Welcome Emma Delaney Rudolph, Farewell Carolyn Chase Muhlestein

We are excited to welcome Emma Delaney Rudolph to our family! She was born on Valentine's Day at 2:14 pm (that would be 2/14 at 2:14!). She weighed in at 6 lbs. 7 oz. packed into 19 1/2 ". Jenny's labor was relatively uneventful, which was quite a relief for her. Emma did end up getting vacuum sucked the last little bit of the way out because she was too stubborn to put her face down, but she has been an extraordinary baby ever since she was born. She sleeps and sleeps and sleeps (got that from her mom!) and only cries when we change her diaper. She is very small and her newborn size diapers are noticeably large, but she is eating well and growing.As excited as we have been to witness the start of a new life, we also experienced a great loss this week. Jenny's mother, Carolyn, passed away less than three days after Emma was born. She has been sick for quite some time, suffering the effects of Alzheimer's for more than a decade. Her passing was certainly expected, but we have been saddened by the timing since our new baby will keep Jenny from traveling to Utah for the funeral.
Thanks to the generosity of some friends we were able to travel to Utah for Thanksgiving. This is Jenny's mom surrounded by all but one of her eight children. Jenny had her mom's picture next to her bed during labor as a reminder that if she could do it eight times, Jenny could make it through this one. She was a celestial example of motherhood.
We feel especially grateful right now for the atonement of Jesus Christ and the power of His priesthood which will allow us all to be together forever as a family.She is so beautiful and we love her so much!

Cream of Asparagus Soup

It is currently 4:00 in the morning and I can't sleep. Is this mother nature's way of getting me ready for a 4 am feeding in a couple of weeks? It's kind of a mean trick. Well, since I can't sleep I figured I might as well do something, so I decided to post a blog entry about the recipe I made for dinner last night. We bought some asparagus on sale about a week ago and needed to use it. I have never had asparagus soup so I thought I would find a recipe online and try it out. The following link is to the "cream of asparagus soup" recipe that I made. I figured since all 5 reviews for it gave it 5 stars it was worth something. Besides the fact that it slightly resembled pureed baby food it tasted really good and is probably actually somewhat healthy, which is always a bonus right?! If you decide to try it out may I suggest setting aside the cooked asparagus tips and adding it at the very end, as it states in the recipe. The asparagus tips give it a nice variety in flavor and texture (I am a texture maniac when it comes to food). I also used fat free milk (it's all we buy, so it's all we had) and it still tasted excellent. I am constantly looking for good tasting, healthy recipes, and I thought that maybe other people out there may be looking too, so as long as you don't care if your food looks like baby food then try it out! :)

Cream of Asparagus Soup Recipe Link

To the Greatest Husband in the World

Recently I had a birthday that happened to fall on Sunday. Because of this Andrew and I decided to go out to eat on Saturday night to one of my favorite places in the world, Macaroni Grill. I had an abundant Christmas, that included a bread maker (thank you craigslist) and a new sewing machine, so I told Andrew all I wanted for my birthday was to go out to dinner and a "love note" from him. I expected nothing more and nothing less. Well Sunday morning rolled around and when I woke up Andrew brought me breakfast in bed, which included a bowl of honey bunches of oats (I'm addicted to cold cereal), a banana, a glass of OJ, and my vitamins. When we got home from church he said he wanted to make dinner for me so after a nap I taught Andrew how to bake a potato and we had a wonderful dinner, but that was not all. While I was taking my nap Andrew made a birthday cake for me! How thoughtful! But that was not the end. Andrew cleaned up a pile of school papers that has been on the floor for quite some time. He knows how much it would mean to me if it was cleaned up so he did it! He did everything for me that day. He wouldn't let me lift a finger. He even went the whole day without tickling me (I Hate being tickled, but I'm convinced it is one of Andrew's favorite pastimes). I did get my love note, but so much more! I couldn't ask for a better husband! How blessed and lucky I am! I love you Andrew!!!

The "blog title" battle continues...

So, in case if ya all haven't noticed our blog title changes quite frequently. Andrew and I have been having an ongoing battle about what the title of our family blog should be. I feel as though we should have a "normal" blog title such as "The Rudolphs". Andrew thinks that is "boring". Well , the problem occurs when the other person is not around and the blog title gets changed. It started out as "Radical Adventures in Rudolph Land" (not my favorite) and then changed to something like "Rudolph Family" (great!) and then it changed to "The Rudolphs: Join us in our quest for world domination" (what does that mean?!?). Between all of this I try to convince Andrew that "The Rudolphs" is a completely acceptable title but to no avail. I then changed it to "The Rudolphs: the happiest family on earth" (cheesy I know, but I knew Andrew wouldn't argue with it). That was the title until about a week ago when Andrew got the guts to change it yet another time. This time it was, "The Rudolphs: Yes we get more presents because of our name". This morning when I checked our blog Andrew had altered the title to "The Rudolphs: Join us on our AMAZING journey". So as you can see I have changed it to "The Rudolph Family". We'll see if it sticks.

