The Finished Projects

I'm not as crafty as my mom, but there are a few things I've picked up from her. 

In high school for one of my Young Women's Personal Progress Projects, I learned to crochet and made two baby blankets--one that I gave away to a YW leader, and one that I kept in my cedar chest for one of my own children.

Months before I was pregnant, I was shopping with my sister-in-law who was buying fabric for her son's baby blanket. I saw the cutest monkey flannel I had ever seen. I didn't buy it. And later wished I had. 

I searched a few stores for it after learning I was pregnant, but couldn't find it. I finally found the one you see below when visiting Sam last fall in Colorado--which is just like the one I originally saw, except the other one was a teal-ish blue instead of yellow. (Side note: my mom found the teal one just a few weeks ago. Hooray! I'm saving that for another child--this one already has lots of homemade blankies).

So, I made another receiving blanket for our coming baby. If you were to zoom in, you'd see much improvement in my crocheting skills (though still not as precise as my mom's) from the done-in-high-school green frog blanket, to the finished-last-weekend monkey one.

Arches National Park

We decided we needed a little trip all to ourselves before baby comes. We wanted it to be quick (it's hard to get away, even for a day or two), cheap, relaxing, and, of course, fun. 

So, to Moab we headed about a week and a half ago. We spent all day Friday hiking around in Arches. We expected to go at a slower pace, since Melanie is 7 1/2 months pregnant, but we found we did the hikes much more quickly than even the Arches website said it would take. 

We ended up hiking/walking about 8 miles or so. And it felt wonderful to spend so much time outside in some brisk but fresh weather.

I scaled a few rocks and walls to get some photos. Melanie hung out below waiting and waiting for me.
This is one of Melanie's favorites arches--the sandune arch. If it weren't windy, we probably would have made sand castles and played like we were on the beach...but the wind blew the sand everywhere--including our eyes, so we didn't stay long.
Delicate Arch. This was the longest hike, supposedly to take us 2-3 hours. It only took us 70 minutes round trip. We ate lunch at the top.

This is the unofficial tiniest arch in Arches. It was on the long stretch of up-hill slick rock on the way to Delicate arch. 
Bytheway, did BYU have some sort of convention in Moab while we were there? Almost everybody we passed had on a BYU sweatshirt or hat. I felt like I was on BYU campus...

PS We stayed the evening at a great little Bed and Breakfast. Check it out HERE. If you ever need a place to stay in Moab, these people were very accomodating.

PPS Thai food anyone? There's a great Thai food restaurant in Moab called Singha Thai Cuisine. Yummy!!

Baby Naming

Throughout my life, I've always found it easier to like girl names. There aren't many boy names that I am totally excited about--that I've ever been excited about. And ones I like are too popular and common. I went to junior high with about 8 different boys named "Josh" and those were just the ones in my grade. I hope not to name my children names that are that popular.

Here are some baby boy names that Sam and I like:

- Lincoln

- Winston

- Amos

- Jack

- Elliott

- Graham

- Eli

Middle names we both like:

- Sam (or Samuel)

- Jack (obviously not if used as a first name...although that'd be cool--Jack Jack...haha)

- Noble

- Blackham

- Lee

Here are some problems we've encountered:

- Amos means "heavy ladened or burdened." I don't think I could intentionally name a little baby "burdened."

- Unbeknownst to me, until about a month ago when I walked into a gas station, Winston is a brand of cigarrettes. 

Basically, we're still stuck. And the days are winding down.

Let's get some great feedback (this time, it's no April Fool's joke). What do you think (esp. of Winston? Do you think of cigarettes?)? Any other suggestions?

Heber Valley Camp

I (Melanie) get to enjoy all sorts of adventures with my job. This one took us up to Heber Valley Camp for a southeast region 4-H Teen Retreat (during their schools' spring break...with LOTS of snow). The teens had a grand time, and, obviously, so did Sam and I.

Belly update

This last week I had to take a photo of Melanie's belly. It's starting to poke out more and it looks so cute.

Healthy Eating for Less

As part of my job, I supervise a program called "Food $ense Nutrition Program." You can learn more about it here, if you are interested. I was recently asked to take part in a challenge to buy food/groceries within the food stamp limits--basically $4 a person per day for four days (a rough figure--not all food stamp recipients get that much). That would be $32 for four days for our household.

I looked back at my meticulous tracking of our dollars spent at grocery stores since January of this year and figured out that we have spent $788 over the last 3 1/2 months. That comes out to be $3.28 per person per day--$.72 under the $4 per person per day for food stamps. We're already in the habit of the challenge. (NOTE: this does include non-food items, like toilet paper, lotion, toothpaste, etc. It also includes long-term food storage supplies. So, the amount we spend on food is actually less)

I decided to share with you some ways we eat healthy--following the My Pyramid Guidelines--and for relatively "cheap."

