Overnight Oats & a "Delurk"

I have had the following conversation probably three dozen times.

Me: [Random story/fact about the boys/etc.]

You [or your husband]: "Oh yeah! I [my wife] totally read that on your blog. Is that creepy?"

Me: "Not creepy at all. That's why I write it!"

Ok. This is me calling you out. You are not creepy. You are, however, awkward. Say hello! I am calling for a delurk today. If you've never commented, or you comment on every post, or somewhere in between leave a comment! Either on this post or another one of your liking. It doesn't even have to have anything to do with the post. I just want to get to know YOU. Introduce yourself!

I'll even throw in a "nice to meet you!" picture of the boys.

How can you say no to faces like that?

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As for the Overnight Oats. Are you excited? You should be. These have the power to change your life. To start with, I have a love for oats that I didn't know existed until I was pregnant with the boys. I had this master list of things I wanted to make to have on hand so I ate well and could build and keep a good milk supply. It just turns out that oats were in almost every single one. Granola, smoothies, breakfast cookies, etc. Then, we moved to Arizona. And my milk supply was all but gone. I called the NICU to see if I could get it back and the nurse just asked me how often I eat oats.

I had pinned a recipe for overnight oats on pinterest a while ago that I kept meaning to try, but it called for "chia seeds" and I had never seen them anywhere but on Amazon. I didn't want to buy a whole pound just in case I didn't like it. [Now, guess where my swagbucks gift cards are going to go?] I found chia seeds down here at Sprouts in their bulk section and grabbed a scoop for a couple bucks. And I've had overnight oats every day since.

They are magic.

They fill me up all morning. They're full of protein. I get fruit and calcium and fiber in my diet from the get go. They are YUMMY and I'm a night owl, so making myself a balanced breakfast in the morning [even just adding fruit to my bowl of cereal] just doesn't happen. However, making a balanced breakfast the night before? I can, and do, do that.

[Happy to say my milk supply has never been better.]

I've since modified the recipe a bit, because I'm one of the weird ones that doesn't like greek yogurt. Also, eventually [when I'm not living at my in-laws house], I plan to make a big batch of my own yogurt to use, and I don't intend to greek strain it. And the recipe made about half of what I needed to eat for breakfast, so I started by doubling the amount of oats it called for. I make mine in ziploc tupperware containers. They're not a part of the cutesy mason jar trend, but they do the job just fine. And fit a lot more of everything.

So without further ado, here's my favorite breakfast secret!

Overnight Oats

• 1/2 c. old-fashioned oats


• 1/3 c. milk [I use 1%]


• 1/2 c. yogurt [I have used vanilla and strawberry so far. Must say, I prefer vanilla.]


• 1 Tablespoon chia seeds <--don't skimp on these. They're my favorite part! [And they soak up the liquid and make it the right consistency.]


• Fruit or other mix-ins

Put everything but your mix-ins in a container. Stir well. Mix-in your mix-ins. Let it sit in the fridge overnight. Enjoy in the morning!

I've tried applesauce and cinnamon, mango, fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, a tablespoon of cocoa and half a banana, a tablespoon of peanut butter and half a banana, and strawberry yogurt [instead of vanilla] with half a banana. Must say, the only one I didn't like was the peanut butter combo. And if you make one with banana, be sure to eat it within 2 days. [I generally make 4 of these at a time and let them sit in the fridge. I eat the banana ones first because I have a weird thing about banana...the blueberry one lasted a good 4 days and tasted divine!]

So there you have it. Have you tried these before? Favorite mix ins? I want to hear about it!

Conference Saturday

This morning, we woke up the boys at 7. Fed them as quick as possible (they were TIRED!) and left for the pediatrician's office. My poor boys didn't know what was about to hit them, but it was time to be circumcised... ouch.

I've never heard them cry like that.

Hard as it was, I loved being able to calm them down. It made me feel like a Mother. Diaper changes and getting up in the middle of the night and snapping pictures of these cute boys make me feel like a Mom. Really soothing my little ones and knowing how much they need me? That makes me feel like a Mother.

The traumatic experience helped them learn how to hold on to my hand pretty quickly. They used to hold my finger every now and again, but now both of them hold on tight. I love that they know me.

We drove around for about 45 minutes after the appointment to help them get to sleep, which resulted in stopping to pick up smoothies and croissant sandwiches for breakfast. After we got home, conference was about to start so Cam and I each cuddled a boy and hit the couch. All the crying has completely exhausted my poor boys. We've had to spend at least 20 minutes waking them up for each feeding and then a time or two during the feeding we have to wake them up again.

The first session of conference was incredible. I'm sure the second was too, but all 4 of us were knocked out for it. Deep, blissful sleep. Everyone touching another member of the family.

Our little family.

Lots of love in this little living room of ours.

On another happy note, I really struggle to find anything on these boys that looks like me. My sister mentioned the day they were born that Gray had my little toe. I know that sounds silly, but my pinky toe curls under itself completely, like an eagle claw. I finally noticed it again today. Little Gray has my claw toe! Makes me so happy. Also, makes me happy that I can actually prove to my mom that it is, in fact, genetic, and that I didn't just wear too small of shoes all growing up.

Can You Keep Up?

