HELP STEVE & NIKKI

I just wanted to reach out to as many people as I can to help this amazing couple out! First of all here is there story:

Steve and Nikki were married on May 25, 2010. Steve was the "back manager" at The Pizza Factory restaurant (where they met) and Nikki was just starting a position as "front manager" of a brand new Pizza Factory in a nearby city. With their combined income they were able to purchase a modest new home. Even though they owned almost no furniture, they were so excited to move in just a few weeks after they

(Picture of Steve and Nikki holding their newly-signed

marriage certificate on their wedding day)

On July 17, 2010, less than two months after their marriage, Steve was involved in a serious traffic accident when another vehicle made an illegal left turn at an intersection. Steve's motorcycle slammed into the side of the other vehicle.

(The picture at the right is a police photo showing Steve's crumpled motorcycle after the accident. You can see the medical helicopter on the road in the background.)

Miracles happened as a registered nurse was at the scene, a police officer was close by, and a medical helicopter just happened to already be flying in the area due to a cancelled pick up. One of the medical helicopter personnel said that Steve would have died from loss of blood within a few minutes had he not received medical attention so quickly.

(Picture of Steve in the hospital about a week after the accident. You can see

the stitches from surgery running under his arm pit and down his right arm.)

Steve was flown directly to the hospital where he was given 16 units of blood, underwent several hours of surgery, and almost lost his right arm from the shoulder down. He then underwent four more surgeries over the next nine days in an effort to repair the massive amount of damage caused by accident.

The accident caused severe damage to Steve's right shoulder and neck area. Steve's right arm will never be normal again and may still need to be amputated at some point. Among other injuries, his right pectoral (chest) and trapezius (neck) muscles, as well as two of the five main nerves going into his arm were completely ripped away in the accident. The other three nerves running from his neck into his arm were also severely damaged and it's still unknown if they'll ever heal. He has very little feeling or movement in any part of his right arm and hand.

Just when they thought things couldn't get worse, Steve developed a serious infection in his right shoulder. After another operation and weeks of expensive treatment, they believe they'll be able to keep the infection in check.

Steve will need a great deal of medical attention over the next few years, as well as physical and occupational therapy for up to five years. He will not be able to work for a long time and will be hindered by his injured shoulder and neck for the rest of his life. Nikki's work schedule has been and will continue to be interrupted as she cares for her new husband. Just paying their normal bills has become a real challenge for them, let alone paying for the massive amount of medical bills they're getting literally every week.

(Picture of Steve and Nikki sharing a light moment

together about a month after the accident.)

Why They Need Your Help

It is estimated that medical and therapy expenses could exceed $1 million over the next few years. Just before the accident the newly married couple was in the process of getting health insurance, but the paperwork wasn't completed in time. Car insurance from both drivers isn't going to cover nearly enough. Needless to say, they need help if they are going to pay the bills, give Steve the ongoing medical attention and therapy he needs, and keep from filing for bankruptcy at such a young age.

Please join us in helping them overcome this rough start in their young marriage by donating whatever you feel comfortable with. Whether you donate a little or a lot, it could go a long way towards helping Steve and Nikki get through this difficult time.

All donations are managed via PayPal, so they're safe and secure.

Thank you and God bless!

They need your help now more than ever! If anyone has ever been in the hospital for even a day or two you know that those bills aren't cheap. We are giving our every effort to help them out as much as we can!

Here are a few ways YOU can help too!

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Thank you to those who have already donated or bought merchandise to help out. We appreciate everyone's support!

Just a fabulous trip down memory lane

After chatting a bit with a fabulous friend Brittles I had this urge to eat Bucca Di Beppo food. Mostly their amazing marinara sauce that came in a size to feed a large part of Africa and their amazing garlic cheese bread. So I started to investigate and came across something that just might have made a shift in the earth's tilt.

THE ORIGINAL BUCCA DI BEPPO
MARINARA RECIPE!!!

I wasn't sure if I wanted to share it, but with something so incredibly good why not! So for those who have eaten there and love their sauce here is the recipe to make in your own cute kitchen! ENJOY!!

