A.K.A. The Scubas

2010-09-06T00:32:00.002-06:00

If you see me at the thrift store buying up all the old lady nightgowns, this is why:

Before: zip-up nightgown
After: darling embroidered top (zipper removed)

Just found this blog a few weeks ago and I'm hooked! So inspiring--she's refashioning 1 old dress (or nightgown or mu-mu or whatever) every day this year on a budget of $1/day. So cool. If you're like me, you'll be inspired by her creative vision and addicted to seeing the before and after photos. She only has 85 days left to go, so there's lots of old posts to scroll through...

A Day at the Beach

2010-08-28T14:46:00.007-06:00

I'm so good about getting professional pictures done for my kids. I go to JC Penny's, and for Miranda--who loves to get her picture taken, and pose, and smile, and show some drama--it was perfect. Spent tons of money on their $3.99 portraits.

But for little Brad, it's a different story. His 12 month pictures, I bought two 8X10's, although I don't know why I did, because he's bawling in both. For 18 months, we tried it again. Even hauled a cool, vintage Red Flyer tricycle through the whole store, so he'd have a fun distraction during the portrait session and brought Grandma along for help.

Nope. Still bawling, clinging to me, whatever. Geesh--you'd think it was pure torture. So I scheduled family photos with a cute friend from my sorority days--Jen Tate--because we needed to document his cute smile in pictures! And here you go:As easy as that, I guess. Jen also got tons of smiles from her, of course! And lots of candids, my absolute favorites...Want to see more? Check out some of her other pictures and PLEASE leave a comment (we get a free print if we get 20 comments!)

Also, this was a fun, fun family activity! The kids were exhausted after playing in the sand/sun/water/salt :) for 2 1/2 hours! We are wondering if we can plan one more trip back while the weather is still nice before the bugs get too bad...If you go: take a change of clothes for the kids on the ride home, a couple gallons of water to wash all the dried up salt off your skin, lots of drinks in a cooler in the car, and a few buckets for the kids to play with in the sand.

I'm Pathetic

2010-08-28T14:15:00.004-06:00

So, it's been a while since I've updated. No news flash, there.

But, we've been having a fun summer, jam-packed with fun:
playdates with new neighbors
playdates with family and old friends (the best kind)
re-landscaping the yard (mostly Jeremy and some hired help)
enjoying our new brick patio
my amazing sister helping me paint/glaze my huge hutch
studying for and teaching Relief Society
exploring local parks (my kids are at such a fun age!)
watching a few cars crash at two demolition derbies
seeing a few movies here and there
enjoying 'Wendys' for dinner in the mountains
hitting the library about once a week
working too much
getting family pictures taken

I realize I really need to post more details on some of these updates, but I haven't really been taking many pictures--sad to say.

BUT, we did need to get some updated family pictures! I have a friend from my sorority days in college who is such a talented photographer, and when I saw this post, I was completely sold. I **love** the beach theme.

So my little family went last week for our session.

Jen has posted a few 'previews' on her blog. If you feel like checking them out, please leave a comment! If we get 20 comments, we get a free print! You should also check out her other work--she's really great with kids and has great style!

I know. Pathetic. I haven't posted an update for almost two months, and here I am begging for a favor. But just think, now I'll owe you one...

P.S. If you're feeling really charitable, my twin and her family just got their family pictures a week earlier--same place, same photographer, same girl's outfit, same Red Flyer wagon (thanks mom!) Leave a comment for Holli--she only needs a handful more to get her free print! Then she'll owe you big too...

Carnival

2010-06-28T14:17:00.002-06:00

Aaah, summer. I love it!

I wanted to take the kids to the carnival but Jeremy had to work late, so I took them by myself, after an already long day. I knew it would be worth it once we got there. We all enjoyed it until it was time to go, but both kids were overly tired. (We didn't even stay that long or late...) Even though both had a meltdown before we arrived home, I was glad we went and so we went back again a couple days later, this time with Dad, which made things SOOOO much easier, and let them ride a couple more rides. Looking at the pictures, though, I wonder if they really enjoyed it as much as I thought...This is Miranda's first ride--a roller coaster. She had huge, surprised eyes the whole ride and was griping the handle bar. Notice the girls behind her loving it, and the girl in front of her, who is huge--maybe it wasn't a good choice for a first timer... She said afterwards that her favorite ride was the "car". She took it so seriously, making sure she was "driving" (ie wiggling the steering wheel back and forth) the whole time. This was Brad's only ride besides in the stroller :) I would have done more, but he didn't enjoy this, and I had to hold him before it was over. Next year...When we went back with Dad they seemed to have a little more fun! Dad's always make things much more fun, don't they?

Chocolate 'Stache, Anyone?

2010-06-21T07:25:00.000-06:00

Happy Father's Day!

Children's Tylenol Recall

2010-06-16T20:50:00.003-06:00

I spent way too long today trying to figure out if the two bottles of Children's Tylenol I have stored in the medicine closet have been recalled. I know, it's been a few weeks since the recall, and I'm just now getting around to checking it out. Turns out, both of them ARE recalled, so now I'm in the process of waiting for my refund/coupon from the manufacturer.

If any of you still need to check into this, this will save you some time:
You will need to open the box/package to get the NDC number from the bottle. It's printed small above the product name. (There are examples on the website if you can't find it). Type the NDC number in here to see if it's a recalled product.

If it has been recalled, this is the form you need to fill out to get a refund or coupon for a replacement product. When I e-mailed it in this afternoon, I got a response that they had a "high volume" of e-mails, so I think it might be a while before I get my refund. In the meantime, I'll go buy a replacement for the ones I have to throw in the trash!

UPDATE: Last night I got a response from McNeil's saying they will send me a refund check within 2 -3 weeks. However, I don't think there is a replacement product yet. They are still trying to resolve the mistake before new product is manufactured at the plant. Here is the FAQ page. Luckily, in the meantime, I have a couple bottles of Equate brand, so I think we're okay with that...right?

Critter Walk

2010-06-10T22:30:00.004-06:00

This is Christopher "Critter" Groscost. Ever since winter/spring this year, Critter had had a lot of ear infections and finally had tubes put in his ears in March. He still wasn't returning back to his cheerful self, though, and his skin seemed to look a little gray colored. The next trip to the doctor included testing his iron levels in his blood and lead to the discovery that he has cancer.

He was diagnosed with Leukemia in April this year, right before his first birthday. He has two older brothers and wonderful parents who started a blog, Critter's Cancer, after he was diagnosed. His family is having a One Mile Walk/Run to help support his family and raise money for his expensive medical bills. It's on Saturday, June 26th and our family is planning on participating. I know summer is super busy for everyone, but if you don't already have plans, it should be a good event. Check out the info on the Critter Walk here!

Overheard

2010-05-26T14:32:00.002-06:00

Mom: "It's too early for chocolate." (What?!)

Brad: "Shooooessss!" (He knows it means going outside.)

Miranda: "Mom, do you have blue nail polish?"
Mom: "No, I don't."
Miranda: "We'll have to go to Walmart and buy some blue polish."

Miranda: {In the car} "Why did you let the fly out the window?"
Dad: "Because it's gooey.... It landed on a bowl of soup and got gooey." (Always the teaser.)
Miranda: "No! It's not gooey!"
Mom: "So it could go find it's family."
Miranda: "Oh." (Satisfied)
(I think we've just begun a long phase of answering questions that I would never think to ask, let alone consider the answers to...)

Sunshine

2010-05-22T16:20:00.002-06:00

Lately we've been missing some of this and this. It's been so rainy and drizzly lately, that whenever we get a patch of sunshine, we take every opportunity to go here. To pick dandelions and just hang out--soaking up the sunshine.Hope there's lots of sunshine in your week ahead!

Update from past Two Weeks

2010-05-10T18:18:00.003-06:00

I keep waiting for life to slow down, and it doesn't! The week of Miranda's party I used all my free time to work on her birthday.

Then I worked full time for two weeks (in addition to taking care of the kids) for the Spring Conference that I help coordinate as the Executive Assistant for the Utah Physical Therapy Association. I love my new job, but those weeks were long...It's usually just a 5 hour/week job from home!

I didn't work at all last week in order to try and catch up with life, but Jeremy and I got assigned to speak in Sacrament Meeting. So in addition to getting loads and loads of laundry caught up, cleaning the house, trying to spend some time with the kids, and getting Mother's Day gifts/plans ready, we had our talks to worry about, too.

Everything went well, though, and I'm hoping nothing unexpected pops up for at least a week...Here's a few pictures:

At our old house, we had a pond in the front yard. I loved the waterfall and watching the fish from the front porch in the summer evenings, but hated worrying about kids falling in. So our compromise for this house was an indoor fish tank. It's been fun! We decided to put lots of little fish in it, rather than a few big ones (which can gross me out a little). Everyone loves watching the fish swim around...
Second, we've been doing a lot of yard work. I love our new yard! Jeremy planted peas, carrots, and radishes a few weeks ago and they are doing well! I can't wait for the peas...
Jeremy also just finished one of his summer project ideas: a sand table for the kids. We debated between a sand box and a table and liked the idea of a table to move around where we want (even indoors during winter??) and hoped it wouldn't ruin the grass or the kid's clothes as much. They both LOOOVE it.
Finally, Mother's Day. Jeremy and I made it the second annual Buy and Plant Flowers for the Mothers Event. We did last year--bought a few flats of flowers for each woman and then showed up with them to plant them for them. This is what occupied all our evenings last week, but it was so fun to see everyone and to help serve them. We had five houses/women to give to, and still have a couple left, but I think it's worth chasing Brad all over everyone's yards to do it!

For Jeremy's family, his dad is a landscaper and gets his own flowers, so I made these silhouettes instead. Idea came from here. They are small--2.5 x 3.5 frames--and I think they will look so sweet in her bedroom. I bought some frames for me, too, but still need to do the silhouettes for them. Cross your fingers it will happen this week!

Spring in the Front Yard

2010-04-19T08:46:00.006-06:00

April hath put a spirit of youth in everything--William ShakespeareThe day the Lord created hope was probably the same day He created Spring --Bern WilliamsEvery spring is the only spring - a perpetual astonishment. --Ellis Peters

Gone Country

2010-04-14T12:31:00.010-06:00

For Miranda's birthday, we had a "Farm Theme" party. After it was over, I just kept thinking, "that was so much fun." I think all the kids really loved it, too...I posted a ton of pictures because I had two fabulous photograhpers (Jeremy's aunt Dede and my cousin Corie) share their pictures with me and they all turned out so great. I have been planning on doing the farm party theme (how could I resist with Mark and Merilynn's beautiful setting and pet chickens and goats?) for about six months so it gave me plenty of time to look for ideas and snatch up farm-related items whenever I saw a good deal.