To Brian, the new husband . . .

I have never known a better man than Brian B. We grew up together in the old Cherry Hill First Ward. He taught me how to lick batteries to see if they still had any charge. We wrote love notes to girls in our kindergarten class together. For that matter, I wouldn't even leave my mother's side to go to kindergarten for the first time until I saw that Brian was in the room. We learned Spanish together, played soccer together, built robots together, and wasted away afternoons playing more games of Tic-Tac-Toe than really seems reasonable. It was a dark day when Brian's family moved to another part of Orem. When my family moved to north Orem, the only thing that dried up my 10-year-old tears was when my father measured the distance from our old house to Brian's and from our new house to Brian's, providing incontrovertible evidence that our new home would be closer to Brian's than our old one. We finished elementary school together and continued to share our lunch-time pretzels through junior high.
I was at Brian's baptism, his mission farewell, and he was there when I returned home. He has always shown me what it means to live what I believe- to live my testimony. He is the most kind-hearted, genuine, loving man you could know. When Jenny and I were married Brian was a whirlwind of service. It seemed like he worked from dawn till midnight without ever being asked to do anything. I have always known Brian would be there to help if I ever needed anything- without his help we never would have accomplished our move from Provo to Pleasant Grove.


It was a great honor this past weekend to fly out to Utah and join Brian for his sealing. It's been a while since we had much of a chance to be together, bit I wasn't suprised I cried through his sealing (didn't pack a handkerchief . . .). As busy as the day was, Brian was most concerned that Jenny was taken care of, pregnant as she is. Like I said, you will never know a better man than Brian. I love him like a brother. Congratulations, Brian, on finding a wife that meets and exceeds your own stature!

The things I love about beautiful Oregon

I recently decided to make a list of all the things I like about living in Oregon. I have lived in Utah my whole life and I was very nervous I couldn't love any other place in the world. Although I do miss Utah more than I can express (mostly the people) there are many good things about Oregon. Here is the beginning of the list:

• Fall is lasting so long (the colors are amazingly vibrant!)
• It is BEAUTIFUL
• The beach is just an hour away
• You pay no taxes when you purchase stuff (how cool is that?!?!?)
• You drive two minutes and you are in scenic, peaceful country
• We have missionaries over for dinner (in our home!!)
• The bulk section at WinCo has every type of food you can imagine
  
• Goodwill is the best (kind of like DI)
• Missionary opportunities are all around
• Gas is cheap ($2.37 last time I checked)
• My skin is soft (that one is for you Kaitlin N.)
• We have a great ward
  
• The people are so nice
• Most of all, Andrew is with me!!
• I love Oregon!!
  

Days like this make life worth living . . .

This last Saturday was the culmination of a great experience for us. Shortly after moving to Oregon we made friends with Alwyn Hites-Clabaugh. I met him in Sunday School and it turned out that it was his first time at church in Forest Grove. He had been introduced to the Church briefly in Alaska where he had been working for the summer and had made some good friends, so he decided when he came home he would check out the ward in Oregon. Alwyn came to all but one session of General Conference with us and was really blown away by the power of the prophets' words. As is often the case with most of us, his questions were answered by the words of living apostles and he was left almost speechless. Alwyn was taught by two wonderful sister missionaries in our home, Sister Thompson and Sister Marsh.

During this process Alwyn decided he would be moving to Colorado to work the ski season and would be leaving the beginning of November. We were sad we probably wouldn't get to see his baptism, but were excited about his growth and that he would have member friends in Colorado with him. The Sunday before he left we had a regional conference with messages from President Uchtdorf, Elder Perry and others. Alwyn was very moved by this conference as well and mentioned to the sisters that he wished there was some way he could finish all the lessons before he left that coming Saturday . . . so we had lessons at our house almost every day last week! I baptized Alwyn Saturday morning and he was confirmed by Bro. Matiaco, the father of some of Alwyn's old friends. The Spirit at the baptism was powerful. Alwyn takes very seriously the covenants he has made. He is full of love and has a great desire to be pure and righteous. It has been an inspiration to be around him and be taught by his example. He left to drive to Colorado immediately after the baptism, but we look forward to when he comes home to Forest Grove to visit.