BUCA'S MARINARA SAUCE

1/4 C olive oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 28oz cans crushed tomatoes
salt to taste
3 T fresh chopped basil

Directions:

Heat olive oil over medium heat inside LARGE saucepan...or even a smallish stockpot (if you need to know how large of a saucepan you will need, pay close attention to the 52oz of crushed tomatoes that you will be adding!!!!!). Saute the garlic and onion in olive oil for 8-10 minutes. Add tomatoes and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to low and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add fresh basil before serving.

Note: If you like sweeter sauce you can add 1-2 teaspoons of white sugar.

I am making this for dinner and I can't hardly wait. I am trying a new dough recipe to make killer garlic cheese breadsticks so we shall see how that goes, there may be a post later.

Cooking Fiend

Lately I have been challenging myself to create desserts and entrees that are both delicious and low fat along with intriguing.
so far I have made 3 successful items: Raspberry Torte, Belgian Waffles, & Key Lime Pie.
The recipes were fairly easy and I was able to use what I had in our pantry to accomplish all three of them!

Here is the end result:

Belgian Waffles

3 cups Bisquick Mix
1 box (3oz) Cook and Serve Vanilla Pudding
2 TBsp Olive Oil
1 Egg

Combine bisquick and dry vanilla pudding mix. Add oil and egg. Stir until well blended. Cook in your favorite waffle maker! I added craisins and grapes for the topping and used Agave for the syrup to make them a little healthier.

Chocolate Raspberry Torte

1-1/2 pkg. (12 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, divided

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter

1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Raspberry Flavor Gelatin

1/2 cup Sugar

3 Eggs

1/3 cup Flour

1/2 cup PLANTERS Chopped Pecans, toasted or coconut (optional)

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP or COOL WHIP French Vanilla Whipped Topping, thawed

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 9-inch round cake pan; line bottom with wax paper. Microwave 4 squares of the chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 to 2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 min. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir dry gelatin mix and sugar into chocolate until well blended. Mix in eggs. Stir in flour and pecans/coconut until well blended. Pour into prepared pan.

BAKE 40 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Do not overbake.) Cool in pan 5 min. Run small knife around side of pan to loosen edge. Invert onto serving platter; remove wax paper. Cool cake completely.

MELT 4 squares of the remaining chocolate in microwave on HIGH 1-1/2 min. or until melted, stirring after 1 min. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Spread on wax paper-covered baking sheet; refrigerate 30 min.(I combined some coconut in this to give it a little more texture)

MEANWHILE, melt remaining 4 squares chocolate in microwavable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 min. or until melted, stirring after 1 min. Stir until chocolate is completely melted; stir in whipped topping until smooth. Frost cake with whipped chocolate mixture.

REMOVE chocolate on baking sheet from refrigerator; using sharp knife, cut into 1-1/2- to 2-inch irregular-shaped pieces. Remove chocolate pieces from wax paper; arrange on top of cake. Store cake in refrigerator.

Key Lime Pie

Graham Crust (you can also buy this premade)
1 1/2 cups Fine Graham Crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
6 TBsp Butter
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Combine all ingredients until well blended. Press into 9" pie tin. Cook at 375 for 7 min or until slightly browned. Cool completely.

Whipped Topping (you can also use an 8oz tub of thawed Cool Whip)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
6 TBsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place whipped topping in freezer for about 10 min before starting. Beat until desired fluffyness then add sugar one TBsp at a time along with vanilla.

Pie Filling
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup lime juice (fresh is best, about 4 medium limes, I used the Real Lime Juice)
2 cups whipped topping (or thawed Cool Whip)

Combine sweetened condensed milk and lime juice and beat for 5 minutes in high. Pour into pie tin with cooked crust. Add whipped topping on top of pie filling and refrigerate for 2 hours. I broke up graham crackers in odd shapes and made them as decorations. I also sprinkled some graham crumbs on top.


So far both Jayden and James have enjoyed these items :) Good luck and happy cooking!

reversed everything!