- We rarely eat out. Either we eat at home for all meals, including lunch, or we pack food to take with us. We save eating out for special occasions.

- A typical breakfast for us consists of minimal cold cereals. We more often eat oatmeal or other hot cereals (and NOT the pre-packaged, pre-flavored kind) with added spices, honey, nuts or dried fruit, waffles or pancakes made from scratch, or eggs and homemade bread toasted.

- We almost always have 1/2 a grapefruilt, a banana, and a cup of milk to go with breakfast. Snacks include items liks: non-fat, low-sugar yogurt, pretzels, chips & salsa, veggies and hummus, fruit, whole-grain granola bars, homemade granola, popcorn, and occasionally homemade treats like cookies and brownies.

- We most often drink water, then milk. Only occasionally juice and rarely, if ever, soda pop.

- We avoid convenience foods—including pre-made canned spaghetti sauce, and instead opt to make it ourselves using canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, onions, and seasonings. We also rarely, if ever, buy pre-packaged goods like chips (other than tortilla chips), cookies and candy; and avoid microwave-ready freezer meals from the freezer section.

- We grind our own wheat for flour.

- We buy little meat, and what we do buy we extend. If a recipe calls for 1 pound of ground meat, we usually use ¼ - ½ pound if we use it at all. Other times we substitute meat for a variety of beans and/or plumped whole wheat kernals.

- We buy many fruits and veggies, but generally only those on sale or in season. We almost always have on hand: bananas, apples, celery, carrots, potatoes, broccoli (all fresh). In season, we have oranges and grapefruit. Our freezer has a variety of frozen veggies, such as green beans, peas, spinach, broccoli, and corn, as well as frozen fruit, such as strawberries and blueberries. Our cupboards have cans of beans, corn, tomatoes, green beans, and applesauce and other fruits, as well as dried fruit such as apricots, raisins, and crasins.

- We purchase the cheapest item available, generally. This includes the generic brands, and items that are on sale. We watch prices regularly, because sometimes what is in the ad is not really the best deal.

We find it cheaper for us to eat healthy foods and meals, and if anything is considered an inconvenience (like grinding our own wheat flour), it is something we've just adopted and we do it--it's not an inconvenience for us.

We feel like we have a balanced diet, and have great health as a result.

Check Out MY Bump

7 months. Only 2 more to go.

Here are the tummy photo updates (there's actually something to see this time).

These are for you, Nan, and for any others who thought Sam's shoulder growth post was going to be about my tummy.

Sam's tummy has stopped growing. However, I am catching up to his weight. Maybe in less than 2 months we will weigh the same. :)

We're Really Not That Silly

The baby name game post, was, of course, an April Fool's joke. We've been playing it for a while, though. Anytime someone asks us what names we're thinking, we often respond with some of those.

Andy Drew, because the oldest nephew on both sides of the family is Andrew, and both sets of parents have been set that his name is "Andrew" and never "Andy." (Which is fine with us, we just like to tease). We also talk a lot about how if you really like a name, but your sibling(s) used it, why can't you, still? Really, what's the big deal of having a cousin with the same name? Or even a friend who has a child with the name--what are the chances they will grow up together and hate being named the same, anyway?

Many people who hear we are pregnant with a boy say, "congrats on Sam Jr." So, we joke that will be his name--but not a Samuel Smith Jewkes, Jr. (or II), but just simply "Sam Junior Jewkes." I actually find this quite hilarious.

And, due to how much we support what our President is doing to change our country by putting us in trillions of dollars in debt (can you sense our sarcasim?), we joke about naming baby after him. My maiden name (Blackham) goes quite well with it, too, don't you think?

What's up with Theo Dore and Felix? We saw those names while going through the composers in the hymn book one day during church....but Theo Dore is just more funny than Theodore.

Maybe in another day or so I'll post some of the real names we are considering.

Stay tuned.

Baby Name Game

Here's your chance to exert your influence on our helpless, unborn little one. I say helpless because basically he has no choice as to what we will name the poor little thing. So, cast your vote, give your suggestion, and don't withhold any criticism.

Here are the names we are considering so far:

Andy Drew Jewkes

Sam Junior Jewkes

Theo Dore Jewkes

Barack Blackham Jewkes

Felix Feliz Jewkes

Hold back nothing, we seek your honest and true opinions. If our choices do not satisfy your whims give us a better suggestion.