We had tractor rides, horse rides, gathered eggs from the chickens, fed the goats/chickens, 4-wheeler rides, face painting, presents and a game for the kids, lunch/cupcakes/ice-cream, and stick horse races. Although I had been planning this for a long time, you would think I would have had it all ready well in advance--but I was still up late and (very late) some nights last week getting it all ready. The biggest problem is the cake, which mostly has to be done the day before, but also the stick horses. I didn't discover a tutorial for them until the week before the party. They are made out of a sock, yarn, buttons, felt, and a large dowel. I instantly fell in love with them, and I'm so glad I sacrificed sleep for them--they were so cute and such a fun party favor. There were a few times I didn't think I would have time, but thanks to Holli and my mom, I was able to finish them the day before the party!

The only bad part of the party was when Miranda got thrown off the horse (it got startled). She landed on her elbows/back, but was okay. Jeremy even talked her into getting back on, and she was so brave, she did! Here is a picture after she was thrown off. She only had a scrape on one elbow and a light bruise. We're really lucky--next time we'll be sure to get helmets!
I should probably label all the pictures below, but I really need to get some work done tonight. So I'll just end with a good 'ol "Yee-Haw"!

Birthday Countdown

2010-04-07T11:39:00.002-06:00

For the past month, Miranda has been so excited that her birthday is "next", so every day, she would ask if it was her birthday yet. So, I decided to make a paper chain with her to help give her some perspective. She loves tearing off a link each night but she's super excited for the three at the top that are after her birthday, counting down three days until her party!
She's having a farm theme party this year. I thought it would be fun for her to let her cousins share a little of the excitement of gathering eggs at her Grandparent's house. Miranda gets to feed the chickens and goats and gather the chicken eggs every week when we go to there. Anyway, in preparation for the party, I bought some little plastic farm animals for the kids but wanted to make them "more fun". So, I cut out some green, brown, and blue pieces of felt for grass, gardens, a pond, and some good old mud. I've made little 'troughs' for the animals to eat and drink from, too. But the best are the red barns. Merilynn designed them and helped me sew them--she is SO talented and they turned out far better than I had imagined. Here's a sneak peak:

This is after they're sewn, but before paint.

Waiting for the paint to dry. Merilynn also had some farm print flannel she was going to make Bradley some pajamas with, but when Miranda saw it, she fell in love with it. So, Merilynn and I spent a chunk of the weekend designing (and her sewing) a nightgown that wouldn't look too masculine or pioneer-ish despite the brown colors and tractors. It turned out cute, but most importantly she feels beautiful in it and loves it. I'm glad she doesn't need pink tutus and bows to feel like a princess! Lastly, for Miranda's actual birthday (not her party) she wanted a cake of course. Knowing I had a lot to do for her party and my work this week, I carefully to her, "yes, I'll make cupcakes" to which she quickly responded, "No! I don't want muffins! I want CAAAKE!" Luckily for my time schedule, I had a perfect 9" round cake in the freezer already with a crumb coat on it. After thawing and tinting store-bought frosting (cream cheese flavor of course) a pretty pink--ta da! A pink cake she was so excited about eating that she started to 'bless it' while I was trying to take pictures of her and the cake! I love that girl! Happy birthday, sweetie!

A Shy Pair

2010-03-29T17:34:00.002-06:00

I made a dozen of these for our Ward Activity--a dance--last weekend. It was my first time using fondant on sugar cookies and I love the look, but was not happy with how fast they dried out, so they were a little on the crunchy side versus soft and chewy like I like! I need to experiment with a different sugar cookie recipe maybe...

We're excited for Easter! We'll be dying eggs tonight and planning a family egg hunt for this weekend. Some fun goodies have been purchased for the kid's baskets and Jeremy and I are really looking forward to Conference.

Along with that, Miranda's birthday is next week, and so I'm busy working on a fun party for her and some family. I also got a job a couple weeks ago--5 to 10 hours/week from home including every other month meetings and a Spring and a Fall Conference. It's with the UPTA, the Utah Chapter of the Physical Therapy Association. It's been fun so far, but definitely takes more multi-tasking with kids at home. Jeremy has been traveling a lot and having lots of success at work, so that's more good news.

We can't find our camera cord since we moved, so my camera is dead and therefore don't have many pictures to show. Hope we find that soon. And our printer cord. And some sharpies. And my address book. Don't ever move--it complicates daily life for a while. :)

It's the 10th

2010-03-10T16:59:00.002-07:00

We made it. It's been close to two weeks, but we finally got internet yesterday! I can't believe how much I rely on internet for so many things and let's be honest--although my "smart phone" is nice and so convenient, it's a far cry from an actual computer.

So, today I spent most of the naptime delving into headlines and news, getting a good look at some of the Oscar dresses, catching up on all the wonderful blogs I have missed, Face Booking, and sending a few e-mails from a computer screen that seems ginormous--all while my Media Player serenaded me from the latest Lady Antebellum CD my sister gave me. Oh yeah, and during breakfast AND lunch, I let the kids watch Dora and YouTube videos of Elmo. They've missed it, too. BTW, this is my favorite Elmo video right now--Elmo with Jason Mraz--although you should also check out the songs with Adam Sandler and Andrea Bocelli.

I was going to do a new post with some real content to it, some work on Word, find a recipe for this week, put the laundry away (which my mom is SO kindly washing and folding for us since our washer/dryer are sitting in our garage still), but lets get real. It will happen later...Not tonight. I still have a dozen blogs waiting to be poured over tonight after the kids are in bed. Let's hope Jeremy shares the computer with me :)

New House

2010-03-03T12:49:00.003-07:00

There is no better way to do "Spring Cleaning" than to move! I have been sorting and sorting and for about two weeks that's what I'll be doing during naptime! Anyway, it's coming together, and I love being in our new house. On Monday the kitchen went from this: To this (after about 5 hours): The sink is full of dirty dishes, and it's still not all organized how I would like, but it's functional. Here are some more pictures--love these "After" pictures!

Bradley's Room: I still want to add crown molding to the top of the bookshelves, some curtains, and a cushion for the bench. Front Room Master Bedroom (before furniture)

This is a "During" picture of what will be our office. I think this is going to be my favorite room. I love the windows and the new French Door. My parents were going to get rid of it so we inherited it from them--good timing! We'll have two big desks and a nice built-in bookshelf next to the fireplace. More pictures to come on that as progress is made!
And in the meantime, we've been LOVING our yard and the Spring-like weather. I still can't believe I have these huge trees in my backyard--so much fun! Thanks everyone for all your help with the move!

I'm Makin' Waffles!

2010-02-24T08:03:00.005-07:00

My house has mostly empty closets and bare walls. Everything left to pack fits into five categories:
1. Not fun to pack (translate: won't easily fit into boxes).
2. Categorized as 'essential' items until their status expires in two days and 80% of the 'essentials' will become fair game 'non-essentials'.
3. Kitchen--pantry, cupboards, small appliances--and laundry room. I can't believe all the random things that collect in the laundry room.
4. Kid's rooms/some toys.
5. Furniture that waiting for strong, willing men on Saturday.

Today I plan to tackle the kids rooms and the pantry. I know, sounds fun, right? So when I woke up to fussing baby at 6:30 am, I brought baby out to kitchen and told him, "Baby, we're starting our day off on a good note--with Belgian waffles!" (For the full effect, imagine that in a voice that sounds like Donkey from Shrek.)

Then my heart sank as I realized that the waffle maker probably fit into the 'non-essential' category and had already been moved to our new house. Not wanting to see the truth, I peeked with squinted eyes into the cupboard....and it was still there! Jeremy must know my heart :)

Baby wanted held the whole time I made them, but no matter. He soon enjoyed the first one in his highchair and even shared a few bites with the begging dog. The blueberries that were on sale this week fit deliciously into each little waffle square on mine, topped off with light whipped cream. Mmmm, it just lifts the spirits.

By the way, I'm not sure where my camera is...hope to resolve that before moving day....The photo is from Flickr by HeatherMG.

A Little about My "To Do List" and My "Wish List"

2010-02-22T10:16:00.003-07:00

We are moving Saturday--finally! I'm excited to move on to the next stage of life in a new place, but I'll really miss my good neighbors and friends here. Thank goodness for FB and blogs to help stay in touch!

The past two weeks have been very busy and so I'm feeling a little unprepared for the moving process, but thanks to Jeremy, we got a plan last night (for my sake--I love to write lists.) Now I just need to start crossing things off the "To Do List".

Just a couple notes on the last week, I did a GNO where I taught a few neighbors how to do fondant cakes. It was a lot of fun and their cakes turned out so great! I spent a lot of time last week making six batches of fondant and getting the cakes and all my tools gathered, but I didn't want them to pay me for it. They were so sweet, though, and bought me this wonderful "Thank You" gift that brought tears to my eyes! It's some fun tools for working with fondant with I have had on my "Wish List"--a non-stick rolling pin, rolling pin rings, flower cut-outs, and bake even strips for cakes.
I didn't take pictures from the fondant class, but I have pictures of the cakes I made for a baby shower on Saturday. It was for my good friend from Jr. High/High School/College. She had her baby a couple weeks early, so her shower was postponed a couple of months.

I made two cakes, one for the baby girl and one for her mommy. I haven't done much piping on fondant, so I wanted to try that out, but I found out it's much harder to get the perfect consistency for piping on fondant because it doesn't stick as easily as it does to buttercream frosting. After two batches of frosting and over an hour trying to get it right, I finally got something that would work, but I need to perfect the process for sure!

Wish me a product week-- I have a couple days worth of things I need to get done before I start packing up the house!

Newborn Sleep Gown

2010-02-16T16:06:00.003-07:00

I loved dressing my newborn babies in sleep gowns--so much easier for middle-of-the-night diaper changes and so comfy for them to curl their little skinny legs up inside. When I saw this pattern on This Mama Makes Stuff, my sister and I had to try it out for her baby. Hers turned out so cute that I made some for some for my friends who are expecting this year. I love how they are made from T-shirts--well worn T-shirts just up the 'comfy factor'! This one was a man's XL and I actually got two out of it. Too bad I don't know anyone having twin boys!
My cousin and aunt helped me sew these four in about 45 min. per gown! I think I'm a little addicted to making these, though, because I still have two gowns left to gift but already want to get more T-shirts to sew up some more!

Grandma Wilson

2010-02-12T21:17:00.002-07:00

On Tuesday my Grandma passed away. She was 93 years old. I'll miss her.