So lately I have noticed that things are definitely changing... I'm reading a great book that has a lot of awesome information. But my body seems to be doing things backwards.

I have been lucky enough to not have full blown nausea but on occasion I have a pretty sickening feeling and have to lay down for a bit to recover. I've noticed that It's not a hard thing to keep things down, it's being able to eat in the first place without wanting to hurl. Which makes things really hard. I try to eat at much as I can to be able to work my full shift but most the time it hasn't been working so well. I'm usually incredibly hungry once I get home. One thing's for sure, I've had full blown headaches every day starting at around 2pm till I go to bed. It's hard cause normally I've not been fond of taking any type of medicine unless it's absolutely necessary. So now I really won't take any medication even thought the doctor gave me a list of safe medicines. I figure if I can stand it and be ok I'd rather not take anything and stay as healthy as possible!

Other than that so far things have been amazing! Not really showing at all yer since we're only 6 weeks in... But on October 7th we will be able to hear the heartbeat for the first time and we're both uber excited!

I know I know!

I know I'm a complete slacker when it comes to blogging but with our lives being all over the place the last little while it's been hard to sit and write about all the good things happening to us lately.
SO there is a lot to update since my last post so I'll try my best to capture it all in this post. First of all we have just moved to Grand Forks, ND. James is ina manager training program with Cenex Harvest States for the next year.

So we are getting used to tornado warnings, and incredibly strong winds, but WE LOVE IT HERE! Then again we haven't had a winter here yet. I am preparing to hibernate until the snow is gone.
As for me I just got hired at Starbucks and start on Wednesday with my training. It will be nice to have a second income for our family. Especially since we will be a family of 4 soon. That's pretty much all I will say on that one. Let's just say April will be a very happy month!
Jayden is loving his daycare. We call is school because it pretty much is. He is learning all his colors, letters, and comes home with more and more amazing vocabulary. The 2 and 3 year olds are being prepared for kindergarten which makes me very happy! Jayden loves his friends and all his teachers. He is super excited to go every day which makes it so much easier to leave him there.
Other than that we are just sitting pretty for the next year. James will be done with his training program, I will have my bachelors and we will be married around this time next year. So that's the update for now!

The things my son says...

I've been trying to see how much Jayden catches on to. So I ask him random questions through the day and see what he says.

Today the question was "Jayden do you want a brother or a sister?"

Jayden's answer "uh.. .I want a brother, a sister in a minute."

Then the next day I asked him the same question.

Jayden's answer this time "uh, I think I want a sister first."

So I asked him what his sister's name should be

Jayden's answer "name her Oddie"

my conclusion: He watches too much Garfield and he doesn't understand he can't just get a sibling "in a minute"

LEWISTON SUPERCROSS!!!! AKA Jayden's personal heaven

So James volunteered at the Lewiston Supercross this weekend. I took Jayden early with James and we watched the fellas practice on the course. It was incredible to see how entertained Jayden was.











Then we took a walk while they got the track ready for the race and found some fun off road toys. Jayden wanted to touch all of them but since I didn't bring my wallet he wasn't allowed.

We saw some pretty awesome toys and some which I would love to own someday.













Jayden kept asking me to start the race already cause he wanted to see the motorcycles jump on the track. Once they started it was hard not to stare at Jayden because he was so involved in the race. Every time someone would yell a name of a friend/family in the race Jayden would repeat it as if he knew the rider. People kept looking in our direction wondering if we also knew the racer. Made for an interesting race.

After a few qualifying races they announced that that the "pee wee" racers were going to get ready to race. I'm sure I looked confused cause I wasn't sure what to expect. Sure enough the cutest little people with HUGE helmets came out on little 50s. They got lined up right in front of the parent holding up their bike for them. Then it began. Shortly after you see 35 grown men running like they were racing towards the lottery winnings. HILARIOUS! These men were so serious about their little ones racing. CUTEST THING EVER! There was a minor crash at the beginning and 5 men ran for their lives to make sure their kids were ok. Luckily no one was hurt and the race continued. They chased their kids around the track clapping and cheering them on. One little fella was on a 4-wheeler and every time he went over the little hills he clung to the 4-wheeler like it was gonna buck him off. I could totally see Jayden riding in those races being the kid in first place with custom gear and a super tricked out bike. One day....

