the schultz pride

Our little lion looked so cute. I love how Squeak is looking at him in this picture. Squeak has totally accepted him in as part of his pride. It's so cute - when Oliver cries, Squeak runs over to see what's wrong. He even put his paws up on the bathtub ledge and looked over the edge once when Oliver was crying in the bath. Oliver squeals with joy whenever he sees Squeak. I love that they're friends. So cute.

feeling better

Thankfully, Squeak is pulling through. He still wasn't feeling too great yesterday (as you can see from the picture on the left of him laying on W's arm). He stayed "in bed" (on his pillow on our bed) all day. We had to force-feed him water with a syringe again. But then last night he started bathing himself. This morning he tried to jump up on the bathroom sink to get some water (he only drinks running water) but didn't quite make the jump. We lifted him up and he drank. He hasn't done this on his own in almost a week. We were pretty excited. Today he followed me into my office and jumped up on my desk, a favorite spot of his (as pictured on the right). He's going to make it. We sure do love him and we're so relieved that he's feeling better.

christian the lion

If you watch Oprah or CNN, you have probably seen this video. I rarely have time to watch Oprah these days but had a recorded show playing while I was working the other night and she showed this video. Grab some Kleenex, it's a tearjerker.

Maybe more-so for me because my sweet cat, Squeak, is pretty sick right now and we're worried that he might not make it. He hasn't had food or water in two days. We force-fed him water and it just came back up. Poor little guy. Breaks my heart.

shower stuff

I hosted a baby shower for my friend Crystal yesterday. She is having twin girls. My friend Marci (who lives in AZ) wanted me to post pictures and details of the shower, so here they are.

[the invitations]

She isn't a big pink fan so I didn't add an ounce of pink to the invitations (although it was tempting).

[the decorations]





I made this fun banner to hang for the shower. I saw the diaper cake on here on Talia's blog and thought it was such a cute idea.

We played three games. The first was a word scramble game, where everyone tried to decode a bunch of baby-oriented words. The second game was a cute idea Aleisa had (Aleisa gave the shower with me). She passed diapers around and everyone wrote advice or little notes on the diapers for Crystal. The third game was trying to find safety pins in a bowl of rice while blindfolded. Whoever could find the most in 45 seconds won. It sounds easy but it's really pretty difficult. Three was the most anyone got.




And of course the presents were fun. I couldn't resist using pink wrapping, despite Crystal's aversion to pink.






For the food, Aleisa made salsa and brought chips, we had cream cheese with a sweet pepper relish poured on top with crackers, pasta salad, and chocolate covered strawberries.

And one last picture - our cat, Squeak, loves to be social. He's always around when we have company over. Here he is, enjoying the shower.


It was really fun. I'm excited for you Crystal!

more than you ever wanted to know about me

My friend Crystal sent this to me in email form and I was supposed to respond and email it back to her and others. I've done similar email type things in the past, so I thought I would post this one here on my blog (minus a few things that might not be safe to post for any random person to read. I took out #6 after finishing everything and didn't want to retype all of the numbers.) So there is a lot of random, likely boring stuff to follow. I won't be offended it you would rather do anything else with your time.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:30

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds, but I love both.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Transformers and Hairspray on the same night at the dollar theater a few months ago...it's been a while.

4. What is your favorite TV show(s)? The Office, Heroes, Friends (I never saw all of the episodes when they were originally aired so I'm loving the reruns)to name a few... and even though it has been canceled, I have to list Gilmore Girls because I think it's my all-time favorite.

5. What did you have for breakfast this morning? An everything bagel with butter and garlic powder on it because our cream cheese is reserved for a meal I'm making.

7. What is your favorite cuisine? It's such a tough choice, but I'll go with Thai.

8. What foods do you dislike? Ground meat of any kind and mussels come to mind pretty quickly.

9. Favorite chips? These are pretty good.

10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I don't really listen to cds much anymore, but today I came across one that I loved years ago and I am remembering why. It is Hear My Praise by Kenneth Cope. Such a beautiful cd.

11. What kind of car do you drive? We have two but lately I have been driving our Ranger. I love it.

12. What is your favorite sandwich? Bagel veggie sandwich.

13. What characteristics do you despise? I hate it when someone is rude to a person behind his/her back but nice to the person's face. Basically being fake.

