unexplainable. Those days are really really hard. We had some great talks in Sacrament meeting yesterday and I decided that the choice is still mine. I might struggle with feelings of depression, but I can still choose to fight them. 

TODAY, I went out to my garage and found my 2&5 pound dumbells and decided to open up the blinds and curtains and let the sunshine in (even though the wind is still howling). I turned on the only workout DVD I own (Jillian Michael's Last Chance Workout) and got my sweat on! I'm not going to lie, it was a little disappointing that I got tired so quickly doing the MODIFIED version of some of the exercises!! But the feeling of sweating and breathing hard and my muscles working felt SO DANG GOOD.

A far cry from where I imagined/dreamed I would be at this point in my pregnancy (I was determined to be fit and fabulous this time around), but I have to start somewhere. 23 weeks isn't a bad place to start.

Heart-Attack

I know I may cause some slight heart palpitations, or maybe even a heart-attack or two, by finally writing another blog post. My absence the last year has been so nice. I am not going to lie. This is, however, NOT a declaration of any new desire to be consistent with this thing. But, I did want to give a little update on our lives. Seeing as how it has been over a year since my last post, this COULD get kinda long, but I will do my best to be brief. I don't have any pictures to add to this post, but if you're dying for a picture or two, you can find plenty on Facebook.

At the beginning of last year, we decided to put a kibosh on the whole Dental School thing (can't say I am NOT happy about that) and head in a different direction. Engineering has always been something Austin wanted to do, but was overwhelmed with all the fields of engineering. My brother, Tyson, is in the Petroleum Engineering program at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, WY.  After much prayer, thought, research and picking Tyson's brain, we decided it would be a good fit for us and started the preparations for heading that way this January (2014).

So, now that it is 2014, we are officially in Laramie! It is so nice to be close to my brothers! Sulli and Michelle and Tyson and his girlfriend, Candace, make living in this tundra somewhat bearable. I haven't been geographically "close" to any sibling since I left UW in 2003.  11 years, people!!! I am so happy that Austin and my brothers have such great relationships and that Austin is happy here.  He has told me multiple times how happy he is that I have this chance to live so close to some of my siblings. That makes me happy. I sure do love that man!

The most exciting part about this new year, is that we are going to be welcoming Clift baby #2 to our family in June.  I have had a hard time letting myself get excited about this pregnancy for a couple different reasons: in the very beginning, I didn't FEEL pregnant. Not like I did with Sedona, anyway.  Not until about 8 weeks did I REALLY feel it and about that time, I had the nerves about weather or not we were going to get to be excited, if you know what I mean.  I have sisters who have had miscarriages and a best friend who lost her third baby last May, at almost 20 weeks.  I was nervous.  At 13 weeks, I thought my worst fear had just happened.

It was a Sunday, and I had A LOT of bleeding and felt very weak and achy the rest of the day and through the night. It was Austin's finals week and we were moving! My wonderful Father-in-Law (who is a nurse-anesthetist) suggested that I go into the Doctor to make sure everything made it out okay so I wouldn't end up with an infection and become very sick. That was the LAST thing I needed on top of the emotional drain that had seemed to just suck so much out of me.  First thing Monday morning I made an appointment to see my doctor.

When the ultra sound showed a tiny baby, I was sure it just hadn't "passed through" yet. Then the tech turned on the speaker and I heard a strong, amazing, heart-beat! "How is this possible?!" I asked her.  I honestly did not think I could bleed as much and feel as weak as I did and STILL have life inside me.  Well, I am here to tell you that miracles DO happen.  At least it is a miracle to US.  It was discovered that I had placenta previa, and I was given orders to "take it easy".  Uhm, one small problem: I WAS MOVING!!

Thank goodness for amazing family and friends. My Mom came and got Sedona and I had a small army of people from my ward show up to help me clean my apartment.  My brother Tyson got a truck and trailer from a family friend in Cokeville and came to Rexburg to help us load our stuff and get it over to our place in Laramie.  Blessing right and left, people.  Not to mention, we were STILL getting a BABY!!

Even with the reassurance that I was still pregnant, the last two months have been nothing short of stressful and restless.  My first Dr's appointment here in Laramie was, to say the least, pointless.  The doctor told me that bleeding in the first trimester was completely normal. He made me feel like my concerns were trivial and actually said, "I am not even sure why they put us in the ultra sound room. You are only 16 weeks."  Did you hear anything I just said to you?!  He did the ultra sound, but really gave me no information to calm my troubled heart.  I tried to book an appointment with a different doctor in the following weeks, but was always told "sorry, he is booked."

I had my 20 week ultra sound today and NOW I can sleep!!!  Prayers are answered.  My Placenta Previa has fixed itself and we have a healthy baby.  Momma is healthy and baby is healthy. I feel so blessed.  I also saw a different doctor and he assured me that everything looked great and that the placenta shouldn't cause any further complications.  I can exercise now!! I don't know if I will, but I could if I wanted to!  People, it was -30 out there this morning. uhg....