Here's a few videos from the afternoon:

If you follow the road you eventually come back to the house...

So after being here a solid month I am starting to feel like I know the place. I can get around the neighborhood pretty well and on occasion I realize I could have taken the other road to get to my destination faster. It all works out though. It seems that no matter what road I take, as long as it's not the freeway I end up in the same place I started.

Our little apartment is working nicely now that I know where I put everything I unpacked. We still struggle with the kitchen because there is literally NO counter space, which as most mothers, cooks, humans would know makes cooking incredibly complicated. I have managed to use the cutting board to close off one side of the sink and that helps but then when the sink fills up on the other side things get tricky.

Jayden is getting more used to going to "school" now and looks forward to seeing Keicia, his "teacher". She also happens to be our landlord and one of my friends so it's extremely reassuring to have her there. Jayden calls her "My Keicia" and gets his pretend phones and calls her all the time. I think he will bring some challenges when it comes to him dating... NOTE TO SELF: don't give Jayden a real cell phone.

James is getting excited to graduate and the last leg of school is testing his patience. I wish he could be done too! He is still waiting to hear from his boss about the location of his training program, but hopefully we will stay here in Lewsiton. We shall see.

I haven't found a job quite yet but I'm slowly getting side jobs for design work so that's been nice to have something coming in.

All in all this place is wonderful, friendly, and there are so many amazing people here. I'm glad I'm close to James and it's exciting to be "testing each others boundaries" you can ask James what that means, he's the one who said it.

Here's the favorite picture of the week:

Bunnies, Birthdays, and CHOCOLATE!

This weekend was a complete success! My Mom was able to come up and spend Easter with us and we were able to celebrate her birthday Lewiston style... Not sure what that means but we gosh darn gone and did it.
My Mom flew in Friday at midnight and boy did she have an adventure on the ity bity plane. I was just glad she made it to me. Saturday was kind of a bust because I had to go into the hospital because my toothache decided to invade my gums. NOT FUN. I got some serious pain meds and some antibiotics and since then my jaw is movable and I can speak without a lisp.
The rest of Saturday we explored little Lewi.SIDE NOTE: I've decided to name our area of living and make it into it's own person. His name shall be Lewi Clark. Don't worry he's a swell guy!
Anyway... We explored the highlighted places around Lewi and had a great time. Then we stopped at Applebee's for dessert.

Sunday came along and Easter, sugar, and hyper babies were in the air.

I think he spots his basket...


Jayden Found Abuelita's Easter Basket

Jayden had an amazing time searching for his eggs around the apartment and demanded he have "just one canny"

from each egg. I shouldn't have used so much candy. We had a great breakfast and then headed out to James' parent's house.

We did another egg hunt in the yard and Jayden was ecstatic about finding more eggs in the grass. He continually made sure Velvet (the dog) was laying down so he could find his eggs.

We had our feast and had a great time chatting with family and being entertained by Jayden's sugar rush. Karen was awesome as usual and made Jayden a HUGE Easter bunny cake that was DELISH! She had ham, potatoes, yummy jello, asparagus, rolls... it was a FEAST! I of course could barely chew the amazing food but I managed cause I wasn't gonna let it go.





Karen and Bob got Jayden a super cute easter basket that Jayden absolutely loved! He still won't let me take his bunny away from him. He also got some really fun toys that he makes sure he knows where they are at all times or I'm in BIG trouble!



Monday Mom Jayden and I went out to a little cafe called Sage Baking Company. We had an awesome lunch. They had these incredible brownies with chocolate mouse instead of frosting. YUM!!! We came home to relax a bit and wait for James to get home from school. Then we met up at Red Lobster to celebrate my Mom's birthday. It was yet another incredible meal.

I'm glad my Mom could make it up this weekend. Jayden missed his Abuelita and loved seeing her! It's been a rough transition so it was nice to see her in our little home. THANKS MOM!