I did a video slideshow for the family and to show at the viewing. It's been tons of hours this week (and I can tell my kids have been watching a little too much tv/movies) but it's so worth it in the end. Here are some of my favorite pictures of her. My mom and her mom (my grandma) This is my grandpa (he passed away in 1999) and grandma holding me and my sisters. Can you tell which one I am? I'm on the left.My grandma and her younger sister and brother-in-law on vacationHer only wedding picture. This was her first husband. He died when she was pregnant with my mom.My cute grandparents in the 1960's--my favorite picture.

$30

2010-02-06T06:14:00.002-07:00

That's the amount we're going to save each month by switching from Luvs to Hanes! I'm so proud of my little girl for achieving this huge milestone! We've been working up to it for a few months and doing lots of 'practicing', but this week it just clicked--and she's been diaper free since Monday. I never wanted to push her into it, and I'm so glad because she's doing so well and actually hasn't had ANY accidents (knock on wood). We even went on a couple of errands and to the Aquarium this week without accidents!

Bradley has also has been so fun to watch these past couple of weeks. He's walking so well and hardly ever crawls anymore. I love watching him gain confidence in himself. I also love his new little walk--shoulders back, arms up, elbows out, tiny steps. So cute.

He's also pointing at a lot of things that he wants, and that's been a fun insight into his personality. For lunch yesterday, I was feeding him peas and macaroni and cheese for lunch and started with the peas first. He took a bite and then dramatically started pointing at the bowl with the Mac N Cheese. I complied, and he was a good boy and ate his peas afterwards--he just wanted the good stuff first!

Fun with Fondant

2010-02-04T16:15:00.003-07:00

Here are some more pictures of Brad's birthday cake. Fondant is so much fun and I just had to post more pictures of the decorating of the cakes!
These are the cakes before fondant. I made the large cake a chocolate with Oreo filling. The small was vanilla with cream cheese filling. I still haven't perfected my filling/filling process, though, as you can see when the stripes are added to the cake. Any tips out there? I love seeing the cakes after the fondant is on, but just hanging off it. It reminds me of the scene in Sleeping Beauty where the fairies make Rose her 16th birthday cake. I always breathe a sigh of relief after that first layer is done successfully--no tears, rips, bubbles. Then comes the final touches!

If you want to learn how to do fondant, my neighbor is graciously hosting a get-together at her house (since we're in the middle of a pre-move mess right now). It will probably be some time next week. It'll be free of course and I'll share my yummy fondant recipe with you, show you how to make it, as well as the limited information I know about how to decorate with it :) If you want more details, e-mail or leave a comment and I'll get you the invite information!

One Year Ago

2010-02-02T13:47:00.004-07:00

One year ago we were finally able to bring Brad home from the hospital. Those were two very long, extremely difficult weeks after his birth while he was in the NICU. It surprises me how much emotion I still feel about that time and what a trial it really was. However, I did learn and grow a lot from the experience, and we are so blessed to have a happy, healthy boy now.

We love you, Brad!

Brad's First

2010-02-01T13:44:00.004-07:00

As I said, I'm behind on blog posts, but here are some pictures from Brad's Birthday.

This is a good morning for a one year old! We had his party that weekend, and I wanted to make it special by doing a fun cake but not necessarily getting too much into a theme, as I feel there will be plenty of time for pirate and dump truck themed birthdays in the years to come. I've been wanting to try this star idea with fondant for a while, and I think it turned out fun. Here is Brad's "smash cake". Fondant isn't very easy to dig into, so it's made with cream cheese frosting--Yum! He seems to like it, too! Check out his cute bib. My sister, Holli, made three of those for him. They are the cutest fabrics and she covered them in vinyl, too! We had some yummy food: shredded beef sandwiches (Merilynn baked the buns from scratch), deviled eggs, pineapple, fries and sweet potato fries (a hit with the kids and adults), and a spinach salad. This is the only thing I got a picture of, though. I made chocolate covered cinnamon bears for the party favors.

Thanks everyone involved for the fun gifts, helping with the delicious dinner, and making a first birthday celebration so special!

House Update--some "After" Pictures!

2010-01-23T22:33:00.007-07:00

I'm behind on my blog posts, but here's one on the house. It's SO fun to see it all coming together and being close to finished! Jeremy's dad has been working on it a ton and we're so grateful because he does such good work and has given so much time to helping us finish it. I need to think of a nice 'thank you' for him...

The upstairs rooms have all their new moldings done and mostly caulked/sanded and they got ~PaInTeD~ last week!! Yay! Here are some pictures:

Master Bedroom Before
Master Bedroom "During": Our bedroom/bath still has the most work left to do, but it will probably be painted by the end of this week!

Family Room Before
Family Room After: All done! This just needed paint after the wallpaper was removed.

Brad's Room Before
Brad's Room After (It still needs flooring, though)

Miranda's Room Before
Miranda's Room After: All done! Just need to put the window coverings and closet doors back on! Wow!

Homemade Christmas 09: Last One!

2010-01-17T20:35:00.011-07:00

To wrap up my posts on Christmas gifts, here's one for the boys! I made these blocks for Bradley, mostly, but also gave some as gifts. This was Brad's only Christmas present from Mom & Dad, so I wanted to give him lots and lots to stack!

I think I did too many, though. It took me hours and hours to make these, plus hours and hours of help from my sweet aunt and cousin. My sister, mom, and dad also donated some time and skills for this gift. Don't get me wrong--I LOVE how they turned out. It's just that now it seems like I spend forever picking them up all over the house every day. No really, that's a good thing. Both Miranda and Brad love to play with them. Brad's favorite thing to do is knock 'em down and Miranda favorite is to look at all the pictures and letters. Here is a picture of her making a "train" as she calls it. I hope these will be a favorite toy for a lot of years.

Here's some details if you want to make some:

You can buy blocks already cut and sanded, but they are expensive. (A local wood place I checked into would have cost $1/block, and craft stores didn't really even carry very many or any at all.)

Home Depot has a 2"x2"x8' furring strip for $2.32. I bought three of these, so yea--I made about 150 blocks! I should have bought a higher quality wood, though. (Jeremy suggest poplar wood, and I think it wouldn't have cost much more, either.) My dad cut these into blocks using his miter saw. Some of the blocks splintered a bit and some even ended up not square shaped, so I couldn't use a few of them--so definitely look into a harder wood like poplar.

Next, I sanded them using my mom's belt sander. There is no way I would have sanded that many blocks without a power tool, but if you just buy one piece of wood, maybe 50 blocks wouldn't be too bad to sand by hand...

After that, they were ready to finish! At this point, I still hadn't made up my mind completely about how I wanted them to look, and I played around with some paint, but decided I loved the look of Mod Podged pictures the most. I wanted to combine the beautiful look of this from Martha and still have letters on them like these from Homemade by Jill. So what I came up with is to cut out pictures from magazines for four of the sides and then letters/numbers on two opposing sides. I found a variety pack of alphabet stickers at Walmart for under $5 that made the letters/numbers easy and much neater than hand painting them.

So next I cut out billions of 2x2 squares. Okay, technically, I cut out 592 little squares. And they weren't exactly 2x2. Not to bore with details, just make sure, like my Dad did, when you cut them, that they will be sqare. (You have to account for the blade cutting away some of the wood). So what I did is traced a square onto cardstock that I used as my pattern for cutting out pictures, so that I knew it would exactly fit the blocks.

Next I Mod Podged all those little squares onto the blocks. Then I put the stickers on. Finally, I layed them all out in my basement (with windows open) and sprayed a sealer on them, turning them a few times to make sure all sides got a good coat of sealant. And finally, done! And well worth all the effort, I'd say.

Homemade Christmas 09: Part Eight

2010-01-14T14:51:00.002-07:00

Another thing Jeremy and I did for Christmas gifts this year was cook some meals for people in our family. I bought a bunch of containers that each hold 3 cups, perfect for a quick lunch or dinner for one. All the containers were the same size and shape, so they stacked really well and we just gave them to everyone frozen already so they could pull them out when they were ready. I also made labels for each lid with the food on it and their first name, in case they took it to work.

We wanted a variety of foods, so we made Corn Chowder, Chili Verde Burritos, and Pasta with Marinara Sauce. Each person got about 8 containers, so only about a week or two of meals, but I think each was appreciative. A couple of them really loved it, so we might do this again next year. It's nice to get something homemade, but still really usable.

2010-01-13T20:59:00.002-07:00

We made a gingerbread house in January because

we didn't have time to fit it in during December

but still I wanted the Halloween candy purged from the cupboards

and I needed something fun to look at after the Christmas tree came down. (Which we just took down last weekend..)

Homemade Christmas 09: Part Six

2010-01-06T16:18:00.005-07:00

Note: The following posts numbered six through three are all actually just part of the felt play food I made for Miranda and some of her cousins/friends. I was just too overwhelmed to put it all into one long post, so I broke it down.

This is what started it all for me--the making of felt food. I never had a desire to do it--it seems so tedious, and actually kind of stupid I'll admit. BUT I saw this free pattern for a felt sandwich and chips on SnazzleCraft. How I ever came across her post/tutorial will remain a blogging mystery. Never the less, thank you for your inspiration, SnazzleCraft!!!

I loved the sandwich idea--something for the kid to DO, rather than just take itchy bites of felt (you know at least Miranda really bites this stuff, despite my trying to her to pretend.)

Let's get started with a basic for the tots--PB&J! Start by spreading the peanut butter...
then the grape jelly...
and press the bread on tight! Yum! I can taste it now... But if you're in the mood for something, say more healthy, how about a turkey sandwich with everything on it--swiss and cheddar cheese, tomato, lettuce--and when I said 'everything', Miranda always likes to include the peanut butter and jelly too!
P.S. The chips turned out so cute, too--definitely a favorite with the kids. I added an inner lining of plastic (from an empty bag of wipes) so the bag really makes crinkling noises as they pull their chips out. But I don't have good pictures of it. Check out SnazzleCraft's posts if you want to see how adorable they are.

P.S.S. You may notice, if you happen to read all the felt food posts, that there aren't a lot of healthy food choices. I want to say that I did try to make some fruit--I even bought a pattern from an Etsy Seller--(whom I won't name,) but hated how they turned out. I did an apple and a banana and they both looked ridiculous, so I called it quits on doing healthy food. It is just for play, after all, right?

Homemade Christmas 09: Part Five

2010-01-06T16:14:00.004-07:00

Who wants cake? That's actually what Miranda told Santa she wanted for Christmas when we visited him--and no prompting from me on that! I was excited for her to see them. This is a pattern I purchased from Etsy, by Little Crickets. (I want to make some of her pancakes/breakfast food next!) Loved the cherry pie. And the chocolate cake. And the birthday cake--okay, all of them!