14. What are your favorite clothes? I love wearing pjs when I have days off from school. When I am just hanging out at home doing homework I don't see a reason to get all dressed up. I am all about comfort! But in public, I like jeans, a long sleeved shirt (this time of year) and comfortable shoes. Again, comfort wins over anything cute and flimsy.

15. If you could go anywhere in the world on Vacation where would it be? I will say Russia because that is a goal of ours but I would also like to go back to Australia. I am craving so many foods there. Rough, I tell you.

16. Favorite brand of clothing? Ideally, American Eagle. But I will settle for Old Navy to get three times the stuff for the same price.

17. Where would you want to retire? Arizona

18. Favorite time of day? It sounds cheesy, but I love it when W comes home and we can hang out.

19. What is your favorite sport to watch? Does dancing count? No? Okay, baseball then.

20. Pepsi or Coke? Neither. I don't like soda at all, actually.

21. Are you a morning person or a night person? I am such a night person. I love to stay up late and sleep in.

22. Pedicure or manicure? I would take either.

23. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I got all As last quarter in school. Yay!

24. What did you want to be when you were little? I wanted to be "a Veterinarian and live in Virginia." That's what I told everyone. Funny how things change drastically.

25. What is your best childhood memory? So many good ones. My family would often go to "the bike track" and ride our bikes or "the caboose park" and play. Basically spending time with family.

26. Piercing? Just one in each ear.

27. Ever been to Africa? No.

28. Ever been toilet papering? Too many times to count.

29. Favorite day of the week? Saturday. Usually sleep in, hang-out with W, get stuff done. It's a good day.

30. Favorite restaurant? There are so many good ones, but right now I am craving a salad from La Grand Orange. The Sonoma Garden Salad on their menu that I linked you to. My stomach just growled when I read the description, no joke. Too bad it is in Arizona.

31. Favorite Flower? Gerber Daisies.

32. Favorite ice cream? Dryer's Peppermint is one favorite. (I'm noticing a pattern of indecisiveness...)

33. Favorite fast food restaurant? Chipotle.

34. How many times did you fail your drivers test? None.

35. From whom did you get your last email? Becky

36. In which stores would you choose to max out your Credit card? Treasury of Memories, American Eagle, Pottery Barn, Target, and Home Depot, among others.

37. Bedtime? It is rarely earlier than 12.

38. Last person you went to dinner with? If breakfast counts, it was Josh and Laurel last Saturday morning. Dinner would be Jon and Christa.

39. What are you listening to right now? Hear My Praise.

40. What is your favorite color? Green


I will leave you with pictures of the boys. I was sitting here typing away and Squeak was laying next to me on my desk. Then I looked up and Kitty had taken his place. I hadn't even noticed. When I

turned to see what Squeak was up to, this is what I saw. He cracks me up. The other picture is of the two of them, Squeak on my scanner and Kitty right next to me on my desk. They're my blogging buddies.


PS Feel free to put this on your blog so I can read random things about you.

*gratitude *

I have been tagged by Marci to list ten things I'm grateful for. I love this tag - it's always so uplifting to reflect on my blessings and my happy life.

1. School. I am so grateful to be back in school, studying something that I am passionate about. I absolutely love my program. I love all of my classes, especially Historical Approaches to Social Welfare. I am learning so much I didn't know about America's history (not all good, but I'm still glad I'm learning it). I really love school.

2. Dub. I cannot describe how much fun we have. Our inside jokes would sound crazy, but I will say that I never knew I could be so silly, so happy, or laugh so much on a daily basis before I met him. He's amazing and I feel grateful every day to be married to him. (This is a bad scan but I love this picture so I'm posting it anyway.)

3. My faith. It is truly the compass in my life. There is not a day that goes by that it is not integrated into my life in some way. It brings me hope, peace, love, endurance, strength, and happiness.
4. Modern conveniences, such as plumbing, electricity, and heat. I take these for granted most of the time, but I really am grateful for them.
5. My family. (Since I already had a layout about them in one of my mini books, I'll share that.) They're wonderful.

6. The amazing experiences I've had in my life. I was a nanny in Minnesota, I was able to serve a mission for my church in Australia, I've lived in numerous states, and I've met wonderful people along the way.
7. Good health.
8. Our boys. (Yes, they have pink tags on their collars. It was the only choice at the time. Poor things.)