STORAGE SPACE AND BIGGER MAILBOXES

So I very quickly realized that moving from a full house that had 5 adults and a baby down to a single bedroom apartment for 2 adults and baby would have problems.

However I did not realize the trickiness of it all. This is when the shelving section at Walmart came into play. Since the building we moved into didn't have too many shelves, cabinets etc we had to finagle our storage capabilities. We moved things up then over the upside down, the stacked then re-stacked, the consolidated, and finally moved a LOT of items and boxes out to the storage unit near by. We were left with a few options but still couldn't seem to get things to look "non-smooshed". Well we found great cubbies that are super easy to put together and stacked those on top of each other for Jayden's room, and then got a more square style for my clothes.

SIDE NOTE: James kept saying how I had a LOT of stuff for just one person, then when I brought in my 3 boxes containing ALL my clothes he said "oh, that's it?" I just smiled and said "I know it's a TON huh?" He didn't say much after that.

Once we had all of our shelving up in the one and a half rooms we moved onto the kitchen, BIG PROBLEM. There is about as much space left in our kitchen , after all the appliances, to fit a decent sized half bathroom. It's lovely to attempt making something that requires counter space, when all I've got is about 3/4" to work with. All in all we have yet to put up one last shelf in the kitchen to hold our toaster oven and coffee maker. Which brings up another "fun" story.

As I was unpacking our lovely coffee maker I somehow managed to levitate the pot and then the pot decided to land on the floor shattering it to smitherines. That was only the beginning of my issues with the coffee maker. We found another pot at James' parent's house and I was extremely excited to make some delicious coffee when I realized the pot sat about 1/4" too low and wouldn't open the spout to let the coffee drip down. I thought oh well I will just hold it. So I proceeded to get t-he supplies. I poured the water in, grabbed the coffee and realized I had no filters. So I hopped in my car and drove down to the little market and bought some filters. I got back home and determined as I was, I held the pot up while it made the 6 cups of coffee. BEST COFFEE OF MY LIFE! Although I will most likely not make coffee again for a while.

Then came time to get the mail. I noticed out mailboxes were slightly smaller than I had hoped for. Our mail was in the mailbox, clipped to the outside of the mailbox, and also shoved behind the mailbox to ensure we got all our mail. I was slightly concerned about important documents being taken, dropped, or maimed while in this process so I promptly asked our landlord if we could get a bigger one. We are in the process of finding something that works, fits, and is reasonably priced. I think it's time for Home Depot.

Moral of this story: get a bigger place to live in BEFORE you unpack.

WE MADE IT!!

So as many of you know I moved up to Lewiston/Clarkston last week all the way from Lindon, UT.

Well after 12.5 hours of driving we finally made it home. We then quickly realized it was only the beginning. We had a lot of unpacking and reorganizing to do. Thank god there's a walmart! Shelves, shelves, and more shelves! bringing in all of my stuff along with all of Jayden's things was an obstacle we conquered!


So far I haven't found a full time job but I am still working with Blue Bean to get all my shirt orders done and getting plenty of new customers!

James will be graduating in May and is already looking at getting a great position in Primeland here in Lewiston for his manager training program.




Jayden has had his ups and downs but he is doing a stellar job at adjusting to his new room. He chose his own sheets with "thupers" on them. (super heroes) He likes his "own bed". He has also started going to "thchool" (daycare) and is loving his "new friendth". he gets a little clingy when I drop him off but once outside time hits he forgets that I'm not there. His "teachers" there are awesome and take really good care of him. He is loving being with other little people and I'm starting to see how much he really needed to socialize. Not gonna lie I bawled my eyes out when I dropped him off the first two days but Mom is adjusting as well. It's hard to let him go after having him with my for 2 years. But I have gotten so much done! I feel great knowing he is in good hands for when I start working.

Thanks again to all my great friends in Utah for making my last week there an amazing one! JD, Ellie, Kim, and Shawn we love you guys!

We will be back at the end of May for everyone's graduations, weddings and keggers.... I mean, yeah we don't go to those.