I did deviate away from the pattern on the birthday cake a little--adding beads for sprinkles instead of stitching. And on the chocolate cake I changed the colors because I liked the dark chocolate look better, and changed the top from a raspberry to a chocolate shaving.

Homemade Christmas 09: Part Four and Quick Tutorial

2010-01-06T16:04:00.006-07:00

These are the felt cookies I made for Miranda. (I'm sorry the picture is really terrible.) I started on these after the sandwiches, which were fun at first, but then got very boring to sew. These cookies were a fun outlet after that! I had initially thought to just do an Oreo, but ended up scouring Google for more and more pictures of cookies to create.

I was a little surprised that some of my fellow crafters guessed what I was making when I posted a sneak peak back in October. I thought it looked like parts to a robot or something! Anyway, I made up all these cookies myself, so here is a quick tutorial for some Windowpane Cookies.

Materials Needed:
Light tan felt (less than half a sheet)
Red felt (scrap piece no bigger than 4"x4")
Sewing Machine (but these could also be hand sewn, too)
Scissors
Pinking Shears

1. Cut out two matching squares or rectangles of the tan felt. These are about 3"X4.5". I made a few, though, and ended up liking the square ones better. Cut those about 3.5"X3.5". On one of the pieces, find the center and cut out a window, about 1"X2", rounding edges in.

Then cut out a red piece (half an inch smaller on all sides) than the tan pieces.

Here are all three pieces:

2. Take the top piece with the window cut-out and the red piece and sew together in the middle, staying as close to the window as possible.

After sewn, your cookie would like this on the back side.

3. Place all three pieces together now, sandwiching the red piece in the middle.4. Sew around the outside edge, leaving about 1/4" to 1/2" edge.
5. Trim the edges with the Pinking Shears to make the edges scalloped. (I'm sorry I don't have a decent picture of this final step, or the final cookies with their scalloped edges. Oops.)

But here's the happy ending that really matters:
And I can't tell you how happy I was to find two little cookies in the "oven" later this week. It makes all the splits in my fingers and the naptimes spent sewing more than worth it!

Homemade Christmas 09: Part Three

2010-01-06T15:47:00.004-07:00

These were inspired by this cute children's cookie making kit at Target. It has a rolling pin, whisk, spoon, and six holiday cookie cutters. I was going to just toss it in with the other felt food, but then I could visualize Miranda trying to roll cookies out of kitchen towels or something else random, so I decided to make her some cookie dough.Did I mention this was the last project to be completed for Christmas? So, I wanted it to be a quick, no-sew toy. Funny how this is her favorite food item to play with--not the cakes that I spent hours on...Anyway, I rounded out a piece of light brown felt, traced some shapes from the cookie cutters, and cut away. Then I cut out some coordinating pieces for frosting (rounding their edges a bit). Last, put sticky velcro on the pieces, and then...
Enjoy a plateful of holiday cookies--low calorie, might I add!

Quick Updates on the House

2010-01-06T15:16:00.002-07:00

Here are a few pictures of the progress made last week on our new house. The biggest was the flooring that Jeremy finished in our bathroom and bedroom. The tile is not travertine stone like I LOVE, but I do love that it was a really, really good deal (from Tile for Less). It was very tricky to find a cheap tile--that I liked, of course--that would coordinate with the shower tiles, the cabinets, and our bedroom flooring. Fingers crossed, I think it will all come together nicely. Second, the downstairs bath is complete except for paint, which will be done with all the other rooms in the near(?) future. Jeremy's dad is so amazing, he's putting in a lot of hours this week getting things ready to paint!! Here's a close-up of the travertine tile counter top, just for kicks.

Homemade Christmas 09: Part Two

2009-12-30T21:03:00.003-07:00

I made robes for Miranda and some of her cousins. I got the idea because my one sister just moved to a new house with a community pool one block away from her house, so they go swimming all the time in the summer (who wouldn't?) These swim robes are perfect for wrapping up the little ones as soon as they get out of the pool and they stay on better than towels for the walk back to the house.

I should have taken pictures of all of them, they turned out so cute with the terry cloth and coordinating flannel hoods/ties!

Homemade Christmas 09: Part One

2009-12-30T20:46:00.002-07:00

This year I made A LOT of presents for Christmas. My mom actually sewed these up for me, though, and I love how all the fabric/ribbon combinations turned out. (She was a lifesaver with a couple of my gift endeavors this year.)

It's a wrist strap with keychain. It's wonderful for helping locate your keys in your purse and keeping hands free for errand running.

Since I didn't quite make the Christmas deadline on these, they turned out as New Year Gifts. The tags say: "May your New Year "key" happy and bright!" and "New Year's Resolution #7: Simplify trips to the mailbox! Done."

2009-12-29T07:30:00.001-07:00

House: Before and During Pictures

2009-12-19T15:45:00.010-07:00

Do you like to see before and after pictures of room makeovers? I LOVE it. Especially when it's my own house!!

Just to back up a little--we are moving sometime in January. We got a tudor-style home built in the late 1970's that has some fun character and charm, but needed some paint, a little new flooring, and lots of wallpaper torn down. So we've had the home about a month now, and ever since, our family has hardly seen Jeremy, who's working extremely hard and long hours between his job and fixing our new home. Can I just say again how amazed I am at him that he can do everything from plumbing to carpentry? Also, many, many thanks to our parents and friends--Backus', Olsons--who have given up hours, even days to help out at our house.

Nothing is exactly completed yet, but here are some 'before' and 'during' pictures to show until I get some 'after' photos!

Bradley's Room Before: Small room, lots of wallpaper.
Bradley's Room Now: Still a small room, but feels lots bigger with wonderful built-in bookcases framing the window and five-foot wainscoting (moldings). I bought a cute little bench from IKEA that will sit under his window and he'll have Pergo flooring to help the space feel larger, too.

Miranda's Room Before: A fun room with some character (like Miranda herself :)

Miranda's Room Now: A fun room with lots of charm (also like Miranda)
Here's a fun one--Main Floor Half Bath Before: Dark 1970's cabinets, tiny broken tiles, old and also broken countertop.
Main Floor Half Bath Now: Same sink, new faucet fixture. BEAUTIFUL travertine tile. Painted cabinet. New mouldings, even framing the window so nicely. New light fixture (sorry no picture). Ceramic floor tiles the previous homeowners generously left us that match the kitchen tiles (sorry, no picture of that either...) This bathroom looks completely different for so cheap--it makes me giddy! Jeremy will probably have this bathroom completed or nearly completed today!
Dining Room Before: Beadboard, mouldings, and chair rail all unpainted. This room was an after-construction addition, and I love this room. It will fit our huge kitchen table so well. It has lots of windows and french doors that lead out to the fun side yard. All this room needs is some paint to those moldings!
Dining Room After: So much better! And it still gets one more coat of paint.
Family Room/Play Room Before: HUGE room, technically bedroom upstairs. This is a really fun room, too, and it doesn't need tons of work. Well, it could use new carpet, but with little kids soon to be crawling all over it, why waste the money?
Family Room After: Minus the wallpaper. Okay, not a huge change, but I HAD to include this because it's the only work I've done myself on the house. That wallpaper was so stubborn and Jeremy and his mom gave up on it. So I borrowed some official Wallpaper Remover chemical from my cousin, and said good-bye to those to those rosy flowers!

Finally, the Master Bedroom/Bathroom Before: Wallpaper, stained carpet, small bathroom. This bedroom is actually larger than our current bedroom, but the bathroom was anything from exciting. It was actually my least favorite part about the house. The shower was newly redone, and not bad, but the two closets were small and odd and it had only one old sink.
Master Bedroom/Bathroom Now: You know how some people can look at a house and see all the potential there? Jeremy is very good at this, luckily for me. He has fixed all my concerns about the small bathroom and lack of closet space.

Here's what he did: He knocked out one of the closets that was next to the sink so that we could have a double sink vanity. See that little towel holder on the right wall? Same one that was there before. This sink area had carpet under it before and will soon (this week) have tile there.Then, he made me a built-in wardrobe in the large bedroom! I'm excited about my new closet. And it's going to have lots of shelves at the bottom for lots of shoes--which I may or may not happen to have... Oh, yeah. He also knocked out an empty space that was at the end of his closet to make room for some shelving in the bathroom--perfect for towels.
And yes, the toilet is currently in the shower.

2009-12-07T08:22:00.003-07:00

Is is just me, or were Kix bigger when I was a kid?

No. I think I was just a lot smaller the last time I ate them.

Mini Sandwiches

2009-11-18T22:47:00.003-07:00

Miranda has been learning to make bread with her grandma this year. I think she has learned how to do it better than me--I have yet to make a loaf I'm satisfied with! Anyway, so her cute grandma bought her some mini loaf pans to make bread. I'm almost more giddy about these than Miranda. I couldn't resist making mini sandwiches. Maybe I should buy some mini ziplock baggies for them, and then make some bite-sized cookies...or we could invite some of M's friends/cousins over and have a mini little tea party! Umm, maybe in January or February when life is less busy :)

Pink Cookies

2009-11-18T22:37:00.003-07:00

One night last week, Jeremy came home from work and wanted to make cookies with Miranda. He is so good to teach her how to cook/bake and she LOVES it. She is starting to be quite the talented egg cracker! Jeremy asked her what kind of cookies she wanted to bake, and she kept saying "pink", so they made pink cookies (with chocolate chips).

And they were delicious!

More Aprons

2009-11-18T22:28:00.002-07:00

My cousin's birthday is next week but she got her apron on Sunday at our family dinner. I think she liked it. I love each of the fabrics, but I'm really into paisley lately. And I don't think I ever posted a picture of my sister, Holli's apron. I liked the colors of hers because they are neutrals and will go well with whatever she is wearing it over. Now I just have to make my sister, Kristi's apron for her b-day coming in January, but I think that will be a procrastinated project since Christmas comes first!I wanted to add a third fabric to make it more fun, along with a ruffle. Holli has such good taste in fashion that I always stress whenever I give her something to wear--so I don't do it very often!