Anyway, sorry to bore you all with a "wordy" post. But thought I would share our exciting news that I finally feel like I can be excited about! Oh yeah, and we are having a baby......
Nope, not telling you! Not YET anyway.  Still have to make some phone calls.
Have a nice day everyone!

CHICKEN SOULVAKI SANDWICH

My husband entered a weight-loss challenge with his Dad on January 7th and is bound and determined to win it.  It ends officially on April 7th.  He started at 245 and informed me this morning that he is now somewhere under 210!! I am so proud of him! He has worked really hard and has been very strict about his diet. He found an "app" for his phone called Calorie Counter.  Creative, I know.  It has hundreds of recipes, which is really nice! I haven't made anything from it that I don't like. I have made this particular recipe 3 or 4 times and it is one of our new favorites. Weight loss or not...it's stinkin' good.
It does take a little "thinking ahead" time, but it's well worth it! I just do all the prep-work on a day when I am feeling "in the groove of things" and it really only takes 10-15 minutes to do....MAX.

Chicken Soulvaki Sandwich
A day before:
Make marinade and add thawed chicken breasts.
Make sauce for cucumber dressing.
Purchase whole wheat Salad Pockets or Pitas

Marinade:
2 tsps garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp ground oregano
2 tsps olive oil
1/4 c lemon juice
2 Tbsp soy sauce, low sodium
1 Tbsp honey
Mix marinade in a large Ziploc bag.  Add 2-3 large thawed chicken breasts

Cucumber Dressing:  **1 med cucmber (to be added day of service)
4 oz plain greek yogurt
2 tsps dill  (dry or fresh, whichever is cheapest)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
Mix all ingredients together in a small tupperware and refrigerate for up to 8 hours.  This gives the dill and the garlic powder/salt time to blend flavors with the yogurt.

Day of serving:
Put marinaded chicken breasts in a greased pan and bake @ 350 for 30 minutes or until juices run clear.
While chicken is cooking, pear and cube 1 medium cucumber.  ( I use my Vidalia Chop Wizard's smallest chopper size. If you are an Oberg Cousin and you don't know what that is....ask Grannie to educate you!)  Add chopped cucumber to yogurt mixture.

When chicken is done cooking let it sit for 10 minutes before cubing it into small cubes. You could also slice it, or whatever you feel would be easiest for you.  No matter how you do it, it will taste the same!!  Heat pitas or salad pockets for 10-15 seconds and fill with chicken and a couple spoonfuls of the cucumber dressing.

This tastes sooo fresh and is absolutely delish! Sedona and I just ate it for dinner and it reminded me of how darned good it is and I just thought I would share.  ENJOY!!

Another One

I have had a lot of successes with healthy recipes I find on pinterest.  Except for breakfast recipes! If it isn't a breakfast smoothie, forget it.  I cannot seem to make a healthy muffin, waffle, or cookie taste right.  Needless to say, I knew I was taking a risk when I tried this one. 

I made these for breakfast yesterday, because I just happened to have a 6oz container of blueblerry greek yogurt, and some fresh blueberries (one of Sedona's favorite treats).  They were sooooo good!! I decided to wait until today to post because I wanted to see if my left-over refrigerated batter stayed good over night.  And......it did! I had two pancakes this morning, using the rest of my batter from yesterday.  They were equally as delicious as yesterdays.  So....go ahead! Try them!! Next time, I think I will use strawberry greek yogurt and sprinkle a few dark chocolate chips on them. Yum!

Greek Yogurt Pancakes

And here is the recipe I used for my "healthy" homemade maple syrup:

1 c. water

2/3 c. agave nectar

1/4 c brown sugar

1Tbsp maple extract

Bring water and sugars to a boil.  Add maple extract and let simmer on med heat for 3 minutes.  Serve HOT!

Definitely Worth Sharing

Skinny Taste has some of the greatest recipes! My husband is wanting to be healthier and leaner this year.  So, I am doing my part by making healthier, leaner meals!  This was a good one!  I doubled the amount of red peppers, mushrooms, and carrots because I wasn't going to put as much beef in it, due to the expense of the beef.  Why not use the WHOLE pepper and TWO carrots, since I already had them, right?! I also used the whole can of tomato paste because I knew I would just waste the rest if I put it in a tupperware in the fridge.
Anyway, I made this on the stove top and then put it in my crockpot on low for 4 hours and served it on home-made rolls.  It was delish!!

More Christmas in Cokeville

The day after Christmas brought Tami, Casey, and their three boys! It was so fun to have all the little cousins together. They play so well and are always excited to see each other.  It also brings a lot of chaos, but it is fun to see them excited and enjoying each other! They opened presents from their cousin name-draw, from Grannie and Grandpa, and other randoms.  It was so fun!

 (if you can't read Owen's shirt, it says "wild child" and it is NOT and exaggeration! That  beautiful child is crazy busy! And oh so fun and so so sweet!)