8. My computer and the internet.
9. Our camera. (And our mutual love for photography.)

10. And on this Veteran's Day, I would like to express my gratitude for those who have sacrificed, and continue to sacrifice for our country. Thank you.


I also wanted to point out how great gratitude journals are. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am all about keeping journals and preserving stuff for the future. I started this journal in 2003 during a particularly difficult time in my life. I love flipping through the pages and reading about how blessed I am. Try it. It's so uplifting. I like that I don't feel overwhelmed with writing a long entry either - I just write a line or two, sometimes even just a word or two. It has really blessed my life.


And now I am going to tag Andrea, Becky Householder, Crystal, Kamarah, Kristi Pace, and Eryn. (And anyone else who wants to join in.)

a recipe and a new lens

I mentioned last Sunday that I would post my recipe for chicken enchiladas. Here it is.


Here's what I use. Keep in mind that you can make this as fancy or as simple as you'd like. This recipe started off with one I got from my mom, which just had the chicken, cheese, and sauce in the tortillas, and that's good too. I like to add a bunch of stuff for added flavor and fiber and to make it colorful.

1-2 chicken breasts (depending on how many people you are feeding)
1 can of black beans
1 can of corn
1 tomato
1 can of olives
1 bell pepper
1 white onion
1 clove of garlic
a little olive oil
a handful of cilantro
1 can of roasted green chilis
2 cups of shredded cheese
1 package of tortillas
2 large cans of enchilada sauce (our favorite is Macayos but we can't find it here (it might just be an Arizona thing) so we use La Victoria instead. If you know of a really good enchilada sauce, please post and let me know).
Lemon pepper, Italian seasoning, or any other spice you feel like adding.
(avocados would also be good. Yum.)

So boil your chicken for about 45 minutes or until it's cooked. Then shred it up and put it in a bowl. Add one can of enchilada sauce. (I usually add red inside and green on the outside or the opposite. In this case, I used red on the inside and green on the outside, as you can see.) Then add your beans and corn. Cut up a bell pepper and onion if you're going to use those. Put them in a pan with a little olive oil and a (finely chopped) clove of garlic. (I use a garlic press for this.) Then add all of that to your bowl too.

Add tomatoes and olives if you want. Add your seasonings if you want to add some. Add one cup of shredded cheese (or if you are trying to be healthy, don't put any cheese inside and just put a little on top).

**Preheat your oven at 250 at this point**

Spray your casserole dishes with cooking spray. Then mix everything up and put some of the mixture in a tortilla and roll it up. Do this until they are all rolled. Once they are rolled in your casserole dishes, pour your other (green) sauce on top (or another can of red if you like red better).

Sprinkle with one cup of shredded cheese. Add olives and tomatoes if you want. Put them in the oven for 15-20 minutes (the chicken is already cooked so this is to basically melt the cheese and warm them).

When they come out, put your chopped cilantro on top (and avocado if you're a fanatic like me).

That's it! These are Dub's favorite. I think your family will like them too.

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Also, we got a new lens! We used our reward points from our credit card. We've been wanting this lens for a while. It is the Canon 50mm f1.4. The nice thing about this lens is that it's great for low-light settings. I hate using a flash unless I absolutely have to, and this lens allows me to take flash-free pictures with poor lighting. Love that. Here is a picture I took of our cat Squeak (I take lots of pictures of him. He's so photogenic. Loves the spotlight. Or at least humors me from time to time.)

I took this picture in the late afternoon. The blinds were closed and the light was off. I am just amazed that I could get such a great shot with such poor lighting. I just adore our new lens. So cool.

Wendel worked a on a garage all weekend. He's amazing. I helped him a little on Friday night but I wasn't feeling too well so I whimped out. He pretty much organized the whole thing himself. He went through boxes and put everything in it's place (after creating a place for everything by building shelves. Side note - the people who lived here before us had a rock climbing wall in the garage. Kind of weird because the garage isn't that tall. Anyway, Wendel took it apart and used the wood to build shelves. I love being married to a handyman!). He is just awesome.

Also, while we were working in the garage on Friday night, the youth in our ward heart-attacked our house. So cute of them.
*(Updated with a picture)*


Wendel took me out to eat last night at the restaurant at Druids Glen (the golf course we went to a few weeks ago). I've been craving their Spinach Salad (with Thai dressing - yum) and garlic mashed potatoes. It was fun to dress up a little and go on a date.

That's all for now. Have a great week!