To Sum it Up

2009-11-06T20:30:00.004-07:00

We've been busy (like all of you) and I don't expect things to slow down until the end of January, based on our schedule. The good news is, it's all fun things. Here are some pictures to sum it up:

Ever since Daylight Savings time, this cutie wakes up bright and early, ready to play. I let him fuss for a while before giving in usually around 5:30 am. Thank goodness for two good naps he gets later in the day! And this is the kind of fun stuff he likes to do. Today alone he opened a zucchini seed packet and had seeds spread all over the kitchen, got stuck in a mouse glue trap (that's why we have the non-toxic kind), took the vent off the fireplace, and de-organized plenty of cabinets and drawers. Some of that de-organizing usually happens with his partner in crime. They are starting to have lots of fun together, though, and it's so fun for me when Miranda gets Bradley giggling over something silly she does.
We had a fun Halloween. Bradley was a little horse. He didn't mind his costume too much and I was surprised he even left his hat on the whole time! Miranda was a cowgirl. I don't have pictures of her in her costume, though. We just went to JC Penny for the pictures in their costumes and for Brad's 9 month pictures. Miranda did LOVE Halloween and her candy this year, of course. Finally, I've been trying to get projects crossed off my list, especially Christmas presents. My cute Cousin Corie and Aunt Bonnie have been helping me sew some projects, and made this sweet bath robe for Miranda.

Family Night

2009-10-23T10:46:00.006-06:00

We like to have family night every week on Mondays. It's fun to look forward to the weekly tradition of doing something together as a family, especially now since we've had kids. We usually sing a children's song or hymn, have a family prayer and an activity. However, since we've had kids, it's really difficult to do things that keep the attention span of a toddler and a crawling baby. Jeremy and I never had Family Home Evening as young kids ourselves, so we don't have many ideas on what works well for little ones.

I'm just wondering...what do you do for family night? Any ideas/tips you can share?

Yee-Haw

2009-10-14T22:15:00.001-06:00

Evidence a pint-size cowgirl may live here...

Homemade Christmas

2009-10-10T08:32:00.004-06:00

Can you guess what these are? Probably not at this stage, and I can't really say right now because they are part of some gifts I'm making for Christmas. I started this project in July, knowing that it's a big time commitment. Luckily Miranda and Brad are both on a good sleep schedule at the moment and that's made it easier to get in some "project time" every day!

"Carrots"

2009-10-05T19:34:00.002-06:00

Miranda's artistic interpretation of mashed up carrots.

2009-09-28T09:38:00.003-06:00

I think I'm going to make myself one of these for Christmas. I'm trying to decide between blue or yellow fabric...

Summer, Don't Go Yet

2009-09-28T09:35:00.000-06:00

Random Summer pictures. Merilynn and Miranda at the park. Miranda and Lily (her BFF) playing in the sprinklers. Miranda and Grandpa Lloyd at a ward Rodeo
Miranda riding a horse at the rodeo
Bradley and Jeremy at the rodeo
Jackson, Brooklyn, Kylie, (Grandma Peterson), and Miranda at the Children's Garden
Miranda at the Garden
And again

Jeremy, Miranda, and Bradley in front of the waterfall at the Garden

Happy Birthday, Sucker

2009-09-22T16:42:00.005-06:00

So it was my birthday this week (you know how we girls like to stretch out the fun). Anyway, I also know a bunch of other people who have birthdays coming up, (not to mention my twin who shares my b-day) so I made a little gift to give them. I've posted the tags here so you can do this too, if you'd like. The suckers I buy locally for only $0.60 each, so it's a nice inexpensive way to show someone you remembered them on their birthday. I'm sorry if the tags don't print out, I'm not really sure how to do this...If it doesn't work and you know how to help me, let me know and I'll try again ;) You could easily make your own cute tags, too.Here are some other details on how I did it, although there could be some fun variations on this gift to make it just as cute or cuter**To wrap the suckers, I just cut the ziplock part off of a regular sandwich baggie. Then I cut the two pieces apart so I had two squares. I wrapped the sucker with one of them and tied it with a ribbon. Before tying on the ribbon, however, I threaded the tag onto it. Doesn't cute ribbon just make anything so much more fun?

P.S. Hilary, I hope you like root beer flavored suckers! (It's so hard to guess if someone is more of a cinnamon or a sweet flavor...)

**I think a cuter option to the baggie could be a printed cellophane bag.

Berry Harvest

2009-09-14T22:36:00.003-06:00

Okay so it's not a lot of raspberries, but we were excited about it. Jeremy planted a huge berry patch with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and gooseberries for my anniversary present this spring. Although it's a little weedy now and the birds (or something) keep eating my strawberries, these little fuscia colored gems made my night. They tasted scrumptious, too.

You've got to get to the State Fair

2009-09-14T22:26:00.002-06:00

What's better than overpriced fair food, crowds of people to watch, and the smell of livestock? I love the fair! Miranda loved it this year, too, and Brad was a great sport. We even saw the side show-like Kachunga Brothers wrestling an alligator for our little Miranda who's obsessed with 'gators' lately. (She got a little scared--it was a lot different than the crocodile at the zoo who never moves a muscle in the murky water.)

We're already looking forward to next year!

Aprons in Summer

2009-09-11T16:32:00.003-06:00

We had the most refreshing morning walk this morning and I happened to take my camera with me, so I wanted to post a photo of the sunset as we saw it. Our family hiked Mt. Timpanogas for Labor Day with some friends, and I have been so sore all week from that steep hike and carrying a baby on my back the whole way! Needless, to say, I haven't been walking as briskly this week, but we have been enjoying the views. Next week we'll work on burning calories :)

Yesterday I just finished sewing an apron that I'm giving as a gift to my cousin for her birthday. I'm on a tight budget this year for gifts, so a LOT of gifts are getting creative and handmade. Aprons is the theme I decided on for all the females in my life who receive birthday presents. So, this is my cousin's--her birthday is in November! I love it when I don't procrastinate. On the other hand, my twin sister's needs to be done in about a week, and I have yet to even go fabric shopping... I gave this one to my aunt a couple weeks ago. She seemed happy with it. I love the little eyelet lace details that give it a vintage feel. And this is a set I made for my mother-in-law, Merilynn. She loves to cook with Miranda, so I wanted her to have a matching grandma/grand-daughter set. She was really excited about it and even hung them up in her kitchen on a cabinet wall. Miranda loves the detail on her little pocket and could hardly stop touching the beads long enough for me to take the picture. (It says "apple pie".)

Dinner Trade Group

2009-09-09T09:49:00.006-06:00

I don't have to cook for a whole week! (except on the weekend) Our family is doing a "dinner trade group" with four other neighbors and I LOVE it! What we do is this: each family cooks one night a week, Monday through Thursday, and then has dinner brought to them the other three nights of the week. We each have small families about the same size and we just provide the main course and one side dish.

I could go on and on about this, but if you want to know more, Heather, one of my group members, set up a website to let people know about this great idea. Check it out at dinnertrade.com I'd be more than happy to tell you more about it, too, if you think you'd be interested in trying it with your neighbors. Here's the best part: we have five families in our group and only wanted meals Mon - Thurs (not on the weekends), so once a month I don't have to cook at all that week!

This week was my week off, so I've been enjoying it thoroughly. Jeremy and I have been enjoying cooking more on the weekends and nights since we haven't been doing dinners. Here's some delicious pics for you to sample:

For Merilynn's birthday on Sunday, she wanted chicken noodle soup, so he made it from scratch--even the noodles! I LOVE Jeremy's homemade noodles. And did you see that yummy treat peeking out from behind the pot? That's Jeremy's homemade apple pie and oh, that crust is to die for! And then my fun for the week was the plum jam I made last night. I haven't made plum before, but my fried Gwen, (from the dinner group), gave us all a bunch of plums and I wanted to do something fun with them. The recipe wasn't on the Sure-Jell website, so I had to find one online. It turned out fine, but next time I'll look for one that doesn't call for pureed fruit and uses less sugar. (This is on a slice of Merilynn's homemade honey wheat bread.)
Okay, I'm hungry now...Is it time for dinner yet? We have Chicken Alfredo coming tonight and a Salad Bar tomorrow night.

Jeremy's New Hobby

2009-09-03T10:00:00.000-06:00

Check this out: Jeremy has always wanted to try re-upholstering furniture and this summer he's been hard at work practicing his new skill. We sold one of our couches on KSL.com and the people who bought it live in a studio apartment downtown. They were using this futon that was 'breaking' and needed to get rid of it, so Jeremy offered to take it from them. When he offered to take it, I knew why. He wanted to fix it up! Luckily, it was something easy to fix (if you're a talented guy like my Jeremy), and so with a little fixing and some color changes, woila! Trendy new futon that we got for free and sold on KSL for some nice cash :)

Here is Jeremy's second project. I saw these cute little kids recliners on KSL.com. There were two of them for $5 each. These were well loved, for sure--sorry the picture is fuzzy--but a total steal. I have always wanted to get Miranda a big comfy chair like these from Pottery Barn but couldn't justify paying close to $100. So this was the perfect opportunity.
Here is the after shot. My initial thought was to get some fun pink fabric or something, but then I decided I wanted it to be versatile and be able to be in her bedroom, the family room, the basement, wherever, and still jive with the decor of the house. So this tan fabric my mother-in-law happened to have was perfect! I love it without the buttons on the back, too. Oh, yeah, and Miranda loves, loves, loves it. It is so cute to see her hop in it and put her little feet up to watch Super Why or Sesame Street. By the way, Brad's recliner is still sitting in the garage. We have discovered the re-upholstery is tons of work and time and now know why it costs so much to have professionals do it. Brad's recliner will hopefully get done sometime this winter.
Don't you love seeing before and after photos of things people redo? I found this Flickr Group called "furniture redo" that was full of inspiring pieces. I think I'm going to ask Jeremy to do some work on my China hutch next...

GNO

2009-09-01T14:55:00.002-06:00

Thank you, Aunt Bonnie Jean for having a birthday so we could enjoy a fun girl's night to celebrate!

This was fun night was the gift Holli (my twin) gave to my Aunt Bonnie-what a fun idea! Holli and Brian decorated their backyard so fun--I'm so jealous of all their huge trees and big deck. We enjoyed pina coladas, chocolate fondue, pedicures, and lots of girl talk.
That's my cute Aunt Bonnie in the pink stripes, friend Janice, and cousin Corie. Then here's my other sister, Kristi, mom Ranee, and Holli with her cute prego belly. Even my neice, Abby, got her little toes painted--what a sweetheart!

Splish Splash!

