Dear Ryder

I want you to know how much I love you. I hope you know how proud I am of you-how proud I am to call you my son. Know that my love for you is unconditional and it is forever. There is nothing you could ever do that could change the way that I feel for you, that would change how much I love you. My life started the day you were born. I loved you from the moment I knew I was going to have you but I never knew how much I could love someone until you were born and in my arms. You are my everything and I love you more and more every day. Your smile makes my day-EVERY DAY. When you reach out to me, my heart smiles. When I hear you say "mama", my heart melts. Watching you grow and learn is what I live for. Feeling your soft, sweet hand around my finger is the reason I get up.
Ryder Patrick Fry-I love you more than you will ever know. You are my life and my world and I will never give up on you and I will always protect you and keep you safe.

"No one will ever know the strength of my love for you. After all, you're the only one who knows what my heart sounds like on the inside."

She's A Fighter

In this holiday season, sometimes it's easy to get lost in what it is all about. Christmas is not about Santa or presents or even turkey. Honestly, I don't think it's really about family, either. It's about a baby that was born to come and die for the people on this Earth that he loved so that they may have a chance to spend eternity with him..."no more sorrow, no more pain." I hope we all remember how amazingly blessed we are this Christmas.
As we meet with our families and eat this Christmas and celebrate this new year coming, I ask you to remember and pray for a high school friend of mine. I have not really kept in touch with her but I am following her on Facebook and I would like to ask you to pray for her and her healing. A few years ago, Teri was diagnosed with Lyme Disease. If you don't know about this, Google it. It has been completely debilitating and my heart aches for Teri. She is such a fighter. She is currently in the D.R. receiving some intense treatment. This past Thanksgiving, she was able to sit and eat with her family for Thanksgiving after not being able to for years (this is what I read on her FB).
If you could, as you talk to our Father tonight, or multiple nights please, ask for His will for Teri. Ask for healing and strength and understanding and patience.
God has a purpose for her and I am more than certain that she has been able to bring so many people to know him through her story. She is such a Godly, strong, wonderful woman and I am thankful to say that I have known her.

(These are all taken from her Facebook from, I believe, before she was diagnosed-what a beautiful girl-she still is!)

"This too shall pass"

Weight Loss

Well...I lost 7 lbs in 5 days doing the Master Cleanse. I went off of it for 4 days for Thanksgiving (and leftovers). Tomorrow, I am going back on  the cleanse. I am so tired of this post pregnancy weight. I don't even recognize myself in the mirror or in pictures or on Skype. I have very few clothes that fit right but I refuse to buy any clothes to fit me at 174lbs because I don't want ANY reason to stay at this weight. It's been hard to lose weight and get my blood sugars under control at the same time but in order to lose the weight, I have to have controlled sugars because additional insulin means weight gain (or at least not as much weight loss). I'm ready to be comfortable in my skin. To be able to look in the mirror as I leave my house and be confident. To say "Hey girl, hey!" to myself as I walk by a window or mirror.
Anyway, the cleanse starts again tomorrow (and working out continues) so I will keep you updated with the success I have (I know you are so interested haha)-thanks for pretending at least.

Happy Thanksgiving

From the West Coast, we would like to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. I am so happy that my little family is together this Thanksgiving. Last year, Pat was deployed and we didn't know Ryder was going to be Ryder yet. Even though we are apart from our individual family of origins (yes-I just pulled out some verbage from Family Studies. Aren't you proud Trish? lol) we are very thankful that we are with each other and that we will see our families over Christmas.
Poor Baby Bear has been sick for 2 weeks with a runny nose. On Tuesday night, he started to cough, and this morning it seemed as though the cough was moving more into his chest and there was a lot of mucus coming up with it. Ryder smiles even through his discomfort. I know he feels miserable but he is such a trooper and my little angel.
Here are some pictures of our 1st Thanksgiving together....Ryder is taking a nap right now so I will have to post more pictures of him later.

All the fixings ready to be warmed up

Green Been Casserole and Cornbread

Ryder playing while mommy cooks

Daddy waiting on his Thanksgiving lunch

 Can I get a smile?

 There's a smile!!!

 Getting the table set up

 Daddy cutting the turkey

 "This Guy's Awesome"

 Mashed potatoes donated to us from Operation Homefront-THANK YOU

 Sweet Corn Pudding

 Homemade Banana Pudding with from scratch pudding and whip cream-YUMMO

 Our "Lunch for 2" haha

 Sweet Potato Casserole

We received a FREE Thanksgiving Dinner from Operation Homefront and our local grocery store. I just want to send a HUGE thank you to everyone who donated to help out military families this season. Your generosity has not gone unnoticed.
*Click on the link above to watch the local news coverage about it*

Sugar FREE Cinnamon Sugar Swil Bread

So...I am trying out different recipes to make for Thanksgiving Breakfast. Right now I am making a sugar free version of a Cinnamon Sugar Swirl Bread... here is the recipe...(to make it sugar free just replace the sugar with granulated Splenda)

Ingredients

1/3 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup white sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix.

3.Add egg, milk and oil to the mix and stir until it is just moistened throughout

4.Pour half of the batter into greased loaf pan.

5. Mix 1/3 cup of sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. (You can add some brown sugar if you wish) and generously sprinkle over batter

6. Layer the rest of the batter over cinnamon and sugar.

7. You can sprinkle more cinnamon/sugar over the top of the batter.

8. Bake 45-50 min (until a toothpick comes out clean)

9. Let cool 10 min in pan and then remove and place on a wire rack to finish cooling.

10. Wrap in foil and let sit overnight. (I'm slicing some off for Pat to taste today)

Cinnamon Bun Pancakes

Yes...that's right. Pancakes that taste like cinnamon buns. Who doesn't love cinnamon buns? Who doesn't love pancakes? This is the ultimate combination of 2 very yummy things. I found this recipe and made it for Pat this morning to try them out. I am going to make them for our Thanksgiving breakfast, too. I, unfortunately, am on a very strict diet and cant eat them. However, I did sneak a taste and was dying to have more because they are soo good. But, I've lost 4 lbs so far in a short period of time and don't wanna mess up my hard work. Pat told me I was no longer allowed to make "regular" pancakes, because these "flat, fluffy cinnamon rolls" were better than anything he's ever had. AND--they taste like Cinnabun (is that how you spell  it?) Anyway, here is the recipe and directions and a few pics of the deliciousness that is... ENJOY

PANCAKES:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten

CINNAMON FILLING:
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

CREAM CHEESE GLAZE:
4 Tablespoons butter
2 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Prepare pancake batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk in milk, oil and egg, just until batter is moistened (a few small lumps are fine).

2. In a medium bowl, mix butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Scoop the filling into a small zip baggie and set aside. You don't want this to remain super-liquidy. It's best if it becomes a consistency similar to toothpaste.

3. In a medium, microwave-safe bowl- heat butter and cream cheese until melted. Whisk together until smooth; whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla extract; set aside.

4. Heat large skillet over medium-low heat. Spray with nonstick spray. Scoop about 3/4 cup batter onto the skillet. Snip the corner of your baggie of filling and squeeze a spiral of the filling onto the top of the pancake. When bubbles begin to appear on the surface, flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until browned on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet or platter and keep in a warm oven until ready to serve.

5. When ready to serve, spoon warmed glaze onto the top of each pancake.