C ran the Provo City half marathon this weekend. The race started at 8 in the morning. So did a freezing cold hail/slush/snow/ice storm. My job was to be at the finish line by 9:30. I had my A game on. Prepped with an extra sweatshirt for C, cold chocolate milk [his favorite recovery drink], flip video, and regular camera in tow I headed out the door. I even had an umbrella. [I know, mom. Be so totally impressed.] One major thing I’m missing?

My keys!

They’re mocking me from between the seats inside my locked car. Awesome.

My phone goes off. It’s my sister asking if I want to g-chat at the moment. Great timing. lol. In one breath I lay out the entire situation and she promptly hangs up the phone.

I call my prego neighbor…who are we kidding? It’s 9:25 on a Saturday morning. No prego is going to answer the phone, even if they CAN hear the ringing.

Enter new friend Lacey from the building down the street. I’m getting really good at explaining my situation and no lie, 1 minute later she’s in front of my house, looking fabulous and car warm. Meanwhile, I’m selfishly praying the weather really takes a toll on C’s time. She jets me down to the finish line where I miss C by…

3 minutes!

[ironically, it's because they blocked off the road so the runners could get through.]

C didn’t mind too much. Awesome, patient, wonderful man that he is. I felt horrible. He was freezing and assured me that he was glad I wasn’t waiting in the cold for too long. Sometime I’ll develop that level of maturity.

He came in 13th in his age group, with a time of:

1 hour and 42 minutes.

Super proud of you, babe. Can’t wait for the real deal on June 12th!

And just in case, I’m making a duplicate key for Lola, our [mostly] reliable little purple car.

BYU Graduation

This weekend rocked. In a major way. For starters, my mom came into town on Wednesday night. We went to a late night dinner at Outback to celebrate C finishing his finals [woot!] and then stayed up talking until 1 am like teenagers. [My mom is more of a best friend at this point in my life. Love LOVE that.]

I worked a half day on Thursday, C & mom came to pick me up. They met the boss, who congratulated me on finishing college and handed me the key to the company car! A sweet black 2009 infiniti coupe. It was mine for the weekend. Note to self: be an AWESOME employee. Marketecture rocks.

After we drove home in the BEST car ever, we picked up my cap & gown and got ready for commencement. Long, big meeting where they tell you to pay the school back after you pay off your student loans. I was ready to walk out the door when C hands me a little package. Do you remember this? Well, it has a permanent home on my left wrist. It even brought along its two matching buddies to adorn my ears. Husband.of.the.year.

We finished up commencement & spent the rest of the night trying every single dress on in the new Mikarose outlet at Provo Towne Center. We bought two dresses and mom vowed to take my sister, Jessica, back the next night. Too much cute stuff at VERY reasonable prices!

Went to bed & got up bright and early for convocations. [had to be there by 7:15am. OUCH.] Remember my morning person post? We haven't made much progress. I'm still desperately in love with my pillow. C on the other hand popped out of bed and had his A-game on to save seats.

The whole family came. I got to see my dad for the first time in months and even wonder-mom Emilee came down with her two little girls! [She's also the one who snapped these great pictures: thanks Em! I didn't have time to edit these, but they look pretty good as is!]

Me and Mom & Dad McGuire

Parents + C & K

C & K

The whole McGuire family minus the Moores in Denver. Wish you were here!

The Call Clan minus Amberlee, Adam & the boys. [Adam & the boys came later. We sure missed you Amberlee!]

Remember my awesome sister who goes to culinary school and turns out treats like this? Yep. She was here the WHOLE weekend. Ask me how that was. YUM.

The whole shabang.

Then, I took off my gown and Em saw the Mikarose dress I was wearing and insisted I take a few more pictures.

Yep, that's the chewlry bracelet on my wrist!

Then my mom noticed how a blue in my belt matched my dad's shirt.

...and I noticed how C matches me. So we took another picture.

The rest of the weekend involved building a garden, mini golfing, arcade dominating, and visiting Em & Adam. I'm way excited to tell you all about our little garden! So stay tuned!

Solved My Getting Up Early Problemo

If you recall, my office now requires me to be here by 8am. [It's slightly painful.] And I asked all of you to help me find motivation for getting out of bed in the morning.

I think I'm going to take this quote and plaster it on the wall next to my bed. [Realistically, it'll be on a post-it. But I'll write it cute!]

Rise & Shout!

I am a BYU cougar. My parents both attended BYU. My sister, her husband, me and my husband all attend(ed) BYU. I was actually born while my parents were living in BYU married housing. My entire family is able to sing the BYU fight song start to finish at a ridiculously young age. We bleed blue.

It starts out "Rise & shout! The Cougars are out!" My parents used this as a mechanism to get us out of bed in the mornings. The end of the fight song is a series of "Rah rah rahs" followed by "GooooooooOOOO Cougars!" [For getting us out of bed, they'd replace Cougars, with Kristin, Lindsay, Jessica, etc.]

Here's where my dilemma comes in. I no longer have a zealous parent to get me out of bed in the mornings. I've been doing alright getting my fanny to work in the mornings by 9, but I received an e-mail today explaining that our office hours are now 8:30 to 5:30 or [in my case, to avoid cutting into my "wife time"] 8:00 to 5:00.

Also, this comic accurately describes my outlook on the entire "early-to-bed; early-to-rise" mentality. So all of you morning people can just keep your condescending comments to yourself.



So, the question is: how do you convince yourself to get out of bed in the morning?

Just to give you an idea of the severity of the situation....my first thought is generally: "No. Way. I won't get to sleep again for [x] hours." Yep. I'm in trouble.