2009-08-31T15:26:00.001-06:00

Meet Huey

2009-08-28T21:50:00.004-06:00

I would like to introduce you to Huey. He's a baby pygmie goat my in-laws are raising. He's so cute. I know this picture is terrible. It has an explanation, though--(if you don't care about the explanation, skip to the next paragraph):

Huey AND his mama are being adopted by my in-laws, but Huey needed to be weaned from his mother's milk, so Huey came alone until her milk dries up. The first day or so he cried and wouldn't eat and was as lonely as a little goat could be. So, the neighbors (who have Huey's mama) brought him a friend to stay for a couple weeks. It totally worked and now Huey is happy and eats his goat food. However, this goat friend named Ivory, is a grown male. Ivory has had his horns removed, but he still likes to butt, and sideswipe, and ram people. Jeremy loved wrestling with him--Jeremy laughing the whole time, and Ivory wagging his tail happily, too. But we all know it's not fun for a little girl to get rammed by a goat (trust me, it happened to me at Hogle Zoo when I was a little girl and I still am wary around goats because of it), so we had to always be keeping an eye on Ivory while we were visiting Huey. Thus we didn't get a great picture of Huey yet.

But check out Miranda's cute boots she gets to wear when she feeds the chickens and goats and dogs. She calls them her "frogs". We'll get a good picture of Huey and maybe his mama, too, soon. I also need to post pictures of the chickes--they're getting all fat and should start laying eggs soon enough!

Park Portraits

2009-08-28T21:35:00.002-06:00

Miranda has gotten more brave over the summer, she is going down the slides all by herself now! She also tries to climb ladders and other things that are a little too advanced for her, so I have to stay close in case she loses her balance.
Brad likes being outdoors almost anytime, so even he has enjoyed all our trips to the park this summer.

He mostly just gets held or set on a blanket on the grass to play with toys or watch all the kids running around. Sometimes when it's not too busy, I put him in the baby swing. I love this picture of his tiny bare feet hanging over the footprints of the 'big kids' who swung before him.

Never, Sometimes, and Always

2009-08-26T09:21:00.002-06:00

I Never:
Drink milk
Get to sleep in past 7:00 am
Play the piano, paint/draw, or speak Spanish anymore
Want naptime to end

I Sometimes:
Watch Oprah
Floss
Don't even care if my house is messy or dirty
Wish I had gotten a different Bachelor's Degree

I Always:
Check the obituaries online
Love when Jeremy comes home early
Pre-wash dishes before putting them in the dishwasher
Wish we had trained our dog so I could take him on a walk without my shoulder getting dislocated

Let's Go On Vacation

2009-08-22T22:44:00.002-06:00

This hotel suite is in Costa Rica, called Hotel Costa Verde.

"Oregon Trail" and Other Goodies

2009-08-17T22:23:00.003-06:00

I love my iPhone. I can't believe how useless my old cell phone was before compared to the iPhone. Let me just tell you about some of the features (since you were wondering, right?)

The GPS. Great for finding addresses when you're lost in Daybreak or where the nearest Little Caesar's is and how to get there.

Toddler Games. This is crazy cool for Miranda when I give her my phone and let her go for it. There are tons of things like flash cards and recognizing shapes and matching animal sounds to their picture.

Facebook. I can now be a star facebooker with the easy app. I don't know that I will be, but I can be...

Lose It! It's like a food journal that I enter all my food I ate during the day and how much exercise I did and it tells me how many calories I have left to eat in order to reach my weight loss goal. I lost one pound last week :)

Oregon Trail. Where my Ridgecrest peeps at? You know how we LOVED this game during 'computer time' in elementary school? Yeah. It's on my iPhone! I just got to shoot little squirrels and chose whether to ford across the river or take a ferry. Then little Martha got dysentery. Next time we'll shell out the cash to take the ferry.

And the best thing about all these favorite apps is they were all free ones. Even Oregon Trail. Although...Oregon Trail is the Free Version, which is just like a little teaser that only takes about five minutes to play so that you will buy the Full Version. I may have to shell out the five bucks to get the Full Version. But then again, how much time can one really justify wasting on Blogger, e-mail, Facebook, and iPhone apps to boot?

Destined for Entomophobia

2009-08-06T16:00:00.010-06:00

"Entomophobia: a common fear of or aversion to insects and similar arthropods, and even other "bugs", such as worms. This condition causes a slight to severe emotional reaction, a form of anxiety or a panic attack."*

Yup. She's going to catch on to me. All this time I've been pretending I like bugs, but really, how long can you fool a toddler? Ants, potato bugs, lady bugs, even a daddy long legs here and there, okay. I'm fine with that. Kind of. Miranda--two years old and wonderful--loves bugs. She calls them "cute" and scouts them out all over the yard. She likes to hold them and she wants me to hold them and share in her joy of their bug-ness.

Don't get me wrong. I love that she loves them. I want her to grow up with as little phobic crutches as possible. What mother wouldn't want her daughter to be strong and brave?

But I'm afraid I'm already starting to ruin her. Example: She wants to hold ants. I'm not scared of ants, I just don't like them crawling all over me and I don't want to pick them up in case I squish them between my fingers. (Squished bug is almost as gross as live bug.) So, I get a paper, scoop up the ant with it, and drop it from the paper into her lovingly cupped hands. I even watch it wiggle around on her arm and call it "cute". So the other day, she sees a potato bug and wants to hold it. Without even asking me to get it for her, she starts running into the house to "get a paper".

Second example: Last night our family was sitting out on the porch enjoying the warm summer night. I look up above me, and there is a katydid on the house. I point it out to the family and back up to the door. Miranda and Jeremy are enthralled with it's faux leaf splendor. I am trying to protect myself and the baby, deciding whether to go off the porch or into the house. I know, I know. Katydids are the geeky-ist creatures ever. Mostly harmless, but let's be realistic--they do have WINGS. Later, I told Jeremy I was ashamed I was freaked out by it. I asked him if he thought Miranda noticed I was fleeing it's presence or not. He said she was totally picking up on my phobic cues.

What am I going to do?!? Is she destined to be scared of bugs because I TAUGHT her to ignore her NATURAL love of all creatures, including bugs?

*Excerpt from Wikipedia

Owl-phabet

2009-08-06T14:14:00.005-06:00

Happy Birthday Abby! You are such a sweet little niece and I know since you are only barely two and can already sing the whole "ABC Song" that you will really enjoy these owls. They have all the letters of the alphabet on their tummies, plus an extra 'letter B' so you can spell out your name! Have fun spelling, sorting, and make believing. We love you!

I got this idea and pattern here. My sister and I loved the idea, but I had no idea how much time it would take. I think it was worth it, though. I love that they are tiny and I could use scraps of fabric and Fiberfill I already had--the only expense was a couple bags of random buttons I got from Wal-Mart for about $1.50 each. I still want to make a set for Miranda, I think, but maybe she won't get them until she turns three. He he.

Also, I wanted to note that the pattern calls for cutting out cardboard circles and then fabric circles to glue on to the cardboard, which you would then sew onto the bottoms. However, about the time I was finished sewing up all 27 of these (including the extra B) I wanted to hide my sewing box and not look at handstiching another thing for at least a month. I was just going to leave them with nothing on the bottom, but then they wouldn't stand up. My mother-in-law had the great idea of attaching buttons, which saved tons of time and sanity, and--in my opinion--goes really well with them. Bonus: now they make a little clicking noise on the table that Miranda loved as she hopped them around. Here's some more pictures of them on Flickr if you want to get up the motivation to make a set for your toddler. Here's a post-embroidered, pre-stuffed photo. I used a mini muffin tin to sort buttons, thread, and owls. Too bad the muffin tin only holds 24--it's the perfect size and maximizes the button 'click click' noise on the bottom!

Busy Baby

2009-08-04T14:47:00.003-06:00

This is how I roll.
I find stuff (and people) to drool on.

Sometimes this is only way Mom gets away with not holding me.
It's all in a day's work.
And it's about to get worse because I'm getting closer to crawling.

Happy Half B-day

2009-08-04T14:42:00.002-06:00

My sweet baby is six months old already!

Nursery Snack Time

2009-07-14T08:01:00.003-06:00

This is an exclusive preview to the treat/craft Jeremy and I are going to have our nursery kids make on Sunday. It's a covered wagon for Pioneer Day. I had Miranda try it out for me yesterday so I could get an idea of how it might go--but then there's always the unexpected that happens every Sunday with all those little kids! It's hardly recognizable after she starts munching on it :) I think we might do this towards the end, since there is a bit of sugar involved: two marshmallows, four banana slices, one piece of licorice (I bought the pull apart kind for Sunday), four animal crackers, and some frosting to hold it all together.

Mr. Bradley

2009-07-12T13:29:00.001-06:00

Willow Park & Graybills

2009-07-11T07:19:00.005-06:00

We came. We roasted hot dogs. We fished. We made s'mores. We got devoured by mosquitoes. Ahh, sweet summertime.

Crazy Ingenious

2009-07-09T21:46:00.003-06:00

So... this looks hilarious at first, but think how ingenious it is really! Think of all the use you could get out of this: wash your hands, help the potty training sister, try on clothes in the dressing room, go get a Diet Coke from the vending machine (just kidding).

I found this on KidsTravelHappy.com.

Let Freedom Ring

2009-07-07T17:32:00.006-06:00

I love pics from the 4th of July--all the vibrant colors and fun activities that just define SUMMERTIME! Jeremy took three days off work, so we had a fun week. Wednesday we went to the zoo with Jeremy's mom. After a rough start to the day (Miranda got sunscreen in her eyes), we all ended up having a great time. And now we have a membership, so if anyone wants to go with me, I have a free 'visitor' on my pass! Brad's first trip to the zoo. He loved it and was such a good baby the whole time!Thursday we went to the Oquirrh Temple Open House. It was really neat, but M was being a pill the whole time, so we hurried through the end of it. We even had to skip out on the cookies--that I've heard are SO yummy--because we couldn't reward her for bad behavior. Also, there are no pictures of the event because of this. Jeremy and M also went fishing that morning, but there aren't any different pics to show for that, either :)

Friday we went swimming at our local rec center. It has a great pool with tons of fun things going on and M had a huge smile on her face the whole time. Even B loved it. Every one but M was worn out after an hour, though. But this day, M was very good and didn't throw a fit about leaving early, even though I know she could have enjoyed a couple more hours. We promised her we'd get back there soon. I also don't have any pictures of the pool because I didn't want to tote the camera along this time, but here is one of M and B in their swimsuits prior to the open plunge. They were both hamming it up, excited before the swim! Saturday was the classic celebration, of course. We started out the day with a street breakfast and kid's bike parade. It was a lot of fun--we have great neighbors and others in the ward always tell me they're jealous that we live on "the fun street". Check out M's cool wheels. She loved having her tricycle all decked out--ahh, to be two again. Then Saturday night we ended the festivities at the Yoho's in Sugarhouse for an old fashioned BBQ, firework display, water fun for the kids (and husbands) and watching Sugarhouse Park's fireworks from their backyard. I was the only one in my family who stayed awake for those, though. Then, last but not least, I have to include this photo, too. This is from the Lehi Round-up All Horse Parade last week. We went with our fun friends who also have a two-year old girl and a baby only one month older than B. There were horses with glittered hoofs, stars painted on their hips, braides in their manes and tails, ribbons galore, and a cowgirl 'princess' on almost every other one throwing handfuls of Tootsie Rolls at us. But guess what the two toddlers couldn't stop talking about for the next couple of days: all the horse poop. Great. Maybe next year they'll get more excited about the glitter.