 (Owen wanted to play with EVERYONE's presents and at this point in the game, he had had ENOUGH! poor kid)

After that crazy night's activities, we all slept well and most of us went to the gym to play basketball the next morning.  Tami hurt her knee with about 10 minutes to go and is still getting a diagnosis for it.  She will schedule and MRI for it sometime this week. Bummer deal.  

Tyson, Sulli, and Austin headed up to Pine Creek to hit the slopes on their snowboards and we spent the rest of the day playing.  The little girls did gymnastics while Mom and Taffy built gingerbread houses for us to decorate.  I took pictures of all the stuff going on!!

 These two were a LITTLE young to be interested in the gingerbread making, but they had a great time playing together and getting into all sorts of trouble.

Owen slowed down long enough to spend some time talking with Grandpa.  It was so cute!

 (Sedona's/MY Gingerbread house...someone took a bite out of Santa's hat when we weren't looking!)

 Baby Brady has got to be the best baby ever.  He is so chill!! He just kinda sits and observes and smiles and laughs so easily!  

The "adults" getting to do their houses now!

(I had to get one of Grannie!! Sorry Tess....)

I told ya he was easy going...he was pulled all around the house in that sled and just left in random places and never made a peep.  So funny!  At least the kids left him a horse this time.  haha

 At the end of the day, everyone was tuckered-out and ready for bed.  We put the kids to bed and the boys went out bunny-hunting (er, uh, getting majorly stuck in Trev's ranch truck) and us girls had a Mary Kay party and played games!! It was a blast, and a great way to end our stay in Cokeville!

 

 (even easy-going babies get a little fussy when they are tired)

 "see ya later's" are never fun!

It was really hard to say goodbye to these two.  It was so fun to have them here this last semester.  It's hard to see them go.  But, I know they going to do great in Rock Springs!!! We love you guys!!

It's Been A While

....a LONG while! It's been a while since I last posted, but it has been even longer since we have been back"home" to Cokeville to spend time with my family.  We saw everyone in August at Sulli's wedding and I went home for a day in September for Tessa's HS Homecoming, but we had a long dry spell of Teichert Time.  I was so ready and so excited for Sedona to see her cousins and spend time with her Grannie, Grandpa and Uncles and Aunts.  So, needless to say, I took a TON of pictures, and I will probably have to do two posts just to cover it all!  

We started off by making a trip to the Elementary School to see Santa Clause.  Sedona thought it was going to be her Grandpa, since he has a snow-white beard and she calls him Grandpa-Clause.  Much to her disappointment, it was NOT her Grandpa.  So I got to "visit" Santa, too!!

(Waiting her turn)

Austin and I took off for the weekend to have a little "vacation" since we opted out of our summer-end company cruise to be with Sedona and to see Sulli and Michelle get married! Sedona stayed with Grannie and Grandpa and we took off after Tessa's basketball game in Evanston.  I didn't get many pictures because, well, then you would just see a ton of pictures of just Austin and some Christmas lights.  But, I had to get this one!! We LOVE Moochie's Meatballs in SLC.  They have a killer Philly Cheese steak sandwich. To die for, really!

 One of my favorite things about being with my family around Christmas, is all the piano music and the singing we do together.  Tessa is pretty dang good at the piano and can play just about anything.  I have missed Tyson and his guitar, too.  It was so fun to listen to them play while we made goodies and prepared food for the Christmas Eve party at Grandma Teichert's house.

 (horrible quality, but I have to "get in the picture" somehow)

The Christmas Eve party at my Grandma's house is always PACKED! Wall-to-wall people from infants to, well, "older" people.  I LOVE it.  It's chaos.  Complete chaos.  But the Spirit is always there as we share our talents and get to participate in this tradition that has been going on for years and years.  My Grandma is now 93 years old and she STILL insists on hosting the party every year.  She is a trooper! 

 (my Dad and my Grandma)

My favorite part of the party was Tessa and Olivia's number, "Feliz Navidad" the Celine Dion version.  They recruited Tyson, Sulli, and Austin to be their "back-up dancers".  It was pretty awesome!

We went back to my Mom and Dad's house after the party and opened up Christmas Jammies!

 Sedona went to bed shortly after, and us "older" kids commenced with our usual traditions: turn the downstairs living room into one huge bed and read Luke 2. There is also a lot of weirdness that takes place. Never a dull moment!

 (this is part of the weirdness...Tessa explaining the food chain to Sullivan.  "Humans are up here.  Cats are down here, only higher than mice, which live in Satan Heck!!"  Love you, Tess!)

I realized I didn't get many pics of Christmas morning, but it really was great.  It was so fun to have both of my brothers there, a new Sister, and my little sisters Livi and Tess.  We were spoiled rotten and had a great time laughing and reminiscing about past Christmases.  

My Mom and Dad got all the Grand-daughters these cute little leotards because they are all in tumbling/gymnastics of some kind.  Sedona had to wear hers all day! As well as play with the cats.  She LOVED them (much to my chagrin).

We went sledding!! Cokeville got a ton of beautiful snow and we all got new sleds, so once Taffy, Tony, and their kids showed up we went sledding!! It was Sedona's first time and she LOVED it!