Amatueur

2009-07-07T17:27:00.003-06:00

This is our 100th post and I just couldn't have it be a regular, non-related topic. I know what most of you (Emily, Angie, Jen, etc.) are thinking, though. "Amateur. I'm on my 217th post."

Adventures in Cake Making

2009-07-01T22:29:00.006-06:00

The weekend before last was Cody and Darci's wedding. It was beautiful, even in the downpour rain. They're so cute and happy together--congrats you two!

It was also D-day for my first official fondant wedding cake. And I have to admit, it turned out perfect! I was so happy with it and I'm so excited to know how to do fondant now. I've been having a blast 'playing' with fondant and finding excuses to make cakes--and give them away to people so I don't eat all the calories :) So, here are some pictures of the wedding cake assemblage. However, first off, I have to start with the last pictures, The Mess. Also, notice The Mess is continued in almost every other picture here, as well.The never ending dirty dishes. This is typical random stuff Miranda drug out to entertain herself and for me to trip over. Really, though, Miranda and Brad were good sports through the whole baking process, and I made two full wedding cakes because I was so paranoid something would go wrong with the fondant on the final step, so it was way more work than it had to be. Thankfully, Jeremy took both kids on errands Saturday morning for a couple of hours so I could do the creative part. These are some of the cakes with their butter cream coating. The butter cream frosting is necessary so the fondant has something to stick to. Triumph! This is THE hardest part, getting a smooth, non-torn, non-folded, non-bubbled covering of the cake! Here is it is in all it's ribbon and dot covered glory. I loved the green ribbon on the white--so striking. And finally, all set-up safely at the reception. Jeremy came up with a great fool proof transportation method involving Duct Tape and Glad "Press N Seal" wrap.

Okay, so now I'm breathing a sigh of relief over a successful wedding cake. Ready for pictures of more less-stress cakes? This is a cake I made for my niece, Kylie, who turned one this month! I did the majority of the frosting with butter cream because fondant would not cause the classic gooey mess all over baby hands and cheeks (and hair and nose and arms and tummy and elbows, etc.) Happy b-day Kylie! How about some cupcakes now? I made some regular sized and some small for our ward Mom & Me playgroup last week. These are the small ones. The red color takes forever and uses tons of food coloring, and I was getting anxious to start creating, so I stopped before the fondant was truly red. It actually looks more like bubble gum color, but what the heck? It's still patriotic, right? Here are the regular-sized cupcakes. I had fun creating a different design for each of these, but it did take a little while. I figured from start--warming up the oven--to finish--putting the last clean dish back in the cupboard--I spent about 3 hours on these babies. But hey, I had fun, and all the moms/kids loved it. I decided to stay with the patriotic theme for a cake I made for a BBQ with our friends. I'll have to find some new creative inspiration for August since there's no good holiday idea and I still have one big frozen cake in the freezer! Miranda had a lot of fun with the fondant, too. It's like edible play-dough. Actually, it is pretty tasty. When I first was learning how to use fondant, I bought the Wilton brand at the store, thinking it would be the best quality. WRONG. It tasted gross and was so stiff. I couldn't even roll it out big enough to cover a cake half the size it was supposed to cover. (I had to have Jeremy pull out his 'big guns' to help me roll it out.) So, Jeremy and I experimented with recipes to make our own, and I think we found a pretty good one. It's actually surprisingly easy, too. Oh, yeah. And the cakes themselves tasted delicious, also. They had a cream cheese filling in a white cake mix, plus the butter cream frosting under the fondant. Mmmm. Who can think of a reason to eat cake?! Let's make more! Side Notes: Check out Miranda's cute French braids. She finally held still long enough for me to give her two braids one morning! AND, check out her cute apron. Mima made her a new one to coordinate with mine for Mother's Day. I'll have to post of pic of both of us in our aprons when I get some laundry done...

Too Early

2009-07-01T22:19:00.002-06:00

Miranda is an early riser. She got Jeremy's tendency for being a morning person. And based on Brad's habit of 4 a.m. breakfast time, I think he is following suit. In fact, I'm the only one in the family that is a night person.
Miranda usually wakes up around 6:30, give or take half an hour depending on the week. When she started waking up earlier than 6, I had to tell her it was still night-time, and to go back to bed. None the less, one of her favorite phrases lately is "It's too early. Go back to bed." Anyway, I don't remember why I took this picture, but it was clearly too early. Would it kill ya to sleep in, people?

Gone Fishing

2009-07-01T22:05:00.002-06:00

Jeremy is getting tons of fishing time in this year. I told him he can go as much as he wants this summer as long as he takes Miranda with him. He loves fishing with Miranda, and luckily she loves it, too. (Although it does scare her a little when the caught fish wiggle in the bag.) He has gone almost every week this summer, and even twice in the same week a few times. I love it, too. Brad and I have gone with them a few times, which is fun. I enjoy the summer weather and 'nature'. But I really enjoy having a few hours each week with just my baby Bradley, letting me get stuff crossed off my To-Do List or having fun 1:1 with him. Last week we went on a walk.

2009-06-25T15:08:00.001-06:00

Husbands Add Seven Hours to Women's Housework Load Each Week, University of Michigan Study Says

I saw this headline a little while ago, and it really stood out to me. That's an hour extra housework per day, just for the sole fact of having a husband.

I don't believe it. Sure, there's extra laundry, more frequent cleaning of the bathroom, and things like that--but overall, my husband helps out a lot with the housework and kids. He does the grocery shopping (ever since we had a second child) and all the yard work and cooks dinner a few nights a week, just to name a few. I know a lot of your husbands help out just as much, too--doing laundry, dishes, etc.

So, this post is in honor of Father's Day, and great big thank you to my husband and yours, for all the support they give us! And here are some recent favorite pictures of my cute husband with our kiddos.

Here's a link to where the headline came from, in case you're interested.
http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/04/husbands_add_seven_hours_to_wo.html

Miraculous Morning

2009-06-16T09:03:00.002-06:00

You know those mornings when your kid(s) sleep in longer than usual? I'm not talking just 20 extra minutes--which in itself is glorious--but a good two hours longer? And you know how you start off being productive (cutting the baby's fingernails and doing the dishes) because you are loving that you get some extra time to actually get something done?

But then...it gets later and later and you get feeling giddy inside, feeling disbelief at your fortune. You think, "Should I go check on them?" Secretly you're wondering if goblins have come and sucked their breath out because there's no way they really have kept sleeping this long. You wish you could hear some stirring from the bedrooms. But then you do and you pretend like you didn't hear it at all.

You decide to make a smoothie and go sit on the back porch to prolong the last minutes of this miraculous morning. As you sit outside in your p.j.'s, you think, "When did all the birds start chirping so much and when did all the airplanes start flying over our house so often? I've never heard them before..."

Dee-licious

2009-06-03T15:35:00.002-06:00

So, here it is: documentation of Brad's first taste of rice cereal. There were only a couple of funny faces, and so quick that it was impossible to get a pic of it. Mostly he just enjoyed it, as you can see. And of course, Miranda was NOT going to be left out of the fun. I had to keep telling her not to put the spoon too far into his mouth as he was gagging on it...I've decided second children must just get lots of blessings for the mere fact of being born second and having to endure toddler older siblings :)

Mom, I can Explain...

2009-06-03T15:33:00.001-06:00

I have a really good excuse why my bed is never made these days...

The Week in Pictures

2009-05-31T15:18:00.002-06:00

Miranda fed a baby cow at Thanksgiving Point Farm Country.
She also rode the horse all by herself for the first time.
We enjoyed Memorial Day with Daddy. This Monday is a holiday, too, right???
Heidi and Jeremy are making lots of fondant cakes for practice. Our friends, Cody and Darci, are getting married in less than three weeks and their wedding cake should be perfect!
Bradley had his first experience of grass. (He liked it.)
Miranda is showing her brother how to climb all over dad.
Brad had his first taste of 'real' food--a banana. I did it the lazy way, though, through this mesh bag teether. Yum, yum. Maybe this week we'll do the high chair and cereal thing...

Amazing Discovery

2009-05-29T07:18:00.005-06:00

Moms, do you want a few minutes to yourself to read a book or just enjoy relaxing in the sunshine? Then this is the perfect solution for you. A spray bottle. That's right, this amazing invention will entertain your toddler for many minutes a day, giving you the much needed rest you deserve. Your toddler will get so much entertainment out of spraying rocks, bugs, brick, sidewalk--the possibilities are endless. They may even slightly water your plants!
Now, you might expect to pay a lot for your child to play by themselves, safely, for 10, 15, even 20 minutes at a time. But here's the amazing part: you can have this for only ONE DOLLAR!!! Unbelievable, but true. Start enjoying some time for yourself today!

Customer Testimonial: "The spray bottle is my two year-old's favorite outdoor toy. She can play with it without my help--which makes both of us happy!"--Heidi, Utah

Results not typical or guaranteed. Adult and/or child will probably get wet.

Baby Chicks are Here!

2009-05-22T20:54:00.003-06:00

Dear Diary,
Today I was eating cereal with Mom when Mima called. Mom sounded excited talking to grandma, and when she hung up the phone, she said, "Hurry, Miranda. We need to get you dressed! Mima's coming soon." I hurried and got dressed and when Mima came, she told me that their baby chickens were at the post office, waiting to be picked up. She said I could come with her! At the post office, we told the mail lady that we were there to pick up a package. Mima sat me on the counter at the post office and when the lady brought out the box, I could hear a lot of little "peep, peep, peep" noises coming from the box! We took the box to Grandma and Grandpa's house, down in the basement. Mima took off the lid there, and I looked in and there were baby chicks-- a lot! We put them in a big crate with little crushed up corn and some water for them. They like their big heat lamp light, too. I told Mima, "Hold them! Hold them?" She said okay, but I had to use two hands to hold them and sit down in a chair. They were so soft and cute. I gave them kisses on their heads and petted their feathers. Mima counted them all and there were 25! That's a lot! I love the baby chicks. I didn't want to leave. But Mima gave me chocolate and said next time I could hold them some more.
Love, Miranda

Blessing day!

2009-05-11T22:30:00.001-06:00

Fashion Advice

2009-05-09T21:53:00.001-06:00

There's no better way to complete a totally cute outfit than with your little brother's future Halloween hat.

Aprons

2009-05-09T21:38:00.003-06:00

This was my latest craft project--aprons. It was inspired by this first picture. Miranda got this little apron from Grandma Merilynn (who is modeling with Miranda in the pictures) for Christmas last year. It is such a cute design and Miranda loves wearing it. So, I made matching apron sets for mother/child for a church auction to raise money for the youth programs. I think they turned out really cute! Thanks to both moms who helped me sew them in time for the auction--they were a big hit!

Happy Anniversary

2009-05-09T21:35:00.002-06:00

Here's to six years and counting!

Losing It

2009-04-29T16:37:00.008-06:00

Warning: This post contains sarcasm and some bitterness.

It's official. I'm losing it.

My HAIR has started to come out in handfuls, thanks to post-partum hormones. I'm really looking forward to a fashionable, fuzzy, short regrowth look for summer.

My SANITY is going. Miranda has started doing two new things this week, and let me seriously say that they better be phases that pass quickly. One is that she is screaming at the top of her lungs. No matter what I do--ignore it, punish it, explain why it's freaking annoying--she continues to do it until I successfully distract her with something else. I'm not sure what kid she learned this from, but I'm pretty sure it was one in nursery. The other thing she has been doing lately is a fake burp. Yea, really cute and feminine, you can bet. This one, I'm pretty sure I know who she learned it from, and he's not a 'kid'. Oh well, at least we get to practice saying "excuse me" a lot.

My PATIENCE is wearing thin. As I was nursing Bradley today, Miranda put tape on my toenail. When I pulled it off, along with it came my toenail polish. Good-bye $28 bucks I just paid for my pedicure a week ago that I was hoping to stretch out for a good two months. Which leads me to this question: Why is it that just as toddlers are becoming so fluent and picking up so many new words, why is it that now is when I feel the most like cursing and find myself having to bite my tongue?

What's the Big Deal About Caviar?

2009-04-22T16:25:00.002-06:00

Jeremy's employer, as a bonus, paid for he and I to have dinner at La Caille Restaurant. Jeremy had been there once for a high school dance, but I had never and actually told Jeremy last year that I wanted to do that for our 6th Anniversary, which is coming up in a couple weeks! So I was quite excited.

It was fun and definitely worth doing once, and of course it was wonderful that we didn't have to pay the bill (which was over $200 by the way!), but I don't think I'd ever go back. The food wasn't that delicious for that price. The atmosphere was wonderful, though, and now one of our dreams is to turn our patio into a nice covered atrium one day like they have there.

Anyway, I ordered the lobster bisque appetizer because I love lobster, but mostly because it came with caviar and I have never tried caviar. I cannot believe people spend huge amounts of money on that! It hardly has a distinct taste besides tasting salty, and it's really crunchy and gets stuck in your teeth. Tell me if you disagree with me...Jeremy's appetizer was crab cakes, and they were really delicous.

For dinner I had the filet mignon and Jeremy had salmon-both really good. Jeremy loves creme brulee, so he had that for dessert and did love it. I ordered the "Trio of La Caille Desserts" because I was indecisive. It is "a miniture sampling of our favorite desserts: Creme Brulee, Chocolate Chantilly Cake, & Baked Alaska". When the waitress brought me my dessert, she apologized that the chef was still making the Baked Alaska, and gave me some chocolate dipped strawberries instead until he was done. I ate most of what I could still fit in my stomach, but I was so full that I knew if they brought the Baked Alaska there was no way I could even have a bite of it. I asked for it to go, but it still wasn't ready yet and they were so apologetic and said my dessert was complimentary on them, but to tell the truth, I had no idea what Baked Alaska was, and I didn't know what I was missing, so I said not to worry about it. Well, in case you don't know either, I just googled it, and it's a cake and ice cream dessert topped with meringue. YUM. I should have waited--my food would have digested in the meantime, right? That's what the picture is, at the top, by the way.

Nemo Party

2009-04-11T15:25:00.002-06:00

I can't believe our Mandy is two! We had a "Finding Nemo Party" for her to celebrate since she loves anything fish. (Ask her dad why that is...) Anyway, although I think she was a little overwhelmed, she had tons of fun, too!

The kids all went fishing for prizes and here they are modeling one of their prizes, fish glasses.
'Fishing' over the banister.

I decided to make the cake because I didn't like the one from the grocery bakery. I think it turned out cute, although it was my first time using fondant and I need to practice that more! It was a vanilla cake with cream cheese filling and cream cheese frosting~delicious!
Making a wish for a terrific year of two's ahead!

Thumb vs. Binky

2009-04-08T15:03:00.002-06:00

Little Brad has started to look for and--often finds--his thumb. He loved his binky for the first couple of months, but lately hasn't taken it very much. Now I catch him sucking away on his fist or thumb when he's hungry.
Miranda is a serious thumb sucker, and I don't think I want two thumb suckers. But then again, I don't know that I really have a choice, do I?
'Thumb' definitely has it's benefits over the binky, but it's not a bonus when it comes to kicking the habit as a toddler! The pediatric dentist told me he would like Miranda done sucking her thumb by age three, at the latest, which I don't really see happening without some serious and possibly painfully emotional intervention...

Have You Ever

2009-04-01T21:49:00.002-06:00

Have you ever gone to a movie all by yourself? I did on Monday. Miranda and I are sick right now and it made for a terrible and terribly long day for both of us. So when Jeremy got home, he said he was kicking me out of the house. He was really serious, too, so I took him up on it. I went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic. I'm sure the other 12 people in the theater were thinking, "Oh, that's too bad. That girl's friend stood her up!" Anyway, it was a great movie and it was great to get out of the house and relax for a couple hours...

Family Pictures

2009-03-27T08:28:00.004-06:00

I love how our pictures turned out! They are priceless. Now I just have to decide which ones to enlarge and frame...

Random Act of Kindness

2009-03-27T07:36:00.001-06:00

What's helping keep our spirits up during this cold week? Gerber daisies from Jeremy's parents--we love them!

2009-03-24T22:08:00.000-06:00

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

2009-03-21T22:21:00.003-06:00

We had breakfast with the Easter Bunny today. It's a free event at South Towne Mall and our second year of participation. If you have never been, you should plan on going next year, too. Here's what to expect:
Wait in line to get the breakfast--which is tiny Chick-Fil-A sandwiches, pancakes with no syrup/jam, and o.j. or chocolate milk.
Speakers begin blaring "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" and the rabbit makes his entrance with mall employees holding large baskets of plastic Easter Eggs.
Breakfast begins to be served and the line progresses towards the bunny and the food.
Meet the bunny and take a picture, if desired.
Get a plastic Easter Egg (with candy inside) for each child.
Get breakfast.
Eat breakfast.
Wish you had maple syrup for the pancake.
Marvel on how soon Easter will be here.
Put wet wipes to good use on sticky fingers and chocoalte milk mustaches.
Pack up the kids to go home and think, "That was fun--for a free event!"

Pictures

2009-03-16T14:16:00.002-06:00

Thanks to everyone who gave me referrals for photographers! It was so fun checking out their websites/blogs. We did get family pictures last week and I'm really happy with how they turned out. We got some family shots, but mostly I wanted just portraits of each of the kids. Miranda was a typical two-year old and didn't want to fully co-operate, but the photographer bribed her with fruit snacks to get a few great shots. Brad was really good too, and was wide awake the whole time. There is a picture of Brad on the photographer's website if you want to check it out. The website is http://www.angelamariephoto.com/ and it's her post for today, March 16th, the last picture. I'm still choosing the pictures I want and then she'll edit them. I can't wait to get them back!

Good Things

2009-03-05T21:47:00.004-07:00

This week Jeremy went to Nashville for a work conference. He got back last night and had a good time. He got to spend time with some family, as well, which was so fun for him and definitely made the trip worth it. His flight got in at 7:55 pm, and it was so cute, he called me and asked if I would keep Miranda up past her bedtime so he could see her and put her to bed.

I ended up staying at my parent's house for a couple of the nights because I knew I wouldn't be up to playing the single-parent role very well. I'm really glad I did. My mom helped a lot with the kids. It was so nice to have someone there (during the day!) to help hold a fussy baby or distract a dramatic toddler. We had some delicious meals and saw cousins every day, too. While Miranda napped, my mom was nice enough to watch Brad while my sister Holli and I went out and did some errands. It's so wonderful to go to stores without kids! Since it was a change from the normal routine, I tried some new things this week. These are some good things I discovered.

Lean Cuisine's Butternut Squash Ravioli
Holli bought me this because she wanted me try it. It is so de-lish! I want to find a recipe to make it at home.

Flower Hair Clips
Kristi, my other sister, made some of these for Miranda. They are so cute and dress up a pony tail so easy! I love them on alligator clips.

World Market
Fun, eclectic stuff.

Fast Fix
They fixed my mom's wedding band in 20 minutes (the prongs got bent and her diamond was crooked) and then they offered to clean my ring. I love having it professionally cleaned. It's like the same happy feeling as getting a pedicure.

Layers Clothing
Okay, so this isn't new for me, but it was one of the many stores Holli and I went to. If you're not familiar with this store, you have to check it out. http://layersclothing.com/shop.php We there at least every couple of months. They have a warehouse with a retail store and a lot of clearance items. They just moved to Sandy on the West frontage road right off 90th. I got this top in black, Holli got it in cream. Only $8.

Mommy's Little Helper

2009-03-05T21:38:00.003-07:00

I gave Brad a bath and Miranda wanted to help, probably because it's a good excuse to play in the water. When I was done, of course Brad was crying because he hates getting bathed, so I told Miranda she could keep playing while I went and dressed him. When I came back after a couple minutes, she had decided someone else needed a bath.

What a Handsome Boy

2009-03-05T21:35:00.002-07:00

Which way to the gym?

2009-03-05T21:30:00.003-07:00

Don't you just love the sporadic movements of newborns? It looks like Brad is showing off is muscles. Check out this cute 'gun show'.

Stroller Ride

2009-03-05T21:25:00.002-07:00

Miranda and I have been waiting all winter to go on our walks that help keep us sane. With the warmer weather last week, we went for the first time this year and Brad got to have his first stroller ride. (Miranda didn't want her picture taken and she was already climbing out of the stroller before I could take the picture...)